JPH08268652A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a small size image forming device to reduce a dead space in a storage means, make effective use for the space and not to preclude multiplex and both-face image forming function as multifunctioned for the device. CONSTITUTION: An image forming device has a register roller 3, a transfer means 4, a fixing means 6, a transfer passage 22 to supply an image fixed sheet to the register roller 3, a storage means 74 to store the image fixed sheet, a means 80 to switch the feed of the image fixed sheet toward the register roller 3 or the storage means 74 and means 14, 14 to remove the sheet stored in the storage means 74 to two different directions. The sheet removed to one direction is supplied to the register roller 3 via the transfer passage 22.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a laser printer, and a fax machine, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having an improved paper feed cassette and a paper take-out section, and multi-functions such as multiplex copying and double-sided copying. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that has been designed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a cassette for accommodating a sheet used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser printer is attached to a main body in such a manner that its front end is inserted into a paper feed port provided on a side of the main body. And its rear end was protruding from the main body. Therefore, the space occupied by the main body is large because the cassette is projected.

With the recent automation of office work, there is a demand for multifunctional copying machines such as enlargement, reduction, continuous page copying, double-sided copying, and multiple copying. Along with the multi-functionalization of copying machines, it has become necessary to use cassettes with different paper storage directions even for paper of the same size, and the number of cassettes has increased as the size of paper handled increases.

On the other hand, effective use of the office floor has become an important issue due to the recent rise in land prices, and a space-saving copying machine having a small occupied installation space is required.

A front-loading type copying machine has emerged as a copying machine in which the occupied installation space is reduced and many cassettes can be attached to the main body. In this case, a plurality of cassettes containing sheets are attached to the lower portion of the main body so that the cassettes can be taken out from the front side, so that the cassette does not protrude from the main body and the occupied area of the main body can be reduced.

[0006]

However, in the front loading type copying machine, if the number of cassettes to be mounted increases, a large apparatus space is required in the main body, and the apparatus becomes large in size and multifunctional. It has become difficult to incorporate a device used for multiple copying or double-sided copying as an element, which has been an obstacle to the multifunctionalization and systematization of copying machines. In addition, if the cassettes cannot be installed in the main body, another space for storing them is required, and the installation space becomes large. Further, when the paper is stored separately, it becomes troublesome to replace the cassette mounted in the main body with the cassette stored separately.

Further, as a result of mounting the cassette in the main body, there is no place to store consumables such as paper and toner, which was conventionally stored and stored in the lower part of the main body, and a storage place for that is also required.

Further, in general, in a front loading type copying machine, there is only one cassette in the cassette in consideration of compatibility within the main body.
Various types of paper are stored, and the size is a fixed size regardless of the paper size and type. As a result, the size of the conventional cassette is such that A3 size paper can be placed vertically with the lengthwise direction of the paper as the feeding direction. In this case, when A4 size paper is placed horizontally,
If approximately half the space in the cassette and B5 size paper are placed horizontally, then approximately two-thirds of the space in the cassette will be wasted, and there will be a large loss in terms of effective use of the space. Was becoming.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and reduces the dead space of the storage means, effectively utilizes the space, and forms multiplex and double-sided images as a multifunctional device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a small-sized image forming apparatus that does not hinder the function to operate.

[0010]

The present invention is directed to a registration roller for feeding a sheet, a means for transferring an image onto the fed sheet, a means for fixing the transferred image on the sheet, and a sheet on which the image is fixed. An image forming apparatus having a transfer path for supplying the sheet to the registration rollers, a storage means for storing a sheet on which an image is fixed, and a transfer path provided in the middle of the transfer path.
The sheet having the image fixed thereon is switched to the registration roller or the storage means, and the sheet stored in the storage means is taken out in two different directions. The image forming apparatus is configured to be supplied to the registration roller via the transfer path.

In the present invention, when the image-transferred sheet is guided to the transfer path, it is accommodated in the accommodating means by the switching means and is supplied to the registration roller from one direction of the take-out means in accordance with the multiple copy or the double-sided copy. To be done.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, description will be given with reference to the drawings showing a basic form of the present invention. 1 and 2 are schematic vertical cross-sectional views showing the configuration of a copying machine incorporating a sheet feeding device as an image forming apparatus which is the basis of the present invention. 1 and 2 are
1 is an upper portion of the image forming apparatus mainly showing the image forming section, and FIG. 2 is an image showing mainly the sheet feeding apparatus, although they are divided in view of the size of the drawing. By arranging FIG. 2 below the forming apparatus and below FIG. 1, the overall view of the image forming apparatus becomes clear.

This copying machine includes a main body portion 100 including an optical scanning device 110 and an image forming portion 120, and the main body portion 10.
It is composed of a sheet feeding device 130 on which 0 is placed and which feeds sheets.

The structure of the main body 100 will be described below along with its schematic operation.

The optical scanning device 110 includes a document table glass 64.
Reflection mirrors 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62 for guiding the reflected light from the light source 55 for exposing the original 63 placed on it and the original glass plate 64 to the exposure position on the photosensitive drum 106.
And a variable power lens 59. At the same magnification, the light source 55 and the mirror 56 move in the arrow direction at the same speed as the peripheral speed of the photosensitive drum 106 to scan the original 63, and the mirrors 57, 5
8 moves at half the speed. Further, at the time of zooming, the zooming lens 59 changes its position according to the magnification.

The photosensitive drum 106 is rotated clockwise as indicated by an arrow, and a photoconductive substance is applied or laminated on the surface of the photosensitive drum 106, and the periphery of the photosensitive drum 106 is uniformly charged by the charge corotron 105. , An unnecessary charge eraser 102 for removing unnecessary charges, two developing stations 101a for attaching toners of different colors to the photosensitive drum 106, 1
01b, a transfer / separation corotron 4 that transfers toner to a sheet and separates the photosensitive drum 106 and the sheet
A blade type cleaning device 103 for removing the residual toner and a residual charge eraser 104 for removing the residual charge are disposed in this order along the rotational direction indicated by the arrow.

The photosensitive drum 106 is charged by the charge corotron 105, and the photosensitive drum 10 is exposed and scanned.
6 is exposed to remove the electric charge in the exposed portion to form a latent image. Then, the unnecessary charge eraser 102 removes charges outside the image area or in unnecessary portions during composite copying, and toner is attached to the latent images formed at the developing stations 101a and 101b to visualize the latent images. The developed image is transferred to the sheet fed at a timing by the registration roller 3 by the transfer / separation corotron 4, and sent to the fixing unit 6 via the transport unit 5. The fixing unit 6 melts and fixes the toner on the paper, and the paper on which the toner is fixed is a flapper 7,
It is discharged to the discharge receiver 209 via the roller 8. Here, the flapper 7 is for feeding a sheet to a transfer path 22 which will be described later when performing multiple copy such as composite copy.

A paper feed tray 1 for manual paper feed is provided on one side of the main body 100. The sheet inserted from here is normally a sheet that cannot be fed by the sheet feeding device 130, and the inserted sheet is conveyed to the registration roller 3 by the roller 2. Further, at the bottom of the main body 100, there are two paper feed ports 1
8, 27 are provided. These two paper feed ports 18, 2
Reference numeral 7 is for taking in the paper supplied from the paper supply device 130. The paper fed from the paper feed port 18 is the roller 9
The paper conveyed to the registration roller 3 by the paper is supplied from the paper supply port 27, and the flapper 10 and the rollers 11, 12, 13 are used.
It is conveyed to the registration roller 3 via the transfer path 22 constituted by.

The registration roller 3 is for synchronizing the image formed on the photosensitive drum 106 with the sheet, and starts rotating when the leading edge of the image on the photosensitive drum 106 reaches a predetermined position. .

Numeral 50 is a ventilation cooling device, which is a ventilation port 5.
The outside air introduced from No. 4 is blown into the optical scanning device 110, the fixing unit 6, the photosensitive drum 10 through the air blowing ports 51, 52, 53.
6 and control them to the appropriate temperature.

