JP3394482B2 - Image forming apparatus - 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 forming apparatus represented by a copying machine which reads an image of an original by an optical system and prints it on a print sheet. In particular, the present invention relates to an improvement of an image forming apparatus including an apparatus main body having an optical system and a printing function, and a document feeding device for feeding a document on a document table.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a copying machine for copying an image of a document, the document is usually set on a document table provided on the upper surface of the apparatus body, and an optical system provided on the upper side of the apparatus body
The image of this document is read. Then, the read image is printed on a print sheet by the image forming unit in the apparatus body.

Further, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-342230, a copying machine in which an automatic document feeder is attached to the upper side of the main body of the apparatus has been developed. In this type of copying machine, as shown in FIG. 19, an automatic document feeder 52 can feed a plurality of documents one by one to a document table provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 51. There is. Further, the automatic document feeder 52 has a rear surface side portion (front side portion on the paper surface of FIG. 19) connected to the rear surface side portion of the apparatus main body 51 by a pair of connection mechanisms 53. That is, the document table is opened and closed by rotating the automatic document feeder 52 in the vertical direction. Further, the connecting mechanisms 53, 53 connect the automatic document feeder 52 so that the rear side portion of the automatic document feeder 52 can slide in the vertical direction with respect to the rear side portion of the apparatus main body 51. As a result, even when a book-like original in which a plurality of originals are bound is set on the original table, the automatic original feeding device 52 slides in the vertical direction so that the book-like original can be covered. Has become.

In this type of copying machine, a cable 54 for transmitting and receiving an electric current between the apparatus main body 51 and the automatic document feeder 52 is provided on the back side of the copying machine. One end of the cable 54 is connected to the control board inside the apparatus main body 51. This cable 54
It is drawn out of the apparatus main body 51 from a position near one of the coupling mechanisms 53 through a through hole provided in the side plate on the back side. The other end of the cable 54 is provided with an appropriate slack in the automatic document feeder 52 from a position near the connecting portion between the upper cabinet 52a and the lower cabinet 52b on the back side portion of the automatic document feeder 52. Has been inserted into. The other end of the cable 54 is connected to the relay board in the automatic document feeder 52.

As described above, since the cable 54 is provided with the slack portion, the automatic document feeder 52 is allowed to slide in the vertical direction with respect to the apparatus main body 51 without being restricted by the cable 54, and thus the vertical direction. It is rotated smoothly in the direction.

[0006]

However, in such a structure, since the cable 54 provided with the slack portion is exposed outside the rear side of the copying machine, the cable 54 is easily visible. It is not good in appearance.

In the assembly work of the copying machine, the cable 5 is used.
Each end of No. 4 is fixed inside the apparatus main body 51 and inside the automatic document feeder 52, respectively. That is, in the state where the apparatus main body 51 and the automatic document feeder 52 are connected to each other by the cable 54, the both are connected by the connecting mechanism 5.
Must be connected by 3. Therefore, the assembly work is not easy.

Further, in fixing the cable 54, the cable 54 is provided on the rear side plate of the apparatus body 51 with the end of the cable 54 fixed to the printed circuit board inside the apparatus body 51. Through the through hole.
The lower cabinet 52 of the automatic document feeder 52
It is necessary to connect the other end of the cable 54 to the relay board inside the automatic document feeder 52 with a removed from the upper cabinet 52b.
Workability is not good.

As a solution to this problem, there is a copying machine shown in FIG. That is, the device main body 5 of the cable 54
The connector 55 is provided at the end on the first side, and the connector 55 can be attached to and detached from the connector 56 provided inside the apparatus main body 51 through the opening provided on the back surface of the apparatus main body 51.

However, even in this case, the cable 54 exposed on the rear side of the copying machine is connected to the automatic document feeder 5 as well.
An appropriate slack portion is provided so that the device 2 can be rotated upward and downward while sliding upward with respect to the device body 51. Therefore, like the above case, it is not preferable in appearance. In addition, in the one shown in FIG.
Assembling the automatic document feeder 52 to the apparatus main body 51 is relatively easy, but since the connectors 55 and 56 are used, the economical efficiency is impaired.

The present invention is intended to solve such a problem, and an object thereof is to ensure a good appearance and
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which the main assembly of the apparatus and the automatic document feeder are easy to assemble and the cable is not likely to be damaged even after long-term use.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to an image forming apparatus having an apparatus main body and a document feeding apparatus, and a cable between opposing portions of the two. Through. Moreover, this cable is protected by a protection means. Further, only one side of the protection means is fixed so that the document feeder is allowed to slide in the vertical direction.

