JP3411248B2 - Image reading device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus such as a copying machine and a scanner. 2. Description of the Related Art Copiers and scanners are provided with an optical image reading unit for reading an original. The image reading unit includes a light source for illuminating the original, and an optical system such as a CCD sensor for reading reflected light of the original illuminated by the light source. The light source is moved, and the original is read in the sub-scanning direction by the CCD sensor, thereby reading the image of the original. The image reading unit usually has a box-shaped housing having a bottom plate, and a front plate, a rear plate, a left plate and a right plate disposed around the bottom plate. The upper surface of the housing is made of a contact glass on which a document is placed, and the above-described optical system is arranged therein. Generally, an automatic document feeder is attached to a copying machine or the like above the contact glass of the image reading unit. The automatic document feeder is supported by a housing of the image reading unit, and the front side is opened upward with a center on the back side so that a document can be placed from the front side. Therefore, a mounting member for positioning and fixing the automatic document feeder is provided on the rear side plate of the image reading unit. When the automatic document feeder is opened upward, a large load is applied to the mounting member. For this reason, there is a possibility that an image defect occurs due to a change in the optical axis due to deformation of the rear side plate to which the mounting member is fixed.
Therefore, a reinforcing member having an L-shaped cross section is fixed to the bottom plate and the mounting member from behind by welding or screwing. Thus, the mounting member is firmly supported by the rear plate and the reinforcing member. [0005] However, in this conventional system, it is necessary to additionally attach a reinforcing member. For this reason, the number of parts increases and the cost increases. In addition, an extra welding step or screwing step is required at the time of mounting the reinforcing member, which increases the number of manufacturing steps. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading apparatus capable of firmly supporting an automatic document feeder without increasing the number of parts and the number of manufacturing steps. [0006] In order to solve the above problems, an invention according to claim 1 is an image reading apparatus provided with an optical system for reading an image of a document,
A bottom plate having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped bottom surface, and a rear plate having a rising piece bent upward at a substantially right angle on a rear side, and a left plate fixedly disposed along a left side of the bottom plate. And a right plate fixedly arranged along the right side of the bottom plate, and fixedly arranged along the front side of the bottom plate,
The front side plate connecting the front ends of the left side plate and the right side plate together, along the rear side of the bottom plate, slightly ahead of the rear side, and fixedly arranged so as to be parallel to the rising piece, A rear plate for connecting the vicinity of the rear ends of the left side plate and the right side plate, and a mounting member for mounting a document conveying device provided between the rear side plate and the rising piece so as to be supported by both. An image reading apparatus characterized by including: According to the present invention, since the mounting member of the document feeder is supported by the rising piece of the bottom plate and the rear plate, after the document feeder is mounted, the document feeder is moved by the rising piece and the rear plate. Supported. Thus, the document feeder can be securely attached to the image reading device. Further, since the mounting member of the document feeder is supported by the rising piece formed by bending without using a separate member, the number of components does not increase. Further, since no additional welding step or screwing step is required, the number of manufacturing steps does not increase. An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG.
1 is a schematic sectional view showing a part of a configuration of a copying machine including an image reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention. An image reading unit 3 having an optical system 2 for reading an image of a document is disposed at the top of the copying machine body 1. The image reading unit 3 has a box-shaped housing 4.
Above the optical system 2, a transparent contact glass 5 serving as a document placing plate is fitted. The optical system 2 includes a light source 6 that moves while illuminating the document, a mirror 7 that reflects light reflected from the document, and a lens 9 that converges the reflected light. An automatic document feeder 8 is provided above the contact glass 5 so that a document can be automatically fed to a document reading position. The automatic document feeder 8 also serves as a cover, and its front side is opened upward centered on the back side so that the document can be placed on the contact glass 5 by hand. The automatic document feeder 8 is supported by the housing 4 of the image reading unit 3. When copying is performed, the light source 6 moves while irradiating the original. The reflected light of the original is guided in a predetermined direction by a mirror 7 and a lens, and the CCD sensor 1
The original image is formed at 0. The CCD sensor 10 has a length in the main scanning direction (a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 1).
