JPH02199465A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus used in copying machines and printers based on electrophotography.

Conventional technology In copiers and printers based on electrophotography, an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier is developed, the developed image is transferred to paper by a transfer section, and the transferred image is fixed by a fixing section. , a basket is attached to the upper part of the paper conveyance path connecting the transfer section and the fixing section, and the basket accommodates the image forming section including the image bearing unit and the developing unit, which can be attached and detached from above;
When dealing with a jam or the like, there are some devices in which the basket is removed upward together with the image forming section to open the paper conveyance path, or the image carrier unit and the developing unit can be attached and detached independently. In such a device, if the relative position between the image bearing member of the image forming section and the fixing section is out of alignment, it will have a large effect on the transfer action, so the support part that positions and supports the image forming section on the frame that holds the transfer section. have. Further, at least the basket and the image carrier unit, which is a consumable item and needs to be replaced, have handles for gripping.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The image forming unit is attached to the frame either alone or together with a basket, but the image forming unit may get caught on a part of the basket or the supporting part on the main body side, making the mounting position unstable. The relative positions of the carrier and the transfer section may be misaligned.

Means for Solving the Problems A basket with an opening at the top for accommodating an image forming section including an image carrier unit and a developing unit is removably attached to a main body holding a transfer section, and the image forming section is mounted on the main body. A supporting portion for supporting the image forming portion and a locking means for resiliently engaging the image forming portion are provided, a handle is provided on at least the basket and the image carrier unit, and a downward finger is provided on the handle of the image carrier unit. The hook formed a portion and an upward pressing surface.

For jam clearance and maintenance, remove the basket together with the image forming unit from the main body by grasping the handle of the basket and pulling it up, or remove the image carrier unit from the main body by grasping the handle and pulling it up. The image carrier unit is attached to the main body together with the basket or alone. At this time, by applying an external force from above to the pressing part formed on the handle of the image carrier unit, the image carrier unit is attached to the main body. It is possible to reliably lock the image carrier with the locking means and accurately determine the relative distance of the image carrier to the transfer section.

Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view showing the overall structure. In the figure, 1 is a lower body that constitutes a part of the main body of the electrophotographic printer. This lower body 1 connects a base cover 2 and an upper cover 3. One end of a top cover 4 serving as an upper body is attached to the upper part of the lower body 1 so as to be vertically movable. A power source 5 and a circuit board 6 are attached to the base cover 2. The upper cover 3 is provided with a paper transport path 8 for transporting the paper in the paper feed cassette 7, and at the end of this paper transport path 8, the paper is transported to a paper ejection tray 9 formed on the top surface of the top cover 4. A paper ejection path 10 for ejecting the paper toward is connected to this connecting portion, and a switching unit 11 for switching the ejection path of the paper to the side surface of the lower main body 1, which is on the extension surface of the paper ejection path 10 or the paper conveyance path 8, is connected to this connection part. It is provided. Further, the paper conveyance path 8 includes a paper feed roller 12 that contacts the uppermost sheet of the paper feed cassette 7, a start sensor 13 that optically detects the conveyed paper, and a detection sensor I3 of the start sensor I3. A registration roller 14 whose rotational movement is controlled by a signal, a transfer section 15 that transfers a developed image on an image carrier 24 to a sheet of paper, which will be described later, a peeling section 16 that separates the paper from the image carrier 24, and a high-voltage power source 17. and a fixing section 18 that nip the paper that has passed through the transfer section 15 and fix the transferred image on the paper are sequentially arranged from the first stream toward the downstream.

Further, a basket 19 with vertical openings located above the paper transport path 8 is attached to the upper cover 3, and the image forming unit 2 is detachably housed in the basket I9.
0 consists of an image carrier unit 21 and a developing unit 22. The image carrier unit 21 includes an image carrier 24 rotatably mounted on both sides of a support 23, a charging section 25 that charges the image carrier 24, and a charging section 25 that charges the image carrier 24 and exposes the image carrier 24 to light on its outer periphery. A static eliminator 26 that makes the charge uniform and a waste toner container 2
7 is attached to the support body 23, and a blade 2 is attached to the waste toner container 27 to scrape off the waste toner adhering to the image carrier 24.
8 and a roller 29 that conveys the scraped off waste toner toward the back of the waste toner container 27. The developing unit 22 includes a developing roller 31 and a stirring blade 32 that stirs the toner in a toner container 30 containing toner.
(See Figure 5). Furthermore, an optical section 33 is attached to the inner surface of the top cover 4 to scan the photosensitive surface of the image carrier 24 with a beam of light.

