JP3122674B2 - Sheet distribution storage device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet loaded on a plurality of sheet receiving tables which have a stacking surface inclined in the conveying direction, are stacked vertically and are movable in parallel in the sheet conveying direction. Sheet dispensing and storage suitable for a post-processing device of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, which is provided with a mechanical processing device for sequentially discharging sheets and performing mechanical processing such as binding processing in the vicinity of the sheet discharge position on the sorted sheets. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a post-processing apparatus which is connected to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and sorts sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus for each required number of copies, there are (I) a platen for a copying machine and the like. When the set originals are sequentially recorded and the ejected papers are received and sequentially deposited on the recording paper receiving tray, the stacking position of the papers on the recording paper receiving tray is changed every time a series of original recording operations are performed. With the post-processing type post-processing device, (II) the same number of copies of the same document are recorded in a copying machine or the like, and the discharged sheets are sequentially distributed and stored on the required number of bin trays stacked vertically. 2. Description of the Related Art A recording paper distribution type post-processing apparatus is known. Furthermore, the recording paper distribution type of (II) is (i)
Bin tray fixed type that fixes the positions of multiple bin trays and changes the discharge position for discharging to each bin tray, and (ii) Bin tray movement that fixes the discharge position for discharging paper and moves the positions of multiple bin trays sequentially There is a type. FIGS. 16 and 17 show the state near the paper discharge roller during the sorting operation of the conventional apparatus. FIG.
Reference numeral 6 denotes a bin tray which is ejected to a designated bin tray by rotation of a guide claw provided in the vicinity of a sheet ejection position of each bin tray. (I) Bin tray fixed type, FIG. (Ii) shows a bin tray moving type in which the bin tray interval at that position is expanded by moving to (2). As an example of a conventional example, (i) a bin tray fixed type will be briefly described with reference to FIG. This post-processing device is actually a bin tray 1
Are stacked in the vertical direction in addition to those shown in the figure, and a paper discharge roller 36, a driven roller 56 that rotates with the paper discharge roller 36, and a guide claw 55 are also provided at the corresponding recording paper discharge positions of each bin tray 1. Have been. The transport direction of the paper conveyed from below is changed by the rotating operation of the guide claw 55 at the designated recording paper discharge position of the bin tray 1, and the discharge rollers 36 of the designated bin tray 1 are changed.
Is continued to be transported while being held by the driven roller 56, and is eventually discharged onto the bin tray 1. When the paper p has been discharged onto the bin tray 1, the guide claws 55 rotate to return to the original standby position, open the transport path above the position, and
This allows the paper p to pass upward. By the time the next sheet p is conveyed, normally, the bin tray 1 specified last time
The guide claw 55 of the bin tray 1 immediately above or immediately below is rotated to the recording sheet discharge position, and guides the conveyed sheet p onto the bin tray 1. On the other hand, a number of post-processing devices (ii) having a simpler sorting operation mechanism and having a movable discharge tray have been developed. As this type of sheet distributing and storing apparatus, for example, a Geneva wheel disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-4855 is used to increase the distance between a bin tray for receiving sheets and a bin tray above the sheet tray to facilitate sheet storage. A collation sorter is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-78.
No. 769 discloses an improved classification device in which the interval between bin trays is similarly increased by using a helical cam. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H2-110075 discloses that the bin for receiving paper is parallel to the paper storage surface of the bin by the vertical movement of the bin and the engagement with the cam without increasing the bin interval as in the above-described prior art. To form a paper receiving port by moving the paper to a paper receiving port.

In the conventional device of the type (ii), since it is often used as a simple type sorting device as described above, it is not preferable that the device is too large. Therefore, the recording paper discharge position is set so that as much paper as possible can be stored while keeping the apparatus small, and even if the paper is slightly bent, it can be smoothly stored on the bin tray at the recording paper discharge position. While widening the interval between the bin tray and the bin tray immediately above or below it, the interval between the other bin trays is made as small as possible to improve the bin tray storage capacity of paper and the bin tray storage function for bent paper. At the same time, by moving the bin tray storing the paper from the recording paper discharge position to another position, the bent paper is pinched between the adjacent bin tray immediately above the paper tray, thereby rolling the bent paper. A sheet distributing and storing apparatus which can also be expected to have functions has already been developed. Some of such post-processing apparatuses include a mechanism for mechanically processing a sheet edge such as binding or punching a sheet. In such a post-processing apparatus, a sheet discharged onto a bin tray is First, the sheet bundle is aligned by a sheet aligning device, and the aligned sheet bundle is pulled out and then bound or punched, or the above processing is performed by a binding device or a punching device moved in the bin tray direction. .

