JPH11143219A - Color image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To safely attach/detach plural developing means arranged on the peripheral surface of an image forming body and the image forming body including an image exposure means together from the front of the device without interfering each other. SOLUTION: The respective developing sleeves 130 of developing devices 13 (13Y, 13M, 13C and 13K) storing yellow, magenta, cyan and black developer are arranged at positions separated right and left by a vertical line XX passing the center of rotation of the drum-like image forming body and up and down by a horizontal line YY passing it, and a drum driving gear 62 is positioned on the image forming body. Thus, space for stretching an intermediate transfer body 14 is provided under the image forming body and further the image forming body is pulled out and taken out to the front side of a device main body succeeding to the respective developing devices 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mainly relates to a method in which a plurality of image exposing means and developing means are arranged on a peripheral surface of a drum-shaped image forming body, and a toner image is formed so as to overlap during one rotation of the image forming body. The present invention relates to an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method of forming a multicolor image, a photoconductor, a charger, a developing device and the like are provided in the same number as required for the image. (A)
A device (B) for forming a color image by repeating charging, image exposure and development for each color by rotating one photoconductor a plurality of times, or charging and image exposure for each color within one rotation of one photoconductor. An apparatus (C) for forming a color image by sequentially performing development is known.

However, the device (A) requires a plurality of photoconductors and an intermediate transfer member, and thus has the disadvantage of increasing the volume of the device. On the other hand, the device (B) requires only a charging unit, an image exposure unit and a photoconductor. However, since the volume is reduced, the size of the formed image is limited to the surface area of the photosensitive member or less.

Although the apparatus (C) enables high-speed image formation, it is necessary to dispose a plurality of sets of a charger, an image exposing means and a developing unit in one circumference of a photoreceptor, and an optical system for exposing an image. The image quality may be impaired due to contamination of the toner leaking from the developing unit close to the system, and it is necessary to increase the distance between the image exposing means and the developing unit to avoid this. There is a contradiction of increasing the size of the device.

For the purpose of avoiding the drawbacks of the above-mentioned obstacles in the apparatus (C), the base of the image forming body is formed of a transparent material, and a plurality of image exposure means are accommodated in the inside thereof to print the image. An apparatus in which a photosensitive layer formed on the outer periphery of the substrate is exposed through the above substrate has been proposed (for example, JP-A-5-307307).

[0006]

However, the apparatus according to the above proposal has a complicated structure because image exposure means is provided inside the image forming body and a number of chargers and developing devices are provided outside the image forming body.
The attachment / detachment operation of the developing unit, the image forming body, and the image exposing means becomes complicated, and the handling property is deteriorated, the layout of the driving unit of the developing unit is difficult, mainly the driving system of the image forming body, and the position between each device is different. It is difficult to maintain accuracy. In particular, when a drum-shaped image forming body having a small outer diameter is used to make the apparatus compact, there is a problem that the arrangement of the cleaning means and the layout of the transfer material feeding system become difficult.

Further, if a belt-shaped member is used to stabilize the transfer of the transfer material, the layout in the transfer area becomes more difficult.

For this reason, the setting of the drive system of the image forming body includes:
There is a problem in that the driving system is contaminated by toner or the like because of a large space restriction and a developing device nearby.

The present invention improves this point and rationalizes the layout including the drive system, so that the drive system is less likely to become dirty, the balance and position accuracy of the equipment are kept high, and the transfer material is fed well. It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact color image forming apparatus having good handling operability.

[0010]

The object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of charging, image exposing and developing means on the peripheral surface of a drum-shaped image forming member, and to charge the peripheral surface of the image forming member by charging, After repeating the image exposure and development to form a superimposed toner image,
In a color image forming apparatus that collectively transfers the toner image to a transfer material via an intermediate transfer body, the intermediate transfer body is disposed below the image formation body, and the developing unit is configured to move left, right, up and down of the image formation body. And a drum driving gear for rotating a drum gear integrated with the image forming body is provided between the upper developing means.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of embodiments with reference to the drawings.

