JPH115655A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the whole construction in a compact size by forming the transport paths of the respective units in such a manner that when the respective units are mounted in designated positions of the apparatus main body, the paths are connected to each other, and transporting a roll paper of a lower unit through the transport path of the upper unit to an image forming part. SOLUTION: Pairs of paper feed rollers 108-111 feed a corresponding roll paper along the transport paths 115-118 provided on the respective units extending substantially vertically to a common feed roller pair 112. The transport paths 115-118 of the respective units 105-107 form a continuous path when the respective units are mounted in designated positions of the apparatus main body. For example, rolls 103, 104 of paper fed out from the lowermost unit 107 are sent through the transport path 116 of the upper unit 106. The feed roller pair 112 feed the transported roll paper into a cutter 113, and the cutter 113 is operated in a suitable timing to cut the roll paper to a specified size. The cut paper sheet is subsequently sent to an image forming part.

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 such as an electronic copier and a printer, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of drawable units capable of loading roll paper are arranged vertically. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of roll papers are loaded in respective loading sections and used, each roll paper loading section is formed into a unit, and these units are arranged in a plurality of stages up and down, and a front face of the apparatus main body is provided. It is configured such that it can be pulled out by sliding to the side, and when necessary, only the necessary unit can be pulled out to perform loading of roll paper and maintenance work.

Conventionally, in an apparatus having such a multi-stage roll paper loading unit, the roll paper sent from the loading section is sent to an image forming section through a transport path provided in the apparatus body.

[0004]

In such a conventional apparatus, the loading unit has a function of only loading and feeding the roll paper, while the loaded roll paper is supplied to the apparatus body side. It has a configuration in which a conveyance path for guiding is fixedly provided, which limits the downsizing of the apparatus and has a problem that maintenance is not easy when a paper jam or the like occurs in the conveyance path. I have.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention arranges a plurality of drawable units in which roll paper can be loaded, and each unit is provided with a unit for transporting the fed roll paper. It has a vertically extending transport path, and the transport path of each unit constitutes a continuous path when each unit is loaded at a predetermined position in the apparatus main body, and the roll paper of the lower unit transports the upper unit. The sheet is conveyed to the image forming unit through the passage.

In such a means, the roll paper of the lower unit is transported through the transport path of the upper unit, and when a paper jam or the like occurs in these transport paths, the unit is pulled out to remove the paper. The clogging can be removed.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, which is roughly classified into a roll paper feed unit 1 disposed on the front side (right side in FIG. 1) of the apparatus main body and an image forming unit disposed in the center. 2, a fixing unit 3 and a transfer material discharging unit 4 arranged at a rear portion, and a document conveying unit 5 and an optical projecting unit 6 arranged at an upper portion. As is well known, the original conveyed by the original conveying unit 5 is projected onto the photosensitive drum of the image forming unit 2 by the optical projection unit 6, and a toner image corresponding to the original is formed in the image forming unit. The toner image is transferred onto a transfer sheet supplied from a roll sheet feeding unit, is fixed, and is discharged by a discharge unit 4. The fixing unit 3, the discharge unit 4, the document conveying unit 5, and the optical projection unit 6 are not directly related in the present invention and will not be described in detail, but a known configuration can be used.

The image forming section 2 has a photosensitive drum 21 which rotates in the direction indicated by an arrow during operation. Around the photosensitive drum 21, a charging corona discharger 22, a developing device 23, a transfer corona discharger 24, The corona discharger 25, the cleaning device 26, and the eraser 27 are arranged so as to sequentially act on the photosensitive drum 21.

