JPH02110067A - Image former - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the number of part items as well as to make a stacker into a large size by constituting a part of a turnover means with a gate means of a sorter, using the discharge roller as a paper discharge roller of the stacker in combination, and discharging a sheet of paper directly to the stacker. CONSTITUTION:In case of duplex copying, a gate means 47 is rotated to a lowermost end, a lower side of the discharge roller pair 49 is made contact with an idle roller 57, and a turnover roller 55 and a selector gate 56 are moved upward, thus a sheet of paper already image fixed is fed onto a turnover tray 54. In succession, the turnover roller 55 is lowered as being reversely rotated, making it come into contact with the paper, and when a paper rear end comes off a paper discharge roller pair 36, a turnover roller 58 comes to a stop, and the gate 56 is rotated downward, then the turnover roller 55 is reversely rotated, conveying the paper as being held between the discharge roller pair 49 and the idle roller 57, thus it is directly led into a stacker 58. Thus, the number of part items is reduced, and the promotion of a large size in the stacker is contrievable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that is applied, for example, as an electronic copying machine.

(Prior Art) Some electronic copying machines, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, are capable of double-sided copying and sorting of sheets using a sorter.

During double-sided copying, the paper on which the image has been fixed by the fixing device 1 is sent to the reversing means 3 via the gate 2, and the paper is conveyed along the guide body 5 by the rotation of the feed rollers 4 of the reversing means 3. Then, the sheets are stacked in the stacker 7 via the discharge roller 6 of the stacker 7, and then the sheets are taken out one by one by the take-out roller 8 from the stacker 7, and sent to the registration roller 9 in an inverted state, where they are After alignment, the photosensitive drum 101 and transfer charger 10 are placed again.
2, and the image is transferred to the back side of the paper, making a double-sided copy.

In addition, when copying and sorting multiple copies of a document, the paper on which the image has been fixed by the fixing device 1 is sent to the gate means 104 of the sorter device 9 via a pair of paper ejection rollers 103, and the gate means 104 is rotated. According to the movement, the discharge roller 105 is moved up and down to feed the sheets into each bin 106 and sort them.

However, in the past, since the reversing means 3 was provided inside the copying machine main body 107, when the distance Ho between the conveyor belt 108 and the bottom of the stacker 7 was fixed, the jam removal height H1+H2 was low, and the jam removal was difficult. Workability was poor.

Further, since the gate 2 is required, it is necessary to take the width dimension W1, and the width dimension of the copying machine main body 107 is correspondingly W. It had the disadvantage of being too wide.

Furthermore, since the reversing means 3 requires a long guide plate 5 and a large number of feed rollers 4, the number of parts is large and the cost is high.

Therefore, in order to solve the above drawback, as shown in FIG. 7, a part of the reversing means 111 is constituted by the gate means 104 of the sorter device 109, and as shown in FIG. A reversing tray 112 is provided, and above the reversing tray 112, a reversing roller 113 and a switching gate 114, which can move up and down and rotate forward and backward, and an idle roller 115 are provided. A device in which a guide body 116 is provided between the two has been developed.

The gate 114 is connected to the shaft 11 as shown in FIG.
A solenoid 119 is connected to one end of the shaft 117 via a lever 118. When the solenoid 119 is energized, the spring 120
The lever 118 is pulled against the urging force of the gate 1
14 moves downward and when the excitation is released, the spring 1
It is rotated upward by a biasing force of 20.

The reversing roller 113 is rotated forward and backward by a drive motor 121.

Therefore, during double-sided copying, the gate means 104 is
As shown in FIG. 0 (a) and FIG.
5, the reversing roller 113 and the switching gate 114 are moved upward, and the paper P with the image fixed thereon sent from the fixing device 1 is sent onto the reversing tray 112 via the ejection roller pair 6. . Next, Figure 10 (b
), as shown in FIG. 11(b), the reversing roller 113 is rotated and lowered to contact the paper P, and as shown in FIG.
), as shown in FIG. 11(C), when the rear end of the paper P comes off the paper ejection roller pair 6, the rotation of the reversing roller 113 is stopped and the gate 114 is rotated downward.
At the end of the rotation, the paper P is shot down. Next, as shown in FIGS. 10(d) and 11(d), the reversing roller 113 is reversely rotated, and the paper P is sent between the discharge roller 6 and the idle roller 115 and conveyed under pressure. . When the paper P is pinched and conveyed in this way, as shown in FIG.
As shown in e), the switching gate 114 and the reversing roller 113 are raised. At this time, the next sheet P is sent to the discharge roller pair 6, and is sent onto the reversing tray 112 in a state overlapping with the previous sheet P, as shown in FIG. 10(f). The previous paper P is introduced into the stacker 122 via the guide body 116 and the paper ejection roller pair 110, and then, as shown in FIGS. The sheet P is rotated downward and the next sheet P is sent between the discharge roller pair 6 and the idle roller 115 as shown in FIG. 10(i).

