JPH0711998Y2 - Printer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a printer device such as a laser printer or an LED printer that forms an image on a fed sheet.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, as office equipment such as computers has become widespread, the number of office equipment owned per office is increasing, and as the number of office equipment owned increases, it is becoming difficult to secure the installation location. For example, in general, in an office or the like, a computer or the like is often installed on a desk together with its peripheral devices, and if this computer and its peripheral devices occupy a large space, it may interfere with other work on the desk or its surroundings. Become. Therefore, these office equipments are inevitably required to be downsized.

A printer device is often used as a peripheral device such as a computer and a word processor, which is widely used as office equipment, and a laser printer or a LE is used as the printer device.
Electrostatic copying type devices such as D printers are known.

For example, in a conventional laser printer, as in a general copying machine, a paper feed tray is provided with its rear end portion protruding from the machine frame. However, in the laser printer having such a structure, the size of the entire printer device is inevitably increased.

Therefore, in order to reduce the size of the printer device, a paper feed tray for accommodating paper is provided on the upper side of the machine frame, and when a paper jam occurs, the paper feed tray is rotated to move the inside of the machine frame. It is conceivable that the device is exposed so that the work for removing the paper can be performed. In this case, a paper transport path for transporting the paper sent from the paper feed tray is formed on the lower side of the paper feed tray, that is, on the back surface side, and a photoconductor for forming a latent image is formed along the paper transport path. The body and the fixing device will be arranged.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

By the way, in the printer device configured as described above,
In order to adjust the amount of toner supplied and the like according to the size of the paper, it is necessary to detect the size of the paper stored in the paper feed tray. Then, in the above-described printer device, after the paper feed tray is rotated for handling a paper jam or the like, the printing operation is performed without returning the paper feed tray to the original printable position without fail. This may cause paper jam again and may damage the printer device. To prevent this, it is necessary to detect the open / closed state of the paper feed tray.

However, if the above-mentioned means for detecting the paper size and the means for detecting the opening / closing of the paper feed tray are provided completely separately, it is necessary to provide the installation location, the attachment member, the wiring, etc., respectively. As a result, the internal structure of the machine casing becomes complicated and the cost increases, which is a disadvantage.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the printer device according to the present invention has, on the upper side of the machine frame, a paper feed position when feeding a paper to a paper transport path in the machine frame and an open position for exposing the inside of the machine frame. A paper feed tray rotatable between the paper feed trays is provided, and a contact member that is moved according to the paper size is provided on the paper feed tray together with a paper side pressing member arranged in the paper feed tray. On the frame side, there is a paper size detection unit for detecting the paper size according to the moving position of the contact member according to the paper size, and a change in the position of the contact member in the opening / closing direction due to the opening / closing of the paper feed tray. Accordingly, an open / close detection unit for detecting the open / close state of the paper feed tray is provided on one substrate that faces the contact member.

[Action]

According to the above configuration, since the paper size detection unit and the opening / closing detection unit for detecting the opening / closing of the paper feed tray are provided on one board, the installation location and the mounting unit are unified. It is possible to reduce mounting work by reducing wiring and the like. Therefore, the structure inside the machine frame is simplified, and the cost can be reduced.

In the machine frame, for example, a photoconductor and a fixing device are arranged along the paper transport path, but the paper feed tray is attached to the upper side of the machine frame so as to cover the machine frame from above. By doing so, the paper feed tray will not protrude from the machine frame,
In addition, since the accommodation density in the machine frame is increased, the printer device can be downsized.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, a laser printer as a printer device has a machine frame 26 having a substantially triangular cross-sectional shape, and a manual insertion / feeding section 21 having a sheet feeding roller 20 is provided on the top thereof. ing. Below the manual feed section 21, along the slope of the machine frame 26,
A face-down tray 19, which is a paper discharge receiving member for accommodating the paper carried out after printing, is provided. The face-down tray 19 has a tray upper side 19b 'and a tray lower side 19c' which are vertically rotatable by upper shaft supporting portions 19b and 19c, respectively, and a lower side wall which is a paper input side is provided. A face-down paper inlet 19a into which the printed paper is inserted is provided. Further, a carry-out roller 18 is provided on the outer wall of the lower side wall of the face-down tray 19 in correspondence with the face-down paper inlet 19a.

On the back side (bottom side) of the face-down tray 19,
Continuing from the above tray upper side 19b ', there are provided a paper feed roller 5 for feeding the paper, and a paper feed tray 1 for accommodating the paper at an inclination angle substantially the same as that of the face-down tray 19. The paper feed roller 5 and the paper feed tray 1 are rotatable around the shaft support 19b together with the tray upper side 19b '.

