JPH09150966A - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To position the upper and lower paper feeding cassettes in specified spots with good balance by forming projecting and recessed parts selectively engaged with the recessed and projecting parts of the paper feeding cassettes and providing a lever swung so as to pull out the projecting parts from the recessed parts of the cassette sides following the pulling out of the paper cassettes. SOLUTION: A paper feeding cassette 23 is positioned in a feeder main body 21 by energizing and engaging the projecting part 30 of a lever side with the recessed part 26 of a paper feeding cassette 23. At this time, a plurality of levers 29 are made integral by a connecting rod 33 and thus all of the paper feeding cassettes 23 positioned by the levers 29 are positioned in specified spots with good balance. Also, when one paper feeding cassette 23 is pulled out, the projecting part 30 is pulled out from the recessed part 26 of the cassette side by the cam action of the cam surface 9 of the recessed part 26 of the paper feeding cassette 23. The remaining levers 29 are swung in the same direction via the rod 33 by the swinging of the lever 29 in this case, the recessed parts 31 of the levers 29 are engaged with the projecting parts 27 of the remaining paper feeding cassettes 23 and thus the remaining paper feeding cassettes 23 are fixed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeding device in which a plurality of upper and lower paper feeding cassettes can be inserted into and removed from the main body of the device in the front-rear direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The above-mentioned sheet feeding device is installed in an image forming apparatus itself such as an electrostatic photocopier or a printer, or in a sheet feeding deck for mounting the image forming apparatus. Since the paper feed cassette can be pulled out to the work space on the front side, for example, for copying work, and paper can be replenished to the paper feed cassette, substantially space saving of the apparatus installation can be suitably achieved.

In addition, such a sheet feeding device is provided with a positioning means capable of pulling out the sheet feeding cassette by a light operation.
It is provided in the main body of the device for each of the upper and lower multi-staged paper cassettes, and even if the device is installed in a slightly forward tilted position due to the installation surface of the device, the paper cassette will be It is designed so that it will not naturally come out in front of the device.

[0004]

However, it is extremely difficult to assemble a plurality of positioning means for the individual paper feed cassettes at predetermined positions of the apparatus main body according to the design dimensions, and it is necessary to provide a plurality of upper and lower feeding stages. It is unavoidable that the positional balance of the paper cassette is lost, and there is a problem that a misaligned paper feeding cassette causes paper feeding failure.

Further, although the positioning means is provided, it has a mere positioning function, and in the current model, it is possible to take out all the sheet feeding cassettes at the same time. In order to check and replenish the storage capacity of the device, for example, when the paper cassettes are sequentially pulled out from the lower one without being returned, the center of gravity of the entire device moves forward and the device moves. There is a concern that the caster wheels for the vehicle will be heavily loaded, which will adversely affect the movement of the device after that, and the device will tend to lean forward, which will reduce the paper feeding performance.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to be able to position a plurality of upper and lower paper feed cassettes at predetermined positions of the apparatus main body in a well-balanced manner, and also to feed paper. It is an object to provide a paper feeding device that does not allow a plurality of cassettes to be taken out at the same time.

[0007]

In the paper feeder according to the present invention, which has achieved the above object, a concave portion and a convex portion are formed in the front and rear at predetermined intervals, and each of them is provided with respect to the main body of the apparatus. A plurality of upper and lower paper feed cassettes that can be inserted and removed in the front-rear direction, and projections and recesses that selectively engage with the recesses and projections of these paper feed cassettes are formed. And a lever that swings so that the convex portion comes out of the concave portion on the cassette side, and the convex portion of each lever is urged into the concave portion on the cassette side through pivotal connection through one end side of each lever and urging means. And a rod fixing means for fixing the rod when the concave portion on the lever side is engaged with the convex portion of the remaining sheet feeding cassette in association with the pulling out of one sheet feeding cassette. And, this rod fixing means, Is characterized in that constructed so as to release the fixing in conjunction with the swing of the lever due to engagement of the convex portion of the lever-side recess of the sheet cassette out come.

According to the paper feeding device of the present invention having the above-mentioned characteristic structure, the projection of the lever side is biasedly engaged with the recess of the paper feeding cassette to position the paper feeding cassette with respect to the main body of the device. And, since a plurality of these levers are integrated by the interlocking rod, it is possible to easily assemble all of these levers in the predetermined positions of the main body of the device, and by extension, position them with this lever. All of the paper feeding cassettes that are formed in this way are positioned in a predetermined position of the apparatus main body with good balance.

