JPH0511539A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming device where a jammed paper is easily removed even when the paper fed from a paper feeding frame is jammed. CONSTITUTION:A copying device is equipped with a copying machine main body 1 which is provided with a recording paper cassette 12, a guide 15 for introducing the paper 13 fed from the cassette 12 to a toner image transfer part 11, a guide 29 for introducing the paper supplied from the outside of the main body to the transfer part 11; and the paper feeding frame 2 which is provided with a paper placing table 32 where the paper is housed, a pickup roller 41 for feeding the paper on the paper placing table 32 to the guide 29, a sliding cylinder 61 which movably holds the copying machine main body 1, and a hydraulic pump 62 for driving the cylinder 61. In this copying device, the copying machine main body 1 and the paper feeding frame 2 are separated by driving the cylinder 61 by the pump 62.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including an image forming apparatus main body and a pedestal capable of accommodating sheets to be fed to the image forming apparatus main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a relatively small image forming apparatus such as a desktop copying machine, copy paper (hereinafter referred to as paper) is used.
Generally, a cassette or a paper feed table equipped in the main body of the copying machine has been used as the accommodating means of the. However, these accommodating means must be replenished frequently because the number of sheets of paper stacked is small, and when changing the size of the paper, replace the cassette or remove the paper on the paper tray and use it again. There is a drawback that the work becomes complicated because the paper has to be replaced with paper of a size that meets the requirements. Therefore, in the case of using a cassette as a sheet storage means, attempts have been made to increase the number of sheets that can be loaded by mounting a plurality of cassettes, or to attach cassettes of different paper sizes to save the trouble of paper replacement. Since the copier itself was small, it was hard to say that the number of sheets to be loaded was sufficient. Recently, the copy speed of this type of desk-top copying machine has also increased, and a large number of sheets can be copied in a short time. Therefore, the shortage of the number of sheets to be loaded becomes more and more a problem.

In order to solve such a problem, a portion other than the sheet feeding cassette and the sheet feeding table (first sheet accommodating section) provided in the copying machine main body, for example, in a frame for mounting the copying machine main body, A second paper storage unit capable of storing a large amount of paper of a relatively frequently used size is provided, and the paper fed from this rack (hereinafter referred to as a paper feed rack) is provided on the lower surface of the copying machine main body. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 56-8161 discloses a copying machine which guides the image from the inlet to a copying machine to perform copying.

[0004]

However, in such a device, the paper from the paper feed tray is jammed due to a long and complicated paper conveyance path from the second paper storage unit described above. It was difficult to remove the paper when the so-called paper jam occurred. That is, when jamming such paper, usually, the jammed paper is removed by opening the paper guides provided in the paper conveying path upward and sideward or sliding it toward you. In such a copying machine, there is a problem that it is difficult for the operator to put in his hand and remove the jammed paper because the space inside the machine is limited and the open portion is narrow. Also, if a jam occurs in the area between the paper feed rack and the inlet of the copier body, or in the vicinity thereof, it is difficult to access the jam paper from either the copier body side or the paper feed rack side, and the jam paper There is a problem that it is particularly difficult to remove.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in an image forming apparatus including an image forming apparatus main body and a paper feed tray, a sheet fed from the paper feed tray causes a jam. Even in the case, it is an object to provide an image forming apparatus that can easily remove jammed paper.

[0006]

In order to achieve such an object, a first sheet accommodating section and a sheet fed from the first sheet accommodating section are introduced into the image transfer section. An image forming apparatus main body having a first sheet introduction port and a second sheet introduction port for introducing a sheet supplied from outside the main body to the image transfer section, and a second sheet accommodation section for accommodating the sheet And a paper feed means for feeding the paper in the second paper storage portion to the second paper inlet, and the image forming apparatus main body and the second paper storage means are relatively moved and separated from each other. And a paper feed frame having a slide member that holds the paper feed unit.

With this structure, the image transfer unit for forming an image on a sheet is provided with a second sheet provided on the sheet feeding tray from the first sheet accommodating means provided on the main body of the image forming apparatus. Paper is fed from both of the paper accommodating means. Further, the image forming apparatus main body and the second sheet storage section are relatively separated from each other along the slide member.

[0008]

Embodiments of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a copying machine main body and a paper feeding stand thereof, which is an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

First, the copying machine body 1 will be described. Figure 1
In FIG. 1, the copying machine main body 1 is mounted on the paper feeding stand 2. When the sheet-shaped original 3 is placed on the inclined original table and inserted into the original feeding device in the direction of arrow A, the originals are fed by the conveying rollers 4 and 5, and are illuminated by the illumination lamp during this period, and the original image is formed by the fiber lens array 6. It is projected on the rotating photosensitive drum 7. The photosensitive drum 7 is an arrow B
After being rotated in the direction and discharged by a discharging lamp, it is uniformly charged by the corona charger 9 and an original image is formed on the photosensitive drum 7 as an electrostatic latent image by the light image irradiation. This electrostatic latent image is toner-developed by the toner developing device 10 with the toner charged to the opposite polarity to the original image,
The toner image is transferred to the toner image transfer unit 11 as the drum 7 rotates. On the other hand, the recording paper cassette 12 that is the first paper storage unit
The sheets 13 in the inside are taken out one by one by a swinging and rotating pickup roller 14, passed through a first inlet formed by two guides 15, and sent to a registration roller 16 which is a sheet feeding control means. Registration roller 16
Feeds the paper 13 to the toner image transfer section 11 at a timing coincident with the developed image on the photosensitive drum surface. In the toner image transfer unit 11, the paper 13 is conveyed between the drum 7 and the semiconductive transfer roller 17 to which the bias voltage is applied so that the toner image is transferred so as to overlap with the toner image. At this time, the sheet 13 is conveyed in close contact with the toner image, that is, the drum 7, so that the sheet 13 is peeled off by the peeling claw and the air flow described later, and is conveyed along the guide 19 to the roller 2.
When it is 0, it is sent into the heat fixing device 21 having a heater. Paper 13
After the toner image is fixed here, the toner image is discharged to the paper discharge tray 23 by the discharge roller 22. It should be noted that the toner image on the drum 7 is not completely transferred onto the paper 13 and a part of the toner image on the drum 7 is not transferred.
Since the residual toner remains on the upper side, this residual toner is wiped off by the rotating cleaning brush 24, and the removed toner is sucked by the air flow generated by the rotation of the fan 25 and collected by the filter 26. In addition, the exhaust of the fan 25 is duct 27
The discharge port of the duct 27 is connected to the transfer unit 11.
And the paper 13 is directed to the drum 7 in cooperation with the peeling claw 18.
It is used to effectively peel from. Numeral 28 is an opening provided on the lower surface of the copying machine main body 1, and is used for the paper feeding stand 2 which will be described later.
The sheet supplied from the above is guided through the opening 28 to the second introduction port formed by the two guides 29 and guided to the registration roller 16. Reference numeral 64 is a foot that supports the main body 1 of the copying machine.

