JPH08188321A - Image forming device for paper sheet feeding tray type - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide such a paper sheet feeding tray type screen image forming device as capable of always making normal paper sheet discharge by discharging formal paper sheets in a proper direction according to the state of using a device. CONSTITUTION: A tray bar 5, a link lever 7, and a guide lever 9 are in those positions shown by two-dot chain lines when an auxiliary tray 1 is in its storage position (two-dot chain line in the drawing), thereby a switching guide 2 is switched in its position (two-dot chain line) from where formal paper sheets are discharged in FU direction. By turning the auxiliary tray 1 clockwise in an arrow mark F, to be positioned in its release position (solid line), the tray lever 5, the kink I ever 7 and the guide leever 9 are moved in the positions shown by solid lines in the drawing in linkage to the above mentioned turning process. Owing to the movement of this guide lever 9, the switching guide 2 is switched in a position (slid line) form where the formal paper sheets are discharged in FD direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rotatable auxiliary tray provided for normally stacking discharged sheets,
By providing a mechanism for switching the switching guide in synchronism with the rotation operation of the auxiliary tray, a small-sized sheet can be discharged appropriately according to the usage status of the apparatus. The present invention relates to a tray-feeding type image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an image forming apparatus 30 as shown in a side sectional view of FIG. First, the main components will be briefly described. A plurality of sheets of paper P are loaded in a paper feed cassette 31 that is detachably attached to the bottom of the apparatus. The paper P is fed to the paper feed cassette 3 by the feeding unit 32.
The sheet is pulled out from the sheet 1, is turned over while passing upward through a predetermined path, and is conveyed toward the image forming section 34 located in the approximate center of the apparatus by the pair of sheet feeding rollers 33. Image forming unit 34
Is mainly composed of the photosensitive drum 34-1, the developing device 34-2, and the like. The image forming unit 34 transfers the toner image onto the conveyed paper P by a predetermined operation. The sheet P after the transfer of the toner image is conveyed to the fixing section 35 to thermally fix the toner image, and then is conveyed to the sheet direction switching section 40.
The paper direction switching unit 40 switches the position of the paper P by a predetermined means (not shown) in order to convey the paper P in either of two directions (A and B directions in the drawing). When the sheet direction switching unit 40 is in the position shown by the solid line in the figure, the sheet P is conveyed in the direction A in the figure, is reversed while passing through a predetermined path upward, and is discharged by the FD sheet discharge roller 37. The sheet is conveyed to the section 38 and sequentially stacked there. At this time, a plurality of paper sheets P
When the printing is performed on a plurality of pages, the sheets are arranged in the page order because the sheets are sequentially stacked with the printing surface facing down by the above reversal. Therefore, the paper is usually in the A direction, that is, FD.
The sheet direction switching unit 40 is used by being switched so as to be conveyed to the sheet discharging unit 38. On the other hand, when the paper direction switching unit 40 is at the position shown by the broken line in the drawing, the paper P is conveyed in the B direction in the drawing, that is, to the FU paper discharge unit 36 and sequentially stacked there.

In such an apparatus, it is also possible to manually insert sheets one by one in the direction indicated by arrow S in the figure for printing. By the way, in recent years, image forming apparatuses such as LED printers are required to be simplified and downsized. However, in a device such as the conventional image forming device 30 described above in which a paper feed cassette is mounted to feed paper, a space for mounting the paper feed cassette is required in the device. Further, when accommodating a large size sheet such as A3, a larger space is required, so that it has not been possible to easily reduce the size of the apparatus. In addition, even if the device body is downsized by projecting a part of the paper feed cassette to the outside of the device body, it is wide to install the entire device including a part of the projected paper feed cassette. It required a space for installation.

When the size of the paper to be used is large, there is a method of manually inserting the paper without using a paper feed cassette. In this case, however, the paper is manually inserted one by one. Therefore, for example, when printing paper in units of several tens of sheets, it is very inefficient.

In response to the demand for simplification and downsizing of such an image forming apparatus, an apparatus as shown in FIG. 2 has been proposed. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the tray-feeding type image forming apparatus 20, which is also an apparatus according to the present invention.

