JPS638023B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sheet material storage tray, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a sheet material storage tray, which is provided near the bottom of sheet ejection of an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile machine or a copying machine, and receives sheet material ejected from the image forming apparatus. This invention relates to a sheet material storage tray.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a strong demand for image forming apparatuses such as facsimile machines and copying machines to be smaller and lighter.
As a result, in the past, trays for storing recording paper, manuscripts, and other sheet materials ejected from image forming devices were not built into the machine body, but were attached in a way that protruded outside the machine. It was common practice to downsize the . As a result,
Even if the main body of the machine was made smaller, the installation space during use became larger due to the protrusion of the tray section, and there was a drawback that the machine was not miniaturized in an actual sense. In addition, rolled paper such as thermal recording paper used in facsimiles and the like has a disadvantage in that it has a strong curl and is difficult to store in an orderly manner on a conventional linear tray surface. Recently, there has been a trend to reduce the outer diameter of the paper while keeping the length the same, especially in response to the demand for downsizing of the main body of the machine. As paper curls become more noticeable, there is a strong desire to develop a paper storage method that can accommodate this.

In addition, when creating records of multiple original documents using such an image forming apparatus, if the recording is performed sequentially from the first page of the original, the recorded sheets ejected from the apparatus will be placed with the image side facing upward. Since the recorded sheets stored in the conventional tray are stacked with the first page facing down and the second and subsequent pages are stacked on top of it, the sheets stacked in the tray are It will be in the reverse order of the original. For this reason, conventionally, after the recording operation is completed, it is necessary to rearrange the recorded sheets in order from the first page, that is, perform a page alignment operation, which is very time-consuming.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the drawbacks of the sheet material storage tray used in the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, to be able to be attached to the apparatus main body in a form that does not protrude significantly outside the apparatus main body, and to be able to An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet material storage tray that can be downsized as a whole.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet material storage tray that can reliably hold a large number of sheet materials in the tray, can correctly hold even tightly curled sheet materials, and can easily take out the sheet materials. It is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet material storage tray that can sequentially store a large number of sheet materials so that there is no need to perform a page alignment operation after storing a large number of sheet materials.

The sheet material storage tray according to the present invention is characterized by having a sheet material holding section provided with a substantially V-shaped opposing member that is provided facing each other and that holds the leading end side of the sheet material being conveyed; Between the outer wall of the image forming apparatus and the supporting upper end of the outer opposing member, which allows the sheet material whose leading end side is held by the material holding part and a loop is formed at the rear end side to be fed out reversely on the looped rear end side. and an open part formed in the above-mentioned sheet material holding part, which is located above the sheet material holding part, and the leading end side of the sheet material is held by the above-mentioned holding part, and the rear end side of the sheet material is sent out from the above-mentioned open part and hangs down. and a support upper end portion that supports the midway portion, and the outer member of the opposing member is configured to be substantially flush with or inside the outer wall of the image forming apparatus.

This will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional facsimile machine equipped with this type of sheet material storage tray. The illustrated facsimile device 1 includes an image reading and transmitting system that reads information from the document using an optical system 3 and transmits image information while feeding the document on a document table 2, and a recording paper according to the received image information. An image receiving and recording system is provided for recording an image by a thermal head 7 onto a thermal recording paper 6 that is fed out from a roll 4 and transported by a platen roller 5. 8 is a power supply section including a power supply device and the like.

On the left side of the image forming apparatus main body 1, there is provided a document storage tray 10 for storing original documents 9 that are sequentially sent out from the document table 2, and on the right side of the apparatus main body 1, a document storage tray 10 is provided where images are recorded by a thermal head 7. After that, cut the cutter 11 to a predetermined length, e.g.
A recording paper storage tray 12 is provided to store recorded recording paper cut into lengths of A4 size.

In such a conventional image forming apparatus, the trays 10 and 12 protrude from both sides of the apparatus main body 1, so even if the apparatus main body is downsized, the actual installation space is still small due to the protrusion of these trays. Can't make it smaller. If these trays are installed together on one side of the device main body, the installation space can be reduced by one tray, but if they are installed all together on one side of the device main body, documents and records will be Both paper drive systems are concentrated on one side, which impairs the space efficiency inside the main body of the apparatus and complicates the drive system, which not only leads to a decrease in reliability but also to a significant increase in costs.

Also, the recording paper that is ejected onto the tray 12 is ejected with the image side facing up, so when creating multiple records in sequence, the first page will be at the bottom and the last page will be at the top. Therefore, page alignment is required after the recording operation is completed.

The present invention eliminates the drawbacks of the conventional sheet material storage tray of an image forming apparatus as described above, and one embodiment thereof is shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows the facsimile machine shown in FIG. 1 equipped with a sheet material storage tray according to the present invention. In FIG. 2, the same parts as those shown in FIG. The detailed explanation will be omitted.

A sheet material storage tray 13 according to the present invention is provided near the lower side of the recording paper sheet discharge port of the facsimile apparatus described above. Details of the sheet material storage tray 13 are shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet material storage tray 13 is a first facing member against which the discharge sheet is brought into contact and guides it downward.
A second guide member 16 for forming a seat storage space 15 faces the first guide member. The second guide member 16 is made of a plastic plate or the like fixed to the stay 17 of the facsimile device main body 1, and is attached to the lower end of the second guide member.
is connected to the lower end of the guide member 14 by a pin 18. In the illustrated embodiment, these guide members are shown as plates, but these guide members do not necessarily have to be plate-shaped, and may be, for example, a plurality of wires arranged in a vertical direction.
In short, any member can be used as long as it can prevent the recording paper from moving and guide it into the storage space 15.

A third guide member 14 is inserted between the facsimile device main body 1 and the first guide member 14.
A click mechanism (not shown) is provided to lock the first guide member 14 in the state shown in the figure.
is held in the closed position shown in FIG. Thus, the first guide member 14 can be opened by rotating around the pin, and in the open position shown by the two-dot chain line, the first guide member 14 is locked by the stay 17 of the main body 1. As shown in FIG. 4, when the first guide member 14 is open, the ejected recording paper 6 moves along the first guide member 14. forms a discharge guide. If the recording paper is too short or too long,
It is preferable to use the first guide member 14 in an open state as described above. Furthermore, when a large amount of recording paper is stored at once and the storage capacity is exceeded, the click mechanism that locks the first guide member 14 in the closed state is automatically released by the weight of the stored recording paper. Thus, the first guide member 14 can be placed in an open state.

When the first guide member 14 is in the closed state as shown in FIG.
Sheet material storage space 1 formed between members 16 of
At the lower part of the sheet material 5, a closing portion 19 having a width of a pinching width is formed as a pinching portion for grasping the leading end of the sheet material fed downward. In the illustrated embodiment, the sheet material storage space 15 is formed in a V-shape, and a closing part 19 is formed at the bottom thereof, but this does not necessarily have to be a V-shape. The walls may be slightly apart. In addition, when the first guide member 14 is closed,
The angle formed between the recording paper and the guide member 14 is such that the recording paper contacts the guide member 14 and smoothly moves into the storage space 1.
It suffices if it forms an obtuse angle so that it can be guided downward into the inside of 5.

Furthermore, in the closed state of the first guide member 14, an open portion 20 is formed at the upper end of the first guide member 14 to allow the rear end of the sheet material to be reversed when a long type sheet material is stored. That is,
As shown in FIG. 5, when the first guide member 14 is closed, the loop-shaped recording paper 6 is ejected between the upper end 14a of the first guide member 14, the upper case 22 of the main body 1, and the guide 23. The opening portion 20 is formed to be sufficient for Therefore, the leading edge 6' of the recording paper 6 is introduced into the wedge-shaped storage space 15 of the storage tray 13, and the leading edge 6' of the recording paper 6 is gripped at the bottom of the storage space, and at the same time, the recording paper 6 is continuously fed out. When the rear end of the recording paper is cut by the cutter 11, the rear end of the recording paper is reversed and sent out of the device due to the elasticity of the paper and the rotational force of the cutter blade, and the leading edge 6' of the recording paper 6 is fed into the machine. Storing is completed with the rear end hanging out of the machine while it is still held in the machine, and the operation can be continued to store the next recording paper.

In the above-mentioned sheet material storage tray, the distance from the closing part 19 that grips the leading edge 6' of the recording paper 6 to the cutter 11 or roller or other final ejection means is defined as the length in the normal feeding direction of the recording paper used.
For example, if the length is shorter than the length of A4 size recording paper, a large number of recording papers can be placed in a tray with the leading end held by the above-mentioned closing part 19 and the trailing end hanging down outside the machine. This allows for secure storage. With this configuration, the storage tray that does not protrude from the image forming apparatus can be
It is possible to hold a large number of long type sheet materials, and also to easily take them out. Also,
In such a configuration, the sheet materials are held in the tray in an inverted state, so that the page alignment operation required in conventional trays is also unnecessary.

Here, the above cutter 11 will be explained. The cutter 11 has a movable blade 11b that rotates around a shaft 11a and a fixed blade 11c that cooperates with the movable blade, and the cutting edge 11b' of the movable blade 11b is
The blade is inclined at a certain angle in the longitudinal direction, as shown in FIG. 6, in order to cut the recording paper sequentially like cutting paper with scissors. Therefore, the end portion of the cut in the longitudinal direction of the blade 11b, that is, the gap 11d surrounded by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 7 becomes large, and there is a risk that the fingertip may come into contact with the blade tip and injure the fingertip. In the illustrated structure, in order to prevent such a danger, a guide surface 23' having an inclination angle matching the inclination of the cutting edge 11b' of the movable blade 11b is formed on the extension of the guide 23. . Therefore, in the longitudinal direction of the blade, the gap 24 between the cutting edge 11b' and the guide surface 23' always changes at the same rate, and even when it is widest, it is a large gap that allows the fingertip to fit, as shown in FIG. 11d is never formed,
There is no risk of the fingertip touching the cutting edge 11b' and damaging the fingertip. That is, the guide 23 described above not only serves to guide the loop-shaped recording paper 6 out of the apparatus, but also serves as a safety cover to protect the operator's fingertips.

Next, the operation of storing sheet materials in the sheet material storage tray according to the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 to 12.

First, the thermal recording paper 6 is fed out from the roll 4.
is heated by a thermal head 7 according to the information, and image information is recorded on the surface of the recording paper 6. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 8, the recording paper 6 is conveyed by the rotation of the platen roller 5 and passes through the cutter 11.
Its tip abuts at an obtuse angle on the first guide member 14 forming a wedge-shaped or V-shaped storage space 15 . At this time, a plurality of ribs 25 are provided on the inner wall surface of the first guide member 14 as shown in FIG. 9 to reduce the contact resistance with the leading edge of the recording paper and allow the leading edge of the recording paper to be smoothly stored in the storage tray 13. Introduce it into space 15. At this time, due to the wedge effect, the leading end 6' of the recording paper 6 becomes wedged in the closed part at the bottom of the storage space. When the recording paper is continuously fed out in this state, the recording paper 6 forms a loop through the opening 20 as shown in FIG. It is discharged, and finally, as shown in Fig. 11, it curls greatly and hangs down outside the machine body.

When the cutter 11 operates in this state and cuts off the rear end of the recording paper 6, the recording paper hanging outside the machine is reversed in the direction of the arrow using its own weight and the rotational force of the cutter blade. This series of movements of the recording paper 6 is repeated until the recording paper 6 reaches the state shown in FIG. Recording paper sheets accumulate. At this time, modifications of the storage tray for more effectively holding the leading edge 6' of the recording paper are shown in FIGS. 13a, b, and c.

FIG. 13a shows a tray in which a leaf spring 26 is attached to the lower part of the second guide member 16 to ensure that the leading edge 6' of the recording paper is gripped in the tray. Figure 13b shows the second
A friction material 27 such as rubber is attached to the surface of the guide member 16 to prevent the end from slipping up due to frictional force. In FIG. 13c, the surface of the second guide member is provided with sawtooth-like unevenness 28, and the edge of the paper is hooked onto this to prevent the paper from slipping up. Either structure is effective when combined with a V-shaped groove. In addition, when the accumulated recording paper exceeds the storage capacity of the tray, the click mechanism that locks the first guide member 14, which forms the wedge-shaped sheet material storage space, in the closed state, removes the weight of the recording paper 6. The first guide member 14 is automatically released and the first guide member 14 is opened, thereby preventing a paper jam inside the machine. Examples of the click mechanism are shown in FIGS. 14, 15, and 16. Figure 14 shows the leaf spring 2
9 shows a click mechanism using an elastic body such as No. 9. FIG. 15 shows how the second guide member 16 is connected to the main body stay 17.
A magnetic force type mechanism is shown in which a first guide member is provided with a magnet 31 which is magnetically attracted to a screw 30 fixed to the first guide member. In FIG. 16, an electromagnet 32 is provided on the second guide member, and this electromagnet 32 attracts the first guide member and when a predetermined number of sheets are stored.
A click mechanism is shown in which the first guide member 14 is released when the magnetic force is turned OFF.

As described above, the tray described above is configured so that it can be used with the first guide member 14 opened as shown in FIG. 4.

When the first blocking member 14 is opened as shown in FIG.
The first guide member 14 forms a discharge guide section. It can also be used in an open state when the length of the recording paper is short or, conversely, when it is too long. However, when storing a larger amount of sheets, the first guide member 14 can be opened and an external tray 33 as shown in FIG. 17 can be connected and stored.

In addition, in order to facilitate taking out the sheet material from the storage space of the tray when a short sheet material is stored in the tray, a cut as shown in FIG. 18 is provided at the end of the first guide member 14. It is preferable to provide a notch 34, so that even a short length of recording paper 6 can be easily taken out from the side of the guide member.

In addition, in the case of a narrow sheet material, in order to take out the sheet material from the storage space of the tray with the first guide member 16 closed, as shown in FIGS. 19a and 19b, the first guide member 14 is Long hole 3 at the bottom of the center
It is better to set 5. Thereby, if the sheet material is narrow in width, the sheet material can be easily taken out while the first guide member 14 remains closed.

As is clear from the above description, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the leading end of the sheet material is inserted into the closed part at the bottom of the sheet material storage space, and the rear end is turned over and hung outside the machine. The installation space of the machine can be significantly reduced without protruding a special tray from the main body, and the effect can be obtained that the sheet material can be stored in a well-aligned state regardless of the winding of the sheet material. Moreover, multiple sheets can be stored in the tray with the information side facing up and arranged in page order, which not only improves installation space but also greatly improves operability such as handling of sheet materials. There is an effect that can be obtained. Also,
Since the paper is guided into the tray immediately after passing through the cutter, there is no need for a discharge roller, which simplifies the machine and can be expected to significantly reduce costs and improve reliability.

Furthermore, unlike the conventional method of placing sheet materials on a tray, the tray holds only the leading edge, so even extremely long sheet materials can be stored.

In the present invention, in order to more effectively hold the sheet material, a leaf spring friction piece or the like is attached to the tip holding portion, thereby making it possible to further increase the holding effect. Further, by providing a safety mechanism that automatically opens the tray when the tray contains more sheets than the storage capacity, it is possible to prevent sheet materials from jamming inside the machine.

In addition, the tray section is opened according to the amount of sheet materials stored, and an external tray section is connected to the structure so that it can accommodate a large amount of sheet materials. Furthermore, by making a notch or an elongated hole in a part of the opening/closing tray, it is possible to create a configuration in which short sheets of paper or narrow sheets of paper can be taken out while the tray is closed.

In addition, by attaching a safety cover to the cutter that matches the inclination of the cutter's cutting edge and maintains a constant clearance from the cutting edge at all times, the safety of the cutter can be increased.

It goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to storing recording paper but also to storing original documents.

Further, in the above embodiment, only an apparatus for cutting continuous paper has been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to an apparatus that uses pre-cut paper.

Since the sheet material storage tray according to the present invention has the above-described configuration, it is possible to promote downsizing of the machine without protruding a special tray from the machine body.
This has the effect of significantly reducing the installation space for the machine.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional facsimile machine, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a facsimile machine equipped with a tray according to the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an illustration of the facsimile machine shown in Fig. 2 with the recording paper storage section in a closed state. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the recording paper storage section in an open state, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the paper loop state in the paper storage section according to the present invention, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are An explanatory diagram of a safety cover to prevent danger from the cutting edge of the cutter; Figures 8 to 12 are explanatory diagrams showing a series of movements of paper in the paper storage section of the tray of the present invention; An explanatory diagram of an application example of the paper storage section of the tray of the invention, FIGS. 14 to 16 are explanatory diagrams of a click mechanism related to opening and closing of the paper storage section of the tray of the invention, and FIG. 17 is an illustration of the paper storage section of the tray of the invention. 18 and 19a and b are explanatory diagrams showing the external tray in an open state, with a cutout or
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a tray with elongated holes for storing short paper or narrow paper. 1...facsimile device body, 2...document stand,
3...Optical system, 4...Recording paper roll, 5...Platen roller, 6...Recording paper, 6'...Recording paper leading edge,
7...Thermal head, 8...Power unit, 9...Document, 10...Document tray, 11...Cutter,
12... Recording paper tray, 13... Sheet material storage tray according to the present invention, 14... First guide member,
15... Sheet material storage space, 16... Second guide member, 17... Stay, 18... Pin, 19...
Closed part, 20... Open part, 22... Upper case,
23... Guide, 24... Gap, 25... Rib,
26...Plate spring, 27...Friction material, 28...Sawtooth unevenness, 29...Plate spring, 30...Screw, 31
... Magnet, 32 ... Electromagnet, 33 ... External tray, 34 ... Notch, 35 ... Long hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sheet material clamping section 19 comprising substantially V-shaped facing members 14 and 16 that are provided opposite to each other and clamp the leading end side of the sheet material being conveyed.
and support for the outer wall of the image forming apparatus and the outer facing member, which allows the sheet material whose leading end side is held by the sheet material holding part 19 and a loop is formed at the rear end side to be reversely fed out on the looped rear end side. an open portion 20 formed between the upper end portion and the sheet material holding portion 19; an upper support end portion 14a that supports a midway portion of the sheet material that is sent out from the sheet material 20 and hangs down;
4 is arranged substantially on the same surface as or inside an outer wall 22 of an image forming apparatus. 2. The sheet material storage tray according to claim 1, wherein the holding portion 19 is formed within the image forming apparatus. 3. The sheet material storage tray according to claim 1, wherein the holding portion 19 is formed near the bottom of the image forming apparatus. 4. The sheet material storage tray according to claim 1, wherein the outer member 14 is configured to be openable and closable.