-Solution Means-Specifically, it is premised on an image forming apparatus provided with an apparatus main body, a document feeder, and a connecting mechanism for connecting the apparatus body and the document feeder. The apparatus main body includes a document table, and an image of a document set on the document table is read by an optical system and printed on a print sheet. The document feeding device is attached to the main body of the device, and feeds the document on the document table so that the image of the set document can be read by the optical system. The connecting mechanism connects one end edge portion of the document feeding apparatus to one end edge portion of the apparatus main body which faces the one end portion in a state of being vertically slidable. For such an image forming apparatus, a cable protection means is provided which is bendable over the inside of each of the apparatus main body and the document feeding apparatus and passes through the respective one end edge portions, and a cable extending between the apparatus body and the document feeding apparatus is provided. Are protected by this cable protection means. Further, the cable protection means is fixed to either the apparatus main body or the document feeding apparatus, and is provided slidably with respect to the other.

According to this particular matter, the cable is placed over the inside of each of the apparatus main body and the document feeder while passing through one end edge portion thereof while being protected by the cable protection means. Further, the cable protection means is slidable with respect to one of the apparatus main body and the document feeder. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a slack portion of the cable between the apparatus main body and the document feeding apparatus, and the appearance is good. Also, since the cable is protected by the cable protection means, even after long-term use,
There is no risk of the cable being damaged.

The following is a specific configuration of the cable protection means. First, the cable protection means is a tube-shaped cable protection tube, and the cable is inserted into the cable protection tube.

Further, the cable is composed of a flat cable, and the cable protection means is a cable protection sheet for sandwiching the flat cable to protect both sides of the flat cable.

In particular, when the above cable protection sheet is used, the overall thickness dimension of the flat cable protected by the cable protection sheet can be made relatively small. For this reason, the cable protective sheet can be made difficult to see from the outside, and this also leads to a good appearance of the device. Even when a slit or the like for inserting a cable is formed in the main body of the apparatus and the document feeder, the flat cable and the cable protection sheet can be easily inserted into the slit because the thickness is small. .

As a concrete configuration of the cable, the cable is connected to a substrate provided inside the apparatus main body or the document feeding apparatus to which the cable protection means is not fixed, via a slack portion. .

Further, the amount of slack in the slack portion of the cable is reduced so that excessive stress is not applied to the cable when the document feeder is slid upward with respect to the main body of the apparatus.

Due to the presence of the slack portion, the document feeder is allowed to slide when it is slid upward with respect to the apparatus main body. Therefore, the slide movement of the document feeder can be easily performed. In addition, the following are listed as additional requirements for the above solution. That is, in the state where the document feeding device covers the upper surface of the device body, the cable extending between the device body and the document feeding device is linear. Also, cable protection hand
The step is inserted through a slit on the apparatus main body side formed on the upper surface of the apparatus main body and a slit on the original document feeding side formed on the lower surface of the original document feeder, and is immovable relative to one of the slits. The slit is movable relative to the other slit, and the relative movement allows the document feeder to slide in the vertical direction with respect to the apparatus main body. Further, the cable protection means is inserted through a slit on the apparatus body side formed on the upper surface of the apparatus body and a slit on the document feeding side formed on the lower surface of the document feeding apparatus. It is provided at a position on the front side of the device with respect to the rotation fulcrum of the feeder. Further, the cable is arranged close to a connecting mechanism that connects the document feeding device to the main body of the device in a state of being able to slide in the vertical direction. In addition, the cable has a slack portion that allows the document feeder to slide in the vertical direction with respect to the apparatus body, inside one of the apparatus body and the document feeder. Further, the document feeder has left and right side portions on the back side connected to the side portions on the back side of the apparatus body by a connecting mechanism.
The cable is arranged in the area between these connecting mechanisms.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case where the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a copying machine will be described.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a copying machine according to this embodiment. This copying machine has a main body 20.
And an automatic document feeder 10 provided on the apparatus body 20 so that the upper surface of the apparatus body 20 can be opened and closed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state where the automatic document feeder 10 opens the upper surface of the apparatus body 20. Device body 20
A platen glass 21 as a document table on which a document is set is provided on the upper surface of the. Automatic document feeder 10
The upper surface of the platen glass 21 is opened by opening the upper surface of the apparatus main body 20.
It is possible to set the original document on top of it.

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the copying machine. An optical system 22 that irradiates a document 61 set on the platen glass 21 with light and reads an image of the document is provided on the upper portion of the apparatus body 20. The optical system 22 includes a lamp 22a and a first reflecting mirror 22b. The lamp 22a emits light toward the document reading unit on one side (the left side in the drawing) of the platen glass 21. The first reflection mirror 22b horizontally reflects the light emitted from the lamp 22a and reflected by the document 61 on the platen glass 21 toward the side (left side) of the apparatus body 20.
The lamp 22a and the first reflection mirror 22b are configured to integrally scan horizontally over the entire surface of the platen glass 21 in a direction opposite to the light reflection direction of the first reflection mirror 22b. As a result, the entire surface of the document set on the platen glass 21 can be exposed.

