JPS63267661A - Sheet after-processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transport a large-sized sheet without being folded by changing sheet transport means adapted to clamp and transport a sheet to a transport position and to a position which is retreated from the transport position to become a placing surface for the leading end portion of the sheet. CONSTITUTION:A lower grip roller 29b, a transport roller 30b and a discharge roller 31b are rotatably mounted on a lower guide 25 of sheet clamping and transport means 22. An upper grip roller 29a, an upper transport roller 30a and a lower discharge roller 31a are rotatably mounted on an upper guide 27 fitted to a shaft 26 in such a manner as to oscillate. When a bundle S of sheets of an ordinary size is fed, it is clamped by the upper and lower grip rollers 29a, 29b to be transported. When a large-sized sheet is detected and pushed out, the upper guide 27 is retreated upward, and after a bundle S of sheets is placed on the lower guide 25, the transport operation is started. Accordingly, a bundle of large-sized sheets can be transported without being folded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing device for processing sheets ejected from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer. The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing device including a sorting device having a large number of pins for sorting and storing sheets, and a stacker device for storing sheet bundles conveyed from the sorting device.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, sheet post-processing devices equipped with a sorting device (hereinafter referred to as limitless sort) and a stacker device (hereinafter referred to as stacker) each having a large number of pins have half pins due to space issues. Size sheet (e.g. A4.85)
When large size sheets (for example A3.84 etc.) are stacked on the pin,
The large size sheet was folded into a size equivalent to half size using a folding device and then stacked on a pin.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention Incidentally, in the above-mentioned sheet post-processing device, large size sheets are always folded and stacked, so there is a demand for a device that can stack large size sheets without folding them.

In order to realize this request, methods have been devised that include a separate tray large enough to accumulate large-sized sheets, and systems that provide a bypass path that directly connects the document processing position and the stacker. The disadvantage was that it was large and complex.

(b) Means for solving the problem The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the sheet conveying means is arranged at a position where the sheet is conveyed,
The present invention is characterized in that a switching means is provided for retracting the sheet from a position where the sheet is conveyed and changing the position to a position where the leading end portion of the sheet is placed on the surface.

(E) Function Based on the above configuration, when half-sized or small-sized sheets are stacked on the pins, the sheet conveying means is located at the conveying position, and when a predetermined number of sheets are sorted and stored in the pin group, The sheet bundle on the pin is sequentially pushed out from the pin by the sheet east conveyance means, and is further held by the sheet conveyance means and conveyed to the stacker. In addition, when loading large size sheets on the pin, the sheet conveyance means retreats from the sheet conveyance position, and when the large size sheet is discharged onto the pin, the sheet conveyance means places the leading end of the sheet on the pin. do.

(F) Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, a limitless sorter (hereinafter referred to as a sorter) 1 is installed downstream of a folding device 3 attached to a laser beam printer 2, and further downstream of the sorter 1 is a methane Force 5 is attached. Further, downstream of the inlet 6 of the sorter 1, there is a deflector 15 for branching and guiding the sheets S to the conveyance path 12 or 13.
is arranged downstream of the conveyance path 12? Yo sheet S
A sensor 4 and a pair of discharge rollers 16 are provided to detect the passage of the paper. Furthermore, downstream of the discharge roller pair 16,
A group of upper pins 17 for sorting and storing the sheets S are supported so as to be movable up and down, and a stibbler 19 is disposed near the pins 17. A pair of discharge rollers 20 is disposed downstream of the conveyance path 13, and a group of lower pins 21 for sorting and storing the rates S are supported movably up and down downstream of the pair of rollers 20. and also the pin 2
A stapler 19 is disposed near 1. Also,
The stacker 5 includes conveying devices 22, 22 that clamp and convey the sheets +-S pushed out from the pins 17 and 21, and a stack tray 23 that can be raised and lowered to stack the sheets S conveyed by the device 22. It is arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2, the conveying device 22 is disposed downstream of the pin 17 and is movable by a lower outlet guide 25 fixed to the main body of the stacker 5 and a drive device (not shown). The shaft 26 is supported by a shaft 26, and a lower outlet guide 27 is swingably supported by the shaft 26.

Further, an upper grip roller 29 is provided at the tip of the guide 27.
a is rotatably supported, a presser roller 30a is rotatably supported at the center, and a lower discharge roller 31a is rotatably supported at the rear end. On the exit lower guide 25 side, a lower grip roller 29b that is in pressure contact with the upper grip roller 29a is rotatably supported, and a conveyance roller 30b that is in pressure contact with the presser roller 30a is rotatably supported. has been done. Further, the lower outlet guide 25 includes the lower discharge roller 3.
A lower discharge roller 31b that is in pressure contact with 1a is rotatably supported, and the transport roller 30b and the lower discharge roller 31
A kicking belt 32 is wound around b. Also,
A sheet edge detection sensor 33 for detecting the edge of the sheet is disposed on the tip side of the exit upper and lower guides 25 and 26, and a detection signal from the sensor 33 is transmitted to the control section C. There is.

Since the present embodiment has the above-described configuration, when the printed sheet s discharged from the laser beam printer 2 is a half-size sheet (for example, A4, 85, etc.), the sheet 1-S is transferred to the folding device 3. The paper passes through without being folded and is carried into the sorter 1 through the carry-in port 6. Then, the sheet S is guided to the conveyance path 12 or I3 by the deflector 15, and is discharged to the pin 17 or 21 by the discharge roller pair 16 or 20. For example, when a sheet S is discharged to the pin group 17, the sheet S is discharged to the lowest pin 17. Similarly, the sheets S that are sequentially discharged are accumulated on the pins 17 that move one stage at a time, and the sheets S that are accumulated on the pins 17 1. S
. . reaches a predetermined number of sheets using the sensor 14. The control unit C uses the stapler 17 to detect that the pins 17 .
The stacks of sheets S... are sequentially stapled. Furthermore, the stapled sheet bundle S.
. . . is a sheet feeding device 22 by a sheet east conveying device (not shown).
pushed out. Then, when the leading edge of the sheet bundle S... is detected by the sheet edge detection sensor 33, the sensor 3
The control unit C, which receives the signal No. 3, swings the upper exit guide 27 to the position shown by the dashed line by a driving means (not shown),
The sheet bundle S... is gripped by grip rollers 29 a, 29
It is held and conveyed by b. Then, the sheet bundle S...
When the rear edge is detected by the sheet edge detection sensor 33,
The controller C that receives the signal from the sensor 33 returns the upper exit guide 27 to the position shown by the solid line by a driving means (not shown), and the sheet bundle S is moved to the holding roller 30a1 and the conveying roller 30b.
1 Upper and lower discharge rollers 31a, 31b and kicking belt 3
2 to the stack tray 23.
will be loaded on.

In addition, when the sheet S discharged from the laser beam printer 2 is of large size (for example, A3) and is folded in half by the folding device 3, it is sorted and stabilized by the same operation as described above, and then stacked on the stack tray 23. .

Furthermore, if the sheet S ejected from the laser beam printer 2 is of large size and is Z-folded by the folding device 3, the sheet S ejected from the laser beam printer 2
is Z-folded by the folding device 2, and further sent to the sorter 1 from the folding unit W2. Then, the Z-folded sheet S is guided to the conveyance path 12 by the deflector 15 and detected by the sensor 14. Then, the Z-folded sheet S is discharged by a pair of discharge rollers 16 to the uppermost pin 17 having a large loading space. Similarly, when a predetermined number of Z-folded sheets S are stacked on the uppermost pin 17, they are stippled and stacked on the stack tray 23 by the same operation as described above.

If the sheet S discharged from the laser beam printer 2 is of large size and is not folded, the sheet S is conveyed to the sorter 1 through the through path of the folding device 3. Then, the sheet S is conveyed to the feed roller 12 by the ditch lid 15, and further detected by the sensor 14. Then, the control unit C that receives the detection signal from the sensor 14 and the sheet size information from the laser beam printer 2 causes the upper exit guide 27 to be driven by a driving means (not shown).
Move to position A (see Figure 2). Furthermore, sea l
- When the sheet S is discharged onto the uppermost pin 17 by the pair of discharge rollers 16, the leading end portion of the sheet S is transferred to the lower exit guide 25.
will be loaded on. Similarly, a predetermined number of sheets S...
are stacked on the uppermost pin 17 and the lower exit guide 25, the control unit C detects by the sensor 14 that the number of sheets S on the pins 17 has reached a predetermined number is the stapler 19.
The sheet bundle S is stippled. Then, when the control unit C receives the stipple end signal, the control unit C
moves the upper exit guide 27 to the B position (see FIG. 2) by a driving means (not shown), and moves the sheet bundle S... to the holding roller 30a, the conveyance roller 30b, and the upper and lower discharge rollers 31.
a and 31b, and is also ejected onto the stack tray 23 by the kicking belt 32 and stacked on the stack tray 23.
Multiply 3 by a4.

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, when a large-sized sheet is loaded on the pin, the sheet conveying means is retracted from the sheet-traversing position and the leading edge of the large-sized sheet is moved. Since it is used as a partial placement surface, the sheet conveying means places the leading end of the large size sheet, and the large size sheet is placed on the pin of the size corresponding to the half size seed!・Can be accumulated without folding.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing a sheet post-processing device according to the present invention. 2 and 3 are front views showing the configuration and operation of main parts of the sheet post-processing device. 1. Sorting device, 2. Document processing position, 5.
Stacker device, 17.21... pin, 22...
・Sheet transport means, S...sheet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A sorting device that has a large number of pins for sorting and storing sheets, a storage device that stores a bundle of sheets conveyed from the sorting device, and a sheet that grips and conveys sheets from the sorting device to the storage device. A sheet post-processing device comprising a conveying means, further comprising a means for switching the sheet conveying means between a sheet conveying position and a position where the sheet is retracted from the sheet conveying position and serves as a loading surface for a leading end portion of the sheet. A sheet post-processing device characterized by: