JP3300501B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the structure of an image forming apparatus such as a printer capable of manually feeding paper, and more particularly to the structure of a case for covering a mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, an automatic sheet feeder which feeds sheets one by one in a state where cut sheets are stacked and a sheet is manually fed one sheet. 2. Description of the Related Art A device having a so-called manual feed unit for feeding sheets one by one is known. In general, the manual paper feeder has a paper feed port simply opened at a location adjacent to the automatic paper feeder or a paper feed aperture opened at a location distant from the installation location of the automatic paper feeder. There are known those in which a paper receiving plate is detachably attached to the outer surface of the main body case adjacent thereto, and those in which the paper receiving plate is rotatably or foldably attached to the main body case.

[0003]

However, the former,
That is, even if the paper feed port is simply opened at a location adjacent to the automatic paper feeder, or if there is a paper receiving plate as in the latter case, the print portion ( It is necessary to separately provide a guide body for guiding the paper in the image forming unit), and the mounting structure of the guide body must be devised. In the latter case, there is also a problem that the sheet receiving plate is bulky since the sheet receiving plate is located outside the main body case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and a manual paper feed unit can be formed substantially at the same time as a case assembly operation in an image forming apparatus such as a printer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which these operations are simplified.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention comprises a lower case accommodating a mechanism in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, and an upper case covering an upper part of the mechanism. A manual insertion plug formed in an inner hollow shape by an upper plate and a lower plate, which is configured to be removably fitted by a convex engaging portion and a concave engaging portion provided on an inner surface near a joining portion of the both. For the guide body, the paper insertion part is located on one side of the mating part of the upper case and the lower case,
An opening formed by notching a paper outlet portion of the manual guide body where the upper plate and the lower plate approach each other so as to approach the mechanism portion, and forming an outer periphery of the paper insertion portion in a joining portion of the upper case and the lower case. And a locking portion provided on a paper lead-out portion of the guide body is detachably locked to the mechanism portion.

[0006]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet printer 1 as an example of an image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the paper feed tray 2 is mounted on a paper feed unit 3 on an upper surface of a main body of the printer 1. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the components of the component device 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of a main part. The main body of the printer device 1 is composed of a lower case 4 containing a mechanism 6 of the printer, a board 7 for electronic control, a drive motor (not shown) and the like, and an upper case 5 covering the mechanism 6 from above. As will be described, the lower case 4 and the upper case 5 are mated and connected at the mating portion by the engaging means of the convex engaging portion and the concave engaging portion. An operation panel section 36 is provided on one side of the upper case 5.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show the mating portion and engagement means on the rear side of the lower case 4 and the upper case 5, and the upper end of the rear plate 4a of the lower case 4 is integrally formed with a thin edge portion 40. The inwardly protruding horizontally long engaging claw 41 as one embodiment of the convex engaging portion is provided at a portion of the rear side plate 4a near the inner surface upper portion.
Is provided. On the other hand, on the rear side plate 5a of the upper case 5, an engagement piece 43 with a hole 42 as a concave engagement portion to be fitted to the engagement claw 41 is provided to project downward. Further, a rib 44 protruding from the inner surface of the rear plate 5a is integrally formed near the lateral side of the engagement piece 43, and the lower case 4 is provided between the lower end of the rib 44 and the inner surface of the rear plate 5a. A notch engaging portion 45 that is open downward and is fitted to the edge 40 of the front and rear sides. Thereby, the rear plate 5a of the upper case 5 is brought closer to the rear plate 4a of the lower case 4 from the inside, and the notch engagement portion 45 of the upper case is formed on the edge portion 40 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. The engagement hole 42 of the engagement piece 43 is fitted into the engagement claw 41 almost at the same time as the positioning is performed by fitting.

FIGS. 8 to 10 show a lower case 4 and an upper case 5 respectively.
The lower case 4
The upper end of the front side plate 4b is integrally formed with a thin edge portion 46, and an engaging piece 47 protruding upward from the inner surface of the front side plate 4b has a horizontally elongated shape penetrating back and forth as a concave engagement. Are formed. An inwardly protruding laterally extending engaging claw 49 as an embodiment of the protruding engaging portion is provided at a portion of the upper case 5 near the inner surface lower part of the front side plate 5b. The engaging claw 4 is provided on the inner surface of the front side plate 5 b of the upper case 5.
A vertically long rib 50 is integrally protruded in the vicinity of the lateral side of the lower case 9, and is fitted between the lower end of the rib 50 and the inner surface of the front side plate 5 b to the edge 46 of the lower case 4 from front and rear. A notch engaging portion 51 that is open downward is provided. As a result, the front plate 5b of the upper case 5 is brought closer to the front plate 4b of the lower case 4 from the outside, and the notch engaging portion 51 of the upper case is attached to the edge 46 as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. The hole 48 of the engaging piece 47 is fitted into the engaging claw 49 at substantially the same time as the fitting is performed and the positioning is performed.