Document reading is achieved by a combination of electrical main scanning by the CCD sensor 10 and document sub-scanning by moving the light source 6 and the like in the sub-scanning direction. The image read by the CCD sensor 10 is
The electrostatic latent image is developed and developed into a toner image. Then, the toner image is transferred to a sheet. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the housing 4 of the image reading unit 3.
FIG. 2 shows a state in which the contact glass 5 and the optical system 2 have been removed. FIG. 2A is a plan view showing the configuration of the housing 4, and FIG.
It is the schematic sectional drawing cut | disconnected by -A. In the following, FIG.
The description will be made with the lower side as the front and the upper side as the rear. The housing 4 includes a bottom plate 11, a left side plate 12,
It has a right side plate 13, a front side plate 14 and a rear side plate 15. The bottom plate 11 forms a bottom portion of the image reading unit 3 and is made of a metal plate having a substantially rectangular planar shape. On the rear side 11a of the bottom plate 11, a rising piece 16 that is raised upward is provided over substantially the entire area. The rising piece 16 is formed by being bent substantially at right angles to the bottom plate 11. The rising piece 16 is provided with a bent piece 17 formed by bending backward from an upper end 16a. The left side plate 12 is a metal plate constituting the left side surface of the housing 4. The left side plate 12 has a reduced height and extends along the left side 11b of the bottom plate 11 from the front end side 11c to the rear end side 11a. The upper side 12c of the left side plate 12 is provided with an upper bent piece 12E formed by bending to the right over the entire area. Then, the contact glass 5 is attached to the upper bent piece 12E.
Can be attached. Further, a lower bent piece (not shown) formed by being bent rightward is provided on the lower end side (not shown) of the left side plate 12 over the entire area. This lower bent piece is attached to the upper surface 11e of the bottom plate 11.
The left side plate 12 can be fixed to the bottom plate 11 by joining to the bottom plate 11 by arc welding. Thus, the cross-sectional shape of the left side plate 12 is substantially U-shaped. The right side plate 13 is a metal plate constituting the right side surface of the housing 4. The right side plate 13 is a long one having a reduced height, and extends along the right side 11d of the bottom plate 11 from the front end side 11c to the rear end side 11a. The upper side 13c of the right side plate 13 is provided with an upper bent piece 13E formed by bending to the left over the entire area. Then, the contact glass 5 is attached to the upper bent piece 13E.
Can be attached. Further, a lower bent piece (not shown) formed by being bent rightward is provided on the lower end side (not shown) of the right side plate 13 over the entire area. This lower bent piece is attached to the upper surface 11e of the bottom plate 11.
The right side plate 13 can be fixed to the bottom plate 11 by being joined to the bottom plate 11 by arc welding. Thus, the cross-sectional shape of the right side plate 13 is substantially U-shaped. The front plate 14 is a metal plate constituting the front surface of the housing 4. The front plate 14 is a long plate having a reduced height. The front plate 11c of the bottom plate 11 extends from the left side 11b to the right side. It extends to the side 11d. The front plate 14 is provided with an upper bent piece 14C and a lower bent piece 14D which are formed by bending inward from upper and lower sides 14a, 14b. Therefore, the cross-sectional shape is substantially U-shaped. The front plate 14 includes the left plate 12 and the right plate 1.
The front ends 12a and 13a of the front plate 3 are connected to each other, and the upper and lower bent pieces 14C and 14D of the front side plate 14 are joined to the bent pieces of the left side plate 12 and the right side plate 13 and the bottom plate 11 by arc welding. The front side plate 14 is fixed to the bottom plate 11. The rear plate 15 is a metal plate constituting the rear surface of the housing 4, and extends slightly forward of the rear side 11 a of the bottom plate 11 from the left side 11 b to the right side 11 d so as to be parallel to the rising piece 16. It extends. On the rear side plate 15,
An upper bent piece 15C and a lower bent piece 15D formed by bending inward from the upper and lower sides 15a, 15b are provided. The rear side plate 15 connects the rear ends 12b and 13b of the left side plate 12 and the right side plate 13 to each other.
