The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. ยง 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-232351, filed on Nov. 30, 2016. The contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present disclosure relates to openable cover mechanisms and image forming apparatuses.
An existing openable cover mechanism includes an openable cover, a rotary shaft, a latching member, a pin, a guide groove, and a wall surface. The wall surface pivotably supports the rotary shaft. The rotary shaft supports a base end of the openable cover. The openable cover opens and closes around the rotary shaft. The latching member has a rectangular shape. A base end of the latching member is swingably supported by a top end of the openable cover. The pin is disposed in a tip of the latching member. The guide groove is formed in the wall surface. The openable cover has the pin which moves along a guide groove, and thus moves to an open or closed position. The guide groove is configured so that the openable cover does not move into the closed position by the weight thereof when the openable cover is in the open position.
An openable cover mechanism according to an aspect of the present disclosure is disposed on a casing. The openable cover mechanism includes a shaft section, a hinge section, a cover, and a stopper section. The shaft section is disposed in the casing. The hinge section swings around the shaft section. The cover is supported by the hinge section and is openable and closable relative to the casing. The stopper section is supported by the casing. The stopper section includes a contact section which moves toward the hinge section and makes contact therewith, and an urging section which urges the contact section toward the hinge section. The hinge section includes an arc-shaped first peripheral surface which makes contact with the contact section, and a raised section which is raised from the first peripheral surface. When the cover moves from a closed position to an open position, the contact section slides along the first peripheral surface relative to the first peripheral surface and engages with the raised section to fix the cover in the open position.
An image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes an image forming section, a casing, and the openable cover mechanism. The image forming section forms an image on a recording medium. The casing houses the image forming section. The openable cover mechanism is disposed on the casing.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the following embodiments. Note that within the drawings, same or equivalent sections are referred to with the same reference numbers and descriptions thereof are not repeated.
The image forming apparatus 1 includes a casing 2, an image forming section 3, a fixing section 4, an openable cover mechanism 5, a paper feed section 6, an ejection section 7, and an operating panel 8. The casing 2 has an approximately rectangular parallelepiped box shape. The casing 2 houses the image forming section 3, the fixing section 4, and the paper feed section 6. The casing 2 supports the openable cover mechanism 5. In the present embodiment, the openable cover mechanism 5 is disposed on an upper end of the casing 2. The openable cover mechanism 5 includes a cover 51 that is openable and closable relative to the casing 2.
The operating panel 8 is arranged on an upper surface of the cover 51. The operating panel 8 includes a display section 81 and an operation section 82. The display section 81 is, for example, a liquid-crystal display with a touch panel function. The liquid-crystal display displays a state of the image forming apparatus 1 and various messages. The liquid-crystal display also displays a function setting screen and soft keys for executing character input and the like.
The operation section 82 has a start key and hard keys in the form of a numeric keypad. A user, for example, indicates an execution start of respective functions in the image forming apparatus 1 via the start key. The user also, for example, inputs the number of copies for printing and the like to the image forming apparatus 1 via the numeric keypad.
In
The paper feed section 6 is arranged in a lower portion of the casing 2. The paper feed section 6 includes a paper feed cassette 60 and a paper feed roller 64. The paper feed cassette 60 can house multiple sheets of paper T. The paper feed roller 64 retrieves an uppermost sheet of the paper T one at a time. The retrieved paper T is conveyed toward the image forming section 3.
The paper T is an example of a recording medium according to an aspect of the present disclosure. The paper T is plain paper, copy paper, recycled paper, thin paper, thick paper, glossy paper, or overhead projector (OHP) transparency, for example. The paper T is conveyed from the paper feed section 6 to the ejection section 7 along a predetermined paper conveyance path.
The image forming section 3 forms a toner image on the paper T. The image forming section 3 is arranged downstream from the paper feed section 6 on the paper conveyance path. The image forming section 3 includes a photosensitive drum 31, a charger 32, an exposure section 33, a development section 34, and a transfer section 35.
The charger 32 charges the photosensitive drum 31 to a predetermined potential. Based on image data, the exposure section 33 outputs a laser beam toward the photosensitive drum 31. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripheral surface of the charged photosensitive drum 31. The development section 34 provides toner to the photosensitive drum 31 and develops the electrostatic latent image. As a result, a toner image is formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 31. The transfer section 35 transfers the toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 31 to the paper T.
