JP2774533B2 - Paper transport device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sorter that is attached to an image forming main body to sort recording paper.

2. Description of the Related Art In various image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, a sorter as a sheet conveying device for sorting recording sheets is often attached to an image forming main body. The sorter includes bins provided over a plurality of stages, and the recording sheets discharged from the image forming main unit are stacked on the respective bins while being sorted.For example, a plurality of sets of recording sheets are separated for each bin. Can be arranged.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, with a general sorter, it is not possible to perform the sorting operation by reversing the front and back sides of the recording paper, and to record a large number of copies by connecting and overlapping a plurality of sorters. In the case of sorting the sheets, there is a problem that the length of the sheet path is increased and the sorting operation takes time.

Therefore, the present invention enables to sort by reversing the front and back of the recording paper with a simple configuration, and minimizes the number of copies when sorting / recording a large number of copies by connecting / overlapping a plurality of sorters. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper transport device capable of performing a sorting operation in time and a paper transport device having a paper passage switching means suitable for use in the paper transport device.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 has an introduction inlet for receiving recording paper discharged from the image forming main body, and an up-down direction from the introduction entrance. An upper sorting paper path and a lower sorting paper path that extend and sort the recording paper received in the introduction entrance into respective bins that are vertically arranged over a plurality of stages; and the introduction entrance. A continuous paper passage for discharging the recording paper received at the discharge outlet to the recording paper without sorting, and the three paper passages disposed at the introduction entrance and receiving the recording paper received at the introduction entrance. Paper path switching means for selectively guiding one of the two, and the recording paper guided to one of the two sorting paper paths by the paper path switching means. For its sorting And a reversing conveying means for returning in the paper passage and feeding it to the other sorting paper passage.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the introduction entrance for receiving the recording paper discharged from the image forming main body, and one of the introduction entrance extending in the up-down direction and received by the introduction entrance. A sorting paper passage that sorts recording paper into bins that are arranged in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction, and a recording paper that extends from the introduction entrance to the other and is received by the introduction entrance. A paper path for exclusive use of a reversing path, a paper path for continuous use which discharges the recording paper received at the introduction inlet to the discharge outlet of the recording paper without sorting, and the introduction entrance which is disposed at the introduction entrance. Paper path switching means for selectively guiding the recording paper received by the unit to one of the three paper paths, and recording guided to the reverse path paper path by the paper path switching means. Pass the paper through By backward the inner characterized by comprising a reversing conveyance means for feeding to the sorting for sheet passing path.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the paper transport apparatus according to the first aspect, the double continuous paper passage is configured to linearly connect the inlet and the outlet with the second and the second outlets. It is characterized by being arranged so as to penetrate a portion between the bins of one sorting paper passage.

[Operation] According to the invention described in claim 1, the recording paper received in the introduction entrance is vertically extended from the three entrances, ie, the introduction entrance, by the paper passage switching means. Sorting the recording paper received in the upper and lower sorting paper paths, which sorts the recording paper received in the bin into each of the bins arranged in a plurality of rows in the vertical direction, and the recording paper received in the introduction entrance. The paper is selectively guided to one of the multiple continuous paper passages that discharge to the recording paper discharge outlet, and is used for normal sorting operation in the upper sorting paper passage or the lower sorting paper passage. Is efficiently performed as appropriate. Further, the recording paper reversing conveying means guided to one of the two sorting paper passages by the paper passage switching means is moved back in the sorting paper passage by the reverse conveying means, and , The reverse sorting operation is appropriately and efficiently performed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the recording paper received by the introduction entrance is extended by the paper passage switching means from one of the three paper passages, that is, one of the up and down directions from the introduction entrance, A sorting paper passage for sorting recording paper received at the introduction entrance into each of bins arranged in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction. Recording paper extending from the introduction entrance to the other and received at the introduction entrance. Is selectively guided to one of the double-passing paper passages that discharges the recording paper received at the introduction entrance to the discharge exit of the recording paper without sorting, The normal sorting operation, the reverse sorting operation, and the sorting operation at the time of the cascade are appropriately and efficiently performed. The reverse sorting operation at that time is performed by feeding the recording paper guided to the reverse-passage-dedicated paper passage by the paper-passage-switching means in the passage by the reversing conveyance means and feeding the recording paper into the sorting paper-passage path. It is.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the sorting operation is performed during the continuous sorting of the sorter, the recording paper conveyed from the introduction inlet is linearly delivered to the discharge outlet without waste.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the structure of the image forming main body according to the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment of a copying machine shown in FIG. The image forming main body includes a copier main body C, a multi-stage paper feeder (PB) 400 installed below the copier main body C, and an automatic reversing original device ( ARDF) 100.

In the copying machine main body C, the document to be copied is inserted from the position shown by the arrow A, and is stopped at a predetermined position on the contact glass 203. The operation of the original set will be described in detail in the section of the automatic reversing original feeder (ARDF) described later.

Next, an exposure step is performed by the optical system 200. The optical system 200 is arranged so that the original image can be operated below the contact glass 203, and includes an original illumination light source 201, movable mirrors 204, 205, 206, a zoom lens 207, and a fixed mirror 20.
8,209,210. The document illumination light source 2
01, the reflector 202, and the movable mirror 204 constitute a first scanner 220. The first scanner 220 has a relative velocity (V) of the photosensitive drum 601 (V / m; m is a copy magnification). Is moved rightward at the speed of at the same time, and at the same time, the second scanner 230 composed of the movable mirrors 205 and 206 is (V / 2m)
It is rotationally driven by a drive motor (not shown) so as to be moved rightward in the drawing at the speed shown in FIG. The peripheral speed of the photosensitive drum 601 is constant irrespective of the same magnification or variable magnification.

The copy magnification is changed by driving the lens drive motor (not shown) to change the position of the zoom lens 207 on the optical path. In FIG. 1, a zoom lens 20 is shown.
When the position 7 is at G, m = 0.5 (50% reduction), when at H, m = 1.0 (actual magnification), and when I, m = 2.0
(200% magnification).

At a slightly right side of the center of the copying machine main body 1, an image forming system 600 is provided around the photosensitive drum 601. That is, a charging charger 602 for uniformly charging the photosensitive drum 601 around the photosensitive drum 601, an eraser 603 for erasing unnecessary charges, and a first development for visualizing the toner powder on the electrostatic latent image by a magnetic brush. Device 502, a second developing device 501, a belt transfer device 630 for transferring a toner image on the photosensitive drum 601 to recording paper, and a photosensitive drum 601 without being transferred to recording paper
A cleaning device 608 and the like for cleaning the toner image remaining thereon are provided.

In the belt transfer device 630, an endless belt 613 stretched by a plurality of rollers 614 and the like is lightly pressed against the photosensitive drum 601, and a corona discharge for transfer is performed by a charger 609 from the back. Charger 612
Is for charging the endless belt 613 and electrostatically attracting the recording paper. The charger 610 is a charger for removing static electricity from the endless belt 613. The rubber blade 615 is for cleaning the residue of the endless belt 613 after the paper is conveyed.

There are roughly two recording paper feeding units, one is a multi-manual paper feeding device 300 attached to the main body side, and the other is a multi-stage paper feeding device having a plurality of paper feeding trays ( PB) 40
It is 0. Paper guide 301 of multi-purpose feeder 300
Is normally closed, and is opened as shown when it is in use, whereby the recording paper is set. The set recording paper is pulled in by the call roller 302, and is fed by the feed roller 303 and the separation roller 3.
04 sends only one card. After being temporarily stopped by the pair of registration rollers 305, the sheet is fed while being synchronized with the leading end of the image on the photosensitive drum 601. On the other hand, in the sheet feeding operation by the multi-stage sheet feeding device 400, first, the sheet feeding device 410 is moved up and down toward the sheet tray of the selected sheet feeding stage. When the selected paper tray is approached, a signal from a sensor (not shown) is received to stop the elevation drive of the paper feeding device 410, and then the paper tray is moved to the paper feeding device side.
The paper feeding method is basically the same as the multi-manual paper feeding device. That is, the paper is sent to the paper feed roller 412 by the calling roller 411, and then separated and fed by the paper feed roller 412 and the separation roller 413.
The fed paper reaches the registration roller pair 305 via the transport roller 306 and is stopped. The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred while being held by the endless belt 613 after passing through the registration roller pair 305 is fused with the toner image by the heat roller pair (the fixing roller 701 and the pressure roller 702). The recorded paper after fixing passes through the pair of fixing discharge rollers and goes to the main discharge tray 809 or the re-feeding device 900.

