Elastic Conveyance Guide for Recording Material Jam Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image forming apparatuses risk damaging rotary bodies due to tough recording materials like thick paper or thick film, which curve convexly during jams, causing the stripping claw to press against the rotary body.
Innovation Solution
A recording material conveying device with a supporting member and a conveyance guide that supports and redirects the curved recording material, preventing it from pressing the stripping claw, includes a first pair of rotary bodies for toner transfer, a second pair for fixing, and a platelike elastic conveyance guide that expands the conveying path to absorb curvature, ensuring the recording material is not pressed against the stripping claw.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a stripping claw with a sharp tip is used to strip recording material from the rotary body, then the stripping function is improved, but the rotary body is damaged when tough recording material curves convexly during jams
Solution Approach 1:
A conveyance guide is introduced as an intermediary component between the recording material and the stripping claw. This guide redirects the curved recording material away from the stripping claw, preventing direct contact and potential damage to the rotary body while maintaining the stripping function.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyance guide is positioned in advance to intercept and redirect curved recording material before it can reach the stripping claw. This preventive measure cushioning against potential damage by altering the path of the recording material during jam conditions.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the conveying path space is expanded to prevent recording material from pressing the stripping claw, then the rotary body is protected from damage, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyance guide is designed as a movable component that can dynamically adjust its position in response to curved recording material. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to expand the conveying path space only when needed during jams, rather than maintaining a permanently expanded complex structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The conveyance guide functions as a flexible element that can deflect and redirect recording material. This flexible approach provides the necessary space expansion and redirection capability without requiring a complex rigid structural modification of the conveying path.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Prevents damage to the rotary body by allowing the recording material to curve within the expanded space, thereby avoiding contact with the stripping claw, ensuring the quality of the image forming process even during jams with tough materials.
Implementation Method 1
The conveyance guide, being disposed between the supporting member and the second pair of rotary bodies along the conveying path in such a manner as to face one face of the recording material being conveyed onto which face the toners have been transferred, is displaced toward a pressed direction by a pressing force acting on the conveyance guide when the recording material curved at the time of the occurrence of jam comes into contact with and thereby presses the conveyance guide.
Data Source
AI summary
A recording material conveying device includes a stripping claw being in contact with one rotary body of a first pair of rotary bodies, and a supporting member supporting a recording material curved when a jam occurs. The supporting member includes a supporting section located more away from the stripping claw than an imaginary straight line (C) passing a nip portion of the first pair of rotary bodies and a surface on a conveying path's side of the stripping claw, and the supporting section supports the recording material curved when the jam occurs. The recording material conveying device further includes a conveyance guide that is disposed on the downstream side from the supporting member and is displaced toward a pressed direction by a pressing force acting when the curved recording material comes into contact with the conveyance guide.