JPH11217150A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device provided with a paper discharging device, capable of coping with various using situations in order to improve taking-out performance of paper sheets stacked on a discharged paper tray, in a wingless type image forming device. SOLUTION: An image forming device provided with a discharged paper housing space D positioned between a scanner part A and an image forming part B having the vertical positional relation, at least two discharged paper trays 20, 21 arranged in the discharged paper housing space D with the vertical positional relation, and a plurality of paper discharging ports 25, 26 arranged with the vertical positional relation in order to discharge paper sheets conveyed from the image forming part B into the discharged paper sheet housing space D. At least one discharged paper tray can be vertically moved between the lower position of the upper discharging port 25 and the upper position of the upper paper discharging port 26.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a paper discharge device used in a so-called wingless type digital copying machine, and more particularly, to a plurality of paper discharge storage cavities in a body of a copying machine main body in a vertical position. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that can solve the problem that when the paper discharge trays are arranged, the interval between the paper discharge trays becomes too small to make it difficult to take out stacked sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, etc., in order to reduce an installation space of the apparatus, a space between a scanner unit and an image forming unit which are in a vertical positional relationship. A so-called wingless type image forming apparatus has been put to practical use in which a paper discharge accommodating space is provided in a space, and sheets are discharged and placed in the space. In this wingless type image forming apparatus, it is necessary to sufficiently separate the scanner section and the image forming section in order to secure a paper discharge accommodating space. It is difficult to realize this in an analog type electrophotographic image forming apparatus in which an image is guided and imaged. For this reason, the wingless type configuration is frequently used in digital devices. On the other hand, many digital image forming apparatuses can be used as a facsimile or a printer by incorporating a wiring board having a dedicated function and connecting to an external communication line, and the above-mentioned wingless type is no exception. In an image forming apparatus incorporating these functions, in order to prevent the sheets belonging to different jobs discharged from the discharge port into the discharge receiving space from being mixed, a plurality of discharge sheets assigned to each of the functions are prevented. In many cases, paper is discharged onto a tray. However, in a wingless type copying machine, a plurality of paper output trays must be installed in a paper output storage space, which is a limited space between the scanner unit and the image forming unit. The problem is that the size of the paper stack becomes smaller and it is not easy to take out the paper stacked on each paper discharge tray. Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-218552 proposed by the present applicant discloses that a scanner unit is configured to be vertically movable with respect to an apparatus main body having a built-in image forming unit, so that a sheet is discharged from the image forming unit. Although the configuration in which the interval between the sets is variable is disclosed, this technology is mainly intended to change the height of the entire machine in accordance with the installation environment of the device, and the interval between the output sections is increased to increase the output storage space. It is not intended to increase the number of sheets or to prevent the discharge paper from being mixed. In particular, there is no consideration that the paper stacking space on the paper discharge tray becomes narrower when the paper discharge tray is disposed in the paper discharge unit, and a plurality of paper discharge ports are provided on the inner wall of the paper discharge unit. It does not relate to the type that discharges paper onto the corresponding paper output tray.Therefore, even if there is an effect of increasing the loading space by configuring the scanner unit to be vertically movable, paper belonging to different jobs It is not possible to prevent mixed loading on the paper discharge section. In any case, the present invention described below does not make a large structural change in which the scanner unit is configured to be vertically movable, and maintains a paper discharge accommodating space of a limited space, and a discharge tray in the space. Therefore, the conventional example relating to the type in which the scanner unit is moved up and down is irrelevant to the present invention described later.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho 59-188687 discloses a copying machine which is not a wingless type, that is, an apparatus in which two upper and lower discharge trays are externally attached to a discharge port on an outer surface of a copying machine main body. A technology has been disclosed in which at least one of the paper output trays is configured to be vertically movable with respect to one paper output port so that sheets discharged from one paper output port can be selectively discharged onto each tray. . However, the technology described in this publication is not related to a wingless type digital copier in the first place, and prevents mixed loading on a tray in a limited vertical space and improves paper takeout from the tray. And it is not possible to achieve such a purpose of use with this configuration. In particular, since the configuration is complicated and large, the space occupied by each component constituting the tray becomes large, and it is impossible to arrange the tray in a narrow wingless type paper discharge storage space. Next, JP-A-9-16032
No. 0 discloses a wingless type image recording apparatus in which a tray disposed in a paper discharge unit provided between an image forming unit and a scanner unit is configured to be movable up and down, so that the purpose of use of each tray is improved. A configuration is disclosed in which the sheet is moved above or below the sheet discharge port depending on whether or not the sheet is used. However, the mechanism for raising and lowering the tray according to this technique has a complicated configuration and is related to a type having only one sheet discharge port, and therefore has nothing to do with the present invention described later. Next, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-64573 discloses a technique in which a paper discharge device having a separate structure is disposed below an analog image forming apparatus in which an image forming section is disposed in proximity to a scanner section. There is disclosed an apparatus in which each tray in a paper discharge device is selectively moved in a lateral direction so that paper discharged from a vertically movable paper discharge roller is discharged onto a desired tray. However, such a configuration is complicated,
It is fundamentally impossible to arrange a mechanism for increasing the size in a narrow wingless type paper discharge storage space.

