JP2003171023A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device capable of being structured by arbitrarily determining whether cut paper can be used or not and meeting users' various needs. <P>SOLUTION: A paper storage section of this image forming device is fitted with a cut paper unit 19. The cut paper unit 19 includes a base 8 and a cut paper storage 17 which is fitted on the base 8 and stores cut paper. The cut paper storage 17 has a lift plate 20 for bringing the cut paper up to a paper feeding position in it. The base 8 is mounted with a motor 22 for bringing up the lift plate 20. When the motor 22 applies force so as to bring up the lift plate 20, force in the backward direction (to the depth side of the image forming device) of the base 8 is applied to the cut paper storage 17. Thus, the cut paper storage 17 can be prevented from coming off a regulating plate 53 when the lift plate 20 is brought up. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet fed from a sheet container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS)
There is known an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image on a wide sheet such as a size A column 0 (hereinafter referred to as "A0"). In this type of image forming apparatus, for example, roll paper is used as the paper, and a paper storage unit for storing the roll paper is provided. When this image forming apparatus is used as a copying machine, for example, when copying an A3 size or A4 size original onto a sheet of that size, or when making a reduced copy from A0 size to A4 size (25% reduction). is there. In addition, this image forming apparatus is
When it is used as a printer such as a D printer, A4 size or A3 size paper may be selected and output at the time of printer output.

When the image forming apparatus is constructed so as to be able to accommodate roll paper and cut paper as paper for forming an image, for example, the roll paper is for a large size such as A0 or A1 and the cut paper is for A3 or A4. Can be small size. In this case, roll paper can be used when forming an image on a large size paper, and cut paper can be used when forming an image on a small size paper. As a result, a user who does not frequently use a small size paper does not need to prepare a roll paper of the size and can use a general-purpose cut paper, which is economical.

[0004]

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus capable of forming an image on a wide sheet, whether or not the cut sheet can be used is determined depending on whether the cut sheet can be used. could not. Therefore, the needs of various users cannot be satisfied. That is, an image forming apparatus that cannot use cut sheets cannot meet the needs of users who use cut sheets, and an image forming apparatus that can use cut sheets increases costs, so They were forced to spend unnecessary money.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and an image forming apparatus capable of satisfying a variety of user needs can be configured by arbitrarily determining whether cut sheets can be used or not. Is to provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 can set cut sheets, and can feed the set cut sheets one by one, and a roll. An image forming apparatus having a paper storage unit capable of setting paper and selectively mounting a roll paper unit for feeding the set roll paper, wherein the cut paper unit includes a drive source provided with a drive gear, and a paper feed unit. Paper feed unit that feeds the cut paper at the paper position,
And a base provided with an attached member, a driven gear capable of accommodating the cut sheet and meshing with the drive gear, and the cut sheet accommodated by the driving force given through the driven gear is lifted to the sheet feeding position. A lift plate and a locking member that can be locked to the locked member, and a cut sheet container that can be slid to the front side of the image forming apparatus with respect to the base, The drive gear and the driven gear mesh with each other in a positional relationship that gives a force in a direction in which the engaging member is engaged with the engaged member when the rotational force is transmitted to lift the lift plate. An image forming apparatus characterized by the above.

According to the structure of the present invention, the cut paper unit and the roll paper unit can be selectively mounted in the paper storage unit. Therefore, it is possible to provide the image forming apparatus equipped with the cut sheet unit to the user who uses the cut sheet, and to the user who does not use the cut sheet, the image formed by installing the roll sheet unit without the cut sheet unit. A forming device can be provided. It is also possible to attach (replace) the cut sheet unit later to the image forming apparatus to which the cut sheet unit is not attached. That is, since this image forming apparatus can be configured by arbitrarily determining whether cut sheets can be used, it is possible to meet diverse user needs.

The base may be usually fixed to the sheet storage section of the image forming apparatus. Even in this case, the cut sheet container can be slid to the front side of the image forming apparatus with respect to the base fixed to the main body of the image forming apparatus. The user may set the cut sheet in the cut sheet container pulled out from the inside of the image forming apparatus to the front side. That is, it is not necessary to set the cut sheet in the cut sheet container inside the image forming apparatus, or to pull out the large cut sheet unit from the image forming apparatus main body to set the cut sheet. Therefore, since the cut sheet can be easily set in the cut sheet container, such an image forming apparatus is convenient.

