JPH0430195Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] This invention relates to a paper support stand in a paper feeding device used in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, printers, and facsimile machines, and in particular, the invention relates to a paper support base in a paper feeding device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine. The present invention relates to a paper feeding support stand configured as described above.

[Prior Art] Paper supports for feeding cut sheets used in copying machines, etc. include those that store paper in a paper feed cassette and set it on a cassette mounting table provided in the main body of the device, and those that store paper in a paper feed cassette and set it on a cassette mounting table provided in the main body of the device, and There is known a device in which paper is placed directly on a provided paper mounting table. These paper support stands have an elastic member that biases the rotating end of the paper mounting plate, which is rotatably supported on the support frame, upward to prevent stacking of paper on the mounting plate. There is one in which objects are pressed against a feed roller attached to a support frame.

In the paper support base configured in this way, as the paper is sequentially fed, the rotating end of the paper mounting plate rises due to the biasing force of the elastic member, so that the rotating end of the paper mounting plate rises. The top of the paper contacts the separating claw or the feeding roller, allowing stable paper feeding. Paper feed cassettes and paper loading tables of this type are widely used in various image forming apparatuses because they are extremely simple in construction and yet can stably feed stacked sheets.

Since the paper feeding support stand of this type can accommodate a relatively small amount of paper at one time, it is necessary to replenish the paper frequently. However, since the paper mounting plate is urged upward by an elastic member, the rotating end side of the paper mounting plate is always in contact with the separating claw or the feeding roller, so it is difficult to replenish paper. Each time, it is necessary to push down the surface of the rotating end of the paper loading plate by hand, but that hand obstructs the storage of the paper to be replenished, making paper replenishment workability worse. .

A proposal for solving such problems has been made in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 177233/1984 (first conventional example), which will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. That is, a fixed bottom plate 3 and a movable bottom plate 4 are provided on the support frame 2 of the cassette 1, and the stacked sheets P are placed thereon. The uppermost paper of P is brought into contact with the separation claw 6 or the feeding roller 7. When replenishing the cassette 1 with paper, a rear cover 8 provided at the rear of the support frame 2 is rotated to a horizontal position, and an opening 9 into which the paper is inserted is formed. At the same time, a projection 10 integrally formed on the rotation shaft of the rear lid 8 horizontally rotates a lever 11 provided at the bottom of the support frame 2. One end is connected to this lever 11, and the other end is connected to a spring 5. When the rod 12 connected to the movable bottom plate 4 moves backward, the spring 5 is retracted, and the movable bottom plate 4 is rotated up and down to make it horizontal. Note 13
14 is the upper limit stopper of the separation claw, 14 is the upper lid, and 15 is the side wall of the main body of the apparatus. Therefore, this proposal
Even if the paper P is inserted through the opening 9 of the rear lid 8 of the cassette 1, the movable bottom plate 4 is held in a horizontal position, so the paper P can be easily inserted into the cassette without colliding with the separation claw 16 or the feeding roller 7. It can be stored. Further, when the rear lid 8 is closed, the rod 12 is pushed out, the spring 5 pushes up the movable bottom plate 4, and the paper P can be brought into contact with the separation claw 6 or the paper feed roller 7.

Another proposal is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 56-60945 (second conventional example). This will be further explained with reference to FIG. That is, A
1 shows a copying paper cassette used in an electrostatographic copying machine of the type in which a feeding roller 110 for feeding paper P is pivotally supported in a fixed position on a copying machine main body B. The cassette A has a bottom plate 101 and a front plate 10.
2. A cassette main body 105 formed into a box shape by a rear side plate 103 and left and right side plates 104, and the bottom plate 1.
01, and is attached to the bottom plate 101 so as to be able to swing freely.
a swing plate 107 biased upward by a spring 106 interposed between the swing plate 107 and a copy paper separating claw 108 that engages with both front corners of the sheet P placed on the swing plate 107; , and a vertically swingable lever 109 for swinging the swing plate 107 downward against the spring 106. Therefore, by swinging the lever 109 upward around the support shaft 111, the swinging plate 107 moves against the lever 10.
9 through the engagement piece 107c, the paper P can be easily inserted into the cassette A.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] However, in this first conventional example, the structure for pushing down the movable bottom plate 4 is complicated and has many parts, so there are problems such as easy failure and troublesome assembly. be. In addition, in the second conventional example, the lever is located in the center of the bottom surface, and when inserting a cassette, it is difficult for people with small hands to hold the lever together with the cassette with one hand. You must use both hands to hold it and operate the lever with the other hand. Furthermore, since the cassette is gripped by the sides, the hand motion when inserting the cassette into the device is unnatural compared to when gripping the rear end of the cassette, and the hand gripping the cassette gets in the way when inserting the cassette. It becomes difficult to insert the cassette into the main body of the device. In addition, in both the first and second embodiments, the paper must be held horizontally when replenishing the paper, so when there is a large amount of paper, it is necessary to place both hands to raise the leading edge, which poses problems in operability. be.

