CN111670123B

CN111670123B - Sheet bundle discharging device and bookbinding device

Info

Publication number: CN111670123B
Application number: CN201980011044.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 冈本浩司; 松原大; 永泽惠一
Original assignee: Canon Finetech Inc
Current assignee: Canon Finetech Nisca Inc
Priority date: 2018-01-30
Filing date: 2019-01-25
Publication date: 2022-02-15
Anticipated expiration: 2039-01-25
Also published as: CN111670123A; WO2019151140A1

Abstract

The sheet bundle discharging device (K) is provided with a conveying unit (66) for conveying the sheet bundle, a guiding unit (72) for guiding the sheet bundle conveyed by the conveying unit, a discharging unit (90) for discharging the sheet bundle to the outside of the sheet bundle discharging device, and a receiving unit (81) for receiving the sheet bundle guided by the guiding unit, wherein the receiving unit comprises a contact part and a pushing part, the contact part (81c) is used for contacting the front end part of the sheet bundle guided by the guide unit in the moving direction, the pushing portion (81b) is integrally formed with the abutting portion and pushes the first surface of the sheet bundle, the receiving unit is rotatable between a first position and a second position, by receiving the sheet bundle at the first position and rotating from the first position to the second position, the pushing portion pushes the first surface of the sheet bundle, and the second surface of the sheet bundle on the side opposite to the first surface is placed on the discharge unit.

Description

Sheet bundle discharging device and bookbinding device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a sheet bundle discharging device that discharges a sheet bundle and a bookbinding device including the sheet bundle discharging device.

Background

Patent document 1 discloses a binding apparatus including a storage unit that stores a plurality of sheet bundles (booklets) formed by binding a plurality of sheets on which images are formed.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2005-305822

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

However, the storage unit disclosed in patent document 1 requires a user to take out the sheet bundle each time the storage amount of the sheet bundle reaches a certain amount. While the user takes out the sheet bundle from the storage section, the operation of the binding apparatus must be stopped, and therefore continuous binding operation cannot be performed, and the productivity of the apparatus cannot be improved.

Means for solving the problems

A sheet bundle discharge device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

a conveying unit for conveying the sheet bundle;

a guide unit that guides the sheet bundle conveyed by the conveyance unit;

a discharge unit that discharges the sheet bundle to an outside of the sheet bundle discharge device; and

a receiving unit that receives the sheet bundle guided by the guide unit,

the receiving unit includes an abutting portion against which a front end portion in a moving direction of the sheet bundle guided by the guide unit abuts, and a pushing portion that is integrally configured with the abutting portion and pushes a first surface of the sheet bundle,

the receiving unit is rotatable between a first position and a second position, and the pushing portion pushes the first surface of the sheet bundle and places a second surface of the sheet bundle on the discharging unit, the second surface being on the opposite side of the first surface, by receiving the sheet bundle at the first position and rotating from the first position to the second position.

A binding device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

a binding unit that binds the sheet bundle; and

the sheet bundle discharge device described above.

Effects of the invention

In the sheet bundle discharging device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the pushing portion pushes the first surface of the sheet bundle received by the receiving unit to place the second surface of the sheet bundle on the discharging unit, so that the sheet bundle can be obtained without bothering the user.

Since the binding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention includes the sheet bundle discharging device that discharges the sheet bundle, the bound sheet bundle can be taken out without stopping the operation of the apparatus, and thus the binding productivity can be improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an image forming system along a sheet conveyance direction.

Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view along the sheet conveying direction of the bookbinding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3A is a front view of an adhesive applying section of the bookbinding device of fig. 2.

Fig. 3B is a view in the direction IIIB of fig. 3A.

Fig. 4 is a view of the cover binding unit, the bundle posture deflecting unit, the cutting unit, and the discharging unit.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the sheet bundle discharging device according to the embodiment of the present invention, and is a view of waiting at a position where the booklet is received by the back receiving member.

Fig. 6 is a view in the direction VI of fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a view of the back receiving member receiving a booklet at a booklet receiving position (standby position) in the sheet bundle discharging device of fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion of the back socket of fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which the back receiver of the sheet bundle discharging device of fig. 7 starts rotating left to discharge booklets.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of the periphery of the back socket of fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a diagram of a state in which the back catch rotates further leftward than the state of fig. 7 and the urging member urges the booklet in the conveying direction (arrow L direction) in synchronization with the back catch.

Fig. 12 is a view in which the back receiving member is rotated further leftward than the state of fig. 11 and the urging member further urges the booklet in the conveying direction in synchronization with the back receiving member to lay the booklet down on the conveying belt.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged view of the periphery of the back socket of fig. 12.

Fig. 14 is a diagram showing a state in which the booklet curls on the conveying belt without performing the rotation operation of the back receiver or without synchronizing the rotation operation of the back receiver with the pushing operation of the pushing member in the sheet bundle discharging device of fig. 7.

Fig. 15 is a view when the booklet is loaded in a sprung manner on the sheet bundle feeding portion.

Fig. 16 is a diagram showing a state in which the booklet bounces off the back receiving member as shown in fig. 15.

Fig. 17 is a diagram showing a posture of the booklet when the booklet is turned over by the optimum back receiving member first.

Fig. 18A is a graph showing the experimental result of the case where the booklet is curled when loaded on the sheet bundle feeding portion according to the rigidity of the sheets and the length of the booklet.

Fig. 18B is a diagram showing the length of the booklet from the back to the fore-edge.

Fig. 19 is a table showing the operation start timing of the pushing member with respect to the length of the booklet and the grammage of the sheet.

Fig. 20A is a graph showing the experimental result of the relationship between the number of sheets of the booklet and the optimum preceding rotation angle of the back receiving member.

Fig. 20B is a table showing the experimental results of the operation start timing of the pushing member with respect to the number of inner pages of the booklet.

Fig. 21 is a view showing an example of bending the booklet by the pushing member before the booklet is laid down in the sheet bundle discharging device of fig. 7.

Fig. 22 is a perspective view of a state in which the conveyance belt starts to feed out the booklet from the state of fig. 12.

Fig. 23 is a flowchart showing a binding operation of the binding apparatus according to the present embodiment.

Fig. 24 is a control block diagram of the image forming system.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, an image forming system including a bookbinding apparatus including a sheet bundle discharge apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the numerical values in the embodiments are reference numerical values, and are not numerical values that limit the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the image forming system D along the sheet conveying direction. Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the bookbinding apparatus B along the sheet conveying direction.

The image forming system D includes an image forming apparatus a that sequentially forms toner images on sheets, a bookbinding apparatus B disposed downstream of the image forming apparatus a, a post-processing apparatus C disposed downstream of the bookbinding apparatus B, and the like. The image forming system D performs a binding process on the sheets on which the images are formed by the image forming apparatus a by the binding apparatus B. The image forming system D causes the sheets not subjected to the stapling process to pass through the stapling apparatus B, and the post-processing apparatus C to perform the post-processing and discharge the sheets.

(image Forming apparatus A)

The image forming apparatus a forms an image on a sheet. The image forming apparatus a includes various apparatuses such as a copier, a printer, and a printer, but the image forming apparatus a of the present embodiment is a copier that forms a toner image on a sheet. The image forming apparatus a incorporates a sheet feeding portion 2, an image forming portion 3, a sheet discharging portion 4, and an image forming apparatus control portion 101 in an apparatus main body 1. In the sheet feeding portion 2, a plurality of cassettes 5 corresponding to the sheet size are arranged in the vertical direction. The sheet feeding unit 2 feeds out a sheet of a size instructed from the image forming apparatus control unit 101 to the feeding path 6. A registration roller pair 7 is provided on the feeding path 6. The registration roller pair 7 aligns the leading end of the sheet and then feeds the sheet to the image forming portion 3 on the downstream side at a predetermined timing.

The image forming unit 3 is provided with an electrostatic drum 10. Around the electrostatic drum 10, a print head 9, a developing device 11, a transfer charger 12, and the like are arranged. The print head 9 is composed of, for example, a laser light emitter, and forms an electrostatic latent image on an electrostatic drum 10. The electrostatic latent image is toner-developed by the developer 11 to become a toner image. The toner image is transferred onto the sheet by the transfer charger 12. The toner image transferred onto the sheet is fixed on the sheet by a fixer 13. After that, the sheet is conveyed to the sheet discharge path 17. A sheet discharge port 14 is formed in the sheet discharge portion 4, and a sheet discharge roller pair 15 is arranged. The circulation path 16 conveys the sheet discharged from the sheet discharge path 17 to the switchback path and reverses the front and back thereof, and then guides the sheet again to the registration roller pair 7. The sheet is formed with a toner image on the reverse side by the image forming portion 3. The sheet having the toner image formed on one side or both sides thereof in this way is fed from the sheet discharge port 14 to the binding device B by the sheet discharge roller pair 15.

A scanner unit 20 provided in an upper portion of the apparatus main body 1 optically reads an image of an original. As is generally known, the scanner unit 20 is configured by a platen glass 23 on which an original is placed by a user, a carriage 21 that optically reads the original along the platen glass 23, an optical reading mechanism (e.g., a CCD device) 22 that photoelectrically converts an optical image from the carriage 21, and the like. The scanner unit 20 has a document feeder 25 for automatically feeding a document to the platen glass 23.

(bookbinding apparatus B)

Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the bookbinding apparatus B along the sheet conveying direction. The binding device B is connected to the image forming apparatus a.

In the following description, a sheet of the cover, which is a sheet bundle, is referred to as a "cover", a sheet to be mounted by the cover is referred to as a "inside sheet", a bundle of inside sheets is referred to as a "bundle of inside sheets", a bundle of inside sheets mounted by the cover is referred to as a "bundle of cover-attached sheets", and a finished bundle of cover-attached sheets is referred to as a "booklet". These sheet bundles may be simply referred to as sheet bundles.

The binding apparatus B is mainly composed of the following components. A housing 30. The stacking portion 40 is provided in the casing 30, and stacks the inner sheet on which the toner image is formed in a bundle shape and aligns the bundle. The adhesive applying section 55 applies an adhesive to the inner sheet bundle from the stacking section 40. The cover binding unit 60 binds a cover to the bundle of inner sheet materials to which the adhesive is applied. The bundle posture deflecting unit 64 changes the direction of the bundle of cover-attached sheets to which the cover is bound. The cutting unit 65 trims and cuts the edge of the sheet bundle whose orientation is changed. The sheet bundle discharging device K discharges a booklet formed by trimming and cutting.

(Structure of conveying route)

The conveyance path of each sheet will be described. A carrying-in path 31 connected to the sheet discharge port 14 of the image forming apparatus a is provided in the housing 30. The carry-in path 31 is connected to the inside sheet transport path 32 and the cover transport path 34 via the path switching member 36. The inner sheet transport path 32 is connected to the staple path 33 via a stacking unit 40. The cover conveyance path 34 is connected to a post-processing path 38 of a post-processing apparatus C (fig. 1) described later. The staple path 33 passes through the stapler B in a substantially vertical direction. The cover conveyance path 34 passes across the binding device B in a substantially horizontal direction. Therefore, the binding path 33 and the cover transport path 34 intersect (intersect orthogonally) with each other, and a cover binding unit 60, which will be described later, is disposed at the position where the intersection is made.

In the above-described configuration of the conveyance path, the conveyance path 31 receives a sheet (inner sheet) on which a toner image has been formed from the image forming apparatus a. In this case, the inner sheet and a print sheet (cover) printed with a title or the like serving as a cover are fed from the image forming apparatus a. The inner sheet and the cover are separated to the inner sheet conveying path 32 and the cover conveying path 34 by the path switching member 36.

The insertion device 26 is connected to the carrying-in path 31 (fig. 1). The insertion device 26 feeds the covers, which are not subjected to the printing process by the image forming apparatus a, from the paper feed tray 26a to the carry-in path 31 one by one. The insertion device 26 includes a sheet feed tray 26a having 1 or more layers, a cover feeding unit 29, and a cover feeding path 27 downstream of the cover feeding unit 29, and the cover feeding unit 29 is disposed at the leading end of the sheet feed tray 26a and feeds the sheets loaded on the sheet feed tray 26a while separating them one by one. The cover feeding path 27 is connected to the carrying-in path 31 via a path switching member 28. A conveying roller pair 31a is disposed in the conveying path 31. A conveying roller pair 32a is disposed in the inner sheet conveying path 32. The staple path 33 is provided with a pinch conveying section 47, a bundle posture deflecting section 64, a sheet bundle discharge roller pair (conveying unit) 66, and the like, which will be described later. A pair of conveying rollers 34a is disposed on the cover conveying path 34, a pair of conveying rollers 38a is disposed on a post-processing path 38 of a post-processing apparatus C (fig. 1) to be described later, and the inner page and the cover are respectively fed by being rotated by a drive motor (not shown).

(post-treatment apparatus C)

In fig. 1, a post-processing apparatus C is connected to the bookbinding apparatus B. The post-processing apparatus C is provided with a post-processing path 38 connected to the cover conveyance path 34. At least one post-processing apparatus such as a side-stitch unit, a punch unit, a saddle-stitch unit, and the like is disposed on the post-processing path 38. The post-processing path 38 receives the image-formed sheet from the image forming apparatus a via the cover conveyance path 34. The post-processing apparatus C performs at least one post-processing such as a side-stitch processing, a punching processing, and a saddle-stitch processing on the image-formed sheet. Then, the post-processing apparatus C carries out the image-formed sheet to the paper discharge tray 37. Further, the post-processing apparatus C may discharge the sheet having the image formed thereon to the paper discharge tray 37 without performing post-processing on the sheet.

(Stacking section 40)

The stacking tray 41 disposed at the inner sheet discharge port 32b of the inner sheet conveying path 32 loads and stores the inner sheets from the inner sheet discharge port 32b in a bundle shape. As shown in fig. 2, the stacking tray 41 is composed of a tray member disposed substantially horizontally, and a forward/reverse roller 42a and a carrying-in guide 42b are disposed above the tray member. The inner sheet discharged from the inner sheet discharge port 32b is guided by the carry-in guide 42b onto the stacking tray 41, and is stored in the stacking tray 41 by the forward and reverse rollers 42 a. The forward-reverse roller 42a conveys the inner sheet to the front end side of the stacking tray 41 by forward rotation, and performs restriction by reverse rotation so that the rear end of the inner sheet abuts against a restriction member 43 disposed at the rear end (right end in fig. 2) of the tray. A pair of sheet-side aligning plates, not shown, that align both side edges of the inner sheet accommodated on the stacking tray 41 are provided on the stacking tray 41. Further, the stacking tray 41 is lowered from the position of the solid line to the position of the broken line in accordance with the loading of the inner sheet. With this configuration, the inner sheets from the inner sheet transport path 32 are sequentially stacked on the stacking tray 41 and aligned in a bundle shape.

(clamp conveying part 47)

A pinch conveyance unit 47 for conveying the sheets from the stack tray 41 to the adhesive application position E on the downstream side is disposed on the staple path 33. The stack tray 41 transfers the bundle of inner sheet materials to the clamp conveying section 47 which is standing by at a substantially horizontal transfer position. As shown in fig. 2, the pinch conveyor 47 changes the orientation of the bundle of inner sheets stacked on the stacking tray 41 from a substantially horizontal orientation to a vertical orientation, and places the bundle of inner sheets on the adhesive application position E along the staple path 33 arranged in the substantially vertical direction.

(adhesive applying part 55)

Fig. 3A and 3B are views of the adhesive applying section 55. Fig. 3A is a front view. Fig. 3B is a view in the direction IIIB of fig. 3A. In fig. 2, 3A, and 3B, an adhesive applying section 55 is disposed at an adhesive applying position E of the staple path 33. The adhesive applying section 55 is composed of an adhesive container 56 for containing a hot-melt adhesive, an applying roller 57, a roller rotating motor MR, and the like. The adhesive container 56 is divided into a liquid adhesive storage chamber 56a and a solid adhesive storage chamber 56 b. An application roller 57 is rotatably installed in the liquid adhesive storage chamber 56 a. The liquid adhesive storage chamber 56a is provided with an adhesive sensor 56s (fig. 2) for detecting the remaining amount of the adhesive. The adhesive sensor 56s also serves as an adhesive temperature sensor. That is, the adhesive sensor 56s detects the temperature of the liquefied adhesive in the liquid adhesive storage chamber 56a, and detects the remaining amount of the adhesive by using the temperature difference of the portion immersed in the adhesive. The adhesive container 56 is provided with a heating element 50 such as an electric heater. The adhesive sensor 56s and the heating element 50 are connected to the stapler control unit 102 (fig. 1 and 24). The binding device control unit 102 adjusts the temperature of the adhesive in the liquid adhesive storage chamber 56a to a predetermined melting temperature based on the detected temperature of the heating element 50. The applicator roll 57 is made of a heat-resistant porous material, and is configured to be impregnated with an adhesive so that a layer of the adhesive bulges around the roll.

The adhesive container 56 configured as described above is driven back and forth along the back side of the inner sheet bundle. In fig. 3B, the adhesive container 56 is formed to have a short length (size) with respect to the lower end edge (back cover portion at the time of binding) P1B of the inner sheet bundle, and is supported by the guide rail 52 of the casing 30 (fig. 2) so as to move along the lower end edge P1B of the inner sheet bundle P1 together with the applicator roller 57 incorporated therein. The adhesive container 56 is connected to a timing belt 53, and an adhesive container moving motor MS is connected to the timing belt 53.

The adhesive container 56 is guided by the guide rail 52 between a home position HP on the left side in fig. 3B and a return position RP on the right side in fig. 3B where the return operation along the sheet bundle is started, and is reciprocated by the adhesive container moving motor MS. The return position RP is set according to the size information of the sheet width. The home position HP of the adhesive container 56 is detected by the home position sensor SP. The adhesive container 56 stands by at the home position HP when the apparatus is powered on (at the initial time), and moves from the home position HP to the return position RP after a predetermined time (the expected time when the sheet bundle reaches the adhesive application position E) from a preceding sheet clamp signal from, for example, a clamp sensor Sg (fig. 2) provided in the clamp conveyor 47. The position of the adhesive container 56 can be detected by counting the drive pulses of the adhesive container moving motor MS. As shown in fig. 3B, the overrun sensor OP may be provided at the return position RP, and the overrun may be prevented by detection of the overrun sensor OP. The application roller 57 starts to rotate by the roller rotation motor MR while the adhesive container 56 moves from the home position HP to the return position RP. The adhesive application section 55 configured as described above starts moving from the left side to the right side in fig. 3B by the rotation of the adhesive container moving motor MS and the guide of the guide rail 52. In the outward path, the application roller 57 is pressed against the sheet bundle to spread the end of the sheet bundle, and in the return path from the return position RP to the home position HP, the feed amount of the nip conveyor 47 is adjusted by an unillustrated elevation motor so as to apply the adhesive so as to form a predetermined gap with the end of the sheet bundle.

