JP3495019B2 - Paper cassette mounting mechanism and paper cassette attachment / detachment method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper cassette loading mechanism and a paper cassette loading / unloading method used in information equipment such as electrophotographic printers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electrophotographic printer or the like, when a paper cassette is inserted into a cassette mounting portion from a cassette insertion opening of a main body device, a paper separating member abuts a feeding roller and a paper stacking plate is unlocked. There is a paper cassette loading mechanism that locks the paper cassette in the cassette lock position while pressing the paper against the feeding roller.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional example of an electrophotographic printer equipped with a paper cassette, and FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a locked state of the paper stacking plate. The electrophotographic printer 1 is provided with a cassette mounting portion 4 having a cassette insertion port for attaching and detaching the paper cassette 3 on the side surface of the main body device 2. Further, inside the main body device 2, a feeding roller 7 for feeding the paper 6 from the paper cassette 3 locked at the cassette lock position and a printing unit 5 for the fed paper 6 one by one.
A paper guide 8 is provided to guide the user.

The sheet cassette 3 is provided with a sheet stacking plate 9 for pressing the sheet 6 against the delivery roller 7 and a sheet separating piece 10 for separating the delivered sheet one by one. The sheet stacking plate 9 is rotatably provided in the direction of arrow AB about a support shaft 11, and is biased in the direction of arrow A by a compression coil spring 13 sandwiched between the sheet stacking plate 9 and the bottom plate 12. ing. As a stacking plate lock mechanism, a hook member 14 is provided on the back surface of the paper stacking plate 9, and a lock member 15 is provided on the bottom plate side in correspondence with the cassette lock position. The lock member 15 is slidable in the direction of arrow CD and is biased in the direction of arrow D by a compression coil spring 16. The lock member 15 has an inclined surface 15a with which the hook member 14 abuts, and a convex portion 15b with which the stacking plate lock release member 17 provided in the cassette mounting portion 4 of the main body 2 abuts. The lock member 15 serves as a cassette lock mechanism that locks the sheet cassette 3 at the cassette lock position by pressing the convex portion 15b against the stack plate lock release member 17 after unlocking the stack plate.

Next, the operation will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 13, the sheet stacking plate 9 is rotated in the direction of arrow B to hook the hook portion 14 on the lock portion 15 to lock the sheet 6 and stack the sheets 6. Next, the paper cassette 3 is inserted into the main unit 2
Insert it by pushing it into the cassette mounting portion 4 from the cassette insertion port. When the sheet cassette 3 approaches the cassette lock position, the convex portion 15b of the lock portion 15 contacts the stacking plate lock release member 17 of the cassette mounting portion 4 to move the lock portion 15 in the arrow C direction. Lock part 15 at the cassette mounting position
The lock state of the hook portion 14 is released, and the sheet stacking plate 9 is rotated in the direction of arrow A by the urging force of the compression coil spring 13 to press the sheet 6 against the feeding roller 7. At this time, the sheet separating piece 10 is also in contact with the feeding roller 7.
When the feeding roller 7 is rotated in this state, the sheets 6 are fed and fed one by one to the printing unit 5 via the sheet separating piece 10.

When the paper cassette 3 is taken out from the main body device 2, the handle portion 18 of the paper cassette 3 is grasped and pulled out.

[0007]

In the conventional paper cassette mounting mechanism, the compression coil spring for urging the lock member is provided while the paper cassette is mounted on the main body device.
Since it is compressed as a cassette lock mechanism, it has a problem that it is liable to cause fatigue and its life is short.

Further, since the convex portion for unlocking the sheet stacking plate is provided in the cassette mounting portion of the main body device, it is necessary to make the height of the cassette mounting portion higher than the height of the paper cassette, which leads to downsizing of the main body device. There was also the problem that it would be an obstacle.

Further, when the paper cassette is taken out from the main body, since the grip portion of the paper cassette is grasped and pulled out, there is a risk that the nail of the paper cassette may be broken.

The present invention intends to always push in and remove the paper cassette, to extend the life of the stacking plate lock mechanism, to reduce the size of the main body device, and to prevent the danger associated with the operation of installing and removing the paper cassette.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, in a paper cassette mounting mechanism having a stacking plate lock mechanism and a cassette lock mechanism, the cassette lock mechanism directs the paper cassette to the cassette insertion slot. A biasing member that biases the cassette lock lever, a cassette lock lever having a convex portion corresponding to the cassette lock position, a concave portion that engages the convex portion, and a cam surface that abuts the side surface of the convex portion and guides the convex portion to the concave portion. And a cassette lock cam having.

Further, according to the present invention, in a paper cassette attaching / detaching method in which the paper stacking plate of the paper cassette is locked by the stacking plate locking mechanism and the paper cassette is locked by the cassette locking mechanism, the paper cassette is inserted from the cassette insertion port. Then, guide the cassette lock mechanism so that when the paper cassette is pushed in and the pushing force is removed, the cassette lock mechanism locks the paper cassette, and when the paper cassette is pushed in again to remove the pushing force, the cassette lock mechanism releases the locked state. It is the one.

The operation of the stacking plate lock mechanism will be described below. The stacking plate lock mechanism described above locks the sheet stacking plate with the lock claw of the rotating member that is biased in the direction of engaging the rotating front end of the sheet stacking plate by the biasing member. Lock it. When sheets are stacked on the sheet cassette with the sheet stacking plate in the locked state and inserted into the cassette mounting portion from the cassette insertion opening of the main body device, the contact portion of the rotating member comes into contact with the feeding roller to move the rotating member. The paper stacking plate is rotated, the lock of the paper stacking plate is released, and the paper stacking plate is rotated to press the paper against the feeding roller.

The paper stacking plate lock lever of the stacking plate locking mechanism is flexible and locks the paper stacking plate with a lock claw provided on an arm extending in the paper cassette insertion direction. When paper is loaded in the paper cassette with the paper stacking plate in the locked state and inserted into the cassette mounting part from the cassette insertion slot of the main unit, the guide pin lock installed upright on the arm contacts the guide provided on the cassette mounting part. And bend the paper stacking plate lever lock to unlock the paper stacking plate.
The released sheet stacking plate rotates to press the sheet against the delivery roller.

The urging member of the cassette lock mechanism inserts the paper cassette loaded with the paper into the cassette mounting portion from the cassette insertion opening of the main body, and urges the paper cassette abutting the free end toward the cassette insertion opening. Energize. When the cassette lock lever is pushed further against this biasing force, the convex portion of the cassette lock lever is guided to the concave portion along the cam surface of the cassette lock cam. When the pushing force is removed at a position pushed further into the cassette lock position, the paper cassette is urged toward the cassette insertion opening by the urging member, and the convex portion of the cassette lock lever falls into the concave portion of the cassette lock cam. Lock the paper cassette in the cassette lock position.
When removing the paper cassette, if you push the paper cassette against the urging force of the urging member, the convex part of the cassette lock lever will be guided from the concave part of the cassette lock cam to the cam surface. The biasing member ejects the paper cassette toward the cassette insertion port.

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the lock member is in the free state in the cassette lock state, the life of the stacking plate lock mechanism can be extended, and since the cassette lock mechanism is provided on the side wall of the paper cassette, the main body apparatus can be made compact. Since the paper cassette attaching / detaching operation is always a pushing operation, it is possible to prevent the danger associated with the attaching / detaching operation.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Elements common to the drawings are given the same reference numerals.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view showing a first embodiment. The main body device is a cross-sectional view in which the printing unit and the guide unit shown in the prior art are omitted, and the side wall is removed, and the paper cassette is shown in a partially broken cross-sectional view. 2 is an external perspective view of the paper cassette, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are external perspective views of the stacking plate lock mechanism and the cassette lock mechanism, respectively. The sheet cassette 19 is provided with a sheet stacking plate 20 for pushing out the sheet 6 against the roller 7. The sheet stacking plate 20 is rotatably provided in the direction of arrow AB about the support shaft 11, and is biased in the direction of arrow A by the compression coil spring 13 sandwiched between the sheet stacking plate 20 and the bottom plate 21. ing.

