JPH01214573A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a cassette from being disengaged and falling from a device proper and the subsequent fracture thereof by applying the constitution wherein a sheet storage device is prevented from being drawn out while the engagement member thereof is engaged with a stepped part at the position where nearly the whole of the device is drawn out of the device proper. CONSTITUTION:A stepped part 52 is provided at the front side of a direction for mounting and demounting the cassette 1 of a device proper 11 and also a stopper 46 is provided at the front side of a direction for mounting and demounting the cassette 1. When the cassette 1 is loaded to the device proper 11, the deep side thereof is placed on rails 12 and 12, and pushed in a G direction. Then, the upper part of the stopper 46 is pressed downward due to the slope 53 of the device proper 11 and the upper part of the stopper 46 is deformed to be even with the upper surface of the cassette 1. Thereafter, when the stopper 46 exceeds the stepped part 52, the deformation of the stopper 46 is eliminated and the stopper 46 and the stepped part 52 are engaged with each other. Also, the stepped part comes in contact with the body of the cassette 1, thereby preventing the deformation of the stopper 46 and making it impossible to pull out the cassette 1 easily in an H direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing machine, or a laser beam link. Box-shaped sheet storage device (hereinafter referred to as cassette 1)
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including:

(b) Conventional technology Conventionally, a cassette 1 that stores a large number of sheets inside the main body of the device
An image forming apparatus equipped with a cassette is known, but in this image forming apparatus, a cassette is mounted on a support member that is guided by a guide rail so as to be freely drawn out from the main body of the apparatus. However, in this image forming apparatus, since the cassette is positioned in the main body of the apparatus via a support member, the cassette is easily misaligned, causing jams and feeding errors. To solve this problem, there is an image forming apparatus in which when the cassette is installed inside the apparatus main body, the cassette 1 itself is positioned by directly contacting the structural members constituting the apparatus main body. Cassette 1 used in forming device
As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, ' has a middle plate 2' on which a large number of seas 1-S- are loaded, and a regulating plate 3 that restricts the lateral movement of seas 1-S. have. Then, the intermediate plate 2' has a plurality of long holes 4, 4 opened in the sheet width direction, and the regulating plate 3 is inserted into these long holes 4, 4 according to the sheet size. It is configured to be movable and protrudes from the elongated hole 4. In addition, a sheet S is provided at the upper part of the downstream end of the regulating plate 3.
A separating claw 5 is provided to separate the cassettes one by one, and a side plate 8 is fixed to the bottom plate of the cassette 1-2' on the right side of the middle plate 2'. Separation claw 5
is installed. A shaft 6 connected to a motor (not shown) is rotatably supported at the top of the cassette 1-2', and a plurality of paper feeds are connected to the shaft 6 to correspond to various sheet sizes. Roller 7 is fixed. Also,
The middle plate 2' is urged upward by a bar 9;
The sheet+-S stacked on the middle plate is pressed against the paper feed roller 7.

When a start key (not shown) is pressed, the motor starts rotating, and the driving force of the motor causes the paper feed roller 7 to
rotates and feeds Sea 1-S. Then, the sheets S are separated one by one by separation claws 5, 5, and only the uppermost sheet 1-S is fed.

←9 Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, in the above-described image forming apparatus, when pulling out the cassette 1' to replenish sheets, the cassette 1-
1' could fall out of the main body of the device and fall, causing damage.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet storage device in which the power pot 1- is engaged with the device main body at a position where substantially the entire cassette is pulled out, thereby solving the above-mentioned problems. .

(b) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and as shown in FIG. 1 (aL fbl, tc+ and FIG. Many heats inward (S)
removably attached storage device (1)
In the image forming apparatus (10), a step portion (52) is provided in front of the sheet storage device (1) of the device main body (11) in the attachment/detachment direction, and An engaging member (46) is disposed on the front side in the attachment/detachment direction, so that when the seat storage device (1) is pulled out, substantially the entire sheet storage device (1) is pulled out of the device main body (11). The sheet storage device (1) is characterized in that the engaging member (46) is configured to engage with the stepped portion (52) to prevent the sheet storage device (1) from being pulled out.

(E) Function Based on the above-mentioned configuration, the seat storage device (1) is installed in the device body (
11), the engaging member (46) engages with the stepped portion (52) at a position where substantially the entire sheet storage device (1) is pulled out of the device main body (11), and the sheet storage device (1) is pulled out from the main body (11). Preventing the device (1) from being pulled out from the device body (11).

(F) Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Note: 1. This is the same part as the furnace part mentioned above. are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation will be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cassette 1 is removably mounted in the body 11 of the copying machine 10, and can be pulled out in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction by being guided by guides 12, 12. It looks like this. Then, the aircraft 11
are a pressure bonding plate 13, a platen 15, a light source 16, a mirror 17,
1B, 19, 20, 21, 22, and a lens 23. A pair of transport rollers 25 and a pair of registration rollers 26 are provided downstream of the cassette 1. Further, an image forming section 27 is arranged downstream of the roller pair 26, and a conveyor belt 29 and a fixing device 30 are arranged downstream of the image forming section 27. A pair of paper discharge rollers 31 is provided downstream of the fixing device 30, and a paper discharge tray 32 is provided downstream of the three pairs of paper discharge rollers.

Further, the cassette 1 has a sheet size detection block 33 that can be detachably attached to the back side in the cassette insertion direction C, as shown in FIGS. The block 33 is a seat size detection switch (not shown) installed on the fuselage 11 side.
The block 33 can be replaced depending on the sheet size. Further, the middle plate 2 is provided with a recess 35 as a relief part at a position facing the third and subsequent paper feed rollers 7a and 7b from the right side in the paper feed direction.
are formed respectively, and these rollers 7a.

When feeding a narrow sheet 1-3 that is not located in the portion 7b, these paper feed rollers 7a and 7b do not come into contact with the middle plate 2. Note that the reference numeral 36 in the figure is a regulation plate that regulates the backward movement of the sheet S, and the regulation plate 36 has holes 4 corresponding to the sheet size in the cassette 1 body.
0...and the vertically long sheet S can be moved and attached to the hole 41 that restricts movement to the back side by -C. Furthermore, a recessed portion 42 as a first engaging portion is carved in the upper part of the rear side of the cassette 1-1, and a plurality of cassettes 1 are stacked in the lower part of the rear side of the cassette 1-1. A protrusion 43 is protruded as a second engaging portion that fits into the recess 42 of the lower cassette 1-1 to position the cassettes 1-1. Further, a handle 44 is provided on the front side of the cassette 1-1, and handles 45 are provided on the left and right sides of the cassette 1 for lifting the cassette 1-1.

At both ends of the rear side of the cassette 1, stoppers 46 made of resin are disposed, and the stoppers 46
is composed of a stopper receiving portion 47, a stepped portion 49, a slope 50, and a spring portion 51 (see FIG. 6). Further, the amount of protrusion and the elastic limit of the Y, I-flange 46 are set so that when the cassette 1 is attached to the body 11, it is elastically deformed and becomes flush with the upper surface of the cassette 1.

Note that 48 in FIG. 5 is a hole for detecting the presence or absence of a sheet.

In addition, on the upper part of the body 11 where the cassette 1 is installed,
As shown in FIG. 1, a groove 51 into which the stopper 46 fits, a stepped portion 52 into which the stopper 46 engages, and an inclined surface 53 on the front side of the stepped portion 52 are formed.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, in the center of the front side of the cassette 1, a positioning plate 55 made of a steel plate is fixed with screws or the like.
It is adapted to be attracted to a magnetic catch 57 provided on the side via a mounting plate 56. And the mounting plate 5
6 can be moved and adjusted several mm in the direction of the arrow with respect to the fuselage 11.
It is designed to adjust the position of 7.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a mounting plate 59 is provided in a portion of the fuselage 11 facing the block 33, and the mounting plate 59 is attached to a bracket fixed to the fuselage 11. A pin 61 with a bulged tip protruding from 60
A spring 62 is compressed between the tip of the pin 61 and the mounting plate 59. Further, on the mounting plate 59, there are switches 63a, 63b, 63 for detecting the sheet size based on the position of the block 33.
A switch 63d for detecting the presence or absence of the cassette 1 and the mounting plate 59 is disposed on the cassette 1, and a positioning plate is provided on the cassette 1 to ensure a distance between the mounting plate 59 and the main body of the cassette 1. A protrusion 6=8-5 is provided.

In addition, when the sheet S is located up to the paper feed rollers 7a and 7b, as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. The plate auxiliary member 37 is configured to be attached to the recess 35, thereby ensuring the pressing force of the sheet S against the paper feed rollers 7a, 7b.

The intermediate plate auxiliary member 37 has claws 37a at both ends, as shown in detail in FIG.
It is supported by being inserted into slit-like holes 35a, 35a bored in the depression 35.

Further, as shown in FIG. 13, a light transmission type sheet presence/absence sensor 67 is attached to the body 11 above the cassette 1 through a mounting plate 66, and the body frame (not shown) faces the sensor 67. The shaft 69 is supported by. Further, on the shaft 69, a sensor lever 70 having a wide end 70a and a letter shape when viewed from the side is swingably supported.
A detection roller 71 is supported at the other end of the lever 70 so as to be rotatable in the direction in which the cassette 1 is installed and removed. In addition, the depression 35
A receiver member 68 is provided on the back side of the portion where is located, and the receiver member 68 uniformly transmits the biasing force of the spring 9 to the intermediate plate 2. Further, the spring 9 is adapted to move together with the regulating plate 3.

The separation claw 5 has a U-shape when viewed from the front, as shown in detail in FIGS.
a is rotatably supported on a shaft 72 supported by the cassette 1 body. Further, a link lever 73 is swingably supported at the lower part of the separation claw 5 by a shaft 75 supported by the cassette body, and one end 73a of the L-bar 73
However, by contacting the intermediate plate 2 loaded with sheets S and swinging clockwise, the other end 73b urges the separation claw 5 to rotate counterclockwise.

Since this embodiment has the above configuration, the copying machine 10
When stacking a plurality of cassettes 11 outside the machine body 11, the operator inserts the protrusion 43 at the bottom of the upper cassette 1-1 into the recess 42 at the top of the lower cassette 1-1. As a result, a plurality of cassettes can be stacked without the bottom surface of the upper cassette 1 coming into contact with the top surface of the lower cassette 1 (see Figure 7).
.

And one of these stacked cassettes
When storing the largest size sheets 1-S in two cassettes 1 and installing them in the copying machine 10, the operator must move the regulation plate 3 to the left end of the cassette, and move the paper feed roller 7a,
The middle plate auxiliary member 3 is placed in the recesses 35, 35 at a position opposite to 7b.
Attach 7. Then, when a large number of maximum size sheets S (for example, width D) are loaded on the middle plate 2 of the cassette 1-1 (see FIG. 10), the middle plate 2 resists the spring 9 due to the weight of the sheets S. descend. Furthermore, when loading the sheets S to the full capacity, the operator loads the fully loaded number of sheets 1-3 onto the intermediate plate 2, and moves these sheets 1-S in the direction of the arrow F (
Push against the spring 9 to Figure 14 (see BL). Then, the middle plate 2 is also pushed down in the direction F along with these seas 1-S-, and the middle plate 2 comes into contact with one end 73a of the link 11=lever 73, swinging the lever 73 clockwise. . Then, as the lever 73 swings clockwise, the other end 73b of the lever 73 comes into contact with the separation claw 5 and rotates the separation claw 5 counterclockwise.
moves from the two-dot chain line position to the solid line position (see Fig. 14 (bl)), and its tip is pushed up from the top surface of the sheet S-S. When the sheet S is moved in the conveying direction until it is located below the middle plate 2 and the force in the F direction is released, the middle plate 2
The sheets S are urged upward by the spring 9, and the uppermost sheet 1-S of the sheets S is positioned by coming into contact with the tip of the separation claw 5. At this time, the biasing force of the spring 9 in the portion where the recess 35 is located is uniformly transmitted to the intermediate plate 2 by the receiving member 68. Furthermore, at this time, one end 7 of the link lever 73
3a and the middle plate 2 are not in contact with each other, and the other end 73-b of the bracket is not in contact with the separating claw 5, so the link lever 73 does not affect the middle plate 2 and the separating claw. . When installing the cassette 1 full of Sea 1-S on the aircraft 11, the operator places the back side of the cassette 1 on the rail 12°1.
2 and push it in the direction of arrow G (see FIG. 1 (al)), the upper part of the stopper 46 is pushed downward by the inclined surface 53 on the body 11 side, and the upper surface of the stopper 46 is deformed, and the upper surface of the cassette is It becomes the same plane.

Then, when the stopper 46 passes over the stepped portion 52, the deformation of the stopper 46 returns to its original state, and the step portion 49 engages with the step portion 52, and the stepped portion 49 comes into contact with the cassette body. It is not possible to prevent the deformation and easily pull out the cassette 1-1 in the direction of arrow H (see FIG. 1 [bl)]. If it is necessary to pull out the cassette 1, rotate the cassette 1-1 in the direction of the arrow ■ (see Fig. 1 (cl)), position the lower end of the cassette 1 on the continuous part of the rail 12, and then press the stopper. When the upper part of the cassette 46 becomes lower than the stepped portion 52 of the body 11, the cassette 1 is pulled out in the direction of the arrow J.

