JPH0777854A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming device for a copying machine, etc., capable of attaining miniaturization, the saving of space and reduction in cost. CONSTITUTION:An image forming device main body 1 and a paper feeder 2 used as a base for placing the device main body l are provided and an inside tray 14 in which paper sheets 6 are loaded and which successively supplies the papers 6 to the device main body 1 and another inside tray 14 in which the papers 6 on which images are formed by the device main body 1 are stacked are arranged in the paper feeder 2. Then, a carrying path for feeding for carrying the papers 6 from the inside tray 14 to the device main body 1 is formed on one side part of the paper feeder 2, a carrying path for stacking for carrying the papers from the device main body 1 to the inside tray 14 is formed on the side part opposite to the paper feeder 2 and the inside trays 14 are arranged in plural stages between the carrying paths for feeding and stacking.

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 such as a copying machine, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus including a main body of an image forming apparatus and a base on which the main body is mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a paper processing device of a copying machine is
Various proposals and implementations of a multi-stage paper feeding / feeding device that stores various types of transfer papers in a plurality of cassettes, or a double-sided paper feeding device that is used to point the front and back sides of one transfer paper .

[0003]

However, if the multi-stage paper feeding device and the double-sided paper feeding device are separately provided in the same copying machine, the copying machine becomes large in size, occupies a large area, and the cost is high. Is not preferable.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine which solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and can be downsized, space-saving and cost-effective.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus main body such as a copying machine main body, and a base that also serves as a sheet feeding device on which the image forming apparatus main body is placed. An inner tray for stacking sheets and sequentially supplying the sheets to the image forming apparatus main body, and an inner tray for stacking the sheets on which the images are formed by the image forming apparatus main body are arranged in the base. A paper feed / conveyance path for conveying paper from the inner tray to the image forming apparatus main body is formed on one side of the table, and the image forming apparatus main body is connected to the inner tray on the side opposite to the base. A stack transport path for transporting sheets is formed, and a plurality of the inner trays are arranged between the paper feed transport path and the stack transport path.

[0006]

According to the present invention, as described above, the inner tray for stacking the sheets on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus main body is provided in the base, and the paper feeding and conveying path and the stack are provided on both sides of the base. Since the transport path is formed and the inner tray is housed between both transport paths, it has a compact structure,
The image forming apparatus can be downsized, the space can be saved, and the cost can be reduced.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine according to an embodiment, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view of a sheet feeding means used in the copying machine, FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged front view of the sheet feeding means, and FIG. Is an enlarged perspective view of the inner tray used in the copying machine, FIG. 5 is a side view showing the positional relationship between the inner tray and the paper size detecting sensor, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the inner tray, and FIG. Plan view of the operation panel,
FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the copying machine.

As shown in FIG. 1, the lower part of the copying machine main body 1 having a known copying function is separable from and separate from the copying machine main body 1 and also serves as a base of the copying machine main body 1. A multi-stage sheet feeding device 2 is provided. The lateral width W1 of the copying machine main body 1 and the lateral width W2 of the multi-stage paper feeding device 2 are designed to have substantially the same dimensions so that the external appearance is smooth.

Paper feed cassettes 3a and 3b are detachably set on the right side of the copying machine body 1, and the transfer paper 6 is guided to a transfer drum (not shown) by the paper feed rollers 4a and 4b and the guide plate 5. It is about to do. An intermediate roller 16 is arranged below the guide plate 5, and an intake port 57 is opened below the guide plate 5 toward the multi-stage sheet feeding device 2 side. Further, a paper discharge roller 7 and a guide plate 8 are arranged on the left side of the copying machine body 1, and an external paper discharge tray 9 for discharging the copied transfer paper 6 to the outside of the apparatus is provided.

A switching claw 11 which is rotated by an appropriate means such as a solenoid device is arranged in the middle of the paper discharge path to the external paper discharge tray 9, and the discharged paper is detected near the external paper discharge tray 9. A paper discharge sensor 12 and a paper discharge roller 13 are provided.

In the central portion of the multi-stage sheet feeding device 2, a tray holder 15 for receiving three inner trays 14 in this embodiment is provided.
Are provided in three stages at predetermined intervals in the vertical direction.
On the right side of the multi-stage sheet feeding device 2, there is provided a sheet feeding means 17 for sequentially transporting the transfer sheets 6 stacked on the inner tray 14 to the inlet 57 of the copying machine body 1.

The paper feeding means 17 comprises a pick-up roller 18, a driving roller 19, a separation roller 20, a conveying roller pair 21, a guide plate 22 and an arm 23. Two
It is moved up and down by a motor 25 via 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the paper feeding means 17 includes two conveyor belts 26, 26.
Between the guide plate 22 and the guide plate 22 as shown in FIG.
And the conveyor belt 26 are on substantially the same vertical plane. In this embodiment, a method of adsorbing the transfer paper 6 from the back surface of the conveyor belt 26 with a vacuum is adopted.

The transfer paper 6 sent out from the selected inner tray 14 in a substantially horizontal direction is turned by the guide plate 22 by about 90 degrees toward the paper feed conveyance path and fed.

A discharge port 58 is formed on the upper surface of the multi-stage paper feeder 2 at a position facing the intake port 57 of the copying machine body 1. The relative positioning and holding of the intake port 57 of the copying machine body 1 and the discharge port 58 of the multi-stage sheet feeding device 2 are performed by the positioning portion 59 of the copying machine body 1 and the positioning portion 60 of the multi-stage sheet feeding device 2. It is made by abutting. Reference numeral 56 in the drawing denotes a home position detection sensor for detecting that the paper feeding means 17 has come to the home position.

On the left side of the multi-stage paper feeder 2, an inclined guide 27 corresponding to each inner tray 14 and a pair of feed rollers 2 are provided.
8 and a switching claw 29 that is rotated by an appropriate means such as a solenoid device.
A drooping guide 30 is arranged between the eight. A guide plate 31 is provided between the uppermost feed roller 28 and the switching claw 11.
Is provided, and a conveyance section sensor 33 that detects passage of the intermediate roller 32 and the copied transfer paper 6 is provided in the middle of the sheet.

An inner tray 14 is provided on the upper left of each tray receiving tray 15.
A rear end detection sensor 34 for detecting the rear end and a stop sensor 35 for stopping the inner tray 14 at the standby position are arranged on the upper right of each tray receiving base 15.

As shown in FIG. 4, the tray pedestal 15 is provided with a pulse motor 36, and a small gear 38 connected to the pulse motor 36 via a gear group 37 is used as the inner tray 14.
It is engaged with the rack 39 provided on the side of the. A pair of side fences 40, 40 and a back fence 41 are erected on the upper surface of the inner tray 14, and a turning fence 42 that is turned by an appropriate means such as a solenoid device at the opening end facing the back fence 41. Are provided in pairs.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a shield plate 43 for shutting off light to the stop sensor 35 is provided at the opening end portion of the inner tray 14, and a back fence 41 is provided for the rear end detection sensor 34. A shielding plate 44 for shielding light is provided respectively. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of paper size detecting sensors 45 are arranged near the inner tray 14.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic plan view of the operation panel 63. In the figure, reference numeral 46 is a key group for the paper feed cassettes 3a and 3b, 46a is a cassette selection key, 46b is a size display portion, and 46c is a display portion for displaying a busy state. Reference numeral 47 is a group of keys for the inner tray 14, 47a is a tray selection key, 47b is a size display section, and 47c is a display section for displaying an in-use state. 48 is a double-sided copy mode selection key, 4
9 is a front side copy display section, 50 is a back side copy display section, 51
Is a display unit without the same size cassette, 52 is a number display unit,
53 is a group of numeral keys and a clear key, 54 is a print switch, and 55 is a main switch.

The double-sided copy mode is selected and set by the double-sided copy mode selection key 48, and when the surface of the double-sided copy mode is selected, the switching claw 11 is rotated counterclockwise to be formed by the guide plate 8b. The external paper discharge passage 61 is cut off, and the stack conveying path 62 formed by the guide plate 31 is opened to guide the transfer paper 6 downward.
Try to lead to the side. Then, the transfer paper 6 whose surface has been copied
Of the transfer trays 6 of the same size as the inner trays 14 which are not in the paper feeding state among the inner trays 14 of the multi-stage sheet feeding device 2.
Is guided by the switching claw body 29 and the inclined guide 27 so as to be stacked on the inner tray 14 for storing the. The transfer paper 6 stacked in this way is stored in the side tray 40 and the back fence 4 provided on the inner tray 14.
At 1, the paper edges are aligned and accurately positioned.

Next, at the time of back side copying, the transfer sheet 6 copied on the front side is fed by the paper feeding means 17 and a known copying process is performed to complete the double sided copying. At this time,
The switching claw 11 is rotated clockwise to guide the guide plate 8b.
The external paper discharge path 61 formed by the
Are discharged to the external discharge tray 10.

FIGS. 8 (A) and 8 (B) are flow charts showing an example in which the surface-transferred transfer paper is stocked in the second-tier inner tray 14 of the same size.

That is, the double-sided copy mode selection key 48
When is turned on, a check is made as to whether or not there is an inner tray 14 of the same size as the currently designated tray size, and if there is not, the display 51 of the same size without a cassette is displayed.
If there is an inner tray 14 of the same size, the inner tray 14
To the standby position. Then, when the transfer sheet 6 copied in the normal copy mode passes through the conveyance unit sensor 33,
When the timer T ₁ is activated and the time is up, the back side display section 50 for copying lights up and the front side copy display section 49 disappears, indicating that the next back side copying operation is possible.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the inner tray for stacking the sheets on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus main body is provided in the base as described above, and the paper feeding and conveying path is provided on both sides of the base. Since the stack transfer path is formed and the inner tray is housed between both transfer paths, the structure is compact, and the image forming apparatus can be downsized, space-saving, and cost-effective.

As in the above-described embodiment, the sheet feeding / conveying path, the inner trays, and the stack conveying path are provided side by side toward the operation panel side of the image forming apparatus, that is, toward the front of the image forming apparatus. If so, there is an advantage that the maintenance and the treatment of the jammed paper are very easy to perform.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged sectional view of a sheet feeding device used in the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged front view of a sheet feeding device used in the copying machine.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a tray used in the copying machine.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a positional relationship between a tray used in the copying machine and a paper size detection sensor.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a tray used in the copying machine.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an operation panel used in the copying machine.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the control operation of the copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Copying Machine Main Body 2 Multi-Sheet Feeding Device 6 Transfer Paper 8a, 8b Guide Plate 9 Outer Paper Discharge Tray 11 Switching Claw 14 Inner Tray 15 Tray Stand 17 Paper Feeding Means 27 Inclination Guide 22 Guide Plate 29 Switching Claw Body 30 Hanging Guide 31 Guide plate 40 Side fence 41 Back fence 57 Inlet port 58 Ejection port 59, 60 Positioning part 61 External paper ejection path 62 Stack conveyance path W1 Horizontal width of copying machine main body W2 Horizontal width of multi-stage paper feeder

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] December 25, 1992

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be corrected] Drawing

[Correction target item name] All drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Figure 1]

[Fig. 2]

[Figure 3]

[Figure 4]

[Figure 5]

[Figure 6]

[Figure 7]

[Figure 8]

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location B65H 5/26 7612-3F 83/02 7612-3F (72) Inventor Katsuhiko Makita 1-chome Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 3-6 In Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An inner tray comprising an image forming apparatus main body and a base that also functions as a sheet feeding device for placing the image forming apparatus main body, and stacks sheets and sequentially supplies the sheets to the image forming apparatus main body. And an inner tray for stacking sheets of paper on which images have been formed by the image forming apparatus main body are arranged in the base, and the sheet is conveyed from the inner tray to the main body of the image forming apparatus on one side of the base. And a stack transport path for transporting a sheet from the image forming apparatus main body to the inner tray on the side opposite to the base. An image forming apparatus, wherein a plurality of the inner trays are arranged between the stack conveyance path and the inner tray. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a discharge port is formed in an upper portion of the paper feed / conveyance path of the base, and an intake port is formed at a position facing the discharge port of the image forming apparatus main body. Positioning portions are provided on the apparatus main body and the base, respectively, and by bringing these positioning portions into contact with each other,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that a relative position is established between an outlet of the base and an inlet of an image forming apparatus main body. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a lateral width dimension W1 of the image forming apparatus main body and a lateral width dimension W2 of the base are substantially equal to each other. 4. The paper edge aligning portion for aligning the edge portions of the sheets is provided on the inner tray for stacking the sheets on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus main body. Image forming apparatus. 5. The stack transport path according to claim 1, wherein the stack transport path includes a vertical transport path extending substantially vertically and an inclined transport path inclined from the vertical transport path toward the inner tray. A characteristic image forming apparatus. 6. The sheet feeding / conveying path according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding / conveying path extends substantially vertically toward the main body of the image forming apparatus, and the sheet fed out from the inner tray in a substantially horizontal direction is directed substantially 90 ° toward the sheet feeding / conveying path. An image forming apparatus characterized in that a guide means for changing the direction is provided. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper feed conveyance path, the inner tray, and the stack conveyance path are provided side by side facing the front of the image forming apparatus.