[0004]

Further, in a wingless type image forming apparatus, a paper discharge port located above the inner wall of a paper storage space in order to enhance the ability to take out paper stacked on a paper discharge tray. It is conceivable to increase the space between the upper tray and the lower tray by placing the upper tray very close to the printer to improve paper take-out, but in this case, the discharge capacity of the upper tray may be undefined. . In the conventional image forming apparatus of this type, since the upper tray is fixed, it was not possible to select which of the sheet take-out property of the lower tray and the discharge capacity of the upper tray should be prioritized (Problem 1). . Further, when the upper tray is provided only for an application that is used very infrequently, there is a drawback that the hand always interferes with the upper tray when the paper is taken out, even though the upper tray is usually not used at all ( Challenge 2). In order to solve the problem 2, it is conceivable to avoid the interference between the hand and the upper tray at the time of taking out by configuring the upper tray so as to be able to expand and contract. And the lower tray cannot be used as a large-capacity discharge tray (Problem 3). In order to solve the problems 2 and 3, if the paper discharge tray is shrunk by the slide mechanism or made to be able to be stored in the scanner unit, paper is erroneously discharged from the discharge port corresponding to the tray in these states, and the mixture of papers is reduced. There is a risk that the paper may fall (Problem 4). As described above, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and proposes an image forming apparatus including a paper discharge device that can cope with various use situations.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems,
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper discharge accommodating cavity located between a scanner unit and an image forming unit which are in a vertical positional relationship with each other, and at least two paper ejecting spaces arranged in the paper ejecting accommodating cavity in a vertical positional relationship. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a paper tray; and a plurality of paper ejection ports arranged in a vertical positional relationship for ejecting paper conveyed from the image forming unit into the paper ejection receiving space. The two discharge trays are configured to be vertically movable between a position below the upper discharge port and a position above the upper discharge port. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that one of the discharge trays located on the upper side can be moved or deformed in a direction to enlarge the paper stack space on another discharge tray located on the lower side. According to a third aspect of the present invention, one of the upper discharge trays is retracted from a position below the upper discharge port to an upper position so as not to receive a discharge sheet from the upper discharge port. It is characterized by the following. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a detecting means for detecting that the upper discharge tray is retracted to a position above the upper discharge port, and when the discharge tray is retracted, the upper discharge tray is disposed. It is characterized in that paper discharge from the paper exit is restricted.

[0006]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic structural explanatory view of an example of an image forming apparatus provided with a sheet discharging device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view common to a compound digital copying machine as an example of a digital image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The thick arrows in the figure represent the paper transport path. Further, a printed circuit board for a facsimile function (not shown) is provided in the multifunction peripheral, and is connected to an external communication line. This image forming apparatus has a configuration in which a scanner unit A, an image forming unit B, and a paper feeding unit C are sequentially arranged from the upper side, and the discharged sheets are stacked between the scanner unit A and the image forming unit B. A paper discharge storage space D to be stored is arranged, and the paper discharge storage space D is configured so that a hand can be put in from the front or right opening to take out stacked paper discharges. The paper fed to the image forming unit B from the paper feed tray 1, the paper feed table 2, or the manual feed table 3 constituting the paper feed unit C is supplied to the photosensitive drum 5 by the registration roller 4 at a predetermined appropriate timing. The toner image on the photosensitive drum 5 is transferred to a transfer position below the image forming apparatus. The image forming unit B transfers a toner image, which is developed by a developing device to an electrostatic latent image formed by irradiating a laser beam from a writing optical system E using a laser beam onto the photoreceptor 5, to a sheet of paper. It is an electrophotographic method that is fixed afterwards, but since this method is well known,
Detailed description is omitted. The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred is sent to the fixing device 6, where the toner image is fixed. The paper exiting from the fixing device 6 is branched and conveyed by a double-sided branching claw 7 to a lower path 9 that goes to the double-sided unit 8 and a discharge path 10 that goes to the left.