First, the structure of a color image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes a drum-shaped image forming body. As shown in FIG. 2, a transparent conductive layer and an organic photoreceptor layer (see FIG. 2) are provided on the outer periphery of a cylindrical base made of a transparent member such as optical glass or transparent acrylic resin. An end ring 10A of which a bearing is fitted on the inner circumference and an end gear ring 10B of a drum gear member having a drum gear 10G on the outer circumference are integrated with the inner diameter of both ends of the photosensitive drum formed by applying OPC). It is formed by fitting. In the illustrated example, the end gear ring 10B has the outer gear drum gear 10G. However, it is needless to say that the end gear ring 10B may have the inner gear drum gear 10G.

11Y to 11K are chargers using a scorotron corona discharger, and 12Y to 12K are image forming members 1
This is an image exposure means composed of LEDs arranged in parallel to the 0 axis direction and a selfoc lens (trade name) as an imaging element. The image exposure means 12Y to 12K sequentially take out color-specific image signals such as separated colors read by a separate image reading device from a memory and input them as electric signals.

Image forming body 10 and image exposing means 12Y to 12K
Are integrated into the unit 3. In this regard, the unit shaft 31 and the pair of front and rear brackets 32 and 33 fixed thereto constitute the optical system support 30.
The image forming body 10 includes an end ring 10A at both ends and an end gear ring 1.
The bearing fitted to OB is rotatably coupled to the optical system support 30 by fitting to the outer diameters of the brackets 32 and 33, respectively. Before that, the image exposure means 12Y to 12K
Both ends are adjusted via the attaching member 34 so that the distance between the image forming body 10 and the inner surface of the photoreceptor drum has a predetermined positional relationship, and is adjusted to the outside diameter of the brackets 32 and 33 of the optical system support 30. Adhesively fixed. Thereby, the relative positions of the image exposure units 12Y to 12K with respect to the image forming body 10 can be set with high accuracy.
Thus, the positions of the electrostatic latent images formed on the image forming body 10 can be easily adjusted accurately, and a color image without color shift can be easily formed.

The unit shaft 31 is connected to the held image forming body 10.
And bracket 3 provided with image exposure means 12Y to 12K
Reference numerals 2 and 33 are rotatably mounted on both side plates such that both ends protrude from both side plates of the U-shaped bracket 35 composed of both side plates and connecting beam portions. You.
A phase pin 36 is implanted at the end of the unit shaft 31 protruding outside the one side plate, and the front plate 38 is provided at the end protruding outside the other side plate by a tip nut 37.
Are tightened and fixed. This constitutes the unit 3 shown in FIG.

The wiring for the image exposing means 12Y to 12K is the same as the electric wiring connected from each of the image exposing means 12Y to 12K via a connector to the lightening hole of the bracket 32 of the optical system support 30 and the image forming body 10Y. Of the end ring 10A of the U-shaped bracket 35, through the notch 35A of the side plate portion of the U-shaped bracket 35, is connected to the signal and power supply wiring by a connector outside the front plate 38. It is provided so that. By providing a large number of wirings in front of the image forming body in the attaching / detaching direction in this manner, the electric wiring on the rear plate 70 side on the rear side is prevented from becoming complicated, and the developing device 13
The drive system for Y to 13K and the image forming body 10 can be easily arranged. Also, when the image forming body 10 is attached or detached, since the power is supplied from the near side in the attaching / detaching direction, the connection and detachment can be reliably and easily performed, or the image forming body 10 can be detached while being connected.

The front plate 38 is provided with insertion openings 38A for the chargers 11Y to 11K. U-shaped bracket 35
When the unit 3 is placed on the floor, the connecting beam portion is used as a bottom surface on the floor, so that the image forming body 10 and the image exposing means 12
It is also used as a table without bringing Y to 12K into contact with the floor surface.

