JPH05116830A - Paper sheet discharge tray for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the draw-out characteristics of a small-sized recording paper sheet being discharged to a position remoter from an operator's position, by causing a tray to be inclined from a rear/upper portion toward a front/lower portion of an image forming apparatus. CONSTITUTION:Right beneath a paper sheet discharge opening 12 provided at one side face of an image forming apparatus 10 there is disposed a paper sheet discharge tray 14 in a manner that the same is inclined from a rear/-upper portion toward a front/lower portion of the apparatus 10. For this reason, the paper sheets discharged along the deep side edge of the tray 14 are all moved to the front side edge along this inclined surface. Therefore, an operator located in front of the front side can easily take out even a small-sized paper sheet P.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper discharge tray of an image forming apparatus in which the ease of taking recording paper discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine onto the paper discharge tray is improved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Copiers, printers, and facsimile machines using an electrophotographic process guide an optical image information obtained by scanning an original surface set on a contact glass onto a photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image. Is formed, the electrostatic latent image is developed with toner, the toner image is transferred and fixed on the recording paper, and then discharged onto a paper discharge tray outside the machine.

By the way, in a high speed copying machine, in order to improve the copying speed, a lateral feeding method is adopted in which a large size recording paper such as A3 is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to its long side. Therefore, the A3 original is set vertically on the contact glass when viewed from the operator side, and is set vertically on the original setting table even in the automatic paper feeder. As shown in FIG. 5, when setting documents of various sizes on the document table 1, the corners of the front mold as seen from the operator side located at the bottom of the drawing are set in consideration of ease of operation. It is based on. The reflected light of the original obtained by scanning the original is imaged on the photoconductor drum 3 in a state where the image is reversed by passing through the optical lens 2. Therefore, the developed image obtained by developing the image is recorded on the recording paper. When transferred to, the developed image appears as an image that is the reverse of the image on the original. Since the reference point is also reversed, the reference point when the recording sheet is fed to the transfer unit is also on the back side, so that the recording sheet is ejected with reference to the back side of the ejection tray.

In this case, the small size recording paper such as A5 is discharged along the back side of the discharge tray, but it is very difficult for the operator located on the front side to take out the small size recording paper.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-12454, by switching the inclination direction of the receiving tray, the front and back sides of the copy paper discharged from the paper exit of the copying machine main body are inverted without requiring a large space, and a copy surface is obtained. An invention is disclosed in which the invention is taken as a basis for viewing or holding a grudge.
Further, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 61-169445 discloses a paper alignment of discharged sheets by automatically changing the discharge tray to a proper inclination angle corresponding to the discharge speed which varies stepwise according to each process speed. However, these do not disclose a configuration for facilitating the taking of small-sized recording paper discharged along the back side.

JP-A-60-159867 and 62
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56252 does not disclose a configuration for facilitating the taking of small-sized recording paper discharged along the back side of the paper discharge tray.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an image forming apparatus having an improved ability to take out small-sized recording paper discharged to a position far from the operator's position on the front side of the image forming apparatus. The purpose is to provide a paper ejection tray.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image having an operation section at the front of the apparatus, a sheet discharge port at the side of the apparatus, and a sheet discharge tray for stacking recording sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port. In the forming apparatus, the paper discharge tray is inclined from the upper rear side of the image forming apparatus toward the lower front side, the operation unit is disposed in front of the apparatus, and the paper discharge port is discharged to the side of the apparatus and the paper discharge opening In an image forming apparatus provided with a paper discharge tray for stacking recording paper, the paper discharge tray is rotatably supported between a horizontal posture and an inclined posture in which a leading edge side is lower than a trailing edge side. In an image forming apparatus that includes an operation unit on the front side of the apparatus, a discharge port on the side of the apparatus, and a discharge tray on which recording sheets discharged from the discharge port are stacked, the discharge tray maintains a horizontal posture. Being movable in the front-back direction, and further in front of the device In the image forming apparatus having an operation section on the side of the apparatus, and a sheet discharge tray on the side of the apparatus and a stack of recording sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port, the sheet discharge tray is fixed horizontally and It is characterized in that it is provided with a paper shifting plate movable in a direction, and when the paper shifting plate moves forward from the rear edge of the paper discharge tray, the recording paper on the paper discharge tray is moved forward.

The paper discharge tray of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a sheet discharge tray of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. An image forming apparatus 10 has a left side in the drawing as a front surface (a side having an operating portion 11) and a right side as a back surface (rear surface). ), A paper discharge tray 14 is attached immediately below the paper discharge port 12 provided on one side surface. Since the paper discharge tray 14 is arranged so as to be inclined from the upper rear portion to the lower front portion of the apparatus 10, all the recording paper discharged along the back side edge of the tray 14 is moved along the inclined surface toward the front edge side. Slides into. Therefore, the operator located on the front side can easily take out even the small size recording paper P. The configuration is also extremely simple.

FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) show a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the front end edge of the discharge tray 14 is moved up and down with respect to the rear end portion thereof so that the horizontal position of FIG. From posture
The feature is that it is configured to be movable between the inclined posture of (b). The discharge tray 14 is always biased toward the horizontal posture by a spring (not shown) or the like, and is configured to have a posture as shown in (b) when the front side is pulled down. When receiving the recording paper P ejected from the paper ejection port 12, the recording paper P is placed in a horizontal posture as shown in (a), and the operator pushes the front side of the tray down (or by an automatic operation after the copy job is completed) only when taking it out. By doing so, the bundle of recording papers is slid toward the front side so that it can be easily taken out. If necessary, a lock means that can be fixed in the posture of (b) may be provided. Also in this embodiment, it is possible to easily take out the small size recording paper located on the back side.

A shaft portion for rotating the tray 14 may be provided on the front side. In this case, the tilted posture is realized by raising the trailing edge of the tray.

FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) show a third embodiment of the present invention, in which the paper discharge tray 14 having a horizontal posture is slid to the operator side by a manual or automatic operation after completion of a copy job. It was made to move. Also in this embodiment, it is possible to easily take out the small size recording paper P located on the back side.

FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) show a fourth embodiment of the present invention, which is movable in a direction (front-back direction) orthogonal to the paper discharge direction on the paper discharge tray 14 held in a horizontal posture. Paper parlor 1
The configuration in which 6 is provided is characteristic. This paper misalignment board 16
When ejected, it is located on the back side of the ejection tray,
After the copy job is completed, the recording paper P is automatically moved to the front side and the recording paper P is pressed and moved to the front side. Therefore, the recording paper P once stocked on the back side also moves to the front side, and the operator can easily take out the paper.

In the second to fourth embodiments, when the paper discharge tray is automatically moved, the end of a series of jobs is always detected, or the operator instructs by key operation. Since the moving operation is performed, the stack order of ejected copies is not changed.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the take-out property of the small size recording paper discharged to the position far from the position of the operator on the front side of the image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

2 (a) and 2 (b) are schematic views showing the configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

3 (a) and 3 (b) are schematic diagrams showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are schematic diagrams showing the configuration of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional example, and is an explanatory diagram showing a direction when a document is set on a document table and a direction of a transfer image.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Image forming apparatus, 12 ... Paper discharge port, 14 ...
・ Output tray,

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Chiemi Kaneko 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an operation section at the front of the apparatus; a sheet discharge tray at the side of the apparatus; and a sheet discharge tray for stacking recording sheets discharged from the sheet discharge slot. A sheet discharge tray of an image forming apparatus, which is inclined from an upper rear portion of the forming apparatus toward a lower front portion thereof. 2. An image forming apparatus comprising an operation section at the front of the apparatus, a sheet discharge port on the side of the apparatus, and a sheet discharge tray for stacking recording sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port, wherein the sheet discharge tray is horizontal. A discharge tray of an image forming apparatus, which is rotatably supported between a posture and an inclined posture in which a front edge side is lower than a rear edge side. 3. An image forming apparatus comprising an operation section in front of the apparatus, a sheet discharge port on the side of the apparatus and a sheet discharge tray for stacking recording sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port, wherein the sheet discharge tray is horizontal. A paper discharge tray for an image forming apparatus, which is movable in the front-rear direction while maintaining its posture. 4. An image forming apparatus comprising an operation section in front of the apparatus, a sheet discharge port on the side of the apparatus, and a sheet discharge tray for stacking recording sheets discharged from the sheet discharge port, wherein the sheet discharge tray is horizontal. And a paper shifting plate that is movable in the front-rear direction and is fixed to the front side of the discharge tray. A paper ejection tray of the image forming apparatus.