JPH0717644A - Paper feed cassette and image forming device provided with this cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stabilize loading a paper feed cassette and the fellow cassettes drawn out to the outside of a device main unit despite that a front cover of the paper feed cassette is extended from the bottom surface of a cassette main unit. CONSTITUTION:In a condition that a paper feed cassette 1 is drawn out to be detached from a device main unit, when a front cover 5 of the paper feed cassette 1 is turned in a position of taking refuge, a lower end part of the front cover 5 is placed in a condition moved to an upper location from the bottom surface of a cassette main unit 2. In this way, despite that the paper feed cassette 1 is placed in a condition that the lower end part of the front cover 5 is extended from the bottom surface of the cassette main unit 2, the paper feed cassette 1, without tilting it, can be stored in a stable condition in a part except the device main unit.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding cassette for feeding a transfer sheet to an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in image forming apparatuses, particularly in electronic copying machines, a front loading type cassette has been becoming popular in which a paper feed cassette can be attached to and detached from the front surface of the main body. This cassette is rapidly becoming popular as a cassette suitable for a narrow office environment because the installation area occupied by the entire apparatus can be reduced.

Further, in recent years, a copying machine having a cassette equipped with this front loading cassette has a plurality of front covers of a plurality of cassettes in order to make the appearance as seen from the front side visible to the user in a more beautiful and neat state. The number of products that are designed to connect seamlessly is increasing.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a general copying machine (image forming apparatus) 15 to which the present invention is applied.

A cover 17 is provided on the upper part of the main body 16 of the copying machine 15 to cover a document placing portion (not shown).
On the lower side of the apparatus main body 16, there are provided two sheet feed cassettes 31 containing sheets (not shown). The two front covers 33 of the cassette 31 are connected with a slight gap. As a result, the front surface of the copying machine 15 becomes a uniform flat surface, and there is no protruding or retracting shape,
This front loading method is widely adopted in recent copying machines because of its clean design.

[0006]

However, the following problems occur when the above-mentioned front loading method is adopted.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a conventional front loading type paper feed cassette. As shown in this figure, the paper feed cassette 31 has a cassette pocket (cassette body) 32 for accommodating sheets, and a front cover 33 fixed to the front surface thereof, and the lower end of the front cover 33. The portion 33a is in a state of extending below the bottom surface 32a of the cassette pocket 32.

Cassettes are often provided for each sheet size, and a large number of cassettes are required for users who want to feed paper of various sheet sizes. Therefore, the cassette pocket 32 is stored in a place outside the main body of the copying machine 15 and the cassette is exchanged for use when necessary. However, if two cassette orchests 32 are to be placed on top of each other, as shown in FIG. 6, the lower cassette 31 is placed on an inclined surface with respect to a flat floor surface, and the front cover 33 itself has the cassette 31. The weight of the cassette orchest 32 and the sheets in the orchest 32 may be applied to the front cover 33 to deform it. Further, the cassette 31 on the upper side is inclined at a larger angle, which causes a more serious condition. As described above, the cassette designed to be clean in design also has many problems in practical use.

According to the present invention, even though the front cover of the sheet feeding cassette extends from the bottom surface of the cassette body, the sheet feeding cassettes pulled out of the apparatus body and the stacking of the cassettes can be stably performed. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper feed cassette that can be used.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and, as shown with reference to the drawings, is fed into the main body (16) of the image forming apparatus (15). A cassette body (2) for accommodating a sheet (P) and a lower end portion (5b) of the cassette body (2) extending downward from the bottom surface of the cassette body (P) before being mounted on the front side of the cassette body (P). In a paper feeding cassette (1) having a cover (5), a lower end portion (5b) of the front cover (5) extends downward from a bottom surface of the cassette body (2), and a normal position, It is characterized in that it has a support means (3a) for rotatably supporting the cassette body (2) in a retracted position in which the lower end portion is located above the bottom surface.

[0011]

According to the above construction, the paper feed cassette (1) inserted into the main body (16) of the image forming apparatus (15) from the front side thereof has the front cover (5) at the normal position. When the front cover (5) is rotated to the retracted position while the paper cassette (1) is pulled out and detached from the apparatus main body (16), the lower end portion (5b) of the front cover (5) has the cassette main body (2). It will be in a state of being moved to a portion above the bottom surface of.
As a result, even though the lower end portion (5b) of the front cover (5) is the paper feed cassette (1) extended from the bottom surface of the cassette body (2), the paper feed cassette (1) is stable without tilting. It can be stored in a place outside the device body (16) in the state of being.

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

[0013]

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

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a paper feed cassette 1 of the present invention. The paper feed cassette 1 includes a cassette pocket 2 and
The front cover 5 has a front cover 5 provided as described below.

At both ends of the front side of the cassette pocket 2,
The arms 3 are integrally formed, and hinge pins (supporting means) 3a extending outward are provided upright on the arms 3, respectively. These hinge pins 3a have
A long hole 5a formed in the front cover 5 is inserted, and the front cover 5 is rotatably attached to the cassette pocket 2 while being movable in the front-rear direction.

Further, the front cover 5 has an arrow on the front cover 5 due to the elastic force of the pair of tension springs 7 which are respectively locked to the locking portion 6 whose both ends are fixed to the cassette pocket 2 and the front cover 5. As indicated by A, it is urged toward the cassette player 2. A pair of slits 3b for avoiding the arm portions 3 are formed on the upper portion of the front cover 5, respectively.

FIG. 2 shows an operation procedure of the front cover 5 after the paper feed cassette 1 is detached from the main body of the copying machine 15.

As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the lower end portion 5b of the D cover 5 is in the normal position in which it extends downward from the bottom surface of the cassette pocket 2. In this state, when the user pulls the front cover 5 in the direction of the arrow B, the front cover 5 is separated from the cassette pocket 2 as shown in FIG.

Next, the arrow C is centered on the hinge pin 3a.
When the front cover 5 is rotated in the direction, the lower end 5b of the front cover 5 is retracted from the bottom surface of the set pocket 2 to the retracted position above, as shown in (c) of FIG. When the cover 5 is lowered as shown in FIG. 3D, the front cover 5 is held at this position and does not extend downward from the bottom surface of the cassette pocket 2.

The movement of the front cover 5 from the normal position to the retracted position can be performed as a series of operations together with the operation of pulling out the sheet feeding cassette 1 from the apparatus main body 16. Therefore, the retracting operation of the front cover 5 is performed. Another operation may be performed after the release of 1.

In this way, the paper feed cassette 1 can be stored outside the main body 16 of the copying machine 15 without tilting, and a plurality of paper feed cassettes 1 can be stacked in a stable state. . <Second Embodiment> Next, a second embodiment of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a right side view of the cassette according to the second embodiment of the present invention. While the front cover 5 of the above-described embodiment rotates around the hinge pin 3a integral with the cassette pocket 2, in the present embodiment, the front cover is divided into a fixed portion and a movable portion to rotate the arm. Only the part is rotated.

In FIG. 3, the front cover 11 arranged on the front side of the cassette orchestra 2 includes a fixed front cover 11a fixed to the front side of the cassette orchestra 2 and a hinge pin 11b on the lower side of the fixed front cover 11a. The movable front cover 11c is rotatably attached to the movable front cover 11c.
The movable front cover 11c is biased by a not-shown tension spring so as to rotate toward the cassette pocket 2 side, and normally the lower end 11d is downward from the bottom surface of the cassette pocket 2 as shown in FIG. It is held in its normal extended position.

When the paper feed cassette 1 is taken out of the apparatus main body 16 and stored or the cassettes are stacked, only the lower end portion 11d extending below the cassette pocket 2 may be rotated to the retracted position. .

[0025]

As described above, by making the front cover of the paper feed cassette rotatable to the retracted position on the front side of the cassette pocket, the front cover can be stored in the middle of the height of the cassette pocket. Even if several stages of cassette orchestration to be stored are loaded, the cassette orchestration is properly joined and no force is applied to the front cover, so there is no need to give the front cover durability strength. The cassette pocket can be stored in a stable form. Further, it is possible to reduce the size of a cardboard or the like for packaging the paper feed cassette as a separately-sold product, and thus to save space even in a warehouse or the like in which they are stored as inventory.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a paper feed cassette showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Similarly, an operation diagram of the retracting operation of the front cover.

3A and 3B relate to a second embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 3A is a side view of a sheet feeding cassette, and FIG. 3B is an operation diagram of a front cover.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an image forming apparatus to which the paper feed cassette of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the inside of the apparatus body of the conventional paper feed cassette.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a stacking state of a conventional paper feed cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

 P sheet 1 paper feed cassette 2 cassette pocket (cassette body) 3a hinge pin (supporting means) 5 front cover 5a long hole 5b lower end 11 front cover 11a fixed front cover 11b hinge pin (supporting means) 11c movable front cover 11d lower end 15 copying Machine (image forming apparatus) 16 main body

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cassette body for accommodating sheets to be fed in the apparatus body of an image forming apparatus, and a lower end portion extending downward from a bottom surface of the cassette body mounted on the front side of the cassette body. In a paper feed cassette having a front cover, a normal position in which the lower end of the front cover extends downward from the bottom surface of the cassette body, and a retracted position in which the lower end is positioned above the bottom surface A sheet feeding cassette, characterized in that it has a supporting means for rotatably supporting the cassette body. 2. The paper feed cassette according to claim 1, wherein the front cover is rotated from a normal position to a retracted position when the paper feed cassette is detached from the apparatus main body. 3. The sheet feeding cassette according to claim 1, wherein a movable front cover is rotatably provided on a fixed front cover fixed to a front portion of the cassette body by a supporting means.