JPH1149384A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device which includes a sheet stacking means to stack sheets of paper from above and is fitted with a cover situated over the sheet stacking means, in which the space required for the cover to move when it is turned for opening is reduced. SOLUTION: An image forming device is equipped with a sheet stacking means 104 which is located on one side of the side plate 101A of the device body 101 and which is to stack sheets of paper S from above, and also with a cover to cover the over-part of the sheet stacking means, whereby the sheets on the stacking means are fed to the image formation part 111 in the device body through a sheet feed opening in the side plate and a separated feeding means 128. The cover has at least two cover portions 1 and 2, wherein one of them is supported by a shaft 134 in such a way as capable of rising and falling with respect to the stacking means, and the adjacent parts of the two cover portions are coupled together by a coupling shaft 3 so that the space required to make the cover opening/closing operation is lessened.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic copying machine,
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a facsimile, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having an improved sheet stacking tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of this type of image forming apparatus, there is an image forming apparatus as shown in FIGS.
The image forming apparatus includes a sheet feeding deck 102 on which a large amount of sheets S are stacked and stored on one side of the image forming apparatus main body 101, and a predetermined amount of sheets S on the lower side in the image forming apparatus main body 101. A plurality of stored universal cassettes 103 and 105 are provided. In addition, a sheet stacking means (hereinafter, referred to as a manual feed tray) 104 for an individual user to bring and stack paper to be copied is provided on one side of the side plate 101A of the apparatus main body. The manual tray is loaded with sheets from above, and the sheets on the tray are sent from a sheet feeding opening of the side plate to a sheet feeding unit described later.

In this embodiment, the sheet feeding deck 102 and the universal cassettes 103 and 105 can be pulled out to the front side of the image forming apparatus (on the front side with respect to the sheet of FIG. 3) to supply sheets.

[0004] The sheet feeding deck 102 serving as a sheet feeding unit for feeding the sheet S, the universal cassettes 103 and 105, and the installation site of the manual feed tray 104 are provided with sheet feeding means 106 of the retard separation system, respectively. 10
7, 109 and 128 are provided.

The sheets S in the sheet feeding deck 102, the universal cassettes 103 and 105, and the manual feed tray 104
When the sheet is fed by each of the sheet feeding means 106, 107, 109, and 128, the sheet is first sent to the registration roller pair 110 which is stopped rotating, where the skew state of the sheet is corrected.

On the other hand, an electrostatic latent image is formed on an electrophotographic photosensitive drum 111 as an image carrier by an exposure means.
The latent image is developed with a toner by a developing unit into a toner image, and the sheet is sent to a transfer unit by a pair of registration rollers 110 that rotates at a timing with the toner image. In the transfer section, a charger 112 as a transfer means is disposed opposite to the photosensitive drum 111, and the toner image on the photosensitive drum 111 is transferred to a sheet by the transfer charger 112 (image formation).

Thereafter, the sheet S on which the toner image has been transferred
Is the fixing device (fixing roller pair) 1 by the transport belt 113.
Then, the toner image transferred here is subjected to a fixing process for heat-fixing the transferred toner image to the sheet surface.

The image forming apparatus has a duplex copying mode for performing duplex copying on the sheet S and a multiplex copying mode for performing multiple copying. In the normal copying mode, the sheet S after the fixing process is subjected to an inner discharge roller. Pair 116 and outer paper discharge roller pair 11
7, the paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray 119 outside the apparatus.

In the case of the double-sided copy mode and the multiple copy mode, the pair of internal discharge rollers 116 or the pair of switchback rollers 127 temporarily place the image on the intermediate tray 121 via the re-feeding path 120 and the double-sided conveying path 126. It is loaded and stored.

The sheet stored on the intermediate tray 121 is again conveyed to the pair of registration rollers 110 for image formation by the re-feeding means 130 and thereafter discharged out of the apparatus through the same process as for one-sided copying. You.

The mounting table 131 is disposed above the manual feed tray 104, and allows the user to organize documents when using the copier and to operate the touch panel 13 to operate the copier.
2 is placed.

The manual tray 104 will be described.
The user rotates the cover 133 about the fulcrum 134, and the material to be copied, that is, a sheet (paper, OHP, etc.)
Loading. Then, the cover 133 is closed and the copying machine is started.

[0013]

However, in the conventional example, the space above the sheet stacking means required for rotating the cover is large, and therefore, the space is widened, for example, by pressing down the stacking capacity of the sheet feeding deck. Needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus having a cover for covering a sheet stacking means, wherein the cover can be opened and closed without taking a large space above the sheet stacking means.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a sheet stacking means provided on one side of a side plate of an apparatus main body, for stacking sheets from above. The sheet on the sheet stacking means is fed to the image forming section in the apparatus main body via the sheet feeding opening of the side plate and the separation feeding means, and the upper portion of the sheet stacking means is covered by a cover. In the image forming apparatus described above, the cover has at least two cover portions, one of the cover portions is supported by a support shaft so as to be able to move up and down with respect to the sheet stacking means, and an adjacent portion of each cover portion is connected by a connection shaft. It is characterized by being rotatably connected.