In the case of performing double-sided copying, two different transport paths are roughly used for A4 (or LT) size or smaller and other sizes. First, when the size is smaller than A4 (or LT) size, when the rear end of the copying machine passes through the fixing device 700, the sensor 8
In response to the signal from 10, the gate 801 is displaced downward, and at the same time, the roller 802 is reversed and the copier is sent in the direction of the roller 901. The copying machine discharged by the roller 901 is sent to the sheet feeding unit side by the aligning roller 908. When all of the single-sided copying machines are stacked, the lowermost copying machine is fed by a feeding belt composed of a perforated belt that is rotated so as to surround a chamber 915 connected to a suction fan (not shown), Only one sheet is fed by the separation roller 910 rotated clockwise in the upper position. Thereafter, the sheet passes through the transport roller 306 to the registration roller pair 305.

In the case of paper having a size larger than A4 (or LT), the copy paper passes through the roller 802 after passing through the fixing device. At this time, the gates 803 and 804 are at the positions indicated by the solid lines in FIG. When the trailing edge of the copy paper passes the sensor 811, the rollers 805, 806, 807, and 808 are inverted based on the signal and the gate 8
04 takes the position of the broken line, and the rear end of the copy paper thus far becomes the front end, and heads toward the roller 902. When the size of the copy paper is A3 (or 17 "), the gate 905 takes the position indicated by the broken line and is discharged onto the refeeding device immediately after passing through the roller 902. When the size of the copy paper is B4 (or 14") Is the gate
905 takes the position of the solid line, and the gate 906 takes the position of the broken line, so that the copy paper that has passed through the rollers 903 is discharged onto the re-feeding device. Copy paper size is A4
In vertical, B5 vertical (or 11 ″) gates 905, 906 take the position of the solid line, gate 907 takes the position of the dashed line,
The copy paper that has passed through the rollers 904 is discharged onto the re-feeding device. Subsequent operations are the same as those for A4 and below.

In the case of multiple (synthetic) copying, regardless of the size, the gate 803 is first displaced to the position shown by the broken line, and the copy paper after fixing is sent to the roller 902. When the copy paper size is A3 (or 17 ″), the gate 905 takes the position indicated by the broken line and is discharged onto the re-feeder immediately after passing through the roller 902. When the copy paper size is B4 (or 14 ″), the gate Reference numeral 905 denotes a solid line, and the gate 906 takes a position shown by a broken line, and is discharged onto the re-feeding device after passing through the roller 903. When the copy paper size is A4 portrait or B5 portrait (or 11 "), the gate 9
05 and 906 take the position of the solid line and the gate 907 takes the position of the broken line, and the copy paper that has passed through the rollers 904 is discharged onto the paper feeding device again. When the copy paper size is A4 horizontal (or less than LT), the gates 905, 906, 907 take the position of the solid line,
After passing above the gate 907, it is discharged onto the refeeding device. Alignment rollers 908 are operated to align the discharged copy paper. Subsequent operations are the same as in the above-described duplex copying.

The configuration and operation of the automatic reversing original document apparatus (ARDF) 100 will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, in the case of a single-sided original, the original to be copied is set on the tray 101 in the direction of arrow A with the image side up. The set document is fed by a feeding mechanism similar to that of the multi-manual feeding device. That is, the original is pulled in the left direction by the calling roller 102, and then only the uppermost original is directed to the roller pair 106 by the paper feed roller 103 which is rotated clockwise and the separation roller 104 which is also rotated clockwise. Be fed. In this automatic document feeder, documents are fed in page order. The roller pair 106 is stopped until the document is sent, and starts rotating a little after the leading end of the document is reached. Thus, the skew (skew) of the document is corrected. After passing through the roller pair 107, it is guided by the guide plate 123 and is sent between the contact glass 203 and the transport belt 118. The transport belt 118 is stretched by a driving roller 115, a roller 116, and a tension roller 117. The stop position of the document on the contact glass 203 is determined by the number of pulses starting from when the rear end of the document passes the sensor 127.

When the scanning of the original is completed, the transport belt driving roller 11
5 is rotated clockwise and the document is sent to the left in the form of switchback. The first gate 111, which was initially at the position shown by the solid line, is displaced to the position shown by the broken line in FIG. That is, the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 5C is obtained. Roller 112 at the beginning of the manuscript
And passes between the rollers 113 and onto the tray 119. In this state, since the image surface of the original is on the upper surface, if the paper is continuously discharged as it is, the page order will be reversed. In order to avoid this, the device is again inverted. That is, at the same time when the rear end of the original is detected by the sensor 128, the rollers 108 and 1
13 is reversed counterclockwise. At the same time, based on this inverted signal, the second gate 110 is switched to the position indicated by the solid line shown in FIG. 5B, and the first gate 111 is also changed to the position indicated by the solid line below. In this way, as shown in FIG. 5C, the documents pass between the rollers 113 and 114 and are stacked on the tray 119 with the image side down. The same operation is repeated sequentially, and the originals are stacked in the same page order as when they were first set.

For double-sided documents, the first side should be
The operation is the same as in the single-sided mode up to the stop on the upper side. When scanning of the document is completed, the transport belt driving roller 115
Is rotated clockwise and the document is sent out to the left in the form of being switched back. At this time, the first gate 111 is displaced upward as in the case of a one-sided original, and
The position of the gate 109 is also changed upward. The situation is the fifth
This is shown in FIG. The head of the original to be inverted is guided by guides 121 and 122 and is sent again onto the contact glass 203. The stop position of the document on the contact glass 203 is determined by the number of pulses from the time when the rear end of the document has passed the sensor 128.

When the scanning of the document on the second side is completed, the transport belt driving roller 115 is rotated clockwise to switch back, and the document is fed leftward. At this time, the third gate 109 is displaced downward, and the original is moved to the roller 112 and the roller 113 in the state shown in FIG.
And is stacked on the tray 119. Thus, the operation of feeding and discharging the two-sided document is completed. Thereafter, the same operation is sequentially repeated, and the originals are stacked in the same page order as when they were first set.

A sorter 1000 as shown in FIG. 2 is arranged side by side on such a side of the image forming main body. To this sorter 1000, the recording paper is sent in such a manner that the direction of the recording paper is changed in a substantially right angle direction from the double-sided copying refeeding device constituting the image forming conveyance path in the image forming main body. . That is, a sorting carry-out path is provided as described later for transferring the copy paper brought to the near side in the re-feeding device 900 of the image forming apparatus main body shown in FIG. It is excellent in transport efficiency because the paper sent in the longitudinal direction such as A3 or B4 is sent short.

The sorter 1000 is designed to be able to switch between the front and back sides of the copy paper to be discharged. When copying in page order, the copied paper must be stacked with the image side down, or if the image side is up, it must be inserted under the previous copy paper to make it the same as the original. Must. The latter method is not very common, and the former method is more general, and this is called backside discharge.

