JP2548956Y2 - Recording paper post-processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recording paper post-processing apparatus applied to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to a recording paper post-processing characterized by a paper alignment mechanism. Related to the device.

[Conventional technology]

In a recording paper post-processing device (shift tray) that sorts recording paper by swinging the tray and changing the recording paper stacking position on the tray, the recording paper is processed in a direction perpendicular to the swinging direction in the plane in which the tray swings. 2. Description of the Related Art There has been conventionally known a mechanism in which a recording sheet is moved and an end surface of the recording sheet is brought into contact with an abutting member facing the end surface of the recording sheet to align the recording sheets.

Examples of the displacing member include one that is also used as a discharge roller, one that has a rubber ring attached to a discharge roller shaft, one that uses a brush roller, a brush and a paddle, and the like.

By the way, if such a shift member is always in contact with the recording paper, the shift member and the uppermost recording paper of the stacked recording paper interfere with each other during the swinging operation of the tray for sorting the recording paper. In some cases, the uppermost recording sheet is shifted.

In order to avoid this, a complicated operation of lowering the tray once to separate the shift member from the recording sheet, eliminating interference of the shift member, performing a swinging operation, and then raising the tray to the original position is performed. ing.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

For this reason, extra time is required for the sorting operation, and the image forming apparatus main body takes a wait time.
There is a disadvantage that productivity is reduced.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate such inconveniences and to provide a recording paper post-processing apparatus having a simple mechanism and high productivity.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a swingable tray that is inclined toward the paper discharge port side of the image forming apparatus main body, and the position where the recording paper is accumulated by swinging this tray. In a recording paper post-processing apparatus that sorts recording paper groups by replacing the paper, a paper ejection roller that ejects recording paper to the tray is provided at a paper ejection opening of the image forming apparatus main body, and formed by a sponge having a protrusion on the outer periphery And a rotation axis of the shift member is disposed downstream of the rotation axis of the discharge roller in the recording paper discharge direction and below the discharge roller, and the recording paper discharge direction and the shift The recording paper shifting direction by the member is the reverse direction, and the recording paper discharged by the discharge roller is discharged onto the tray through above the shifting member, and the recording on the tray is performed below the shifting member. Touch the top of the paper So, are the structure in which to align the recording sheet by abutting the recording paper abutment member which faces the recording sheet end surface.

[Action]

According to the above-described means, when the recording paper is discharged, the recording paper can be reliably brought into contact with the rear end of the recording paper without applying a load to the recording paper by the shifting member. In addition, since the recording paper comes in contact with the shift member after being discharged from the discharge roller, the shift member does not cause the recording sheet to jump out, and the rear end of the recording sheet can be reliably scraped off by the shift member. The recording paper can be aligned without fail. Further, the recording paper can be aligned without a need for a drive means for moving the shifting member up and down, with a simple configuration, and without lowering the copying efficiency.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view of a recording paper post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

The trailing end of the recording paper 6 discharged from the nip portion between the discharge roller 4 and the driven roller 5 once falls on the upper surface of the shift member 1 and is provided on the roller-like shift member 1 by the rotation of the shift member 1. The tray 2 is conveyed toward the front end of the tray 2 in such a manner as to be pushed out by the protrusion 1a. When the trailing end of the recording paper 6 falls from the shifting member 1, the recording paper 6 is scraped off by the projection 1a. The trailing end of the recording paper 6 that has fallen on the tray 2 is directed to the tray 2 by an upward angle in the traveling direction attached to the tray 2.
Is returned to the rear end direction. As a result, the recording paper 6 stacked on the shifting member 1 or the recording paper 6
The rear end of the tray 2
Is conveyed in the direction of the abutment plate 3 provided at the base portion.
When the rear end of the recording paper 6 abuts against the abutting plate 3, the recording paper 6 stops there and the shifting member 1 slips.

When a series of stacking of the recording paper 6 is completed, the tray 2 becomes the second
In the figure, the recording paper 6 is swung in the direction of arrow A to sort. At this time, the shifting member 1 is rotating. The second
As is clear from the drawing, the shifting member 1 is provided on the same axis in three parts.

Here, the protrusion 1a of the shifting member 1 will be described. If the trajectory of the apex of the protrusion 1a of the shift member 1 is φ40 or more, when the trailing end of the recording paper 6 falls on the upper surface of the stacked recording paper 6 or the upper surface of the tray 2, the shift of the shift member 1 and the recording paper 6 The distance returned to the contact portion on the upper surface due to the inclination of the tray 2 becomes longer, the return time becomes longer, and the recording paper 6 stops on the way to return. When it is φ20 or less,
The height and interval of the projections 1a are small, and the scraping effect and the margin for curling are reduced (see FIG. 4).

