Claims
- 1. A paper discharging device in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
a driving source; a rotary shaft rotating by the driving source; a hollow shaft into which the rotary shaft is slidably inserted, rotating in association with the rotary shaft and reciprocating on the rotary shaft; a driving shaft disposed at a predetermined distance from and in parallel to the rotary shaft, rotating in association with the rotary shaft; a driving gear installed on an end of the rotary shaft; a driven gear rotatably disposed at the driving shaft and engaged with the driving gear; an electrical clutch selectively transmitting a rotation power of the driven gear to the driving shaft; and a reciprocating portion reciprocating the hollow shaft in accordance with a rotation of the driving shaft.
- 2. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
a holding cam disposed at an end of the driving shaft; a pivoting lever contacting the holding cam to restrict the rotation of the driving shaft; and a spring biasing the pivoting lever toward the holding cam.
- 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the holding cam is in a shape of a wheel having a pair of cutaway surfaces at a pair of opposite sides symmetrical with respect to a rotational axis thereof.
- 4. The device of claim 2, further comprising a detector detecting the rotation of the driving shaft.
- 5. The device of claim 4, wherein the detector comprises:
a photo sensor having a light emitting portion emitting a light and a light receiving portion; and a sensing lever coaxially combined with the pivoting lever and rotating bilaterally in association with the pivoting lever so as to selectively block and permit transmission of light which is transmitted from the light emitting portion of the photo sensor to the light receiving portion of the photo sensor.
- 6. The device of claim 1, further comprising:
a guide slit formed in an inner circumference of the hollow shaft; and a rail formed on an outer circumference of the rotary shaft corresponding to the guide slit, whereby the hollow shaft rotates in association with the rotary shaft and reciprocates on the rotary shaft.
- 7. The device of claim 1, wherein the reciprocating portion comprises:
a guide block connected to the hollow shaft and connected to a guide rail at a lower side thereof, the guide block reciprocating along the guide rail so as to reciprocate the hollow shaft; a guide cam disposed at the driving shaft and having a guide groove formed on an outer circumference thereof; and a guide lever with one end hinged to an upper surface of the guide block and with the other end inserted into the guide groove.
- 8. The device of claim 7, wherein the guide groove is formed in a spiral pattern.
- 9. The device of claim 1, further comprising a rotary roller contacting an outer circumference of the hollow shaft to feed a sheet of paper.
- 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the hollow shaft reciprocates on the rotary shaft such that sheets of paper printed by the image forming apparatus are discharged and automatically classified in a zigzag fashion.
- 11. A paper discharging device in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
a driving source; a rotary shaft rotating by the driving source; a reciprocating portion rotating in association with the rotary shaft, having a cam rotating together with the reciprocating portion; and a hollow shaft inserted around the rotary shaft, rotating by the rotary shaft, reciprocating along an axial axis of the rotary shaft in a first position and a second position in response to the cam of the reciprocating portion, and discharging a sheet in either a first direction or a second direction different from the first direction.
- 12. The device of claim 11, wherein the hollow shaft guides the sheet to be discharged in the first direction when simultaneously rotating around the rotary shaft and moving from the first position to the second position and in the second direction when simultaneously rotating around the rotary shaft and moving from the second position to the first position along the axial axis of the rotary shaft.
- 13. The device of claim 11, wherein the hollow shaft moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft when the sheet is fed past the hollow shaft.
- 14. The device of claim 11, wherein the hollow shaft moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft before the sheet is fed past the hollow shaft.
- 15. The device of claim 11, wherein the hollow shaft discharges sheets in a zigzag fashion when alternatively discharging the sheets one by one in the first direction and the second direction.
- 16. The device of claim 15, wherein the hollow shaft moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft when each of the sheets is past the hollow shaft to be discharged.
- 17. The device of claim 15, wherein the hollow shaft moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft when the sheets are not past the hollow shaft.
- 18. The device of claim 11, wherein the first direction and the second direction are oblique with respect to a line perpendicular to the rotary shaft.
- 19. The device of claim 11, wherein one of the first direction and the second direction has an angle with respect to a line perpendicular to the rotary shaft.
- 20. The device of claim 11, wherein one of the first direction and the second direction is perpendicular to the axial axis of the rotary direction.
- 21. The device of claim 11, wherein the sheet is discharged in a third direction perpendicular to the axial axis of the rotary shaft when the hollow shaft does not move along the axial axis of the rotary shaft.
- 22. The device of claim 11, wherein the first direction and the second direction are on the same plane of the sheet to be discharged.
- 23. The device of claim 11, wherein the first direction is oblique at a positive angle to a central line of the sheet to be discharged while the second direction is oblique at a negative angle to the central line of the sheet to be discharged.
- 24. The device of claim 11, wherein the first position and the second position of the hollow shaft are on a coaxial direction of the rotary shaft.
- 25. The device of claim 11, further comprising a roller rotating together with the hollow shaft, moving along the axial axis of the rotary shaft together with the hollow shaft, and feeding the sheet to be discharged in the first direction when moving from the first position to the second position and in the second direction when moving from the second position to the first position along the axial axis of the rotary shaft.
- 26. The device of claim 11, wherein the reciprocating portion comprises a driving shaft selectively rotating in association with the rotary shaft, the cam formed around the driving shaft.
- 27. The device of claim 26, wherein the hollow shaft reciprocates by the cam of the driving shaft of the reciprocating portion.
- 28. The device of claim 26, wherein the driving shaft is parallel to the hollow shaft while the cam is disposed between the driving shaft and the hollow shaft.
- 29. The device of claim 26, further comprising a clutch portion disposed between the rotary shaft and the driving shaft to selectively connect the rotary shaft to the driving shaft.
- 30. The device of claim 29, wherein the clutch portion comprises:
a driving gear rotating by the rotary shaft; a driven gear rotating by the driving gear; and a clutch selectively connecting the driven gear to the driving shaft.
- 31. The device of claim 30, further comprising:
a holding cam formed on the driving shaft; a lever contacting the holding cam; and a spring biasing the lever against the holding cam.
- 32. The device of claim 31, further comprising a plurality of cutaway surfaces formed on opposite sides of the holding cam, wherein the lever contacts one of the cutaway surfaces of the holding cam when the clutch does not connect the driven gear to the driving shaft.
- 33. The device of claim 31, further comprising a sensor disposed to detect the lever contacting the one of the cutaway surfaces of the holding cam, wherein the sensor generates a signal controlling the rotary shaft to rotate and the reciprocating portion to reciprocate.
- 34. The device of claim 26, further comprising a guide disposed between the cam of the reciprocating portion and the hollow shaft to move the hollow shaft along the axial axis of the rotary shaft.
- 35. The device of claim 34, wherein the guide pivots to be engaged with the cam and the hollow shaft.
- 36. The device of claim 35, further comprising a guide rail and a guide block moving along the guide rail, wherein the guide is disposed on the guide block.
- 37. The device of claim 35, further comprising a guide groove formed on the cam wherein one end of the guide is coupled to the guide groove while another end of the guide is coupled to the hollow shaft.
- 38. A paper discharging device in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
a rotary shaft rotating by a driving source, having a rail formed on the rotary shaft along an axial direction; a reciprocating portion rotating in association with the rotary shaft; and a hollow shaft having a slit formed on the hollow shaft along the axial direction, inserted around the rotary shaft when the rail of the rotary shaft slides into the slit of the hollow shaft, having a roller coaxially rotating in association with the rotary shaft to discharge a sheet in a discharging direction perpendicular to the rotary shaft, reciprocating in the axial direction along the rotary shaft in association with the reciprocating portion, and simultaneously rotating and reciprocating to change the discharging direction of the sheet to an oblique direction with respect to the discharging direction.
- 39. The device of claim 33, wherein the oblique direction and the discharging direction are on the same plane as the sheet.
- 40. A paper discharging device in an image forming apparatus, comprising:
a discharging unit feeding a sheet along a feeding path and discharging the sheet outside the image forming apparatus in a discharging direction; and a shaft disposed on the discharging unit, rotating about an axial axis perpendicular to the feeding path to discharge a sheet, moving along the axial axis, contacting the sheet fed through the feeding path to change the discharging direction of the sheet to a direction oblique to the discharging direction when the shaft moves along the axial axis.
- 41. The device of claim 40, wherein the oblique direction is oblique at a positive angle or at a negative angle to the feeding path while the discharging direction is parallel to the feeding path.
- 42. The device of claim 40, wherein the shaft discharges sheets in a zigzag fashion by discharging the sheet in the discharging direction and the oblique direction.
- 43. A method in a paper discharging device of an image forming apparatus
rotating a rotary shaft; rotating a hollow shaft inserted around the rotary shaft; moving the hollow shaft along an axial axis of the rotary shaft in a first position and a second position; and discharging sheets in a first direction and a second direction when the hollow shaft moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft.
- 44. The method of claim 43, wherein the discharging of the sheets comprises discharging the sheets in a zigzag fashion.
- 45. The method of claim 43, wherein the hollow shaft simultaneously rotates and moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft between the first position and the second position.
- 46. The method of claim 43, further comprising selectively transmitting a rotation power of the rotary shaft to the hollow shaft to reciprocate the hollow shaft between the first position and the second position.
- 47. The method of claim 43, wherein the hollow shaft moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft when each of the sheets is fed past the hollow shaft.
- 48. The method of claim 43, wherein the hollow shaft moves along the axial axis of the rotary shaft when each of the sheets is not fed past the hollow shaft.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2001-59498 |
Sep 2001 |
KR |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean No. 2001-59498, filed Sep. 26, 2001, in the Korean Industrial Property office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.