JPS62121169A - Paper discharging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control the function of shaping plates only by switching a gate for switching the transport direction between the first and second positions and obtain the simple constitution by constituting the gate and the shaping plates so as to be positioned on a nearly same curved surface when the gate is at the second position. CONSTITUTION:A gate 8 for switching the direction of transport of a business form 5 and the shaping plates 12a and 12b for shaping the business form 5 are constituted so as to be positioned on a nearly same curved surface when the gate 8 is at the second position. Therefore, when the business form 5 is curved and its transport direction is changed, the shaping plates 12a and 12b do not develop the original function, and the business form 5 is smoothly bent without being shaped. When the gate 8 is at the first position, the business form 5 does not contact the gate 8, and the shaping plates 12a and 12b develop the original function, and the business form 5 is stably discharged with the shaped state. Therefore, the function of the shaping plates 12a and 12b is controlled only by switching the gate 8 between the first and the second positions, and the constitution can be made simple, and cost cut is permitted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a paper ejecting device for printers, copying machines, and the like.

(Prior art) Conventionally, in order to improve the paper ejection performance and to allow the ejected paper to be stacked in an orderly manner on the paper ejection tray, both edges of the ejected paper are curved to increase rigidity. A paper ejecting device has been proposed in which the side edges of the paper are curved in this way to give it rigidity, which is generally referred to as adding stiffness. An example of a discharging device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-5284.This conventional device includes a stepped roller whose diameter at both ends is smaller than that at the center, and a roller that abuts the roller near the step. By sandwiching the paper between a pair of paper ejection rollers and ejecting it, both edges of the paper are curved away from the rollers to give it a stiffer shape. An example in which a waist member is provided is also disclosed.

On the other hand, in copying machines and printers, paper ejection devices are known that reverse the paper or switch the paper ejection direction in order to provide a sorting function or a collate function. As disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 48-16730 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-22306, such a paper ejecting device uses a gate having a curved guide surface called a guide spring or a switching lever as a conveyor roller. The gate is selectively switched between a first position where it does not come into contact with the paper and a second position where it comes into contact with the paper, and the knife in the first position is transported by the transport roller. The paper is ejected as it is, and when it is in the second position, it is bent or bent in a direction substantially perpendicular to the transport direction and is transported.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] 1) If it is attempted to provide a paper ejection device with both the above-mentioned stiffening function and paper conveyance direction switching function, the following problems arise. In other words, without bending the paper! 19 When paper is ejected in a direction almost parallel to the conveyance direction by the feed roller, it is ejected with a stiffness, but if the paper is ejected with a stiffness when changing the paper conveyance direction with the gate in the second position, the conveyance direction will be smooth. It may not be possible to change the setting and cause a paper jam. Therefore, when changing the direction of the paper at the gate, it is necessary not to add stiffness, but only when discharging the paper straight.To do this, it is necessary to change not only the gate, but also the stiffening member, and the configuration The disadvantage is that it is extremely complicated, requires a large number of parts, and is expensive.

In particular, since the gate and the buckling member must be placed near the conveyance roller, such a complicated structure is extremely inconvenient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to provide a paper ejecting device that does not require switching the waist plate even when switching the paper conveyance direction, and is therefore simple in construction and inexpensive.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the paper ejecting device of the present invention includes a pair of transport rollers that nip and transport the paper in a predetermined direction, and a paper discharging device that is provided near these transport rollers and that is transported by the transport rollers. a first position that does not come into contact with the paper and allows ejection in a first direction substantially parallel to the conveyance direction; and a first position that makes contact with the paper and biases it in a second direction different from the first direction. a gate that selectively occupies a second position for conveying the paper in a curved manner; and a gate that is disposed near the exit of the conveyance roller, and that is in contact with each side edge of the paper being conveyed when the gate is in the first position. , a pair of waist plates with inclined side edges so as to give a waist to the paper, and the guide and the waist plate in the second position have almost the same curved shape when viewed from the side edge direction of the paper. It is characterized by what happened.