The tray-feeding type image forming apparatus 20 shown in FIG.
As an example, an LED printer (hereinafter referred to as an apparatus main body) is shown. The left side of the figure is the front side and the right side is the back side, and the depth (the length of the apparatus in the left-right direction of the figure) is, for example, about 30 cm (centimeter). It is a small printer.

In FIG. 1, the paper feed tray 21 is a tray which is provided for stacking and feeding a plurality of sheets and which can be rotated by a predetermined angle (indicated by arrow F in the figure). The paper fed from the paper feed tray 21 is printed while being conveyed through a predetermined path in the apparatus, and either one of two paper ejection units (FU paper ejection unit 26 and FD paper ejection unit 28) is provided. Is ejected. The switching of the sheet discharge direction at this time is performed by the switching guide 2. The switching guide 2 can be switched from the outside by a not-shown predetermined means (operation by a manual lever or the like), and normally, a position for discharging the paper to the FD discharging unit 28 (the switching guide 2 shown by a solid line in the figure). -A position). The sheets discharged to the FD sheet discharge unit 28 are blocked by the auxiliary tray 1, and are stacked near the discharge port without going further to the right. The auxiliary tray 1 is provided in the same manner as the paper feed tray 21, which is provided to prevent the leading edge of the paper discharged to the FD paper discharge unit 28 from colliding with the paper feed tray 21 and causing a paper jam. It is a tray that can be rotated by a predetermined angle.

In such a tray feeding type image forming apparatus, the auxiliary tray 1 and the feeding tray 21 are
The auxiliary tray 1-b and the paper feed tray 21-b, which are respectively indicated by the two-dot chain line in the figure, can be compactly stored in the apparatus. Then, at the time of use, the auxiliary tray 1 and the sheet feeding tray 21 are set to the positions of the auxiliary tray 1-a and the sheet feeding tray 21-a shown by the solid lines in the figure, respectively, and the sheets can be set for use. Here, in actual use,
Since the user works from the front of the device, the paper feed tray 21-
If the auxiliary tray 1 is located at the position of the auxiliary tray 1-a shown in the drawing when the paper is set on the sheet a, it will interfere with the work. For this reason, the user first sets the paper on the paper feed tray 21-a, then sets the auxiliary tray 1 to the position of the auxiliary tray 1-a, and then performs printing or the like.

[0009]

However, since the human beings perform the work at the start of use of the above-mentioned device, after setting the paper,
The operation of placing the auxiliary tray 1 in the position of the illustrated auxiliary tray 1-a may be forgotten.

When printing or the like is performed in this state, as described above, the switching guide 2 is normally the switching guide 2 shown in the figure.
The sheet is discharged to the FD sheet discharge unit 28 because it is switched to the position of −a. For this reason, there is a problem that a sheet jams due to the sheet colliding with the auxiliary tray 1-b shown in the drawing, or the sheet jams under the auxiliary tray 1-b and the normal sheet discharge cannot be performed. .

An object of the present invention is to use a simple mechanism so that the paper ejection direction is determined according to the position of the auxiliary tray 1, so that the paper can be always ejected normally. An image forming apparatus is provided.

[0012]

The structure of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below. The present invention includes an image forming unit,
Feeding means for feeding sheets toward the image forming section, and feeding sheet stacking for loading and storing a plurality of sheets provided on the outer surface of the apparatus main body for introducing the sheets into the feeding means. A tray, a discharge direction switching means for switching a discharge direction for discharging the paper on which an image is formed by the image forming section to either the first discharge section or the second discharge section; and the first discharge section. A predetermined stacking position is provided between the main body of the image forming apparatus and the sheet stacking side of the sheet stacking tray, which faces the sheet stacking side of the sheet stacking tray, and a storage position in which the sheet is discharged while being abutted against the apparatus body. An ejected paper stacking tray that rotates at an angle and a rotation operation of the ejected paper stack tray, so that when the ejected paper stack tray is in the stacking position, the paper is ejected to the first ejecting unit. When the discharge paper stack tray is in the storage position Paper is composed of an interlocking means for shifting said discharge direction switching means so as to be discharged to the second discharge unit.

As described in claim 2, the interlocking means is interlocked with a guide shaft, which is a pivotal fulcrum of the discharged paper stacking tray, at a predetermined ratio with respect to the pivotal movement of the guide shaft. A connecting portion that is movably connected to the guide shaft, a link portion that is connected to the connecting portion and that moves with the rotation of the connecting portion, and that is connected to the link portion and the discharge direction switching means. And a switching unit that rotates with the movement of the link unit to switch the discharge direction switching unit.

