JPH02199467A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely take out an image carrier unit on a developing unit by projecting and forming knobs on both sides of a basket and providing knobs on the prescribed position of both sides of the image carrier unit. CONSTITUTION:The pair knobs 34 are integrally formed by positioning the upper part of both ends of the image carrier 24 and projecting upward the upper end of the frame 39 of the lower main body 1 on both ends of the basket 19 of an electrophotographic printer. Besides, the pair knobs 54 and the pair knobs 56 are integrally formed in the housing of a destaticizing part in the image carrier unit 21 and both outside a toner container 30, respectively. These knobs 54 and 56 are arranged at the position where they approach inside a frame 39. Thus, only after the basket 19 is taken out the main body, the unit 21 or the developing unit 22 can be taken out, the fall of the units 21 and 22 can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus used in copying machines and printers based on electrophotography.

Conventional technology In copiers and printers based on electrophotography, an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier is developed, the developed image is transferred to paper by a transfer section, and the transferred image is fixed in a fixing section. A basket that removably accommodates the image bearing unit and the developing unit is attached to the upper part of the paper conveyance path connecting the transfer section and the fixing section, and when handling jams, etc., the basket can be moved upward together with the image forming section. Some are designed to be removed to open the paper conveyance path, or to allow the image carrier unit and developing unit to be attached and detached independently.

Such a device has a handle for gripping at least the basket and the image carrier unit, which is a consumable item and needs to be replaced.

Problem to be Solved by the Invention When pulling up the image carrier unit or the developing unit while leaving the basket inside the main body, the unit or the hand holding the unit tends to interfere with the internal parts of the main body, making it difficult to take out the unit. Sometimes it's difficult and you drop it. As a result, the image carrier of the image carrier unit may be damaged due to interference with components within the main body, or the toner in the developing unit may be scattered.

Means for Solving the Problems A basket with an opening at the top that accommodates an image carrier unit and a developing unit is removably attached to a main body in which a transfer section is held, and a basket is attached to both sides of the basket from an internal structure of the main body. The handles are protruded to form handles, and are provided on at least both sides of the image carrier unit, and are located inside the structure and outside the basket.

When the working image carrier unit and the developing unit are attached to the main body together with the basket, the handle of the image carrier unit is located inside the structure inside the main body, so it is prohibited to grasp it. The handle of the get can be grasped because it protrudes from the structure inside the main body, and therefore,
Regardless of whether the person is conscious or not, the image carrier unit and the developing unit can be taken out of the main body together with the basket, and then the image carrier unit or the developing unit can be taken out from the basket. The image carrier unit and developing unit can be attached to and removed from the basket in a large working space outside the main body, thereby preventing the image carrying unit and developing unit from falling or colliding with parts inside the main body. obtain.

Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view showing the overall structure. In the figure, 1 is a lower body that constitutes a part of the main body of the electrophotographic printer. This lower body 1 connects a base cover 2 and an upper cover 3. A portion 3 of a top cover 4 serving as an upper body is attached to the upper part of the lower body 1 so as to be vertically movable. A power source 5 and a circuit board 6 are attached to the base cover 2. The upper cover 3 is provided with a paper transport path 8 for transporting the paper in the paper feed cassette 7, and at the end of this paper transport path 8, the paper is transported to a paper ejection tray 9 formed on the top surface of the top cover 4.
A paper ejection path 10 for ejecting the paper towards is connected to this connection portion, and a switching unit 1 for switching the paper ejection path to the side surface of the lower main body l, which is on the extension surface of the paper ejection path 10 or the paper conveyance path 8.
1 is provided. Further, the paper conveyance path 8 includes a paper feed roller 12 that contacts the uppermost sheet of the paper feed cassette 7, a start sensor 13 that optically detects the conveyed paper, and a detection sensor 13 that detects the paper that is being conveyed. A registration roller 14 whose rotational movement is controlled by a signal, and a transfer section 15 which transfers a developed image on an image carrier 24 to a sheet of paper, which will be described later.
, a peeling section 16 that peels the paper from the image carrier 24 , a high-voltage power supply 17 , and a fixing section 18 that grips the paper that has passed through the transfer section 15 and fixes the transferred image on the paper from upstream to downstream. They are arranged in order.

