JPH09278261A - Discharged paper tray - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate inconveniences caused by the curling of a recording paper sheet by forming a section composed of a lateral part in which ribs are continuously formed to be projected from the upper position of the upstream side of a paper discharging direction to a lateral direction and a slope part inclined downward and providing a step part formed to be lower by one stage between the lateral part and the slope part. SOLUTION: A discharged paper tray is composed of a lateral part in which ribs 49, 52, 53 and 56 different in height are continuously formed to be slightly projected from the upper position of a vertical part 45 to a lateral direction, a slope part inclined downward on a curve and a step part formed by forming a connecting part between the lateral part and the slope part lower by one stage. Step parts 49c, 52c, 53c and 56c are formed in positions in which the end of a recording paper sheet 12 stays when the tip thereof is brought into contact with a paper discharge stopper 58. Lateral parts 49a, 52a, 53a and 56a are for guiding a recording paper sheet to be discharged next to a pressing member 51 in the tip of the recording paper sheet 12 such that the tip of the next recording paper sheet is prevented from being brought into contact with the rear end of the recording paper sheet 12. Thus, inconveniences such as paper jamming or the like are surely eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper discharge tray for receiving recording paper used in printers, copying machines, facsimiles and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a color thermosensitive printer, a color thermosensitive recording paper in which at least three kinds of thermosensitive coloring layers such as a cyan thermosensitive coloring layer, a magenta thermosensitive coloring layer and a yellow thermosensitive coloring layer are sequentially laminated on a support. A reciprocating system is known in which a full-color image is printed in the recording area in a three-color frame sequence by reciprocating.

In this color thermal printer, the color thermal recording paper is reciprocated by a pair of conveying rollers, which are arranged beside the thermal head and are composed of an upper nip roller and a lower capstan roller, when printing. While the color thermosensitive recording paper is moving, the thermal head is shifted to the recording position, and the color thermosensitive recording paper is heated while being pressed against the color thermosensitive recording paper between the platen roller and the color thermosensitive recording paper to record color images. After the image recording, the color thermosensitive recording paper is conveyed to the discharge port, and is discharged with the recording surface upward on the discharge tray set in the discharge port.

[0004]

However, since the recording paper discharged from the above-mentioned printer is heated by the thermal head, a curl occurs in which the central portion of the recording surface along the longitudinal direction floats. When the recording paper is curled, when a large number of prints are made, there is a drawback that the recording paper is stuck on the discharge tray and cannot be stacked. Moreover, the leading edge of the next ejected recording paper is caught in the trailing edge of the previously ejected recording paper due to curl, causing a paper jam, or the previously ejected recording paper is pushed out of the ejection tray. There was a risk of problems such as being lost.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper discharge tray which eliminates the problems caused by curling of recording paper.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the paper discharge tray according to claim 1, a horizontal portion is formed so as to extend horizontally from an upper position on the upstream side in the paper discharge direction. The cross-sectional shape is composed of a slope portion that is inclined downward, and a step portion that is formed one step lower is provided between the horizontal portion and the slope portion. According to this, since the curled recording paper follows the inclined surface portion after a predetermined time, it is possible to stack them in close contact. Further, since the step portion is provided between the horizontal portion and the inclined surface portion, it is possible to prevent the leading edge of the next discharged recording sheet from coming into contact with the trailing edge of the previously discharged recording sheet. Further, in the paper discharge tray according to the second aspect, since the elastic pressing member is provided, the curling of the recording paper can be suppressed by the pressing rib.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 2 showing an outline of the inside of a color thermal printer 9, a color thermal recording paper 12 sent out from a paper feeding cassette 11 by a paper feeding roller 10 passes through a guide plate 13 along a vertical direction. Be transported. A platen roller 14 and a thermal head 15 are arranged to face each other in this conveyance path, and a conveyance roller pair 16 is arranged above them.
Is arranged. The paper feed cassette 11 is prepared according to the size of the color thermosensitive recording paper, and is replaced according to the size of the recorded image.

The color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is fed between the platen roller 14 and the thermal head 15,
It is nipped by the conveying roller pair 16. Transport roller pair 16
Is provided at a position where the front end of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is nipped when the rear end of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 comes off the paper feed roller 10.

