JP3467364B2 - Paper post-processing equipment - Google Patents

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 apparatus for post-processing a sheet that has been subjected to a predetermined process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a laser beam printer, and a facsimile, a printing machine, and the like, which is attached to an image forming apparatus or a printing machine, discharges a sheet on which an image has been formed or printed, and an image forming apparatus. Conventionally, various sheet post-processing apparatuses have been proposed which selectively perform a post-processing mode in which a predetermined number of sheets are bundled and bound by a stapler or the like and then discharged.

[0003] For example, the applicant of the present invention is Japanese Patent Application No. 7-49225.
In the above issue, we proposed a paper post-processing device that is compact and that can perform stable post-processing and conveyance on paper. This sheet post-processing device, in the post-processing mode, sends the sheet sent to the transport path by the feed roller to the stapler provided at one end of the transport path by a tapping roller, and performs the binding process on the sheet, The sheets bound by the conveyor belt are discharged to the discharge tray through the discharge rollers. On the other hand, in the transport mode, if the paper fed into the transport path by the feed roller is equal to or longer than the predetermined length, it is transported to the transport path and directly discharged to the paper ejection tray by the paper ejection path roller. For example, the sheet is once fed from the transport path to the position of the trailing edge fence by the tapping roller, and is ejected to the sheet ejection tray from the sheet ejection roller opened by the ejection claw of the ejection belt.

[0004]

By the way, in the transport mode, if the size of the paper is shorter than the predetermined length, the stack is carried out by the switchback which is temporarily sent to the trailing edge fence position. Therefore, if there is a deviation in the lateral registration of the paper at that time, it will be ejected to the paper ejection tray as it is. Further, when the paper is a predetermined length or less, the switch back is always performed to the trailing edge fence, so that the switch back distance is inevitably long and it takes time accordingly. Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional example, productivity was not particularly considered.

The present invention has been made in view of the current state of the art as described above, and its first object is to post-process a sheet.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus in which misalignment of the lateral registration is adjusted and the stackability on the sheet ejection tray is improved even in the conveyance mode in which the sheet is conveyed without performing the conveyance.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus which shortens the switchback distance in the carrying mode and improves the productivity.

A third object of the present invention is to adjust the lateral registration shift and shorten the switchback distance based on the length of the sheet in the sheet conveying direction to improve the controllability of the entire system. It is to provide a processing device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned first object, the first means is a post-processing for performing post-processing by a post-processing means on a sheet sent to a conveying path and discharging the sheet to a discharge tray. In a sheet post-processing apparatus that selectively executes a mode and a transport mode in which a sheet sent to the transport path is discharged to the discharge tray as it is, a feed roller that sends the sheet to the transport path, and a sheet on the transport path. Aligning means for aligning the paper width direction parallel to the paper conveyance direction, and the paper
In the conveyance mode in which the sheet is conveyed without post-processing, after the preset time has elapsed from the time when the leading edge of the sheet passed the feed roller, the aligning means is moved to the vicinity of the sheet width to serve as a sheet guide. Make it work
It is characterized with the control unit, in that it comprises that.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned second object, a second means is a discharge roller for discharging the paper to the discharge tray and a discharging means for sending the paper to the discharge roller, in addition to the first means. In the transport mode, a control means for moving the paper engaging portion of the discharging means to the vicinity of the feed roller is provided.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned third object, the third means is the first or second means, and the control means controls the movement operation of the aligning means and / or the discharging member to convey the sheet. It is characterized in that it is set so as to be performed based on the direction length.

