JP2008080535A - Bookbinding apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a cover from peeling off and a sheet of paper from missing and to improve a finishing quality of bookbinding by forming a uniform adhesive layer without unevenness on the outer peripheral face of an adhesive applying roller. <P>SOLUTION: A bookbinding apparatus includes a paper bundle conveying means 40 for pinching and vertically erecting a paper bundle Sa stored in a paper bundle storing means 30 for positioning and storing conveyed sheets of paper S, an adhesive applying means 50 for applying a heated adhesive N on the back part of the paper bundle Sa, a cover sticking means 80 for bringing the back part of the paper bundle Sa coated with the adhesive N into contact with the paper K for the cover and sticking them together, and a scraping member 57 for coming into contact with the adhesive N applied on the outer peripheral face of the adhesive applying roller 51 of the adhesive applying means 50 and uniforming the thickness of the layer of the adhesive N. The scraping member 57 scrapes the adhesive N by a face approximately parallel to the tangential direction of the adhesive applying roller 51 at a position opposing the adhesive applying roller 51. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a bookbinding apparatus that forms a booklet by covering a sheet bundle with a cover sheet in a U-shape and an image forming apparatus including the bookbinding apparatus.

  An electrophotographic image forming apparatus has high-speed performance, multiple functions, a network function, and the like, and uses as a printing apparatus are expanded by connecting a large-capacity paper feeding apparatus and a large-capacity stacker.

  Further, as a bookbinding process, a bookbinding process is known in which a bundle of printed sheets is covered with a cover sheet (cover sheet) in a U-shape to form a booklet.

  When the image forming apparatus is used as a printing apparatus, it is possible to perform a series of processes from printing to bookbinding in a single system by connecting a bookbinding apparatus that binds printed matter.

  In the bookbinding apparatus described in Patent Document 1, a small bookbinding apparatus that can automatically supply consumed adhesive has been proposed. In this bookbinding apparatus, an adhesive reservoir and a roller are integrated, and the adhesive is applied to the back surface of the sheet bundle by reciprocating the lower side of the sheet bundle. The granular adhesive (pellet) The adhesive supply unit supplies a predetermined amount of granular adhesive into the adhesive reservoir at a position facing the sheet bundle from the standby position of the adhesive reservoir.

In the coating unit of the bookbinding apparatus, a roller is provided above the adhesive reservoir so as to be partially immersed in the adhesive. The adhesive applied to the outer peripheral surface of the rotationally driven roller contacts the back of the sheet bundle.
JP 2004-209746 A

  In the bookbinding apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, there is no means for restricting the layer thickness of the adhesive applied to the outer peripheral surface of the rotationally driven roller. For this reason, if the layer thickness of the adhesive is too thick, the adhesive protrudes from the back of the sheet bundle, and excess adhesive adheres to other sheet bundles or contaminates the apparatus. Also, if the adhesive layer thickness is thin, the adhesive strength is weak, which may cause missing pages.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a bookbinding apparatus and an image forming apparatus that can form a high-quality booklet by solving the above-described problems caused by adhesion of cover sheets at the end of a sheet bundle.

  The above object is solved by the following bookbinding apparatus and image forming apparatus of the present invention.

  1. A sheet bundle conveying means for holding the sheet bundle accommodated in the sheet bundle accommodating means for positioning and accommodating the conveyed sheet, and an adhesive application means for applying a heated adhesive to the back of the sheet bundle An adhesive applied to the outer peripheral surface of the adhesive application roller of the adhesive application means, and a cover application means for adhering the back of the sheet bundle to which the adhesive is applied and the cover paper. A scraping member that abuts to uniformize the layer thickness of the adhesive, and the scraping member is substantially parallel to the tangential direction of the adhesive application roller at a position facing the adhesive application roller. A bookbinding apparatus, wherein the adhesive is scraped off by a surface.

  2. 2. The bookbinding according to 1 above, wherein the image forming apparatus main body that forms a document toner image based on the document data on a recording sheet, and the sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus main body are stacked and the cover sheet is pasted. And an image forming apparatus.