The upper and lower bent pieces 15C and 15D of 5 are joined to the bent pieces of the left side plate 12 and the right side plate 13 and the bottom plate 11 by arc welding, and the rear side plate 15 is fixed to the bottom plate 11. Between the rear side plate 15 and the rising piece 16, two mounting members 18 for mounting the automatic document feeder 8 are mounted at a predetermined interval. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the manner in which the mounting member 18 is mounted on the housing 4 as viewed from the rear. Each mounting member 18 is constituted by two mounting plates 18A and 18B. The mounting plate 18A is formed by bending a metal plate into a substantially W shape so as to have irregularities.
1, 21 and one rear plate 22 are provided. The front surfaces of the two front plates 21 and 21 are joint surfaces with the mounting plate 18B, and the rear surface of the rear plate 22 is a mounting surface with the rising pieces 16. The rear plate 22 is provided with an engagement piece 23 bent forward from a lower end 22a. The mounting plate 18B also has two front plates 24,
24 and one rear plate 25. Two front plates 2
The front surfaces of the rear plates 4 and 24 are joined to the rear plate 15.
On the other hand, the rising piece 16 has an engagement hole 28 formed in a root portion 26 at each of the mounting positions of the two mounting members 18, 18.
(Only one is shown in FIG. 3). The mounting plate 18A and the mounting plate 18B are joined by spot welding,
After fitting the engaging piece 23 of the mounting plate 18A into the engaging hole 28 of the rising piece 16, the mounting member 18 is joined to the mounting position 27 (the part shown by the broken line in FIG. 3) of the rear side plate 15 by arc welding. Is done. In this joined state, the rear plate 22 of the mounting plate 18A
Comes into contact with the rising piece 16. The rear plate 22 of the mounting plate 18A and the rising piece 16 are joined by arc welding. Thereby, the mounting member 18 is attached to the rising piece 1 of the bottom plate 11.
6 and the rear side plate 15. Since the mounting member 18 of the automatic document feeder 8 is supported by the rising piece 16 of the bottom plate 11 and the rear side plate 15, the automatic document feeding apparatus 8 is supported by the rising piece 16 and the rear side plate 15. I have. Thereby, the automatic document feeder 8 can be firmly supported by the image reading unit 3. In addition, since the mounting member 18 mounted on the rear side plate 15 is supported by the rising piece 16 formed by bending,
The number of components can be reduced as compared with the conventional system in which a separate reinforcing plate is applied from behind the automatic document feeder 8. Also, since it is formed by bending,
No extra welding process is required. In the above description, the joining between the side plates and the joining between the side plates and the bottom plate 11 are performed by arc welding. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the joining is achieved by screwing. There may be. Others
Various design changes can be made within the scope of the matters described in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing a part of a configuration of a copying machine including an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of a housing of the image reading unit. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a state in which a mounting member is mounted on a housing, as viewed from the rear. [Description of Signs] 2 Optical system 3 Image reading unit (image reading device) 8 Automatic document feeder (document feeder) 11 Bottom plate 12 Left side plate 13 Right side plate 14 Front side plate 15 Rear side plate 16 Rising piece 18 Mounting member

Claims (1)

(57) [Claim 1] An image reading apparatus provided with an optical system for reading an image of a document, wherein a bottom surface portion having a substantially rectangular planar shape is formed, and a rear side is formed. A bottom plate having a rising piece bent at a substantially right angle upward, a left plate fixedly disposed along a left side of the bottom plate, a right plate fixedly disposed along a right side of the bottom plate, A front plate fixedly disposed along the front side of the bottom plate and connecting the front ends of the left and right plates, and a rising piece along the rear side of the bottom plate and slightly forward of the rear side. And a rear plate for connecting the vicinity of the rear ends of the left and right plates together, and provided between the rear plate and the rising piece so as to be supported by both. And a mounting member for mounting the Image reading apparatus characterized by.