JPH081243Y2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to a foldable paper discharge tray section accompanying switching of the discharge direction of paper on which an image is formed. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided.

[Prior art and its problems]

As a sheet discharge method of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, a so-called face-up method in which an image transfer surface of a sheet is discharged to the outside of a device, and a so-called face-up method in which an image transfer surface of a sheet is discharged to the outside of a device The face-down method is known.

The face-up method has the advantage that the image on the ejected paper surface can be visually confirmed, but on the other hand, when copying or recording continuous page objects, the ejected paper sheets are stacked in reverse order. Therefore, it is necessary to rearrange the page order again.

On the other hand, the face-down method has an advantage that the page order of discharged sheets can be stacked in the forward direction, but has a drawback that an image formed on the sheet surface cannot be directly visually confirmed. Therefore, conventionally, various mechanisms have been proposed in which both the face-up type and the face-down type are provided in the image forming apparatus according to the application or need, and the paper discharge direction after image formation can be switched to a desired direction.

In this case, generally, the upper surface of the image forming apparatus is also used as a face-down type also as a paper discharge tray, and the face-up type paper discharge tray is separately prepared in the device main body, and the face-up type is used. At the time of paper ejection, the paper ejection direction switching unit is used to switch the paper ejection direction, and the paper is ejected by a face-up method to a separately provided paper ejection tray unit.

As a separately configured sheet ejection tray section, the sheet ejection tray section is detachably attached to the apparatus body, and the sheet ejection tray section is attached to the apparatus body when necessary or used. The paper discharge tray part that is installed so as to be stored in the main body is extended and used when necessary. In view of this, it is desirable that the discharge tray unit can be stored compactly when it is of a feed-out type. Therefore, for example, the configuration shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is known.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a main part of a conventional paper discharge tray unit provided in a reverse-feeding type image forming apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 6B is a configuration diagram showing the sheet discharge tray portion shown in FIG. 5 provided in an image forming apparatus of a straight sheet feeding type and opened.
[Fig. 6] is a schematic view showing a closed state of the paper discharge tray portion shown in Fig. 9A.

In FIG. 6A, an image forming apparatus 1 of the straight-feed type generally has an operation panel section 2 arranged on the right side in the drawing, and the side on which the operation panel section 2 is provided is the front side of the apparatus. Has become. Then, the operation panel unit 2
The paper feed cassette 3 is attached to the lower part of the. The sheet fed from the sheet feeding cassette 3 to the apparatus main body 1a one by one passes through the built-in image forming section, the image is transferred to the upper surface, and then passes through the heat fixing section, and then the sheet discharging direction. The sheet is discharged to the outside of the main body via a switching unit (not shown).

In this case, the discharge system path by the switching unit can be switched between the first direction and the second direction, and the paper when the first direction is selected is discharged to the discharge tray 4 provided on the upper surface of the device body 1a. The sheet is discharged with the image forming surface facing downward.

Further, when the paper discharge system path by the switching unit is switched to the second direction, the paper is discharged to the left side of the device main body 1a in the figure, so that the paper is folded in the state shown in FIG. 6 (b). As shown in FIG. 6 (a), the paper tray 5 is opened in the direction of arrow a with the pivot 6 as the fulcrum. Next, the tray member 8 provided in the paper discharge tray portion 5 in a folded shape by the pivot 7 is developed in the arrow direction to receive the paper discharged in the second direction. Therefore, the paper discharged to the paper discharge tray unit 5 is discharged with the image forming surface facing upward. Further, the paper discharge tray portion shown in FIG. 5 has the same structure as the above.

However, if the tray member 8 that is further expanded and used with respect to the paper discharge tray portion 5 has a configuration in which it is tightly folded as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 (b), the paper discharge tray portion during storage. There is a problem that the length l ₂ of the tray member 8 has to be shortened structurally with respect to the length l _{1 of} 5.

However, in the conventional example, there is a drawback that the length of the entire tray for receiving the sheet with the image forming apparatus facing upward cannot be sufficiently long. The length of 5 must be made larger.

However, enlarging the paper discharge tray unit 5 is against the downsizing of the image forming apparatus,
Moreover, when the image forming apparatus is the reverse sheet feeding shown in FIG. 5, since the operation panel section 9 is provided on the side (front side) where the sheet discharge tray section 5 is provided, the sheet discharge tray section 5 is There is a drawback in that the length is limited by itself, and the length of the entire tray cannot be obtained sufficiently.

Further, in the system in which the face-up type discharge tray unit 5 is attachable to and detachable from the apparatus body 1a, the discharge tray unit 5 is
It is inconvenient because it requires a place to put it, which is not preferable.

[Purpose of device]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention enables a folding storage tray for a sheet to be discharged face-up from an image forming apparatus to make maximum use of a narrow storage space and make it longer. It is also an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which the paper discharge tray unit and a switching mechanism for switching the paper discharging direction are unitized.

[Key points of device]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is provided with a foldable sheet discharge tray portion. In an image forming apparatus, a base end of the first tray member is axially supported by the main body of the apparatus and a free end of the tray member is provided. A base end is rotatably supported by the free end of the first tray member and a free end of the first tray member, and the front end side of the first tray member slidably moves with the frame member when opening and closing the first tray member. And a second tray member having a variable pivot angle, wherein the second tray member can be deployed in the same plane as the first tray member when the first tray member is opened, and the first tray member can be closed. At this time, the image forming apparatus is characterized in that the free end of the second tray member is separated from the first tray member and is accommodated in the main body while being inclined.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a unitized sheet discharge tray section and a switching section. In the figure, the discharge tray unit 10 is configured to be foldable by a first tray member 11 and a second tray member 12, as will be described later, and the first tray member 11 has a side edge portion 11a at the lower base end. The frame member 13 is pivotally supported 14, and the tip 11b is a free end. Further, the second tray member 12 has a base end 12a which is rotatably supported inside the tip end 11b which is a free end of the first tray member 11 as shown in FIGS. 12b is the free end.

On the other hand, a switching unit 16 for switching the paper discharge direction is arranged so as to straddle the second tray member 12 so as to cross the frame member 13.
The arm 16 is pivotally supported on the
One end of a biasing member 19 formed of a torsion spring and provided with resilience in a repulsive direction is rotatably connected to a swivel locking portion 18 provided at the tip of a. The other end of the biasing member 19 is also rotatably connected to the swivel locking portion 20 of the side edge portion 11a of the first tray member 11. The biasing member 19 is also provided on the left side in the drawing corresponding to the assembling, and the elastic force of the biasing member 19 maintains the illustrated state of the first tray member 11 and the switching member 16, The switching unit 16 has a plurality of guide members for guiding the discharged paper in the switching direction.
16b are provided at a predetermined interval.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a reverse-feeding type image forming apparatus including the unitized discharge tray section.
In the figure, the image forming apparatus 21 is provided with a sheet feeding cassette 22 at the lower part of the apparatus main body 21a in the case of the reverse sheet feeding method, and the left side in the figure corresponds to the front position, and at the front position, the attachment / detachment position of the sheet feeding cassette 22 is set. The discharge tray unit 10 is mounted on the upper part in a unit form. An operation panel section 23 for driving the image forming apparatus 21 is provided at an upper position of the attached sheet ejection tray section 10.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 21 will be described.
A paper feed roller is controlled by a control signal (not shown) of the image forming apparatus 21.
When 24 rotates, the uppermost one of the sheets (not shown) stored in the paper feed cassette 22 is sent out to the transport roll along the paper feed guide 25, and is further fed by the rotation of the transport roll 26. The sheet to be conveyed is turned upside down on the conveyance path 27 and reaches the position of the standby member 28 by reversing the upper and lower surfaces. Next, the sheet sent to the position of the standby member 28 is sent to the photosensitive drum 29a of the image forming unit 29 that rotates in synchronization with the operation of the standby member 28, and the image is transferred onto the upper surface of the sheet. It is sent to the fixing device 30.

The fixing device 30 has a heating roll 30a and a pressure roll 30b, and the paper after the heat fixing is sent out in the paper discharge direction by the transport roll 31, and the above-mentioned unit switching unit 16
Is transferred to the state shown in FIG.
The sheet sent out from the sheet is sent to the sheet discharge system path 32 side which discharges the upper surface downward by the switching unit 16. Next, by the rotation of the discharge roll 33, the image is transferred into the discharge tray 34 at the upper position with the image transfer surface facing downward, and so-called face-down type discharge is performed.

