JPS61249063A - Image forming device equipped with sheet matching mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the constitution of an image forming device and to reduce its size by providing a register roller with a position matching function for a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of fed transfer paper. CONSTITUTION:The front end of the transfer paper fed from a paper feed cassette or manual insertion paper feed opening abuts on the peripheral surfaces of register rollers 123a, and 123b. The transfer paper is fed as shown by an arrow 30 until it swells between the rollers 123a, and 123b and a feed part to form a loop, and the front end of the transfer paper is aligned with the contacting line 7 of the rollers 123a, and 123b. Those rollers rotate slightly to catch the front end of the transfer paper. The loop of the transfer paper formed between the rollers and feed part, however, is still maintained. Then, a motor 49 rotates to move the rollers 123a and 123b axially and the rotation is continued until side ends of the transfer paper reach reference positions of transfer paper conveyance prescribed by a sensor 57.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a sheet alignment mechanism, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, a micro device, or a recording device.

Hereinafter, a copying machine will be described as an example of an image forming apparatus, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, in electrophotographic copying machines, as shown in Figure 4,
Machines have been devised in which a transfer paper transport path for double-sided copying or multiple copying is provided within the electrophotographic copying machine. In this device, for example, the rollers of the pair of conveyor rollers are pressed against each other with uneven force over their entire length, or these rollers are slightly distorted due to manufacturing reasons, resulting in a conical shape or the like. The transfer paper is often damaged due to the following reasons: the surface of one of the roller pairs is dirty, or the axis of the roller pair is not perpendicular to the direction of travel of the transfer paper. The predetermined conveyance path was also skewed, causing the problem of poor conveyance.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Nine devices are possible.

The configuration of FIG. 4 will be explained below. However, the configuration shown in FIG. 4 itself is not publicly known.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the copying apparatus. Original placing glass 10
The original 102 placed on the top of the original 102 is illuminated by a lamp 103, and its light image is reflected by a reflecting mirror (104).

105, 106, 107, 108, 109)
The light is guided onto the photosensitive drum 111 by an optical system including a lens 110 and a lens 110. Lamp 103 and mirror 104
．． 105° 106 is the document 102 at a predetermined speed in the direction of the arrow.
scan. On the other hand, since the photosensitive drum 111 is also rotated in the direction of the arrow after its surface is uniformly charged by the charger 112, electrostatic charges corresponding to the original image are sequentially formed on the drum surface. . On the opposite side of the photosensitive drum 111 is a color developer 113 containing color toner (for example, red, blue 1, etc.).
A black developing device 114 containing black toner is provided.

Each of these developing devices is movable in the direction of the arrow, approaches the photosensitive drum 111 according to a desired color image edge, and develops the electrolyte on the drum. In the case of this figure, since the color developing device 113 is far away and the black developing device 114 is close, a black image edge is formed on the drum. This image is transferred onto transfer paper by a transfer charger 115. Thereafter, the photosensitive drum 111 is sent to a cleaner 116 to remove residual toner on the surface of the photosensitive drum 111, and the photosensitive drum 111 is moved to the next step again.

The transfer paper 117 performs the following operations to produce the original IJ! is copied. There are the following O methods for feeding the transfer paper 117 into the copying apparatus. One of them is loaded in a cassette 118 and fed to a pair of rollers 120 by a paper feed roller 119. The roller pair 120 is designed to separate only the top paper and feed it into the device when multiple transfer sheets 117 overlap and are fed into the apparatus. The paper 117 reaches the register roller 123 via the guide plates 121 and 122''i.

In the second method, the paper is loaded in a cassette 124 and fed by a paper feed roller 125 to a pair of rollers 126.

The roller pair 126 has the same function as the previous roller pair 120, and the transfer paper 117 is transferred to the register roller 12 via the roller pair 126f: guide plates 127 and 128 after passing.
3. Another method is a so-called manual paper feeding method. In this case, by rotating the manual feed tray 129 in the direction of the arrow and placing the transfer paper on the manual feed intermediate plate 13G and the manual feed tray 129, It is fed to the register rollers 123 in the same manner as in the first method.

The register roller 123 starts rotating at a timing such that the developed image edge on the photosensitive drum 111 and the transfer paper coincide, and feeds the transfer paper to the drum surface via an upper transfer guide 131 and a lower transfer guide 132. As described above, the transfer paper has the image on the surface of the citrate transferred to the transfer charger 115, is separated from the surface of the citrate by the separation charger 133, and is sent to the fixing device 135 via the conveyance section 134. It will be done. The image on the transfer paper is fixed as a permanent image by a fixing device 135, and the transfer paper is sent to a first discharge roller 136. After that, the first 7 rattupa 137. It reaches the second ejection row 2139 via the second seven wrappers 138, and is then ejected out of the copying apparatus. In the figure, the second flapper 138 is blocking the transfer paper path, but the second flapper 138 is made of a light material and is rotatable in the direction of the arrow. When the paper passes, it is pushed up by the leading edge of the transfer paper and takes a retracted position with respect to the transfer paper, so there is no problem in passing the transfer paper.

This copying apparatus is capable of performing the following operations in addition to the basic transfer paper operations described above.

One of them is an operation for performing double-sided copying.

In the case of double-sided copying, the copying operation to the first side of the transfer paper is almost the same as the basic operation described above, and the transfer paper is transferred to the second ejection roller 1.
It will lead you to 39. The second discharge row 2139 discharges the transfer paper out of the apparatus, but when the double-sided copy mode is specified, the detection arm 140 and the optical sensor 141 detect the rear edge of the transfer paper, and the rear edge of the transfer paper is Second 7 Latsupa 138t
- After passing, the second discharge roller 139 starts to rotate in reverse while holding the trailing edge of the transfer paper in its mouth. Therefore, the transfer paper is fed into the copying machine again with the trailing edge first. Then, through the first 7 flaps 137, the left slope of the @i flapper 138 and the guide plate 142, and further through the guide plates 143 and 1
44 to a pair of rollers 145. Thereafter, the transfer paper passes through a pair of rollers 146 and reaches a horizontal register roller 147.

At this point, the horizontal register roller 147 stops and
After the transfer paper completely hits the first roller 147, the roller pair 145, 146 also stops. Then, the transfer paper waits for copying operation to the other side. Thereafter, when a copy signal for the other side is issued, the pair of lateral register rollers 147 starts rotating and feeds the transfer paper to the register rollers 123 via guide plates 148 and 149.

Before the transfer paper reaches the register roller 123, the side edge of the transfer paper is detected by an unillustrated optical sensor, and the lateral register roller is moved perpendicular to the paper traveling direction so that the side edge is the same as the first side. , that is, in the direction perpendicular to the drawing, to correct the lateral position of the transfer paper. The operation after the transfer paper reaches the register roller is the same as the basic operation described above, and the transfer paper, which has been carefully copied on the other side, is finally transferred to the second discharge roller 139. Expelled outside.

In addition, as another movement of the transfer paper, there are two
There is an operation for multiple copying in which copies are made more than once. In the case of this operation, the movement of the transfer paper in the -th copy is almost the same as in the basic operation, but when the multiple copy mode is specified, the first 7 gripper 137 is in the state shown by the broken line)
The transfer paper fed out from the first discharge roller 136 is guided by the right slope of the first seven rollers (137) and the guide plate 143, and is fed directly to the horizontal register roller 147.

The subsequent movement of the transfer paper is the same as in the double-sided copying mode, and the transfer paper on which the second copy has been made on the same side as the first copy is finally transferred to the second paper discharge a-ra 139. Expelled outside. Note that the first seven flapper 137 returns to the position shown by the solid line when the transfer paper is fed into the horizontal register roller 147 after the first copy, in preparation for passing the transfer paper after the second copy.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the above-described apparatus, when feeding from the manual feeding port 129' using the feeding cassettes 118, 124 or the manual feeding tray 1291, the transfer paper defined by the image on the photoreceptor 111 is After making cumbersome adjustments to the normal transport position in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction,
I have to make it trough.

In particular, when feeding from the manual feed port 129', if sufficient care is not taken when inserting the transfer paper, the transfer position (horizontal registration) in the direction perpendicular to the transfer direction of the transfer paper may shift. I end up.

In addition to the registration roller 123, a horizontal registration roller 1 is also provided.
47t- Because the device must be installed inside the aircraft, the device itself tends to be complicated and large.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having a mechanism that can align (correct) lateral deviation of sheet materials with a simple configuration.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a registration roller that starts transporting a sheet material at a timing such that the image on an image carrier and the sheet material coincide. , the registration roller is movable in the axial direction, and has the function of aligning the positional deviation of the sheet material in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material. .

〔Example〕

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

In FIG. 1, registration rollers 123h, 12
3b is configured to be capable of rotational movement in the transfer paper conveyance direction and movement in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction.

Its structure 1 is shown in FIG.

In the wIz diagram, the gear 44 is attached to the roller 123 aO shaft 45 so as to freely rotate, and the gear 44 is attached to the O shaft 45 of the clutch 6.
N transmits a drive from a drive source (not shown) to the shaft 45 to rotate the rollers 123 a f. Moreover, this pair of rollers 123 m and 123 b has its axis connected to arm 16 .
17 and is supported by the frame 46 in a manner perpendicular to a predetermined sheet conveyance direction.

This frame body 46 is connected to a bar 15 extending perpendicularly to a predetermined sheet conveyance direction, and at the tip of this bar 15, a roller 14 provided in a fork (not shown) is rotatable. installed on. Then, the rollers 14 engage with the rotating swash plate 13 rotating in the direction of arrow 33, causing the swash plate 13 to rotate.
Rotate the upper part.

Therefore, in conjunction with the rotation of the rotary swash plate 13 in the direction of arrow 33, the bar 15 and the frame 46 are horizontally reciprocated in a direction perpendicular to the predetermined sheet conveyance direction [directions of arrows 47 and 48].
do. Therefore, the moving distance of the bar 15 is determined by the rotation angle of the rotary swash plate 13. Furthermore, when the frame body 46 moves horizontally in the direction of arrow 48, it slides on the gear 43 with the elongated gear 44 in mesh with it, so both gears 43, 4
4 will not come loose, and the roller pair will be 123 m long.

123b can continue to rotate even while moving in the axial direction.

The rotation of the rotary swash plate 13 is performed by transmitting the drive of the motor 49 to a gear 52 fixedly provided on the shaft 51 of the rotary swash plate 13 via a gear 50t. Further, on this shaft 51, a disk 53, 54 is fixedly installed, and sensors 55, 56 detect the passage of the protrusions 1553m and 54a.
By detecting the ON and 0FFf of the motor 49:
and controls the rotation angle of the rotary swash plate 13. Here, the sensor 55 detects that the swash plate 13 has reached the bottom dead center, and the sensor 56 detects that the swash plate 13 has reached the home position. Furthermore, one end of 58 is locked to the frame 46 by a spring, and the rotary swash plate 13
This ensures that the rollers 14 are engaged with each other.

Next, a correction function for returning a transfer sheet fed or conveyed out of the reference position of conveyance to the correct conveyance path along the reference position of conveyance in this embodiment will be explained.

First, the leading edge of the transfer paper fed from the feed cassette or the manual paper feed slot is the registration roller 123a.

123 b. Then, the transfer paper is fed in the direction of arrow 30 until a loop is formed between the registration rollers 123 m and 123 b and the feeding section. Then, place the leading edge of the transfer paper on the registration roller 1.
23 m and 123 b will align with the contact line 7. Next, the registration rollers 123 m and 123 b rotate very slightly and grip the leading edge of the transfer paper. However, the transfer paper loop formed between the registration rollers 123 m and 123 b and the feeding section remains.

Thereafter, the motor 49 in FIG. 2 rotates and the roller 123
m, 123 b It begins to move in the k-axis direction and continues to rotate until the side edge of the transfer paper reaches the reference position for conveyance of the transfer paper defined by the sensor 57. Then, while removing the image and tie on the photoconductor, the registration roller 123
a starts rotating.

Further, even when the transfer paper conveyed for multiple duplex copying and double-sided copying is shifted from the reference position of conveyance, the conveyance roller 146 and the registration roller 1234k.

123b, and is returned to the correct reference position through the same process as described above.

In addition, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 4 denotes a sensor for detecting the leading edge of the transfer material, and the conveyance of the transfer material is stopped a predetermined time after the leading edge of the transfer material is detected.

Therefore, a constant loop is always formed.

Figure 3 shows registration roller J, 23 m, 123
An example of another mechanism for moving b in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the transfer paper is shown.

In the figure, when a motor 59 rotates, power is transmitted to a gear 61 that meshes with a gear 60. Then, the pinion 62t integrated with the gear 61 is rotated. As a result, rack 63
moves in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the transfer paper. In addition, 67 in the figure is a sensor, and detection parts 67a, 6
Consisting of 7b.

Reference numeral 68 denotes a detection unit integrated with the rack 63, which has a tip 68m and is controlled by a sensor 67t to detect the home position.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, by providing the registration roller with a position alignment function perpendicular to the conveying direction of the sheet material, 1. Simplifies the configuration of the device itself.

It is possible to downsize the device, and the complicated position adjustment of the feeding cassette can be omitted. Further, when manually feeding paper, etc., the paper feeding position in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet material can be adjusted without worrying.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of a drive section of a registration roller, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing details of another embodiment of a drive section of a registration roller. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional copying apparatus.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an image forming apparatus including registration rollers that start conveying the sheet material at a timing such that the image on the image carrier and the sheet material coincide, the registration rollers are movable in the axial direction and the sheet material An image forming apparatus characterized in that it also has a function of aligning the positional deviation of sheet materials in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the image forming apparatus. (2) A patent claim comprising a sheet material refeed path for double-sided image processing and multiple image processing, and in which the refeed sheet material is also timed with the same registration roller to align lateral deviations. The image forming apparatus according to item (1).