JP2003266968A - Apparatus for after-processing of paper - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for after-processing of papers for an image forming apparatus which has high productivity; efficiently uses an adhesive; has a strong adhesive strength between the papers; and becomes a new binding means being substituted for a staple. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus for after-processing of the papers is provided with a paper aligning means for receiving a plurality of pieces of the papers on which images are formed by the image forming apparatus and aligning them, a pasting means for pasting the aligned papers aligned by the paper aligning means, a paper pressing means for pressing the surfaces of the pasted papers, and a paper hole boring means by which a boring position is changeable, provided in an upstream part in the paper carrying direction of the paper aligning means. Holes ph are bored to even number pages of the papers P aligned by receiving a plurality of pieces of the papers on which the images are formed, and the paper faces of the papers P of the preceding pages are pasted through these holes ph and a bookbinding processing is performed by pressing these pasted sites ad to obtain a binding condition with a strong adhesive force between papers. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing device for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years,
As a post-processing function of an image forming apparatus, a finisher capable of performing a gluing process as well as a staple process of binding a sheet bundle after the image forming process with a staple has come to be widely used.

For example, in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-35222, it has been proposed to make a notch in a sheet end face by a punching device to increase an adhesive area between the sheets and strengthen the adhesion. However, since it is premised that the tape binding is carried out, even if the tape binding is not carried out, the cut portion is formed at the end, so it cannot be said that the appearance is very good, and the staple binding is performed. It cannot be a substitute for processing. In addition, since adhesive is basically applied to the edges of the paper, it cannot be said that the adhesive force between the paper is strong, and it is impossible to use it as a substitute for stapling (of course, it is premised that tape binding is performed. For the sake of reason).

Further, in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-318345, there has been proposed a technique of punching a hole by a punching device and injecting an adhesive into the hole or applying an adhesive to the peripheral side surface thereof. However, since the adhesive force between the sheets is basically earned by the cut surface of the punch, the adhesive force is not so high, and in order to increase the adhesive force, a large amount of adhesive must be injected, There is a limit to the size of the adhesive force. In addition, although there is a step of injecting or applying an adhesive agent at the end, the injection step and application step take time, and it cannot be said that it is suitable for the post-treatment for the purpose of high productivity. .

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems in post-processing of image formation related to gluing and binding, the present invention punches every other sheet, and glues the paper of the previous page through punch holes to carry out gluing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus, which has a high productivity, uses an adhesive efficiently, and is a new binding means in place of a staple having a strong adhesive force between sheets.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention receives a plurality of sheets image-formed by an image forming apparatus and performs alignment. Aligning means, gluing means for gluing the paper aligned by the paper aligning means, paper holding means for holding the glued paper surface, and a hole drilling position changeable upstream of the paper aligning means in the paper transport direction. In the sheet post-processing apparatus including the sheet punching means, the sheet punching means punches even-numbered pages of the sheets aligned by the sheet aligning means, and the pasting means passes through the holes. It is characterized in that a gluing process is performed on the paper surface of the page, and the paper pressing means performs the bookbinding process by pressing the gluing surface.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the first aspect, when the sheet is the last page and is an even numbered sheet, the sheet punching means is used. The feature is that the paper is not punched.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the gluing means and the sheet pressing means are at least the punching position by the sheet punching means. It is characterized by being movable in correspondence with.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, in the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, in the case where the gluing hole and the file binding hole are present, It is characterized in that it is formed on the upstream side of the binding hole in the sheet conveying direction.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments and examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 is an embodiment of a sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention, and is an overall schematic view of a finisher as a sheet stacking apparatus, FIGS. 2 to 4 are schematic diagrams related to a glue application unit, and FIGS. A schematic view of the unit, FIGS. 8 to 10 are schematic views of the glue applying unit, FIGS. 11 and 12 are schematic views of the pressing unit, and FIGS.
Is a schematic view of a bundle of sheets bound by the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 16 is a control circuit diagram, and FIG. 17 is a flowchart.

As shown in FIG. 1, an entrance sensor SN1 and an entrance roller pair 1 are provided in the vicinity of a sheet passing portion between an image forming apparatus (not shown) and a finisher, and the entrance roller pair 1 moves to the finisher. Depending on the post-processing mode, the taken-in sheet is (1) in a mode of discharging from the pair of discharging rollers 8 to the discharging tray 50 (possible to select punching) (2) from the pair of discharging rollers 10 to the discharging tray 50. Ejection mode (whether punched or not can be selected) (3) Ejection mode in either mode (whether punched or not can be selected) from the ejection roller pair 10 to the ejection tray 50 or the ejection tray 51 after gluing processing It is designed to be ejected.

The conveyance route to the paper discharge roller pair 8 is switched by the branching claw 5 provided downstream of the paper conveyance roller 4, the paper is conveyed by the conveyance roller pairs 6 and 7, and the paper discharge roller pair 8 is used.
Is to be discharged by. Ejection roller pair 8
Is composed of a driving roller 8a and a driven roller 8b. The driven roller 8b contacts the driving roller 8a by its own weight or an urging force, and nips a sheet between both rollers to eject it. Branch claw 5
Is driven by a solenoid (not shown), and when the solenoid is turned off, the branching claw 5 moves to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 to convey the sheet toward the pair of discharge rollers 8. Numeral SN2 indicates the paper discharge roller pair 8 in the paper conveyance path.
And a paper discharge sensor provided between the transport roller 7 and the transport roller 7.

Then, when a solenoid (not shown) is turned on and the branching claw 5 is rotated upward (position shown by a chain line in FIG. 1), the sheet is guided substantially horizontally. A branch claw 25 is provided downstream of the branch claw 5. By means of the branching claw 25, the sheet guided substantially horizontally is selectively routed to a route not subjected to the gluing process (via the transport roller pair 9) or a route subjected to the gluing process (via the transport roller pairs 11, 13 to 16). invite. The branching claw 25 is driven by a solenoid (not shown), and when the solenoid is turned on and pivots upward, the branching claw 25 guides the sheet to a route for performing a substantially vertical gluing process. In the route where the gluing process is not performed, the sheet is conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers 9 and is ejected to the sheet ejection tray 50 or the sheet ejection tray 51 by the sheet ejection roller pair 10. A sheet discharge sensor provided in this transport path is indicated by reference numeral SN3 in the transport path of the sheet at this time.

Route for carrying out gluing process (conveyor roller pair 1
1, 13 to 16), the sheet is conveyed by a pair of conveyance rollers.
The sheet is conveyed by Nos. 1 and 13 to 16 and sent to the gluing unit 100 to be bound. Paper (bundle) that has been bound
The sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 50 or the sheet discharge tray 51 by the sheet discharge roller pair 10. At this time, the reference numeral SN is added to the paper conveyance path.
Reference numeral 4 denotes a staple discharge sensor provided on this conveyance path.

The paper discharge roller pair 10 comprises a driving roller 10a and a driven roller 10b. The driven roller 10b is provided rotatably in the up-and-down direction while supporting the upstream side in the paper discharge direction, contacts the drive roller 10a by its own weight or urging force, and nips the paper between both rollers to discharge it. When the bundle of sheets to which the gluing process has been applied is discharged, the driven roller 10b rotates and returns at a predetermined timing. This timing is determined based on the detection signal of the paper discharge sensor SN3.

Next, the structure of the punch unit 2 will be described. The punch unit 2 is located between the inlet roller pair 1 and the transport roller 4, and is capable of punching a sheet transported through each of the transport paths described above.
The punch unit 2 employs a press punch that temporarily stops the sheet and performs punch processing, and the entrance sensor SN1
By detecting the edge of the paper with, carrying a predetermined distance from there and temporarily punching the paper, by punching operation,
We are drilling. Further, by setting a plurality of stop positions, it is possible to form a plurality of punch holes in the transport direction.

The punch unit 2 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (B), it is also possible to move in the vertical direction of sheet conveyance, and it is also possible to move the sheet as needed to perform a punching process. Such operation is performed by the punch unit 2
Moving roller 79 and rack 75, rack 75 attached to
Is performed by a drive gear 77 that engages with and a stepping motor 78 that is a drive source. It should be noted that the punch unit 2 is moved in order to correspond to the paper size when gluing the end portion of the sheet (corresponding to the one-point binding of the stapler), and the two central portions of the sheet (corresponding to the two-point binding of the stapler). ), Do not move. The amount of movement of the punch unit 2 is determined by the home position of the punch unit 2 detected by the home position sensor 76 and the number of pulses to the stepping motor 78 from there.

