Sheet feeding or delivering – Delivering – Optional face or back
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-23
2001-02-20
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Delivering
Optional face or back
C271S186000, C271S288000, C271S902000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189882
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanism for conveying a sheet on which an image is formed, to a discharge tray in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile apparatus or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is provided an image forming apparatus such as a copier or a printer, provided with reversing means which serves as a mechanism to reverse a sheet, in order to discharge the sheet processed by the image forming apparatus, with directing the front face of the sheet upward or downward, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 5-310357 (1993).
This image forming apparatus will be described with referring to
FIG. 7. A
main unit
81
of the image forming apparatus comprises: an exposing and reading section
82
which is disposed in an upper portion of the image forming apparatus main unit
81
and which reads an original; a scanning section
83
which is disposed under the exposing and reading section
82
; a developing section
84
which is disposed under the scanning section
83
; a sheet housing section
85
which is disposed under the developing section
84
; and sheet discharging means
86
which is disposed to a side of the developing section
84
and the sheet housing section
85
.
The sheet discharging means
86
includes a first discharge port
87
from which a sheet is discharged without being reversed, and a second discharge port
88
from which a sheet is discharged with being reversed. On the side of the image forming apparatus main unit
81
, a first discharge tray
89
corresponding to the discharge port
87
, and a second discharge tray
90
corresponding to the discharge port
88
are respectively disposed.
A sheet whose front face is directed upward is discharged to the first discharge tray
89
, and a sheet whose back face is directed upward is discharged to the second discharge tray
90
.
Another image forming apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication JP-B2 6-69862 (1994). In the image forming apparatus, as shown in
FIG. 8
, a sorter
92
is disposed to a side of an image forming apparatus main unit
91
. The sorter
92
includes a non-sort discharge roller pair
93
which is not used in a sorting operation, and a sort discharge roller pair
94
which is used in a sorting operation. The sorter has a non-sort bin (discharge tray)
95
to which a sheet is discharged from the non-sort discharge roller pair
93
, and sort bins (discharge trays)
96
a
,
96
b
, and
96
c
to which a sheet is discharged from the sort discharge roller pair
94
.
A sheet which is not sorted is discharged to the non-sort bin
95
, and a sheet which is sorted is discharged to the sort bin
96
a
,
96
b
, or
96
c.
Even when front-face-discharged and back-face-discharged sheets are mixedly placed on the same single discharge tray, the user can easily distinguish the sheets based on the direction of their image forming faces, because front-face-discharged sheets are placed with upward directing their image forming faces and back-face-discharged sheets are placed with downward directing their image forming faces. Since the user usually removes non-sort-discharged sheets and sort-discharged sheets immediately after a discharging operation, provided that no sheet remains, there arises no problem even when a sheet is discharged after removing sheets.
In other words, even when sheets are discharged to discharge trays of the same kind, the sheets can be distinguished without producing any particular inconvenience. However, the provision of discharge trays of two kinds requires useless discharge trays, and increases the number of parts and the production cost.
In the discharge trays of two kinds, the distance between a discharge tray of one kind disposed in a lower position and a discharge tray of the other kind disposed in an upper position is limited. Therefore, the number of sheets which can be housed in the former discharge tray is restricted.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which discharged sheets can be easily distinguished, and which has a reduced number of parts and can be economically produced.
In a first aspect of the invention, an image forming apparatus comprises:
an image forming section for forming an image on a sheet;
a discharge tray for receiving the sheet on which an image is formed;
a first conveying path for guiding the sheet from the image forming section to the discharge tray so as to place the sheet on the discharge tray with directing an image forming face of the sheet in one of upward and downward directions;
a second conveying path for reversing the sheet to guide from the image forming section to the discharge tray so as to place the sheet on the discharge tray with directing the image forming face in the direction opposite to the direction in which the first conveying path guides the sheet to the discharge tray; and
switching means for switching over the first conveying path and the second conveying path,
and the apparatus further comprises moving means for moving the discharge tray between a position where a sheet discharged from a discharge port of the first conveying path is received, and another position where a sheet discharged from a discharge port of the second conveying path is received.
According to the first aspect of the invention, a sheet on which an image is formed is guided by the first or second conveying path and then discharged to the discharge tray. Although the apparatus has two discharge ports, the single discharge tray can receive sheets discharged from the discharge ports, because the discharge tray can be moved by the moving means. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus which can be produced in a simple configuration and at a low cost.
In a second aspect of the invention, the image forming apparatus is characterized in that the discharge port of the first conveying path and the discharge port of the second conveying path are vertically arranged on a side of the image forming apparatus, and the moving means moves the discharge tray up and down.
According to the second aspect of the invention, since the discharge tray can be moved up and down by the moving means, sheets can be received by the discharge tray in a stacked manner and with aligning the ends. Furthermore, it is possible to increase the number of sheets which can be housed.
In a third aspect of the invention, the image forming apparatus is characterized in that a plurality of discharge trays are disposed.
According to the third aspect of the invention, sheets can be received by the plurality of discharge trays. Therefore, sheets can be received by the plurality of discharge trays with being sorted, irrespective of the conditions that the sheets are discharged with directing their front faces upward or downward.
In a fourth aspect of the invention, the image forming apparatus further comprises:
an arm member which is supported by an axis at a position higher than the discharge port of the first conveying path disposed at a position higher than the discharge port of the second conveying path, and which abuts against an upper face of a sheet placed on the discharge tray;
a first sensor for detecting the arm member abutting against an upper face of a sheet discharged from the discharge port of the first conveying path; and
a second sensor which detects the arm member abutting against an upper face of a sheet discharged from the discharge port of the second conveying path,
wherein the moving means, when a sheet is discharged from the discharge port of the first conveying path, moves the discharge tray to a position where the arm member is detected by the first sensor, and
when a sheet is discharged from the discharge port of the second conveying path, moves the discharge tray to a position where the arm member is detected by the second sensor.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, when a sheet is discharged from the discharge port of
Horiuchi Toshihiro
Nanba Toyoaki
Ellis Christopher P.
Mackey Patrick
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
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