The projection 1a scrapes the rear end of the recording paper 6 in such a manner that the rear end of the recording paper 6 is sandwiched between the projections 1a, 1a. At this time, since the rear end of the recording paper 6 is always in contact with the shifting member 1, the movement of the recording paper 6 in the direction perpendicular to the conveying direction is restricted, and the recording when the recording paper 6 is stacked is recorded. The alignment in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction of the paper 6 is improved.

The projection 1a is also effective when the recording paper 6 has a curl. That is, in the case of a curl (face curl) as shown in FIG. 5, the trailing edge of the raised recording paper 6 is pulled in by hooking. In the case of a curl (back curl) as shown in FIG. 6, the raised portion hits the raised portion, and the recording paper 6
Pull in while holding down the curl.

When the trajectory of the protrusion 1a of the shifting member 1 is φ40 to 20,
An appropriate distance between the projections 1a, 1a is 15 ° to 35 ° (see FIG. 3). If the angle is less than 15 °, the interval between the projections 1a becomes narrow, and it becomes difficult to sandwich the rear end of the recording paper 6 between the projections 1a. If the angle is 35 ° or more, the interval between the projections 1a becomes too large, and the scraping effect is reduced. The height of the projection 1a is suitably 3 to 5 mm (see FIG. 3). If the protrusion 1a is 3 mm or less, it becomes difficult to pinch the rear end of the recording paper 6, and if the height is 5 mm or more, the protrusion is likely to be damaged due to frictional force during slip.

Further, when the sorting operation is performed while rotating the shifting member 1 during the sorting operation, the sorting operation can be performed without disturbing the alignment of the stacked recording papers 6. this is,
It is considered that the slippage of the shifting member 1 is caused by a difference between the dynamic friction force between the recording sheet 6 and the shifting member 1 and the static friction force between the recording sheets 6 and 6. The sponge forming the shifting member 1a at this time has a hardness of generally 10 to 20 kgf (JIS K6401),
The number of cells is preferably 30 to 60 (JIS K6402).

[Effect of the invention]

As described above, according to the present invention, at the time of discharging the recording paper, the shifting member applies no load to the recording paper,
In addition, the recording paper can be reliably brought into contact with the trailing edge of the recording paper. In addition, since the recording paper comes in contact with the shift member after being discharged from the discharge roller, the shift member does not cause the recording sheet to jump out, and the rear end of the recording sheet can be reliably scraped off by the shift member. The recording paper can be aligned without fail. Further, the recording paper can be aligned without a need for a driving means for moving the shifting member up and down, with a simple configuration, and without deteriorating the copying effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a recording paper post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a shifting member showing optimum dimensions, and FIG. FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams showing the inconvenience when the trajectory of the apex of the protrusion of the member is inconvenient, and FIGS. 1... Alignment member, 1a..., 2..., 3..., Butting plate, 6.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (72) Kenji Yamada 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Yasuo Kosuga 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yuichi Fujii 2-28-24 Izumi, Higashi-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi Yokota Building Ricoh Elemex Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-1-261161 (JP, A) JP-A-61-136860 (JP, A) JP-A-60-12438 (JP, A) JP-A-63-143167 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model Application Showa 64-45651 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. 2-99844 (JP, A) , U)

Claims (4)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An image forming apparatus includes a swingable tray that is inclined toward a paper discharge port of a main body of the image forming apparatus. In a recording paper post-processing apparatus for performing sorting, a paper discharge roller for discharging recording paper to the tray is provided at a paper discharge opening of an image forming apparatus main body, and has a shift member formed of a sponge having a protrusion on an outer periphery. A rotation axis of the shift member is disposed downstream of the rotation axis of the discharge roller in a recording paper discharge direction and below the discharge roller, and a discharge direction of the recording paper and a recording paper shift direction of the shift member are different. In the reverse direction, the recording paper discharged by the paper discharge roller is discharged onto the tray through above the shift member, and contacts the upper surface of the recording paper on the tray below the shift member. And facing the recording paper edge That abutting the recording paper post-processing apparatus is characterized in that so as to align the recording sheet by abutting the recording paper member. 2. The recording paper post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the trajectory of the projection of the shift member is φ20 to φ40. 3. A recording paper post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the interval between adjacent protrusions of said shift member is set to 15 ° to 35 °. 4. The recording paper post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the height of the projection of the shift member is 3 to 5 mm.