[0011]

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a configuration of a main part of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a sheet aligning mechanism in this embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a configuration of a backflow prevention mechanism in this embodiment. 4 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the control system in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the sheet post-processing apparatus is housed in a housing C. An opening 1a into which the paper P is inserted is formed on one surface of the housing C, and the paper P passes through an inlet roller 1 in the vicinity of the opening 1a, a feeding roller 2 and a paper discharging roller 3 to form an opening 1a of the housing C. It is discharged to the outside of the casing C from the opposite surfaces. An entrance guide plate 4 is provided from the opening 1a to the feeding roller 2 through the entrance roller 1, and the entrance sensor SN1 for detecting the paper P is attached to the entrance guide plate 4. Between the feed roller 2 and the paper discharge roller 3,
A jogger fence 5 having a function of aligning the sheets is arranged along both edges of the conveyance path of the sheets P. A punching roller 6 is provided at a substantially intermediate position of the jogger fence 5 for feeding the paper P on the transport path to the stapler S provided at the bottom of the housing C at the time of post-processing. Stapler S is paper P
A binding process is performed as a post-process, and a rear-end fence 7 is disposed between the feeding roller 2 and the stapler S. A pressing roller 9 rotatably supported at one end of a discharge guide plate 8 is located on the discharge roller 3. The other end of the discharge guide plate 8 is swingably supported by the housing C, and the discharge guide plate 8 is provided with a discharge sensor SN2 for detecting the conveyed paper P.

An endless discharge belt 10 is arranged so as to form an inclined conveyance path that passes through the rear end fence 7 and the lower portion of the joga fence 5. The discharge belt 10 is wound around three discharge rollers 11a, 11b, 11c. The release belt 10 is provided with a release claw 12 that engages with the end of the sheet bundle.
, Its initial position can be detected by the nail sensor SN3.

The feed roller 2 is disposed close to and facing the transport path at a position on the stapler S side of the transport path where the discharge belt 10 is formed between the discharge rollers 11a and 11c. A brush roller 2A is also arranged close to the transport path so as to come into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the feed roller 2. The brush roller 2A guides the sheet P, which is hit by the beating roller 6 and is sent to the stapler S, to be sent to the stapler S without backflow during the post-processing. A paper discharge tray 13 receives the paper P discharged from the housing C by the paper discharge rollers 3.

The inlet roller 1 and the feed roller 2 are rotationally driven in the same direction by one drive belt 14 as shown in FIG. 2, and the drive belt 14 is for conveying as shown in the block diagram of FIG. It is driven by the motor 21. The paper discharge roller 3 and the beating roller 6 are driven by the paper discharge motor 22 shown in FIG. 4 via a single drive belt (not shown). The paper discharge motor 22 is composed of a stepping motor. The tapping roller 6 is rotatably supported at one end of the swing plate 15. The other end of the swing plate 15 is swingably supported by the rotary shaft 6A of the tapping roller 6. A pulley 6B is attached to a rotary shaft 6A of the tapping roller 6, and the tapping roller 6 is rotationally driven by a drive belt 6C passed between the pulley 6B and a pulley (not shown) of the tapping roller 6.

As shown in FIG. 2, the oscillating plate 15 is elastically urged by a spring 16 so as to drive the beating roller 6 around the rotary shaft 6A toward the paper surface side, and the solenoid 1
7 is connected to an actuator, and when the solenoid 17 is energized, the elastic force of the spring 16 can hit the paper surface. The spring 17A located above the solenoid 17 elastically urges the beating roller 6 in a direction away from the paper surface, and when the solenoid 17 is turned on, the elastic force of the spring 17A is offset by the operating force of the solenoid 17, As described above, the elastic force of the spring 16 enables the tapping roller 6 to tap the surface of the paper P.

As shown in FIG. 2, the jogger fence 5 arranged so as to sandwich the bundle of sheets P stacked on the conveying path at both side edge portions thereof has a rotary shaft 18A and a driven shaft 18B of the jogger motor 23. It is attached to a belt 18 wound between the two. That is, one jogger fence 5 is attached to the belt 18 located above, and the other joga fence 5 is attached to the belt 18 located below, and as shown by the arrow X by the rotation of the jogger motor 23. It is configured to perform a horizontal alignment operation of the paper P when approaching or moving away from it. Therefore, the jogger motor 23 is a reversible motor.