The operation of turning the upper surface of the copy paper back is performed on the image forming main body side. That is, the switching of the gate 803 to the position indicated by the broken line in the same manner as in the multiple (composite) copying,
It is stacked with the image side down on 00. As shown in FIG. 1, a paper feed belt 911, 912, 913 composed of a perforated belt rotated so as to surround a chamber 914 connected to a suction fan (not shown) is provided below the stacked copy paper. Yes, the bottom layer of the copy paper is fed. Here, the paper feed belt 909 and the paper feed belts 911, 912, 913 are installed in a relationship of making a right angle so that the paper discharge direction is a right angle, and the direction in which the paper is fed by the paper feed belts 911, 912, 913 is the front side in FIG. It is. Before being sent to the sorter 1000 side, the copy paper is uniformly moved to the right side in FIG. 1 and to the front side in FIG. Therefore, when the copy paper is transported by the paper feed belts 911, 912, and 913, the copy paper is placed in a state where the edges of the copy paper are aligned on the near side in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the recorded copy paper is discharged through a pair of guide plates 1301 provided in the main body delivery portion, and is arranged at the recording paper introduction entrance of the sorter 1000. It is guided upward by a gate 1302 as a paper passage switching means. As a result, the copy paper is sent out to the sorting paper passage 1111 and is guided toward the upper bin trays. And first, the sorting paper path 1111
Is rotated counterclockwise to turn the first copy sheet, and the roller pair 1102a, 1103a
Is transported to the bin tray 1101a by the transport action of The gate 1104b provided in the sorting paper passage 1111 is opened for the second copy paper, and the gate 11 provided in the sorting paper passage 1111 for the third copy paper.
The gates are opened sequentially, such as opening of 04c, and the gates are sequentially stacked on the bin trays 1101b and 1101c. 10th or top bin tray
The gate 1105 relative to 1101j is fixed at a position that is always open without being rotated.

In the front-side discharge with the image side up, first, the copy paper is switched back in the image forming main body in the same manner as in double-sided copying, and is stacked in the re-feeding device 900. Refeeder 900
The operation of transporting the copy paper from the printer to the sorter 1000 is the same as in the case of backside discharge.

Next, switch between front side discharge and back side discharge
The operation performed on the 1000 side will be described with a method in which the paper processing on the image forming main body side is stacked on the re-feeding device 900 without switchback as in the case of multiplex (composite) copying. Since the image is conveyed to the guide plate 1301 with the image side down, the above-described operation is performed when the back side is discharged.

Here, the gate 1302 can be selectively switched between a sorting paper passage 1111 for guiding copy paper to the upper bin tray and a sorting paper passage 1211 for guiding copy paper to the lower bin tray. It is provided so that it can move up and down freely. As shown in FIG. 9, an arm 1401 having one end connected to the gate 1302 is supported at a substantially central portion by a pin 1402 so as to be able to swing freely, and is connected to one end of the arm 1401. , Two solenoids 14 as sheet passage switching means, which are disposed at substantially vertically symmetric positions.
The output shafts 03 and 1404 are connected from opposite directions. By operating one of the solenoids 1403 and 1404, the gate 1302 is moved up and down.

Therefore, if the gate 1302 is positioned below as shown by the solid line in FIG. 6, the copy paper is guided to the sorting paper passage 1111 for guiding the copy paper to the upper bin tray as described above. The copy paper is led directly to the upper 10 bin trays. On the other hand, if the gate 1302 is positioned above as shown by the broken line in FIG. 6, the sorting paper passage 12 for guiding the copy paper to the lower bin tray will be described.
Copy paper will be introduced in 11. At this time, the right side of the copy paper is the image surface. Then, when the sensor 1210 detects the trailing edge of the copy paper, the roller 13
07, 1205, 1206, and 1207 are reversed, and the copy paper is switched back up and is guided to the upper ten bin trays through the sorting paper passage 1111. The stacking on each bin / tray is the same as when the paper is discharged on the back side, but on the bin tray, the image is turned upward and the paper is discharged on the front side. As described above, if the reversing operation of the copy paper is performed using the sorting paper passage 1211 for guiding the copy paper to the lower bin tray, it is necessary to provide a separate paper passage for reversal. And space saving, compact, and inexpensive.

Next, a case in which the sorting operation is performed on the lower 10 bin trays will be described. Gate 13 as shown in FIG.
02 is displaced upward, and the copy paper sent out from the guide plate 1301 is introduced into the lower sorting paper passage 1211 by the guide action of the gate 1302. After the first sheet of paper (correctly the eleventh sheet since the operation is performed after the 11th bin) guided downward, the copy paper passes through the roller pair 1307 and is then opened by the gate 1204a in the open state to the bin tray side. And passed through rollers 1202a and 1203a and bin tray 1201a
Stacked on top. Thereafter, the gates 1204b and 1204c are sequentially opened, and are sequentially stacked on the trays 1201b and 1201c.

