JPH02213264A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the installation area of an equipment and to enlarge the degree of freedom of a design of a recording part by forming the recording part to a unit as a clamshell system in which the upper unit can be opened/ closed to the upper part against a lower unit, and placing it on the upper side of a reading part and an electrical part. CONSTITUTION:Since a recording part 13 is arranged on the upper side of a reading part 11 and the electrical part 12, the occupancy area of a facsimile equipment 1 becomes only the total area of the reading part 11 and the electrical part 12, and the installation area of the facsimile equipment 1 is small. On the upper side of the recording part 13, the reading part 11 and the electrical part 12 are not mounted. Accordingly, the upper unit 62 of the recording part 13 can be opened/closed independently therefrom, and a structure, rigidity and strength, etc., of each part of the recording part 13 such as the upper unit 62, a hinge 61 and a torsion spring or a gas spring can be designed separately from the weight of the reading part 11 and the electrical part 12.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a facsimile machine, and more particularly to the arrangement structure of each part of the facsimile machine.

(Prior Art) In general, a facsimile machine includes a reading unit that reads a document for transmission and converts it into an image signal, an electronic unit that processes signals for transmission and reception, and an image processing unit that converts the received signal into an image on recording paper. It consists of an electrophotographic recording section that reproduces images.

Traditionally, it has been used as the recording section of popular facsimile machines.
Many thermal recording devices have been used because they have a simple structure and are inexpensive. However, thermal recording methods have some drawbacks in terms of recording speed, halftone image reproducibility, image quality, and storage stability of recorded images, and it is difficult to fully respond to the recent demands for faster communications and higher image quality. It's becoming difficult.

On the other hand, electrophotographic recording devices used as image forming units in copiers, laser printers, etc. are superior to thermal recording methods in each of the above points, and can use plain paper as recording paper. It has many advantages, including excellent maintainability, low running costs, and the ability to record color images. Due to these advantages, electrophotographic recording devices have an extremely wide range of uses and have become highly sophisticated both technically and commercially.

Against this background, in recent years, facsimile machines of intermediate level and above have an electrophotographic recording device as the recording section, a reading section and an electrical section are functionally connected to this, and the external shape is convenient for use. It has been organized as follows.

In other words, in such conventional facsimile machines, the reading part and the electrical equipment part are arranged above the electrophotographic recording part, which occupies a large proportion in terms of size and weight, or the reading part and the electronic part are placed above it. A configuration was adopted in which the electrical components were arranged around the recording section.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, facsimile machines having a structure in which a reading section and an electrical component are disposed above a recording section have the following problems.

In other words, in general, electrophotographic recording devices are prone to jams (
In order to easily clear paper jams, the upper unit above the paper conveyance path is connected to the lower unit below by a hinge, and the upper unit can be opened and closed upwards using a so-called clamshell type housing. The body is employed.

Therefore, if a similar clamshell structure is adopted for the recording section of a facsimile machine, the reading section and the electrical section will be placed on the upper unit of the recording section, and the upper unit will be able to read these sections. The structure and strength must be such that it can support the weight of the upper unit and the electrical equipment and can be opened and closed, and the spring force of the tossin spring to bias the upper unit in the opening direction must be set accordingly. , the degree of freedom in designing the recording section is reduced accordingly.

Therefore, it is necessary to change the structure of the upper unit depending on the weight or dimensions of the reading section and electrical section, and the maximum size of documents that can be sent, as well as GI [l compatible or GIV
It has become difficult to standardize the recording section for the product lineup of facsimile machines, and in order to complete the product lineup, it is necessary to design and manufacture many types of recording sections. It was a disadvantage.

In addition, in order to avoid the above-mentioned drawbacks, the entire recording section is housed in a separate housing, the recording section can be pulled out from the housing forward, and the reading section and the electrical section are placed above the recording section against the housing. There is a facsimile machine that is configured to be attached to a facsimile machine, but this has the problem that the entire machine becomes large and heavy.

In addition, facsimile machines with a structure in which the reading section and the electronics section are arranged around the same plane of the recording section do not have the above-mentioned problems in device design, but the installation area of the entire device is large (
There is a problem with becoming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a facsimile device that has a small installation area, has a large degree of freedom in designing the recording section, and can easily share the recording section among the product lineup. .

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention includes a reading section that reads a document for transmission and converts it into an image signal, an electronic section that processes signals for transmission and reception, and an image forming apparatus that converts the received signal into an image on recording paper. In the facsimile apparatus, the recording section is unitized as a ramshell type unit in which the upper unit can be opened and closed upwardly with respect to the lower unit, and the recording section has an electrophotographic recording section that reproduces the It is arranged above the reading section and the electrical equipment section.

[For production]

Since the recording section is arranged above the reading section and the electrical component, the upper unit of the recording section does not support the reading section and the electrical component, and the upper unit can be opened and closed independently of them.

When a jam occurs in the recording section, it can be easily cleared by opening the upper unit.

Therefore, the structure and strength of each part of the recording section are designed separately from the weight of the reading section and the electrical equipment section.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 is a sectional front view of a facsimile device I according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the facsimile device 1 of FIG. 1, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of the facsimile machine l of FIG. 1.

In these figures, the facsimile device 1 includes a reading section 11 that reads a document for transmission and converts it into an image signal, an electronic section 12 that performs signal processing for transmission and reception, and
It consists of an electrophotographic recording section 13 that reproduces an image on recording paper from a received signal.

These reading section 11, electrical equipment section 12, and recording section 13 are
Each independent housing 11a, 12a.

13a and is unitized, and the reading section 1
1 and the electrical equipment section 12 are arranged below, and the recording section 13 is arranged above these.

The reading unit 11 includes an image sensor 20, a document tray 21 for documents, a pickup roller 22, and a normal rotation roller 23.
, reversing roller 24, conveying roller 25, reading roller 26
, and a discharge roller 27 are provided. The document tray 21 is installed so that the front position (close to the front) on the right side of the reading unit 11 serves as a reference position for one edge of the document, and the other edge of the document is placed in the groove 1.
Document guide 10 movable in the direction of arrow R3 along 02
1.

Therefore, although the document tray 21 is located below the paper cassette 41 of the recording section 13, which will be described later, the paper cassette 41
Since the position protrudes in a different level toward the front than the original tray 21, it is easy to set the original on the original tray 21.

The original set on the original tray 21 is conveyed by each roller and is ejected to the ejection section 28 . During this time, the image of the document is read by the image sensor 20, and the image signal from the image sensor 20 is sent to a processing unit 302, which will be described later.

The electrical equipment section 12 includes electrical components necessary for the facsimile machine other than the reading section 11 and the recording section 13, such as a power supply device 71, a noise filter, various printed board units 72 such as a processing section 302 and a memory 304, which will be described later, and other necessary electrical components. Accordingly, hard disk devices, IC cards, and the like are centrally housed in a housing 12a formed of a steel plate and connected to ground potential. This shields electrical components from the outside world, improves noise resistance against external noise, and provides measures against radiated noise generated by electrical components themselves. It also allows components to have multiple functions and shortens the length of harnesses. Or reduction is being attempted.

The recording unit 13 includes a paper cassette 41 for setting recording paper for reception, various rollers 42 to 46 for transporting the paper from the paper cassette 41 in a timely manner,
A discharge tray 47 for discharging recorded paper, a photosensitive drum 48, a charging unit 49, a developing device 50, a cleaner 51, a fixing roller 45, a laser emitting unit 52 containing a laser diode, and the like are provided. There is. As described above, the paper cassette 41 is arranged so that it does not overlap the document tray 21 in the vertical direction, and the paper cassette 41 is
Due to the internal structure of the recording unit 13, it is attached to the back side (back side) of the right side of the recording unit 13.

Furthermore, a facsimile device 1
An operation panel 200 is provided for operating the.

The facsimile machine 1 has a front surface (front surface) on the side where the operation panel 200 is provided, and is operated from this side.

In the recording section 13, the image corresponding to the signal input to the laser emitting section 52 is transferred to the paper cassette 4 through an electrophotographic process.
1, and the recorded paper is discharged onto the discharge tray 47 with the pages aligned face down.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional front view showing the upper unit 62 of the recording section 13 in an open state.

Referring also to FIG. 7, the surface of the housing 13a of the recording unit 13 is covered with a molded product made of synthetic resin, and is divided into an upper part and a lower part, and the upper part is hinged 6 with respect to the lower part.
1, and the upper unit 62 is formed by the mechanical parts above the paper transport path RP formed by the rollers 42 to 46 as a boundary,
A lower unit 63 is formed by the mechanism portion below it. In other words, the mechanism of the recording section 13 is of a clamshell type, which is composed of an upper unit 62 and a lower unit 63, and can be opened and closed by a hinge 61. In order to facilitate opening and closing of the upper unit 62, and to facilitate opening and closing of the upper unit 62,
A torsion spring or a gas spring (not shown) with a spring force corresponding to the weight of the upper unit 620 is installed between the upper unit 62 and the lower unit 63 so that the upper unit 62 and the lower unit 2 remain at rest in the open position.

Therefore, the recording paper jams (
When a paper jam occurs, operate the lever 64 to disengage the upper unit 62 and lower unit 63, and rotate the upper unit 62 upwards (in the direction of arrow R2 in Fig. 7) about the hinge 6I. This allows you to easily remove jammed recording paper.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the facsimile apparatus 1 with the recording section 13 removed.

The reading section 11 is connected to the end of the electrical equipment section 12 by a hinge 15, and can be pulled out by rotating about 90 degrees toward the front about the hinge 15, as shown in FIG.

A protrusion 30 is provided at a corner of the reading section 11,
As shown in FIG. 6, a recess 31 is formed on the lower surface of the protrusion 30, a ball 32 is fitted into the recess 31, and a cover 33 prevents the ball 32 from coming out. This ball 32 moves the facsimile machine 1 to the table T.
When installed on the top surface of L, part of the weight of the reading section 11 is supported between the top surface of the table TL, and when the reading section 1°1 is rotated, the top surface of the table TL is transferred and read. This is to allow the portion 11 to be pulled out smoothly.

As shown in FIG. 5, the housing 11 of the reading section 11
A cover 34 is removably attached to the top surface of a, and by removing the cover 34, it is easy to inspect the inside of the housing 11a. A support member 36 is attached to the housing 12a with screws. Rubber feet (not shown) are attached to the bottom surface of the recording section 13, and the recording section 13
The rubber feet are installed so as to be supported by three support points SF on the upper surface of the electrical equipment section 12. Therefore, the reading section 11 is rotatable without contacting the recording section 13.

By pulling out the reading section 11 as shown in FIG.
Since the ejecting section 28 protrudes from the top surface of the table TL, the document that has been read and ejected during transmission does not fall between the ejecting section 2 and the top surface of the table TL (the original is not stuck in the lower part). Fall into space.

Therefore, even if the document is long, there is no risk of jamming.

Further, by pulling out the reading section 11, the document tray 21 is brought to the front position, so that it becomes easy to insert the document. Further, it becomes easier to handle jams that occur inside the reading unit 11 and to perform maintenance such as cleaning, inspection, or repair.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the control section 300 of the facsimile machine 1. As shown in FIG.

The control unit 300 includes a reading control unit 301 that controls the image sensor 20 of the reading unit 11 and a scanning drive system such as an illumination lamp, and digitally converts the image signal from the reading unit 11 and performs correction such as gamma conversion and binarization processing. A processing unit 302 that performs the above operations, a compression unit 303 that compresses data from the processing unit 302, a memory 304 that stores data output from the compression unit 303 or the transmission control unit 305, and a transmission control that performs data conversion for transmission and reception. section 305, a line connection section 306 that performs signal conversion between a serial digital signal and an analog signal for a public telephone line, and an expansion section 3 that expands the compressed data output from the memory 304 and restores it to the original data.
08. Recording unit that controls the emission intensity of the laser diode based on the data from the extension unit 308 and also transports the paper! 3, an operation display section 307 that controls the entire operation panel 300, and an operation display section 309 that controls key operations and displays on the operation panel 200.
, and a comprehensive control unit 310 that controls all of these units.
It consists of

Of the above-mentioned units, the reading control unit 301 is included in the reading unit 11, and the recording control unit 307 and operation display unit 309 are included in the recording unit 13.
The other parts are respectively attached to the electrical equipment part 12. These reading section 11, electrical equipment section 12, and recording section 13
In between, as mentioned above, a suitable harness is passed around.
Power is supplied and signals are sent and received.

According to the embodiment described above, the reading section 11, the electrical component section 12, and the recording section 13 are each housed in a unit and independent housing 11a, 12a, 13a, so that the electrical components and other harmful parts are shielded from the outside world. , noise resistance against external noise is improved, and radiation noise is reduced. Since electrical components such as various printed board units 72 are centrally housed in the electrical component section 12, the length of the harness can be shortened or reduced.

Since the recording section 13 is arranged above the reading section 11 and the electrical section 12, the area occupied by the facsimile machine 1 is only the total area of the reading section 11 and the electrical section 12, so the installation area of the facsimile machine 1 is small. , recording section 13
Since the reading section 11 and the electrical equipment section 12 are not placed on the upper side, the upper unit 62 of the recording section 13 can be opened and closed independently from them, and the upper unit 62, the hinge 61,
The structure, rigidity, strength, etc. of each part of the recording unit 13, such as the Torsilon spring or the gas spring, are determined by the reading unit 1.
1 and the electrical equipment section 120 can be designed separately from the weight. Therefore, the degree of freedom in designing the recording section 13 is increased, and it becomes easy to standardize the recording section 13 among the product lineup.

Furthermore, since the reading section 11 and the recording section 13 are arranged directly above or beside the electrical component section 12, the harness connecting them can be short.

According to the above-described embodiment, the document tray 21 is located at a position that protrudes in a different level toward the front than the paper cassette 41, so even though both of these trays are attached to the right side of the facsimile machine l, the document Setting originals on the tray 21 is easy. By rotating and pulling out the reading unit 11, it is easy to set the original on the original tray 21, and even long originals will not jam in the ejection unit 28, providing excellent operability and ease of maintenance. is easy.

In the above embodiment, the recording section 13 was arranged above the reading section 11 and the electrical equipment section 12, but since these are unitized, other arrangements are also possible.
Any arrangement can be made depending on the environment in which the facsimile machine W1 is installed.

In the above-described embodiment, the second paper cassette may be attached to the lower part of the recording section 13.

In order to smoothly transfer the ball 32 of the reading section 11, a rail plate may be provided on the upper surface of the table TL along the trajectory of the ball 32 when the reading section 11 is pulled out. In that case, recesses are provided at both ends of the rail plate,
The reading section 11 may be stabilized in the state shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 by fitting the ball 32 into this recess.

In addition, the reading section 11, the electrical equipment section 12, and the recording section 13,
Or the structure, shape, material, etc. of each part that makes up these,
Various modifications other than those described above are possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the installation area of the apparatus is small, the degree of freedom in designing the recording section is large, and it is easy to standardize the recording section among the product lineup.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional front view of a facsimile device according to the present invention;
2 is a plan view of the facsimile device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the facsimile device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the facsimile device with the reader pulled out, and FIG. A plan view of the device with the recording unit removed,
FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a part of the bottom of the reading section, FIG. 7 is a sectional front view showing the upper unit of the recording section in an open state, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the control section of the facsimile machine. . 1...Facsimile machine,...Electrical section, 13...Recording section, 3...Lower unit. 1...Reading section, 12 62...Upper unit, Applicant: Minolta Camera Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A reading unit that reads a document for transmission and converts it into an image signal, an electrical unit that processes signals for transmission and reception, and an electrophotographic recording unit that reproduces an image on recording paper from the received signal. In the facsimile apparatus, the recording section is unitized as a clamshell type unit in which an upper unit can be opened and closed upward with respect to a lower unit, and the recording section is connected to the reading section and the electrical equipment section. A facsimile machine that is located on the upper side and is characterized by a .