(cover binding part 60)

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the cover binding unit 60, the bundle posture deflecting unit 64, the cutting unit 65, and the sheet bundle discharging device K. A cover binding unit 60 is disposed at the cover binding position F of the binding path 33. The cover binding section 60 as a binding unit is constituted by a back support plate 61, a back flap plate 62, a pair of folding rollers 63, and the like. A cover conveyance path 34 is arranged at the cover binding position F, and a cover is fed from the image forming apparatus a or the insertion apparatus 26. The back plate 61 is formed of a plate-like member for supporting the cover, and is disposed on the staple path 33 so as to be movable forward and backward. Cover P2 supported by backing plate 61 engages the mounted bundle of inner sheets P1 in an inverted T-shape. The back flap 62 is composed of a pair of left and right pressing members, and is moved closer to and away from each other by a driving unit not shown in the drawing in order to fold and mold the back of the cover combined into an inverted T shape. Back flaps 62 are brought closer together to back-fold the back of cover P2. The folding roller pair 63 nips and presses the cover-attached sheet bundle P3 formed by back-folding and molding the cover P2, and performs the mounting process.

(bundling position deflection part 64 and cutting part 65)

In fig. 4, a bundle posture deviation portion 64 for deviating the cover-attached sheet bundle in the vertical direction is disposed downstream of the folding roller pair 63. At the cutting position G on the downstream side of the bundle posture deviation portion 64, a cutting portion 65 for cutting the peripheral edge of the bundle of cover-attached sheets is disposed. The bundle posture deviation unit 64 deviates the cover-attached sheet bundle P3 in a predetermined direction (posture) from the cover binding position E (fig. 2) and feeds the sheet bundle to the downstream cutting unit 65 or the sheet bundle discharge device K. The cutting section 65 aligns the peripheral edges of the cut sections as the bundle of cover-attached sheets. Therefore, the bundle posture deviation unit 64 includes the rotating tables 64a and 64b that rotate while gripping the bundle P3 of cover-attached sheets fed from the folding roller pair 63. The rotation tables 64a and 64b are provided on a unit frame 64x which is attached to the housing 30 (fig. 2) so as to be movable up and down. A pair of turn tables 64a and 64b are rotatably supported by the unit frame 64x via the staple path 33. The single rotating table 64b is supported by the unit frame 64x so as to be movable in the thickness direction of the cover-attached sheet bundle P3 (the direction orthogonal to the binding path 33). The rotary tables 64a and 64b are provided with turning motors Mt1 and Mt2 for deflecting the cover-attached sheet bundle P3 in the binding path 33. The movable-side turntable 64b is provided with a clamp motor Mg that moves in the left-right direction in fig. 4. The unit frame 64x raises and lowers the bundle of cover-bearing sheets P3 along the binding path 33 by the lift motor MA. The elevator motor MA is fixed to a fixing member not shown. The lifting motor MA circulates the belt 67 connected to the unit frame 64x, and lifts the unit frame 64 x.

The bundle of cover-attached sheets P3 guided into the staple path 33 is pinched and held by the pair of left and right rotating tables 64a and 64b, and the posture is deflected by the turning motors Mt1 and Mt 2. The rotary tables 64a and 64b rotate the cover-attached sheet bundle P3, which is carried in from the back side downward, by 180 degrees, and convey the sheet bundle to the downstream sheet bundle discharge roller pair 66 with the book port portion at the lower side. The rotating tables 64a and 64b can also rotate the cover-attached sheet bundle P3 by 90 degrees in sequence, and can shift the upper, lower, and fore-edge portions to the lower side at the downstream cutting position G, thereby trimming and cutting the 3-edge peripheral edge of the cover-attached sheet bundle P3. A clamp sensor (not shown) is provided on the movable-side turntable 64 b. The clamp sensor detects that the cover-attached sheet bundle P3 is reliably clamped between the left and right rotating tables 64a, 64b, and after the detection, the rotating tables 64a, 64b are driven to rotate.

(cutting part 65)

In fig. 4, a cutting portion 65 is disposed downstream of the bundle posture deflecting portion 64. The cutting unit 65 includes a knife receiving member 65a, a cutting edge pressing unit 65b that presses and supports the cutting edge of the cover-attached sheet bundle P3 against the knife receiving member 65a, a cutting knife unit 65c that cuts the cutting edge, and the like. The cutting edge pressing unit 65b is disposed at a position facing the knife receiving member 65a disposed in the staple path 33. The cutting edge pressing unit 65b includes a pressing member 65d that is moved by a driving unit, not shown, in a direction perpendicular to the cover-attached sheet bundle P3. The cutting blade unit 65c includes a flat-blade cutting blade 65e, a blade motor MC for driving the cutting blade 65e, and the like. The cutting section 65 configured in this way cuts and aligns the peripheral edge (cut edge) of the bundle of cover-attached sheets P3 except for the back thereof by a predetermined amount.

(sheet bundle discharging device K)

In fig. 4, the sheet bundle discharging device K is disposed below the cutting position G, and includes a cutting waste collecting unit K1, a sheet bundle discharging unit K2, and the like.

(cutting scrap collecting section K1)

In fig. 4, cutting scrap collecting unit K1 includes cleaning unit 69, cutting scrap collecting container 68, full state detection sensor 68Sf, near full state detection sensor 68Sn, and the like, and stores cutting scraps cut by cutting blade 65 e.

The cleaning unit 69 is disposed directly below the cutting position G. The cleaning unit 69 is rotated between the solid line position and the broken line position in fig. 4 by a drive motor, not shown. When the cutting unit 65 is to cut the cut edge of the bundle of cover sheets, the cleaning unit 69 waits obliquely at a position of a solid line receiving cut waste generated by cutting. In fig. 2, the cleaning portion 69 and a discharge guide 71 described later are formed in a comb-tooth shape, respectively, so as to avoid interference with each other when the cleaning portion 69 rotates.

In fig. 4, the cleaning portion 69 waiting at the position of the solid line receives the cutting waste generated by the cutting portion 65 and dropped via the sheet bundle discharge roller pair 66, and guides the cutting waste to the cutting waste collection container 68 by inclination. At this time, the cover-attached sheet bundle is held by the rotating tables 64a and 64b, and therefore does not fall down. When the cutting process of the bundle of cover-attached sheets by the cutting unit 65 is completed, the cleaning unit 69 rotates to a position close to the broken line of the cut scrap collecting container 68 so as to avoid a position right under the sheet bundle discharging roller pair 66. As a result, the cleaning portion 69 does not interfere with the fall of the booklet discharged from the sheet bundle discharge roller pair 66 by releasing the holding of the rotating tables 64a, 64 b. The booklet falls down to the sheet bundle discharge portion K2.

When the cut chips are collected in the cut chip collecting container 68 to a certain extent, the proximity full state detection sensor 68Sn detects that the cut chip collecting container 68 is about to be full. When the near-full-state detection sensor 68Sn detects that the paper is nearly full, the bookbinding device control unit 102 (fig. 24) reports this to the image forming device control unit 101. The image forming apparatus control section 101 displays that the image forming apparatus a is about to be filled on the operation panel 18 (fig. 1 and 24) of the image forming apparatus a. The near-full detection sensor 68Sn is disposed, for example, so as to detect a cutting scrap corresponding to one cutting of the peripheral edge of the bundle of tape cover sheets in a state of being able to be accommodated therein, so as to avoid a situation where the bundle of tape cover sheets is cut to be full. When the cutting chip collecting container 68 is filled with cutting chips, the full state detection sensor 68Sf displays the full state of the cutting chips on the operation panel 18, and also displays a message prompting the disposal of the cutting chips.

(sheet bundle discharge part K2)

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the sheet bundle discharging device K, and is a view of waiting at a position where the back receiving member 81 receives a booklet. Fig. 6 is a view in the direction VI of fig. 5. In fig. 1, 2, and 4, the sheet bundle discharge portion K2 is disposed below (downstream of) the sheet bundle discharge roller pair 66 and the discharge guide 71. In fig. 5 and 6, the sheet bundle discharge portion K2 is configured by a push member (push unit) 73, a slope 72, a back receiver 81, a sheet bundle discharge portion 90, a back receiver home position sensor SHP (fig. 6), a slope sensor SS (fig. 6), a push member home position sensor STH (fig. 5), a push position detection sensor STT (fig. 5), and the like.