[0004]

For example, in the case of a post-processing apparatus in which a sheet moving unit grips and pulls out a sheet bundle and performs post-processing such as binding or punching at one end thereof,
When the pinch for holding the sheet bundle is opened at the leading end and the sheet bundle is mounted, the sheet is mounted, and when it tries to enter between the bin tray immediately above the recording paper discharge position and the adjacent bin tray above and below,
As described above, the bin tray interval at a position other than the recording sheet discharge position is designed to be considerably narrow, so that the sheet may be bent or damaged by hitting the sheet bundle pinched between the bin trays. In some cases, the paper on the surface may slide and be damaged. Also, when the sandwiching piece grips the sheet bundle and tries to pull it out, the pinch pressure of the sheet bundle by the bin tray is too strong and cannot be pulled out,
In some cases, the sheet on the front side failed to be pulled out and only the sheet remained on the bin tray, and post-processing such as binding of a sheet bundle or punching could not be performed properly. The same problem as described above has also occurred in a post-processing device capable of performing mechanical processing such as binding by another method. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem of the related art. When the bin tray is moved in the vertical direction from the recording paper discharge position, the sheet stacking surface interval of the enlarged bin tray is reduced, and the sheet discharge position is reduced. In a sheet distributing and storing device capable of performing mechanical processing such as binding processing on a sheet bundle in the vicinity,
An object of the present invention is to prevent damage to sheets stacked on a bin tray and occurrence of processing defects when performing mechanical processing.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a structure in which sheets are stored on a sheet stacking surface inclined in a sheet conveying direction. A plurality of sheet trays that can be moved in parallel to each other, up and down moving means for moving the group of sheet trays in the vertical direction collectively, and The first enlargement is performed by moving the sheet receiving table in parallel in the sheet conveying direction, and increasing the sheet stacking surface interval between the sheet receiving table and another sheet receiving table located immediately above the sheet receiving table than that at a position other than the bias portion. And the second enlarged sheet stacking surface interval smaller than the first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval and larger than the sheet stacking surface interval at a position other than the bias portion. And biasing means for made, first by biasing portion
Sheet discharging means for discharging a sheet onto a sheet receiving table held with an enlarged sheet stacking surface distance, and mechanical processing means for performing mechanical processing on the sheets stacked on the sheet receiving table It is provided with.

[0006]

Each time the sheet discharging means discharges the sheet onto the sheet receiving table held with the first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval, the vertical moving means collectively moves the sheet receiving table group in the vertical direction. In accordance with the vertical movement, the biasing means moves the respective sheet trays in the biasing portion in parallel in the sheet conveying direction, thereby increasing the distance between the first and second enlarged sheet stacking surfaces between the sheet trays. Let it form. The mechanical processing means performs mechanical processing such as binding and punching on the sheets stacked on the sheet receiving table.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the entire sheet processing apparatus, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the vicinity of the bin tray, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a biasing operation of the bin tray of the sheet processing apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration near the conveyance path leading to the stacking unit I and the sorting and binding unit II of the sheet processing apparatus. The sheet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is a post-processing apparatus capable of continuously performing a plurality of sets of image-recorded sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, or sorting and binding. Thus, it is usually arranged in close contact with the image forming apparatus. First, the outline of the configuration of the sheet processing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. The sheet processing apparatus has a stacking unit I for sequentially stacking sheets received from the image forming apparatus, and a sorting and binding unit II for sorting sheets and further performing a binding process.
And a transport path B leading to the sorting and binding section II (see FIG. 5). 1a is a stacking tray for stacking sheets discharged by the stacking unit I, 1 is a bin tray whose main surface is inclined to the sheet receiving side, and receives and stores the sheet p carried in from the right side in each figure. Slides b) are respectively extended to the front and rear (left and right sides with respect to the transport direction) side edge of the sheet receiving side of the bin tray 1 and the front and rear side edges of the sheet take-out side, and the upper and lower surfaces are held horizontally in the stacked state. It is a cam.