Next, the paper feed rack 2 used in combination with the above-mentioned copying machine main body 1 will be described. The paper feeding stand 2 can accommodate a large number of sheets of paper, and the above-mentioned copying machine body 1
Paper can be supplied to the second inlet through the opening 28 of the. A sheet placement table 32, which is a second sheet storage unit capable of storing a large number of sheets 13, is supported by a belt 33,
It can be moved up and down. The belt 33, one end of which is fixed to the paper tray 32, is hung on the idler pulley 34,
The other end is fixed to the hoisting pulley 35. Hoisting pulley 3
Reference numeral 5 is connected to a worm wheel 36, and by driving a worm 37 meshing with the worm wheel 36 by a motor 38, the belt 33 can be wound up or unwound, whereby the sheet mounting table 32 can be moved up and down. . The idler pulley 34, the hoisting pulley 35, the worm wheel 36, the worm 37, and the motor 38 are attached to a mounting table outer frame 39 that surrounds the sheet mounting table 32. The mounting table outer frame 39 includes two rails 4
0 is slidably attached to the front side of the sheet feeding base 2 main body, which will be described later. On the other hand, the paper tray 3
A pickup roller 41 for taking out the sheets 13 placed on the sheet placing table 32 one by one is disposed above the sheet. The pickup roller 41 can be rotationally driven by a motor 43 via a belt 42, is rotatable around a fulcrum 44, and is in contact with the upper surface of the sheet 13 by its own weight. The position of the pickup roller 41 is detected by a detector (not shown), and when the pickup roller 41 falls below a predetermined level, the motor 3 is driven by a signal from a control circuit (not shown).
8 is operated, and the sheet mounting table 32 is moved up and down so that the pickup roller 41 goes above a predetermined level. As a result, the pickup roller 41 is always kept at a substantially constant position, and stable paper feeding can be performed.

Next, the paper 13 stored in the paper feed tray 2
A mechanism for sending the sheet to the copying machine body 1 will be described. When a paper pickup signal from the copying machine main body 1 is input to a control circuit (not shown), a drive signal is sent from the control circuit to the motor 43, and the motor 43 causes the pickup roller 4 to move.
1 is rotated for a certain period of time to feed out one sheet 13 of the uppermost layer. The fed-out sheet 13 is guided by a guide 45, passes through an opening 28 of the copying machine main body 1, and is further guided by a second introduction port formed by a guide 29.
It reaches 6 and stops. After that, the paper 13 is sent to the toner image transfer portion 11 by the registration roller 16 at the same timing as the developed image on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and the transfer / fixing is performed by the same operation as described above. It is discharged to 23.

Next, the paper tray 3 which is the second paper accommodating portion.
A mechanism for separating the copying machine main body 1 from the sheet mounting table 32 in order to remove the jammed sheet when the sheet is jammed from the sheet 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The paper feed tray 2 is composed of a frame 58 and a paper placement portion 59, and supports the rail 40 that supports the paper placement base 32 shown in FIG. 1 described above.
Is held by the sheet stacking section 59.
The sheet placing portion 59 is fixed to four frame columns 60 that form the frame 58. The frame column 60 constitutes a hydraulic cylinder together with a sliding cylinder 61 slidably fitted inside. The sliding cylinder 61 is a hydraulic pump 62.
Is configured to expand and contract by the operation of. A receiving tray 63 is fixed to the upper end of the sliding cylinder 61, and the legs 64 of the copying machine body 1 are fitted and held by the receiving tray 63. 2 shows a state in which the lower panel 48 of the paper feeding stand 2 shown in FIG. 1 is removed.

With such a structure, when the copying machine body 1 and the paper feed tray 2 are separated from each other due to the occurrence of a jam between the copying machine body 1 and the paper feed tray 2, it is not shown. By pressing the motion button, the hydraulic pump 62 operates, the sliding cylinder extends upward, and the copying machine main body 1 is pushed up to the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line. After the jammed paper is taken out, the lower button is pressed to release the hydraulic valve of the hydraulic pump 62, and the copying machine body 1 is lowered to the position indicated by the solid line.

Next, how the paper is replenished and replaced on the paper feed tray 2 will be described. When the front door of the paper feeding tray 2 (not shown) is opened, the opening of the door is detected by a detector (not shown), the motor 38 reverses and the paper tray 32 descends. Next, release the slide lock lever (not shown),
By pulling the mounting table outer frame 39 forward along the rails 40, the operator can easily replenish or replace the sheets. After the work is completed, the outer frame 39 of the mounting table is returned to its original position, the slide lock lever is locked, and the door is closed to cause the above-described detector to operate, and the motor 38 is normally rotated to bring the sheet into contact with the pickup roller 14. And wait until.

