JP2002255446A - Paper folding device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper folding device of small and low-cost construction capable of folding a paper sheet according to the size of sheet. SOLUTION: The paper folding device is equipped with a first transporting means, stopping members 49 and 57 to stop the leading edge of each paper sheet transported by the first transporting means, and a second transporting means to transport the sheet which is bent owing to the transportation by the first means while the leading edge is obstructed by the stopping members, in such a way that the second means pinches the bent part of the sheet, wherein the arrangement further includes toothed belts 52 and 60 supporting the stopping members and a belt moving means to move the belts, and the belt moving means stops the stopping members in a position selected among a plurality of positions specified.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper folding apparatus for folding a sheet and an image forming apparatus having the paper folding apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a post-processing device of a copying machine or a printer,
A sheet that folds a sheet on which an image is formed is widely used.

Such a paper folding apparatus as a post-processing apparatus is required to be small in size because it is used in combination with an image forming apparatus main body. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to cope with various sizes.

[0004] In order to satisfy such demands, various paper folding apparatuses have been conventionally proposed. As a folding mechanism,
A method in which the sheet is conveyed while the leading end of the sheet is stopped to bend the sheet, and the sheet is folded by feeding the bent portion between the folding rollers is widely used because the folding mechanism can be reduced in size. .

[0005] In such a paper folding apparatus, a mechanism for displacing the position of a stop member for stopping the leading edge of a sheet is adopted in order to be able to cope with various sizes.

For example, a mechanism in which stop members are provided at a plurality of positions, and these stop members are selectively moved into and out of a sheet conveying path using a solenoid, or a screw as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-194586. A mechanism for displacing the stop member using a screw, a mechanism for moving the stop member using a pinion and a rack, and the like are disclosed.

[0007]

However, in the conventional folding apparatus, the cost is increased or the size is reduced in order to satisfy conditions such as enabling the stop member to be movable and reducing the size of the entire apparatus. It was unsatisfactory due to various restrictions such as difficulty.

That is, the use of a plurality of stop members increases the number of parts and increases the cost, and the one in which the stop member is displaced by using a screw screw is driven by a screw screw. Is slow, the switching of paper size takes time, and it is difficult to reduce the size of rack and pinion
Each had its strengths and weaknesses and was unsatisfactory.

The present invention solves the above-described problems in a conventional paper folding apparatus, particularly a paper folding apparatus used as a post-processing apparatus of an image forming apparatus, and can be downsized.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost paper folding apparatus and an image forming apparatus having such a paper folding apparatus.

[0010]

The object of the present invention described above is achieved by the following invention.

1. A first conveying unit, a stop member for stopping a leading end of the sheet conveyed by the first conveying unit, and a stop member for stopping the leading end of the sheet conveyed by the first conveying unit with the leading end stopped by the stop member. In a paper folding apparatus having a second conveying means for nipping and conveying a bent portion, the paper folding apparatus includes a toothed belt for supporting the stop member and a belt moving means for moving the toothed belt. Wherein the stop member is stopped at a position selected from the predetermined position.

2. 2. The paper folding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the toothed belt is an endless belt.

3. 3. The paper folding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the belt moving means comprises a stepping motor.

4. The paper folding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising two paper folding units each including the stop member, the toothed belt, and the belt moving unit.

[0015] 5. The belt moving means moves the stop member to a retracted position.
The paper folding device according to any one of the above.

6. A first post-processing device having the paper folding device according to any one of the above 1 to 5, and an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet and conveys the sheet to the first post-processing device. Image forming apparatus.

[7] 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a second post-processing device, wherein the sheet conveyed from the first post-processing device is processed by the second post-processing device.

[8] 8. The image forming apparatus according to 6 or 7, wherein the first post-processing apparatus has a punching unit.

9. 9. The image forming apparatus according to 7 or 8, wherein the second post-processing device has a stapler.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 denotes an image forming unit for forming an image on paper by an electrophotographic method, 20 denotes an image reading unit for reading an image of a document and outputs image data, and 40 denotes a first post-processing device. Paper folding device, 30 is an image forming unit 1
This is a post-processing unit as a second post-processing device that performs post-processing such as stapling on a sheet on which an image is formed at 0 and conveyed from a paper folding device.

The image forming section 10 forms a toner image by charging, exposing, and developing the photoconductor 11 and transferring the toner image formed on the photoconductor 11 to paper. A unit 12 and storage units 13a, 13b, each of which stores paper of various sizes separately for each size;
13c, 13d, and the respective storage portions 13a, 13b, 13c,
13d, a paper feed unit 18a having a roller group for transporting the paper to the image forming unit 12 one by one.
8b, 18c, and 18d; a reversing sheet supply unit 14 for reversing the recording when forming images on both sides of the sheet and conveying the single-side recorded sheet to the image forming unit 12; and a toner image transferred on the sheet. And a fixing device 15 for fixing.

