JP3520066B2 - Image recording device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet, such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, a printing machine, etc.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of image recording apparatus ,
If you are using multiple sheets of different
Multiple seats are provided in multiple stages to reduce the pace.
E, each sheet of each stage through a common sheet conveying path
Was being sent from below to above. Common sheet conveyance
The path is provided on the main body of the image recording device for convenience such as jam clearance.
It was often installed on the front side.

On the other hand, when recording on both sides of a sheet,
While transporting the surface-recorded sheet, reverse it to the image recording section
Some have a re-feed cassette for re-feeding. This again
The paper cassette is normally used for convenience of maintenance.
Being replaceable with the paper cassette of
Preferably.

[0004]

By the way, this re-feeding
From the same direction as jam handling operation
It is convenient to be able to do it. However, on the front side
If there is a paper feed path,
There was a problem that became difficult.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a seal on the front side.
Sheet conveyance even in an image recording device with a conveyance path
From the same direction as the jam handling operation on the road,
It is also possible to put in and take out the unit.

[0006]

Therefore, the present invention provides
In the image recording apparatus, a re-feeding cassette that reverses and sends out the fed single-sided recorded sheet while conveying the sheet is provided so as to be freely taken in and out in the sheet conveying direction and in the horizontal direction with respect to the image recording apparatus main body. A sheet vertical passage is formed on the drawer side of the sheet re-feeding cassette so that the sheet can pass across the sheet. Such an image
In the image recording apparatus, the invention according to claim 2 is a sheet re-feeding device.
It is characterized by having a paper feed cassette in the upper stage of the cassette
However, according to the invention described in claim 3, in the lower stage of the refeed cassette.
Equipped with paper feed cassettes, re-feed cassettes and paper feed
Sheets sent from each cassette are shared by a common transport roller.
It is characterized by being transported.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an internal mechanism of a laser printer which is an embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 10 in the figure denotes a printer body. The printer main body 10 is placed on paper feed units (option units) 11 that are vertically stacked. And
A drum-shaped photoconductor 12 is provided at the substantially center of the printer body 10.
To provide. Around the photoconductor 12, a charging device 13, an optical writing device 14, a developing device 15, registration rollers 21 and 21, a transfer device 16, and a cleaning device 17 are provided in this order in the rotation direction indicated by the arrow in the figure. A fixing device 18 is provided on the left side of the cleaning device 17 in the figure, and a paper feeding unit 19 is provided below the fixing device 18 and the like. Then, the paper feeding unit 19,
A paper feeding device 20 is configured with the paper feeding units 11 and 11.
Therefore, the re-feed option device 22 is provided on the left rear side of the paper feed unit 19 in the figure. Then, the resist roller 21 on the Les Jisutorora 21, 21, are pressed against the leading end of the sheet-like foreign matter removing the cleaning member 23. A manual feed tray 24 is provided on the right side of the printer body 10 in the figure so as to be openable and closable around a fulcrum 24a.

In the illustrated laser printer, the sheet is fed in a direction A in FIG. 5 by a sheet feeding device 20 which will be described later in detail, and is abutted against the registration rollers 21 and 21 and stopped.
Then, the registration rollers 21 and 21 convey it to the lower side of the photoconductor 12 at a proper timing. The photoconductor 12 rotates clockwise in the drawing, and at that time, the surface thereof is uniformly charged by the charger 13, and a laser beam is emitted from the optical writer 14 to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 12. . When the latent image passes through the position of the developing device 15, toner is attached thereto to form a visible image. And
This visible image is transferred onto the upper surface of the sheet by the transfer device 16. After the image transfer, the sheet is conveyed to the fixing device 18, and the transfer image is fixed by the fixing device 18. The sheet exiting the fixing device 18 is further conveyed by the paper discharge roller 26 and discharged in the direction of arrow B or C in the figure. On the other hand, the photoreceptor 1 after the image transfer
The surface of No. 2 is cleaned by the cleaning device 17 to remove the residual toner.

By the way, the paper feeding device 20 is constructed, for example, as described in detail below. First, the paper feeding unit 19
As shown in FIG. 5, a base frame 29 is provided, and a paper feed cassette 30 is housed in the base frame 29 so that the paper feed cassette 30 can be freely taken in and out in the direction of arrow a in the figure. The base frame 29 is
As shown on the upper side in FIG. 6, the bottom plate portion 29a and the opposite side plate portions 29 that rise from both side edges of the bottom plate portion 29a.
b. Each opposite side plate portion 29b is provided with a guide rail 29c in the lengthwise direction of its inner side surface. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, a cassette mounting portion 31 is formed on the base frame 29 on the pull-out side (the right front side in FIG. 6) in the cassette loading / unloading direction B. A paper feed roller 32 is attached to the cassette attachment portion 31, a sheet conveyance guide 33 is provided above the paper feed roller 32, and a grip roller 34 is attached to the tip of the sheet conveyance guide 33. In addition, the sheet push-up arm 35 is provided on the bottom plate 29a.
Is rotatably attached.

The paper feed cassette 30 has a box shape with an open upper surface, and the drawer side in the withdrawal direction (a right side in FIG. 5).
A seat vertical passage 36 is provided in the. Further, a handle portion 30b is provided on the upper side of the front plate portion 30a. Then, in the paper feed cassette 30, a bottom plate 37 on which the sheets S are stacked is rotatably provided. Then, the sheet push-up arm 35 is appropriately biased by the biasing means to push up the bottom plate 37 from below, and the leading end of the uppermost sheet S is pressed against the sheet feeding roller 32. A friction pad 38a for sheet separation held by a holder 38 is pressed against the paper feed roller 32 from below. In the paper feeding unit 19, the paper feeding roller 32 is made rotatable by transmitting a driving force of a main body driving motor (not shown) in the printer main body 10.

Now, the upper and lower sheet feeding units 11 and 11
As shown in FIG. 5, the sheet feeding cassette 39 has the same structure, and a sheet feeding cassette 39 which is substantially the same as the sheet feeding cassette 30 can be freely inserted into and taken out from the unit main body 40. As shown in FIG. 6, the unit main body 40 is formed by mounting the upper frame 41 on the base frame 29 similar to that described above. A positioning pin 44 is provided on the upper frame 41 in an upward direction, a front side in the cassette loading / unloading direction is bent obliquely upward, and a roller mounting plate portion 41a is formed there. Then, the bracket 4 is attached to the roller mounting plate portion 44a.
5, the bracket 45 holds the roller shaft 32a of the paper feed roller 32 rotatably.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the unit main body 40 has a cassette guide 31 and a transport guide plate 49, respectively.
The sheet conveyance path 51 is formed between the conveyance guide plates 49 and 50. One conveyance guide plate 49
As shown in FIG. 1, the bracket 52 is attached to one side of the roller window 49a opened at the center in the width direction B thereof. The bracket 52 has an L-shaped plate portion 52a on one side, and a holding plate portion 52b whose tip is bent in an inverted cross section on the other side of the L-shaped plate portion 52a. Then, the L-shaped plate portion 52a
Holds one end of the roller shaft 53a of the sheet conveying roller 53, and the other end holds the opposite side plate portion 2 of the base frame 29.
It is hung on 9b and supported rotatably. Then, the base end of the sheet-like foreign matter removing cleaning member 54 is attached to the holding plate portion 52b of the same bracket 52, and the front end of the cleaning member 54 is pressed against the sheet conveying roller 53. The cleaning member 54 is made of, for example, a plastic sheet, but may be a sheet material made of rubber, metal, or the like, and is not limited to the sheet shape, and may be a brush shape. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, a large amount of paper dust is actually fed out sheet S and friction pad 38.
In view of the occurrence of friction between a and the cleaning member 5,
4 is formed in a size matching the size of the friction pad 38a. Then, the cleaning member 54 is attached to the same bracket 49 that supports the sheet conveying roller 53, and the sheet conveying roller 53 is
In contrast, the cleaning member 54 can be accurately pressed at a predetermined position.

