JPH04243766A - Sheet delivery tray device for image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a sheet delivery tray to be operated in such a way as ensuring the good stack of sheets after delivery from an image formation device, good operability for taking out a sheet bundle and preventing the page reversal of assorted sheets. CONSTITUTION:The base end of a sheet delivery tray 21 is pivotally connected to a device body 10, and a means is provided to turn, locate and fix the tray 21 at the predetermined position where the tray 21 becomes mounted on the device body 10 at such an angle as ensuring an optimum condition for sheet stacking at the time of sheet delivery, and good operability for taking out the sheets at the time of removal.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper discharge tray device for an image forming apparatus.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In image forming apparatuses, particularly printers, a paper ejection tray is often provided at the rear of the main body, that is, on the opposite side of the operator's operation side. However, such apparatuses have the following problems.

(1) If the inclination angle of the paper ejection tray with respect to the horizontal plane is gentle, it is advantageous for stacking of sheets, but the operability when taking out the paper from the paper ejection tray is not good.

(2) If the inclination angle of the paper ejection tray with respect to the horizontal plane is made steeper, the ease of taking out the paper will improve, but the stackability of the paper will deteriorate, and depending on the type of paper, it may not be possible to stack the paper.

(3) A means for inverting the paper and ejecting it to the front side of the operator is sometimes provided, but if the paper is ejected from the rear of the machine with the print side facing downward, it may be stacked in page order. Can not. In addition, stiff cardboard such as envelopes, postcards, and label paper may curl or wrinkle when inverted, resulting in poor stacking and problems in use.

(4) A means for switching back the paper discharged from the rear of the machine and discharging it to the front side of the operator may be provided, but this increases the complexity of the device, increases cost, and also increases the cost due to the switchback. It takes longer to eject the paper. Continuous printing speed also decreases.

[0007]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems when the paper ejection tray is provided at the rear of the main body of the image forming apparatus, and provides a structure in which the ejected sheets can be easily stacked, and the paper can be easily taken out. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper discharge tray device with good operability.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a paper ejection tray whose base end is pivotally supported so that it can be flipped up, and a means for changing the angle of the stacking surface of the paper ejection tray. , characterized by having an angle setting means for setting the angle of the stack surface that can be changed by the means to a plurality of predetermined angles, and a fixing means for fixing the stack surface at an arbitrary angle among the plurality of angles. .

[0009]

[Function] By configuring as described above, the inclination angle of the stacking surface of the paper ejection tray with respect to the horizontal plane can be changed to an angle that is advantageous for stacking sheets and an angle that is convenient for taking out sheets. and the operability of taking out paper can be improved.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Examples of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are a side sectional view and an external perspective view, respectively, showing the structure of an example of a laser printer equipped with a paper discharge tray device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Around the photoreceptor belt 11 in the apparatus main body 10, in the order of the circumferential direction indicated by the arrow, there are a charger 12, a writing position by the writing light beam L from the laser writing optical system 16, and a developing device. 13, a transfer charger 14 and a cleaning device 15 are provided, and the toner image formed on the photoreceptor 11 by a known electrophotographic process using these process devices is placed in paper feed cassettes 18 and 19. The transfer charger 14 transfers the paper from the paper bundle 17 in the direction of arrow A by the paper feed rollers 27 and 28, or manually inserts the paper from the manual paper feed table 20, and feeds the paper to the transfer unit with timing by the registration rollers 29. It is transferred by the action of The transfer paper on which the toner image has been transferred is fixed by the fixing device 31, and then transferred to the rear of the main body of the apparatus (left side in the figure).
The paper is discharged by a paper discharge roller 33 onto a paper discharge tray 21 provided at a paper discharge tray 21, and stacked as shown by reference numeral 4.

The base end of the paper ejection tray 21 is pivotally attached to the main body 10 of the apparatus by a pivot shaft 22, and is located at the position indicated by the solid line in FIG.
It is rotatable between the position 21' indicated by the dashed line. A knob 24 that is slidably provided along a guide groove provided at one side end in the width direction of the paper output tray 21 and the same side end of the cover on the top surface of the machine body is a wire 2.
5, and by moving the knob 24 along the guide groove, the paper output tray 21 is connected to the pivot shaft 22.
, and the inclination angle of the stack surface of the paper discharge tray 21 with respect to the horizontal plane changes.

[0014] On the lower side of the guide groove, there are two protrusions at predetermined positions.
6 is provided, and when this engages with the knob 24, the knob is positioned and fixed, and correspondingly, the paper discharge tray 21 is also positioned and fixed at a predetermined position.

A spring plate 23 is attached to the base end of the paper discharge tray 21, extending from the end of the tray to the tray connection part of the machine body 10, and fixed only on the tray side with rivets or the like.
It is simply slidably abutted against the machine body side. Therefore, when the paper discharge tray 21 is displaced to the position indicated by the dashed-dotted line 21', the spring plate 23 is displaced to the position indicated by the dashed-dotted line 23'. Tension is always applied to the wire 25 by the spring plate 23, and the paper output tray 21 is urged in a direction approaching the horizontal position, and the paper output tray follows the movement of the knob 24, so that the paper output tray is always at a position corresponding to the knob 24. Displace.

During paper ejection, the paper ejection tray 21 is held in a generally horizontal position as shown by the solid line, and the sheets are stacked as shown by reference numeral 4. When the paper ejection is completed, the operator manually moves the knob 24 to the position indicated by 24', and the paper ejection tray 2
1 is displaced to the position indicated by the chain line 21', and the stack of sheets 4 stacked on the tray 21 is reversed to the position indicated by the one-dot chain line 4' in the figure, and can be easily taken out from the front side of the main body. In this case, the sheet stack is reversed as a whole, so the page order will not be reversed.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the structure of the main body of the device, the structure of the paper discharge tray 21, and the structure of the leaf spring 23 are the same as those of the first embodiment. The difference is that the other end of the wire 25 connected to one point on one side of the paper ejection tray is attached to a knob 24 that is manually moved along the guide groove in the first embodiment, but is attached to the machine body. The only point is that it is connected to a take-up pulley 35 provided on the shaft of a drive motor 34 fixedly attached to the drive motor 10 so that it can be taken up and unwound. Therefore, by rotating the motor 34 in the forward and reverse directions, the wire 25 is wound up and unwound, and the paper discharge tray 21 is displaced between the position shown by the solid line and the position shown by the dashed line.

The wire winding drive motor 34 is controlled to rotate in forward and reverse directions and to stop in synchronization with the rotation of the apparatus main body drive motor in accordance with the timing chart shown in FIG. That is, the wire winding motor 34 is rotated in the reverse direction in synchronization with the turning on of the apparatus main body drive motor, and the paper discharge tray 21 is rotated to the stack position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 and stopped. At this time, it goes without saying that the timing must be considered so that the operation is completed before the leading edge of the first sheet is ejected. When the last paper is ejected and the rotation of the main body drive motor stops, the wire take-up motor 34 is rotated in the normal rotation direction, and the paper ejection tray 21 is moved to the position shown by the dashed line 21' in FIG. Rotate and then stop. As a means for stopping the paper ejection tray 21 at a predetermined position shown by a solid line and a chain line, a rotational position detection means is provided on the take-up pulley 35, and a rotation position detection means is provided at a predetermined position on the main body to stop the paper ejection tray 21 at a predetermined position. The angle of the tray may be determined.

Note that the positioning protrusion 2 in the first embodiment
6 and the above positioning switch in the second embodiment,
The solid line position of the paper output tray 21 and the chain line 21 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3
Also provided at a position corresponding to an appropriate position in the middle of the position of ´,
It is also possible to make it possible to select the angle of the paper ejection tray depending on the paper thickness or the like.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the angle of the paper ejection tray is made variable to a plurality of positions, so that when ejected paper is stacked, it is fixed at an angle suitable for stacking, and the stacked paper can be fixed at an angle suitable for stacking. When taking out the paper stack, the angle of the paper output tray is changed so that the position of the paper stack is at an angle convenient for the operator to take out, and the paper output tray is fixed at that position. The operability of taking out the bundle can be improved, and the page order of the stacked sheets can also be prevented from being reversed. In addition, the paper ejection tray can be moved to multiple positions and can be selected arbitrarily, so that the paper can be ejected without straining the paper depending on the thickness of the paper to be ejected, the strength of the body, etc. You can select the state.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus including a paper discharge tray device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing its appearance.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus including a paper discharge tray device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of the main body drive motor and the wire winding motor for rotating the paper discharge tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Image forming device 21 Paper output tray 22 Pivot shaft 23 Spring plate 24 Knob 25 Wire 26 Convexity 34 Wire winding drive motor 35 Pulley

Claims (5)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A paper discharge tray whose base end is pivotally supported so that it can be flipped up; means for changing the angle of a stack surface of the paper discharge tray; What is claimed is: 1. A paper discharge tray device for an image forming apparatus, comprising: an angle setting means for setting the stack surface at an arbitrary angle among the plurality of angles; 2. The means for changing the angle comprises a wire connecting one end in the width direction of the discharge tray and a grip means movably provided on the same side of the main body, and the grip means, and the angle is set. 2. The paper discharge tray device according to claim 1, wherein the means is configured to set the angle of the stacking surface depending on the set position of the gripping means. 3. The angle changing means includes a wire connecting one end of the paper output tray in the width direction and a wire take-up pulley rotated by a drive motor fixedly installed on the same side of the main body, and the drive motor and the wire take-up pulley, and wherein the angle setting means includes means for controlling the rotation angle of the drive motor. 4. The paper discharge tray device according to claim 3, wherein the angle setting means is a switch means for setting the rotational position of the drive motor. 5. The drive motor is connected to the image forming operation of the main body of the image forming apparatus, so that a set tray angle is maintained during image formation, and the stack surface angle is changed to another predetermined angle after image formation is completed. 4. The paper ejection tray device according to claim 3, wherein the paper ejection tray device is controlled to change.