The light reflected by the first reflection mirror 22b has its reflection direction reversed by a pair of upper and lower second reflection mirror 22c and third reflection mirror 22d, and is directed to the central portion of the apparatus body 20 in the left-right direction. The lens 22e provided is irradiated. Second reflection mirror 22c and third
When the lamp 22a and the first reflecting mirror 22b are scanned, the reflecting mirror 22d is in the same direction as the scanning direction,
The scanning is performed as one unit at half the speed. As a result, the reflected light from the document 61 set on the platen glass 21 always has a constant optical path length.

The light radiated to the lens 22e is reflected by the lens 2
After passing through 2e, a pair of upper and lower fourth reflection mirrors 22f fixedly provided on the side of the apparatus body 20 opposite to the side where the second reflection mirror 22c and the third reflection mirror 22d are provided, and By the fifth reflection mirror 22g,
The reflection direction is reversed. After that, the light is applied to the sixth reflecting mirror 22h provided in the substantially central portion of the device body 20. The sixth reflection mirror 22h reflects the emitted light toward the photoconductor drum 24a of the electrophotographic process unit 24 arranged below it.

The photosensitive drum 24a of the electrophotographic process unit 24 is exposed by the light emitted from the optical system 22 in a state where the photosensitive layer on the surface thereof is charged by the charger 24b. As a result, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the original image is formed on the photosensitive layer. Then, the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive layer is transferred to the developing device 24c.
Is developed to form a toner image on the photosensitive layer.

In the electrophotographic process unit 24, the print paper 62 contained in the paper feed cassette 25a or the print paper 62 provided in the manual feed tray 25b.
Are supplied by each pair of rollers 25c and 25d. The toner image formed on the photosensitive layer of the photoconductor drum 24a is transferred to the supplied print paper 62 by the transfer device 24d. The toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor drum 24a is removed by the cleaning device 24e. Print paper 62
The toner image transferred on the upper side is fixed by the fixing device 24f.
It is fixed on the print paper 62. Then, the print paper 62 on which the toner image is fixed is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 25e.

The automatic document feeder 10 is constructed so as to cover the entire upper surface of the apparatus main body 20 together with the platen glass 21, and the document feed tray 11 is provided on the upper surface. A document 61 to be conveyed to the image reading unit on the side of the platen glass 21 is set on the document feeding tray 11. On the document feed tray 11, one or a plurality of documents 61 are set in a state where the automatic document feeder 10 closes the upper surface of the apparatus main body 20. The plurality of originals 61 set in this way are
The sheets are sequentially supplied to the image reading unit of the platen glass 21 one by one.

A pickup roller 15a, which is vertically movable, is provided on the side of the document feeding tray 11 in the feeding direction. This pickup roller 1
One document feeding roller 15b is provided on the downstream side of 5a in the sheet feeding direction. A pair of document feeding rollers 15c is provided on the downstream side of the document feeding roller 15b in the sheet feeding direction. This document feed roller 15c
Thus, the document 61 is conveyed so as to pass above the document reading portion of the platen glass 21.

When the original 61 passes over the original reading portion of the platen glass 21, the original 61 is pressed against the original reading portion. The original 61 passing over the original reading unit is irradiated with light from the lamp 22a of the optical system 22, and the reflected light is irradiated onto the photosensitive drum 24a by the optical system 22. Therefore, the platen glass 2
The images of the original document passing through the first image reading unit 1 are sequentially read by the optical system 22 and irradiated on the photoconductor drum 24a.

On the side of the document feeding tray 11 in the feeding direction, a document discharging tray 14 is provided in an inclined state. The document 61 that has passed through the image reading portion of the platen glass 21 is guided upward, is transported by the pair of transport rollers 15d, and is then discharged onto the document discharge tray 14 by the pair of document discharge rollers 15e. It

FIG. 4 is a schematic rear view showing a cutaway part of the copying machine. The left and right sides of the automatic document feeder 10 on the back side are attached to the sides on the back side of the apparatus body 20 by a connecting mechanism 30. As a result, the front side edge portion of the automatic document feeder 10 can be vertically rotated. Each connection mechanism 30 has the same configuration.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view showing a schematic structure of one coupling mechanism 30. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, each coupling mechanism 30 includes a support hole portion 31 and a support rod 32, respectively. The support holes 31 are formed in the left and right side portions on the back side of the apparatus body 20 along the up-down direction. The support rods 32 are respectively provided on the left and right side portions on the back side of the automatic document feeder 10, and each of the support hole portions 3 is provided.
It is attached so that it can be inserted into the inside of 1. Each of the support hole portions 31 provided in the device body 20 is formed in a rectangular tube shape, and the upper end surface thereof is open upward.
A guide opening 31a is provided on the front side surface of the support hole 31 from the lower end to the top of the side surface.

FIG. 6A is an enlarged side view of the support rod 32. Support rod 32 inserted into support hole 31
The rod main body 32a has a rectangular tubular shape similar to the support hole 31, and a rotation support portion 32b integrally provided on the upper end of the rod main body 32a. The support rod 32 is longer than the vertical length of the support hole portion 31, and when the rod body portion 32a is inserted into the inner rear portion of the support hole portion 31, the upper rotation support portion 32b is
It protrudes upward from each support hole portion 31. The lower end of the rod body 32a is inserted into the guide opening 31a provided in the support hole 31, and the guide opening 3a is inserted into the guide opening 3a.
A stopper 32c that slides in the vertical direction in the la 1a is provided.

A coil-shaped compression spring 33 is provided inside the rod body 32a. At the upper end of the compression spring 33, a slide body 34 that can slide vertically in the rod body 32a is provided in a state of being engaged with the compression spring 33. The slide body 34 is biased upward by the compression spring 33. Slide body 34
An engaging protrusion 34a protruding upward is provided on the upper surface of the.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rotation support portion 32b attached to the upper end portion of the rod main body portion 32a is formed in a U shape in which the left and right side portions project upward, and each side portion A support shaft 35 is installed horizontally between them. Rotating pieces 36 attached to the left and right side portions of the automatic document feeder 10 are rotatably supported at the center of the support shaft 35. The rotating piece 36 is used for the automatic document feeder 1
0, and the front side portion of the automatic document feeder 10 is vertically rotated about a support shaft 35 through which the rotating piece 36 is inserted.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the lower portion of the rotating piece 36 projects downward in an arc shape and is inserted into the rod body portion 32 a of the support rod 32. On the lower peripheral surface of the rotating piece 36 inserted in the rod body portion 32a, the slide body 34 arranged in the rod body portion 32a is provided.
The engaging protrusion 34a of the above is pressed against the urging force of the compression spring 33. Then, when the front edge portion of the automatic document feeder 10 is rotated upward, so that the rotating piece 36 is rotated integrally with the automatic document feeder 10, the lower peripheral surface of the rotary piece 36 slides. Slide along the top surface of. On the upper part of the back side of the turning piece 36, the turning piece 36 is provided on the slide body 3.
4 is provided with an engaging recess 36a into which the engaging protrusion 34a of the slide body 34 fits and engages when sliding along the upper surface of 4.

As shown in FIG. 7, the automatic document feeder 10 is rotated about the support shaft 35 of each connecting mechanism 30 by rotating the front side edge thereof upward, and the upper surface of the apparatus main body 20 is rotated. The platen glass 21 provided in the is opened. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6 (b), the engaging recessed portion 36 a provided on each rotating piece 36 is engaged with the engaging protrusion 34 a provided on the slide body 34 in the support rod 32, The automatic document feeder 10 includes a platen glass 21.
Is held open. Then, when the document 61 is set on the platen glass 21 in the opened state, the front edge of the automatic document feeder 10 is rotated downward, and the document 61 on the platen glass 21 is automatically fed. Covered by device 10.

When the original 61 set on the platen glass 21 is one sheet, the automatic original feeder 1
When the front edge of 0 is rotated downward, the automatic document feeder 10 is in close contact with the platen glass 21 as shown in FIG. Therefore, in this case, the support rod 32 holds the state of being inserted into the inner rear portion of the support hole portion 31. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, when a book-shaped document 61 in which a plurality of sheets are bound is set on the platen glass 21, the front side edge of the automatic document feeder 10 is rotated downward. Then, the book-shaped original 61 set on the platen glass 21 is brought into contact. When the automatic document feeder 10 is further rotated downward in such a state, the side edge portion on the back side of the automatic document feeder 10 is lifted upward by the book-shaped document 61, and each support rod is lifted. 32 is slid upward along the respective support hole portions 31. As a result, the automatic document feeder 10
Is positioned above the platen glass 21 by the thickness of the book-shaped document 61, and the automatic document feeder 10 covers the book-shaped document 61 in a substantially horizontal state.

When the thickness of the book-shaped original 61 is larger than the length of the rod body 32a,
The support rods 32 that are rotated upward by the downward rotation of the front edge of the automatic document feeder 10 are
The stoppers 32c provided at the respective lower ends lock with the upper edges of the guide openings 31a provided in the support hole 31, so that the stoppers 32c cannot be slid further upward. As a result, each support rod 32 has no risk of coming out of each support hole 31.

As shown in FIG. 4, the main body 20 of the apparatus is provided on the rear side portion of the image forming apparatus which is close to the one coupling mechanism 30.
A flexible flat cable 41 in the form of a thin strip plate provided along the up-down direction is provided between the automatic document feeder 10 and the automatic document feeder 10. The bendable flat cable 41 is provided for supplying power from the apparatus main body 20 to the automatic document feeder 10 and for transmitting and receiving signals between the two.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the rear portion of the image forming apparatus in which the flat cable 41 is arranged. The flat cable 41 is arranged inside the apparatus main body 20 along the vertical direction as shown in FIGS. 4 and 9 while being connected to a control board provided inside the apparatus main body 20. It is pulled out upward from the back side portion of the apparatus main body 20 and introduced into the automatic document feeder 10. A flexible cable protection tube (cable protection means referred to in the present invention) 42 that is bendable is provided on a flat cable 41 that is vertical to the apparatus main body 20 and the automatic document feeder 10. The cable protection tube 42 is made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or the like and has a flat elliptical cross section.

The cable protection tube 42 is used for the main body 2 of the apparatus.
0 is inserted through the inside of the apparatus main body side slit 26 that penetrates the upper surface on the back side of 0 in the vertical direction. This device body side slit 2
6 is a support shaft 3 which is a fulcrum of rotation of the automatic document feeder 10.
5, it is provided on the front side thereof at a position where the distance in the front-back direction is as small as possible.

The cable protection tube 42, which is inserted through the slit 26 on the apparatus body side, has an end located inside the apparatus body 20 so that it does not slide with respect to the slit 26 on the apparatus body side. It is fixed in contrast.

A document feed side slit 17 having a shape similar to that of the device body side slit 26 is also provided on the lower surface of the automatic document feeder 10 facing the device body side slit 26, and the cable protection tube 42 is provided. Is slidably inserted in the slit 17 on the document feeding side.

The cable protection tube 42 provided across the slit 26 of the main body of the apparatus and the slit 17 of the original feed side is provided with the cable protective tube 42 when the automatic document feeder 10 covers the platen glass 21 of the main body 20 of the apparatus.
It is inserted up to the middle of the vertical direction inside the. The flat cable 41 is inserted through the cable protection tube 42, and is pulled out upward from the upper end of the cable protection tube 42 into the automatic document feeder 10 in a state of being close to the rear side plate 18 of the automatic document feeder 10. Has been.
Further, the flat cable 41 is curved in a semicircular shape so as to project upward at the upper part of the automatic document feeder 10. And the cable protection tube 42
The end portion of the flat cable 41 pulled out from the relay substrate 1 provided horizontally in the automatic document feeder 10.
9 connectors 19a. The flat cable 41 is, for example, pulled out from the upper end portion of the cable protection tube 42 over a length δ1 and is inverted in the up-down direction.
An appropriate slack portion is formed between the relay board 19 and the connector 19a.

In such a wiring structure of the flat cable 41, as shown in FIG. 10, when the front side edge of the automatic document feeder 10 is rotated upward and the automatic document feeder 10 is inclined, The cable protection tube 42
Between the apparatus main body 20 and the automatic document feeder 10, the upper portion is bent so that the upper portion is located on the back side, and the flat cable 41 inserted through the inside is also bent. Since the bent portion of the flat cable 41 is covered with the bendable cable protection tube 42, the stress applied to the flat cable 41 is small, and the flat cable 41 does not buckle and break.

Further, since the cable protection tube 42 is provided close to the support shaft 35, which is the fulcrum of rotation of the automatic document feeder 10, the curvature when the cable protection tube 42 is bent becomes small. Therefore, the stress applied to the cable protection tube 42 and the flat cable 41 is reduced.

After that, when the automatic document feeder 10 is rotated downward to cover the upper surface of the apparatus main body 20,
The cable protection tube 42 returns to a straight line along the vertical direction, and the flat cable 41 also returns to a similar straight line. In this case, the cable protection tube 42 is PV
Since C is configured in a flexible state having an appropriate waist, it surely returns to a straight line. PV
The cable protection tube 42 configured by C has excellent elasticity and is not likely to be damaged even if the same operation is repeated.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, a book-like document 61 is placed on the platen glass 21, and the automatic document feeder 10 is arranged to cover the book-like document 61.
However, when the cable protection tube 42 is rotated downward while being translated in parallel, the cable protection tube 42 is slidable with respect to the document feeding side slit 17 while being fixed to the apparatus main body 41. Therefore, the cable protection tube 42 is slid upward and the automatic document feeder 1 is slid upward.
Slide to 0. As a result, as the automatic document feeder 10 rises, the slack amount δ1 of the semicircular slack portion of the flat cable 41 pulled out inside the automatic document feeder 10 decreases.

In this case, the slack portion of the flat cable 41 may fall to the back side as the automatic document feeder 10 rises. In this case, the curved portion of the automatic document feeder 10 has a curved portion. Guided by the back side plate 18, the slack portion of the flat cable 41 does not fall to the back side, and the slack portion smoothly moves so as to reduce the amount of slack.

In this way, the amount of protrusion of the flat cable 41 from the cable protection tube 42 inside the automatic document feeder 10 is reduced from the initial δ1 to δ2. Therefore, also in this case, the stress applied to the flat cable 41 is small, and there is no risk of the flat cable 41 buckling and being damaged.

After that, when the book-like document 61 is taken out and the automatic document feeder 10 descends, the flat cable 41 is operated by the opposite operation.
From the cable protection tube 42 to the automatic document feeder 10
Therefore, even in this case, there is no possibility that the flat cable 41 is damaged due to a large stress.

With this structure, even if the automatic document feeder 10 is opened or closed, the flat cable 41 is not subject to a large stress, and the flat cable 41 is not damaged even if it is used for a long period of time. In addition, the flat cable 41 is excellent in appearance because there is no possibility of being seen from the outside of the copying machine.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of the main part of the rear surface of the copying machine showing a second embodiment of the wiring structure of the flat cable 41. The cable protection tube 42 fitted to the flat cable 41 is used for the automatic document feeder 10
It is inserted through the inside of the support rod 32 in the one connecting mechanism 30 that connects the device main body 20 with the device main body 20. A space portion through which the cable protection tube 42 is inserted is formed inside the support rod 32. The lower portion of the cable protection tube 42 is inserted into the device body side slit 26 provided on the bottom surface of the support hole portion 31 into which the support rod 32 is inserted, and is fixed to the device body portion 20. Cable protection tube 4
The upper part of 2 is inserted through the document feed side slit 17 provided in the lower surface portion of the automatic document feeder 10. Then, the flat cable 41 is provided inside the automatic document feeder 10 in the same manner as in the above-mentioned example.
It is connected to the connector 19a of the relay board 19 via a portion that is pulled out from the connector 2 and curved so as to project upward.

With such a structure, even if the automatic document feeder 10 is opened or closed, there is no risk that a large stress will be applied to the flat cable 41, and the flat cable 41 will not be damaged even if it is used for a long period of time.
In addition, the flat cable 41 is excellent in appearance because there is no possibility of being seen from the outside of the copying machine.

(Third Embodiment) In this embodiment, means for protecting the flat cable 41 is modified.
In the case of the above-described first and second embodiments, as shown in FIG. 13, the cable protection tube 42 is deformed to have an elliptical cross section so that the document feeding side slit 17 and the apparatus body side slit 2 are formed.
It is necessary to insert it in 6. Therefore, the slit 17,
It is necessary to set the opening width dimension of 26 to be relatively large to facilitate the insertion work of the cable protection tube 42. However, if the opening width dimension is made too large, the cross-sectional shape of the cable protection tube 42 approaches a circular shape. With this, the cable protection tube 42 is not easily bent when the automatic document feeder 10 is opened and closed, the opening and closing resistance is increased, and the slit 17 and the cable protection tube 42 are easily visible from the outside of the apparatus, which deteriorates the appearance. . The present embodiment has been made in view of this point.
That is, instead of the cable protection tube 42, a cable protection sheet 43 that sandwiches the flat cable 41 in a sandwich shape is adopted.

FIG. 14 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 in this embodiment. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a work of inserting the cable protection sheet 43 and the flat cable 41 into the slit 26 on the apparatus body side. FIG. 16 is a view corresponding to FIG. 9 in the present embodiment. FIG. 17 is a view corresponding to FIG. 10 in the present embodiment. FIG. 18 is a view corresponding to FIG. 11 in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 15, the cable protection sheet 43 is composed of two sheet materials 43a and 43b having a width dimension slightly larger than the width dimension of the flat cable 41. The flat cable 41 is protected by sandwiching both sides of the flat cable 41 with these sheet materials 43a and 43b in a sandwich shape.

Each of the sheet materials 43a and 43b is made of a resin material such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) which has a certain degree of elasticity and is bendable. Also,
Adhesive means such as double-sided tape is applied to one side of these sheet materials 43a and 43b, whereby the flat cable 4
1 and the sheet material of the other side. Each of the sheet materials 43a and 43b has, for example, a thickness of about 2
The thickness is about 00 μm, and the total thickness dimension of the flat cable 41 in the protected state is 1 mm or less.

The arrangement state of the flat cable 41 in this embodiment is the same as that of the above-described first embodiment.
The arrangement state of the cable protection sheet 43 is also the same as that of the cable protection tube 42 of the first embodiment described above. That is, as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, the flat cable 41 is arranged inside the apparatus main body 20 along the up-down direction while being connected to the control board provided inside the apparatus main body 20. The automatic document feeder 1 is pulled out upward from the rear side portion of the apparatus body 20.
0 has been introduced (see FIGS. 14 and 16).

Further, the cable protection sheet 43 is inserted through the apparatus body side slit 26 which vertically penetrates the upper surface on the back side of the apparatus body 20 (see FIG. 15). Cable protection sheet 43 inserted through the slit 26 on the device body side
The end portion located inside the device body 20 is fixed to the device body 20 so as not to slide with respect to the device body side slit 26.

On the lower surface of the automatic document feeder 10 facing the slit 26 on the apparatus body side, a slit 17 on the document feeding side having the same shape as the slit 26 on the apparatus body side is provided, and the cable protection sheet 43. Is slidably inserted in the slit 17 on the document feeding side.

Then, the flat cable 41 passes through the bending portion in the automatic document feeder 10 and then passes through the relay substrate 19.
Is connected to the connector 19a. Therefore, in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, when a book-shaped document 61 is placed on the platen glass 21, the automatic document feeder 10 moves upward in parallel so as to cover the book-shaped document 61. At this time, the deflection amount of the flat cable 41 is δ1.
By decreasing from (Fig. 16) to δ2 (Fig. 18),
The stress applied to the flat cable 41 is small, and there is no risk of the flat cable 41 buckling and being damaged.

With such a structure as well, when the automatic document feeder 10 is opened and closed, there is no risk of a large stress being applied to the flat cable 41, and there is no risk of damage to the flat cable 41 even after long-term use. In addition, the flat cable 41 is excellent in appearance because there is no possibility of being seen from the outside of the copying machine.

Further, according to this embodiment, when the automatic document feeder 10 descends, the document feed side slit 17 slides down on the cable protection sheet 43 and descends. In this case, as described above, since the entire thickness of the cable protection sheet 43 is thin (1 mm), the sliding resistance between the cable protection sheet 43 and the document feeding side slit 17 can be suppressed to be small. Further, since the cable protection sheet 43 has an appropriate waist, there is no risk that the cable protection sheet 43 and the flat cable 41 will buckle.

Since the overall thickness of the cable protection sheet 43 is thin, the work of inserting the cable protection sheet 43 and the flat cable 41 into the slits 17 and 26 can be easily performed. In addition, each sheet material 43a,
Since 43b is PET, the cable protection sheet 43 can be obtained at low cost.

-Other Embodiments- In each of the above embodiments, the cable protection tube 4 is used.
2 and the lower end of the cable protection sheet 43 are fixed to the apparatus main body 20 to form the slack portion of the flat cable 41 inside the automatic document feeder 10, but the cable protection tube 42 and the cable protection sheet 43 are used. The upper end portion of the flat cable 41 may be fixed to the automatic document feeder 10 and the slack portion of the flat cable 41 may be formed inside the apparatus main body 20.

In the above embodiment, the case where the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a copying machine has been described.
The present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to printers and other image forming apparatuses.

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cable is inserted between the facing portions of the image forming apparatus having the apparatus main body and the document feeding apparatus. Moreover, this cable is protected by a protection means. Further, only one side of the protection means is fixed so that the document feeder is allowed to slide in the vertical direction. Therefore, there is no possibility that the cable will be seen from the outside, and a good appearance of the device can be secured. Further, the apparatus main body and the document feeding apparatus can be easily assembled, and since the cable is not likely to buckle and be damaged, it can be used stably for a long period of time.

Further, when a cable protection sheet for sandwiching the flat cable to protect both sides of the flat cable is adopted as the cable protection means, the overall thickness dimension of the flat cable in a protected state is relatively small. Can be made smaller. Therefore, the cable protection sheet can be made difficult to see from the outside,
It is possible to more reliably ensure a good appearance of the device. Even when a slit or the like for inserting the cable is formed in the main body of the apparatus and the document feeder, the flat cable and the cable protection sheet can be easily inserted into the slit because the thickness is small. Therefore, the assembly work of the device can be simplified.

Further, in the case where the cable is provided with a slack portion inside the apparatus main body or the document feeder, the presence of this slack portion causes the document feeder to be slid upward with respect to the apparatus body. Sliding movement will be allowed. Therefore, the slide movement of the document feeder can be easily performed. As a result, even when a document having a large thickness is set on the document table, the document can be covered by the document feeding device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a copying machine according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a state where an automatic document feeder is rotated.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the inside of a copying machine.

