JP2000247451A - Paper feeding cassette device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a universal type paper feeding cassette capable of simplifying the configuration by constituting an end guide regulating a rear end part of paper as an integrally molded product made of resin and obtaining satisfactory pressing action for the rear end part of the paper. SOLUTION: An end guide 10 to be mounted on a paper feeding cassette is constituted in such a manner that a longitudinal member 11 and a lateral member 15 are integrally formed using an elastic resin material and rib members 13, 13a are formed through connection parts 14, 14a for the longitudinal member 11 so that satisfactory action pressing paper from a rear end part of the paper toward a paper supply side is obtained in accordance with large or small amount of papers due to the elasticity of the rib members.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feed cassette mounted on a paper feed unit of an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an end guide for regulating a rear portion of a sheet stored in the cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a facsimile apparatus, a paper storage device such as a paper supply cassette or a paper supply tray is mounted on a paper supply unit, and a paper storage device such as the paper storage device is used. Means for feeding the recording paper toward the recording unit one by one. Among the paper storage devices, a paper supply cassette used for a small-sized image forming apparatus is configured to be able to store about 250 sheets. When a dedicated paper cassette is used, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of paper cassettes. Therefore, conventionally, a universal type paper feed cassette capable of storing sheets of a plurality of sizes in one paper feed cassette has been used.

In the universal type paper feed cassette, a sheet positioning member disposed inside the paper feed cassette is disposed on a side guide disposed on a side in a width direction of the sheet to be fed, and is disposed with respect to a rear end of the sheet. End guide. Then, the guides are moved in accordance with the size of the sheet so as to perform positioning with respect to both sides and the rear end of the sheet, and to guide the sheet sent out by a sheet feed roller or the like by the side guide. . Also, in the paper feed cassette, separating means by separation claws are arranged on both sides in the direction in which the paper is fed, and the upper part on the paper feed side is regulated by the separation claws, and the bottom plate can be swung to raise the paper. Is provided.

[0004]

In the universal type paper feed cassette, as the amount of remaining paper decreases, the swing angle of the bottom plate increases, and the angle at which the bottom plate contacts the end guide at the rear end of the paper is reduced. Changes. Further, in order to lock the leading end of the sheet to the separation claw, there is a problem that the trailing end of the sheet needs to be moved to a position where it advances. Therefore, in the paper feed cassette, an elastic body such as a sponge is arranged in an end guide for regulating the paper in response to a case where the thickness of the paper is changed, so that a rear end of the paper is provided. Some have the effect of pushing the part.

However, when an elastic member is combined with the end guide, there is a problem that the number of components of the member increases. Also, the end guide is
If the member for pressing the rear portion of the sheet is biased by a spring or the like with respect to the member fixed to the sheet cassette, there remains a problem that the structure is complicated.
And, unless the production accuracy of each component is set strictly,
The operation of each component may be inaccurate, and the regulation of the trailing edge of the sheet may not be performed properly.

The present invention solves the problem of the conventional end guide in the paper feed cassette as described above, and regulates and presses the rear end portion of the paper by using a resin integrally formed member. An object is to provide a member that can be favorably performed.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a paper feeder of an image forming apparatus, which is provided with means for storing paper of an arbitrary size and regulating a side surface and a rear end in the paper feed direction. Paper cassette. The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is characterized in that an end guide for regulating the rear end portion of the paper inside the paper feed cassette is formed using a resin material, and a member for pressing the rear end portion of the paper is provided as an end guide body. It is characterized by being constituted as an elastic member integrally molded with the above. Therefore,
The end guide can be integrally formed as one member, and the number of parts can be reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a part of the elastic member is formed integrally with a rear plate of the end guide body,
It is characterized in that one end is configured as a free end. With this configuration, the end guide can be manufactured as a low-cost one. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the end guide, a horizontal portion mounted on a bottom plate of a sheet cassette and an upright portion corresponding to a sheet are formed in an L shape, and an elastic portion is formed as a slope with respect to the upright portion. It is characterized by being arranged. Therefore, even when the remaining amount of paper in the paper feed cassette is low, the leading end of the paper can be positioned corresponding to the separation claw, and it is possible to prevent the trouble of the paper feeding operation.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The configuration of a sheet cassette according to the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated example. The paper cassette 1 shown in FIGS.
Around the bottom plate 7, the front plate 2, the side plates 3, 3a on both sides, and the rear plate 4 are integrally provided in a state of protruding upward. The rear plate 4 is formed integrally with the handle portion 5, and side protrusion members 6 and 6 a are provided on both sides of the handle portion 5.
The side protruding members 6, 6a are configured to cover the front surface of the mounting portion so as not to cause unevenness when the sheet feeding cassette is mounted on the image forming apparatus. The conditions such as the protruding length of the side protrusion members 6... Are prepared according to the shape of the portion exposed on the surface of the handle portion 5 and the conditions such as the design of the image forming apparatus to which the paper feed cassette is mounted. Is done.