The other conveyance guide plate 50 has a width direction b.
L-shaped brackets 56 are attached to both sides of the roller window 50a provided at the center. Each of the brackets 56 has a hole 56a, and as shown in FIG.
A roller shaft 58a is hung via a bearing 57 fitted in the sheet conveyance roller 58 to rotatably support the sheet conveyance roller 58. Then, the sheet conveying roller 58 is pressed against the driving side sheet conveying roller 53 by urging the bearing 57 with the compression spring 59.

The paper feed cassette 39, as shown in FIG.
A foreign matter receiver 3 is provided between the handle portion 39a and the seat vertical passage 36.
9b is provided. A foreign matter outlet 39c is formed on one side of the foreign matter receiver 39b. Reference numeral 39 h is the long groove guide which engages with the guide rail 29c of the base frame 29.

Further, the unit main body 40 is provided with a driving mechanism as shown in FIG. 3, which is supported by one side of the opposite side plate portion 29b of the base frame 29. That is, the sheet carrying motor 60 is provided, and the worm gear 61 is provided on the motor shaft 60a of the sheet carrying motor 60. The worm gear 61 meshes with a worm wheel 62 fixed to one end of a gear shaft 62a. The worm wheel 62 meshes with an idler gear 64 on a gear shaft 64a via an integral spur gear 63. The idler gear 64 meshes with a gear 65 provided on the roller shaft 32 a of the paper feed roller 32. The gear 65 is an idler gear 66 on the gear shaft 66a.
Mesh with. The idler gear 66 meshes with a gear 68 provided on the roller shaft 53a of the sheet conveying roller 53 via the idler gear 67 on the gear shaft 67a. The roller shaft 32a of the paper feed roller 32 is provided with a gear 65 via an electromagnetic clutch 70, and the electromagnetic clutch 70 is appropriately disengaged so that the rotation of the paper feed roller 32 can be controlled. An overrunning clutch 71 is provided on the roller shaft 53a of the sheet conveying roller 53 between the roller shaft 53a and the gear 68.

In the illustrated laser printer described above, as shown in FIG. 5, the positioning pins 44 of the lower sheet feeding unit 11 are fitted into the positioning holes of the upper frame 29, and then the lower sheet feeding unit 11 is inserted. Place it on top. Then, the upper sheet feeding unit 11
After the positioning pin 44 of 1 is fitted into the positioning hole of the paper feeding section 19, the printer main body 10 is placed on the upper paper feeding unit 11. In addition, each of the paper feed cassettes 30 and 39
Inside, for example, sheets S of different sizes are stored.

When the sheet S is fed to the photosensitive member 12 by the sheet feeding device 20, first, the main body driving motor and the sheet conveying motors 60 of the upper and lower sheet feeding units 11 and 11 are driven. Thus, for example, when feeding the sheet S from the sheet feeding unit 19, an electromagnetic clutch (not shown) is turned on, the sheet feeding roller 32 is rotated, and the sheet S is fed out,
The sheets S are sent out through the sheet conveyance guide 33 while being separated one by one by the friction pad 38a, and further conveyed by the grip roller 34 to the registration rollers 21.

When the sheet S is fed from the lower sheet feeding unit 11, for example, the electromagnetic clutch 70 of the sheet feeding unit 11 is turned on and the gear 65 is moved to the roller shaft 32a.
And the driving force of the sheet conveying motor 60 is transmitted to the roller shaft 32a to rotate the sheet feeding roller 32, and the sheet S is fed from the sheet feeding cassette 39. And gear 6
The rotation of 5 is transmitted to the roller shaft 53a via the idler gears 66 and 67 and the gear 68 to rotate the sheet conveying roller 53, and the sheet S fed by the sheet feeding roller 32 is transferred to the upper sheet by the sheet conveying rollers 53 and 58. The sheet S is sent out through the vertical passage 36, and the sheet S is further conveyed by the upper sheet conveying rollers 53 and 58 to the sheet vertical passage 36 of the sheet feeding unit 19.
Transport upwards through. Then, during this sheet conveyance, when a certain time elapses after the sheet S is fed out, the driving of the lower sheet conveyance motor 60 is stopped and the sheet feeding roller 3
While stopping the rotation of 2, the upper sheet conveying roller 53
The sheet S is conveyed by 58 and the grip roller 34. At that time, the function of the overrunning clutch 71 causes the sheet conveying rollers 53 and 58 to rotate along with the conveyance of the sheet S so as not to hinder the passage of the sheet S.

The lower sheet feeding unit 11 is thus
When the sheet S is fed from the sheet conveying motor 60, the lower sheet conveying motor 60 is driven, and the upper sheet conveying motor 60 is also driven to rotate the upper sheet conveying rollers 53 and 58. Clutch 7
0 turns off and cuts off the rotation transmission to the upper sheet feed roller 32.

Thus, in the illustrated embodiment, during this paper feeding,
The cleaning member 23 scrapes off foreign matter Q such as paper powder and dust stuck to the peripheral surface of the upper registration roller 21, and collects the scraped foreign matter Q in a foreign matter receiver (not shown).
In addition to the registration rollers 21, as shown in FIG. 4, the foreign matter Q stuck to the peripheral surface of the sheet conveying roller 53 in each stage is scraped off separately by the cleaning member 54 in each stage, and the scraped foreign matter Q is scraped off. The foreign matter receiver 39b receives it and stores it there. After that, the foreign matter Q on the upper registration roller 21 is properly collected from the foreign matter receiver into a collecting container and discarded. When discarding the foreign matter Q on the sheet conveying roller 53, the foreign matter Q is removed from the foreign matter receiving port 39b of the foreign matter receiver 39b.
It is taken out from c and similarly collected in a foreign matter collecting container.

By the way, in the illustrated laser printer described above, as shown in FIG. 7, in the upper unit body 40,
Instead of the paper feed cassette 39, the paper feed cassette 39
It is possible to attach a re-feeding cassette 75 having an external shape substantially similar to the above. The sheet re-feeding cassette 75 is provided with a sheet supply port 75a, which is connected to the sheet re-conveying path 76 in the re-feeding option device 22 when the sheet re-feeding cassette 75 is attached, on the rear upper side on the left side in the drawing. Then, a horizontal conveyance path 77 is provided inside from the sheet supply port 75a, and a V-shaped switching guide 78 is provided at the tip of the horizontal conveyance path 77 rotatably around a fulcrum 78a. In the middle of the horizontal transport path 77, transport rollers 79.
9 and 80/80 are provided, and a switching guide 78
A sensor 81 for adjusting the switching timing is provided. An inversion conveyance path 82 is provided below the horizontal conveyance path 77. And
Between the right end of the reversing conveyance path 82 in the drawing and the switching guide 78, reversing conveyance rollers 83 are provided so as to be able to rotate forward and backward. Also,
A roller 84 is pressed against the paper feed roller 32.

In the printer body 10, switching guides 86 and 87 are rotatably provided on both sides of the paper discharge roller 26. Then, the one-side recorded sheet S can be guided by the switching guide 86 on one side to be conveyed to the sheet reconveying path 76 in the refeed option device 22.

When performing double-sided recording on a sheet,
The conveying direction is switched by the switching guide 86 and the one-side recorded sheet S is sent to the sheet re-conveying path 76. Then, the single-sided recorded sheet S is transferred to the conveying rollers 88.
The sheet is conveyed through the sheet re-conveying path 76 at 89, and further conveyed through the horizontal conveying path 77 by the conveying rollers 79, 79 and 80. Then, the sheet is guided by the switching guide 78 and sent to the reverse conveying path 82 by the reverse conveying rollers 83. Then, as shown in FIG. 8A, the sheet S is
When the trailing edge is conveyed in the direction and passes through the switching guide 78, the switching guide 78 is rotated to switch the transport direction to the E direction as shown in (b), and the reverse transport roller 83 is rotated in the reverse direction. Then, the sheet S is inverted and fed in the E direction,
Further, the sheet is fed by the sheet feeding rollers 32 and 84, and is fed again into the printer body 10 through the sheet vertical passage 36 by the upper sheet conveying rollers 53 and 58.

By the way, this refeed cassette 75 also has
A foreign matter receiver (not shown) similar to the foreign matter receiver 39b is provided, and the foreign matter Q scraped by the cleaning member 54 can be stored in the foreign matter receiver when re-feeding.

Further, in the illustrated laser printer, as shown in FIG. 1, a sensor 90 for identifying which of the sheet feeding cassette 39 and the sheet refeeding cassette 75 is attached is attached to the cassette attaching portion 31 of the upper unit main body 40. It will be provided. The sensor 90 includes a vertical detection switch 90a.
With 0b. Then, the vertical detection switch 90a
A projecting actuator 91 (not shown in the refeed cassette) is provided on the side of the sheet feed cassette 39 and the sheet refeed cassette 75 corresponding to the height position of 90b. Then, when the cassette is attached, the sheet feeding cassette 39 and the sheet refeeding cassette 75 are discriminated from each other depending on which of the detection switches 90a and 90b is pushed by the actuator. When none of the detection switches 90a and 90b is pressed, it is determined that the cassette is not mounted and the upper and lower sheet feeding units 11 and 11 are prohibited from feeding.

In the illustrated embodiment described above, the foreign matter receiver 39b is provided integrally with the sheet feeding cassette 39, but as shown in FIG. 9, the foreign matter receiver 93 is formed in each container and the foreign matter receiver 93 is formed. Alternatively, the sheet feeding cassette 39 may be detachably provided between the mounting ribs 39d and 39d. In the illustrated embodiment, the foreign matter receiver 93 is provided with a finger hook portion 93a, and as shown in the drawing, the foreign finger receiver 93a is pinched so that the foreign matter receiver 93 can be vertically attached and detached.

The foreign matter Q scraped off by the cleaning member 54 is received by the foreign matter receiver 93 and stored therein. When processing the foreign matter Q, the paper feed cassette 39 is slightly pulled out to the front, the foreign matter receiver 93 is taken out, and the foreign matter Q is discarded from there.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the container-shaped foreign matter receiver 93 may be constructed so as to be attachable / detachable in the insertion / removal direction A of the paper feed cassette 39. In the illustrated embodiment, the mounting ribs 39d, 39d are formed by slightly opening the grip portion 39a side, and the mounting ribs 39d, 39d are formed.
Before the d, the grip 39a is provided with an outlet 39e through which the foreign matter receiver 93 can be inserted.

When processing the stored foreign matter Q, the paper feed cassette 39 is left in the attached state, the finger hook 93a is picked up, and the foreign matter receiver 93 is pulled out from the inside of the paper feed cassette 39 through the take-out port 39e. Good.

In addition, the container-shaped foreign matter receiver 93 is formed of a transparent member, and the grip portion 39a of the paper feed cassette 39 is also formed of another transparent member. It may be possible to observe the scraped state and the accumulation state of the scraped foreign matter Q. Further, the container-shaped foreign matter receiver 93 may be configured so as to be disposable when the foreign matter is discarded.

In the illustrated embodiment described above, the cleaning member 54 of the sheet conveying roller 53 is supported by the unit main body 40 via the bracket 52. However, as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 below, the cleaning member 54
Can be supported by the paper feed cassette 39.

In this other embodiment, L-shaped brackets 95.9 are provided on both sides of the roller window 49a of one conveyance guide plate 49.
Attach 5. The roller shaft 53a of the sheet conveying roller 53 is rotatably supported by the brackets 95, 95. On the other hand, the base 96 is mounted on the foreign material receiver 39b of the paper feed cassette 39. The base 96 includes a support plate portion 96b having a long hole 96a in the cassette loading / unloading direction B and a bending plate portion 96c having an L-shaped cross section. The bending plate portion 96c has an upward abutting portion 96 corresponding to the brackets 95, 95.
d · 96d is provided. Then, the pins 97 projecting from the foreign matter receiver 39b are engaged with the respective long holes 96a, so that the base 96 can be moved on the foreign matter receiver 39b in the cassette loading / unloading direction B. Then, the base end of the cleaning member 54 is attached to the bending plate portion 96c. Then, one end of the biasing spring 98 is hooked on both sides of the bending plate portion 96c. The bias spring 98
Is the hook portion 39 whose other end is provided on the foreign matter receiver 39b.
The base 96 is constantly urged in the cassette insertion direction by being hung on f.

When the paper feed cassette 39 is inserted into the cassette mounting portion 31, the abutting portions 96d, 96d are abutted against the tips of the brackets 95, 95 to position the cleaning member 54, and the tip of the cleaning member 54 is placed. It is pressed against the sheet conveying roller 53 at a predetermined position. Since the base 96, which is movable in the cassette insertion direction, is biased by the biasing spring 98, even if the paper feed cassette 39 is pushed too far back from the predetermined mounting position during mounting, The table 96 is retracted to absorb the overstroke, whereby the cleaning member 54 can be easily pressed against the sheet conveying roller 53 at a predetermined position.

Further, in this other embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, for example, the front side of the paper feed cassette 39 including the grip 39a may be formed by a separate transparent member. As a result, as shown in the drawing, the scraped state of the foreign matter Q and the stored state thereof can be visually observed, and the conveying state of the sheet S can be well observed.

[0036]

Effect of the Invention] Thus, according to the present invention, re-feeding
The sheet passes across the drawer side of the cassette itself
Since a vertical sheet passage is formed,
Even if the image recording device has a feeding path,
By inserting and removing the set along with the seat vertical passage,
Refeed cassette from the same direction as the jam handling operation on the transport path.
It is also possible to put in and take out the unit. This allows
Even if a sheet jam occurs in the sheet transport path,
There is also an advantage that the reason can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a sheet conveying mechanism and a drawer side portion of a sheet cassette provided in a laser printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line YY in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a drive mechanism of a sheet feeding device provided in the laser printer.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line ZZ in FIG. 1 showing a foreign matter scraping state by a cleaning member.

FIG. 5 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of an internal mechanism of the laser printer.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a base frame and an upper frame of a sheet feeding device included in the laser printer.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an internal structure of the laser printer with a refeed cassette attached.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a switching state of the sheet conveying direction in the re-feeding cassette, in which (a) is a D direction and (b) is an E direction.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a container type foreign matter receiver and a drawer side portion of a paper feed cassette to which the foreign matter receiver is attached.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of another container type foreign matter receiver and a drawer side of a paper feed cassette to which the foreign matter receiver is attached.

11 is a perspective view of a drawer side part of the sheet transport mechanism and the paper feed cassette definitive Les <br/> Zapurinta having a cleaning member in the paper feed cassette.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing a foreign matter scraping state in the laser printer.

[Explanation of symbols] 10 Printer body (image forming apparatus body)30 paper cassettes 39 paper cassettes 36 seat longitudinal passage53 sheet conveying rollers 58 sheet conveying rollers 75 refeed cassette S sheet

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A re-feeding cassette that reverses and sends out a fed single-sided recorded sheet while it is being conveyed, and is removably provided in the sheet conveying direction and in the horizontal direction with respect to the image recording apparatus main body. An image recording apparatus in which a sheet longitudinal passage through which a sheet passes is formed on the drawer side of a refeed cassette. 2. A sheet feeding cassette is provided on an upper stage of the refeeding cassette.
The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. A paper feeding cassette is provided at a lower stage of the refeeding cassette.
And whether they are
Do not convey the sheets sent from each
The image recording device according to claim 1.