JPH08217312A - Sheet discharge device and image forming device provided therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a sheet discharge device having the selection function of a facedown and faceup paper discharge and excellent in a jamming processing property and reduced the number of parts and a picture forming device provided therewith. CONSTITUTION: The device in the title is provided with a first sheet discharge passage for placing the first surface of a sheet down and discharging, a second sheet discharge passage for placing the first surface up and discharging and a sheet loading tray 23 for forming one part 25 of the first discharge passage and for loading a sheet from the second discharge passage by changing over. It is constituted so that the first sheet discharge passage can be changed over to the second sheet discharge passage by installing a first/second rotary shafts 27, 28 on the sheet loading tray 23 and putting the sheet loading tray 23 in turning movement around a first rotary shaft 27 for a main body device 2. Further, it is constituted so that a sheet discharge part can be released largely by putting the sheet loading tray 23 in turning movement around the second rotary shaft 28.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet ejecting device having an image formed on a recording medium and an image forming apparatus provided with the sheet ejecting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a sheet discharging device in an image forming apparatus such as a printer is a face-down discharging device that discharges with an image-formed surface facing down and a face-up discharging device that discharges with an image-formed surface facing up. There is, there is a real Kaihei 4-46
As described in Japanese Patent No. 066, there is also proposed a sheet discharging device having a configuration capable of switching between face-down discharging and face-up discharging (see FIG. 9).

The sheet discharging device 7 has a guide surface (sheet guide) 25 for face-down discharging, which is integrated with the sheet stacking tray 23. The sheet discharging device 7 is fixed around a pin 33. It is configured to be rotatable by a certain amount. In the state where the sheet stacking tray 23 is closed with respect to the main body 2, the image-formed sheet discharged from the discharge roller pair 21 is guided to the guide surface 25 and the discharge guide 8, and the sheet stacking unit is passed through the roller pair 22. Face-down to 9
Loaded. Further, when the sheet stacking tray 23 is opened with respect to the main body 2, the sheets pass below the guide surface 25 and are discharged / stacked on the stacking surface 24.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when a sheet jam occurs near the discharge roller pair 21, the guide surface 25 or the like becomes an obstacle, and it is very difficult to remove the jam. Therefore, in order for the operator to put his / her hand near the discharge roller pair 21 to handle the sheet jam, the entire sheet discharge device 7 is separated from the main body to expose the vicinity of the discharge roller pair 21 as shown in FIG. Since it is necessary to take such a structure, the structure is complicated, the number of parts is increased, and the like, which causes a cost increase.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet ejecting apparatus which has a function of selecting face-down ejected paper and face-up ejected paper, has an excellent jam handling property, and can reduce the number of parts. To provide.

[0006]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and includes a first sheet discharging path for discharging a sheet, a second sheet discharging path for discharging the sheet, and A sheet discharging device comprising a sheet stacking tray for forming a part of a first sheet discharging path and stacking sheets from the second sheet discharging path by switching the first and second sheet stacking trays. Is provided, and the first sheet discharge path and the second sheet discharge path are switched by rotating the sheet stack tray around the first rotation axis with respect to the main body device. In addition to the above configuration, the sheet discharging tray is largely opened by rotating the sheet stacking tray around the second rotation axis.

Further, the sheet discharging device according to the present invention is
The main body device has an engaging portion that engages with the first and second rotating shafts of the sheet stack tray, and the engaging portion has one of the first and second rotating shafts as a rotation center. Is characterized in that a guide groove for guiding the other rotating shaft is formed.

Further, the sheet discharging apparatus according to the present invention has a selecting means capable of selecting which one of the first and second rotating shafts is the center of rotation.

Furthermore, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is
In an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit and a sheet discharging device that discharges a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming unit, the sheet discharging device is configured by any one of the above sheet discharging devices. I am trying.

[0010]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
With the sheet stacking tray closed to the main unit,
The sheet is guided to a part of the discharge path, and is discharged from the first sheet discharge path with the first surface facing down. On the other hand, if the sheet stacking tray is rotated around the first rotation axis and locked in the opened state with respect to the apparatus main body, the sheet passes under a part of the discharge path, and the first stacking sheet is placed on the sheet stacking tray. They are discharged and loaded face up.

Further, when a sheet jam occurs near the sheet discharging section, the sheet stacking tray is opened further by rotating the sheet stacking tray around the second rotation axis, and the sheet stacking section nears the sheet discharging section. It can be easily jammed to expose it.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same or corresponding parts as those described in the related art will be denoted by the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a sheet feeding cassette 3, a sheet feeding roller 4, an image forming unit 5, a fixing unit 6, and a sheet discharging unit, which are detachably attached to an apparatus main body 2. The device 7 is provided. Specific examples of the image forming apparatus 1 include a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile, and the image forming unit 5 includes an optical system, an electrostatic system, an impact system, a laser beam system, an inkjet system, a thermal system, and the like. is there. A sheet stacking unit 9 for stacking face-down discharged sheets with the image surface facing down is formed on the upper portion of the apparatus main body 2.

The image forming section 5 is, for example, a drum-shaped photosensitive member 10, a developing device 11, a charging device 12, and a cleaner 1.
3, a transfer roller 14, etc., and the light emitted from the scanner 15 is reflected by the reflection mirror 16 to scan on the photosensitive drum 10, a latent image is formed on the drum, and the toner from the developing device 11 is further formed. Thus, a toner image is formed. Then, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 10 is transferred by the transfer roller 14 to the sheet aligned by the registration roller 17, and is sent to the fixing device 6 along the conveyance guide 18, and between the fixing roller 19 and the pressure roller 20. The transferred image is fixed as it passes through.

The sheet discharging device 7 is a pair of discharging rollers 2 for discharging the sheet on the upper surface of which the image is formed by the image forming section 5.
1, a pair of rollers 22 for discharging sheets to the sheet stacking unit 9,
The apparatus main body 2 has a sheet stacking tray 23 and a discharge guide 8 which are openably and closably provided. The sheet stacking tray 23 includes a sheet stacking surface 24 for stacking sheets discharged face-up, a sheet guide 25 for switching a sheet discharge path, and a side plate 2 for connecting these two parts on both sides.
6. The pin 27 and the pin 28 are formed on both sides of the outer surface of the side plate 26, and are integrally formed of a resin material or the like.

The pins 27 and 28 correspond to the first rotating shaft and the second rotating shaft of the present invention, respectively, and the sheet guide 25 corresponds to a part of the sheet discharging path.

In the sheet stacking tray 23, the pins 27 and 28 are slidably engaged with grooves (engagement portions) 30 and 31 formed on both inner side surfaces of the main body 2, respectively, so that the main body 2 can receive the sheets. It is located in.

When the sheet stacking tray 23 is closed with respect to the main body 2, the pin 27 is located at the end of the linear portion 30a of the groove 30 and is positioned by the protrusion 30b. At this time, the pin 28 is located on the closed end side of the circular arc portion (guide groove) 31c of the groove 31. In this state, the leading end position 25a of the sheet guide 25 is located below the nip position of the discharge roller pair 21, so that the sheet discharged from the discharge roller pair 21 is guided to the curved surface outside the sheet guide 25, and together with the discharge guide 8. It works and is guided to the roller pair 22.

Further, the sheet stacking tray 23 can be rotated about the pin 27 by moving the pin 28 along the circular arc portion 31c of the groove 31 in this state.
When the sheet stacking tray 23 is rotated to the position shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 while holding the knob 29 formed on the sheet stacking tray 23, the leading end position 25 of the sheet guide 25 is reached.
a is above the nip position of the discharge roller pair 21, the sheet passes below the sheet guide 25, and the sheet stacking surface 2
Leads to 4. At this time, the sheet stacking tray 23 maintains this state without being closed to the main body 2 by the action of its own weight.

Further, the sheet stacking tray 23 is shown in FIG.
Of the sheet stacking tray 23 when
And pulling strongly in a direction parallel to the sheet stacking surface 24, the pin 27 and the pin 28 respectively project the groove 3 and the projection 3 of the groove 31.
The pin 28 is positioned at the end of the straight line portion 31a beyond the 0b and 31b, and the pin 27 becomes movable in the circular arc portion 30c (see FIG. 8). At this time, the sheet stacking tray 23
The rotation center of is changed to the pin 28, and the sheet stacking tray can be opened to the position shown in FIG.

The straight portions 30a, 31 of the grooves 30, 31
The a and the projections 30b and 31b form the selection means of the present invention.

By performing the reverse operation of the above-described opening operation of the sheet stacking tray 23, the sheet stacking tray 23 as shown in FIG. 3 can be returned to the closed state with respect to the main body 2.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

The sheet is fed from the sheet feeding cassette 3 to the image forming section 5 by the sheet feeding roller 4, passes through the image forming section 5 and the fixing device 6, and is image-formed on the upper surface of the sheet. Then, the sheet on which the image has been formed is discharged to the sheet discharging device 7 by the discharging roller 21. When the sheet discharging device 7 is used for face-down discharging, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3,
The sheet stacking tray 23 is used in a state of being closed with respect to the apparatus main body 2. At the closed position of the sheet stacking tray 23, the image-formed sheet discharged from the discharge roller pair 21 is guided by the outer curved surface of the sheet guide 25 and the discharge guide 24, and the sheet is discharged from the roller pair 22 to the apparatus. The sheet stacking unit 8 formed on the upper surface of the main body 2 is discharged and stacked with the image surface A facing downward.

When the sheet discharging device 7 is used for face-up discharging, the sheet stacking tray 23 is opened with respect to the apparatus main body 2 as shown in FIG. In this state, the image-formed sheet discharged from the discharge roller pair 21 passes under the sheet guide 25 with the image forming surface A facing upward, and is stacked on the sheet stacking surface 24 in a face-up state. It

When face-down and face-up paper discharge is performed as described above, the sheet stacking tray 23 can be rotated easily and reliably by rotating the sheet stacking tray 23 around the pin 27 and the pin 28 as a rotation restricting member. The paper discharge path can be switched.

If a sheet jam occurs in the sheet discharging device 7 for some reason, such as an erroneous use of the image forming apparatus or a sheet abnormality, first, the sheet stacking tray 23.
6 is opened to the position shown in FIG. 6 with respect to the main body 2 and the knob 29 formed on the upper portion of the sheet stacking tray 23 is pulled, the rotation center of the sheet stacking tray 23 moves from the pin 27 to the pin 28, and FIG. A large opening can be made up to the position shown in. By doing so, the discharge roller pair 21
The vicinity is exposed, and the sheet jam can be easily processed through this opening.

If the printing direction is reversed, the face-up tray will be placed on the upper surface of the apparatus.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By operating the sheet stacking tray, it is possible to switch between discharge of the sheet through the first sheet discharge path and discharge of the sheet through the second discharge path, and it is possible to open the sheet stacking tray largely. Therefore, it becomes easy to jam the sheet near the sheet discharge port.

Further, since the sheet stacking tray is formed by one member which also serves as a sheet discharge path switching device and a door for jam clearance, the number of parts is small and the cost can be reduced by simplifying the structure. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sheet discharging device of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view of the sheet discharging device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of a sheet ejection device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram in which a sheet stack tray is opened.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the state of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram in which the sheet stacking tray is further opened.

FIG. 8 is a detailed view of the state of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional sheet ejection device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a jam process performed by a conventional sheet discharging device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Apparatus main body 5 Image forming section 7 Sheet discharging device 21 Discharging roller 23 Sheet stacking tray 24 Sheet stacking surface 25 Sheet guide 27 First rotating shaft 28 Second rotating shaft 30 Groove 30a Linear portion 30b Protrusion 30c Arc Part (guide groove) 31 Groove 31a Straight part 31b Protrusion 31c Arc part (guide groove)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location B65H 31/24 B65H 31/24 G03G 15/00 530 G03G 15/00 530

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first sheet discharge path for discharging a sheet, a second sheet discharge path for discharging the sheet, and a part of the first sheet discharge path, and the second sheet discharge path is formed by switching. In a sheet discharging device including a sheet stacking tray for stacking sheets from a sheet discharging path, the sheet stacking tray is provided with first and second rotation shafts,
The first sheet discharge path and the second sheet discharge path are switched by rotating the sheet stacking tray around the first rotation axis with respect to the main body apparatus, and the second sheet discharge path is switched. The sheet discharging device is configured to open the sheet discharging portion largely by rotating the sheet stacking tray around the rotation axis of the sheet discharging device. 2. The main body device has an engagement portion with which the first and second rotation shafts of the sheet stacking tray are engaged, and the engagement portion includes the first and second rotation shafts. 2. The sheet ejection device according to claim 1, wherein a guide groove is formed for guiding the other rotation shaft when one of them serves as a rotation center. 3. The sheet ejection device according to claim 1, further comprising a selection unit capable of selecting which one of the first and second rotation shafts serves as a rotation center. 4. An image forming apparatus comprising an image forming section and a sheet discharging apparatus for discharging a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming section, wherein the sheet discharging apparatus is any one of claims 1 to 3. 1
An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet discharging device according to the above paragraph.