JPH054729A - Picture image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To store different-sized copy sheets in a case body, take out the different-sized copy sheets selectively to feed them, and to save space in an installation area. CONSTITUTION:A sheet feed cassette 40 as a sheet feeder is arranged to be set from the front side 1A of a device body 1. The sheet feed cassette has plural setting means 42, 43, 44 under a stacked condition in a case body 41, and different-sized copy sheets P1, P2, P3 are placed in the setting devices to be installed to the device body detachably. The copy sheets P1, P2, P3 at the respective stages are taken out selectively by a copy sheet taking out means 30.

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 having a devised paper feeding mechanism in, for example, an electronic copying machine or a laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic copying machine or the like using a paper feed cassette, a paper feed cassette mounted in the main body of the apparatus is prepared for each size of a predetermined recording medium (hereinafter referred to as copy paper). ing.

And, this kind of paper feed cassette is usually
At present, the housing (hereinafter referred to as a cassette case) has a height of about 50 mm and can store only about 250 copy sheets.

[0004]

Therefore, in the conventional art,
Since it is necessary to prepare a plurality of paper feed cassettes corresponding to the size of copy paper, the cost increases.

As a result, the paper feed cassette must be replaced with respect to the main body of the apparatus for each size of copy paper desired to be used, and the paper feeding operation to the main body of the apparatus is troublesome, and no other use is made. I also have trouble with the location of the paper cassette.

Further, in such a conventional paper feed cassette, a similar paper feed cassette is prepared for the convenience of mounting the copy paper on the apparatus body regardless of how often the copy paper is used. There is a need to.

In addition, in the conventional apparatus, since the setting direction when loading the paper feed cassette is performed from the side surface of the apparatus main body, there is a possibility that the space of the installation place may be taken extra for the cassette loading. There was such a problem.

The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to store recording media of different sizes in one housing and selectively select the recording media of different sizes. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus provided with a paper feed cassette that can be taken out and fed for paper feed and that can save space in an installation place.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an apparatus main body having an image forming means,
A sheet feeding unit including a casing that is attached to the main body of the apparatus so as to be freely drawn from the front side, and arranged in a stacked state in the casing of the sheet feeding unit, and at least three types of recording media of different sizes can be placed. In addition, a plurality of mounting means rotatably supporting the upper and middle mounting plates and recording media of different sizes mounted on these mounting means are selectively taken out, respectively, and the apparatus main body is provided. Recording medium ejecting means for feeding the image forming means to the image forming means, and the drawing direction of the housing of the paper feeding means is perpendicular to the paper feeding direction of the recording medium by the recording medium ejecting means. It is characterized by.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the drawing-out direction of the housing of the paper feeding means and the rotating directions of the upper and middle mounting plates of the mounting means are perpendicular to each other. .

[0011]

That is, according to the present invention, a plurality of mounting means are arranged in a stacked state in one housing, and recording media of different sizes are mounted on these mounting means. A recording medium of a size can be stored in one housing.

Further, since the housing of the paper feeding means is pulled out from the front side of the apparatus main body and the pulling direction is perpendicular to the paper feeding direction of the recording medium by the recording medium taking out means, it is installed. Space can be saved.

Further, since the upper and middle mounting plates of the mounting means are also perpendicular to the paper feeding direction of the recording medium by the recording medium ejecting means, the paper size of the recording medium can be easily exchanged and set. Can be done.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

2 and 3 schematically show the overall construction of an electronic copying machine as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, 1 is an apparatus main body, and the apparatus main body 1 is an image forming means. Equipped with 2.

The image forming means 2 has a photosensitive drum 3 as an image bearing member which is rotatably supported in a substantially central portion of the apparatus main body 1, and a developing unit is provided around the photosensitive drum 3. The device 4, the transfer device 5, the peeling device 6, the cleaning device 7, the charge eliminating device 8 and the charging device 9 are arranged in order.

The photosensitive drum 3 rotates in the direction of arrow a shown in FIG. 2 and is uniformly charged by the charging device 9.

That is, on the upper surface of the apparatus body 1,
An original table 10 made of transparent glass is provided, and an image of an original document (not shown) placed on the original table 10 has an exposure lamp 12 whose back portion is bent by a reflector 11, The second and third reflection mirrors 13, 14,
An image is formed on the photoconductor drum 3 through an optical system including a lens 15, a lens 16, and fourth, fifth, and sixth reflection mirrors 17, 18, and 19 to form an electrostatic latent image. It is like this.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor drum 3 is developed by the developing device 4 and is loaded (set) from the front side 1A of the apparatus main body 1, which will be described later, as a multi-type sheet feeding means. The developed image is transferred by the transfer device 5 onto the copy paper P, which is a plain paper as a recording medium, which is fed from the paper feed cassette 40 through the registration rollers 20.

The copy paper P transferred by the transfer device 5 is peeled by the peeling device 6 by AC corona discharge, and is conveyed to the fixing device 22 via the conveying belt 21.

The copy paper P on which the developed image is melted and fixed by the fixing device 22 is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 24 by the paper discharge roller pair 23.

On the other hand, the developer remaining on the photoconductor drum 3 after the transfer and peeling of the developed image onto the copy paper P is cleaned by the cleaning device 7, and the potential on the photoconductor drum 3 is removed by the charge eliminating device 8. Is kept below a certain level to enable the next copy operation.

Further, at the time of copying the partial designated range of the original image, the erasing array 25 installed close to the photosensitive drum 3 between the charging device 9 and the exposure unit Ph along the direction of the rotation axis, A part of the original image on the photosensitive drum 3 can be erased.

Further, reference numeral 30 in the drawing is a recording medium ejecting means,
The copy paper P stored in the paper feed cassette 40 that is detachably inserted into the apparatus main body 1 is picked up one by one by the pickup roller 31, and is fed to the registration roller 20 side via the pair of feed rollers 32 and 33. It is designed to send paper.

As shown in FIG. 4, the paper feed cassette 40 mounted on the apparatus main body 1 is composed of a cassette case 41 which is a housing, and is provided on the inner bottom portion 42 which is the lowermost stage thereof, for example, in a maximum usable size. Copy paper P of A3 size
₁ has a size that can be stored, and is loaded (set) from the front side of the apparatus main body 1.
As shown in FIG. 11, the pull-out direction Y is perpendicular to the paper feed direction X by the recording medium take-out means 30.

The cassette case 41 has 50
It has a height of about 75 mm capable of accommodating about 0 copy sheets, and mainly has a copy sheet P ₁ of A3 size, and a copy sheet P ₂ of different size (for example, B 5 version) on top of it. Copy paper P that is frequently used in the middle
₃ (for example, A4 size) is a multi-type in which the mounting plates 43 and 44 as the mounting means are arranged in two upper and lower layers so that the uppermost layer can be mounted.

The upper and middle mounting plates 43, 44
Is rotatable about the shafts 43a and 44a so as to be lifted upward, and the rotation direction Z is the same as the drawing direction Y of the paper feeding cassette 40, and the paper is fed by the recording medium ejecting means 30. The direction is perpendicular to the direction X, and as shown in FIG. 6, the middle mounting plate 44 can be rotated to rotate the upper mounting plate 43 together.

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, since the recording media of different sizes are arranged in one housing, the paper feed cassette corresponding to the recording media of different sizes can be provided. It is not necessary to prepare, and the cost can be reduced.

Since the housing of the paper feeding means is pulled out from the front side of the main body of the apparatus, and the pulling direction is perpendicular to the paper feeding direction of the recording medium by the recording medium taking out means, it is installed. It is possible to save space in a place.

Further, in claim 2, since the upper and middle mounting plates of the mounting means are also perpendicular to the paper feeding direction of the recording medium by the recording medium ejecting means, the sheet size of the recording medium is reduced. It can be easily exchanged and set.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a pulled-out state of a sheet feeding unit in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view showing the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus in section.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a set state of a paper feed cassette.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a drawn-out state of a paper feed cassette.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a rotating state of a mounting plate in the middle stage of the paper feed cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Device main body, 2 ... Image forming means, 30 ... Recording medium take-out means, 40 ... Paper feeding means, 41 ... Housing, 42 ... Inner bottom surface part (lower stage mounting plate), 43 ... Upper stage mounting plate, 43a … Axis, 4
4 ... Middle mounting plate, 44a ... Shaft, P, P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃
... Recording medium, X ... Paper feeding direction, Y ... Cassette withdrawing direction,
Z ... Rotation direction of the mounting plate.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus main body provided with an image forming means, a paper feeding means comprising a housing which is attached to the main body of the apparatus so as to be freely drawn from the front side, and arranged in a stacked state in the housing of the paper feeding means. , At least three types of recording media of different sizes can be mounted, and a plurality of mounting means that rotatably rotatably support upper and middle mounting plates and are mounted on these mounting means. Recording medium ejecting means for selectively ejecting recording media of different sizes and feeding the recording media to the image forming means of the apparatus main body, and the feeding means in the paper feeding direction of the recording medium by the recording medium ejecting means. An image forming apparatus, wherein the housing of the paper unit is drawn out at a right angle. 2. An apparatus main body provided with an image forming means, a paper feeding means comprising a casing detachably inserted into the apparatus main body, and a stacking state arranged at least inside the casing of the paper feeding means. It is possible to mount three or more types of recording media of different sizes, and a plurality of mounting means that rotatably support upper and middle mounting plates, and different sizes mounted on these mounting means. Recording medium ejecting means for selectively ejecting each of the recording media and feeding the recording medium to the image forming means of the apparatus main body, and the paper feeding means in the paper feeding direction of the recording medium by the recording medium ejecting means. 2. An image forming apparatus, wherein the drawing direction of the housing of the above and the rotating direction of the upper and middle mounting plates of the mounting means are at right angles.