Further, the punch unit 2 has a hole number switching mechanism capable of changing the number of holes of the punch. The switching mechanism used in the illustrated embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 5A, at each punch position, a punch 71 for making a hole, a guide 70 for guiding the punch 71, a return spring 69 for lifting the punch 71, and a punch 71 are fixed. Actuating cams 61 to 6 for actuating the actuating plate 68 and the punch 71
4 is provided. As shown in FIG. 6, the operating cams 61 to 64 are at the positions indicated by the solid line in the non-operating state, and
By rotating clockwise or counterclockwise around 0 and rotating to the position of the chain double-dashed line, the punch 71 is pushed down to make a hole. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C and 7D to 7F, the operating cams 62 and 63 have the same phase and the operating cams 61 and 64 have the same phase, respectively, at the same timing. It's working.

The home position of the punch unit 2 is
Detected by a filler 72 coaxially attached to the drive shaft 60 and a home position sensor 73, the drive shaft 60 is rotationally driven by a stepping motor via drive gears 65 and 66. As for the interval between the punches, the interval between the punches driven between the cams 62 and 63 is 80 mm (the interval at which binding can be bound), and the interval between the punches driven between the cams 61 and 64 is 310 mm (the maximum paper size + α, The position is such that only one place can be drilled even if they are operated simultaneously. With such a configuration, two locations in the center of the paper,
It is possible to make a hole at one end (front and back).

In this embodiment, the press punch is used for temporarily stopping the sheet and punching the sheet. However, a rotary punch for punching the sheet while conveying the sheet may be used. Further, although the punch of the punch hole switching type is used, there is no problem even if a plurality of punch units corresponding to the respective hole positions are arranged and used.

Next, the structure of the gluing processing unit 20 will be described. The sheet guided to the route for performing the gluing process is stacked on a staple tray (not shown) by the transport roller pairs 11, 13 and 15 (a pre-stack transport path passing through the transport roller 14 is omitted here). in this case,
For each sheet, the hitting roller 18 performs alignment in the vertical direction (paper transport direction), and the jogger fence 21 performs alignment in the horizontal direction (paper width direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction). A sever of the job, that is, between the last sheet of the sheet bundle and the leading sheet of the next sheet bundle, the glue processing unit 2 is generated by a signal from the control means.
0 is operated to perform gluing processing. The sheet bundle subjected to the gluing process is immediately sent to the discharge roller pair 10 by the discharge belt 22 having the discharge claw 23 and discharged to the discharge tray 51 (or the discharge tray 50). The home position of the ejection claw 23 is detected by the home position detection sensor SN5. The home position detection sensor SN5 is turned on / off by directly detecting the discharge claw 23 provided on the discharge belt 22.

As shown in FIG. 4, the striking roller 18 is swung around a fulcrum by a striking solenoid 32 to give a pendulum motion, and intermittently acts on the sheet fed to a staple tray (not shown) to cause the sheet to reach the trailing edge fence 24. Strike.
At this time, since the paper discharge roller pair 16 has the backflow preventing claw 17 (see FIG. 1), the backflow at the rear end of the paper is prevented by this. The tapping roller 18 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the jogger fence 21 is driven by a jogger motor 31 capable of forward and reverse rotations via a jogger belt to reciprocate in the width direction of the sheet.

As shown in FIG. 3, the glue applying unit 101
The pressing unit 201 is driven by a moving motor 30 capable of rotating in the forward and reverse directions via a timing belt, and moves a predetermined position at the edge of the paper in the width direction of the paper in order to perform a gluing process. The sheet discharge sensor SN4 detects the trailing edge of the sheet and immediately issues an on command to the striking solenoid 32. Even if the striking roller 18 operates, the trailing edge of the sheet discharged by the striking roller 18 hits the trailing edge fence 24 and is aligned. Place it in the specified position.

With reference to FIGS. 8 to 10, the glue applying unit 1
The details of 01 will be described. Glue application unit 101
Has a function of applying an adhesive to the aligned sheets that have entered the alignment tray, and a sensor 11 that detects that the tip of the nozzle 102 has approached the sheets by a predetermined distance.
0, a pump 103 for delivering the adhesive 104, and a tank 105 for storing the adhesive 104. The pump 103 includes a drive motor 117 for rotating the disk 116 and a roller 11 arranged on the circumference of the disk 116.
5, the disk 116 is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow to squeeze the nozzle 102 to feed the adhesive 104.

Further, the glue applying unit 101 can move forward and backward with respect to the stacked paper surfaces, two fixed slide pins 107, a rack 106 engaged with the glue applying unit 101, and an idle gear 108 meshing with the rack 106. , A stepping motor 109 for driving the idle gear 108. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the glue applying unit 101 normally sets the position separated from the paper as the home position (detected by the sensor 111), and the front end of the paper approaches the previous paper based on the command from the control means. It moves to the position (detected by the sensor 110) and the adhesive is applied.

