Discharge Apparatus Guide Members Protruding Portions Paper Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing discharge apparatuses for recording media face challenges in aligning paper sheets effectively without causing jams, as the distance between guide members needs to be optimized to prevent skew and variation in stacked positions.
Innovation Solution
The discharge apparatus incorporates guide members with protruding portions that extend inward and are positioned to contact the recording medium, improving alignment while preventing jams without significantly increasing the distance between guide members relative to the recording medium's width.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the distance between the bodies of the rear guides is short, then the aligning property of paper sheets is improved, but paper sheets discharged with skew are more likely to get jammed
Solution Approach 1:
The guide members include protruding portions that extend in the longitudinal direction (first direction) beyond the receiving surface, creating a three-dimensional guiding structure. This allows the leading ends of the protruding portions to contact the paper sheet at a position forward of the receiving surface, providing alignment in the width direction (second direction) without requiring the guide members to be positioned far apart laterally.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide members are segmented into multiple functional portions: the main body extending upward from the receiving surface, and the protruding portions extending further in the longitudinal direction. This segmentation allows different parts of the guide member to perform different functions - the protruding portions provide early alignment contact while the main body provides structural support and lateral guidance.
2Reliability
If the distance between the bodies of the rear guides is considerably larger than the paper width, then the risk of jamming is reduced, but the stacked positions of paper sheets vary in the width direction
Solution Approach 1:
The guide members utilize the longitudinal dimension (first direction) by extending protruding portions beyond the receiving surface. This allows alignment to be achieved through the extended longitudinal structure rather than by increasing the lateral distance (second direction) between guide members, thereby maintaining consistent stacked positions without compromising reliability.
3Reliability
If the distance between guide members is increased to prevent jamming, then reliability improves, but the aligning property deteriorates due to greater variation in stacked positions
Solution Approach 1:
The solution moves the alignment function from the lateral dimension (second direction) to the longitudinal dimension (first direction) by extending protruding portions of the guide members beyond the receiving surface. This allows the guide members to be positioned closer together laterally (improving aligning property) while the extended longitudinal portions prevent jamming by providing early contact and guidance for skewed paper sheets.
Data Source
AI summary
A discharge apparatus includes: a discharge mechanism including a discharge port and discharging a recording medium from the discharge port in a first direction; a receiving member having a receiving surface which receives the recording medium discharged from the discharge port; an abutting member having an abutting surface which abuts against an upstream end or a downstream end in the first direction of the recording medium received by the receiving surface; and guide members extending upward beyond the receiving surface and guiding the recording medium which is discharged from the discharge port to fall toward the receiving surface, from both sides in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and parallel to the receiving surface. The guide members respectively include protruding portions protruding inward in the second direction and extending in a longitudinal direction of the guide members.