JPS60242085A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the titled apparatus which enables easy and quick treatment for jamming or the like by building a discharge roller and a guide member as unit to guide them to the position of the equipment body with a rail guide. CONSTITUTION:A pair of discharge rollers 24 and a guide member 25 are mounted on a frame 36 of a discharge mechanism 23, a base board 37 fastened on the frame 36 and a handle 38 mounted on the base board 37 for attaching/detaching operation. A support plate 39 is fastened on the equipment body 1 and a rail guide 40 provided on the top surface thereof. The base board 37 is placed on the rail guide 40 so that the discharge mechanism 23 as unitized is allowed to be removed slantly above the body 1 being sliden from the mounted position as shown by the arrow.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention is directed to forming a predetermined image by transferring a colorant of a transfer material to a transfer material in a printing section provided in an apparatus main body and having a platen. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which, after formation, a transfer material sent out from a printing section is discharged to the outside by a discharge mechanism.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

This type of thermal transfer image forming apparatus is small and inexpensive (small and inexpensive), produces little noise, and can use plain paper as the transfer material, so in recent years it has become increasingly popular for recording the output of computers and word processors. It is also being put into practical use not only as a copying device but also as a copying device.

In the printing section of this type of device, for example, the platen is selectively driven in both forward and reverse directions to form a multicolor image, and the transfer material fed into the platen is sent out for each color. and pulling back operations are performed in conjunction with forward and reverse rotation of the platen. This movement of the transferred material is carried out with the transferred material being held between the platen's rotation by pressure rollers, but members such as the guy 1 member are adjacent to the platen, making it difficult to construct a complex structure in an extremely narrow space. Therefore, the transfer member is likely to get caught on the guide member or the like during operation, causing problems such as jamming or jamming. In particular, in the case of multicolor transfer, such an undesirable situation often occurs because the transfer material is repeatedly moved back and forth as described above.

However, with conventional devices, in such cases, the jammed transfer material is removed from the print area and its surroundings, which may damage the platen and related components, making it difficult to perform maintenance such as clearing the jam. There was an unavoidable problem.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an improved image forming apparatus that can easily and quickly handle jams and the like.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, basically, the ejection mechanism has a pair of ejection rollers and a guide member provided adjacent to the printing section, and these pair of ejection rollers and a guide member are provided adjacent to the printing section. The discharge roller and the ID member are configured as a unit that can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body, and the apparatus is characterized by a structure that includes a guide means for guiding the unit to a mounting position in the apparatus main body.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 shows its schematic configuration. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 in the figures denotes a main body of an image forming apparatus sb, and an operation panel section 11 is formed on the upper front surface of the apparatus main body 1. As shown in FIG. Further, a document table 2 having a document holding cover 3 on the left side is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1.
The lower side is a document scanning section (scanner section) 4 that scans the document set on the document table 2, and the right side of the main body 1 is a printing section 5 which is an image forming section.

On the operation panel section 1a, a copy number setting section 7 consisting of a display section 6 and a numeric keypad 7, buttons 8, etc. are arranged.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the document scanning section 4 optically scans the document set on the document table 2 by reciprocating the movable scanning section 9 of the exposure optical system along the lower surface of the document table 2. This optical information is then photoelectrically converted and input to the printing section 5.

Also, the above printing section 5F! , , has a configuration as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. That is, the platen 10 is located approximately at the center of the printing section 5, and a thermal head 11 as a recording head is located in front of the platen 10 (towards the left in the state of FIG. It is arranged so that it can be brought into contact with and taken away from it.

Further, between the thermal head 1 and the platen 10, a thermal transfer material 1 (ink lipin) 1 is provided as a transfer material.
5 is present.

Then, the paper P as the transfer material is pressed against the platen 10 with the thermal transfer ribbon 15 interposed therebetween, and in this state, a heating element (not shown) formed in a line tod shape of the thermal head 1 is used to transfer the image information. The colorant (ink) on the thermal transfer printer 15 is heated and melted by the heat generated in response to the heat transfer zone 15, and is transferred onto the paper P.

Further, a paper feed roller 16 is provided diagonally below the platen 10, and is adapted to sequentially take out the paper P as a transfer material stored in a paper feed roller J7 one by one. A pair of registration rollers 18 disposed diagonally above the taken out paper pFi paper feed roller 16 aligns the tip of the paper, and then the bent paper guide 1
9 is transferred toward the platen 10 as shown by the broken line arrow, and is wound around the platen 1o by the lower and upper pressing rollers 20, 21, and is accurately fed.

On the other hand, the thermal printer 1 presses the paper P against the platen 10 via the thermal transfer ribbon 15 as a transfer material.
As shown in FIG. 4, the ink 22 as a colorant on the thermal transfer recon 15 is heated and melted and transferred onto the paper P.

