JPH06250449A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply constitute a movable part and to make all of consumables possible to be handled from the upper side of an image recorder by providing all parts participating in printing on a stationary part. CONSTITUTION:The main body of the image recorder 2 is divided into the stationary part and the movable part by a paper carrying path 201 as a border and all parts participating in the printing, including the consumables are provided on the stationary part. Then, an electrifier 4, an optical system unit 5, a developing device 6, a transfer unit 7 and a cleaning device 8 are provided on the circumference of a photosensitive body 3a and a constitution that an image is recorded on a paper sheet fed from a paper feeder 1 by using an electrophotographic process is adopted. Further, a front cover 16 is turned to open a paper carrying path 201 in front of the image recorder 2 and the movable part is composed of a fan 12 and a cover 14, so that when the movable part is opened with respect to the stationary part, the consumables and the part participating in the printing are never moved together with the movable part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image recording apparatus such as a laser beam printer, it is a well-known technique to provide a transfer means so as to face the surface of a photoconductor, but an operation for removing jammed paper in the image recording apparatus. Various arrangements of the transfer means and the photoconductor with respect to the main body of the image recording apparatus have been proposed in consideration of the characteristics or the operability when exchanging consumable parts of the image recording apparatus.

For example, as disclosed in JP-A-59-133577, an image carrier (photosensitive drum) and a transfer means are provided in a left-right positional relationship (horizontal transfer system).
There is a type in which a transfer means is provided below the photosensitive drum (No. 61) (lower transfer type), and a type in which a transfer roll is provided above the photosensitive drum (upper transfer type) like No. 3-117254.

[0004]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention JP-A-59-133
In the case of No. 577, when the jammed paper is removed, the transfer means is rotated together with the paper carrying path forming member to open the paper carrying path to remove the jammed paper. There has been a problem that a mechanism that can accurately perform the alignment with and must be secured, and the configuration becomes complicated by providing a member for alignment.

Further, in the case where a movable unit side is provided with a printing unit including an optical system unit, a photoconductor, a developing device and the like as in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-148961, the weight of the printing unit can be held. As described above, the rigidity of the frame that constitutes the movable portion must be increased, which is an obstacle to reducing the weight of the image recording apparatus main body. Furthermore, when the movable unit is provided with the printing unit as in the above-described configuration, the weight of the movable unit becomes heavy, so that it is necessary to provide a balancer mechanism or the like so that the opening / closing operation of the movable unit can be performed smoothly. .

In Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 3-117254, in addition to the same problems as those in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-133577, the problem that the image carrier, the developing device and the cleaning member are constructed as a unit. It is given as a point. Recently,
In this type of image recording apparatus, so-called consumable parts such as a photoconductor, a charger, a developing device, and a cleaning member are configured as a single unit. For example, when the developing device runs out of toner, it is replaced with a new unit. There are some used. However, the life of all the consumable parts constituting the unit does not correspond to the life of the toner, and it is the fact that the unit is replaced with a new unit while having a sufficient function. However, it is also a problem from the viewpoint of environmental protection of the earth and effective use of resources.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus in which a main body of the image recording apparatus is divided into a stationary section and a movable section with a sheet conveying path as a boundary, and the movable section includes a consumable part and is involved in printing. It is to provide an image recording apparatus that does not have at all, and an image recording apparatus that has a simple structure and can handle all consumable parts from the upper side of the image recording apparatus.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, in the image recording apparatus of the present invention, the image recording apparatus main body is divided into a stationary portion and a movable portion with a sheet conveying path as a boundary. In the apparatus, a configuration is adopted in which all the components including the consumable component that are involved in printing are provided in the stationary unit. Further, a configuration is adopted in which the parts involved in the printing are separately provided.

[0009]

According to the image recording apparatus of the present invention, in the image recording apparatus in which the main body of the image recording apparatus is divided into the stationary section and the movable section with the sheet conveying path as a boundary, the movable section can be simply constructed. Becomes Further, it becomes possible to provide an image recording apparatus in which consumable parts are handled very well. Furthermore, since the consumable parts can be replaced individually by separately dividing the parts involved in printing, it is only necessary to replace the consumable parts at the end of their respective lives, avoiding waste of resources. It becomes possible.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a sheet feeding device. In the present embodiment, the sheet feeding device 1 includes a sheet storage unit 3 including a sheet cassette 1a for storing sheets and a sheet cassette storage section 1b for detachably supporting the sheet cassette 1a.
An image recording device 2 is installed above the paper feeding device 1 by stacking them individually. The paper cassette 1a is pulled out in the direction of arrow A when taken out from the paper cassette storage unit 1b, and is inserted in the direction of arrow B when mounted in the paper cassette storage unit 1b.

In the paper cassette storage section 1b, there is provided a paper feed roller 1c for extracting the papers stored in the paper cassette 1a one by one. Further, at the end of the paper cassette 1a, there is provided a paper guide portion 1d forming a paper carrying path 10 for carrying paper in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction of arrow a or b.

The sheet conveying path 10 is not used when the sheets in the uppermost sheet accommodating body among the plurality of stacked sheet accommodating bodies are sent to the image recording apparatus 2 side, but the uppermost sheet accumulating path is not used. It is used when the paper is sent out to the image recording device 2 side from the paper storage body arranged under the paper storage body.

Next, the structure of the image recording apparatus 2 will be described. In the figure, reference numeral 3 indicates a photoconductor unit. In the present embodiment, the photoconductor unit employs a structure in which the photoconductor 3a in the form of an endless belt is laid over a plurality of rotating members, but the photoconductor unit is not limited to this. It is also possible to use a drum-shaped photosensitive member. A charger 4, an optical system unit 5, a developing device 6, a transfer device 7 and a cleaning device 8 are provided around the photoconductor 3a, and an image is formed on a sheet fed from the sheet feeding device 1 by using an electrophotographic process. It is configured to record.

The sheet fed from the sheet feeding device 1 is fed into the device from a sheet insertion port 20 provided in the image recording device 2, is fed to the registration roller 2b via the sheet feeding roller 2a, and is registered to the registration roller 2b. In, paper skew prevention is performed. After that, the registration roller 2b
The paper is sent between the transfer unit 7 and the photoconductor 3a by the rotation of the, and the toner image on the photoconductor 3a is transferred to the paper by the voltage application from the transfer unit 7.

The toner image transferred onto the paper is fixed by the fixing device 9, and the paper after the fixing is discharged to any one of the discharge positions A, B, and C.

Further, in the front part of the image recording apparatus 2, there is formed a sheet conveying path 202 which merges with the sheet conveying path 201 at a position before the registration roller 2b, and the sheet feeding tray 11 as shown in the figure is constituted. Used in cases such as.
In the paper feed tray 11, reference numeral 11a indicates a paper feed roller, and reference numeral 11b indicates a paper pressing member.
The sheet of the lowest page among the sheets stacked on the tray is conveyed by a.

In the figure, reference numeral 14 is a cover, 15 is a fulcrum of rotation of the cover 14, and the cover 14 is the image recording apparatus 2.
It is provided rotatably with respect to the main body in the direction of arrow C with the fulcrum 15 as a fulcrum (a state in which the cover 14 is opened is shown in FIG. 2). A fan 12 is fixed to the lower part of the inner surface of the cover 14, and heat generated inside the image recording apparatus 2 is positively provided by the fan 12 to the exhaust port 1 provided on the side surface of the cover 14.
It is discharged from 3.

In the figure, reference numeral 16 is a front cover, and 17 is a rotation fulcrum of the front cover 16. By rotating the front cover 16, the image recording apparatus 2 is rotated.
It is possible to open the sheet conveyance path 201 in the front part.

With the above structure, the main body of the image recording apparatus 2 is divided into a stationary section and a movable section with the sheet conveying path as a boundary. Since the movable part is composed of the fan 12 and the cover 14, when the movable part is opened with respect to the stationary part, consumable parts and parts involved in printing do not move together with the movable part.

[0020]

According to the image recording apparatus of the present invention, in the image recording apparatus in which the main body of the image recording apparatus is divided into the stationary section and the movable section with the sheet conveying path as a boundary, all the components involved in the printing are described above. Since it is provided in the stationary part, the movable part can be constructed very simply.

Further, according to the image recording apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to handle all the consumable parts from the upper side of the image recording apparatus, and it is possible to provide an image recording apparatus in which the consumable parts are handled very well.

Furthermore, since the consumable parts can be individually replaced by separately providing the parts involved in the printing, the consumable parts can be replaced when they reach the end of their respective lives. You can avoid waste.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a movable portion is opened in the image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 is an image recording device, 201 and 202 are paper conveyance paths,
3 is a photoconductor unit, 4 is a charger, 5 is an optical system unit, 6 is a developing device, 7 is a transfer device, 8 is a cleaning device, 9 is a fixing device, 12 is a fan, 13 is an exhaust port, and 14 is a cover. is there.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image recording apparatus in which a main body of the image recording apparatus is divided into a stationary section and a movable section with a sheet conveying path as a boundary, wherein all the components involved in printing are provided in the stationary section. Image recording device. 2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parts involved in the printing include consumable parts. 3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the parts involved in the printing are separately provided.