The nip roller 17 of the conveying roller pair 16 is movable in a direction orthogonal to the conveying path.
When the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is conveyed, it is moved toward the capstan roller 18, and the capstan roller 18 is moved.
The color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is sandwiched between and. Simultaneously with the movement of the nip roller 17, the thermal head 15 moves the shaft 2
It rotates clockwise around 0 to press the heating element 15a against the color thermosensitive recording paper 12. Color thermal recording paper 12
Are conveyed in the forward and reverse directions by the drive rotation of the capstan roller 18. The platen roller 14 is rotatably arranged around a shaft 22 and is rotated by the transfer of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12.

As is well known, the thermal head 15 has a large number of heating elements 15a arranged in a line in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12, and each heating element 15a has a color and a pixel to be recorded. Generates heat energy according to the concentration of.

The color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is, as is well known,
On a support, a cyan thermosensitive coloring layer, a magenta thermosensitive coloring layer, a yellow thermosensitive coloring layer, and a protective layer are sequentially provided. Each of these thermosensitive coloring layers is provided from the surface in the order of thermal recording. For example, when thermal recording is performed in the order of magenta, yellow, and cyan, the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer and the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer are combined. The positions are swapped. As the support, an opaque coated paper or a plastic film is used, and when an OHP sheet is manufactured, a transparent plastic film is used.

The cyan thermosensitive coloring layer contains an electron-donating dye precursor and an electron-accepting compound as main components, and develops cyan when heated. The magenta thermosensitive coloring layer contains a diazonium salt compound having a maximum absorption wavelength of about 365 nm, and a coupler which reacts with the diazonium salt compound to develop magenta. When this magenta thermosensitive coloring layer is irradiated with ultraviolet light near 365 nm after thermal recording, the diazonium salt compound is photolyzed and loses its coloring ability. The yellow thermosensitive coloring layer contains a diazonium salt compound having a maximum absorption wavelength of about 420 nm, and a coupler that thermally reacts with the diazonium salt compound to develop yellow. When the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer is irradiated with ultraviolet rays near 420 nm, it is light-fixed and loses its coloring ability.

An optical fixing device 30 for yellow is provided on the downstream side of the feed roller pair 16 in the forward direction (upward direction in the drawing).
Is arranged. The yellow optical fixing device 30 includes a yellow ultraviolet lamp 31 and a reflector 32. A magenta optical fixing device 33 is arranged side by side on the downstream side of the yellow optical fixing device 30. The magenta optical fixing device 33 includes a magenta ultraviolet lamp 34 and a reflector 35.

The yellow ultraviolet lamp 31 radiates ultraviolet rays having an emission peak of about 420 nm to optically fix the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer, and the magenta ultraviolet lamp 34 emits ultraviolet rays having an emission peak of about 365 nm to generate magenta thermosensitive coloring. Perform optical fixing of the layer.

A discharge roller pair 38 is arranged downstream of the magenta optical fixing device 33. Ejection roller pair 38
Is provided on the downstream side of the intermediate guide plate 39, which serves as a passage for the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 between the optical fixing device 33 for magenta and. The intermediate guide plate 39 has a shape in which the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is horizontally conveyed again toward the paper feeding cassette 11 with the recording surface facing upward.

After recording the full-color image, the discharge roller pair 38 nips the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 and conveys it to the discharge port 40 arranged above the paper feed cassette 11. The discharge port 40 is provided at a position lower than the discharge roller pair 38 so that the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 can be smoothly discharged, and a discharge guide plate 41 is provided between them. The discharge port 40 is provided with a recess 40a for setting the discharge tray 43. Output tray 43
In this case, a predetermined number of color thermosensitive recording papers 12 discharged along the paper discharge direction regulated by the discharge guide plate 41 can be stacked.

As shown in FIG. 1, the discharge tray 43 has a tray main body 46 having an L-shaped cross section composed of a vertical portion 44 and a horizontal portion 45 serving as a receiving surface of the recording paper 12, and a width direction of the tray main body 46. Both side plates 47, 48 erected on both sides, a plurality of ribs 49 to 56 projecting from the horizontal portion 44 of the tray body 46,
And the pressing member 57 and the like, and the vertical portion 45
Is set to face the inside of the recess 40a.

