FI76047C - EFTERBEHANDLINGSANORDNING FOER KOPIERINGSMASKIN. - Google Patents

Description

! 76047

Copier finishing machine

The present invention relates to a copier post-processing apparatus according to the preamble of claim 1, which assembles the sheets into groups and binds the groups with a binder.

The post-processing device according to the invention is mainly known from the features of the characterizing part of claim 1.

The copy finishing apparatus according to the invention thus comprises a first support surface for assembling the sheets successively introduced into it, a second support surface placed below the first support surface for receiving and stacking groups from this first support surface and conveyor means for conveying the sheets via a reversing path between the support surfaces.

One or both of the support surfaces are most preferably arranged at an angle to the horizontal. Thus, the first, i.e., stacking surface, most preferably extends downwardly against an alignment stop that is retractable for transporting the assembled groups to the second, i.e., stacking surface. The angle o o of the assembly surface can be, for example, 35-45, most preferably 40. In the preferred form, both surfaces extend in the same direction and the conveyor extends between the lower end of the assembly surface and the point above the lower end of the stacking surface.

Most preferably, the device includes means for binding the groups assembled on the first support surface, in which case the device should have angular alignment means for aligning the sheets against the end and side alignment stops.

The sheets can be conveyed to the stacking surface from the end opposite the end alignment stop (alignment forward) or from the opposite direction (alignment backward). In the latter case, when the alignment members are arranged on the support surface, the sheet should be transported to the support surface above the alignment members and the support surface should face down in the opposite direction toward the end alignment stop so that sheets brought over the alignment members 2 76047 move under gravity under the alignment members.

If the device has means for binding the groups assembled on the assembly surface and also means for removing these groups from the assembly surface, the sheets are also transported to the assembly surface over these elements.

In the preferred form, the transport path of the individual sheets passes directly from the entry point of the device to the second support surface.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, reference is now made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic front view of a photocopier having a recyclable document processing device and a post-processing device according to the invention; top view of the finisher, Fig. 5 is a schematic rear view showing the bypass path of the sheets, Fig. 6 is a perspective view from above the finisher assembly rack, Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the stapler of the finisher, Figs. 11-10 show operation of the stapler drive a front view of the removal mechanism showing the positions of the elements during the assembly of the sheets, Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 11, showing the positions of the elements during the removal of the group and also showing the removal of the groups road, Fig. 13 is a schematic perspective view of the machinery shown in Fig. 11, 376047 Fig. 14 is a partially exploded view of a movable stacking rack for groups, and Fig. 15 schematically shows the actuators of the post-processing device.

Fig. 1 shows a xerographic copier with a recyclable document processing device 40 and a post-processing device 60 according to the present invention. 3, development station 4, transfer station 5 and purification station 6.

The charging station 2 contains a corotron which forms a uniform electrostatic charge on the photoreceptor. The document to be copied is placed on the copying tray 13, and the moving optical scanning system scans the drum to form an optical image advancing therein at step 3. The optical image selectively decomposes the photoconductor according to the image shape, forming an electrostatic latent image of the subject on the drum. At the developing station 4, the electrostatic latent image is developed into a visible form by contacting it with dye particles which settle in the charged areas of the photoreceptor. The cut sheets of paper are brought to the transfer station 5 synchronously with respect to the image on the surface of the drum, and the developed image is transferred to the copy sheet at the transfer station 5, where the transfer corotron 7 generates an electric field to help transfer toner particles to the sheet. The copy sheet is then separated from the drum 1, the removal being assisted by an electric field generated by the AC disconnection corotron 8. The copy sheet carrying the developed image is then conveyed by a belt conveyor system 9 to the melting station 10.