A pushing member 73 is provided above the cutting waste collection container 68. The pushing member 73 is provided on the upper portion of the cut waste collection container 68 so as to be reciprocatingly movable in a direction (direction of an arrow L, R) intersecting with a direction in which the booklet falls from the sheet bundle discharge roller pair 66 by the pushing member driving portion 74. The pushing member driving unit 74 includes a pushing member motor MP provided in an upper portion of the cutting debris collection container 68, a pulley 74a, a belt 74b stretched between the pushing member motor MP and the pulley 74a, a pinion 74c that rotates via the pulley 74a and a gear mechanism, not shown, and a rack 74d provided in the pushing member 73 in a longitudinal direction of the pushing member 73 and meshed with the pinion 74 c. The pushing member driving portion 74 transmits the rotational force of the pushing member motor MP to the pinion gear 74c via the belt 74b and the pulley 74a, causing the pushing member 73 to reciprocate in the arrow L, R direction integrally with the rack gear 74 d. The pushing member 73 and the pushing member driving portion 74 constitute a reclining mechanism.

Fig. 7 is a view of the back receiver 81 receiving a booklet P4 at a booklet receiving position (standby position, first position) in the sheet bundle discharging apparatus K of fig. 5. Fig. 8 is an enlarged view of a portion of the back socket 81 of fig. 7. In fig. 7 and 8, a back receiving piece 81 having a cross section of "コ" is provided on a frame 80 of the sheet bundle discharge portion K2 so as to be reciprocatingly rotatable in the same direction (arrow CCW direction, arrow CW direction) as the moving direction of the pushing member 73. The back receiving unit 81 serving as a receiving unit receives and rotates the back P4b serving as the downstream end of the conveyed booklet P4 in the conveying direction, and lays down the booklet P4 on the conveying belt 92. The conveyor belt 92 is an endless belt. A support shaft 83 described later protrudes from the rear end of the back receiver 81, and a guide shaft 84 protrudes from the front end. The back receiver 81 is rotatably supported by the frame 80 via a support shaft 83 and rotates in the directions of arrows CCW and CW. The back receiving piece (receiving unit) 81 is rotatable between a first position BP1 and a second position BP 2.

The back receiving member (receiving unit) 81 is a long barrel-shaped member having a cross section formed in a shape of "コ", and is constituted by a back receiving bottom plate (abutting portion) 81c that receives the back P4b of the booklet P4, a back receiving upper guide (regulating portion, third plane) 81a and a back receiving lower guide (pushing portion, second plane) 81b that are adjacent to and parallel to the back receiving bottom plate 81 c. That is, the back receiver 81 includes: a back receiving base plate 81c against which a leading end portion of the booklet P4 (sheet bundle) in the moving direction abuts; a back receiving lower guide 81b integrally formed with the back receiving base plate 81c and pushing the first face of the booklet P4; and a back receiving upper guide 81a integrally formed with the back receiving bottom plate 81c so as to face the back receiving lower guide 81b, and restricting movement of a second surface of the booklet P4 on the side opposite to the first surface when the back receiving member 81 is located at the standby position. Further, the booklet P4 moves the back portion (back P4b) forward, and the back P4b abuts against the back receiving bottom plate 81 c.

Further, the back-receiving upper guide 81a and the back-receiving lower guide 81b are parallel to each other and at a substantially right angle with respect to the back-receiving base plate 81 c. The leading end portion (back portion) in the moving direction of the booklet (sheet bundle) P4 guided by the slope 72 abuts against the back receiving bottom plate (abutting portion) 81 c. The back receiving lower guide 81b (pushing portion) is integrally formed with the back receiving bottom plate (abutting portion) 81c, and pushes the first surface of the booklet P4. When the back receiving member (receiving unit) 81 is located at the first position BP1, the back receiving upper guide (regulating portion) 81a regulates the movement of the second face of the booklet P4. The direction of the rotation center line of the support shaft 83 is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the back receiving base plate (contact portion) 81 c. As shown in fig. 8, the back receiving member 81 includes a receiving opening 81d that receives the booklet P4 when located at the first position BP 1. When the back receiver 81 rotates from the first position BP1 to the second position BP2, the receiving port 81d approaches the sheet bundle feeding portion (discharge unit) 90. The back receiver 81 may be constituted by a first plane as a back receiving bottom plate (abutting portion) 81c, a second plane as a back receiving lower guide 81b (pushing portion), and a third plane as a back receiving upper guide (regulating portion) 81 a. The second plane and the third plane are adjacent to the first plane and face each other. The conveyor belt 92 includes an inclined slope inclined with respect to the horizontal direction. The inclined slope includes a first portion and a second portion located at a lower position than the first portion. In the horizontal direction, the second portion is closer to the back receiving member 81 than the first portion.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which the back receiving member 81 of the sheet bundle discharging device K of fig. 7 starts rotating in the CCW direction in order to discharge the booklet P4. Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of the periphery of the back socket 81 of fig. 9. In fig. 9 and 10, a pair of guide shafts 84 are provided to protrude from the downstream end of the back receiver 81 in the sheet bundle conveyance direction (direction of arrow L). The pair of guide shafts 84 are engaged with guide holes 82a formed in a guide plate 82 provided in the frame 80. The guide hole 82a is formed as an arc-shaped elongated hole, and the center thereof is configured to coincide with the center of the support shaft 83. The back receiver 81 rotates about the support shaft 83, and the pair of guide shafts 84 also rotate about the same position. The back support 81 receives a rotational force from a discharge motor MT as a pulse motor via a rotational force transmission mechanism 85, a part of which is not shown, and can rotate from a booklet receiving position (standby position, first position) detected by a back support home position sensor SHP (fig. 6) to a booklet discharge position (falling position, second position) where the booklet is discharged. Further, the moving direction of the booklet when the booklet is viewed from above while the back receiving member 81 is rotated from the booklet receiving position to the discharging position intersects with the moving direction of the booklet discharged by the sheet bundle feeding portion 90.

On the guide plate 82, a notch 82b for passing the booklet P4 is formed in a shape similar to the cross-sectional shape of the back receiving member 81, i.e., a "コ" shape. As shown in fig. 12 and 22, in the relative positional relationship between the guide plate 82 and the back receiver 81, the directions of the guide plate 82 and the back receiver 81 rotated in the direction of arrow CCW in the shape of "コ" are substantially the same. In the present embodiment, the back edge 82ba of the notch 82b (fig. 22) is formed at a position on the upstream side in the sheet bundle conveying direction (the arrow L direction) of the booklet receiving surface (flat surface) 81ca that receives the groove-like inner surface of the back P4b of the booklet P4 from the back receiving base plate 81c of the back receiving member 81. This is to avoid the booklet P4 from interfering with the guide plate 82 and not being discharged out of the sheet bundle discharge device K.

Similarly, the back receiver 81 is also provided with a support shaft 83 on the back side of the sheet bundle discharging device K, and a pair of guide shafts 84 as support shafts are provided on the outer side of the groove shape of the back receiver 81, instead of providing a rotation shaft or a support shaft on the inner region of the groove shape through which the booklet P4 on the front side of the sheet bundle discharging device K is discharged. This can avoid interference between the pair of guide shafts 84 and the booklet P4 directly discharged from the conveying belt 92 at the falling position.

If the cutouts 82b are not formed in the guide plate 82 and the pair of guide shafts 84 are not disposed outside the groove shape of the back receiving member 81 to avoid interference of the booklet P4 with the guide plate 82, the booklet P4 must be transferred to a position avoiding the guide plate 82 in the sheet bundle conveying direction (arrow L direction) of fig. 12 after the booklet P4 falls down onto the sheet bundle feeding section 90, and then the conveying belt 92 must be rotated, which leads to a problem that the structure is complicated and the booklet discharge control becomes complicated.

However, in the sheet bundle discharging device of the present embodiment, since the guide plate 82 is formed in the shape of "コ" similar to the cross-sectional shape of the back receiver 81 when the back receiver 81 is rotated to the discharging position (the falling position), the booklet P4 can be discharged by directly rotating the conveying belt 92 in a state where the booklet P4 is positioned at the falling position. Therefore, the sheet bundle discharging device of the present embodiment has a feature that the booklet P4 can be quickly discharged with a simple configuration.

The discharge motor MT also serves as a drive source for circulating a conveyor belt 92, which will be described later, in addition to rotating the back receiver 81. The conveying belt 92 and the back receiver 81 are connected to the discharge motor MT via a one-way clutch not shown. The conveyor belt 92 is driven by the reverse rotation of the discharge motor MT, and the back receiver 81 is connected to an unillustrated link mechanism that repeats the swinging in the CCW direction and the CW direction in fig. 8 by the rotation of the discharge motor MT in the forward direction.

Further, the following may be configured: clutches, not shown, are provided between the discharge motor MT and the back carrier 81 and between the discharge motor MT and the conveying belt 92, respectively, and rotation of the discharge motor MT is selectively transmitted to the back carrier 81 and the conveying belt 92, respectively.

In fig. 5 and 6, a slope 72 as a guide unit is disposed between the cutting waste collection container 68 and the back receiving member 81. The back receiver 81 side of the ramp 72 is formed as a downslope. The slope 72 and the pushing member 73 are formed at intervals in a comb-like shape to avoid interference with each other when the pushing member 73 moves.

