JP2642773B2 - Output tray of image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a paper discharge tray provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly, to a manual paper discharge tray from a paper discharge port of an image forming apparatus main body. The present invention relates to a discharge tray of an image forming apparatus used as a manual tray when feeding paper.

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer that uses a discharge port of a main body of the apparatus as a paper feed port when performing manual paper feed. In this type of image forming apparatus, the paper discharge tray is used as a manual tray when performing manual paper feed. In order to prevent skew feeding during manual paper feeding, a side guide of the sheet material that can be slid arbitrarily in accordance with the sheet material width is provided on the tray surface of the discharge tray.

Next, with reference to FIG. 8, an outline of a conventional image forming apparatus (printer) in which a paper outlet of the image forming apparatus main body is used as a paper feed port when performing manual paper feed will be described.

A discharge tray 3 is attached to a discharge port 2 of the image forming apparatus main body 1. The paper discharge tray 3 is connected to the image forming apparatus main body 1 by a shaft 5. And, it is rotatable up and down around the shaft 5 so that it can be folded upward when not in use.

The paper output tray 3 attached to the paper output port 2
When using as a paper feed port when performing manual paper feed,
It is used as a manual tray. A sheet material side guide 6 is provided on the tray surface of the discharge tray 3 to prevent skew feeding during manual feeding.

The sheet Sa stacked and stored in the sheet cassette 7 in the image forming apparatus main body 1 is rotated by the pickup roller (sheet feeding roller) 9 in the clockwise direction in FIG. The sheets are separated and fed one by one by 10. And the sheet material Sa separated and fed,
The sheet is guided to the feed roller pair 13 by being guided by the sheet feed upper guide 11 and the sheet feed lower guide 12.

Thereafter, the sheet material Sa is fed stepwise by a predetermined feed amount to the inkjet head 15 by the feed roller pair 13. Then, in the process of stepwise feeding the sheet material Sa, ink is ejected by an inkjet head 15 that is scanned in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing by a mechanism (not shown), and an image is sequentially formed on the sheet material Sa. Subsequently, the sheet material Sa is discharged onto the paper path switching plate 17 by the discharge roller pair 16.

The paper path switching plate 17 is normally at a position indicated by an imaginary line in the figure by a mechanism (not shown), and the leading end of the discharged sheet material Sa is positioned at the most upstream side of the discharge tray 3 on the tray surface. It is guided to the upper surface 19a of the paper ejection guide plate 19 provided. Next, the leading end of the sheet material Sa passes over the upper surface guide portion 6a of the side guide 6, and is discharged and stacked on the discharge tray 3 via the paper path indicated by the arrow A.

When performing manual paper feed using the paper discharge port 2, first, the sheet material Sa discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3 is removed and a manual paper feeder (not shown) provided in the image forming apparatus main body 1 is provided. Press the paper feed mode selection button to move the paper path switching plate 17 to the position b shown by the solid line in the figure,
The leading end of the sheet material St to be manually fed is guided by the nip portion of the sheet discharge roller pair 16. In this way, the state of manual sheet feeding is prepared.

Next, the leading end of the sheet material St placed on the sheet discharge tray 3 is inserted through the manual guide section 6b of the side guide 6 and further below the sheet discharge guide plate 19. This way,
The leading end of the sheet material St is a paper path switching plate 17 and an upper guide plate 20.
At the same time as reaching the nip portion of the sheet discharge roller pair 16, the detection lever 21 is pushed in.

When the leading end of the sheet material St pushes the detection lever 21, it is detected that the sheet material St has been manually inserted, whereby the sheet discharge roller pair 16 and the feed roller pair 13 rotate counterclockwise (reverse rotation), and The sheet material St thus drawn is once drawn in above the sheet cassette as shown by the arrow B. And
When the trailing end St of the sheet material St passes through the detection lever 21, the detection lever 21 returns to the original position, thereby detecting completion of sheet feeding.

Thereafter, the feed roller pair 13 and the discharge roller pair 16 rotate clockwise (forward rotation), and at the same time, the paper path switching plate 17 returns to the imaginary line a by the mechanism (not shown). Through the same process as the sheet material St
Are discharged onto the discharge tray 3 and stacked.

FIG. 7 shows the overall configuration of the paper discharge tray 3. As shown in FIG. The side guide 6 has a U-shaped cross section, and guides the sheet material (Sa, St) discharged by its upper surface guide portion 6a and guides the sheet material St manually fed by the manual guide portion 6b. . Such a side guide 6 is attached to a slide groove 3a provided on the tray surface by a plurality of pins 22 so as to be slidable in the width direction of the sheet material. Therefore, when the paper discharge tray 3 is used as a manual tray, the side guide 6 is slid,
Adjust to the width of the sheet material St to be manually inserted. In this case, one side edge of the sheet material St is aligned with the paper feeding reference surface 24 having the upper guide portion 23, and the side guide 6 is aligned with the other edge of the sheet material St.

Discharge guide arranged upstream of the side guide 6
The upper surface 19a is slightly higher than the upper surface guide portion 6a of the side guide 6, and is integrally formed on the tray surface. In this way, the leading end of the sheet material (Sa, St) passing through the upper surface of the paper discharge guide 19 is smoothly passed to the upper surface guide 6a of the side guide 6.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, in the case of the above-mentioned image forming apparatus, at the time of paper ejection, the paper path switching plate 17 is at the position a shown by the imaginary line, and the sheet material (Sa, St) is indicated by the arrow A. The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3 via the paper path indicated by. On the other hand, when performing manual paper feeding, the paper path switching plate 17 is at the position b indicated by the solid line, and the sheet material (Sa, St) is provided by the manual feeding guide portion 6 b of the side guide 6 and the paper discharge guide plate 19. The sheet is guided to the nip portion of the sheet discharging roller pair 16 via a sheet path passing on the lower side, the sheet path switching plate 17. Therefore, the paper path at the time of paper ejection and the paper path at the time of manual paper feed intersect near the base end of the paper path switching plate 17.

For this reason, when the position of the leading end portion (discharge downstream end portion) 3a of the discharge tray 3 is increased to increase the discharge stacking amount, the paper path at the time of manual paper feed is changed to the discharge path. Guide plate 19
This results in a curved paper path below. For this reason,
When the sheet material St to be manually fed is a sheet having high rigidity and low flexibility like thick paper, it is a case where the sheet ejection guide plate 19 is fixed on the tray surface as in the related art.
There is a problem that the back surface is strongly rubbed, the transport resistance becomes excessive, and a paper feeding failure occurs.

Also, if the paper path is made linear by removing the paper ejection guide plate 19 which causes the paper path to bend during manual paper feeding, the side guide 6 is used to discharge the sheet material width of the sheet material to be ejected. In the case where the sheet is located inside, there arises a problem that the leading end of the discharged sheet material is caught by the side guide 6 to cause a paper discharge jam.

Further, the leading end of the lower curled sheet material to be discharged enters the gap 25 (paper path at the time of manual paper feeding) between the paper discharge guide plate 19 fixed on the tray surface and the tray surface and discharges the paper. There was also a problem of causing a jam.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and the position of the leading end (discharge downstream end) of the discharge tray has been increased to increase the discharge stacking amount. Even when the paper path at the time is curved below the paper ejection guide plate, the sheet material having high rigidity and low flexibility can be smoothly fed, and the sheet material in the lower curl state is discharged. So that paper jams do not occur.
An object of the present invention is to provide a discharge tray of an image forming apparatus.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is used as a manual tray when performing manual paper feeding from a paper discharge port of an image forming apparatus main body, and is adapted to a sheet material width. The present invention relates to a discharge tray of an image forming apparatus having a slidable side guide of a sheet material on a tray surface.

Further, according to the present invention, the paper discharge upstream end of the side guide on the tray surface is attached so as to be able to swing vertically in the tray surface, and the paper discharge upstream end is always The paper discharge guide plate is provided in a downward movement state by its own weight.

(E) Operation According to the above configuration, when the leading edge of the manually inserted sheet material passes under the paper ejection guide plate at the time of manual paper feeding, the ejection of the paper ejection guide plate which is moved downward at the leading edge of the sheet material. The paper upstream end is lifted and moves upward. As a result, even when the paper path at the time of manual sheet feeding is curved below the sheet ejection guide plate, the sheet material having high rigidity and low flexibility can be fed smoothly.

Further, at the time of paper discharge, the paper discharge upstream end of the paper discharge guide plate is moved down by its own weight, and the paper path for manual paper feed is closed. As a result, even if the sheet material in the lower curl state is discharged, the leading end does not enter into the gap between the discharge guide plate and the tray surface, and the paper discharge jam does not occur.

(F) Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration of a paper discharge tray of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an overall image forming apparatus (printer) provided with the paper discharge tray. 2 shows a configuration.

In the present discharge tray and the image forming apparatus, the same members as those in the above-described conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

The paper discharge tray 3 is provided with a paper discharge upstream end 27a centered on left and right support shafts 26, 26 on the paper discharge upstream side of the side guide 6 on the tray surface.
Has a paper ejection guide plate 27 attached to be swingable in the vertical direction of the tray surface. In this paper discharge guide plate 27, the paper discharge upstream end 27a is always moved downward by its own weight (second
Position (indicated by a chain line in the figure)), and is in contact with the tray surface.

In the case where manual paper feed is performed from the paper discharge port 2 using the paper discharge tray 3 having the paper discharge guide plate 27 in this manner, the paper discharge upstream of the paper discharge guide plate 27 which is moved downward to the position c shown by the chain line. The side end 27a is lifted by the tip of the sheet material St fed manually and moves upward to the position d indicated by a solid line about the left and right support shafts 26,26. For this reason, even if the paper path at the time of manual feeding is curved below the discharge guide plate 27, the sheet material St fed manually is fed.
Only receives the load of its own weight of the paper ejection guide plate 27, does not rub strongly against the paper ejection guide plate 27 as in the conventional example, and the conveyance resistance is high even for highly rigid sheet materials such as thick letters. There is no increase in paper feed failure.

In addition, the end of the manually fed sheet material St is the detection lever.
Press 21 to start manual feed, and the trailing edge of sheet material St
When St ₂ passes through the discharge guide plate 27, the discharge guide plate 27
Is returned to the position c indicated by the dashed line again by its own weight and comes into contact with the tray surface. For this reason, the paper path at the time of manual paper feed is closed, and the discharged sheet material (Sa, St) in the lower curl state falls into the gap between the discharge guide plate 27 and the tray surface, or is discharged. Passes through the upper surface of the paper discharge guide plate 27 without getting caught on the guide plate 27,
Further, the paper is smoothly and smoothly discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3 via the upper surface guide portion 6a of the side guide 6.

Incidentally, the paper path switching plate 17 on the image forming apparatus main body 1 side.
As described above, at the time of manual paper feeding and paper ejection, the paper path switching plate is displaced by a mechanism (not shown) around a fulcrum 17a to a position b shown by a solid line and a position shown by an imaginary line. The paper discharge downstream end 17b of the paper discharge lower end 17b is lower than the tray surface at the time of manual paper feed, and the paper discharge upstream end 27 at the position c indicated by a chain line of the paper discharge guide plate 27 at the time of paper discharge.
It is set to be higher than a. For this reason, the leading end of the sheet material may be the paper path switching plate 17 or the paper ejection guide plate.
It can pass smoothly without getting caught on 27.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 3 shows the overall configuration of a paper discharge tray of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows the main components of an image forming apparatus (printer) provided with the paper discharge tray. 2 shows a configuration of the unit.

In this embodiment, the paper discharge upstream end 27a of the paper discharge guide plate 27 on the paper discharge tray 3 side and the paper path switching plate 1 on the image forming apparatus main body 1 side.
7 shows an example of a structure in which both the paper discharge downstream ends 17b are formed in an uneven shape so that they are engaged with each other.

In this case, the paper path switching plate 17 is positioned at the position a indicated by the solid line (fourth position).
), The paper discharge downstream end 17b is indicated by a solid line c.
The paper ejection guide plate 27 is positioned at a position higher than the paper ejection upstream end 27a at the position.

With such a structure, the sheet material in the lower curl state can be more reliably and smoothly discharged.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 5 shows the overall configuration of a paper discharge tray of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, an example of a structure in which the discharge guide pieces 29, 29 made of an elastic sheet material such as a polyethylene sheet are used as the discharge guide plate.

The paper discharge guide pieces 29, 29 are adhered to both the upper surface guide portion 6a of the side guide 6 and the upper guide portion 23 with a double-sided adhesive tape (not shown). At this time, the paper discharge upstream end 29a of each paper discharge guide piece 29 hangs down by its own weight and is lightly in contact with the concave portion 30 formed on the tray surface. In this case, the paper discharge upstream end 29a does not protrude from the recess 30.

In the case of the present embodiment, the discharge guide piece 29 is
It is composed of polyethylene terephthalate with a thickness of about 30 mm and a thickness of about 0.2 mm. According to this, in any of a thin sheet material having a high flexibility to a thick sheet material having a low flexibility, the paper discharge upstream end 29a of the paper discharge guide piece 29 is moved upward without any trouble by the manual paper feed. , Smooth manual paper feed.

In the case of this structure, the leading end of the discharged sheet material is positioned on the left and right discharge guide pieces 29 and 2 from the upstream end (base end) 31 of the discharge tray 3.
9 is guided by the upper surface guide portion 6 of the side guide 6.
The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 3 after passing through the upper guide 23 and the upper guide portion 23.

Further, in this embodiment, the upper guide portion 23 similar to the side guide 6 is provided on the side of the paper feed contact reference surface 24, but the upper guide portion 23 is omitted, and the discharge guide piece 29 is provided only on the side guide 6. The same effect can be expected even when it is attached.

<Fourth Embodiment> FIG. 6 shows a main configuration of a paper discharge tray of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment shows a structural example in which a discharge guide piece 32 made of a non-sheet material is used instead of the discharge guide piece 29 made of an elastic sheet material of the third embodiment.

The paper ejection guide piece 32 is formed of a mold member or the like, and is swingably connected to the upper surface guide portion 6a of the side guide 6 by a hinge 33. Then, the paper discharge upstream end 32a is moved downward by its own weight and is lightly in contact with the concave portion 30.

Also in the case of this structure, the paper discharge upstream end 32a of the paper discharge guide piece 32
Is lifted by the tip of the sheet material to be manually fed and moves upward around the hinge 33.

Although the discharge tray 3 of each of the above embodiments is provided in an image forming apparatus of a type in which droplets are ejected by an inkjet head to perform printing, the same applies to image forming apparatuses of other printing types. It is needless to say that it is possible to prepare for it.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, the discharge tray of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is configured such that the discharge guide upstream end of the side guide on the tray surface swings in the vertical direction of the tray surface. A paper discharge guide plate is provided movably, and the paper discharge upstream end is always moved downward by its own weight.

For this reason, when the position of the leading end (discharge downstream end) of the discharge tray is increased to increase the discharge stacking amount, the paper path at the time of manual feed is curved below the discharge guide plate. Even in this case, it is possible to smoothly feed a sheet material having high rigidity and low flexibility.

Further, even when the sheet material in the lower curl state is discharged, paper discharge jam does not occur.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a paper discharge tray of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus (printer) provided with the paper discharge tray. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an entire configuration of a paper discharge tray of the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a main part of an image forming apparatus (printer) provided with the paper discharge tray. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of a paper ejection tray of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a main portion of a paper discharge tray of an image forming apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an entire configuration of a paper discharge tray of a conventional image forming apparatus. FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional side view showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus (printer) provided with the paper discharge tray. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus main body, 2 ... Discharge port, 3 ... Discharge tray, 6 ... Side guide, 27 ... Discharge guide plate, 27a,
29a, 32a: Upper end of paper discharge, 29, 32 ... Discharge guide piece (discharge guide plate), St: Sheet material fed manually.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A side guide for a sheet material, which is used as a manual tray when manual feeding is performed from a paper discharge port of an image forming apparatus main body and is slidable in accordance with the sheet material width, is provided on the tray surface. In the discharge tray of the image forming apparatus, a discharge upstream end is attached to a discharge surface upstream of the side guide on the tray surface so as to be swingable in a vertical direction of the tray surface. A sheet discharge tray for an image forming apparatus, wherein a sheet discharge guide plate is provided in which a sheet discharge upstream end is lowered by its own weight.