JPH08157081A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image forming device capable of surely preventing a residual paper piece when a paper feed tray is extracted at the time of a jam and having a simple structure at a low cost. CONSTITUTION: An extraction preventing means is constituted of a projection 10 provided on a paper feed tray 5 and a projection contact section 9 provided on a vertical conveyance section 7. When the vertical conveyance section 7 is closed after the paper feed tray 5 is set to the set position, the projection contact section 9 reaches the proximity position on the downstream side of the projection 10 in the extracting direction B of the paper feed tray 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feed tray that can be pulled out at a set position of an image forming apparatus main body, and a paper fed from the paper feed tray in a vertical direction toward an image forming unit. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a copying machine or a printer, which has a vertical transport unit for transporting, and the vertical transport unit is openably and closably mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus, especially a large-sized image forming apparatus, when a paper jam occurs (hereinafter referred to as a jam), the paper is often retained inside the image forming apparatus. In this case, the user removes the retained paper. It is necessary to perform work (hereinafter, referred to as jam paper processing). However, there are various places where jammed paper stays, and it is quite possible that jammed paper stops across the paper feed tray and the vertical transport unit. In this case, when the paper feed tray is suddenly pulled out, the paper conveyance direction and the paper feed tray pull-out direction have different angles of 90 °, so the jammed paper is pulled and torn, and the paper piece may remain inside the image forming apparatus. there were. If a piece of paper remains in the device, the jam is not cleared and the image forming device remains unusable, or if the jam is mistakenly canceled and the jam paper processing is finished, the next image is displayed. Jam sometimes occurred again due to the paper pieces remaining at the time of formation.

Therefore, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-106236, it is disclosed that the paper feed tray is locked when a jam occurs, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 60-223750. Discloses a method of operating a drive unit when a jam occurs and feeding jammed paper in the conveying direction.

[0004]

However, since the former method does not allow the user to suddenly pull the paper feed tray, it is effective for remaining pieces of paper, but a solenoid is used as a means for locking the paper feed tray. Therefore, there is a problem that the component structure becomes complicated and an electric control means is required. Further, in the latter method, the shorter the paper conveyance interval, the smaller the distance for feeding the jammed paper in the conveyance direction, so there is concern about whether the jammed paper can be reliably fed, and an electrical control means is also required. was there.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive image forming apparatus that can reliably prevent a piece of paper from remaining when pulling out a paper feed tray when a jam occurs, and has a simple structure.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a paper feed tray that can be pulled out to a set position of an image forming apparatus main body, and a paper fed from the paper feed tray. An image forming apparatus having a vertical conveying section for vertically conveying the sheet toward the image forming section, and the vertical conveying section is attached to the image forming apparatus main body so as to be openable and closable Drawer prevention means for preventing the paper feed tray from being pulled out from the set position, which includes a protrusion and a protrusion contacting portion provided on the vertical conveyance unit,
The pull-out prevention means is provided when the vertical conveyance section is closed.
When the protrusion abuts the protrusion abutment to prevent the paper feed tray from being pulled out, and when the vertical transport unit is open, the protrusion abutment is avoided from the position where the protrusion abuts. It is characterized in that the prevention of pulling out the paper feed tray is released.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a position where either one of the protrusion and the protrusion contacting portion prevents the sheet feeding tray from being pulled out, and a position where the pulling out prevention is released. It is characterized in that it is mounted so as to be movable between them, and further provided with an elastic holding means for elastically holding one of them at a position that prevents the paper feed tray from being pulled out.

[0008]

According to the above structure, the drawer preventing means for preventing the paper tray from being pulled out from the set position is provided with the projection provided on the paper feeding tray and the projection abutting portion provided on the vertical conveying unit. The pull-out preventing means prevents the sheet feeding tray from being pulled out by the projection contacting the projection contact portion when the vertical transport section is closed, and the projection contact unit when the vertical transport section is opened. Since the contact part is avoided from the position where it comes into contact with the projection part and the prevention of pulling out the paper feed tray is released, it is possible to reliably prevent the remaining piece of paper due to the difference in the procedure of the jam processing,
In addition, since the projection and the projection abutting portion are provided in a simple structure and no electric control means is used, it can be provided at an extremely low cost.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a copying machine as an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG.
The copying apparatus 1 includes an image forming unit 2 having an image carrier 3 and the like, and a paper feeding unit 4 for feeding the paper P to the image forming unit 2, and the image forming unit 2 is arranged on the paper feeding unit 4. ing. The paper feeding unit 4 has a front loading type paper feeding tray 5, and the paper feeding tray 5 can be slid by a slide rail 6 in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1, that is, in the directions of arrows A and B of FIG. It is installed. A vertical transport unit 7 that transports the sheets separated and transported from the paper feed tray 1 is provided between the paper feed unit 4 and the image forming unit 2. The arrow C in FIG. 2 indicates the paper transport direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the vertical transport unit 7 is mounted on the main body of the copying apparatus 1 via a support shaft 8 so as to be freely opened and closed.
Is rotatably mounted between a closed position indicated by a chain line and an open position indicated by a solid line. The paper feed tray 5 and the vertical transport unit 7 are provided with drawer preventing means for preventing the paper feed tray 5 from being pulled out from a set position where paper can be fed, and the drawer preventing means is provided in the paper feed tray 5. Protrusion 10
And a protrusion contact portion 9 provided on the vertical transport unit 7. Then, when the vertical transport unit 7 is closed after the paper feed tray 5 is set at the set position, the protrusion contact portion 9 in the pull-out direction B of the paper feed tray 5 comes to a position close to the protrusion 10 on the downstream side. Are arranged as follows.

In the copying apparatus 1 having the above-described structure, when pulling out the paper feed tray 5 at the set position, the projection 10 comes into contact with the projection abutting portion 9 and the paper feed tray 5 can be pulled out unless the vertical transport unit 7 is opened from the closed position. Absent. Here, when a jam across the paper feed unit 4 and the vertical conveyance unit 7 occurs, the copying machine 1 is stopped to prevent damage due to an abnormal load, and the paper P remains in the copying machine 1. Therefore, the user performs jammed paper processing to restart the operation of the copying apparatus 1. At this time, it is possible to move the paper feed tray 1 whose direction B is different from the paper conveyance direction C first so that This is prevented by the contact with the projection contact portion 9. Therefore, the user pulls out the paper feed tray 1 after opening the vertical conveyance unit 7 whose opening direction is the same as the paper conveyance direction C as in the jam clearance procedure.
It is possible to prevent the jammed paper from being torn and a piece of paper to remain inside the image forming apparatus, making the image forming apparatus unusable. Moreover, the projection 10 and the projection contact portion 9 are provided in a simple structure, and no electric control means is used, which is extremely inexpensive.

By the way, in the above embodiment, even when the paper feed tray 4 is returned to the set position, the vertical conveyance section 7 must be kept open, which is somewhat troublesome. Therefore, in another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
It is formed in a letter shape, and is attached to the vertical conveyance unit 7 so as to be rotatable around a pin 11 provided at its corner. That is, the projection contact portion 9 is rotatably mounted between a position where the pulling out of the paper feed tray 5 is prevented and a position where the pulling out prevention is released. Then, the pin 11 is centered on the protrusion contact portion 9 as shown in FIG.
A spring 12 is provided as an elastic holding means for urging the counterclockwise turning force. On the other hand, paper feed tray 5
Is formed with a tapered surface 10a on the downstream side surface in the setting direction A.

According to this structure, even if the sheet feeding tray 5 at the set position is to be pulled out, the sheet feeding tray 5 cannot be pulled out unless the projecting portion 10 hits the projecting abutment portion 9 to open the vertical conveying portion 7 from the closed position. . However, when the paper feed tray 5 is returned to the set position, if the paper feed tray 5 is moved in the A direction even when the vertical transport unit 7 is in the closed position, the tapered surface 10a of the protrusion 10 contacts the protrusion contact portion 9. , The protrusion contact portion 9 is rotated clockwise around the pin 11 against the rotational force of the spring 12, and when the paper feed tray 5 reaches the set position, the force of the spring 12 causes the protrusion contact portion 9 to rotate. Returns to its original position. Therefore, the vertical transport unit 7 is provided before the paper feed tray 5.
Even when is set in the copying apparatus 1, the paper feed tray 5 can be set in the setting position.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the projection contact portion 9 is rotatably mounted between the position where the pulling out of the sheet feeding tray 5 is prevented and the position where the pulling out prevention is released.
It is also possible to rotatably mount the protrusion 10. Also,
The movement of the protrusion contact portion 9 between the position where the pulling out of the paper feed tray 5 is prevented and the position where the pulling out prevention is released is not limited to the rotation, and may be popped out or retracted. The present invention can also be applied to an image forming apparatus having a multi-stage paper feed tray.

[0016]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent the remaining piece of paper due to the difference in the jam processing procedure, and to provide the electric control means with a simple structure in which the protrusion and the protrusion contact portion are provided. Since it is not used, it can be offered at a very low price.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, even when the vertical conveyance unit is set in the image forming apparatus before the paper feed tray,
The paper feed tray can be set to the set position, further improving the operability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a main part of another embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Copying Device 2 Image Forming Section 4 Paper Feeding Section 5 Paper Feeding Tray 7 Vertical Transport Section 9 Projection Abutting Section 10 Projection 12 Spring

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A paper feed tray detachably attached to a set position of an image forming apparatus main body, and a vertical transport unit for vertically transporting paper fed from the paper feed tray toward an image forming unit. An image forming apparatus in which the vertical conveying unit is attached to the image forming apparatus main body so as to be openable and closable, and a protrusion provided on the paper feed tray and a protrusion contacting portion provided on the vertical conveying unit. And a pull-out preventing means for preventing the paper feed tray including the pull-out tray from being pulled out from the set position, wherein the pull-out preventing means causes the protruding portion to contact the protruding contact portion when the vertical transport unit is closed. When the paper feed tray is prevented from coming out of contact and the vertical transport unit is opened, the projection contact portion is avoided from the position where it abuts against the projection portion, and the pulling out of the paper feed tray is released. Is characterized by Image forming apparatus. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the protrusion and the protrusion abutting portion prevents a drawer of the paper feed tray from being pulled out and a position where the pullout prevention is released. An image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus is movably mounted and further provided with elastic holding means for elastically holding one of the two at a position that prevents the paper feed tray from being pulled out.