JPH07277539A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image formation device in which use convenience in regard to sheets used very often is improved. CONSTITUTION:By providing at the uppermost places paper feed decks 10A, 10B which are the largest capacity sheet housing means out of plural sheet housing means, sheet transport routes from the paper feed decks 10A, 10B, especially the sheet transport route from the right paper feed deck 10A to an image formation portion 40 is made to be the shortest one out of all the sheet housing means routes. As a result, the image formation of the first sheet at high use frequency sheets housed in the right paper feed deck 10A is quickly conducted. Also, the replenishment of the large quantity of paper sheets to the paper feed decks 10A, 10B can be carried out easily in the easy posture of standing up nearly kept on. In addition, the occurrence of sheet transport jam or the like due to sheet non-order can be prevented.

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 such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a plurality of sheet storing means having different storage capacities in a main body of the apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the structure of a conventional copying machine (image forming apparatus) of this type.

As shown in the figure, an image forming section (image forming means) 40 is provided in the upper part of the apparatus main body 2 and below the image forming section 40.
Upper and lower 2 which are a plurality of sheet storing means having different storage capacities
Two small-capacity paper feed cassettes 19A and 19B and two left and right large-capacity paper feed decks 10A and 10B are arranged side by side in the vertical direction. The two paper feed decks 10A and 10
In B, a large number of frequently used small size sheets such as A4 size sheets are stored.

Then, the above-mentioned sheet feeding cassettes 19A and 19B
The sheets stacked and stored in the sheet feeding decks 10A and 10B are fed one by one by the sheet feeding units 81A to 81D and further conveyed to the upper image forming unit 40 via the resist introducing path 16. Especially the left paper feed deck 1
The sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit 81B from 0B is conveyed to the image forming unit 40 via the dedicated conveying path 23 and the resist introducing path 16. An image is copied by the image forming unit 40 on the sheet thus fed / conveyed.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, a large-capacity sheet feeding deck 10A which is frequently used,
10B is far from the image forming section 40, and the apparatus main body 2
Since it is arranged at the bottom of the above, there were the following problems. (1) The speed of first copy (image formation of the first sheet) on a frequently used sheet becomes slow. (2) When replenishing sheets to the large-capacity sheet feeding decks 10A and 10B, the user is forced to be in a middle waist state, which makes replenishment work difficult. Moreover, replenishment of the sheet in an unreasonable posture induces misalignment of the sheet in the sheet feeding deck, which may cause a sheet conveyance jam.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having improved usability for a frequently used sheet.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, a plurality of sheet storage means (10A, 10B, 19A, 19B) are connected to the image forming means (40). Of the respective sheet transport paths, the sheet transport path from the sheet storage means (10A, 10B) having the maximum capacity was arranged to be the shortest.

More specifically, the image forming means (40)
Is arranged in the upper part of the apparatus main body (1), and a plurality of sheet storing means (1) is provided below the image forming means (40).
0A, 10B, 19A, 19B) are arranged in the vertical direction, and the sheet storage means (10A, 10B) having the maximum capacity is arranged so that the sheet conveying path from the sheet storage means (10A, 10B) having the maximum capacity is the shortest. Was placed at the top.

[0009]

In the image forming apparatus having the above structure, since the sheet conveying path from the maximum capacity sheet storage means (10A, 10B) is the shortest, the number of frequently used sheets stored in the maximum capacity sheet storage means is 1 The first image is formed quickly.

Further, the maximum capacity of the sheet storage means (10
Since A, 10B) are arranged at the uppermost position, it is possible to easily supply a large amount of sheets to the maximum-capacity sheet storage means in a comfortable posture while standing almost upright. Further, as a result, the sheets can be aligned and replenished in the sheet storage means having the maximum capacity in order, so that the occurrence of sheet conveyance jam due to the sheet misalignment can be prevented.

The reference numerals in parentheses are for the purpose of comparison with the drawings, and do not limit the structure of the present invention.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the overall arrangement of a copying machine (image forming apparatus) according to the first embodiment. In addition, in FIG. 1, the same reference numerals are given to the components that are not different from the conventional example of FIG.

The schematic structure of the entire copying machine will be described along the flow of sheets.

In FIG. 1, a document (not shown) is automatically fed from the automatic document feeder 3 to the platen glass 5 on the upper surface of the main body 1 of the copying machine, and this document is scanned by the optical system 6. Photosensitive drum 9 of image forming unit (image forming means) 7
To form a latent image. By developing this latent image, a toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 9.

Inside the main body 1 of the apparatus, there are arranged a right paper feed deck 10A and a left paper feed deck 10B, which are large-capacity sheet storage means.
Feeding rollers 11A and 11B of the sheet feeding units 81A and 81B
Are fed by the same paper feed unit 81A, 81
B paper feed rollers 12A, 12B, separation rollers 13A, 1
The sheets are nipped by a pair of rollers 3B, separated and fed one by one, and conveyed to a resist introduction path 16 via a right deck path 14, a left deck path 50, and a double-sided path 15.

The left and right paper feed decks 10A and 10B are
Front loading, guide rail 17
Is guided by and is pulled out freely from the apparatus main body 1. The double-sided path 15 is a sheet re-feeding sheet conveying unit that conveys the sheet re-fed from the intermediate tray 43, which will be described later, to the image forming unit 40, and is guided by the guide rails 18 to the front side of the apparatus main body 1. It can be pulled out freely.

Below the paper feed decks 10A and 10B, there are arranged an upper paper feed cassette 19A and a lower paper feed cassette 19B.
Feeding rollers 20A and 20B of the sheet feeding units 81C and 81D
And the paper feed rollers 21A and 2 of the same paper feed units 81C and 81D.
1B, a pair of separating rollers 22A and 22B makes 1
The sheets are conveyed one by one to the resist introducing path 16. These paper feed cassettes 19A and 19B are also front-loaded by the guide rails 24.

On the downstream side of the resist introducing path 16,
A front guide 25 for guiding the sheet conveyed from the resist introducing path 16 and a pair of registration rollers 26 are provided. On the sheet conveyed by the registration roller pair 26, a toner image is transferred from the photosensitive drum 9 by the transfer / separation charging section 27 to form an image, which is conveyed by the conveying section 28 to the fixing section 31 and fixed by the fixing roller 29. It

In the single-sided mode, the sheet after fixing is discharged to the discharge tray 35 by the discharge path 37 including the inner discharge roller pair 32, the switching member 36, and the outer discharge roller pair 33.

The pre-registration guide 25, the pair of registration rollers 26, the transfer / separation charger 27, the conveying section 28, and the fixing section 3
1. The discharge path 37 is integrated as an image forming unit 40. The image forming section 40 is front-loaded with respect to the apparatus main body 1 by the main body guide rail 34.

The image forming section 40 and the left and right paper feed decks 1
A double-sided unit 42 including an intermediate tray 43 is arranged between 0A and 10B. This duplex unit 40
Is front-loaded with respect to the apparatus main body 1 by a guide rail 83.

In the case of the duplex mode or the multiple mode,
After the fixing, the sheet is sent to the reversing path 38 by the pair of inner sheet discharging rollers 32 and the switching member 36, and is discharged onto the intermediate tray 43 by the pair of conveying rollers 40 and 41. The sheets temporarily stacked and stored on the intermediate tray 43 are
The lowermost sheet is fed by the feeding roller 44, and is separated and re-fed by the sheet feeding roller 45 and the separation belt 46 one by one.

In the double-sided mode, the sheet re-fed from the intermediate tray 43 is conveyed to the double-sided path 15 by the re-feeding path 49 including the pair of feeding rollers 47 and the switching member 48. Then, the sheet is conveyed to the image forming section 40 via the double-sided path 15 and the resist introduction path 16,
After the image is formed, it is discharged to the discharge tray 35.

As described above, in this copying machine, the left and right sheet feeding decks 10A and 10B and the upper and lower sheet feeding cassettes 19A and 19B, which are a plurality of sheet storing means, are respectively fed to the image forming section 40 through the respective sheet conveying paths. Of these, the left and right paper feed decks 10A and 10B are arranged at the uppermost position so that the sheet conveying path from the left and right paper feed decks 10A and 10B, which is the maximum capacity of the sheet storage means, is the shortest. Has been done.

When the user selects a frequently used sheet and presses a copy button (not shown), a copying operation is performed from the right and left sheet feeding decks 10A and 10B having the shorter sheet conveying path. Is started. That is, the paper feeding unit 81A corresponding to the right paper feeding deck 10A starts operating by a drive system (not shown), and the right paper feeding deck 10A
The sheets, which are frequently used and are stored in, are fed and conveyed to the image forming unit 40 sequentially from the uppermost sheet.

Therefore, according to the copying machine having the above structure, the first copy (image formation of the first sheet) on a frequently used sheet can be quickly performed.

The left and right paper feed decks 10 having the maximum capacity are also provided.
Since A and 10B are arranged at the uppermost position, when replenishing the sheets to those paper feeding decks 10A and 10B, they are operated by operating the handles (not shown) provided on the respective paper feeding decks 10A. The paper feed decks 10A and 10B can be pulled out along the guide rail 17 to the front side near the center of the apparatus body 1. Therefore, the user can easily supply a large amount of sheets to the sheet feeding decks 10A and 10B in a comfortable posture while standing almost upright.

Moreover, while sheets are being supplied to one of the paper feeding decks, the other paper feeding deck is in a state where paper can be fed, so that a large amount of copying is continuously performed without stopping the copying operation. be able to.

Further, an intermediate tray 43 and a double-sided path 15 for conveying the sheets re-fed from the intermediate tray 43 are arranged between the image forming section 40 and the left and right sheet feeding decks 10A and 10B. Therefore, when the large-capacity paper feed decks 10A and 10B are arranged side by side as in this embodiment, one paper feed deck, here the left paper feed deck 1
The double-sided path 15 can be used to feed and convey sheets from 0B. As a result, the left paper feed deck 10B
It is not necessary to provide a dedicated transport path, the apparatus main body 1 can be downsized, and the number of sheet jam processing points can be reduced to save the user's labor.

Besides, the left and right paper feed decks 10A, 10
B and the upper and lower paper feed cassettes 19A and 19B, the storage capacity of each paper feed deck 10A, 10B is set to be more than twice the storage capacity of each paper feed cassette 19A, 19B, and the right paper feed deck 10A. The distance L1 between the sheet feeding portion 81A corresponding to the upper sheet feeding cassette 19A and the sheet feeding portion 81C corresponding to the upper sheet feeding cassette 19A is twice the distance L2 between the sheet feeding portions 81C and 81D corresponding to the upper and lower sheet feeding cassettes 19A and 19B. Above (L1 ≧
2 × L2) is preferably arranged. Thereby,
For example, the storage capacity of the paper feed cassettes 19A and 19B is 500 sheets each, and the storage capacity of the left and right paper feed decks 10A and 10B is about 1500 sheets, respectively, and the total number of storage sheets can be 4000 or more. . <Second Embodiment> In the first embodiment, the two paper feed decks 10A and 10B, which are large-capacity sheet storage means, are arranged side by side to store a large number of small-sized sheets that are frequently used. However, when a large size sheet such as A3 is frequently used, a large capacity sheet feeding deck 10C for large size is provided as shown in the sectional view of FIG. Thus, a large number of sheets from small size to large size may be fed.

Also in this case, the sheet conveying path to the image forming section 40 of the large size sheet feeding deck 10C which is the maximum sheet storing means is the shortest among all the sheet storing means. By thus arranging at the top, the same effect as in the case of the first embodiment can be obtained.

Further, a sheet feeding section 81A corresponding to the sheet feeding deck 10C and a sheet feeding section 81C corresponding to the upper sheet feeding cassette 19A.
If the distance L1 between the paper feed cassettes 19A and 19B corresponding to the upper and lower paper feed cassettes 19A and 19B is set to be at least twice the distance L2 between the paper feed units 81C and 81D (L1 ≧ 2 × L2), the total storage The number of sheets can be increased.

By the way, in the first and second embodiments, the interval L1 between the sheet feeding portions 81A, 81C and 81D,
If L2 is set to satisfy the relationship of L1 ≧ 2 × L2 as described above, as shown in the sectional view of FIG. 3, instead of the large-capacity sheet feeding deck, two-stage sheet feeding is performed. Cassette 19
C and 19D are arranged, and four-stage paper feed cassettes 19C and 1C are provided.
It can be applied to copiers equipped with 9D, 19A and 19B. In this case, two new paper feed cassettes 19C,
The interval between the sheet feeding units 81A and 81E corresponding to 19D is the same as the interval L2 between the sheet feeding units 81C and 81D corresponding to the existing two sheet feeding cassettes 19A and 19B,
Further, the four sheet feeding units 81A, 81E, 81C, 81D have the same configuration.