Next, the sheet feeding device 130 will be described. The sheet feeding device 130 includes four cassettes 70, 71, 72, 73.
Has a space for storing four cassettes 70, 7
The outer dimensions of 1, 72, and 73 are the same, and the outer dimensions are slightly larger than the A3 size paper. Cassette 70
Stores two types of paper, A4 vertical and A4 horizontal. Here, "vertical" indicates a storing method in which the long dimension direction of the paper coincides with the paper supply direction, and "width" is a storing method in which the short dimension direction of the paper coincides with the paper supply direction. In general, the vertical is often used when copying a scaled image to paper,
Horizontal is often used when performing normal copying or double-sided copying.

The cassette 71 stores B5 length and B5 width, the cassette 72 stores B4 length and A5 width, and the cassette 73 stores A3 length. Therefore, conventionally, seven cassettes were required to store this kind of paper, but four cassettes whose external dimensions are not much different from the conventional ones can store seven kinds of paper.

Near the centers of the cassettes 70, 71 and 72, length regulating plates 33 and 34 for aligning the lengths in the sheet feeding direction are provided.
Are provided so as to be movable in the supply direction, and a width regulating plate (not shown) in the width direction and the cassette 7 are provided.
0, 71, 72, 73 side plates 31, 32, 31, 32 ...
・ ・ Paper is stored in the space surrounded by and. Pickup rollers 14, 14 ... for taking out the stored sheets are arranged above both ends of the cassettes 70, 71, 72 and one end of the cassette 73. A pair of paper feed rollers 15, 15 ... And a reverse rotation roller 16, 16 ... Are provided. Pickup rollers 14, 14 ...
Is in contact with the upper surface of the sheet pushed upward by a knock-up plate (not shown), and the sheet in contact is taken out. .. and reverse rollers 16, 1
6 and so on, and when two or more sheets are taken out, only the sheets in contact with the sheet feeding rollers 15, 15 ... Are separated and the sheet feeding passages 17, 23, 19 are separated. , 24, 2
Paper feed ports 18, 2 of the main body 100 through 0, 25, 21
Transport to 7. The method of taking out and separating the sheet is not limited to this basic form.

Next, the operation of feeding the A4 horizontal sheets stored in one of the cassettes 70 will be described. The sheet is picked up by a pickup roller 14 and a sheet feeding roller 15 for separation.
And the reverse rotation roller 16 and the sheets are separated one by one. Then, the sheet is conveyed to the registration roller 3 via the sheet feeding passage 17 and the sheet feeding port 18.

Then, the photosensitive drum 10 is rotated by the registration roller 3.
After alignment with the image formed on the sheet 6, the sheet is conveyed between the transfer separation corotron 4 and the photosensitive drum 106, and after the toner image is transferred onto the sheet, the toner is transferred by the fixing unit 6. The image is fused and fixed, and is conveyed to the discharge receiver 209 to complete one copy.

Next, the A4 length paper stored in the other side of the cassette 70 is taken out by the pickup roller 14 in a direction 180 ° opposite to the paper feed direction, and is fed one by one by the paper feed roller 15 and the reverse rotation roller 16. Separated, paper feed path 23
Then, after passing through the paper feed port 27, the flapper 10 merges with the transfer path 22 and is conveyed to the registration roller 3. After that, a copy is similarly made.

In this basic form, the cassette 7 is used.
The case where the sheets stacked on 0 are separated and fed in the opposite paper feed directions has been described, but in the case of the cassette 70, the same effect can be obtained even if the paper feed directions are the same. In this case, the sheet feeding path is guided and merged in the middle of the transfer path 22. In this case, the paper feed path becomes shorter than in the case of the basic form, and first copy (first copy)
Can get fast. By storing the sheets of A4, B5, etc., which are frequently used in Japan, in the cassette 70, this effect can be fully achieved.

Further, in the basic form, the fixed sheet can be guided to the transfer path 22 by the flapper 7 and conveyed again to the registration roller 3, so that multiple copying is possible. By using the developing stations 101a and 101b and an editor (not shown) together, two-color copying and partial color conversion copying can be performed.

