JPS6311960A - Electrophotographic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely guide transfer paper so as to transfer a picture excellently to the transfer paper, by providing a positioning section to a transfer material guiding means and a contacting section which is contacted with the positioning section to a process unit and positioning the transfer material guiding means to its guiding position by means of the process unit. CONSTITUTION:Forcibly pushing members 48, 50, and 51 which always forcibly push upper carrying elements 34, 42a, and 46 downward are provided and positioning sections 53, 54, and 56 fitted to the upper carrying elements 34, 42a, and 46 are pressed down by means of contacting sections 57, 58, and 60 provided in a process unit 28a. Since the upper carrying elements 34, 42a, and 46 turned to non-guiding positions at the time of maintenance, etc., can automatically be brought to the original guiding positions, the operator of this device is not required to make operations for bringing the upper carrying elements 34, 42a, and 46 to the original positions before closing the process unit 28a. Therefore, operability of this device is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a separable base unit and a process unit in an image forming system that transfers a visible image from a photoreceptor to a transfer material. The present invention relates to an improvement of an electrophotographic apparatus having the following.

(Prior Art) In the transfer section of an electrophotographic device, the transfer material is reliably conveyed to the transfer section so as to obtain a good transfer of the visible image from the photoreceptor to the transfer material, and also it is necessary to remove a single paper jam or Conventionally, a device as shown in FIG. 6 has been used to improve operability during maintenance.

That is, this device includes a photoreceptor drum (11), a charging device (12), an exposure device (13), a developing device (14), and a cleaning device (16), which are provided around the drum and perform an electrophotographic process.
Upper mechanism (10a) which is a process unit having etc.
The paper feed device (17) passes through the transfer device (18) provided in the transfer section and the heat fixing roller (20) to the paper discharge device (
A lower mechanism (10), which is a base unit, has a conveyance device (23) that conveys a transfer paper (22), which is a transfer material, to
b) Separated into. In order to obtain good transfer in the transfer device (18) during the image forming process,
The transfer paper (22) is reliably guided to the transfer device (18) by the guide plate (25) serving as a transfer material guide means, while the upper mechanism (10a) is rotated in the direction of arrow S during maintenance etc. 10) Open the top and perform maintenance. In addition, if a paper jam occurs in the conveyance device (23), the transfer paper (2), which can be rotated in the direction of the arrow,
2), the upper guide plate (24) which is the upper conveyance element at the top of the conveyance path (23a), or the upper conveyance roller (26);
Furthermore, the upper measuring roller (27) is rotated as shown by the solid line in FIG. 6 to remove paper jams.

However, in this device, after maintenance of the conveyance device or paper jam removal is completed, it is forgotten to return the upper conveyance elements such as the upper guide plate (24) to the conveyable state shown by the dotted line in FIG. 6, and the upper mechanism (10a ) is often closed in the direction opposite to the arrow S direction. As a result, each device housed in the upper mechanism (10a) and the upper conveying element come into contact with each other, and one of them is damaged.
The problem is that it has to be replaced.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) Conventionally, an operation error occurs in which the upper mechanism is closed without returning the upper conveying element to the conveying state, resulting in damage to the apparatus.

Therefore, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, and eliminates the possibility of damage to the device due to forgetting to return the upper conveying element after maintenance, etc., reliably guides the transfer paper, and obtains good transfer. It is an object of the present invention to provide an electrophotographic device that can improve operability and reliability of the device during maintenance and the like.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a positioning portion in the transfer material guide means, and further provides a contact portion in the process unit that comes into contact with the positioning portion.

(Function) The present invention uses the above means to position the transfer material guide means at the guide position by the process unit via the contact part and the positioning part, thereby reliably conveying the transfer material to the transfer part, and also allows the operator to This eliminates the need for positioning the transfer material guide means and improves its operability and reliability.

(Example) A first example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The main body (28) includes an upper mechanism (not shown) which is a process unit including a photoreceptor drum, an image forming device, etc.
28a) and a lower mechanism (28b) which is a base unit. At one end of the lower mechanism (28b) is a paper feed cassette (30) that stores transfer paper (30) as a transfer material.
31), and the other end is provided with a paper ejecting device (32) for receiving the transfer paper (30) on which the copied image has been completed. Also, between the paper feed cassette (31) and the paper discharge device (32), the photosensitive drum (
A transfer device (335
and an upper measuring roller (3) with a built-in heater (34a).
4) and the upper measuring roller (which is pressed against it during fixing).
A conveyance device (38) is provided for conveying the transfer paper through a heat fixing roller (37) consisting of a heat fixing roller (36). The conveyance device (38) includes a first guide plate (40), a first conveyance roller (41), a second guide plate (42) serving as a transfer material guide means, and a conveyance belt (43). It is composed of a first upper conveyance roller (44), a second upper conveyance roller (46), and a third conveyance roller (47) that are brought into contact with each other. Furthermore, the upper guide plate (42a) of the second guide plate (42) among the upper conveyance elements forming the upper part of the conveyance path (38a) of the conveyance device (38) is as follows:
The first spring (48) always keeps the transfer paper (30)
It is formed so that it can be biased to a guiding position where it guides the image to the transfer device (33), while being rotatable upward, which is a non-guiding position. In addition, a second upper conveyance roller (46), which is another upper conveyance element,
) and the upper measuring roller (34) are also formed to be rotatable upwards, which is a non-guiding position, and the second spring (5
0), the third spring (51) is normally biased to the guide position on the side of the lower conveyance element forming the lower part of the conveyance path (38a). Further, (52) is a paper feed roller. Next, we will discuss the effect. During copying, the conveyance device (38) is in a state where it can convey the transfer paper (30), and includes an upper guide plate (42a), a second upper conveyance roller (46),
The upper measuring rollers (34) are each biased toward the lower conveying element. When copying starts, a toner image is formed on a photoreceptor drum (not shown) in the upper mechanism (28a) by an image forming bag M (not shown), while a toner image is formed on a transfer paper in the lower mechanism (28b). (30) is transported, and after the toner image is transferred from the photoreceptor drum by the transfer device (33), it is fixed by the heating fixing roller (37) to complete the copy image and is ejected to the paper ejecting device (32). . However, if a paper jam occurs during copying, the operator stops the apparatus and then rotates the upper mechanism (28a) in the direction of arrow U to open it. Next, depending on the location where the paper jam occurred, the upper guide plate (42a), the second upper conveyance roller (46), or the upper measuring roller (34) is moved between the first spring (48) and the second spring (50). ) or rotate in the direction of arrow V against the third spring (51) to the non-guiding position shown in FIG. After removing the jammed transfer paper (30), when the user releases his/her hand, each upper conveyance element is biased by a spring and is automatically returned to the guiding position where it can be conveyed. After this upper mechanism (28a
), the device is again enabled for copying.

With this configuration, even if the upper conveying element is moved upward during maintenance of the conveying device (38) or when a paper jam occurs, it will automatically return to its original position as soon as you release your hand. If you forget to return the upper transport element, the upper mechanism (28a
) During closing, accidents in which the devices in the upper mechanism (28a) and the upper conveying element come into contact and cause damage are prevented.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. Note that the same parts as in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the explanation thereof will be omitted. An upper guide plate (4) constituting a rotatable transfer material guide means
2a), a first lever (53) and a second lever (54), which are positioning parts, are located at the rotation centers of the second upper conveying roller (46) and the upper fixing roller (34) constituting the fixing means, respectively. ), and a third lever (56) are fixed. Also, an upper mechanism (28a) which is a process unit
A first lever (53) and a second lever (5
4), and a first protrusion (57) and a second protrusion (58) that are abutting parts that abut on the third lever (56), respectively.
), and a third protrusion (60) are formed.

Therefore, when performing maintenance on the transport device (38) or removing paper jams, the operator must
) in the direction of arrow W as shown in Fig. 3. After opening, rotate each lever in the direction of arrow
2a), or the second upper conveyance roller (46) or the upper measuring roller (34) is rotated in the same direction to the non-guiding position to perform maintenance such as cleaning or to remove paper jams. After this, each lever may be returned to its original position by hand, but even if the levers are not returned, if the upper mechanism (28a) is closed in the direction opposite to the arrow W direction, the first
The protrusion (57), the second protrusion (58), and the third protrusion (60) are respectively connected to the upper guide plate (42a), the second upper conveyance roller (46), and the upper measuring roller (34). and each lever is pressed down as it closes. Therefore, the upper guide plate (42a) and the second upper measuring roller (42a)
6), the upper measuring roller (34) automatically attaches the transfer paper (30
) is returned to the guiding position where it can be transported.

With this configuration, even if you forget to return each upper conveyance element to the guiding position after maintenance etc., each upper conveying element will be automatically returned to the guiding position where it can be conveyed when the upper mechanism (28a) is closed. This prevents accidents in which each device in the upper mechanism (28a) and the upper conveying element come into contact and are damaged.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and can be modified in various ways. For example, the upper conveyance element may be another conveyance roller or a guide plate, the transfer device may be a corona charger, etc., and the fixing device may be a heater or the like. In addition, in the second embodiment, as in the first modification shown in FIG. 4, the first lever (
53), second lever (54), third lever (56)
If the fourth spring (61), the fifth spring (62), and the sixth spring (63), which are upward biasing devices, are attached to the The element is automatically rotated to the upper non-guiding position, and when the upper mechanism (28a) is closed, the upper conveying element is automatically is returned to the guidance position. Therefore, during maintenance or the like, there is no need to open and close the upper conveying element separately from the upper mechanism (28a), and operability is further improved.

Moreover, the return amount of the upper conveyance element is determined by each lever (53), (
54), (56), each protrusion (57), (5
8), can be easily adjusted by the contact amount of (60),
Since the upper conveyance element can be positioned at an appropriate guide position, the conveyance accuracy of the transfer material is improved, and in particular, in the case of transfer device I (33) which requires conveyance accuracy, it is possible to obtain good transfer and toner It also prevents scattering.

Furthermore, the mechanism for automatically opening and closing the upper conveyance element is optional, and as in the second modification shown in FIG. A recess (66) into which the tip of each lever such as the first lever (53), which is a positioning part, can be inserted is formed in the upper mechanism (28).
a) When the upper mechanism (28a) is closed, the tip of the lever is pushed up at the bottom of the recess (66) as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5(a), the lever tip may be pushed up at the upper bottom of the recess (66) to return the upper conveyance element to the guide position.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a biasing member is provided that always biases the upper conveyance element downward, or a positioning part attached to the upper conveyance element is pressed down by a contact part provided on the process unit. As a result, the upper conveying element that has been rotated to the non-guiding position during maintenance etc. can be automatically returned to the original guiding position, so the operator can return the upper conveying element to the original guiding position before closing the process unit 1-. is no longer necessary, and the operability of the device is improved. Furthermore, since the upper conveying element is reliably returned to the guiding position when the process unit is closed, there is no accident in which the apparatus inside the process unit and the upper conveying element come into contact with each other, resulting in damage to either of them, thereby improving reliability. Furthermore, if configured as in the first modification or the second modification, the operator can position the upper conveyance element at the guide position as the process unit opens and closes, and can also adjust the guide position to the appropriate position by adjusting the abutment part. Since the transfer accuracy can be improved, good transfer can be obtained and image quality can be improved, especially in the transfer section.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the lower mechanism of the first embodiment of the invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 show the second embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 shows the upper mechanism in a closed state. 3 is a sectional view showing the upper mechanism and the upper conveying element in an open state, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the lower mechanism of the first modification of the invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a protrusion of a second modified example of the device, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional device. 28a... Upper mechanism, 28b... Lower mechanism, 30... Transfer paper, 31...
-Paper feed cassette, 32... paper ejection device, 33... transfer device. 34... Upper fixing roller, 37... Heat fixing roller, 38... Conveying device, 42a
... Upper guide plate, 46... Second upper conveyance roller, 48... First spring, 50... Second spring, 51... Third spring, 53...
...first lever, 54...second lever, 56...third lever, 57...first
protrusion, 58... second protrusion, 60.
. . . third protrusion, 64 . . . protrusion, 66 . . . recess.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A guide position for guiding the transfer material to the transfer section in a device in which a visible image is formed by performing an electrophotographic process on a photoconductor, and the visible image is transferred from the photoconductor to a transfer material in a transfer section to form an image. and a base unit having a transfer material guide means with a positioning part for taking a non-guiding position different from the guiding position and positioning the photoreceptor at the guiding position, and for carrying out an electrophotographic process with respect to the photoreceptor. and a process unit that supports a process means that acts on the photoreceptor, has a contact part that comes into contact with the positioning part, and is provided so as to be separable from the base unit. Photographic equipment.