JPS62222938A - Cassette installing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the mounting and removal of a cassette by pushing up a pressurizing member being interlocked with the mounting action of said cassette via a rotating member while maintaining the pushing-up of sheet members by means of said pressurizing member after said cassette is mounted. CONSTITUTION:When a cassette 18 is inserted, the end parts 11a of lever 11 are moved along cam faces 21 on both sides of the cassette 18 rotating the level 11 and, accompanying this, a pressure plate 12 which is pressurized by a pressure spring 13 one end of which is fixed to a shaft 15 is also rotated. Since the rotated pressure plate 12 pushes up an intermediate board 19, copying papers loaded on the intermediate board 19 are brought into contact with a paper feeding roller 17 while being guided by a guide roller 20. Then, the levers 11 which have been lifted up to the top end of the cassette 18 fall into the recesses 21a on its end to fix the cassette 18. In this structure, the force which presses the lever 11 against the cassette 18 is the reaction force of the force with which the pressure spring 13 lifts up the pressure plate 12, and this force is constant irrespective of the quantity of the sheets of paper 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cassette mounting device, and more particularly to a cassette mounting device for mounting a cassette in a paper feed section of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in FIG. 6, the copy paper 10 stored in the cassette 8 is stacked on the middle plate 9. As shown in FIG.

When the cassette 8 is attached to the main body by a cassette guide (not shown), the springs 3 are placed at positions opposite to both sides of the cassette 8.
The lever 1, which is always pulled upward, is once pushed down to the bottom of the cassette 8 by cams C on both sides of the cassette 8. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 97, the lever 1 is pulled upward again by the spring 3. Since the lever 1 and the pressure plate 2 are fixed to the shaft 5, the pressure plate 2 moves together with the lever 1. That is, when the lever 1 is moved up and down by the cams C on both sides of the cassette 8, it moves up and down together.

Therefore, when the lever 1 is pulled upward beyond the cam C of the cassette 8, the pressure plate 2 also rotates upward (in the illustrated example, one rotation counterclockwise).

As a result, the middle board 9 is lifted up and the copy paper 10 on the middle board 9 is removed.
is brought into pressure contact with the paper feed roller 7.

With such a configuration, when inserting or removing the cassette 8,
Lever 1 will always move up and down. Therefore, at this time, as the copy paper 10 decreases, the intermediate plate 9 rotates clockwise in the illustrated example and approaches the paper feed row 27. Therefore,
When the copy paper 10 runs out and the cassette 8 is to be pulled out to replenish it, a considerable amount of force is required to pull it out because the lever 1 is located above the cam C as shown in FIG. That is, there is a drawback that it becomes most difficult to pull out the cassette in a state where the cassette should normally be pulled out. Lever 1 together with pressure plate 2.

This is because it increases as the copy paper 10 decreases.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cassette mounting device in which a cassette can be easily attached and detached.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, a cassette loading device according to the present invention is a cassette loading device for loading a cassette into a paper feeding section of an image forming apparatus, which is equipped with a paper feeding means for feeding sheet material. a rotating member that rotates with the rotation of the rotating member; a pressure member that rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the rotating member to push up the sheet material in the cassette toward the paper feeding means; It is characterized by having an elastic member that elastically connects the pressure member, holds the sheet material pushed up by the pressure member after the cassette is mounted, and maintains the locked state of the cassette by the rotation member.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be described below based on nine illustrated embodiments.

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which reference numeral 11 denotes a lever as a rotating member, which is moved up and down by cam surfaces on both sides of the cassette when the cassette is attached or removed. A pressure plate 12 serves as a pressure member for pressurizing the intermediate plate 9, and is not directly fixed to the shaft 15. 13 is a pressure spring as an elastic member for pressurizing the pressure plate; 14 is on the shaft 15;
The stopper 15 that abuts is a shaft fixed to the lever 11, and is also the rotation axis of the pressure spring 13 and the pressure plate 120.

16 is a shaft support plate supporting the shaft 15; 17 is a cassette 1;
8 is a paper feed roller constituting a paper feed section for feeding copy paper; 18 is a cassette for storing copy paper; 19i!
: Pressurized by plate 12, copy paper is fed to paper feed roller 17
10 is a copy paper that is fed by a paper feed roller 17; 20 is a guide roller that allows the leading edge of the paper to smoothly enter under the paper feed roller 217 when the cassette is inserted.

The lever 11 and the shaft 15 move one to one (into one body). One end of the pressure spring 13 is fixed to a shaft 15, and the other end of the spring 13 is applied to the pressure plate 12, applying pressure in the direction of pushing up the pressure plate 12 (counterclockwise in the illustrated example). There is. However, the stopper 14 is blank on the shaft 15, and the pressure plate is in contact with the stopper 14.

Since pressure is constantly applied to the pressure plate 12 by the pressure spring 13, the lever 11 and the pressure plate 12 are stopped at a certain angle.

