JPH10123890A - Image forming and erasing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To support an image forming device with the supporting surface of an image erasing device by forming the supporting surface for attachably/ detachably supporting the image forming device, on the top surface of the image erasing device. SOLUTION: This image forming and erasing system is constituted of the image forming device 1 and the image erasing device 2. An image forming mechanism 4 and an image erasing mechanism 15 are provided in the device main body 3 of the image forming device 1 and the device main body 14 of the image erasing device 2, respectively. In such a constitution, the flat supporting surface 25 for attachably/detachably supporting the device main body 3 of the image forming device 1 is formed on the top surface of the device main body 14 of the image erasing device 2. Thus, when the image forming and erasing system is constituted of the image forming device 1 and the image erasing device 2, the device main body 3 of the image forming device 1 can be supported on the supporting surface 25 of the device main body 14 of the image erasing device 2. Therefore, the image forming and erasing system can be installed in a narrow space.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming / erasing system including an image forming apparatus for printing an image on a sheet and an image erasing apparatus for erasing an image on a sheet printed by the image forming apparatus. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as described in, for example, JP-A-4-94958, an image printed on a sheet is erased and reproduced in order to suppress waste of resources and prevent deterioration of the global environment. Suggestions have been made to do so. On the other hand, in order to reduce the installation area of the OA equipment in an office or the like, as described in JP-A-1-299158, a paper feeding device, a paper discharging device,
2. Description of the Related Art A copying apparatus has been proposed in which various sheet trays are prevented from protruding from the apparatus main body by disposing a duplex apparatus or the like for duplex printing.

[0003]

The conventional independent image erasing apparatus has a structure in which the apparatus is independently installed.
Therefore, it is difficult to arrange the image erasing device and the image forming device side by side in a narrow installation space.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In an image forming and erasing system including an image forming apparatus that prints an image on a sheet and an image erasing apparatus that erases an image printed on the surface of the sheet, the image forming apparatus is provided on an upper surface of the image erasing apparatus. A support surface for detachably supporting is formed. Therefore, it is possible to support the image forming apparatus on the support surface of the image erasing apparatus.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a sheet conveying path for connecting a sheet discharging side of the image erasing apparatus and a sheet feeding side of the image forming apparatus. Therefore, the sheet from which the image has been erased is fed to the image forming apparatus through the sheet conveyance path.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a loading storage tray for storing sheets in a loaded state from which images have been erased by the image erasing device. Therefore, the sheets from which the images have been erased are stored in a stacked storage tray in a stacked state.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the loading storage tray is provided detachably. Therefore, a new sheet can be arbitrarily replenished to the stacking storage tray without being limited to the sheet from which the image has been erased.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given based on FIG. 1 is an image forming apparatus, and 2 is an image erasing apparatus. The apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with an electrophotographic image forming mechanism 4 in this example. In the image forming mechanism 4, the surface of the photoconductor 5 is charged by the charger 6 in the process of rotating the photoconductor 5 in one direction (clockwise in FIG. 1), and a laser beam corresponding to an image signal is applied to the charged portion. Is exposed by the exposure unit 7 to form an electrostatic latent image, and the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing unit 8. The developed image on the photoreceptor 5 is transferred to a sheet fed in synchronization with the image forming process by the transfer device 9, and the transferred image is fixed by the fixing device 10. A cleaning unit 11 cleans the surface of the photoconductor 5. A manual tray 12 for feeding sheets is provided on one side of the apparatus main body 3, and a paper discharge tray 13 for discharging fixed sheets is provided on the other side of the apparatus main body 3.