When an optical image is projected by the optical projection unit 6 on the photosensitive drum 21 charged by the corona discharger 22, a latent image corresponding to the optical image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum of the photosensitive drum 21. . This latent image is developed by a developing device 23 to form a toner image, and the toner image is transferred to the transfer corona discharge device 2.
The image is transferred onto the transfer material by the action of (4). Next, the transfer material is separated from the photosensitive drum 21 by the separation corona discharger 25, and then sent to the fixing unit 3 by the transport belt 28. After the separation, the photosensitive drum 21 is then cleaned by the cleaning device 26, the charge is eliminated by the eraser, and the photosensitive drum 21 is prepared for the next image formation.

The image forming section 2 is unitized and includes at least a photosensitive drum 21 and a developing device 23, and can be integrally pulled out from the apparatus main body. In this specification, this unit including at least the photosensitive drum 21 and the developing device 23 is referred to as an image forming unit. In a preferred embodiment, the image forming unit 30 includes the photosensitive drum 21
And a developing device 23 and a cleaning device 26, and a charging device 22 and an eraser 27. The drum and the apparatus are provided so as to be slidable toward the front side of the apparatus body in a substantially horizontal direction with respect to the apparatus body as viewed in FIG.

FIG. 4 schematically shows the slide mechanism. 3
Reference numerals 1 and 32 denote side plates forming a frame of the image forming unit 30. The frame including the side plates 31 and 32 carries the photosensitive drum and each device. These drums or devices can be configured to be further detachable from the image forming unit 30 as necessary. Side plates 31, 3
2 is provided so as to be slidable with respect to the fixing portions 35 and 36 of the apparatus main body by slide rails 33 and 34, respectively, and can be pulled out from the front side of the apparatus main body. As the slide rails 33 and 34, those having a known configuration can be used.
It extends in a substantially horizontal direction from the front side of the apparatus body toward the center. The side plates 31 and 32 extend toward the front side of the apparatus main body so as to support a roll paper loading unit described later, and the ends thereof are bent outward to form flanges 37 and 38. ing. Flanges 37, 38
When the image forming unit 30 is mounted at a predetermined position in the apparatus main body, the surface contacts the fixing portions 35 and 36 of the copier main body. The image forming unit 30 does not need to be opened at the time of general use and is mainly opened at a special time such as during maintenance and repair. It is screwed to fixing portions 35 and 36 of the machine body. Thus, when the image forming unit 30 is pulled out, the screws 41, 42, 43 are removed, and the side plates 31, 32 can be slid to the front side of the apparatus main body.

In order to arrange the image forming unit 30 at a predetermined position in the apparatus main body, as shown in FIG.
Positioning recesses 45 are provided at the distal ends of the first and the second 32, and positioning is performed by bringing the recesses into contact with positioning pins 45 fixedly attached to the apparatus main body.

On the other hand, a paper supply unit 1 for supplying necessary transfer paper to the image forming unit 2 includes four roll papers 101 of different sizes.
~ 104 loaded. These roll papers 101 to 1
Numeral 04 denotes a roll paper loading unit 10 which is arranged in a plurality of stages vertically.
5 to 107 are loaded. The roll papers 101 and 102 are loaded into roll paper loading units 105 and 106, respectively, and the roll papers 103 and 104 are placed in a lower unit 10 thereof.
7 are loaded in parallel. Each unit 105-10
Reference numerals 6 are provided so as to be able to be pulled out from the apparatus main body, as will be described later, so that the roll paper can be loaded in the pulled-out state. Paper feed roller pairs 108 to 111 are provided corresponding to the respective roll papers 101 to 104. A pair of paper feed rollers 108 to 111 transports the corresponding roll paper to a substantially vertically extending transport path 11 provided in each unit.
The sheet is fed to the common feed roller pair 112 along 5-118. The transport passages 115 to 118 of these units 105 to 107 constitute a continuous passage when each unit is loaded at a predetermined position of the apparatus main body. For example, the roll paper 103 sent from the lowest unit 107 , 1
04 is sent through the transport path 116 of the upper unit 106. The feed roller pair 112 feeds the sent roll paper to the cutter 113, and the cutter 113 operates at an appropriate timing to cut the roll paper to a designated size. The cut paper is then sent to the image forming unit 2.

In such a configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, the roll paper loading unit 105 is located in front of and behind the image forming unit 30 when viewed from the front side of the apparatus main body.
Referring to FIG. 4 again, the roll paper loading unit 105 is pulled out to the front side of the apparatus main body so that both sides thereof can be slid substantially horizontally with respect to the side plates 31 and 32 of the image forming unit 30 by slide rails 120 and 121. As a result, the roll paper loading unit 105 and the image forming unit 30 can slide independently of each other on the same path with respect to the apparatus main body, and can be pulled out from the front side of the apparatus main body.

As shown in FIG. 5, a clamp handle 140 is provided on the front surface of the roll paper loading unit 105. The handle 140 is provided on the side plate 13 of the roll paper loading unit.
It is fixed to an arm 142 pivotally attached to a shaft 141 by a shaft 141. One end of the arm 142 is connected to a lever 143, and the other end of the lever 143 is connected to a pivot clamp 144. The clamp 144 is rotatably provided by a shaft 145, and has a concave portion 14 for hooking a pin 146 fixed to a side plate of the image forming unit at a tip end thereof.
Seven. The lever 143 is biased so as to pivot in the counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 5, and the range of pivoting is limited by a stopper (not shown) so as not to deviate from a position where it can be engaged with the pin 146. ing. Clamp 144
The leading edge 148 is inclined downward and obliquely rearward so that it can get over the pins 146 when the unit 105 is loaded. In this manner, when the unit 105 is loaded, the concave portion 147 of the clamp 144 locks the pin 146 and fixes the unit 105.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which only the roll paper loading unit 105 is pulled out, and FIG. 3 shows a state in which the image forming unit 30 and the roll paper loading unit 105 are pulled out together.
When pulling out only the roll paper loading unit 105, as shown in FIG. 4, the unit 140 is lifted up, the arm 142 is pivoted to release the clamp 144 from the pin 146, and the unit is removed from the apparatus main body. This can be done by sliding it forward. After the necessary work is completed, when the unit is pushed in as it is, the clamp 144 again latches the pin 146 and fixes the unit in a predetermined position.

On the other hand, when pulling out the image forming unit 30, the screws 42 and 43 shown in FIG. 4 are removed, and the unit is slid toward the front side of the apparatus main body. Thus, the unit 30 can be pulled out of the apparatus main body while holding the roll paper loading unit 105.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, transfer surfaces 150 of the transfer material are formed by the surfaces 151 and 152 of the image forming unit 30 and the roll paper loading unit 105 which are in contact with each other.
It is preferable that the roll paper loading unit 105 can be separated from the image forming unit 151 at the passage. In this example, the transport path 150 forms a path for transporting the manually inserted transfer material to the image forming unit.
With this configuration, if the transfer material is clogged in the passage 150, it can be easily removed.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, a vertically extending transport path is provided in the roll paper loading unit which can be pulled out, and the transport path is shared with the common path of the roll paper sent from the lower unit. By the configuration to do
This has the advantage that the overall configuration of the apparatus can be made compact and that if a paper jam or the like occurs in such a passage, it can be easily removed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a roll paper loading unit is pulled out in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the image forming unit and the roll paper loading unit are pulled out together in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a slide mechanism of an image forming unit and a roll paper loading unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a clamp mechanism of the roll paper loading unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21 Photosensitive Drum 30 Image Forming Unit 105 Roll Paper Loading Unit 115-118 Transport Path 150 Transfer Material Transport Path

Claims (1)

[Claims] A plurality of drawable units capable of loading roll paper are arranged vertically above and below each other, each unit has a vertically extending transport path for transporting the fed roll paper, and each unit is transported. The path forms a continuous path when each unit is loaded at a predetermined position in the apparatus main body, and the roll paper of the lower unit is transported to the image forming unit through the transport path of the upper unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: