JP2007076898A - Sheet post-treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform paper discharge even when the sheets not performed with post-treatment are fed while exceeding the loadable number of sheets of an upper surface paper delivery tray. <P>SOLUTION: The sheet post-treatment device is provided with a paper switching flap 72 for dividing the paper sheets 20 fed from an entrance roller 22 to an upper conveying passage 74 and a lower conveying passage 80; the upper surface paper delivery tray 70 provided on a terminal end of the upper conveying passage 74; a paper delivery tray 16 provided on a terminal end of the lower conveying passage 80 and piling up the paper sheets 20 post-treated by a post-treatment mechanism; a piling up sensor 90 provided on the upper surface paper delivery tray 70 and detecting that a predetermined number of paper sheets 20 are piled up on the upper surface delivery tray 70; and a switching mechanism 93 for switching the paper switching flap 72 to the lower conveying passage 80 side at the time when it is detected that a predetermined number of paper sheets 20 are piled up by the piling up sensor 90. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus such as a finisher provided at the subsequent stage of an MFP, and more particularly to an apparatus capable of smoothly depositing sheets without post-processing.

  A finisher that binds and staples a plurality of sheets printed by an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) is known. In this finisher, sheets sent from the MFP are sequentially conveyed to a processing tray, bound by a stapler, and discharged to a discharge tray.

In the post-processing at the finisher, there is a binding process by the stapler. Therefore, a delay mechanism that absorbs the processing speed in the MFP is necessary, and the conveyance path is lengthened for that purpose (see, for example, Patent Document 1). For this reason, the size of the apparatus cannot be sufficiently reduced. A paper discharge tray that is used only when the stapling process is not performed is known (for example, see Patent Document 2).
Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-99070 JP 2000-53308 A

  The sheet post-processing apparatus described above has the following problems. That is, some sheets printed by the MFP are not processed by the finisher. A sheet that is not subjected to such processing is discharged to an upper discharge tray provided on the upper surface of the apparatus so that the user can immediately take it out. At this time, if the number of sheets that can be accumulated on the upper sheet discharge tray is increased, the apparatus may be increased in size. Therefore, the number of sheets that can be accumulated on the upper sheet discharge tray is limited to a certain number (for example, about 250 sheets).

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a sheet post-processing apparatus that can discharge a sheet even when a sheet that does not undergo post-processing exceeds the number of sheets that can be stacked on an upper discharge tray. .

  In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the sheet post-processing apparatus is configured as follows.

  An entrance roller that receives and conveys a sheet conveyed from the MFP main body, a sheet switching flap that divides the sheet fed from the entrance roller into the upper conveyance path and the lower conveyance path, and a terminal portion of the upper conveyance path An upper sheet discharge tray for stacking sheets fed from the entrance roller when no post-processing is performed and a sheet fed from the entrance roller provided in the lower conveyance path for post-processing A post-processing mechanism for post-processing, a tray provided at a terminal portion of the lower conveyance path, for stacking sheets post-processed by the post-processing mechanism, and provided on the upper surface discharge tray, An upper surface discharge tray loading sensor that detects that a predetermined number of sheets are stacked on the discharge tray, and the upper surface discharge tray loading sensor detects that a predetermined number of sheets are stacked. In point, characterized by comprising a switching mechanism for switching the paper switching flap into the lower conveying path.

  According to the present invention, even when a sheet that does not undergo post-processing is sent exceeding the number of sheets that can be accumulated on the upper surface discharge tray, the sheet can be discharged.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the main part of the post-processing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a top view of the main part of the post-processing apparatus of the present invention. The main part of the post-processing apparatus shown in this figure basically comprises a standby tray 10, a processing tray 12, a stapler 14, a first paper discharge tray 16, and a second paper discharge tray 18.

  The sheet 20 sent from the MFP 1 is received by a pair of entrance rollers (entrance rollers) 22 and then conveyed to the upper conveyance path 74 and the lower conveyance path 80 by a sheet switching flap 72 based on the presence or absence of post-processing. The direction is switched (see FIG. 7). When post-processing is performed, after the sheet 20 is sent to the lower conveyance path 80, the sheet 20 is supplied to the pair of paper feed rollers 24 and sent from the paper feed rollers 24 to the standby tray 10. On the other hand, when the post-processing is not performed, the sheet 20 is sent to the upper conveyance path 74 and then supplied to the pair of upper surface discharge rollers 76, and is transferred from the upper surface discharge rollers 76 to the upper surface discharge tray 70. Sent. The entrance roller 22 is driven by an entrance roller motor 26.

  The entrance roller 22 includes an upper entrance roller 22a and a lower entrance roller 22b. The paper feed roller 24 also includes an upper paper feed roller and a lower paper feed roller.

  The standby tray 10 includes a pair of standby tray components 10a and 10b that can move to the left and right, and receives sheets with the standby tray components 10a and 10b closed. A standby tray roller 28 is provided for aligning sheets in this state. The standby tray roller 28 can move up and down, and its control is executed by the standby tray roller drive source 30. The standby tray roller 28 is rotated by a standby tray roller motor 32.

  When a predetermined number of sheets are accumulated in the standby tray 10, the standby tray motor 34 opens the standby tray components 10a and 10b as shown in FIG. 3, and the paper 20 is dropped onto the processing tray 12 by its own weight. This operation is called active drop.

  A paper path 36 is provided to guide the sheet sent from the MFP 1 to the standby tray 10 and the processing tray 12, and the paper path 36 is provided with a paper path ceiling.

  The paper sent to the processing tray 12 is aligned vertically and horizontally. As shown in FIG. 4, the vertical alignment is performed by a vertical alignment roller 38, the vertical alignment upper roller 38a is driven by a vertical alignment upper roller motor 40, and the vertical alignment lower roller 38b is driven by a vertical alignment lower roller motor 42, and the sheet is stopped. Align with 45 as a reference. A paddle 44 is provided to assist this alignment, and the paddle 44 is driven by a paddle motor 46.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the lateral alignment is executed by a lateral alignment mechanism 47 and a lateral alignment motor 48.

  When a predetermined number of sheets are aligned and accumulated in the processing tray 12, the stapler 14 performs the stapling process. As shown in FIG. 6, the stapler 14 is positioned by the staple driving unit 49, and the staple processing is controlled.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the stapled sheet bundle is sent to the paper discharge tray (other tray) 16 or the paper discharge tray (other tray) 18 by the transport mechanism 50. Selection of the paper discharge trays 16 and 18 is performed by moving the paper discharge trays 16 and 18 up and down by the paper discharge tray driving unit 52.

  FIG. 7 is a side view of the post-processing apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a stack sensor 90 of a top discharge tray incorporated in the post-processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the post-processing apparatus. . The post-processing apparatus is provided with an upper surface discharge tray 70. The upper discharge tray 70 is provided with a stacking sensor 90 corresponding to the number of sheets (for example, 250 sheets) that can be accumulated on the upper discharge tray 70. The stack sensor 90 includes an actuator 91 that is pressed by the accumulated paper 20 and rotates around the rotation shaft 91a, and a switch mechanism 92 such as a micro switch that is turned on when the actuator 91 is rotated. Further, a switching mechanism 93 that operates the paper switching flap 72 based on ON / OFF of the switch mechanism 92 is provided. The switching mechanism 93 performs switching from the upper transport path 74 side to the lower transport path 80 side when the switch mechanism 92 is turned on.

  The sheet 20 is discharged to the upper surface discharge tray 70 through the entrance roller 22, the sheet switching flap 72, the upper conveyance path 74, and the upper surface discharge roller 76.

  The paper discharged using this path is directly discharged without going through the standby tray 10, the processing tray 12, and the stapler 14, so that the paper discharge speed can be increased.

  When post-processing is performed, the sheet bundle 21 passes through the inlet roller 22, the sheet switching flap 72, the lower conveyance path 80, the sheet feeding roller 24, the standby tray 10, the processing tray 12, and the stapler 14. The paper is discharged to either the first paper discharge tray 16 or the second paper discharge tray 18. The user selects and sets the first paper discharge tray 16 and the second paper discharge tray 18. The used paper discharge tray may be set for each department, or the user may be individually selected to set the paper discharge trays 16 and 18.

  In addition, an open / close lid 78 can be provided on the upper surface discharge tray 70. In this case, if a key is applied to the opening / closing lid 78, it becomes possible to manage a document that cannot be seen or taken by others.