As a result, the same frame body constituting the apparatus main body 1 can be shared by the product including the paper feed deck and the product including only the paper feed cassette. Further, by making the frame body and the paper feed section in common, it becomes possible to promptly provide a product according to the user's request without increasing the manufacturing cost.

[0035]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) By arranging a plurality of sheet storage means so that the sheet conveyance path from the maximum capacity sheet storage means to the image forming means is the shortest, the first image formation on a frequently used sheet can be performed. Can be done quickly. (2) By arranging the maximum-capacity sheet storage means at the uppermost position, the user can easily replenish a large amount of sheets to the maximum-capacity sheet storage means in a comfortable posture almost standing up. be able to. Further, by this, the sheets can be arranged and supplied in the sheet storage means in order, and the occurrence of a sheet conveyance jam or the like due to the sheet misalignment can be prevented. (3) By disposing the intermediate tray and the re-fed sheet conveying means between the image forming means and the maximum capacity sheet storing means, it is possible to arrange the maximum capacity sheet storing means side by side. Can use the re-fed sheet conveying means for feeding / conveying a sheet from one of the sheet storing means. As a result, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated transport path, the apparatus main body can be downsized, and the number of sheet jam processing points can be reduced, thereby saving the user's labor. (4) The storage capacity of the maximum capacity sheet storage means is set to be at least twice the storage capacity of the plurality of small capacity sheet storage means located below the maximum capacity sheet storage means, and the maximum capacity sheet storage is performed. The distance between the sheet feeding section corresponding to the means and the sheet feeding section corresponding to the small capacity sheet accommodating means adjacent to the maximum capacity sheet accommodating means is set so as to correspond to each of the plurality of small capacity sheet accommodating means. By setting the spacing to be more than twice the space between the paper parts, it is possible to increase the total number of sheets that can be stored, and promptly provide products that meet the needs of users without increasing manufacturing costs. You will be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of a copying machine (image forming apparatus) according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of a copying machine (image forming apparatus) according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example in which a two-stage paper feed cassette is arranged instead of the large-capacity paper feed deck in the first and second embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of a copying machine (image forming apparatus) in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Device main body 10A, 10B, 10C Paper feed deck (maximum capacity sheet storage means) 15 Double-sided path (re-feed sheet transport means) 19A, 19B Paper feed cassette (small capacity sheet storage means) 40 Image forming unit (image Forming Means) 43 Intermediate Tray 81A, 81B, 81C, 81D, 81E Paper Feeding Section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of sheet accommodating means having different accommodating capacities in the main body of the apparatus, and a sheet feeding device from the plurality of sheet accommodating means.
An image forming apparatus having an image forming unit for forming an image on a conveyed sheet, wherein the plurality of sheet storing units are the sheet storing units having the maximum capacity among the respective sheet conveying paths to the image forming unit. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the sheet conveying path is arranged to be the shortest. 2. The image forming means is disposed in an upper part of the apparatus main body, the plurality of sheet storing means are vertically arranged below the image forming means, and the maximum capacity of the sheet storing means is stored. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet storing means having the maximum capacity is arranged at the uppermost position of the plurality of sheet storing means so that the sheet conveying path from the means becomes the shortest. 3. An intermediate tray for temporarily stacking and accommodating the sheet on which the image has been formed by the image forming means for forming an image again, and a sheet re-fed from the intermediate tray for the image forming means. 3. The image according to claim 2, further comprising: a re-feed sheet conveying unit that conveys the sheet to the intermediate tray, the intermediate tray being disposed between the image forming unit and a sheet storing unit having a maximum capacity. Forming equipment. 4. The storage capacity of the maximum capacity sheet storage means is at least twice as large as the storage capacity of a plurality of small capacity sheet storage means located below the maximum capacity sheet storage means, and The capacity sheet storage means and the plurality of small capacity sheet storage means correspond to the sheet feeding section corresponding to the maximum capacity sheet storage means and the small capacity sheet storage means adjacent to the maximum capacity sheet storage means. The sheet feeding section is arranged such that the distance between the sheet feeding section and the sheet feeding section is twice or more than the distance between the sheet feeding sections corresponding to each of the plurality of small-capacity sheet storing means. 3. The image forming apparatus according to item 3.