Normally some toner particles remain on the drum after the generated image is transferred from the drum and these are removed at the cleaning station 6. Any electrostatic charges remaining on the drum 4 76047 after cleaning are removed by the AC discharge corotron 11. The photoreceptor is then ready to be recharged by the first

The optical image is formed at the image forming station 3 by an optical system 12. The document processing device 40 places the document to be copied (not shown) on the copying tray 13 and is illuminated by a lamp 14 mounted on a scanning carriage which also supports a mirror 16. The mirror 16 is full speed sweeping mirror. The full speed scanning mirror 16 reflects the line of the document to be copied on the image side of the scanning speed 17. The lens 18 focuses the image as deflected by the fixed mirror 19 on the drum 1. In operation, direction on the side of this speed. At the end of the sweep, the mirrors are in the position shown in dashed lines on the left in Figure 1. These mirror movements keep the optical path length constant so that the focus of the image on the drum remains in focus throughout the scan. Alternatively, the position of the optical system 12 may be fixed and the scanning of the document may be performed by moving it past the optical system with the document processing device 40 as described below.

At the development station 4, the magnetic brush development system 20 generates an electrostatic latent image. The rotating foam roll feeder 22 discharges toner from the hopper 21 to the development housing 23. The housing 23 contains a two-component developer mixture consisting of a magnetically adhesive carrier and a toner, which is brought into contact with the drum 1 by a magnetic distribution system 24.

Il 5 76047

The generated image is transferred at the transfer station 5 from a drum to a sheet of copy paper (not shown), which is brought into contact with the drum by means of a paper feeding system 25. The copy paper sheets are stored in two paper racks, an upper main rack 26 and a lower auxiliary rack 27. the sheet is fed into contact with the drum synchronously with respect to the image so that the sheet receives the image at the transfer station 5.

The copy sheet carrying the transferred image is conveyed by a vacuum conveyor belt 9 to a melting device 10 having a hot roll melting device. The image is attached to the copy sheet by the heat and pressure at the nip between the melts. The melt rolls feed the final copy along the discharge lines 31 to the inlet compression point 65 of the post-processing device 60.

After the generated image is transferred from the drum to the copy sheet, the surface of the drum is cleaned at the cleaning station 6. At the cleaning station, the housing 33 forms a closed cavity with the drum 1 inside which a scraper blade 34 is mounted. The scraper blade 34 scrapes the remaining color particles from the drum. to the bottom of the housing, from where they are removed by a screw conveyor.

As mentioned above, the sheets 5 can be fed from either the terminal rack 26 or the sub-rack 27. The sub-rack is larger in size than the end rack, allowing a wide range of paper sizes and types to be fed from it. The racks are physically located at the bottom of the machine under the photoreceptor drum 1.

As shown in Fig. 1, the machine has a recyclable document processing device 40 for feeding documents to be copied to the copier's copying tray 13. for repeated copying (pre-sorting mode). Documents can either be transported across the platen at a constant speed past the photocopier optical system 12 held in place in a solid line position, or they can be aligned on the platen prior to copying and the scanning optical system 12 can expose the stationary document over the document as described above. For this purpose, an alignment member or gate 39 is used which can be moved to and from the sheet blocking position at the alignment edge of the copy plane by a conventional solenoid type actuator to align the document to the stationary position on the copy plane 13 as the optical system 12 sweeps over the document. When the document is aligned on the platen, the document handler can operate as a so-called in stack mode, where each document is copied multiple times to a single copy level during import.

In addition to the storage rack 41, the document processing apparatus includes a document separation / input device 42, a pre-copy tray 43 for transporting documents to the copy tray, a copy tray 44 and a post-copy conveyor 45 for returning documents to the storage tray.

The document storage rack 41 is mounted above the copy tray 43 and extends upwardly toward the separator / feeder 42. The rack can be positioned to accommodate documents of different sizes.

Separation and feeding of the sheets is provided by a vacuum bending belt conveyor 42 using floating pressure differences between the lowest sheet and the upper sheets, sheet bending and vacuum, with a parabolic pocket cut downwardly concave in the U.S. Patent No. 4,76047. 877 as shown and explained. Documents placed in the rack cover this opening and form a floating pocket. The conveyor belts rise through the document rack inside the shape pocket. Floating of the document stack is accomplished by blowing air from the front of the knife nozzle 47. The air jet impinges on the rack just in front of the front edge of the document stack. This allows the volume flow of air to expand inside the shaped pocket of the rack and also bends the air pockets separating the front edges of the documents between the bottom sheet and the second sheet. This helps with the insertion, separation, and input of the lowest document.

The conveyor 43, 44 preceding and following the copy plane are formed as shown by pairs of pinch rollers and inner and outer pivot guides, and the copy plane conveyor 45 is formed by one white wide friction drive belt 48 extending over the input and output conveyor rollers 49. The belt 48 conveys the document across the copy plane 3. The three weight rollers apply pressure between the belt 48 and the copy plane 13 and maintain tension over the copy plane.

As described above, the document handler can operate in either a pre-sort (i.e., group) mode, in which the pages of a document are copied one at a time in numerical order, or a post-sort (i.e., stack) mode, in which multiple copies are made from each sheet before copying the next sheet. The copy sheet post-processing device 60 according to the invention, which is capable of processing the sheets provided by the document processing device in both of these modes of operation, is shown in Fig. 1.

The post-processing device 60 includes a movable receive or eject rack 100, and the device may perform the following functions: (a) assemble, align, and staple the copy groups at an angle as they are made and transport the stapled groups to the movable collection rack 100 and 76047; where the sheets can be assembled into offset groups.

In option (a), the stapling step can be omitted.

The post-processing device receives the copy sheets from the copying unit to the inlet press 65 and transports them to the movable receiving rack 100 either directly along the passageway 61 or along the passageway 63 through the assembly rack 62 where the sheets are aligned and stapled. The direction of the sheets is determined by a control device 64 located immediately after the input press rollers 65a, 65b of the post-processing device and controlled by a user-supplied signal from the copying unit.

The passageway 63 includes upper and lower guides 63a, 63b and two other sets of pressure rollers 67, 68 which accelerate the sheets to the assembly rack 62. The sheets are aligned angularly against the retractable end alignment gate 69 and lateral alignment gate 70 at the front of the machine as gravity and by means of the impeller 71 shown. The groups assembled in the rack 62 are stapled at an angle by a stapler 72. The stapled groups are moved out of the rack 62 by pulling the gate 69 in and lifting the group against the used removal roller 73 by a pair of free rollers 74 mounted at one end of the pivot arm 75.

The sheets are thus conveyed to the assembly rack in the first direction (from right to left in Figure 1) and the trailing edges of the sheets are aligned by moving them against the end alignment port 69 in the opposite direction (from left to right in Figure 1). The passageway 63 passes over the impeller and the discharge rollers 73 and the sheets fall by gravity against the end alignment gate 70 as the rack 62 extends downward in this direction at an angle between 35 and 45 degrees. In the embodiment of Figure 1, I! The angle of 9,76047 is 38-42 degrees, most preferably 40 degrees. It is essential that the angle of the rack be sufficient for the sheets to fall by gravity into the area of impact of the impeller 71.

The groups are transferred to a movable receiving rack 100 located below the assembly rack 62 around a large used rigid center roller by means of three used flexible rotating rollers 77, 78, 79 and outer guides 80, 81. The groups thus become inverted and their direction of transfer changed when they are transported to the movable receiving rack 100. The receiving rack 100 itself extends downward in the same direction as the assembly rack 62, preferably at an angle of 35 to 40 degrees, most preferably at an angle of 40 degrees.

In the batch copy mode, the group of documents to be copied is placed in the correct orientation on the stand 41 of the document processing device so that the pages of the document are copied in the reverse order. The copy sheets are thus introduced into the assembly rack of the finisher in the order n-1. The copy sheets are received in the correct orientation so that the assembled group is in the order of the page numbers, and are fed through the copier long edge first with the top of the page in front of the machine. Thus, the upper left corner of the group becomes arranged at the alignment angle and stapled. The stapled groups in the assembly rack 62 thus enter the receiving rack 100 upside down with the stapled angle in the rack facing up.

The assembly arrangement described above provides a compact post-processing device in which the protrusion of the post-processing device from the copying unit is kept as small as possible. At the same time, it allows sheets that do not need to be stapled to be fed directly into the receiving rack 100.

Thus, when no stapling is required, the sheets are guided along the path 61 into contact with the roll 76 and transferred to the rack 100 by means of used foam pad rollers 78, 79. The rack 10 76047 100 can move laterally between groups to make them stand out visually and physically.

The post-processing device 60 will be explained in more detail below.

The sheets arriving from the melting station 10 of the copying unit enter the post-processing device via inlet press rollers 65 consisting of a lower steel roller 65b with two rubber belts with a second direction acting, i.e. freewheel switch, and an upper free pair of acetal rollers 65a. The lower rollers 65b (and all used rollers of the finisher) are driven by the output roller gear of the copying unit (not shown). The rollers 65 help transfer copies to and from the control device 64. The guide device extends across the width of the paper path and has the cross section shown in Figure 1. It is controlled by solenoid 91 (Figure 4) via linkage 92. The solenoid is activated to guide the sheets along path 63 to the collector 62.

The upper conveyor 63 includes metal sheet top and bottom guides 63a, 63b and two other press roll groups 67, 68. These include upper free acetal rollers 67a, 68a and lower used polyurethane rollers 67b, 68b. To ensure that the sheets get into the assembly rack 62 over the impeller 71 and the removal roller 73, the pressure rollers 67, 68 are driven at a higher speed than the rollers 65. The idle switch on the lower roller 65b prevents copies from tearing or abrasion. The free rollers 67a, 68a and the free input rollers 65a are mounted on an upper guide plate 63a hinged to the rear of the after-treatment device to allow access in the event of a fault. The pressure roller groups 65, 67, 68 have the function of bending the copy sheets and the free rollers are fixed to the plate 63a by flexible fastenings.

Upon reaching the assembly rack 62, the copy sheets are aligned in the reverse direction with respect to the angle of the end alignment stops 69 I! n 76047 and a 3-bladed impeller 71 used against the lateral alignment plate 70 on the front of the machine (Figs. 2 and 6). The impeller is straight-bladed and made of polyurethane. To improve alignment, the pallets bend over the sheets from the baffle plate 71a.

The stapler 72 is positioned above the alignment angle, as shown in Figure 6, to guide the staple through this angle of the array. The stapler is activated when the logic of the copying unit detects that the entire group has been delivered to the assembly stand 62. The stapler sets the staples at an angle of 20 ° to the long side of the group.

The stapler 72 shown in Figs. 7-10 is a normal table-type stapler with a conventional stapler head 101 and a passive counterpart (not shown). The stapler holds 160 staples and can staple up to 25 x 80 qm sheets. The stapler is operated by a motorized eccentric 103, an eccentric lever 104, a staple head lever 105, and a connecting shaft 106. This arrangement allows the eccentric drive to be placed at the rear of the machine, even with the stapler in front. The position of the staple head lever is adjusted by a ball joint in the eccentric lever 104. The stapler is driven by a separate AC motor / transmission 107 (Figure 7).

The eccentric lever 104 includes a load limiting device to (a) account for varying thicknesses of groups introduced to the stapler and (b) to allow the eccentric 103 to rotate in the event of a jam or staple congestion. This device comprises a bracket 108 articulated to the eccentric lever 104 and connected thereto via a compression spring 109. The lifter 103a is mounted on the bracket 108, and the relative movement of the bracket 108 and the lever 104 limits the force applied to the staple head lever. Thus, if the staple head closes before the eccentric 103 has completed its cycle, the eccentric lever bracket 108 will receive additional movement, as shown in Fig. 10. The load limiting spring 109 prevents the support 108 from rotating prematurely.

12 76047 Immediately above the rear edge of the eccentric lever bracket 108 is a microswitch 110. As the lever / bracket assembly moves up and down, electrical contact through the microswitch is lost. This signal is used to monitor the rotation of the eccentric and can help detect a stapler fault.

Returning the staple head to the open position after the stapling operation is assisted by a spring 111 attached between the bracket 108 and the body of the finishing device and a spring belonging to the stapling head.

The number of staples in the magazine is monitored by a staple end sensor (not shown) which activates when only 24 staples remain. This sensor is an optical sensor with an infrared source and detector aligned with the holes passing through the rivet rail. The logic of the copying unit can use the signal from the sensor to deduce how many groups are left in the current job and to act accordingly.

A solenoid 114 (Fig. 3) mounted under the assembly bracket 62 acts on an articulated arm 75 which, as shown in Figs. 11-13, consists of levers 112 and 113. The lever 112 is attached to the gate 69 and guides the free removal (ejection) rollers 74 through the intermediate lever 112a. lever 113. During assembly and stapling, the rollers 74 and gate 69 are in the position shown in Fig. 11. When the stapling operation is completed, the solenoid 114 is activated to rotate the levers 112, 113 as shown in Fig. 12, which retracts the gate 69 and lifts the rollers 74 through the assembly rack opening 62a to continuously press the groups against the used rollers 73 and move the assembly out of the assembly rack.

Each of the rollers 73 and 74 comprises two spaced apart grooved rollers with O-ring attachments. The free rollers 74 are spaced slightly further apart than the used rollers 73.

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The stapled groups are conveyed to a receiving rack 100 around a conveyor roll 76 which is 70 mm wide and 135 mm in diameter. It has a rigid hub of a thermoplastic resin material, preferably a modified polyphenylene oxide such as Noryl, coated with a high friction polyurethane coating. The surface hardness of the roller 76 is preferably 60 + _ 5 IRHD. The transport of the groups around the central wheel 76 is assisted by elastic rollers 77, 78, 79 and guides 80, 81. The rotating rollers 77, 78, 79 are rolls of foam material with a diameter of 30 mm and a 10 mm thick layer of foam material on a rigid hub. The foam material is a polyurethane ester, preferably having a cell size of 18 cells per linear cm. The rotating rollers 77, 78, 79 are driven at a slightly higher speed (at least about 10% faster) than the center roller 76 to compensate for the speed difference between the inner and outer surfaces of the group being transported. In one embodiment where the rollers had the above dimensions, the center roller 76 is operated at a surface speed of 307 mm / s and the rotating rollers 77, 78, 79 are operated at surface speeds of 353 mm / s (15%), 402 mm / s (31%) and 335 mm / s, respectively. (9%), where the percentages in parentheses indicate the amount by which the average roll speed is exceeded. Conductor 81 may be hinged for bottom access in the event of a disturbance.

When the solenoid 91 of the control device is not activated, the compression spring around the anchor of the solenoid keeps the control device 64 raised and the sheets are guided along the path 61 directly to the removal rollers 76 and the receiving rack 100.

Like the press rollers 67, 68, the conveyor roller 76 accelerates the copies from the input rollers 65 to reduce the group transfer time.

The movable receiving stand 100 (Fig. 14) separates the successive groups physically and visually and this is achieved by moving the stand back and forth 35 mm. The stand is operated by a separate DC motor / gearbox by means of a cylinder eccentric controller 121 and a follower 121a. The bracket rolls upward at a relatively large angle and has a raised rear alignment edge 126. The bracket is slidably mounted on shaft pins 122 supported by post-processing device cover brackets 123. Support pins 124 at the rim edge 126 slide with PTFE strips mounted outside the housing. The receiving stand is activated by a sensor switch 127 (Fig. 12) located at the bottom of the rudder conveyor.

Along the scaffold, a spring-loaded 3.8-5.08 cm wide strip extends downwards, which keeps the drop height of the scaffold unchanged as the sheets accumulate. Mylar guide strips (not shown) are hung above the rack to help guide the paper into the rack.

The actuators of the post-processing device are shown in Figs. 3 and 15. The cylindrical gear 131 is driven from the copying unit and except for the roller 65b, which is driven directly by the cylindrical gear 131, all used rollers and impellers are driven by toothed belts 132, 133 and cylindrical gears 134, 135. The latter are located at the rear of the after-treatment device behind the rear body 142, as shown in Figure 3. The front and rear frames, which are molded from plastic, support all components of the aftertreatment device. The two frames are structurally separated by two steel transverse bars, the lower plate 63b of the upper conveyor line 63 and the assembly line (steel plate).

The finisher and its covers are installed separately. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the downwardly extending U-mounting members of the bodies 141, 142 rest on pins 143, 144 projecting from the body of the copying unit, and the assembly is held together by gravity. The cover is held in place by four latching mechanisms, two at the front and two at the rear, located on support pins attached to the copier body. The rear latches are locked with locking screws.

When the device is operating, the sheets arrive at the collection rack 62 along the upper path 63 or are fed directly to the moving receiver.

II

is 760 4 7 to the intake rack 100 along path 61. In the latter case, the sheets can be stacked in groups shifted relative to each other by periodically moving the rack 100 to the side under the control of machine logic. The sheets brought to the assembly rack 62 are aligned backward by gravity and impeller 71 against alignment stops 69, 70. When all the sheets in the array are received in the rack 62, machine logic activates a motor 107 which causes the stapler 72 to press the staple into the array, and then a solenoid 114 which causes the gate 69 to retract and the removal rollers 73, 74 to engage the array in the direction opposite to the transport provided by the conveyor roller 76 and associated coils and guides. The conveyor transports the group to a movable receiving rack 100, where successive groups are stacked for collection by the user. The receive stand can be moved between groups.

The stacker accepts up to 25 sheets. If the post-processing device is in the binding mode and the sensor (not shown) in the path 63 has lowered 25 sheets, the device directs the 26th and subsequent sheets directly to the receiving rack 100 and also removes the stack of sheets in the rack 62 without binding them.

Although certain embodiments have been described above, it will be apparent that various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, although an impeller-operated alignment device has been described and illustrated above, an alignment device of any suitable shape could be used.

Claims (9)

A copier finishing machine (60), comprising a first support surface (62) for collection in the bundles of the sheets fed to the surface, a second support surface (100) disposed below the first support surface, for receiving and stacking the bundles that arrive from the first surface, and a conveying device (76) for transporting the collected sheet bundles along a path (80, 81) that changes direction, characterized in that on the first supporting surface (62) stands are fed to one another and copied 18 The ring machine comprises a device (64) which can be selectively actuated to guide the sheets to the second support surface (100) along an alternate path (61) passing past the first support surface. 2. Finishing device according to claim 1, characterized in that one or each of the supporting surfaces (62, 100) is arranged at an angle relative to the horizontal plane. 3. Finishing device according to claim 2, characterized in that the first support surface, ie. the collecting surface (62) is arranged at 35-45 °, preferably 40 °, angle in relation to the horizontal plane. 4. Finishing device according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the collecting surface (62) slopes downwardly towards an end registration stop (69) at its lower end, which stop can be retracted for transporting a collected bundle to the second supporting surface (100). Finishing device according to claim 4, characterized in that it comprises a means (71) for registering the corners of the sheet p4 on the supporting surface (62), against the end registration stop (69) and against a side registration stop (70). 6. Finishing device according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that it comprises a means (68) for transporting the sheets to the collection surface (62) in a first direction above the corner registration means (71), while the supporting surface (62) slopes down 4 in the opposite direction towards the change register. The rubbing soup (69), wherein the p4 supporting surface (62), above the corner recording means (71), in the other direction, moves the sheets under the corner recording means (71) through the action of gravity. IT