JPH052502Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Technical Field) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, and more specifically, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and a paper feed tray on which the image forming apparatus is placed. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus equipped with a dedicated stand containing a built-in stand.

(Prior Art) An example of a conventional copying apparatus is shown in FIG. In the figure, the copying apparatus is composed of a copying machine main body 1 and a dedicated table 2 on which the copying machine main body 1 is placed.

The copying machine main body 1 is equipped with an automatic document feeder 3 on the top, a sorter 4 on one side, and three transfer paper cassettes 5 on the other side.

Inside, there is a photoreceptor drum 6, an optical system 7 that irradiates the photoreceptor drum 6 with scanning light from an original, a charger 8 arranged around the photoreceptor drum 6, a developing section 9, a transfer section 10, and a separation section. Section 11, cleaning section 1
2. A copying mechanism 14 consisting of a static eliminating section 13, a conveyor belt 15, and a fixing section 16 are installed.

Further, a manual feeding port 17 for manually feeding the transfer paper is formed in the uppermost transfer paper cassette 5. Further, a paper feed roller 18 is provided above each transfer paper cassette 5, and a plurality of pairs of relay rollers 19 and registration rollers 20 are arranged in the paper conveyance path from this paper feed roller 18 to the copying mechanism 14. ing.

An intermediate conveyance guide member 21 for double-sided copying is installed at the bottom of the copying mechanism 14, and a relay roller 22
and an intermediate tray 23, so that copies can be made on both sides of the transfer paper using a known method.

The copying machine main body 1 is placed on a dedicated stand 2, and on the right side of this dedicated stand 2, there is a transfer paper cassette 25 having the same structure as the transfer paper cassette 5 provided in the copying machine main body 1; A paper feed tray 26 for storing a large amount of transfer paper is installed, and communicates with the paper transport path of the copying machine main body 1 via a paper feed roller 27 and a relay roller 28.

However, in the conventional copying apparatus described above, paper jams often occur in the paper conveyance path for double-sided copying.
The work of removing jam paper was very complicated.

In addition, as shown in FIG.
Since paper feeding means such as paper feeding rollers are individually attached to each of the trays 6, a wasted space is created in the dedicated stand 2, and the height of the dedicated stand 2 is inevitably increased, making it difficult to make the device more compact. There were drawbacks such as obstacles.

(Purpose) The present invention solves the problems of the prior art described above, makes it easy to remove jam paper in the paper conveyance path for double-sided copying, and makes the apparatus more compact by effectively utilizing limited space. The object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can perform

(Structure) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an image forming apparatus main body having an image forming mechanism inside and a dedicated stand on which the image forming apparatus main body is placed. An intermediate tray, an upstream fixed conveyance path, an intermediate conveyance guide member, and a downstream fixed conveyance path for forming images on both sides of the transfer paper are sequentially provided along the conveyance direction of the transfer paper, and the downstream fixed conveyance path is It communicates with a paper conveyance path in the image forming apparatus main body, and the intermediate conveyance guide member is arranged to be movable up and down with respect to the upstream fixed conveyance path and the downstream fixed conveyance path, and below the intermediate conveyance guide member. A space is formed in which the intermediate transport guide member is lowered to open the upstream fixed transport path end and the downstream fixed transport path end, and below the space, a plurality of paper feed trays are arranged vertically. A vertical paper feed conveyance path extending vertically toward the main body of the image forming apparatus is formed on one end side of the paper feed trays, and a connection between the vertical paper feed conveyance path and the paper feed tray is formed. In between, a switching paper feeding mechanism for feeding paper from an arbitrary paper feeding tray is provided so as to be movable up and down, and a standby position of the switching paper feeding mechanism is located at substantially the same horizontal position as the space. It is something.

(Example) Hereinafter, a detailed explanation will be given based on an example of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a copying apparatus according to an embodiment;
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of each mechanism of the copying apparatus. In these figures, members corresponding to those already described in FIG. 3 are given the same reference numerals.

The copying apparatus includes a copying machine main body 1 and a dedicated table 2 on which the copying machine main body 1 is placed.

The copying machine main body 1 is equipped with an automatic document feeder 3 on the top, a sorter device 4 on the left, and two transfer paper cassettes 5 below a copying mechanism 14, which will be described later.

Inside, there is a photoreceptor drum 6, an optical system 7 that irradiates the photoreceptor drum 6 with scanning light from an original, a charger 8 arranged around the photoreceptor drum 6, a developing section 9, a transfer section 10, and a separation section. Section 11, cleaning section 1
2. A copying mechanism 14 consisting of a static eliminating section 13, a conveyor belt 15, and a fixing section 16 are installed.

Further, a manual feed port 17 for manually feeding transfer paper is formed in the uppermost transfer paper cassette 5. Further, a paper feed roller 18 is provided above each transfer paper cassette 5, and a plurality of pairs of relay rollers 19 and registration rollers 20 are arranged in the paper conveyance path from the paper feed roller 18 to the copying mechanism 14. ing.

Further, on the upper part of the dedicated stand 2 on which the copying machine main body 1 is placed, there are an intermediate conveyance guide member 21 configuring the double-sided/composite copying unit 35, a relay roller 22, and an intermediate tray protruding from the left side of the dedicated stand 2. 23 is installed.