The fixing section 4 is arranged downstream from the image forming section 3 on the paper conveyance path. The fixing section 4 applies heat and pressure to the paper T with the toner image transferred thereon, thereby fixing the toner image to the paper T. The paper T with the toner image fixed thereon is then ejected by the ejection section 7.
Next, the openable cover mechanism 5 will be described with reference to
The openable cover mechanism 5 further includes a support section 52. The cover 51 is held fast to the casing 2 via the support section 52. The casing 2 rotatably supports the cover 51 via the support section 52. The support section 52 supports a base end of the cover 51. The base end of the cover 51 is a rear end of the cover 51 when the cover 51 is in the closed position P1. The cover 51 is openable and closable in the up-and-down direction pivoting on the base end (rear end) thereof. That is, the up-and-down direction is a direction in which the cover 51 moves between the closed and open positions P1 and P2.
The cover 51 closes an opening 21 of the casing 2 when in the closed position P1. The cover 51 also opens the opening 21 of the casing 2 toward the outside when in the open position P2. The user or a worker such as a service person, for example, opens and closes the cover 51. The cover 51 is moved from the closed position P1 to the open position P2 during maintenance such as removing a paper jam, for example.
Next, the openable cover mechanism 5 will be further described with reference to
The hinge section 53 connects to the base end (rear end) of the cover 51 and extends therefrom. The hinge section 53 has a bent shape when viewed from a side. In the present embodiment, the hinge section 53 has an approximate L-shape when viewed from the side. The hinge section 53 includes a curved portion 56 and a protrusion 57. The curved portion 56 curves and extends from the base end (rear end) of the cover 51 to a bent position on the hinge section 53. The protrusion 57 protrudes from the bent position on the hinge section 53 toward the inside of the curved portion 56.
The curved portion 56 of the hinge section 53 has an arc shape bulging toward the outside, with the shaft section 54 as a center thereof when viewed from the side. In other words, the curved portion 56 bulges toward the front of the image forming apparatus 1 when the cover 51 is in the open position P2. Note that the hinge section 53 and the cover 51 together can be one element.
The shaft section 54 supports a tip of the protrusion 57 of the hinge section 53. The shaft section 54 extends in the left-right direction of the image forming apparatus 1 and is pivotably supported by the casing 2. The shaft section 54 is also swingably supported relative to the casing 2. Furthermore, the hinge section 53 is swingably supported relative to the casing 2 via the shaft section 54. As a result, the cover 51 opens and closes relative to the casing 2. Note that the shaft section 54 may be fixed to the casing 2. In such a configuration, the shaft section 54 swingably supports the protrusion 57 of the hinge section 53.
The hinge section 53 includes a peripheral surface 53a. The peripheral surface 53a is an example of a first peripheral surface according to an aspect of the present disclosure. The peripheral surface 53a constitutes an outer surface in a radial direction of the curved portion 56 of the hinge section 53 when viewed from the side.
The hinge section 53 further includes a raised section 53b. The raised section 53b is disposed on the peripheral surface 53a. In detail, the raised section 53b protrudes from the peripheral surface 53a near a tip of the curved portion 56 of the hinge section 53.
The raised section 53b includes first and second raised surfaces S1 and S2. The first raised surface S1 is located away from the cover 51 on the first peripheral surface 53a. In other words, the first raised surface S1 is on an opposite side from the cover 51. That is to say, the first raised surface S1 is located closer to the tip of the curved portion 56 of the hinge section 53 (base end of the protrusion 57) than the second raised surface S2. The second raised surface S2 is located closer to the cover 51 than the first raised surface S1 on the first peripheral surface 53a. In other words, the second raised surface S2 is on a same side as the cover 51. That is to say, the second raised surface S2 is located closer to a base end of the curved portion 56 of the hinge section 53 (rear end of the cover 51) than the first raised surface S1. In the present embodiment, the raised section 53b has an approximate triangle shape when viewed from the side. The first raised surface S1 constitutes a slanting surface near the tip of the curved portion 56 of the hinge section 53, in the raised section 53b. The second raised surface S2 constitutes a slanting surface near the base end of the curved portion 56 of the hinge section 53, in the raised section 53b. A slanting angle of the first raised surface S1 relative to the peripheral surface 53a is larger than a slanting angle of the second raised surface S2 relative to the peripheral surface 53a. Note that the peripheral surface 53a and the raised section 53b together can be one element.
