JP2003267617A - Paper discharging device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper discharging device facilitating pulling of each printed matter discharged from an image forming device and capable of keeping a secret in a simple constitution without enlarging the device. <P>SOLUTION: The paper discharging device loads paper printed and discharged by the image forming device 1. The paper discharging device comprises a hanger 7 having a clip for bundling and holding a discharged printed paper bundle and a fixing releasing means 19 for releasing the fixing of the hanger 7 having the clip. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet ejection device of an image forming apparatus having a printing function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image forming apparatus having a printing function such as a printer is known as a local area network (LAN).
Is used to print out from a plurality of terminal devices connected to the same LAN. As described above, after receiving the print instruction from the plurality of terminal devices and ending the printing, the plurality of sheet bundles are stacked on the sheet discharge unit such as the sheet discharge tray. Therefore, in order to take out the intended printed matter from which the printing instruction is issued by itself from the bundle of sheets, there are the following problems. 1) It is difficult and time-consuming to find the desired sheet bundle. 2) When the sheet size of the target sheet bundle is smaller than other sheets, the sheet bundle is buried in the other sheet bundle, and it takes time to take it out. 3) When the target sheet bundle in the buried state is taken out, the sheets above and below the sheet bundle are jammed and moved, which easily causes the sheets to fall apart.

As a means for improving this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-1
Japanese Patent No. 33580 discloses a recording classifying device that functions as a mailbox by providing a plurality of discharge trays for each block of a terminal device that issues a print instruction. However, a certain amount of space is provided for each discharge tray. It was necessary to have it in advance, and the device was large. Also, with the tray setting for each block of the terminal device, there is a situation that the target sheet bundle cannot be immediately taken out when the print instruction is issued from a plurality of terminal devices in the same block. It was halved. Further, in order to solve this problem, it is not practical to provide a paper discharge tray for each terminal device, which leads to a further increase in size and cost of the device.

In addition, from the viewpoint of confidentiality of the printed matter, it is not desirable that a non-related person can easily see the printed matter. Therefore, it is desirable that each printed matter can be handled independently. This led to an increase in size and complexity of the device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention makes it easy to take out each printed matter discharged from an image forming apparatus without increasing the size of the apparatus, and keeps secret with a simple structure. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper discharge device that can also perform the above.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a paper discharging device for stacking papers to be printed and discharged in an image forming apparatus. The apparatus is a sheet ejection apparatus including a hanger with a clip that bundles and holds the ejected printed sheet bundle, and a fixing release unit that releases the fixation of the hanger with a clip. According to a second aspect of the invention, in the sheet ejection device according to the first aspect, the clip-attached hanger is a sheet ejection device that bundles a printed sheet bundle for each print job. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the sheet ejection device according to the first or second aspect, the clip-attached hanger has an identification tag at an end thereof, and the tag is attached to the sheet bundle in the sheet removal direction. It is also a paper ejection device that is protruding. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the paper discharge device according to the first or second aspect, the hanger with a clip has an identification tag at an end and the fixing releasing means, and the tag, The fixing releasing means is a sheet discharging device that projects in the sheet take-out direction from the sheet bundle.

The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 3 or 4.
In the paper discharge device according to the item 1, the hanger with a clip has an identification pattern for reading corresponding to the tag, and the paper ejection device outputs a read signal to a reading sensor that reads the identification pattern and the reading signal to the outside. A paper ejection device having an output mechanism. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet discharging device according to the fifth aspect, the sheet discharging device is independent of the releasing operation of the fixing releasing means.
It has a fixed holding means for holding the fixing of the hanger with a clip, the fixed holding means is preset,
The paper discharge device has a mechanism for canceling the password by inputting a unique password to the read signal.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet discharging device adjacent to an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The paper ejection device of the present invention includes a paper ejection roller 2 for ejecting the paper printed by the image forming apparatus 1, a paper ejection tray 5 for loading the ejected paper 3, and a hanger with a clip for bundling the ejected paper bundle. 7 is provided. Hanger 7 with clip
It is stocked in the open state as shown in 7b. LAN
When a printing instruction is issued to the image forming apparatus 1 from the terminal device connected to the clip lower portion 72, the clip lower portion 72 is set on the paper discharge tray 5 in advance. The printed sheets 3 are stacked on the clip lower part 72, and after the print job is completed, the closing lever 11 is actuated by the driving of the clip closing drive motor 10 to apply pressure to the clip upper part 71, and the clip as shown in 7a The sheet bundle is bundled by. Further, the paper discharge tray 5 is provided with a tray vertical movement drive mechanism 6 that moves up and down depending on the weight of the stacked sheets 4. With such a configuration, the bundle of sheets discharged for each print job is bundled by the clip on the sheet discharge tray 5 and stacked in order.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a detailed structure of the hanger with a clip. The clip-equipped hanger 7 includes a clip upper portion 71, a clip lower portion 72, and a hanger 73. The elastic sheets 12 are attached to the clip upper portion 71 and the clip lower portion 72, respectively.
Since the ratchet 15 is provided at the center of 1 and the clip lower portion 72, the paper bundle bundled by the clip is
That state can be maintained. Further, the hanger 7 with a clip is fixed in such a manner that one end (the back side in the drawing) is fitted into a slit 21 provided in the paper discharge device. The hanger with clip 7 moves up and down according to the slit 21 as the tray up-and-down drive mechanism 6 shown in FIG. 1 moves up and down.

In order to facilitate the operation of taking out the desired printed matter from the bundle of sheets stacked in the sheet discharge tray 5 having the above-described structure, the sheet discharging apparatus of the present invention releases the fixing of the hanger 7 with a clip. A fixing releasing means is provided.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the fixing releasing means, and the fixing releasing knob 19 is provided at the tip portion (front side in the drawing) of the hanger 73. By turning the fixing release knob 19 of the clipped hanger 7 that bundles the desired printed matter, the clipped hanger 7 can be pulled out from the fixed end (the back side in the drawing) and taken out from the paper discharge tray 5. By operating the clip holding release lever 13 in the exposed state in the release direction, the hanger with clip 7 can be removed from the printed matter. The removed hanger 7 with the clip is returned to the stock position of the paper discharge device and used again. Since the hanger 7 with the clip can be pulled out by the fixing releasing means as described above, it is possible to take out the printed matter positioned above and below without affecting the stacking state of the printed matter.
Since the clip can be released easily, the time required to take out the printed matter can be shortened.

The clipped hanger 7 also has an identification tag 18, as shown in FIG. The identification tag 18 is provided at the tip of the hanger 73 (on the front side in the drawing) so as to project in the paper take-out direction from the stacked paper 4 on the paper discharge tray 5. With such a configuration, it is possible to identify a plurality of hangers 7 with clips. Further, the clipped hangers 7 each have an identification pattern 16 for reading corresponding to the identification tag 18, and the paper ejection device is opposed to the clipped hangers 7 set at the top of the ejection tray 5 of FIG. A reading sensor 17 for reading the identification pattern 16 is provided at the position. Further, it has an output mechanism for outputting the read signal to the outside and returns the information (number etc.) of the identification tag 18 to the terminal device which has issued the print instruction. As a result, the identification tag 18 of the clipped hanger 7 to which the printed matter is bundled immediately after the print instruction is displayed on the terminal device, and the printed matter can be searched by using the identification tag 18 as a clue. It is possible to shorten the time required to find the desired printed matter from the bundle. Also,
Even a sheet bundle having a smaller size than other sheets can be easily found.

In the present invention, the following configuration can be used to keep the printed matter confidential. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which an image forming apparatus equipped with the sheet ejection device of the present invention and a plurality of terminal devices are connected by a LAN. As described above, when the print instruction is issued from the terminal device 23, the information of the identification tag 18 of the clipped hanger 7 on which the printed matter is bundled on the screen of the terminal device 23 (displayed as “ID” in FIG. 3). .) Is displayed. A password (displayed as "PASS" in FIG. 3) is set for the displayed "ID" on the screen of the terminal device 23. The set password is sent to the information storage unit of the image forming apparatus 1. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the paper ejecting device includes a fixed claw 20 that prevents the hanger 7 with a clip from being pulled out, and a fixed claw 20.
The fixing holding means 22 for holding the fixing by the above is provided. That is, the fixed holding means 22 is a means for holding the fixed state even when the releasing operation of the fixing releasing knob 19 is performed. Then, the releasing operation of the fixed holding means 22 requires the password set previously. As shown in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 1
ID displayed on the terminal device 23 on the operation panel 24 of
Then, the set password is entered to release the fixing of the fixed holding means 22. The subsequent operation for taking out the printed matter is as described above. With this configuration,
Confidentiality can be maintained for each printed matter without increasing the size and complexity of the apparatus.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing the hanger with the clip fixed to the apparatus and the fixing releasing means for releasing the fixing, the bundle of sheets stacked on the sheet ejection tray is provided. It is possible to provide a paper discharge device that makes it extremely easy to take out a desired paper bundle from the inside. According to the configuration of the paper ejection device, the size, cost and complexity of the device will not be increased. Further, it is possible to carry out confidentiality management of printed matter as fine as or more than that of the mailbox.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet discharging device adjacent to an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a hanger with a clip.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which an image forming apparatus provided with a sheet discharging device of the present invention and a plurality of terminal devices are connected by a LAN.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image forming device 5 Output tray Hanger with 7 clips 71 Clip top 72 Clip bottom 73 Hanger 16 identification patterns 17 Read sensor 18 identification tags 19 Lock release knob 20 fixed claws 22 Fixed holding means

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A paper ejecting device for stacking paper to be printed and ejected in an image forming apparatus, the paper ejecting device comprising: a clipped hanger for bundling and retaining ejected printed paper bundles; A sheet discharging device, comprising: a fixing releasing means for releasing the fixing of the hanger with a clip. 2. The paper ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the hanger with clips bundles a bundle of printed papers for each print job. 3. The sheet ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the hanger with a clip has an identification tag at an end thereof, and the tag protrudes from the sheet bundle in the sheet ejection direction. A paper ejection device characterized by the above. 4. The paper ejection device according to claim 1, wherein the clip-attached hanger includes an identification tag at an end thereof.
A sheet ejecting device, comprising: the fixing releasing means, wherein the tag and the fixing releasing means project in a sheet taking-out direction from a bundle of sheets. 5. The sheet ejection device according to claim 3, wherein the hanger with a clip has an identification pattern for reading corresponding to the tag, and the sheet ejection device reads the identification pattern. A sheet ejection device comprising a sensor and an output mechanism for outputting a read signal to the outside. 6. The sheet discharging device according to claim 5, wherein the sheet discharging device has a fixing holding unit that holds the clip-hanger fixed regardless of the releasing operation of the fixing releasing unit, The sheet discharging device, wherein the fixed holding unit has a mechanism that is released by inputting a preset password unique to the read signal.