  According to the bookbinding apparatus of the present invention, when the cover sheet is bonded to the back of the sheet bundle with the heated adhesive, the scraping member is positioned in the tangential direction of the adhesive application roller at a position facing the adhesive application roller. By scraping off the adhesive on a substantially parallel surface, a uniform adhesive layer without irregularities can be formed on the outer peripheral surface of the adhesive application roller, and the quality of case binding is improved.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, image forming processing and bookbinding processing are performed by an image forming apparatus in which a bookbinding device for case binding is connected to an image forming apparatus main body that forms a document toner image based on document data on a recording sheet. Are executed continuously, and the efficiency of bookbinding is improved.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of a bookbinding apparatus and an image forming apparatus including the bookbinding apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a bookbinding system including a bookbinding device (post-processing device) B and a booklet storage device C. FIG.

[Image forming apparatus body A]
The image forming apparatus main body A includes an image forming unit in which a charging unit 2, an image exposing unit 3, a developing unit 4, a transfer neutralizing unit 5, and a cleaning unit 6 are arranged around a rotating image carrier 1. The image forming means uniformly charges the surface of the image carrier 1 by the charging means 2 and then performs exposure scanning based on the image data read from the document by the laser beam of the image exposure means 3 to form a latent image. Then, the latent image is reversely developed by the developing means 4 to form a toner image on the surface of the image carrier 1.

  A recording sheet (hereinafter referred to as a sheet) S, which is a sheet fed from the sheet storage means 7A, is sent to the transfer position. After the toner image is transferred onto the sheet S by the transfer neutralization unit 5 at the transfer position, the charge on the sheet S is erased and separated from the image carrier 1 and conveyed by the conveying unit 7B, and then heated and fixed by the fixing unit 8. Then, the paper is discharged from the paper discharge roller 7C.

  When image formation is performed on both sides of the sheet S, the sheet S heated and fixed by the fixing unit 8 is branched from the normal sheet discharge path by the conveyance path switching unit 7D and switched back by the reverse conveyance unit 7E. After the reversal, it passes through the image forming unit again, forms an image on the back surface of the paper S, and is discharged from the paper discharge roller 7C to the outside of the apparatus via the fixing unit 8. The paper S discharged from the paper discharge roller 7C is sent to the bookbinding apparatus B.

  The developer remaining on the surface of the image carrier 1 after image processing is removed by the cleaning unit 6 to prepare for the next image formation.

  On the upper part of the image forming apparatus main body A, an operation means 9 having an input means and a display means is arranged.

[Bookbinding device B]
As shown in FIG. 1, the bookbinding apparatus B according to the present invention includes a sheet transport unit 10, a sheet discharge unit 20, a sheet bundle storage unit 30, a sheet bundle transport unit 40, an adhesive application unit 50, a cover sheet supply unit 60, and a cover sheet. A cutting means 70 and a cover sticking means 80 are provided. Each of these means is arranged in a column in a substantially vertical direction in the bookbinding apparatus B.

  The main control unit 100 of the image forming apparatus main body A and the post-processing control unit 200 of the bookbinding apparatus B are connected by serial communication units 101 and 201.

  FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the bookbinding apparatus B according to the present invention.

<Paper conveying means 10>
The paper S introduced into the paper transport unit 10 is nipped and transported by the transport rollers 11 and 12, and is branched into either the paper discharge unit 20 or the paper bundle storage unit 30 by the transport path switching unit G1.

  A conveyance path switching unit G2 disposed upstream of the conveyance roller 11 in the sheet conveyance direction branches the sheet S discharged from the image forming apparatus main body A to either the conveyance path of the conveyance roller 11 or the conveyance path of the conveyance roller 12. Let The sheet S conveyed to the conveyance path of the conveyance roller 12 is sandwiched between the conveyance rollers 13 and 14 and sent to the cover sheet attaching unit 80.

<Discharge means 20>
When the sheet conveyance is set, the conveyance path switching unit G1 blocks the conveyance path to the sheet bundle conveyance unit 40 and opens the conveyance path to the paper discharge unit 20.

  The sheet S passing through the conveyance path of the sheet discharge means 20 is nipped by the conveyance roller 21 and conveyed upward, and is discharged and stored on the fixed sheet discharge tray 23 at the top of the apparatus by the sheet discharge roller 22. On the fixed sheet discharge tray 23, the sheets S discharged from the image forming apparatus main body A can be directly received and a maximum of about 200 sheets can be stacked.

<Paper bundle accommodating means 30>
The paper S branched to the left in the figure on the downstream side in the paper conveyance direction by the conveyance path switching means G1 is sandwiched between the conveyance rollers 31, 32, 33, and 34 and is accommodated at a predetermined position of the paper bundle accommodation means 30 and sequentially stacked. The The sheet bundle accommodating means 30 includes an inclined sheet placing table 35, a movable sheet rear end positioning member 36, a sheet width aligning member 37, a sheet bundle conveying roller 38, and the like.

<Paper bundle conveying means 40>
The paper S placed on the paper placement table 35 of the paper bundle housing means 30 is conveyed obliquely downward by an unillustrated push-out means. Thereafter, the sheet S is gripped by the gripping means 41 of the sheet bundle conveying means 40, and is swung so that the surface (back part) on which the adhesive coating process is performed on the sheet bundle Sa with the sheet bundle Sa held downward. Stopped in position.

<Adhesive application means 50>
The adhesive application unit 50 supports an adhesive application roller 51, a driving unit 52 that rotationally drives the adhesive application roller 51, an adhesive container 53 that stores an adhesive (glue) N, and the adhesive container 53. Then, the moving body 54 that can move from the initial position on the back side of the bookbinding apparatus B to the adhesive application position on the front side, the moving means 55 that reciprocates the moving body 54, and the adhesive contained in the adhesive container 53. Heating means 56 for heating the agent N.

<Cover Supply Unit 60>
A cover sheet (hereinafter referred to as a cover sheet) K, which is a cover sheet accommodated in the cover stacking means 61 of the cover supplying means 60, is separated and fed by the paper feeding means 62, and is sandwiched between the transport rollers 63, 64, and 65. Then, it is conveyed to the cover sticking means 80.

<Cover cutting means 70>
A cover sheet cutting means 70 integrally formed on the upper side of the cover sheet supply means 60 in the figure and on the right side of the cover sheet attaching means 80 described later is a conveying direction of the cover sheet K by a rotary cutter comprising a rotary blade 71 and a fixed blade 72. Cut the length to a predetermined length.

  The predetermined length is a length obtained by adding the length of the back portion of the sheet bundle Sa to the length of two sheets in the traveling direction of the sheet S. For example, in the case of the case binding process in which the cover K is pasted on the back of the sheet bundle Sa made of A4 size paper S, the maximum number of the sheet bundle Sa is 300 sheets and the thickness is about 30 mm. The predetermined length is set to 450 mm, which is twice the short side length of 210 mm of A4 size paper and the thickness of the sheet bundle Sa is added to about 30 mm, and the end portion of the cover sheet K is cut. A wide size of 450 mm or more is used for the total length of the cover K before cutting.

  Even when each booklet S of A5 size, B5 size, and 8.5 × 11 inches (1 inch is 25.4 mm) is case-bound to produce a booklet Sb, the short side length of the paper and the bundle of paper The predetermined length is set depending on the thickness.

  When the paper size, the number of paper sheets, and the paper thickness are selected or detected by the operation means 9 of the image forming apparatus main body A, the control means sets a predetermined cutting length of the cover sheet K. The length of the cover sheet K before cutting is determined in advance corresponding to the maximum number of sheets, and is stored in the cover sheet stacking unit 61 of the cover sheet supply unit 60.

<Covering means 80>
The cover sticking means 80 receives and conveys the cover sheet K supplied from the cover sheet supply means 60, and conveys the cover rollers 81 and 82 for stopping at a predetermined position, and presses the cover sheet K against the adhesive application surface of the sheet bundle Sa. It has a pressure member 83, a moving casing 84 that supports the conveying rollers 81 and 82 and the pressure member 83, an alignment means 85, an elevating means 86 that enables the moving casing 84 to move vertically and vertically.

  When the cover sticking means 80 stops at the lowered position and introduces the cover K, the aligning means 85 moves from the initial position according to the size of the cover K and presses both sides in the width direction of the cover K before the cutting process. Width alignment. The cover K whose width is aligned and the curvature is corrected is switched back in the direction opposite to the introduction direction, conveyed to the cover cutting means 70, and cut at a predetermined position.

  Further, before the cover sheet adhering means 80 adheres and cuts the cut cover sheet K to the back of the sheet bundle Sa at the lowered position, the aligning means 85 moves again from the initial position and both sides of the cover sheet K in the width direction. Is pressed to perform width alignment, and the cover K is placed at a predetermined position. Thereafter, the aligning means 85 returns to the initial position so as not to hinder the joining of the cover sheet K and the sheet bundle Sa, and then the cover sheet attaching means 80 is raised. When rising, the cover K is supported at a predetermined position.

  Therefore, the aligning means 85 installed in the cover sticking means 80 that can be moved up and down performs positioning in the cover width direction before and after cutting the cover K by the cover cutting means 70, thereby improving the cover cutting accuracy and the sheet bundle Sa. And the alignment accuracy of the cover K and the simplification of the structure are achieved.

  The elevating means 86 moves the movable casing 84 to the upper position by rotating the left and right belts. At this raised position, the center portion of the cover sheet K placed on the pressure member 83 is pressed and adhered to the adhesive application surface of the sheet bundle Sa. After the adhesive application processing to the sheet bundle Sa is completed, the adhesive application means 50 moves backward and retracts.

<Cover folding>
On the upper part of the cover sticking means 80, a cover folding means is provided. The cover folding means has a pair of symmetrical molding members 88. The molding member 88 can be contacted and separated in the thickness direction of the sheet bundle Sa. The forming member 88 bends the cover K along the side edge of the adhesive-coated surface of the sheet bundle Sa, and superimposes the front cover and the back cover on the front and back surfaces of the sheet bundle Sa.

  After the cover sheet K folding process is finished, the cover sticking means 80 is lowered and retracted by a predetermined amount by the descending drive of the lifting means 86, and then the discharge belt 87 is orthogonal to the lower position of the booklet Sb, that is, the conveying direction of the booklet Sb. The position is moved from the position corresponding to the outside of the booklet Sb in the width direction to the position corresponding to the inside and stopped. Thereafter, when the holding by the gripping means 41 is released, the booklet Sb descends and stops at a position where the lower portion of the booklet Sb contacts the upper surface of the discharge belt 87.

  A booklet Sb having a front cover and a back cover formed by attaching a cover K to the back (opposite side of the edge) of the sheet bundle Sa coated with an adhesive is provided by a discharge belt 87 disposed above the aligning means 85. It is discharged to an external booklet storage device C.

[Booklet storage device C]
The booklet Sb discharged by the discharge belt 87 is placed on the transportable belt 91 that can be moved up and down of the booklet storage device C shown in FIG. 1, sequentially discharged by the rotation of the transport belt 91, and stacked on the paper discharge tray 92. Be contained.

[Production process for bookbinding with cover]
<Conveying a stack of sheets and a cover>
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the sheet bundle conveying unit 40 and the adhesive applying unit 50.

  A sheet bundle Sa made up of a predetermined number of sheets S stacked and aligned on the sheet placing table 35 of the sheet bundle accommodating means 30 is grasped by the grasping means 41. The sheet rear end positioning member 36 is swung by a driving means (not shown) and retracts below the sheet placing table 35. The gripping means 41 that grips the sheet bundle Sa moves in an obliquely downward direction as indicated by a broken line in the figure and then turns to hold the sheet bundle Sa in an upright state so that the surface on which the adhesive coating process is performed on the sheet bundle Sa. , Stop at a predetermined position.

  On the other hand, the cover sheet K accommodated in the cover sheet stacking unit 61 of the cover sheet supply unit 60 is separated and fed by the sheet feeding unit 62, and is sandwiched between the transport rollers 63, 64, 65, and the transport roller of the cover sheet pasting unit 80. 81, 82, and is stopped at a predetermined position.

  The cover sheet cutting means 70 disposed on the right side of the conveyance roller 65 in the drawing cuts the length of the cover sheet K in the conveyance direction to a predetermined length. That is, since the length in the conveyance direction of the cover sheet K varies depending on the sheet size and the thickness of the sheet bundle Sa, the cover sheet can be obtained by inputting or detecting the sheet size, the number of sheets S, and the thickness of the sheet S in advance. The case length of K is calculated, and the excess portion of the cover sheet K is cut to the optimum length by the cover sheet cutting means 70 prior to the cover sheet sticking.

<Applying adhesive to paper bundle>
The moving body 54 of the adhesive application unit 50 is moved by a driving unit (not shown) in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the lower surface of the sheet bundle Sa held upright by the gripping unit 41.

  The moving body 54 starts moving from the initial position on the back side of the bookbinding apparatus B, is moved along the moving means 55, stops at a predetermined position on the front side of the bookbinding apparatus B, and then reversely drives to return to the initial position. To do.

  4 is a side view of the adhesive applying means 50 and the gripping means 41, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the adhesive applying means 50 and the gripping means 41.

  The adhesive application roller 51 immersed in the adhesive container 53 containing the adhesive N is rotated by the motor M and the driving means 52. The adhesive application roller 51 applies the adhesive N in the longitudinal direction of the lower surface of the sheet bundle Sa held in an upright state by the forward movement or reciprocation of the moving body 54.

  The adhesive N applied to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating adhesive application roller 51 is made uniform by regulating the layer thickness of the adhesive N by a scraping member (adhesive layer regulating member) 57 described later.

<Adhesion between paper bundle and cover>
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the sheet bundle conveying means 40 and the cover sheet sticking means 80 when the sheet bundle Sa and the cover sheet K are bonded.

  After completion of the adhesive application process to the sheet bundle Sa, the lifting / lowering means 86 moves the movable casing 84 to a raised position as a predetermined position by a driving means (not shown). At this raised position, the center portion of the cover sheet K placed on the pressure member 83 is pressed and adhered to the adhesive application surface of the sheet bundle Sa.

<Bending the cover>
7A and 7B are cross-sectional views of the cover sticking means 80 and the sheet bundle Sa showing the folding process of the cover K. FIG. 7A shows the start of cover folding, FIG. 7B shows the middle of cover folding, FIG. FIG. 7C shows the time when the cover folding is completed, and FIG. 7D shows the time when the cover bending pressurization is released.

  FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a production process of a booklet Sb using a sheet bundle Sa and a cover K. FIG. 8A is a perspective view of the cover K and the sheet bundle Sa before the cover sticking process, FIG. 8B is a perspective view of the sheet bundle Sa to which the cover K is attached, and FIG. 8C is a sheet bundle. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a booklet Sb produced by folding a cover K around Sa.

  After the cover sheet K is bonded to the sheet bundle Sa to which the adhesive N is bonded, the pair of molding members 88 are driven by a driving unit (not shown) in the raised state of the cover sheet bonding unit 80 shown in FIG. The gripping member 41 that grips the sheet bundle Sa descends. When the sheet bundle Sa descends, the cover sheet K is sandwiched and lowered by the pair of molding members 88 and is bent from the side edge portion of the adhesive application surface of the sheet bundle Sa (see FIG. 7B).

  Thereafter, the pair of molding members 88 moves in the horizontal direction toward the adhesive application surface side of the sheet bundle Sa and presses and shapes both side surfaces of the sheet bundle Sa to form a booklet Sb.

  FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the adhesive application roller 51 and the scraping member 57.

  The tip of the scraping member 57 is opposed to the outer peripheral surface of the adhesive application roller 51 with a predetermined distance a, and regulates the layer thickness of the adhesive N.

  A tangent t of the adhesive application roller 51 at the position p of the adhesive N where the adhesive application roller 51 and the scraping member 57 face each other is defined. A wall surface 57 a is formed on the scraping member 57 on the upstream side in the rotation direction of the adhesive application roller 51 from the position p of the adhesive N applied on the adhesive application roller 51. An angle formed between the tangent t at the position p and the wall surface 57a is defined as θ.

  FIG. 9A shows a case where the angle θ is 30 ° or more. In this case, a turbulent flow of the adhesive N is generated in the gap between the wall surface 57a of the scraping member 57 and the upstream side in the rotation direction of the adhesive application roller 51, and the adhesive application film of the adhesive application roller 51 is uneven. End up. When the adhesive application roller 51 is pressed against the back of the sheet bundle Sa in this state, the adhesive N is applied non-uniformly to the back of the sheet bundle Sa, and the quality of case binding is lowered.

  FIG. 9B shows a state in which the wall surface 57a of the scraping member 57 is disposed substantially parallel to the tangent t at the position p. In this case, there is almost no gap between the adhesive N on the upstream side in the rotational direction of the adhesive application roller 51, the adhesive N is rectified, and the adhesive application film of the adhesive application roller 51 has a uniform thickness. When the adhesive application roller 51 is pressed against the back of the sheet bundle Sa in this state, the adhesive N is uniformly applied to the back of the sheet bundle Sa, and the quality of case binding is improved.

  9B shows a state in which the wall surface 57a of the scraping member 57 is arranged substantially parallel to the tangent t at the position p. However, depending on the characteristics of the adhesive N, the tangent t and the wall surface 57a Even when the angle θ is within the range of 0 to 30 °, good adhesive application is performed.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus including an image forming apparatus main body, a bookbinding apparatus, and a booklet storage apparatus. Sectional drawing of the bookbinding apparatus which concerns on this invention. Sectional drawing of a sheet | seat bundle conveyance means and an adhesive agent application means. Side view of adhesive application means and gripping means The perspective view of an adhesive agent application means and a holding means. Sectional drawing of a sheet bundle conveying means and a cover sheet exterior means at the time of adhesion of a sheet bundle and a cover sheet. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a cover cover means and a sheet bundle showing a cover folding process. The perspective view which shows the preparation process of the booklet by a paper bundle and a cover. Sectional drawing of an adhesive application roller and a scraping member.

Explanation of symbols

40 Sheet bundle conveying means 50 Adhesive application means 51 Adhesive application member 52 Driving means 53 Adhesive container 54 Moving body 55 Moving means 56 Heating means 57 Scraping member (adhesive layer regulating member)
57a Wall surface 60 Cover sheet supply means 80 Cover sheet sticking means A Image forming apparatus main body B Bookbinding apparatus (post-processing apparatus)
K cover paper (cover)
N Adhesive (glue)
S Recording paper (paper)
Sa paper bundle p position t tangent line θ angle

Claims (3)

A sheet bundle conveying means for holding the sheet bundle accommodated in the sheet bundle accommodating means for positioning and accommodating the conveyed sheet and standing upright;
An adhesive application means for applying a heated adhesive to the back of the sheet bundle;
A cover sticking means for sticking the back of the sheet bundle to which the adhesive is applied and the cover paper in contact with each other;
A scraping member that contacts the adhesive applied to the outer peripheral surface of the adhesive application roller of the adhesive application means and uniformizes the layer thickness of the adhesive;
The bookbinding apparatus, wherein the scraping member scrapes the adhesive on a surface substantially parallel to a tangential direction of the adhesive application roller at a position facing the adhesive application roller. 2. The bookbinding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a cover sheet folding means for folding a cover sheet adhered to a back portion of the sheet bundle along a side edge of the sheet bundle. An image forming apparatus main body for forming a document toner image based on document data on a recording sheet;
An image forming apparatus comprising: the bookbinding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the bookbinding apparatus performs bookbinding by collecting sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus main body and attaching cover sheets.

Images