Next, the mounting structure of the basket 19 and the image forming section 20 is shown in FIGS. 1, 3, and 4. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing the support structure for the basket 19 and the image forming section 20, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the lower main body 1 and the basket 19, and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the support structure for the image forming section 20. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the basket 19. As shown in these figures, a pair of handles 34 located above both ends of the image carrier 24 are integrally formed at both ends of the basket 19 . A guide groove 36 for vertically movably guiding a bearing 35 protruding from the outside and supporting the image carrier 24, and a guide groove 38 for vertically movably guiding a support shaft 37 protruding from both sides of the toner container 30. It is formed. Further, the transfer portion 15 and the peeling portion 16 are positioned on a frame 39 fixed to the upper cover 3 and fixed by screws, and the bearing 35 and the support shaft 37 are positioned on this frame 39. A support portion 40.41 is formed to support the image carrier unit 21, and a stopper 42 is provided upright to abut the lower end of the support body 23 of the image carrier unit 21. These support portions 40, 41 have a concave shape with an opening at the top and a shape that widens toward the top. Furthermore, the frame 39 is provided with a locking means 4 that elastically engages with the image carrier unit 21.
3 is provided. This locking means 43 includes a lever 45 that rotates around a support shaft 44 and a lever 47 that rotates around a support shaft 46 . The upper portions of these levers 45, 47 are urged in opposite directions by the urging force of a spring 48. A downward slope 49 for pressing the bearing 35 against the bottom of the support part 4o of the frame 39, and a slope 50 whose slope direction is changed upward from this slope 49 are formed on the upper part of one lever 45, and the other side The lever 47 is formed with a downward slope 52 that presses the bottle 51 protruding from the outer surface of the support 23 of the image carrier unit 21, and a slope 53 whose slope direction is changed upward from the slope 52. has been done. Furthermore, a handle 54 is attached to the housing of the static eliminator 26, which is a component of the image carrier unit 21.
are integrally formed, and handles 56 are integrally formed on both outer sides of the toner container 30. These handles 54
56 is so close to the handle 34 of the basket 19 that when the handle 34 of the basket 19 is gripped, the fingers of the same hand can be hung thereon. Further, these handles 54 and 56 have upward pressing portions 55. ．． 57 and downward finger hook portions 55a and 57a for hooking the finger. Further, a motor 58 for driving the developing roller 31 and the stirring blade 32 is fixed to the developing unit 22, and a power input terminal 59 connected to the motor 58 is provided to protrude downward, A knife-shaped connector 60 that elastically holds these power input terminals 59 is attached to the frame 3.
It is fixed to the inner surface of 9. This connector 60 is connected to a power source. Further, on the lower surface of the housing of the optical section 33, as shown in FIG. 1, a proximal section 61 is formed which faces the upper edge of the support body 23 of the image carrier unit 21 with a predetermined gap therebetween. . As shown in FIG. 6, a protrusion 62 is formed on the handle 54, 56, and finger hooks 55a and 57a are formed on the lower surface of the protrusion 62.

In such a configuration, when performing jam removal or maintenance, rotate the top cover 4 upward to open the upper surface of the upper cover 3, and in this state, grasp the handle 34 to move the basket 19 to the image carrier unit 21 and the developing device. When the paper transport path 8 is pulled out together with the unit 22, the paper transport path 8 is opened. Alternatively, the finger rests of the handles 54 and 56 are located at the portions 55a and 57a.
It is also possible to remove the image carrier unit 21 and the developing unit 22 by themselves, with the basket 19 positioned inside the upper cover 3, by hooking a finger on and pulling it up.

When disassembling a jam or assembling after maintenance, insert the bearing 35 of the image carrier unit 21 into the guide groove 36 of the basket 19 taken out from the upper cover 3, and insert the support shaft 37 of the developing unit 22 into the guide groove 38. The handle 34 of the basket 19 is grasped, and the basket 19 is housed in the upper cover 3 while the bearing 35 and the support shaft 37 are fitted into the support portions 40 and 41 of the frame 39.

