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US 7,396,174 B2Granted
Recording medium supply device and image forming device
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorMakoto Hattori
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A coil spring 103 is wound around a rotational shaft 15 with its one end portion 103a being inserted into an engagement groove 100a formed in a side wall of a direct-coupled gear 100 and with its other end portion 103b being inserted in an engagement groove 93a provided in a front wall 93 of a paper cassette 6. The elastic force generated by the coil spring 103 functions as a pressing force for restraining the torque of the rotational shaft 15 that is generated by the driving force from a DC motor 70. The amount of the elastic force increases as the height of a paper pressing plate 8 increases. Accordingly, a variation in the height of the topmost sheet 3, which will possibly occur due to changes in the amount of recording medium 3 placed on a mounting plate 8, can be restrained.
Claims17
A recording medium supply device for supplying a recording medium to a main body of an image forming device so as to allow the image forming device to form an image on the recording medium, the recording medium supply device comprising:
- a supply device casing;
- a mounting plate that is supported in the supply device casing and that receives a recording medium in a stack thereon, at least a part of the mounting plate being movable vertically with respect to the supply device casing;
- a lifting member that converts a driving force generated by a drive motor into an upward force to cause at least a part of the mounting plate to rise upwardly, thereby raising a topmost recording medium placed on the mounting plate to reach a predetermined target height;
- a pressing member that applies at least one of the mounting plate and the lifting member with a pressing force against the upward force applied on the mounting plate, the strength of the pressing force increasing as the at least a part of the mounting plate rises,
- wherein the lifting member includes:
- a transmission mechanism having a gear that converts the driving force from the drive motor into a first rotational force to rotate in a predetermined first rotational direction;
- a rotational shaft that is provided in the supply device casing and that rotates in the predetermined first rotational direction by the first rotational force;
- and
- a L-shaped member that is provided on the rotational shaft and that pivots about the center of the rotational shaft in accordance with the rotation of the rotational shaft in the first rotational direction, to thereby come into contact with the mounting plate from below and push the mounting plate upward,
- wherein the pressing member includes an elastic member that deforms elastically against the first rotational force of the gear to generate an elastic force as the pressing force, and
- wherein the gear includes a direct-coupled gear that rotates integrally with the rotational shaft, the elastic member deforming elastically in abutment contact with the direct-coupled gear when the direct-coupled gear rotates integrally with the rotational shaft in the first rotational direction.
8 more elements
A recording medium supply device for supplying a recording medium to a main body of an image forming device so as to allow the image forming device to form an image on the recording medium, the recording medium supply device comprising:
- a supply device casing;
- a mounting plate that is supported in the supply device casing and that receives a recording medium in a stack thereon, at least a part of the mounting plate being movable vertically with respect to the supply device casing;
- a lifting member that converts a driving force generated by a drive motor into an upward force to cause at least a part of the mounting plate to rise upwardly, thereby raising a topmost recording medium placed on the mounting plate to reach a predetermined target height;
- a pressing member that applies at least one of the mounting plate and the lifting member with a pressing force against the upward force applied on the mounting plate, a sum of the total weight of the recording medium and the pressing force being unchanged regardless of changes in the total weight of the recording medium placed on the mounting plate when a height, at which the topmost recording medium is positioned, is unchanged,
- wherein the lifting member includes:
- a transmission mechanism having a gear that converts the driving force from the drive motor into a first rotational force to rotate in a predetermined first rotational direction;
- a rotational shaft that is provided in the supply device casing and that rotates in the predetermined first rotational direction by the first rotational force;
- and
- a L-shaped member that is provided on the rotational shaft and that pivots about the center of the rotational shaft in accordance with the rotation of the rotational shaft in the first rotational direction, to thereby come into contact with the mounting plate from below and push the mounting plate upward,
- wherein the pressing member includes an elastic member that deforms elastically against the first rotational force of the gear to generate an elastic force as the pressing force, and
- wherein the gear includes a direct-coupled gear that rotates integrally with the rotational shaft, the elastic member deforming elastically in abutment contact with the direct-coupled gear when the direct-coupled gear rotates integrally with the rotational shaft in the first rotational direction.
8 more elements
An image forming device, comprising:
- a main unit that forms an image on a recording medium;
- a recording medium supply device that supplies the recording medium to the main unit, the recording medium supply device including:
- a supply device casing;
- a mounting plate that is supported in the supply device casing and that receives a recording medium in a stack thereon, at least a part of the mounting plate being movable vertically with respect to the supply device casing;
- a lifting member that converts a driving force generated by a drive motor into an upward force to cause at least a part of the mounting plate to rise upwardly, thereby raising a topmost recording medium placed on the mounting plate to reach a predetermined target height;
- and
- a pressing member that applies at least one of the mounting plate and the lifting member with a pressing force against the upward force applied on the mounting plate, the strength of the pressing force increasing as the at least a part of the mounting plate rises,
- wherein the drive motor is provided in either one of the main unit and the recording medium supply device, the drive motor generating a driving force,
- wherein a control device is provided in either one of the main unit and the recording medium supply device, the control device controlling the drive motor to stop generating the driving force when the topmost recording medium placed on the mounting plate reaches the predetermined target height,
- wherein the lifting member includes:
- a transmission mechanism having a gear that converts the driving force from the drive motor into a first rotational force to rotate in a predetermined first rotational direction;
- a rotational shaft that is provided in the supply device casing and that rotates in the predetermined first rotational direction by the first rotational force;
- and
- a L-shaped member that is provided on the rotational shaft and that pivots about the center of the rotational shaft in accordance with the rotation of the rotational shaft in the first rotational direction, to thereby come into contact with the mounting plate from below and push the mounting plate upward,
- wherein the pressing member includes an elastic member that deforms elastically against the first rotational force of the gear to generate an elastic force as the pressing force, and
- wherein the gear includes a direct-coupled gear that rotates integrally with the rotational shaft, the elastic member deforming elastically in abutment contact with the direct-coupled gear when the direct-coupled gear rotates integrally with the rotational shaft in the first rotational direction.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.