The tray main body 46 has a width larger than the maximum size of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 and a length in the paper discharge direction slightly shorter than that of the maximum size recording paper 1.
A paper discharge stopper 58 is provided between the ribs 49, 50 at some locations and is movable along the paper discharge direction. Scales 58a to 58d corresponding to the size of the recording paper 12 in the paper discharge direction are displayed on the paper discharge stopper 58. This scale 58
By aligning a to 58d with the mark 59 displayed on the tray main body 46, the leading end of the recording paper 12 in the paper discharge direction is stopped, and any size of the recording paper 12 can be aligned and accumulated on the tray main body 46. it can. In addition, in the horizontal portion 44,
A notch 60 is formed so as to grasp the recording sheets 12 accumulated from the outside all at once.

Eight ribs 49 to 56 are provided on the horizontal portion 44 at a predetermined interval, and each of them is continuously extended along the paper discharge direction with a narrow width. Of these, the center two ribs 52,
The height of 53 and the two ribs 49, 56 on both sides in the width direction is different from that of the other ribs 50, 51, 54, 55. The ribs 49, 52, 53, 56 having different heights horizontally extend from the upper position of the vertical portion 45 along the horizontal direction to slightly extend horizontal portions 49a, 52a, 53a, 56a, and are inclined in a curved shape downward. Sloped portions 49b, 52b, 53b, 5
6b, these horizontal parts 49a, 52a, 53a, 56a
And step portions 49c, 52c, 53 formed by lowering the connecting portion between the inclined surface portions 49b, 52b, 53b, 56b by one step.
The cross-sectional shape is composed of c and 56c.

Slopes 49a, 52a, 53a, 56a
Is curved according to the curl generated on the recording paper 12 on which the image is recorded. Step portion 49c, 52
The c, 53c, and 56c are formed at positions where the trailing ends of the curled recording paper 12 settle down when the leading ends of the recording paper 12 come into contact with the paper discharge stopper 58. Horizontal parts 49a, 52a, 53
The a and 56a guide the leading end of the recording paper 12 ejected first toward the pressing member 57 so that the leading end of the recording paper 12 ejected next does not come into contact with the trailing end of the recording paper 12.

The pressing member 57 is formed by bending one elastic wire into a substantially U-shape. As shown in FIG. 3, the substantially U-shaped open side ends 57a and 57b are slightly formed. Bent inward. These both ends 57a, 57
b is rotatably attached to the mounting holes 46a and 46b (see FIG. 4) provided outside the ribs 49 and 56 of the tray body 46 and near the vertical portion 45. At both ends of the U-shaped closed side, rising portions 57c and 57d that are respectively bent upward are provided.

A pressing portion 57e is provided between the rising portions 57c and 57d. The pressing portion 57e is formed by bending the center in a "dogleg" shape toward the upstream side in the paper discharge direction at a height position that allows the recording paper 12 to pass therethrough. As described above, the sheet is inclined at an angle along the paper discharge direction (direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 4). The pressing portion 57d is bent in U-shape on both sides and connected to the rising portions 57c and 57d, respectively, in order to suppress the floating of the central portion of the recording paper 12 which has been strongly curled by the spring property. The rising portions 57c, 57
In order to pass the width of the recording paper 12 of the maximum size, d is raised from the position where it spreads outward.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.
First, the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 suitable for the size of the recorded image 12
Is selected, and the paper feed cassette 11 accumulating the recording papers 12 of this size is set. Next, the paper discharge tray 43 is set inside the recess 40 a of the discharge port 40. At this time, the paper discharge stopper 58 is moved according to the size of the recording paper 12 to be used. As a result, in the paper discharge tray 43, the slopes 49a, 52a, 53a, 56a of the ribs 49, 52, 53, 56 are located below the discharge port 40, and the pressing member 57 is located at a position along the paper discharge direction. The pressing portion 57e of is positioned.

When a plurality of prints are set and printing is started, the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 at the top of the paper feed cassette 11 is sent out along the guide plate 13 by the paper feed roller 10 to the conveying roller pair 16. It is transported toward. When the leading end of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is fed between the nip roller 17 and the capsten roller 18 of the conveying roller pair 16, the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is sandwiched between them. At the same time, the thermal head 15
The heating element 15a is rotated clockwise about the mounting shaft 20.
Presses the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 on the platen roller 14.