In the unit 3, the connecting beam of the U-shaped bracket 35 is inserted through the insertion hole 70A provided in the front plate 70 of the apparatus main body with the phase pin 36 side of the unit shaft 31 at the head. Guide support rail 71 provided between
The drum gear 10 </ b> G of the image forming body 10 is meshed with the drive gear 62 while being sent into the apparatus main body.
Bearing seat 7 having phase pin 36 provided on rear plate 70 of the apparatus main body
2 is engaged with the positioning taper groove formed in FIG.
Fixed to As a result, the image forming body 10 and the image exposing means 12Y to 12K are installed in the apparatus main body at an accurate position and phase.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, when the front plate 38 is fixed to the front plate 70 of the apparatus main body, the reference pins P2 of the front plate 70 are engaged with a plurality of reference holes H1 provided in the front plate 38. When the front plate 38 is first fixed to the front side plate 70 of the apparatus main body, the front plate 38 is fastened with the unit shaft 31 and the tip nut 37 so as not to rotate. Fix the reference hole H1
And the reference pin P2 are engaged.

Each of the chargers 11Y to 11K is inserted into the main body of the apparatus from the insertion opening 38A of the front plate 38 attached to the front plate 70 with the power receiving terminal side first, and the guide support rail 73 provided between the front and rear side plates 70 is provided. In the guide, the power receiving terminal is the rear plate 70
After being fed so as to be connected to the power supply terminal provided in, the push cover 39 is screwed into the insertion opening 38A, so that the image forming body 10 is operably installed at a predetermined interval. Therefore, to remove the unit 3 from the apparatus main body, the front plate 38 is detached from the front plate 70 and then pulled out after the chargers 11Y to 11K are first removed from the insertion opening 38A. In addition, prior to removal of the unit 3, developing units 13 </ b> Y to 13 </ b> Y to be described below with respect to the peripheral surface of the image forming body 10.
Needless to say, it is necessary to release each press-contact action of the 13K, the intermediate transfer belt 14 and the cleaning blade of the cleaning device 100 by a conventionally known means or the like and to retreat for about 1 mm or more.

13Y to 13K are yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K), respectively.
And a developing device for storing a developer using the toner. Each developing device is urged toward the photosensitive drum 10 at a position where the developing device is mounted horizontally with respect to a developing garage to be described later. The position of each developing sleeve with respect to the drum surface is set in contact with the surface. Thereby, the sleeve gear 13 integrated with the developing sleeve 130 is formed.
Reduction gears 53 to 56 to be described later mesh with the gears 3 to 136.

Each of the developing units 13Y to 13K has a perpendicular XX passing through the center of rotation of the image forming body 10 as shown in FIG.
Occupies a position that is substantially symmetrical to the left and right and separates above and below a horizontal line YY passing through the center of rotation.
Is a developing unit 13 (M) below and above the image forming body 10.
The drum driving gear 62 is meshed with the drum gear 10G of the image forming body 10 between the positions 13 and 13 (C). Developing sleeve 1 which is a developer layer conveying roller of each developing device 13
30 is rotated on the image forming body 10 in the same surface movement direction while maintaining a predetermined gap, and formed on the image forming body 10 by charging by the chargers 11Y to 11K and image exposure by the image exposing means 12Y to 12K, respectively. Developing sleeve 1 for electrostatic latent image
30 by applying a developing bias voltage to the developing sleeve 1
The developer layer 30 is reversely developed into a toner image under the non-contact condition.

Next, an image forming process of the above-described color image forming apparatus will be described.

Image information obtained by reading an original image by an image sensor by an image reading device separate from the present device or image information edited by a computer is temporarily stored in a memory as image signals for each of Y, M, C and K colors. Stored and stored.

At the start of image recording, the photoconductor driving motor starts, and the driving gear 62 for driving the drum is rotated to rotate the image forming body 10 as described above. At the same time, the charging operation of the charger 11Y is started to uniformly apply a potential to the peripheral wall of the image forming body 10. On the inner surface of the peripheral wall to which the potential is applied, the image exposing means 12Y reads the first color, for example, Y from the aforementioned memory.
And an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the Y component image of the original image is formed on the peripheral wall surface. The electrostatic latent image is transferred to the developing sleeve 1 by the developing device 13Y.
Reversal development under the condition that the developer layer on 30 is in non-contact,
A Y toner image is formed on the surface of the image forming body 10.