When the sheet is sent to the double-sided unit 8, the sheet is fed again to the transfer position, the image is formed again on the back side, and the sheet is sent to the discharge path 10 after being fixed. The paper sent to the discharge path 10 is sorted by the paper discharge branching claws 11 and discharged to the face-up tray 15, or the paper is sent to the face-down tray (lower discharge tray) by the branching claws 17 via the paper discharge path 16 going upward. Paper tray) 20 and an upper tray (upper discharge tray) 21 are respectively branched into respective discharge trays 2.
Discharged on 0,21. The face-up tray 15 is openable and closable vertically about a pivot point at the base end, and is normally closed on the side of the device. The sheet further branched by the final branching pawl 17 is discharged onto the upper tray 21 via the final discharge path 22. Discharge to the lower discharge tray 20 is performed from the lower discharge port 25,
The paper discharged to the upper paper discharge tray 21 is normally the upper paper discharge port 2
6 is performed. The upper tray 21 is assigned, for example, to discharge a sheet on which an image received when the facsimile function is used is transferred. As shown in the drawing, a transport roller pair and a paper discharge roller pair are arranged at each transport path, paper discharge path, and paper discharge port. Each of the paper discharge trays 20 and 21 including the paper discharge accommodating space D, the paper discharge paths 16 and 22, each transport roller pair, and the paper discharge roller pair constitute a paper discharge device (paper discharge unit). A scanner unit A (reading optical system) is provided above the scanner unit, and is used when reading a document image used for copying or facsimile.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the vicinity of the upper paper discharge tray in the paper discharge device of FIG. 1 according to the first embodiment. Note that the upper scanner section A
Is omitted. The upper tray 21 is vertically movably supported below an upper discharge port 26 provided on the inner wall 30 of the discharge storage space D, and is supported by a pair of discharge rollers 26 a provided in the discharge port 26. Load the discharged paper. The upper tray 21 is fitted with a vertically guided slit-shaped or groove-shaped guide portion 31 provided at the front portion and the back portion of the inner wall 30, and a guided portion 21a at the base end is fitted into the upper tray 21 to move up and down. Supported as possible. Note that the fixing holes 21b are
And a plurality of screw holes 33 which are aligned with the fixing holes 21b on the lateral wall surface of one or both guide portions 31 at a predetermined pitch in the vertical direction. An array is formed. For example, when facsimile reception frequency is high (time), the upper tray 2
1 is moved to the lower limit position P1, the screw 32 is screwed into the fixing hole 21b, and the upper tray is fixed at the lower limit position P1.
The amount of sheets placed on the upper tray 21 can be increased. Also, if the reliability of facsimile reception is low (time)
By moving the upper tray 21 to the upper limit position P2 shown in the drawing and fixing the upper tray 21 to a position where the interval with the lower tray 20 is widened,
It is possible to improve the ability to take out the paper from the lower tray 20. Also, the frequency of facsimile reception,
The fixing position of the upper tray 21 can be variously selected according to conditions such as the need for the load amount on the lower tray. It should be noted that the illustrated method of fixing the upper tray 21 to a desired height is merely an example, and a spring pin or the like that can be attached and detached with one touch may be used without depending on other components such as screws.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the structure of a paper discharge device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
The configuration of the first embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment. That is, the upper tray 21 can move up and down by a pin 41 on a horizontal stacking plate 40 for receiving the sheet discharged from the sheet discharge port 26 and an inner end (upstream end in the sheet discharging direction) of the stacking plate 40. A pivotally supported inclined plate 42. Upper tray 2
Reference numeral 1 denotes a vertically movable mechanism which is supported by a lifting mechanism.
A slit-shaped or groove-shaped guide portion 44a formed along the up-down direction on the inner side wall 44 of the sheet storage space D to receive the sheet 3 and guide the stacking plate 40 in the up-down direction; A storage portion 45 provided at an upper portion of D or a lower portion of the scanner portion A for storing the upper tray 21 moved to the upper limit position along the guide portion 44a; and provided at an appropriate position of the upper tray 21 provided at an upper portion of the storage portion 45 A magnet catch 47 for detachably adsorbing the sucked portion (iron plate) 46, a projection 48 provided at an appropriate position of the upper tray, for example, a rear end portion, and when the upper tray is fitted to the upper limit position in the storage portion 45. There is a transmission type photo sensor 49 and the like as upper limit detecting means for receiving the projection 48 and detecting the upper limit position of the upper tray. Also, an inclined plate 4 of the upper tray is provided at an appropriate position on the inner wall 30 of the discharge storage space.
The holding member 50 for receiving and supporting the distal end of the inner wall 3
A pin 52 is provided so as to be freely rotatable in a recess 51 provided at the center. The guide portion 44a is located on the inner side wall 44 of the paper discharge storage space D.
Alternatively, the upper tray 21 may be provided on the inner wall on the front side to support the upper tray 21 from both front and rear sides so as to be able to move up and down. The upper limit detecting means may be a limit switch or a reflection type photo sensor.

When the upper tray 21 is used, it is lowered to the position shown in the figure and held at the lower end of the guide portion 44a. At this time, the tip of the inclined plate 42 is supported by a holding member 50 rotatably provided on the wall surface on the side of the paper discharge unit. If the weight of the paper is a problem, the upper tray may be fixed to the inner wall with screws as in the embodiment of FIG. When storing the upper tray 21 in the empty space 45, the inclined plate 42 is lifted up to a horizontal position, and then the entire upper tray is raised along the guide portion 44a and provided on the magnet catch 47 at the end of the tray. The iron plate 46 is sucked and held.
At this time, the projection 48 at the rear end of the tray shields the transmissive photosensor (detection means) 49 provided below the scanner, so that the control unit (not shown) can recognize the storage (upper limit position) of the upper tray. . In this manner, at the lower limit position shown in FIG. 3, the upper tray 21 is located below the paper discharge port 26, so that it can receive paper from the paper discharge port 26, that is, facsimile reception paper or the like. Note that FIG.
By setting the installation height of the upper tray 21 to be changed stepwise by a fixing method similar to the embodiment, the load on the upper tray can be adjusted in accordance with the facsimile reception frequency. When the upper tray 21 is fixed at the upper limit position, it goes without saying that the lower tray 20 can be fully used. In this case, it goes without saying that the ease of taking out the paper from the lower tray is improved.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the selection of a discharge tray of the digital copying machine according to the third embodiment. In this embodiment, when facsimile communication is received when the upper tray is stored in the empty space 45 (when the upper tray is located above the paper discharge port 26) (Step 1 YES, Step 2 YES). To stop the image forming operation in the image forming section and display "Please set upper discharge tray" on an operation section (not shown) (step 3NO, step 9) or discharge to another discharge tray. Can be selected in advance by key input provided on the operation unit (step 3 YES). Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, since the upper tray is completely stored in the scanner unit, the paper jam does not occur even when the upper tray is in the stored state and the paper is discharged from the upper paper output port 26 when the facsimile is not being received. No occurrence (step 4 YES). For this reason, when the storage of the upper tray 21 at the upper limit position is detected during copying, the copy paper is discharged from the upper discharge port 26, and
It may be placed on the lower tray 20 (step 5 YES, step 6). In this case, a large-volume discharge mode can be set by key input from the operation unit, and the amount of paper placed can be significantly increased. When the facsimile is not being received and the upper tray 21 is not stored at the upper limit position, the upper tray 21 is discharged from the lower discharge port 25 onto the lower tray 20 (step 7). The operation corresponding to each of the flowcharts described above is, of course, performed by a control program stored in a control unit provided in the image forming apparatus.

Next, FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a sheet discharging device according to another embodiment, and the upper tray 21 is configured to be freely expandable and contractible (slidable) in a multistage manner. That is, the upper tray 21
The first is fixed to the inner wall 30 of the paper discharge storage space D at one end.
, A second member 60b connected to the first member 60a so as to be able to advance and retreat in the direction of the arrow, a third member 60c, and a fourth member 60d similarly connected. As described above, it is possible to receive a sheet of the maximum size from the sheet discharge port 26 when the sheet is in the maximum expanded state. Further, when all the members 60a to 60d are in the shortened state, the sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port 26 are not prevented from dropping onto the lower tray 20, so that a large amount of sheets can be stacked on the lower tray 20. It is possible to do. In addition,
In each of the above embodiments, the upper tray 21 is dedicated to facsimile receiving paper. However, the upper tray 21 may be used for a printer function, or may be dedicated to a specific mode in a copy function. Also in these cases, the selection of the discharge tray can be performed in the same manner.

[0013]

In the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, at least one paper discharge tray, that is, the upper paper discharge tray is supported so as to be vertically movable, and the paper is placed on the upper tray according to the frequency of use of the tray. It is possible to select whether to give priority to the amount or to give priority to the ability to take out paper from the lower tray. In the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, since one of the discharge trays located on the upper side can be moved or deformed in a direction to enlarge the paper stacking space on the other discharge tray located below, It is possible to improve the sheet take-out property from the lower tray according to the use condition of the forming apparatus. In the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, at least one paper discharge tray can be stored in the scanner unit or the image forming unit. In other words, since the upper discharge tray can be retracted above the upper discharge port,
The protrusion of the upper tray into the paper discharge storage space can be completely eliminated, and the ease of taking out paper from the lower tray can be improved in accordance with the use state of the image forming apparatus. Claim 4
The image forming apparatus has a detecting means for detecting a storage state of the upper paper discharge tray (a state retracted upward from the upper paper discharge port). When the upper paper discharge tray is in the stored state, the upper paper discharge port is provided. Since the paper discharge from the paper is restricted, there is no possibility that the paper is mixed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view common to a compound digital copying machine as an example of a digital image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the vicinity of an upper paper discharge tray in the paper discharge device of FIG. 1 and an embodiment corresponding to claim 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a paper ejection device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing selection of a discharge tray of the digital copying machine according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration explanatory view of a paper discharge device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

A scanner unit, B image forming unit, C paper feed unit, D paper discharge storage space, 1 paper feed tray, 2 paper feed tables, 3
Manual feed table, 4 registration rollers, 5 photoreceptor drum, 6 fixing unit, 7 double-sided branch claw, 8 double-sided unit, 9 paths, 10 discharge path, 11 discharge branch claw, 15
Face-up tray, 16 paper discharge paths, 17 branch claws, 20 face-down tray (lower paper discharge tray),
21 upper tray (upper discharge tray), 22 final discharge path, 25 lower discharge port, 26 upper discharge port, 30 inner wall, 40 stacking plate, 41 pin, 42 inclined plate, 43
Pin, 44 Back side wall, 44a Guide part, 45 accommodation part, 46 attracted part (iron plate), 4 magnet catch, 48 projection, 49 transmission type photosensor, 50 holding member, 51 recess, 52 pin, 60a to 60d member .

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A paper discharge storage space located between a scanner unit and an image forming unit in a vertical positional relationship with each other, and at least two paper discharge trays arranged in the paper discharge storage space in a vertical positional relationship. And a plurality of paper discharge ports arranged in a vertical positional relationship for discharging the paper conveyed from the image forming section into the paper discharge accommodating space, wherein at least one paper discharge port is provided. An image forming apparatus, wherein a paper tray is configured to be vertically movable between a position below the upper discharge port and a position above the upper discharge port. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one of the upper discharge trays is movable or deformable in a direction to enlarge a paper stack space on another lower discharge tray. The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of the upper discharge trays is retracted from a position below the upper discharge port to an upper position so as not to receive the discharge paper from the upper discharge port. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. A detecting means for detecting that the upper discharge tray is retracted to a position above the upper discharge port, and wherein the upper discharge port is provided when the discharge tray is in the retracted state. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein discharge of paper from the printer is restricted.