JPH04209139A - Sheet feed cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To feed various sizes of sheets with a cassette, in a sheet feed cassette of an electronic copying machine and the like, by forming a placing means so that paper sheets with various dimensions may be placed under multiple-stage condition inside a case body with the maximum usable dimension at the lowest stage and the uptake directions the same. CONSTITUTION:There are provided the first and second placing plates 53, 54 inside a cassette case 51 in a sheet feed cassette 50, and an opening part for taking up sheets is formed in the side surface on the installation side to a device body. Besides, maximum size sheets P1, for example, A3 sheets are placed on the inner bottom surface part 51a of the cassette case 51, and on a placing plate 54, for example, B5 sheets P2 are placed, and on a placing plate 53, sheets P3, which are frequently used, for example, A4 sheets are placed. Then the storage height of the sheets P3 which are placed on the placing plate 53 on the top stage is set higher than the storage height of other sheets.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a paper feed cassette used in an image forming apparatus such as an electronic copying machine or a laser printer.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in electronic copying machines etc. using paper feed cassettes,
Currently, paper feed cassettes that are attached to the main body of the apparatus are prepared for each size of predetermined recording paper (hereinafter referred to as copy paper).

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) For this reason, conventionally, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of sets of paper feed cassettes according to the size of copy paper, which increases costs.

In addition, as a result, it is necessary to replace the paper feed cassette with the main body of the apparatus for each size of copy paper that you want to use, which makes it troublesome to feed paper into the main body of the apparatus. I also have trouble finding a place to put it.

Furthermore, with such conventional paper feed cassettes, it is necessary to prepare similar paper feed cassettes in order to ensure the convenience of installation in the main body of the device, regardless of the frequency of use of copy paper. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and its purpose is to make it possible to store recording papers of different sizes in one housing (hereinafter referred to as a cassette case), and to To provide a paper feed cassette from which recording paper can be selectively taken out and fed. [Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the paper feed cassette of the present invention has a plurality of paper feed cassettes arranged in a stacked state, each of which can hold recording papers of different sizes. A paper feeding cassette comprising: a loading means; and a casing having an opening formed in a direction in which the recording paper is taken out from each of the plurality of loading means, and surrounding the plurality of loading means, The recording paper placed on the lowermost loading means is the recording paper of the maximum size used.

Further, the present invention is configured such that the storage height of the recording paper placed on the topmost loading means is greater than the storage height of the recording paper placed on the other loading means. It is.

(Function) That is, in the present invention, a plurality of mounting means are arranged in a stacked state in one housing, and recording sheets of different sizes are respectively mounted on these mounting means. Recording papers of different sizes can be stored in one housing.

In addition, since the maximum size of recording paper used is placed on the lowest loading means, the size of the housing is almost the same as the previous one, and moreover, the set state of recording paper of each size is Confirmation can be easily performed from above.

Furthermore, since the storage height of the recording paper placed on the uppermost stage is greater than that of the other stages, frequently used recording paper can be set on the uppermost stage.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the overall configuration of an electronic copying machine as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a main body of the apparatus, and this main body 1 is equipped with an image forming process means 2. There is.

The image forming process means 2 has a photoreceptor drum 3 as an image carrier rotatably supported substantially in the center of the apparatus body 1, and a developing device 4 is provided around the photoreceptor drum 3. , a transfer device 5, a peeling device 6, a cleaning device 7, a static eliminator 8, and a charging device 9 are arranged in this order.

The photosensitive drum 3 rotates in the direction of the arrow a shown in FIG. 3, and is uniformly charged by the charging device 9.

That is, an original placing table 10 made of transparent glass is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1.
The image of the original placed on the 0 is exposed to the exposure lamp 12 whose back is surrounded by the reflector 11, the first, second,
a third reflective mirror 13.14.15; a lens 16;
An image is formed on the photosensitive drum 3 through an optical system including fourth, fifth, and sixth reflecting mirrors 17, I8.19, etc.,
An electrostatic layer image is formed.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 3 is developed by a developing device 4, and a copy sheet made of plain paper as recording paper is fed from a paper feed cassette 50 (described later) via a registration roller 20. The developed image is transferred onto P by the transfer device 5.

