JPH03267256A - Sheet storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a piece of recording paper from skewing by installing an energizing means which projects a grip roller so as to have movements of the guiding grip roller into a shunting position uniformized by pushing pressure of the paper in a sheet storage space. CONSTITUTION:One end of a fulcrum shaft 6, where a grip roller 5 is tightly attached, is driven via a drive belt 10. Consequently such force as heading for a shunting direction F acts on the grip roller 5 at only the one end of the fulcrum shaft 6. In each torsion spring 16 being installed in a symmetrical pair of side plates 12, a position of an engaged pin 13 at the side is determined so as to enlarge an amount of deformation only at the one side. Therefore the symmetrical grip rollers 5 is uniformly made so as to retreat without being influenced by a driving action due to the drive belt 10. Accordingly, skewing and twisting at time of discharge can be prevented in a state of having held a sheet securely.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a sheet storage device used in image forming devices such as copying machines and facsimile machines, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a sheet storage device for storing sheets ejected from an image forming device. The present invention relates to a seat storage device.

(B) Prior Art Conventionally, recording paper on which an image is recorded in an image forming apparatus and then ejected is usually stored in a sheet storage device (hereinafter referred to as sheet storage tray) that stores the paper. An example of a facsimile machine to which a conventional sheet storage tray is applied will be explained with reference to FIG. 6 and subsequent figures.

In FIG. 6, the facsimile 30 includes an image reading and transmitting system that scans image information of a document 33 sent onto a document table 32 using an optical system 35 and transmits the image information, and a recording paper roll 37 that is scanned by a platen roller 36. It is equipped with an image receiving and recording system having a thermal head 39 for recording received image information on the fed-out thermal recording paper S. Above, on the left side of the facsimile 30 is a document storage tray 40 that stores documents 33 that are sequentially sent out from the document table 32, and on the right side, after an image is recorded by a thermal head 39, a cutter 41 is used to record the document to a predetermined length, e.g. A sheet storage tray 42 for storing recording sheets S cut into A4 size lengths on which images have been formed is provided to protrude outward. Note that the reference numeral 43 is a power supply section including a power supply device and the like.

Incidentally, in recent years, there has been a particular demand for miniaturization and weight reduction in image forming for facsimile machines and the like. No matter how small the device main body 31 is, the installation space for the facsimile 30 cannot be made very small. As a solution to this problem, it is possible to combine these trays 40 and 42 on one side of the apparatus main body 31 and omit the space for separating the trays on one side. , 422, the driving systems for both the document 33 and the recording paper S will be concentrated in one side of the apparatus main body 31, which will result in poor space efficiency within the apparatus main body 31 and the drive system will become complicated. Furthermore, this may lead to a decrease in the reliability of the device and a significant increase in cost.

Further, in an image forming apparatus such as the facsimile 30 described above, the recording sheets S on which images have been formed are ejected from the apparatus and stacked one on top of the other in the order in which they were ejected with the recording surface facing up. Therefore, when recording a multi-page document 33,
When recording is performed sequentially from the first page of 3, the image-formed recording paper S discharged from the apparatus is stacked on the sheet storage tray 42 with the first page facing down and the second and subsequent pages on top of it. Therefore, the recording sheets S stacked on the tray 72 are in the reverse order of the originals 33. Therefore,
After the recording operation is completed, it is necessary to rearrange the image-formed recording sheets S in order from the first page, a so-called page alignment operation, which is very time-consuming.

Furthermore, paper rolled into rollers, such as thermal recording paper used in facsimiles, etc., has strong curling patterns, making it difficult to store it in an orderly manner on a straight tray surface like a conventional tray. be. Moreover, in line with the recent downsizing of the device body 31, there is a trend to reduce the outer diameter of the roll as much as possible without changing the length of the recording paper S, and one way to do this is to make the core diameter as small as possible. is taken. As a result, the curling of the recording paper S has become more noticeable, and there has been a strong effort to develop a method for storing the recording paper S to accommodate this.