The stopper section 55 includes a contact section 55a and an urging section 55b. The casing 2 supports the contact section 55a so that the contact section 55a is movable toward the hinge section 53. The contact section 55a has a first contact surface S3 extending in the front-back direction, a second contact surface S4 extending in the up-and-down direction, and an arc surface S5 smoothly connecting the first contact surface S3 and the second contact surface S4.
The casing 2 supports the urging section 55b so that the urging section 55b urges the contact section 55a toward the hinge section 53. The urging section 55b is an elastic object such as a spring.
Next, an opening and closing operation of the cover 51 will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The arc surface S5 of the contact section 55a slides along the second raised surface S2 of the hinge section 53 relative to the second raised surface S2 after sliding along the peripheral surface 53a of the hinge section 53 relative to the peripheral surface 53a when the cover 51 moves from the closed position P1 to the open position P2. At this time, urging force of the urging section 55b increases and burden for the worker when moving the cover 51 from the closed position P1 to the open position P2 slightly increases. As a result, the worker can know that the cover 51 is about to reach the open position P2 by feeling a change in the operation of the cover 51.
Next, the arc surface S5 of the contact section 55a separates from the second raised surface S2 when the cover 51 moves from the closed position P1 to the open position P2, and the contact section 55a collides with the peripheral surface 53a of the hinge section 53 from the urging force of the urging section 55b. The worker can accordingly be given a clicking sensation. As a result, the worker can know that the cover 51 has reached the open position P2 by the addition of the clicking sensation to the feeling of the operation of the cover 51.
The first contact surface S3 of the contact section 55a also makes contact with the first raised surface S1 as the cover 51 moves from the closed position P1 to the open position P2, and the contact section 55a and the raised section 53b engage with each other. As a result, movement from the open position P2 to the closed position P1 due to the weight of the cover 51 is inhibited, and the cover 51 is fixed in the open position P2.
In the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the cover 51 can be fixed in the open position P2 without a wall surface having a guide groove formed therein disposed in the cover 51. The openable cover mechanism 5 can accordingly be disposed on the casing 2 through a simple configuration, without harming the outer appearance of the image forming apparatus 1.
Also in the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the urging section 55b urges the cover 51 toward the open position P2 via the contact section 55a when the arc surface S5 of the contact section 55a separates from the second raised surface S2 of the raised section 53b. The burden for the worker when opening the cover 51 accordingly decreases. As a result, the worker can know that the cover 51 has reached the open position P2 by feeling a change in the operation of the cover 51.
Next, a configuration including a plurality of raised sections 53b will be described with reference to
The hinge section 53 includes a plurality of raised sections 53b arranged in the left-right width direction of the peripheral surface 53a. Stress when the raised sections 53b and the contact section 55a make contact with each other can be dispersed in the left-right width direction of the contact section 55a through the plurality of raised sections 53b. As a result, early abrasion of the raised sections 53b and the contact section 55a can be inhibited by the mutual sliding of the contact section 55a and the raised sections 53b.
The image forming apparatus 1 according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
A curvature radius of the peripheral surface S6 enlarges toward the second raised surface S2 from the first raised surface S1. The urging force with which the urging section 55b urges the contact section 55a accordingly increases when the contact section 55a slides along the peripheral surface S6 relative to the peripheral surface S6 from the first raised surface S1 toward the second raised surface S2. As a result, movement from the open position P2 to the closed position P1 due to the weight of the cover 51 can be inhibited. The cover 51 is also urged toward the open position P2 by the urging section 55b after the contact section 55a has passed the second raised surface S2 when the cover 51 moves from the closed position P1 to the open position P2. As a result, the burden for the worker when opening the cover 51 can decrease.
The image forming apparatus 1 according to the first and second embodiments of the present disclosure is previously described with reference to
For example, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the hinge section 53 includes one raised section 53b in a circumferential direction on the peripheral surface 53a, but the present disclosure is not limited hereto. The hinge section 53 may also include a plurality of raised sections 53b in the circumferential direction on the peripheral surface 53a.
The hinge section 53 according to another embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
The hinge section 53 illustrated in
Note that the respective drawings are schematic illustrations that emphasize elements of configuration in order to facilitate understanding thereof. Dimensions such as thickness and length of each of the elements in the drawings may differ from the actual dimensions thereof for the convenience of drawing preparation. Also note that shapes and the like, described for each of the elements of configuration in the above embodiments, are only examples and are not intended to impose any particular limitations on the elements and can be altered in various ways to the extent that there is no substantial deviation from the effects of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-232351 | Nov 2016 | JP | national |