JPH04296772A - Printer connecting unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute multicolor recording by piling a printer which is not provided with a multicolor recording function without making the printer large-sized and expensive. CONSTITUTION:A printer connecting unit 30 is arranged between the identical printers 10 and 10 which are piled above and below and the paper ejecting port 11a of the lower printer 10 and the paper supply port 11b of the upper printer 10 are connected by a non-reverse carrying path 31. After the monochromatic recording is executed on the surface of a sheet S by the lower printer 10, the sheet S is carried from the port 11a through the path 31 and fed in the upper printer 10 from the port 11b. Then, the recording of the other colors is executed on the surface of the sheet S by the upper printer 10.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer connection unit that is arranged between printers stacked one above the other to connect the printers.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, among the above-mentioned printers, there are color printers equipped with a multicolor recording function and monochrome printers without such a function. Some of the latter printers are capable of color recording by stacking such printers one above the other. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, this type of monochrome printer is provided with a sheet conveyance path 3 at its lower portion for conveying sheets from a paper feed port 1a to a recording section 2. Then, for example, when performing two-color recording on a sheet, the same two printers 1 and 1 are stacked one above the other as shown in the figure, and one paper output port 1b is
and the other paper feed port 1a are connected at opposing positions. The upper and lower printers 1 and 1 are respectively attached with developing units 4 and 5 containing toners of different colors. After this printer is set, a sheet is sent out from the paper feed cassette 6 of the lower printer 1 in the direction of arrow A in the figure, one color is recorded on the sheet in the recording section 2, and the sheet after the recording is sent to the paper output port 1b. The sheet is conveyed from the paper feed port 1a of the upper printer 1 through the sheet conveyance path 3 to the recording section 2 of the upper printer 1, and the recording section 2 records the sheet in other colors. Then, the sheets that have been color-recorded in the two colors are discharged from the paper discharge port 1b onto the paper stack section 7 and stacked thereon.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, as described above, in the conventional configuration, it is necessary to provide a connecting sheet conveying path 3 at the bottom of each printer, which increases the size of the printer and increases costs. The problem was that it was expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to make it possible to perform multicolor printing by stacking printers that do not have a multicolor printing function, without increasing the size or cost of the printer.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] Therefore, the printer connection unit 30 of the present invention as set forth in claim 1 is arranged between the printers 10 stacked one above the other, as shown in the illustrated embodiment below, and the lower printer 10 and the paper feed port 11b of the upper printer 10, and the sheet S is transferred from the paper discharge port 11a to the paper feed port 11b.
It is characterized by being provided with a conveyance path such as a non-reversing conveyance path 31 for conveying.

[0006] Furthermore, the present invention as set forth in claim 2 is, for example, as shown in the illustrated embodiment below, in the printer connection unit 30 as set forth in claim 1, the conveyance path conveys the sheet S as it is without reversing it. It is characterized by being a non-reversing conveyance path 31.

Further, the present invention as set forth in claim 3 provides a reversing system for transporting the sheet S inverted onto the transport path in the printer connection unit 30 as set forth in claim 1, as shown in the illustrated embodiment below, for example. It is characterized by comprising a conveyance path 40.

[0008]

[Operation] In the present invention, the sheet S from the paper discharge port 11a of the lower printer 10 is passed through the paper feed port 11 of the upper printer 10 through a transport path such as the non-reversing transport path 31 or the reversing transport path 40.
1b.

[0009]