Therefore, in order to solve these problems, the applicant has proposed the seventh
A sheet storage tray as shown in the figure was previously filed (Japanese Patent Application No. 58-134175). In FIG. 7, a sheet storage tray 45 is provided below the sheet discharge port of the apparatus main body 31. As shown in detail in FIG. 8, this sheet storage tray 45 includes a first guide member 47 that is brought into contact with the discharged recording paper S and guides the recording paper S downward; The second guide member 50 forms a seat storage space 49 opposite to the second guide member 47 .

This second guide member 50 is connected to the stay 5 of the device main body 31.
Consisting of a plastic plate fixed to 1, the same member 8
The lower end of the seat storage space 49 is connected to the lower end of the seat storage space 49 by a support shaft 52. Device main body 31 and seat storage space 4
9 is provided with a click mechanism (not shown) that locks the first guide member 47 in the state shown by the solid line in FIG. is held in the closed position.

Now, when a large amount of recording paper S is stored in the sheet storage tray 42 and the storage capacity is exceeded, the click mechanism that holds the first guide member 47 in a closed state is activated by the weight of the stored recording paper S. The first guide member 47 is automatically released, and the first guide member 47 rotates clockwise about the support shaft 52 and is locked to the stay 51 in the open position shown by the imaginary line. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the first guide member 4
7 is open, this first guide member 47 forms a guide portion for the recording paper S, and the recording paper S discharged from the facsimile 3° moves along this first guide member 47. Further, when the recording paper S is too short or too long, it is preferable to use the first guide member 47 in an open state as described above.

A plurality of ribs 53 are provided on the inner wall surface of the first guide member 47, as shown in FIG. When the sheet storage tray 45 is guided into the sheet storage space 49 of the sheet storage tray 45, at the same time, when the first guide member 47 is locked in the closed position, a downward direction is inserted between the first guide member 47 and the second guide member 50. A gripping portion 55 that is V-shaped and narrowly closed for gripping the leading edge of the fed recording paper S.
is formed as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, when the first guide member 47 is closed,
At the upper end of the first guide member 47, there is an opening where, when a long type of recording paper S is stored, the trailing end of the looped recording paper S is reversed and fully discharged to the outside. 56 are provided.

Since the sheet storage device previously filed by the present applicant is configured as described above, the recording paper S fed out from the recording paper roll 37 is heated by the thermal head 39 according to the image information, and the surface of the recording paper S is Image information is recorded on the top. After that, as shown in FIG. 12, the recording paper S is conveyed by the rotation of the platen roller 36 and passes through the cutter 41, and its tip is at an obtuse angle with the first guide member 47 forming the sheet storage space 49. It comes into contact with the The leading edge of the recording paper S is guided downward by the ribs 53, and the leading edge Sa is held in a wedge-like manner by a gripping portion 55 at the bottom of the sheet storage space 49.

When the recording paper S is continuously fed out in this state, the 13th
As shown in the figure, the recording paper S forms a loop from an opening 56 formed at the top of the sheet storage tray 45, and a guide member 57 and an upper case 59 provided near the opening 56 form a loop.
The loop portion is discharged out of the machine using the end face as a guide surface, and finally, as shown in FIG. 14, it curls greatly and hangs down outside the facsimile 3o. Next, the cutter 41 is operated and the rear end of the recording paper S is cut off, and the recording paper S, which is partially hanging outside the machine, is moved in the direction of the arrow by using its own weight and the rotational force of the blade of the cutter 41. When the tip end Sa is held in the V-shaped grip portion 55, the rear end is in a hanging state as shown in FIG.

This series of operations is repeated and the recording sheets S are piled up in the sheet storage tray 45, so the recording sheets S on which images have been formed are lined up in page order, eliminating the need for page alignment operations.
Even the recording paper S with curls can be reliably gripped. Furthermore, since the sheet storage tray 45 is also built into the apparatus main body 31, there is a great advantage in terms of space saving.

(C) Problem to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional seat storage device described above, the first guide member 47 is locked to the second guide member 5o by a click mechanism (not shown), and the first guide member 47 is When a predetermined number or more of recording paper S is stored in the guide member 47,
Since the click mechanism is released and the first guide member 47 is released, all of the recording sheets S stored in the sheet storage space 49 fall onto the desk or the floor and are not stored in the sheet storage tray 45. Even the recording sheets S that were once stored could not be stacked, making it unsuitable for stably storing a large number of recording sheets S.

Therefore, the present invention provides a grip roller protruding from the second guide member that pulls the recording paper into the sheet storage space, and when the number of sheets in the sheet storage space exceeds a predetermined amount, the grip roller is pulled uniformly out of the sheet storage space. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet storage device that can be retracted in a state where sheets on which images have been formed can be reliably stored and hung in a sheet storage tray.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and for example, as shown with reference to FIGS. A first guide member (4) that guides the leading edge of the discharged recording paper (S) downward, and the first guide member (
4) and forming a seat storage space (49); and the first guide member (4).
), the sheet storage device (17) is rotatable in a direction to draw the ejected recording paper (S) into the sheet storage space (49). A part of the peripheral surface is movable from the second guide member (3) to a protruding position (5A) where it protrudes into the seat storage space (49) and a retracted position (5B) where it retreats from the seat storage space. the second guide member (3);
The grip roller (5) attached to the sheet storage space (49) is pressed so that the grip roller (5) moves uniformly to the retraction value It (5B) due to the pressure of the recording paper (S) in the sheet storage space (49). It is characterized by having a biasing means (16) that biases the grip roller (5) toward the sheet storage space (49).

(f) Function Based on the above configuration, the recording paper (S) on which the image has been formed is
The recording paper (S) is drawn into the sheet storage space (49) by the grip roller 5 provided on the guide member 3, and the rear end side of the recording paper (S) is turned over and hangs outward from the opening (56). When the grip roller (5) is pressed by the sheet (s) until the amount of recording paper (S) stored in the sheet storage space (49) exceeds a predetermined amount, the grip roller (5) moves away from the sheet storage space (49). ) to continue storing the recording paper (S) from the protruding position (5A) to the retracted position (5B). Clip roller (5) protrudes! (5
The movement from A) to the retracted position (5B) is performed by applying a uniform force to the recording paper (S), so that the recording paper (S) is moved to any position in the axial direction of the clip roller (5). Even if the force S) is applied, the recording paper (S) is reliably stored in the sheet storage space (49).

Note that the above-mentioned symbols in parentheses are shown for reference to the drawings, and do not limit the configuration of the present invention in any way.

(F) Example A first example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. Components having the same functions as those shown in FIGS. 6 to 15 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, a facsimile device 1 according to the present invention has a pair of paper ejecting rollers 2 on the downstream side of a cutter 41, and this pair of paper ejecting rollers 2 is a support to which driving force is transmitted by a motor (not shown). It consists of a drive roller 2a fixed to a shaft 2c, and a pinch roller 2b which is pressed by a spring (not shown) to the roller 2a and rotates as a result.

A grip roller 5 is disposed between the second guide member 3 disposed below the paper ejection roller pair 2 and is rotatable by a spindle 6 and slidable along the axis of the spindle 6. It is installed. In FIG. 2, the drive roller 2
A pulley 7 fixed to the support shaft 2c and a pulley 9 fixed to the support shaft 6 are connected by a drive belt 10, and when the drive roller 2a rotates in the direction of the arrow, the grip roller 5 moves in the direction of the arrow 11. It is designed to rotate. Note that the support shaft 6 is fitted into a recess 3b formed in the second guide member 3 from the left side in the figure, and a plurality of grip rollers 5 are provided on the support shaft 6 along the axial direction. ing.

Further, the grip roller 5 is connected to the second guide member 3.
It is supported so as to be movable between a protruding position 5A (see Fig. 1) in which a part of the outer peripheral surface protrudes from the rib 3a and a retracted position 3B (see Fig. 4) in which it is hidden from the rib 3a. . As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of side plates 12 inside the device include
A torsion spring (biasing means) 16 is provided, one end of which is engaged with a pin 13 fixed to the side plate 12, and the other end of which is engaged with a bearing 15 that supports the support shaft 6. Due to the elasticity of the torsion spring 16, the grip roller 5 is
The guide member 3 is pressed in a direction protruding from the rib 3a of the guide member 3.

Note that a first guide member 4 is disposed at an outer position opposite to the second guide member 3, and the first guide member 4 and the second guide member 3 form a seat storage space 4.
A sheet storage tray 17 forming a sheet storage tray 9 is configured.

