JPH04298454A - Picture image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the way of jam processing by preventing any drop, taking place when a cover is opened, of any sheet loaded on a paper discharge tray which is integral with a freely opened/closed main body cover. CONSTITUTION:A paper discharge tray is provided integratedly with a main body cover which is installed in a device proper 2 in such a way that it can be opened or closed freely, and recorded sheets P are inverted and loaded on a paper discharge tray 6. An extension section A which extends upward at the rear end of each sheet P on the paper discharge tray 6 is provided on the top plate 3a of a main body cover 3 to prevent drop of any loaded sheet P from the paper discharge tray 6 when the main body cover 3 is opened. Consequently, when any jam occurs, it is possible to open the main body cover 3 and remove jammed sheet P inside the device proper 2 easily without removing and sheet P on the paper discharge tray 6.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, particularly a copying machine, a printing machine, a printing machine, a facsimile machine, a word processor, etc., which has a paper discharge tray for inverting and discharging a sheet on which an image has been recorded. The present invention relates to a forming device.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printers for recording output information have been used as peripheral devices for computers and the like, and wire dot type printers have been widely used as such printers.

However, as recent printers,
Market needs are changing to laser beam printers due to demands for high quality recorded images, high speed recording, and quiet recording operation, and even more recent laser beam printers. The decline in the price of beam printers is spurring this trend.

[0004] Recent laser beam printers print and record images and eject the sheets with their traveling direction reversed, so that when multiple sheets are recorded, the first page is on top and the sheets are aligned in page order. It looks like this.

A conventional image forming apparatus of this type will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. In the figure, in the laser beam printer, the insertion opening for loading and unloading the paper feed cassette 21 is the front side of the device, and an operation panel for inputting various signals is arranged on the front side. Further, the main body cover 50 is attached to the apparatus main body 2 by a support shaft 5 so that it can be opened and closed freely so that all operations such as jam removal and other maintenance can be performed from the front side.

FIG. 6 shows the main body cover 50 in an open state, and the process unit 17, mirror 20, etc. are fixedly installed on the back side of the main body cover 50, respectively. The process unit 17 includes a photosensitive drum 10 on which a latent image is formed by a laser beam L corresponding to image information.
, a primary charger 11, a developer 12 for developing the latent image, a cleaner 15, and the like. A laser scanner 19 provided within the apparatus main body 2 irradiates the photosensitive drum 10 with a laser beam L corresponding to image information.

The lower circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 10 is located near the fixing device 26 provided in the apparatus main body 2 when the main body cover 50 is closed. The sheet P on the paper feed cassette 21 is sent to the registration rollers 23 by the paper feed roller 22, and is fed to the photosensitive drum 10 at a predetermined timing, so that the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 10 is transferred. After the transfer, the toner image is fixed on the sheet P by the fixing device 26, and the sheet P is further reversed by the U-turn guide 27 and discharged from the paper discharge section 30 onto the paper discharge tray 51 by the paper discharge roller 29.

The paper discharge tray 51 is formed integrally with the main body cover 50 and is inclined upward in the conveying direction of the sheet P. Further, a rear wall portion 51a is formed at the rear of the paper ejection tray 51 for holding the sheet P against which the rear end of the ejected sheet P comes into contact. It is provided near the wall portion 51a.

[0009]

However, the conventional image forming apparatus described above has the following drawbacks.

That is, the sheet P discharged from the paper discharge section 30 is delivered to the paper discharge tray 51 which also serves as the main body cover 50 of the main body.
If a sheet P, which is stacked on top of the main body 2 but is undergoing image formation, becomes jammed, the main body cover 50 must be opened in order to remove the jammed sheet P. At this time, the recorded sheets P stacked on the paper output tray 51 will fall to the side opposite to the opening of the main body cover 50 because the angle of inclination when the main body cover 50 is opened becomes large. .

[0011] Recently, laser beam printers are generally operated from the front as described above, and jammed paper is handled from the front side of the device. Therefore, when clearing a jam, the sheets P loaded on the paper ejection tray 51 fall to the rear of the apparatus, and the user must remove the sheets from the paper ejection tray 51 before clearing the jam.
Since the sheet P on the paper sheet P must be removed in advance, the jam processing is troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that is capable of handling jams without removing recorded sheets discharged to a paper discharge tray.

