JP2000109265A - Sheet paper posterior processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet paper posterior processor that can avoid static sticking of sheet paper to its bins and resultant trouble. SOLUTION: A group of bins B for receiving delivered sheet paper P have the generally same specific resistance value in the material surface as the delivered sheet paper P, so that the bin material is inductively charged when holding sheet paper P to protect it against an attraction phenomenon to the bins B. The bin material is a semiconducting material that brings the bin- charged potential half-life shorter than the period from a time when stored sheet paper P is taken out from the bins B to a time when the next sheet paper P is delivered onto them, so that even continuous operation of the sheet paper posterior processor keeps sheet paper P free from static sticking to the bins B.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a so-called sheet-like member (hereinafter referred to as a sheet) called a copy paper, a transfer paper or a recording paper discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing machine or other recording equipment. The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus used for distribution / accumulation, etc., and more particularly to, for example, a sheet post-processing apparatus for stapling a sorted and bundled sheet bundle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bin of a sheet post-processing apparatus (sorter) for classifying discharged sheets is made of a metal bin which is a perfect conductor (having a surface specific resistance of about 0Ω) or an insulator (a surface specific resistance). A general-purpose resin having a resistance value of 10 ¹⁶ Ω or more has been used.

[0003]

However, when such a completely conductive bottle is used, a sheet having static electricity (for example, having a positive charge) discharged by an image forming apparatus or the like is shown in FIG. (A), the first sheet P ₀ induces reverse charge on the tray B, and the sheet P ₀
Adsorbs on the tray B and closes the discharge port as shown in FIG.
As a result, when to discharge the next sheet P _a, the sheet P
_a is disadvantageously cause jams in the outlet and Dari crawled under the seat P ₀ before as shown in (c).

When a tray B using an insulator is used, a mode in which sheets P discharged by an image forming apparatus or the like are continuously stacked on a bin is repeatedly performed. The friction between the sheet and the first sheet discharged onto the bin causes static electricity to accumulate in the bin and attracts the sheet discharged onto the bin. Thus, as shown in FIG. 28, first, (a), (b), the sheet P ₀ to the trailing end stopper bottle switched back by the inclination of the bin B
When the static electricity accumulates on the tray B as shown in (c), the sheet P as shown in (d) and (e) is restored.
₀ is stuck on the tray B, which causes a discharge failure, and the sheet discharged on the sheet P ₀ returns to the rear end of the bin and is aligned. Has a drawback in that only the lowermost sheet directly contacting the tray B is misaligned as shown in FIG.

[0005] When the lowermost sheet is displaced as described above, for example, when a sheet bundle is bound by a sorter having a binding means, there is a problem that only the lowermost sheet is stapled or dropped. Was.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus which eliminates sticking of a sheet to a bin and troubles caused by the sticking. .

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a bin group for storing sheets, a conveying unit for discharging the sheets onto the bin group, and an aligning unit for aligning the sheets discharged onto the bin group. Wherein the surface resistivity of the bin material of the bin group is substantially equal to the surface resistivity of the sheet, and the half-life of the charged voltage decay of the bin material is stored sheet. The bin group is made of a semiconductive material having a half life shorter than the time from when the sheet is taken out of the bin group to when the next sheet is stored in the bin group.

[0008]

The sheets discharged by the discharging means are sorted and stored in each bin of the bin group, and the side surfaces thereof are aligned by the aligning means to form a sheet bundle.

By making the surface specific resistance of the bin material of each bin substantially equal to the specific resistance value of the sheet to be discharged, an electric charge is induced in the bin material when the sheet is stored, and the sheet is attracted to the bin. Is prevented and sheet integrity is improved.

In addition, the half-life of the charged voltage decay half-life of the bin is shorter than the time from when the stored sheet is taken out of the bin to when the next sheet is stored, and the semiconductive material is set to have a half-life shorter than the time after the sheet. Even when the processing apparatus is used continuously, the sticking of the sheet to the bin is prevented, and for example, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of missing pages due to the sticking of the sheet at the time of sheet binding.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a reference example serving as a basis of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3, a bin moving type sorter (sheet post-processing apparatus) 1 has a sorter body 7 including a pair of left and right side plates 3, a base 5, a cover 6, and the like. The sorter 1 accommodates a bin B composed of a set of a large number of bins B _{1 to} B _n , and is a bin that can move vertically along a pair of guide rails 9 provided on the side plate 3. A unit 2 is provided.