The apparatus main body 14 of the image erasing apparatus 2 includes:
An image erasing mechanism 15 is provided. In the image erasing mechanism 15, in the process of transporting the sheet on which the image is printed in one direction (left direction in FIG. 1), the processing liquid is supplied to the surface of the sheet by the processing liquid supply unit 16, and the image on the sheet is removed. (Toner) is erased by the heat peeling unit 17. The heat peeling section 17 includes a heating roller 18 having a built-in heater, another roller 19, a belt 20 wound around these rollers 18, 19, and a press roller for pressing the belt 20 around the outer periphery of the heating roller 18. 21. That is, the sheet is heated by the heating roller 17 in the process of being conveyed while being sandwiched between the belt 20 and the press roller 21, and the image is separated and transferred to the belt 20. The image (toner) transferred to the belt 20 is cleaned by the cleaner 22. A manual tray 23 for supplying printed sheets is provided on one side of the apparatus main body 14, and a paper discharge tray 24 for discharging sheets from which images have been erased is provided on the other side. On the upper surface of the apparatus main body 14, a flat support surface 25 for detachably supporting the apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 is formed. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, an operation section 3a is provided on the apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 1.

In such a configuration, the image forming apparatus 1
When the image forming and erasing system is constituted by the image erasing apparatus 2 and the
5, the apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 can be supported. Therefore, the image forming / erasing system can be installed in a narrow space.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment and the other embodiments that follow, the same parts as those in the previous embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. The image erasing device 26 according to the present embodiment separates the sheet S on the sheet feeding tray 28 from the sheet feeding tray 28 for storing the printed sheets S in a stacked state inside the apparatus main body 27 one by one. The paper separation unit 29 is provided with an image erasing mechanism 15 for erasing an image on the sheet S drawn by the paper separation unit 29. The paper feed tray 28 is inserted so as to be able to be pulled out from the front of the apparatus main body 27.

The apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 or the paper feeder 3
A support surface 25 for detachably supporting the device main body 31 is formed. The paper feeding device 30 includes a plurality of paper feeding cassettes 32 inside a main body 31 of the device, and a paper feeding separation unit 33 that separates and pulls out the sheets S in the paper feeding cassettes 32 one by one. The paper feed cassette 32 is mounted so as to be able to be pulled out from the front of the apparatus main body 27. The apparatus main body 3 of the image forming apparatus 1 and the apparatus main body 3 of the sheet feeding device 30
1 and the apparatus main body 27 of the image erasing apparatus 26, sheet transport paths 34, 35 and 36 of a bottom pass type are formed. In the sheet conveying paths 35 and 36, conveying rollers 37 for conveying the sheet are arranged.

In this embodiment, a sheet feeding device 30 and an image forming apparatus 1 are sequentially mounted and supported on a support surface 25 of an image erasing device 26. In this example, the image forming apparatus 1
The user can designate a paper feed source by the operation unit 3a (see FIG. 2), and feed the sheet S from the paper feed device 30 or the image erasing device 26 to the image forming device 1 according to a control signal from the image forming device 1. It is configured as follows.

In such a configuration, when the sheet S on which an image is printed is stored in the paper feed cassette 28, and the paper feed source is designated to the image erasing device 26 by the operation unit 3a, the image forming device 1 transmits the image. The image erasing device 26 is driven by the control signal. That is, the sheets S stacked on the sheet cassette 28 are pulled out by the sheet separation unit 29, and after the images are erased by the image erasing mechanism 15, the sheet S is guided by the sheet conveying paths 34, 35, and 36. Then, the sheet is automatically fed to the image forming mechanism 4 by the conveying roller 37.

The sheet S can be fed from the sheet feeding device 30 by specifying a sheet feeding source by the operation section 3a. In this case, a new sheet S or a sheet S from which an image has been erased by the image erasing device 26 in advance can be set in the sheet feeding cassette 32 of the sheet feeding device 30.

Placing the image forming apparatus 1 on the paper feeder 30 has been conventionally performed, but in this case,
Normally, since the image forming apparatus 1 has the sheet transport path 34 of the bottom pass type, the image forming apparatus 1 is supported on the support surface 25 of the image erasing apparatus 26 having the sheet transport path 36 connected to the sheet transport path 34. It is also possible to directly support.

That is, in the case of the image erasing device 26 in which the image erasing device 26 is provided with the sheet transport path 36 of the bottom pass system, the image forming apparatus 1 is mounted on the sheet feeding device 30 in the same manner as in the usage mode. The sheet S can be conveyed only by placing the image forming apparatus 1 on the image erasing apparatus 26.
As described above, if the user owns the ordinary image forming apparatus 1 having the bottom-pass type sheet conveying path 34, even if the image erasing apparatus 26 is purchased later, the specification of the sheet conveying may be changed specially. Therefore, an image forming / erasing system can be easily constructed. As described above, in both the case where the image forming apparatus 1 is placed on the image erasing apparatus 26 and the case where the image forming apparatus 1 is placed on the sheet feeding apparatus 30, the image forming apparatus 1 does not need to change the sheet conveyance at all. Therefore, an increase in the number of models can be suppressed. As a result, the management burden on production and sales can be reduced.

FIG. 4 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.
It will be described based on. Image erasing device 38 of the present embodiment
The apparatus further includes, inside the apparatus main body 39, a stacking storage tray 40 for storing the sheets S, from which the images have been erased by the image erasing mechanism 15, in a stacked state, and a paper feed separation unit 41. The stacking storage tray 40 has a sheet pressing plate 43 that is urged upward by a spring 42 and is supported so as to be able to move up and down so as to press the sheet S against the sheet feed roller of the sheet feed separation unit 41.

In such a configuration, the image erasing device 3
In the case where the image forming apparatus 1 is used by being supported by the support surface 25 formed on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 39 of FIG.
The sheets S from which images have been erased in advance by the image erasing mechanism 15 can be stored in the stacking storage tray 40 in a stacked state. Thus, the sheet S in the stacking storage tray 40 can be fed according to the image processing speed of the image forming mechanism 4 without being affected by the processing capacity of the image erasing mechanism 15.

FIG. 5 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
It will be described based on. The stacking storage tray 40 in the present embodiment is inserted so as to be able to be pulled out from the front surface of the apparatus main body 39 of the image erasing apparatus 38. Therefore, a new sheet can be arbitrarily replenished to the stacking storage tray 40 without being limited to the sheet from which the image has been erased. Thereby, when there is no sheet for erasing a printed image, a new sheet can be fed from the stacking storage tray 40 of the image erasing device 38.

[0021]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the support surface for detachably supporting the image forming apparatus is formed on the upper surface of the image erasing apparatus, the image forming and erasing can be performed between the image forming apparatus and the image erasing apparatus. When configuring the system, the image forming / erasing system can be installed in a small space.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus further includes a sheet conveying path for connecting a sheet discharging side of the image erasing apparatus and a sheet feeding side of the image forming apparatus. The sheet having been erased can be fed to the image forming apparatus through the sheet transport path without being transferred to another sheet feeding tray.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus further includes a stacking storage tray for storing the sheets from which the images have been erased by the image erasing apparatus in a stacked state. The finished sheets can be stored in a stacked storage tray in a stacked state. This allows
Sheets in the sheet feed tray can be fed in accordance with the image processing speed of the image forming mechanism without being affected by the processing capacity of the image erasing mechanism.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, since the stacking storage tray is provided detachably, a new sheet can be optionally used without being limited to a sheet from which an image has been erased. Can be refilled into the loading storage tray. Thus, when there is no sheet for erasing a printed image, a new sheet can be fed from the stacking storage tray.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an image forming and image forming method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
It is a vertical front view which shows the structure of an erasing system.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof.

FIG. 3 shows an image forming and image forming method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a vertical front view which shows the structure of an erasing system.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional front view showing a configuration of an image erasing device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an image forming and image forming method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
It is a perspective view of an erasing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Image erasing apparatus 25 Support surface 34-36 Sheet conveyance path 40 Loading storage tray S Sheet

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming and erasing system comprising: an image forming apparatus for printing an image on a sheet; and an image erasing apparatus for erasing an image printed on a surface of the sheet. An image / erase system, wherein a support surface for detachably supporting the image forming apparatus is formed. 2. The image forming and erasing system according to claim 1, further comprising a sheet conveying path that connects a paper discharge side of the image erasing apparatus and a paper feeding side of the image forming apparatus. 3. The image forming and erasing system according to claim 2, further comprising a stacking storage tray for storing the sheets from which images have been erased by the image erasing device in a stacked state. 4. The image forming / erasing system according to claim 3, wherein the stacking storage tray is provided detachably.