JPH04343368A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a loading structure of a developing device where installation area can be greatly reduced and the reliability is improved. CONSTITUTION:When loading of the developing unit 17 to a frame 3 is in a completed state, a lever 51 has its angle varied and is positioned in a front surface side of a photosensitive unit 8, that is in the direction to pull out the photosensitive unit 8. Because of this, as long as the developing unit 17 is maintained in a loading completed state, the photosensitive unit 8 is prevented from falling out by the lever 51. On the other hand, when the photosensitive unit 8 is to be extracted, the developing unit 17 is separated from a photosensitive member 10 by returning the lever 51, and the unit can be extracted to the upper direction. At this time, the photosensitive unit 8 has the lever 51 released from the front surface side, and the photosensitive unit 8 and the developing unit 17 are separated. Extraction can be carried out without damaging these.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic apparatus in which a developing device is installed and removed from above and a photosensitive device is installed and removed from the front side.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a wide variety of electrophotographic apparatuses have been used, and their uses are wide-ranging. On the other hand, as a ticketing machine that issues airline boarding passes, the content printed is not limited to Arabic numerals or English alphabets, but can also print any character design, etc., and uses laser light to form an optical image on a photosensitive drum. Electrophotographic equipment is preferred. However, such ticket issuing machines are required to be miniaturized because they are installed within an extremely limited area within a crowded ticket counter in an airport. In particular, a reduction in the installation area is required. Furthermore, in the event of a malfunction such as a breakdown, interruptions in ticketing operations must be minimized, and maintenance work must therefore be easy to perform even for ticketing staff who are inexperienced with ticketing machine mechanisms. be.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] When an electrophotographic device that occupies an extremely limited area is required, such as the aforementioned ticket issuing machine that issues boarding passes for an aircraft, current devices require a relatively large footprint and are difficult to maintain. The problem is that the work is time-consuming. Furthermore, the photosensitive drum and the developing roller are separated by only a small distance, and in a configuration where they are made into a unit and the photosensitive drum can be attached and detached in the axial direction, both are easily damaged and have low reliability. There is.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned technical problems and provide an electrophotographic apparatus that is easy to maintain and has improved reliability.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides an electrophotographic apparatus including a photosensitive device and a developing device, in which the photosensitive device and the developing device are housed, and an opening is formed in which the photosensitive device is mounted/removed from the front side. A frame is provided which has a front wall with a flat surface and an opening at the top, into which the developing device is installed/removed from above, and the developing device inserted into the frame from above is supported at a predetermined distance from the photosensitive device. This is an electrophotographic apparatus characterized in that the developing device is held by a member and moves toward/away from the photosensitive device by reciprocating displacement of the supporting member toward the photosensitive device.

Further, in the present invention, a lever is fixed to the front side of the support member, and by reciprocating angular displacement operation of the lever,
The developing device moves toward and away from the photosensitive device, and when the developing device approaches the photosensitive device, the lever comes into contact with the front side of the photosensitive device to fix the photosensitive device.

Further, in the present invention, the photosensitive device is provided with a photosensitive member on which an optical image is formed to form an electrostatic latent image, and the developing device is provided with a photosensitive member that causes a developer to be adsorbed to the photosensitive member. The frame is provided with a developing means for developing the image using the developing device, and an engaging piece that projects toward at least one of the front side and the rear side at the lower end. A support member that engages with the engagement piece is provided so as to be angularly displaceable, a lever fixed to the support member is disposed on the front side of the frame, and when the support member is engaged with the engagement piece, the developing means is connected to the photosensitive means. held at a predetermined interval from
When the lever is operated for angular displacement, the developing means approaches/removes from the photosensitive means, and when the lever approaches, the lever comes into contact with the front side of the photosensitive device to fix the photosensitive device.

[0008]

[Operation] In the electrophotographic apparatus according to the present invention, the photosensitive device is mounted inside the frame through the opening on the front side of the frame,
It will also be removed. This frame is open upward, and the developing device is attached to or removed from the frame from above. The frame is provided with a support member, and when the developing device is inserted into the frame from above, the supporting member holds the developing device at a predetermined distance from the photosensitive device within the frame. Either of the operation of inserting the developing device held by the support member from above the frame and the operation of mounting the photosensitive device from the front side may be performed first.