The bin trays 1 are stacked in multiple stages in the vertical direction, and can be moved in the vertical direction by a vertical movement device described later as a whole in the stacked state, and the vertical movement includes a cam track described later in the biasing portion B by the vertical movement. The sliding mechanism allows the upper stacking group 1U and the lower stacking group 1D to be separated by moving a predetermined distance in the horizontal direction. 44 is a discharge roller of the main body of the image forming apparatus for discharging paper from the image forming apparatus, 51 is a switching claw for switching the paper transport path to the transport path A or the transport path B according to the processing operation of the paper, and 52 and 53.
And 54 are guide plates constituting the transport path A and the transport path B, respectively, 36 and 41 are lower and upper discharge rollers for discharging sheets to the stacking section I and the sorting and binding section II, respectively. Conveyance rollers which are located near the path A and convey the paper, 39, 42 and 43 are a lower paper discharge sensor, an upper paper discharge sensor and a discharge sensor of the image forming apparatus main body, respectively, and 50 is a paper entrance. In this embodiment, the upper discharge roller 41 and the transport roller 40 are driven by a discharge motor 37 in conjunction with the lower discharge roller 36 via a driving force transmission mechanism (not shown). Bin tray 1
The paper aligning device 4 is provided on the trailing edge side, and the upper stacking group 1U
Bin tray 1 immediately below bin tray 1 located immediately below
And a sheet binding device 5 that fits and binds a needle to one end of the sheet bundle P on the bin tray 1 and a sheet bundle P that is also aligned and stacked by a holding mechanism. Then, a paper moving unit 6 is provided, which is pulled out to the binding position of the paper binding device 5 and pushed back to the original position (see FIG. 2).

Hereinafter, each part of the sheet processing apparatus will be described in detail. First, in the bin tray 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a substantially semi-cylindrical rolling roller groove provided on the upper and lower surfaces of each slide cam 10 so as to extend in the left-right direction in the figure, and 13 protrudes from front and rear side edges of the slide cam 10a. A trunnion 14 which is loosely fitted on the pin 12 and rolls; 14 is a rear end aligning fence which is bent and formed on the sheet receiving side of the bin tray 1 to align the trailing end position of the sheet; 15 is a jogger wire 33 of the sheet aligning apparatus 4 which will be described later. Is a notch portion into which a piece of a holding mechanism of the sheet moving unit 6 described later is loosely inserted. The rolling roller groove 11 has a spherical rolling roller 3
1 are inserted and fitted between the slide cams 10 of the upper and lower bin trays 1. Next, with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, a vertical moving device 3 and a horizontal sliding mechanism that moves the bin tray 1 along the slide cam 10 using a vertical driving force of the vertical moving device 3 will be described. 2f,
2r is a previous frame and a rear frame, and the previous frame 2r
f and the rear frame 2r correspond to the paper receiving side,
An elongated cam track 21 composed of an upper vertical portion 21U, a lower vertical portion 21D and an offset portion 21B therebetween, and a guide hole 22 extending in the vertical direction on the opposite side are respectively formed, and the offset portion 21B of the cam track 21 is It is a skew portion that smoothly skews from the sheet receiving side from the lower end of the upper vertical portion 21U to the upper end of the lower vertical portion 21D. Each bin tray 1 and a trunnion 6 provided on a support member of a first bin drive bar, which will be described later, are loosely fitted in the cam track 21 and guided along the cam track 21. The rotating shaft 23 is bridged over the lower vertical portion 21D of the cam track 21 via a bearing, and the front frame 2f
The take-up pulley 24 is fixed to both ends of the rotation shaft 23 outside the rear frame 2r. A take-up gear 25 is fixed to the rotation shaft 23 outside the rear take-up pulley 24, and meshes with a reduction gear 26 constituting a meshing gear group. A vertical movement motor 27, which is a drive source of the vertical movement device 3, is provided at the rear of the rear frame 3r, and the driving force of the vertical movement motor 27 is transmitted to the take-up gear 25 via a meshing gear group. Below the lower vertical portion 21D of the cam track 21 and above the guide hole 22, the first and second direction change pulleys 28 and 29
f and the outside of the rear frame 2r. 17
a and 17b are first and second bin driving bars, respectively, and 30 is a suspension wire. The suspension wire 30 has one end wound around the take-up pulley 24 and the other end has first and second direction change pulleys 28 and 29. And is fixed to both ends 19b of the second bin driving bar 17b via the pulley 24, and is fixed to both ends 19a of the first bin driving bar 17a between the take-up pulley 24 and the first direction conversion pulley 28. That is,
The suspension wire 30 is connected to the first and second bin driving bars 17.