In addition, the thermal transfer paper 15 has yellow (A), magenta (C), and cyan (C) ink portions 21a, which are approximately the same size as the paper P, as shown by range A in FIG.
+ 21 b p 21 c or yellow (g), magenta (c) as shown in the range opening
, cyan (0), and black (B) ink portions 22a.

22b, 22c, and 22d are arranged side by side, and after transferring one color at a time, the paper P is returned to its original position and overlapped one after another accurately.

A thermal transfer resin containing a black ink portion 22d is used when it is desired to produce black clearly, and even a material without a black ink portion 22d can produce approximately black by overlapping three colors.

In this way, the paper P is subjected to the transfer by reciprocating the grating 10 by the number of colors in the forward direction indicated by the solid line arrow in FIG. 3 and in the reverse direction indicated by the broken line arrow in FIG. . The paper P on which the transfer has been completed is transferred to the platen 10 or the pressing roller 20.2.
1, and is discharged from the inside of the apparatus main body 1 to the outside by a discharge mechanism 23 provided on the front side of the printing section 5.

The ejecting mechanism 23 includes a pair of ejecting rollers 24 which are placed adjacent to the printing unit 5, particularly adjacent to a position corresponding to the platen 1o from which the paper P is fed and the upper pressing roller 21. It has a guide member 25 for guiding.

Then, the guide member 25, the discharge roller 24, and the paper P are discharged obliquely upward of the main body of the apparatus, as shown by broken lines in FIG. 3, and are sequentially stacked on the discharge tray 26.

In addition, in the figure, 27 is a regen cassette that accommodates the regen 15,
A head holder 28 supports the thermal head ILF from the rear side and also functions as a heat sink.

The image forming apparatus also includes an original scanning section 4 as shown in FIG.
, a color conversion section 12, a memory section 3, a printing section 5, and an overall control section 14.

Then, the green (
The values of the respective color components of G), yellow (7), and cyan (Q) are converted by the color conversion unit 12 to magenta (Q), the color of the print medium.
The colors are converted into (white), yellow (b), and cyan (c), and the color converted values are stored in the memory unit 13 for each color together with position information on the document. The printing section 5 prints magenta (c) according to the value read out from the memory section 13.
, yellow (1), cyan (C), black (B) C black is the AND output of magenta (goods), yellow (a), cyan (Q) The output part print medium is transferred onto the paper P. Note that the overall control The section 14 includes a document scanning section 4, a color conversion section 2, a memory section 13,
and controls the entire printing section 5.

Here, the operation mode until the paper P is ejected onto the ejection tray 26 will be briefly described.

The paper P fed from the cassette 17 to the grating platen 10 via the registration roller 218 is pushed up by a first distribution member 29 (il--as shown by the broken line in FIG. 3) located downstream of the registration roller 18.

Then, the ink 22 of the syringe 15 is transferred onto the paper P by the thermal head 1). And platen 1
The leading end of the sheet P reaches the second sorting member 30 from above the sheet P. The member 30 is in the upwardly rotated position as shown by the solid line in FIG. 7 (the dashed line position in FIG. 3), and is guided by the member 30 to move the tray 26 and its position as shown by the dashed arrow in FIG. It is guided into a space divided by a first guide 3 provided parallel to the lower part. Next, when the platen 10 is reversed and pulled back, the trailing edge of the paper P extends out from the bottom of the platen, and this reaches the first distribution member 29 located at the solid line position in FIGS. 3 and 7. As shown by the dashed arrow in FIG. 7, it is guided to a space between the first guide 3 and the second guide 32 placed below and parallel to the first guide 3.

With this pressure, the paper P is moved back and forth with the platen 10 multiple times depending on the number of colors to be transferred, and after the transfer is completed,
Since the second sorting member 30 is switched to the downwardly rotated position shown by the solid line in FIG. 26 will be sent up.

The support shaft 33 of the discharge row 224, the first and second distribution members 2
Each of the support shafts 34 and 35 of 9.30 is supported by the frame 36 of the discharge mechanism 23, and these rollers 24 and the distribution member 30 are connected to a drive motor (not shown) in the apparatus main body 1 via these support shafts. ).

In the present invention, the ejection mechanism 23 is configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body 1 as one unit. That is, the frame 36 of the ejection mechanism 23 includes a pair of ejection rollers 24, a guide member 25, and first and second distribution members 29.
．． 30 are each attached via a support shaft, and the ejection tray 26 and the first and second guides 31 and 32 are integrally box-shaped and attached to the base plate 37, and the base plate 37 is attached to the frame 36. In addition to being fixed to the base plate 37, a handle 38 for attaching and detaching operations is attached to the base plate 37.

A support plate 39 is fixed to the main body 1 of the apparatus, and on the upper surface of the plate, an id 4Q is provided, which is a rail serving as a guide means and arranged above the plate at an angle of inclination of about 45 degrees.