The copy paper P after the transfer by the transfer device 5 is peeled off by a peeling device 6 using AC corona discharge, and conveyed to the fixing device 22 via the conveyance belt 21.

The copy paper P on which the developed image has been melted and fixed by the fixing device 22 is transferred to the paper ejection tray 2 by a pair of paper ejection rollers 23.
It is discharged to the top.

On the other hand, the developer remaining on the photoreceptor drum 3 after the transfer and peeling off of the developed image onto the copy paper P is cleaned by a cleaning device 7, and the electric potential on the photoreceptor drum 3 is kept at a certain level by a static eliminator 8. The following copy operations are enabled.

Furthermore, when copying a designated area of a document image, an erasing array 25 installed close to the photoreceptor drum 3 along the rotational axis direction between the charging device 9 and the exposure section ph causes the photoreceptor drum to be copied. A part of the original image on 3 can be erased.

Further, numeral 30 in the figure is a recording paper ejecting means for feeding copy paper P stored in a paper feed cassette 5o, which will be described later, and which is detachably attached to the apparatus main body 1, to the registration roller 20 side.

As shown in FIG. 4, this recording paper ejecting means 30 consists of a pair of upper and lower guides 2 provided upstream of the registration rollers 20.
A pair of upper and lower guides 31a, 31 whose downstream end portions are slidably inserted in the front-rear direction X between 6a and 26b.
It has b.

At the rear ends of the guides 31a and 31b on the upstream side, an upper paper feed roller 33 and a lower separation roller 34, which are rotated by a first drive motor 32, and a second drive motor 3 are provided.
5, a pickup roller 37 provided on an arm 36 that rotates in the vertical direction y is disposed.

The pickup roller 37 rotates in synchronization with the upper paper feed roller 33 via belts 38 and 39, and the lowering movement of the arm 36 selectively selects copy paper sheets stored in a paper feed cassette 50 (described later). is picked up and sent between the upper and lower rollers 33 and 34.

Further, a guide 31a constituting the recording paper ejecting means 30
, 31b, the upper and lower rollers 33, 34, and the pickup roller 37 are assembled and supported by a support frame 40.

As shown in FIG. 5, rack parts 41 and 41 are provided at both ends of this support frame 40, and these rack parts 4
1.41, pinions 44 and 44 provided at both ends of the rotating shaft 43 rotated by the third drive motor 42 mesh with each other, making the support frame 40 movable in the front-rear direction X.

Further, lead screws 45.45 are screwed into both ends of the support frame 40, and these lead screws 45.45 are rotated by a toothed belt 47 rotated by a fourth drive motor 46 to support the support frame 40. The frame 4o is movable in the vertical direction y.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 6, and 7, the paper feed cassette 50 installed in the apparatus main body l includes a cassette case 51 and a cassette case 51.
1 is provided with a removable cover 52 that covers the top open portion of the device.

An opening 50a is formed in the end surface of the paper feed cassette 50 on the side to be attached to the main body l of the apparatus in the direction in which paper is taken out.

Further, the front half 52a of the cover 52 can be opened and closed so that the side from which the copy paper P is taken out is exposed when the cover 52 is attached to the apparatus main body 1.

The cassette case 51 has a size that can accommodate, for example, A3 size copy paper P1, which is the maximum size used, in the inner bottom surface portion 51a, which is the lowest stage.

The cassette case 51 mainly contains copy paper P1 of A3 size, with copy paper P of different sizes (for example, 85 size) on the top, and in the middle,
The first and second loading plates 53 and 54 as loading means are stacked in upper and lower stages so that frequently used copy paper P (for example, A4 size) can be loaded on the top shelf. The storage height H of the copy paper P placed on the first loading plate 53 of the uppermost stage is the storage height H of the other stages.
8.It is larger than Hl.

On the other hand, these first and second mounting plates 53,54
As shown in the figure, the pivot support 53 can be lifted up upward F and rotated freely.
a, 54a to facilitate the filling and replenishment of each of the copy sheets P1, P2, P onto the inner bottom surface 51a of the cassette case 51 and the first and second mounting plates 53,54. .

Therefore, the paper feed cassette 50 is installed in the above-mentioned apparatus main body 1, and the state of selectively taking out each copy paper P1, P3, P stored in the paper feed cassette 50 is changed to the ninth state.
This will be explained based on FIGS. 11 to 11.