[Effect]

According to the above-described paper ejecting device of the present invention, when the paper is ejected without changing the conveying direction, both side lines of the paper are curved by the action of the waist plate, so that sufficient stiffness is provided and the paper is ejected without changing the conveyance direction. The paper will be ejected to the correct position on the paper tray, and if the gate is set to the second position when changing the conveyance direction, the curved shapes of the gate and the waist plate will almost match, and the paper will also come into contact with the gate. The waist plate cannot perform its original function as a waist plate, but functions to bend the paper in the second direction as part of the gate. Therefore, when the paper is bent, the paper does not become stiff, and the paper conveyance direction can be changed stably without causing a paper jam.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side view showing the configuration of an embodiment of a printer equipped with a paper ejection device of the present invention, and in this embodiment, the printer is applied to a printer employing a pressure transfer method. Second
This figure is a sectional view showing the detailed structure of the paper ejecting device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a front view as seen in the paper conveyance direction.

The image forming section of the printer of this example includes a dielectric drum 1,
An electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image to be formed is formed on the surface of this dielectric drum by the recording head 2. The dielectric drum 1 rotates as shown by the arrow, and the electrostatic latent image is developed in the developing device 3 using powder ink called toner. This toner image is transferred onto paper 5 which is being conveyed while being held between dielectric drum 1 and transfer/fixing roller 4, and is simultaneously fixed.

In this example, the transfer/fixing roller 4 is brought into contact with the induction drum 1 with high pressure, and is configured so that transfer and fixing are performed simultaneously. Next, the paper is peeled off from the dielectric drum 1 or transfer roller 4 by a peeling claw, conveyed between guides 6a and 6b, and bitten into the nip between a pair of conveyance rollers 7a and 7b. This conveyance roller 7
The tip of the gate 8 is located just in front of the nip portions a and 7b. This gate 8 is curved upward when viewed from the side of the paper 4. Also as shown in detail in FIG.

The gate 8 is fixed to a lever 10 that is rotatable about a shaft 9. A solenoid 11 is connected to this lever, and by selectively energizing the solenoid, the gate 8 is moved to a first position indicated by a solid line. and a second position shown by a chain line. When the gate 8 is in the first position, since the gate 8 is located above the conveyance path of the paper 5 conveyed by the conveyance rollers 7a and 7b, the gate does not come into contact with the paper and the paper is discharged in a direction substantially parallel to the direction of conveyance by conveyance rollers 7a and 7b. In the present invention, a pair of waist plates 12a and 12b are arranged within the paper discharge path. As clearly shown in FIG. 3, these M (=j plates 12a.

12b are side edges 13a, 13 that come into contact with the side edges of the paper 5;
b is inclined, and both side edges of the paper are curved upward to provide a stiffness. Furthermore, these waist plates 12a,
12b is curved when viewed from the side edge direction of the paper 5, so that the curved shape substantially matches the curved shape when the gate 8 is in the second position. In other words, once the gate 8 is in the second position, the gate 8 and the waist plate 1 are aligned when viewed from the side edge of the paper.
2a and 12b are positioned within substantially the same curved surface.

The gate 8 is in the first position, and the transport roller 7a.

As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, the paper 5 discharged in a direction substantially parallel to the conveying direction by the paper 7b has both side edges formed by the waisted plates i2.
A, 12b's inclined side edge 13a, 13b, and are transported while being curved upward, and is discharged in a state where the hips are attached, that is, rigidity. The sheet 5, which has been stiffened in this way, contacts the front wall 14a of the paper output tray 14 shown in FIG. It will come to rest next to it. In this manner, successive sheets 5 can be stacked and stored in alignment with the discharge sheet 1-ray 14.

On the other hand, when the gate 8 is in the second position, the tip of the gate 8 is located below the nip between the conveyance rollers 7a and 7b, and the paper 5 comes into contact with the upper surface of the gate 8, causing its curve. Along the plane, the conveying direction is changed upward by approximately 90°. In this case, the gate 8 and the waist plate 12a,
12b are within almost the same curved surface, so the side edge of the paper is the side edge 13a of the waist plate.

13b, the waist plate works together with the gate 8 to bend the paper upward. Therefore, the paper 5 is not stiffened, and the paper 5 is smoothly bent upward along the curved surfaces of the gate 8 and the stiffened plates 12a and 12b. As shown in FIG. 1, the paper 5 bent upward in this way is roughly guided by a guide 15a,
15b and conveyance roller 16a.

It will be sent upward via 16b. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the paper that has been WI-fed upward is further changed in direction by 90 degrees and is ejected onto the paper tray placed above the recording unit, where the paper is reversed. It will be.

In this example, pressure transfer/fixing is performed, but
In order to equalize the contact pressure between the dielectric drum 1 and the transfer/fixing roller 4 and to improve transfer performance, the axes of the drum and roller are slightly inclined to form an angle of about 45'. . Therefore, the paper 5 that has passed through these drums and rollers is curled so that one side edge is facing downward and the other side edge is facing upward, as shown in FIG. In order to be able to sit stably despite such curls, the height of the waist plate 12b that comes into contact with the downward facing side edge of the paper 5 is adjusted as shown in Figure 3. , about 3 mm higher than the waist plate 12a that contacts the upward facing side edge. In this way, the left and right waist plates 12a.

By making the installation heights of the sheets 12b different, it is possible to stably and effectively hold curled sheets as shown in FIG. 5, and to discharge them in alignment on the sheet discharge tray 14. . As shown in FIG. 3, the conveyance roller 7a when viewed in the conveyance direction of the paper 5.

At the front side of the gate 7b, a static eliminating brush 17 is arranged on the lower side of the gate 8, and the paper 5 is moved between the transport rollers 7a and 7b.
A static eliminating brush 18 is provided so as to come into contact with the back surface of the paper on a path for discharging the paper in a direction substantially parallel to the conveyance direction. For example, when the paper is charged with a large amount of charge in low humidity, the paper is attracted towards the gate 8 by electrostatic attraction force, and at this time it comes into contact with the static elimination brush 17, and the charge flows out, so that the paper It is possible to effectively prevent paper from being conveyed upward along the gate 8 and adhering to the gate, and stable paper ejection becomes possible.

[Effects of the Invention] In the paper ejecting device of the present invention described above, the gate for switching the conveyance direction of the paper and the board for giving a stiffness to the paper are almost the same when the gate is in the second position. - Because it is configured to be located within a curved surface, the waist plate cannot perform its original function when bending the paper and changing its conveying direction, so the paper bends smoothly without being stiff. On the other hand, when the gate is in the first position, the paper does not come into contact with the gate, so the waist plate can perform its original function, and the paper remains in the seated state. In this way, the functions of the waist plate can be controlled simply by switching the gate between the first position and the second position, making the configuration extremely simple and inexpensive. In addition, by changing the height of the left and right stiffening plates as in the above embodiment, it is possible to stably and effectively stiffen paper that has curled asymmetrically due to pressure transfer and fixing. By arranging a static elimination brush on the bottom side of the gate, when the paper is ejected in a direction almost parallel to the direction in which the paper is transported by the transport rollers, the paper is prevented from running along the bottom side of the gate due to the electric charge that is generated on the paper surface, especially when the humidity is low. This can effectively prevent the object from moving upward.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a printer equipped with the paper ejection device of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are diagrams showing the detailed structure of the paper ejection device, and FIGS. 4A-C is also a diagram for explaining the action of the waist plate, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing curled paper. 521. Paper 6a, 6b... Guides 7a, 7b... Conveyance rollers 8... Gate 1
1... Solenoid 12a, 12b...
Waisted boards 13a, 13b...slanted side edges 14...
Paper ejection trays 17, 18... Static elimination brush Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pair of conveyance rollers that sandwich the paper and convey it in a predetermined direction, and a pair of conveyance rollers that are provided near these conveyance rollers and that do not come into contact with the paper conveyed by the conveyance rollers and that move the paper in the conveyance direction. a first position that permits ejection in a first direction substantially parallel to the first direction; and a second position that contacts the paper and conveys the paper by deflecting it in a second direction different from the first direction. a gate that selectively occupies a portion of the conveying roller; and a gate that is disposed near the exit of the conveying roller and that, when the gate is in a first position, contacts each side edge of the sheet to be conveyed, and a side edge so as to bear the sheet. A paper ejecting device comprising a pair of slanted waist plates, the guide and the waist plate at the second position having substantially the same curved shape when viewed from the side edge direction of the paper. . 2. The paper ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the pair of waist plates have different heights when viewed from the paper conveyance direction.