When the image forming apparatus is used, the cut sheet container can be fixed inside the base by attaching the attaching member to the attached member. The engaging member and the engaged member can be elastically engageable using an elastic body, for example. That is, the attached member may be a member having an opening of a certain size, and in this case, the attached member includes an elastic body of a size that cannot be inserted through this opening unless it is elastically deformed. May be In this case, the engagement between the cut sheet container and the base can be easily removed by simply pulling the cut sheet container strongly toward the front side of the image forming apparatus.

The lift plate can be lifted when the image forming apparatus is used so that the uppermost cut sheet contained in the cut sheet container is arranged at an appropriate paper feeding position. Except when the image forming apparatus is being used, the lift plate may be in a downward position so that the entire cut sheet is stored inside the cut sheet container. The lift plate is lifted by being given a driving force from a driving source via a driving gear and a driven gear. At that time, when the driving gear transmits the rotational force to the driven gear, a force is applied in a direction in which the engaging member is engaged with the engaged member. This prevents the engaging member from coming off the engaged member when the lift plate is lifted. For example, when the engaging member is attached to the rear end of the cut sheet container (the rear side of the image forming apparatus) and the engaged member is attached to the rear side of the base, the driving gear applies a rotational force to the driven gear. It can be configured to give a force to push the cut sheet container to the back side of the base when it is given.

On the other hand, when lowering the lift plate, the lift plate and the cut sheet can be configured to move to a predetermined position below by their own weight. In this case, since the rotational force is not applied from the drive gear to the driven gear, the engagement between the engaging member and the engaged member does not come off. The image forming apparatus may be provided with one sheet storage section or may be provided with a plurality of sheet storage sections. When a plurality of paper storage units are provided, any or all of them may be capable of selectively mounting the cut paper unit and the roll paper unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a plurality of the accommodating parts are provided, one of the accommodating parts is equipped with a roll paper unit, and the other one of the accommodating parts is equipped with a cut paper unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is provided. Roll paper and cut paper are, for example,
It can be configured so that it is specified on the operation panel and used properly. According to the present invention, one image forming apparatus can easily use roll paper and cut paper properly.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 1 is, for example,
An image can be formed on a wide sheet of A0 size or the like, and a sheet storage unit 2 for storing the sheet, a transport mechanism 3 for feeding the sheet to the image forming mechanism 5, and a document An optical system 4 for reading, an image forming mechanism 5 for forming an image on the basis of light supplied from the optical system 4 and transferring the image onto a sheet, and a fixing device 6 for fixing the image transferred on the sheet. And so on.

The sheet accommodating section 2 is arranged in a three-stage configuration from the lower side of the front side (right side in FIG. 1) of the housing 7 to the upper side, and the upper sheet accommodating section 2A, the middle sheet accommodating section 2B, and the sheet accommodating section 2B. It is composed of the lower sheet storage section 2C. Of the sheet storage units 2A, 2B, and 2C, for example, the middle and lower sheet storage units 2B and 2C are equipped with roll paper units, and have different sizes (for example, A0 size and A1 size) according to the purpose and use. Roll paper P of different sizes (for example, plain paper or tracing paper) is stored.

A cut sheet unit 19 capable of accommodating cut sheets is attached to the upper sheet accommodating section 2A. By attaching a roll sheet unit, the sheet accommodating section 2B,
The roll paper P can also be stored in the same manner as 2C. These sheet storage units 2A, 2B, and 2C allow the user to select and use various types of sheets. Therefore, the user who uses the cut sheet can be provided with the image forming apparatus 1 in which the cut sheet unit 19 is mounted, and the user who does not use the cut sheet does not mount the cut sheet unit 19, and the roll paper unit can be installed if necessary. The mounted image forming apparatus 1 can be provided. It is also possible to mount (replace) the cut sheet unit 19 later on the image forming apparatus 1 to which the cut sheet unit 19 is not mounted.
That is, the image forming apparatus 1 can be configured by arbitrarily determining whether or not cut sheets can be used, and can meet diverse user needs.

On the inner side of the sheet accommodating portion 2, a conveying path 11 extends from the lower side to the upper side to the vicinity of the image forming mechanism 5. When the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 is started, the cut paper or roll paper P is conveyed from the paper storage units 2A, 2B, 2C corresponding to the selected paper. When the cut sheet is selected, the cut sheet is fed to the transport path 11 by the pickup roller 26 and the paper feed roller 27. When the roll paper P stored in the paper storage units 2 </ b> B and 2 </ b> C is selected, the paper rolls 10 and 10 feed the roll paper P from the leading end to the transport path 11.