Further, for example, as described in claim 3, the first discharging section is a face-down discharging section located on the upper surface of the apparatus, and the second discharging section is a face-up discharging section located on the side surface of the apparatus. The paper section.

Further, as described in claim 4, for example,
The paper stack tray is a paper feed tray installed on the upper surface of the apparatus and opposite to the face-down paper discharge unit, and the discharged paper stack tray is provided between the face-down paper discharge unit and the paper feed tray. It is an auxiliary tray installed.

[0016]

In the tray-feeding type image forming apparatus of the present invention, when in use, the ejected paper stack tray is set to the stacking position for stacking the paper discharged to the first discharge section, and the discharged paper is discharged by the interlocking means. The direction switching means is switched, and the paper is discharged to the first discharge unit. Even when in use, when the discharged paper stack tray is at the storage position (near the first discharge portion) where it abuts against the apparatus main body, the paper discharge direction is switched by the discharge direction switching means by the interlocking means. The second
It is the position to discharge to the discharge part of.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a link mechanism according to an embodiment.

In the figure, the auxiliary tray 1 and the switching guide 2 are the same as the components of the apparatus of FIG. 2 and are designated by the same reference numerals. One end of the auxiliary tray 1 is connected to the rotating disc 3, and the rotating disc 3 is used as a fulcrum of rotation to extend from the position of the auxiliary tray 1-a shown by the solid line in the figure to the auxiliary shown by a chain double-dashed line. It is configured to be rotatable by a predetermined angle (indicated by arrow F in the figure) to the position of the tray 1-b.

The connecting portion 4 is connected to the rotary disc 3 through a gear mechanism (not shown), and the action of this gear mechanism causes the connecting portion 4 to move together with the rotary movement of the rotary disc 3. Axis that rotates in a predetermined direction with respect to the rotation angle of the rotation disk 3 (for example, rotates 20 degrees in the same rotation direction as the rotation disk 3 rotates 120 degrees). Is. The rotating disk 3 and the connecting portion 4 are pivotally supported at predetermined positions in the device (not shown). The tray lever 5 passes through the shaft of the connecting portion 4 through a shaft hole 5-1 formed at one end thereof, and is joined to the connecting portion 4 so as to be rotatable about the connecting portion 4 as a fulcrum of rotation. , Rotates with the rotation of the connecting portion 4. Then, for example, when the auxiliary tray 1 is at the position of the auxiliary tray 1-a as shown in the drawing, the tray lever 5 is at the position shown by the solid line in the drawing, and from there, the auxiliary tray 1 is moved to the position of the auxiliary tray 1-b. When rotated, the tray lever 5
Rotates to the position shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure.

A lifting plate pin 5-2 is formed at the other end (free end) of the tray lever 5, and the link lever 7 is also provided.
A pin hole 7-1 and a pin hole 7-2 are respectively formed at both ends of the. The raising plate pin 5-2 is engaged with the pin hole 7-1 with some play. Similarly, the guide lever 9
The raised plate pin 9-1 formed at the free end of the is engaged with the pin hole 7-2 with some play. In this way, the link lever 7 includes the tray lever 5 and the guide lever 9
Further, the lifting plate pin 5-2 and the lifting plate pin 9-1 are rotatably supported and connected to each other.

The guide lever 9 is joined to a shaft hole 9-2 formed at one end of the guide lever 9 through a guide shaft 10 which is a rotating shaft of the switching guide 2, and the guide shaft 10 serves as a rotation fulcrum. It rotates with the rotation of 2.

The operation of the link mechanism according to the embodiment of the above-described structure will be described. From the above description of the configuration, when the auxiliary tray 1 is at the position of the auxiliary tray 1-a shown by the solid line in the figure, each component of the link mechanism is at the position shown by the solid line in the figure. Then, when the auxiliary tray 1 is rotated from that state to the position of the auxiliary tray 1-b shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure, first, the tray lever 5 is moved by the action of the gear mechanism (not shown). Rotate to the position. Along with this, the link lever 7 moves to the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line in the figure. With the movement of this link lever 7,
The guide lever 9 rotates about the guide shaft 10 to a position indicated by a chain double-dashed line in the figure. Along with this, the switching guide 2
It will rotate from the position of the switching guide 2-a shown by the solid line in the figure to the position of the switching guide 2-b shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure.

Here, in one embodiment, a description will be given below assuming that the above-mentioned link mechanism is provided in the above-mentioned tray sheet feeding type image forming apparatus shown in FIG. In the tray-feeding type image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 2 which is provided with a link mechanism, the sheet feed tray 21 is a tray for stacking and feeding a plurality of sheets P (shown by broken lines) and having a predetermined angle. It is rotatable. When the paper feed tray 21 is not used, the paper feed tray 21 also serves as the upper lid of the main body of the apparatus by being rotated to a position indicated by a chain double-dashed line in the figure (position of the paper feed tray 21-b; hereinafter referred to as upper lid position). is there. When using, the paper feed tray 2
Sheets can be stacked by rotating 1 in the clockwise direction indicated by arrow F in the figure to a predetermined position (position of sheet feed tray 21-a. Hereinafter referred to as sheet feed position) indicated by the solid line in the figure. Becomes At this time, the paper P is fed to the paper feed tray 2 as shown in the figure.
It is placed as if it were leaning against No. 1. In this way, the tray protrudes from the apparatus main body mainly in the vertical direction, and hardly protrudes in the horizontal (plane) direction. Therefore, since the device itself is also small, the installation space of the entire device including the protruding part of the tray (horizontal direction)
Is very small.

The auxiliary tray 1 is the above-mentioned paper feed tray 21.
Like the above, it can be rotated by a predetermined angle, and when not in use, it is in an intermediate position between the upper lid (paper feed tray 21-b) and the inner cover 29 (the position of the auxiliary tray 1-b indicated by the two-dot chain line in the figure.
It is stored in the storage position). Then, at the time of use, the auxiliary tray 1 is rotated clockwise to the position shown by the solid line in the drawing (the position of the auxiliary tray 1-a; hereinafter referred to as the open position) for use. However, it is clear from this figure that the paper feed tray 21 must be rotated to the paper feed position first at this time.

The bottom plate 22 is rotatable about an axis at one end thereof. A spring (not shown) is connected to the lower side of the bottom plate 22. Such a configuration is a well-known technique generally called a Sabaki mechanism, and is a mechanism for sending a plurality of sheets P stacked on the paper feed tray 21 to the image forming unit 24 one by one. The feeding unit 23 sequentially conveys the sheets P one by one to the image forming unit 24.

The image forming section 24 is mainly composed of the photosensitive drum 24.
-1, a developing device 24-2 and the like. Image forming unit 2
4 transfers a toner image onto the conveyed paper P by a predetermined operation. The sheet P after the transfer of the toner image is conveyed to the image fixing unit 25 to thermally fix the toner image, and then is conveyed to the switching guide 2.

When the auxiliary tray 1 is at the open position (1-a), the switching guide 2 becomes the position of the switching guide 2-a (hereinafter referred to as the FD position) shown by the solid line in the figure by the link mechanism. ing. Therefore, the paper P is switched and conveyed in the direction of the arrow A shown in the figure, and is discharged to the FD paper discharge unit 28 via the FD paper discharge roller 27.

Paper P discharged to the FD paper discharge unit 28
Is blocked by the auxiliary tray 1-a, so that the paper P can be discharged normally without the paper P colliding with the paper feed tray 21-a. On the other hand, when the auxiliary tray 1 is at the storage position (1-b), the switching guide 2 is at the position of the switching guide 2-b (hereinafter referred to as the FU position) indicated by the broken line in the figure by the link mechanism. . Therefore, the paper P is switched and conveyed in the direction of the arrow B in the figure, and is discharged to the FU paper discharge unit 26.

As described above, when the user turns the auxiliary tray 1 to the open position which is the fixed position at the time of use at the start of use of the apparatus, the link mechanism causes the switching guide 2 to move.
Is switched to the FD position, and the paper P is fed to the FD paper discharge unit 28.
Is ejected normally.

On the other hand, at the start of using the apparatus, the auxiliary tray 1
When the auxiliary tray 1 is in the storage position by forgetting to set the open position to the open position, the switching guide 2 is in the FU position by the link mechanism, and the paper P is normally discharged to the FU discharge unit 26. To be done.