In this embodiment, the maximum length of the paper P used is Lmax, the minimum length of the paper P used is Lmin, and the feed roller 2 to the paper discharge roller 3 are used.
Is L1, the distance from the trailing edge fence 7 to the sheet discharging roller 3 is L2, the distance from the tapping roller 6 to the trailing edge fence 7 is L3, and the distance from the tapping roller 6 to the sheet discharging roller 3 is L4. L1 <Lmax <L2, L3 <Lmi
n and L4 <Lmin are set.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control system for controlling the operation of the above-described configuration has a CPU for controlling the overall operation.
30 is provided. The CPU 30 is connected to the sheet post-processing device and forms a copy image on the sheet P.
Are connected. The CPU 30 includes a conveyance motor 21 that drives the inlet roller 1 and the feed roller 2, a paper ejection motor 22 that drives the paper ejection roller 3 and the tapping roller 6,
And the solenoid 1 that causes the tapping roller 6 to strike
7 is connected. The paper discharge motor 22 is connected to the CPU 30 via a stepping motor control circuit 34. An input / output circuit (I / O) 33 is also connected to the CPU 20 via the bus 32.

The input / output circuit 33 includes a motor driver 35.
Stapling motor 2 for driving stapler S via
4, a discharging motor 25 for driving the discharging belt 10 via the servo control circuit 36, and a jogger motor 2 for driving the jogger fence 5 via a stepping motor control circuit 37 controlled by a clock pulse from the CPU 30.
3 and various sensors and switches 39 through the rectifier circuit 38.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, the post-processing operation when the post-processing mode is selected will be described.

The paper P inserted through the opening 1a is a CPU
It is conveyed along the inlet guide plate 4 by the inlet roller 1 and the feed roller 2 which are rotated by the conveying motor 21 driven by the command of 30, and is sent to the conveying path by the discharge belt 10. The paper P sent to the transport path is C
The sheet is conveyed in the direction of the sheet ejection tray 13 by the sheet ejection roller 3 and the tapping roller 6 which are rotated by the sheet ejection motor 22 driven by the instruction of the PU 30. When the trailing edge of the paper P passes through the nip of the feed roller 2 and moves for a predetermined distance (or after a predetermined time elapses), the CPU 30 commands the paper discharge motor 22 to rotate in the reverse direction, and also the jogger fence. The jogger motor 23 is instructed to move 5 to a position near the paper. The reverse rotation of the paper discharge motor 22 causes the paper P to start switching back the transport path. Further, the jogger fence 5 moves to a predetermined position near the paper. The distance after passing through the nip counts the time after the feed sensor SN1 detects the trailing edge of the sheet, and the moving distance is converted from the counted value.

Simultaneously with the reverse rotation of the paper discharge motor 22, C
The PU 30 issues a command to repeat the excitation of the solenoid 17 for a predetermined time. As a result, the tapping roller 6 continues to strike the paper P on the conveyance path for a predetermined time, and the paper P is switched back to the position where it abuts on the trailing edge fence 7, and paper alignment in the vertical direction with respect to the paper P is performed. Then, the CPU 30
Drives the jogger motor 23 to vibrate the jogger fence 5 to align the sheets P in the lateral direction. In this way, when the vertical and horizontal alignment of the paper P has been performed up to the final page of the paper P to be subjected to the post-processing, the CPU 30 commands the stapling motor 24 to be driven. By driving the stapling motor 24, the stapler S operates to perform a binding operation for binding one end of a bundle of sheets P aligned and stacked on the transport path.

After the binding operation, the ejection motor 25 is driven by the command from the CPU 30 to rotate the ejection rollers 11a, 11b, 11c. As a result, the ejection belt 10 rotates counterclockwise, the ejection claw 12 engages with the rear end edge of the bundle of sheets P, and the bundle of sheets P subjected to the binding process is locked by the ejection claw 12. In the formed shape, the sheet moves along the conveying path and is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 13 through the opened sheet discharge roller 3 as shown by a dotted line in FIG.

Next, the operation when the transport mode in which the post-processing is not performed is selected will be described. In this case, the CPU 30
The length L of the paper P inserted into the opening 1a of the housing C is detected by the feeding sensor SN1 in accordance with the command from, and L1 <L with respect to the distance L1 from the feeding roller 2 to the paper discharging roller 3. It is determined whether there is any. And L1
When <L is satisfied, the CPU 30 operates the feed roller 2, the tapping roller 6, and the paper discharge roller 3 to directly feed the paper P to the paper discharge roller 3 and discharge it from the paper discharge tray 13. At this time, the joga fence 5 is the CPU 3
By the jogger motor 23 controlled by 0, the paper P
Immediately after the leading edge of the sheet has passed the feeding roller 2 or after a preset time has passed, the sheet temporarily moves a predetermined distance from the sheet width and waits near the sheet to prepare for a jogging operation. Then, after the designated time has elapsed, it again moves in the paper direction by a predetermined distance and functions as a paper guide.

When the CPU 30 determines that L1 ≧ L, the CPU 30 drives the discharging motor 25 to rotate the discharging belt 10 so that the discharging claw 12 moves to the vicinity of the feeding roller 2. Then wait. The paper P sent to the transport path by the feed roller 2 is
It is switched back by the tapping roller 6 and moved so as to come into contact with the waiting discharge claw 12. CP at this time
The U30 drives the jogger motor 23, performs the jogging operation by the jogger fence 5, and aligns the paper P in the lateral direction. Next, the CPU 30 causes the discharging motor 25
Is driven to rotate the discharge belt 10. This allows
The sheet P is sent to the sheet discharge roller 3 by being picked up by the discharge claw,
The sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 13.

[0028]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, even in the carrying mode in which the paper is carried without post-processing , the aligning means guides the paper in the lateral direction or aligns (jogging). It is possible to improve the stackability on the paper discharge tray by adjusting the deviation of the lateral resist of the paper.

According to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to shorten the switchback distance in the carrying mode to improve the productivity and prevent the sheet skew that occurs during the carrying.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the control of the entire system is improved by adjusting the deviation of the lateral registration and shortening the switchback distance according to the length in the sheet conveying direction. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a configuration of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a sheet alignment mechanism in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a backflow prevention mechanism in the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a control system in the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Inlet roller 2 feeding roller 2A brush roller 3 paper ejection rollers 5 Joga fence 6 tapping roller 7 Rear fence 10 release belt 12 release nail 13 Paper ejection tray 17 Solenoid 30 CPU 31 Copier 33 I / O circuit P paper S stapler SN1 sending sensor SN2 emission sensor SN3 claw sensor

Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ identification code FI G03G 15/00 534 G03G 15/00 534 // B65H 37/04 B65H 37/04 D (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB (Name) B65H 9/10 B65H 29/16 B65H 29/22 B65H 29/58 B65H 31/34 G03G 15/00 534 B65H 37/04

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A post-processing mode in which post-processing is performed on a sheet sent to a transport path by a post-processing unit to discharge the sheet to a discharge tray, and a sheet sent to the transport path is directly discharged to the discharge tray. In a sheet post-processing apparatus that selectively executes a conveyance mode, a feeding roller that sends the sheet to the conveyance path, an alignment unit that aligns the sheet width direction parallel to the conveyance direction of the sheet on the conveyance path, and a sheet rear end. In the transfer mode in which the transfer is performed without processing,
After the preset time has passed from the time when the leading edge of the paper passes the feeding roller, the aligning means is moved to the vicinity of the paper width to function as a paper guide.
Sheet post-processing apparatus characterized by comprising a make control means. 2. A paper discharge roller for discharging paper to the paper discharge tray, discharge means for sending the paper to the paper discharge roller, and a sheet engaging portion of the discharge means for the discharge roller in the transport mode. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a control unit that moves the sheet to the vicinity thereof. 3. The control means includes the matching means and / or
3. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the movement operation of the discharging member is set so as to be performed based on the length of the sheet in the conveyance direction.