a, a group of bin trays stacked thereon in multiple stages via a and 17b are suspended so as to be vertically movable in parallel. First and second support members 18a and 18b supporting a group of bin trays are fixed near both ends of the first and second bin drive bars 17a and 17b, respectively. Rolling roller groove 1 extending in the direction
1 is provided, and supports the bin tray 1 group via the rolling rollers 31 fitted in the rolling roller grooves 11. The trunnion 13 is also loosely fitted to the pin 20 protruding from the outer side surface of the first support member 18a, and is capable of rolling. The trunnions 13 of the first support members 18a are also fitted into the cam tracks 21 together with the trunnions 13 of the bin trays 1. When the trunnions 13 move vertically along the cam tracks 21, they move integrally. Reference numeral 32 denotes a jogger arm that is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) and rotates in a counterclockwise direction. Reference numeral 33 denotes a conveying direction of the paper p stored on the bin tray 1 with the upper and lower ends stretched between the ends of the jogger arm 32, respectively. Is a jogger wire for aligning the paper by hitting the right end of the bin tray 1 against the opposing reference surface of the bin tray 1. The jogger wire constitutes the paper aligning device 4 together with the drive mechanism. The lower discharge roller 36 is disposed at a predetermined distance away from the sheet receiving side edge of the bin tray 1 located at the biasing portion B, and is driven by the discharge motor 37 to rotate, and the image-formed paper is rotated. p is discharged at a speed that allows it to be securely stored on the bin tray 1 located at the biasing portion B (see FIG. 4).

The operation of the embodiment will be described below. When the print start button is pressed after the mode setting button for setting the post-processing mode of the paper p discharged on the operation panel of the image forming apparatus (not shown), the image is recorded on the paper p by the image forming apparatus. Then, the sheet is sent to the sheet processing apparatus by the conveyance of the discharge roller 44 of the image forming apparatus main body. When the accumulation mode is selected, the switching claw 51 is rotated clockwise by energization of a solenoid (not shown), and
Open circuit. The transport roller 40 receives the paper p received at the same speed as the discharge roller 44 along the transport path A, and
Conveyed toward. The upper discharge roller 41 discharges the conveyed sheet p onto the accumulation tray 1a at a predetermined speed that does not jump over the sheet bundle already stacked on the accumulation tray 1a. The discharged paper p is abutted against the rear end alignment fence 14 protruding from the upstream edge of the stacking tray 1a, and is aligned and stacked. On the other hand, when the sorting or binding mode is selected, the switching claw 51 rotates counterclockwise to open the transport path B. Discharge sensor 43
When it is detected that the sheet p has been discharged by the discharge roller 44 of the image forming apparatus main body, a control signal is transmitted from the image forming apparatus main body to the sheet processing apparatus, and a control device (CPU 60) of the sheet processing apparatus described later controls the control. When the signal is received, the rotation speed of the discharge motor 37 is increased to a predetermined value to rapidly transport the paper p, and the bin tray 1
The rotation speed of the lower paper discharge roller 36 is set so that the paper can be discharged with a predetermined flight distance upward. When the lower paper discharge sensor 39 detects that the rear end of the sheet p is sent from the lower paper discharge roller 36, the control device controls the rotation speed of the lower paper discharge roller 36 to return to the normal rotation speed. When the bin tray 1 for discharging the sheet p is first selected in advance, a signal for selecting a predetermined bin tray 1 is sent from the image forming apparatus to the sheet processing apparatus, and when the sheet processing apparatus receives the signal, the control apparatus The vertical movement motor 27 is rotated forward or backward by a predetermined number of rotations so that the designated bin tray 1 is located at the bias portion B, and the bin tray 1 group is moved up and down via the suspension wire 30. The bin tray 1 group includes a cam track 21 of a trunnion 13 disposed at the front and rear edges of the slide cam 10a.
It moves vertically up and down by the guide along. For example,
The case where the designated bin tray 1 is in the lower stacking group 1D will be described. The bin tray 1 group includes the first and second support members 18a and 18a of the first and second bin driving bars 17a and 17b.