Further, when one of the sheet feeding cassettes is pulled out, the convex portion of the remaining sheet feeding cassette is engaged with the concave portion on the lever side so that the remaining sheet feeding cassette cannot be pulled out. Inadvertent removal of a plurality of paper feed cassettes, which imposes a heavy load on the caster wheels for moving the apparatus, is reliably prevented.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a sheet feeding device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an electrophotographic copying machine 1 which is an example of an image forming apparatus and a deck type paper feeding device 2.
It shows the overall view of the vehicle.

In the electrostatographic copying machine 1, a photoconductor 5 is horizontally mounted on a copying machine main body 4 having an optical system moving type exposure device 3 on an upper part thereof, and a charging device 6 and a developing device are provided around the photoconductor 5. Device 7, transfer device 8, paper separating device 9, cleaning device 1
0 is arranged in that order, and the paper feeding and conveying device 11 that conveys the paper fed from the deck type paper feeding device 2 to the transfer device 8 and the paper feeding and conveying device 11 that manually feeds the paper to the manual paper feeding unit 12 are arranged. A confluent conveying device 13 for confluently conveying the sheet, and a sheet discharging conveying device 1 for conveying the separated sheet to the fixing device
5, and a paper discharge roller pair 17 for discharging the fixed paper to the tray 16.

The deck type paper feeder 2 is provided with upper and lower stages (two stages in this example) of cassette loading sections 19 and 19 each having a sheet feed roller 18, and caster wheels 20 for moving the apparatus. In addition to being provided in the device body 21, the device body 21 is attached to each of the cassette loading sections 19 and 19.
Slider (see Fig. 2) that can be inserted and removed in the front-back direction
The sheet feeding cassettes 23 and 23 are provided via the sheet feeding device 2 and the sheet feeding device 24 that introduces the sheet fed from the sheet feeding cassette 23 into the sheet feeding and feeding device 11.

Further, this deck type paper feeding device 2 is shown in FIG.
A plurality of cassette ejection preventing means 25 shown in FIGS. The plural cassette ejection preventing means 25 also has a function of positioning the paper feed cassette 23 with respect to the apparatus main body 21, and is specifically configured as follows.

That is, a V-shaped concave portion 26 having a rear surface portion as a cam surface a and a front surface portion as a locking surface b and on the rear side are provided on the upper side of the left and right side plates of each sheet feeding cassette 23. The convex portion 27 having the cam surface c as the surface portion is formed at a predetermined distance in the front and rear, while the apparatus main body 21 is provided on the apparatus main body 21 side.
Concavo-convex portion 2 of each paper feed cassette 23 inserted at a predetermined position of
The support shafts 2 in the front and rear intermediate portions are made to face each other on the upper side of 6, 27.
A lever 29 is pivotally mounted so as to be able to swing around 8, and the concave portion 26 and the convex portion 2 of the paper feeding cassette 23 are attached to each lever 29.
7 is formed with a convex portion 30 and a concave portion 31 which are selectively engaged with the concave portion 31.

An elongated hole d in the front-rear direction is formed on the front end side of each lever 29, and the interlocking rod 3 is only movable up and down via the pin e and the guide cylinder 32 in this elongated hole d.
3, the rod 33 is provided with urging means 34 for urging and engaging the convex portion 30 of the lever 29 with the concave portion 26 of the sheet feeding cassette 23, and further the concave portion 3 on the lever side.
In order to fix the movement of the rod 33 in the state in which 1 is engaged with the convex portion 27 on the cassette side, the rod fixing means 3
5 are provided.

The rod fixing means 35 is the same as the rod 3 described above.
3, the cam type concave portion 36 formed in 3 and the rod side concave portion 31 when the lever side concave portion 31 is engaged with the cassette side convex portion 27.
A stopper member 37 that is engaged with the recess 36 when the rod 33 is lifted, and a biasing means 38 that biases the stopper member 37 into the recess 36.
The stopper member 38 is released from the concave portion 36 by the cam action of the concave portion 36 accompanying the lowering of the concave portion 36, whereby the fixation thereof is released.