That is, when no external force is applied to the lever 11 and the pressure plate 12, the lever 11 and the pressure plate 12 rotate to the right due to their own weight while maintaining a constant angle. This right rotation is inhibited by the lever 11 coming into contact with the bent portion 16a of the shaft support plate 16. This state is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the cassette 18 is inserted along a cassette guide (not shown), the end portion 11a moves along the cam surfaces 21 on both sides of the cassette 18, and the lever 1
1 rotates (counterclockwise in the illustrated example), and the pressure plate 1.2, which is pressurized by a pressure spring 13 whose one end is fixed to the shaft 15, also rotates. The cassette 1B is cut out at the portion where the pressure plate 12 is located, and when the pressure plate 12 rotates, it directly pushes up the middle plate 19.

Copy paper 10 is stacked on intermediate plate 19, and at a certain position, copy paper 10 comes into contact with paper feed row 217 while being guided by guide rollers 20. Due to this contact, the pressure plate 12 stops, but the lever 11 continues to rotate along the cam surfaces 21 on both sides of the cassette, and from this point on, the pressure spring 13
begins to be further charged. ), when the cassette 18 hits a cassette stopper (not shown), the lever j j
The ij cassette 18 is lifted up to the upper end.

Then, the lever 11 falls into the recess 21a at the tip of the cassette and fixes the cassette. The pressure plate 12 is a pressure spring 13
Since the counterclockwise rotation force is acting through the copy paper 1o, the copy paper 1o comes into pressure contact with the paper feed row 217 with a certain force. here,
The pressure spring 13 is designed so that the pressure contact force is approximately constant, taking into account the angle between the lever 11 and the pressure plate 12 and the relationship between the amount of copy paper 10 loaded on the intermediate plate 19. This hollow 21
A and the lever constitute a locking means for the cassette.

Therefore, when removing the cassette 18, a force is required to remove the lever 11 from the recess 21a at the tip of the cassette for fixing the cassette. Pressure plate 1
2 is the reaction force of the sword lifted by the pressure spring 13, and this force is almost constant regardless of the amount of paper. Further, at this time, the amount by which the lever 11 moves to escape from the corner 21a is small and remains constant regardless of the amount of copy paper 10.

As a result, the force for pulling out the cassette 18 is reduced by the amount of force required to pull out the copy paper 10
It has nothing to do with the amount of water, and can be pulled out with a constant force. especially,
The lever 11 is always in the same position regardless of the position of the middle plate, and by setting this position to the position shown in the figure (the upper end of the cassette), the lever 11 can be pulled out with a weaker force than in the conventional configuration.

The above is a description of one embodiment of the present invention; however, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

For example, in this example, a torsion coil spring was used as the pressure spring, but as shown in FIG.
The spring 31 may also be used. Any shape will do as long as it pulls the lever and pressure plate together.

In addition, in this embodiment, the lever and the shaft 45 are fixed at the same time, and the pressure plate is made free with respect to the shaft, and the rotation of the shaft is transmitted to the pressure plate by a spring, but as shown in FIG. may be fixed, the lever 41 and the shaft 45 may be made free, and the rotation of the lever 41 may be transmitted to the shaft 45 via the spring 43. 44 is a stopper.

Further, in this embodiment, the guide 20 is an idler roller, but it may be a smooth fixed guide.

As explained above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the lever for applying pressure is placed into the cam notch on the side of the cassette, so that paper can be easily pressurized at the same time by simply inserting the cassette. It became possible to fix the cassette.

Furthermore, since the pressure spring is hooked onto one shaft to apply pressure, assembly into the main body can be completed by simply screwing the shaft support plate. Therefore, ease of assembly has also been improved.

By installing a stopper between the lever and the pressure plate and applying pressure to the pressure plate from the beginning, even if the lever is rotated at a small angle,
It became possible to keep the pressure constant.

In addition, a guide is provided upstream of the paper feed roller, so when the paper is lifted up by the pressure plate (during loading), the leading edge of the paper will not hit the paper feed roller and jam. By loading it, it became possible to press it smoothly against the paper feed roller.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the cassette mounting device according to the present invention is as described above, it has the advantage that the cassette can be easily mounted and removed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the cassette mounting device and cassette according to the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are front views for explaining the operation, and FIGS. A perspective view showing an example, and FIGS. 6 to 8 are front views showing a conventional example. 1141...Sh/ri- 12,42...Pressure plate 13.31.4+...Pressure spring 14.44...Stopper 18...Cassette 19...Middle plate 21...Cam 21a... hollow

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a cassette mounting device for mounting a cassette in a paper feeding section of an image forming apparatus including a paper feeding means for feeding sheet material, a rotating member that rotates in accordance with the mounting operation of the cassette; and the rotating member. a pressure member that rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the cassette to push up the sheet material in the cassette toward a paper feeding means; and a pressure member that elastically connects the rotation member and the pressure member, and Holding the sheet material pressed up by the pressure member,
A cassette mounting device comprising: an elastic member that maintains the locked state of the cassette by the rotating member.