JP3331016B2 - Paper grouping method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for grouping and storing sheets supplied from a sheet supply device such as a copying machine in a desired manner such as collating or sorting. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various methods and apparatuses for grouping sheets to be arranged in a desired manner such as collating or sorting sheets supplied from a sheet supply apparatus such as a copying machine.

That is, in the conventional method, a plurality of trays (sheet mounting surfaces) are provided, and these trays are aligned according to a desired system such as collating or sorting, respectively. In some cases, multiple trays were used or multiple trays were arranged in the horizontal direction.

[0004]

However, in any case, conventionally, a large number of trays must be arranged as described above, and it has been difficult to take up space and reduce the size. For example, it has been almost impossible to install the paper supply device below the paper supply device in place of a stand for the paper supply device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems in the conventional paper grouping method and apparatus, and eliminates the need for a large number of paper mounting surfaces, and is compact and space-saving based on an original idea. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for grouping sheets that do not require the above.
Further, since the grouped sheet bundle can be partly taken out from the same discharge port, the operation is reliable and easy.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: stacking the edges of sheets discharged onto a single sheet mounting surface in different phases for each group; A step of gripping an end portion of the leading phase group that protrudes most in the sheet removing direction, a step of holding the rear part of the sheet taking direction of a group that is equal to or less than the next phase with respect to the group of the leading phase, and A step of taking out the group of the preceding phase in the sheet taking-out direction in a holding state in the rear holding state.The grouping apparatus of the present invention to which this method is applied can move along the single sheet placing surface and A tip control means for stopping the paper at a predetermined position, a first control means for moving the tip control means to a different regulation position for each group, Sometimes a rear holding means for holding the rear portion of the sheet is obtained by a second control means for moving the rear holding means at different holding positions for each group.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Various embodiments of a sheet grouping apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a sorter) constituted by using the sheet grouping method of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sorter 10 includes a sheet supply device,
For example, it is arranged below the copying machine C so as to also have the function of its gantry.

In the copying machine C, a paper discharge port 1 and a pair of paper discharge rollers 2 are provided in a path leading to the paper discharge port.

A sheet receiving port 11 of a sorter 10 is provided opposite to the sheet discharging port 1, and a reversing transport path 12 is provided from the sheet receiving port 11. As shown in the figure, a plurality of pairs of transport rollers 13, 13.
・ Is provided.

Following the reverse transport path 12, one is fixed to the unit 20, and one is provided with a horizontal transport path 14 constituted by a film member 17 having a winding mechanism 29 and a belt 16, and a plurality of belt rollers 15 are provided. The sheet is conveyed by a conveying belt 16 wound around.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
A loading tray 18 as a sheet loading surface is provided below the printing paper 4.

A rear unit 20 having a deflection guide 21 for deflecting the sheet from the horizontal transport path 14 and guiding the sheet to the tray 18 is provided. At the exit of the deflection guide 21, a deflection roller pair 22 is disposed.

The rear unit 20 is further provided with rear holding means 23 for appropriately holding the rear portion of the sheet.

The rear holding means 23 comprises a pressing roller 24, an urging spring 25 for pressing down the pressing roller 24 onto the surface of the loading tray 18, and a brake means (not shown) for fixing the pressing roller 24 in a timely manner. . The pressing roller 24 is
A means for appropriately lifting the tray 18 from the loading tray 18 is added.

The rear unit 20 can be moved and stopped along the loading tray 18 by the second control means 26 in a timely manner.

That is, the second control means 26 comprises a ball screw rod 27 pivotally supported in parallel with the loading tray 18 and a ball female screw (not shown) provided on the rear unit 20 and screwed with the ball screw rod 27. And a drive motor 28 for rotating the ball screw bar 27 in the forward and reverse directions.

On the other hand, a front unit 30 is provided on the near side (left side in FIG. 1) of the loading tray 18.

As shown in the figure, the front unit 30 includes a pair of regulating rollers 31a and 31b serving as leading edge regulating means for nipping and regulating the leading edge of the sheet, and the regulating rollers 31a and 31b.
Biasing springs 32a, 3a for pressing the respective
2b.

Further, in this embodiment, the regulating rollers 31a and 31b serving as the leading end regulating means also serve as a sheet ejecting means for ejecting the stored sheets, and a drive motor for ejection (not shown) is connected to the regulating roller 31a. Have been. The discharge drive motor is provided with a clutch mechanism for connecting and disconnecting the coupling with the regulating roller 31a in a timely manner so that the drive motor 28 can freely rotate when the entire unit 30 is moved by the drive motor 28. Has become. Also, the rear unit 20 itself has a clutch, and the units 20 and 30 can be moved independently.

The front unit 30 can be moved and stopped along the loading tray 18 by the first control means 33 in a timely manner.

That is, the first control means 33 comprises a pair of ball screw rods 34a,
4b, pulleys 35a and 35b respectively provided on the ball screw rods 34a and 34b, a timing belt 36 connecting the pulleys 35a and 35b, and the ball screw rod 34a attached to the regulating rollers 31a and 31b, respectively. , 34b, and a ball screw (not shown), and a ball screw rod 34a similar to the ball screw rod 27.
And a clutch device 37 for connecting and disconnecting in a timely manner.

In the operating range of the regulating rollers 31a and 31b, the loading tray 18 is cut out so that these rollers can rotate in contact with each other.

In addition, a paper discharge tray 19 for supporting the discharged paper is provided slightly in front of the loading tray 18.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

First, for the explanation of the operation of the sorter 10, FIG.
The principle of grouping sheets according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 shows a case in which four sheets, that is, four pages of originals are supplied to the copying machine C, and five sheets of copying paper are obtained per page from these originals. It is well known that there are two types of paper grouping: a collation in which the pages of the document are arranged in the page order and a collation in which the pages are aligned for each page. FIG. 2 shows the case of the collation.

First, the manner in which sheets are supplied and grouped will be described.

Here, the originals are referred to as a, b, c, and d in order, and sheets for each original (each page) are numbered sequentially from the first sheet as 1, 2,.

[0030] First the first sheet a ₁ of the first original is stopped at a position which is marked the first copy as the supplied FIG. This stop position (phase) may be stopped at a predetermined pulse after being detected by the sensor during the conveyance, of course.
At this position, it is stopped by the regulating roller 31 which is the leading end regulating means, but will be described in more detail later.

Now, the second paper a ₂ of the same first original is the first paper a ₂
Predetermined displacement amount than paper a ₁ (phase difference) △ said tip restriction means is advanced to L stops in front. The leading edge regulating means is not only to stop the second sheet a _2, the first sheet a ₁ is intended to prevent the positional deviation by the progress of the second sheet a ₂ occurs. The third paper a ₃ or less is sent in a similar manner, each sheet is placed with a shift amount of each △ L.

Now, for the first sheet b ₁ of the next second document,
The stop position of the first stop is indicated by the first part in the drawing.
Original in the same place as the first stop position paper a _1, but for the stop is can I retracting said tip restricting means, in this state is the fifth paper a ₅ of the first document with the progress of the first sheet b ₁ This causes a displacement. Therefore, near the rear end of the sheet, a rear holding means 23 for holding the rear portion of the sheet is provided. The operation of this means 23 will be specifically described in the subsequent stage as the pressing roller 24, but here, it will be described as the rear holding means.

[0033] Now Upon first sheet b ₁ of the second document proceeds, while said leading edge regulating means retracts to a position of the first copy, the rear holding means 4 suppressed position in FIG. 2, i.e. the first only to suppress the fifth rear paper a ₅ document is sufficient. Furthermore, when b ₁ progress completed, leading edge regulating means b ₁
Rear holding means so that pressing the (uppermost sheet) can be released b ₂ or later.

The entry of the second document below the second sheet b _{2 is the same} as the entry of the first document below the second sheet a ₂ , and the fifth sheet b ₅
The operation after the mounting may be performed in the same manner as described above.

When taking out the sheets housed in such a manner, the rear holding means is first advanced to the first holding position shown in the drawing, regardless of the taking out means, and each original (or each page) is taken out. Of the second paper a _{2 to} d ₂ (next phase). Thus each first paper,
That is, only one set prepared for each document or page can be freely extracted.

The operation of the sorter 10 shown in FIG. 1 to which the above principle is applied will be described with reference to FIGS.

When the power of the copying machine C is turned on, the sorter 10
The side is also initialized at the same time, and the front unit 30 occupies the initial position (HP). When the paper size is input, the clutch device 37 is disengaged and the drive motor 28
Drives the ball screw bar 27 to adjust the position of the rear holding means 23. Regulating roller 31a serving as leading edge regulating means This adjustment, b and L for the size L ₀ spacing of the paper between the pressing roller 24 serving as a rear retaining means (L ₀ + alpha)
Made in Here, α is appropriately determined with respect to the shift amount ΔL, for example, あ る い は or の of ΔL.
And so on.

When the above adjustment is completed, the front unit 30 and the rear unit 20 are re-coupled by the clutch device 37, and both are simultaneously driven by the drive motor 28.

Therefore, the first original (or the first page)
When the first sheet (first copy) is fed, this sheet (assumed to be a _{1 according} to the above description) is captured by the deflection guide 21 of the rear unit 20 via the reverse transport path 12 and the horizontal transport path 14, and is deflected. The loading tray 18 is moved by the roller pair 22.
Sent up. Then, the leading end of the sheet is a regulating roller 31a,
b deflecting rollers 22 at the time of adding minute time stops the timing is nipped in the paper a ₁ after receiving some wrinkles, is placed on the placing tray 18.

Next, similarly, the second paper a ₂ is sent. During this conveyance, the front unit 30 is driven by the drive motor 28 together with the rear unit 20 as shown in FIG. houses only moves backward view four states second sheet a ₂ 30 mm in the present embodiment.

In this way, the parts up to the n-th part are successively stored as shown in FIG. Assuming that n is 5 parts as described above, the total shift amount is 30 mm × 4 = 120 mm.

Next, to receive the second page (second original), the drive motor 28 rotates in the reverse direction, moves the front unit 30 and the rear unit 20, and moves to the HP of the front unit 30. At this time, the pressing roller 24 is in a position to keep the rear part of the previously stored the paper a ₂ following paper as shown in Figure 6.
Because of course thereby suppressing uppermost sheet a _5, first sheet of the second original b ₁
There is no problem to get into.

In this way, the sheet of the second page is also in the n-th set,
For example, if Part 5 th b ₅ to the housing (Fig. 7), before again, is fed back to the rear unit 30, 20 to the HP, it receives a sheet of the third document, thus the n-th page, for example, the fourth page of the paper d
Accommodates a ₁ to d ₅ (FIG. 8, FIG. 9) ending the storage of all the paper.

When the storage of all the sheets is completed, the drive motor 2
8, the front unit 30 and the rear unit 20 move forward and stop at a predetermined stop position before the HP, for example, 10 mm before (FIG. 10).

[0045] In the above state, the regulating roller 31a, b is nipping the paper a ₁ to d ₁ of the first copy of the whole document, whereas the pressing roller 24 of the original content (or of each pages) second The paper (second copy) and below are pressed onto the loading tray 18.

Then, a discharge drive motor (not shown) is operated, and sheets are discharged by regulating rollers 31a and 31b which are also sheet discharge means (FIG. 11).

Next, the front unit 30 and the rear unit 20 are driven by the drive motor 28 to attain ΔL, ie, 3
When is 0mm retracted, second page of the sheet a ₂ to d ₂ are regulating roller 31a, is nipped by the b, whereas the pressing roller 24 presses onto the loading tray 18 to the rear of the following third sheet. Therefore the same manner as described above regulating roller 31a, to start the b for discharging the sheet a ₂ to d _2.

In this way, the n-th sheet, for example, a _{5 to} d ₅ is sequentially discharged.

The above description shows the case of the collating operation. In the case of sorting for each page, the regulating rollers 31a and 31b are stopped for each page, and after storing a desired number of sheets, It is only necessary to move the shift amount ΔL and store the next page. The discharge of the storage paper is the same as the collation described above.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The sorter 50 is also provided at the lower part of the copying machine C, like the sorter 10 of the first embodiment, and has a sheet receiving port 51 facing the sheet discharge port 1. A plurality of transport roller pairs 53 are disposed along the first reverse transport path 52.

A first loading tray 54 as a first paper loading surface is provided in connection with the first reverse transport path 52. At the entrance of the first loading tray 54, a paper sensor 55 for detecting the edge of the paper is provided.

The first loading tray 54 is provided with a plurality of pairs of sheet transport roller pairs 56. The first
On the loading tray 54, the pair of paper transport rollers 56, 56,.
・ Parts are notched.

The upper roller 56a of the sheet conveying roller pair 56 is urged by a spring 57 in a direction to be pulled up as shown in FIG. In opposition to the spring 57, the lower roller 56b is in contact with the lower roller 56b by cam means (not shown), and the cam means is removed by a means not shown in a timely manner. A gap is formed between the roller and the roller 56b.

As shown in FIG. 13, the first loading tray 54 is further provided with a transverse feed roller as a transverse paper feeding means for horizontally feeding the paper sent to the first loading tray 54 in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction. A pair 58 is provided, of which an upper roller 58 is provided.
a is urged upward by a spring 59 and is pressed against the lower roller 58b by a cam mechanism (not shown).
The cam mechanism is released by an operating means (not shown) at an appropriate time, and the upper and lower rollers 58a and 58b are separated from each other.

A second reverse transport path 60 is provided orthogonal to the paper transport direction of the first loading tray 54. A second loading tray 61 as a second paper loading surface is further connected to the front of the second reverse transport path 60. Then, another pair of horizontal feed rollers 62 and 63 constituting the paper horizontal feed means.
And so on. In addition, these transverse feed roller pairs 6
2, 63 each upper roller 62a, 63a each lower roller 62
The pressing mechanism for b and 63b is configured in the same manner as that of the above-mentioned transverse feed roller pair 58.

At the end of the second tray 61 in the horizontal feeding direction, there is provided a stopper means 64 for regulating the side edge of the sheet fed laterally.

The paper discharge direction E of the second loading tray 61
A discharge tray 65 is protruded from the end of the tray.

The second loading tray 61 is provided so as to be able to move forward and backward in the paper discharging direction E, and holds a paper discharging means 70 for discharging the paper and a rear portion of the paper other than the group currently being discharged. Rear holding means 80 is provided.

First, the rear holding means 80 includes a pressing roller 81 and an urging spring 82 for pressing down the pressing roller 81 onto the surface of the second loading tray 61 as in the case of the rear holding means 23 of the first embodiment.
And brake means (not shown) for fixing the pressing roller 81 in a timely manner. The pressing roller 81 can be
Means for rising from the surface of the loading tray 61 is added.

Further, the rear holding means 80 includes a ball screw rod 83 pivotally supported in parallel with the second mounting tray 61 and a ball female screw (not shown) provided on the pressing roller 81 and screwed with the ball screw rod 83. And a drive motor 84 for rotating the ball screw rod 83 in the forward and reverse directions.

On the other hand, the sheet discharging means 70 comprises a pair of discharging rollers 71a, 71b and biasing springs 72a, 72b for pressing the discharging rollers 71a, 71b against each other. A discharge drive motor (not shown) is drivingly connected to the discharge roller 71a. Discharge roller 7
1a is further provided with a means for separating from the discharge roller 71b at an appropriate time.

The sheet discharging means 70 further includes a pair of ball screw rods 73 a, 7 a rotatably supported in parallel with the second loading tray 61.
3b, pulleys 74a, 74b provided on the ball screw rods 73a, 73b, a timing belt 75 connecting the pulleys 74a, 74b, and the ball screw rod 73a attached to the discharge rollers 71a, 71b, respectively. , 73b, and a clutch device 76 for connecting and disconnecting the ball screw bar 83 as well as the ball screw bar 27 in a timely manner.
Also, the rear holding means 80 itself has a clutch, and the units 70 and 80 can move independently.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described.

First, the operation in the collation mode will be described. In the description of the operation, it is assumed that three sets of sheets are discharged for each document.

When the power is turned on and the paper size is input, the paper discharge means 70 is located at a predetermined home position HP, and the rear holding means 80 is driven by the drive motor 84 with the clutch device 76 disconnected. The distance from the sheet discharging means 70 is slightly larger than the sheet size L ₀ (L = L ₀ +
Stop at α) position. Then, the discharge roller 71a and the pressing roller 81 stand by at the raised position.

When the start button of the copying machine C is pressed,
A copy sheet is supplied from the sheet discharge port 1 to the sorter 50 by a well-known copying operation.

The first copy sheet a ₁ of the first document (or the first page) enters the first loading tray 54 via the first reverse transfer path 52 and is sent by the sheet transfer roller pair 56. At this time, the upper roller 58a of the pair of lateral feed rollers 58 is at the raised position.

After the trailing edge is detected by the paper sensor 55, it stops at a predetermined timing specific to the size. The tip this time is in the stop position S _1.

Then, the upper roller 58a of the pair of lateral feed rollers 58 immediately descends, and the upper roller 56a of the pair of paper transport rollers 56 rises immediately, and is fed by the lateral feed roller pair 58 in a direction orthogonal to the previous transport direction. Then, it enters the second loading tray 61 via the second reversing transport path 60 and stops at the timing regulated by the stopper means 64.

[0071] been the lateral feeding operation during the next second copy a ₂ is sent, this time to stop by S ₂ stop position. And in the same manner as described above the sheet a ₂ is traversing, the sheet a ₁ and the shift amount △ L shifted by (with Chigae phase) second tray 61
Placed on top.

Further, the third copy paper a ₃ is further shifted by ΔL.

[0073] Paper b ₁ of the first set second document to the next is placed housed on the sheet a ₁ in the same phase as the sheet a _1.

In this way, the sheets c, d, etc. of the originals are stacked and stored with a shift amount of ΔL for each group.

When the storage is completed, the discharging operation from the sorter 50 is started.

When the storage is completed, the discharge roller 71a is lowered by the signal to pinch the sheet with the discharge roller 71b, and at the same time, the pressing roller 81 is lowered to press the sheet against the second loading tray 61. In this case, the first sheet of each document, for example, a _{1 to} d ₁ is sandwiched by the discharge roller pair 71, and the pressing roller 81 suppresses the sheet between the second and third sets. is there.

Then, the discharge roller pair 71 discharges the sheets a _{1 to} d ₁ to the discharge tray 65 by a discharge drive motor (not shown), and the sheets a _{2 to} d ₂ or less remain.

Then, the drive motor 84 is driven while the clutch device 76 is engaged, and both the sheet discharging means 70 and the rear holding means 80 are retracted by ΔL. The sheet discharge unit 70 in this state is nipping the sheet a ₂ to d ₂ of the second set, the rear holding means 80 is suppressed rear of the sheet a ₃ to d ₃ of the third copy.

Then, the paper a ₂
~d ₂ is discharged.

In this way, the next group of sheets is sequentially discharged. <Modifications> The configuration of the grouping apparatus to which the paper grouping method according to the present invention is applied is not limited to the above embodiments, and all embodiments based on the gist of the present invention are included in the present invention. Things. Hereinafter, some embodiments will be exemplified. (1) The leading end regulating means is also used as the sheet discharging means, but these may be independent and separate. (2) Although both the leading end regulating means and the rear holding means move only in the longitudinal direction of the paper, they may move in the longitudinal direction and also in the width direction of the paper. (3) In the second embodiment, the second sheet placement surface is provided at a position where the sheet is inverted and fed from the first sheet placement surface.
The second sheet placement surface may be provided at a position where the sheet is fed non-inverted. (4) If a stapler and a post-processing function are added near the discharge in the first and second embodiments, the present invention can be applied to a stapler, a grouping device, a finisher, and the like. (See FIGS. 14 and 15)

The sheet grouping apparatus according to the present invention is based on a method of stacking the ends of the sheets to be discharged differently for each group on a single sheet mounting surface. A leading end regulating means which can move along the sheet placing surface and stop the sheet at a predetermined position in a timely manner; a first control means which moves the leading end regulating means to a different regulating position for each group; And a second control unit for moving the rear holding unit to a different holding position for each group. A large number of paper mounting surfaces required for grouping can be omitted, and the configuration can be made extremely small and space-saving. In addition, since the grouped sheet bundle can be partly taken out from the same outlet,
If the outlet is installed at the position where it is most easy to work, the work is reliable and easy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a sheet grouping device (sorter) according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the principle of operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet grouping device.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view of a sheet grouping device (sorter) according to a second embodiment.

13 is a view as viewed in the direction of the arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 14 is a diagram when a stapler of a modified example is added.

FIG. 15 is a view as viewed in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 14;

[Explanation of symbols]

C Copying Machine (Paper Feeding Apparatus) 10 Sorter (Paper Grouping Apparatus) (First Embodiment) 18 Loading Tray (Single Paper Loading Surface) 23 Rear Holding Means 24 Press Roller 25 Urging Spring 26 Second Control means 27 ball screw rod 28 drive motor 31a, b regulating roller (tip regulating means) 33 first control means 34a, b ball screw rod 35a, b pulley 36 timing belt 37 clutch device △ L shift amount for each paper group (Phase difference) 50 Sorter (second embodiment) 54 1st loading tray (1st paper loading surface) 58a, b Horizontal feed roller pair (paper horizontal feeding means) 64 Stopper means 70 Paper discharge means 80 Rear holding Means 90 Stapler

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-22511 (JP, A) JP-A-2-165766 (JP, A) JP-A 63-73263 (JP, U) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 39/07 B65H 39/11

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sheet grouping method for receiving sheets discharged from a sheet supply device, grouping the sheets into a desired method such as collating or sorting, and taking out the grouped sheets into groups. A step of providing one sheet mounting surface, stacking the ends of the sheets to be ejected on the sheet mounting surface in different phases for each group, and protruding the stacked sheets most in the sheet removal direction. Holding the end of the leading phase group in the take-out direction; holding the rear part of the group in the next phase or less with respect to the leading phase group; and holding the rear part of the group in the next phase or less. Removing the phase group in the paper removal direction in the gripping state. 2. A sheet grouping apparatus for receiving sheets discharged from a sheet supply device, grouping the sheets into a desired system such as collating or sorting, and taking out the grouped sheets for each group. One sheet placement surface, a tip regulation unit provided movably along the sheet placement surface, and a tip regulation unit that regulates the tip of the sheet and stops at a predetermined position in a timely manner; A first control means for moving to a different regulation position, a rear holding means movably provided along the sheet mounting surface and holding a rear part of the sheet in a timely manner, And a second control means for moving the sheet to a different holding position. 3. The sheet grouping device according to claim 2, wherein the leading end regulating unit is a sheet discharging unit that discharges a sheet for each group. 4. A sheet grouping apparatus for receiving sheets discharged from a sheet supply device, grouping the sheets into a desired system such as collating or sorting, and taking out the grouped sheets for each group. One first sheet placement surface; control means for stopping the sheet at a different group position for each group along the first sheet placement surface; and orthogonal to the first sheet placement surface A single second sheet placement surface, sheet traversing means for traversing the sheet stopped at the group position along the second sheet placement surface while keeping the stop phase unchanged; Stopper means for regulating and stopping the side edge of the sheet fed laterally along the sheet loading surface of No. 2, sheet ejection means for ejecting the sheet for each group, and rear portion of the sheet of a group other than the group currently being ejected Holding means for holding Grouping apparatus of a sheet, characterized in that the. 5. The sheet grouping device according to claim 4, wherein the second sheet placement surface is orthogonal to the first sheet placement surface and is inverted. .