Alternatively, the basket 19 stored in the upper cover 3
The image carrier unit 21 and the developing unit 22 are stored in the basket 19 without fitting the bearing 35 or the support shaft 37 into the guide groove 36, 38 and the support portion 40, 41. At this time, the bearing 35 whose movement in directions other than the vertical direction is regulated by the guide groove 36 is supported by the upward slope 50 of the lever 44, and the bottle 51 is supported by the upward slope 53 of the lever 47. It is possible to press the pressing part 55 of the handle 54 with fingers that are playing with the grip. By this operation, the lever 45 is rotated counterclockwise against the force of the spring 48 by the force generated by the contact between the bearing 35 and the slope 50, allowing the bearing 35 to move downward. Similarly, the bottle 51 is also supported by the slope 53 of the lever 47, and by pressing down the pressing part 55 of the handle 54,
The lever 47 rotates clockwise against the force of the spring 48 due to the force generated by the contact between the bin 51 and the slope 53, allowing the bin 51 to move downward.

Then, the lever 45 returns to its original state due to the return force of the spring 48.
presses the bearing 35 against the bottom of the support 40 with its downward slope 49, and similarly the lever 47 presses the bearing 35 with its downward slope 52.
The bottle 51 is pressed downward, and the lower edges of both sides of the support body 23 are pressed against the stopper 42.

The developing unit 22 is supported by its own weight with the support shaft 37 positioned on the support portion 41. By positioning the support shaft 37 above the development roller 31 and closer to the image carrier 24 than the center of gravity of the development unit 22, , developing unit 22
The developing roller 31 rotates clockwise around the support shaft 37.
Flanges provided at both ends of the image carrier 24 abut against the outer periphery of the end portion of the image carrier 24 .

As a result, the developing unit 22 is attached to the frame 39 in a stable state with a constant gap between the image carrier 24 and the developing roller 31.

As described above, the image carrier unit 21 and the developing unit 2
2 is stably attached to a frame 39 that positions and fixes the transfer section 15 and the peeling section 16, so the relative position of the image carrier 24 with respect to the transfer section 15 and the peeling section 16 can be determined accurately.

As mentioned above, the basket 19 is pulled up during jam removal and maintenance, but during this process, the bearing 35
presses the downward slope 49 of the lever 45, and the lever 45 rotates counterclockwise against the force of the spring 48 due to the horn created by the contact between the two, allowing the bearing 35 to move upward. Similarly, the bottle 51 presses the downward slope 52 of the lever 47, and the force generated by the contact between the two causes the lever 47 to rotate clockwise against the force of the spring 48, and the upper blade of the bottle 51 is rotated clockwise. Allow movement to.

Next, modifications of the handles 54 and 56 are shown in FIGS. 7 to 11.
As shown in the figure. In FIG. 7, a recess 63 is formed on the side surface of the handle 54, 56, and a finger rest is provided on the downward surface of the recess 63.
57a, FIG. 8 shows a handle 54, 56 with a through hole 64 formed therein, and finger hooks 55a and 57a formed on the downward surface of this through hole 64, FIGS. 9 and 10. Figure 11 shows the finger resting part 55a and 57a which are curved to make it easier to put the finger on.
The finger rest prevents fingers from slipping by forming the parts 55a and 57a in a wave shape. Furthermore, by changing the color of the handles 54 and 56 from the surrounding parts, it is possible to avoid the situation of gripping an unstable part, thereby preventing both units 21 and 22 from falling during handling. can.

Effects of the Invention Since the present invention is configured as described above, when handling a jam or performing maintenance, the basket can be removed from the main body together with the image forming section by grasping the handle of the basket and pulling it up, or the image carrier unit can be removed from the main body by grasping the handle of the basket and pulling it up. When assembling, the image carrier unit is attached to the main body together with the basket or alone. At this time, an external force is applied from above to the pressing part formed on the handle of the image carrier unit. By providing this, it is possible to reliably lock the image carrier unit to the locking means of the main body, and to accurately determine the relative distance of the image carrier to the transfer section.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a longitudinal side view showing the overall structure, Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the lower main body and the basket, Figure 4 is a plan view of the basket housing the image forming section, and Figure 5 is a view of the developing unit. 6 is a side view of the handle, FIGS. 7 to 11 show modified examples of the handle, FIGS. 7 and 8 are longitudinal side views, and FIGS. 9 to 11 are side views of the handle. It is a front view of a handle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A basket with an opening at the top for accommodating an image forming section including an image carrier unit and a developing unit is removably attached to a main body holding a transfer section, and a support section supporting the image forming section and the image forming section are attached to the main body. a locking means that elastically engages with the image carrier unit; a handle is provided on at least the basket and the image carrier unit; the handle of the image carrier unit includes a downward finger hook portion and an upward pressing portion; An image forming apparatus characterized by forming: