JPH05313446A - Ohp sheet copying method for electrophotographic device and electrophotographic device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it easier to view the image of an OHP sheet and to improve portability. CONSTITUTION:A copying machine 1 is provided with a manual feed tray 12 for an OHP sheet, a 1st cassette tray 13 for an OHP sheet, and a 2nd cassette tray 14 for an ordinary copying sheet. The ordinary copying sheet is fed from the 2nd cassette tray 14, and the OHP sheet is fed from the tray 12 or the 1st cassette tray 13 at the same time, or the copying sheet and the OHP sheet are consecutively and successively fed at some intervals. In the latter case of feeding the copying sheet, a mode is a non-image forming mode and respective image forming processes are not actuated. The OHP sheet and the copying sheet are alternately stacked on a paper ejecting tray 20.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic copying method having image forming, transferring, fixing and discharging processes, and an electrophotographic apparatus having the above process means for carrying out the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an image is formed on a film of an overhead projector (hereinafter referred to as an OHP sheet), only an image is formed on the OHP sheet, and the image forming speed is slowed and glossiness is reduced. Although improvements have been made, no improvements have been made to the handling of OHP sheets.

When copying OHP sheets continuously and stacking them on the discharge tray, it is difficult to handle them, and it is difficult to check the copy contents during copying. Therefore, when carrying multiple copied OHP sheets,
A blank sheet is sandwiched between each OHP sheet, so that each OH
It is common practice to make it easy to confirm the copy contents of the P sheet and to prevent the OHP sheet from being damaged when carrying it. However, it is troublesome for a person to manually put a blank sheet under the OHP sheet afterwards.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks that occur during continuous copying of OHP sheets and improve the readability and portability of OHP sheets.

[0005]

According to the present invention, when the OHP sheet is copied, the OHP sheet is conveyed and the blank sheet is conveyed at the same time, whereby the OHP sheet and the blank sheet are transferred by the OHP sheet. This is solved by stacking and transporting the sheets so that they are located on the side of the photoconductor, and stacking the two sheets in the overlapped state on the discharge tray through the processes of image formation, transfer, fixing, and discharge.

Further, according to the present invention, the above-mentioned problem is solved in that the paper is fed twice continuously and at intervals, and in the first paper feeding, a blank sheet is fed in the non-image forming mode. The second sheet feeding can be solved by forming an image on the OHP sheet in the normal image forming mode so that the OHP sheet and the blank sheet are alternately overlapped at the discharge position.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an electrophotographic apparatus having image forming, transfer, fixing, and paper discharge devices, a manual feed tray for OHP sheets, and a first OHP sheet. A mode in which a cassette tray and a second cassette tray for blank sheets are provided, an OHP sheet is further fed from the manual feed tray, and a blank sheet is fed from the second cassette tray to convey both sheets in an overlapping manner; It is proposed to provide a switching means for selecting one of a mode in which an OHP sheet is fed from the tray and a blank sheet is fed from the second cassette tray, and both sheets are stacked and conveyed.

[0008]

In the first aspect of the invention, when copying the OHP sheet, the OH
The P sheet and the blank sheet are carried at the same time, whereby the OHP sheet and the blank sheet are stacked and carried so that the OHP sheet is located on the photoconductor side at the transfer position, and both sheets in the overlapping state are image-formed. The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray through the processes of transfer, fixing, and paper discharge. Thus, on the paper output tray, the OHP sheets are stacked on top and the white paper is on the bottom.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the paper is fed twice continuously and at intervals, of which the blank paper is passed in the non-image forming mode in the first paper feeding and in the second paper feeding. , Image formation on the OHP sheet in the normal image forming mode
As in the case of the first aspect, the sheets and the blank sheets are alternately overlapped on the discharge tray.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A copying machine to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, the copying machine 1 is provided with a contact glass 2 and a pressure plate 3 on its upper side, and a light source 4, a mirror 5 and a lens 6 for scanning an original on the contact glass 2. Around the photosensitive drum 7, a charging device 8,
A developing device 9, a transfer device 10 including a separation charger, and a cleaning device 11 are arranged. A manual feed tray 12, an upper cassette tray 13 and a lower cassette tray 14 are attached to the right side of the main body of the copying machine, and paper feed rollers 12a, 13a and 14a are attached to the manual feed tray 12, the upper cassette tray 13 and the lower cassette tray 14, respectively. 15
Is a conveyance roller, 16 is a registration roller, 17 is a conveyance belt, 18 is a fixing device, 19 is a paper ejection roller, and 20 is a paper ejection tray.