The paper feed tray 1 is provided with a rotary plate 1a for pushing the paper toward the paper feed roller 5 and a paper side pushing member which is a paper side pushing member for setting a print size by moving the paper according to the paper size. A plate 30 is provided. At the lower end of the paper-side push plate 30, a moving member 31 is provided on the back side of the paper feed tray 1 and extends in the paper transport direction. This moving member 31 is provided with a switch contact portion 32 made of metal as a contact member on the front side, and the moving member 31 is brought into contact with the side surface of the sheet by pressing the sheet side pressing plate 30 in accordance with the sheet size. At the same time, the switch contact portion 32 moves.

A switch substrate 33 having electrodes 33a, 33b, 33c ... As shown in FIG. 2 (a) is arranged near the switch contact portion 32. An open / close detection unit 36 for detecting the open / close state of the paper feed tray 1 is configured,
A sheet size detection unit 35 is configured to detect the size of the sheet by the electrodes 33b, 33c ....

A mirror 3 is attached to the bottom wall of the paper feed tray 1, and a semiconductor laser device 12 shown by a chain double-dashed line in the drawing is provided near the mirror 3. And, as shown by the dashed line in the figure,
Laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser device 12 is reflected by the mirror 3
It is reflected by and is guided to the photosensitive drum 10 provided below.

A paper transport path 25 is formed from the paper feed side where the paper feed rollers 5 are arranged in the paper feed tray 1, and from the manual insertion paper feed section 21 to the face-down paper entrance 19a. On the paper transport path 25, a transport roller 6 for transporting the paper sent from the paper feed roller 5 and the transport roller 6 or the paper feed roller in order from the paper feed side of the paper feed tray 1.
Conveyance rollers 7, 8 and 9 for conveying the sheet sent from 20 to the photosensitive drum 10 are arranged. And
Around the photosensitive drum 10, a main charger 11 that charges the photosensitive drum 10, a developing device 13 that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 by exposure, and a surface of the photosensitive drum 10 are provided. A transfer charger 14 that transfers a toner image onto a sheet and a cleaning device 15 that removes toner adhering to the surface of the photosensitive drum 10 after transfer are sequentially provided.

Therefore, in this laser printer, the face-down tray 19, the paper feed tray 1, and the developing process unit centering on the photosensitive drum 10 are arranged in parallel.

Further, on the paper transport path 25 from the photoconductor drum 10 to the discharge roller 18, a pair of upper and lower heat rollers 16 are fixing devices for heating and fixing the toner image transferred from the photoconductor drum 10 onto the paper. A discharge roller 17 that further conveys the sheet after fixing, and a conveyance path changing member 23 that forms a sheet conveyance path 25 and a branch discharge path 24 indicated by broken lines in the drawing by appropriately rotating around the upper end portion. Are arranged in this order. The branch discharge path 24 communicates with a discharge port 22 for discharging the sheet sent from the roller 17 to the outside.

In the above configuration, the photosensitive drum is used during the printing operation.
With rotation of 10, the surface thereof is charged when it faces the main charger 11. Next, the surface of the photoconductor drum 10 is irradiated with the laser light emitted from the semiconductor laser device 12 through the mirror 3, so that only the exposed portion is discharged to form an electrostatic latent image. . When the electrostatic latent image faces the developing device 13, the toner adheres to form a toner image.

On the other hand, the paper is fed by the paper feed roller 20 from the manual paper feed unit 21.
Alternatively, from the paper feed tray 1 to the paper feed roller 5 and the transport roller 6
After being sent by and, the toner is conveyed to the photoconductor drum 10 by the conveying rollers 7, 8 and 9. And the photoconductor drum
The toner image formed on the sheet 10 is transferred onto the sheet by the transfer charger 14, and the toner image on the sheet is transferred to the heat roller 16
It is heated and fixed by. Thereafter, the sheet is discharged from the branch discharge path 24 to the discharge port by the discharge roller 17 and the transport path changing member 23.
The sheet is discharged to the face-down tray 19 from the face-down paper inlet 19a to the sheet 22 or through the discharge roller 18.

The toner remaining on the photoconductor drum 10 after the toner image is transferred is removed by the cleaning device 15 to prepare for the next printing.

Here, when replenishing paper to the paper feed tray 1, first,
The bottom side 19c 'of the face-down tray 19 is pivotally supported 1
Feed paper by rotating it from 9c in the direction of arrow A. Next, when the paper side push plate 30 in the paper feed tray 1 is brought into contact with the side surface of the paper,
The switch contact portion 32 moves together with the moving member 31,
As shown in FIG. 2 (b), the electrode 33c and the electrode 33b, which are determined by the size of the paper, are brought into contact with each other and are energized to detect the size of the paper. Further, when the paper feed tray 1 is closed, the switch contact portion 32 is also in contact with the electrode 33a, and it can be detected that the paper feed tray 1 is closed.