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 shows an overall schematic configuration of the internal mechanism of a laser printer 10 that does not have a multicolor recording function or a double-sided recording function. This laser printer 10 has a printer main body 11
and a paper feed cassette 12 which is detachably attached to the right side of the printer main body 11 in the figure. Printer body 11
Inside, a drum-shaped photoreceptor 13 is provided approximately at the center. Then, the surface of the photoreceptor 13 is uniformly charged with a charger 14, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface by irradiating a laser beam with a laser beam writer 15, and the image is developed with a developer 16. Visualize the latent image. On the other hand, the sheets S stored in the paper feed cassette 12 are fed out one by one by the paper feed roller 17 in the direction of arrow A in the figure, and the leading end is brought into contact between the registration rollers 18 and stopped. Then, the registration rollers 18 are rotated in synchronization with the visible image on the photoreceptor 13, and the sheet S is guided between the photoreceptor 13 and the transfer device 19. As a result, the transfer device 19 transfers the visible image on the photoreceptor 13 onto the surface of the sheet S (upper surface in the figure), and the sheet S is sent to the fixing device 20 to fix the transferred image. After that, the sheet S after fixing is transferred from the paper ejection port 11a to the paper ejection stack section 22 by the paper ejection roller 21.
Eject to the top and stack. Note that the printer main body 11 has a paper feed port 11b on the lower right side in the figure;
A sheet conveyance path 23 is formed between the registration roller 1b and the registration roller 18. When recording in large quantities, the sheet conveyance path 23 is configured such that when printing in large quantities, the printer 10 is placed on a large quantity paper feeder (not shown), and the sheets sent out from there are placed on a registration roller 18.
This is the conveyance path that transports the materials to the

By the way, when performing multicolor recording, for example, two-color recording on a sheet S, using the laser printer 10 described above, the printer connection unit 30 of the present invention is installed on the printer 10, as shown in FIG. let The printer connection unit 30 has a stepped portion 30a on the lower left side in the figure corresponding to the upper shape of the printer 10, and has a paper feed port 30 at a position facing the paper discharge port 11a when attached to the printer 10.
Open b. Further, a paper discharge port 30c is provided on the upper right side, and a non-reversing conveyance path 31 for the sheet S is provided between the paper discharge port 30c and the paper feed port 30b. In this non-reversing conveyance path 31, conveyance rollers 32 and 33 are provided near the paper feed port 30b and paper discharge port 30c, respectively, and another conveyance roller 34 is provided between these conveyance rollers 32 and 33. Conveyance roller 32/3
Although not shown, coaxial gears 3 and 34 are configured to mesh with the gears of the printer 10 and rotate by transmitting the driving force of the drive motor within the printer 10 through the meshing. Then, the laser printer 10 shown in FIG. 5 is placed on this printer connection unit 30 again, and its paper feed port 11
b and the paper discharge port 30c of the printer connection unit 30 are arranged to face each other.

Now, when recording in two colors on the sheet S, developing devices 16 containing toners of different colors are attached to the upper and lower printers 10, 10. and,
After the sheet S sent out from the paper feed cassette 12 of the lower printer 10 is recorded in one color through an electrophotographic process such as charging, exposure, development, and transfer, it is transferred to the paper ejection port 1 by the paper ejection roller 21.
1a to the non-reversing transport path 31 through the paper feed port 30b, and further transported in the direction shown by arrow B through the non-reversing transport path 31 by transport rollers 32, 33, and 34, and then from the paper discharge port 30c to the upper printer 10. The sheet is fed into the sheet conveyance path 23 through the sheet feed port 11b. Then, the sheet is conveyed through this sheet conveyance path 23 to the photoreceptor 13 by registration rollers 18 . After that, the same electrophotographic process as described above is performed to record other colors, and then the sheet S recorded in the two colors is discharged from the paper discharge port 11a onto the paper stack section 22 by the paper discharge roller 21. Stack.

Incidentally, in the illustrated embodiment described above, two identical printers 10 are stacked one above the other via one printer connection unit 30 to record two colors on the sheet S. By stacking printers in three or more stages depending on the number of printers, and placing the printer connection unit between the upper and lower printers, it becomes possible to record in two or more colors on a sheet.

In the illustrated embodiment described above, the sheet S is transported into the upper printer 10 without being reversed by the non-reversing transport path 31 in the printer connection unit 30, and color recording is performed on the surface of the sheet S. However, as shown in the illustrated embodiment below, for example, a reversing conveyance path is provided in the printer connection unit, and the sheet recorded on the front surface can be reversed and conveyed into the upper printer by the reversing conveyance path. By doing so, it is also possible to have a configuration in which color recording and double-sided recording are selectively performed on the sheet.

That is, in this other embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a reversing conveyance path 40 is provided within the printer connection unit 30, branching off past the conveyance roller 34 thereof. At the branch point, a switching guide claw 41 for switching the conveying direction is rotatably provided. The reversing conveyance path 40 is provided with a switchback roller 42 . When this printer connection unit 30 is attached to the lower printer 10, it is electrically connected to the lower printer 10, and the switching guide claw 41 is appropriately connected to the lower printer 10.
is configured to be rotatable, and the switchback roller 42 is configured to be rotatable in forward and reverse directions.