Fig. 24 is a control block diagram of the image forming system in the present embodiment. In fig. 24, the image forming apparatus control portion 101 is provided in the image forming apparatus a, and controls the sheet feeding portion 2, the image forming portion 3, the document feeding device 25, and the scanner unit 20 based on image forming information input to the operation panel 18 by the user to cause the image forming apparatus a to perform an image forming operation. The binding apparatus control unit 102 is provided in the binding apparatus B, controls the rotation of each motor by the detection operation of each sensor, and controls the stacking unit 40, the adhesive applying unit 55, the cover binding unit 60, the cutting unit 65, and the sheet bundle discharging device K to cause the binding apparatus B to perform a binding operation. The post-processing apparatus control unit 103 is provided in the post-processing apparatus C, and controls the post-processing apparatus C to perform at least one post-process such as a side-stitch process, a punching process, and a saddle-stitch process on the image-formed sheet. The image forming apparatus control unit 101, the bookbinding apparatus control unit 102, and the post-processing apparatus control unit 103 may be integrated and provided at any position of the image forming system D.

(Specification of discharging operation of booklet)

Fig. 23 is a flowchart showing the stapling operation of the stapling apparatus B according to the present embodiment. The flowcharts are stored in a storage unit, not shown, of the bookbinding apparatus control unit 102 in fig. 1 and 24. The binding apparatus control unit 102 controls the operation of the binding apparatus B based on the flowchart. At this time, the bookbinding apparatus control section 102 transmits and receives information necessary for bookbinding to and from the image forming apparatus control section 101 and the post-processing apparatus control section 103.

The description of the processing S101 to the processing S123 of fig. 23 is performed. In fig. 2, 23, and 24, the bundle of inner sheet materials stacked by the stacking unit 40 (fig. 23, S101) is formed into a bundle of cover-attached sheet materials by the adhesive applying unit 55 and the cover binding unit 60 (S102, S103), and trimmed and cut by the cutting unit 65 to form a booklet (S104). The sheet bundle discharge roller pair 66 starts an operation of discharging the booklet to the sheet bundle discharge portion K2 of the sheet bundle discharge device K (S105). As shown in fig. 5, the sheet bundle discharging portion K2 needs to rotate the back receiving member 81 to the booklet receiving position (standby position) when receiving the booklet. Therefore, the stapler control unit 102 rotates the discharge motor MT to slightly rotate the back receiving member 81 rightward (in the CW direction in fig. 8) (S106). The stapler control unit 102 stops the discharge motor MT at the standby position where the back rest 81 is detected by the back rest start position sensor SHP (fig. 6) (yes in S107).

Then, when it is determined by the back receiving member home position sensor SHP that the back receiving member 81 is located at the home position (standby position), the booklet from the sheet bundle discharging roller pair 66 slides into the back receiving member 81 by passing between the back receiving upper guide 81a and the back receiving lower guide 81b under the guide of the receiving discharge guide 71 (fig. 5), the slope 72. As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the back receiving member 81 receives the back P4b of the booklet P4 (S108). The binding apparatus control unit 102 determines whether or not the booklet has reached the back receiving member 81 by the detection operation of the slope sensor SS shown in fig. 6, and when the booklet has reached the back receiving member 81 (yes in S109), reverses the discharge motor MT to rotate the back receiving member 81 leftward in the CCW direction of fig. 8 (S110). When the stapler control unit 102 detects that the back carrier 81 starts rotating from the home position and a predetermined time has elapsed (or detects that the back carrier 81 has rotated leftward by a predetermined angle) based on the pulse generated by the discharge motor MT (yes in S111), the pushing member motor MP (fig. 5) is rotated to start the operation of moving the pushing member 73 in the left direction (L direction) of fig. 5. That is, the pushing member 73 starts to operate after the rotation of the back socket 81 starts. The pushing member 73 is located upstream of the back receiver 81. The pushing member 73 starts to operate to push (act) the first surface of the booklet from behind in the direction (L direction in fig. 5) in which the booklet is laid down on the conveying belt 92 in synchronization with the back receiving member 81 at a position on the upstream side of the position where the booklet is pushed by the back receiving lower guide 81b (S112). Fig. 11 shows this state. Fig. 11 is a diagram of a state in which the back receiver 81 is rotated further leftward than the state of fig. 7 and the pushing member 73 pushes the booklet P4 in the conveyance direction (arrow L direction) in synchronization with the back receiver 81.

Fig. 12 is a view showing a position (second position BP2) where the back receiving member 81 rotates further leftward than the state of fig. 11, and the pushing member 73 further pushes the booklet P4 in the conveying direction (arrow L direction) in synchronization with the back receiving member 81 to drop the booklet P4 on the conveying belt 92. Fig. 13 is an enlarged view of the periphery of the back socket 81 of fig. 12. In fig. 12, 13, and 24, the stapler control portion 102 detects that the back receiving member 81 has rotated the booklet to the left of the conveying belt 92 to the discharging position (the falling position) based on the pulse generated by the discharging motor MT, and stops the rotation of the discharging motor MT and the pushing member motor MP when the pushing position detection sensor STT detects that the pushing member 73 has moved to the pushing final position (yes in S113) (S114). After the rotation of the discharge motor MT and the pushing member motor MP is stopped, the binding apparatus control part 102 places the second face of the booklet, that is, the face opposite to the face pushed by the lower back receiving guide 81b on the conveying belt 92, and when the booklet loading detection sensor 93S (fig. 22) detects that the booklet is loaded (yes in S116), rotates the discharge motor MT to circulate the conveying belt 92 (S117). The booklet loading detection sensor 93S is provided in the frame 80 near the conveyor belt 92 in fig. 22. If the booklet loading detection sensor 93S does not detect the booklet in the processing S116 (no in S116), the binding apparatus control portion 102 repeats the operation of slightly moving and stopping the back receiving member 81 and the pushing member 73 (S115) until the booklet is detected (yes in S116).

Note that, the booklet loading detection sensor 93S may not be provided, and the circulation of the conveyor belt 92 may be started at a timing when a predetermined time has elapsed since the rotation of the pushing member motor MP was stopped.

The position at which the pushing member 73 pushes the booklet, that is, the position at which the pushing member 73 protrudes toward the booklet side, is preferably set to include a plurality of positions which are located lower than the center in the height direction of the booklet and are distributed substantially equidistantly from the center in the width direction of the booklet P4. By setting this position, the operation of falling of booklet P4 can be stabilized, and the positional deviation of booklet P4 on conveyor belt 92 can be reduced.

The bookbinding device control unit 102 circulates the conveyor belt 92, determines that the booklet is started to be discharged when the booklet is detected by the booklet discharge detection sensor 94S (fig. 22) after a predetermined time has elapsed (yes in S118), and determines that the booklet is conveyed in the arrow Q direction and discharged outside the sheet bundle discharge unit K2 when the booklet is no longer detected by the booklet discharge detection sensor 94S after a predetermined time has elapsed (yes in S119) (S120). The booklet discharge detection sensor 94S is provided to the frame 80 near the end of the conveyor belt 92 in fig. 22. When the booklet is discharged, the stapler control portion 102 stops the conveying belt 92, returns the back support 81 to the standby position by the discharge motor MT, and returns the pushing member 73 to the standby position detected by the pushing member start position sensor STH (fig. 5) by the pushing member motor MP. When there is a next booklet (yes in S121), the binding apparatus control unit 102 returns to the processing S106, repeats the same control until there is no booklet, and ends the series of booklet discharge control when there is no booklet (no in S121).

When the booklet is not detected by the booklet discharge detection sensor 94S in the processing S118 (no in S118) or when the booklet is still detected by the booklet discharge detection sensor 94S in the processing S119 (no in S119), the binding apparatus control unit 102 determines that the booklet is not loaded to the predetermined position by the conveyance belt 92, and performs an error display on the operation panel 18 to prevent jamming of the booklet (S122) and stops the conveyance belt 92 (S123).

In this way, in the present embodiment, the back receiving member 81 receives a booklet and rotates to place the booklet on the sheet bundle feeding portion 90, and the booklet is discharged to the outside by the sheet bundle feeding portion 90. Therefore, the booklet can be discharged to the outside of the machine without stopping the binding operation. As a result, the productivity of the binding can be improved.

(detailed description of paper discharge operation)

Hereinafter, the processes S106 to S115 and S108, and the processes S119 to S123 in the processes S101 to S123 of fig. 23 described above will be described in detail.

Fig. 7 and 8 show a state in which the back acceptor 81 receives the booklet (the first position BP1) in the processes S106, S107, and S108. In fig. 7 and 8, the back receiving lower guide 81b of the back receiving member 81 is positioned substantially parallel to the inclined slope 72a of the slope 72 and does not protrude upward (booklet side) from the inclined slope 72 a. Thus, the booklet P4 conveyed is reliably received by the back receiver 81 without being caught by the back receiver 81. Further, since the back receiving base plate 81c is formed at a substantially right angle to the back receiving lower guide 81b, the back receiving member 81 closely contacts the back P4b of the booklet P4, and the booklet can be received in a stable posture.

Fig. 9 and 10 show a state in which the discharge motor MT (fig. 7) rotates the back rest 81 in the counterclockwise direction (the arrow CCW direction) after the back rest 81 catches the booklet P4 with the back rest base plate 81c in the processes S110 and S111. In the processes S110 and S111, the back receiving member 81 rotates counterclockwise (in the direction of arrow CCW) by a predetermined angle to change the booklet into a curved posture. That is, the front end portion 81ba of the back receiving lower guide 81b pushes the first face of the booklet, so that the lower half of the booklet P4 is bent to the rotation direction side of the back receiving member 81 as indicated by reference numeral W in fig. 10.

Fig. 11 shows the state of the back socket 81 and the pushing member 73 in the processes S111 to S114. When the booklet is bent in the lower half as shown in fig. 10, the pushing member motor MP (fig. 5) rotates, and the pushing member 73 moves in the arrow L direction of fig. 11 to come into contact with the booklet. The position of the push member 73 is determined by the push member home position sensor STH (fig. 5) and the push position detection sensor STT. The pushing member 73 stands by at the standby position of fig. 5 and 7 detected by the pushing member home position sensor STH when the back receiving member 81 receives a booklet. When the booklet is bent in the lower half as shown in fig. 10, the pushing member 73 abuts against the booklet (fig. 11) while moving to the pushing operation completion position of fig. 12 detected by the pushing position detection sensor STT, and the booklet is pushed out.

As shown in fig. 9 and 10, the sheet bundle discharging unit K2 in the above description starts the pushing operation of the pushing member 73 pushing the booklet after the booklet P4 is bent by performing the rotation operation of the back receiving member 81 first, and then the booklet is pushed down onto the conveying belt 92. This is because, when a booklet having a low rigidity and a large size which is not trimmed and cut is pushed down, if the back receiving member 81 and the pushing member 73 do not operate in synchronization with each other, the booklet falls down in advance during the pushing down, and as shown in fig. 14, the booklet opening of the booklet curls on the conveying belt 92, which may cause the booklet to be jammed or the surface of the booklet to be indented or damaged. Further, since the rigidity of the booklet and the booklet size are selected by the user, it is not always known what booklet is conveyed to the sheet bundle feeding section 90. Therefore, the sheet bundle discharging unit K2 of the present embodiment synchronizes the rotation operation of the back receiving member 81 and the pushing operation of the pushing member 73 in order to reliably load the booklet on the carrying belt 92 regardless of the type of booklet being carried, thereby preventing the booklet from being jammed or having a surface that is dented or damaged. Fig. 14 is a diagram showing a case where the booklet P4 curls around the conveyance belt 92 without performing the rotation operation of the back receiver 81 or without synchronizing the rotation operation of the back receiver 81 with the pushing operation of the pushing member 73 in the sheet bundle discharging device K of fig. 7.

If the rotation operation of the back receiving member 81 and the pushing operation of the pushing member 73 are not started simultaneously, the posture before the booklet is placed is important, and for example, as shown in fig. 21, a protrusion 173b protruding toward the conveying belt 92 side needs to be formed in a part of the pushing member 173, and the shape before the booklet is placed needs to be curved by the protrusion 173 b. Fig. 21 is a diagram showing an example of bending the booklet P4 by the pushing member 73 before the booklet P4 is set in the sheet bundle discharging device K of fig. 7.

However, there are booklets with high rigidity, booklets of small size trimmed and cut by the cutting unit 65, and the like. Such booklets rarely have the opening of the booklet shown in fig. 14 curled up on the conveying belt 92. Therefore, the sheet bundle discharge portion K2 may push the booklet by only the pushing action of the pushing member 73 without rotating the back receiving member 81. Further, the booklet may be pushed down only by the rotation operation of the back receiving member 81. Further, the operating speed of the pushing member 73 may be driven or changed at the same time without synchronizing the rotational operation of the back receiver 81 with the pushing operation of the pushing member 73. For example, the booklet can be brought into the postures shown in fig. 9 and 10 by starting the rotation operation of the back receiving member 81 and the pushing operation of the pushing member 73 at the same time and setting the operation speed of the pushing member 73 to be slow. That is, by appropriately selecting the content of the operation of the back receiving member 81, the timing of starting the operation of the pushing member 73, and the operation speed of the pushing member 73 according to the rigidity and size of the booklet, damage to the booklet when it is laid down can be reduced.

In the present embodiment, the direction in which the booklet is laid is set to the direction of arrow L in fig. 11, but may be set to the direction of arrow R in fig. 11. However, in this case, when the booklet is laid down in the direction of the arrow R, it is necessary to wait in the direction of the arrow R for a guide member for guiding the booklet to the sheet bundle discharging portion K2, the slope 72 in the present embodiment, and the like. Therefore, the binding device may be large-sized and complicated in configuration. Further, when the booklet is placed while the guide member is in standby, the booklet may fall while being wiped by the guide member, and the cover of the booklet may be scratched. As a countermeasure against this, the surface of the guide member can be made smooth to avoid the cover from being scratched, but there arises a problem that the production cost increases in accordance with the smoothness of the guide member. For the above reasons, the sheet bundle discharge unit K2 of the present embodiment synchronizes the rotation operation of the back receiving member 81 and the pushing operation of the pushing member 73 to lay down the booklet in the direction of the arrow L in fig. 11, thereby minimizing the possibility of the cover of the booklet being scratched by rubbing the booklet.

Fig. 12 and 13 are views showing a state where the rotation operation of the back receiver 81 and the pushing operation of the pushing member 73 are completed, corresponding to the processes S114 and S115. When the back receiving member 81 finishes the rotation operation and loads the booklet on the conveyor belt 92, the back receiving upper guide 81a is positioned at a position substantially parallel to the angle of the conveyor stand 91 and not protruding from the conveyor stand 91 toward the booklet side. As a result, in fig. 22, when the conveyance belt 92 conveys the booklet in the arrow Q direction and discharges the booklet to the near side of the binding apparatus, the cover can be prevented from being scratched without the surface of the booklet being wiped by the back receiving upper guide 81 a.

Further, if a sufficient frictional resistance is generated between the back receiving base plate 81c and the back P4b of the booklet P4, the back receiving upper guide 81a is not necessarily required. However, by providing the back-receiving upper guide 81a, the booklet P4 can be stably laid. That is, when the back receiving plate 81c slides against the end of the booklet P4 or when the thickness of the booklet P4 is thick, the back receiving upper guide 81a can regulate the position of the back P4b and stably place the booklet P4. Further, by providing the receiving upper guide 81a, a space between the receiving upper guide 81a and the receiving lower guide 81b can be used as a receiving opening, and the booklet P4 guided and moved by the slope 72 can be reliably guided to the receiving member 81. That is, the back receiver 81 includes a receiving port that receives the sheet bundle when it is located at the standby position. The receiving port approaches the sheet bundle feeding portion 90 when the back receiving member 81 rotates from the booklet receiving position to the discharging position.

In fig. 12 and 22, the sheet bundle feeding unit 90 as the discharging unit includes a conveying belt 92, and the conveying belt 92 is an endless belt for discharging the booklet P4 to the outside of the sheet bundle discharging device K. The sheet bundle feeding unit 90 performs the operation of discharging the booklet P4 after the back receiving member 81 places the booklet P4 on the conveying belt 92 of the sheet bundle feeding unit 90. The conveyor belt 92 includes an inclined slope inclined with respect to the horizontal direction, the inclined slope having a first portion and a second portion located lower than the first portion, the second portion being closer to the back receiver 81 than the first portion in the horizontal direction. That is, the conveying belt 92 is inclined so that the back P4b of the loaded booklet P4 is lower than the book opening P4 c. In the present embodiment, the sheet bundle delivery portion 90 is disposed so as to be inclined toward the back receiver 81. This is to prevent the booklet with a smooth cover from sliding in the direction of arrow L in fig. 12 and 22 due to the momentum when the booklet is placed on the transport holder 91 and the transport belt 92 by the rotating operation of the back receiving member 81 and the pushing operation of the pushing member 73, and sliding in the direction of arrow L from the sheet bundle feeding portion 90.

(timing of starting cycle of conveyor belt 92)

In the processes S118 to S122, when the booklet P4 is loaded on the sheet bundle feeding portion 90 (fig. 22), the binding device control portion 102 (fig. 24) operates the discharge motor MT to circulate the conveyor belt 92 in the booklet discharge direction (the direction of arrow Q). The conveying belt 92 conveys the booklet in the arrow Q direction and discharges the booklet to the outside of the machine on the front side of the binding apparatus B. I.e. to the front of the user.

As shown in fig. 12 and 13, the conveyance belt 92 needs to circulate the booklet after loading the booklet on the sheet bundle feeding portion 90. That is, the conveyor belt 92 needs to perform the discharge operation after the operation of putting down the booklet by the back receiver 81 is completed. This is to prevent the booklet from being skewed at the moment when the booklet is loaded on the circulating conveying belt 92 and abuts against the conveying belt 92. When the booklet is excessively skewed, the discharge detection section 93 located downstream in the discharge direction may not be able to detect the booklet. Therefore, the cycle start timing of the conveyor belt 92 is set to be after the booklet is loaded on the conveyor belt 92. Whether the booklet is discharged outside the machine is detected by a booklet discharge detection sensor 94S. When the booklet is discharged outside the machine, the binding device control section 102 (fig. 24) rotates the discharge motor MT forward and rotates the pushing member motor MP backward, returns the back receiving member 81 to the booklet receiving position (standby position), and returns the pushing member 73 to the standby position. This completes a series of stapling operations in the stapling apparatus B. Then, when the conveyed booklet is next present, the binding apparatus B repeats the above operations and sequentially discharges the booklet to the outside.

In the case of a configuration in which the conveying belt 92 and the back receiver 81 are connected to the discharge motor MT by separate clutches, after the booklet is discharged to the outside of the machine, the clutch provided between the discharge motor MT and the conveying belt 92 is turned off, the clutch provided between the discharge motor MT and the back receiver 81 is turned on, and the discharge motor MT is driven to return the back receiver 81 to the booklet receiving position (standby position).

In the above description, the sheet bundle feeding unit 90 is constituted by the transport holder 91, the transport belt 92, and the like, but may be a slide (discharging unit) which is inclined downward in the arrow Q direction of fig. 22 and from which the booklet slides down by its own weight. Further, a roller conveyor (discharge unit) may be used.

Instead of the structure in which the side surface of the booklet is pushed by the pushing member 73 and laid down, the structure in which the upper portion of the booklet is held by a clamp and laid down may be employed.

(other embodiments)

As shown in fig. 9 to 12, the sheet bundle discharging section K2 starts a pushing operation of pushing the booklet by the pushing member 73 after the booklet P4 is bent by rotating the back receiving member 81, and pushes the booklet down on the conveying belt 92. This is because when a booklet having low rigidity, a booklet having a long length in the conveyance direction of the booklet, or a booklet having a large number of sheets, is laid down, if the back receiving member 81 and the pushing member 73 do not synchronize with each other, the booklet P4c side (the side opposite to the back P4b) of the booklet P4 is laid down in advance during the pushing-down process, and as shown in fig. 14, the booklet P4c portion of the booklet curls on the conveyance belt 92, which may cause jamming of the booklet or marking or damage to the surface of the booklet. Therefore, in order to prevent the booklet from being indented or damaged during conveyance, it is important to stabilize the operation of the booklet when the sheet bundle discharging unit K2 places (loads) the booklet P4 on the sheet bundle feeding unit 90, as shown in fig. 17.

Fig. 15 is a view of a booklet being loaded in a sprung manner on the sheet bundle feeding portion 90. Fig. 16 is a diagram showing a state in which the booklet bounces off the back receiving member as shown in fig. 15. Fig. 17 is a diagram showing a posture of the booklet when the booklet is turned over by the optimum back receiving member first.

As shown in fig. 15, depending on the rigidity of the booklet P4, the booklet P4 may bounce when it is loaded on the sheet bundle feeding section 90. In such a case, as shown in fig. 16, the booklet P4 flies up in the left direction of fig. 16, and the back P4b is separated from the back receiving member 81, and therefore, the booklet may not be detected by the booklet discharge detection sensor 94S (fig. 22) located on the downstream side in the booklet discharge direction (arrow Q direction in fig. 22). The booklet P4 which is not detected by the booklet discharge detection sensor 94S (fig. 22) cannot detect whether or not it is discharged from the sheet bundle feeding portion 90 to the outside. Therefore, as shown in fig. 17, when the booklet P4 is laid down (loaded) on the sheet bundle feeding section 90, it is important to stabilize the operation of the booklet.

However, since the rigidity of the booklet P4 varies depending on the size of the booklet, the number of sheets of paper in the booklet, and the like, and is selected by the user, there is a possibility that booklets having various rigidities may be conveyed to the sheet bundle feeding portion 90. Therefore, in the sheet bundle discharging unit K2 of the present embodiment, the rotation of the back receiving member 81 is started before the pushing member 73 starts moving in the direction of the arrow L in fig. 7 regardless of the booklet being conveyed, and when the time for rotating by a predetermined angle (the optimum back receiving member rotation angle) has elapsed, the pushing member 73 starts moving in the direction of the arrow L, so that the operation of the booklet when it is set down is stabilized, and the booklet is prevented from being jammed or having marks or damages on the surface of the booklet.

Therefore, the sheet bundle discharging device K of the present embodiment changes the predetermined time interval from the start of rotation of the back receiving member 81 to the start of movement of the pushing member 73, that is, changes the grammage of the sheets, the finished size of the booklet (the length of the booklet in the conveying direction), and the number of sheets in the booklet, and lays down the booklet in a lying manner according to the rigidity of the booklet.

The following describes an operation of the sheet bundle discharging apparatus K for changing a predetermined time interval from the rotation of the back receiving member 81 to the movement of the pushing member 73 based on the rigidity information of the booklet and placing the booklet in a stable state to the sheet bundle feeding portion 90.

Fig. 18A is a graph showing the result of an experiment of curling when a booklet is loaded onto the sheet bundle feeding-out portion 90 according to the rigidity of the sheets and the length of the booklet.

As shown in fig. 18B, the length of the booklet is a length Y from the back P4B to the fore-edge P4c of the booklet P4 bound by trimming the bundle of cover-attached sheets by the trimming unit 65 (fig. 2). The length of the bundle of cover-attached sheets when it is not trimmed and cut by the cutting section 65 is the same as the length of the inner sheet.

The vertical axis of the graph of fig. 18A represents the length of the booklet, and the horizontal axis represents the stiffness of the sheet. Sheet stiffness refers to the Clark stiffness (Clark stiffness) of each sheet. The clark stiffness is a value as follows: a test piece obtained by cutting a sheet into a predetermined length is held between a pair of rollers, the pair of rollers are rotated left and right, the length of the test piece extending from the rollers when the angle at which the test piece is tilted left and right is 90 degrees is measured, and a value is obtained from the measured value.

According to the graph of fig. 18A, the booklet formed of the sheets having low rigidity has low rigidity, which shows a case where the curl is likely to occur when the sheet bundle sending-out portion 90 is loaded even if the length of the booklet is short. However, a booklet having high rigidity formed of sheets having high rigidity is a case in which curling is less likely to occur when the booklet is loaded in the sheet bundle feeding portion 90 when the length of the booklet is short. Further, the clark stiffness is proportional to the sheet gram weight, and when the clark stiffness is high, the sheet gram weight also increases.

The bookbinding device control section 102 (fig. 24) as a control unit sets the preceding rotation angle of the back receiving member based on the grammage of the sheet, which is the rigidity information of the booklet, input to the operation panel 18 (fig. 1 and 24) by the user, and the length of the booklet. That is, the operation panel 18 is an acquisition unit that acquires information on at least one of the size of the sheet bundle, the grammage of the sheets of the sheet bundle, and the number of sheets of the sheet bundle.

The stapler control portion 102 controls the pushing member 73 and the back receiver 81 so that the back receiver (receiving unit) 81 starts the rotation operation of the sheet bundle falling before the pushing member (falling mechanism) 73. The back carrier 81 rotates at a constant speed. Therefore, the stapler control unit 102 can adjust the angle of rotation of the back receiver 81 prior to the start of the operation of the pushing member 73 by starting the movement of the pushing member 73 after a predetermined operation start time interval has elapsed from the start of the rotation of the back receiver 81. The binding device control unit 102 can set the operation start time interval between the pushing member 73 and the back receiving member 81 to a first time interval at a first rigidity and set the operation start time interval to a second time interval longer than the first time interval at a second rigidity smaller than the first rigidity, based on the rigidity information of the booklet. That is, the binding device control section 102 controls the timing at which the pushing member 73 starts to operate based on the information acquired from the operation panel 18.

Then, when the stiffness information of the booklet is the grammage of the sheets of the booklet (fig. 19), the binding apparatus control section 102 sets the operation start time interval between the pushing member 73 and the back receiving member 81 to 800ms (first time interval) when the grammage is 81g to 105g (first stiffness, first grammage), and sets the operation start time interval to 1100ms (second time interval) when the grammage is 64g to 80g (second stiffness, second grammage) which is smaller than the first grammage, for example, and controls the pushing member 73 and the back receiving member 81.

In the above case, the pushing member 73 starts to operate when a predetermined time corresponding to the grammage has elapsed since the back receiver 81 starts to rotate, but the pushing member 73 may start to operate after the back receiver 81 starts to rotate to a predetermined rotation angle corresponding to the grammage. That is, the pushing member 73 may be started to operate so as to increase the predetermined rotation angle of the back receiver 81 as the grammage decreases. A method of detecting the rotation angle of the back receiving member 81 will be described later.

When the rigidity information of the booklet is the length of the booklet (fig. 19), the binding device control section 102 controls the pushing member 73 and the back receiving member 81 such that the operation start time interval between the pushing member 73 and the back receiving member 81 of the sheet having the grammage of 52g to 63g is 800ms (first time interval) when the booklet is a size a5 (first rigidity, first length), and 1100ms (second time interval) when the booklet is a size a4 (second rigidity, second length) having a length longer than a 5. Further, the longer the length of the booklet, the smaller the rigidity.

In this case, the pushing member 73 starts to operate after a predetermined time corresponding to the length of the booklet has elapsed since the back receiving member 81 starts to rotate, but the pushing member 73 may start to operate after the back receiving member 81 starts to rotate to a predetermined rotation angle corresponding to the length of the booklet. That is, the pushing member 73 may be operated to start the operation as the length of the booklet increases by increasing the predetermined rotation angle of the back receiving member 81. A method of detecting the rotation angle of the back receiving member 81 will be described later.

The stapler control unit 102 (fig. 24) as a control means is also configured to set the preceding rotation angle of the back receiving material in accordance with the number of sheets of the booklet input to the operation panel 18 (fig. 1 and 24) by the user.

Fig. 20A is a graph showing the experimental result of the relationship between the number of sheets of the booklet and the optimum preceding rotation angle of the back receiving member. In the graph of fig. 20A, the vertical axis indicates the advance rotation angle of the back receiving member, and the horizontal axis indicates the number of sheets of the booklet. The optimum advance rotation angle of the back receiving member is an angle at which the booklet falls down linearly as shown in fig. 17 when the booklet is loaded on the sheet bundle feeding portion 90. At this time, the booklet does not fall down in advance on the opening side of the booklet, and therefore the booklet falls down on the sheet bundle feeding portion 90 without bouncing up.

Fig. 20B is a table showing the experimental results of the operation start timing of the pushing member 73 with respect to the number of sheets of inner paper of the booklet. According to the table of the experimental results of fig. 20B, when the number of sheets of the booklet exceeds about 100, the binding device control portion 102 (fig. 24) takes a long time from the start of rotation of the back receiving member 81 to the start of movement of the pushing member 73. This is because, when the number of sheets of inner paper of the booklet is large, the weight of the booklet increases, the opening side of the booklet easily drops, and the booklet easily curls, as compared with the case where the number of sheets of inner paper is small. Therefore, the binding device control unit 102 (fig. 24) increases the time from the start of rotation of the back receiving member 81 to the start of movement of the pushing member 73 in accordance with the increase in the number of sheets of the booklet, and the booklet falls down in an optimum posture.

That is, the binding device control unit 102 controls the pushing member 73 and the back receiver 81 based on the information on the number of sheets of the inner sheet, for example, when the number of sheets of the inner sheet shown in fig. 20B is 31 to 50 (first number), setting the operation start time interval of the pushing member 73 and the back receiver 81 to 800ms (first time interval), and when the number of sheets of the inner sheet is 101 to 150 (second number) which is more than 31 to 50 (first number), setting the operation start time interval to 1100ms (second time interval) which is longer than 800ms (first time interval).

In this case, the pushing member 73 starts to operate when a predetermined time has elapsed according to the number of sheets of paper in the booklet since the back receiving member 81 starts to rotate, but the pushing member 73 may start to move after the back receiving member 81 starts to rotate to a predetermined rotation angle according to the number of sheets of paper in the booklet. That is, the movement of the pushing member 73 may be started so that the predetermined rotation angle of the back receiver 81 is increased as the number of sheets of inner paper of the booklet increases.

In the above description, the pushing member 73 starts to operate (move) when a predetermined time according to the rigidity of the booklet has elapsed since the back receiving member 81 starts to rotate. The predetermined time is determined by the stapler control unit 102 based on the rotation pulse from the discharge motor MT after the back receiver start position sensor SHP (fig. 22) detects the back receiver 81.

In the above description, the pushing member 73 starts to operate (move) when a predetermined time corresponding to the rigidity of the booklet has elapsed since the back receiving member 81 starts to rotate, but the pushing member 73 may start to operate (move) at the time when the back receiving member 81 rotates to a predetermined rotation angle according to the rigidity of the booklet. The predetermined rotation angle of the back receiver 81 in this case is determined by the stapler control unit 102 based on the rotation pulse of the discharge motor MT after the back receiver start position sensor SHP (fig. 22) detects the back receiver 81.

The rotation angle of the back receiver 81 may be detected by a plurality of sensors provided in the rotation region of the back receiver 81.

In the present embodiment, the angle at which the back receiver 81 rotates can be set prior to the start of the operation of the pushing member 73, based on various information such as the length of the booklet, the grammage of the sheets, and the number of sheets in the booklet. When the preceding rotation angle of the back receiver 81 is set, the preceding rotation angle can be set based on at least one of the above-described pieces of information. In addition, when the preceding rotation angle of the back receiver 81 is set based on a plurality of types of information, the posture of the sheet bundle when falling down can be stabilized by using the largest numerical value among the numerical values set based on the respective information as the set value.

In the present embodiment, the length of the booklet, the grammage of the sheets, and the number of sheets in the booklet are acquired from the operation panel 18 by user input as the stiffness information, but may be acquired from the image forming apparatus control unit 101 or an external PC.

In the present embodiment, the configuration in which the stapler control unit 102 controls the pushing member 73 and the back receiver 81 has been described, but the sheet bundle discharging device K may be configured to have a separate control unit. In this case, the control section of the sheet bundle discharging apparatus K controls the pushing member 73 and the back catch 81 based on the information of the rigidity of the booklet received from the binding apparatus control section 102.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The present application claims priority based on japanese patent application special application 2018-one 014187 filed on 30/1/2018, japanese patent application special application 2018-16907 filed on 10/9/2018, japanese patent application special application 2018-one 245768 filed on 27/12/2018, and japanese patent application special application 2019-one 006723 filed on 18/1/2019, the entire contents of the descriptions of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Description of the reference numerals

A: image forming apparatus, B: binding device, C: post-processing device, D: image forming system, K: sheet bundle discharge device, K1: cutting scrap collecting unit, K2: sheet bundle discharge portion, MT: discharge motor, SS: slope sensor, STH: push member home position sensor, STT: push position detection sensor, SHP: back socket start position sensor, P1: inner sheet bundle, P2: cover, P3: bundle of cover-attached sheets, P4: booklet, P4 b: back of booklet (end on the downstream side in the conveying direction), P4 c: book edge of booklet, 18: operation panel (acquisition mechanism), 40: deposition section, 55: adhesive application section, 60: cover binding unit (binding mechanism), 64: bundle posture deflecting unit, 65: cutting section, 72: slope (guide unit), 72 a: slope inclination, 73: pushing member (reclining mechanism), 74: pushing member driving portion (lying mechanism), 80: frame, 81, back receiver (receiving unit), 81 a: back receiving upper guide (regulating portion), 81 b: back receiving lower guide (pushing portion), 81 c: back receiving bottom plate (abutting portion), 81 ca: booklet receiving surface (plane), 82: guide plate, 82 b: cut, 82 ba: inner edge, 90: sheet bundle feeding portion (discharge unit), 91: conveying support, 92: conveying belt, 102: a bookbinding device control unit (control mechanism).

Claims

1. A booklet discharging device which discharges a booklet having a back that has been bound, the device comprising:

a carrying unit that carries the booklet;

a guide unit that guides the booklet conveyed by the conveyance unit so that the back of the booklet becomes a leading end;

a receiving unit that receives the booklet guided by the guide unit;

a discharging unit that discharges the booklet to an outside of the booklet discharging device,

the receiving unit includes an abutting portion against which the back is abutted, and a pushing portion integrally formed with the abutting portion and pushing the first face of the booklet,

the carrying unit is rotatable between a first position and a second position, and the pushing portion pushes the first surface of the booklet to carry the second surface of the booklet on the side opposite to the first surface in the discharging unit by bringing the abutting portion into abutment with the back at the first position to carry the booklet and rotating from the first position to the second position.

2. The booklet discharging device according to claim 1,

the direction of a rotation center line when the receiving unit rotates from the first position to the second position is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the contact portion.

3. The booklet discharging device according to claim 1 or 2,

the receiving unit is provided with a receiving opening for receiving the booklet when the receiving unit is located at the first position,

when the receiving unit rotates from the first position to the second position, the receiving opening approaches the discharge unit.

4. The booklet discharging device according to claim 1 or 2,

while the carrying unit is rotating from the first position to the second position, a moving direction of the booklet in a case where the booklet is viewed from above intersects with a moving direction of the booklet discharged by the discharging unit.

5. The booklet discharging device according to claim 1 or 2,

the receiving unit includes a restricting portion that restricts movement of the second face of the booklet when the receiving unit is located at the first position,

the restricting portion faces the pushing portion and is formed integrally with the abutting portion.

6. The booklet discharging device according to claim 5,

the receiving unit is constituted by a first plane as the abutting portion, a second plane as the pushing portion, and a third plane as the regulating portion,

the second and third planes are adjacent to the first plane and face each other.

7. The booklet discharging device according to claim 1 or 2,

the discharging unit has an endless belt that discharges the booklet to an outside of the booklet discharging device.

8. The booklet discharging device according to claim 7,

the endless belt is provided with an inclined slope inclined with respect to the horizontal direction,

the inclined slope has a first portion and a second portion located at a lower position than the first portion,

the second portion is closer to the receiving unit than the first portion in the horizontal direction.

9. The booklet discharging device according to claim 1 or 2,

the discharging unit performs a discharging operation of the booklet after the carrying unit places the booklet in the discharging unit.

10. The booklet discharging device according to claim 1 or 2,

further comprises a pushing unit for pushing the first surface of the booklet,

the position at which the pushing unit pushes the first face is on the upstream side in the moving direction of the booklet than the position at which the pushing unit pushes the first face.

11. The booklet discharging device according to claim 10,

the pushing unit starts pushing after the receiving unit starts rotating.

12. The booklet discharging device according to claim 10,

controlling a timing at which the pushing unit starts pushing, according to the rigidity of the booklet.

13. The booklet discharging device according to claim 10,

further comprising an acquisition unit that acquires information relating to at least one of a size of the booklet, a grammage of sheets of the booklet, and a number of sheets of the booklet,

controlling a timing at which the pushing unit starts an action based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit.

14. A binding device is characterized by comprising:

a binding unit that binds the sheet bundle to form a booklet; and

the booklet discharging device of any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. A binding device is characterized by comprising:

a binding unit that binds the sheet bundle to form a booklet;

an acquisition unit that acquires information relating to at least one of a size of the booklet, a grammage of sheets of the booklet, and a number of sheets of the booklet;

the booklet discharging device of any one of claims 1 to 12; and

a control unit that controls the booklet discharge device based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit.