Image forming apparatus

Abstract

To reduce right-left widths of a housing of an image forming apparatus, compared to a case where an internal conveyance roll pair receiving first a sheet fed out from a first feeder and conveying the sheet and a manual conveyance roll pair receiving first a sheet fed out from a manual feeder and conveying the sheet are individually provided.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus comprises: a housing 10 that has right and left side faces; a manual tray 5 that projects from one side face 11 of the right and left side faces; a manual feeder 53 that feeds out a sheet 9D from the manual tray 5; a first sheet tray 4A that is arranged inside the housing 10, and faces one end 51b of the manual tray 5 and at least partially overlaps one end in a gravity direction; a first feeder 42A that feeds out a sheet 9A from the first sheet tray 4A; and a common conveyance roll pair 61 that is arranged inside the housing 10, and receives first both the sheet 9A fed out from the first feeder 42A and the sheet 9D fed out from the manual feeder 53 and conveys the sheets.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] The following Patent Document 1 describes an image forming apparatus having a paper transport device including a first transport means that clamps and transports paper, a first guide member that is provided upstream of the first transport means and guides the paper to the first transport means, a second guide member that is provided upstream of the first guide member and protrudes into the transport path beyond the guide surface of the first guide member, and a third guide member that is provided downstream of the first transport means and guides the paper transport direction in a different direction from the guiding direction of the first guide member. Patent document 1 also describes that in the above-mentioned paper transport device, a second transport means is provided downstream of the third guide member, on the outer periphery of the transport surface, and a roller is provided opposite the transport belt, thereby clamping and transporting the leading edge of the transported paper between the transport belt and the roller, and the first guide member is provided with vibration-damping members that reduce contact noise when the rear end of the paper comes into contact with the first guide member in the width direction, and the vibration-damping members are arranged only on both sides of the paper in the width direction.

[0003] The following Patent Document 2 describes a printing device that includes a paper feed mechanism in which an image is formed by an image forming unit on print paper that is transported on a transport path. Patent document 2 also describes that the paper feed mechanism includes three or more paper feed paths and a guide member that regulates the transport of paper in each paper feed path so that the merging points of the paper feed paths do not coincide, and that each of the paper feed paths has a widening section upstream of the guide member that slackens the printing paper being fed. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 4555253 (claims 1, 3, figure 1) [Patent Document 2] JP 2020-89910 A (Claim 1, Figure 1) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The problem that the present invention aims to solve is to narrow the left and right width of a housing in an image forming device that includes a manual feed tray protruding from one of the left and right sides of the housing, a manual feed output device that outputs paper from the manual feed tray, a first paper tray positioned inside the housing facing one end of the manual feed tray so as to overlap at least partially in the direction of gravity, and a first output device that outputs paper from the first paper tray.

[0006] To explain further, the above-mentioned object of the present invention is to narrow the left and right width of the housing in the above-mentioned image forming device compared to a case in which a pair of internal transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the first sending device and a pair of manual feed transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the manual feed sending device are provided individually. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The first aspect of the present invention is a housing having left and right sides; a manual feed tray protruding from one of the left and right sides; a manual feed device for feeding paper from the manual feed tray; a first paper tray disposed inside the housing and facing one end of the manual feed tray so as to overlap at least a portion of the manual feed tray in a gravity direction; a first paper feed device for feeding paper from the first paper tray; a common conveying roll pair disposed inside the housing, which first receives and conveys both the paper sent from the first sending device and the paper sent from the manual feeding device; The image forming apparatus includes:

[0008] A second aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the common transport roll pair is disposed between the first feeding device and the manual feeding device, diagonally upward from both the first feeding device and the manual feeding device, at a position where they join together.

[0009] A third aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the manual feed sending device is disposed so as to be present inside the housing. A fourth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the third aspect of the invention, wherein the first feeding device is positioned close enough to the manual feeding device to leave a distance equivalent to the left-right width of the common transport roll pair. A fifth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, wherein the first paper tray is configured as a tray for storing A3 size paper. A sixth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the manual feed tray is configured so that the inclination angle α of the storage surface that stores paper with respect to the horizontal line is 5°<α≦8°.

[0010] The seventh aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, The common transport roll pair is a pair of rolls that combines a driving transport roll that is driven to rotate and a driven transport roll that rotates in contact with the driving transport roll, and is an image forming device in which the driving transport roll is positioned on the left or right side farther away from one of the sides than the driven transport roll.

[0011] The eighth means of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the seventh invention, wherein the manual feed device has a drive feed roll that is driven to rotate and feed out paper, and a transport stop roll that contacts the drive feed roll and stops the transport of excess paper that is overlapped and transported by the drive feed roll, and the drive feed roll is positioned above the transport stop roll and close to the driven transport roll of the common transport roll pair. A ninth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the seventh aspect of the invention, wherein the first sending device is arranged in an adjacent position away from the one side of the common transport roll pair rather than directly below the common transport roll pair.

[0012] The tenth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, a second paper tray disposed below the first paper tray inside the housing; a second paper feed device for feeding paper from the second paper tray; a relay conveying roll pair that is disposed at a position diagonally upward and away from the second delivery device so as to approach the one side surface, and that first receives the paper sent out from the second paper tray and then conveys the paper to the common conveying roll pair; Equipped with the second delivery device is disposed at a position shifted toward the one side surface relative to the first delivery device, The intermediate transport roll pair is an image forming device that is disposed below the common transport roll pair and shifted toward a side closer to the one side surface than the common transport roll pair and the second sending device.

[0013] An eleventh aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the tenth aspect of the present invention, further comprising an intermediate transport path through which a sheet is guided and transported from the intermediate transport roll pair to the common transport roll pair, The relay transport path is an image forming device that is configured as a transport path consisting of a transport path that bends once to protrude in a direction away from one of the sides, and then extends in a straight line along the direction of gravity toward the common transport roll pair.

[0014] A twelfth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the tenth aspect of the present invention, an inlet provided in a portion of the one side surface facing the second feeding device so as to overlap at least a portion of the one side surface in a gravity direction, through which paper supplied from outside the housing is introduced; an introduction conveying path between the introduction port and the relay conveying roll pair, along which the paper introduced from the introduction port is guided and conveyed so as to be initially received by the relay conveying roll pair; Equipped with In the image forming apparatus, a portion of the introduction transport path before the intermediate transport roll pair is formed of a flexible sheet that guides the paper to the intermediate transport roll pair.

[0015] The thirteenth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to the tenth aspect of the present invention, wherein the intermediate transport roll pair is a pair of rolls consisting of a drive transport roll that is driven to rotate and a driven transport roll that is in contact with the drive transport roll and rotates in response to the drive transport roll, and the drive transport roll is positioned on a side farther away from the one side than the driven transport roll.

[0016] A fourteenth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to thirteenth aspects of the present invention, an image forming unit disposed inside the housing and configured to form an image on a sheet; a pair of adjustment transport rolls arranged inside the housing and configured to adjust a timing for feeding a sheet to the image forming unit and transport the sheet; Equipped with The common transport roll pair is an image forming device that is disposed below the adjustment transport roll pair and at a position shifted toward the one side surface relative to the adjustment transport roll pair. be. Effect of the Invention

[0017] According to the image forming device of the first means described above, the left and right width of the housing can be narrower than when a pair of internal transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the first sending device and a pair of manual feed transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the manual feed sending device are provided separately.

[0018] According to the image forming apparatus of the second means described above, the curvature of the paper transport path between the manual feed device and the common transport roll pair and the curvature of the paper transport path between the first feed device and the common transport roll pair can both be made smaller than when the common transport roll pair is positioned between the manual feed device and the first feed device.

[0019] According to the image forming apparatus of the third means described above, the left-right width of the image forming apparatus including the manual feed tray can be narrower than when a portion of the manual feed sending device is arranged so as to be exposed outside the housing. According to the image forming apparatus of the above-mentioned fourth means, it becomes easier to use a tray that is longer in the left-right direction as the first paper tray, compared to when the first feeding device is positioned at a distance away from the manual feeding device that is wider than the distance equivalent to the left-right width of the common transport roll pair. According to the image forming device of the fifth means described above, even though the first paper tray stores A3 size paper, the left and right width of the housing can be narrower than when a pair of internal transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the first sending device and a pair of manual feed transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the manual feed sending device are provided separately. According to the image forming apparatus of the sixth means described above, the curvature of the paper transport path between the manual feed sending device and the common transport roll pair can be made smaller than when the inclination angle α of the manual feed tray is greater than 8°.

[0020] According to the image forming apparatus of the seventh means described above, the paper sent out from the manual feed output device is more likely to be subjected to the conveying force of the driving conveying roll of the common conveying roll pair than when the driving conveying roll of the common conveying roll pair is positioned closer to one side than the driven conveying roll.

[0021] According to the image forming apparatus of the above-mentioned eighth means, paper in the manual feed tray can be transported more smoothly from the manual feed device to the common transport roll pair, compared to when the drive feed roll of the manual feed device is positioned below the transport stop roll and far away from the driven transport roll of the common transport roll pair. According to the image forming device of the ninth means above, the first sending device of the first paper tray is positioned not adjacent to a position directly below the common transport roll pair but away from the one side, making it easier to use a tray that is long in the left-right direction as the first paper tray while narrowing the left-right width of the housing, compared to when the first sending device of the first paper tray is positioned at a position away from the one side rather than adjacent to the position directly below the common transport roll pair.

[0022] According to the image forming apparatus of the above-mentioned tenth means, compared to when the second sending device is positioned in a position shifted away from the one side surface more than the first sending device, or when the relay transport roll pair is positioned below the common transport roll pair in a position shifted away from the one side surface more than the common transport roll pair and the second sending device, it is possible to use a tray whose left-right length is longer than the first paper tray as the second paper tray while narrowing the left-right width of the housing.

[0023] According to the image forming apparatus of the 11th means above, even if the relay transport path and the common transport roll pair are positioned at horizontally offset positions to the left and right, the paper can be transported well from the relay transport roll pair to the common transport roll pair compared to when the relay transport path is configured as a transport path consisting of a transport path extending in a single straight line from the relay transport roll pair to the common transport roll pair.

[0024] According to the image forming apparatus of the 12th means described above, even if there is no sufficient installation space in the portion of the inlet conveying path in front of the relay conveying roll pair, the paper introduced through the inlet conveying path can be received by the relay conveying roll pair.

[0025] According to the image forming apparatus of the 13th means described above, paper supplied from an external paper feeding device is more likely to be subjected to the conveying force of the driving conveying roll of the relay conveying roll pair and is more likely to be sent toward the curved portion of the introduction conveying path, compared to when the driving conveying roll of the relay conveying roll pair is positioned closer to one side than the driven conveying roll.

[0026] According to the image forming apparatus of the above-mentioned 14th means, it is easier to use a tray that is long in the left-right direction as the first paper tray while narrowing the left-right width of the housing, compared to when the common transport roll pair is positioned at the same distance from one side as the adjustment transport roll pair, or when the common transport roll pair is positioned at a position shifted further away from one side than the adjustment transport roll pair. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0027] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 2 is a schematic diagram of an image forming unit in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] 2 is a schematic diagram showing a manual feed tray, a first paper tray, a paper transport path, and the like in the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1. [Figure 4] 4 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement of a manual feeding device, a first feeding device, a common transport roll pair, and the like in FIG. 3. FIG. [Diagram 5] 2 is a schematic diagram showing a portion including a manual feed tray, a first paper tray, a second paper tray, a paper transport path, etc., when an external paper feed device is connected to the image forming apparatus in FIG. [Figure 6] 6 is a schematic diagram showing an arrangement of a manual feed sending device, a first sending device, a common transport roll pair, a second sending device, a first intermediate transport roll pair, and the like in FIG. 5. FIG. [Figure 7] 7 is a schematic diagram showing a part of the paper transport path in FIG. 6. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an image forming apparatus for comparison; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0028] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0029] Embodiment 1 Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an image forming section in the image forming apparatus 1. In this specification and the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to denote substantially the same components, and duplicated explanations of the same components will be omitted in this specification.

[0030] (Overall Overview of Image Forming Apparatus) The image forming apparatus 1 is an apparatus for forming a desired image on a sheet of paper. The image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment is configured as an apparatus capable of forming an image corresponding to image information inputted by connecting from an external device such as a personal computer, an information terminal, an image reader, etc. The image information is information relating to images such as characters, figures, photographs, patterns, etc.

[0031] As shown in Fig. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a housing 10, an image forming unit 2, a paper tray 4, a manual feed tray 5, an image processing unit (not shown), a drive unit, a power supply unit, a control unit, etc. The dashed and dotted lines in Fig. 1 indicate various transport paths 6 along which paper 9 is transported inside the housing 10, etc.

[0032] The housing 10 is a box-shaped structure manufactured into a required exterior shape using materials such as structural materials for a framework, and exterior materials such as panels and opening / closing doors. The housing 10 in the first embodiment is configured as a housing having an external shape that is substantially a rectangular parallelepiped. This housing 10 has left and right side surfaces (a left side surface 11 and a right side surface 12) that form the left and right ends when viewed from the front or front surface facing the user of the image forming apparatus 1. In addition, this housing 10 is provided with a discharged paper storage section 13 at its upper end. The discharged paper storage section 13 is formed as a structural part having a storage slope 13a that slopes downward from the right side to the left side at the upper end of the housing 10 in FIG.

[0033] The image forming section 2 is disposed inside a housing 10 and is a section that forms an image on a sheet 9. The image forming unit 2 in the first embodiment employs an electrophotographic system, and is configured as a part that forms an unfixed image by electrophotographic system, transfers the unfixed image to paper 9, and then fixes the image.

[0034] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the image forming section 2 is composed of an image creating unit 20 that creates an image (toner image) made of a dry developer, an intermediate transfer unit 30 that temporarily holds the image created by the image creating unit 20 and then transfers it to paper 9, and a fixing unit 38 that fixes the unfixed image transferred to the paper 9 onto the paper 9.

[0035] The imaging unit 20 employs four imaging units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K each of which is dedicated to forming a toner image of four colors, for example, yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K). The imaging units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K are arranged in series at regular intervals from the right side to the left side inside the housing 10.

[0036] The imaging units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K are all configured in substantially the same manner, except that they use different colors of developer. That is, the imaging units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K are configured as units including a photosensitive drum 21, a charging device 22, an image exposure device 23, a developing device 24, a primary transfer roll 25 as a primary transfer device, a drum cleaning device 26, etc., as shown representatively in FIG. 2 as imaging unit 20K. In FIG. 2, only the reference numerals of the photosensitive drums 21 and the developing devices 24 (Y, M, C) of the imaging units 20 (Y, M, C) other than the imaging unit 20K are shown, and the other reference numerals are omitted.

[0037] In the imaging units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K, when an image forming operation is started, a toner image made of the above four colors is formed as necessary. Taking the imaging unit 20K as an example, first the photosensitive drum 21 rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2, and the outer peripheral surface (image forming surface) of the photosensitive drum 21 is charged by the charging device 22 to a uniform surface potential. Thereafter, the outer peripheral surface of the charged photosensitive drum 21 is exposed to light based on image information by the image exposure device 23, and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the outer peripheral surface. Next, in the imaging unit 20K, the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 21 is developed with black toner supplied from the developing device 24K, and a black toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 21.

[0038] Regarding the primary transfer device, when the image forming apparatus 1 employs the intermediate transfer unit 30, the primary transfer roll 25 is employed as the primary contact transfer member, and is treated as a part constituting the intermediate transfer unit 30.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 2, the intermediate transfer unit 30 is configured as a unit including a support frame (not shown), an intermediate transfer belt 31, belt support rolls 32, 33, 34, and 35, a primary transfer roll 25, a secondary transfer device 36, a belt cleaning device 37, etc. Furthermore, the intermediate transfer unit 30 is disposed inside the housing 10 above the image forming units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K.

[0040] In the intermediate transfer unit 30, the positions where the outer peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 pressed by the primary transfer roll 25 contacts each of the photosensitive drums 21 in the imaging units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K are all primary transfer positions. In the intermediate transfer unit 30, the position where the secondary contact transfer member (secondary transfer roll) of the secondary transfer device 36 contacts the outer circumferential surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 becomes the secondary transfer position.

[0041] 2, the toner images formed by all or some of the imaging units 20Y, 20M, 20C, and 20K are primarily transferred to the outer circumferential surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 at the primary transfer position by the transfer action of the primary transfer roll 25. Next, in the intermediate transfer unit 30, the toner images primarily transferred to the outer circumferential surface of the intermediate transfer belt 31 are subsequently secondarily transferred to the paper 9 supplied from the paper tray 4, manual feed tray 5, or the like at the secondary transfer position by the transfer action of the secondary transfer device 36.

[0042] The fixing unit 38 is a unit that fixes, onto the paper 9, the toner image that has been secondarily transferred onto the paper 9 at the secondary transfer position of the intermediate transfer unit 30. Therefore, the fixing unit 38 is disposed in a position inside the housing 10 above the secondary transfer position of the intermediate transfer unit 30.

[0043] As shown in FIG. 2, the fixing unit 38 is configured as a unit including a unit housing 38a, a heating rotating member 38b having a roll shape, a belt shape, or the like, and a pressure applying rotating member 38c having a roll shape, a belt shape, or the like. The fixing unit 38 also has a contact portion (fixing processing portion) that brings the heating rotation member 38b and the pressurizing rotation member 38c into contact with each other substantially along the direction of the rotation axis.

[0044] During the image forming operation, the paper 9 onto which the toner image has been secondarily transferred by the intermediate transfer unit 30 is introduced into the contact portion and passes through the fixing unit 38. As a result, the fixing unit 38 heats and melts the unfixed toner image under pressure, thereby fixing it to the paper 9.

[0045] The paper tray 4 is a structure that stores paper 9 on which an image is to be formed and supplies it to the image forming unit 2 . In the first embodiment, three paper trays 4A, 4B, and 4C consisting of a first paper tray 4A, a second paper tray 4B, and a third paper tray 4C are used as the paper trays 4.

[0046] The three paper trays 4A, 4B, and 4C are configured as a first paper tray 4A, a second paper tray 4B, and a third paper tray 4C, which are arranged at intervals in the vertical direction inside the housing 10. Specifically, the first paper tray 4A is positioned at the top position, the second paper tray 4B is positioned at the middle position below the first paper tray 4A, and the third paper tray 4C is positioned at the bottom position below the second paper tray 4B. The three paper trays 4A, 4B, and 4C are attached to the housing 10 in a state in which they can be pulled out from the front of the housing 10 to the front side (the front side of the paper surface of FIG. 1) and held.

[0047] Further, each of the paper trays 4A, 4B, and 4C includes a tray body 41, a paper feed device 42, and the like.

[0048] The tray body 41 is a structure that stores paper sheets 9 of a required size in a horizontal or vertical stacked manner. More specifically, the tray body 41 is a box-shaped structure that is open at the top and has a loading plate and the like (not shown) arranged thereon. Further, the tray main body 41 is provided on its left and right side portions with a pair of left and right movement support parts 49A, 49B that support the movement of the tray main body 41 to the front side and the back side of the image forming apparatus 1 inside the housing 10. The movement support parts 49A, 49B are formed, for example, of slide rails or the like that are provided in a paired relationship with the housing 10.

[0049] Hereinafter, with regard to the tray body 41, the tray body 41 in the first paper tray 4A will be referred to as the first tray body 41A, the tray body 41 in the second paper tray 4B will be referred to as the second tray body 41B, and the tray body 41 in the third paper tray 4C will be referred to as the third tray body 41C.

[0050] Furthermore, with regard to paper 9, paper 9 stored in the first paper tray 4A will be referred to as paper 9A, paper 9 stored in the second paper tray 4B will be referred to as paper 9B, and paper 9 stored in the third paper tray 4C will be referred to as paper 9C. The paper 9 is one on which an image made of a developer can be formed. The paper 9 also includes media of other types than pulp paper, such as coated paper and resin sheets.

[0051] The delivery device 42 is a device that delivers the paper 9 one sheet at a time to the upper left end of the tray body 41 in the left-right direction. Each of the delivery devices 42 includes a pickup roll 43 , a drive feed roll 44 and a transport stop roll 45 .

[0052] The pickup roll 43 is a roll that moves downward during paper feeding to contact the topmost sheet 9 on the tray body 41 and is driven to rotate so as to take out the sheet 9 in the feed direction. The drive feed roll 44 is a roll that is driven to rotate so as to transport the sheet 9 taken out from the pickup roll 43 in the feed direction. The transport stop roll 45 is a roll that functions to stop the transport of excess sheets 9 below the topmost sheet 9 when the sheets 9 transported by the drive feed roll 44 are overlapping, and is sometimes called, for example, a retard roll.

[0053] Hereinafter, with regard to the output device 42, the output device 42 arranged in the first paper tray 4A will be referred to as the first output device 42A, the output device 42 arranged in the second paper tray 4B will be referred to as the second output device 42B, and the output device 42 arranged in the third paper tray 4C will be referred to as the third output device 42C.

[0054] The manual feed tray 5 is a plate-like structure for accommodating a desired sheet of paper 9 from outside the housing 10 at a desired timing when necessary and for use in forming an image. Hereinafter, the paper 9 accommodated in the manual feed tray 5 will be referred to as paper 9D.

[0055] Manual feed tray 5 is disposed so as to protrude from left side surface 11 which is one side surface of housing 10 . The manual feed tray 5 also includes a tray body 51 having a storage surface 51a for storing the paper 9D, a manual feed device 53 for feeding the uppermost paper 9 of the paper 9D stored in the tray body 51, and the like.

[0056] As shown in FIG. 3, the tray body 51 is a plate-like structure. 1, the tray body 51 is attached to a part of the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 in a state where it protrudes from the left side surface 11 by a predetermined length (horizontal width in the left-right direction: W2). The horizontal width W2 of the tray body 51 is the horizontal distance between the end (tip) 51c of the tray body 51 on the protruding side and the left side surface 11 of the housing 10.

[0057] 3, the tray body 51 is attached so that the inclination angle α of the storage surface 51a with respect to the horizontal line HL is within the range of 5°<α≦8°. If the inclination angle α is 5° or less, for example, the rear end side of the paper 9D stored in the manual feed tray 5 may droop or the paper 9D may fall.

[0058] Furthermore, the tray body 51 is provided with a pair of guide plates 52 at both left and right ends in the feeding direction of the paper 9D, which guide the paper 9D stored on the storage surface 51a in a state where the left and right edges are aligned when the paper 9D is fed out. The pair of guide plates 52 are provided in a state where the guiding positions can be adjusted by arbitrarily moving the pair of guide plates 52 inward from both left and right ends of the tray body 51.

[0059] The manual feed sending device 53 is provided with a pickup roll 54, a drive feed roll 55 and a transport inhibition roll 56, almost similar to the case of the sending device 42 in the paper tray 4. The pickup roll 54 is a roll that moves downward during paper feeding to come into contact with the uppermost sheet 9D stored in the tray body 51 and rotates to take out the sheet 9D in the sending direction. The drive feed roll 55 is a roll that is rotated to transport the sheet 9D taken out from the pickup roll 54 in the sending direction. The transport stop roll 56 is a roll that functions to stop the transport of excess sheets 9D below the uppermost sheet 9D when the sheets 9D transported by the drive feed roll 55 are overlapping.

[0060] Further, the manual feed device 53 is arranged in a state in which a pickup roll 54 , a drive feed roll 55 and a transport inhibition roll 56 are present inside the housing 10 . In this case, the manual feed sending device 53 is, in other words, arranged so as to be present inside the left side surface 11 of the housing 10, or arranged so as not to protrude outward from the left side surface 11. Moreover, manual feed tray 5 at this time is arranged so that one end 51b on the attachment side of tray body 51 (strictly speaking, the end on the attachment side of storage surface 51a) is present inside housing .

[0061] As a result, in the image forming apparatus 1, as compared with the comparative image forming apparatus 100 in which a portion (e.g., the pickup roll 54) of the manual feed output device 53X of the manual feed tray 5X is arranged so as to be exposed to the outside of the housing 10X as illustrated in FIG. 8, it is possible to narrow the left-right width W2 including the manual feed tray 5 of the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 1, if the tray bodies 51 are the same size. On the other hand, in the comparative image forming device 100, a portion of the manual feed sending device 53X is positioned so as to be exposed to the outside of the housing 10X, so that the tray body 51 of the manual feed tray 5X has to be shifted so as to protrude to the outside of the housing 10X by the amount that is exposed and protrudes from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10X.

[0062] Furthermore, the manual feed tray 5 is configured so that, when not in use, the tray body 51 can be stored in a storage space 15 (see Figure 3) that is recessed into the left side surface 11 of the housing 10.

[0063] Specifically, the manual feed tray 5 is mounted so that the tray body 51 can be rotated in a direction approaching the left side surface 11, for example, using a support shaft (not shown) located near one end 51b of the tray body 51 inside the housing 10 as a fulcrum. In addition, when the tray body 51 of the manual feed sending device 53 is stored in the storage space 15, the pickup roll 54 rotates together with the tray body 51, for example, around the rotation axis of the drive feed roll 55 as a fulcrum, thereby being accommodated inside the housing 10.

[0064] (Paper transport path configuration) As shown in FIG. 1 and other figures, the image forming apparatus 1 has an adjustable transport roll pair 62 provided inside the housing 10. As shown in FIG. The adjustable transport roll pair 62 is a pair of rolls that transports the paper 9 sent out from the first paper tray 4A or the like by adjusting the timing of sending the paper 9 to the image forming unit 2 and the transport posture.

[0065] As shown in FIG. 3 and other figures, the adjustment transport roll pair 62 is a pair of rolls that combines a driving adjustment roll 62a and a driven adjustment roll 62b. The driving adjustment roll 62a has a plurality of roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driving adjustment roll 62a is driven to rotate by a rotational power transmitted to the rotating shaft from a driving device (not shown). The driven adjustment roll 62b has a plurality of roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driven adjustment roll 62b rotates by contacting the rotating roll bodies of the driving adjustment roll 62a with a predetermined pressure.

[0066] In the first embodiment, when the image formation operation is performed, the adjustment conveying roll pair 62 temporarily stops the paper 9 being sent out from the first paper tray 4A, etc., corrects the conveying posture, and then starts rotating in accordance with the image formation time (actually the secondary transfer time) to send out the paper 9. Further, the adjustment transport roll pair 62 is disposed between the image forming unit 2 and the first paper tray 4A. Further, as shown in FIG. 3 and other figures, the pair of adjustment transport rolls 62 are disposed such that the driving adjustment roll 62a is located farther from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the driven adjustment roll 62b.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 includes, inside the housing 10, a supply transport path 6B, an image formation transport path 6C, and a discharge transport path 6D.

[0068] The supply conveying path 6B is a conveying path along which the paper 9 is conveyed so as to be supplied to the pair of adjustment conveying rolls 62. The supply conveying path 6B is composed of a pair of first paper guide members 71a, 71b that are arranged between the supply conveying path 6B and a common conveying roll pair 61 described later. The first paper guide members 71a, 71b are arranged so as to form a desired conveying space between the supply conveying path 6B and the common conveying roll pair 61. The first paper guide members 71a, 71b are arranged so as to form a desired conveying space between the supply conveying path 6B and the common conveying roll pair 61.

[0069] The image formation transport path 6C is a transport path along which the paper 9 is transported from the pair of adjustment transport rolls 62 until image formation by the image forming unit 2 is completed. The image formation transport path 6C in the first embodiment has a first transport path from the adjustment transport roll pair 62 to the start position of image formation in the image forming unit 2, and a second transport path from the start position to the end position of image formation. The start position of the image formation is the secondary transfer position in the intermediate transfer unit 30. The end position of the image formation is the position (fixing position) that becomes the contact portion of the fixing unit .

[0070] 3, the first transport path of the image formation transport path 6C is composed of a pair of second paper guide members 72a, 72b that are arranged between the adjusted transport roll pair 62 and the secondary transfer position in the image forming unit 2. The second paper guide members 72a, 72b are arranged so as to form a desired transport space between them that guides the transported paper 9 to the secondary transfer position as the transport destination while passing through it.

[0071] 2, the second transport path of image formation transport path 6C is composed of a third paper guide member 73 that is arranged between the secondary transfer position in image forming unit 2 and the fixing position in image forming unit 2. The third paper guide member 73 is arranged in a state in which it can guide paper 9 that has passed through the secondary transfer position so as to introduce it into a contact portion in fixing unit 38. The third paper guide member 73 is arranged so as to guide paper 9 from the side opposite to the side on which the toner image has been transferred.

[0072] The discharge transport path 6D is a transport path along which the paper 9 on which an image has been formed is transported to a discharge outlet 14 provided on the side of the discharged paper storage section 13. The discharge transport path 6D is composed of a plurality of transport roll pairs 63, 64 arranged between the image forming unit 2 and the discharge outlet 14, and a paper guide member (not shown). The transport roll pair 63 is arranged, for example, at a position past the fixing unit 38. The transport roll pair 64 is arranged, for example, as a discharge roll pair, at a position close to the discharge outlet 14.

[0073] As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a reversing and re-transporting path 6R inside the housing 10. As shown in FIG.

[0074] The reversing and returning conveying path 6R is a conveying path along which the paper 9 having passed through the image forming conveying path 6C and having an image formed on one side thereof is inverted and merged with the supply conveying path 6B at a position midway therethrough, and is then resent to the supply conveying path 6B. The reversing and returning conveying path 6R is also called, for example, a double-sided image forming conveying path. As shown in FIG. 1, the reversing and re-transporting path 6R is made up of a plurality of transport roll pairs 67, 68, and 69, a pair of paper guide members 74 (see FIG. 3), and a paper path switching member (not shown).

[0075] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a first relay transport path 6G and a second relay transport path 6J inside the housing 10. As shown in FIG.

[0076] In principle, the first relay conveying path 6G is a conveying path that conveys the paper 9B etc. sent out from the second paper tray 4B etc. to the supply conveying path 6B. More specifically, the first relay conveying path 6G is a conveying path that conveys the paper 9 from a first relay conveying roll pair 65 described later to a common conveying roll pair 61 described later. The first relay transport path 6G is made up of a first relay transport roll pair 65 and a pair of fourth paper guide members 75a, 75b.

[0077] As shown in FIG. 3 and other figures, the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is a pair of rolls that combines a driving transport roll 65a and a driven transport roll 65b. The driving transport roll 65a has multiple roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driving transport roll 65a is driven to rotate by a rotational power transmitted to the rotating shaft from a driving device (not shown). The driven transport roll 65b has multiple roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driven transport roll 65b rotates by contacting the rotating roll bodies of the driving transport roll 65a with a predetermined pressure.

[0078] In addition, as shown in Figure 3, etc., the first relay transport roll pair 65 is positioned below the common transport roll pair 61 described later, shifted toward the side closer to the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the common transport roll pair 61 and the second sending device 42B. Furthermore, the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is arranged so that the shaft center of the driving transport roll 65a and the shaft center of the driven transport roll 65b are at approximately the same height in the vertical direction and are aligned horizontally from left to right. Moreover, the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is arranged so that the driving transport roll 65a is located farther from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the driven transport roll 65b.

[0079] The fourth paper guide members 75a, 75b are arranged to form a transport space of the desired shape between them, through which the paper 9B to be transported, etc., can be guided and passed to its destination, the common transport roll pair 61 described later. The fourth paper guide members 75a and 75b will be described in detail below.

[0080] The second relay conveying path 6J is a conveying path that relays and conveys the paper 9C etc. sent out from the third paper tray 4C etc. to the first relay conveying path 6G. More specifically, the second relay conveying path 6J is a conveying path that conveys the paper 9C from the second relay conveying roll pair 66 to the first relay conveying roll pair 65, which will be described later. The second relay transport path 6J is composed of a second relay transport roll pair 66 and a pair of fifth paper guide members 76a, 76b.

[0081] As shown in FIG. 3 and other figures, the second intermediate transport roll pair 66, like the first intermediate transport roll pair 65, is a pair of rolls that combines a driving transport roll 66a and a driven transport roll 66b. The fifth paper guide members 76a, 76b are arranged so as to form a transport space between them that extends in an approximately straight line in the vertical direction so as to guide the paper 9C being transported through it to the first relay transport roll pair 65 at the relay destination.

[0082] (Configuration of the first paper tray, manual feed tray, and paper transport system) As shown in FIG. 3 etc., the first paper tray 4A in the image forming device 1 is positioned inside the housing 10 with its first tray body 41A facing one end of the manual feed tray 5 (one end 51b of the tray body 51) so as to overlap at least partially in the vertical direction along the direction of gravity. In embodiment 1, the first paper tray 4A is positioned so that the upper side of the left end of the first tray body 41A faces one end 51b of the tray body 51, which is one end of the manual feed tray 5, and overlaps in the vertical direction.

[0083] In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the first sending device 42A and the manual sending device 53 in embodiment 1 are arranged such that the drive feed roll 44 and the transport stop roll 45 of the first sending device 42A and the drive feed roll 55 and the transport stop roll 56 of the manual sending device 53 face each other at approximately the same height in the vertical direction.

[0084] Furthermore, the manual feed tray 5 in the image forming apparatus 1 is arranged in a state in which the pickup roll 54, the drive feed roll 55, and the transport inhibition roll 56 are present inside the housing 10, as described above.

[0085] Even in the image forming apparatus 1 having such a configuration, the first paper tray 4A may be a tray capable of storing A3 size paper in a horizontal position. The horizontal position is a storage mode when the paper 9 is placed with its long side aligned with the transport direction. For this reason, the first paper tray 4A is required to have a dimension in the left-right direction of the first tray body 41A that allows A3 size paper to be placed horizontally. Furthermore, in order to ensure this dimension while avoiding an increase in the left-right width W1 (see FIG. 1) of the housing 10, it becomes necessary to position the first output device 42A of the first paper tray 4A as close as possible to the manual output device 53 of the manual feed tray 5.

[0086] Due to these circumstances, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in Figures 1, 3, etc., the first output device 42A of the first paper tray 4A and the manual output device 53 of the manual tray 5 cannot be arranged with a large gap between them in the horizontal direction on the left and right, and they have to be arranged close to each other.

[0087] Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in Figures 1, 3, etc., a common transport roll pair 61 is provided which first receives and transports both the paper 9A sent out from the first output device 42A of the first paper tray 4A and the paper 9D sent out from the manual feed output device 53 of the manual feed tray 5.

[0088] As shown in FIG. 3 and other figures, the common transport roll pair 61 is a pair of rolls that combines a driving transport roll 61a and a driven transport roll 61b. The driving transport roll 61a has multiple roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driving transport roll 61a is driven to rotate by a rotational force transmitted to the rotating shaft from a driving device (not shown). The driven transport roll 61b has multiple roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driven transport roll 61b rotates by contacting the rotating roll bodies of the driving transport roll 61a with a predetermined pressure.

[0089] 3, the common transport roll pair 61 is disposed such that the driving transport roll 61a is located farther left and right from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the driven transport roll 61b in the horizontal direction. In this case, the common transport roll pair 61 is disposed such that the center of the driving transport roll 61a and the center of the driven transport roll 61b are at approximately the same height in the vertical direction and aligned in the horizontal direction.

[0090] Furthermore, the common transport roll pair 61 is disposed between the manual feeding device 53 and the first feeding device 42A at a position where they join together obliquely above and away from both the manual feeding device 53 and the first feeding device 42A. In embodiment 1, the common transport roll pair 61 is positioned so that, for example, the contact portion between the rolls is located at a position that is the apex of an isosceles triangle with the straight line connecting the drive feed roll 55 of the manual feed device 53 and the drive feed roll 44 of the first feed device 42A as the base, assuming that this is the base.

[0091] 3, 4, etc., in the image forming apparatus 1, the first sending device 42A is disposed at a position close enough to the manual feeding sending device 53 to leave a distance equivalent to the left-right width of the common transport roll pair 61. Here, the left-right width is the total dimension of the roll diameter of the driving transport roll 61a and the roll diameter of the driven transport roll 61b. Moreover, in the image forming apparatus 1, the first sending device 42A can also be said to be positioned adjacent to and away from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 rather than directly below the common transport roll pair 61, as shown in Figures 3, 4, etc. For this reason, as shown in Figure 4, the common transport roll pair 61 in the image forming apparatus 1 is positioned within the area S2 sandwiched between a dotted line VL1 extending in the vertical direction passing through the right end of the manual feed sending device 53 and a dotted line VL2 extending in the vertical direction passing through the left end of the first sending device 42A, with little gap on either side.

[0092] In addition, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 3 and the like, a first output conveying path 6A is provided between the first output device 42A of the first paper tray 4A and the common conveying roll pair 61. The first output conveying path 6A is a conveying path that extends diagonally upward and to the left, bending slightly, toward the roll contact portion (nip portion) where the rolls of the common conveying roll pair 61 come into contact with each other, for conveying the paper 9A sent out from the first output device 42A.

[0093] As shown in FIG. 4, the first output conveying path 6A is configured with a pair of paper guide members 46 disposed between the first output device 42A and the common conveying roll pair 61. The pair of paper guide members 46 are arranged to form a transport space between them that extends obliquely upward toward the roll contact portion of the common transport roll pair 61, so as to guide the paper through to the destination common transport roll pair 61.

[0094] In addition, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 3 and the like, a manual feed conveying path 6E is provided between the manual feed sending device 53 of the manual feed tray 5 and the common conveying roll pair 61. The manual feed conveying path 6E is a conveying path that conveys the paper 9D sent out from the manual feed sending device 53 toward the roll contact portion of the common conveying roll pair 61 while bending slightly obliquely upward and to the upper right.

[0095] As shown in FIG. 4, the manual feed conveying path 6E is composed of a pair of paper guide members 57 disposed between the manual feed sending device 53 and the common conveying roll pair 61. The pair of paper guide members 57 are arranged to form a transport space between them that extends obliquely upward toward the roll contact portion of the common transport roll pair 61, so as to guide the paper through to the destination common transport roll pair 61.

[0096] As shown in FIG. 3 and other figures, the common transport roll pair 61 constitutes a transport start point of the supply transport path 6B. Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1, both the paper 9A sent out from the first sending device 42A and the paper 9D sent out from the manual feeding device 53 first pass through a common pair of conveying rolls 61 in common and then are conveyed to the adjustment conveying roll pair 62 via the supply conveying path 6B.

[0097] Specifically, the paper 9A sent out from the first sending device 42A is first received by the common conveying roll pair 61 through the first sending conveying path 6A, and then is transported through the supply conveying path 6B to the adjustment conveying roll pair 62 by the conveying force of the common conveying roll pair 61. In addition, the paper 9D sent out from the manual feed device 53 is first received by the common transport roll pair 61 through the manual feed transport path 6E, and then transported by the transport force of the common transport roll pair 61 through the supply transport path 6B to the adjustment transport roll pair 62.

[0098] As described above, in the image forming apparatus 1, the left-right width W1 of the housing 10 can be narrowed as shown in FIG. 1, compared to the comparative image forming apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. The image forming apparatus 100 for comparison in this case is an image forming apparatus having a configuration in which, as shown in Figure 8, an internal transport roll pair 61A that first receives and transports the paper 9G sent out from the first sending device 42AX, and a manual feed transport roll pair 61B that first receives and transports the paper 9D sent out from the manual feed sending device 53X, are individually provided. The left-right width W10 in this case is the dimension between the leftmost part of the left side surface 11 and the rightmost part of the right side surface 12 separated in the left-right horizontal direction.

[0099] To explain further, in the comparative image forming apparatus 100, as shown in FIG. 8, it is necessary to arrange two transport roll pairs, an internal transport roll pair 61A and a manual feed transport roll pair 61B, and to arrange an eleventh transport path 6AX and a twelfth transport path 6EX which pass through the internal transport roll pair 61A and the manual feed transport roll pair 61B, respectively. For this reason, in the image forming apparatus 100, the width of the left-right separation area S5 between the first output device 42AX of the first paper tray 4G and the manual output device 53X of the manual tray 5X is increased by the amount of the two conveying roll pairs and the eleventh conveying path 6AX and the twelfth conveying path 6EX arranged within that separation area S5.

[0100] 8, the two-dot chain line VL4 is an imaginary line that passes through the right end of the manual feeding device 53X and extends in the vertical direction. The two-dot chain line VL5 is an imaginary line that passes through the left end of the first feeding device 42AX and extends in the vertical direction. The two-dot chain line VL6 is an imaginary line that passes through the right end of the adjustment transport roll pair 62 and extends in the vertical direction. The eleventh conveying path 6AX is a conveying path that extends from the first sending device 42AX through the internal conveying roll pair 61A to join the supply conveying path 6B at the joining point 6x. The twelfth conveying path 6EX is a conveying path that extends from the manual feeding sending device 53X to the manual feeding conveying roll pair 61B. Furthermore, the supply conveying path 6B in the image forming apparatus 100 is a conveying path from the manual feed conveying roll pair 61B to the adjustment conveying roll pair 62. Also, in the image forming apparatus 100, the first relay conveying path 6GX extending from the first relay conveying roll pair 65X is disposed so as to reach the manual feed conveying roll pair 61B.

[0101] In contrast, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 4, the width of the left-right separation area S2 between the first feeding device 42A and the manual feeding device 53 is narrowed at least by that amount because it is only necessary to place one common transport roll pair 61 within that separation area S2. Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1, the width of the separation area S2 is narrower than the width of the separation area S5 in the comparative image forming apparatus 100, and at least the left-right width W1 of the housing 10 is narrower than the left-right width W10 of the housing 10X of the comparative image forming apparatus 100 (W1 <W10)。

[0102] The two-dot chain line VL3 in FIG. 4 is an imaginary straight line that passes through the right end of the adjustment transport roll pair 62 and extends in the vertical direction. Incidentally, the adjustment transport roll pair 62 is disposed so as to be present within an area S3 sandwiched between the two-dot chain line VL2 and the two-dot chain line VL3. The adjusted transport roll pair 62 is disposed such that its right end (two-dot chain line VL3) is shifted to the right from the left end (two-dot chain line VL2) of the first sending device 42A. In this regard, the adjusted transport roll pair 62 in the comparative image forming apparatus 100 is also disposed such that its right end (two-dot chain line VL6) is shifted to the right from the left end (two-dot chain line VL5) of the first sending device 42AX (see FIG. 8).

[0103] Strictly speaking, the comparative image forming apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 8 is disposed in a state where a part of the manual feed sending device 53X is exposed from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10X. For this reason, in the image forming device 100, the width of the left-right separation area S4 between the right end of the manual feed sending device 53X and the left side surface 11 of the housing 10X is slightly narrower than the left-right separation area S1 (see FIG. 4) between the right end of the manual feed sending device 53 and the left side surface 11 of the housing 10X in the image forming device 1 in which the manual feed sending device 53 is positioned so as to be present within the housing 10X.

[0104] However, the amount by which the width of the separation region S4 of the manual feed sending device 53X in the image forming apparatus 100 is narrower than the width of the separation region S1 in the image forming apparatus 1 is smaller than the amount by which the width of the separation region S2 in the image forming apparatus 1 is narrower than the width of the separation region S5 in the image forming apparatus 100. In other words, the difference between the width of the separation region S1 minus the width of the separation region S4 is smaller than the difference between the width of the separation region S5 minus the width of the separation region S2. As a result, even if the width of the separation area S1 of the image forming apparatus 1 is slightly wider than the width of the separation area S4 of the image forming apparatus 100, the left-right width W1 of the housing 10 as a whole is narrower than the left-right width W10 of the housing 10X of the image forming apparatus 100 (W1 <W10)。

[0105] Furthermore, according to the image forming apparatus 1, the first paper tray 4A can be used to store A3 size paper 9 (9A). This allows the image forming apparatus 1 to have a narrow width W1 from side to side of the housing 10 even when the first paper tray 4A is configured as a tray capable of accommodating A3 size paper 9. In this regard, if the left-right width (W10) of the housing 10X of the image forming device 100 is made the same dimension as the left-right width W1 of the housing 10 in the image forming device 1, it will be impossible or technically difficult to configure the paper 9G stored in the first paper tray 4G as a tray capable of storing A3-sized paper.

[0106] In the image forming apparatus 1, the manual feed sending device 53 and the common transport roll pair 61 are disposed close to each other. Therefore, the manual feed sending transport path 6E in the image forming apparatus 1 is a transport path that is curved with a curvature smaller than that of the twelfth transport path 6EX (see FIG. 8) in the comparative image forming apparatus 100 so as to extend from the manual feed sending device 53 to the common transport roll pair 61 in a short distance.

[0107] However, in the image forming apparatus 1, the manual feed tray 5 is disposed so that the inclination angle α of the accommodation surface 51a is within the range of 5°α≦8°. In addition, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in Figures 3, 4, etc., the drive feed roll 55 of the manual feed device 53 is positioned above the transport stop roll 56 and close to the driven transport roll 61b of the common transport roll pair 61.

[0108] This allows the curvature of the conveyance path of the manual feed conveyance path 6E to be smaller in the image forming apparatus 1 than when the inclination angle α of the manual feed tray 5 is set to an angle larger than 8°. As a result, the conveyance load of the paper 9D accommodated in the manual feed tray 5 on the manual feed conveyance path 6E is reduced, and the paper 9D is conveyed smoothly. Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus 1, compared to a case where the driving feed roll 55 of the manual feed device 53 is disposed below the transport inhibiting roll 56 and disposed far away from the driven transport roll 61b of the common transport roll pair 61, the paper 9D in the manual feed tray 5 is more likely to be transported diagonally upward to the right due to a winding action caused by the driving feed roll 55 in the manual feed device 53 when it is rotated. As a result, the paper 9D in the manual feed tray 5 is more likely to be well transported to the common transport roll pair 61 through the manual feed transport path 6E.

[0109] For reference, after being sent out by the manual feed output device 53, the paper 9D in the manual feed tray 5 advances so that its leading edge comes into contact with the driven transport roll 61a of the common transport roll pair 61 present on the right side in the traveling direction, and then begins to be sandwiched and transported between the common transport roll pair 61. Also, at this time, the paper 9D is subjected to a winding action when the driven transport roll 61a of the common transport roll pair 61 is driven to rotate, and is therefore easily bent to the right in FIG. As a result, the paper 9D in the manual feed tray 5 is easily transported along the supply transport path 6B, which is a transport path that curves to the right in FIG. In addition, the manual feed tray 5 of the image forming apparatus 1 accommodates paper 9D having a paper weight of, for example, 250 gsm (g / m 2 ) or more, the cardboard can be smoothly delivered to the common transport roll pair 61.

[0110] In addition, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 3 etc., the second output device 42B of the second paper tray 4B is disposed at a position shifted closer to the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the first output device 42A. Moreover, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 4 etc., the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is positioned below the common transport roll pair 61, shifted toward the side closer to the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the common transport roll pair 61 and the second sending device 42B.

[0111] As a result, according to the image forming device 1, the left-right width W1 of the housing 10 can be narrower than when the first relay transport roll pair 65 is disposed below the common transport roll pair 61 and at a position shifted further from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the common transport roll pair 61 and the second sending device 42B. Moreover, in this case, while maintaining the narrow left-right width W1 of the housing 10, a tray whose length in the left-right direction is longer than that of the first paper tray 4A can be used as the second paper tray 4B.

[0112] In addition, in the image forming apparatus 1, the third sending device 42C of the third paper tray 4C is also disposed at a position shifted closer to the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the first sending device 42A, as shown in FIG. Additionally, both the second paper tray 4B and the third paper tray 4C are configured as trays capable of accommodating A3 size paper as the paper 9B, 9C accommodated therein, respectively. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 3, the second intermediate transport roll pair 66 is also positioned below the common transport roll pair 61, shifted toward the side closer to the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 than the common transport roll pair 61 and the second sending device 42B.

[0113] In addition, in the image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG. 3 etc., the first intermediate conveying path 6G is configured as a conveying path having a shape that bends once to protrude in a direction away from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10, and then extends linearly in the vertical direction approximately along the direction of gravity relative to the common conveying roll pair 61. The first relay transport path 6G is configured using a pair of fourth paper guide members 75a, 75b. In other words, the first relay transport path 6G is formed by the fourth paper guide members 75a, 75b as a transport path that advances in a straight line inclined to the right in the left-right direction in Fig. 3 and the like, then bends once at its terminal end (upper end) and extends in a straight line in the vertical direction toward the common transport roll pair 61. Reference symbol 75c in Fig. 3 indicates a bent portion in the first relay transport path 6G.

[0114] As a result, according to the image forming device 1, even if the first intermediate transport path 6G and the common transport roll pair 61 are positioned at positions horizontally offset to the left or right, for example, the paper 9B sent out from the second paper tray 4B is transported smoothly via the first intermediate transport path 6G to the common transport roll pair 61. To explain further, according to the image forming apparatus 1, for example, the paper 9B is transported well from the first relay transport roll pair 65 to the common transport roll pair 61 via the first relay transport path 6G, compared to when the first relay transport path 6G is configured as a transport path consisting of a transport path extending in a single straight line from the first relay transport roll pair 65 to the common transport roll pair 61. Incidentally, the common transport roll pair 61 is a junction of three transport paths: the first output transport path 6A, the manual feed output transport path 6E, and the first relay transport path 6G.

[0115] Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus 1, the first relay transport path 6G has a positional relationship in which the common transport roll pair 61 and the first relay transport roll pair 65 are shifted in the left-right direction, so that as described above, the path starts from the first relay transport roll pair 65, bends once, and then reaches the common transport roll pair 61, forming a curved path. For this reason, when the paper passes through the first relay conveying path 6G, which bends once, it tends to come into contact with the first relay conveying path 6G more frequently and be subject to conveying resistance during its passage than if the first relay conveying path 6G were a straight path.

[0116] However, when the first relay conveying path 6G in the image forming apparatus 1 is viewed including the portion of the supply conveying path 6B that starts from the common conveying roll pair 61, as shown in Figure 4, the entire conveying path is curved like an S and forms a continuous path. As a result, in the image forming device 1, when the paper 9 is transported along the first intermediate transport path 6G, it is more susceptible to the wrapping action of the drive transport roll 65a in the first intermediate transport roll pair 65, and thus obtains sufficient transport force, allowing the paper 9 to be transported smoothly along the first intermediate transport path 6G without being affected by transport resistance. In addition, at this time, even after the paper 9 reaches the common transport roll pair 61, it becomes susceptible to the winding action of the drive transport roll 61a of the common transport roll pair 61, so that it gains sufficient transport force and begins to be transported smoothly along the supply transport path 6B.

[0117] (When using with an external paper feeder) As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 can be used by connecting an external paper feeder 8 that supplies paper 9 from outside the housing 10.

[0118] For this reason, as shown in Figures 3, 5, etc., the image forming device 1 is provided with an inlet 16 on the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 for introducing paper 9 supplied from outside the housing 10, in order to enable connection to an external paper feeding device 8. The inlet 16 is provided in a portion of the left side surface 11 facing the second sending device 42B so as to overlap at least partially with the second sending device 42B in the up-down direction along the gravity direction.

[0119] In addition, as shown in Figures 5, 6, etc., the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with an inlet conveying path 6K inside the housing 10, which guides the paper 9 introduced from the inlet 16 so that it is first received by the first intermediate conveying roll pair 65.

[0120] The inlet transport path 6K is configured with a pair of paper guide members 77a, 77b disposed between the inlet 16 and the first intermediate transport roll pair 65, as shown in FIG. The pair of paper guide members 77a, 77b are arranged to form a transport space extending diagonally upward between them so as to guide the paper 9 from the inlet 16 to the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 and pass therethrough. In other words, as shown in Figure 5, the introduction conveying path 6K is configured as a conveying path consisting of a curved conveying path that bends once by a pair of paper guiding members 77a, 77b to protrude in a direction away from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10, and then rises to the first intermediate conveying roll pair 65.

[0121] In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, the portion of the introduction conveying path 6K just before it reaches the first relay conveying roll pair 65 is composed of a flexible sheet 78 that ultimately guides the paper 9 (9E, 9F) to the roll contact portion of the first relay conveying roll pair 65. The flexible sheet 78 is installed so that its lower end is attached to the upper end side of the fifth paper guide member 76b that constitutes the second relay transport path 6J, and its upper end (free end) is located in front of the roll contact portion of the first relay transport roll pair 65. As the flexible sheet 78, for example, a synthetic resin sheet (film) made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or the like is used.

[0122] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7, the inlet conveying path 6K has a rotating body (roller) 79 provided at a position close to the inlet 16 of the paper guide member 77b, which is arranged on the inner side (upper side) of the curve of the pair of paper guide members 77a, 77b. The rotating body 79 is provided rotatably with a part of it protruding into the conveying space of the lead-in conveying path 6K. As a result, the rotating body 79 reduces the conveying resistance caused by contact between the paper 9 (9E, 9F) passing through the lead-in conveying path 6K and the paper guide members 77a, 77b, and ensures good conveying performance.

[0123] Next, the external paper feeder 8 will be described. The external paper feeder 8 is a device that supplies desired paper 9 (9E, 9F) to the image forming apparatus 1 from outside.

[0124] 1 and 5, the external paper feeder 8 includes a housing 80, a large-capacity paper tray 81, a special paper tray 83, a drive device, a power supply device, a control device, etc. (not shown). The dashed dotted lines of the external paper feeder 8 in Fig. 1 and Fig. 5 indicate a transport path 88 along which the paper 9 is transported inside the housing 80.

[0125] The housing 80 is a box-shaped structure manufactured into a required exterior shape using materials such as structural materials for a framework, and exterior materials such as panels and opening / closing doors. Housing 80 in embodiment 1 is configured as a housing having an external shape and dimensions that enable it to be placed and used below manual feed tray 5 of image forming apparatus 1, as shown in FIG.

[0126] More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the housing 80 has at least a right side surface 80a, a top surface 80b, and a sloped surface 80c. The right side surface 80a is a surface portion extending in the vertical direction facing the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 of the image forming apparatus 1. The top surface 80b is a surface portion extending in the horizontal direction from left to right below the manual feed tray 5 of the image forming apparatus 1. The inclined surface 80c is a surface portion extending obliquely upward from the upper end of the right side surface 80a to the right end of the top surface 80b.

[0127] Further, the housing 80 is provided on its right side surface 80a with a delivery port 87 for delivering the paper 9E or 9F stored in the large-capacity paper tray 81 or the special paper tray 83 toward the image forming device 1. The delivery port 87 is provided at a position on the right side surface 80a opposite the inlet 16 of the image forming device 1.

[0128] The large-capacity paper tray 81 is a tray capable of storing a larger number of sheets of paper 9E than the paper trays 4 (4A, 4B, 4C) in the image forming apparatus 1. The large-capacity paper tray 81 is made up of a large-capacity tray main body, a first external output device 82, and the like.

[0129] Of these, the large-capacity tray main body is a structure that has a loading / lifting plate (not shown) that is capable of loading the paper sheets 9E and moves up and down inside the housing 80. The first external delivery device 82 is a device that delivers the topmost sheet of paper 9E accommodated in the large-capacity tray main body. Similar to the first external sending device 42A in the image forming apparatus 1, the first external sending device 82 includes a pickup roll 82a, a drive feed roll 82b, and a transport inhibition roll 82c.

[0130] Special paper tray 83 is a tray that stores paper 9F for special purposes. For example, when images are formed on multiple sheets of paper 9, any of sheets 9A to 9E, in image forming apparatus 1, special paper 9F is used by being inserted at the beginning, middle, or end of the multiple sheets of paper 9.

[0131] The special paper tray 83 is also provided with a second external delivery device 84 for delivering the topmost paper 9F stored therein. Similarly to the first external sending device 42A in the image forming apparatus 1, the second external sending device 84 also includes a pickup roll 84a, a drive feed roll 84b, and a transport inhibition roll 84c.

[0132] 5 and other drawings, the external paper feeder 8 is provided with a first external output conveying path 88A between the first external output device 82 of the large-capacity paper tray 81 and the output port 87. As shown in FIG. The first external delivery transport path 88A is composed of a pair of discharge transport rolls 85 and a pair of paper transport members (not shown).

[0133] The first external output conveying path 88A is a conveying path that guides the paper 9E sent out from the first external output device 82 to a pair of discharge conveying rolls 85 by a pair of paper conveying members not shown, and then extends in a generally horizontal manner in the left-right direction toward the send-out opening 87.

[0134] As shown in FIG. 5 and other figures, the discharge transport roll pair 85 is a pair of rolls that combines a drive transport roll 85a and a driven transport roll 85b. The driving transport roll 85a has multiple roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driving transport roll 85a is driven to rotate by a rotational force transmitted to the rotating shaft from a driving device (not shown). The driven transport roll 85b has multiple roll bodies fixed at intervals to a rotatably supported rotating shaft. The driven transport roll 85b rotates by contacting the rotating roll bodies of the driving transport roll 85a with a predetermined pressure.

[0135] 5 and the like, the discharge conveyor roll pair 85 is disposed in a downstream portion close to the delivery port 87 of the first external delivery conveyor path 88A. Furthermore, the pair of discharge transport rolls 85 are arranged so that the shaft center of the driving transport roll 85a and the shaft center of the driven transport roll 85b are aligned vertically at approximately the same position in the left-right horizontal direction. Moreover, the pair of discharge transport rolls 85 are arranged so that the driving transport roll 85a is above the driven transport roll 85b.

[0136] 5 and other drawings, the external paper feeder 8 is provided with a second external output conveying path 88B between the second external output device 84 of the special paper tray 83 and the pair of discharge conveying rolls 85. The second external output conveying path 88B is formed to merge with the first external output conveying path 88A just before the pair of discharge conveying rolls 85. The second external output transport path 88B is formed by a pair of external relay transport rolls 86 and a pair of paper transport members (not shown).

[0137] The second external sending conveying path 88B is a conveying path that guides the paper 9F sent out from the second external sending device 84 to the external relay conveying roll pair 86 by a pair of paper conveying members not shown, and then extends in a slightly curved downward to the right toward the discharge conveying roll pair 85.

[0138] As shown in FIG. 5 and other figures, the external relay transport roll pair 86 is disposed at an intermediate position of the second external output transport path 88B, and is a pair of rolls that combines a driving transport roll 86a and a driven transport roll 86b. The external relay transport roll pair 86 is disposed so that the axis of the driving transport roll 86a and the axis of the driven transport roll 86b are on a straight line that is slightly tilted to the right. Moreover, the external relay transport roll pair 86 is disposed so that the driving transport roll 86a is above the driven transport roll 86b.

[0139] Then, when it is time for the image forming device 1 to form an image on paper 9 (9E, 9F) supplied from the external paper feeding device 8, either paper 9E in the large-capacity paper tray 81 or paper 9F in the special paper tray 83 is finally sent out from the output port 87 from the external paper feeding device 8 and supplied to the image forming device 1.

[0140] At this time, the paper 9E stored in the large-capacity paper tray 81 is sent out to the first external sending-out conveying path 88A by the first external sending-out device 82, and then is sent out to the outside of the housing 80 through the sending-out opening 87 by receiving the conveying force of the discharge conveying roll pair 85. In addition, the paper 9F stored in the special paper tray 83 is sent out to the second external sending conveying path 88B by the second external sending device 84 and merges with the first external sending conveying path 88A, and then receives the conveying force of the discharge conveying roll pair 85 and is sent out to the outside of the housing 80 through the sending outlet 87.

[0141] Subsequently, the sheets 9E and 9F sent out from the delivery port 87 of the external paper feed device 8 are introduced into the introduction transport path 6K through the introduction port 16 of the image forming apparatus 1 and transported to the first intermediate transport roll pair 65.

[0142] Here, in the image forming apparatus 1, the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is disposed close to the left side surface 11 of the housing 10, and is also disposed in a position close to the introduction port 16. Therefore, the introduction transport path 6K is a transport path that, within the short distance from the introduction port 16 to the first intermediate transport roll pair 65, forms a transport path that forms a small curvature such that the transport path bends sharply obliquely upward. As a result, the conveyance resistance of the sheets 9E and 9F sent out from the external sheet feeder 8 increases when they pass through the lead-in conveyance path 6K.

[0143] In contrast, in the image forming apparatus 1, the introduction conveying path 6K is configured as a conveying path that bends once to protrude away from the left side surface 11 of the housing 10 and reaches the first intermediate conveying roll pair 65. As a result, according to the image forming apparatus 1, the paper 9E, 9F supplied from the external paper feeding device 8 is more easily received by the roll contact portion of the first relay transport roll pair 65 and transported smoothly, compared to when the inlet transport path 6K is configured as a transport path extending in a straight line from the inlet 16 to the first relay transport roll pair 65.

[0144] Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus 1, a rotating body 79 is provided in the inlet transport path 6K. As a result, according to the image forming device 1, when the paper 9E, 9F comes into contact with the rotating body 79 and passes through it, the transport resistance to the paper 9E, 9F in the entrance transport path 6K is reduced, and the paper 9E, 9F is transported smoothly through the entrance transport path 6K, compared to when the rotating body 79 is not provided.

[0145] Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus 1, a portion of the entrance transport path 6K in front of the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is formed of a flexible sheet 78. As a result, according to the image forming apparatus 1, even if there is no sufficient installation space in the portion of the entrance conveying path 6K in front of the first intermediate conveying roll pair 65, the papers 9E and 9F introduced through the entrance conveying path 6K are guided by the flexible sheet 78 to the first intermediate conveying roll pair 65 and are smoothly received.

[0146] This point will be further explained. First, in the image forming apparatus 1, the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is arranged in close proximity to the left side surface 11 of the housing 10, so the horizontal distance between the inlet 16 and the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is narrow. For this reason, there is not enough installation space in front of the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 to install the introduction transport path 6K and the like. In addition, it is difficult to arrange the introduction transport path 6K, which is made of, for example, a plastic molded product, in front of the first intermediate transport roll pair 65. Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1, the portion of the entrance transport path 6K on the front side of the first intermediate transport roll pair 65 is formed of a flexible sheet 78.

[0147] In addition, in the external paper feeding device 8, the discharge transport roll pair 85 is disposed in front of the delivery port 87 such that the drive transport roll 85a is disposed above the driven transport roll 85b. As a result, the sheets 9E and 9F sent out through the pair of discharge transport rolls 85 in the external paper feeder 8 are transported in such a way that they are lifted upward by the winding action of the drive transport roll 85a when it is rotated.

[0148] Variations. The present invention is not limited to the configuration exemplified as the above-mentioned embodiment 1, and various modifications and alterations can be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions described in the claims. The present invention also includes, for example, the following modifications.

[0149] The manual feed tray 5 in the image forming apparatus 1 may protrude from the right side surface 12 of the housing 10. In this case, the arrangement of components related to the manual feed tray 5, such as the manual feed output device 53, the first paper tray 4A, the first output device 42A, the common transport roll pair 61, etc., is also adjusted or changed in the left-right direction.

[0150] The image forming unit 2 in the image forming apparatus 1 may be one that employs an image forming method other than the electrophotographic method. Image forming methods other than the electrophotographic method include, for example, a droplet ejection method, a thermal method, etc. Furthermore, the image forming unit 2 is not limited to one that forms a multi-color (color) image, and may be one that forms a monochromatic image.

[0151] Image forming apparatus 1 does not necessarily have to be one in which external paper feeding device 8 cannot be connected and used. The number of paper trays 4 in the image forming apparatus 1 is not limited to three, and may be any other number.

[0152] (Additional Note) (((1))) a housing having left and right sides; a manual feed tray protruding from one of the left and right sides; a manual feed device for feeding paper from the manual feed tray; a first paper tray disposed inside the housing and facing one end of the manual feed tray so as to overlap at least a portion of the manual feed tray in a gravity direction; a first paper feed device for feeding paper from the first paper tray; a common conveying roll pair disposed inside the housing, which first receives and conveys both the paper sent from the first sending device and the paper sent from the manual feeding device; An image forming apparatus comprising: (((2))) The common transport roll pair is arranged between the first feeding device and the manual feeding device, diagonally upward from both the first feeding device and the manual feeding device, at a position where they join together (((1))) of the image forming apparatus. (((3))) The image forming apparatus according to ((1))) or (((2))), wherein the manual feed sending device is disposed so as to be present inside the housing. (((4))) The first feeding device is positioned close enough to the manual feeding device to leave a distance equivalent to the left and right width of the common transport roll pair. An image forming apparatus as described in any one of ((1))) to (((3))). (((5))) The image forming apparatus according to any one of ((1)) to ((4)) above, wherein the first paper tray is configured as a tray for accommodating A3 size paper. (((6))) The image forming apparatus of any one of ((1))) to (((5))), wherein the manual feed tray is configured so that the inclination angle α of the storage surface that stores paper with respect to the horizontal line is 5°<α≦8°. (((7))) The common transport roll pair is a pair of rolls that combines a drive transport roll that is driven to rotate and a driven transport roll that rotates in contact with the drive transport roll, and the drive transport roll is positioned on a side that is horizontally farther to the left and right from the one side surface than the driven transport roll, in an image forming apparatus described in any of ((1)) to (((6))). (((8))) The manual feed device has a drive feed roll that is driven to rotate and feeds out paper, and a transport stop roll that contacts the drive feed roll and stops the transport of excess paper that is overlapped and transported by the drive feed roll, and the drive feed roll is positioned above the transport stop roll and close to the driven transport roll of the common transport roll pair. An image forming apparatus described in any of ((1)) to (((7))). (((9))) The image forming apparatus of any one of ((1)) to (((8))), wherein the first output device is arranged in an adjacent position away from the one side of the common transport roll pair rather than directly below the common transport roll pair. (((10))) a second paper tray disposed below the first paper tray inside the housing; a second paper feed device for feeding paper from the second paper tray; a relay conveying roll pair that is disposed at a position diagonally upward and away from the second delivery device so as to approach the one side surface, and that first receives the paper sent out from the second paper tray and then conveys the paper to the common conveying roll pair; Equipped with the second delivery device is disposed at a position shifted toward the one side surface relative to the first delivery device, The intermediate transport roll pair is positioned below the common transport roll pair, shifted toward the side closer to the one side than the common transport roll pair and the second sending device. An image forming apparatus described in any of ((1)) to (((9))). (((11))) a relay conveying path through which the paper is guided and conveyed from the relay conveying roll pair to the common conveying roll pair, The relay transport path is configured as a transport path consisting of a transport path that bends once to protrude in a direction away from one of the sides and then extends in a straight line along the direction of gravity toward the common transport roll pair. (((10))) Image forming apparatus. (((12))) an inlet provided in a portion of the one side surface facing the second feeding device so as to overlap at least a portion of the one side surface in a gravity direction, through which paper supplied from outside the housing is introduced; an introduction conveying path between the introduction port and the relay conveying roll pair, along which the paper introduced from the introduction port is guided and conveyed so as to be initially received by the relay conveying roll pair; Equipped with The image forming apparatus of (((10))) or (((11))), wherein the portion of the introduction conveying path just before it reaches the relay conveying roll pair is composed of a flexible sheet that guides the paper to the relay conveying roll pair. (((13))) The intermediate transport roll pair is a pair of rolls that combines a drive transport roll that is driven to rotate and a driven transport roll that is in contact with the drive transport roll and rotates in response to the drive transport roll, and the drive transport roll is positioned on a side farther from the one side surface than the driven transport roll. An image forming apparatus as described in any of (((10))) to (((12))). (((14))) an image forming unit disposed inside the housing and configured to form an image on a sheet; a pair of adjustment transport rolls arranged inside the housing and configured to adjust a timing for feeding a sheet to the image forming unit and transport the sheet; Equipped with An image forming apparatus as described in any one of ((1)) to (((13))), wherein the common transport roll pair is positioned below the adjustment transport roll pair and shifted toward the one side relative to the adjustment transport roll pair.

[0153] According to the image forming device of (((1))), the left and right width of the housing can be narrower than when a pair of internal transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the first sending device and a pair of manual feed transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the manual feed sending device are provided separately. According to the image forming apparatus of (((2))), the curvature of the paper transport path between the manual feed device and the common transport roll pair and the curvature of the paper transport path between the first feed device and the common transport roll pair can both be made smaller than when the common transport roll pair is positioned between the manual feed device and the first feed device. According to the image forming device of (((3))), the left-right width of the image forming device, including the manual feed tray, can be narrowed compared to a case in which a portion of the manual feed sending device is arranged so as to be exposed outside the housing. According to the image forming device of (((4))), it becomes easier to use a tray that is longer in the left-right direction as the first paper tray, compared to when the first feeding device is positioned at a distance away from the manual feeding device that is wider than the left-right width of the common transport roll pair. According to the image forming device of (((5))), even though the first paper tray stores A3 size paper, the left and right width of the housing can be narrower than when a pair of internal transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the first sending device and a pair of manual feed transport rolls that first receive and transport the paper sent out from the manual feed sending device are provided separately. According to the image forming device of (((6))), the curvature of the paper transport path between the manual feed sending device and the common transport roll pair can be made smaller than when the inclination angle α of the manual feed tray is greater than 8°. According to the image forming apparatus of (((7))), the paper sent out from the manual feed device is more likely to be subjected to the conveying force of the driving conveying roll of the common conveying roll pair than when the driving conveying roll of the common conveying roll pair is positioned closer to one side than the driven conveying roll. According to the image forming apparatus of (((8))), paper in the manual feed tray can be transported smoothly from the manual feed device to the common transport roll pair, compared to when the drive feed roll of the manual feed device is positioned below the transport stop roll and far away from the driven transport roll of the common transport roll pair. According to the image forming device of (((9))), the first sending device of the first paper tray is positioned not adjacent to a position directly below the pair of common transport rolls but away from the one side, so that the left and right width of the housing can be narrowed while making it easier to use a tray that is long in the left and right direction as the first paper tray. According to the image forming device of (((10))), compared to when the second sending device is positioned at a position shifted away from the one side surface more than the first sending device, or when the relay transport roll pair is positioned below the common transport roll pair at a position shifted away from the one side surface more than the common transport roll pair and the second sending device, it is possible to use a tray whose left-right length is longer than the first paper tray as the second paper tray while narrowing the left-right width of the housing. According to the image forming apparatus of (((11))), even if the relay transport path and the common transport roll pair are positioned at positions horizontally offset to the left and right, the paper can be transported smoothly from the relay transport roll pair to the common transport roll pair, compared to when the relay transport path is configured as a transport path consisting of a transport route that extends in a single straight line from the relay transport roll pair to the common transport roll pair. According to the image forming apparatus of (((12))), even if there is no space to install the intermediate transport roll pair in the inlet transport path, the paper introduced through the inlet transport path can be received by the intermediate transport roll pair. According to the image forming apparatus of (((13))), the paper supplied from the external paper feeding device is more likely to be subjected to the conveying force of the driven conveying roll of the relay conveying roll pair and is more likely to be sent toward the curved portion of the introduction conveying path, compared to when the drive conveying roll of the relay conveying roll pair is positioned closer to one side than the driven conveying roll. According to the image forming device of (((14))), it is easier to use a tray that is long in the left-right direction as the first paper tray while narrowing the left-right width of the housing, compared to when the common transport roll pair is positioned the same distance away from one side as the adjustment transport roll pair, or when the common transport roll pair is positioned further away from one side than the adjustment transport roll pair. [Explanation of symbols]

[0154] 1. Image forming device 2 … Image forming section 4 …Paper tray 4A…1st paper tray 4B…Second paper tray 5. Manual feed tray 8 ... External paper feeder 9. Paper 10…Housing 11...Left side (an example of the left side or one side) 12…Right side (example of the right side) 16...Entrance 42A…1st sending device 42B…Second delivery device 51b...One end of the manual feed tray 53...Manual feeding device 61... Joint transport roll pair 61a...Drive conveying roll 61b...Driven transport roll 62...Adjustment conveying roll pair 62a…Drive adjustment roll 62b...Driven adjustment roll 65...First relay transport roll pair (an example of an relay transport roll pair) 65a...Drive conveyor roll 65b...Driven transport roll 6...Transport path 6G…First relay transport route (an example of a relay transport route) 6K…Introduction transport route W1: Width of the housing from side to side

Claims

1. a housing having left and right sides; a manual feed tray protruding from one of the left and right sides; a manual feed device for feeding paper from the manual feed tray; a first paper tray disposed inside the housing and facing one end of the manual feed tray so as to overlap at least a portion of the first paper tray in a gravity direction; a first paper feed device for feeding paper from the first paper tray; a common conveying roll pair disposed inside the housing, which first receives and conveys both the paper sent from the first sending device and the paper sent from the manual feeding device; An image forming apparatus comprising:

2. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the common transport roll pair is arranged between the first feeding device and the manual feeding device at a position where they join together diagonally upward from both the first feeding device and the manual feeding device.

3. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the manual feed device is disposed inside the housing.

4. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the first delivery device is disposed at a position close enough to the manual delivery device so as to leave a distance equivalent to a lateral width of the common transport roll pair.

5. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the first paper tray is configured as a tray for accommodating A3 size paper.

6. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the manual feed tray is configured so that an inclination angle .alpha. of a sheet receiving surface for receiving sheets satisfies 5.degree.<.alpha..ltoreq.8.degree. with respect to a horizontal line.

7. The image forming apparatus described in claim 1, wherein the common transport roll pair is a pair of rolls consisting of a drive transport roll that is driven to rotate and a driven transport roll that is driven to rotate in contact with the drive transport roll, and the drive transport roll is positioned on a side that is horizontally farther to the left and right from the one side surface than the driven transport roll.

8. The image forming apparatus described in claim 7, wherein the manual feed device has a drive feed roll that is driven to rotate and feed out paper, and a transport stop roll that contacts the drive feed roll and stops the transport of excess paper that is overlapped and transported by the drive feed roll, and the drive feed roll is positioned above the transport stop roll and close to the driven transport roll of the common transport roll pair.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the first delivery device is disposed at an adjacent position on a side farther away from the one side surface than a position directly below the pair of common transport rolls.

10. a second paper tray disposed below the first paper tray inside the housing; a second paper feed device for feeding paper from the second paper tray; a relay conveying roll pair that is disposed at a position diagonally upward and away from the second delivery device so as to approach the one side surface, and that first receives the paper sent out from the second paper tray and then conveys the paper to the common conveying roll pair; Equipped with the second delivery device is disposed at a position shifted toward the one side surface relative to the first delivery device, The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the intermediate transport roll pair is disposed below the common transport roll pair and shifted toward a side closer to the one side than the common transport roll pair and the second sending device.

11. a relay conveying path through which the paper is guided and conveyed from the relay conveying roll pair to the common conveying roll pair, The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the relay transport path is configured as a transport path having a shape that bends once to protrude in a direction away from the one side, and then extends in a straight line along the direction of gravity toward the common transport roll pair.

12. an inlet provided in a portion of the one side surface facing the second delivery device so as to overlap at least a portion of the one side surface in a gravity direction, the inlet being adapted to introduce paper supplied from outside the housing; an introduction conveying path between the introduction port and the relay conveying roll pair, along which the paper introduced from the introduction port is guided and conveyed so as to be initially received by the relay conveying roll pair; Equipped with 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein a portion of the introduction transport path before the intermediate transport roll pair is formed of a flexible sheet that guides the paper to the intermediate transport roll pair.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the intermediate transport roll pair is a pair of rolls that combines a drive transport roll that is driven to rotate and a driven transport roll that is in contact with the drive transport roll and rotates in response to the drive transport roll, and the drive transport roll is positioned on a side farther away from the one side than the driven transport roll.

14. an image forming unit disposed inside the housing and configured to form an image on a sheet; a pair of adjustment transport rolls arranged inside the housing and configured to adjust a timing for feeding a sheet to the image forming unit and transport the sheet; Equipped with 14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the common transport roll pair is disposed below the adjustment transport roll pair and shifted toward a side closer to the one side surface than the adjustment transport roll pair.

Images