  Of course, the opening / closing lid 78 may not be provided. In this way, a document that is not subjected to post-processing such as stapling can be directly discharged to the upper discharge tray 70, so that the throughput can be improved because the conveyance distance is shortened.

  The operation of the post-processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 10, the paper 20 sent from the MFP 1 is sent to the paper feed roller 24 through the entrance roller 22 as indicated by an arrow.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 11, the first sheet is accumulated in the standby tray 10 through the sheet feeding roller 24. At that time, the standby tray roller 28 is lowered as indicated by an arrow, and the sheet 20 supplied to the standby tray 10 is aligned with the rear end (upstream side) 60 of the standby tray 10.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 10, the standby tray roller 28 rises and prepares to receive the second sheet 20a.

  When the preparation is completed, as shown in FIG. 13, the second sheet 20 a is sent to the standby tray 10, and the standby tray roller 28 is lowered to adjust the position of the sheet to the rear end 60 of the standby tray 10. In this way, a sheet bundle 20b composed of two sheets 20 and 20a is formed on the standby tray 10.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 14, the standby tray roller 28 is raised, and the standby tray parts 10a and 10b are opened as shown in FIG. 3, and active drop is executed as shown in FIG. 20 b is sent to the processing tray 12.

  Thereafter, the third sheet 20c is sent directly from the sheet feeding roller 24 to the processing tray 12 without passing through the standby tray 10, as shown in FIG. 16, and is deposited on the two sheet bundles 20b. Thus, a predetermined number of sheet bundles 21 are formed. At this time, the vertical and horizontal alignment mechanisms 38 and 47 function to execute vertical and horizontal sheet alignment.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 16, the rear end 60 of the standby tray 10 and the processing tray 12 are arranged so that the rear end 60 of the standby tray 10 exists downstream of the rear end (upstream side) 62 of the processing tray 12. The rear end 62 is laterally separated by a distance L. With such a configuration, the sheet bundle 20b can be easily dropped from the standby tray 10 to the processing tray 12, and the alignment operation by the vertical and horizontal alignment mechanisms 38 and 47 can be easily performed. As a result, the occurrence of jam can be prevented.

  Note that it is desirable that the standby tray 10 and the processing tray 12 be disposed obliquely with the upstream side down. That is, the rear ends 60 and 62 are positioned at the lowest position, and the paper 20 and the paper bundle 21 can be aligned with the rear ends 60 and 62 by their own weight.

  Further, as shown in FIGS. 13 to 16, (1) the size of the standby tray 10 in the transport direction is smaller than the size of the paper 20, and (2) the size of the processing tray 12 in the transport direction is equal to that of the paper 20. It is smaller than the size. (3) When the paper falls from the standby tray 10 to the processing tray 12 due to the relationship (2), the paper 20 is stacked across the processing tray 12 and the paper discharge tray 16. Since the configurations (1) to (3) are employed, the size of the post-processing apparatus (finisher) in the transport direction can be reduced.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 17, the sheet bundle 21 is stapled by the stapler 14. Then, as shown in FIG. 18, the sheet bundle 20 is sent to the paper discharge tray 16 by the transport mechanism 50, and the post-processing is completed.

  If post-processing is not required, the sheet is discharged directly to the upper surface discharge tray 70 without passing through the standby tray 10 and the processing tray 12 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 19, the sheet sent from the MFP 1 is sent to the upper discharge tray 70 via the entrance roller 22, the sheet switching flap 72, the upper conveyance path 74, and the upper discharge roller 76.

  When a certain number of sheets 20 are accumulated on the upper sheet discharge tray 70, the actuator 91 is pressed and rotated by the accumulated sheets 20, and the switch mechanism 92 that is in contact with the actuator 91 is turned on. Since the switching mechanism 93 switches from the upper conveyance path 74 side to the lower conveyance path 80 side when the switch mechanism 92 is turned on, the sheet switching flap 72 is switched to the lower conveyance path 80 side. Is deposited on the paper discharge tray 16 or the paper discharge tray 18 via the lower conveyance path 80. Therefore, even when the number of sheets 20 that do not require post-processing exceeds the number of sheets that can be accumulated in the upper surface discharge tray 70, the sheets 20 can be held by the discharge tray 16 or the discharge tray 18.

  As described above, according to the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, a predetermined number of sheets 20 are discharged to the upper surface discharge tray 70 from which the sheets 20 that are not processed by the finisher are discharged. If they are stacked, they are deposited on the paper discharge trays 16 and 18, and the paper 20 can be held even when the number of sheets that can be stacked on the upper surface paper discharge tray 70 is exceeded.

  Note that the above-described configuration is particularly effective when the distance from the entrance roller 22 to the upper discharge tray 70 is sufficiently shorter than the distance from the entrance roller 22 to the discharge trays 16 and 18 (for example, 1/5). It is more effective, and is more effective when the time during which standby or post-processing is performed is longer.

  Although an example of the present invention has been described with reference to one embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this example. Each component shown in the embodiment can be changed to another component as long as the function is the same.

It is a perspective view of the principal part of the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a top view of the principal part of the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the standby tray of this invention. It is a figure explaining the vertical alignment and sheet bundle conveyance mechanism of the post-processing apparatus of the present invention. It is a figure explaining the horizontal alignment mechanism of the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the stapler of the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a side view of the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the stack | stack sensor of the upper surface discharge tray integrated in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a perspective view of the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the flow of the 1st sheet | seat between the entrance roller and paper feed roller in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the flow of the 1st sheet | seat between the paper feed roller and standby tray in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the flow of the 2nd sheet | seat between the paper feed roller and standby tray in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the standby tray roller in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the standby tray roller in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the operation | movement of the active drop in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the flow of the 3rd sheet | seat in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining operation | movement of the stapler in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure explaining the flow of the sheet | seat bundle between the process tray and the paper discharge tray in the post-processing apparatus of this invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a flow of direct paper discharge to a third paper discharge tray in the post-processing device of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Standby tray, 12 ... Processing tray, 14 ... Stapler, 16 ... First discharge tray, 18 ... Second discharge tray, 20 ... Paper, 21 ... Paper bundle, 22 ... Inlet roller, 22a ... Upper entrance Roller, 22b ... Lower entrance roller, 24 ... Feed roller, 26 ... Entrance roller motor, 28 ... Standby tray roller, 30 ... Standby tray roller drive source, 32 ... Standby tray roller motor, 34 ... Standby tray motor, 36 ... Paper Pass 38, vertical alignment roller 38, 40 vertical alignment upper roller motor, 42 vertical alignment lower roller motor, 44 paddle, 45 stopper, 46 paddle motor, 47 lateral alignment mechanism, 48 lateral alignment motor, 49 ... Staple drive unit, 50 ... Conveying mechanism, 52 ... Discharge tray drive unit, 60 ... Rear end of standby tray, 62 ... Rear end of processing tray, 70 ... Upper surface discharge tray, 7 ... Paper switching flap, 74 ... lower feeding path 76 ... top ejection roller, 78 ... lid, 80 ... lower feeding path, 90 ... loading sensor, 91 ... actuator, 92 ... switching mechanism, 93 ... switching mechanism.

Claims (3)

An entrance roller that receives and conveys a sheet conveyed from the MFP body;
A sheet switching flap that divides the sheet fed from the entrance roller into the upper transport path and the lower transport path;
An upper surface discharge tray that is provided at a terminal portion of the upper conveyance path and stacks sheets fed from the entrance roller when no post-processing is performed;
A post-processing mechanism that is provided in the lower conveyance path and that post-processes the sheet sent from the entrance roller when performing post-processing;
Another tray that is provided at a terminal portion of the lower conveyance path and that stacks sheets post-processed by the post-processing mechanism;
An upper surface discharge tray loading sensor provided on the upper surface discharge tray for detecting that a predetermined number of sheets are stacked on the upper surface discharge tray;
A switching mechanism for switching the sheet switching flap to the lower transport path side when it is detected by the upper surface discharge tray stacking sensor that a predetermined number of sheets are stacked;
A sheet post-processing apparatus comprising:   The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower conveyance path is formed longer than the upper conveyance path.   The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a time for the sheet to pass through the lower conveyance path is longer than a time for the sheet to pass through the upper conveyance path.

Images