The construction and operation of the copying machine described above are well known in the art except for the manual feed tray 12 and the upper and lower cassette trays 13 and 14, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted.

1. First Invention In the first invention, the OHP sheet and the blank sheet are fed almost simultaneously so that they overlap each other, and in that case, the OHP sheets are superposed and conveyed so that the OHP sheet is located on the photoconductor side at the transfer position. This will be described with reference to the copying machine shown in FIG. 1 and the processing flow shown in FIG. In the following, an example in which a normal copy sheet is used as the blank sheet will be described. ..

The OHP sheet is fed from the manual feed tray 12 or the upper cassette tray 13, and a normal copy sheet is fed as a blank sheet from the lower cassette tray 14. The image forming process is started by pressing the copy button, and the OHP sheet is simultaneously fed from the upper cassette tray 13 by the rotation of the paper feed roller 13a and the copy sheet is simultaneously fed from the lower cassette tray 14 by the rotation of the paper feed roller 14a. .. In this case, instead of feeding the OHP sheet from the upper cassette tray 13, the OHP sheet manually placed on the manual feed tray 12 can be fed simultaneously with the copy sheet from the lower cassette tray 14.

The OHP sheet and the copy sheet thus sent are superposed and conveyed. In this case, the OHP sheet is positioned on the side of the photoconductor 7 at the transfer position, and on the upper side in the copying machine shown in FIG. Is becoming The superposed body is sent to the position of the registration roller 16 by the conveying roller 15, and the leading end is aligned here and stopped. As is well known, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 7, and then a visible image is formed by the developing device 9. The registration roller 16 starts rotating in synchronization with the photosensitive drum 7 on which the visible image is formed, and conveys the superposed body to the transfer device 10.
At this time, in the transfer device 10, the visible image is transferred onto the OHP sheet located on the side of the photoconductor drum 7 of the superposed body. After the transfer, the superposed body is conveyed by the conveyor belt 17, the visible image of the OHP sheet is fixed by the fixing device 18, and then the superposed body is ejected to the paper ejection tray 20 by the paper ejection roller 19 as it is. .. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the OHP sheets and the copy sheets are alternately stacked on the paper discharge tray 20.

As described above, the OHP sheet and the copy sheet pass through the image forming process as a superposed body in which the OHP sheet is on the upper side and the copy sheet is on the lower side, and are discharged onto the discharge tray 20. Stacked on. For this reason, the transfer current needs to be increased by 10 to 30% as a necessary increase in order to compensate for a failure of one copy sheet, as compared with the case of copying a normal single OHP sheet. The electric power required for fixing may be the same as in the case of copying an ordinary OHP sheet alone.

2. Second Invention In the second invention, the OHP sheet and the copy sheet are alternately fed, and the OHP sheet and the copy sheet are overlapped on the discharge tray. This will be described with reference to the copying machine shown in FIG. 1 and the processing flow shown in FIG.

In this case, the sequence control is performed so that the normal image forming process is performed twice. That is, as shown in the processing flow of FIG. 4, the image forming process is started by pressing the copy button, and the copy sheet is fed from the lower cassette tray 14. At this time, each image forming process is not operated in the non-image forming mode, and the copy sheet is simply conveyed and discharged to the paper discharge tray 20.

Then, the OHP sheet is fed from the manual feed tray 12 or the upper cassette tray 13. At this time, the normal image forming mode is returned to, and the OHP sheet is subjected to each image forming process to form an image thereon and is ejected to the paper ejection tray 20, and is placed on the copy sheet already on the paper ejection tray 20. Pile up.

In the case of the second invention, it is not necessary to change the transfer current as in the case of the first invention, and the same image forming process as in the case of copying a normal OHP sheet alone can be performed.

3. Third Invention A third invention is an electrophotographic apparatus for carrying out the method of the first invention. The copying machine shown in FIG. 1 which is an embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

As described above, FIG. 1 shows the contact glass 2, the pressure plate 3, the optical systems 4, 5, 6 and the photosensitive drum 7,
The copying machine includes a charging device 8, a developing device 9, a transfer device 10 including a separation charger, and a cleaning device 11.
Further, according to the present invention, the copying machine 1 includes the manual feed tray 12 for OHP sheets, the first cassette tray 13 for OHP sheets, and the second cassette tray 1 for normal copy sheets.
4 and are provided.

Further, the copying machine 1 is provided with an image forming control device having the following two modes. That is, the image forming control device transfers the OHP sheet from the manual feed tray,
Then, a mode in which normal copy sheets are fed from the second cassette tray and both sheets are stacked and conveyed,
One of a mode in which an OHP sheet is fed from the cassette tray and an ordinary copy sheet is fed from the second cassette tray and both sheets are stacked and conveyed is selectively executed. Therefore, a switching means for selecting one of the above modes is further provided.

In the operation panel shown in FIG. 5, reference numeral 21 is an OHP print button used when carrying out the OHP sheet copying method according to the present invention described above, and 22 is a print button used when carrying out a normal copying method. ..

[0025]

According to the present invention, the image forming process of the electrophotographic apparatus is not largely changed, and it is possible to carry out the operation by only slightly changing the sequence control. OHP sheets and blank sheets are alternately stacked on the discharge tray, and thus blank sheets are attached to each OHP sheet, so
You can easily check the finish of the image on the sheet, and make sure that the OHP sheet is not damaged while carrying it.
You can save the trouble of putting a blank sheet in between.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a copying machine for carrying out the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flow of the first invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which OHP sheets and copy sheets are alternately overlapped on a discharge tray.

FIG. 4 is a processing flow of the second invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an operation panel of the copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Copier 10 Transfer Device 12 Manual Feed Tray 13 Upper Cassette Tray 14 Lower Cassette Tray

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An electrophotographic copying method including image forming, transfer, fixing, and paper discharge processes, wherein when an OHP sheet is copied, the OHP sheet is conveyed and a blank sheet is conveyed at the same time.
As a result, the OHP sheet and the blank sheet are superposed and conveyed so that the OHP sheet is positioned on the photoconductor side at the transfer position, and the two sheets in the overlapping state are discharged through the processes of image formation, transfer, fixing, and sheet discharge. An OHP sheet copying method characterized by stacking on a tray. 2. The OHP sheet according to claim 1, wherein the transfer current or other process conditions are set differently when the OHP sheet and the blank sheet are stacked and conveyed, differently from the normal one-sheet conveyance. Copy method. 3. An electrophotographic copying method having image forming, transferring, fixing, and ejecting processes, wherein two paper feeds are carried out continuously and at intervals, of which the first paper feed is If you pass a blank sheet of paper in non-imaging mode,
Image formation on the OHP sheet in the normal image formation mode,
An OHP sheet copying method, characterized in that OHP sheets and blank sheets are alternately overlapped at a discharge position. 4. An electrophotographic copying apparatus having image forming, transfer, fixing, and sheet discharging devices, a manual feed tray for OHP sheets, a first cassette tray for OHP sheets, and a second cassette tray for blank sheets. And, a mode in which an OHP sheet is fed from the manual feed tray, a blank sheet is fed from the second cassette tray, and both sheets are overlapped and conveyed, and an OHP sheet is fed from the first cassette tray, and An electrophotographic apparatus provided with switching means for selecting one of a mode in which a blank sheet is fed from a cassette tray and both sheets are stacked and conveyed.