JPH0535403Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a so-called shell-open type image forming apparatus in which the upper part of the body rotates up and down.

[Prior art]

Some image forming devices such as electrophotographic copiers and various printers use a shell-open mechanism for image forming, in which the main body of the device consists of an upper body and a lower body, and the upper body rotates up and down, in order to facilitate maintenance. The device has been put into practical use.

FIG. 6 shows an external view of the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, and this figure shows a state in which the upper body 1 is closed with respect to the lower body 2. As shown in FIG. Upper fuselage 1
There is a handle 1 to be used when opening the upper body 1.
a, and a roof stacker section 1b on which transfer paper is stacked with the image forming side facing down (so-called face down).
The front face 2a of the lower body 2 has a release button 2b for releasing the lock of the upper body 1 to the lower body 2.
(This release button 2b may be provided on the side surface 2c or 2d of the lower body 2).

Then, when the image forming apparatus as described above is operated to form images, the transfer sheets after image formation are sequentially stacked on the roof stacker portion 1a on the upper body 1 as described above.

[Problems with conventional technology]

In the image forming apparatus described above, when opening the upper body 1 for maintenance such as handling paper jams, press the release button 2 with your finger as shown in FIG. 7a.
This is done by pressing b and lifting the handle 1a upward by hand. However, if the transfer paper p stacked on the roof stacker part 1b is not removed in advance, the transfer paper p is removed as shown in b in the same figure. p falls backwards and is scattered.

[Purpose of invention]

In view of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention has a mechanism that prevents the transfer paper from falling and scattering by creating a mechanism that does not allow the upper body to be opened unless the transfer paper is removed when the transfer paper is present on the upper body. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can prevent such problems.

[Key points of the idea]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an image forming apparatus that has an upper body that loads paper on which images are formed and rotates around a horizontal axis, and a lower body that is joined to the upper body by the horizontal axis. a locking means for locking the upper body to the lower body when the upper body is in a closed state with respect to the lower body; and a locking means provided at a position hidden by the stacked paper of the upper body. and a release means for releasing the locking of the upper body.

[Example of idea]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

This embodiment describes an example of a liquid crystal printer as an image forming apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the liquid crystal printer used in this embodiment.

In the same figure, the liquid crystal printer 3 is composed of an upper body 4 and a lower body 5.
It is configured to be rotatable in the direction A' (the figure shows the upper body 4 in a closed state). On the upper surface of the upper body 4, there are provided a roof stacker section 6 on which sheets P' printed inside the liquid crystal printer 3 are stacked, and a display section 7 for displaying the number of prints, print density, etc., as will be described later. Further, a recess 6a is provided within the roof stacker portion 6, and a roof release lever (upper body release lever) 6b is further provided within the recess 6a.
Moreover, the position where this roof opening lever 6b is provided is the smallest paper that can be printed by the liquid crystal printer 3.
Even when P' is loaded on the roof stacker section 6, this is the part that is hidden by this smallest sheet of paper P'.

Liquid crystal printer 3 having the external configuration as described above
As shown in the sectional view of FIG. 2, the inside thereof is composed of an image forming section 9 and a paper conveying section 10. The image forming section 9 includes a photoreceptor drum 11, a charger 12 disposed close to the photoreceptor drum 11, and a liquid crystal head 1.
3, a developing device 14, a transfer device 15, and a cleaning device (cleaner) 16. The paper conveyance section 10 also includes a paper feed roller 17 for conveying the paper P', a standby roll 18, a fixing device 19, a conveyance roll 20, a paper ejection roll 21, and a paper feed roller 17 for conveying the paper P' along the conveyance path. Further, a paper feed cassette 23 for storing the above-mentioned paper P' is provided at the bottom of the liquid crystal printer 3, and a paper P on which an image has been formed in the liquid crystal printer 3 is provided at the top of the liquid crystal printer 3. The above-mentioned roof stacker section 6 on which the sheets ' are discharged and stacked is provided.

Further, the upper body 4 is divided at positions indicated by two-dot chain lines in the same figure, and is configured so that the upper body 4 can be opened in the direction A around the support shaft 5a.

On the other hand, in a part not shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 3, there is a locking mechanism 24 of the upper body 4 that is movable in conjunction with the roof release lever 6b provided in the recess 6a of the roof stacker 6. It is provided. This locking mechanism 24 is composed of a rotating shaft 25, a locking member 26, a locking plate 27, etc., and the roof opening lever 6b is fixed to a prismatic rotating shaft 25, and the rotating shaft 25 is supported by a bearing 25a in the upper part. Aircraft 4
It is rotatably supported. Further, locking members 26 are fixed near both ends of the rotation shaft 25, and the roof opening lever 6b, the rotation shaft 25, and the locking member 26 are configured to be rotatable as a unit in the directions B and B'. ing. The rotation shaft 25 is always urged to rotate in the direction of arrow B by a spring (not shown).
One side of the locking member 26 comes into contact with a pin 4b provided upright on the fixed portion 4a of the upper body 4, thereby regulating the rotation stop position in the above-mentioned B direction.

Additionally, a hook-shaped hook portion 26 is provided at the tip of the locking member 26.
a is formed, and the inclined surface 26b of the hook portion 26a
is smoothly structured.

On the other hand, the locking plate 27 is fixedly attached to a frame (not shown) in the lower fuselage 5.
The tip of 7 is bent at a predetermined angle, and the inclined surface 27b thereof is configured smoothly. Further, a locking hole 27 is provided below the above-mentioned inclined surface 27b of the locking plate 27.
A is provided. Then, when the upper body 4 is rotated in the above-mentioned direction A' and the upper body 4 is closed to the lower body 5, the hook portion 26a of the locking member 26 and the locking plate 27
The locking hole 27a is configured to lock.

In the liquid crystal printer 3 having the above configuration,
The operation will be explained below. First, the printing operation of the liquid crystal printer 3 used in this embodiment will be briefly explained with reference to FIG.

A uniform charge is applied to the photosensitive surface 11a of the photosensitive drum 11 by a charger 12 in advance. On the other hand, in the liquid crystal head 13, a drive circuit (not shown) drives the liquid crystal light shutter in the liquid crystal head 13 to open and close, and the transmitted light from the light source (not shown) is transmitted to the photosensitive surface 1.
1a is irradiated (exposed). This liquid crystal head 13
An electrostatic latent image of an image according to the data in the drive circuit is formed on the photosensitive surface 11a by exposure from By rubbing and rubbing, it becomes a visible image and becomes a toner image. Furthermore, in the transfer device 15, the toner image is transferred to the paper feed cassette 2 in synchronization with the toner image.
The toner image is transferred onto the paper P' fed from the paper feed roller 17 and the standby roll 18 from the paper P'. The transferred toner image on the paper P' is thermally fixed by a fixing device 19, and then the paper P' is discharged to the roof stacker section 6 by a paper discharge roll 21. On the other hand, the transfer device 15
The residual toner on the photosensitive surface 11a that has not been completely transferred is collected by the cleaner 16.

While the above-described printing process is repeated, the printed sheets P' are sequentially stacked on the roof stacker section 6. During this printing operation, it may be necessary to open the upper body 4 of the liquid crystal printer 3 for some reason (for example, due to a paper jam). This opening/closing operation of the upper body 4 is
This will be explained using Figures a and b and Figures 5 a to c.

Since the aforementioned locking mechanism 24 is provided,
It is not possible to directly open the upper body 4 from the state in which sheets P' are stacked on the roof stacker section 6 as shown in FIG. 4a, and the lock mechanism 24 must be moved to release the lock mechanism 24. As shown in FIG. 5b, this locking mechanism 24 locks the upper body 4 by fitting a hook portion 26a into a locking hole 27a.

Therefore, in order to unlock the upper fuselage 4, be sure to press the roof release lever 6b as shown in FIG.
must be pulled towards you (direction B').
Furthermore, the roof release lever 6b is provided within the recess 6a of the roof stacker section 6, and the printed paper P' is stacked on the recess 6a as described above. Therefore, in order to unlock the upper body 4, as shown in FIG.
This means pulling b towards you.

When the roof release lever 6b is pulled forward in this manner, the hook portion 26a fitted into the above-mentioned locking hole 27a rotates in the direction B', and the locking of the locking member 26 is released. Then, by further lifting the roof release lever 6b upward (in the direction A), the upper body 4 is opened.

As described above, in this embodiment, the roof release lever 6b for unlocking the upper body 4 and opening the upper body 4 is provided on the roof stacker section (paper stacking section) 6 on the upper body 4, The structure is such that the upper body 4 cannot be opened unless the paper P' is removed.

After clearing the paper jam, etc., remove the upper body 4.
By closing in the A' direction, the inclined surface 26b of the locking member 26 rubs against the locking plate 27b, causing the locking member 26 to rotate in the B' direction. When the upper body 4 reaches the position where it is completely closed to the lower body 5, the hook 26a of the locking member 26 reaches the locking hole 27a, and the hook 26a closes in the locking hole due to the biasing force of the above-mentioned spring (not shown). 27a.

Note that even if the device is operated by releasing the hand from the upper fuselage 4, the locking member 26 remains in the hook portion 26 due to the biasing force of the spring.
Since the portion a is securely fitted into the locking hole 27a, the upper body 4 will not be opened inadvertently.

Furthermore, although this embodiment has been described with respect to the liquid crystal printer 3, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the liquid crystal printer 3 and can be implemented in a shell-open type image forming apparatus.

[Effect of idea]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when the upper body is opened, the paper must be removed before the upper body is unlocked, so it is possible to prevent the paper from falling.

In addition, a simple structure in which the roof release lever for unlocking the upper body is provided in a position hidden by the discharged stacked paper can achieve the great effect of preventing the stacked paper from falling.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an external view of the liquid crystal printer of this embodiment, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the liquid crystal printer of this embodiment, Fig. 3 is a configuration diagram of the locking mechanism of the liquid crystal printer of this embodiment, and Figs. 5b is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the liquid crystal printer of this embodiment, FIGS. FIGS. 2A and 2B are diagrams illustrating the operation of a conventional image forming apparatus. 3...LCD printer, 4...Upper body, 5...
Lower fuselage, 5a... Support shaft, 6... Roof stacker portion, 6a... Recessed portion, 6b... Roof release lever,
24... Lock mechanism, 25... Rotating shaft, 26...
Locking member, 26a... Hook portion, 27... Locking plate, 2
7a...Latching hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1) An image forming apparatus having an upper body that carries paper on which images are formed and rotates around a horizontal axis, and a lower body that is joined to the upper body by the horizontal axis. , a locking means for locking the upper body to the lower body when the upper body is in a closed state with respect to the lower body, and a locking means provided at a position hidden by the stacked paper of the upper body and configured by the locking means. An image forming apparatus comprising: a release means for releasing the lock of the upper body. 2) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the release means is provided at a position where even the smallest paper on which an image can be formed is hidden when the smallest paper is loaded.