JPH09315645A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce occupied space by making a photocopied sheet discharge part detachable, and forming a received sheet discharge part at the upper face of a casing of an image forming device body. SOLUTION: In a complex machine 1, a photocopied sheet discharge part 3 is made detachable from a complex machine body 2, so that the photocopied sheet discharge part can be detached at the time of not using copying function. A received sheet discharge part 9 is formed at the upper face of a casing 4, and the received sheet discharge part 9 is not protruded from the complex machine body 2. With the received sheet discharge part 9 thus formed at the casing 4, the number of part items is reduced by a large margin. The storage number of sheets in the photocopied sheet discharge part 3 is made less than the storage number of sheets in a received-printed sheet discharge part 9a so that the received-printed sheet discharge part 9a can store a large quantity of sheets. The occupied space of the complex machine is thereby reduced.

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 having a copying function and at least one of a printer function and a facsimile function, and more particularly to storing copy sheets discharged when the copying function is used. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a copy sheet discharging unit for storing a received sheet and a receiving sheet discharging unit for storing received sheets discharged when a facsimile function or a printer function is used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus as a multifunction machine having a copy function, a facsimile function and a printer function has a copy sheet discharge section for storing copy sheets discharged when the copy function is used, a facsimile function or a printer function. Some have a receiving sheet discharge section for storing receiving sheets discharged during use.

[0003]

In the conventional multi-function machine of this type, the copy sheet discharging section and the receiving sheet discharging section are not detachable, so that they occupy space even when only the function of the printer is used. There was a problem.

Further, the receiving sheet discharging section is designed to store a large amount of sheets in consideration of the fact that the user is not near the multifunction machine while discharging the receiving sheet in many cases. There is a problem that the size is large, and even if it is detachably attached to the multi-function peripheral, it occupies a large space when using the facsimile function.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to provide a copy function and a facsimile function or a printer function, which is discharged when the copy function is used. An object of the present invention is to reduce the occupied space in a multi-function peripheral having a copy sheet discharging unit for storing sheets and a receiving sheet discharging unit for storing receiving sheets discharged when using a facsimile function or a printer function.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 has a copying function and a facsimile function or a printer function, and stores a copy sheet discharged when the copying function is used. An image forming apparatus having a copy sheet discharging unit is characterized in that the copy sheet discharging unit is detachable.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, a receiving sheet discharging portion for storing the receiving sheet discharged when the facsimile function or the printer function is used is provided on the upper surface of the casing of the image forming apparatus main body. It is characterized in that it is formed.

Further, the invention of claim 3 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1 or 2, the copy sheet discharging portion is located above the main body of the image forming apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects of the present invention, the number of sheets that can be accommodated in the copy sheet ejection unit is less than or equal to the number of sheets that can be accommodated in the reception sheet ejection unit. It is characterized by that.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a multi-function peripheral according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

A multifunction machine 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a copying function, a facsimile function, and a printer function. It is detachably attached to the multifunction machine body 2 and the upper left portion of the multifunction machine body 2 when the copying function is used. A copy sheet discharge unit 3 (job separator) for storing discharged copy sheets is provided. FIG. 1 shows a case where the copy sheet discharging section 3 is mounted, and FIG. 3 shows a case where the copy sheet discharging section 3 is not mounted.

The multifunction machine main body 2 is provided with a casing 4 and an image forming section 5 disposed on the right side of the casing 4 for forming an image in each of a printer mode, a copying machine mode and a facsimile mode. A document scanning unit 6 arranged above, a conveying unit 7 for supplying a sheet to the image forming unit 5 and discharging a sheet from the image forming unit 5, and a vertically arranged lower portion inside the casing 4. A plurality of paper feed cassettes 8 are provided.

The casing 4 has an upper cover 9 on the upper side thereof, and the upper surface thereof has a sloped shape for storing a receiving sheet discharged when the facsimile function is used and a printing sheet discharged when the printer function is used. A receiving / printing sheet discharging section 9a is formed. About 100 sheets can be stacked on the receiving / printing sheet discharging portion 9a.

The image forming section 5 has a photosensitive drum, and a charging device, a developing device, a transfer device, a sheet separating device, and a cleaning device arranged around the photosensitive drum. The document scanning unit 6 includes an optical system 10 arranged above the image forming unit 5.
And a document table 11 arranged above the optical system 10. The conveying unit 7 has a sheet supply path 12 arranged upstream of the image forming unit 5 in the sheet conveying direction and a sheet discharge path 13 arranged downstream of the image forming section 5. Is provided with a fixing device 14.

The downstream side of the sheet discharge path 13 is a first discharge path 13 for guiding the sheet to the receiving / printing sheet discharge section 9a.
a and a second discharge path 13b that guides the sheet to the copy sheet discharge section 3, and these branch points include:
A switching claw 15 that switches between the first discharge path 13a and the second discharge path 13b is provided. The switching claw 15 is connected to a solenoid (not shown) so that the switching claw 15 can take a position shown by a solid line and a position shown by a dashed line in FIG. The sheet is guided to the second discharge path 13b, and the sheet is guided to the first discharge path 13a when the switching claw 15 is at the position indicated by the alternate long and short dash line.