The operation of switching the front-side discharge and the back-side discharge in this case on the sorter 1000 side will be described. In the case of back side discharge, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 7, the copy paper is directly directed to the lower ten bin trays directly by the gate 1302 positioned above. In the case of front side discharge, the gate 1302 is located on the lower side as shown by the broken line in FIG. At this time, the image surface is on the left side of the copy paper. When the trailing edge of the copy paper is detected by the sensor 1110 (see FIG. 6), the rollers 1102 and 1103 as the reversing conveyance means are inverted, whereby the copy paper is switched back. Subsequent operations are the same as the other stacking operations. Gates 1204a-j are sequentially opened, pass through roller pairs 1202a-j, 1203a-j, and
Copy papers are sequentially stacked on 01a-j.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which a further 20 bottle sorters are provided in addition to the 20 bottle sorters. The additional 20 bottle sorters have a similar internal configuration. The transfer of the copy paper to the additional 20-body bin sorter is carried out through the heavy-duty paper path 1303 provided between the 10 bin-tray groups that are arranged vertically. Done. The heavy paper passage 1303 is provided so as to linearly connect the inlet and the outlet of the copy paper, and is disposed so as to penetrate a portion between the upper and lower bin groups. I have. At this time, the gate 1302 is set at an intermediate position as shown in FIG. 8 (b). It will be arranged so as to face the outlet of the plate 1301. Then, the copy paper that has passed through the guide plate 1301 is introduced into the continuous paper passage 1303, is moved horizontally as it is, and passes through the rollers 1304, 1305, 1306, and is discharged toward the sorter arranged downstream. Will be done. The sorting operation after passing through the heavy paper passage 1303 is the same as the operation of the 20 bin sorters after the guide plate 1301.

For a user who does not necessarily need the above-mentioned 20 bin trays, a sorter having only the upper 10 bin trays as shown in FIG. 10 may be used. The paper passage 1212 extending downward as in this embodiment is provided as a paper passage dedicated to the reverse path. In this case, in the space part in the lower part of the sorter,
It can also be used as a place to store supplies such as paper, toner, and developer.

In this case, the components such as the gate 1302, the roller 1307, and the sensor 1210 as the paper passage switching means can be used in common even when a 10-bin sorter is added, which is efficient. In addition, the sensor 1210 can have a function of detecting a position abnormality of the gate 1302, a function of detecting an abnormality of the conveyed paper, and the like.

According to such an embodiment, the following advantages can be obtained.

Since the sorting operation is performed by being divided into the upper bin sorter and the lower bin sort, the length of the paper path to each bin can be shortened, and the sorting operation can be performed quickly. .

The copy paper is taken out in the front direction, and the edge of the copy paper can be brought to the front irrespective of the size of the copy paper, so that the ease of taking out the copy paper can be improved.

Post-processing such as stapling and punching for the copy paper edge can be easily executed, and manual operation is also possible.

Even if a jam occurs during sorting, the jammed paper can be easily taken out because the edge of the copy paper is on the front side.

Copying paper of relatively large size, such as A3 size or B4 size, can be fed in the short direction, so that the transport efficiency is improved and speedy sorting work is possible.

Since the maximum copy paper of A3 size is fed in the short direction and stacked on the bin tray, the width direction of the sorter can be shortened, and the space can be saved. The width can be further reduced by limiting the number of stacks in the bin and giving the bin a certain angle or more.

Since it can be sequentially added, a large-capacity sorter can be provided that sufficiently satisfies the needs of the user. Even in this case, the transport path of the sorter can be kept short to prevent a decrease in transportability.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, of the three paper passages of the upper paper passage, the lower paper passage, and the multiple paper passage. Is configured to be arbitrarily selected by the paper path switching means, so that the normal sorting operation and the sorting operation at the time of the continuous cascade are performed first by the paper path switching means. The recording paper guided to one of the sorting paper passages is moved back in the sorting paper passage by the reversing conveyance means, and is sent to the other sorting paper passage to be mixed. It can be performed efficiently with a simple configuration as appropriate, and the sorter can sort while turning over the recording paper, and connect and overlap multiple sorters to copy the recording paper to a large number of copies. Sort in a minimum amount of time when sorting Operation can be performed.

