JP2001072319A - Recording paper after-processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a simple punched folding bookbinding by providing such a structure as to punch recording papers one by one prior to folding processing in a recording paper after-processing device having a folding device and a punch device. SOLUTION: This recording paper after-processing device 1 comprises an end surface binding device 4 provided opposite to a staple tray 3, a saddle stitching device 5, a folding device 6, and a punch device 7. The punched recording paper is divided to a non-after-processing carrying passage α and an after- processing carrying passage β by a branch claw 11. A series of stacking works is performed every recording paper that finished the punching work, and when recording paper bundles are matched by a prescribed binding number, the saddle stitching operation is performed. Accordingly, a punched saddle stitching simple bookbinding consisting of a number of recording paper bundles can be performed even with a punch device with small size, low power, and low cost.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a multifunction peripheral thereof. The present invention relates to a recording paper post-processing device of an image forming apparatus capable of performing the following.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A plurality of recording sheets on which images have been recorded by an image forming apparatus are bundled and aligned by an alignment tray, and the aligned recording sheet bundle is subjected to various types of post-processing devices, for example, recording sheets by a saddle stitching apparatus. After saddle stitching the center of the bundle,
2. Description of the Related Art A recording sheet post-processing apparatus has been developed which can perform a center-folding simple bookbinding by folding a central portion of a recording sheet bundle in a center folding apparatus.

Further, in this recording paper post-processing apparatus, as described in JP-A-6-170793, when a punch is depressed, the blade edge portion of the punch penetrates through the recording paper bundle and the recording paper bundle. There is known a device provided with a punching device capable of performing a punching process by punching a hole in a hole.

Normally, in the recording paper post-processing apparatus having such a configuration, for example, when performing both the half-folding simple bookbinding operation and the punching work, the punching process is performed after the middle-folding simple bookbinding is performed. Working.

[0005]

However, a simple-folded book is usually formed by bundling several to several tens of sheets of recording paper. Punch holes must be made in several to several tens of sheets of recording paper at a time, which requires a large-sized, high-power punching device, and is costly.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a low-cost recording paper post-processing apparatus which is capable of performing small-size, low-power, simple bookbinding with punched holes. That is the task.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a center folding processing apparatus for performing a center folding process on at least a central portion of a aligned bundle of recording sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus, and a recording apparatus. In a recording paper post-processing apparatus having a punching apparatus for performing a punching process on paper, a punching hole is formed one by one on each recording paper prior to performing a center folding process.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, a punching process is performed while each recording sheet is conveyed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the invention, a plurality of punching devices are independently operated at different timings.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the position of the punch hole is more distant from the center line of the recording paper as the recording paper is closer to the front side during bookbinding. The operation of a punch device for punching a punch hole in each recording sheet is controlled.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention, the punching hole of the recording sheet is formed based on a number signal output according to the stacking order of the recording sheet bundle. The position has been adjusted.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention, each recording sheet is arranged in accordance with the stacking order of the recording sheet bundle based on the thickness information of each recording sheet. Are adjusted.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a recording paper post-processing apparatus of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

The recording paper post-processing apparatus 1 of the present invention is used in conjunction with an image forming apparatus, for example, a copying machine 2 in this embodiment.

In the recording paper post-processing apparatus 1 of this embodiment, as the post-processing means, an end-face binding processing apparatus 4 and a saddle-stitch processing apparatus 5, which are provided facing the staple tray 3, respectively.
In addition to the center folding device 6, a punch device 7 is provided.

The recording paper post-processing apparatus 1 is activated by an activation signal output from the image forming apparatus 2. Note that the recording paper post-processing device 1 of this embodiment transports the recording paper sent by the branching claws 11 toward the post-processing conveyance path β toward the various post-processing means. Rollers 12A to 12D, hammering rollers 13,
A paper discharge roller 14 is provided. Further, a tray 15 is provided for receiving a bundle of recording papers post-processed by various post-processing devices of the recording paper post-processing device 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the saddle stitching processing device 5
Two saddle stapling stapler portions 51 disposed at predetermined intervals (120 mm in this embodiment) on the back surface of the staple tray 3 in the left-right direction orthogonal to the transport direction γ, and a clincher portion 52 provided separately therefrom. It is composed of

The stapler section 51 includes a staple tray 3
And the clincher portion 52 is fixed to a rotatable support member 52A. The support member 52A is in contact with the eccentric cam 53 by the elastic force of a spring (not shown). The eccentric cam 53 is rotated by a driving motor (not shown).

The staple tray 3 has a stapler section 5
1 has a concave portion 3A formed in a substantially concave shape in the vicinity of the portion where it is attached. Further, the staple tray 3 includes a staple tray 3
A discharge claw attached to a belt (not shown) that rotates along the line is provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the staple tray 3 of this embodiment includes a rear end reference fence 3B, a jog fence 3C, and pressing members 3D and 3E provided on the jog fence 3C.

In this embodiment, the staple tray 3 is inclined at an angle of 75 degrees downward from the recess 3A, and is inclined at an angle of 65 degrees above the vicinity of the portion where the stapler 51 is mounted. And the whole shape is formed in a substantially rectangular shape. Thus, at the time of the operation of the saddle stapling stapler, a portion where the binding staples protrude from the stapler 51 can be moved to a position protruding from the surface of the staple tray.

As shown in FIG. 2, the center folding processing device 6
A center folding plate 61 provided above the staple tray 3 in a direction perpendicular to the recording paper conveyance direction and perpendicular to the surface of the staple tray 3.
And 1 provided on the reciprocating locus of the center folding plate 61.
And a pair of center folding rollers 62.

The center folding plate 61 is reciprocated linearly by a driving motor (not shown). The driving force of another driving motor (not shown) is transmitted to the center folding roller 62. It has become. The pair of center folding rollers 62 are provided with an elastic force for pressing one of them against the other by a pressing spring (not shown).

The punching device 7 uses a unitized punching unit (see FIG. 3), and as shown in FIG. 1, comprises a first punching unit 7A and a second punching unit 7B. .

In the first punch unit 7A and the second punch unit 7B of this embodiment, rotary punches are used to sequentially punch holes without stopping each recording paper sequentially fed. .

That is, the first punch unit 7 of this embodiment
A and the second punch unit 7B transmit the rotational force of the pulley 72A via a punch motor 71 as a driving source and a pulley 72A and a belt 73 rotated by the punch motor 71, respectively, as shown in FIG. Pulley 72B that rotates by rotation, a first gear 74A and a second gear 74B that mesh with a gear (not shown) provided coaxially with the pulley 72B, and the first gear 74A and the second gear 74
A die 76 and a punch 77 fixed to rollers 75A and 75B, which are rotation axes of B, respectively, are provided.

As the punch motor 71, a step motor is used. The rollers 75A and 75B are rotated at the same angular velocity in opposite directions to each other, and the recording paper P is fed into a gap between them so that a punch hole is formed. Further, an encoder 78 is provided on the roller 75B.

The encoder 78 has a notch 78A
And a punch sensor 78B for detecting the notch 78A.
And When detecting the notch 78A, the punch sensor 78B outputs a detection signal to the control unit 79 shown in FIG.

The die 76 has a hole 76 as shown in FIG.
A is formed, and the punch 77 enters the hole 76A by the rotation operation of the rollers 75A and 75B, and then the punch 77 comes out of the hole 76A.

When the control unit 79 receives the detection signal output from the punch sensor 78B immediately after the punch 77 comes out of the hole 76A of the die 76, the drive of the punch motor 71 is immediately stopped. In the example,
The gear ratio is such that the position of the punch hole can be controlled with a resolution of about 0.1 mm per pulse.

Further, the punching device 7 includes a roller 7
In order to accurately position and feed the recording paper P into the gap between 5A and 75B, a feeding device 8 shown in FIG.

The feeding device 8 detects the passage of the leading edge of the recording paper P and detects the passage of the leading edge of the recording paper P and outputs a detection signal.
Feed roller 82 for feeding the recording paper to the punching device 7 side
As shown in FIG. 5, a transport motor 83 using a step motor for driving the feed roller 82 via a gear mechanism (not shown), and controlling the operation of the transport motor 83 (punch motor And a control unit 79 for controlling the control unit 71.

The control section 79 outputs a control signal for controlling the operation of the transport motor 83 upon input of a detection signal output from the entrance sensor 81 which has detected passage of the leading end of the recording paper P. The control unit 79 can accurately control the recording paper transport distance per pulse by using the control signal. That is, in this embodiment, the gear ratio is set so that the conveyance distance is about 0.09 mm per pulse, and the conveyance distance of the recording paper by the conveyance motor 83 is controlled. 360m
m / sec.

The control unit 79, which controls the operation of the punching device 7 and the feeding device 8, controls the total number of recording papers to be bound at the same time as the recording paper is discharged from the discharge rollers of the image forming apparatus 2. The image forming apparatus 2 is configured to input a number-of-sheets information signal indicating the number of sheets and a ranking information signal indicating the number of the recording sheet currently discharged from the image forming apparatus 2. .

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, when the recording paper bundle is folded in the middle along the center line C, the binding order of the recording paper P subjected to the saddle stitching and the position of the punch hole H formed at this time. Will be described. For example, in the case of a simple saddle stitch binding in which the total number of sheets bound and bound by the recording paper is N, in FIG.
The distance A to the innermost recording paper P1 when bound, the recording paper P2 closer to the front side, and the recording paper P3 closer to the front side when the book is bound, the longer the distance A becomes. Otherwise, the position of the punch hole H will shift when the sheet is folded in the middle.

Regarding the positions of the punch holes, the recording paper
For each additional sheet, the total distance of the thickness of the recording paper and the gap between the recording paper and the next recording paper, ie, 0.1
It is necessary to change the interval from 0.2 mm to 0.2 mm, and furthermore, the recording paper used for this bookbinding should be thicker per sheet according to the type of recording paper such as plain paper, thick paper, thin paper, etc. When the recording paper is different, the change adjustment distance of the punch hole position for each recording paper is different.

In consideration of such circumstances, the position of a punch hole in each recording sheet will be described below. For example, for the M-th recording sheet bound from the topmost recording sheet at the time of bookbinding, Is determined according to a unique operation expression such as A = X + Y (N−M), B = (L / 2) −A where A: distance from center line C of each recording paper to punch hole position B: distance from recording paper tip to punch hole M: L: Width of each recording paper N: Total number of sheets bound at the time of binding X: Set distance from center line of innermost recording paper to punch hole at the time of binding Y: Distance for changing the punch hole position for each sheet of recording paper (set from 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm in this embodiment)

In this embodiment, when the recording paper passes through the installation portion of the entrance sensor 81, the conveyance distance of the recording paper is measured, and the innermost recording paper P1 at the time of bookbinding is determined.
In FIG. 6, the first punch unit 7A is operated at such a timing as to punch a punch hole at a distance of A1 from the center line C.

Further, in this embodiment, the second punch unit 7B is operated at a timing such that a punch hole H1 'is punched in the recording paper at a position moved by a distance 2A1 from the punch hole H1 initially punched. It is configured to be. In this embodiment, two punch units are used. However, two punch units are simultaneously and independently punched.
One punch device may be used.

According to the present invention, when adjusting the position of the punch holes, if the types of recording paper used are different,
That is, in the case of thick recording paper or thin recording paper other than plain paper, for example, data relating to paper type information or thickness information is further subjected to a unique calculation according to the type of recording paper to be used. A more accurate feeding operation is performed by appropriately adding Y to the expression.

For this reason, in this embodiment, for example, the image forming apparatus is provided with a switch for selecting paper information such as thick paper and thin paper, and when using other than plain paper, the paper set by this switch is used. The seed information signal is output to the control unit 79 of the recording paper post-processing device.

Next, the subsequent post-processing operation of each recording sheet having punched holes will be described with reference to FIG. Here, a case will be described in which three types of post-processing, ie, punch processing, saddle stitching processing, and center folding processing are performed, but a case in which punch processing and center folding processing are performed without performing saddle stitching processing will be described. The same post-processing operation may be performed.

Each punched recording sheet is divided by the branching pawl 11 into a non-post-processing conveyance path α and a post-processing conveyance path β. The post-processing conveyance path β
The recording paper conveyed in the direction is conveyed by conveyance rollers 12A through 12A
After being transported downward by 2C and transported upward by a guide plate (not shown), the paper is discharged to the staple tray 3 by the transport rollers 12D.

The trailing end of the recording paper discharged to the staple tray 3 by the rotation of the brush roller provided integrally with the transport roller 12D and the beating operation of the beating roller 13 provided movably in the direction of the staple tray 3. Is dropped in the installation direction of the rear end reference fence 3B provided below the staple tray 3 (see FIG. 2).

When the trailing edge of the recording sheet reaches the rear end reference fence 3B of the staple tray 3, the jog fence 3C operates to press both side edges of the recording sheet and align the recording sheet at the center in the transport direction.

Such a series of stacking operations is performed for each recording sheet on which the punching operation has been completed, and the saddle stitching operation is performed when the predetermined number of sheets have been aligned.

At the center of the staple tray 3, two saddle stapling staplers arranged at a predetermined interval (in this embodiment, 120 mm) in the left-right direction perpendicular to the transport direction for use as the saddle stitching processing device 5. As a result, two stapling needles are struck in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording paper bundle, and the saddle stitching process is performed.

If the recording paper is of a size other than A3 size, for example, B4 or A4 size, the staple tray 3
The ejection claw attached to a belt (not shown) that rotates along the axis operates, and the trailing end of the stack of recording paper stacked on the staple tray 3 is lifted upward by the ejection claw. Is moved to the point where the saddle stitching position is reached. Thereafter, a similar series of operations is performed.

The bundle of recording sheets subjected to saddle stitching in this way is moved upward along the staple tray 3 by the above-described ejection claw, and the center, which is the binding portion of the bundle of recording sheets stapled, is processed. When the line reaches the locus of the reciprocating movement of the center folding plate 61, the movement of the ejection claw stops.

Thereafter, the center folding plate 61 moves forward from the front side to the rear side of the staple tray 3. That is, the center folding plate 61 abuts the recording paper bundle vertically from the center line, and presses toward the nip portion between the center folding rollers 62.
The center folding plate 61 moves forward until its leading end reaches the nip portion between the center folding rollers 62, and after the recording paper bundle is sandwiched between the nip portions between the center folding rollers 62, it retreats to the original position. Return.

On the other hand, the center folding roller 62 is
At the same time or almost at the same time as the driving operation, the recording paper bundle is sandwiched and discharged onto the tray 15 provided on the opposite side. As a result, the center folding process operation is completed, in other words, the simple saddle stitching operation with punched holes is completed.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, instead of punching punched holes in a bundle of recording papers,
Prior to performing the center-folding process, punch holes are punched one by one on each recording sheet. It can be provided by a low-power, low-cost punch device, which is convenient.

Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the punching process is performed while each recording sheet is conveyed, it is not necessary to stop the recording sheet conveyance operation. There is no danger of lowering.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, since the plurality of punching devices are independently operated at different timings, even if the recording paper is conveyed at a high speed, a desired arbitrary interval can be obtained. , Punch processing can be performed, and high quality and high-end machine can be achieved.

Further, according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the operation of the punching apparatus for punching a punching hole in each recording sheet such that the closer the recording sheet is to the front side during bookbinding, the more the punch hole position is separated from the center line of the recording sheet. Is controlled, when the bundle of recording sheets is folded in the middle and simple folding is performed, the punch holes of the folded sheets can be aligned without causing a positional shift.

Further, according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the position of the punch holes of the recording paper is adjusted based on the number signal output according to the stacking order of the recording paper bundle. Regardless of the configuration in which the paper is conveyed in the order of the innermost one or the one on the outermost side during bookbinding, the recording paper bundle is folded in half and the book is folded in the middle. Then, the punched holes of the center-folded recording paper can be aligned without causing a positional shift.

Further, according to the invention of claim 6, since the position of the punch hole of each recording sheet is adjusted according to the stacking order of the recording sheet bundle based on the thickness information of each recording sheet, the saddle stitching is performed. Even in the case where the thickness of the recording paper subjected to the simple bookbinding is different, it is possible to provide the punched hole of the half-folded recording paper with no displacement.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a recording paper post-processing device of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the configuration of the internal mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view showing a punch device provided in the device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of the punch device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the punch device.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing punch hole positions when the bound recording paper is completely opened on the innermost side.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which the recording paper is slightly opened.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing a state in which the recording paper is completely closed.

[Description of Signs] 1 Recording paper post-processing device 2 Image forming device (copier) 3 Staple tray 4 End binding device 5 Saddle binding device 6 Center folding processing device layer 7 Punch device 8 Feeding device

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording sheet post-processing comprising at least a center folding processing apparatus for performing a center folding process on a central portion of a aligned recording sheet bundle discharged from an image forming apparatus, and a punch apparatus for performing a punching process on a recording sheet. A recording paper post-processing apparatus, wherein a punching hole is formed in each recording paper one by one prior to performing a center folding process. 2. The recording paper post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the punch processing is performed while each recording paper is being conveyed. 3. The recording paper post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of punching devices are independently operated at different timings. 4. The operation of a punching device for punching holes in each recording sheet is controlled such that the closer the recording sheet is to the front side, the more the punch holes are positioned away from the center line of the recording sheet during bookbinding. The recording paper post-processing device according to claim 1. 5. The recording sheet according to claim 1, wherein a punch hole position of the recording sheet is adjusted based on a number signal output according to a stacking order of the recording sheet bundle. Recording paper post-processing equipment. 6. The punching hole position of each recording sheet is adjusted according to the stacking order of the recording sheet bundle based on the thickness information of each recording sheet.
A recording paper post-processing device according to item 9.