The cut paper or roll paper P is conveyed in the conveying path 1
1 is conveyed from below to above. A transport roller 12 is provided on the downstream side of the transport path 11, and the cut paper or roll paper P is further transported by the transport roller 12 to the image forming mechanism 5 side. In this way, each paper storage unit 2
Cut paper and roll paper P accommodated in A, 2B and 2C
Are conveyed on the same path through the conveying path 11. A cutter mechanism 13 for cutting the roll paper P is provided immediately upstream of the transport roller 12. The cutter mechanism 13 is provided with length detection means (not shown) for detecting the length of the roll paper P to be conveyed, and the roll paper P to be conveyed is provided.
Is cut into a predetermined length, for example, A0 size or A
It is made one size.

The cut paper or the cut roll paper P is
After the toner image is transferred by the image forming mechanism 5, the fixing device 6
Then, the toner image is fixed and discharged. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the structure of the cut sheet unit 19. The cut sheet unit 19 includes a base 8 and a cut sheet container 17 that is provided in the base 8 and stores the cut sheet. The base 8 is a side plate 1 on the short side of the substantially rectangular bottom plate.
It is a box-shaped body in which 9a and 19b are joined together, and the paper storage unit 2
It has substantially the same size as the roll paper units installed in B and 2C. Rails 28 are attached to the outer surfaces of the side plates 19a and 19b, and the rails 28 can be slidably attached to the corresponding rails fixed in the housing 7. As a result, the cut sheet unit 19
Can be slid in the front-back direction to open and close with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus 1.

At the rear of the base 8 (in the direction corresponding to the back side of the image forming apparatus 1), there is provided a paper feed mechanism 50 for feeding cut sheets. The paper feed mechanism 50 includes a pickup roller 26, a paper feed roller 27, a motor 22, and the like. The cut sheet container 17 is a low-profile box-shaped body that fits the size of the largest cut sheet to be stored. The cut sheet container 17 has a lift plate 20 for placing cut sheets.
Is provided. Two openings 23 are formed near the left and right ends of the lift plate 20, respectively. From each opening 23, a paper guide 24 provided upright on the bottom surface of the cut paper container 17 projects. Also,
At the front end portion 20a of the lift plate 20, a regulation plate 25 for regulating the rear end of the cut sheet is provided upright. The cut sheet is placed on the upper surface of the lift plate 20 in a state where the left and right ends of the cut sheet are in contact with the opposite side surfaces of the sheet guide 24 and the rear ends thereof are in contact with the opposite side surfaces of the regulation unit 25. Each paper guide 24 is attached so as to be slidable in the left-right direction according to the size of the cut paper used.

The cut sheet unit 19 can accommodate, for example, A3 and A4 size cut sheets. Referring to FIG. 1, in image forming apparatus 1 capable of forming an image on a wide sheet, since the sheet is long, the distance from image forming mechanism 5 to fixing device 6 is also long. Therefore, A4 size cut paper is
The long side direction (longitudinal direction) is accommodated and conveyed so as to reach the fixing device 6 from the image forming mechanism 5 along the conveyance direction.

When the cut sheet is set in the cut sheet container 17 and the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 is started, the motor 22 rotates to lift the lift plate 20, and the cut sheet placed on the upper surface of the lift plate 20. The vicinity of the front end of is picked up by the pickup roller 26 and fed out by the pickup roller 26. The cut sheet is further conveyed by a sheet feeding roller 27 arranged immediately downstream of the pickup roller 26. Pickup roller 26 and paper feed roller 27
Are driven by a drive source (not shown) provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus 1.

In the cut sheet container 17, the side plate 19
A held plate 48 that extends horizontally in the front-rear direction is attached to the side surface in the direction along a and 19b. Hold plate 48
Are held by a guide member 49 attached to the base 8 and extending in the front-rear direction of the image forming apparatus 1. The cut sheet container 17 is fixed to the base 8 while being in contact with the regulation plate 53 provided in the sheet feeding unit 50.
FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the held plate 48 and the guide member 49.