Further, a basket 19 with vertical openings located above the paper transport path 8 is attached to the upper cover 3, and an image forming unit 2 is detachably housed in the basket 19.
0 consists of an image carrier unit 21 and a developing unit 22. The image carrier unit 21 includes an image carrier 24 rotatably mounted on both sides of a support 23, a charging section 25 that charges the image carrier 24, and a charging section 25 that charges the image carrier 24 and exposes the image carrier 24 to light on its outer periphery. A static eliminator 26 that makes the charge uniform and a waste toner container 2
7 is attached to the support body 23, and a blade 2 is attached to the waste toner container 27 to scrape off the waste toner adhering to the image carrier 24.
8 and a roller 29 that conveys the scraped off waste toner toward the back of the waste toner container 27. The developing unit 22 includes a developing roller 31 and a stirring blade 32 that stirs the toner in a toner container 30 containing toner.
(See Figure 5). Furthermore, an optical section 33 is attached to the inner surface of the top cover 4 to scan the photosensitive surface of the image carrier 24 with a beam of light.

Next, the structure of the basket 19 and the image forming section 20 is shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing the support structure for the basket 19 and the image forming section 20, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the lower main body 1 and the basket 19, and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the support structure for the image forming section 20. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the basket 19. As shown in these figures, at both ends of the basket 19 are a pair of handles that are located above both ends of the image carrier 24 and protrude upward from the upper edge of a frame 39 that is an internal structure of the lower body 1. 34 is integrally formed.

These handles 34 include guide grooves 36 for vertically movably guiding bearings 35 that protrude from both outer sides of the support body 23 and support the image carrier 24, and support shafts that protrude from both sides of the toner container 30. Guide groove 3 that guides 37 in a vertically movable manner
8 is formed.

Further, the transfer portion 15 and the peeling portion 16 are positioned on the frame 39 fixed to the upper cover 3 and fixed by screws, and the bearing 35 and the support shaft 37 are positioned on the frame 39. A stopper 4 that comes into contact with the lower end of the supporter 23 of the image carrier unit 21 is formed.
2 are erected. These support portions 40, 41 have a concave shape with an opening at the top and a shape that widens toward the top. Furthermore, the frame 39 is provided with a locking means 43 that elastically engages with the image carrier unit 21. This locking means 43 includes a lever 45 that rotates around a support shaft 44 and a lever 47 that rotates around a support shaft 46 . The upper portions of these levers 45, 47 are urged in opposite directions by the urging force of a spring 48. At the top of one lever 45, the bearing 35 is attached to the frame 39.
A downward slope 49 that presses against the bottom of the support portion 40 of the image carrier unit 21 and a slope 50 that is inclined upward from the slope 49 are formed. A downward slope 52 that presses the bottle 51 protruding from the outer surface of the bottle 51, and a slope 53 whose slope direction is changed upward from the slope 52 are formed. moreover,
A handle 54 is integrally formed on the housing of the static eliminator 26, which is a component of the image carrier unit 21.
Handles 56 are integrally formed on both outer sides of the toner container 30. These handles 54 and 56 are so close to the handle 34 that when the handle 34 of the basket 19 is grasped, the fingers of the same hand can be hung thereon. Further, these handles 54 and 56 are arranged inside the structure of the lower body 1, that is, at a position below one edge of the frame 39 and close to the inner surface of the frame 39.

These handles 54, 56 are provided with upwardly facing restraints 55.
5-7 and the downward finger hook for hanging the finger are the parts 55a and 5.
7a are formed. Furthermore, the developing unit 2
2, a motor 58 for driving the developing roller 31 and the stirring blade 32 is fixed, and a power input terminal 59 connected to the motor 58 is provided to protrude downward. A knife-shaped connector 60 for elastically holding the frame 39 is fixed to the inner surface of the frame 39. This connector 60 is connected to a power source. Further, on the lower surface of the housing of the optical section 33, as shown in FIG. 1, a proximal section 61 is formed which faces one edge of the support body 23 of the image carrier unit 21 with a predetermined gap. There is.

In such a configuration, when performing jam removal or maintenance, the top cover 4 is rotated upward to open the two sides of the upper cover 3. In this state, the handle 54 of the image carrier unit 21 and the handle 56 of the developing unit 22 are located inside the frame 39 and cannot be gripped. Therefore, the basket 19 is pulled up together with the image carrier unit 21 and the developing unit 22 by grasping the handle 34, and then the finger hooks of the handles 54 and 57 are removed from the part 5.
5a and 57a to pull up the image carrier unit 21 and the developing unit 22 from the basket 19. When storing the image carrier unit 21 and the developing unit 22 in the basket 19, this can be done in a wide working space outside. Thereby, there is no risk of dropping the image carrier unit 21 or hitting the image carrier 24 with surrounding objects, and the developing unit 2
2, it is possible to avoid a situation where the toner is scattered.

When disassembling a jam or assembling after maintenance, insert the bearing 35 of the image carrier unit 21 into the guide groove 36 of the basket 19 taken out from the upper cover 3, and insert the support shaft 37 of the developing unit 22 into the guide groove 38. The handles 34 on both sides of the basket 19 are grasped, and the basket 19 is housed in the upper cover 3 while the bearing 35 and the support shaft 37 are fitted into the support portions 40, 41 of the frame 39. At this time, the bearing 35 whose movement in directions other than the vertical direction is regulated by the guide groove 36 is supported by the upward slope 50 of the lever 44, and the bottle 51 is supported by the upward slope 50 of the lever 47.
3, but the user can press the pressing portion 55 of the handle 54 with his or her fingers while holding the handle 34 of the basket 19.

By this operation, the lever 45 is rotated counterclockwise against the force of the spring 48 by the force generated by the contact between the bearing 35 and the slope 5o, allowing the bearing 35 to move downward. Similarly, the bottle 51 is also supported by the slope 53 of the lever 47, and by pushing down the pressing part 55 of the handle 54, the lever 47 is moved by the force of the spring 48 due to the force generated by the contact between the bottle 51 and the slope 5I-3. The bottle 51 is rotated clockwise to allow the bottle 51 to move downward. The lever 45, which has returned to its original state due to the restoring force of the spring 48, uses its downward slope 49 to support the bearing 3.
Similarly, the lever 47 presses the bottle 51 downward with its downward slope 52, pressing the lower edges of both sides of the support 23 against the stopper 42.

The developing unit 22 is supported by its own weight with the support shaft 37 positioned on the support portion 41. By positioning the support shaft 37 above the development roller 31 and closer to the image carrier 24 than the center of gravity of the development unit 22, , developing unit 22
The developing roller 31 rotates clockwise around the support shaft 37.
Flanges provided at both ends of the image carrier 24 abut against the outer periphery of the end portion of the image carrier 24 .

As a result, the developing unit 22 is attached to the frame 39 in a stable state with a constant gap between the image carrier 24 and the developing roller 31.

As described above, the image carrier 21 and the developing unit 22 are
Since it is stably attached to the frame 39 that positions and fixes the transfer section 15 and the peeling section 16, the relative position of the image carrier 24 with respect to the transfer section 15 and the peeling section 16 can be determined accurately.

As mentioned above, the basket 19 is pulled up during jam removal and maintenance, but during this process, the bearing 35
presses the downward slope 49 of the lever 45, and the force generated by their contact causes the lever 45 to rotate counterclockwise against the force of the spring 48, allowing the bearing 35 to move upward. Similarly, the bottle 51 presses the downward slope 52 of the lever 47, and the lever 47 rotates clockwise against the force of the spring 48 due to the force generated by the contact between the two, and the bottle 51 moves upward. movement is allowed.

Effects of the Invention Since the present invention is configured as described above, when the image carrier unit and the developing unit are attached to the main body together with the basket, the handle of the image carrier unit is located inside the structure inside the main body. The handle of the basket protrudes from the structure and can therefore be grasped. Therefore, regardless of whether the person is conscious or not, the image carrier unit and the developing unit are taken out of the main body along with the basket. After that, the operation can be carried out according to the procedure for taking out the image carrier unit or the developing unit from the basket, and therefore the image carrier unit or the developing unit can be attached to and detached from the basket in a large working space outside the main body. As a result, it is possible to prevent the image carrier unit and the developing unit from falling or colliding with parts inside the main body, and accordingly, damage to the image carrier and scattering of toner in the developing unit can be prevented. It has the effect of being able to prevent

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a longitudinal side view showing the overall structure, Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the lower main body and the basket, Figure 4 is a plan view of the basket housing the image forming section, and Figure 5 is a view of the developing unit. FIG. ■ Main body, 15 Transfer section, 19 Basket, 21 Image carrier unit, 22 Development unit, 34 Basket handle, 39 Structure,
54...Handle of image carrier unit

Claims (1)

[Claims] A basket with an opening at the top for accommodating an image carrier unit and a developing unit is removably attached to a main body holding a transfer section, and handles are formed on both sides of the basket so as to protrude from an internal structure of the main body. An image forming apparatus, characterized in that handles are provided on at least both sides of the image carrier unit, the handles being located inside the structure and outside the basket.