The object of this invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problems and to provide a paper feeding support stand that has a simple structure, allows easy replenishment of paper, and has good operability.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The present invention provides a paper support stand 20 that supports the paper fed by the paper feed means of the main body of the image forming apparatus, and includes a support frame 21 and the support frame 21. A paper mounting plate 22 is pivotally supported in the frame 21 so as to rotate downward from a horizontal position, and rotation of the paper mounting plate 22 located downstream in the feeding direction from the rotation axis of this paper mounting plate 22. a biasing means 23 for biasing the end upward; and at least one end fixed to the paper placement plate 22 so that the upstream end in the feeding direction of the support frame and the end of the lever are substantially aligned. By rotating this lever 25, the rotating end of the paper placement plate 22 is rotated downward from the horizontal position against the biasing force of the biasing means 23. This paper feeding support stand is characterized by the following structure. In other words, by grasping the lever 25 at the rear end of the support frame, the paper loading plate 22 rotates downward against the biasing force of the biasing means 23. As a result, a gap is easily formed between the paper sheet and the feeding means, so that stacked sheets can be easily placed on the sheet placement plate 22 when inserted.

[Example] The first example of this invention is shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. 3.
This will be explained using figures. Figure 2 shows the X-
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of X′, and is a diagram showing a state in which the lever 25 is attached to the paper placement plate 22.

The paper support stand 20 in this embodiment is a paper mounting stand that is removably attached to the main body of the apparatus. The upper surface of the support frame 21 is a rectangular frame body, and a fixed mounting plate 26 is provided at the upstream portion in the feeding direction. Further, an arc-shaped front plate 27 is disposed at the downstream end of the support frame 21 in the feeding direction, and a support frame 28 is installed on both sides of the support frame 21 from the lower end of the front plate 27 diagonally to the upper frame. It forms a triangular frame. A shaft hole 29 is provided in the upper part of the upstream side of this side frame body, and an engaging part 30 is provided in the vertical frame body supporting the front plate 27 to engage with a locking member of the main body (not shown). A gap is provided. The paper loading plate 22 has a planar shape slightly smaller than the space surrounded by the upper frame of the support frame 21, and both sides thereof are bent vertically to form a support plate 31, with a shaft hole 32 at the end thereof. It is provided. The paper mounting plate 22 is rotatably supported within the support frame 21 by a shaft 33 communicating with the shaft hole 32 of the paper mounting plate 22 and the shaft hole 29 of the support frame 21 . The rotating end of the sheet placement plate 22 is arranged on the downstream side in the feeding direction, and has a spring-like elastic force as a biasing means inserted between the support frame 21 and the lower side of this rotating end. It is urged upward by member 23. Note that a side plate 34 for holding the side surface of the paper P is provided on the upper surface of the paper placement plate 22. The lever 25 is a U-shaped cylindrical member, and is attached to the support plate 3 of the paper placement plate 22.
1, the U-shaped portion is bent diagonally downward from the upstream end of the paper mounting plate 22 and extended. and is arranged so that its end is substantially flush with the end of the fixed mounting plate.

