Sheet discharging apparatus and image forming apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorKazushi Ino
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The sheet discharging apparatus for discharging sheets to a stacking portion by a discharging portion, including an opening/closing member openable and closable with respect to a main body of the apparatus; a lever member rotatably provided on the opening/closing member above the stacking portion and capable of taking a suspended posture by an own weight of the lever member in a position where the opening/closing member is closed; and a delay mechanism which delays a rotation of the lever member toward the suspended posture caused by the own weight of the lever member, when the opening/closing member is shifted from an open position to a closed position. It can be prevented from being caught by the sheet when the upper cover is opened and closed.
Claims18
A sheet discharging apparatus which discharges sheets to a stacking portion by a discharging portion, comprising:
- an opening/closing member openable and closable with respect to a main body of said apparatus;
- a lever member rotatably provided on said opening/closing member above the stacking portion and taking a suspended posture by its own weight according to said opening/closing member being closed;
- and
- a delay mechanism which delays a rotation of said lever member toward the suspended posture caused by the own weight of said lever member, by applying a biasing force in response to said opening/closing member being shifted from an open position to a completely closed position, wherein the biasing force is continuously applied by the delay mechanism to the lever member in a closing operation between the open position and the completely closed position.
An image forming apparatus which forms an image on a sheet and discharges the sheet, comprising:
- an image forming portion which forms an image on a sheet;
- and
- a sheet discharging apparatus which discharges sheets to a stacking portion by a discharging portion, comprising:
- an opening/closing member openable and closable with respect to a main body of said image forming apparatus;
- a lever member rotatably provided on said opening/closing member above the stacking portion and taking a suspended posture by its own weight according to said opening/closing member being closed;
- and
- a delay mechanism which delays a rotation of said lever member toward the suspended posture caused by the own weight of said lever member, by applying a biasing force in response to said opening/closing member being shifted from an open position to a completely closed position, wherein the biasing force is continuously applied by the delay mechanism to the lever member in a closing operation between the open position and the completely closed position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.