Next, switching between the paper feeding from the recording paper cassette 12 and the paper feeding from the paper placing table 32 in the paper feeding tray 2 will be described. Whether the paper 13 is supplied from the recording paper cassette 12 or the paper feed tray 2 is controlled by a changeover switch (not shown) provided in the paper feed tray 2. At this time, the pickup roller 14 in the copying machine main body 1 and the pickup roller 41 provided in the paper feed tray 2 are controlled so that an interlock is exerted on each other. An example of a circuit that performs this control will be described with reference to FIG. The output terminal of the control circuit 49 in the copying machine body 1 is connected to the AND circuit 50 and the AND circuit.
Connect to one of the respective input terminals of the circuit 51. AN
The output terminal of the D circuit 50 is connected to the operation mechanism 52 of the pickup roller 14 in the copying machine main body 1, and the output terminal of the AND circuit 51 is connected to the operation mechanism 53 of the pickup roller 41 in the paper feed tray 2. The changeover switch 54 provided on the paper feed tray 2 is connected to the other input terminal of the AND circuit 50 and is also connected to the other input terminal of the AND circuit 51 via the inverter 55. A high level signal can be supplied from one terminal 56 of the changeover switch 54, and a low level signal can be supplied from the other terminal 57. The changeover switch 54 is switched to the terminal 56 side when the paper is supplied from the recording paper cassette 12 in the copying machine main body 1, and the terminal 57 when the paper is supplied from the paper feed tray 2.
Switch to the side. The paper feed signal generated from the control circuit 49 in the main body 1 of the copying machine generates a high level paper feed signal at the timing of feeding the paper 13 from the recording paper cassette 12 in the main body 1 of the copying machine. If the changeover switch 54 is switched to the terminal 56 side, when the control circuit 49 outputs a high level signal, the high level signal is input to both input terminals of the AND circuit 50, and the high level signal is output from the output terminal of the AND circuit 50. A level operation signal is supplied to the operation mechanism 52, and the pickup roller 14 is operated. At this time, the changeover switch 54
Since the signal sent from the AND circuit 51 to the AND circuit 51 is a low level signal by the inverter 55, a high level operation signal is not output from the output terminal of the AND circuit 51, and the pickup roller 41 does not operate. When the changeover switch 54 is changed over to the terminal 57 side, the signal sent from the changeover switch 54 to the AND circuit 50 becomes a low level signal, and the signal sent to the AND circuit 51 becomes a high level signal. Thus, when a high level signal is sent from the control circuit 49, the AND circuit 51 outputs a high level signal, and the AND circuit 50 does not output a high level actuation signal. Therefore, the pickup roller 14 in the copying machine main body 1 does not operate, but only the pickup roller 41 in the paper feeding stand 2 operates. With the above-described structure, by switching the changeover switch 54 provided on the paper feed tray 2, the paper 13 can be formed without adding a complicated circuit in the copying machine 1.
Can be easily selected from the cassette 12 or the paper feed tray 2. Copier body 1
When the distance between the pickup roller 41 on the side of the paper feed tray 2 and the registration roller 16 is longer than the distance between the pickup roller 14 on the side and the registration roller 16, the diameter of the pickup roller 41 is increased by a ratio of both distances. The drive speed of the motor 43 may be increased.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, in addition to the recording paper cassette 12 mounted on the copying machine main body 1, a paper of a size which is used relatively frequently is supplied in the paper feed tray 2. It is possible to store a large number of sheets on the sheet mounting table 32, which causes a problem that the number of sheets that can be stored in the conventional small-sized image forming apparatus is small and a problem that the sheet size exchange is complicated. It is possible to solve the problem and remarkably improve the operability. Further, even when a jam occurs between the copying machine body 1 and the paper feeding stand 2, the operator can easily remove the jammed paper by separating the copying machine body 1 and the paper feeding stand 2 from each other. it can. Further, in this embodiment, since the copying machine main body 1 is moved upward in parallel with respect to the paper feeding stand 2 and is separated, a new apparatus for accommodating the copying machine main body 1 at the time of separation is provided on the side of the apparatus. There is no need to secure a space, and the floor occupying area of the device can be minimized.

Next, another embodiment of the mechanism for separating the copying machine main body 1 from the sheet mounting table 32 in the copying apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, the above-described sheet loading table 32, which is the second sheet storage section,
It is held in the sheet stacking unit 66. The paper feed tray 2 is composed of a frame 65 and a sheet placement section 66, and the sheet placement section 66 is provided slidably in the vertical direction with respect to a frame column 67 that constitutes the frame 65. Paper stack 6
A belt 68 having one end fixed to the frame is provided between 6 and the frame 65. The other end of the belt 68 is fixed to a winding pulley 70 provided on the sheet placing section 66 via an idler pulley 69 provided on the sheet placing section 66. The winding pulley 70 is a worm wheel 7
By driving the worm gear 72 meshed with 1 with the motor 73, the worm gear 72 can be rotated in the winding direction and the rewinding direction. A receiving tray 74 is fixed to the upper end of the frame pillar 67, and the legs 75 of the copying machine body 1 are fitted and held by the receiving tray 74.

In a normal use state, the sheet stacking portion 66 is shown in FIG.
When a jam occurs, the lowering button (not shown) is pressed to release the lock mechanism (not shown), and the motor 73 rotates to set the sheet loading portion 66 to 1
Go down to the position of the dotted line. Copier body 1 and paper stacking section 6
After removing the jammed paper by inserting a hand from the space formed between 6 and 6, the motor 73 is rotated in the reverse direction by pressing an up button (not shown), and the winding pulley 70 causes the belt 68 to move.
By winding up the paper, the paper stacking portion 66 rises and returns to the position indicated by the solid line.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in addition to the recording paper cassette 12 installed in the copying machine main body 1, a large amount of paper of a size that is used relatively frequently is placed on the paper placing table 32 in the paper feeding tray 2. Therefore, the problem that the number of sheets of paper stored in the conventional small-sized image forming apparatus is small and the problem that paper size is complicated to replace is solved, and the operability is remarkably improved. Can be improved. Further, even when a jam occurs between the copying machine body 1 and the paper feeding stand 2, the sheet placing portion 66 can be moved downward to separate the copying machine body 1 from the sheet placing table 32. The operator can easily remove the jammed paper. Further, in this embodiment, since the paper stacking portion 66 is moved inside the paper feed tray 2, the above-described FIG.
As in the above example, there is no need to secure a new space for separation on the side of the device, and it is not necessary to secure a space for separation above the device as well. The effect that can be suppressed to.

[0020]

According to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus including an image forming apparatus main body and a paper feed tray, even when the paper fed from the paper feed tray causes a jam, the jammed paper can be easily removed. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a separating mechanism between the copying machine main body and the sheet mounting table in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a control circuit for switching a pickup roller.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining another embodiment of the separating mechanism between the copying machine main body and the sheet mounting table in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image forming device body 2 paper feeding stand 11 Toner image transfer section 12 Recording paper cassette 13 sheets 14 Pickup roller 15 Guide 16 Registration roller 32 paper loading table 41 Pickup roller 60 frame pillar 61 Sliding cylinder 62 hydraulic pump 65 frames 66 Paper loading section 67 frame pillars

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A first sheet storage section, a first sheet introduction port for introducing a sheet fed from the first sheet storage section to an image transfer section, and a sheet supplied from the outside of the main body. The image forming apparatus main body having a second sheet introduction port for introducing a sheet into the image transfer section, a second sheet accommodating section for accommodating the sheet, and a sheet in the second sheet accommodating section for the second sheet A sheet feeding unit for feeding the sheet to the sheet introduction port, and a sheet feeding frame having a slide member that relatively moves the image forming apparatus main body and the second sheet accommodating unit and holds them so as to be separated from each other. An image forming apparatus characterized by the above. 2. The paper feed tray further comprises drive means for relatively moving and separating the image forming apparatus main body and the second paper storage means.
The image forming apparatus described.