[0013]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances. For example, as shown with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, an image forming section (10) in an apparatus main body (2) It is integrally formed with a paper ejecting section (30) for inverting and ejecting a recorded sheet (P) on which an image has been formed, and a main body cover (3) provided on the apparatus main body (2) so as to be freely openable and closable. hand,
An image forming apparatus (1) comprising a paper discharge tray (6) on which sheets (P) discharged from the paper discharge section (30) are stacked.
An extending portion (A) extending upward from the rear end of the sheets (P) stacked on the paper ejection tray (6) is provided on the upper plate (3a) of the main body cover (3). It is characterized by

[0014]

[Operation] Based on the above-mentioned configuration, the sheet (P) on which an image has been recorded is reversed in the apparatus main body (2) and
0) onto the paper ejection tray (6). Above the rear end of the sheets (P) stacked on the paper ejection tray (6), there is an upper plate (3) of the main body cover (3) that integrally forms the paper ejection tray (6). The upper plate (3a) of is extended. When the main body cover (3), which also serves as the paper ejection tray (6), is opened, the rear end of the sheet (P) is attached to the upper plate (3).
The sheet (P) on the paper output tray (6) can be removed when the sheet (P) is jammed in the apparatus main body (2). Open the main unit cover and remove the sheet (
P) jam processing can be performed.

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

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Components having the same functions as those shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a main body cover 3 that closes the rear upper part and rear portion of the apparatus main body 2 is attached to the apparatus main body 2 by a support shaft 5 so as to be openable and closable. Process unit 1 configured on the back side of this main body cover 3
7 is provided with a photosensitive drum 10 that rotates in the direction of the arrow, and its support shaft 10a is supported by coming into contact with a support member 7 formed in the apparatus main body 2 when the main body cover 3 is closed. By this, the process unit 17 is positioned with respect to the apparatus main body 2.

The paper discharge tray 6 is integrally formed with the main body cover 3 and also serves as the main body cover 3. This paper ejection tray 6 is inclined upward along the conveying direction of the sheet P, and has a rear portion that engages with the rear portion of the ejected sheet P to align the rear portion of the sheet P. A rear wall portion 6a is formed.

A paper ejecting section 30 comprising a pair of ejecting rollers 29 for ejecting recorded sheets P is disposed at the upper rear wall 6a. The paper discharge tray 6 side of the upper plate 3a of the main body cover 3 extends toward the paper discharge tray 6 side to form an extension portion A. For example, as shown in FIG.
The side edges on both sides are formed into a step-like shape that gradually expands.

The sheet P on the paper feed cassette 21 is fed by the paper feed roller 22 in the same manner as in the case of FIG. Then, the sheets are sequentially discharged onto the sheet discharge tray 6 by the sheet discharge roller 29. The recording operation of forming an image on the sheet P is performed with the main body cover 3 closed and the photosensitive drum 10 at a predetermined position within the apparatus main body 2, as shown in FIG.

Here, if a jam occurs in the sheet P during image formation in the apparatus main body 2, the main body cover 3, which also serves as the paper ejection tray 6, is opened in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. In this state, the sheet P that is jammed in the device main body 2
The removal process is performed. Now, with recorded sheets P stacked on the paper output tray 6, the main body cover 3 is opened as shown in FIG.
When opened as shown in FIG.
The paper discharge tray 6 is prevented from falling from the paper discharge tray 6 by being supported by the extension part A of the paper discharge tray 6. The extension part A,
For example, by setting the length to about 1/2 of the length of the sheet P, it is possible to prevent the sheet P from falling even if the main body cover 3 is tilted to an angle close to 90 degrees.

In the width direction of the extending portion A, the size of the sheet P on which the image is recorded is determined.
The extending portions A are located above both ends of. Since the small-sized sheet P is short in its longitudinal direction, it has a step-like structure as shown in FIG.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. In the first embodiment described above, the extending portion A provided on the upper plate 3a has a stepped shape extending above both sides of the rear end of the sheets P stacked on the paper ejection tray 6. However, as shown in FIG. 4, the extending portion A may be configured to be in a straight line along the width direction. The extension part A,
By configuring in this way, the strength of the main body cover 3 is increased, and the design has a simple shape.

[0024]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention,
In an image forming apparatus that inverts a recorded sheet and discharges it onto a paper output tray, the upper plate 3a of the main body cover 3 is extended above the rear end of the discharged sheet on the paper output tray. This prevents stacked sheets from falling from the paper output tray when the main body cover, which also serves as the paper output tray, is opened. This can be done without removing the sheets in advance, improving the jamming operability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view as well.

FIG. 3 is an action diagram as well.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal side view.

[Explanation of symbols]

P Sheet A Extending part 1 Image forming device 2　　　　　　　　　　　Device body 3　　　　　　　　　　Body cover 3a Top plate 6 Paper output tray 6a　　　　　　Back wall part 10 Photosensitive drum 17 Process unit 27 U-turn guide

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A sheet discharging section that inverts and discharges a recorded sheet on which an image has been formed in an image forming section in the apparatus main body, and a main body cover that is provided on the apparatus main body so as to be openable and closable are integrally formed. an image forming apparatus comprising: a paper ejection tray on which sheets ejected from the paper ejection unit are stacked;
An image forming apparatus characterized in that an upper plate of the main body cover is provided with an extending portion that extends upward from a rear end of the sheets stacked on the paper ejection tray.