JPH07125852A - Paper feeding cassette for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically adjust the dispersion of the end part of an accommodated sheet bundle, by vibrating a sheet regulating member in a shiftable direction. CONSTITUTION:A vibrating mechanism 6A which vibrates a shiftable side regulating plate 2 and a rear end regulating plate 3 mechanically in the shiftable direction by the cassette installation operation onto an image forming device is installed. The vibrating mechanism 6A is equipped with a rotary shaft 60 installed in a rotatable manner on a middle plate 1 and a driving gear 61, and is constituted of a triangular cam 62 for applying vibration onto the side regulating plate 2 through a guide rail 4 by the revolution of the rotary shaft 60 and a triangular cam 63 for applying vibration to the rear end regulating plate 3 through a guide rail 5. The driving gear 61 is meshed and revolved with a rack 64 formed at the cassette installation part of the image forming device body, when the cassette is installed onto the image forming device.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet cassette for an image forming apparatus provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer or a facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cassette sheet feeding method using a sheet feeding cassette is known as a typical sheet feeding method that can be placed in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer or a facsimile.

The sheet feeding cassettes used in this cassette sheet feeding method include a normal cassette for storing sheet materials of a specific size and a universal cassette for storing sheet materials of a plurality of sizes.

In these cassettes, a side regulating plate (sheet material regulating member) for regulating the widthwise position of the sheet material,
A trailing edge regulating plate (sheet material regulating member) for regulating the trailing edge position of the sheet material is provided, and the width direction position and the trailing edge position of the sheet material bundle stored in the cassette by each of these sheet feeding plates are provided. Positioning is done.

The side regulation plate and the rear regulation plate normally provided in the cassette are installed at positions corresponding to the sheet material size, and in order to enhance the alignment of the sheet bundle, the sheet spring is used to form the sheet. The spring pressure is applied in the material direction (conventional example 1).

In order to store a sheet material bundle in such an ordinary cassette, the sheet material bundle is pressed while pressing the side regulating plate and the rear end regulating plate to which spring pressure is applied by a leaf spring or the like in the direction opposite to the sheet material. The sheet material bundle placed on the intermediate plate and placed on the intermediate plate is pressed by the restored side regulating plate and rear end regulating plate.

The side regulation plate and the rear regulation plate provided in the universal cassette are installed so as to be movable within a range in which the size of the sheet material that can be stored is regulated (conventional example 2).

In order to store a sheet material bundle in such a universal cassette, the side regulating plate and the rear end regulating plate are moved to the outside in advance, the sheet material bundle is placed on the middle plate, and then the side sheet is placed. The regulating plate and the trailing edge regulating plate are moved inward so as to abut against the sheet bundle.

[0009]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example 1
In the case of the ordinary cassette, it is difficult to align the variations in the end portions of the sheet bundle with the side regulation plate and the rear regulation plate.

Further, in the case of the universal cassette of the above-mentioned conventional example 2, the side regulating plate and the rear end regulating plate are moved back and forth a plurality of times to abut against the sheet material bundle, so that the variations in the end portions of the sheet material bundle are made uniform. Is possible, but it takes time.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an image forming apparatus capable of automatically aligning variations in the end portions of a bundle of stored sheet materials when the cassette is mounted in the image forming apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feed cassette for paper.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a movable sheet material regulating member (2, 3) for regulating the sheet material position and a machine by mounting a cassette in an image forming apparatus. And a vibrating mechanism (6A) that vibrates the sheet material regulating member in the moving direction.

[0013]

According to the sheet feeding cassette for an image forming apparatus of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, when the mounting operation to the image forming apparatus is performed,
The vibrating mechanism (6A) is driven to drive the sheet material regulating member (2,
3) Vibrate in the moving direction.

Therefore, the sheet material regulating member (2, 3) is attached to the sheet material bundle held by the sheet material regulating member (2, 3).
The vibration of 3) is directly transmitted.

As a result, the variations in the ends of the sheet bundle are made uniform.

The reference numerals in the parentheses are for reference to the drawings and do not limit the structure of the present invention.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <Embodiment 1> FIG. 1 shows the structure of a main portion (invention portion) of a sheet feeding cassette for an image forming apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

In this paper feeding cassette, a side regulating plate 2 for regulating the position of the sheet material in the width direction and a rear end position of the sheet material are provided on an intermediate plate 1 installed in a paper feeding cassette body (not shown). And a rear end regulation plate 3 that regulates.

The side regulating plate 2 is attached to a guide rail 4 which is slidable in the width direction of the sheet material. Further, the trailing edge regulating plate 3 is attached to a guide rail 5 which is slidable in the length direction of the sheet material.

The guide rails 4 and 5 are normally in the positions shown in the figure in the state where spring pressure such as a leaf spring is applied in the direction of the arrow. The side regulation plate 2 and the rear regulation plate 3 are arranged on the guide rails 4 and 5 according to the sheet material size.

When the sheet material bundle is placed on the middle plate 1, the side regulation plate 2 and the rear regulation plate 3 are moved outward against the spring pressure. The sheet material bundle placed on the middle plate 1 is pressed by the side regulation plate 2 and the rear regulation plate 3 which are restored by the spring pressure.

A vibration mechanism 6A is provided below the middle plate 1 to vibrate the side regulating plate 2 and the rear regulating plate 3 in the moving direction when the cassette is mounted in the image forming apparatus. The vibrating mechanism 6A is mechanically driven by the cassette mounting operation.

The vibrating mechanism 6A is rotated by the rotary shaft 60 rotatably attached to the intermediate plate 1, the drive gear 61 that applies a rotary force to the rotary shaft 60, and the rotation of the rotary shaft 60 to rotate the guide rail 4 in place. It is provided with a triangular cam 62 for vibrating the side regulating plate 2 via it, a triangular cam 63 which is rotated by the rotation of the rotary shaft 60 and vibrates the rear end regulating plate 3 via the guide rail 5, and the like. It is configured.

The drive gear 61 is attached to one end of the rotary shaft 60, and is attached to a rack 64 formed in a cassette mounting portion of an image forming apparatus main body (not shown) when the cassette is mounted in the image forming apparatus. It is designed to mesh and rotate.

The cam 62 is rotatably attached to the intermediate plate 1, and the rotation of the rotary shaft 60 is transmitted via gears 65 and 66. Further, the cassette 62 is adapted to contact the inner end of the guide rail 4 (see FIG. 2).

The cam 63 is attached to the rotary shaft 60, and comes into contact with a vertical surface 67A of a recess 67 formed in the lower surface of the guide rail 5 (see FIG. 3).

Next, the operation of the vibrating mechanism 6A when the main sheet feeding cassette is mounted in the cassette mounting portion of the image forming apparatus main body will be described.

When this paper feed cassette is inserted into the cassette mounting portion of the image forming apparatus main body, the drive gear 61 moves forward while meshing with the rack 64, as shown in FIG.

As a result, the rotary shaft 60 continuously rotates counterclockwise, and the rotation of the rotary shaft 60 causes the cam 6 to rotate.
2, 63 rotate.

FIG. 2 shows the relationship between the cam 62 which rotates clockwise and the guide rail 4.

The cam 62, which rotates clockwise, discontinuously abuts the inner end of the guide rail 4 to which the spring pressure in the direction of the arrow is applied, and pushes the guide rail 4 outward.

As a result, the guide rail 4 repeatedly reciprocates at high speed, and the side regulating plate 2 vibrates in the moving direction.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the cam 63 rotating counterclockwise and the guide rail 5.

The cam 63 rotating counterclockwise discontinuously abuts the vertical surface 67A of the recess 67 of the guide rail 5 to which the spring pressure in the direction of the arrow is applied to press the guide rail 5 outward. FIG. 3 (a) shows a state in which the cam 63 is in contact with the vertical surface 67A and presses the guide rail 5 outward, and FIG. 3 (b) shows a state in which the guide rail 5 is returned by spring pressure. Shows.

As a result, the guide rail 5 is repeatedly reciprocated at high speed, and the rear end regulating plate 3 vibrates in the moving direction.

Since the vibrations of the side regulating plate 2 and the rear end regulating plate 23 pressing the sheet material bundle are directly transmitted to the sheet material bundle, the variations in the end portions of the sheet material bundle are made uniform. <Embodiment 2> FIG. 4 shows the structure of a main part (invention part) of a sheet feeding cassette for an image forming apparatus according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

In the description of the present paper feed cassette, the same members as those of the paper feed cassette of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description of those which are functionally and structurally the same is omitted. To do.

In the vibrating mechanism 6B provided in the present paper feeding cassette, the gear 70 for vibrating the side regulating plate 2 via the guide rail 4 and the rear end regulating plate 3 via the guide rail 5 are vibrated. And a gear 71 for giving.

The gear 70 is rotatably attached to the intermediate plate 1, and the rotation of the rotary shaft 60 is transmitted via the gear 72.

The gear 70 has a vertical pin 73 on its upper surface, and the vertical pin 73 is fitted in a U-shaped guide frame 74 attached to the guide rail 4.

The gear 71 is rotatably attached to the intermediate plate 1, and the rotation is transmitted to the rotary shaft 60 via the gear 75.

The gear 71 has a vertical pin 76 on its side surface, and this vertical pin 76 is fitted into a U-shaped guide frame 77 attached to the guide rail 6.

FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the gear 70 rotating clockwise and the guide rail 4.

The rotation of the gear 70 causes the vertical pin 73 fitted in the guide frame 74 to reciprocate the guide rail 4 to which the spring pressure is applied in the arrow direction at high speed.

As a result, the side regulating plate 2 vibrates in the moving direction.

FIG. 6 shows a gear 71 rotating counterclockwise.
And the guide rail 5 are shown.

By the rotation of the gear 71, the vertical pin 76 fitted in the guide frame 77 reciprocates the guide rail 5 to which spring pressure is applied in the arrow direction at high speed. Figure 6
6A shows a state in which the vertical pin 76 moves the guide rail 5 outwardly against the spring pressure, and FIG. 6B shows the vertical pin 76.
Shows the state where the guide rail 5 is moved to the original position.

As a result, the trailing edge regulating plate 3 vibrates in the moving direction.

In each of the above-described sheet feeding cassettes of Examples 1 and 2, the side regulating plate 2 and the trailing edge regulating plate 3 are attached at positions corresponding to a specific sheet size.
The side regulation plate 2 and the rear regulation plate 3 may be detachably attached at positions corresponding to a plurality of sheet material sizes.

[0050]

As described above, in the sheet feeding cassette for an image forming apparatus of the present invention, the movable sheet material regulating member that regulates the sheet material position when mounted on the image forming apparatus vibrates in the moving direction. With this configuration, the variations in the end portions of the sheet material bundle stored in the paper feed cassette can be automatically aligned when the sheet bundle is attached to the image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a main part (invention part) of a sheet feeding cassette for an image forming apparatus according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a vibration mechanism provided in the paper feeding cassette,
FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an operation of a portion that gives vibration to a side regulating plate.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional side view for explaining the operation of the portion of the vibration mechanism that applies vibration to the rear end regulation plate.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a main part (invention part) of a sheet feeding cassette for an image forming apparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a vibration mechanism of the paper feed cassette,
The top view explaining operation | movement of the part which gives a vibration to a side regulation plate.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional side view for explaining the operation of the portion of the vibration mechanism that applies vibration to the rear end regulating plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Side regulation plate (sheet material regulation member) 3 Rear end regulation plate (sheet material regulation member) 6A, 6B Vibration mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A movable sheet material regulating member which regulates a sheet material position, and a vibration mechanism which is mechanically driven by a cassette mounting operation in an image forming apparatus to vibrate the sheet material regulating member in a moving direction. A sheet feeding cassette for an image forming apparatus, characterized in that