Next, the image forming body 10 is uniformly charged with an electric potential by the charging operation of the charger 11M on the surface of the peripheral wall holding the Y toner image, and the inner surface of the peripheral wall to which the electric potential is applied is the first surface of the image exposing means 12M. Image exposure based on image signals of two colors, for example, M, is input. As a result, the electrostatic latent image formed on the peripheral wall surface is developed into an M toner image by non-contact reversal development by the developing device 13M, so that the Y toner image and the M toner image are superimposed on the surface of the image forming body 10. Is formed.

Similarly, the peripheral wall of the image forming body 10 for holding the two-color image receives a charging operation by the charger 11C, the image exposure means 12C and the developing device 13C, the image exposure incident and the development to form a C toner image on the surface. Thus, a three-color image formed by superimposing three toner images of Y, M, and C is formed. Further, if necessary, the peripheral wall of the image forming body 10 for further holding the three-color image is similarly charged by the charger 11K, the image exposing means 12K and the developing unit 13K, subjected to image exposure and development, and is exposed to the K toner. By forming an image, Y, M, C,
A four-color image is formed by superimposing four K toner images. That is, a three-color or four-color image is formed on the peripheral surface within one rotation of the image forming body 10.

As described above, in the color image forming apparatus of the present invention, since the image exposure means 12Y to 12K enter the image exposure from the inside of the image forming body 10 to the organic photosensitive layer through the transparent substrate, the image exposure of the first color is performed. In addition, the image exposure corresponding to the second, third, and fourth colors is also incident without being affected by the previously formed toner image, and forms an electrostatic latent image that gives a similar clear toner image. Form. To prevent the temperature of the image forming body 10 from rising and stabilize the temperature by the operation of the image exposing means 12Y to 12K, for example, a material having good thermal conductivity is used for the optical system support 30. This can be achieved by radiating heat and cooling, and when the temperature is low, heating by using a heater. In the development by the developing units 13Y to 13K, a developing bias to which a direct current or a further alternating current is applied is applied to the developing sleeve 130, respectively. As a result, non-contact reversal development is performed in which toner from the one-component or two-component developer layer on the developing sleeve 130 flies and adheres to the image forming body 10 having the transparent conductive layer grounded.

The color image of three or four colors formed on the peripheral surface of the image forming body 10 is transferred to the peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer body 14 used for reducing the diameter of the image forming body 10. The intermediate transfer member 14 has an electric resistance of 10 ⁸ to 10 ¹¹ Ω · c
m, a belt in which a Teflon layer having a similar resistance value is provided as a separation surface layer on a urethane rubber layer having a thickness of 100 to 500 μm, and rollers 14A, 14B, 14C and 1
4D, the roller 14A and the roller 14B
Between the roller 14C and the opposite transfer roller 15 as a transfer area for transferring the color image to a transfer material such as transfer paper. 1 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 1 in synchronization with the peripheral speed of the image forming body 10 by the power transmitted to the roller 14D.

The color image adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the image forming body 10 is guided by the grounded roller 14A so as to come into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the image forming body 10, and a bias of 1 to 2 kV having a polarity opposite to that of the toner is applied. Roller 14 to which voltage is applied
The toner is efficiently transferred without scattering the toner to the intermediate transfer member 14 in the transfer region guided by the B to be separated from the outer peripheral surface of the image forming member 10, and is transferred to the transfer region by the intermediate transfer member 14.

On the other hand, the transfer paper P at the uppermost part of a paper feed cassette (not shown) is carried out by a paper feed roller 17 and fed to a timing roller 18, where the transfer roller P is synchronized with the transfer of the color image on the intermediate transfer body 14. The paper is fed to a transfer area 15.

The transfer roller 15 rotates clockwise in synchronization with the peripheral speed of the intermediate transfer member 14, and presses the supplied transfer paper P against the intermediate transfer member 14 with the roller 14C in a grounded state. And 1 to 2 k, which is opposite in polarity to the toner charge.
When a bias voltage of V is applied, the color image on the intermediate transfer body 14 is transferred onto the transfer paper P.

The transfer paper P on which the color image has been transferred is conveyed to a fixing device 21 via a conveyance table 19, where the heat roller 21A
After being heated and compressed between the pressure roller 21B and the toner to fix the toner, the toner is discharged to the outside of the apparatus via the discharge roller 22.

The image forming body 10 after the transfer of the color image,
On the surfaces of the intermediate transfer member 14 and the transfer roller 15, the respective cleaning devices 100 and 140
In addition, since the cleaning blade of the cleaning device 150 is constantly pressed to remove the adhered dirt such as residual toner, any surface is always maintained in a clean state. The toner collected by the cleaning device 100 and the cleaning device 140 is stored in a waste toner storage container by a toner transport pipe with a built-in transport screw (not shown).

The drive mechanism of the image forming body and the developer layer transport roller of the developing device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

In the above-described color image forming apparatus, the developing sleeves 130 of the developing units 13Y to 13K correspond to the image forming body 1
0, a branch reduction gear 51 and a branch reduction gear 5 that engage with the motor gear 50 of the motor 5 occupying a position with respect to the substantially central portion.
2 and two reduction gears 53 and 54 respectively engaged with two sets.
And the reduction drive gears 55 and 56 are
30, integral with the sleeve gears 133, 134, 135,
By engaging with 136, the image forming body 10 is rotated by receiving a pushing force on the outer peripheral surface side. This allows each developing sleeve 130 to accurately maintain the clearance with respect to the image forming body 10 without rattling and to transmit the same smooth rotation from the motor gears through four sets of relatively short identical gear trains. A well-balanced color image can be easily formed, and the apparatus can be configured compactly and inexpensively.

Note that the sleeve gears 133 to 136 and the reduction drive gears 53 to 56 meshing with the sleeve gears 133 push the developing units 13Y to 13K toward the rear side of the apparatus main body when rotating in the directions of the arrows shown in FIGS. It is preferable that the helical gears generate the axial component force because the positions of the developing units 13Y to 13K are stabilized.

The driving gear 62 for rotating the image forming body 10 is decelerated from the motor gear 60 of the motor 6 occupying a position with respect to the upper peripheral portion of the image forming body 10, that is, a position outside the center. This is a reduction drive gear driven by the carrier gear 61. That is, since the image forming body 10 is also smoothly transmitted from the motor gear by the short gear train, the image forming body 10 is relatively rotatably engaged with the optical system support 30 as described above. What
A clear color image without color shift can be easily formed, and the apparatus can be made compact and inexpensive. Also, image forming body 1
The drum drive system of No. 0 is arranged apart from the developing units 13Y to 13K, so that interference between the arrangement of the drum drive system and the developing units can be prevented, and the effect of less toner contamination can be obtained.

The drum gear 10G and the driving gear 62 meshing with the drum gear 10G are provided with an end gear ring 10B having the drum gear 10G and a bearing when the image forming body 10 is rotated counterclockwise in FIGS. Is a helical gear on which a component in the axial direction in the pull-out prevention direction acts as a stopper. Thereby, the rotational position of the image forming body 10 is stabilized, and the occurrence of color shift can be prevented. Further, the direction of the above-described axial component force of the drive gear 62 for rotating the image forming body 10 and each developing sleeve 1
If the directions of the above-described axial component forces of the reduction drive gears 53 to 56 for rotating the 30 are set to the same direction, the relative positions of the image forming body 10 and the developing units 13Y to 13K can be further stabilized, and the stability can be further improved. And a clear color image can be formed.