[0013] The sorter main body 7, the upstream side is connected to the image forming apparatus M ₀ disposed on (right side in FIG. 1), and inlet port 10 carries the sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus It has 11 pairs of carry-in rollers. A first sheet transport path 12 and an upper discharge roller 13 are provided from the carry-in roller pair 11 toward the bin unit 2, and a second sheet transport path 15 that branches off from the upper discharge roller pair 13 and faces downward. A lower discharge roller pair 16 facing the bin unit 2 is provided. A deflector 17 is disposed at a branch portion between the sheet conveying paths 12 and 15, and the deflector 17 is selectively displaced, and a sheet to be discharged from the upper discharge roller 13 to the bin B is a first sheet. Leading to the transport path 12,
The sheet to be discharged from the lower discharge roller pair 16 to the bin B is guided to the second sheet conveying path 15.

A paper sensor 19 for detecting the sheet P is disposed in the vicinity of the sheet discharge section of the second sheet conveying path 15, and in this embodiment, the paper sensor 19 is a lead with a built-in photo interrupter. Although it is composed of switches,
A similar function can be obtained with a transmission sensor. The sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus is detected by an image forming apparatus discharge sensor provided in the image forming apparatus, and in this embodiment, the passage time of the sheet P and the sheet P and the next sheet P Can be measured, and an arithmetic circuit incorporated in the main body of the image forming apparatus issues a signal for discharging the sheet P and a signal for the sheet interval to the microcomputer in the bin unit 2. The signal is transmitted.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bin unit 2 has a pair of bin support plates 20 having a frame structure at the front and rear. A bin slider 21 is attached to the tip of the bin support plate 20, and a bin cover 22 is fixed to the bin support plate 20 and the bin slider 21. An alignment reference wall (abutting member) 23 is fixed from the bin cover 22 to the bin support plate 20.

Further, an alignment rod (alignment member) extends through the notch 25 formed in each bin B over all the bins B.
26 penetrates. The bases of a pair of alignment arms 27 having upper and lower free ends of the alignment rod 26 are rotatable about a center rod 29.
Are capable of circular movement about the center rod 29. The sheets P stored in the bins B are pressed against the alignment reference wall 23 by the swing of the alignment bar 26 and aligned.

Each of the bins B housed in the bin unit 2 is movably mounted at its free end in a comb-like groove (not shown) of the bin slider 21.
As shown in detail in FIG. 5, pins 30 are fixedly provided on the left and right portions of the base end of the bin slider 21, respectively. The pins 30 pass through slits 31 provided on the left and right bin support plates 20, respectively, and have trunnions 33 at their outer ends via O-rings 32 as cushioning materials.
Is rotatably mounted.

The trunnions 33 are fitted into the guide rails 9 so that the trunnions 33 of the bins B are stacked, and the lowermost trunnions 33 are inserted into lower guide rollers 35 rotatably supported by the bin support plate 20. Also, the uppermost trunnion 33 abuts on the upper guide roller 36 rotatably supported by the bin support plate 20, so that the bin interval between the bins B is kept equal to the outer diameter of the trunnion 33. And supported by the bin unit 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bin unit 2 can move up and down along the guide rail 9 with the upper guide roller 36 and the lower guide roller 35 fitted in the guide rail 9. A tension spring 39 is provided between the metal fitting 37 fixed to the bin unit 2 and the side plate 3.
Is stretched, and acts to raise the bin unit 2 by its elasticity.

A cam shaft holder 40 is disposed at a position facing the lower discharge roller pair 16 supported by the left and right side plates 3 as shown in FIGS. 3, 5, and 6, respectively. A lead camshaft 42 is rotatably disposed between the camshaft holder 40 and the base plate 5 via a bearing 41. Above the lead cam shafts 42 provided on the left and right, a pair of left and right lead cams (screw cam means) lead cams 43a and 43b having a spiral screw cam surface are fixedly provided. ing.

