JP2002167120A - Paper folder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To certainly carry out a width adjustment of a paper sheet and a correction of skewing. SOLUTION: A paper folder 2 is provided with paper folding means (6, 8, 10), a receiving member 26 disposed in a downstream position of the paper folding means (6, 8, 10) in a paper conveying-in passage 4 and receiving the paper sheet, a receiving member movement means (M4) for moving the receiving member 26 along the paper conveying-in passage 4, a pair of width adjustment members 22 disposed in the width direction of the paper conveying-in passage 4 at an interval, and a width adjustment member movement means (M3) for reciprocating a pair of width adjustment members 22 in the width direction. A pair of width adjustment member 22 is disposed in an upstream position of the paper folding means (6, 8, 10) in the paper conveying-in passage 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a folding process for paper,
Generally, a sheet folding device that performs a so-called center folding process, particularly, an image-formed sheet that is mounted on the image forming machine main body of an image forming machine such as an electrostatic copying machine or a laser printer and is carried in from the image forming machine main body. The present invention relates to a sheet folding apparatus that performs folding processing on a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A typical example of a sheet folding apparatus, for example, a sheet folding apparatus which is attached to a copying machine main body in an electrostatic copying machine and performs a folding process on an image-formed sheet carried in from the copying machine main body is as follows. A sheet folding means arranged to sandwich the sheet carrying path in the front and back directions, a receiving member arranged at a position downstream of the sheet folding means in the sheet carrying path to receive the leading end of the conveyed sheet, and a receiving member Receiving means for moving the paper along the paper carry-in path, a pair of width adjusting members arranged at intervals in the width direction of the paper carry-in path, and width adjustment and skew of the paper carried into the paper carry-in path. Width adjustment member moving means for reciprocating the pair of width adjustment members in the width direction for performing row correction. The sheet folding means includes a crank mechanism disposed on the back side of the sheet carry-in path, a sheet folding blade that is a protruding plate that is drivingly connected to the crank mechanism, and a folding roller pair disposed on the front side of the sheet carry-in path. And The receiving member moving means includes a driving pulley and a driven pulley arranged at intervals in the moving direction of the sheet,
An endless belt wound around the driving pulley and the driven pulley, and an electric motor for driving the driving pulley to rotate forward and reverse. The receiving member is attached to the endless belt so as to protrude from the surface of the paper carrying path, and is reciprocated in the transport direction. The width adjusting member moving means includes a pair of rack members disposed on the back side of the paper carrying path, a pinion meshed with each rack of the rack members, and an electric motor for driving the pinion to rotate forward and reverse. . The pair of rack members are arranged at intervals in the paper movement direction so as to be orthogonal to the paper movement direction in the horizontal direction. The width adjusting member is mounted on each of the rack members, and is arranged so as to protrude to the front side of the paper carrying path. Note that the paper carrying path is arranged in a state almost upright.

Generally, it is effective that the width adjustment and the skew correction of a sheet by a pair of width adjusting members are performed over the entire length of the sheet, and it is particularly important to act on the central portion which is the position of the center of gravity. . However, in a center folding apparatus for a sheet, a relatively large pair of folding rollers is arranged at the center thereof, so that the above-described optimum configuration is difficult to take. From such a situation, conventionally, the pair of rack members, the pinion, and the electric motor that constitute the receiving member moving means are arranged at the downstream side of the crank mechanism and the blade that constitute the sheet folding means in the sheet carry-in path. Have been.
The pair of width adjusting members extend in the upstream direction over the pair of folding rollers disposed on the front side of the paper carrying path,
Each tip is configured to be positioned upstream of the roller pair. The paper is carried into the paper carry-in path by free fall. The leading edge of the sheet carried into the sheet carrying path is received by the receiving member and stopped. After the pair of rack members are reciprocated in the width direction by the rack-and-pinion mechanism to adjust the width of the paper and correct the skew, the receiving member is rotated by the endless belt so that the paper is folded at a predetermined folding position. Is moved until it reaches. After the movement of the paper is stopped, the width of the paper is adjusted again as described above. By the operation of the crank mechanism, the blade forcibly moves the center of the sheet toward the nip portion of the pair of folding rollers. The sheet that has been forcibly moved is conveyed while being folded by a pair of rollers, and is discharged to a discharge tray.

[0004]

In the above-described conventional sheet folding apparatus, the pair of width adjusting members extend upstream over a pair of folding rollers disposed on the front side of the sheet carrying path. Each tip is configured to be located at an upstream position of the folding roller pair. That is, the pair of width adjusting members are attached to the rack member at the downstream position of the folding roller pair, but are free at the upstream position of the folding roller pair, and have a so-called cantilever configuration. I have. As a result, the paper width adjustment and the skew correction are performed substantially only at the downstream position of the folding roller pair, and the effect of the paper width adjustment and the skew correction at the upstream position of the folding roller pair is not significant. It cannot be said that it is sufficient, and it cannot be expected that the operation is performed sufficiently and reliably as desired. The skew correction of the sheet is mainly performed by bringing the leading end of the sheet into contact with the receiving member by its own weight, but its effect is not sufficient.
In addition, since each of the width adjusting members increases in size, the size of the sheet folding device cannot be reduced. In the paper folding apparatus, a means for solving the above technical problem can be considered by increasing the rigidity of each of the width adjusting members and the connecting portion between each of the width adjusting members and the rack member. This will increase costs. As another means for solving the above technical problem, it is conceivable to dispose a width adjusting member on both the upstream side and the downstream side of the folding roller pair in the paper carrying path, but the number of parts is greatly increased. However, the structure becomes complicated and the control of the width adjusting member becomes complicated, so that the cost is greatly increased.