An upstream fixed conveyance path 41 is formed on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the intermediate conveyance guide member 21, that is, between the intermediate tray 23 and the intermediate conveyance guide member 21, and a downstream fixed conveyance path 41 is formed on the downstream side of the intermediate conveyance guide member 21 in the conveyance direction. A side fixed conveyance path 42 is formed. Therefore, the intermediate conveyance guide member 21 is provided between the upstream fixed conveyance path 41 and the downstream fixed conveyance path 42. As shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, a space 40 is formed so that the intermediate conveyance guide member 21 can be lowered.

In the case of double-sided copying, the transfer paper copied on one side is transferred from the intermediate tray 23 to the upstream fixed conveyance path 41, the intermediate conveyance guide member 21, and the downstream fixed conveyance path 4.
2 to the copying mechanism 14 side again, between the upstream fixed conveyance path 41 and the intermediate conveyance guide member 21, or between the intermediate conveyance guide member 2
1 and the downstream fixed conveyance path 42, paper jams are likely to occur. Therefore, in the present invention, by lowering the intermediate conveyance guide member 21, the downstream end of the upstream fixed conveyance path 41 and the upstream end of the downstream fixed conveyance path 42 are wide open, making it easier to take out the jam paper.

Further, on the dedicated stand 2 below the intermediate conveyance guide member 21, a plurality of stages (four stages in this embodiment) of transfer paper storage units, that is, paper feed trays 30 are arranged in parallel relatively close to each other in the vertical direction. There is. A switching paper feeding mechanism 31 for feeding paper from any paper feeding tray 30 is provided on the right side of these paper feeding trays 30 so as to be movable up and down. This switching paper feeding mechanism 31
A vertical conveying device 34 consisting of a belt 32 and a pair of pulleys 33 is installed on the inside right side of the dedicated table 2 for conveying the transfer paper fed by the machine to the paper feeding path of the copying machine main body 1. .

The switching paper feed mechanism 31 is movable above the top of the paper feed trays 30 in the dedicated table 2, and is designed to prevent problems such as paper jams in the paper feed trays 30 and their conveyance paths. When this occurs, the existence of the switching paper feed mechanism 31 is designed so that it does not interfere with the processing operation.

As shown in FIG.
The standby position of the copying apparatus 1 is located at approximately the same horizontal position as the space 40, that is, adjacent to the space 40, thereby making effective use of the space and shortening the height dimension of the copying apparatus, thereby making it more compact.

In this embodiment, the transfer paper cassette and tray, which conventionally protruded from the side of the apparatus, are housed inside the apparatus, thereby reducing the installation space of the apparatus.

Furthermore, by configuring as in this embodiment,
Transfer paper cassettes and trays can be pulled out to the front of the device to replenish transfer paper, and unlike conventional devices, the operator does not have to go around the side of the device to pull out cassettes and trays. On the front side, it is possible to carry out consistent operations such as setting transfer paper, setting originals, operating the operation panel, and taking out ejected copies.

As shown in Fig. 2, the system setup of a tabletop copying machine consists of a copying machine main body 1, a combination with a special stand 2, an automatic document feeder 3, a sorter device 4, duplex/combining machine, etc. By combining peripheral devices such as the copying unit 35 as necessary, an efficient system configuration is possible.

(Effects) As described above, in the present invention, by lowering the intermediate conveyance guide member, the downstream end of the upstream fixed conveyance path and the upstream end of the downstream fixed conveyance path can be opened. Easy to take out.

Further, a switching paper feeding mechanism is provided at one end of the paper feeding tray so as to be movable up and down, and the standby position of the switching paper feeding mechanism is at approximately the same horizontal position as the space for lowering the intermediate conveyance guide member. and
This makes it possible to effectively utilize space and shorten the height dimension of the device, thereby making it more compact.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a copying device, FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the copying device, and FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of a conventional copying device. It is a diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Copying machine main body, 2...Special stand, 14...Copying mechanism, 21...Intermediate conveyance guide member, 23...
Intermediate tray, 30...Paper feed tray, 31...Switching paper feed mechanism, 32...Transport belt, 34...Transport device, 40...Space section, 41...Upstream fixed conveyance path, 42...Downstream side Fixed conveyance path.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] An image forming apparatus that includes an image forming apparatus body having an image forming mechanism inside and a dedicated stand on which the image forming apparatus main body is placed, and forms images on both sides of paper on the upper part of the dedicated stand. An intermediate tray, an upstream fixed conveyance path, an intermediate conveyance guide member, and a downstream fixed conveyance path are sequentially provided along the conveyance direction of the transfer paper, and the downstream fixed conveyance path is provided within the main body of the image forming apparatus. The intermediate conveyance guide member is arranged to be vertically movable with respect to the upstream fixed conveyance path and the downstream fixed conveyance path, and the intermediate conveyance guide member is disposed below the intermediate conveyance guide member. A space is formed to open the upstream fixed transport path end and the downstream fixed transport path end by lowering the A vertical paper feed conveyance path extending vertically toward the image forming apparatus main body is formed at one end of the tray, and an arbitrary paper feed path is formed between the vertical paper feed conveyance path and the paper feed tray. An image forming apparatus characterized in that a switching paper feeding mechanism for feeding paper from a paper tray is provided so as to be movable up and down, and a standby position of the switching paper feeding mechanism is located at substantially the same horizontal position as the space.