JP2003043763A - Sheet processing device and image forming apparatus provided with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet processing device where the intervals between sheets delivered to a loading tray can be widened without lowering the processing speed, and to provide an image forming apparatus provided with the device. SOLUTION: This device is provided with a large carrying roll 5 to sequentially layer the carried sheets, an delivering roll 7 to carry the layered sheets and a processing tray 130 where the carried sheets are loaded. In the device, a plural number of sheets are carried to the processing tray in a state where the plural number of sheets are layered from the ejecting roll 7 in order to load the specified number of sheets on the processing tray 130.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a sheet processing apparatus for aligning or stapling an image-formed sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer. The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus for performing and an image forming apparatus including the sheet processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer are discharged one by one onto a processing tray (first stacking means) by a discharging means to align or staple them. A sheet processing apparatus has been proposed in which a pair of bundle discharge rollers (bundle discharge means) discharges onto a stack tray (second stacking means).

In addition, the top two of the one sheet bundle to be created
In the state where one sheet or three sheets are stacked, the sheet is delivered from the discharging unit to the bundle discharging roller, and the sheet is abutted against the stopper of the processing tray (first stacking unit) by the reverse rotation of the bundle discharging roller to align the sheets, Alternatively, a processing device for stapling has been proposed.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the image forming apparatus which conveys sheets to the sheet processing apparatus at a high speed and continuously with a small distance between sheets (hereinafter referred to as "sheet interval") is conveyed. In, in the sheet alignment operation, the time required for the sheet alignment operation is not the same between the sheets. For this reason, it is necessary to open the sheets to be conveyed, and there are problems that the productivity of the image forming apparatus is reduced and that the sheets are opened by significantly increasing the feeding / conveying speed of the image forming apparatus. It was

Further, even when the sheets are simply discharged to the discharge tray, the deceleration control of the sheets for adjusting the sheet jump amount at the time of discharging the sheets cannot be performed between the sheets, so that the consistency of the sheets deteriorates or the sheets are separated from each other. Therefore, there is a problem in that the productivity of the image forming apparatus must be reduced.

Further, if the sheets are conveyed at high speed with a small space between the sheets and the aligning operation is repeated for each sheet, the aligning operation is speeded up, the motor is made larger, and the aligning means is used due to the large number of aligning operations. There was a problem of deterioration due to durability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus including the sheet processing apparatus, which can widen the interval between sheets discharged to a stacking tray without lowering the processing speed. .

[0008]

A typical structure according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a sheet stacking unit for sequentially stacking conveyed sheets and a conveying unit for conveying the stacked sheets. And a stacking unit for placing the conveyed sheets, and in order to stack a predetermined number of sheets on the stacking unit, a plurality of sheets are stacked from the conveying unit, It is characterized in that it is conveyed to the loading means.

In the above structure, at least two or more sheets are conveyed by the sheet superposing means to the sheet stacking means by the superposing and conveying means, so that when aligning the sheets on the sheet stacking means, it is possible to make sufficient space between the sheets. Matching operation becomes possible. Further, it becomes possible to control the deceleration of the seats between the seats.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, a sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and an image forming apparatus having the same will be described.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 2 shows an example of an image forming apparatus main body (copier main body) as a sheet output device equipped with a sheet processing apparatus according to the present invention. The image forming apparatus can be incorporated not only in the machine but also in other image forming apparatuses such as printers, facsimiles, and multifunction machines as a part of the apparatus. Therefore, the sheet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is not incorporated only in the main body of the copying machine.

[Overall Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus] First, the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus will be briefly described. The image forming apparatus main body (copier main body) 300 includes a platen glass 906 serving as a document mounting table, a light source 907, a lens system 908, a feeding unit 909, an image forming unit 902, and an automatic document for feeding the document to the platen glass 906. The sheet feeding apparatus 500, the sheet processing apparatus 1 for stacking image-formed sheets discharged from the copying machine main body, and the like are provided.

The feeding unit 909 has cassettes 910 and 911 that store the recording sheet P therein and can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body 300, and a deck 913 arranged on the pedestal 912. The image forming unit 902 (image forming means) includes a cylindrical photosensitive drum 914 and a developing device 915 provided around the photosensitive drum 914, a transfer charger 916, a separation charger 917, a cleaner 918, a primary charger 919, and the like. Each is equipped. A transport belt 920, a fixing device 904, a discharge roller 905, and the like are disposed on the downstream side of the image forming unit 902 in the sheet transport direction (hereinafter, simply referred to as “downstream side”).

The operation of the image forming apparatus main body 300 will be described below. Control device 9 provided on the device body 300 side
When the feeding signal is output from 50, the sheet P is fed from the cassette 910, 911 or the deck 913. On the other hand, light reflected by the light source 907 applied to the document D placed on the platen glass 906 is applied to the photoconductor drum 914 via the lens system 908. The photoconductor drum 914 is previously charged by the primary charging device 919, and an electrostatic latent image is formed by irradiating light, and then the developing device 915 develops the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image. It

The sheet P fed from the feeding unit 909 is corrected for skewing by the registration rollers 901, and further fed to the image forming unit 902 at a timed timing. Image forming unit 902
Then, the toner image on the photoconductor drum 914 is transferred to the sheet P sent by the transfer charger 916, and the sheet P on which the toner image is transferred has a polarity opposite to that of the transfer charger 916 by the separation charger 917. And is separated from the photoconductor drum 914.

Then, the separated sheet P is conveyed to the fixing device 904 by the conveying belt 920, and the transfer image is permanently fixed on the sheet P by the fixing device 904. The sheet P on which the image is fixed is discharged in the straight discharge mode in which the image surface is on the upper side, or in the reverse discharge mode in which the image surface is conveyed to the sheet reversing path 930 after being fixed and the front and back are reversed and the image surface is on the lower side. It is discharged from the apparatus main body 300 by the roller 399.

In this way, an image is formed on the sheet P fed from the feeding unit 909, and the sheet P is ejected to the sheet processing apparatus 1.

{Sheet processing device}

Next, the sheet processing apparatus 1 will be described. The sheet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured as a finisher for performing punching processing on sheets, stapling processing for each bundle of a predetermined number of sheets, or alignment processing.

In FIG. 1, the sheet sent from the image forming apparatus main body 300 to the sheet processing apparatus 1 by the discharge roller 399 is conveyed by the inlet roller 2 and the conveying roller 3. Then, it is detected by the sheet detection sensor 31,
A punch unit 50 selectively performs a hole-punching process near the trailing edge of the sheet, and a large transport roller (sheet stacking means) 5
Also, the sheet is conveyed by pressing rollers 12, 13, 14 that press the sheet against the sheet.

Switching flappers 10, 11 are provided along the circumference of the large conveyance roller 5. One switching flapper 11
Switches between non-sort path 21 and sort path 22. The other switching flapper 10 switches between the sorting path 22 and the buffer path 23 for temporarily storing sheets. A discharge roller 9 is provided in the non-sort path 21 and discharges the sheet to the sample tray 201.

From the sort path 22, the transport roller 6, the processing tray 130 for temporarily stacking and aligning the sheets, the discharging roller (transporting means) 7 for discharging the sheet to the processing tray (stacking means) 130, and the processing tray 130 are placed. A stapler 101 for stapling the sheet, a leading edge abutting member 174 for abutting the leading edge of the sheet discharged to the processing tray 130, a swingable swing guide 150 for opening and closing the crocodile, and the like are provided. .

Bundle discharge roller pair (sheet bundle discharge means) 180
Is a bundle discharge lower roller 180a arranged on the processing tray 130,
It is composed of a bundle discharge upper roller 180b supported by the swing guide 150, and cooperates when the swing guide 150 is in the closed state to nip and convey the sheet bundle on the processing tray 130, which is a sheet stacking unit. The bundle is discharged onto the stack tray 200.

(Processing Tray Unit) Next, the processing tray unit 129 will be described with reference to FIG.

The processing tray unit 129 includes a processing tray 130 and a transporting section for transporting a sheet from the image forming apparatus main body 300.
Stack tray 200 for receiving and containing stacks processed in
It is arranged in the middle of.

The processing tray unit 129 comprises a processing tray 130, a rear end stopper 131, an aligning means 140, a swing guide 150, a drawing paddle 160, a retractable tray 170, and a bundle discharge roller pair 180.

The processing tray 130 is located on the downstream side (left side in FIG. 3).
Is an upward tray and an upstream side in the sheet conveying direction (hereinafter simply referred to as “upstream side”; right side in FIG. 3) is a downward tray, and a rear end stopper 131 is fitted to the lower end portion. . The sheet P discharged by the pair of discharge rollers of the transport unit is
By its own weight and the action of the paddle 160 described later, it slides on the processing tray 130 until its rear end contacts the rear end stopper 131.

Further, a bundle discharge lower roller 180a is attached to the upper end of the processing tray 130, and a bundle discharge upper roller 180b abutting the bundle guide roller 180a is attached to the swing guide 150, which will be described later. It can be driven in the forward and reverse directions.

(Rear End Stopper) The rear end stopper 131 abuts against the rear end of the sheet P stacked on the processing tray 130 and supports it. The sheet stacked on the processing tray 130 is stapled by the stapler 101. When performing the binding process, the stapler 101 moves in a direction orthogonal to the sheet discharge direction, and thus is rotatable so as not to interfere with this movement.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the trailing edge stopper 131 has a surface vertical to the stacking surface of the processing tray 130, and a supporting surface 131a for supporting the trailing edge of the sheet and the processing tray 1.
Pin 131b for fitting and swinging into the round hole provided in 30
And a pin 131c for fitting with a link described later. The link includes a main link 132 having a cam surface 132a against which the roller 112 assembled to the stapler moving base 103 abuts, a pin 132b arranged at the upper end of the main link 132, and a pin at the rear end stopper. 131c and a connecting link 133 for connecting the same.