In the sheet feeding cassette 1, a bottom plate 8 for supporting the leading end side of the sheet is provided at the front side in the sheet feeding direction so as to be swingable via a hinge 8a provided on a side plate. Further, the leading end side of the paper accommodated in the paper feed cassette is supported by the bottom plate 8, and the rear part is placed on the bottom plate 7. Separating claws 9 and 9a are arranged to regulate the leading end of the paper accommodated in the paper feed cassette in the feeding direction and to perform the sheet separating operation, and the separating claws are engaged with the corners on both sides of the paper. Then, the sheet is separated and fed one by one by applying a feeding action by a sheet feeding roller not shown. Note that a case in which the sheet cassette of the present embodiment is used in combination with a device of a so-called center registration system of a type in which the center of a sheet is matched between a sheet conveying device and an image recording unit of an image forming apparatus will be described. I have.

In addition to the above configuration, in the example shown in FIG. 2, a cassette cover 27 is disposed on the rear side of the upper portion of the sheet cassette, and a slide cover member 28 is disposed below the cassette cover 27. I have. The cassette cover 2
Reference numeral 7 is used not only for use as a general cover member but also for discharging recording paper toward the upper portion of a paper feed cassette and mounting the cassette cover on an image forming apparatus that can be used as a discharge tray. The case is assumed. In this embodiment, a slide cover member 28 slidably provided with respect to the cassette cover 27 is arranged to mainly support the end of the discharged recording paper.

A sheet cassette 1 shown in this embodiment mainly stores A4 size sheets, and is capable of storing various size sheets called letter size, legal size, and F4 size similar to the sheet size. It is configured as a cassette. Among the sheets that can be accommodated in the sheet cassette, the length and width of A4 size and letter size paper are slightly different, but the width of legal size and F4 size paper is larger than A4 size. They are almost the same size but differ greatly in length. In the paper feed cassette described below, an end guide used for regulating the rear end of the paper will be mainly described. It is to be noted that the conventional configuration in which the side guides 20 and 21 for regulating the both sides of the paper can be positioned in accordance with the width of the paper in correspondence with the case where the paper sizes accommodated in the paper cassette are different from each other. This is similar to the case of a general paper feed cassette.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an end guide supporting portion 25 is disposed on the bottom plate of the paper feed cassette 1, and a locking claw of the end guide 10 is fitted to a locking hole 26. The rear end of the sending-out side of the sheet to be accommodated is regulated by locking the sheet 16 and the front-end claw 17 to correspond to the sheet size. In addition, a plurality of holes are provided in the end guide supporting portion 25 in accordance with the paper size, and the fixing position of the end guide 10 can be changed according to the paper to be stored. To do.

The end guide 10 is constructed as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and includes a vertical member 11, a horizontal member 15, and rib members 13, 13a formed integrally with the vertical member 11.
Are formed by integral molding of a plastic material capable of exhibiting properties as an elastic body. The vertical member 11 of the end guide 10 is a member that regulates the rear end of the sheet, and the horizontal member 15 supports the lower surface of the sheet, and the end member is supported by the end guide support 25 of the bottom plate 7. Are formed as a surface having substantially the same height as the surface of the bottom plate of the paper feed cassette. Further, two locking claws 16 and two tip claws 17 are arranged at a lower portion of the horizontal member 15 at predetermined intervals in the width direction, respectively, and correspond to each lower projection member.
Since the locking holes 26 of the end guide supporting portion 25 are arranged, for example, when the end guide supporting portions corresponding to two types of paper are formed, eight locking holes are arranged. You.

The vertical member 11 of the end guide 10 includes:
Two vertical slits 12, 12a are arranged at a predetermined interval, and rib members 13, 13a are provided so as to be able to protrude and retract from the slits. The upper end of the slit is integrally connected to the vertical member 11 through the connection portions 14 and 14a. The elasticity of the plastic material forming the end guide causes the rib members 13 and 13a to reduce the pressure of the paper. Deform correspondingly. When the amount of paper stored in the paper cassette is large, the rear end of the paper is substantially perpendicular to the bottom plate. 13 is pressed so as to be substantially upright. Further, when the amount of stored paper is reduced, the leading end of the paper is advanced so as to be locked by the separation claw, so that the rib member 13 has its lower end formed by its elasticity as shown in FIG. A big step forward,
The paper is pressed in the paper feeding direction.

When the end guide 10 is integrally formed using a plastic material in order to impart the above-described pressing action to the sheet, a mold member for manufacturing the end guide 10 has a shape corresponding to the end guide. To be configured as Then, as shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, the rib member 13 is integrally formed with the vertical member so as to be bent from the connecting portion 14 so that the lower end portion is largely protruded in the sheet feeding direction. Therefore, as described above, by forming the rib members integrally, a member having a relatively small cross-sectional area can be used for the vertical members 11 and the horizontal members 15 having a large thickness and rigid properties. The rib members 13 and 13a provided as above can exhibit great elasticity even if plastic materials having the same properties are used. In addition, the end guide shown in this embodiment is, for example, polyacetal, polypropylene, vinyl chloride,
It is possible to use another resin material having relatively large elasticity.

The end guide 10 constructed as described above
When the sheet is mounted on the end guide supporting portion 25 of the sheet feeding cassette, the leading edge 17
Then, the locking claw 16 is attached so that the vertical member is pressed from above. Then, the end guide can be fixed so as not to come off from the end guide supporting portion by being locked and held on the bottom plate via a locking claw member provided on the locking claw 16. Further, when removing the end guide, it is possible to first pull out the locking claw 16 from the hole while pressing the horizontal member in the paper feeding direction, and then move the tip claw 17 to the side opposite to the paper feeding direction. Therefore,
By mounting the end guide 10 in the paper cassette, the pressing action of the rib member 13 can be exerted at any time according to the amount of paper stored in the paper cassette, and vibration or impact is applied to the paper cassette. In this case, the sheet holding function can be sufficiently exhibited.

In the sheet cassette shown in the present embodiment, the means for positioning the side guides in order to regulate both sides in the width direction of the sheet in accordance with the sheet size includes:
Any conventionally known means can be used. Alternatively, a mechanism may be used in which the side guides are configured to be slidable with respect to the bottom plate of the sheet cassette, and the side guides on both sides are moved in conjunction with each other in a direction in which the side guides are separated from each other in accordance with the sheet size. In addition, any side guide fixing means may be used.

[0019]

Since the paper feed cassette of the present invention is constructed as described above, the end guide is formed using a resin material, and the member for pressing the rear end of the paper is provided with the end guide. By configuring as an elastic member integrally formed with the main body, the end guide can be integrally formed as one member, and the number of parts can be reduced. In addition, since the elastic member is formed integrally with a rear plate of the end guide main body and has one end formed as a free end, the end guide can be manufactured at a low cost. Further, in the end guide, a horizontal portion mounted on the bottom plate of the paper feed cassette and an upright portion corresponding to the paper are formed in an L shape, and an elastic portion is arranged as a slope with respect to the upright portion. Even when the remaining amount of paper in the paper cassette is low, the leading edge of the paper can be positioned corresponding to the separation claw,
It is possible to prevent trouble in the sheet feeding operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a sheet feeding cassette.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the sheet cassette shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an end guide.

4 is a cross-sectional view of the end guide of FIG. 3 taken along line AA.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 paper cassette, 2 front plate, 3 side plate,
4 Rear plate, 5 Handle, 6 Side protrusion, 7
Bottom plate, 8 bottom plate, 9 separation claw,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 End guide, 11 vertical member, 12 slit, 13 rib member, 14 connection part, 15
Horizontal member, 16 locking claw, 17 tip claw, 2
0.21 side guide, 25 end guide support, 26 locking hole, 27 cassette cover,
28 Slide cover member.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding cassette which is mounted on a sheet feeding section of an image forming apparatus, accommodates sheets of an arbitrary size, and is provided with means for regulating a side face and a rear end in a sheet feeding direction. An end guide that regulates the rear end of the paper inside the paper cassette is formed using a resin material, and a member that presses the rear end of the paper is configured as an elastic member integrally formed with the end guide body. Paper cassette device. 2. The feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the elastic member is formed integrally with a rear plate of the end guide body, and has one end as a free end. Paper cassette device. 3. The end guide has a horizontal portion mounted on a bottom plate of a sheet cassette and an upright portion corresponding to a sheet formed in an L shape, and an elastic portion is disposed as an inclined surface with respect to the upright portion. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A paper cassette device according to item 1.