Further, since the drive gear 62 is supported by a swing bracket 63 which is rotatably fitted to the shaft of the reduction carrier gear 61 and whose rotation range is regulated, the motor 6 is driven by the timepiece shown in FIG. Swing bracket 63
Is rotated counterclockwise until the drum gear 1
When the image forming body 10 is rotated counterclockwise and the motor 6 is rotated in the reverse direction, the swing bracket 63 rotates until it is regulated in the counterclockwise direction, and comes off the drum gear 10G. The front plate 3
The unit 3 can be removed from the apparatus main body by disengaging the unit 8 from the front side plate 70. The swing bracket 6 in the illustrated example
3 is a unit frame 8 of the drive mechanism unit 8 in which the axis of the drive gear 62 holds the axis of the motor 6 and the axis of the reduction carrier gear.
The rotation range is regulated by engaging with the regulating groove 80 </ b> A provided in the zero.

Further, the above-mentioned image forming body 10 and developing unit 13Y
The drive means of the developing sleeve 130 to 13K is integrated into the drive mechanism unit 8 and the drive mechanism unit 8 is attached to the outer surface of the rear plate 70 of the apparatus main body, so that assembly and disassembly and maintenance of the apparatus can be performed. It can be done easily.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8,
The same two motors 5A and 5B are provided on the left and right of the position with respect to the rotation center of the image forming body 10, and the motors 5A and 5B
5 and 6 is that the developing sleeve 130 of the developing units 13Y and 13M on the right side of the perpendicular XX passing through the rotation center of the image forming body 10 and the developing sleeve 130 of the developing units 13C and 13K on the left side are rotated. The only difference is the example. That is, the same effects as in the examples of FIGS. 5 and 6 can be obtained in the examples of FIGS.

The color image forming apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above-described example. Even if the driving mechanism of the image forming body and the developer layer transport roller is not integrated into the unit, the drive of the developer layer transport roller can be performed. Even if the gear does not give a force for pushing the developer layer conveying roller toward the image forming body, the driving gear of the image forming body may be a spur gear, and the effects of the present invention can be suitably obtained in those cases.

Further, as mentioned above, it is needless to say that the drum gear 10G of the image forming body 10 can easily be an internal gear, and the same effect can be obtained.

Each of the developing units 13 is incorporated so that it can be individually attached to and detached from the respective device positions as shown in FIG.

That is, a pair of developing garages 200 are installed at symmetric positions of the image forming body 10, and the developing units 13 (Y) and 13 (M) are connected to the developing garage 20 on the right side in the figure.
0A, the developing units 13 (C) and 13 (K) are inserted into the developing garage 200B on the left side of the drawing from the horizontal direction, respectively.
The pressure-contact plate 2 erected in a U-shape in the stored state
01 is urged in the horizontal direction with respect to the peripheral surface of the image forming body 10 by the elasticity of the pair of compression coil springs 202 included in the image forming body 10 so that each developing sleeve 130 is spaced from the peripheral surface of the image forming body 10 by a predetermined developing distance. It is set at the position where it is formed.

After the front lid I shown in FIG. 1 is opened from the main body II via the support shaft H of each developing unit 13, the pressing plate 201 is removed to release the urging by the compression coil spring 202. By doing so, each developing garage 2
It is slid and removed from 00A and 200B and taken out of the apparatus body. When all the developing units 13 are removed, the bracket 35, that is, the development forming body 10 is removed.
The image exposure means 12 is horizontally taken out to the front side of the apparatus main body by releasing the connection of the above-mentioned connector.

In removing each developing unit 13, regardless of the number of motors for driving each developing unit 13, each of the developing sleeve gears 133 to 136 and each of the reduction drive gears 53 to 56 shown in FIGS. For example, the configuration and layout of the gear system as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8 are adopted so that the meshing is automatically released.

After taking out each developing unit 13, the tip nut 37 shown in FIG.
By removing the bracket 35, the bracket 35 slides along the guide support rail 71 and is pulled out to the front of the apparatus main body.

[0051]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the drum driving gear is disposed above to prevent contamination by toner,
And a plurality of developing means and an image forming body and an image exposing means can be detached from the mounting position individually or integrally on the front side of the apparatus main body.
In accordance with the invention, a color image forming apparatus having improved maintainability in which the accuracy of the positional relationship between each developing means and the image forming body at the mounting position is improved, and connection and disconnection of respective driving systems are automatically performed upon removal. Will be provided.