The main link 132 swings about a shaft 134 fixed to a frame (not shown) as a fulcrum. Further, a tension spring 135 for urging the main link 132 in the clockwise direction is provided at the lower end of the main link 132.
Since the main link 132 is positioned by the abutting plate 136, the rear end stopper 131 normally maintains a vertical posture with respect to the processing tray 130.

When the stapler moving table 103 moves, the cam surface of the main link 132 connected to the stopper 131 that interferes with the stapler 101 is pushed down by the tilting roller 112 provided on the moving table, and the rear end The stopper 131 is pulled by the connecting link 133 and rotated to a position where it does not interfere with the stapler 101. A plurality of tilting rollers 112 (three in the present configuration) are provided so that the trailing end stoppers keep this escape position while the stapler is moving.

(Alignment Means) Next, the alignment wall (alignment means) 14
0 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5. 5 is shown in FIG.
FIG.

Alignment members 141 and 142 as alignment means 140
Has a configuration in which the front and rear alignment members are independently movable in the front-rear direction. Both the front aligning member 141 and the rear aligning member 142 stand upright on the processing tray 131, are bent vertically from the aligning surfaces 141a and 142a that press the sheet-side end surface, and support surfaces 141b and 142b that support the lower surface of the sheet P and the processing tray. The rack gears 141c and 142c are parallel to 130 and extend in the front-rear direction, and are formed with rack gears. The two aligning members are respectively supported by open guides extending in the front-back direction of the processing tray 130, and the aligning surfaces are assembled so that the aligning surface is on the upper surface of the processing tray 130 and the gear portion is on the lower surface of the tray.

Then, the rack gear portions 141c and 142c, respectively.
Are engaged with pinion gears 143 and 144, respectively, and these pinion gears 143 and 144 are connected to the motor M via a pulley and a belt.
The matching members 141 and 142 are connected to 141 and M142 and move forward and backward by the forward and reverse rotation of the motor. A sensor (not shown) for detecting the home position is attached to each of the aligning members 141 and 142, and the aligning members are normally on standby at the home position.

In this embodiment, the front alignment member 141
The home position is set to the forefront, and the home position of the back alignment member 142 is set to the back.

(Swing guide) The swing guide 150 supports the bundle discharge upper roller 180b on the downstream side (left side in FIG. 3), and the swing fulcrum shaft 151 is arranged on the upstream side (right side in FIG. 3). Has been done. The swing guide 150 is normally in an open state (when the bundle discharge roller pair 180 is separated) when one sheet P is discharged onto the processing tray 130, and the sheet processing tray 1
It does not interfere with the ejecting to the sheet 30, dropping, and aligning operation, and is in the closed state when ejecting the bundle from the processing tray 130 to the stack tray 200 (the bundle ejecting roller pair 180 is in contact).
Move to.

The rotary cam 152 is arranged at a position corresponding to the side surface of the swing guide 150, and the rotary cam 152 rotates.
When the guide side surface is pushed up, the swing guide 150 opens while swinging around the shaft 151, and from this state, the 180 ° rotation cam 152
Rotates, and closes when separated from the side surface of the swing guide. The rotary cam 152 is rotationally driven by a motor M150 connected through a drive system (not shown).

The swing guide 150 has a sensor (not shown) for detecting the home position when the closed position is the home position.
Is provided.

(Retracting Paddle) Retracting Paddle 160
Are fixed to the shaft 161, and the shaft 161 is rotatably supported by the front and rear side plates. The paddle shaft 161 is connected to the motor M160, and when driven by the motor M160, rotates in the counterclockwise direction. The length of the paddle 160 is set to be slightly longer than the distance to the processing tray 130, and the home position of the paddle 160 is a position where the discharge roller 7 does not contact the sheet P discharged to the processing tray 130 (see FIG. (Solid line 3). In this state, the discharge of the sheet P is completed, and the sheet P is transferred to the processing tray 13
When landing at 0, the paddle 160 is driven by the motor M150 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction, and the sheet P is moved to the rear end stopper 13
Pull it in until it touches 1. Then, after a predetermined time, the paddle 160 stops at the home position and prepares for the ejection of the next sheet.

(Hidden Tray) Next, the hiding tray 170 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 6. Note that FIG. 6 is a view on arrow d in FIG.

The retractable tray 170 is located below the bundle discharge lower roller 180a, and moves back and forth in the sheet moving direction (x direction) while substantially following the inclination of the processing tray 130. This haunting tray 17
In 0, the tip is overlapped to the stack tray 200 side in the projecting state (state indicated by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 3), and the tip is retracted to the right of the bundle discharge roller pair 180 in the retracted state (state indicated by a solid line in FIG. 3). ). The center of gravity of the sheet P discharged to the processing tray 130 is set so as not to exceed the large size (A3) with respect to the leading end position in the protruding state.

The retractable tray 170 is supported by rails 172 fixed to the frame 171, and is movable in the sheet discharging direction. Further, since the rotary link 173 rotates about the central axis of the rotary link 173 and engages with the groove provided on the lower surface of the retractable tray 170, one rotation of the rotary link 173 causes the retractable tray 170 to advance and retract as described above. It is a thing.

The rotation link 173 is driven by a retractable tray drive motor (drive means for retractable tray) M170 via a drive mechanism (not shown). Then, the home position of the retractable tray 170 is set to the retracted position, and the position is detected by a sensor (not shown).

(Tip Abutting Means) When the size of the sheet discharged from the discharge roller 7 is small, the retractable tray 170 is driven to drive the solenoid 175 for driving the tip abutting member shown in FIG. The shaft 178 is rotated via the member 179. This rotation is transmitted to the rotating shaft 176 of the tip abutting member 174 via the drive belt 177, and the tip abutting member 174 rotates about the shaft 176 and stands up at the tip abutting position.
At this time, the tip abutting member 174 is substantially perpendicular to the processing tray 130. When the drive of the solenoid 175 is released, the rotary shaft 176 rotates in the opposite direction to the above, and the tip abutting member 174 falls down to the retracted position, and becomes flush with the retractable tray 170.

Here, in the present embodiment, the tip abutting member 174.
Upright the small size sheet (here 22
(0 mm or less) only. This is because if the leading edge of the sheet discharged from the discharging roller 7 is to be abutted against a large size sheet, the leading edge abutting member 174 needs to be arranged at the tip of the large size sheet, and the apparatus becomes large. Will end up. In addition, the processing tray 13
This is because it is necessary to make the 0 angle steep, and it is difficult to satisfy the alignment and stackability of a folded sheet or a large size sheet with a weak waist.

The tip abutting member 174 is a bundle discharge roller pair 1
It is located downstream of 80, which allows the processing tray 130
After the post-processing of the stacked sheets, the device can be simplified by conveying them with the bundle discharge roller pair 180, and by stacking the sheets on the processing tray 130 and the stack tray 200, the size of the device can be reduced. Is also realized.

Next, a description will be given of the case where a predetermined number of sheets are conveyed and discharged in various modes by the sheet processing apparatus 1 having the above-mentioned configuration. It should be noted that, here, after stacking a predetermined number of sheets into each bundle and performing stapling processing, the stack tray is
A stapling mode for discharging sheets in a bundle of 200, a non-sort mode for sequentially discharging sheets to the sample tray 201, and a sorting mode for sorting sheets by a predetermined number of sheets and discharging them to the stack tray 200 will be described.

(Staple Sort Mode) When the user specifies the staple sort mode, when discharging a large size sheet having a long sheet length (A3 or the like), FIG.
As shown in, the entrance roller 2, the conveyance roller 3, and the conveyance large roller 5 rotate to convey the sheet P conveyed from the image forming apparatus main body 300. At this time, the switching flapper 10,
11 is stopped at the position shown in FIG.

The sheet P passes through the sort path 22 and is discharged onto the processing tray 130 by the discharge roller 7. At this time,
The tip abutting member 174 is in the retracted position, and the retractable tray 170 is in the protruding position. For this reason, when the sheet P is discharged by the discharge roller 7, it is possible to prevent the leading edge of the sheet from hanging down from the processing tray 130 to cause a defective return, and to prevent the processing tray 130 from becoming defective.
Improves the alignment of the sheets above.

The sheet P discharged onto the processing tray 130 is
The paddle 160, which has started to move to the rear end stopper 131 by its own weight and has stopped at the home position, rotates counterclockwise in response to the drive of the motor M160, and promotes the movement of the sheet. When the trailing edge of the sheet P surely contacts the trailing edge stopper 131 and stops, the rotation of the paddle 160 is also stopped, and the aligning unit 140 aligns the discharged sheets.

When all the sheets of the first set are discharged onto the processing tray 130 and aligned, the stapler 101 staples the sheet bundle, the swing guide 150 then descends, and the bundle discharge upper roller 180b is moved. The sheet is placed on the sheet bundle, and the sheet is discharged to the stack tray 200 by the bundle discharge roller pair 180 (the bundle discharge lower roller 180a and the bundle discharge upper roller 180b). This operation will be repeated.

Next, when a small size sheet having a short sheet length (A4 or the like 220 mm or less) is to be discharged, the sheet P1 discharged from the image forming apparatus main body 300 is, as shown in FIG. It is wound around the large conveyance roller 5 by the rotation and stopped at a predetermined distance from the sheet detection sensor 32 arranged around the large conveyance roller 5. Then, when the next sheet P2 advances a predetermined distance from the sheet detection sensor 31 located between the entrance roller 2 and the conveyance roller 3, the conveyance large roller 5 rotates and the first sheet P1 is rotated as shown in FIG. The second sheet P2 is superposed so that the front ends thereof are substantially the same. Aligning the leading ends in this manner is to prevent the sheet from being dented or scratched when the sheet is abutted against the leading end abutting member 174. After that, the switching flapper 10 rotates to convey the two sheets P to the sort path 22 in a stacked state.

