JPH01220676A - Discharged paper receiving device of image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the useless space on the paper discharge side by disposing a discharged paper tray with a gradient below a biased guide plate provided on a paper discharge port and providing a movable rack on the discharged paper tray, which can be moved in the direction of guiding paper, where the leading end of paper on the discharged paper tray is engaged. CONSTITUTION:A copied paper sheet 7 is discharged in the direction of an arrow A from a paper discharge port 1a by a pair of paper discharge rollers 6. When the leading end of the paper sheet is brought into contact with a biased guide plate 5, the paper sheet is guided by the guide plate and biased in the direction of an arrow B to be sent out onto a discharged paper tray. When the leading end of the paper sheet is brought into contact with the discharged paper tray 4 at a point P, the paper sheet is guided in the direction of an arrow C, dropped and engaged with a movable rack 10 to be placed on the discharged paper tray 4. If the trailing end of the paper sheet is positioned above the point P, the second and following discharged paper sheets are also brought into contact with the tray about the point P and dropped while being slid on the paper sheet, and the leading end thereof is engaged with the movable rack. Thus, the second and following paper sheets are respectively superposed on the next paper sheet ahead. Accordingly, the position of the movable rack 10 is changed depending on the size of a paper sheet so that the trailing end of the paper sheet placed on the tray 4 is positioned above the point P.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field This invention relates to a paper discharge receiving device for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

For example, in a copying machine, as shown in FIG. The total dimension B in the operating state with paper output tray (also called receiving tray) 4' attached becomes extremely large, and the space above and below the paper feed cassette 3' and paper output tray 4' is wasted. It has become.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, there is a system in which pull-out paper cassettes 3 are inserted into the table 2 from the front in multiple stages to eliminate wasted space on the paper cassette side. The space above and below the paper discharge tray 4' side is also wasted.

Further, as shown in FIG. 12, a substantially U-shaped paper ejection tray 4
4' is installed at a steep angle below the paper ejection port of the copying machine main body 1, and the paper is ejected into the paper ejection tray 4', thereby reducing the side protrusion of the paper ejection tray. However, the sheets stored in the paper ejection tray 4' do not necessarily overlap in the same order, and the order of the pages of the copies becomes random, which poses a problem in that it becomes troublesome to align the pages.

Such problems are not limited to copying machines, but also apply to other image forming apparatuses such as printers and facsimile machines.

This invention has been made in view of the above points, and aims to reduce the lateral protrusion of the paper ejection tray in an image forming apparatus to reduce wasted space on the paper ejection side, and to improve the paper ejection side. The purpose is to prevent the page order of the paper from being out of order.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, this invention is provided at an angle with respect to the paper ejection direction on the outside of the paper ejection port of an image forming apparatus, and the direction of the paper ejected from the paper ejection port is obliquely arranged. An eccentric guide plate that biases the paper downward, and an obtuse angle is provided below the eccentric guide plate to the eccentric direction, and the leading edge side of the paper that is ejected is guided downward by the eccentric guide plate. The image forming apparatus consists of a paper output tray on which the paper is placed, and a movable rack that is movable in the paper guide direction on the paper output tray and that locks the leading edge of the paper placed on the paper output tray. To provide a paper discharge receiving device for an image forming apparatus, which can keep the rear end position of paper placed on a paper discharge tray constant by changing the position of a movable rack according to the size of the paper discharged from the paper discharge tray. It is something.

Further, in the paper discharge receiving device, the position of the movable rack is controlled according to the paper feed size signal from the image forming apparatus,
Also provided is a movable rack control means that keeps the rear end position of the paper placed on the paper discharge tray constant.

Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a state in which a paper discharge receiving device according to an embodiment of the present invention is attached to a copying machine, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the paper discharge side thereof.

As shown in these figures, this copying machine has a copying machine main body 1 placed on a table 2, and four drawer-type paper feed cassettes 3 are inserted into the table 2 from the front side. There is.

An eccentric guide plate 5 is provided outside the paper ejection port 1a provided on the side surface of the copying machine body 1 to bias the direction of the paper 7 discharged from the paper ejection port 1a diagonally downward (change the direction). It is arranged to be inclined with respect to the paper ejection direction by the paper ejection roller pair 6.

Further, a paper discharge tray 4 is installed diagonally below the eccentric guide plate 5 so as to form an obtuse angle with respect to the eccentric direction, and its lower part is inserted into a recess 2a formed on the side surface of the table 2. 5 guides the leading end of the paper 7 which is discharged in an eccentric manner as shown by the arrow in FIG.

Further, a movable rank 10 is provided on the paper discharge tray 4 so as to be movable in the paper guiding direction, thereby locking the leading end (lower side) of the paper 7 placed on the paper discharge tray 4.

Next, the mounting condition of the eccentric guide plate 5 will be explained with reference to FIG.

The eccentric guide plate 5 has a pair of arm portions 5a formed in a substantially V-shape at both ends thereof, each of which is fitted into a pair of slits 1b formed at both ends of the paper ejection port 1a of the copying machine main body 1, and the upper end thereof. The part is fixed to the main body fixing part (not shown) with a set screw.

Further, inside the copying machine main body 1, in proximity to the pair of paper ejection rollers 6,
A fish 8 for detecting paper discharge is rotatably supported on a shaft 8a, and a pair of paper discharge rollers 6 collects the copied paper 7.
When paper is ejected in the direction of arrow A, by pushing down and rotating the tip of this fish 8, the microswitch 9, which is a paper ejection detection sensor, is turned on and outputs a paper ejection signal.

When the copied paper 7 is ejected from the paper ejection port 1a in the direction of arrow A by the paper ejection roller pair 6, its leading edge comes into contact with the eccentric guide plate 5 and is guided by the slightly curved inclined surface thereof. The ejection direction is deviated in the direction of arrow B.

Below that, a paper discharge tray 4 has its tip projected outward by a dimension a from the tip of the eccentric guide plate 5, and the angle θ formed with the even-odd direction (arrow B) by the eccentric guide plate 5 is an obtuse angle. It is installed obliquely so that (90'<θ×180°).

If this angle θ is θ<90°, the paper will be bent too much on the paper output tray surface and the resistance will increase, the leading edge of the paper will not be guided smoothly in the direction of arrow B, and jams will easily occur. .

On the other hand, if θ)180'', the paper discharge tray 4 cannot be attached to the table 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing details of the paper discharge tray 4. As shown in FIG.

This paper discharge tray 4 has a pair of insertion pieces 4a protruding from both sides of a portion near its lower end so that it can be detachably attached to a recess 2a on the side surface of the table 2. A locking groove 4b is formed in 4a.

Further, a pair of semi-cylindrical portions 4c and a guide groove 4d following the semi-cylindrical portions 4c are formed along the longitudinal direction at intervals in the width direction on the upper surface of the paper ejection tray 4. For example, a metal rod is bent therein. The formed movable rack 10 is moved in the paper guiding direction (
It is inserted so that it can move in the direction of the arrow).

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, the position of the locking part (rising part) of this movable rack 10 is set so as to serve as a mark when moving according to the size of paper discharged from the copying machine main body 1. , an indicator 4e is printed on the top surface of the paper discharge tray 4. In the illustrated example, the paper size is B5. A4 horizontal,
A black triangle mark is printed at the movable rack movement position for A4 vertical paper.

The movable rank 10 is held at the moved position by the frictional force within the semi-cylindrical portion 4c, and is prevented from moving by the weight of the paper to be locked.

According to this embodiment configured as described above, when a paper size is specified and a copy start key (not shown) is pressed, the selection of one of the four paper feed cassettes in the table 2 is performed as in a conventional copying machine. A copying operation is performed by feeding sheets one by one from the paper feed cassette 3 containing sheets of the specified size.

As clearly shown in FIG. 3, the copied paper 7 is ejected from the paper ejection port 1a in the direction of arrow A by the paper ejection roller pair 6, and when its leading edge contacts the eccentric guide plate 5, it is guided by it. The paper is then deviated in the direction of arrow B and sent onto the paper discharge tray 4.

When the leading edge of the paper comes into contact with the paper output tray 4 at point P, in the case of the first sheet of paper, the leading edge of the paper is guided along the top surface of the paper output tray 4 in the direction of arrow C and falls, making it movable. It is locked to a rack 10 and placed on this paper discharge tray 4.

Therefore, if the trailing edge (upper side) of the paper is above point P, the leading edge of the second or subsequent paper that is ejected and is deviated in the direction of arrow B by the deviating guide plate 5 will be ejected. It contacts the previous sheet of paper placed on the paper tray 4 at approximately point P, slides on the paper, is guided in the direction of arrow B, and falls, and its tip engages the movable rack 10. The paper is then stopped and placed on top of the previous paper (see Figure 1).

Therefore, the size of the paper ejected from the copying machine main body 1,
In other words, the position of the movable rank 10 is changed according to the paper size selected by the operator, so that the position of the trailing edge (upper side) of the paper placed on the paper output tray 4 is always above point P shown in FIG. By setting the copy sheets at a constant position, the ejected copy sheets are placed on the paper ejection tray 4 one after another without the page order being out of order.

Furthermore, since the paper discharge tray 4 is installed diagonally without protruding to the side too much, wasted space on the paper discharge side can be reduced.

By the way, in the above embodiment, the movable rank 1 of the paper discharge tray 4
Although the operator must manually change the position of 0, another embodiment in which this can be done automatically will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing the movable rack moving mechanism;
The figure is an enlarged sectional view of the main part.

A stepping motor 11 is attached to the back side of the paper discharge tray 4 via a bracket 17, and a pinion gear 12 is fixed to its rotating shaft. The rotation of the stepping motor 11 is controlled by a beating signal from an option control section, which will be described later, which is input via a connector 18.

Moreover, a pair of parallel parts 10a of the movable rank 10.

Rack gears 14a and 14b are respectively secured to the back side of the semi-cylindrical portion 4c of the paper ejection tray 4 to the rack gears 10b, and stepped screws 15 are inserted into elongated holes (not shown) as shown in FIG. It is attached to the stand 16 so as to be slidable in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

Two intermediate gears 13 (one not shown in FIG. 7) are placed between the pinion gear 12 and one rack gear 14, and one intermediate gear is placed between the other rack 14b. 13 are interlocked with each other.

Therefore, when the stepping motor 11 rotates, the rotation of the pinion gear 12 is transmitted to each rack gear 14a, 14b via each intermediate gear 13 and converted into linear motion in the same direction, and the rotation of the pinion gear 12 is transmitted to each rack gear 14a, 14b through each intermediate gear 13 and converted into linear motion in the same direction. The parallel parts 10a, 1 of the movable rack 10
0b is the direction of the arrow in Figure 6 (same as the direction of the arrow in Figure 4)
, and the position of movable rank 10 changes.

The rest of the structure of this embodiment is the same as that of the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, so a description thereof will be omitted. However, the control section that constitutes the movable rack control means together with this movable rack moving mechanism will be omitted. , will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a control section that controls the entire copying machine of this embodiment, and shows the main control section 20. Optical system control section 21
．． It consists of three control sections: and an option control section 22.

The main control section 20 is a microcomputer consisting of a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., and is connected to the optical system control section 21 via a serial transmission line.

It is connected to the option control section 22 via a parallel path line.

The main control section 20 further includes an operation section 23, a first paper feed size detection section 24. Second paper feed size detection section 25.
and 1102B for copying process are connected.

In the illustrated example, two paper feed port size detection units are provided, but in actual practice, paper feed cassette 3 that can be inserted into this copying machine will be installed.
(four stages in the example shown in FIG. 1) are provided, and the size of the paper stored in each of the paper feed cassettes is detected.

The option control 22 controls the position of the movable rack 10 by connecting the microswitch (μsw) g, which is the paper discharge detection sensor described above, to the stepping motor (STM) 11 of the paper discharge tray 4.

In addition, there are sorters and automatic document feeders (ADF).

If options such as a double-sided tray are used, these are also controlled.

To control the position of the movable rack 10, when a paper feed port is specified manually using a key from the operation unit 23, the main control unit 20 determines the paper feed size from the paper feed size signal from the size detection unit 24 or 25 of the paper feed port. Determine the position of the movable rack 10 necessary to ensure that when the paper is ejected and placed on the paper ejection tray 4, the trailing edge will be at a certain position above point P in FIG. The data is sent to the option control section 22.

Thereby, the option control unit 22 outputs a required drive pulse to the stepping motor 11 at a predetermined timing, and moves the movable rank 10 to a required position by the mechanism explained in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Movable rack 1 driven by the stepping motor 11
An example of the movement timing of 0 will be explained with reference to the timing chart of FIG.

In this example, the stepping motor 11 is connected to the movable rack 10.
is the lowest position (the front edge locking position of the largest size paper)
is set as the home position, that is, the reference position.

When the copy start key is pressed, the movable rank 10 moves from the home position to the vicinity of the leading edge locking position corresponding to the paper feed size, as shown by a in FIG.
Pause as indicated by '. During this time, a series of normal copying operations are performed, and when the copied paper is ejected, the microswitch 9, which is a paper release sensor, is turned on, and the timing is set at the time when it returns to off again.
As shown in b, the movable rank 10 moves to the position where the leading end of the paper of the designated size is locked.

Thereafter, it remains at that position until the paper feed size is changed, and returns to the home position after the copying operation is completed.

However, the movable rank 10 does not necessarily have to be moved at such a timing, and may be moved to the leading end locking position on the paper output tray 4 when the paper is ejected according to the paper feed size at the start of copying. You may also do so.

According to this embodiment, the position of the movable rack 10 is automatically controlled according to the paper feed size signal from the copying machine main body, thereby keeping the rear end position of the filter paper placed on the paper output tray 4 constant. Therefore, in addition to the effects of the above-described embodiments, the troublesome operation of moving the movable rack is eliminated, and page errors due to forgotten operations are also prevented.

It should be noted that the paper eject receiver according to the present invention can be used not only for copying machines but also for other image forming apparatuses such as printers and facsimile machines.

As explained above, by using the paper ejection tray according to the present invention, it is possible to significantly reduce the wasted space (dead space) on the paper ejection side of the image forming apparatus, and moreover, Since the sheets are stacked one on top of the other on the paper ejection tray, there is no trouble in aligning the pages.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic front view of a paper ejection tray according to an embodiment of the present invention showing the state in which the device is attached to a copying machine, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the paper ejection side thereof, and Fig. 3 is a schematic front view showing the state in which the device is attached to a copying machine. The installation of the guide plate is an explanatory diagram of the main parts showing the state etc., Figure 4 is also a perspective view of the paper output tray, and Figure 5 is the
FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing a movable rack moving mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main parts thereof. . FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the control section, and FIG. 9 is a timing chart showing an example of movement timing of the movable rack. 10 to 12 are schematic front views showing different examples of copying machines equipped with conventional paper feed cassettes and paper ejection trays, respectively. 1...Copy machine body 2...Table 3...
Paper feed cassette 4... Paper ejection tray 5... Even-odd guide plate 6... Paper ejection roller pair 7... Paper 9
...Micro switch (paper discharge detection sensor)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Movable rack 11... Stepping motor 20... Main control section 22... Option control section 24... First paper feed size detection section 25... Second paper feed port size detection section Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 10 Figure 12 Figure 11

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An eccentric guide that is arranged at an angle with respect to the paper ejection direction outside the paper ejection port of the image processing device, and biases the direction of the paper ejected from the paper ejection port diagonally downward. A plate is provided below the eccentric guide plate so as to form an obtuse angle with respect to the eccentric direction of the eccentric guide plate, and the leading edge side of the paper is guided downward by the eccentric guide plate. It consists of a paper output tray on which the paper is placed, and a movable rack that is movable in the paper guide direction on the paper output tray and that locks the leading edge of the paper placed on the paper output tray. Image forming characterized in that by changing the position of the movable rack according to the size of the paper discharged from the forming device, the rear end position of the paper placed on the paper discharge tray can be kept constant. The device's paper receiving device. 2. In the paper discharge receiving device of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, the position of the movable rack is controlled in accordance with the paper feed size signal from the image forming apparatus to adjust the trailing edge position of the paper placed on the paper discharge tray. 1. A discharge sheet receiving device for an image forming apparatus, characterized in that a movable rack control means is provided to maintain a constant value.