When performing two-color recording on the sheet S, developing devices 16 containing toners of different colors are attached to the upper and lower printers 10, 10. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the switching guide claw 41 is rotated clockwise in the figure to switch the conveyance direction to the direction indicated by arrow B. Then, as described above, 1
The sheet S on which the color has been recorded is transferred to the printer connection unit 3.
0 through the non-reversing conveyance path 31 in the direction of arrow B,
The sheet S is fed into the upper printer 10 as it is without being reversed, and the second color is recorded on the same surface of the sheet S in the upper printer 10. On the other hand, when performing double-sided recording on the sheet S, as shown in FIG. 4, the switching guide claw 41 is rotated to switch the conveyance direction to the directions shown by arrows C and D. Then, in the same manner as described above, first, recording is performed on the surface of the sheet S in the lower printer 10, and then the sheet S is conveyed to the non-reversing conveyance path 31 in the printer connection unit 30, and further conveyed. The rollers 32 and 34 and the switchback roller 42 guide the sheet in the direction of arrow C using the switching guide claw 41, while once sending it into the reversing conveyance path 40 and reversing it. Then, the switchback roller 42 is reversely rotated to convey the sheet S in the direction of arrow D, and the sheet S is sent through the sheet discharge port 30c side of the non-reversing conveyance path 31 to the sheet conveyance path 23 of the upper printer 10 by the conveyance roller 33. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the sheet is conveyed through the sheet conveyance path 23 to the photoreceptor 13 by the registration rollers 18, where recording is also performed on the back side. After that, this double-sided recorded sheet S is transferred to the paper stack section 22 by the paper discharge roller 21.
Eject to the top and stack.

By the way, in the other illustrated embodiments mentioned above,
The printer connection unit 30 is provided with a non-reversing transport path 31 and a reversing transport path 40 to selectively enable color recording and double-sided recording, but a configuration in which only the reversing transport path is provided and only double-sided recording is possible is adopted. You can also use it as

[0017]

Therefore, according to the invention as set forth in claims 1 and 2, when performing multicolor recording, the sheet conveyance paths between printers stacked vertically are connected by an independent printer connection unit. Because of this, there is no need to provide a connecting sheet conveyance path for each printer as in the past, and this allows printers that do not have a multicolor recording function to be stacked on top of each other to print multiple colors without increasing the size or cost of the printer. Records can be made.

Furthermore, according to the invention as set forth in claim 3, since the sheet conveying path of the printer connection unit is configured to include a reversing conveying path, the printer can be similarly prevented from increasing in size and cost. , it is possible to perform only double-sided recording using a printer that does not have a double-sided recording function or a multicolor recording function, and it is also possible to selectively perform double-sided recording and multicolor recording.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing how a printer connection unit is used, which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how a printer connection unit according to another embodiment of the present invention is used.

FIG. 3 is a state explanatory diagram showing a state in which the sheet is directly conveyed to the upper printer without being reversed within the printer connection unit.

FIG. 4 is a state explanatory diagram showing a state in which a sheet is reversed within the printer connection unit and conveyed to an upper printer.

FIG. 5 is an overall schematic configuration diagram showing the internal mechanism of a laser printer that does not have multicolor recording or double-sided recording functions.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state in which two-color recording is performed on sheets by stacking conventional upper and lower printers each having a connecting sheet conveyance path at the bottom.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Upper and lower printer 11a Lower printer paper outlet 11b Upper printer paper feed slot 30 Printer connection unit 31 Non-reversing conveyance path 40 Reversing conveyance path S Sheet

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A transport path is provided between the printers stacked one above the other, connects the paper discharge port of the lower printer and the paper feed port of the upper printer, and conveys the sheet from the paper discharge port to the paper feed port. A printer connection unit. 2. The printer connection unit according to claim 1, wherein the conveyance path is a non-reversing conveyance path that conveys the sheet as it is without reversing it. 3. The printer connection unit according to claim 1, wherein the conveyance path includes a reversing conveyance path for inverting and conveying the sheet.