Next, face-up type sheet discharge will be described.
In this case, first, the first tray member 11 and the second tray member 12 are used by being opened to the outside as indicated by the chain double-dashed line in FIG.

The relationship between the first tray member 11, the second tray member 12, and the switching portion 16 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part showing a cross section of a closed state of the paper discharge tray part. In the figure, the unitized discharge tray unit 10 is detachably housed in the discharge branch position in the apparatus main body 21a, and the outer surface of the first tray member 11 in the closed position shown in FIG. Device body
The free end 12b of the second tray member 12 in this state serves as a cover of the frame member 13a.
When the first tray member 11 is closed by rotating the first tray member 11 to the position shown in the figure with the pivot 14 as the fulcrum, the second tray member 12 has the tip 12b with the pivot 15 as the fulcrum. While sliding on the slide surface 13a, the first
The angle θ ₁ with respect to the tray member 11 is increased so as to be separated while being inclined, so that the second tray member 12 can be stored deeper in the apparatus main body 21a.

Further, when the first tray member 11 is closed at the position shown in the drawing, the pivotal locking portion 20 provided integrally with the first tray member 11 is connected to the pivot shaft 14 and the pivot shaft 17 of the switching portion 16. Is shifted to the right side in the figure from the dead point connecting the first tray member 11 and the elastic force of the urging member 19 urges the first tray member 11 to rotate clockwise in the figure. Due to the elastic bias of, the closed state can be maintained without the need for a closing lock mechanism.

On the other hand, in the switching portion 16 in which the other end of the biasing member 19 is locked, the turning locking portion 18 of the switching portion 16 is left by the elastic force of the biasing member 19 from the dead point position in the drawing. Therefore, the switching portion 16 is rotated clockwise in the drawing by the elastic force of the biasing member 19, and the discharge direction of the paper P sent out from the transport roll 31 is automatically face down as shown in the figure. Can be switched to.

Next, the face-up type sheet discharge will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing opening of the face-up sheet discharge tray portion. In the figure, the first tray member 11
In opening, the tip end 11b, which is the free end of the first tray member 11 in the closed position shown in FIG. 3, is manually rotated against the elastic force of the biasing member 19 toward the opening direction. Let Then, in response to the opening operation of the first tray member 11, the second tray member 12 slides the front end 12b and narrows the angle θ ₁ with the first tray member 11, and the front end 12b guides the switching portion 16. The second tray member 12 is automatically folded to a position where it can pass under the member 16b, that is, a position θ _{2 which} is an angle with the first tray member 11, and the second tray member 12 is indicated by a two-dot chain line in the drawing. 11
It is paid out with. The second tray member 12
Is a predetermined angle θ ₂ when the first tray member 11 is rotated to a predetermined position with the opening of the first tray member 11.
It is easy to perform the unfolding operation of the second tray member 12 (rotation operation for walking to arrow II), which is performed after the second tray member 12 is stopped at the position.
Further, the angles θ ₁ and θ ₂ have a relation of θ ₁ ≧ θ ₂ , and the angle θ ₂ is the first when the second tray member 12 is housed in the apparatus main body 21a via the first tray member 11. 2 The tip 12b of the tray member 12 is the upper edge of the storage space or the switching portion 16
Any angle may be used as long as it does not collide with the guide member 16b or the like.

Further, when the opening operation of the first tray member 11 is performed, the swivel locking portion 20 provided on the first tray member 11 side moves beyond the dead point position and shifts to the left side of the dead point position as shown in the drawing. Therefore, the biasing member
The elastic force of 19 urges in the opening direction, and the opening position of the first tray member 11 can be stabilized.

On the other hand, the switching portion 16 is urged in the clockwise direction in the figure by the elasticity of the urging member 19 urged by the switching portion 16 due to the shift of the swivel locking portion 20 due to the opening of the first tray member 11. The turning locking portion 18 provided on the switching portion 16 side is rotated by force, and the reversal position can be stabilized beyond the dead point position.