When the photosensitive device is installed in the frame and the developing device is inserted into the frame from above and held by the supporting member as described above, when the lever fixed to the supporting member is operated to angularly displace the lever, the developing device is activated. When the lever is angularly displaced, the device approaches the photosensitive device, and when the lever is angularly displaced in the opposite direction, the developing device is moved away from the photosensitive device.

When the developing device is close to the photosensitive device, the lever comes into contact with the front side of the photosensitive device to fix the photosensitive device. That is, when the photosensitive device is in contact with the lever, the movement of the photosensitive device from coming out from the frame toward the front side is prevented, and this lever realizes the function of preventing the photosensitive device from coming off. Further, when the lever is angularly displaced in the opposite direction to take out the photosensitive device from the frame, the developing device is separated from the photosensitive device. After this, the photosensitive device is taken out from inside the frame to the front side.

That is, when the photosensitive device is taken out, the situation where the photosensitive device and the developing device undesirably slide is prevented.
Damage to the developing device and photosensitive device is prevented. Also, if the photosensitive device is not installed in the frame and the developing device is installed in the frame by angularly displacing the lever as described above, the lever will be on the front side compared to when the photosensitive device is installed in the frame. Therefore, even if an attempt is made to insert the photosensitive device through the opening of the frame in this state, the lever will prevent the photosensitive device from sliding undesirably between the photosensitive device and the developing device.

0012

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an electrophotographic apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention in a state in which the developing unit 17 and the photosensitive unit 8 are not installed, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the electrophotographic apparatus 1 in a completed state. The electrophotographic apparatus 1 of this embodiment is used, for example, in a ticket issuing apparatus 2 that prints and issues necessary information on an airplane boarding pass. As explained in the related art section, such a ticket issuing device 2 is installed within an extremely limited area occupied by a ticket issuing counter in an airport. The frame 3 of the electrophotographic apparatus 1 of this embodiment is entirely removable from the frame 4 of the ticket issuing apparatus 2 in the front-rear direction of the paper. That is, it slides on a pair of guide rails 5 fixed to the frame 4 in the front-rear direction in the drawing.

A pair of support frames 6 and 7 are arranged on the frame 3 near the inner center position of the frame 3, and the tip of the support frame 6 and the support frame 7 support the photosensitive unit 8.
A housing 9 is supported so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction in the drawing. Inside the photosensitive unit 8, there are a photosensitive drum 10 that is rotatable in the direction of arrow A1 around an axis in the front-rear direction of the paper, a cleaning device 11 that removes the developer on the photosensitive drum 10 after transfer, and a main charger 12. Placed. A receiving member 96 protruding toward the developing unit 17 is provided at the lower end of the photosensitive unit 8, and a receiving surface 97, which is a stepped surface, is formed at the end of the receiving member 96 on the developing unit 17 side. The photosensitive unit 8 engages with a pair of support rails 34a and 35a fixed to the support frame 6, and is slidably displaced in the front-rear direction in the drawing to be attached or detached.

Above the photosensitive unit 8 are a contact pin 13 fixed to the frame 3 and a front wall 4 of the frame 3.
The light source device 15, which is attached and detached upward, is arranged by the positioning grooves 14a formed at the upper ends of the light source device 6 and the rear wall 47, respectively. The light source device 15 includes a contact member 15a on the bottom surface that contacts the contact pin 13, and a positioning pin 14b that engages with the positioning groove 14a. The light source device 15 generates laser light in a state corresponding to the content printed on the face of the boarding pass 16 in response to an input using a keyboard (not shown) of the ticket issuing device 2, and irradiates the laser light onto the photosensitive drum 10. Regarding the light source device 15, a developing unit 17 is installed on the upstream side in the direction A2 in which the boarding pass 16 is conveyed to the electrophotographic apparatus 1.

The developing unit 17 is supplied with toner through a toner storage section 20 that includes toner scraping members 18 and 19 that are angularly displaced at predetermined angles, and a replenishment roller 21 that rotates intermittently from the toner storage section 20. The image forming apparatus includes a stirring section 24 including a stirring roller 23 that stirs and mixes the toner and carrier and supplies the toner and carrier to the developing roller 22 side.