As described above, by bringing the upper case 5 closer to the lower case 4 from the front to the rear, the fitting portion is engaged by the engaging means at the front and rear plate portions of the two cases 4 and 5. In this case, it is possible to perform an assembling operation without displacement or dropout. As can be understood from FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the front end side of the manual guide body 10 formed by the upper plate 8 and the lower plate 9 to be hollow and horizontally long is a paper insertion unit 11 having a large vertical opening area. On the rear end side of the manual guide body 10, there is formed a paper lead-out portion 12 in which the upper plate 8 and the lower plate 9 are close to each other. Further, a plurality of horizontally long flat locking claws 14 protruding rearward from the lower plate 9 are provided on the paper leading-out portion 12.
a and a locking claw 14b having a round cross-section are formed, and a pair of left and right elastically displaceable locking claws 52 are formed integrally on the side of the paper insertion section 11 rearward from the lower plate 9. The locking claws 14a and 14b may be projected from the upper plate 8 side.

On the other hand, the metal plate frame 13 in the mechanical section 6 which is mounted on the bottom plate of the lower case 4 and fixed with screws (not shown) is provided as shown in FIGS. 3, 15 and 16.
A horizontally long gap 16 communicating with the horizontally long opening of the paper leading-out portion 12 is formed in the middle of the front plate 13a in the vertical direction, and is bent toward the front side of the front plate 13a. The bracket 53 is provided with locking holes 54 and 55 corresponding to the horizontally long flat locking claw 14a and the round locking claw 14b, respectively.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a sheet insertion portion, which is the front end side of the manual guide body 10, is provided on one side surface (the front side in the embodiment) of the joining portion of the lower case 4 and the upper case 5. An opening 56 into which the portion 11 can be fitted is cut out (in the lower case 4 side in the embodiment), and furthermore, the front side plate 4b of the lower case 4 is engaged with the engaging claw 52 to be engaged therewith. Stop groove 5
7, 57 are stepped. Note that the opening 56 may be formed by notching over the lower case 4 and the upper case 5 or may be formed only on the upper case 5 side.

Accordingly, before the upper case 5 is put on the lower case 4, the bracket 53 on the front plate 13a side of the frame 13 is inserted into the locking holes 54, 55 at the rear end side of the manual guide body 10. The locking claws 14 a and 14 b are inserted respectively, and then the paper insertion portion 11 on the front end side of the manual guide body 10 is fitted into the opening 56 on the front side of the lower case 4 and locked in each locking groove 57. When the claws 52 are fitted, the manual guide body 10 is connected to the front plate 4 b of the lower case 4 and the frame 13.
And can be positioned without lateral displacement. Next, as described above, when the upper case 5 is fitted and fitted, the paper insertion portion 11 on the front end side of the manual guide body 10 is sandwiched between the upper case 5 and the lower case 4 so that the vertical movement is impossible. Become.

The paper 15a inserted in the manual guide body 10 is guided to the upper peripheral surface of the platen 17 from the gap 16 formed in the frame 13 in a horizontally long state, and passes between the ink jet printing unit 18 and the paper 15a. Then, the paper is discharged from a paper discharge port 19 a formed in the top cover 19 detachably mounted on the upper surface of the upper case 5 toward the paper receiving plate 20 arranged on the front side of the paper feed tray 2. . The lower case 4, the upper case 5, the manual guide 10 and the top cover 19 are each made of synthetic resin.

As can be understood from FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, the sheet feed tray 2 is provided with a coil spring 22 on a lower portion of a bottom plate 21a of a tray body 21 having an open upper surface and having a rectangular shape in a plan view.
The support plate 23 is urged upward via the support plate 23 so as to rotate vertically around a support pin 24 on the upper end side.
Also, the operation lever 25 extending outside the one side plate 21b along the surface of the bottom plate 21a allows the support plate 23 to be biased by the coil spring 22 and the bias prohibited state in which the support plate 23 is brought close to the bottom plate 21a. And the position can be held selectively. Further, a base of a metal support bar 26 having a U-shape in a plan view can be detachably attached to the upper end side of the bottom plate 21a.

The left and right side plate portions of the tray body 21 have fitting portions 27, 27 for supporting the left and right side edges of the wide substrate portion of the sheet receiving plate 20, and the sheet receiving plate 20 cannot be displaced downward. Engagement means comprising stopper portions 28, 28 for supporting the first and second members. The paper feed tray 2 is configured to be detachably mounted diagonally downward on the support 35 of the paper feed unit 3 in the upper case 5.

The paper feed roller 30 in the paper feed unit 3 having a substantially D-shaped side view and a circumferential surface having a large coefficient of friction, and a paper holding body 31 made of a synthetic resin or the like having a substantially rectangular shape in a side view are provided with the top cover. 19 so as to be adjacent to the paper discharge port 19a.
9b is attached to a rotation drive shaft 32 provided on the lower surface side (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 4).
0 is fixed so as to rotate integrally, and similarly, elastic locking claws (not shown) of the plurality of paper pressing bodies 31 are provided with locking grooves (not shown) formed at appropriate positions of the rotary drive shaft 32. ), Is not movable in the longitudinal direction of the rotary drive shaft 32, and is loosely fitted so as to be rotatable independently of the rotation of the rotary drive shaft 32.

The paper presser 31 is longer upward from the lower end of the paper feed tray 2 across the axis of the rotary drive shaft 32, and the lower end of the paper presser 31 is heavy due to the difference in thickness of ribs and the like. It is formed so that it becomes. A pressing surface 31a, which is one of the long sides of the paper pressing body 31, can abut on the uppermost surface of the paper 15b laminated on the support plate 23, and extends from the axis to the pressing surface 31a. The dimension is larger than the dimension up to the flat peripheral surface of the feed roller 30,
Further, it is set to be smaller than the dimension up to the circumferential surface of the paper feed roller 30. Thus, the upper and lower longitudinal pressing surfaces 31a prevent the flat peripheral surface of the paper feeding roller 30 from contacting with the surface of the stacked paper 15b, and allow the paper feeding roller 30 to press against the circumferential surface. It is configured as follows.

When a paper feed command is issued, the rotary drive shaft 32 makes one rotation clockwise in FIG. 4 to rotate the paper feed roller 30 so that its circumferential surface is a pressing surface 31a of the paper pressing body 31. Side, the paper 15 on which the circumferential surface is laminated
b is rotated while being pressed against the surface of the paper tray 2, so that only the uppermost sheet 15b of the stacked
Is fed in the direction of the platen 17 from the lower end side in FIG. Next, when the flat peripheral surface comes to the pressing surface 31a side of the paper pressing body 31, the flat peripheral surface of the paper feed roller 30 does not contact the surface of the stacked paper 15b, and the paper pressing body 31 is driven to rotate. Because it is loosely fitted regardless of the rotation of the shaft 32,
Since the state in which the surface of the sheet 15b is pressed by the pressing surface 31a can be maintained, there is no need to feed a double sheet.

In the present invention, it goes without saying that, in addition to the ink jet type, the printing unit 18 can adopt various types such as a dot impact type and a thermal type such as a thermal head.

[0020]

As described above, the image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a lower case accommodating a mechanism in an image forming apparatus such as a printer and an upper case covering an upper part of the mechanism. A manual guide formed so as to be removably fitted by a convex engaging portion and a concave engaging portion provided on the inner surface near the joining portion of both, and an inner hollow shape formed by an upper plate and a lower plate. The paper insertion part is positioned on one side of the joining part of the upper case and the lower case, and the paper guiding part where the upper plate and the lower plate of the manual feed guide unit approach each other approaches the mechanism unit. And the outer periphery of the paper insertion portion is clamped by an opening formed by cutting out a joint portion of the upper case and the lower case, and a locking portion provided at a paper leading portion of the guide body is provided by the mechanism portion. It is detachably locked to.

Accordingly, the upper case is mounted on the lower case in a state where the manual guide body is mounted so as to straddle the opening on one side of the lower case and the mechanism housed in the lower case. Since it is only necessary to cover and fit the convex engagement portion and the concave engagement portion of the mating portion of both cases, a manual paper feed portion can be formed almost simultaneously with the case assembling operation, and these operations are also easy. It has the effect of becoming. In addition, since the entire manual guide is completely stored in the upper and lower cases, it is not bulky, the entire image forming apparatus can be made compact, and the paper guide portion of the manual guide approaches the mechanism. Since the positioning can be performed at the set position, there is no need to provide a separate sheet guide body, and the structure is extremely simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer device.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which a sheet feeding tray is mounted on a sheet feeding unit on an upper surface of a main body of the printer apparatus with a top cover removed.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the upper and lower cases and the like.

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of a main part.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a rear plate side of a lower case and an upper case.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII-VII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view showing a front plate side of a lower case and an upper case.

9 is a cross-sectional view taken along line IX-IX in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is a bottom view of the manual guide body.

12 is a sectional view taken along line XII-XII of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along line XIII-XIII in FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along line XIV-XIV in FIG. 11;

FIG. 15 is a partially cutaway side view of the frame.

FIG. 16 is a front view taken along line XVI-XVI of FIG. 15;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer device 4 Lower case 5 Upper case 6 Mechanism part 8 Upper plate 9 Lower plate 10 Manual guide body 11 Paper insertion part 12 Paper lead-out part 13 Frames 14a and 14b Locking claw 16 Gap 17 Platen 18 Printing part 19 Top cover 19a Discharge port 41, 49 Engagement claw 42, 48 Engagement hole 43, 47 Engagement piece 52 Engagement claw 53 Bracket 54, 55 Engagement hole 56 Opening 57 Engagement groove

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image forming apparatus, such as a printer, includes a lower case accommodating a mechanism unit, and an upper case covering an upper part of the mechanism unit. The manual insertion guide is formed so as to be removably fitted with the engagement portion, and the manual insertion guide body formed in an inner hollow shape by the upper plate and the lower plate, and the paper insertion portion is formed between the upper case and the lower case. Positioned on one side of the mating portion, the paper guide portion where the upper plate and the lower plate of the manual guide body approached is arranged so as to approach the mechanism portion, and the outer periphery of the paper insertion portion is the upper case and the lower case. An image forming apparatus comprising: a holding portion provided on a paper lead-out portion of the guide body; and a locking portion detachably locked to the mechanism portion, while being held by a notch formed opening in a mating portion of the guide member.