Further, according to the fifth to seventh aspects of the present invention, a plurality of driving sources can be attached to and detached from the apparatus body as a compact unit together with the gear train, and as a result, the color image forming apparatus is excellent in maintenance and productivity. Was realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of a color image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of an image forming body.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of mounting an image forming unit.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a layout of a developing device for an image forming body.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a driving system (part 1) of the image forming body and the developing device.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a drive system (part 1).

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a drive system (part 2) for the image forming body and the developing device.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a drive system (part 2).

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a developing garage.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming body 10G Drum gear 12 Image exposure means 13 Developing device 14 Intermediate transfer body (intermediate transfer belt) 35 Bracket 62 Drive gear 71 Guide support rail 130 Developing sleeve 133-136 Sleeve gear 200 Developing garage 201 Pressure contact plate I Front cover II Main unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor ▲ Hama ▼ Shuta Tadashi 2970 Ishikawacho, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo Konica Corporation

Claims (7)

[Claims] A plurality of charging, image exposing and developing means are provided on a peripheral surface of a drum-shaped image forming body, and charging, image exposing and developing are repeated on the peripheral surface of the image forming body to form a toner. A color image forming apparatus that collectively transfers the toner image to a transfer material via an intermediate transfer member after the images are superimposed and formed, wherein the intermediate transfer member is disposed below the image forming member; And a drum drive gear for rotating a drum gear integrated with the image forming body is provided between upper developing means, and a color image forming apparatus. 2. A motor for rotating the drum driving gear and a rotation transmitting gear train are supported on a side plate of the apparatus main body, and are urged by the rotation of the motor to mesh with the drum driving gear, 2. The collar according to claim 1, wherein the drum driving gear and the drum gear are helical gears, and an axial component of a driving force of the drum driving gear is used for stabilizing the position of the image forming body. Image forming device. 3. A developer layer transport roller of said developing means is disposed close to an outer peripheral surface of said image forming body, and a motor for rotating said developer layer transport roller and a rotation transmission gear train are provided on said side plate. The roller drive gear of the rotation transmission gear train that is supported and meshes with a roller gear that is integral with the developer layer transport roller is a helical gear, and the drive force of the roller drive gear is in the axial direction. 2. The color image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the force is used for stabilizing the position of the developing unit. 4. A motor for rotating the image forming body, a rotation transmission gear train, and the developer layer conveying, wherein a developer layer conveying roller of the developing means is disposed close to an outer peripheral surface of the image forming body. A motor for rotating the roller and a rotation transmission gear train are supported on a side plate of the apparatus main body, and a drum drive gear meshing with the drum gear and a roller drive gear meshing with a roller gear integrated with the developer layer transport roller 2. The color image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the helical gears are used for stabilizing the positions of the image forming body and the developing unit by setting the axial component of the driving force of the driving gears in the same direction. apparatus. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein two developing means are disposed on the left and right sides of a vertical line passing through the center of rotation of the image forming body, and a developer layer conveying roller is disposed in close proximity to an outer peripheral surface of the image forming body. The motor for rotating the forming body occupies a position with respect to the peripheral portion of the image forming body, and the motor for rotating the developer layer transport roller of the four developing means occupies a position near the center of the image forming body. 2. The color image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of motors is supported by the side plate together with a rotation transmission gear train. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein two developing means are disposed on the left and right sides of a vertical line passing through the center of rotation of the image forming body, and a developer layer conveying roller is disposed in close proximity to an outer peripheral surface of the image forming body. A motor for rotating the image forming body occupies a position with respect to the peripheral edge of the image forming body, and two motors for rotating the developer layer conveying rollers of the two developing units respectively position the left and right positions near the center of the image forming body. 2. The color image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the three motors are supported on the side plate together with the rotation transmission gear train so as to occupy the three motors. 7. A rotation transmission system for said image forming body and a rotation transmission system for said developing means for a developer layer transport roller are integrated and supported as a unit by said side plate. A color image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6.