First, in order to take out the upper copy paper P stored in the first loading plate 53 of the paper feed cassette 50, as shown in FIG.
It is raised by driving the drive motor 46.

Next, this support frame 40 is connected to a third drive motor 42.
This is performed by controlling the pickup roller 37 to be positioned on the uppermost surface of the copy paper P3 by moving the pickup roller 37 in the rear direction by driving the copy paper P3.

Similarly, in order to take out the middle copy paper P stored in the second loading plate 54, as shown in FIG. The big up roller 3 is moved forward by the drive of the fourth drive motor 46 and lowered by the drive of the fourth drive motor 46.
7 is positioned on the top surface of the copy paper P.

Further, in order to take out the main size lower copy paper P1 stored in the inner bottom surface portion 51a of the cassette case 51, as shown in FIG. This is performed by controlling the pickup roller 37 to move it further forward by driving the copy paper P1 and lowering it by driving the fourth drive motor 46 so that the pickup roller 37 is positioned on the uppermost surface of the copy paper P1.

That is, the recording paper take-out means 30 according to the present invention includes a paper feed roller 33, a separation roller 34, and a pickup roller 3.
7 sets are movable relative to the copy sheets P1, P3, and P arranged in each stage of the paper feed cassette 5o.

As shown in FIG. 12, the set of the paper feed roller 33, the separation roller 34, and the pickup roller 37 is moved by an amount δ to the paper side with the pickup roller 37 raised before moving to the next stage. , and the top layer of copy paper P is returned to the rear.

As a result, the leading edge of the copy paper P after the paper feed roller 33, the separation roller 34, and the pickup roller 37 have been moved to the position λ where the paper feed roller 33 and the separation roller 34 do not interfere, as shown in FIG. It is designed to stop.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, recording papers of different sizes are arranged in one housing, so paper feed cassettes corresponding to recording papers of different sizes can be arranged. There is no need to prepare one, so costs can be reduced, and there is no need to secure a place for a paper feed cassette.

In addition, since the maximum size of recording paper used is placed on the lowest loading means, the size of the housing is almost the same as the previous one, and moreover, the set state of recording paper of each size is Confirmation can be easily performed from above, and set-up can be simplified.

Furthermore, in claim 2, since the storage height of the recording paper placed on the uppermost stage is larger than that of the other stages, the frequently used recording paper is placed on the uppermost stage of the loading means. You can easily set it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1II is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the paper feed cassette according to the present invention with the cover removed and one side frame omitted, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. , FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus equipped with a paper feed cassette according to the present invention, and FIG.
5 and 5 are explanatory diagrams schematically showing the recording paper ejecting means, FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the paper feed cassette with the cover attached, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the paper feed cassette with the cover open. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the rotating state of the mounting plate provided in the housing of the paper feed cassette, FIGS. 9 to 11 are explanatory diagrams similarly showing the feeding state of the recording paper, and FIG. This figure and FIG. 13 are explanatory diagrams showing the moving state of the paper feeding means. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Apparatus body, 2... Image forming process means, 30... Recording paper ejection means, 50... Paper feed cassette, 50a... Opening, 51... Housing, 51a...・Inner bottom part, 53
...First mounting plate, 54...Second mounting plate, p, p,, P8, P, ... Recording paper (copy paper). Applicant's representative Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue 1st diagram 2nd figure 4th figure 5th figure 6th figure 7th figure 11th figure 12 @ entry figure 13

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of mounting means each capable of mounting recording paper of different sizes and arranged in a stacked state, and an opening section formed in the direction in which the recording paper is taken out from each of the plurality of mounting means, A paper feed cassette comprising a casing enclosing a plurality of loading means, characterized in that the recording paper placed on the lowermost loading means is the recording paper of the maximum size used. paper cassette. (2) A plurality of stacking means each capable of mounting recording paper of different sizes and arranged in a stacked state, and an opening section formed in the direction in which the recording paper is taken out from each of the plurality of mounting means; A paper feed cassette comprising a housing enclosing a plurality of loading means, wherein the storage height of the recording paper placed on the uppermost loading means is set to the storage height of the recording paper placed on the loading means of the other stages. A paper feed cassette characterized by being larger than the storage height of recording paper.