Further, when the cassette 1 is pushed into the body 11, the positioning plate 55 is attracted to the magnetic catch 57, thereby positioning the cassette 1 (see FIG. 8). On this occasion,
The positioning protrusion 65.65 on the back side of the cassette 1 is located on the mounting plate 5.
9 and moves the mounting plate 59 against the springs 62, 62 to make the distance between the tip of the switch 63a and the main body of the cassette 1 a predetermined level. Then, the block 33 is a switch 63a, 63b, 63 for detecting the size of the seat 1.
c, for example, 63b, and the cassettes 1 to 1 main body turns on the switch 63d for detecting the presence or absence of a cassette.
ONj, these switches 63b and 63d are ON.
4M is transmitted to the control section. Furthermore, when the cassette 1 is installed, the detection roller 71 moves from the solid line position to the two-dot chain line position (see FIG. 13) by the seat 1-S stored in the cassette 1, and one end 70a of the sensor lever 70 detects the presence or absence of the sheet. By blocking the space between the light emitting part and the light receiving part of the sensor 67, the sensor 67 is turned off. And the sensor 6
The control section receiving the OFF signal No. 7 determines that there is a sheet S in the cassette 1-1. When a document is placed on the platen 15 and the start key is pressed, the image of the document is read by the lamp 16, mirrors 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, and lens 23, and the image is transferred to the image forming section 27. Form. On the other hand, sheet 1-S from cassette 1 is connected to paper feed roller 7.
and the uppermost sea 1-S separated by separation claws 5,5.
Only the paper is fed. Then, the sheet S is conveyed by a pair of conveying rollers 25 to a pair of registration rollers 26, and a conveying force is applied by the pair of conveying rollers 25 which abuts the nip of the pair of rollers 26 and slips, thereby correcting the skew.

Then, it is transported in synchronization with the image on the image forming section 27 by a pair of registration rollers 26 that start rotating at a predetermined timing. Further, the sheet 1-S has an image copied thereon by the image forming section 27, and is transferred to the fixing device 30 by the conveyor belt 29.
transported to. Then, the image is fixed on the sheet S by the fixing device 30, and the sheet S is discharged to a paper discharge tray 32 by a pair of paper discharge rollers 31.

Also, a medium-sized sheet S (for example, width E) is placed in the cassette 1.
- 1, the operator moves the regulation plate 3 according to the sheet width, and attaches the intermediate plate auxiliary member 37 only to the recess 35 that opposes the paper feed roller 7b, so that the intermediate plate auxiliary member 37 opposes the paper feed roller 16a. Remove the core member 37 (see Figure 10)
. Thereafter, image forming work is performed by the same operations as described above. Then, when the cassette 1 runs out of Sea+-S, the detection roller 71 falls into the hole 48 and moves from the two-dot chain line position to the solid line position. As a result, one end 70 of the sensor lever 70
A also moves from the two-dot chain line position that blocks the light emitting part and the light receiving part of the sheet presence/absence sensor 67 to the solid line position that does not block the space between them, and the sensor 67 is turned on. Further, the control section receiving the ON signal of the sensor 67 determines that there is no sheet S in the cassette 1-1 and issues an alarm on the display section. Then, the operator who confirms the alarm pulls out the cassette 1, loads the sea 1-S into the cassette 1, and attaches it to the fuselage 11 in the same manner as described above.

Furthermore, when loading the smallest size sheet S into the cassette 1, the operator moves the regulating plate 3 to the long hole 4 near the center, and also moves the intermediate plate auxiliary member 37 in both the recesses 35, 35.
Remove. Then, the image forming operation is performed by the same operation as described above.

(G) Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, when the seat storage device is pulled out, the engagement member Since the sheet storage device is configured to engage with the stepped portion to prevent the sheet storage device from being pulled out, it is possible to prevent the sheet storage device from falling and prevent the sheet storage device from falling.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 fal, (bl', fcl) are diagrams showing main parts of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing an image forming apparatus provided in the present invention. Furthermore, FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing the seat storage device according to the present invention, and FIGS. FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 are diagrams showing conventional examples. 1.1' Sheet 1-Storage device, 2 Middle plate, 1
0 Image forming apparatus, 11 Apparatus body, S Sea 1
−.ゞ-〒- 1572-

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an image forming apparatus comprising a removably attached sheet storage device for storing a large number of sheets inside the apparatus main body, the sheet storage device is provided on the front side of the apparatus main body in the attachment/detachment direction. A stepped portion is provided, and an engaging member is provided on the front side of the seat storage device in the attachment/detachment direction, so that when the seat storage device is pulled out, substantially the entire seat storage device is pulled out of the device main body. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the engaging member is configured to engage with the stepped portion to prevent the sheet storage device from being pulled out.