The image reading section 20 includes a document feed table 21 on which a document is placed, a platen roller 22 for conveying the document and forming a reading position, and a document discharge table 2 on which a read document is placed.
3 and an image sensor 24 that receives image light reflected from the document and generates a read signal.

The post-processing section 30 is provided with a fixed paper discharge tray 30a for discharging paper as it is and a movable paper discharge tray 30b. Further, a paper discharge path A for discharging paper to the fixed paper discharge tray 30a,
Elevating movable paper discharge tray 30b used for discharging a large number of papers
And a gate G1 for guiding the switching to these discharge paths. The discharge path B is further connected to a transport path 30c for the stapler 33.

Next, the paper folding device 40 according to the embodiment
Will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a punching device 41 is provided in a transport path 42 that forms an entrance to the paper folding device 40.
And transport rollers 43 and 44 are provided at the end of the transport path. Also, the first transport path 46 formed by the guide plate 46
A is provided with intermediate conveyance rollers 53A and 53B and a switching member 45 for switching the conveyance direction, and a paper guide section 47 forming the rear end of the guide plate 46 is formed at the exit of the first conveyance path 46A. .

Further, a pair of folding rollers 53 and 54 that are in pressure contact with each other are provided at a position facing the paper guide portion 47, and a folding roller 63 that is in pressure contact with the folding roller 54 is provided. Folding rollers 53, 54
And 63 are made of a material having high frictional resistance such as rubber.
A second transport path 48 </ b> A is formed by the guide plate 48 on the upstream side in the transport direction of the folding rollers 53 and 54. A first stop member 4 for stopping the leading end of the sheet P is provided in the second transport path 48A.
Reference numeral 9 is provided so as to be movable in a direction W1 which is a moving direction of the paper P. On the other hand, the toothed pulley 5
The toothed belt 52 is suspended on the toothed pulleys 50 and 51, and the base of the first stop member 49 is fixed to the toothed belt 52. In order to move the first stop member 49 in the direction W1, a stepping motor M1 for driving the toothed pulley 50 is provided, and by rotating the toothed pulley 50, the first stop member 49 is moved to a predetermined position. It is configured to stop. The first stop member 49 is driven by the stepping motor M1 to move to a position selected from a plurality of predetermined positions according to the size of the sheet P to be processed and stop.

As shown in FIG. 7, by providing the toothed belt 52 and the first stop member 49 at two positions in the width direction of the transport path, the leading end of the paper P is held at right angles to the traveling direction, and It is configured to be folded.

The folding rollers 53 and 54, the first stop member 49, the toothed belt 52, and the stepping motor M1 form a first paper folding section.

Further, a third transport path 56A formed by a guide plate 56 is formed downstream of the folding rollers 54 and 63 in the transport direction. A curved guide portion 56 is provided above the guide plate 56.
1 and a guide end 562 are formed. On the other hand, similarly to the first stop member 49, a second stop member 57 for stopping the leading end of the sheet P is provided in the third transport path 56A so as to be movable in the movement direction W2 of the sheet P. Then, toothed pulleys 58 and 59 are provided below the guide plate 56, the toothed belt 60 is suspended on the toothed pulleys 58 and 59, and the base of the second stop member 57 is fixed to the toothed belt 60. In order to move the second stop member 57 in the direction W2 that is the sheet conveyance direction, a stepping motor M2 that drives the toothed pulley 58 is provided.
The toothed belt 6 is driven by driving the toothed pulley 58.
With 0, the stop member 57 is moved in the direction W2 and stopped at a predetermined position.

As a result, the leading end of the sheet P folded and conveyed by the folding rollers 53 and 54 abuts against the stop member 57, and the portion of the sheet P located near the guide portion 561 is bent and is caught by the folding rollers 54 and 63. Second
Of the second fold P2. A guide plate 64 is provided downstream of the folding rollers 54 and 63, and the guide plate 64 forms a fourth transport path 64A. Information board 6
4 and the driven roller 63A pressed against the folding roller 63 ensure the conveyance of the sheet P in the fourth conveyance path 64A. The fourth transport path 64 </ b> A is the second stop member 5.
7 and extends to the paper discharge path 56B.
Discharge rollers 65 and 66 are provided in the discharge path 56B.

