JPH08339104A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image forming device capable of reading image, while ejecting a form paper on which image information is formed into the top surface region of a device casing and further, suppressing the occupied space, while increasing the degree of freedom for installation. CONSTITUTION: The image forming device is constituted of an image forming part for forming the image information on the form paper, the device casing 15 which includes the image forming part and is loaded with the form paper on which the image information is formed, on the top surface, a scanner part 3 which is disposed above the device casing 15 with space, reads the image information of an original and converts the information into an electric signal, to supply it to the image forming part, supporting bodies for supporting the scanner part 3 on an least two sides, to dispose the scanner part 3 above the device casing with the space and an opening part 44 formed it at least one supporting body.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, which is capable of performing copy processing without sticking out a discharge tray on the side of the apparatus body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional copying machine, an original document is read by a scanner section provided at the upper part of the main body of the apparatus, the read image information is transferred to a sheet and fixed, and then mounted on the side surface of the main body of the apparatus. The paper is discharged onto a paper discharge tray (external paper discharge tray).

However, in such a so-called wing type copying machine, depending on the installation location, there is a problem that a person may hit the external discharge tray and destroy the tray, and the installation space is different from the main body of the apparatus. It needs to be considerably wider than the projected area, which is a big bottleneck for downsizing of the device.

In an apparatus such as a laser printer that does not need to read an original image independently, a sheet on which image information is formed is discharged to the upper surface area of the apparatus casing. If the upper surface of the housing can be used as a paper discharge tray in this way, the installation space will be equal to the projected area of the main body of the device, and space can be saved. However, the original image can be read like a copier or facsimile. In the required apparatus, since the scanner unit is arranged in the upper portion of the apparatus main body to read the original document as the original image, the paper discharge point has to be positioned on the side of the apparatus main body.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to read an image while ejecting a sheet of paper having image information formed on the upper surface region of the apparatus housing, and to increase the degree of freedom of installation and to occupy an occupied space. An object is to provide an image forming apparatus that can be suppressed.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, an image forming section for forming image information on a sheet, and a sheet containing the image forming section and forming image information on the upper surface thereof. A device housing for loading the device housing, and a scanner unit which is arranged above the device housing with a space therebetween, and which reads original image information, converts the information into an electric signal, and supplies the electric signal to the image forming unit, A support body that supports the scanner unit on at least two sides so as to dispose the scanner unit above the apparatus housing with a space, and an opening formed in at least one of the support bodies. An image forming apparatus is configured.

It is preferable to attach a transparent member to the opening.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be described based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a typical so-called in-body discharge type image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The image forming unit 1 is arranged substantially in the center of the apparatus, and the paper feeding unit 2 is provided immediately below the image forming unit 1.
Is located. Although the paper feed unit 2 is shown as comprising two paper feed cassettes, the number of cassettes can be freely increased or decreased as necessary. A scanner unit 3 for reading a document is provided above the image forming unit 1 with a space therebetween. A space between the image forming unit 1 and the scanner unit 3 is formed as a paper discharge unit 4 so that the image copied paper is discharged.

In the image forming unit 1, around a photosensitive drum 5 made of, for example, an organic photosensitive member, a charger 6 for charging the drum surface, an exposure device 7 for irradiating image information on the drum with laser light, A developing device 8 for visualizing the electrostatic latent image on the drum, a transfer roller 9 for transferring the toner image on the drum to a sheet, a cleaning device 10 for removing and collecting residual toner on the drum, and the like are arranged. Further, a fixing device 11 that performs a fixing process on the sheet after the image transfer is arranged on the downstream side of the sheet conveyance of the electrophotographic process means.

The paper feed unit 2 consisting of a two-stage paper feed cassette,
Each of the paper feed cassettes 21 contains sheets of different sizes or different loading directions. Inside the paper feed cassette 21, a bottom plate 22 for lifting the leading edge of the paper to the calling roller 23 is attached. The paper pulled out from the cassette by the calling roller 23 is
It is delivered to the registration roller 14 via the delivery roller 24. In some cases, paper is fed to the registration rollers 14 from a manual feed tray 16 which is hingedly supported on the side of the apparatus housing 15 of the image forming unit 1 and which is rotatable and openable.

In the scanner unit 3, the contact glass 32
In order to scan and scan a document (not shown) placed on it, a reading traveling body 31 composed of a document illumination light source and a mirror is moved. The image information scanned by the reading traveling body 31 is read as an image signal by an image reading device 33 provided behind the lens. The read image signal is digitized and image-processed.
Based on the image-processed signal, a laser diode (LD, not shown) of the exposure device 7 is driven, the laser light from the LD is reflected by a polygon mirror, and then on the photosensitive drum 5 via the mirror. To form an electrostatic latent image on the drum.

The paper discharge unit 4 on the image forming unit 1 is constituted by wall surfaces forming a part of the apparatus casing 15 on three sides except the front side as viewed in FIG. It is in a state of being lifted and supported by. As a result, the image-formed sheet is discharged into the body of the image forming apparatus, and even if the copy target is, for example, a confidential document, the content is unlikely to be seen by a nearby person. In the present embodiment, the paper is ejected on the back side because of the direction of paper conveyance in the image forming unit 1, so that it is particularly excellent in maintaining confidentiality.

The paper discharge section 4 is provided with a paper discharge tray 41 formed on the upper surface of the apparatus casing 15 and a 1-bin tray 42 with a paper discharge jogger. It is also possible to increase the number of bin trays to a plurality according to the extent of the space of the paper discharge section. The paper output tray 41, as can be seen in FIG.
The front cover part swells gently to the front, and the central front side is recessed to form a step with the surroundings so that the discharged sheet can be easily taken out from the front surface of the apparatus. Further, in order to align the rear ends of the discharged sheets, the left side of the sheet discharge tray 41 in FIG. 1 is inclined and falls to the left end. 1 bin tray 42
Is disposed in the hollow part of the space of the paper discharge section 4, and is cut out largely at the center front side so that the paper can be taken out easily. Due to this notch, it is easy for the operator to confirm the paper discharged to the paper discharge tray 41. The sheet discharged to the 1-bin tray 42 is sent out to the front side of the apparatus by the jogger 43 as shown in FIG. The jogger 43 obtains a driving force from a driving device (not shown) for discharging the paper, and
It is controlled to send out the discharged paper for each sheet or for each job.

As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of conveyance rollers 51, 52, 53 are provided in the side wall on the left side of FIG. 1 which defines the paper discharge section 4 and supports the scanner section 3. A paper transport path is provided that can discharge the paper that has been passed through the fixing device 11 to the paper discharge tray 41 or the 1-bin tray 42. In order to lift the paper to the 1-bin tray 42, the discharge roller 54 is configured as a driving roller and is driven by a driving device (not shown). The discharge switching between the discharge tray 41 and the 1-bin tray 42 is performed by the first switching claw 55 provided in the paper transport path. Conveyor rollers 51, 5
The outer cover of the housing 15 which covers the walls 2, 53 and constitutes a wall surface has a double structure, and the outermost cover 17 is hinge-supported and is configured to open and close around the rotation fulcrum 18. When opened, the outermost cover 17 functions as a third paper discharge tray different from the paper discharge tray 41 and the 1-bin tray 42. The outermost cover 17 is hollow and formed of a main cover plate 17a and an extension plate 17b, as shown in FIG. 5, and is formed as a telescopic type so that the extension plate 17b can be pulled out if necessary. Has been done. Output tray 41, 1-bin tray 42
The second switching claw 56 is used to switch between the transport path to the straight sheet and the transport direction to the outermost cover 17 for straight sheet discharge (FIG. 4).

As shown in FIG. 2, an opening 44 is formed in the side wall on the right side of FIG. 1 which defines the paper discharge section 4 and supports the scanner section 3. When the scanner unit 3 is provided above the image forming unit with a space therebetween and the space is configured as the paper discharge unit 4, the paper discharge unit is surrounded by the wall surface that lifts and supports the scanner unit 3 except for the paper ejection surface. Therefore, the opening 44 is used as a light source to eliminate the lack of brightness when the sheet discharged to the sheet discharge unit 4 is taken out. It is preferable that a transparent member such as an acrylic resin is fitted into the opening 44 so that the stacking state of the discharged paper is not disturbed by the air flow flowing through the opening.