Next, referring to FIGS. 11 and 12, the pressing unit 2
The details of 01 will be described. Holding unit 201
Has a function of pressing another sheet against the adhesive surface of the sheet to which the adhesive is applied by the glue applying unit 101 to strengthen the adhesive force between the sheets.
4, a pressing base 202 provided in the same row as the pressing member 4, a pressing plate 203 for pressing the paper, a pressing plate 2
03, a cam holder 204 for moving the pressing plate 203 in parallel, a eccentric cam 207 for rotating the cam holder 204 (rotating around a portion indicated by Ichigo No. 208), and a pressing force according to the thickness of the sheet bundle. The pressing force is small when the number of sheets is small, and the pressing force is increased as the number of sheets (thickness) increases, so that a stable adhesive force can be secured. ing. It should be noted that the cam 207 is driven by a drive gear 209 that is coaxially arranged.
The driving force from the C motor 210 is transmitted. Also cam 207
Home position (position where the plate is open)
Is detected by the sensor filler 212 and the sensor 211.

Next, the operation when the gluing processing mode is selected will be described along the flow of paper, also referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet discharged by the image forming apparatus is conveyed by the pair of entrance rollers 1 and passes through the conveying rollers 11, 13 and 15 and the discharging roller 1
It is conveyed to the alignment tray by 6 (step 1: in FIG. 17).
Paper acceptance), whether the paper is an odd page (step 2), and whether it is the last page (step 3).

If it is determined in step 2 that the page is an odd number, and if it is determined in step 3 that the page is not the final page, the hitting roller 18 aligns the sheet in the vertical direction (paper conveying direction), and the jogger fence 21 horizontally ( Alignment is performed in the paper width direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction (step 4), and the pressing unit 2 is pressed.
01 is moved in advance to the punching position described above, and the work of pressing the paper is performed (step 5).
To the sheet discharge tray 50 or the sheet discharge tray 51 (step 6). The pressing unit 201 holds the pressing plate 20 in preparation for the next paper entry after the pressing work is completed.
3 moves to the home position. When the final page is determined in step 3, the sheet is aligned (step 7) and pressed (step 8) in the same manner as described above, and then the sheet is fixed on the sheet by the gluing unit 101 that has been moved to the above-described position in advance. Adhesive is applied (step 9). Since this sheet has already undergone step 14 to be described later, it has punched holes, and the adhesive is applied to these punched holes.

On the other hand, it is determined whether or not the sheet determined to be the odd page in step 2 is the last page (step 1
0). The sheet judged to be the final page is aligned (step 11) and pressed (step 12) in the same manner as described above, and then sent to the pair of discharge rollers 10 and discharged to the discharge tray 50 or the discharge tray 51. (Step 13). The adhesive unit 101 and the pressing unit 201 are moved to the above-described punch position in advance for the paper determined to be not the final page in step 10, and the adhesive is applied to the punch holes of the paper by the adhesive unit 101. After the work is completed, the gluing unit 101 and the pressing unit 201 retract to the home position in preparation for the next paper entry.

By repeating the above operation for a predetermined number of sheets, the booklet glued in the form as shown in FIG. 13A is finally completed. If the paper is an even-numbered page and is not the final page (N in step 10), punching processing (step 14) is performed in the punch unit 2 at a position corresponding to the glued position, and then the same as the first sheet. Then, the alignment operation in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction is performed (step 15).

Incidentally, the perspective view (B) and the sectional view (D) of FIG. 13 correspond to the perspective view (C) and the sectional view (E), respectively, and the shaded portions of the sectional views (D, E) are bonded. It shows that every other sheet of paper P is bonded with the agent through the punch holes ph. The numbers attached to the sheets P in the perspective views (B) and (C) indicate pages. Further, as shown in FIGS. 14A to 14C, there are three kinds of gluing positions ad with respect to the paper P (front, back, and center two places), but the file binding hole p
When the sheet P is present on the sheet P, the gluing hole ph is formed on the upstream side of the binding hole p in the sheet conveying direction as shown in the drawing.