The folding rollers 54 and 63, the second stop member 57, the toothed belt 60, and the stepping motor M2 form a second paper folding section.

Further, the fourth transport path 64 of the third transport path 56A
A sensor 62 for detecting the sheet P is provided at the junction with the sheet A, and detects the passage of the sheet P in the third conveyance path 56A.

As shown in FIG. 2, a movable auxiliary guide member 471 (the operation of which will be described later) is provided on the side of the paper guide portion 47.

The operation of the paper folding apparatus 40 configured as described above, that is, a folding process of performing simple paper passing and two-fold and three-fold of the paper P will be described.

(1) Simple paper feed Simple paper feed will be described with reference to FIGS. From the state of FIG.
The switching member 45 provided in the paper folding device 40 is rotated in the direction W3 (dotted line). The sheet P is transported on the transport path 42 by the transport rollers 43 and 44, and is discharged by the sheet discharge path 56
The sheet is guided by B, is conveyed in the direction W4 by the paper discharge rollers 65 and 66, and is sent to the post-processing unit 30.

When a punching process is performed on the paper P, the paper P in the transport path 42 is transported by the transport rollers 43 and 44 and the discharge rollers 6.
After the sheet P is conveyed by a predetermined length in steps 5 and 66, the sheet P is pierced at a predetermined position by
The paper is conveyed by 3, 44 and paper discharge rollers 65, 66 and sent to the post-processing unit 30.

In the case of perforating the rear of the long sheet P, first, the switching member 45 is rotated in the direction W3 (solid line), and the movable auxiliary guide member 471 is rotated in the direction W5 (solid line). As shown by the dashed line, the second transport path 48
A is closed. After forming such a transport path, the paper P is transported by the transport rollers 43 and 44. First, the paper P is transported through the first transport path 46A, and the intermediate transport rollers 5
The movable auxiliary guide member 471 is conveyed by 3A and 53B.
And the folding rollers 53 and 54 rotate in the direction of the arrow, and the folding rollers 5
Enter between 3,54. In the mode for punching the trailing edge of the sheet, the stepping motor M2 operates to drive the toothed belt 60, move the second stop member 57 to the position shown in FIG. 5, and retreat from the sheet discharge path 56B. Third transport path 56A
When the rear end of the sheet P conveyed through the sheet discharge path 56B reaches the punching device 41, the folding rollers 53, 5
4, transport rollers 43 and 44, intermediate transport rollers 53A and 5
3B is stopped, and the punching device 41 is operated to perform a punching process at a predetermined position of the paper P. Then, these rollers are rotated again to convey the paper P, and sent to the post-processing unit 30 by the paper discharge rollers 65 and 66. .

(2) Folding Process The operation in the folding process will be described with reference to FIGS.
The sheet is conveyed and moves from FIG. 3 to FIG. 4 and FIG.

According to the setting of the folding mode and the paper size, first, in FIG.
2 to drive the toothed belts 52 and 60 to move the first stop member 49 and the second stop member 57 to a position corresponding to the size. Further, the switching member 45 is moved in the direction W3 (solid line). By rotating, the paper discharge path 56B is closed.

When the folding process starts, the image forming unit 1
The paper P sent from 0 is transported by conveying rollers 43 and 44.
And the intermediate conveyance rollers 53A and 53B convey the first conveyance path 46A, and then enter the second conveyance path 48A,
The leading end of the sheet P strikes the first stop member 49 (see FIGS. 2 and 7).

Next, as shown in FIG.
3A and 53B further continue to rotate, forcibly transporting the paper P in the direction of the first stop member 49. However, since the leading end of the paper P is stopped by the first stop member 49, a bending force acts on the paper P between the first transport path 46A and the second transport path 48A, but the paper guide section is provided on the right side. Since the sheet 47 is formed, the sheet P is bent toward the folding rollers 53 and 54, and the bent portion of the sheet P enters the entrance 55 formed between the folding rollers 53 and 54. And folding roller 5
Since sheets 3 and 54 are rotating in the direction of the arrow, the sheet P is conveyed while the first folded portion P1 is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG.
The sheet P, on which the first folded portion P1 is formed by the third and third rollers 54, passes through the third conveying path 56A by the first folding rollers 53 and 54.
The sheet is conveyed with the folded portion P1 at the head. And the first
The folded portion P1 hits the second stop member 57 and stops. Further, since the folding rollers 53 and 54 continue to rotate, the folding rollers 53 and 54 and the third conveyance path 5
6A, a bending force is applied to the sheet P, but the sheet P is prevented from bending downward by the rear end portion 561 of the guide plate 56. As a result, the sheet P enters the entrance 61 formed between the folding rollers 54 and 63. enter in.

Since the folding rollers 54 and 63 rotate in the direction of the arrow, the bent portion of the sheet P
4 and 63, and the sheet P is transported while the second folded portion P2 is formed.

The first fold P1 and the second fold P2
Is formed on the third folding path 56A by the transport of the folding rollers 54 and 63, and the first folded portion P
1 is separated from the second stop member 57. Then, the stepping motor M2 is driven by a signal that the sensor 62 detects the passage of the first folded portion P1. By the operation of the stepping motor M2, the second stop member 57 moves to the position shown in FIG. 5 and retreats from the paper discharge path 56B.

As shown in FIG. 6, the three-folded sheet P is transported along the folding roller 63 by the guide plate 64 and the driven roller 63A, and travels down the fourth transport path 64A. Next, after passing through the third transport path 56A, the paper is sent to the post-processing section 30 by the paper discharge rollers 65 and 66 of the paper discharge path 56B with the second folded portion P2 at the top.

The folding process for folding the sheet P in three has been described above. In the folding process for folding the sheet P in two, the first stop member 49 is moved to the position for folding in half, and the second stop member 57 is moved. After the sheet P is retracted to the position shown in FIG. 5, the folding process is performed by the folding rollers 53 and 54, and the sheet P is discharged from the third conveyance path 56A to the post-processing section 30 via the sheet discharge path 56B.

[0047]

According to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the stop member for folding the sheet is displaced using the toothed belt, so that the stop member corresponding to the sheet size can be displaced without taking up a large space. Become. With this configuration, a small-sized paper folding device that can handle the size is realized at low cost.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the leading end of the sheet is stopped using the locking function of the stepping motor, the function of displacing the stop member and the function of stopping the sheet are simultaneously realized by a simple mechanism.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a compact paper folding apparatus is realized. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the stop member is supported by the belt, the function of retracting the stop member from the paper transport path is extremely small, and the paper folding device can be multifunctional. It becomes possible and downsizing is realized.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the stop member for folding the sheet is displaced by using the toothed belt, the stop member corresponding to the sheet size can be displaced without taking a large space. With this configuration, it is possible to realize a small-sized image forming apparatus equipped with a small paper folding device that can handle a size.

According to the seventh or ninth aspect of the present invention, a compact image forming apparatus equipped with a post-processing device having a paper folding device and a post-processing device having a stapler or the like is realized.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, an image forming apparatus in which a punching means is incorporated in a post-processing apparatus having a paper folding apparatus is formed in a small size.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a paper folding device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating the formation of a first folded portion.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the formation of a second folded portion.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating conveyance of a sheet after a second folded portion is formed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a sheet folded in three.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an arrangement of a first stop member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming part 11 Photoreceptor 12 Image forming unit 20 Image reading part 21 Document feeder 30 Post-processing part 40 Paper folding device 53,54,63 Folding roller 49 First stop member 57 Second stop member 46,48,56 , 64 guide plate 46A first transport path 48A second transport path 56A third transport path 64A fourth transport path P paper

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yuki Nagaoka 1-2228, Tenjincho, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo 2 (72) Inventor Kazuaki Fukuda 3- 10-13, Yoshidashinmachi, Kawagoe-shi, Saitama F-term (reference) 3F103 AA02 BB02 BE03 3F108 AA01 AB01 AC02 AC03 BA03 CC02 GA02 GA04 GB01 GB04 GB07 HA02 HA39

Claims (9)

[Claims] A first conveying unit, a stop member for stopping a leading end of the sheet conveyed by the first conveying unit, and a sheet conveyed by the first conveying unit in a state where the leading end is stopped by the stop member. A paper folding device having a second transporting means for nipping and transporting a bent portion of a bent sheet, comprising: a toothed belt for supporting the stop member; and a belt moving means for moving the toothed belt; A paper folding device, wherein the moving means stops the stop member at a position selected from a plurality of predetermined positions. 2. The paper folding device according to claim 1, wherein the toothed belt is an endless belt. 3. The paper folding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the belt moving means comprises a stepping motor. 4. The paper folding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising two paper folding sections each having the stop member, the toothed belt, and the belt moving unit. 5. The belt moving means for moving the stop member to a retracted position.
The paper folding device according to any one of the above. 6. A first post-processing device having the paper folding device according to claim 1, and an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet and conveys the sheet to the first post-processing device. An image forming apparatus comprising: 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a second post-processing device, wherein the sheet conveyed from the first post-processing device is processed by the second post-processing device. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the first post-processing apparatus has a punching unit. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second post-processing device has a stapler.