JP3352579B2 - Image forming apparatus structure connecting device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure connecting device for an image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of structures.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a structure of this type constituting an image forming apparatus, there are an apparatus main body including an image forming, developing, fixing device and a paper feeding / re-feeding device, etc. There is a lower structure that incorporates a plurality of paper feed tray devices and the like including a paper feed type and a paper feed device for a case where the apparatus main body does not have a paper feed device. Conventionally, such positioning is performed by positioning a pin and a receiver such as a hole.

In such a configuration, the correlation between the paper feeding tray in the apparatus main body and the paper feeding tray or the double-sided tray in the lower structure, particularly in the direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction, tends to occur, and the copying is difficult. Differences tend to occur in each paper feed tray due to horizontal misalignment. To cope with this, the position of the apparatus main body and the lower structure is adjusted at the time of assembly or installation.

[0004] However, such adjustments are based on actually passing the paper, which requires much time and labor and increases the cost. In particular, the number of paper feed stages must be naturally increased to cope with a large number of papers, and a large amount of adjustment time and labor is required because it is necessary to maintain the quality of paper transport from all paper feed trays.

Further, in the image forming apparatuses which are currently widely used, weight reduction, space saving, and division for improving the portability have been promoted due to market requirements, transportation, carrying in, and installation. However, it is desired that the upper and lower apparatus main bodies and the structures can be positioned reliably and quickly in order to maintain the sheet conveyance quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a structure connecting device of an image forming apparatus which can easily perform positioning and can absorb variations in positioning accuracy. .

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a structure connecting apparatus for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a plurality of structures each including a built-in image forming unit; An image forming apparatus comprising: a positioning member provided in one structure; a receiving portion provided in another structure; and a positioning projection provided in an image forming unit built in the one structure. The receiving hole is provided in each of the body and the other structure, and the diameter of the receiving hole of the one structure is larger than the outer diameter of the positioning protrusion. It is characterized in that an elastic member is arranged between the receiving hole and the periphery.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising an apparatus main body having a built-in image forming unit and a lower structure, wherein a positioning member is provided on a frame of the lower structure. A fixing bracket for fixing the built-in image forming unit is provided, and a receiving hole of the positioning member is provided in the base plate of the apparatus main body, and a positioning projection is provided on an upper end of a side plate of the image forming unit built in the lower structure, Along with providing the receiving hole in each of the frame of the lower structure and the side plate of the device main body, and making the diameter of the frame receiving hole of the lower structure larger than the outer diameter of the positioning projection,
An elastic member is provided between the positioning projection and the periphery of the receiving hole of the lower structure.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the image forming unit incorporated in the lower structure is a sheet feed unit, a roll paper feed unit, or a duplex unit. I do.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus including a plurality of structures to which the present invention is applied. This image forming apparatus includes an apparatus main body 1 and a lower structure 2,
And an image forming unit incorporated in each of the apparatus main body (hereinafter, referred to as an upper structure) 1 and a lower structure 2 in order to correspond thereto. The upper structure 1 includes an optical system, a developing system, a drum cleaning system, The lower structure 2 has a built-in paper feed system, a double-sided system, and the like.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing an embodiment in which the connecting structure according to the present invention is applied to the connection between the upper structure 1 and the lower structure 2 in FIG. The base 3 and the main body side plate 4 are shown, and for the lower structure 2, the structure frame 5, the paper supply unit 6, and the paper supply side plate 7 of the paper supply unit 6 are shown.

A concave receiving portion 8 is formed on the main body base 3 of the upper structure 1, and positioning pins 9 are provided at corresponding positions on the upper end of the structure frame 5 of the lower structure 2. The upper structure 1 and the lower structure 2 are positioned by fitting the positioning pins 9 into the holes of the receiving portions 8, and the fixing bracket 10 fixed to the structure frame 5 with the screws 11 is supplied to the feeding unit 6. It is fixed to the paper side plate 7 by fixing with screws 12.

An image forming unit (not shown) in the upper structure 1 is positioned at a designated position on the basis of the base 3, the side plate 4 of the main body, and the like so as to maintain the image quality and the like. Further, the unit in the lower structure 1, in the illustrated example, the paper feeding unit 6 is provided with a pin member 13 above the paper feeding side plate 7, and the pin member 13 is inserted into a hole provided in the flange portion 4 a of the main body side plate 4. Positioning is performed by fitting, so that the correlation with the image forming unit in the upper structure 1, particularly the photosensitive drum, can be maintained accurately.

The lower end 13a of the pin member 13 provided on the paper feed side plate 7 is fitted to the hole 14 provided in the structure frame 5 of the lower structure 2 with the elastic member 15 interposed therebetween. A play is provided by making the hole 14 of the structure frame 5 larger than the outer diameter of the lower end portion 13a of the pin member 13,
In addition to absorbing variations in assembling the parts of the upper and lower structures 1 and 2 and the sheet feeding unit 6, the positioning of the upper structure 1 with respect to the image forming unit in the height direction has flexibility.
The image quality can be improved, adjusted, and installed easily. Of course, the pin member 13 as described above
A connection structure including the holes 14 and the elastic members 15 is used at a plurality of locations on the front and rear side plates of the upper and lower structures 1 and 2 so as to maintain the positional accuracy between the units incorporated therein.

[0015]

The structure connecting device of the image forming apparatus according to the first and second aspects is as described above, so that the positioning between the image forming apparatus units built in the plurality of structures is performed at the same time. By providing the elastic member, there is an effect that the image quality can be improved, the adjustment time, and the installation property can be improved without requiring much positioning accuracy between the structures.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the structure connecting device of the image forming apparatus can suppress the conveyance quality of the sheet in the image forming unit built in the lower structure, particularly the deviation in the direction perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction. effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus including a plurality of structures to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing an embodiment in which the connection structure according to the present invention is applied to the connection of the structure of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Device main body (upper structure) 2 Lower structure 3 Main body base 4 Main body side plate 4a Flange part of main body side plate 5 Structure frame 6 Paper feed unit 7 Paper feed side plate 8 Receiving part 9 Positioning pin 10 Fixing bracket 11, 12 Screw 13 Pin member 13a Lower end of pin member 14 Hole in structure frame 15 Elastic member

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 15/00 510-550 G03G 21/16 B41J 29/00-29/14 H05K 5/00-5/06 B65H 1/00-3/68

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of structures each having a built-in image forming unit, wherein a positioning member is provided in one structure, a receiving portion is provided in another structure, and the one structure is provided. A positioning projection is provided on the image forming unit incorporated in the first structure and the receiving hole is provided on each of the one structure and the other structure, and a diameter of the receiving hole of the one structure is set to an outer diameter of the positioning projection. And a resilient member is disposed between the positioning projection and the periphery of the receiving hole of the one structure. 2. An image forming apparatus comprising an apparatus main body having a built-in image forming unit and a lower structure,
A fixing bracket for fixing a positioning member and a built-in image forming unit is provided on a frame of the lower structure, a receiving hole for the positioning member is provided on a base plate of the apparatus main body, and an image forming device built in the lower structure is provided. A positioning projection is provided at the upper end of the side plate of the unit, and the receiving hole is provided in each of the frame of the lower structure and the side plate of the apparatus main body, and the diameter of the frame receiving hole of the lower structure is larger than the outer diameter of the positioning protrusion. A structure connecting device for an image forming apparatus, wherein an elastic member is disposed between the positioning protrusion and a peripheral portion of a receiving hole of the lower structure. 3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said image forming unit incorporated in said lower structure is a sheet feeding unit, a roll paper feeding unit or a double-sided unit.