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the past, the paper discharge roller pair 110 of the stacker 122 was specially required, resulting in a large number of parts and high costs.

Further, since the guide 116 is provided between the paper ejection roller pair 110 of the stacker 122 and the idle roller 115, there is a problem that the length of the stacker 122 is shortened by the length of the guide 116.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its object is to provide an image forming apparatus that is inexpensive and allows the size of the stacker to be increased.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention continuously reverses the paper onto which the image has been transferred in the image transfer section by a reversing means, and the paper discharge roller of the stacker The sheets are accumulated in a stacker via a stacker, the sheets accumulated in this stacker are taken out, sent again to the image transfer section, the image is transferred thereto, and then the paper is ejected from the paper ejection section. a sorter comprising bins and gate means for selectively guiding sheets to the bins via ejection rollers, the gate means of the sorter forming part of the reversing means, and the ejection rollers being connected to the stacker; The paper is also used as a paper ejection roller, and the paper is ejected directly from the paper ejection roller to the stacker.

(Function) By the above means, the number of parts can be reduced and the guide 11 can be
It is now possible to feed paper into the stacker without using 6.

(Example) The present invention will be described below with reference to an example shown in FIGS. 1 to 5.

Note that the same parts as those shown in FIGS. 7 to 11 are given the same numbers, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 2 shows an electronic copying machine, in which a photosensitive drum 12 is rotatably provided approximately at the center of a main body 11 thereof. Around the photosensitive drum 12, a charger 13, an exposure section 14, and a developing device 15 are arranged in order along the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 12.
, 16, transfer charger 17, peeling charger 18
, a cleaner 19 and a static eliminator 20 are provided.

Further, an exposure system 21 is provided in the upper part of the main body 11. The exposure system 21 is composed of an exposure lamp 22, first to third reflection mirrors 2B, 24.degree. 25, a lens 26, and fourth to sixth reflection mirrors 27, 28, and 29.

The main body 11 is placed on a box 51, and paper feed cassettes 30 and 31 are provided inside the box 51 so as to be freely accessible.

Furthermore, a large capacity paper feeder 52 is provided on one side of the main body 11.
A manual paper feeder 53 is provided on the upper surface of the paper feeder 52 .

Paper fed from the paper feed cassette 30, 31 and the manual paper feed section 53 are conveyed along a paper conveyance path 32 provided within the main body 11.

In the paper transport path 32, along the paper transport direction,
Registration roller pair 33, transfer and peeling charger 1
7.18, a conveyor belt 34, a fixing device 35, and a pair of paper discharge rollers 36 are provided.

Further, a document placing table 38 is provided on the upper surface of the main body 11, and a platen cover 39 is placed on the document placing table 38.
is provided. A platen sheet 40 is provided inside the platen cover 39.

On the other hand, a sorter device 45 is provided at the paper discharge section of the apparatus main body 11. This sorter device 45 includes a plurality of bins 46 disposed at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction, and a gate means 47 provided between these bins 46 and the paper ejection roller 36. It is composed of.

The gate means 47 includes a telescopic and rotatable guide body 48, and a pair of discharge rollers 49 is provided at the rotary end of the guide body 48.

Further, the gate means 4 is provided at the bottom of the bin 46...
7 and a reversing tray 54 that constitutes a continuous reversing means 53.
is provided. As shown in FIG. 1, on this reversing tray 51 is a reversing roller 55 that can move up and down and rotate forward and backward.
A rotatable switching gate 56 is provided, and an idle roller 57 as a feed roller is provided below the discharge roller pair 49.

By the way, the idle roller 57 is connected to the gate means 4.
7 is moved to the lowest stage, its ejection roller pair 49 rolls into contact and doubles as the paper ejection roller of the stacker 58, so that the paper is directly fed into the stacker 58.