The copy sheet discharging section 3 includes a second discharging path 13
The copy sheet conveying unit 16 conveys the copy sheet conveyed from the sheet b, and the tray 17 provided below the exit of the copy sheet conveying unit 16. About 70 sheets can be stacked on the tray 17.

An operation panel (not shown) for a user to operate the multifunction machine 1 is provided on the upper portion of the casing 4. A control device (not shown) is provided inside the casing 4, and the control device includes an operation panel, an image forming unit 5, a document scanning unit 6, a conveying unit 7, a solenoid of a switching claw 15, and copying. The sheet conveying unit 16 and the like are connected. The control device is also connected to a plurality of computers via a network and to a facsimile device via a telephone line.

Next, the operation of the multifunction machine 1 will be described by taking the case of using the copying function as an example. The user is manuscript table 1
When the original is placed on the document No. 1 and the copy start button on the operation panel is pressed, the original scanning unit 6 exposes and scans the original, photoelectrically converts the reflected light from the original, converts this electric signal into a digital signal, and performs image processing. Done. Then, in the image forming section 5, a laser beam is radiated onto the drum based on this image-processed image information to form an electrostatic latent image. Then, this is developed and transferred to the sheet conveyed from the paper feed cassette 8 via the sheet supply path 12, and then the transferred image is fixed by the fixing device 14. And
The sheet is conveyed upward through the sheet discharge path 13, guided by the switching claw 15 to the second discharge path 13b, and flows into the copy sheet discharge section 3. Then, the sheet is conveyed by the copy sheet conveying unit 16, and the tray 17
Discharged on top.

When image formation is performed in the printer mode or the facsimile mode, the switching claw 15 is switched to the side of the first carry-out path 13a, and the sheet is received / printed through the first carry-out path 13a. The sheets are stacked on the sheet discharge unit 9a.

In this multifunction machine 1, the copy sheet discharge section 3 is detachable from the multifunction machine body 2, so that the copy sheet discharge section 3 can be removed when the copying function is not used, as shown in FIG. In addition, the space occupied by the multifunction device 1 can be reduced.

Further, in this multifunctional machine 1, since the receiving sheet discharging section is formed on the upper surface of the casing 4, the receiving sheet discharging section does not project from the multifunctional apparatus main body 2, so that the occupied space is small. Further, when the facsimile function or the printer function is used, the user is often not near the multi-function peripheral 1. Therefore, the receiving / printing sheet discharging unit 9a needs to be designed so as to be able to store a large amount of sheets. Although high strength is required, since the casing 4 originally has high mechanical strength, the receiving / printing sheet discharging portion 9a can be formed without requiring an additional configuration. Therefore, by forming the receiving sheet discharging portion in the casing 4, there is an advantage that the number of parts can be significantly reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In consideration of the fact that most users are in front of the multifunction machine when using the copying function, in this multifunction machine 1, the number of sheets accommodated in the copy sheet discharge section 3 is set in the reception / print sheet discharge section 9a. The number is smaller than the number of storage sheets. Therefore, the copy sheet discharging unit 3 is compact and occupies a small space.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By making the copy sheet discharge part detachable, the space occupied when the copy function is not used can be reduced.

According to the second aspect, since the receiving sheet discharging section is formed on the upper surface of the casing of the main body of the multifunction machine, the receiving sheet discharging section does not project from the main body of the multifunction machine, so that the occupied space can be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the copy sheet discharging section is located above the main body of the multifunction machine,
The occupied space in the lateral direction can be reduced.

According to the present invention, the number of sheets that can be accommodated in the copy sheet ejecting unit is set to be equal to or less than the number of sheets that can be accommodated in the receiving sheet ejecting unit, so that the copy sheet ejecting unit becomes compact and the occupied space is reduced. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram when a copy sheet discharge unit is mounted in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention when a copy sheet discharge unit is not attached.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Multifunction machine 2 Multifunction machine body 3 Copy sheet discharge section 4 Casing 9a Reception / print sheet discharge section

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Wataru Sasaki 1-2-2 Tamatsukuri, Chuo-ku, Osaka Mita Engineering Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having at least one of a printer function and a facsimile function, and a copy function, wherein a copy sheet discharge section for storing copy sheets discharged when the copy function is used is detachable. An image forming apparatus characterized by. 2. A receiving sheet discharging section for storing a receiving sheet discharged when the facsimile function or the printer function is used, and the receiving sheet discharging section is formed on an upper surface of a casing of the image forming apparatus main body. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the copy sheet discharging section is located above the image forming apparatus main body. 4. The image according to claim 1, wherein the number of sheets that can be accommodated in the copy sheet ejection unit is set to be equal to or less than the number of sheets that can be accommodated in the reception sheet ejection unit. Forming equipment.