When replenishing paper P on this paper support stand 20, as shown in FIG. The elastic member 23 rotates the rotating end of the paper placement plate 22 upwardly around the center.
The feeding means 2 is rotated downward from the horizontal position where the heights of the upstream end and the downstream end of the sheet mounting plate 26 in the feeding direction are the same, against the urging of the sheet feeding means 2.
4 and the rotating end of the sheet placement plate 22. Therefore, the stacked sheets of paper P can be inserted diagonally downward as shown by the arrow.
Even if there is a large amount of paper and the leading end becomes heavy, it can be easily placed on the paper placement plate 22, and the lever can be gripped at the rear of the support base, making it easy to operate the lever when replenishing paper. Paper can be easily replenished.

Next, a second embodiment of this invention will be explained with reference to FIG. In this example, the paper placement plate 22 and the lever 25 in the first embodiment are integrally formed, and the upstream side of the shaft hole 38 of the paper placement plate 37 is extended obliquely downward to form the lever portion. 39 is formed. The material may be made of plastic or bent aluminum plate. This embodiment also provides the same effects as the first embodiment.

Further, a third embodiment of this invention will be explained with reference to FIG. In this example, a hook shaft 40 is provided at the upstream end of the support frame 21 of the first embodiment, and the hook 41 is rotatably supported. According to this embodiment, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be achieved,
Further, by locking the lever 25 to the hook 41, it is possible to keep the pivoting end of the paper placement plate 22 in a downwardly displaced state, thereby facilitating paper replenishment work. In addition, by providing a paper sensor 42 above the rotating end of the paper placement plate 22, it can be detected that the lever 25 is locked to the hook 41 and the paper P is not urged upward, and the main body of the apparatus is prevented. By activating it, forgetting to release the hook 41 can be prevented. Furthermore, an opening 43 is provided in the paper placement plate 22.
It is also possible to provide the paper sensor 42 so as to double as a paper out detector.

A fourth embodiment of this invention will be explained with reference to FIG. In this example, the paper support base of the present invention is applied to a paper cassette, and a shaft 4 is installed inside the support frame 44.
A spring is disposed at the lower part of the rotating end of the paper loading plate 46 which is rotatably supported by the paper mounting plate 5 to urge it upward, and the paper is separated at both ends of the upper part of the support frame 44 on the downstream side in the paper feeding direction. In the paper cassette provided with the claw 48, a notch 49 is formed in the support frame downstream of the shaft 45.
is provided, and a lever 50 fixed to the paper placement plate is made to protrude from this notch 49. When replenishing this cassette with paper, by grasping the lever 50 and the support frame 44 at the top of the notch 49 together, the rotary end of the paper placement plate 46 is pushed down to the feeding means and separating claw 48. Paper can be easily replenished without any hindrance. In this embodiment, the lever 50 is provided at the side end of the paper placement plate 46, but it is clear that it may be provided at the rear end as in the first to third embodiments.

[Effect of the invention] According to this invention, the lever is located upstream in the feeding direction from the rotation axis of the paper placement plate so that the upstream end in the feeding direction of the support frame and the end of the lever are arranged almost identically. With the configuration in which the paper loading plate is tilted downward from the horizontal direction, it is possible to easily replenish the paper while it is tilted, and since the lever can be grasped at the rear of the support, the paper The lever is easy to operate when refilling, making it easy to replenish paper.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the first embodiment of this invention;
Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line X-X' in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the paper placement plate and lever of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4 is a paper placement plate showing a second embodiment of this invention. A cross-sectional view of the plate part, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the third embodiment of this invention, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the fourth embodiment of this invention, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the first conventional example. Figure, 8th
This figure shows the state of the cassette shown in FIG. 7 when paper is supplied, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a second conventional example. 20... Paper support stand, 21, 44... Support frame,
22, 37, 46... Paper placement plate, 23, 47...
...Biasing means, 24, 48...Feeding means, 25, 3
9,50...Lever, P...Paper.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] In a feeding paper support stand that supports paper fed by a paper feeding means of an image forming apparatus main body, a paper mounting plate pivotally supported by a support frame; a biasing means for upwardly biasing a rotating end of the paper mounting plate located downstream in the feeding direction from a rotating shaft of the paper mounting plate; a lever having at least one end fixed to the paper mounting plate so that the upstream end in the feeding direction of the support frame and the end of the lever are arranged substantially in the same direction; 1. A feeding paper support stand, characterized in that the rotating end of the paper mounting plate is configured to rotate downward from a horizontal position against the urging force of an urging means.