JPH05201553A - Paper feed cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To miniaturize an image forming device in its entirety by curving one end part of a paper feed cassette so that the projection area of the cassette is made to be small. CONSTITUTION:In an electrophotographing image-forming device, one end part of a cassette 1 for storing therein recording mediums is curved in a sheet pick-up direction. Meanwhile, the other end part 2 of the cassette 1 is slanted so that several recording mediums which are not uniformly aligned when they are stored in the cassette may be aligned. Further, the stored mediums are fed out one by one by means of a pick-up roller 4, and are formed thereon with a toner image by means of an intermediate image-transfer drum 7. Further, a member 3 for pressing the back surface of a medium and a spring 6 are disposed in the bottom part of the cassette so that even a small number of the recording mediums remaining in the cassette may be taken out. The loading and unloading of this cassette 1 is carried out in a direction perpendicular to the sheet pick-up direction. Accordingly, the projection area of the cassette can be made to be smaller than that of a conventional rectangular parallelepiped cassette, thereby it is possible to miniaturize the image forming device in its entirety.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feed cassette using a cut sheet as a recording medium in an electrophotographic apparatus or an electrostatic recording apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The shape of a sheet feeding cassette used in an electrophotographic apparatus or the like has conventionally been a rectangular parallelepiped shape as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-170955.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional shape, when the size of the entire apparatus is reduced, the size of the apparatus is determined by the size of the recording medium.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is characterized in that the end portion of the sheet feeding cassette is curved.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced by using the above-mentioned paper feeding cassette.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the construction of the paper feed cassette of the present invention. The other end of the main paper feed cassette 1 is inclined like 2 in order to make the misalignment of the leading end of the recording medium that occurs when a large amount of recording medium is stored. Reference numeral 3 is a member that pushes the back surface of the recording medium so that it can be easily taken out even when the number of recording media is small, and 4 is a pickup roller that takes out the recording medium.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment used when the paper feed cassette of the present invention is applied to a full-color printer and a toner image is transferred from an intermediate transfer member to a paper. The paper feed cassette 1 is provided at the bottom of the device. In this apparatus, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the latent image carrier 8 by a charging unit and an exposing unit (not shown). The latent image carrier 8 is a belt-shaped organic photoconductor, for example. The electrostatic latent image formed on the latent image carrier 8 is developed by the developing device 9d and visualized as a toner image. The visualized toner image is carried to a position facing the intermediate transfer drum 7 by the rotation of the latent image carrier 8 and is previously transferred onto the intermediate transfer drum 7 to which a voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied by a charging unit (not shown). , Electrostatically attaches the toner image on the latent image carrier 8. By repeating this operation a plurality of times, a color image is formed on the intermediate transfer drum 7.

After that, the recording medium is carried by the pickup roll 4 to a position facing the transfer unit 11 and the intermediate transfer drum 7, and the color image is electrostatically transferred onto the recording medium, and the fixing unit 12 removes the toner. Printing is completed by thermally fixing. The latent image carrier 8 after the transfer of toner is returned to the initial state by a cleaner and an eraser (not shown), and the intermediate transfer drum 7 is cleaned by the cleaner 10 to prepare for the next printing.

[0010]

As described above, according to the present invention, by making the end portion of the sheet feeding cassette curved, the projected area of the sheet feeding cassette can be made smaller than that of the conventional rectangular sheet feeding cassette. Therefore, the size of the entire device can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a color electrophotographic apparatus in an embodiment using a paper feed cassette of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a sheet feeding cassette of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Paper feeding cassette, 2 ... Recording medium front end aligning portion, 3 ... Recording medium back surface pressing member, 4 ... Pickup roller, 5
… Cassette cover, 6… Spring, 7… Intermediate transfer drum, 8
... Zotan image carrier, 9a-9d ... Developer, 10 ... Cleaner,
11 ... Transfer device, 12 ... Fixing device, 13 ... Recording medium conveying guide, 14 ... Recording medium peeling claw.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising: a paper feed cassette for storing a recording medium, wherein at least one end of the paper feed cassette has a curved shape with respect to a paper picking direction. A paper feed cassette characterized in that 2. The paper feed cassette according to claim 1, wherein the paper feed cassette is attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus in a direction perpendicular to a paper picking direction.