JPH0143312B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that processes copying materials while sequentially feeding them.

Here, the image forming apparatus includes a copying machine, a printing machine, a facsimile machine, a recording device, and the like.

In recent years, with the miniaturization of this type of image forming apparatus, it has become increasingly difficult to remove jam paper generated inside the machine, or to
In order to facilitate operations such as servicing or maintenance of the machine, the machine is divided into two parts with the paper path as the boundary, these parts are connected by a shaft near one end, and one of the parts is connected with this shaft as a fulcrum. Structures in which one part can be opened and closed relative to another part have come into use. Normally, a machine is divided into two parts, upper and lower, and the upper half can be opened and closed vertically relative to the lower half, and the upper half is supported by springs such as compression springs, torsion bars, and gas springs. I feel supported. Therefore, when opening, it is opened by the force of the spring, but when closing, the upper half must be pressed down against the force of the spring by human force. However, in order to press down the upper half against the force of the spring in this way, a fairly large device was required, and a device that could be opened and closed easily was desired.

The present invention aims to provide an image forming apparatus that semi-automatically opens and closes the machine using simple means without requiring a special power source for opening and closing the machine.

For this purpose, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus in which the main body of the apparatus is divided with the transfer material passage as a boundary, and these parts are connected together by supporting a shaft near one end, and can be opened and closed using this shaft as a fulcrum. In the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus characterized in that when opening and closing the apparatus main body, the opening and closing is performed by switching transmission of drive to the image forming member from a drive motor used for image formation within the apparatus main body.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below, taking the illustrated copying machine as an example. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a copying machine according to the present invention. The illustrated copying machine is of a type in which a document table 2 is mounted on a main body 1 so as to be able to move back and forth. Ox lens array, 5 is a charger, 6 is a photosensitive drum, 7 is a developer, 8 is a transfer charger, 9 is a paper feed table, 10 is a separation roller, 11 is a conveyance section, 12 is a fixing device, 13 is a tray , 14 is a cleaner for cleaning the photosensitive drum, 15 is a paper feed roller, and 16 is a timing roller. During operation of this device, the document on the movable document table 2 is illuminated by the illumination lamp 3, and the image of Harahashi is uniformly charged in advance by the charger 5 via the self-occurring lens array 4. It is projected onto the photoreceptor drum 6, producing an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing device 7, transferred to a transfer sheet fed from a paper feed tray 9 at a transfer section in the next process by a transfer charger 8, and transferred to a photoreceptor by a separating roller 10. The powder image is peeled off from the drum 6, sent to the fixing device 12 by the conveyance section 11, and fixed onto the transfer paper by a pair of heated rollers.

The illustrated copying machine is divided into an upper half and a lower half, with the paper passage as the boundary, in order to facilitate operations such as removing jammed paper from inside the machine and servicing and maintenance of the machine. ing. These parts are
They are connected at one end by a shaft 17, and the upper half opens about the shaft 17 as a fulcrum. This open state is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the drive system of the copying machine shown in FIG. 1, and is an enlarged view of the drive system from the back side of the apparatus shown in FIG.

This drive system includes a main drive motor 18. The driving force for driving the driven parts in the lower half of this machine, that is, the paper feed roller 15, timing roller 16, conveyance section 11, fixing device 12, etc., is provided by a sprocket provided on the output shaft of the motor 18. 19 through a chain 20.
The paper feed roller 15 is driven by a sprocket 21 that engages with the chain 20, the transport section 11 is driven by a sprocket 22 that engages with the chain 20, and the fuser 12 is driven by a sprocket 23 that engages with the chain 20 and a sprocket 22 that engages with the chain 20. It is driven via gears 24 and 25. The driving force that drives the driven parts in the upper half of this machine, that is, the photosensitive drum 6 and the original abutment 2, is generated by a gear 26 provided on the output shaft of the motor 18, and a rotation center when the upper half opens and closes. The signal is transmitted via a gear 28 provided on the shaft 27 and meshing with the gear 26 . The driving force of the photosensitive drum 6 is transmitted by a chain 31 extending between a sprocket 29 formed integrally with the gear 28 and a sprocket 30 formed integrally with the photosensitive drum 6. In addition, in order to reciprocate the original abutment 2, the driving force for moving the original abutment is a gear 32 that meshes with the gear 28 described above, an electromagnetic clutch 33 that is activated when the original abutment is moved forward, and a drive force that drives the original abutment. The rotational force is transmitted to the carriage through the driving gear 34 and the rack 35 provided on the carriage, and the driving force for reciprocating the original abutment is transmitted to the gear 36 meshing with the gear 28. , an electromagnetic clutch 37 that is activated when the original abutment is moved back, a gear 38 to which rotational force is transmitted via this clutch, an idler gear 39 that meshes with this gear, and a rack 35 that meshes with this gear. The signal is transmitted to the base 2.

As described above, paper feeding, conveyance, fixing, photosensitive drum, and base abutment are operated using the motor 18 as a drive source, but the present invention utilizes the drive source provided in the machine in this way, The machine is characterized by being provided with means for opening and closing the halves of the machine.

In the illustrated embodiment, both clutches 33 and 37 for reciprocating the original abutment are actuated at the same time as a means of opening and closing the upper half using the drive source provided for operating the copying machine. Means are provided for setting the condition. To open the machine, an "open" button (not shown) provided on the operating section is pressed, and both clutches 33 and 37 are activated. Thereupon, the gear 28 on the opening/closing rotating shaft 27 and the rack 35 of the original abutment are completely locked. At this time, when the main drive motor 18 is rotated clockwise, the original abutment does not move, and the gear 28 and the original abutment 2 are rotated by the motor.
The upper half, including the , will rotate counterclockwise. When the upper half of the device opens to a predetermined angle, the opening angle is detected by a detection member (not shown), and the power to the motor 18 is cut off.

A holding device, for example as shown in FIG. 4, is provided to hold the upper half in the open position when the motor is de-energized. This holding device consists of a pin 43 provided at the end of an arm 42 which is pivoted to the upper half of the machine by a pivot 40 and biased in one direction by a spring 41, and a pin 43 fixed to the lower half of the machine. The guide 45 has a hook-shaped slot 44 in which the pin 43 moves, and when the upper half is opened, the pin 43 engages with the hook-shaped portion 44a of the slot 44, and the upper half opens. It is designed to prevent the door from closing. When closing, when a "close" button (not shown) provided on the operating section is pressed, the pin 43 is removed from the hook 44a of the slot 44 of the guide 45 by a link mechanism (not shown). Therefore, the upper half of the device tries to close due to its own weight, but at this time, the gear 28 on the opening/closing rotation shaft 27 is locked in the same way as when opening the device, that is, the reciprocating clutches 33 and 37 are actuated as described above. When opened, the weight of the upper half is the opposite of when it is opened, and the motor 18
It acts to rotate. That is, by rotating the motor via the gear head of the motor 18, the upper half of the device is gradually closed without falling down rapidly.

As described above, the drive transmission member provided on the central axis, which is the fulcrum of rotation for opening and closing the upper half of the device, is placed on the side opposite to the side where the main drive motor is located, that is, as in the above embodiment, when the main drive motor is connected to the device. When the main drive motor is in the lower half of the device, the drive transmission member is locked to the upper half of the device, and conversely, when the main drive motor is in the upper half of the device, the drive transmission member is locked to the lower half of the device and then the main drive motor is locked to the lower half of the device. If you rotate the drive motor, you can easily open the top half of the device, and conversely, if you stop the passage to the main drive motor,
It can be closed by the weight of the upper half of the device.
Further, in this embodiment, the clutch for reciprocating the movable base abutment was also activated to lock the drive transmission member on the opening/closing rotation center axis, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. Of course, any method may be used to lock the drive transmission member.

As described above, according to the present invention, the upper half of the device can be opened and closed without the need for any special drive source, making it easy to take out the jam paper in case of emergency and to perform maintenance. An image forming apparatus can be realized.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a copying machine showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing the machine in a state where the upper half is opened with respect to the lower half, and FIG. 3 is the same as FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the drive system of the machine shown in FIG. 1, seen from the opposite side of FIG. 1...Main body, 2...Original table, 3...Lamp, 4
... Self-cleanse array, 5 ... Charger,
6...Photosensitive drum, 7...Developing device, 8...Transfer charger, 9...Paper feed table, 10...Separation roller, 11
...transport unit, 12...fusing device, 13...tray,
14...Cleaner, 15...Paper feed roller, 16...
...timing roller, 17 ... shaft, 18 ... motor, 19 ... sprocket, 20 ... chain,
21... Sprocket, 22... Sprocket,
23... Sprocket, 24, 25... Gear, 2
6...Gear, 27...Rotation center shaft, 28...Gear, 29...Sprocket, 30...Sprocket, 31...Chain, 32...Gear, 33...
Electromagnetic clutch, 34...gear, 35...rack,
36...gear, 37...electromagnetic clutch, 38...
Gear, 39... Gear, 40... Axis, 41... Spring, 42... Arm, 43... Pin, 44... Slot, 45... Guide.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The main body of the apparatus is divided with the transfer material passage as a boundary, and these parts are connected by pivoting near one end,
In an image forming apparatus that can be opened and closed using this shaft as a fulcrum, when opening and closing the main body of the apparatus, the opening and closing is performed by switching the transmission of drive to the image forming member of the drive motor used for image formation within the main body of the apparatus. Features of the image forming device.