JPH06305595A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain noise lessening, space saving and cost reduction by driving a stopper means through a simple mechanism. CONSTITUTION:Stopper means 45 is provided controllably to open/close in a paper feed means 40 for feeding paper of a recording medium P to an image forming means of a device main unit. Action of controlling this stopper means 45 to open/close is associated with a drive system for driving a paper feed roller 43 in a recording medium separation conveying means.

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 which is improved in taking out a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as copy paper) in a paper feeding portion such as an electronic copying machine or a laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as an electronic copying machine of this type, a copy sheet is placed on a tray of a manual sheet feeding means, and the copy sheet placed on the tray is a recording medium. A pickup device as a take-out unit takes out the paper, and the copy sheets taken out by the pick-up roller are separated one by one by a recording medium separating / conveying unit composed of a paper feed roller and a separating body (separation pad). Some have a structure in which they are conveyed to the image forming means of the main body.

In such a conventional manual sheet feeding section, stopper means is provided upstream of the recording medium separating and conveying means, and when the copy sheet is placed on the tray by controlling the opening / closing of the stopper means. In the standby state, the leading edge of the copy sheet is prevented from coming into contact with the nip between the paper feed roller and the separation pad, and thereby unnecessary removal of the copy sheet at the initial stage of operation is prevented.

[0004]

However, in the opening / closing control of the stopper means in the manual sheet feeding portion of the image forming apparatus having the conventional structure, the driving of the stopper means is performed by using the driving force of the solenoid of the pickup roller,
Alternatively, it is the current situation that the stopper means is independently driven by another solenoid.

For this reason, in the case of utilizing the driving force of the pickup roller, since the pickup roller is interlocked with the frequent raising and lowering operations of the pickup roller, the mechanism is complicated and the noise is large.

Further, in the case where the stopper means is independently driven by another solenoid, there is a problem that not only a relatively large solenoid installation space is required but also the cost becomes high.

The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to enable driving of the stopper means with a simple mechanism to reduce noise, save space and reduce cost. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of achieving the above.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an apparatus main body having an image forming means,
Paper feeding means for feeding the recording medium to the image forming means of the apparatus main body, recording medium taking out means for taking out the recording medium fed to the paper feeding means, and recording medium taken out by the recording medium taking out means A recording medium separating / conveying unit composed of a sheet feeding roller for separating the sheets one by one and conveying them to the image forming unit, and selectively opening / closing the feeding of the recording medium to the recording medium separating / conveying unit. A sheet feeding roller of the recording medium separating / conveying means is interlocked with a driving system of the apparatus main body to be rotationally controlled in one direction, and is interlocked with a driving system for driving the sheet feeding roller. The stopper means is controlled to open and close.

[0009]

That is, according to the present invention, by adopting the above configuration, the opening / closing control of the stopper means is performed in conjunction with the drive system of the apparatus main body for driving the paper feed roller of the recording medium separating / conveying means. The mechanism can be simplified and the noise can be expected to be reduced, and it is not necessary to use a relatively large-sized solenoid as in the conventional case, whereby space saving and cost reduction can be achieved.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 5 show a first embodiment of an electronic copying machine as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an apparatus main body.

As shown in FIG. 2, the apparatus main body 1 is provided with an image forming means 2. The image forming means 2 serves as an image carrier rotatably supported in a substantially central portion of the apparatus main body 1. In addition to the photosensitive drum 3, the developing 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 sequentially arranged around the photosensitive drum 3.

That is, the photosensitive drum 3 is uniformly charged by the charging device 9, and is placed on the original placing table 10 made of transparent glass provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1. An exposure lamp 12 whose back portion is surrounded by a reflector 11 for displaying an image of an original document (not shown)
And the first, second and third reflection mirrors 13, 14, 15
, Lens 16, and fourth, fifth, and sixth reflection mirrors 1
An image is formed on the photoconductor drum 3 through an optical system including 7, 18, 19 and the like to form an electrostatic latent image.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 3 is developed by the developing device 4 and is a copy sheet which is fed from the sheet feeding means 30 and 40 described later through the registration rollers 20. The developed image is transferred onto P by the transfer device 5.

The copy paper P transferred by the transfer device 5 is peeled off by the peeling device 6 by AC corona discharge, and conveyed to the fixing device 22 via the conveying belt 21.
The copy paper P, on which the developed image is fused and fixed by the fixing device 22, is discharged by the discharge roller pair 23 to the discharge tray 24.
Discharged on top.

Further, 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 removing device 8. Is kept below a certain level to enable the next copy operation.

In the figure, 30 is a first sheet feeding means detachably mounted from the front side of the apparatus body 1, and 40 is a manually fed sheet which is detachably attached to one side surface of the apparatus body 1. It is a second sheet feeding means.

The first paper feeding means 30 is a copy paper P.
The copy paper P stored in the cassette case 31 is picked up by the pickup roller 32 from the uppermost layer and taken out. Then, the copy paper P taken out by the pickup roller 32 is a paper consisting of a paper feed roller 33 and a separation pad 34 which form a recording medium separating and conveying means installed above the take-out end side of the cassette case 31. The sheets are separated one by one by the separating section and are conveyed toward the image forming means 2 of the apparatus main body 1.

On the other hand, the second manual paper feeding means 40 is
As shown in FIG. 1, a manual feed tray 41 on which copy paper P is placed is provided, and the copy paper P placed on this tray 41 is picked up by the pickup roller 42 from the uppermost layer and taken out. Has become.

The copy paper P taken out by the pickup roller 42 is a paper consisting of a paper feed roller 43 and a separation pad 44 which form a recording medium separating / conveying means installed on the downstream side of the tray 41. The image forming unit 2 of the apparatus main body 1 is separated one by one by the separating unit.
It is designed to be transported to.

Further, a stopper 45 as a stopper means is arranged upstream of the paper feed roller 43 and the separation pad 44 forming the recording medium separating and conveying means, and the stopper 45 is in a stand-by standby state. It is possible to prevent the leading edge of the copy sheet P placed on the tray 41 from coming into contact with the nip between the sheet feed roller 43 and the separation pad 44, thereby eliminating the need for the copy sheet P at the initial stage of operation. Opening and closing is controlled so that the sheet is allowed to be fed by the tilting operation toward the downstream side.

The opening / closing control of the stopper 45 is, as shown in FIG. 3, a drive shaft 51 of the paper feed roller 43 which rotates in the paper feed direction by a unidirectional rotational drive by a drive motor of a drive system of the apparatus main body 1 not shown. Drive gear 52 provided on the first and second idle gears 53 and 54.
The gear / latch mechanism 55 meshed with each other via the first lever 5 provided on the rotary shaft 56 of the gear / latch mechanism 55.
7 and a second lever 58 that responds to the rotational movement of the first lever 57 so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the second lever 58. The second lever 58 is provided on a rotary shaft 59 that supports the stopper 45 rotatably in the opening / closing direction. The rotary shaft 59 is provided with a spring 6 provided via a third lever 60.
1, the stopper 45 is always biased in the tilting direction, and the first and second levers 57 and 58 are
In this contact state, the stopper 45 is maintained in the stand-by standby state.

As shown in FIG. 4, the gear / latch mechanism 55 includes a gear 55A with which the second idle gear 54 meshes, a latch 55B, and an interposition between the latch 55B and the gear 55A. Spring clutch 5
5C, and a latch lever 63 driven by a relatively small solenoid 62 can be brought into and out of contact with the latch 55B.

That is, the gear / latch mechanism 55 is
When the rotational driving force of the paper feed roller 43 is transmitted to the gear 55A via the drive gear 52 and the first and second idle gears 53 and 54, it is transmitted to the latch 55B by the tightening torque of the spring clutch 55C, and this latch At the same time as the rotation shaft 56 is rotated by the rotation of 55B, the first lever 57 is also rotated, and the first lever 57 is separated from the second lever 58.

By the rotation of the first lever 57, the second lever 58 is tilted and rotated by the urging force of the spring 61, as shown in FIG. Allows removal.

A rotary disk 64 is provided on the rotary shaft 56 for rotating the first lever 57, and the sensor 66 detects the positions of the two slits 65A and 65B formed on the rotary disk 64. The rotating shaft 56
The solenoid 62 can be energized in a state in which it has rotated half a turn (180 degrees).

As described above, when the solenoid 62 is energized, the locking lever 63 operates to lock the latch 55B of the gear / latch mechanism 55, and the spring clutch 55C idles with respect to the latch 55B. By doing so, the amount of rotation of the rotary shaft 56 is regulated, whereby the stopper 45 maintains the tilted state during the copying operation. In this state, in order to return the stopper 45 to the original stand-by standby state upon completion of the copying operation, similarly, the paper feed roller 43 is rotated.

In the above-described first embodiment of the present invention, the stopper 45 is opened and closed by utilizing the drive of the paper feed roller 43 which is performed by the one-way rotational drive by the drive motor of the drive system of the apparatus main body 1. Although the control is performed, when the paper feed roller 43 is driven by the forward and reverse rotation drive by the drive motor of the drive system of the apparatus main body 1, the second embodiment according to the present invention shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 is performed. Based on the example, the opening / closing control of the stopper 45 is performed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the opening / closing control of the stopper 45 is provided on the drive shaft 51 of the paper feed roller 43 by the one-way clutch 70 so that the paper feed roller 43 is rotatable in only one direction. The drive gear 71 is meshed with the gear 74 provided on the rotary shaft 73 of the first lever 57 via the idle gear 72, and the rotary shaft 73 is provided with the first and second spring clutches 76, 7
7 are provided in reverse winding.

Further, a swing lever 78 is provided on the rotary shaft 73, and a tip portion 78a of the swing lever 78 is formed in a fixed frame on the side of the apparatus main body 1 so as to stand by at one side of an engagement hole 1A. This is performed by swingably engaging from the position to the other sheet feeding allowable position and limiting the rotation range.

That is, when the copy operation is started in the stand-by standby state of the stopper 45 shown in FIG. 7 and the paper feed roller 43 rotates, the rotational driving force of the paper feed roller 43 is transmitted through the drive gear 71 and the idle gear 72. Is transmitted to a gear 74 provided on the rotating shaft 73 of the first lever 57.

At the same time, the tightening torques of the first and second spring clutches 76 and 77 cause the first lever 57 and the swing lever 78 to rotate, and the first lever 57 is moved to the second lever 57. It is separated from the lever 58.

The rotation of the first lever 57 causes the second lever 58 to tilt and rotate, as shown in FIG.
At the same time that the copy paper P on the manual feed tray 41 can be taken out, the swing lever 78 is rotated from the standby position on one side of the engagement hole 1A opened in the fixed frame to the paper feed allowable position on the other side. Then, the rotation of the rotary shaft 73 is restricted,
By idling the first spring clutch 76, the stopper 45 is maintained in the tilted state during the copying operation.

In this state, in order to return the stopper 45 to the original stand-by standby state upon completion of the copying operation, it is necessary to check whether there is any copy sheet left on the tray 41 or in the nip between the sheet feed roller 43 and the separation pad 44. After the confirmation by the sensor, the drive motor of the apparatus main body 1 rotates in the reverse direction, and the operation is performed in the opposite manner to the above.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the opening / closing control operation of the stopper means provided in the sheet feeding means for feeding the recording medium to the image forming means of the apparatus main body is performed by separating the recording medium. Since it is linked to the drive system of the main body of the device that drives the paper feed roller of the transport means, the mechanism can be simplified and low noise can be expected, and the use of a relatively large solenoid as before. Since it is unnecessary, space saving and cost reduction can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a first embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention in a stopper standby state of a manual sheet feeding section.

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

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view schematically showing a drive system of the manual paper feeding unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view schematically showing the drive system of the manual paper feeding unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view showing a stopper tilting state during the copy operation of the manual paper feeding unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory view of a drive system of a manual sheet feeding section showing a second embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory view of the manual feed unit in the stopper standby state.

FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory view showing a stopper tilting state during the copy operation of the manual paper feeding unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Device main body, 2 ... Image forming means, 40 ... Paper feeding means, 4
1 ... Tray, 42 ... Recording medium take-out means (pickup roller), 43 ... Recording medium separating / conveying means (paper feed roller),
44 ... Recording medium separation / conveyance means (separation pad), 45 ... Stopper means (stopper), 51 ... Drive shaft of paper feed roller,
P ... recording medium.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] October 18, 1993

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Brief description of the drawing

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a first embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention in a stopper standby state of a manual sheet feeding section.

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

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view schematically showing a drive system of the manual paper feeding unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view schematically showing the drive system of the manual paper feeding unit.

FIG. 5 is a schematic explanatory view showing a stopper tilting state during the copy operation of the manual paper feeding unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory view of a drive system of a manual sheet feeding section showing a second embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory view of the manual feed unit in the stopper standby state.

FIG. 8 is a schematic explanatory view showing a stopper tilting state during the copy operation of the manual paper feeding unit.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a state in which the levers are in contact with each other.

[Description of Reference Signs] 1 ... Device main body, 2 ... Image forming means, 40 ... Paper feeding means, 4
1 ... Tray, 42 ... Recording medium take-out means (pickup roller), 43 ... Recording medium separating / conveying means (paper feed roller),
44 ... Recording medium separation / conveyance means (separation pad), 45 ... Stopper means (stopper), 51 ... Drive shaft of paper feed roller,
P ... recording medium. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] January 12, 1994

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0021

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

The opening / closing control of the stopper 45 is, as shown in FIG. 3, a drive shaft 51 of the paper feed roller 43 which rotates in the paper feed direction by a unidirectional rotational drive by a drive motor of a drive system of the apparatus main body 1 not shown. Drive gear 52 provided on the first and second idle gears 53 and 54.
The gear / latch mechanism 55 meshed with each other via the first lever 5 provided on the rotary shaft 56 of the gear / latch mechanism 55.
7 and a second lever 58 that responds to the rotational movement of the first lever 57 so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the second lever 58. The second lever 58 is provided on a rotary shaft 59 that supports the stopper 45 rotatably in the opening / closing direction, and the rotary shaft 59 is provided with a spring 6 provided via a third lever 60.
1, the stopper 45 is always biased in the tilting direction, and the first and second levers 57 and 58 are
In this contact state, the stopper 45 is maintained in the stand-by standby state. As shown in FIG. 9, here, in the first lever 57, the line connecting the tip end of the first lever 57 and the rotation fulcrum forms an angle of 90 degrees with the contact surface of the second lever 58. Are in contact with each other. As a result, even if an external force is applied to the stopper 45, the lever 58 can be supported by the first lever 57 so as not to rotate.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus main body having an image forming means, a paper feeding means for feeding a recording medium to the image forming means of the apparatus main body, and a recording medium ejection for taking out the recording medium fed to the paper feeding means. And a recording medium separating / conveying means composed of a sheet feeding roller for separating the recording medium taken out by the recording medium taking-out means one by one and conveying the recording medium to the image forming means, and the recording medium separating / conveying means. A sheet feeding roller of the recording medium separating / conveying means, the rotation control being interlocked with a unidirectional rotation drive system of the apparatus main body. In addition, the image forming apparatus is characterized in that the stopper means is controlled to be opened / closed by interlocking with the rotation operation of the paper feed roller in one direction. 2. An apparatus main body having an image forming means, a paper feeding means for feeding a recording medium to the image forming means of the apparatus main body, and a recording medium ejection for taking out the recording medium fed to the paper feeding means. And a recording medium separating / conveying means composed of a sheet feeding roller for separating the recording medium taken out by the recording medium taking-out means one by one and conveying the recording medium to the image forming means, and the recording medium separating / conveying means. And a stopper means for selectively opening and closing the feeding of the recording medium to the means, wherein the feeding roller of the recording medium separating and conveying means is unidirectionally linked with a drive system that rotates forward and backward of the apparatus body. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the stopper means is controlled to be opened and closed while being interlocked with forward and reverse rotation operations of a drive system that drives the paper feed roller.