The copy process in the image forming apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration is the same as the conventionally known procedure.
At the same time, the surface of the photosensitive drum 5 is uniformly charged by the charging charger 6, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface by light irradiation by the exposure device 7 based on a signal read by the scanner unit 3 and subjected to image processing. Then, when the electrostatic latent image passes through a position facing the developing device 8, the latent image is visualized by toner adhesion. The visible image is superposed on the sheet conveyed from the sheet feeding section 2 or the manual feed tray 16 at the same timing, and the image is transferred onto the sheet using the transfer roller 9. The transferred toner image is fixed to the fixing device 1.
It is fixed on the paper by passing 1. on the other hand,
The residual toner on the photoconductor drum 5 after the transfer processing is removed by the cleaning device 10, and the residual charge on the photoconductor drum is removed by the neutralization device. The sheet on which the toner image is fixed is discharged to any of the sheet discharge tray 41, the bin tray 42, and the opened outermost cover 17 depending on the switching positions of the first switching claw 55 and the second switching claw 56.

Since there are three paper discharge positions as described above, it is possible to perform control so that paper is discharged to each position for each function of the copying machine, facsimile, and printer. By dividing the paper discharge location by function,
Even if multiple functions are operated at the same time, recording sheets will not be mixed. Further, by performing the switching of the first switching claw 55 during one copy process, it is possible to perform the sorting / stacking process using the paper discharge tray 41 and the 1-bin tray 42, and when the number of copies is considerably large. For example, first, the sheets are stacked on the sheet discharge tray 41, and when the number of sheets reaches a certain number, the first switching claw 55 is switched to change the 1-bin tray 42.
If it is controlled so that the sheet is discharged, the number of copies per copy can be greatly increased.

The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment has the advantage of saving the installation space by using the manual feed tray 16 and the outermost cover 17 in a so-called wingless state, and has the advantage of saving the installation space. The device can be used by pushing it into a narrow space surrounded by walls. However, when the misfeed process needs to be performed from the side of the machine when used in such an installed state, the machine must be moved. In order to improve the mechanical mobility, handles 45 are formed on the front side of the side wall of the paper discharge unit of the apparatus housing 15 that lifts and supports the scanner unit 3, as shown in FIG. Further, on the rear surface of the housing 15, as can be seen in FIG.
Is formed, and cords such as a harness and a connector are accommodated in the recess 34. As a result of forming the concave portion 34 for accommodating the cords in this manner, the back surface of the device can be attached to the wall surface 35.

[0019]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an image forming unit for forming image information on a sheet, and an apparatus housing for stacking the sheet containing the image forming unit and having the image information formed on the upper surface thereof. And a scanner unit which is arranged above the apparatus housing with a space therebetween, reads original image information, converts the information into an electric signal and supplies the electric signal to the image forming unit, and the scanner unit. Since it is configured to include a support member that supports the scanner unit on at least two sides in order to arrange the scanner unit above the body with a space therebetween, and an opening formed in at least one of the support members, When the scanner unit is provided above the image forming unit with a space in between, and the space is configured as a paper discharge unit, the brightness obtained by surrounding the paper discharge unit by the wall surface that lifts and supports the scanner unit except for the paper ejection surface. To solve the shortage Can.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the transparent member is attached to the opening, in addition to the above effect, the stacking state of the discharged paper is not disturbed by the airflow flowing through the opening. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an in-body discharge type image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a jogger operation of a bin tray.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a paper transport path region of the in-body paper ejection type image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a third paper discharge tray.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of storing the cords on the rear surface of the device housing.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Image Forming Section 2 Paper Feeding Section 3 Scanner Section 4 Paper Ejection Section 5 Photosensitive Drum 7 Exposure Device 11 Fixing Device 15 Device Housing 41 Paper Ejection Tray 42 Bin Tray 44 Opening

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming unit for forming image information on a sheet, an apparatus housing for accommodating the image forming unit and a sheet on which image information is formed on an upper surface, and a space above the apparatus housing. In order to dispose the original image information, the scanner unit that reads the original image information and converts the information into an electric signal and supplies the image signal to the image forming unit, and the scanner unit with a space above the apparatus casing. An image forming apparatus comprising: a support that supports the scanner unit on at least two sides; and an opening formed in at least one of the supports. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a transparent member is attached to the opening.