According to the above construction, as shown in FIG. 2A, the convex portion 30 on the lever side is formed into the concave portion 2 of the paper feeding cassette 23.
The paper feed cassette 23 is positioned relative to the apparatus main body 21 by urging the paper feed cassette 6 into forceful engagement. Since the plurality of levers 29 are integrated by the interlocking rod 33, it is possible to easily assemble all of the plurality of levers 29 at predetermined positions of the apparatus main body 21. Therefore, all of the sheet feeding cassettes 23 positioned by the lever 29 are positioned in a predetermined position of the apparatus main body 21 in a well-balanced manner.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2B, when one paper feed cassette 23 is extracted, this paper feed cassette 23
By the cam action of the cam surface a of the concave portion 26, the convex portion 30 comes out from the concave portion 26 on the cassette side, and the remaining lever 29 moves in the same direction via the rod 33 as the lever 29 swings at this time. And the concave portion 31 of the lever 29 is moved to the convex portion 27 of the remaining paper feeding cassette 23.
By engaging with, it becomes impossible to remove the remaining paper feed cassette 23.

That is, in the state where one sheet feeding cassette 23 is pulled out, the remaining sheet feeding cassettes 23 are prevented from being pulled out. It is possible to reliably prevent the paper feed cassette 23 from being pulled out, and it is possible to reliably eliminate the situation where a heavy load is applied to the caster wheels 20 for moving the apparatus. It should be noted that when the sheet cassette 23 cannot be taken out, the rod 3 is fixed by the rod fixing means 35.
It is held by fixing 3.

Next, the paper feed cassette 23 extracted as described above.
Is inserted into a predetermined position of the apparatus main body 21, the cam surface c of the concave portion 26 of the paper feeding cassette 23 presses the rear side surface portion f of the lever-side concave portion 31, and the rod 33 swings with the swing of the lever 29. Is lowered, the rod fixing means 35
The rod 33 is released from being fixed, and the convex portions 30 of all the levers 29 are biased and engaged with the concave portions 26 on the cassette side, so that the entire sheet feeding cassette 23 is positioned at a predetermined position. Become.

It will be easily understood that the present invention can be carried out by forming the uneven portions 25 and 26 on the lower side of the side plate of the paper feeding cassette 23. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the deck-type paper feeding device equipped with the electrostatographic copying machine was described, but the paper feeding means provided in the image forming apparatus itself such as the electrostatographic copying machine or the printer is It will be easily understood that the present invention can be implemented.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, since a plurality of cassette extraction preventing means for a plurality of cassettes in which a plurality of levers are linked by a rod is provided in the sheet feeding device, Not only is it possible to position a plurality of paper feed cassettes at predetermined positions on the apparatus main body in a well-balanced manner, but it has also been possible to reliably prevent an inconvenient situation that places a heavy load on the caster wheels for moving the apparatus.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view in which an electrostatic photocopier is mounted on a deck type paper feeding device.

FIG. 2A is an explanatory diagram showing a positioning state of upper and lower plural sheet feeding cassettes, and FIG. 2B is an explanatory diagram showing a withdrawal prevention state of a plurality of cassettes.

[Explanation of symbols]

21 ... Device main body, 23 ... Paper feeding cassette, 26 ... Cassette-side concave portion, 27 ... Cassette-side convex portion, 29 ... Lever, 3
0 ... Lever-side convex portion, 31 ... Lever-side concave portion, 33 ... Interlocking rod, 34 ... Biasing means, 35 ... Rod fixing means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of upper and lower sheet feeding cassettes, each of which has a recess and a protrusion formed in the front and rear at a predetermined interval and which can be inserted into and removed from the apparatus main body in the front and rear direction, and these sheet feeding cassettes. A lever that is formed with a convex portion and a concave portion that selectively engage with the concave portion and the convex portion, and that swings so that the convex portion comes out of the concave portion on the cassette side when the paper feeding cassette is pulled out, and the lever of each lever. A linkage rod that is pivotally connected to one end side and that biases the convex portion of each lever into a concave portion on the cassette side via biasing means; And a rod fixing means for fixing the rod when the concave portion on the lever side is engaged with the convex portion of the sheet feeding cassette,
A sheet feeding device characterized in that the fixing is released in association with the swing of the lever accompanying the engagement of the convex portion with the concave portion of the pull-out sheet feeding cassette.