According to the invention described in claim 2, one of the three of the sorting paper path, the reverse path dedicated paper path, and the multiple continuous paper path is arbitrarily selected by the paper path switching means. , The normal sorting operation, the reverse sorting operation, and the sorting operation at the time of the cascade can be appropriately and efficiently performed with a simple configuration, and the sorter sorts while reversing the front and back of the recording paper. While being able to
The sorting operation can be performed in a minimum time when a plurality of sorters are connected and overlapped to sort the recording paper into a large number of copies. Further, a space portion where the bin on the side of the paper passage dedicated to the reversing path is not arranged can be used as a place for placing supplies such as toner and developer.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the sorting operation is performed at the time of the continuous sorting of the sorter, the recording paper conveyed from the introduction entrance is linearly and desirably delivered to the discharge exit. Since the continuous paper path is configured, the paper path length at the time of the heavy continuous sorter can be reduced to a minimum, and the sorting operation can be performed quickly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing an entire image forming apparatus provided with a copying machine to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state where a sorter is added to the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic front view showing a state where a sorter is further added to the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a side view of an automatic reversing document feeder (ARDF). Enlarged view, FIGS. 5 (a), (b),
(C) and (d) are partially enlarged side views illustrating the configuration and operation of the document feeder, reverser, and document feeder of the automatic reversing document feeder (ARDF). FIG. 6 is located at the top of the sorter. Front enlarged view explaining the configuration and operation of the bin sorter
FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view illustrating the configuration and operation of a bin sorter located below the sorter, and FIGS. 8 (a) and (b) illustrate the configuration and operation of copy paper passing through the sorter. FIG. 9 is an enlarged side view, FIG. 9 is a side view showing an operation mechanism of the paper passage switching means, and FIG. 10 is a schematic front view showing a sorter in another embodiment of the present invention. C: Copier body, 400: Multi-stage paper feeder (PB), 100
… Automatic reversal manuscript device (ARDF), 1000 …… Sorter, 111
1,1211… Sorting paper path, 1302… Paper path switching gate, 1303… Multiple continuous paper path.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-58-157672 (JP, A) JP-A-54-18742 (JP, A) JP-A-57-203653 (JP, A) JP-A-59-7668 (JP, A) , A) JP-A-59-194969 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65H 39/11

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An introduction port for receiving recording paper discharged from an image forming main body; and a plurality of recording papers extending vertically from the introduction entrance and received in the introduction entrance arranged vertically. The upper and lower sorting paper passages for sorting the bins into separate bins, and the multiple use for discharging the recording paper received at the introduction inlet to the recording paper discharge outlet without sorting. A paper passage, a paper passage switching means disposed at the introduction entrance, and selectively guiding recording paper received at the introduction entrance to one of the three paper passages; The recording paper guided to one of the two sorting paper passages by the path switching means is moved back in the sorting paper passage and sent to the other sorting paper passage. Inversion transport means and A paper transport device, comprising: 2. An inlet for receiving recording paper discharged from the image forming main body, and a recording paper extending in one of the vertical direction from the inlet and receiving the recording paper received in the inlet. A sorting paper passage which sorts each of the bins arranged in a plurality of stages into a plurality of bins; and a reverse passage exclusive passage which extends from the introduction inlet to the other side and into which the recording paper received in the introduction inlet is carried in. A paper path; a double-passage paper path for discharging the recording paper received at the introduction inlet to the discharge outlet without sorting the recording paper; and a recording disposed at the introduction entrance and received at the introduction entrance. Paper path switching means for selectively guiding a sheet to one of the three paper paths, and a recording sheet guided to the reverse path paper path by the paper path switching means in the path. Reactivated in Sheet conveying apparatus characterized by comprising a, a reversing conveyance means for feeding to the sorting for sheet passing path Te. 3. The paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the double continuous paper passing path linearly connects the introduction inlet portion and the discharge outlet portion with each other. A paper transport device, wherein the paper transport device is disposed so as to penetrate a portion of the road between the bins.