Further, in the above-described conventional paper folding apparatus, after the paper conveyed into the paper carry-in path is received by the receiving member and after the paper is stopped at a predetermined folding position, the paper is folded. Since the width adjustment and the skew correction are performed, the conveyance, stop, and conveyance of the paper are repeated, and the time from when the paper is carried into the paper carry-in path to when the above-described folding processing is started is long, and as a result, the folding The time is long and the speed cannot be expected.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel sheet folding apparatus which enables sheet width adjustment and skew correction to be performed sufficiently and reliably as desired.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to shorten the time required for sheet folding processing and to increase the speed thereof, compared with the prior art.
It is to provide a new sheet folding device.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel sheet folding apparatus which can achieve the above object with a more compact structure and lower cost than before.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a sheet folding means provided with a sheet carry-in path sandwiched in a front-to-back direction, and a paper carry-in means disposed at a position downstream of the sheet folding means in the sheet carry-in path. Receiving member for receiving the leading end of the paper sheet, receiving member moving means for moving the receiving member along the paper carry-in path, and a pair of width shifting members arranged at intervals in the width direction of the paper carry-in path And a width adjusting member moving means for reciprocating the pair of width adjusting members in the width direction in order to perform width adjustment and skew correction of the sheet carried into the sheet carrying path. Wherein the width adjusting member is disposed at a position upstream of the sheet folding means in the sheet carry-in path.

A feed roller pair comprising a drive roller and a driven roller, which is arranged at an upstream position of the sheet feed path and feeds the sheet into the sheet feed path; drive roller driving means for driving the drive roller to rotate; Actuator means for selectively moving the roller between the nip position and the nip release position, and control means for controlling the actuator means, the drive roller driving means, the width adjusting member moving means and the receiving member moving means, wherein the control means Actuating means and a driving roller drive so that the width adjustment and the skew correction of the sheet are performed while the sheet moving operation is continued from the time when the sheet is carried into the sheet carrying path to the time when the sheet is stopped at the predetermined folding position. It is preferable to control the means, the width shifting member moving means and the receiving member moving means. The control means operates the driving roller driving means to carry the paper toward the receiving member by the driving roller driving means when the paper is carried into the paper carrying path, and the leading end of the paper is located immediately upstream of the receiving member. At the same time, the receiving member moving means is operated to move the receiving member in the paper moving direction at the same speed as the paper moving speed, and at the same time, the actuator means is operated to move the driven roller to the nip release position. It is preferable that the width adjusting member moving means be operated to reciprocate each of the width adjusting member members in the width direction so that the operation of adjusting the width of the sheet and correcting the skew is repeated a plurality of times. The control means operates the actuator means to move the driven roller to the nip release position and activates the driving roller driving means when the paper is carried into the paper carrying path, and receives the paper only by the driving roller. When the leading edge of the paper reaches the position immediately upstream of the receiving member, the receiving member moving means is operated to move the receiving member in the paper moving direction at the same speed as the paper moving speed. At the same time, it is preferable that the width adjusting member moving means is simultaneously operated to reciprocate each of the width adjusting member members in the width direction so that the operation of adjusting the width of the sheet and correcting the skew is repeated a plurality of times. It is preferable that the control means actuate the receiving member moving means to move the receiving member slightly downstream from the home position and wait for the paper to be carried into the paper carrying path. The control means stops the operation of the receiving member moving means so that the sheet is stopped at the folding position and stops the moving receiving member, and at the same time stops the operation of the width adjusting member moving means to thereby stop the sheet width. It is preferable to stop the alignment and skew correction operation. Control means for controlling the width adjusting member moving means and the receiving member moving means is provided.The paper carrying path is such that the paper carried into the paper carrying path falls freely along the paper carrying path and the leading end thereof becomes the receiving member. The controller is set to have a steep inclination such that the sheet is received and stopped, and the control means controls the movement of the sheet from when the sheet received by the receiving member is moved by the receiving member to when the sheet is stopped at a predetermined folding position. It is preferable to control the width shifting member moving means and the receiving member moving means so that the sheet width adjustment and the skew feeding correction are performed while the operation is continued.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a sheet folding apparatus constructed according to the present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to FIG. 1, a finisher 100 attached to a copying machine main body 202 of an electrostatic copying machine 200 as an image forming machine has a housing 102 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape.
It has. Copier main body 202 of housing 102
A paper carry-in port 104 is provided on one side opposite to the one side. In the housing 102, a paper carrying port 10 is provided.
A first paper transport path 106 is provided extending from 4 to the other side of the housing 102. Housing 1
Further, a second paper transport path 110 branching from the first paper transport path 106 and extending toward the staple processing device 108 is provided in the second paper feed path 02. A branch claw 112 is provided at a branch portion between the first paper transport path 106 and the second paper transport path 110. The first paper transport path 106 includes a transport roller pair 1
06a and 106b are provided, and the second paper transport path 110
Is provided with a transport roller pair 110a. A discharge roller pair 11 is provided at the downstream end (discharge end) of the first sheet transport path 106.
4 are provided. A discharge tray 116 is mounted on the other side of the housing 102 on the discharge side. When the post-processing is not performed on the paper (recording paper) on which the image is formed in the copying machine 200, the branching pawl 112 is switched from the position shown in FIG. The discharged sheet is conveyed toward the discharge roller pair 114 through the first sheet conveyance path 106 by the conveyance roller pairs 106a and 106b, and is discharged to the discharge tray 116 by the discharge roller pair 114. On the other hand, when performing the stapling process and / or the folding process on the sheet, the branching pawl 112 is switched to the position shown in FIG.
a, 106b and 110a, the second paper transport path 110
Through the staple processing device 108.

In the staple processing device 108, for example, a sheet bundle subjected to staple processing (staple processing for binding a central portion in the transport direction), which is called so-called saddle stitching, is discharged from the staple processing device 108 by a discharge roller pair 114. When discharged to the tray 116,
There is a case where the sheet is conveyed to the sheet folding device 2 according to the present invention, which is disposed at the lowermost portion of the finisher 100 and downstream of the staple processing device 108. Paper folding device 2
Is folded by the sheet folding device 2 in a so-called center fold. On the other hand, when only folding processing is performed on a sheet, the sheet conveyed to the staple
At 8, the sheet is conveyed to the sheet folding device 2 without performing the stapling process.

Next, the paper folding apparatus 2 according to the present invention will be described. The sheet folding device 2 is disposed at an interval in the front-rear direction (the front and back direction in FIGS. 1 and 2) of the housing 102, and only one of the side plates 3 is shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5. Is located between them.
Each of the side plates 3 is formed from a steel plate. Referring to FIG. 2, sheet folding device 2 includes a sheet carrying path 4 and a sheet carrying path 4.
, A folding mechanism 8 which is a protruding plate which is drivingly connected to the crank mechanism 6, and a folding mechanism which is arranged on the front side of the paper carrying path 4. And a roller pair 10. In the embodiment, the surface of the paper carry-in path 4 is disposed so as to have an inclination angle of 30 ° or more close to 30 ° with respect to a horizontal plane. The blade 8 has an action position close to the nip portion of the folding roller pair 10 by the rotation of the crank mechanism 6,
The paper can be reciprocated between the non-working position retracted to the back side of the paper carrying path 4. The rotating body of the crank mechanism 6 is drivingly connected to an electric motor M1 for operating the folding blade via a power transmission mechanism (not shown). The folding roller pair 10 includes a driving roller 10a and a driven roller 1 which is pressed against the driving roller 10a by a spring means (not shown) and is caused to rotate.
0b. The drive roller 10a is drivingly connected to the electric motor M2 via a power transmission mechanism (not shown). A discharge path 15, a discharge roller pair 16, and a discharge tray 17 are provided at a position downstream of the folding roller pair 10. A pressing member 18 is provided on the discharge tray 17,
The sheet bundle discharged into the discharge tray 17 is configured to be suppressed from above. The discharge roller pair 16 includes a driving roller 16a and a driven roller 16b, and the driving roller 16a is drivingly connected to the electric motor M2 via a power transmission mechanism (not shown). The crank mechanism 6, the blade 8 and the pair of folding rollers 10 constitute a sheet folding means disposed so as to sandwich the sheet carrying path 4 in the front and back directions, and the sheet folding means may use a structure known per se. Further description is omitted.

A pair of carry-in rollers 20 for carrying the paper into the paper carry-in path 4 is disposed at a position upstream of the sheet folding means in the paper carry-in path 4 and almost at the most upstream position of the sheet carry-in path 4. Has been established. The carry-in roller pair 20 includes a drive roller 20a and a driven roller 20b that is rotated by the drive roller 20a. The driving roller 20a is drivingly connected to the electric motor M2 for rotatingly driving the driving roller 10a of the folding roller pair 10 via a power transmission mechanism (not shown). Therefore, when the electric motor M2 is driven to rotate, the driving roller 10a of the folding roller pair 10 and the driving roller 16a of the discharging roller pair 16 are driven.
And the drive roller 20a of the carry-in roller pair 20 are simultaneously driven to rotate. The electric motor M2 is rotatable forward and backward. Electric motor M2 and electric motor M2 and drive roller 2
The power transmission mechanism (not shown) for drivingly connecting the driving roller 0a constitutes a driving roller driving means for driving the driving roller 20a of the carry-in roller pair 20 to rotate. A solenoid SOL (see FIG. 3) is provided in association with the driven roller 20b.
The solenoid SOL as the actuator means can selectively move the driven roller 20b to a nip position and a nip release position.

A pair of width adjusting members 22 for adjusting the width and correcting the skew of the paper conveyed into the paper carry-in path 4 are provided upstream of the paper folding means in the paper carry-in path 4.
(Only one of them is shown in FIGS. 2 to 5). The pair of width adjusting members 22 are arranged at intervals in the width direction of the paper carry-in path 4, and are drivingly connected to an electric motor M3 via a rack and pinion mechanism described later. The electric motor M3 is composed of a stepping motor that can rotate forward and backward.

A receiving member 26 for receiving the leading edge of the sheet carried into the sheet carrying path 4 is provided at a position downstream of the sheet folding means in the sheet carrying path 4. In relation to the receiving member 26, the driving pulley 28 and the driven pulley 3
Zeros are arranged at intervals in the sheet moving direction, and an endless belt 32 is wound around the driving pulley 28 and the driven pulley 30. The endless belt 32 is arranged to extend in the widthwise center of the paper carrying path 4 in the transport direction. On both sides of the paper carrying path 4 sandwiching the endless belt 32 in the width direction, a paper receiving table 36 having a flat upper surface is provided. Paper tray 36 that can be formed from a plate-like member
Is positioned above the endless belt 32,
The paper is moved along the upper surface. Therefore, the upper surface of the paper receiving table 36 forms a part of the paper carrying path 4. A guide portion 36 a is formed at the sheet entrance of the sheet receiving table 36. The guide portion 36a includes a side wall extending upward from both ends in the width direction of the paper receiving table 36, and an upper wall extending in the width direction between upper ends of the side walls. Guide part 36
a is a receiving member 2 that moves in the center of the paper carrying path 4 in the width direction.
6, the central portion in the width direction is positioned above the movement locus of the receiving member 26. The drive pulley 28 is drivingly connected to the electric motor M4 via a power transmission mechanism (not shown). The electric motor M4 is composed of a stepping motor that can rotate forward and backward.

The receiving member 26 is attached to the endless belt 32 so as to protrude from the surface of the paper carrying path 4, and is reciprocated in the paper moving direction. A portion of the receiving member 26 that protrudes from the surface of the paper carry-in path 4 extends vertically upward from the surface of the paper carry-in path 4 and a part that extends upstream from the upper end of the paper receive wall. An overhanging wall and a bottom wall extending downstream from the lower end of the paper receiving wall are provided. The paper receiving wall is arranged so as to extend at right angles to the paper transport direction and in the width direction of the paper carrying path 4. Between the surface of the paper carrying path 4 and the paper receiving wall and the overhanging wall of the receiving member 26,
When viewed in the width direction of the paper carry-in path 4, the sheet receiving portion, which has a substantially channel shape, is formed to extend in the width direction of the paper carry-in path 4. The electric motor M <b> 4, the driving pulley 28, the driven pulley 30, the endless belt 32, and the like constitute a receiving member moving unit that moves (reciprocates) the receiving member 26 along the paper carrying path 4.

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 5, on the back side of the paper feed path 4 and at a position upstream of the paper folding means,
A stationary frame 40 is mounted between the side plates 3 so as to extend in the width direction of the paper carrying path 4. A stationary frame 40 formed of a steel plate has a flat bottom wall 40a, side walls 40b of the bottom wall 40a which stand upright from both ends in the conveying direction, and flanges extending in opposite directions from the upper ends of the respective side walls 40b. 40c
And the cross section has a substantially channel shape. The upper surface of each of the flanges 40c is positioned substantially on the same plane. A pinion 42 is arranged at the center in the width direction of the bottom wall 40 a of the stationary frame 40. The shaft 42a of the pinion 42 is constituted by a drive shaft of the electric motor M3 mounted on the back side of the bottom wall 40a. A guide shaft 44 is disposed between the side plates 3 so as to extend in the width direction through a position slightly above the shaft 42a of the pinion 42. A pair of rack members 46 are supported on the guide shaft 44 so as to be movable in the width direction along the guide shaft 44. The rack 4 formed on one side of each of the rack members 46
Reference numeral 6a meshes from both sides of the pinion 42 in the paper transport direction. Each of the rack members 46 is formed with a guided flange 46b having a plate shape. The guided flange 46b is fitted and supported on the guide portions of a pair of guide members 48 provided on the bottom wall 40a of the stationary frame 40 so as to be movable in the width direction. The guide section of the guide member 48 has a channel shape in cross section.

A pair of width adjusting members 22 formed of a thin plate member have a flat bottom wall 22a extending in the transport direction with a constant width, and a side wall 22b standing upright from one end in the width direction of the bottom wall 22a. , A top wall 22c extending parallel to the bottom wall 22a at an interval from the upper end to the other end of the side wall 22b, and the cross section has a relatively elongated channel shape in the width direction. A flange 22 extending downward from one end in the width direction is provided on each bottom wall 22a of the width matching member 22.
d is formed integrally. Each of the width adjusting members 22 is such that the flange 22d is movably fitted to the guide shaft 44 and cannot move relative to each other in the axial direction in a state where the flange 22d is in contact with the side end of the corresponding rack member 46. It is connected by an appropriate locking means or connecting means, for example, an E-shaped retaining ring. Each of the width adjusting members 22 is movable along the guide shaft 44 integrally with the corresponding rack member 46. Each of the width matching members 22 is positioned so that the open sides of the channel shape face each other in the width direction, and each bottom wall 22a is positioned on the upper surface of each of the flanges 40c of the stationary frame 40, and Is relatively movable. The upper surface of each bottom wall 22a of the width adjusting member 22 is positioned on substantially the same plane, and defines a part of the paper carry-in path 4 at a distance from each other in the width direction. The upper surface of each bottom wall 22 a of the width adjusting member 22 is also positioned substantially flush with the upper surface of the paper receiving table 36.
When the pinion 42 is driven to rotate forward and backward by the electric motor M3, each of the width adjusting members 22 is reciprocated in the width direction via the corresponding rack member 46. The width adjustment and the skew correction of the sheet are performed by the respective side walls 22 b of the width alignment member 22. The pinion 42 and the corresponding rack member 46 constitute a rack and pinion mechanism. The electric motor M <b> 3 and the rack-and-pinion mechanism include a width adjusting member moving unit that reciprocates the pair of width adjusting members 22 in the width direction in order to perform width adjustment and skew correction of the sheet carried into the sheet carrying path 4. Constitute.

The drive roller 20a of the carry-in roller pair 20
Is located on the upstream side of the rack and pinion mechanism in the stationary frame 40 so as to be integrally rotated by the drive shaft 20A extending in the width direction and rotatably supported by each of the side plates 3.
Two are mounted at intervals in the axial direction. Drive shaft 20
A is drivingly connected to the electric motor M2 via a power transmission mechanism (not shown). A part of the outer peripheral surface of the drive roller 20a is positioned so as to protrude upward from the upper surface of each bottom wall 22a of the width adjusting member 22. Width adjustment member 2
A notch 22d is formed in each of the bottom walls 22a so as not to interfere with the driving roller 20a when each of the width shifting members 22 reciprocates in the width direction.

At a position above each of the width adjusting members 22, a support member 50 is attached to a shaft 52 fixed to each of the side plates 3.
Is rotatably supported. The support member 50, which can be integrally molded from a suitable synthetic resin, has a predetermined thickness and is formed in a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from a plane. It is arranged to extend in the width direction. Support member 50
The two sides of the downstream end are rotatably supported by the shaft 52, and the upstream end is rotatably supported by the two driven rollers 20b at intervals in the width direction. ing.
Each of the driven rollers 20b is supported by a distal end of a leaf spring 54 mounted on the support member 50. The leaf spring 54 extends in the transport direction with a certain width, and a downstream end thereof is attached to the support member 50, and a pair of leaf springs formed to hang from both ends in the width direction of the free upstream end. The driven roller 20b is rotatably supported between the flanges. A pair of compression coil springs 56 (only one of the compression coil springs 56 in FIG. 3) is provided between the upstream end of the support member 50 and the flange 3 a formed on the side plate 3 located in the vicinity thereof. (Shown) is interposed.
At a position immediately upstream of the support member 50,
In each of the upper positions, a shaft 58 is rotatably supported by each of the side plates 3 so as to extend between the side plates 3 in the width direction. One end of the shaft 58 protrudes outward from the corresponding side plate 3, and a connecting lever 60 is fixed to the protruding portion. The solenoid SOL is disposed on the side plate 3, and the plunger 62 of the solenoid SOL and the connection lever 60 are pin-connected. Stop & actuation levers 64 are fixed to both ends of the shaft 58 inside the side plate 3.
The end surface of the operation lever 64 is positioned so as to be able to abut on a contact surface formed on a corresponding lower surface of the support member 50.

The upstream end of the support member 50 is urged by each of the compression coil springs 56 to rotate clockwise in FIG. 3 around the shaft 52, and each of the contact surfaces corresponds to the corresponding one. The stop & actuation lever 64 is pressed against the end face, and the rotation is prevented. Stop & actuation lever 64
Are solenoids SOL in the OFF (operation stopped) state.
A stopper (not shown) formed between the plunger 62 and the main body of the solenoid SOL is positioned at a home position (HP) shown in the figure. With such a configuration and operation, each of the driven rollers 20 b causes the corresponding driving roller 20 a by the urging force of the leaf spring 54.
Is pressed against. When the solenoid SOL is turned on (operated), the plunger 62 is sucked for a predetermined stroke,
The connection lever 60, the shaft 58, and the stop & operation lever 64 are rotated clockwise in FIG. Support member 50
Is lifted up against the spring force of each of the compression coil springs 56, and the support member 50 is rotated counterclockwise about the shaft 52 by a predetermined angle. Thereby, the driven roller 20b is moved from the nip position shown in FIG. 3 to a nip release position (not shown). The gap between the driving roller 20a and the driven roller 20b is defined to be equal to or larger than the maximum thickness of the sheet bundle to be carried in. When the solenoid SOL is turned off, the suction of the plunger 62 is released, the support member 50 is rotated clockwise around the axis 52 by the spring force of each of the compression coil springs 56, and each of the driven rollers 20b is Is returned to the nip position shown in FIG. Each of the compression coil springs 56 has a function of quickly performing the return operation.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, a paper carry-in detection sensor S1 is provided on the upstream side wall 40b in the stationary frame 40. The paper carry-in detection sensor S1 is a sensor that detects the carry-in of the paper by detecting the leading end of the paper carried into the paper carry-in path 4, and is configured by a reflection type photosensor. At one end of the bottom wall 40a in the stationary frame 40 in the width direction (the front end in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the right end in FIGS. 4 and 5), each HP of the width matching member 22 is detected. The width adjustment member HP detection sensor S2 is provided. The width adjustment member HP detection sensor S2 is a sensor that detects each HP of the width adjustment member 22 by detecting the end wall of the hanging wall 46c formed on the rack member 46 on one side. It is configured. A receiving member HP detection sensor S3 for detecting the HP of the receiving member 26 is provided at a position below the upstream end of the sheet receiving table 36 and at the center in the width direction. The receiving member HP detection sensor S3 is a sensor for detecting the HP of the receiving member 26 by detecting an edge formed between the paper receiving wall and the bottom wall of the receiving member 26, and is a reflection type. It consists of a photo sensor. Paper tray 36
A sheet presence / absence detection sensor for detecting a sheet carried into the sheet receiving table 36 at a lower position in a position downstream of the position where the receiving member HP detection sensor S3 is provided, and at the center in the width direction. S4 is provided. The sheet presence / absence detection sensor S4 is a sensor that detects the presence / absence of a sheet by detecting the leading edge of the carried-in sheet, and is constituted by a reflection type photo sensor.

As shown in FIG. 6, the sheet folding device 2 is provided with control means (controller) 70. The control means 70 is constituted by a microcomputer, a central processing unit (CPU) for performing arithmetic processing according to the control program, and an R for storing the control program.
A readable and writable RAM for storing OM and operation results,
It has a timer, a counter, an input interface, an output interface, and the like. The input interface of the control means 70 having such a configuration includes the above-mentioned paper carry-in detection sensor S1, width adjustment member HP detection sensor S2, receiving member HP detection sensor S3, paper presence / absence detection sensor S4,
Detection signals from a detector (not shown) for detecting the rotation amount of the electric motors M1 to M4, other detectors, switches, and the like are input, and the electric motors M1 to M are output from an output interface.
4. Output a control signal to the solenoid SOL or the like. The control means 70 is connected to a control means (not shown) of the copying machine main body 202 and a control means (not shown) of the staple processing device 108, which are external control means, and a predetermined control signal is input from these control means. The control unit of the copier main body 202 includes a copy start key, a sheet size (transport direction length) setting key, and a folding process setting key for designating a sheet folding process (FIG. (Not shown) or the like is input.

The illustrated paper folding apparatus 2 is configured as described above, and its operation will be described below. In addition,
In the sheet folding device 2, as described above, the folding process is performed on the stapled sheet bundle,
In some cases, folding processing is performed on one sheet of paper. In any case, the operation and effect of the present invention are substantially the same. In the following description, the staple processing device 1
A description will be given of an example in which a bundle of sheets subjected to saddle stitching in step 08 is carried in.

Referring mainly to FIGS. 2, 6 and 7,
The control means 70 includes a copier body 20 which is an external control means.
The set paper size information is input from the control means 2. When the staple processing by the staple processing device 108 is completed, the pair of transport rollers 118 (see FIG. 1) provided in the staple processing device 108 is driven to transport the saddle-stitched sheet bundle to the sheet folding device 2. Be started. The driving start signal of the conveying roller pair 118
Is input to When the drive start signal of the transport roller pair 118 is input to the control means 70, the control means 70 drives the electric motor M2 to start the rotation of the transport roller pair 20 (S-1). By the driving of the electric motor M2, the pair of folding rollers 10 and the pair of discharge rollers 16 are simultaneously rotated simultaneously with the pair of transport rollers 20. The control means 70 also
Based on the size information, the electric motor M3 is driven forward by a predetermined amount and stopped (S-2). By this operation, each of the width adjusting members 22 is moved by a predetermined amount in a direction approaching each other from the HP, and a predetermined sheet receiving width suitable for the designated size is set. Width adjustment member 2
2 is defined based on a signal from the width adjustment member HP detection sensor S2.

[0027] The paper carry-in detection sensor S1 is a convey roller pair 1
18 detects the leading edge of the sheet bundle conveyed (S-
3), the control means 70 drives the electric motor M4 by a predetermined amount and stops it (S-4). The endless belt 32 is shown in FIG.
Is rotated counterclockwise by a predetermined amount and stopped. By this operation, the HP of the upstream end of the paper receiving table 36 (the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2) is previously determined.
Is moved to the predetermined standby position slightly downstream from the HP and stopped.
The HP of the receiving member 26 is defined based on a signal from the receiving member HP detection sensor S3. The sheet bundle conveyed into the sheet conveyance path 4 is conveyed downstream by the conveying roller pair 20. The control unit 70 detects that the receiving member HP detection sensor S3 detects the leading end of the sheet bundle,
When it is determined that the vehicle has entered the HP before movement, which is the position immediately upstream of the receiving member 26 (S-5), the electric motor M4 is driven (S-6). The endless belt 32 is driven to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 2, and the receiving member 26 is moved integrally with the endless belt 32 in the downstream direction. The moving speed of the endless belt 32, and therefore the moving speed of the receiving member 26, is the moving speed of the sheet bundle, that is, the conveying roller pair 20.
It is important that the speed is set to substantially the same as the peripheral speed of the drive roller 20a. The receiving member 26 is moved with the sheet bundle at the same speed as the sheet bundle slightly downstream of the leading end of the sheet bundle, so that smooth conveyance of the sheet bundle is guaranteed. If the distance between the leading end of the sheet bundle and the receiving member 26 is too large, the sheet bundle is instantly released at the moment when the nip between the driving roller 20a and the driven roller 20b is released when the inclination angle of the sheet carrying path 4 is steep. It may slide down and collide with the receiving member 26 to be largely obliquely shifted. However, as described above, by moving the receiving member 26 at a constant speed at a position slightly away from the leading end of the sheet bundle, such a problem can be prevented.

The control means 70 includes a paper presence / absence detection sensor S4
However, when the leading end of the sheet bundle moved as described above is detected and it is determined that the sheet bundle has entered the sheet width adjustment start position (S-7), the solenoid SOL is turned on, and the conveying roller pair 20 is turned on. The driven roller 20b is separated from the driving roller 20a to release the nip (S-
8). The sheet bundle is released from the nip of the conveying roller pair 20, and is conveyed only by the driving roller 20a. The control means 70 simultaneously drives the electric motor M3 forward and backward by a predetermined amount to stop it (S-9), and reciprocates each of the width adjusting members 22 in a direction approaching and separating from each other. By this operation, width adjustment and skew correction of the moving sheet bundle are performed. Such width adjustment and skew correction operations are as follows.
The sheet bundle is released from the nip of the pair of conveying rollers 20 and is placed on the driving roller 20a of the pair of conveying rollers 20, and the leading end of the sheet bundle is substantially supported and moved by the receiving member 26. Since it is performed in a state, it is easily and reliably performed. The above-described width adjustment and skew correction operations are repeatedly performed until the moved sheet bundle reaches a predetermined folding processing position (S-9, S-10). The determination as to whether or not the sheet bundle has reached the predetermined folding processing position can be made by detecting the rotation speed of the electric motor M4.

When the control means 70 determines that the electric motor M4 has rotated the predetermined number of revolutions and the sheet bundle has reached the predetermined folding position, it stops driving the electric motor M4 (S-11). The rotation of the endless belt 32 is stopped by stopping the driving of the electric motor M4, and the receiving member 26 and the sheet bundle are stopped at a predetermined folding processing position. At this time, since the ON operation of the solenoid SOL and the rotational drive of the electric motor M2 are continued, the drive roller 20a is rotated with the nip of the carry-in roller pair 20 released. At the same time as the sheet bundle reaches the predetermined folding position, the control means 70 drives the electric motor M1 to operate the crank mechanism 6 to start the folding process (center folding process). The folding process is performed in a well-known manner, including an operation of driving the M4 in the reverse direction to move the receiving member 26 in the upstream direction, and pushing the leading end of the sheet bundle (the leading end at the time of entry) in the upstream direction. S
-12). Note that the configuration and operation of the folding process itself may use a well-known form, and do not form a feature of the present invention, and thus description thereof will be omitted. The control means 70
When it is determined that the sheet folding process has been completed (S-13),
The driving of the electric motor M2 is stopped (S-14). Fold roller pair 10, discharge roller pair 16, and carry-in roller pair 20
Rotation stops. The determination as to whether or not the sheet folding process has been completed is made, for example, by detecting the passage of the rear end of the sheet bundle by a sheet discharge detection switch (not shown) disposed immediately downstream of the discharge roller pair 16. be able to. Next, the control means 70 turns off the solenoid SOL to return the nip of the carry-in roller pair 20 to end the operation of the folding process.

According to the sheet folding device 2 of the present invention, the pair of width adjusting members 22 are arranged at the position upstream of the sheet folding means in the sheet carrying path 4.
Instead of having a cantilever structure that extends over the folding roller pair 10 of the sheet folding means as in the conventional apparatus, it is substantially as long as possible in the transport direction near the center of the paper in the transport direction. Since the width adjustment and the skew correction can be performed by each of the width adjusting members 22, the width adjustment and the skew correction of the sheet can be performed sufficiently and reliably as desired. In addition, the number of parts is minimized, the configuration is simplified, and costs can be reduced. Further, the control of the sheet width adjustment and the skew feeding correction operation is simple and easy, and the cost can be reduced in this aspect as well. Further, in the paper folding apparatus 2, the control means 7
0 is determined by the solenoid SOL so that the width adjustment and the skew correction of the sheet are performed during the continuation of the sheet moving operation from when the sheet is carried into the sheet carry-in path 4 to when the sheet is stopped at the predetermined folding position. Roller driving means including electric motor M2, electric motor M
3 and the receiving member moving means including the electric motor M4 are controlled, so that the width adjustment and the skew correction of the sheet are most efficiently performed, and as a result, the total In addition, it is possible to shorten the time required for the sheet folding process and to increase the speed thereof. Furthermore, it is possible to make each configuration of the width adjusting member 22 more compact than before, and it is necessary to increase the rigidity of the connecting portion between each of the width adjusting members 22 and the rack member 46 more than necessary. Therefore, the above object can be achieved with a simpler, more compact configuration and lower cost than before.

As described above, the present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and furthermore, does not depart from the scope of the present invention. Various other variations or modifications are possible. For example, when the inclination of the paper carry-in path 4 is set relatively steep as in the above-described embodiment, the conveyance of the paper does not need to depend on the nip of the carry-in roller pair 20, and the drive roller 20a Can be transported in a state in which is placed. Therefore, when loading paper,
Another embodiment in which the solenoid SOL is turned on in advance to release the nip, and control is performed such that the width adjustment and the skew correction operation are performed in the process in which the sheet is conveyed only by the drive roller 20a. There is also. For example, in the operation procedure shown in FIG. 7, the solenoid SOL is turned off based on a signal that the sheet carry-in detection sensor S1 detects the leading end of the sheet bundle.
N, the nip is released (this operation is performed immediately after step S-3), and after the drive of the electric motor M2 is stopped, the solenoid SOL is turned off to return the nip (step S-15). Other modes of operation are conceivable. The operation of turning on the solenoid SOL and releasing the nip is performed before the carry-in roller pair 20 is driven to rotate (immediately before step S-1) or simultaneously (step S-1).
There is still another embodiment in which the adjustment is performed immediately after the carry-in roller pair 20 is driven to rotate (immediately after step S-1).

On the other hand, when the inclination of the paper carrying path 4 is set to be relatively gentle (approximately 30 ° or less), it is necessary to depend on the nip of the carrying roller pair 20 for carrying the paper. For this reason, at the time of width adjustment and skew correction operation by each of the width adjustment members 22, it is necessary to turn on the solenoid SOL to release the nip. Therefore, for example, in the operation procedure shown in FIG.
After performing forward / reverse drive / stop of the electric motor M3 once and performing width adjustment and skew correction operation once, step S-
Before the operation of step 10, the solenoid SOL is turned off and the nip is returned to convey the sheet bundle by the carry-in roller pair 20. Hereinafter, in step S-10,
Until it is determined that the sheet bundle has reached the folding position, the above operation (ON of the solenoid SOL, normal / reverse drive / stop operation of the electric motor M3 once, OF OF the solenoid SOL)
Control that repeats F) is conceivable. In this control, when the control means 70 determines that the sheet bundle has reached the folding position, it turns on the solenoid SOL to release the nip, thereby preventing excessive conveyance of the sheet. The OFF operation of the solenoid SOL is the same as in the illustrated embodiment.
The operation may be performed after the sheet folding process is completed, the driving of the electric motor M2 is stopped, and the rotation of the driving roller 20a of the carry-in roller pair 20 is stopped.