FIG. 4 is a rear view showing a cutaway part of the copying machine according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view in which a part of the copying machine is cut away.

FIG. 6A is a side view of a rear side portion of an automatic document feeder of a copying machine, and FIG. 6B is an operation explanatory view thereof.

FIG. 7 is a partially cutaway side view for explaining the operation of the copying machine.

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway side view for explaining the operation of the copying machine.

FIG. 9 is a side view in which a part of the copying machine according to the first embodiment is cut away.

FIG. 10 is a partially cutaway side view for explaining the operation of the copying machine according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a partially cutaway side view for explaining the operation of the copying machine according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a view corresponding to FIG. 9 in the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing an inserting operation of the cable protection tube.

FIG. 14 is a view corresponding to FIG. 4 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a view corresponding to FIG. 13 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a view corresponding to FIG. 9 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a view corresponding to FIG. 10 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a view corresponding to FIG. 11 in the third embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a partially cutaway rear view showing an example of a conventional copying machine.

FIG. 20 is a partially cutaway rear view showing another example of the conventional copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Automatic document feeder 19 Relay board 20 Device body 21 Platen glass (original plate) 22 Optical system 30 connection mechanism 41 flat cable 42 Cable protection tube (cable protection means) 43 Cable protection sheet (cable protection means) 61 manuscript 62 printing paper

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-38968 (JP, A) JP-A-4-124959 (JP, A) JP-A-7-271114 (JP, A) JP-A-11- 38716 (JP, A) JP-A-11-160942 (JP, A) JP-A-11-202567 (JP, A) JP-A-2000-267206 (JP, A) Actual Kaihei 2-48943 (JP, U) (JP 58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00-1/00 108 B65H 5/02 B65H 5/06 B65H 5/22 B65H 29/12-29/24 B65H 29/32 G03B 27 / 58-27/64 G03G 13/04-13/056 G03G 15/00 107 G03G 15/00 550 G03G 15/04-15/056

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus main body equipped with an original table, which reads an image of an original set on the original table by an optical system and prints it on a print sheet, and an original set attached to the apparatus main body. So that the image of is read by the optical system, a document feeding device that feeds a document on a document table, and one edge part of this document feeding device with respect to one edge part of the device main body opposite to the document feeding device. And an image forming apparatus including a connecting mechanism for connecting in a vertically slidable state, the cable protecting the inside of each of the apparatus main body and the document feeding apparatus passing through the one end edge portions. Means is provided and the cable extending between the apparatus main body and the document feeder is protected by this cable protection means, while the cable protection means is Others are fixed to one of the original feeding apparatus, and an image forming apparatus characterized by being slidable relative to the other. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cable protection unit is a tube-shaped cable protection tube, and the cable is inserted into the cable protection tube. . 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cable is a flat cable, and the cable protection means is a cable protection sheet for sandwiching the flat cable to protect both sides of the flat cable. Image forming apparatus. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cable is provided inside the apparatus main body or the document feeding apparatus to which the cable protection means is not fixed, through a slack portion thereof. An image forming apparatus, which is connected to a substrate provided inside. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the amount of slack in the slack portion of the cable is reduced so that excessive stress is not applied to the cable when the document feeder is slid upward with respect to the apparatus body. An image forming apparatus having the above structure. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a cable extending between the apparatus body and the document feeding apparatus is linear when the document feeding apparatus covers the upper surface of the apparatus body. Image forming apparatus. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cable protecting means extends over the apparatus body side slit formed on the upper surface of the apparatus body and the document feeding side slit formed on the lower surface of the document feeding apparatus. Has been inserted,
It is immovable relative to one slit and is relatively movable to the other slit, and the relative movement allows vertical sliding with respect to the main body of the document feeder. A characteristic image forming apparatus. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cable protection means extends over the apparatus body side slit formed on the upper surface of the apparatus body and the document feeding side slit formed on the lower surface of the document feeding apparatus. The image forming apparatus, wherein the slit is inserted and is provided at a position on the front side of the apparatus with respect to the rotation fulcrum of the document feeding apparatus. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cable is arranged in proximity to a connecting mechanism that connects the document feeding device to the apparatus main body in a vertically slidable state. A characteristic image forming apparatus. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cable has a slack portion that allows the document feeder to slide in the vertical direction with respect to the apparatus body, inside one of the apparatus body and the document feeder. An image forming apparatus characterized in that. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the left and right side portions of the rear side of the document feeder are connected to the rear side portions of the apparatus main body by a connecting mechanism, respectively, and the cable is An image forming apparatus, characterized in that the image forming apparatus is arranged in a region between these connecting mechanisms.