The color thermosensitive recording paper 12 has a pair of conveying rollers.
It is conveyed in the forward direction by the forward rotation drive of No. 6. In this state, since the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is transported upward, the platen roller 14 rotates clockwise about the shaft 22. When the leading edge of the recording area reaches the heating element 15a during the conveyance of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12, each heating element 15a generates heat energy corresponding to each pixel of the yellow image to form a yellow image on the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer. Record heat one line at a time. Each heating element 15a is
When recording each pixel, the bias thermal energy for bringing the yellow thermosensitive coloring layer into a state just before coloring and the gradation expression thermal energy according to the coloring density are recorded on the color thermosensitive recording paper 1.
Give to 2.

During yellow thermal recording, the yellow ultraviolet lamp 31 is turned on. The 420 nm ultraviolet light emitted from the yellow ultraviolet lamp 31 is reflected by the inner surface of the reflector 32 and illuminates the color thermosensitive recording paper 12. Since the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is fed at a constant speed, each portion in the recording area is irradiated with a constant amount of light so that the yellow thermosensitive recording layer 12 does not develop yellow during thermal recording of the next magenta thermosensitive coloring layer. The coloring layer is fixed.

When the last line of the recording area of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is recorded, the driving of the thermal head 15 is stopped. At the same time, the thermal head 15 rotates counterclockwise around the shaft 20 to release the pressure on the color thermosensitive recording paper 12. At this time, since the pair of conveying rollers 16 is continuously rotating, yellow fixing by the fixing device 30 is continuing. Then, when the rear end of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is in a state of being nipped by the pair of conveying rollers 16,
The conveying roller pair 16 is stopped, and at the same time, the yellow ultraviolet lamp 31 is turned off.

After the conveying roller pair 16 is once stopped, it is rotated in the reverse direction to convey the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 in the opposite direction. When the color thermal recording paper 12 is transported in the opposite direction,
The platen roller 14 rotates counterclockwise about the shaft 22. Then, when the front end of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is in a state where it is nipped by the pair of transport rollers 16, the pair of transport rollers 16 is temporarily stopped, and then positively rotated again,
The color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is conveyed in the forward direction.

Thereafter, when the thermal head 15 returns to the thermal recording position again at the same time as the rotation of the pair of conveying rollers 16 and reaches the head position of the recording area, the thermal head 15 causes the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer to generate thermal energy corresponding to the magenta image. To record heat. Further, the magenta ultraviolet lamp 34 is turned on in synchronization with this thermal recording.

With this magenta ultraviolet lamp 34,
The near-ultraviolet rays near about 365 nm are color thermosensitive recording paper 12
To fix the magenta thermosensitive coloring layer so that magenta does not develop during the subsequent thermal recording of the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer.

When the forward end of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is nipped by the conveying roller pair 16, the conveying roller pair 16
Stop / reverse is started. At the same time, the magenta ultraviolet lamp 34 is turned off, and the thermal head 15 is retracted.

The color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is returned until the rear end portion of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 in the opposite direction is nipped by the conveying roller pair 16, and then the conveying roller pair 16 is again rotated in the forward direction.
A cyan image is thermally recorded line by line on the cyan thermosensitive coloring layer by the thermal head 15.

When thermal recording is performed on all the thermosensitive coloring layers,
The transport roller pair 16 continues to rotate, and the color thermosensitive recording paper 12 is passed through the intermediate guide plate 39 and the discharge roller pair 38.
Send to The color thermosensitive recording paper 12 has a pair of discharge rollers 3.
After being nipped at 8, the sheet is ejected toward the sheet ejection guide plate 41 by the rotational driving of the sheet. Since an image is recorded on the upper surface of the color thermosensitive recording paper 12, both ends in the paper discharge direction are curled downward.

The curled recording paper 12 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the lifted central portion 12a is discharged while sliding on the upper surface of the discharge guide plate 41, and is discharged toward the holding portion 57e located on the extension line of the guide plate 41. At this time, since the lower surface of the discharge guide plate 41 is widened toward the end, the tip end 12c is lowered toward the lower surface of the discharge guide plate 41 due to the weight and surely slips under the pressing portion 57e.