As described above, the sheets sent to the discharge roller 7 are overlapped and conveyed every time. At this time, the retractable tray 170 is in the protruding state, and the tip abutting member 174 is in the upright state. Then, the sheet bundle P0 conveyed by the discharge rollers 7 is discharged onto the processing tray 130 so that the leading edge of the sheet hits the leading edge abutting member 174 (see FIG. 8). After that, the retractable tray 170 aligns and moves substantially horizontally with the processing tray 130 in order to align the sheet P0 on the upstream side in the transport direction (see FIG. 9). That is, the movement of the leading end abutting member 174 constitutes an aligning unit that aligns the sheet in the transport direction.

As described above, since at least two sheets P0 are conveyed to the processing tray 130 each time,
The number of aligning operations of the aligning plate 141 and the tip abutting member 174 performing the aligning operation is less than half that of the case where they are conveyed one by one. Therefore, it is possible to improve the durability of the matching member, reduce the speed of the drive motor, and thereby reduce the size of the motor / device.

By repeating the above, the sheets are aligned with the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth sheets piled up each time, and all the sheets of the first copy are discharged onto the processing tray 130, and when they are aligned, The sheet bundle is stapled, the swing guide 150 comes down, the bundle discharge upper roller 180b rides on the sheet bundle, and the bundle discharge roller pair 180 discharges the sheet bundle.
During this time, after the alignment of the final sheet is completed, the tip abutting member 17
4 moves to the retracted position, and after the movement, the retractable tray 170 is drawn to the retracted position and discharged in a bundle. This operation will be repeated.

Here, although the first and second sheets in one set are overlapped and aligned with each other, when the sheet post-processing such as stapling at two places takes a long time, the first sheet in the one set is copied. By stacking three or more sheets, processing can be performed without lowering the productivity of the image forming apparatus main body. The third and subsequent sheets are stacked as described above, and the deviation amounts of the sheet front ends are made substantially the same. Then, after the first and third sheets are stacked and discharged, two sheets are discharged as described above.

Further, in the present embodiment, in order to prevent the final sheet of each part from being discharged onto the processing tray 130 in a single sheet, the sheet two sheets before the final sheet is transferred to the large conveying roller 5 which is a sheet stacking unit. If it is wrapped around with the sheet (three sheets before the last sheet), the two sheets are discharged to the processing tray 130 in a stacked state, and then the final sheet and the sheet before the final sheet (one sheet before the final sheet) Sheet)
Are wound around the large transport roller 5 to form a stacked state,
The two sheets are discharged to the processing tray 130.

On the other hand, if the sheet 2 sheets before the final sheet is not wound around the sheet (the sheet 3 sheets before the final sheet) on the large conveyance roller 5 then the sheet 2 sheets before the final sheet. The sheet before the final sheet (the sheet one sheet before the final sheet) and the final sheet are wound so that three sheets are stacked, and the stacked sheets are discharged to the processing tray 130.

As a result, the final sheet of each part is not discharged as a single sheet, so that it is possible to prevent catching up with the preceding stacked sheet.

In the case of the large size as well, the sheets may be discharged one after another, in which case the final sheet may not be conveyed as a single sheet as described above.

(Non-sort mode) Next, when the user wants to specify the non-sort mode on the operation unit (not shown) of the main body of the image forming apparatus, for example, double-sided recording from the image forming apparatus, etc. When a sheet is conveyed to the sheet processing apparatus 1 with a large sheet interval, as shown in FIG. 10, the entrance roller 2, the conveyance roller 3, and the conveyance large roller 5 rotate to cause the image forming apparatus to rotate. The sheet P conveyed from the main body 300 is conveyed. At this time, the switching flapper 11 is rotated by the action of a solenoid (not shown) to the position shown in FIG.
Guide to 21. Then, the switching flapper 11 and the discharge roller 9
When the sheet detection sensor 33 disposed between the sheet detection means detects the rear end of the sheet P, the discharge roller 9 rotates at a speed suitable for stacking and discharges the sheet P to the sample tray 201.

However, for example, in the case of recording only one side from the image forming apparatus, when the sheet is conveyed to the sheet processing apparatus 1 with a small sheet interval, when the sheet is discharged to the sample tray 201, It is necessary to decelerate and eject a sheet to improve stackability, but if the distance between sheets is short, the next sheet may catch up if the sheet is decelerated.

The sheet processing apparatus 1 is the image forming apparatus main body 300.
Since the sheet is received in synchronism with the sheet discharging speed, the sheet conveying speed is increased in the sheet processing apparatus 1 so that the sheets can be separated from each other by removing the trailing edge of the sheet from the large conveying roller 5. However, if the distance between the large conveyance roller 5 and the discharge roller 9 is short, the sheets may not be sufficiently opened.
If the spaces between the sheets are not opened, it is necessary to reduce the productivity of the image forming apparatus main body for the above-mentioned reason. Further, the large conveying roller 5 and the discharging roller (conveying means) 9
Although it is possible to control the deceleration of the seats if the distance between the seats is increased to increase the distance between the seats, this leads to an increase in the size of the device.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, as described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, by winding the previously conveyed sheet around the large conveyance roller 5, two sheets are fed, one by one.
Alternatively, three or more sheets may be stacked and the sample tray (loading means) 20
I am trying to discharge it to 1. At this time, the amount of misalignment of the stacked sheets was set to be substantially absent during the sort discharge described above, but since there is no tip abutting member during the non-sort discharge,
If the stacked upper sheet reaches the stacking wall before the lower sheet, the lower sheet cannot return. Therefore, in order to return the overlapped sheets on the sample tray 201, as shown in FIG. 10, the lower sheet of the overlapped sheets (P0) is displaced (X) toward the upstream side in the transport direction (here, about 2m
m)

(Sort Mode) Next, in the case of discharging in the sort mode, the manuscript is set in the automatic manuscript feeding device 500, the sort mode is designated on the operation section (not shown), and the start key (not shown). Turn on.

In the sort mode, the entrance roller 2 and the transport roller 3 are stacked on the processing tray 130, as in the staple sort mode described above. The aligning means 140 is a processing tray.
After stacking a small number of sheets on the processing tray while aligning the sheets P on the sheet 130, as shown in FIG. 11, the swing guide 150 comes down to convey a bundle of a small number of sheets in a bundle.

Next, the sent sheet P passes over the switching flapper 10 and is wound around the large conveying roller 5 in the same manner as the operation described in the staple sort mode. Emitted to 130. The number of the small number of bundles discharged in the bundle is set to 5 here.

When the bundle ejection of the first copy is completed, the front alignment member 141 moves together with the back alignment member 142 to offset the alignment position of the second copy with respect to the alignment position of the first copy. As a result, it becomes possible to offset the unbound bundle on the stack tray 200 in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction.

The second copy is aligned at an offset position, and a small number of sheets are discharged in a bundle as in the first copy. When the second copy is completed, the front alignment member 141 and the back alignment member 142 return to the positions where the first copy is aligned and the third copy is aligned.

In this way, by offsetting each sheet bundle to be discharged by shifting in a direction perpendicular to the discharging direction,
The respective parts are discharged to the stack tray 200 in a sorted state.

Also in the sort mode, by stacking two or more sheets and discharging them to the processing tray 130,
The number of aligning operations is less than half the number of aligning operations as compared with the case where the sheets are conveyed one by one, and the aligning operation time can be obtained.

[Second Embodiment] In the above-described first embodiment, the apparatus is downsized by ejecting the sheets by stacking each time only when the sheet size is the small size. However, as shown in FIG. With such a configuration, the size may be further reduced.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, the leading end abutting member 174a is arranged on the upstream side of the bundle discharge roller pair 180 and, instead, is constituted by a belt member for conveying the sheet bundle to the bundle discharge roller pair 180. A bundle moving member 185 may be provided. It should be noted that the bundle moving member 185 has tip abutting members 174a, 17a.
4b is attached, and the tip abutting members 174a and 174b are moved along the processing tray 130 by the rotation of the bundle moving member 185.

Then, as described in the above embodiment, at least two or more sheets are superposed by the large conveyance roller 5 and the conveyed sheet bundle P0 is ejected to the processing tray 130 by the ejection roller 7. At this time, processing tray 1
The leading edge of the sheet bundle hits the leading edge abutting member 174a that projects substantially at a right angle to 30, and the trailing edge of the sheet bundle P0 descends onto the processing tray 130. Then, the leading edge abutting member 174a moves toward the trailing edge stopper 131, and The bundle P0 is aligned in the transport direction.

Then, the final sheet is brought into contact with the tip abutting member 174a.
When the alignment is completed by, the front end abutting member 174b contacts the rear end of the sheet bundle on the processing tray 130 after the predetermined post-processing,
When the sheet bundle P0 is conveyed in the direction of the bundle discharge roller pair 180 and conveyed to the position of the bundle discharge roller pair 180, the swing guide 150 descends, and from there, the bundle is conveyed by the bundle discharge roller pair 180 and stacked. Discharge to tray 200.

The leading edge abutting member 174b stops at the position where the leading edge abutting 174a was located, and prepares for the abutting of the next sheet.

In this way, the tip abutting member is used as a bundle discharge roller pair.
By arranging it on the upstream side of 180, the device can be made more compact.

In the structure of FIG. 12, the sheet bundle moving member 185
Although the leading end abutting members 174a and 174b are attached to the bundle, as shown in FIG. 13, the bundle moving means 185a for conveying the sheet bundle P0 on the processing tray 130 to the bundle discharge roller pair 180.
The same effect can be obtained by separately configuring the abutting position changing means 185b for changing the protruding position of the tip abutting member depending on the size.

In the bundle moving means 185a shown in FIG. 13, a rotatable belt member is provided with an abutting portion 185a1 protruding substantially at right angles to the belt surface so as to abut the end portion of the sheet bundle. Further, the abutting position changing means 185b is provided with a tip abutting member 174 on a rotatable belt member.

By separately configuring the bundle moving means 185a and the abutting position changing means 185b as described above, it is possible to easily set the leading edge abutting position to an optimum position according to the sheet size.

[Third Embodiment] In the first embodiment described above, the processing tray 130 is an inclined tray having a high downstream side in the sheet conveying direction, and the discharged sheet is pulled back to the side opposite to the discharging direction. As shown in FIG. 14, an inclined tray having a lower downstream side in the discharge direction is used, the discharged sheet is abutted against the leading end abutting member 174 without being pulled back in the conveying direction, and the sheet is aligned by the sheet-conveying-direction sheet aligning member 186 from the rear of the sheet. It may be configured.

The transport direction sheet aligning member 186 is the processing tray 1.
It protrudes substantially at right angles to the 30th surface and is configured to be movable by a belt so that it can be moved according to the size of the sheet and can be moved along the processing tray 130 as a sheet aligning operation.

Similar to the first embodiment, the large conveying roller 5 is used.
The multiple sheets stacked by the sheet are discharged to the processing tray 130, and the final sheet is conveyed in the sheet direction sheet aligning member.
When the alignment is completed by 186, the bundle moving member 185 comes into contact with the trailing end of the sheet bundle on the processing tray 130 after the completion of predetermined post-processing,
When the sheet bundle is conveyed in the direction of the bundle discharge roller pair 180 and conveyed to the bundle discharge roller pair 180, the swing guide 150 descends, and from there, the bundle discharge roller pair 180 conveys the bundle to the stack tray 200. It is configured to discharge.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, the final sheet of each part for discharging the bundle is not necessarily discharged one by one, but the final sheet is rotated once by the large conveyance roller 5 and then conveyed. Thus, the same effect can be obtained even if it is prevented from catching up with the preceding seat.

[Fourth Embodiment] In the first embodiment described above, the large conveying roller 5 is used as the sheet stacking means, and a plurality of sheets are wound around the large roller 5 to stack the sheets, but as shown in FIG. In addition, a bypass path may be provided at the position of the large conveyance roller 60 so that the two sheets are stacked.

In FIG. 15, when the switching flapper 61 is in the broken line state, the sheet is conveyed around the large conveyance roller 60 to the discharge roller 7 as shown by an arrow a. On the other hand, when the switching flapper 61 is in the state of the solid line, the sheet does not reach the large conveyance roller 60 as shown by the arrow b, and the conveyance roller 62
The sheet is conveyed along the path from the discharge roller 7 to the discharge roller 7. That is,
The route b (second transport route) is shorter than the route a (first transport route) by the amount by which the large transport roller 60 is bypassed, and is transported in a short time.

Therefore, when the preceding sheet is conveyed, the path a is conveyed, and when the succeeding sheet is conveyed, the path b is conveyed so that the preceding and succeeding sheets overlap at the position of the discharge roller 7. Become. If the sheet stacking means is configured in this manner, two sheets can be stacked and conveyed only by switching the switching flapper 61, and the control mechanism can be simplified.

In forming the bypass, the large conveyance roller 60 need not always be used as long as a long conveyance path and a short conveyance path can be formed.

Further, the structure of the sheet stacking means is as shown in FIG.
As shown in 16, an intermediate tray may be used.

In FIG. 16, the sheet conveyed by the conveying rollers 70 is once discharged to the intermediate tray 71 on the lower upstream side,
Here, it is abutted against the rear end abutting portion 71a by its own weight or the like. Then, when a plurality of sheets are discharged to the intermediate tray 71, the roller pairs 72a and 72b that have been separated until then come into contact with each other so as to sandwich the sheet P (in this embodiment, one roller 72
b is configured to descend in the direction of the arrow), and the switching flapper 11 discharges the discharge roller 7 or the discharge roller 9
To be selectively transported to.

The intermediate tray 71 can be moved to an abutting position where the leading edge of the sheet abuts on the downstream side of the roller pair 72a, 72b and a retracted position where the intermediate tray 71 is retracted from the surface of the intermediate tray 71 when the sheet bundle is conveyed downstream. By disposing the stopper, the upstream side can be raised and sheets can be stacked more smoothly.

[0093]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even if the interval between the sheets fed to the sheet processing apparatus is short or high speed, the deceleration control of the sheet discharge can be performed between the sheets without reducing the productivity of the image forming apparatus, or the sheet can be transferred between the sheets. It becomes possible to perform the matching of.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of a sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram of an image forming apparatus to which a sheet processing apparatus can be applied.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of a swing guide and a processing tray.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a link configuration of a rear end stopper.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory plan view of a processing tray and a matching wall moving mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a retractable tray.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory diagram of the sheet processing apparatus in a staple sort mode (large size sheet).

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram of the sheet processing apparatus in a staple sort mode (small size sheet).

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory diagram of the sheet processing apparatus in a staple sort mode (small size sheet).

FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram of the sheet processing apparatus in a non-sort mode.

FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram of the sheet processing apparatus in a sort mode.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of a sheet processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of a sheet processing apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of a sheet processing apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of a sheet processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of a sheet processing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

D ... manuscript M141, M142, M150, M160, M170, M180 ... Motor P ... Sheet 1 ... Sheet processing device 2 ... Entrance roller 3 ... Conveyor roller 5 ... Large transport roller 6 ... Conveyor roller 7 ... Ejection roller 9 ... Ejection roller 10, 11… Switching flapper 12, 13, 14… Pressing roller 21… Non-sorted path 22… Sort path 23… Buffer pass 31… Sheet detection sensor 32… Sheet detection sensor 33… Sheet detection sensor 50… Punch unit 60… Large transport roller 61 ... Switching flapper 62… Conveyor roller 70… Conveyor roller 71… Intermediate tray 72a, 72b ... Roller pair 101 ... Stapler 103… Stapler transfer table 112 ... 129… Processing tray unit 130… Processing tray 131… Rear end stopper 131a ... Supporting surface 131b ... pin 131c ... pin 132… Main link 132a ... Cam surface 132b ... Pin 133… Link 134 ... Shaft 135… tension spring 136… Abutment plate 140… Matching means 141… Front alignment member 142 ... Deep alignment member 141a, 142a ... Matching surface 141b, 142b ... Supporting surface 141c, 142c ... Rack gear 143, 144… Pinion gear 150… Swing guide 151… Rotation fulcrum shaft 152… Rotating cam 160… Paddle 161… Axis 170… Haunting tray 171… Frame 172… Rails 173… Rotating link 174 ... Tip contact member 174a, 174b ... Tip abutting member 175 ... Solenoid 176… Rotation axis 177… Drive belt 178… Axis 179… Link member 180 ... Bundle discharge roller pair 180a ... Bundle discharge lower roller 180b ... Bundle discharge upper roller 185 ... Bundle moving member 185a ... Bundle moving means 185a1… Abutting part 185b ... Impacting position changing means 186… Conveying direction sheet alignment member 200… Stack tray 201… Sample tray 300… Image forming device body 399… Ejection roller 500… Automatic document feeder 901 ... Registration roller 902 ... Image forming unit 904… Fixing device 905… Ejection roller 906… Platen glass 907… Light source 908… Lens system 909… Feeding department 910, 911 ... Cassette 912… pedestal 913… Deck 914 ... Photosensitive drum 915 ... Developer 916… Transfer charger 917… Separation charger 918… Cleaner 919… Primary charger 920… Conveyor belt 930… Sheet reversal path 950… Control device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B65H 39/105 B65H 39/105 3F108 83/02 83/02 F term (reference) 2H072 AB11 CA01 CB00 FA07 FB02 FB08 FB10 GA08 HB10 JA02 3F050 BC02 BD06 BD07 BE01 BE12 CB02 CC03 CC04 LA02 LA07 LB03 3F053 GB01 LA02 LA07 LB03 3F054 AA01 AB01 AC02 AC05 BA03 BB08 BB10 BE02 BE09 BF08 BH07B0307F04 AA02 CA03 3F100 A0302

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A stacking means for sequentially stacking transported sheets, a transporting means for transporting the stacked sheets, and a stacking means for mounting the transported sheets. In order to stack a predetermined number of sheets on the sheet, a plurality of sheets are superposed from the conveying means, and the plural sheets are conveyed to the stacking means one by one. 2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an aligning unit that aligns sheets in a direction orthogonal to a discharge direction of the sheets conveyed to the stacking unit. 3. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an aligning unit that aligns sheets in a discharge direction of the sheets conveyed to the stacking unit. 4. A sheet stacking unit for sequentially stacking transported sheets, a transporting unit for transporting the stacked sheets, a stacking unit for placing the transported sheets, and a transporting unit for transporting the stacked sheets. A leading end abutting means for abutting the leading edge of the sheet, the abutting means having a projecting position for projecting from the stacking means surface and abutting the sheet, and a retracted position for withdrawing to the outside of the stacking means surface. The sheet processing apparatus is capable of moving along the sheet conveying direction in order to align the sheets conveyed on the stacking unit. 5. The sheet conveying means divides a predetermined number of sheets into a plurality of sheets and conveys the plurality of sheets in a stacked state to the stacking means.
The sheet processing apparatus according to. 6. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the stacking unit has an inclined shape such that the downstream side in the sheet conveying direction becomes higher. 7. The stacking means has an inclined shape such that the downstream side in the sheet transport direction becomes lower, and a projecting position at which the stacking means projects from a stacking surface to a downstream portion of the stacking means, and a sheet outside the stacking surface. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a sheet front end abutting unit having a retracted position for retracting the sheet. 8. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a bundle discharging unit configured to discharge a bundle of sheets aligned on the stacking unit. 9. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stacking unit stacks a plurality of sheets by winding a plurality of sheets around a conveying roller. 10. The stacking unit transports a preceding sheet through a first transport path and a subsequent sheet through a second transport path shorter than the first transport path to stack the sheets. The sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. 11. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stacking unit stacks a plurality of sheets on the intermediate tray. 12. An image forming unit for forming an image on a sheet, and the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 for processing the sheet on which the image is formed. A characteristic image forming apparatus.