In this embodiment, the support shaft 6 to which the grip roller 5 is fixed is driven only from one end thereof, for example, the left end when viewed from the right in FIG. 2, via the drive belt 10. Therefore, when the drive belt 10 rotates and the grip roller 5 rotates in the direction of the arrow 11, a force F in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 acts only on the grip roller 5 on the left end side of the support shaft 6. . Accordingly, if the grip rollers 5 on the left and right sides are pushed inward with the same force while the drive belt 10 is rotating, the amount of retraction of the clip roller 5 in the direction of the arrow will be larger on the left side. It becomes unbalanced.

Furthermore, in the facsimile machine f1 of this embodiment, 8
Two types of recording paper rolls 37, 4 width and A4 width, are available. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, after a certain number of recording sheets S are stored in the facsimile machine 1,
In the case of 84 width recording paper S1, the recording paper S presses the entire grip roller 5, but in the case of A4 width recording paper S2, the discharge position of the recording paper S1 is as shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, since it is aligned to the left, the grip roller 5 on the left side is pressed well, which causes an imbalance in the amount of protrusion of the grip roller 5 from the second guide member 3. There is.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the torsion springs 16 themselves provided on the pair of side plates 12 are common to the left and right, and the positions of the locking pins 13 on the sides are not symmetrical, so that the torsion springs 16 on the left side Pin 1 so that the amount of deformation is larger for pin 16
3, and the biasing force of the left torsion spring 16 is set in advance to be larger than the biasing force of the right torsion spring 16. The grip roller 5 is configured to retreat into the device relatively uniformly without any friction.

The operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described next.

Now, the recording paper S fed out from a paper feed roll (not shown) similar to the recording paper roll 37 in FIG. recorded. Furthermore, the recording paper S on which the image has been formed is discharged into the sheet storage tray 17 by the pair of paper discharge rollers 2.

When the recording paper S reaches the position of the first guide member 4, its leading end Sa contacts the first guide member 4 at an obtuse angle and is guided downward into the sheet storage space 49. Thereafter, when the leading edge Sa of the recording paper S reaches the lower end of the sheet storage space 49, the advance of the recording paper S is stopped.
Since the distance is longer than the distance to the bottom of the recording paper S, the rear end side of the recording paper S continues to be fed out by the pair of paper discharge rollers 2 as before, forming a loop shape as shown in FIG. The loop shape of the recording paper S is facilitated by the rotation of the pinch roller 2b of the paper ejection roller pair 2, and is ejected from the opening portion 56 to the outside of the apparatus as shown in the figure.

When discharging the loop portion of the recording paper S, the leading edge S of the recording paper S
Since paper a is gripped by the grip roller 5 and the first guide member 4, the lower part of the loop does not slip up, and only the upper part of the loop is discharged as the paper discharge roller pair 2B rotates. Furthermore, the recording paper S by the thermal head 39
When recording is completed, the trailing edge of the recording paper S is cut by the cutter 41.
However, the paper ejection roller pair 2 continues to rotate, and the rear end of the recording paper S is reliably ejected out of the apparatus.

By the same operation, the ia recording sheets S on which images have been formed are sequentially stored in the sheet storage tray 17.

When the number of stored recording sheets S increases, the frictional force at the contact portion between the stored recording sheets S and the grip roller 5 is as follows.
When the torsion spring 16 becomes larger than the biasing force that biases the grip roller 5, the grip roller 5 begins to retreat relatively uniformly toward the retracted position 5B (in the direction of the arrow 9) regardless of the width of the recording paper, and then reaches the second position. The amount of protrusion of the grip roller 5 from the guide member 3 becomes smaller, and as the recording paper S continues to be stored, the grip roller 5 uniformly protrudes from the second guide member 3 as shown in FIG. Missing and retreating position 1
Located at t5B.

When a large number of recording sheets S are stored until the sheet storage tray 17 reaches the above state, the leading edge Sa of the next recording sheet S
When the recording paper S is no longer in contact with the grip roller 5 and is no longer gripped, and when recording is completed and the recording paper S is cut and the trailing end is discharged, the sheet storage tray 17 no longer receives only that one sheet.

As described above, by arranging the first guide member 4, the second guide member 3, and the grip roller 5 so that the leading edge Sa of the recording paper S comes into contact with the grip roller 5, the sheet Depending on the size of the storage space 49, an almost constant number of recording sheets S can be reliably stored, and when more recording sheets S are ejected, the grip roller 5 uniformly retreats to the retracted position 5B. Grip roller 5
The conveying force of the recording paper S is stable in the width direction of the recording paper S.
are stored in the sheet storage tray 17 in a well-balanced manner.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the biasing force for protruding the grip roller 5 was made uniform only by balancing the biasing force of the torsion spring 16, but the gear shown in FIG. It is also possible to use a mechanism.

In FIG. 5, both ends of a support shaft 6 to which a plurality of grip rollers 5 are fixed are rotatably mounted on bearings 15a, and this bearing 15a is connected to a pair of racks 21a,
21b, respectively. Each rack 21
Gears 22a, 22b meshing with a, 2 l b
are in mesh with each other and are rotatably supported by support shafts 23a and 23b. The gear 22a has both ends connected to the same gear 2.
The other gear 22b is biased counterclockwise by a tension spring 26 that is engaged with the same gear 2a and the fixing pin g5a, respectively, and the other gear 22b is biased clockwise by a tension spring 37 that has both ends engaged with the same gear 22b and the fixing pin 25b. The direction is biased.

The above racks 21a, 21b and gear 22a.

Each grip roller 5 is
A force F is applied uniformly in the direction of the arrow.

In this way, the clip roller 5 is moved to the second guide member 3.
By biasing the grip roller 5 toward the side, even if a large force is unevenly applied to the grip roller 5 on either side fixed to the support shaft 6, the grip roller 5 remains parallel to the recording paper S and moves in the direction of the arrow A. It is possible to move (retreat) to a uniform conveyance force on the recording paper S.

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, the grip roller that conveys the recording paper on which an image has been formed into the sheet storage space is
a protruding position where a portion thereof protrudes from the second guide member;
It is provided on the second guide member so that it can be moved from the same position to the retracted position and is biased toward the protruding position, and the biasing force is balanced in the width direction of the recording paper. , - To move the grip roller uniformly in the recording paper radial direction without being affected by the width of the recording paper or the driving method of the grip roller after storing the number of copies of the recording paper in the sheet storage space of the sheet storage tray. This allows a large amount of sheets to be stored in the sheet storage space while being securely gripped. In addition, by making the grip roller uniformly movable to the retracted position, the conveying force (frictional force with the recording paper) of the grip roller is well-balanced, preventing skewing, twisting, and wrinkles of the recording paper during ejection. It is possible to prevent bending and the like from occurring.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of a sheet storage device showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the grip roller drive system, and FIG. 4 is an operational view of the device shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a plan view of a grip roller biasing mechanism of a sheet storage device showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a conventional view. A longitudinal side view of a printer to which an example of the sheet storage device is applied;
FIG. 7 is an operational view, FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional side view of a printer to which another conventional sheet storage device is applied, FIG. 9 is an operational view, and FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the first guide member. 11 to 15 are operational diagrams of the apparatus shown in FIG. 6. S... Recording paper, 1... Facsimile device 3.
...Second guide member 4...First guide member 5...Clip roller 5A...Protrusion position 5B...Retreat position 16...Torsion spring (biasing means) 17...Seat Storage tray 3
9... Thermal head (image recording section), 49... Sheet storage space 56... Open section applicant Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A first guide member that guides the leading edge of the recording paper discharged from the image recording section downward, and a second guide member that faces the first guide member and forms a sheet storage space. A sheet storage device including a guide member and an opening portion formed including an upper end of the first guide member, the sheet storage device being rotatable in a direction to draw the ejected recording paper into the sheet storage space, a grip roller mounted on the second guide member such that a portion of its peripheral surface is movable between a protruding position where a portion of the peripheral surface protrudes from the second guide member into the seat storage space and a retracted position where the grip roller retreats from the seat storage space; A sheet comprising: urging means for urging the grip roller toward the sheet storage space so that the grip roller moves uniformly to the retracted position due to the pressure of the recording paper in the sheet storage space. Storage device.