The board 37 is placed on the rail guide 40, and guided by the rail guide 40, the ejection mechanism 23 in a unit state slides from the device position shown in FIGS. It can be removed diagonally upward.

A latch lever 41 is swingably attached to the lower side of the base plate 37 via a pivot shaft 42 at approximately the center and a bracket 43 that supports the shaft, and the upper end of the lever 4 is attached to a handle 38. It is formed as an operating portion 41m that can be pressed while facing the opening 381L. On the other hand, the lower end 41b of the lever 41
is formed as a hook-shaped latching portion, and when the ejection mechanism 23 is in the illustrated mounting position, it engages with a latching hole 39a formed in the support plate 39, and the ejection mechanism 23, which is integrated into the device position, is engaged with a latching hole 39a formed in the support plate 39. is releasably latched. The lever 41 also has a biasing spring 44 attached around a pivot shaft 42 in FIG.
It is constantly biased counterclockwise to maintain the locked state.

When the operating part 41g is pushed down as shown by the arrow against this spring 44, the lever 41 swings as shown by the chain line and is released, so hold the handle 38 and press down on the ejection mechanism of the unit. 23 can be removed from the main body 1 by pulling it diagonally upward along the rail guide 40.

In addition, second locking holes 3 and 9b are provided in the upper part of the support plate 39, and the lever 4 is inserted here when the ejection mechanism 23 is pulled up.
1, it can be held on the main body 1 in the pulled-up position.

In this way, when the ejection mechanism 23 is removed, the front area of the printing section 5 is wide open. Therefore, when the paper P has a running defect such as a jam in the printing section 5, the printing section 5 can be easily accessed and removed.

In addition, each support shaft 33.3 of the discharge roller 24 and the distribution member 30
5 is configured to be automatically separated from the drive section within the main body 1 when the ejection mechanism 23 is pulled up.

Although this embodiment shows an embodiment in which the entire ejection mechanism 23 is configured to be removable as a unit, the present invention also includes a configuration in which only a portion of the ejection mechanism is formed into a unit and can be removed.

For example, the pair of discharge rollers 24 and the guide member 25 are made into a unit, and only this part can be removed upward. This part poses an obstacle to the removal process, especially if paper jams, so it is desirable that at least this part be made into a unit. In addition to this, it would be even more desirable if the discharge tray 26 could also be removed as a unit.

Therefore, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the configuration of this embodiment.

Further, due to the design, it is possible to have a structure in which the platen and the ejection mechanism can be removed together, for example, which makes maintenance and inspection of the printing section easier. In this case, schnitting can be achieved by supporting the supporting shaft of the grating on the frame of the ejection mechanism.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, at least one pair of ejection rollers and the guide member of the ejection mechanism are configured as a unit, and when a jam of the transfer target material occurs in the printing section, this unit part is connected to the main body. Maintenance work can be done easily and quickly by removing the cover, and it is safe without the risk of damaging the surrounding parts such as the platen during this type of work, and the structure is simple, so it has extremely effective effects. It is.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show aspects of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is an external perspective view, FIG. 2 is a cutaway perspective view of main parts,
FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional view, FIG. 4 is a perspective view explaining the transfer operation state, FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the ink application state of the thermal transfer printer, and FIG. 6 is the operation control configuration of the main parts. The block diagram shown in FIG. 7 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the main part of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Apparatus body, 5... Printing part, lO... Grana/, 23... Ejection mechanism, 24... Ejection roller, 25
...Guide member, 26...Ejection tray, 37...
Substrate, 38... Handle, 39... Support plate, 40...
Guide rail, 4 pieces...Latching lever. Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) A printing unit provided in the main body of the device and having a platen transfers the colorant of the transfer material to the transfer material to form a predetermined image, and after the image is formed, the transfer material is sent out from the printing unit. In an image forming apparatus configured to eject to the outside by an ejection mechanism, the ejection mechanism has an ejection roller and a guide member provided adjacent to a printing section, and the ejection roller and guide member are connected to the main body of the apparatus. What is claimed is: 1. An image forming apparatus characterized in that the image forming apparatus is constructed as a detachable unit and includes a guide means for guiding the unit to a mounting position of an apparatus main body. (2) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unit is removably guided obliquely upward of the apparatus main body by the guide means. (3) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ejection mechanism does not include an ejection tray, and the ejection tray is integrated into the unit. (4) The guide means is a slide rail provided on the main body of the device so as to slidably guide the unit.
An image forming apparatus according to claim 1. (5) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unit is removably latched to the device position by a latching means. . (6) Image forming according to claim 5, wherein the latching means comprises a latching lever attached to the unit, and a latching portion formed on the main body of the apparatus for latching the lever. Device.