On the lower surface of the held plate 48, a guided member 48a having an inverted T-shaped cross section and including parts projecting to both sides is attached. The guide member 49 is the guided member 48a.
Member 48b slidably fitted to the protrusion of
And an outer member 49a disposed outside the inner member 48b and slidably fitted to the inner member 48b. As a result, the cut sheet container 17 can be slid with respect to the base 8 and moved in a direction corresponding to the front side of the image forming apparatus 1 (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2).

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing the structure of a mechanism for fixing the cut sheet container 17 to the base 8. Ring-shaped projections 59 for fixing the cut sheet container 17 to the base 8 are attached near both ends of the rear end face of the cut sheet container 17. The ring-shaped protrusion 59 is a plate-shaped elastic body made of resin and formed in a flat ring shape. Paper feeding unit 50
The regulation plate 53 provided in the above is provided with an opening 60 having a width narrower than the widest portion of the ring-shaped projection 59. On the inner side of the regulation plate 53 (the side opposite to the side on which the cut sheet container 17 is arranged), the ring-shaped projection 5 is formed so as to cover the opening 60.
An accommodation member 61 for accommodating 9 is attached.

When the cut sheet container 17 is slid to the rear of the base 8 along the guide member 49 and strongly pressed against the regulation plate 53, the ring-shaped projection 59 is elastically deformed into a flatter ring-shaped opening 60. It is inserted, accommodated in the accommodation member 61, and attached. The ring-shaped projection 59 is again attached to the housing member 6.
In order to remove the ring-shaped protrusion 59, a force for elastically deforming the ring-shaped protrusion 59 is required. That is, the cut sheet container 17 is maintained in a state of being fixed at a predetermined position of the base 8.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing the structure of a mechanism for lifting the lift plate 20. Cut paper container 17
A support shaft 56 extending in the width direction (left-right direction) of the cut sheet storage container 17 is swingably attached to the inner rear portion. In the center of the support shaft 56 in the width direction of the cut sheet storage container 17, the support plate 5 that extends to the front side of the cut sheet storage container 17 (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 5) and supports the lower surface of the lift plate 20.
7 is fixed. The support shaft 56 is used for the cut paper container 17
Project from the side plate of the sector gear 52
Is attached. The sector gear 52 is the motor 22
Meshes with a drive gear 55 attached to the rotating shaft of the.

Short support shafts 58 extending in the left-right direction are attached to both sides of the front end portion 20a of the lift plate 20, and the lift plate 20 is swingably held with the support shaft 58 as a fulcrum. . The rotational driving force of the motor 22 is transmitted to the support shaft 56 via the drive gear 55 and the sector gear 52. When the support plate 57 is lifted by the rotation of the support shaft 56, the rear end of the lift plate 20 is lifted by the support plate 57 from below and swings around the support shaft 58. As a result, the uppermost portion of the cut sheets stored in the cut sheet storage container 17 is lifted to the sheet feeding position, and the sheet can be fed out by the pickup roller 26.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view for explaining the direction of the force applied by the drive gear 55 to the sector gear 52. The drive gear 55 is arranged obliquely upward and rearward (right side in FIG. 6) with respect to the support shaft 56. When the drive gear 55 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 6, the sector gear 52,
The support shaft 56 and the support plate 57 rotate clockwise. That is, the support plate 57 moves so as to lift the lift plate 20. At this time, the drive gear 55 applies a diagonally downward rearward force F to the sector gear 52 at the meshing portion. Force F
Includes a backward force component Fh in the horizontal direction. Therefore, when lifting the lift plate 20,
Since the cut paper container 17 is given a force in a direction of pushing the ring-shaped projection 59 into the housing member 61, the ring-shaped projection 59 does not come off from the housing member 61.

On the other hand, when the drive of the motor 22 is stopped, the lift plate 20 and the cut sheet are moved by their own weight to a predetermined position below. That is, when the lift plate 20 is lowered, no rotational force is applied from the drive gear 55 to the sector gear 52, so that the ring-shaped projection 59 and the housing member 61 are not disengaged from each other. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 in which the cut sheet unit 19 is attached to the sheet storage portion 2A, as viewed from diagonally above. FIG. 7 shows a state in which the cut sheet container 17 is pulled out from the main body of the image forming apparatus 1.

The base 8 is fixed in the paper container 2A, and only the cut paper container 17 is pulled out from the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 to the front side. At this time, the lift plate 20
The mechanism for driving the drive gear is separated between the drive gear 55 and the sector gear 52. In this state, the user can easily set the cut sheets. That is, it is not necessary to set a cut sheet in the cut sheet container 17 inside the image forming apparatus 1 or to pull out the cut sheet unit 19 from the main body of the image forming apparatus 1 to set the cut sheet. Therefore, such an image forming apparatus 1 is convenient.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the image forming apparatus 1 in which the roll paper unit 9 is mounted in the paper accommodating portion 2A as seen obliquely from above. The roll paper unit 9 is a box-shaped body in which side plates are joined to each side of a substantially rectangular bottom plate, and rails 1 extending in the front-rear direction outside the left and right side plates 9a and 9b, respectively.
4 is attached. Each rail 14 is slidably attached to a corresponding rail fixed in the housing 7. As a result, the roll paper unit 9 can be slid in the front-back direction and opened / closed with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus 1. FIG. 8 shows a state in which the roll paper unit 9 is open.

The left and right ends of the roll paper P are sandwiched by the first holding member 15 and the second holding member 16. By setting the holding members 15 and 16 at predetermined positions of the roll paper unit 9, the roll paper P is held rotatably horizontally in the left-right direction. The roll paper P is set in a state where the leading edge of the roll paper P is sandwiched between the paper feed rollers 18. In this way, the roll paper unit 9 is installed in one paper storage unit 2A.
Alternatively, the cut sheet unit 19 can be selected and attached. The roll paper and the cut paper may be configured to be selectable via an operation panel (not shown) provided in the image forming apparatus, for example. This makes it possible to easily use the roll paper and the cut paper properly.

The present invention is not limited to the contents of the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims. For example, instead of the drive gear 55 and the sector gear 52, a pair of worm gears or a pair of bevel gears may be used. In any case, in consideration of the rotation direction of the gear when the lift plate 20 is lifted, a relative force of the pair of gears is applied so that a force is applied in a direction in which the ring-shaped protrusion 59 is engaged with the housing member 61 (opening 60). You can decide the positional relationship. The ring-shaped projection 59 may be provided on the regulation plate 53, and in that case, the opening 60 and the containing member 61 may be provided on the cut sheet container 17.

Further, the paper accommodating portions 2B and 2C may be dedicated roll papers capable of accommodating only the roll paper, or the roll paper unit 9 or the cut paper unit 19 may be selected similarly to the paper accommodating portion 2A. It may be one that can be attached by mounting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a structure of a cut sheet unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a held plate and a guide member.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing a configuration of a mechanism for fixing a cut sheet container to a base.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a configuration of a mechanism for lifting a lift plate.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view for explaining a direction of a force applied by a drive gear to a sector gear.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus in which a cut sheet unit is attached to a sheet storage unit, as viewed obliquely from above.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus in which a roll paper unit is mounted in a paper storage unit as viewed obliquely from above.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image forming device 2A, 2B, 2C Paper storage section 8 base 9 Roll paper unit 17 Cut paper container 19 Cut paper unit 20 lift board 22 motor 35,42 Driven part 43 Transmission mechanism 48a Guided member 49 Guide member 50 paper feed units 51 heater 52 sector gear 55 drive gear 59 annular protrusion 60 openings 61 Housing member P roll paper

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yuuki Shiga             1-22 Tamatsukuri, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Prefecture             Kyocera Mita Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3F343 FA02 FB02 GA02 GB01 GC01                       GD01 HA28 HB03 HC04 HD18                       HE02 LD24

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sheet which can set a cut sheet and which can feed the set cut sheets one by one, and a roll sheet which can set a roll sheet and which can selectively mount a set roll sheet unit. An image forming apparatus including a storage unit, wherein the cut sheet unit includes a drive source including a drive gear, a sheet feeding unit for feeding the cut sheet at a sheet feeding position, and a base including an attached member, A driven gear capable of accommodating the cut sheet, meshing with the drive gear, a lift plate for lifting the stored cut sheet to the sheet feeding position by a driving force given via the driven gear, and an engaged member. A cut sheet container that is provided with an attachable member that can be slidably moved toward the front side of the image forming apparatus with respect to the base; When the rotational force is transmitted to lift the lift plate, the driven gear and the driven gear are in mesh with each other in a positional relationship that gives a force in a direction in which the engaging member is engaged with the engaged member. A characteristic image forming apparatus. 2. A plurality of the accommodating portions are provided, a roll paper unit is mounted in one of the accommodating portions, and a cut paper unit is mounted in another one of the accommodating portions. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.