When the final page is an even numbered page, the punching process is not performed as described above, and the bookbinding operation is performed by applying the adhesive to the previous page as illustrated. Except when the final page is an even numbered page, the punch unit 2 and the gluing processing unit 20 are operated every other sheet, so that there is a margin in the working interval and it is possible to respond at a relatively high speed. In addition, since the application work is performed once for every two sheets, a booklet with a small binding amount and a high binding strength can be created. The bundle of sheets subjected to the gluing process is immediately sent to the discharge roller pair 10 by the discharge belt 22 having the discharge claw 23, and the discharge tray 5
The sheet is discharged to 0 (or the discharge tray 51).

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing a concrete example of the positions of the gluing position ad and the binding holes p.
As shown in FIG. 15 (A), a = 6 when there is one in front
mm, c = 6 mm, a = 6 mm, b = 6 mm for one back
A = 6 mm, d = 40 mm, e = 80 mm in the case of two central places
Is. The position of the binding hole p is a = 12 mm, b = 40 mm, and c = 80 mm, as shown in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a control circuit block diagram showing the electrical construction of the finisher 300, the image forming apparatus 301, and the relay apparatus 302, which is an embodiment of the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In the above description, the operation of gluing bookbinding is explained, but punch holes for binder (center 2
There is no problem even if it is compatible with holes. Further, by performing the gluing operation corresponding to the punch hole position, not only the end face binding and the two-point binding that are performed by the conventional stapler but also a plurality of positions can be bonded.

[0036]

As described above, the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention perforates even-numbered pages of the sheet aligned by the sheet aligning means, and through the holes, the sheet surface of the previous page is formed. The effect of enabling binding with high productivity, efficient use of adhesives, and strong adhesive force between papers, by performing bookbinding processing by performing gluing processing and pressing the gluing surface with paper pressing means There is.

As described above, the paper post-processing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention does not perform the punching of the paper by the paper punching means when the final page is an even number, so that the productivity is higher and the adhesive agent There is an effect that the binding can be efficiently used and the binding force between the sheets is strong.

In the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the third aspect, as described above, the gluing means and the sheet pressing means are constructed so as to be movable in correspondence with the hole positions of the sheet punching means, and are arranged at a plurality of positions on the sheet. On the other hand, since the binding and binding can be performed, in addition to the effects common to the first and second aspects, there is an effect that a new binding means can be provided in place of the staple having a strong adhesive force between the sheets.

As described above, in the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the fourth aspect, when the file binding hole is present, the gluing hole is formed upstream of the binding hole in the sheet conveying direction. By doing so, in addition to the effects common to the first and second aspects, there is an effect that it is possible to provide a new binding means in place of the staple having a strong adhesive force between sheets.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a finisher as a sheet stacking device, which is an embodiment of a sheet post-processing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view around a glue application unit.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the same.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the same.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a punch unit.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the arrangement of the operating cam.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the same operation.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a glue application unit.

FIG. 9 is a side sectional view (A) and a front view (B) of the main part.

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the same operation.

FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view of a pressing unit.

FIG. 12 is a schematic side sectional view of the same.

FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective view of a sheet bundle bound by the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a schematic perspective view showing a relationship between a binding hole and a gluing position of the same sheet.

FIG. 15 is a schematic plan view showing the relationship between the binding holes and the gluing position of the same sheet.

FIG. 16 is a control circuit block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an embodiment of a sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing the operation of an embodiment of the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 punch unit 20 Glue processing unit 100 gluing unit 101 glue application unit 201 Holding unit 300 finisher 301 image forming apparatus 302 Relay device P paper ad gluing position ph punch hole p File binding holes SN1 entrance sensor SN2 paper ejection sensor SN3 paper ejection sensor SN4 staple output sensor SN5 home position detection sensor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A sheet aligning unit that receives and aligns a plurality of sheets on which images are formed by an image forming apparatus, a glue unit that glues the sheets aligned by the sheet aligning unit, and a surface of the glued sheet. Paper holding means to hold,
In a sheet post-processing device comprising a sheet punching unit provided at a position upstream of the sheet aligning unit in the sheet transport direction so that the punching position can be changed, the sheet punching unit is an even number of sheets aligned by the sheet aligning unit. A hole is made in a page, the gluing means performs a gluing process on the paper surface of the previous page through the hole, and the paper pressing means performs a bookbinding process by pressing the gluing surface. Characteristic paper post-processing device. 2. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the sheet is the last page and is an even number of sheets, the sheet punching means does not punch the sheet. . 3. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gluing means and the sheet pressing means are movable at least in correspondence with a punching position by the sheet punching means. Processing equipment. 4. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the gluing hole is formed on the upstream side of the binding hole in the sheet conveyance direction when a file binding hole is present. Paper post-processing device.