In the above embodiment, the switching guide 2 is switched in association with the rotation operation of the auxiliary tray 1. However, the lever provided for switching the switching guide 2 from the outside of the apparatus. It is also possible to rotate the position of the auxiliary tray 1 in conjunction with the switching of the switching guide 2 by operating the above.

The link mechanism is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. Any mechanism may be used as long as it is a mechanism for interlocking the auxiliary tray 1 and the switching guide 2.

[0033]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the link mechanism for switching the discharge direction of the sheet according to the position of the auxiliary tray is provided, the auxiliary tray is properly positioned when the apparatus is used. Even if it is not, the paper can be discharged normally. In addition, the link mechanism provided for a small device having a simple structure is realized with a simple structure, so that the device is not complicated and a simple and small image can always be ejected normally. A forming device can be provided.

[0034]

[Brief description of drawings]

[0035]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a link mechanism according to an embodiment.

[0036]

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a tray-feeding type image forming apparatus.

[0037]

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[0038]

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Auxiliary tray 1-a Auxiliary tray (open position) 1-b Auxiliary tray (storage position) 2 Switching guide 2-a Switching guide (FD position) 2-b Switching guide (FU position) 3 Rotating disc 4 Connection part 5 Tray lever 5-1 Shaft hole 5-2 Lifting plate pin 7 Link lever 7-1 Pin hole 7-2 Pin hole 9 Guide lever 9-1 Lifting plate pin 9-2 Shaft hole 10 Guide shaft 21 Paper feed tray 21- a paper feeding tray (paper feeding position) 21-b paper feeding tray (upper lid position) 22 bottom plate 23 feeding unit 24 image forming unit 24-1 photoconductor drum 24-2 developing unit 25 image fixing unit 26 FU paper ejection unit 27 FD paper ejection roller 28 FD paper ejection unit 29 inner cover 31 paper feed cassette 32 paper feed unit 33 paper feed roller pair 34 image forming unit 34-1 photoconductor drum 34-2 developing unit 35 fixing unit 36 FU paper ejection unit 3 FD discharge rollers 38 FD discharge portion 40 the sheet direction switching unit P Paper

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming unit, a feeding unit that feeds a sheet toward the image forming unit, and a plurality of sheets provided on an outer surface of an apparatus main body for introducing the sheet into the feeding unit. Sheet stacking tray for stacking and storing the sheets of paper, and a discharge direction for switching the discharge direction for discharging the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming section to either the first discharge section or the second discharge section A switching unit, a stacking position that is opened with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus and faces the paper stacking side of the paper stacking tray for stacking the paper discharged to the first discharge unit, and the stacking position of the sheet stacking unit. When the ejected paper stacking tray is in the stacking position, the paper is in the first position when the ejected paper stacking tray is rotated by a predetermined angle to the storage position where the discharged paper stacking tray is in contact with the storage position. 1, so that the discharged paper is discharged to the discharge unit 1 Tray feeding type image forming apparatus characterized by comprising a case mounting tray is retracted position and interlocking means for shifting said discharge direction switching means so that the paper is discharged to the second discharge unit. 2. The guide shaft is configured to rotate in conjunction with a guide shaft, which is a fulcrum of rotation of the discharged paper stack tray, at a predetermined ratio with respect to the rotation of the guide shaft. A connecting part connected to the connecting part, a link part connected to the connecting part and moving with rotation of the connecting part, and a connecting part connected to the link part and the discharge direction switching means, and the moving of the link part. 2. The tray-feeding type image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a switching unit that rotates in accordance with the above and switches the discharge direction switching unit. 3. The first discharging unit is a face-down discharging unit located on the upper surface of the apparatus, and the second discharging unit is a face-up discharging unit located on the side surface of the apparatus. Item 1. The tray-feeding type image forming apparatus according to Item 1 or 2. 4. The paper stack tray is a paper feed tray installed on the upper surface of the apparatus in the vicinity of the face-down paper discharge unit, and the discharged paper stack tray includes the face-down paper discharge unit and the paper feed tray. 4. The tray sheet feeding type image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the tray feeding type image forming apparatus is an auxiliary tray installed in between.