[0016] The support shaft of the cover may extend parallel to the vicinity of the side plate.

[0017] The support shaft of the cover may extend parallel to one side of the sheet stacking means.

[0018] The support shaft of the cover may be provided on the sheet stacking means.

An urging means is provided between the respective cover parts so as to bring the respective cover parts closer to each other, and the respective covers are brought closer to each other by the urging means with the connecting shaft being upward, so that the open state with respect to the sheet stacking means is established. In a state where the connecting shaft is located below a straight plane formed by each cover portion, the proximity of each cover portion by the urging means is limited by a stopper, and the covering state of the sheet stacking means is maintained. It may be.

[0020]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail. The same parts as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an electrophotographic copying machine as an example of an image forming apparatus. In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a first cover portion that covers the manual feed tray 104,
Reference numeral 34 denotes a second cover that is rotatable or undulating with respect to the manual feed tray 104. Reference numeral 2 denotes a second cover that covers the manual feed tray 104, and is rotatably attached to the first cover 1 by the connection shaft 3. . The support shaft 134 is the side plate 101
A extends parallel to the vicinity of A and is supported by, for example, a manual feed tray.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When the user brings a material to be copied, that is, a sheet (paper, OHP, etc.), the first cover 1 is turned around the support shaft 134 in the direction of arrow A, and at the same time, the second cover 2 is moved relative to the first cover 1. To rotate the connecting shaft 3 in the direction of arrow B. Then, the sheets are stacked on the manual feed tray 104. Then, the first cover 1 and the second cover 2 are rotated in directions opposite to the directions of arrows A and B, respectively, and closed. And
Start the copier.

Between the first cover 1 and the second cover 2, there are a spring (not shown) as urging means and a stopper for limiting the rotation range of the connecting shaft 3. The spring means always folds the cover. A force is exerted in the direction, and a toggle mechanism is provided for the connecting shaft 3.

Therefore, when the connecting shaft portion 3 of the first cover portion is lifted, the first cover portion and the second cover portion are folded by the spring means.

When the first and second cover portions are opened so as to be linear after sheet setting, the connecting shaft portion 3 is lowered below a straight line connecting the support shaft 134 and the front end 12 of the second cover portion, and the stopper is moved. In the range where the rotation of the connecting shaft 3 is stopped,
The first and second cover parts close the manual feed tray. That is, the first and second covers can operate in a toggle mechanism to maintain the closed state by the force of the spring.

In the above-described embodiment, the cover for covering the manual feed tray is constituted by two cover portions, but may be three or more. The support shaft and the connection shaft of the cover portion extend in parallel with the side plate of the apparatus main body. In addition to the manual tray, it may be extended in parallel with one side of the manual feed tray.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A cover for covering the upper part of the sheet stacking means of the image forming apparatus,
Since at least two cover portions are provided, one of the cover portions can be raised and lowered with respect to the sheet stacking means by a support shaft, and the adjacent cover portion is rotatably connected by a connection shaft. The cover can be opened and closed in a small space.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main part of an example of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... 1st cover part 2 ... 2nd cover part 3 ... Connecting shaft 101 ... Device main body 101A ... Side plate 102 ... Feeding deck 103, 105 ... Cassette 104 ... Manual feed tray 106, 107, 109, 128 ... Feeding means 134 ... Spindle

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sheet stacking means provided on one side of a side plate of an apparatus main body, for stacking sheets from above, wherein a sheet on the sheet stacking means is fed to a sheet feeding opening of the side plate and a separation feeding means. In the image forming apparatus, the sheet is fed to an image forming unit in the apparatus main body, and the upper portion of the sheet stacking unit is covered with a cover, wherein the cover has at least two cover parts, An image forming apparatus, wherein a cover portion is supported by a support shaft so as to be able to move up and down with respect to the sheet stacking means, and an adjacent portion of each cover portion is rotatably connected by a connection shaft. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a support shaft of the cover extends in parallel near the side plate. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a support shaft of the cover extends in parallel with one side of the sheet stacking unit. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a support shaft of the cover is provided on the sheet stacking unit. 5. A biasing means is provided between the respective cover parts to bring the respective cover parts closer to each other, and the respective covers are brought closer to each other by the biasing means with the connecting shaft being upward and opened to the sheet stacking means. In a state where the connection shaft is located below a straight plane formed by each cover part, the proximity of each cover part by the urging means is restricted by a stopper, and the covering state of the sheet stacking means is maintained. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured to perform the following.