Further, the paper carry-in path 4 is steeply inclined such that the paper carried into the paper carry-in path 4 falls freely along the paper carry-in path 4 and its leading end is received by the receiving member 26 and stopped. There are other embodiments that are set. In this embodiment, the carry-in roller pair 20 is not used. Therefore, the control means 70 adjusts the width of the sheet during the movement of the sheet from when the sheet received by the receiving member 26 is moved by the receiving member 26 to when the sheet is stopped at the predetermined folding position. It is preferable to control the width shifting member moving means and the receiving member moving means so that skew correction is performed. By such an operation, it is possible to shorten the time required for the sheet folding process and to increase the speed of the folding process.

[0034]

According to the sheet folding apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to perform the width adjustment and the skew correction of the sheet sufficiently and reliably as desired. Further, it is possible to shorten the time required for the sheet folding process as compared with the related art, thereby increasing the speed.
Furthermore, the above-mentioned object can be achieved with a more compact configuration and lower cost than before.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a part of the configuration of a finisher attached to a copying machine, including a paper folding device configured according to the present invention, in a cutaway manner.

FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing a configuration of a sheet folding device provided in the finisher shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front view showing a part of FIG. 2 in more detail;

FIG. 4 is a reduced plan view showing a part of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view in which a part of FIG. 3 is omitted, and is a reduced side view seen from the left side in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a configuration block diagram showing a main part of a control unit mounted on the sheet folding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a main part of the control means shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

2 paper folding device 4 paper carry-in path 20 carry-in roller pair 20a drive roller 20b driven roller 22 width matching member 26 receiving member M1 electric motor (for blade) M2 electric motor (fold roller pair, discharge roller pair, carry-in roller pair M3 Electric motor (for width adjustment member) M4 Electric motor (for reception member) S1 Paper carry-in detection sensor S2 Width adjustment member HP detection sensor S3 Receiving member HP detection sensor S4 Paper presence / absence detection sensor SOL solenoid

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sheet folding means disposed so as to sandwich a sheet carry-in path in a front-to-back direction, and a receiving member disposed at a downstream side of the sheet folding means in the sheet carry-in path to receive a leading end of a sheet carried in. Receiving member moving means for moving the receiving member along the paper carry-in path, a pair of width shifting members arranged at intervals in the width direction of the paper carry-in path, and a sheet carried in the paper carry-in path. And a width adjusting member moving means for reciprocating the pair of width adjusting members in the width direction in order to perform the width adjustment and the skew correction of the paper. And a paper folding device arranged at a position upstream of the paper folding means. And a driving roller driving means for driving the driving roller to rotate, the driving roller including a driving roller and a driven roller, the driving roller being disposed at an upstream position of the paper feeding path for feeding the paper into the paper feeding path. Control means comprising actuator means for selectively moving the driven roller to a nip position and a nip release position, and control means for controlling the actuator means, the drive roller driving means, the width adjusting member moving means and the receiving member moving means. The actuator includes an actuator unit and a driving unit that perform width adjustment and skew correction of the sheet while the sheet moving operation is continued from the time when the sheet is carried into the sheet carry-in path until the sheet is stopped at a predetermined folding position. 2. The sheet folding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet driving device controls the roller driving unit, the width shifting member moving unit, and the receiving member moving unit. 3. The control means operates the drive roller driving means to carry the paper toward the receiving member by the pair of carry-in rollers when the paper is carried into the paper carry-in path, and the leading end of the paper is received. At the same time as reaching the position immediately upstream of the member, the receiving member moving means is operated to move the receiving member in the paper moving direction at the same speed as the paper moving speed, and at the same time, the actuator means is operated to drive the driven roller. Moving the sheet to the nip release position and operating the width adjusting member moving means to reciprocate each of the width adjusting members in the width direction to perform the sheet width adjustment and skew correction a plurality of times. Item 3. The sheet folding device according to Item 2. 4. When the paper is carried into the paper carry-in path, the control means activates the actuator means to move the driven roller to the nip releasing position and activates the driving roller driving means to operate only the driving roller. The paper is conveyed toward the receiving member, and at the same time when the leading edge of the paper reaches the position immediately upstream of the receiving member, the receiving member moving means is operated to move the receiving member at the same speed as the paper moving speed. The width adjusting member moving means is actuated in the width direction and the width adjusting member members are reciprocated in the width direction at the same time to move the width adjusting member and perform the skew correction a plurality of times. 2. The paper folding device according to 2. 5. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit activates the receiving member moving unit to move the receiving member slightly downstream from the home position so as to be on standby when the paper is carried into the paper carrying path. The paper folding device according to claim 3 or 4. 6. The control means stops the operation of the receiving member moving means so that the sheet is stopped at the folding position, stops the moving receiving member, and simultaneously stops the operation of the width adjusting member moving means. The sheet folding device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the sheet width adjustment and the skew feeding correction operation are stopped to stop the sheet folding operation. 7. A control means for controlling the width adjusting member moving means and the receiving member moving means, wherein the paper carried in the paper carrying path falls freely along the paper carrying path and the leading end thereof. Is set to a steep inclination such that the sheet is received by the receiving member and stops, and the control means controls the time from when the sheet received by the receiving member is moved by the receiving member to when the sheet is stopped at the predetermined folding position. 2. The sheet folding device according to claim 1, wherein the width adjusting member moving means and the receiving member moving means are controlled so that the sheet width adjustment and the skew feeding correction are performed while the sheet moving operation is continued.