During normal copying, light is scanned by the exposure system 21 on the original placed on the original placing table 38, and the reflected light is imaged on the photosensitive drum 12 whose surface is charged by the charging charger 13. An electrostatic latent image is formed. This electrostatic latent image is visualized by supplying developer from the developing device 15 or 16. At this time, paper is supplied from the paper feed cassette 30, 31 or the large-capacity paper feed device 52, so that the photosensitive drum 12 and the transfer charger 1
7 to the image transfer section 12a between the photosensitive drum 12
The upper developed image is transferred to paper.

The paper to which this image has been transferred is peeled off from the photosensitive drum 12 by the action of the peeling charger 18, and then transferred to the conveyor belt 3.
4, the image is sent to the fixing device 35 and the image is fixed thereon. The paper on which this image has been fixed is discharged via the paper discharge roller 36, and is discharged onto the topmost bin 46 via the gate means 47 of the sorter device 45.

Further, when copying and sorting a plurality of copies of a document, the gate means 41 is rotated in the vertical direction, and the ejection roller pair 4
9 to each bin 46 and sorted.

Further, in the case of double-sided copying, the gate means 47
As shown in Figure (a), the discharge roller pair 49 is rotated to the lowest end, and the lower side of the discharge roller pair 49 comes into contact with the idle roller 57, and the reversing roller 55 and switching gate 56 are moved upward, and the discharge roller pair 49 is moved upward. The paper P on which the image has been fixed is sent onto the reversing tray 54 via a pair of ejection rollers 49. Then, as shown in FIG. 5(b), the reversing roller 55 is rotated in the opposite direction and lowered to contact the paper P, and as shown in FIG. When the paper P is removed from the pair 6, the reversing roller 58 is stopped and the gate 56 rotates downward, and the paper P is struck downward at the end of the rotation. Then, the reversing roller 55 is reversely rotated, and the paper P is transferred between the ejection roller 49 and the idle roller 57.
It is sent between the two and conveyed under pressure. When the paper P is pinched and conveyed in this manner, the switching gate 56 and the reversing roller 55 are raised, as shown in FIG. 5(d). At this time, the next sheet P is sent to the ejection roller pair 49, and is sent onto the reversing tray 54 in a state overlapping with the previous sheet P. The previous sheet P is conveyed under pressure by the four discharge roller pairs and the idle roller 57 and directly introduced into the stacker 58 .

As mentioned above, in order to use the discharge roller pair 49 of the gate means 47 as the paper discharge roller of the stacker 58,
Cost can be reduced by reducing the number of parts.

Further, since the paper P is directly ejected to the stacker 58 from between the ejection roller 49 and the idle roller 57, there is no need for the paper guide body 116 as in the conventional case, which has the advantage that the stacker 58 can be made larger. There is.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, since the discharge roller of the gate means is also used as the paper discharge roller of the stacker, the number of parts can be reduced and costs can be reduced.

Further, since the paper is directly ejected from the ejection roller to the stacker, there is no need for a paper guide body as in the past, and the stacker can be made larger accordingly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a continuous reversing means, FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an electronic copying machine, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing its structure. A perspective view, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of paper, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the reversing operation of paper, FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing the first conventional example, and FIG. 7 is a second conventional example. FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the sheet reversing means, FIG. 9 is a perspective view thereof, and FIGS. 10 and 11 are explanatory views showing the sheet reversing operation. 12a... Image transfer section, 46... Bin, 49...
Ejection roller, 53... Reversing means, 58... Stacker P... Paper. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue] Figure 11 (a) Figure (b) Figure (d) Figure (C) Figure (b) Figure (c) Figure 11 (d)

Claims (1)

[Claims] The sheets onto which the image has been transferred in the image transfer section are continuously reversed by a reversing means and stacked in the stacker via the paper ejection roller of the stacker, and the sheets accumulated in the stacker are taken out and sent to the image transfer section again. After transferring the image, the paper is ejected from the paper ejection section, and the paper ejection section includes a sorter comprising a plurality of bins and a gate means for selectively guiding the sheets to these bins via an ejection roller. An image characterized in that the gate means of the sorter constitutes a part of the reversing means, and the discharge roller thereof also serves as a paper discharge roller of the stacker, and the paper is discharged directly from the discharge roller to the stacker. Forming device.