When a paper jam occurs, the paper feed tray 1 together with the face-down tray 19 is moved from the paper supply position shown in FIG. 1 to the open position where the inside of the machine frame 26 is exposed. That is, it is rotated in the direction of arrow A about the shaft support portion 19b. As a result, the paper transport path 25 is exposed, and paper jams and the like can be dealt with. At this time, the switch contact part 32 is separated from the electrodes 33a and 33b to stop the energization, and it is detected that the paper feed tray 1 is rotated. When the paper feed tray 1 is pivoted to the paper feed position and closed after handling paper jams and the like, the switch contact portion 32 causes the electrodes 33a and 33b.
When the sheet feed tray 1 is closed, the sheet feed tray 1 is energized to detect that the sheet feed tray 1 is closed.

As described above, in this apparatus, the paper size detection unit 35 for detecting the size of the paper and the opening / closing detection unit 36 for detecting the opening / closing of the paper feed tray are provided in one member. In addition, since the installation location and the attachment member are unified, the wiring work and the like can be reduced to reduce the attachment work, the structure inside the machine frame can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced.

Further, the paper feed tray 1 is housed inside and the paper transport path is
25 is formed so as to reach the face-down tray 19 from the paper feed side of the paper feed tray 1 through the back side of the paper feed tray 1, and the developing process centered on the photoconductor drum 10 along the paper transport path 25. The paper feed tray 1 by arranging the parts
Does not project from the machine frame 26, and since the accommodation density in the machine frame 26 is increased, the printer device can be downsized.

Further, in this embodiment, the face-down tray 19
And the paper feed tray 1 are arranged in a vertical type inclined at a predetermined angle,
In addition, since the above-mentioned developing process units are arranged in parallel with respect to the paper feed tray 1, further miniaturization is promoted, and the installation occupation area of the printer device on the desk is reduced.

In this embodiment, the moving member 31 having the switch contact portion 32 at the lower end of the paper-side pressing plate 30 is formed on the back side of the paper feed tray 1 in the paper conveying direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a switch contact portion may be provided at the lower end portion of the paper-side push plate, and a switch substrate may be attached to the back side of the paper feed tray correspondingly. . Further, the configuration of the electrodes on the switch substrate is not limited to this.

[Effect of device]

As described above, the printer device according to the present invention is provided on the upper side of the machine frame between the paper feeding position when the paper is fed to the paper transport path in the machine frame and the open position where the inside of the machine frame is exposed. A movable paper feed tray is provided, and a contact member that is moved according to the paper size is provided on the paper feed tray together with the paper side pushing member arranged in the paper feed tray, while the machine frame side is provided. , A paper size detection unit for detecting the paper size according to the moving position of the contact member according to the paper size, and paper feeding according to the change in the position in the opening / closing direction of the contact member accompanying the opening / closing of the paper feed tray. An open / close detection unit for detecting opening / closing of the tray is provided on one substrate facing the contact member.

As a result, the number of parts can be reduced, and the structure can be simplified and the cost can be reduced. Further, since the printer device is downsized, there is an effect that the installation occupation area can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram showing a printer device,
2A is a plan view showing the switch substrate and the switch contact portion, and FIG. 2B is a side view showing the switch substrate and the switch contact portion. 1 is a paper feed tray, 10 is a photosensitive drum, 16 is a heat roller (fixing device), 19 is a face-down tray (paper ejection receiving member), 21 is a manual paper feed section, 25 is a paper transport path, and 26 is a machine. Frame, 30
Is a paper-side pressing plate (paper-side pressing member), 31 is a moving member, 32 is a switch contact portion (contact member), 33 is a switch substrate, and 33a / 3
3b and 33c are electrodes, 35 is a paper size detector, and 36 is an open / close detector.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A paper feed tray is provided on the upper side of a machine frame and is rotatable between a paper supply position when a paper is fed to a paper transport path in the machine frame and an open position where the machine frame is exposed. The paper feed tray is provided with a contact member that moves in accordance with the paper size together with the paper side pushing member arranged in the paper feed tray, while the machine frame side has the above contact that matches the paper size. A paper size detection unit for detecting the paper size according to the movement position of the member, and a paper size detection unit for detecting the opening / closing of the paper feed tray according to the change in the position of the contact member in the opening / closing direction due to the opening / closing of the paper feed tray. A printer device, wherein an open / close detection unit is provided on one substrate facing the contact member.