Further, even if a strong curl occurs, this curl can be suppressed by the spring property of the pressing portion 57e, and the curl can be suppressed to a small amount. Further, even if both ends in the width direction of the recording paper 12 are lifted up, the central portion of the pressing portion 57e is bent in a V shape toward the upstream side in the paper discharge direction, so that the center of the recording paper 12 is formed. By entering under the bent tip of the “<” shape, the central portion 12a of the recording paper 12 is gradually pressed down, and curling in the width direction can also be suppressed. In addition, in the case of a curl having a concave central portion, the tip 12c may hit the pressing portion 57e, but the pressing member 57 rotates counterclockwise around the holes 46a and 46b and escapes. It is possible to prevent problems such as paper jams.

As the recording paper 12 is continuously discharged, the leading end 12c that has passed under the pressing portion 57e is fixed to each rib 49.
The paper is conveyed toward the paper discharge stopper 58 while being guided by ~ 56. From the discharge roller pair 38 to the trailing edge 1 of the recording paper 12.
When 2b is removed, the rear end 12b is pushed out toward the discharge port 40.

The recording paper 12 pushed out has slopes 49b, 52 of the ribs 49, 52, 53, 56 on the side of the leading end 12c.
It is pushed out while sliding along b, 53b, 56b, and the leading end 12c abuts the paper discharge stopper 58. At this time,
The rear end 12b falls from the horizontal portions 49a, 52a, 53a, 43a to the stepped portions 49c, 52c, 53c, 56c and fits in this position. As a result, as shown in FIG.
The curled recording paper 12 is mounted in a state in which the leading end 12c is in close contact with the ribs 49 to 56 of the portion having a uniform height, and the trailing end 12b is in contact with the slopes 49b, 52b, 53b, 56b.

The next recording sheet 12 ^'when the come is discharged, as shown in FIG. 5 (C), the distal end ^12' c is discharged while dive under the pressing portion 57e as described above. At this time, even if the leading end 12 ^′ c is discharged along the lower surface of the discharge guide plate 41 with the curl direction being reversed, since it is guided by hitting the pressing member 57 e, a problem such as paper jam does not occur.

As the recording papers 12 are sequentially ejected in this manner, the recording papers 12 are stacked in close contact with each other along the shapes of the ribs 49, 52, 53, 56 and aligned.
Since the stepped portions 49c, 52c, 53c, 56c are formed in consideration of the thickness of the recording sheets 12 corresponding to the number of stacked sheets,
It is possible to surely stack the curled recording papers 12 in the specified number on the paper discharge tray 43.

The color thermosensitive recording paper 1 having a small size is used.
Even in the case of using 2, the discharge is carried out along the two central ribs 52 and 53, so that the same effect as described above can be obtained.

In the above-described embodiment, the pressing member 57 is formed by bending a wire, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a resin having elasticity may be used. Further, although the discharge tray for the thermal printer is used, the present invention is not limited to this, and can also be adopted as a discharge tray for a copying machine that stacks copy sheets, a discharge tray for a facsimile, and the like.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the rib is provided with the inclined surface portion, curled recording papers are closely adhered and laminated along this shape, and a prescribed number of stocks can be secured. it can. Moreover, since the step portion is provided between the horizontal portion and the slope portion, the leading edge of the next discharged recording paper does not come into contact with the trailing edge of the recording paper discharged first, and the paper jam or the recording paper Problems such as pushing out of the receiving surface can be reliably eliminated. Further, in the paper discharge tray according to the second aspect, since the recording paper is pressed toward the rib by the pressing member, it is possible to suppress a strong curl generated immediately after recording, and it is possible to surely follow the cross-sectional shape of the rib. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a paper discharge tray of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a color thermal printer using a paper discharge tray.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a pressing member.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a paper discharge tray.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view sequentially showing a process in which recording paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Color thermal recording paper 14 Platen roller 15 Thermal head 16 Conveying roller pair 43 Discharging tray 49 to 56 Ribs 49a, 52a, 53a, 56a Horizontal part 49b, 52b, 53b, 56b Slope part 49c, 52c, 53c, 56c Step part 57 Holding member

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A discharge tray provided on a receiving surface of a rib, which is continuously provided along a paper discharge direction for discharging recording paper, wherein the rib is horizontally connected from an upper position on the upstream side in the paper discharge direction. It has a cross-sectional shape composed of a horizontal portion formed so as to extend and a slope portion inclined downward, and a step portion formed by being lowered by one step is provided between the horizontal portion and the slope portion. A paper ejection tray characterized in that 2. The discharge tray according to claim 1, further comprising an elastic pressing member that presses the recording paper toward the rib.