The stacking plate lock mechanism 22 comprises a rotating member 23 and a compression coil spring 24 as an urging member.
The rotating member 23 is composed of a sheet separating member 25 and a lock member 26, and the sheet separating member 25 is rotatably supported by a shaft 27 provided in the sheet cassette 19 and is arranged between the sheet separating member 25 and the bottom plate 21 of the sheet cassette 19. It is urged in the direction of arrow A by the compression coil spring 24 provided in the. Also, the paper separating member 2
5 is provided with a sheet separating piece 10 for separating sheets one by one and a claw 25a for engaging with the lock member 26. The lock member 26 has a flexible arm 28 integrally with a lock claw 29 for locking the sheet stacking plate 21. Also, arm 2
As shown in FIG. 3, one end portion 8 of the sheet cassette 8 is integrally formed around the hole 21a formed in the bottom plate 21 of the sheet cassette 19. Paper stacking plate 20 when setting paper 6 in paper cassette 19
The engagement of the lock claw will be described. The sheet stacking plate 20 is pressed by the urging force of the compression coil spring 13 in the direction of the arrow B, and the leading end 20a is locked by the lock claw 29 of the lock member 26.
2, the flexible arm 28 bends in the direction of arrow E and then returns in the direction of arrow F as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the leading end portion 20 a of the sheet stacking plate 20 is engaged with the lock claw 29 of the lock member 26.

The unlocking of the lock of the sheet stacking plate 20 when the sheet cassette 19 is mounted on the main body 31 will be described. The paper cassette 19 is attached to the cassette mounting portion of the main body device 31.
When is pushed in, the sheet separating piece 10 of the rotating member 23 of the stacking plate lock mechanism 22 abuts the feeding roller, and the claw 25a of the sheet separating member 25 of the rotating member 23 rotates the rotating member 23.
Of the sheet stacking plate 20 is released from the lock claw 29 of the lock member 26 to rotate in the direction A,
The sheet 6 is pressed by the feeding roller 7.

The cassette lock mechanism 30 includes a cassette lock lever 32 fixed to a main body 31 and a paper cassette 1.
It comprises a cassette lock cam 33 provided on the side wall of 9 and a compression coil spring 34 as an urging member. As shown in FIG. 4, the cassette lock lever 32 and the compression coil spring 34 are provided on guide members 35 and 36 which are fixed to the main body device 31 and constitute a cassette mounting portion.
One end of the cassette lock lever 32 has guide members 35, 3
6, which is provided integrally with the arrow No. 6 and is the direction of inserting the cassette, arrow D
The free end extending in the direction C opposite to the direction is provided with a protrusion 32a facing the cassette lock position. The compression coil spring 34 is a guide member 35,
One end is fixed to a spring post 37 integrally formed with 36, and the free end is provided in the direction of arrow C.

The cassette lock cam 33 is provided on the outer wall of the paper cassette 19 so as to face each other, and has cam surfaces 38a to 38d for guiding the convex portion 32a of the cassette lock lever 32 and a concave portion 39 for engaging the convex portion 32a. Have. Further, a spring receiving member 40 that abuts against the free end of the compression coil spring 34 and receives a compression force on the outer wall of the paper cassette 19.
Are provided integrally.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8 are explanatory views each showing a detached state of the paper cassette. After the sheet stacking plate 20 is locked by the stacking plate locking mechanism 22 as described above, the sheets 6 are stacked on the sheet stacking plate 20, and as shown in FIG. To insert.
6, the convex portion 32a of the cassette lock lever 32 abuts on the cam surface 38a of the cassette lock cam 33 and is guided while being bent in the arrow H direction. When the sheet cassette 19 is further inserted, the free end of the compression coil spring 34 of the main body device 31 comes into contact with the spring receiving member 40 of the sheet cassette 19 and urges the sheet cassette 19 in the direction of arrow C. When it is further inserted against the biasing force of the compression coil spring 34, the sheet separating piece 1 which is the contact portion of the rotating member 23.
0 contacts the feeding roller 7.

When it is further inserted, the sheet stacking plate 20 is released from the stacking plate lock mechanism 22 as shown in FIG. 1, and is rotated in the direction of arrow A to press the sheet against the feeding roller 7. At this time, the convex portion 32 a of the cassette lock lever 32 reaches the cam surface 38 b of the cassette lock cam 33.
When the pushing force is removed after confirming that the sheet stacking plate 20 has been released, the sheet cassette 19 is pushed out in the direction of arrow C by the urging force of the compression coil spring 34, and as shown in FIG. The convex portion 32a engages with the concave portion 39 of the cassette lock cam 33 to position the paper cassette 19 at the cassette lock position. During this period, the sheet separating member 25 of the stacking plate lock mechanism 22 is operated by the sheet separating piece 1.
While 0 is brought into contact with the feeding roller 7, it is rotated about the shaft 27 in the direction of arrow B-A.

When removing the paper cassette 19 from the main body 31, the paper cassette 19 is pushed in the direction of arrow D against the biasing force of the compression coil spring 34, as shown in FIG. The engagement between the projection 32a of the cassette lock lever 32 and the recess 39 of the cassette lock cam 33 is released, and the projection 32a reaches the cam surface 38c of the cassette lock cam 33. When the pushing force is removed, the paper cassette 19 is pushed out in the direction of arrow C by the urging force of the compression coil spring 34, and the convex portion 32a of the cassette lock lever 32 moves while contacting the cam surface 38d of the cassette lock cam 33. Cassette lock lever 32 and cassette lock cam 33
The engagement relationship with is released.

Second Embodiment FIG. 9 is an external perspective view of a paper cassette showing a second embodiment, and FIG. 10 is an external perspective view of a main body apparatus showing the second embodiment. The difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment is the stacking plate lock mechanism. That is, the stacking plate lock mechanism 50 includes a stacking plate lock lever 51, a rotating member 52, a compression coil spring 53 as a biasing member, and a guide 5.
4 and. Loading plate lock lever 51 and rotating member 52
Is provided in the paper cassette 55, and the guide 54 is provided in the main unit 5.
It is provided in 6. The stacking plate lock lever 51 has flexibility and is provided on an arm 57 extending in the direction of the arrow D, which is the direction of inserting the paper cassette, and is erected in a direction intersecting with the lock claw 59 engaging the paper stacking plate 58 and the lock claw 59. A guide pin 60 is provided to fix one end of the arm 57 to the inner wall of the paper cassette 55.

The rotating member 52 is composed of a sheet separating member 61 rotatably supported by a shaft 27 provided in a sheet cassette 55 and a sheet separating piece 10 for separating sheets one by one. The rotating member 52 is biased in the arrow A direction by the compression coil spring 53. As shown in FIG. 10, the guide 54 is provided in a V shape on the upper surface of the cassette mounting portion of the main body device 56.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of releasing the stacking plate lock mechanism. When the sheet stacking plate 58 is depressed by the urging force of the compression coil spring 13 in the direction of the arrow B and pressed against the lock claw 59 of the lock lever 51, the flexible arm 57 shows the arrow as shown in FIG. Bends in the direction I, then returns in the direction of arrow J,
The sheet stacking plate 58 is engaged with the lock claw 59. Sheets (not shown) are stacked on the sheet stacking plate 58 and inserted in the direction of arrow D from the cassette mounting opening of the main body device 56. As described in the first embodiment, the paper cassette 55 receives a biasing force in the direction of arrow C on the way, but when it is further inserted, the separating piece 10 comes into contact with the feeding roller.

When it is further inserted, the guide pin 60 abuts on the guide 54 and is guided by the arm 57 as shown in FIG.
Is rotated in the direction of arrow I shown in FIG. As a result, the engagement relationship of the sheet stacking plate 58 is released, and the sheet is fed out.
It is pressed by LA. When it is confirmed that the engagement relationship of the sheet stacking plate 58 has been released and the pushing force is removed, the sheet cassette 55 receives the urging force in the arrow C direction as described in the first embodiment, and the cassette lock mechanism. Is positioned at the cassette lock position. During this time, the guide pin 60 is in contact with the guide 54, rotates in the direction of arrow IJ, and stops in a state in which the bending is removed.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cassette lock lever having the convex portion, the concave portion engaging with the convex portion, and the cassette lock cam having the cam surface for guiding the convex portion to the concave portion are provided. Since the cassette lock mechanism is provided, it is possible to always push in and remove the paper cassette.

Further, since the cassette lock mechanism is provided on the side wall of the paper cassette and the urging member of the stacking plate lock mechanism is not used, the life of the stacking plate lock mechanism can be extended and the size of the main body device can be reduced. it can.

Further, since the operation of inserting / removing the paper cassette is always performed by the pushing operation, there is no possibility of breaking the nail of the paper cassette, and the danger associated with the operation of attaching / detaching the paper cassette can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a paper cassette.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a stacking plate lock mechanism.

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of a cassette lock mechanism.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram (1) showing a detached state of the paper cassette.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view (2) showing a detached state of the paper cassette.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram (3) showing a detached state of the paper cassette.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view (4) showing a detached state of the paper cassette.

FIG. 9 is an external perspective view of a paper cassette according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an external perspective view of the main body device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of unlocking.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional example of an electrophotographic printer equipped with a paper cassette.

FIG. 13 is a lateral cross-sectional view showing a locked state of the sheet stacking plate.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Electrophotographic printer 2, 31, 56 Main unit 3, 19, 55 paper cassette 22, 50 Loading plate lock mechanism 23, 52 Rotating member 26 Lock members 28 arms 29 Lock claw 30 Cassette lock mechanism 32 cassette lock lever 32a convex part 33 cassette lock cam 39 recess 54 Guide

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── --- Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-4-323130 (JP, A) JP-A-62-255324 (JP, A) Actually open 4-127737 (JP, U) Actually open 56- 117754 (JP, U) Actual development Sho 62-89235 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 1/26 314 B65H 1/26 312 B65H 1/12 310 B65H 1 / 12 330

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sheet stacking plate that is rotatable with respect to a sheet cassette is locked by a stacking plate locking mechanism to stack sheets of paper, and the sheet stacking plate of the sheet stacking plate is inserted when the sheet is inserted from a cassette insertion port of a main body device into a cassette mounting portion. In the paper cassette loading mechanism that releases the locked state and presses the paper against the feeding roller of the main body device to lock the paper cassette to the cassette lock position by the cassette lock mechanism, An urging member for urging the boss toward, a cassette lock lever having a convex portion corresponding to the cassette lock position, a concave portion engaging the convex portion and a side surface of the convex portion to guide the convex portion to the concave portion. And a cassette lock cam having a cam surface. 2. A sheet stacking plate that is rotatable with respect to a sheet cassette is locked by a stacking plate lock mechanism to stack sheets of paper, and the sheet stacking plate of the sheet stacking plate is inserted when the sheet is inserted from a cassette insertion port of the main body apparatus into a cassette mounting portion. In the paper cassette attaching / detaching method that releases the locked state and presses the paper against the feeding roller of the main body device to lock the paper cassette to the cassette lock position by the cassette lock mechanism, when the paper cassette is inserted from the cassette insertion port, the cassette lock mechanism Guided by pushing the paper cassette and removing the pushing force, the cassette lock mechanism locks the paper cassette, and when the paper cassette is pushed again and the pushing force is removed, the lock state is released. How to attach and detach the paper cassette. 3. The method of attaching and detaching a paper cassette according to claim 2, wherein a cassette lock mechanism provided on a side surface side of the paper cassette is guided. 4. The paper cassette is ejected by pushing the paper cassette again to remove the pushing force, and the cassette lock mechanism releases the locked state, and the paper cassette is ejected by the urging force toward the cassette insertion opening. How to attach / detach the described paper cassette. 5. The paper cassette attachment / detachment according to claim 2, wherein the stacking plate locking mechanism releases the locked state of the paper stacking plate when the paper cassette is pushed deeper than the cassette lock position. Method.