As described above, when the first tray member 11 is opened to perform face-up type sheet discharge, the switching unit 16 automatically forms a face-up type discharge system path in conjunction with the opening operation. . Therefore, the paper P delivered from the transport roll 31 is discharged from below the guide member 16b of the switching unit 16 to the upper surfaces of the first tray member 11 and the second tray member 12 with the image transfer surface facing upward.

Further, when the second tray member 12 is stored in the closing direction, the second tray member 12 can be stored while being slanted by θ _{1 with} respect to the first tray member 11 and sliding toward the inner part of the apparatus main body 21a. 1 the length l ₂ of the relative length l ₁ of the tray member 11 and the second tray member 12 can be constructed maximally long. Therefore, even if the length l ₁ of the first tray member 11 is relatively short, the length l ₂
Through the second tray member 12 capable of increasing the number of sheets, the sheet can be stably discharged by the face-up method. Moreover, a separate auxiliary tray member can be added to the second tray member 12.

In the embodiment, the discharge tray unit 10 is unitized and easily incorporated into the apparatus main body 21a, so that the efficiency of the manufacturing process can be improved, but each unit of the unitization is provided in the apparatus main body 21a. You may make it the structure assembled from the beginning.

[Effect of device]

As described above in detail, in the face-up type discharge tray unit, the foldable inner second tray member can be configured to be longer than the length of the outer first tray member, and the discharge tray unit Since the free end of the second tray member comes into contact with the frame side and is separated from the first tray member while tilting away from the first tray member during the closed storage, the first tray member can be stored toward the inner part of the apparatus main body. On the other hand, the length of the second tray member can be set as long as possible. Further, the parts having a mechanism for automatically switching the discharge direction between the face-up method and the face-down method can be easily and accurately assembled by unitization, and the number of parts can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a unitized discharge tray unit and a switching unit according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration showing a reversal paper feed type image forming apparatus having the discharge tray unit shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part showing a cross section of the closed state of the paper discharge tray portion, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing opening of the paper discharge tray portion, and FIG. FIG. 6A is a configuration diagram showing a main part of a conventional paper discharge tray portion provided in a paper feed type image forming apparatus. FIG. 6A shows the paper discharge tray portion shown in FIG. FIG. 6 (b) is a schematic view showing the structure provided and opened in FIG. 6, and FIG. 6 (b) is a schematic view showing the closed state of the paper discharge tray section shown in FIG. 10 ... Paper discharge tray section, 11 ... First tray member, 11a ...
Side edge, 11b ... Tip, 12 ... Second tray member, 12a ...
Base end, 12b ... Tip, 13 ... Frame member, 13a ... Sliding surface, 14 ... Axis, 15 ... Axis, 16 ... Switching section, 16
a ... arm, 16b ... guide part, 17 ... pivot, 18 ... swivel locking part, 19 ... biasing member, 20 ... swivel locking part, 21a ...
... Main body, 22 ... Paper feed cassette, 23 ... Operation panel, 24 ... Paper feed roller, 25 ... Paper feed guide, 26 ... Conveying roll, 27 ... Conveying path, 28 ... Standby member, 29: image forming unit, 29a: photoconductor drum, 30: fixing device, 30a: heating roll, 30b: pressure roll, 31: transport roll, 32
…… Paper discharge system path, 33 …… Discharge roll, 34 …… Discharge tray, P …… Paper.

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An image forming apparatus provided with a foldable sheet discharge tray section, wherein a base end of the first tray member is pivotally supported by a main body of the apparatus, and a front end thereof is a free end, and the first tray member is provided. The base end is pivotally supported by the free end and the tip is a free end, and the tip side is slidable with the frame member when opening and closing the first tray member.
A second tray member capable of varying a pivot angle with a tray member, wherein the second tray member can be developed in the same plane as the first tray member when the first tray member is opened, The image forming apparatus is characterized in that, when the member is closed, the free end of the second tray member is separated from the first tray member and is accommodated in the main body while being inclined. 2. A first tray member having the second tray member, a frame member which pivotally supports the first tray member and supports a slide of a free end of the second tray member, and the first tray. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a switching section that can switch the sheet discharge direction is unitized on the member side.