Here, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The technical elements necessary for the multifunctionalization and intelligentization of the copying machine, especially the technical elements related to the paper feeding system, include multiple copying and double-sided copying. These technical elements require a space equivalent to the main body, and are indispensable technologies for intelligentization, but have the problem of low frequency of use. Therefore, if these are not copied, the space for them becomes a dead space, and providing these elements independently is wasteful in terms of occupied installation space. Considering this point,
In this embodiment, the transfer path 22 is utilized as a transfer path for multiplex copying and double-sided copying, and the uppermost cassette 70 is multiplexed, making use of the feature that the paper feed mechanism including the pickup roller 14 is located at both ends of the cassette. The tray 74 for copying and double-sided copying can be replaced.

FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are schematic vertical sectional views showing a partial structure of a copying machine equipped with the sheet feeding device of this embodiment.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the roller 1 of the transfer path 22 shown in FIGS.
A flapper 80 is provided between the roller 1 and the roller 12, and the flapper 80 is switched to guide the sheet transferred to the transfer path 22 to the tray 74. Further, the tray 74 has stoppers 81 and 83. The stoppers 81 and 83 are movable in the longitudinal direction of the tray 74. The pivots 82 and 84 extending in the short dimension of the tray 74 are engaged with one ends of the stoppers 81 and 83 at both sides in the short dimension. Further, the stoppers 81 and 83 are individually rotated around the pivots 82 and 84. The movement and rotation of the stoppers 81 and 83 are performed by a driving means (not shown). Pickup roller 1
4 swivels into two positions, a position where it comes into contact with the paper and a position where it separates from it and retracts.
When being guided to 4, the pickup roller 14 is in the retracted position.

Next, the operation at the time of multiple copy and double-sided copy will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the fixed re-feeding sheet guided to the transfer path 22 by the flapper 7 reaches the flapper 80 via the flappers 7, 10 and the roller 11. The flapper 80 is switched to a direction in which the sheet is guided to the tray 74, and the sheet is guided to the flapper 80, contacts the stopper 83 on the tray 74, and is stored in the tray 74. At this time, the stopper 81 swings to the left and right as shown by the arrow every time the paper is stored in the tray 74, and the leading edge of the paper is brought into contact with the stopper 83, so that the paper is always stored at a predetermined position with high accuracy. To

When all the sheets are stored in the tray 74,
In the case of multiple copy, the stopper 81 is 83 as shown in FIG.
And moves in the direction of the paper feed passage 17. Then, when the stopper 83 is rotated to the position for feeding the paper to the main body 100 of the copying machine, the stopper 83 is rotated in the clockwise direction of the pivot 84 so as not to prevent the pickup roller 14 from taking out the paper. The paper picked up by the pickup roller 14 is the paper feed roller 1.
5, the reverse roller 16 separates the sheets one by one, and the sheet feeding path 1
It is supplied to the main body 100 through the paper feed port 18 via 7.

As a result, a toner image can be formed so as to be superimposed on the toner image once transferred to a plurality of sheets. By using this function, it is possible to execute various multiplex copies such as image synthesis for obtaining a single image by synthesizing a plurality of originals and two-color copy for obtaining a two-color image.

On the other hand, when all the sheets are stored in the tray 74, in the case of double-sided copying, as shown in FIG.
1 and 83 move in the direction of the paper feed passage 23 in pairs.
Then, when the stopper 81 is moved to the position for feeding the paper to the main body 100 of the copying machine, the stopper 81 is rotated counterclockwise of the pivot 82 so as not to prevent the pickup roller 14 from taking out the paper. The paper picked up by the pickup roller 14 is separated one by one by the paper feed roller 15 and the reverse rotation roller 16, and is supplied to the main body 100 through the paper feed passage 23 at the paper feed port 27. The sheet supplied to the main body section 100 is turned upside down through the flapper 10 and is conveyed to the registration roller 3 through the transfer path 22. At this time, the flapper 80 rotates counterclockwise and is switched to the direction in which the sheet passes through the transfer path 22.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the tray has the paper feed mechanism at both ends thereof, and the paper can be fed from the respective paper feed mechanisms to the main body section 100. Therefore, multiple copy and double-sided copy can be performed in one tray. This can be done by only selectively using the paper feed mechanism at 74.

In the present invention, as described above, the sheets can be stored and stacked in one cassette at two or more places and guided to the main body 100. As a result, the number of cassettes is two, which is half of the total of four cassettes of A4 vertical, horizontal and B5 vertical and horizontal, compared with the conventional one cassette / one sheet feeding cassette, and the number of cassettes is significantly increased. Since the number of sheets is reduced, for example, even when six-stage sheet feeding based on a conventional cassette is required, the present invention enables six types of sheet feeding by four-stage sheet feeding.

As a result, there is no need to replace or add cassettes for multi-functionality, functions required for intelligentization, enlargement, reduction, or continuous page copying, and it is possible to use those functions with one touch, which makes the device intelligent. The effect is exhibited 100%, the operability of the multi-function device is eliminated, and the reduction in the number of cassettes makes it possible to reduce the volume ratio in the main body of the multi-stage paper feeding device. As a result, the technical elements necessary for making the device intelligent,
It becomes easy to add automatic double-sided function and multiple copy function.

Further, if large and small papers are properly combined in one cassette, the dead space of the cassette is eliminated. As a result, the dead space of the main body of the apparatus is eliminated, and a place for storing the replacement cassette, a temporary storage place for paper, toner, etc. can be secured in the main body of the apparatus. Significant reduction is possible.

Furthermore, since the dead space of the cassette and the dead space of the main body are eliminated and it is easy to store and store them in the main body, it is possible to collectively adjust the humidity of the paper. That is, it becomes easy to protect the paper from humidity, which is the enemy of the paper. Since conventional devices cannot be stored together in the main body, they are fed from outside the machine. In the case of paper feeding outside the machine, a large amount of energy and a large amount of equipment are required to instantaneously adjust the humidity of the paper and feed it to the main body. However, since various types and large volumes of paper can be stored in the fed state, the humidity can be gradually adjusted over a long period of time. As a result, it is possible to control the humidity of the copy paper and prevent it from dampness with a small amount of electric energy.

Further, the humidity control of the paper is easy and inexpensive,
Moreover, since almost all the paper used in the fed state can be adjusted in humidity, the transportability and transferability of the paper are greatly improved. As a result, the reliability of the device is improved, the maintenance cycle is extended, the service man calls are reduced in actual use, and in terms of the economical production of the device, the potential adjustment function of the paper before transfer is reduced. A great effect can be expected in improving the basic performance of the apparatus, such as eliminating transfer troubles (toner image bleeding, fringes, transfer failure) during transfer.

Further, in the present embodiment, a simple structure and addition of functions are not provided, instead of providing a single-function multi-stage paper feeding capability in which two or more types of copy sheets and two or more sheet feeding means are provided in a cassette. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a versatile, highly functional and highly intelligent device that can be used as automatic double-sided and multiple copies, which are indispensable for a multifunctional and highly functional image forming device. As can be understood from the embodiments, the present invention has an extremely high intelligence paper feeding ability, and if this is added, the intelligence of the main body can be enhanced. As described above, the present invention is a basic technique that is indispensable for enhancing additional functions and a technical element with high potential for development.

Although the present invention has been described as a copying machine in this embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to all image forming apparatuses using various types of paper such as a laser printer and a fax machine.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to store papers of different purposes in one storage means and take them out separately. Therefore, if one paper is taken out, multiple images are formed, and from the other. If it is taken out, both sides of the image can be formed, the dead space of the storage means can be reduced, and the space can be effectively used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing an upper configuration of an image forming apparatus which is a basis of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing a lower configuration of an image forming apparatus which is a basis of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and an operation of storing paper when images are multiplexed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and an operation of feeding a sheet when images are multiplexed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and an operation of forming images on both sides.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 ... Registration roller 4 ... Transfer separation corotron 6 ... Fixing unit 14 ... Pickup roller 22 ... Transfer path 74 ... Tray 80 ... Flapper

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A registration roller that supplies a sheet, a unit that transfers an image onto the supplied sheet, a unit that fixes the transferred image onto the sheet, and a transfer that supplies the sheet on which the image is fixed to the registration roller. In an image forming apparatus having a path, a storage unit for storing a sheet on which an image is fixed, and a unit provided in the middle of the transfer path, for switching the sheet feeding direction of the image-fixed sheet to the registration roller or the storage unit. And a means for taking out the paper stored in the storage means in two different directions, and the paper taken out in one direction is supplied to the registration roller through the transfer path. Image forming apparatus.