In FIGS. 6 and 9, a shift motor 45 rotatable forward and backward is fixed to one side plate 3, and a bevel gear 46b integral with a pulley 46a is fixed to one end of an output shaft 45a. The pulley 46a is connected via a belt 47 to a pulley 49 fixed to the lead cam shaft 42 of the lead cam 43b. The bevel gear 51 is fixed to one end of the through shaft 50 on the bevel gear 46b.
Is engaged with a bevel gear 52 fixed to the other end of the through shaft 50 with a bevel gear (not shown) integrated with the pulley 53. The pulley 53 is connected via a belt 55 to a pulley 53 fixed to the lead cam shaft 42 of the other lead cam 43a as shown in FIG. With the drive transmission system configured as described above, the shift motor 4
When 5 rotates forward and backward, the lead cams 43a and 43b rotate in the direction of the arrow in FIG.

The output shaft 45 of the shift motor 45
The clock disk 56 is provided at the other end (the lower end in FIG. 6).
The rotation speed of the shift motor 45, that is, the rotation speed of the lead cams 43a and 43b can be read by the interrupter 59 held on one side plate 3 via the sensor holder 57. Lead cams 43a and 43b together with the lead cam control circuit
Can be freely controlled.

Further, a pair of flags 6 for detecting the positions of the lead cams 43a and 43b are provided below the lead cam 43b and on the same axis as the lead cam shaft 42 shown in FIG.
1 and 62 are fixedly attached, and FIGS. 7 and 8 show enlarged views thereof. 7 and 8, interrupters 63 and 65 for reading flags 61 and 62 are provided.
Are held by a holder 66 fixed to the side plate 3.

The interrupters 63 and 65 have the same flag angles, but are arranged with a predetermined phase shift. By turning ON / OFF the two interrupters 63 and 65 based on the phase shift, it is determined whether the bin B is the home position in the ascending direction or the home position in the descending direction as described later.

The lead cams 43a and 43b have a parallel portion (about 180 °) as will be described later, and determine the phase shift of the flags 61 and 62 corresponding to the parallel portion. Incidentally, the phases of the flags 61 and 62 are shifted by a predetermined angle (approximately 30 °), and the ON / OF of the interrupters 63 and 65 is caused by the angle shift of the flags 61 and 62.
The position of the lead cam 43a, 43b is determined by F.

FIG. 10 shows a driving system arranged at the lowermost part of the matching rod 26. In the figure, reference numeral 80 is below the alignment arm, and holds the alignment rod 26 together with the upper alignment arm 27. Reference numeral 81 denotes a leaf spring, which can be deformed in a direction in which the alignment bar 26 moves rightward in FIG. 10 with respect to the alignment arms 27 and 80.

A part of the lower alignment arm 80 has a sector gear 81a for driving the lower alignment arm 80 and a flag 81 for detecting the home position of the lower alignment arm 80.
b is integrally formed and provided. Reference numeral 82 indicates a home position sensor, 83 indicates a stepping motor as a driving source, and 86 indicates an idle gear. Reference numeral 85 denotes a torsion coil spring hooked between the bin support plate 20 and the lower alignment arm 80. The torsion coil spring always regulates the play of the sector gear 81a and the idle gear 86 in one direction, and rotates forward from the stepping motor 83. In addition, the vibration of the backlash during transmission of the reverse rotation drive or switching between the normal rotation and the reverse rotation is prevented, and the operating noise is reduced. Furthermore, by making the idle gear 86 meshing with the stepping motor gear 83a a relatively soft resin (a costraco system having rubber characteristics, such as Hightrel, etc.), vibration noise (such as a rattling noise peculiar to the stepping motor) is reduced. This has been confirmed experimentally.

Next, the operation of the sheet alignment system in this embodiment will be described.

First, the case where the sheet P is discharged based on the near-side abutting reference will be described.

FIG. 11 shows a plan view of the bin B.
Reference numeral 23 denotes an alignment reference wall, and S denotes one end of the sheets P ₁ , P _2, etc. when the sheet P is discharged based on the near side abutting reference. For example, P ₁ is an A4 size, P ₂
Is A4R size (vertical feed). When the sheet P is discharged onto the bin B, the alignment rod 26 is caused to escape a predetermined amount (Δa) from the alignment rod side end of the sheet P by a size signal from the image forming apparatus. Here, the outline of the sheet P indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 11 indicates the sheet discharge position, and the “』 ”indicates the position of the aligned sheet.

The sheet P is completely discharged into the bin B, and the rear end P ₀ of the sheet P abuts on the bin rear end stopper B ₀ (in a state where the sheet P is once ejected onto the bin B and returned). When B completes the shift operation, the alignment rod 26 is moved to the center rod 2
The sheet P reciprocates in the direction K in FIG.
Complete the alignment. The alignment operation of the alignment rod 26 after the bin shift is performed during the bin B shift.
This is because the bin B is in a state of being relatively moved with respect to the alignment rod 26 and the alignment rod 26, and if the alignment pressing of the sheet P is performed at this time, the aligned sheets may be disturbed.

Next, the operation when the sheet P is discharged based on the center will be described.

Since the center reference of the sheet P is the center of the discharged sheet, for example, when the A4 sheet is discharged by the vertical feed, the sheet P is discharged at a position as shown in FIG. In the figure, reference symbol T indicates the center of the sheet P. 2
The outline of the dashed line indicates the position where the sheet P is discharged, and the mark “” indicates the position of the sheet after the alignment. When the sheet is discharged, the alignment rod 26 ends from the alignment rod side end of the sheet in the same manner as the front side abutting reference. At the position separated by Δa, and after the sheet is discharged, the alignment rod 26 moves to the position 26a where the sheet P presses the sheet P against the alignment reference wall 23 after the bin shift, similarly to the operation timing described above. Sheet P
Complete the alignment.

As described above, when the sheet is fed on the basis of the center, the amount of alignment (position 26 →
26a) is different. For this purpose, a control circuit 110 (FIG. 18) is provided so that information (signal) and sheet size information relating to the sheet feeding reference are sent from the image forming apparatus to the sheet post-processing apparatus, and movement corresponding to the information is enabled. ing.

Next, a description will be given of the operation of aligning a small size sheet (a B5 or A5 size sheet having a relatively small width and length in the case where the sheet P is discharged on the basis of the center).

When the sheet P is discharged in accordance with the front-side abutting reference, the alignment of the small-size sheet is performed as shown in FIG. 13, that is, the same movement as the A4 size shown in FIG. However, in the case of aligning small-sized sheets on the basis of the center as shown in FIG. 14, since the alignment is performed by the arc method, when the aligning operation is performed in the above-described sequence, the alignment is performed as shown by reference numeral U in FIG. The rod 26 starts pressing from a position near the corner P ′ of the sheet P.

Therefore, in consideration of the center of gravity of the sheet P and the possibility of pressing the alignment rod 26, it is quite necessary to move the sheet in the X direction. In addition, copy sheets include
If the P 'portion of the sheet has a curvature due to the specific upper curl, for example, even if the sheet P is pressed by the alignment rod 26 as shown in FIG. , the sheet P is or not moved in the X direction, or if is the larger curl, and misses the sides P ₁ of the sheet P without pressing side P
Hit ₂ directly. Again, not only the sheet P does not move in the X direction, which may cause dents during the aligning rod pressing on the side P _2.

In this embodiment, the movement of the alignment bar 26 is controlled as shown in FIGS. 15 to 17 in order to achieve alignment also with respect to the center reference feed. First, the trailing end of the sheet P passes through the paper sensor 19, and a conveyance drive clock sensor (not shown) counts a predetermined clock, and
Is ejected onto the bin B by a predetermined amount (FIG. 15), the alignment rod 26 starts to start the alignment operation from the retracted position 26a.

The position immediately before the sheet P is pressed by the alignment reference wall 23 and the alignment bar 26 (the position where the interval between the stop position of the alignment bar 26b and the alignment reference wall 23 is a little larger than the paper width, experimentally Pause at about 3-5 mm) (preliminary alignment). The relationship between the sheet P and the bin B at this time is shown in FIG. 16, which is a position in the width direction that is close to the position where the sheet P is discharged based on the near side abutting reference.

When the side surface P _{3 of the} sheet P comes into contact with the rear end stopper B ₀ of the bin B to complete the one-bin shift, and the relative movement between the bin B and the alignment rod 26 and the alignment reference wall 23 stops ( The shift rod 26 shown in FIG.
As shown in (2), it is swung to the position 26c to perform the alignment pressing.
When the sheet material P is aligned and pressed by the bin moving sorter, the bin B, the alignment bar 26, and the alignment reference wall 23 relatively move in the Y direction (FIG. 17) while the bin B is shifted.
If the alignment of the sheet material P is performed during the shift of the bin B, the sheet material P may be shifted in the Y direction. Therefore, the alignment pressing of the sheet material P is performed at the end of the shift of the bin B.

As described above, by controlling the operation of the alignment bar 26, when the alignment bar 26 starts shifting the width of the sheet material P as shown in FIG. contact start position of the sheet material P aligning rod 26 becomes capable of pressing the side P ₁ of the sheet material P at a distance ΔL from P ',
Even if there is a factor such as curling, the sheet material P can be stably shifted in the X direction (Z direction in FIG. 15).

FIG. 18 is a block diagram relating to control of the sheet post-processing apparatus, and FIG. 19 is a flowchart relating to operation.

The sheet discharge signal from the image forming apparatus M ₀ of the sheet post-processing apparatus is connected (center reference, one reference) by (S5), branches into operation two kinds of movement of the aligning rod 26. The description of other flows is omitted because they are general flows.

Next, another reference example on which the present invention is based will be described.

In the reference example, the movement of the alignment rod 26 is preliminarily aligned, and the actual alignment is performed at a certain timing.
The alignment operation was completed by the step step, but the alignment rod 2
6 and the main alignment timing, the moving speed of the alignment rod 26 is made variable even if it is not a two-step step, and only the preliminary alignment timing is adjusted (that is, the rear end of the sheet is bin B). consistent before returning to the trailing end stopper B ₀₎ be controlled constant speed aligning rod 26 as the pressing of the operation to the matching time from the preliminary matching to end the alignment fits the timing to end, the same The effect is obtained.

FIGS. 20 and 21 show another embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, the end of the sheet material P pulled in the alignment in the sheet feeding direction is abutted against a stopper 75 to align the sheet material P (for example, a belt, a paddle, or the like), and is aligned in the sheet width direction. Also, when the sheet material P jumps out of the discharge portion, the leading end or the rear end of the sheet material P comes into contact with the stopper 75, and the movement in the width direction is completed to some extent before the belt and the paddle are pulled in. Even an alignment device such as a belt or a paddle is advantageous for alignment in the sheet width direction, and is particularly advantageous when the amount of alignment movement in the width direction is large.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIGS. 22 to 24 are views for explaining the present embodiment. In FIGS. 22 to 24, reference numeral 2 denotes a bin unit accommodating a plurality of bins (B _{1 to} B _n ).
32 is a bin support plate 20 of the bin unit 2 and a bin cover 2
2, an alignment reference member 21, which is a component of the bin unit 2, is a bin slider 21 that is provided on the near side and the back side and supports both ends of the bin B.

Reference numeral 26 denotes an alignment rod that passes through all the bins through the notch 25 formed in the bin B. Reference numeral 80 denotes an arm that supports the lower end of the alignment rod 26 and has a rotation center coaxially with the rotation center 29 of the alignment arm 27 that supports the upper end of the alignment rod 26. Reference numeral 43 denotes a helical cam (hereinafter referred to as a lead cam) for raising and lowering the bin unit 2, and a lead cam (not shown) having the same shape but having a different winding direction is disposed on the back side. 67 is an electric stapler unit, 142 is a drive solenoid for rotating the stapler, 143 is
A spring for returning the electric stapler unit 67 to a home position. 3, 6, 145, a cover, 148, a handle, 149, a bottom plate, and 150, a caster.

FIG. 23 shows the detailed configuration of the bin unit 2. In the figure, a plurality of bins B are stacked via a trunnion 30. Reference numeral 29 denotes an axis serving as the center of rotation of the alignment rod 26, the upper end of which is fixed to the upper alignment arm 27 and the lower end of which is fixed to the lower alignment arm 80. This center rod 29
Are rotatably supported at both ends by a rotation shaft 29a of the bin cover 22 and a rotation shaft (not shown) on the support plate 165 of the arm driving unit.

Reference numeral 153 denotes a sensor plate fixed to the lower part 80 of the alignment arm, and 154 denotes a sensor fixed to the bin support plate 20. The home position of the alignment rod 26 is determined by the sensor plate 153 and the sensor 154. . 155
Is a sector gear, which is fixed to the lower alignment arm 80, its center coincides with the center rod 29, and meshes with the output gear 156 of the drive motor 157 provided on the support plate 165. The shafts 1 and 36 are fixed to the bin support plate 20.
Rollers 59 and 162 provided rotatably respectively, 3
Numeral 0 denotes a trunnion rotatably provided on the support shaft 33 of the bin B. Reference numeral 163 denotes a hook for hooking a spring 39 (FIG. 24), which is fixed to the bin support plate 20.

FIG. 24 is a vertical sectional side view of the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 39 denotes a spring for balancing the weight of the bin unit 2, and a pair of springs are provided on the back side (not shown) and the front side. 168 is the lead cam 43
The rotation shaft is fixed to the lead cam 43 by detent means, and the other end is fitted to the bearing 170 to receive a thrust load.

The rotating shaft 168 has a toothed pulley 16
9 is provided, and is rotated by a belt or chain 171 between itself and the drive motor 172. 180 shows a sheet conveying portion for conveying the sheet ejected from the image forming apparatus M ₀ to bin unit 2. The sorter main body 7 is provided with a guide rail 9 serving as a guide for the bin rollers 30, 36, 35, and the bin unit 2 is rotatable only in the vertical direction along the guide rail 9.

[0055] B _a is the top bin of the bin B to receive the sheet P discharged from the discharge roller 15 parts, B _c is a bottle one step below the bin B _b, the lead cam 43,
Between B _a → B _b, between B _b → B _c is expanded than the other bin interval, also bottles B _a is simultaneously moved in the sheet discharging direction with respect to B _b by.

FIG. 25 is a perspective view of the stapler section.

In the figure, reference numeral 190 denotes a sheet bundle;
Is a needle in a state where the sheet bundle 190 is bound, and 182 is a microswitch that generates a position detection signal of the electric stapler unit 67 when the sheet bundle 190 is stapled. 183 is a stopper for determining a return position of the electric stapler unit 67, 184 is rotatably mounted on a part of a support plate 186 to which the electric stapler unit 67 is fixed,
A link 185 having the other end mounted on the drive solenoid 142 is a rotation shaft of the support plate 186.

Next, the operation of the electric stapler unit 67 will be described.

The sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus M ₀
Is stored in each bin (B _{1 to} B _n ), and the operation is the same as that of a conventionally provided general sheet post-processing apparatus, and a description thereof will be omitted. In particular, the process from the sheet P being stored in the bin to the alignment and stapling of the sheet P will be described step by step.

In FIG. 26, the sheet 190a immediately after being stored in the bin B is moved by the aligning bar 26 by rotating the aligning arm 27 in the standby position in the direction of the arrow 187 about the center bar 29 in advance. The edge is pressed and moves in the direction of arrow 188. For example, a pulse motor is used as the drive motor 157 of the alignment rod 26, and if a pulse signal set according to the sheet size is input,
The sheet P is moved until it hits the alignment reference wall 23 for alignment, and is aligned at the position of 190b.

Since the sheet 190b and the bin B are inclined with the discharge port side down, the sheet 19b discharged to the bin B
At 0a, the discharged sheet first moves by its own weight until it hits the rear end stopper 139 of the bin B, so that it can move in the direction of arrow 188 along the rear end stopper 139. In addition, the alignment arm 27 returns from the alignment position indicated by the solid line to the standby position 27 indicated by the chain line in preparation for discharging the next sheet. By repeating the above operation, the plurality of sheets are aligned as a sheet bundle with their side edges abutting against the alignment reference wall 23 and their rear ends abutting against the rear end stopper 139, respectively. Since the alignment rod 26 penetrates all the bins, the alignment of the sheet bundle is completed for a plurality of bins by the same operation.

Next, whether or not to automatically staple can be selected, and if the staple mode is not selected, the operation is completed at this point. Further, it goes without saying that the same applies to a sheet post-processing apparatus provided with the in-bin aligning means and not provided with the stapler.

When the staple mode is selected,
In response to the stapling operation command signal, first, the stapler 67a
The drive solenoid 142 for oscillating is turned on,
The stapler 67a swings around the rotation shaft 185 to the staple position 67b. The microswitch 182 is activated at the above-described position of the stapler 67a, and outputs a staple permission signal for the first time. Based on the stapling permission signal, the electric stapler unit 67
Is driven, and the needle 181 is driven into the sheet bundle 190. When the driving of the needle 181 is completed, the drive solenoid 142 is turned off, and the electric stapler unit 67 is turned off.
Is returned by the spring 143 to the solid line position abutting the stopper 183, and the stapling operation for one bin is completed.

For automatic stapling of a plurality of bins, it is most efficient if stapling is performed sequentially from the last bin after sorting. At this time, a series of operations of the stapler 67a is performed based on the bin shift completion signal, and the next bin shift operation is performed according to the series of operation completion signals of the stapler 67a, and by repeating this, the stapling of the sheet bundle 190 is automatically performed. The operation is completed. Needless to say, the number of bin shifts at the time of automatic stapling may be repeated by the number of bin shifts at the time of sheet sorting.

In this embodiment, since the alignment support wall 23 is provided on the bin support plate 20 and the sheet alignment unit is mounted,
The sheet bundle in the bin can be reliably aligned. As alignment means, alignment is performed by moving an alignment rod 26 penetrating through notches 25 provided in all bins, and since the alignment means is mounted on the bin support plate 20, sheets are stored in the bins. After the sheet is discharged, the sheet can be aligned by moving the alignment rod 26 even during the bin shift, for example.
That is, if the sheet is not entering the bin B,
Sheet alignment is always possible.

In this embodiment, the alignment rod 26 is moved by swinging about the center rod 29. Since the center rod 29 and the alignment rod 26 are on the integrated bin support plate 20, a stable sheet is always provided. Matching is possible. Also, the stapler 67a
Since the bin space of the portion corresponding to the head portion and the anvil is simultaneously widened, the sheet can be stapled reliably without unnecessary interference with the sheet even when the stapler 67a advances.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, the bin material of the bin in the bin unit 2 is made of a semiconductive resin, and the surface specific resistance of the material is substantially the same as the surface specific resistance of the sheet shown in Table 1. Therefore, the range of 10 ¹¹ to 10 ¹³ Ω was applied.

Table 1 shows the relationship between the type of sheet and the surface resistivity.

[0069]

[Table 1] This is because, as shown in FIG. 27 of the conventional example, the bin B and the sheet material P ₀ stacked thereon are stuck and the stacking failure occurs, but the sheets stored in the second and subsequent bins B are sheets. When stacked on P ₀ , at this time, due to the fact that the sticking phenomenon between the bin B and the second and subsequent sheets does not occur, the bin B
Has a surface specific resistance value at least equivalent to that of the sheet.

By setting the bin B to have a surface specific resistance value at least equal to that of the sheet, electric charges are induced in the bin material when the sheet is stored, thereby preventing the sheet from sticking to the bin. The sheet integrity is improved.

When sheets are repeatedly stacked on the bin B, static electricity generated by friction between the sheets is gradually accumulated in the bin B, and an alignment failure occurs as shown in FIG. Therefore, in the present invention, the bin material is selected such that the charged voltage decay half-life of the bin B is shorter than the time from when the sheet is extracted from the bin B to when the next sheet is discharged to the bin B. Even if the sorter is used continuously and repeatedly, the phenomenon that the sheets become inconsistent due to the charge-up of the bins is eliminated.

As a specific example, for example, in the present invention, bin B
Assuming that it takes about 3 seconds to extract the stored sheet, the first copy time of the image forming apparatus is about 2.
Since it is 5 to 3 seconds, the half-life of the charged voltage decay of the bin B is set to 5 seconds or less as an example.

Table 2 shows data of sticking of the first sheet to the bin due to charge-up. When the surface specific resistance value is 10 ¹⁶ Ω or more, the sticking of the sheet to the bin B does not occur. occured. As the surface specific resistance value of the bottle B decreases, the bending elastic modulus of the material of the bottle B tends to decrease. As described above, since the surface specific resistance is limited to about 10 ¹¹ Ω, the surface specific resistance of the bin B is set in the range of 10 ¹¹ to 10 ¹³ Ω in the present invention.

Examples of the material having a predetermined surface resistivity applied to the present invention include, for example, TORAY,
Anti-static material added ABS of TOYOLAC PAREL material (trademark, Electrochemical Co., Ltd.) and the like.

Table 2 shows the relationship between the surface specific resistance of the bottle material, the sticking of the first sheet to the bottle, and the bending elastic modulus of the bottle.

[0076]

[Table 2]

[0077]

According to the present invention, the surface resistivity of the bin material of the bin for storing the discharged sheet is made substantially equal to the surface resistivity value of the sheet, and the charged-voltage decay half-life of the bin material is reduced. By using a semiconductive material having a half-life shorter than the time until the next sheet is stored in the bin by extracting the sheet stored in the bin, even if the sheet post-processing device is continuously used, the sheet And the bin can be prevented from sticking to improve the integrity of the sheets. Further, even when using a binding means for binding a sheet bundle,
The binding work of the sheet bundle can be reliably performed without missing pages.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a sheet post-processing apparatus to which a reference example serving as a basis of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the bin part.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the sheet post-processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the bin unit.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view of the sheet post-processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the lead cam sensor unit.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the lead cam sensor unit.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the lead cam drive unit.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of a matching rod and a driving unit.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a bin, a sheet, and an alignment rod.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a matching operation.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a matching operation.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a matching operation.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the matching operation.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a matching operation.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a matching operation.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a matching operation.

FIG. 18 is a control block diagram.

FIG. 19 is also a flowchart.

FIG. 20 is a plan view of a bottle portion according to another reference example on which the present invention is based.

FIG. 21 is a side view of FIG. 20;

FIG. 22 is a perspective view of a sheet post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is a perspective view of the same bin shift.

FIG. 24 is a vertical sectional side view of the sheet post-processing apparatus.

FIG. 25 is a perspective view of the stapler unit.

FIG. 26 is a plan view of the bin showing the sheet alignment and stapling operation.

FIG. 27 is a perspective view of a bin showing a sheet stacking operation in a conventional apparatus.

FIG. 28 is a side view of the bin showing the sheet stacking operation and the static electricity of the bin.

[Explanation of symbols]

B bin, bin group (tray) B ₀ bin stopper M ₀ image forming apparatus P, P ₀ , 190 sheet connected to sheet post-processing device 1 sheet 1 sorter (sheet post-processing device) 16 discharge unit 19 paper sensor (sheet detection unit) 23) alignment reference wall (butting member) 26 alignment bar (alignment member, alignment means) 110 control means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sheet post-processing apparatus comprising: a group of bins for storing sheets; conveying means for discharging the sheets onto the group of bins; and aligning means for aligning the sheets discharged onto the group of bins. The surface resistivity of the bin material of the bin group is set to be substantially equal to the surface resistivity value of the sheet, and the half-life of the charged voltage decay of the bin material is determined by taking out the stored sheet from the bin group. A sheet post-processing apparatus, wherein the bin group is formed of a semiconductive material having a half-life shorter than the time until the next sheet is stored in the bin group. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bin group includes a surface specific resistance of the bin material.
10 resistance¹¹-10 ¹³Ω, and charged voltage decay half-life is 5 seconds
It is characterized by comprising the following bins
The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1.