JPH06230621A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a device main body to be formed compact and to obtain a device whose constitution is simple and which is inexpensive by constituting it by pivotally fixing a cover for a developer container and the rotary shaft of a paper supply tray to a common shaft. CONSTITUTION:The cover 1 which is provided on the developer container and which is freely turned, opened and closed is arranged on the side of the device main body and the paper supply tray 3 which is freely turnable is also provided. Then, the cover 1 and the rotary shaft of the tray 3 are pivotally fixed to the common shaft 6. Or, a means which turns the tray 3 following the cover 1 when the cover 1 of the developer container is turned and opened and sets the tray 3 by followingly turning it when the cover 1 is closed, is provided. Or, a means which smoothly turns the cover 1 of the developer container and the tray 3 by preventing the turning by gravity when the cover 1 and the tray 3 are released from a closing or a non-actuating position where they are brought into contact with the side of the image forming device or turned to an actuating position, is disposed. By such constitution, the device main body can be made compact.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Object of the Invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrostatic copying machine and a printer, and more particularly to an opening / closing apparatus for the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the above-described known image forming apparatus having a developer container housed therein, the cover of the main body device must be opened to replenish the developer.

In this case, if a cover is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body and the developer is dropped from the upper surface of the apparatus main body at the time of replenishing the developer, it is necessary to avoid the image signal optical path for reading the original, so the cover is not provided. Since it has to be arranged on the side of the optical path portion, there arises a problem that the size of the apparatus main body must be increased accordingly.

When replenishing the developer from the front side of the apparatus main body (the side where the operator is), a special mechanism is required so that the developer is evenly distributed to the innermost part of the developer container. It is inevitable to complicate the configuration.

Further, it is proposed that a cover for a developer container is rotatably opened and closed on the lateral side of the main body of the apparatus, and such a structure can avoid the above problems. By the way, in an apparatus in which a paper feed tray for supplying a transfer material such as paper to the apparatus is provided outside the apparatus, the total length of the apparatus (the length in the left-right direction when viewed from the operator) becomes large. It is known that a paper tray is rotatably attached to the apparatus main body and is bent when not in use.

On the other hand, when the developing cover and the paper feed tray are arranged on the lateral side as described above, it is necessary to dispose the rotating shafts on both sides to rotate and open them. It cannot avoid becoming complicated.

The present invention has been made to cope with such a situation, and is provided with a rotatable cover for opening and closing a developer container and a rotatable paper feed tray on the side of the image forming apparatus main body. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that shares both of these rotary shafts and enables smooth operation of both with a simple configuration.

[0008]

[Constitution of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus having a developer container accommodating a developer, wherein the developer container is rotatable and openable and closable. Is disposed on the side of the apparatus main body, and a rotatable paper feed tray is disposed on the side of the apparatus main body, and the cover and the rotation axis of the paper feed tray are common. When the cover of the developer container is pivotally released in the above device, the paper feed tray is caused to rotate following this, and when the cover is closed, the paper feed tray is also followed. Means is provided for rotating to the set state, or in the above apparatus, the cover of the developing device and / or the paper feed tray is released from the closed or inoperative position in close contact with the side of the image forming apparatus. When turning to the operating position, That by blocking the rotation and is characterized in that formed by disposing a means for slowly rotating.

With this structure, the main body of the image forming apparatus can be formed compactly, the workability is good, the structure is simple, and the cost is low.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which a rotary cylindrical shape extending in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing is shown. The image carrier 11 is provided. After the surface of the image carrier 11 is charged by the primary charger 14, an image signal E is projected onto the surface of the image carrier 11 to form an electrostatic latent image, and the latent image is formed on the developing portion where the developer container 15 is arranged. When the image carrier reaches, the toner is supplied to form a toner image, and this toner image reaches the transfer / separation site where the separation charger 12 is arranged as the image carrier rotates.

When the toner image on the image carrier arrives at this position, the transfer material P held in the paper feed tray 3 is transferred at the same timing through the paper feed roller 10 and the registration roller pair 10a. , Reach the separation site. At the same time, the toner image on the image carrier side is transferred to the transfer material by the action of the transfer bias applied by the transfer charger. After that, the transfer material is separated from the image carrier and is conveyed to a fixing portion (not shown) through the conveying path 13. The toner that has not contributed to the transfer is removed by the cleaner 16, and the image carrier is ready for the next image forming step.

In such an image forming apparatus, in the illustrated apparatus, the container cover 1 of the developer container disposed on the right side of the drawing is rotatably arranged on the shaft 6 so as to replenish the developer. In this case, it rotates to open and close. Along with this, the paper feed tray 3 is pivotally attached to the shaft 6, and when the apparatus is not used, it is rotated counterclockwise in the drawing to be housed so as to be in close contact with the apparatus main body.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a pivotal portion supporting the cover 1 and the paper feed tray 3 described above. This structure exists on both sides of the center of rotation of the cover 1 and the tray 3. 2 "
Only one of them is shown. In addition, the figure is the same as "Figure 1" above.
It is assumed that the paper feed tray 3 is in a position where the paper feed tray 3 can be rotated and paper can be fed, and the cover 1 is closed, and the image forming apparatus can be used in this state.

As shown in the figure, a cover hinge 2 for supporting the cover 1 of the developer container is pivotally attached to a shaft 6 attached to a shaft support plate 7 described later fixed to the main body of the apparatus. When the paper tray 3 such as is open and in use,
A pin 5 provided on a tray hinge 4 that holds the tray 3 and is pivotally attached to the shaft 6 engages an abutting portion 8 formed on the cover hinge 2 to maintain the paper feed tray at this position. . FIG. 3 shows this state, in which the paper feed tray 3 maintains the angle θ with respect to the vertical direction, and transfer materials can be stacked and sent out.

In such a state, when the cover 1 is rotated clockwise in the drawing to replenish the developer, the hinge 2 and therefore the abutting portion 8 are also rotated, so that the pin 5, The paper feed tray 3 also rotates in the same direction via the hinge 4.

When the pin 5 rotates, as shown in FIG. 2, the pin 5 abuts on the abutting portion 9 provided on the shaft support plate 7 fixedly arranged outside the cover hinge 2. The paper feed tray 3 stops upon contact, and the cover 2 comes into contact with the stopped tray 3 and stops. FIG. 4 shows that the paper feed tray 3 comes into contact with the abutting portion 9 and stops, and the cover 1 is in a state in which it can be rotated further clockwise than the illustrated position.

When the cover 1 is rotated counterclockwise in the drawing after the supply of the developer to the developer container 15 is completed, the abutting portion 8 is engaged with the abutting portion 9 first. When the cover 5 is rotated by contacting with the pin 5 and the cover hinge 2 reaches a predetermined closing position for closing the developer container, the sheet feeding tray 3 is set to "Fig. 3". The sheet feeding position shown is taken, and the sheet is stopped in a state of being engaged with the abutting portion 8.

As shown in FIG. 2, a spring 16 is wound around the shaft 6, and an end portion of the spring 16 is locked to a hinge 2 which supports the cover 1. The winding direction of the spring 16 around the shaft 6 is a direction in which the spring 6 is further wound around the spring 6 when the cover 1 is rotated in the direction of releasing the cover 1. Therefore, when the cover 1 is opened and rotated, a load tends to be applied, so that the cover 1 is gently rotated.

A spring 17 is wound around the shaft 6, and an end of the spring 17 is engaged with a hinge 4 that supports the tray 3. The direction in which the spring 17 is wound around the shaft 6 is such that the tray 3 is further wound around the shaft 6 when the tray 3 is rotated from a position in which the tray 3 is in close contact with the apparatus main body to an operating position where a transfer material can be placed. Therefore, when the tray is set, a load is applied in that direction, so that the tray can be gently rotated.

In the illustrated embodiment of the apparatus, a cover 1 and a hinge 2 for supporting it, a tray 3 and a hinge 4 for supporting this are shown.
Although they are separate from each other, it goes without saying that they can be integrally configured.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to make the apparatus main body compact by providing the cover of the developer container which can be rotated and opened / closed on the side of the image forming apparatus. During the toner processing, it is possible to prevent external contamination due to scattering of the toner as much as possible. Also,
Since the rotary shaft of the cover and the rotary shaft of the paper feed tray disposed at the same position so as to be rotatable and openable are shared, the structure is simplified and the cost can be reduced. Furthermore, the paper feed tray rotates following the cover of the developer container, so workability is good,
Since the rotation of these members is performed gently, there is an effect that there is little fear of failure and safety is increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the developer container cover and the vicinity of the shaft supporting portion of the paper feed tray,

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state where the developer container cover is closed and the paper feed tray is in an operating position.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing that the developer container cover is released.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 developer container cover 2 hinge for supporting the cover 3 paper feed tray 4 hinge for supporting the tray 5 pin 6 shaft 7 shaft support plate 8, 9 abutting part 11 image carrier 12 transfer separation charger 13 transport path 14 primary charging Container 15 Developer container 16, 17 Spring

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Akito Nagayama 6-3-3 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka City, Tokyo Copier Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Nishimura 6-3-3 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka City, Tokyo Copy A Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tsukasa Teshima 6-3-3 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo Copy Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasunori Maeda 6-3-3 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo Copy A) Incorporated (72) Inventor Naoto Mori 6-3-3 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo Copia Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasushi Sawada 6-3-3 Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo Copia shares In the company

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus provided with a developer container for accommodating a developer, wherein a rotatable openable / closable cover provided for the developer container is provided on a side of an apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus characterized in that a rotatable paper feed tray is disposed on the side of the main body, and the cover and the rotary shaft of the paper feed tray are pivotally attached to a common shaft. . 2. A means for causing the paper feed tray to follow and rotate when the cover of the developer container is opened and rotated, and also means for rotating the paper feed tray when the cover is closed to bring it into a set state. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, which is provided. 3. When the developing device cover and / or the paper feed tray is rotated from its closed or inoperative position in close contact with the side of the image forming apparatus to its open or operating position, rotation by its own weight is prevented. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 and 2, which is provided with means for gently rotating.