When the developing unit 17 is completely attached to the frame 3, the developing roller 22 is set to maintain a predetermined minute distance from the photosensitive drum 10 by a configuration described later. Further, when the developing unit 17 is attached to the frame 3, it is first inserted into the frame 3 from above as described later, and then approaches the photosensitive unit 8 by an arcuate movement as described later. Furthermore, developing unit 1
7 is provided with a plurality of terminal plates 52 facing downward and electrically connected to connection pins 53 of a connector 54 fixed to the frame 3.

A transfer discharger 2 is provided below the photosensitive unit 8.
5 and a transformer 26 that generates high voltage for discharge. The transfer unit 27 is supported by a support shaft 28 so as to be angularly displaceable with respect to the frame 3 near the upstream end in the transport direction A2. A conveyance roller 29 is provided near the support shaft 28 of the transfer unit 27, and the boarding pass 16 is opposed to the conveyance roller 29.
A conveyance roller 30 that pinches and conveys the image to the photosensitive drum 10 side.
is rotatably fixed to the frame 3.

Further, at the free end of the transfer unit 27 opposite to the support shaft 28, a pressure spring 31 and a guide 32 for guiding the transferred boarding pass 16 toward the fixing unit 33 are provided. Further, supply rollers 98 and 99 are provided for supplying the boarding pass 16 to the conveyance rollers 29 and 30.

A fixing unit 33 is arranged downstream of the photosensitive unit 8 in the transport direction A2. The fixing unit 33 includes a pair of support rails 34 hanging from the support frame 6,
35, and is slidably displaced in the front-rear direction in the plane of the drawing to be attached and detached. The fixing unit 33 includes a first housing 39 that has an engagement piece 36 that engages with the support rails 34 and 35 in common, a heating roller 37 housed therein, and a paper guide 38 provided near the lower end. .

A bracket 40 is provided at the lower end of the first housing 39, and a second housing 42 in which a pressure roller 41 is housed is supported via a pivot 139 so as to be freely angularly displaceable. A paper guide 43 and a pressure spring 31 of the transfer unit 27 contact the lower surface of the second housing 42 near the upper end of the portion facing the photosensitive unit 8, and the transfer unit 27 is in the horizontal state shown by the solid line in FIG. A pressing piece 44 is provided to protrude outward and is pressed upward by a spring force during installation.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the frame 3. The frame 3 includes the support frames 6 and 7 as described above, the stop pin 13, the support rails 34 and 35, and the support shaft 2.
8 etc. are installed. Further, the frame 3 is provided with a storage section 45 having an upper opening and into which the developing unit 17 is inserted and stored from above, as will be described later. There is a gap L between the front wall 46 and the rear wall 47 of the frame 3 that define the storage section 45.
A pair of guide pins 48 and 49 spaced apart from each other abuts against each other, and a leaf spring 50 is provided which elastically presses the developing unit 17 housed inside from the rear plate 47 side toward the front plate 46 side. Further, a lever 51, which constitutes a component to be described later, is arranged. Openings 150 and 151 are formed in the front wall 46 of the frame 3, into which the photosensitive unit 8 and the fixing unit 33 are inserted.
Positioning pins 131, 132;
a, 133b are fixed.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the developing unit 17. A side portion 55 of the frame 3 of the developing unit 17 facing the front wall 46 has a guide groove 56 extending in the vertical direction and opening on the lower side, and the guide pin 4 in the guide groove 56.
The protrusion 57 where the developing roller 22 of the developing unit 17 is located from the end positions P1 and P2 in the moving direction of 8 and 49
A pair of engagement grooves 58 and 59 are formed, respectively, extending obliquely upward on the opposite side to the protruding direction.

A toner replenishment hole 60 and a developer (a mixture of toner and carrier) replenishment hole 61 are provided at the ends of the toner storage section 20 and stirring section 24 of the developing unit 17 in the projecting direction, respectively. Lid 62, respectively.
63 is installed. Further, a pair of lock pins 64 and 65 are provided near the lower protrusion 57 of the developing unit 17, respectively, and protrude in the front-rear direction of the frame 3. Further, the support shaft 74 of the developing roller 22 is connected to the developing unit 17.
It penetrates the side wall of the housing 7a in the front-rear direction.

FIG. 6 shows the lock pin 6 of the developing unit 17.
7 is a perspective view explaining the configuration related to
2 is a perspective view illustrating the structure of a developing roller 22 and a photosensitive drum 10. FIG. Please refer to FIG. 4 as well. The lever 51
A rotating shaft 66 passing through the front wall 46 and rear wall 47 of the frame 3 is fixed to the frame 3 . The developing unit 17 is located near the inner wall surfaces of the front wall 46 and the rear wall 47 of the rotating shaft 66.
support recesses 67a into which the pair of lock pins 64 and 65 of the developing unit 17 fit respectively when inserted into the frame 3;
, 67b, substantially U-shaped support pieces 68a, 68b,
Each is fixed at its proximal end.

As described above, when the developing unit 17 is inserted into the frame 3 from above and has finished moving downward, that is, when the lock pins 64 and 65 are fitted with the support pieces 68a and 68b, the apparatus is operated. The operator moves the lever 51 to the arrow A in Fig.
Rotate in 3 directions. As a result, the developing unit 17 moves towards the photosensitive unit 8 along an arcuate trajectory along the direction of arrow A3.
In particular, the developing roller 22 approaches the photosensitive drum 10 along an arcuate trajectory.

As shown in FIG. 7, the photosensitive drum 10 includes a pair of support shafts 70 protruding from both ends of a right cylindrical body 69 in the axial direction, which is formed by joining flanges made of stainless steel or the like to both ends of an aluminum pipe, for example. A photosensitive layer 71 is formed in an inward range spaced a predetermined distance from both ends of the right cylindrical body 69 in the axial direction. Exposed portions 72 and 73 near both ends of the right cylindrical body 69 where the photosensitive layer 71 is not formed include:
A pair of spacer rollers 75 and 76 disposed at both axial ends of the developing roller 22, which is rotatably supported by a support shaft 74 within the developing unit 17, abuts against each other.

The radius R1 of the spacer rollers 75 and 76 is smaller than the radius R2 of the developing roller 22 by a predetermined degree d1.
Therefore, the photosensitive drum 10 and the developing roller 22 are arranged to be separated by this distance d1. A helical gear 77 is installed behind the spacer rollers 75 and 76 of the developing roller 22, and a similar helical gear 78 is installed at the end of the photosensitive drum 10 in the same direction. Here, the reason why the helical gears 77 and 78 are used is to prevent the smooth rotation of the developing roller 22 and the photosensitive drum 10 from being disturbed due to intermittent meshing between the peaks of the spur gears. .

FIG. 8 is a front view showing the procedure for installing the developing unit 17. In order to house the developing device 17 in the frame 3 in this embodiment, the developing unit 17 is first housed from above the frame 3 into the housing part 45 so as to face downward. This situation is shown in FIG. At this time, the guide pins 48 and 49 enter the guide groove 56, and the developing unit 17
Positioning is performed in a direction intersecting the insertion direction of , and in the left-right direction in FIGS. 1 and 2. The developing unit 17 is inserted downward, and the lock pins 64 and 65 are attached to the support pieces 68a and 68b.
As shown in FIG. 8(1), the guide pins 48 and 49 move to the end positions P1 and P2 of the guide groove 56 in the moving direction.
Located in At this time, the helical gear 78 coaxial with the photosensitive drum 10 is separated from the helical gear 77 coaxial with the developing unit roller 22 .

After that, when the lever 51 is rotated in the direction of arrow A3, the lever 51 is rotated through the lock pins 64 and 65 that are fitted with the support pieces 68a and 68b that are fixed to the lever 51 through the rotation shaft 66. Then, the developing unit 17 approaches the photosensitive unit 8 along an arcuate trajectory. At this time, as shown in FIG. 8(2), the guide pins 48 and 49 move from the movement direction terminal positions P1 and P2 of the guide groove 56 to the engagement grooves 58 and 59 and engage with each other. The lock pins 64 and 65 are connected to the receiving surface 97 of the receiving member 96.
At the same time, the spacer rollers 75 and 76 coaxially attached to the developing roller 22 abut against the exposed portions 72 and 73 of the photosensitive drum 10, and the distance between the photosensitive drum 10 and the developing roller 22 is adjusted with high precision. Can be set to .

In this way, the developing unit 17 is constructed as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the developing unit 17 is inserted into the frame 3 from above at a position away from the light source device 15, and then moved in an arc to approach the photosensitive unit 8. In this way, the positioning of the developing unit 17 when it is attached to the frame 3 can be carried out without difficulty.

That is, the developing unit 17 is connected to the frame 3.
When the installation is complete, the lever 51 is angularly displaced, and the lever 51 is placed on the front side of the photosensitive unit 8, that is, the photosensitive unit 8.
It is located in the direction of pulling out. Therefore, as long as the developing unit 17 maintains the attachment completion state, the photosensitive unit 8 is prevented from coming off by the lever 51. On the other hand, when the photosensitive unit 8 is to be removed, by returning the lever 51, the developing unit 17 is separated from the photosensitive member 10 and becomes removable upward. At this time, the photosensitive unit 8 also moves to the lever 5.
1 is released from the front side, and the photosensitive unit 8 and the developing unit 17 are separated from each other, so that they can be removed without being damaged.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the photosensitive device is installed in the frame and the developing device is inserted into the frame from above and held by the support member as described above, the support member When a lever fixed to the developing device is angularly displaced, the developing device approaches the photosensitive device as the lever is angularly displaced, and when the lever is angularly displaced in the opposite direction, the developing device moves away from the photosensitive device.

When the developing device is close to the photosensitive device, the lever comes into contact with the front side of the photosensitive device to fix the photosensitive device. That is, when the photosensitive device is in contact with the lever, the movement of the photosensitive device from coming out from the frame toward the front side is prevented, and this lever realizes the function of preventing the photosensitive device from coming off. Further, when the lever is angularly displaced in the opposite direction to take out the photosensitive device from the frame, the developing device is separated from the photosensitive device. After this, the photosensitive device is taken out from inside the frame to the front side.

That is, when the photosensitive device is taken out, the situation where the photosensitive device and the developing device undesirably slide is prevented.
Damage to the developing device and photosensitive device is prevented. Also, if the photosensitive device is not installed in the frame and the developing device is installed in the frame by angularly displacing the lever as described above, the lever will be on the front side compared to when the photosensitive device is installed in the frame. Therefore, even if an attempt is made to insert the photosensitive device through the opening of the frame in this state, the lever will prevent the photosensitive device from sliding undesirably between the photosensitive device and the developing device. This facilitates maintenance work and improves reliability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view illustrating the mounting operation of a developing unit 17.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the mounting operation of the developing unit 17.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the frame 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the developing unit 17.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view related to support pieces 68a and 68b.

7 is a perspective view of the developing roller 22 and the photosensitive drum 10. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a front view illustrating the mounting operation of the developing unit 17.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Electrophotographic equipment 3 Frame 8 Photosensitive unit 10 Photosensitive drum 15 Light source device 16 Boarding pass 17 Developing unit 33 Fusing unit 46 Front wall 47 Rear wall 48, 49 Guide pin 51 Lever 56 Guide groove 58, 59 Engagement groove 96 Receiving member 97 Receiving surface

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An electrophotographic apparatus comprising a photosensitive device and a developing device, the electrophotographic device having a front wall in which the photosensitive device and the developing device are housed, and an opening through which the photosensitive device is mounted/removed from the front side. In addition, a frame is provided with an upward opening into which the developing device is installed/removed from above, and the developing device inserted into the frame from above is held by a supporting member at a predetermined distance from the photosensitive device. An electrophotographic apparatus characterized in that a developing device moves toward or away from a photosensitive device by reciprocating displacement toward the photosensitive device. 2. A lever is fixed to the front side of the supporting member, and by reciprocating angular displacement operation of the lever, the developing device approaches/removes from the photosensitive device, and when approaching, the lever comes into contact with the front side of the photosensitive device. 2. The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive device is fixed. 3. The photosensitive device is provided with a photosensitive member on whose surface an optical image is formed to form an electrostatic latent image, and the developing device is provided with a developing device that adsorbs a developer onto the photosensitive member and develops the photosensitive member. The frame is provided with a developing means and an engaging piece that protrudes toward at least one of the front side and the rear side at the lower end, and the engaging piece and the engaging piece are provided in the frame when the developing device is inserted into the frame from above. An engaging support member is provided so as to be freely angularly displaceable;
A lever fixed to the supporting member is disposed on the front side of the frame, and the supporting member holds the developing means at a predetermined distance from the photosensitive means while engaged with the engaging piece, and the lever is operated for angular displacement. Then, the developing means approaches/removes from the photosensitive means,
2. The electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lever comes into contact with the front side of the photosensitive device to fix the photosensitive device when approached.