It is carried on the suspension wire 30 for a predetermined distance while being carried by 18b. When the trunnion 13 of the bin tray 1 reaches the skewed portion 21B of the cam track 21 while rolling, the skewed portion 21B skewed to the sheet receiving side is prevented from rising vertically upward, and the skewed portion 21B is skewed. It moves diagonally upward along the edge along the paper receiving side. The bin tray 1 is supported by the rolling rollers 31 rolling in the rolling roller grooves 11 corresponding to the above movement of the trunnion 13, and is slid horizontally in the sheet receiving side by the rolling. Trunnion 1
When 3 reaches the upper end of the skewing portion 21B, it is guided vertically upward along the upper vertical portion 21U of the cam track 21. In conjunction with the movement of the trunnion 13 guided by the cam track 21 in this manner, each bin tray 1 moves vertically upward in the lower vertical portion 21D and the upper vertical portion 21U, and the bias portion B
Moves in parallel with the inclined edge of the oblique section 21B. Eventually, after the bin tray 1 designated reaches the top of the lower vertical portion 21D, when of us in the first biasing position B ₁ and enters the oblique portion 21B is vertical movement motor 27 stops rotating, ready acceptance of the paper p Is completed. At this time, the designated bin tray 1
Bin tray 1 immediately above the is positioned slightly to the second biasing position B ₂ below the upper end of the oblique portion 21B. By the biasing operation, the downstream side end edge of the bin tray 1 immediately above the designated bin tray 1 located in the second biasing position B ₂ is moved to the upstream side horizontal movement distance H ₁ from the downstream edge of the designated bin tray 1 Therefore, the state on the stacking surface of the designated bin tray 1 in the skewed section 21B in the state of receiving the paper p can be visually recognized from the downstream side of the paper processing apparatus, and for example, the image forming state and the stacking state of the copy paper are confirmed. There are advantages such as possible.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, the operation of expanding the sheet stacking surface interval of the bin tray 1 in the biasing portion B is performed by the vertical movement of the trunnion 13 with the vertical movement of the bin tray 1 group by the vertical movement device 3. Guided by cam truck 21,
Since only the horizontal movement of the bin tray 1 caused by shifting along the oblique portion 21B is performed, the vertical position of each bin tray 1 does not change even by the biasing operation of the bin tray 1. That is, the vertical interval G between the bin trays 1
Is always kept constant, and the slide cams 10 serving as support portions between the bin trays 1 are not separated from each other. At this time, the movement of each bin tray 1 when shifting from the lower loading group 1D to the upper loading group 1U of the bin tray 1 is controlled by the vertical moving device 3 while the lateral movement is regulated by the cam track 21. This is an intermittent transition operation in accordance with a movement that is intermittently pushed upward by a moving distance equal to the vertical interval G. Therefore, at the first offset position B ₁ , the bin tray 1 containing the paper p is guided to the trunnion 13 moving along the skewed portion 21 </ b> B, and when reaching the second offset position B ₂ , the trunnion 13 of the bin tray 1 immediately below it. It goes through the tops of the lower vertical portion 21D, and stops of us in the first biasing position B ₁ and enters the oblique portion 21B. That is, the stop position of the trunnions 13 in the oblique portion 21B will always be one of the first biasing position B ₁ and the second biasing position B _2. The horizontal movement of the distance H ₁ from the first biasing position B ₁ to a second biasing position B _2, the sheet stacking surface in the gap between the sheet stacking surface of the bin tray 1 upper SekiSogun 1U or lower SekiSogun in 1D respect during interval GV, the distance in the offset portion B G between the bin tray 1 on the bin tray 1 and the second biasing position B ₂ in a first biasing position B ₁
B ₁ , GB ₂ (GV <GB ₂ <GB ₁ ) between the second offset position B ₂ and the bin tray 1 at the lowest position of the upper vertical portion 21U. That is, the interval between the sheet stacking surfaces of the bin tray 1 at the biasing portion B is changed by the horizontal movement distance H ₁ of the bin tray 1 at the first biasing position B ₁ and the second biasing position in accordance with the biasing operation at the biasing portion B. horizontal movement distance of H ₂ bin tray 1 in B ₂
(H ₂ <H ₁ ) and the intervals GB ₁ and GB respectively enlarged in accordance with the inclination of the offset portion 21 B of the cam track 21.
It becomes ₂ . The distance GB ₁ and GB ₂ between the sheets loading surface of the bin tray 1 at the bias portion B and the inclined angle of the oblique portion 21B is small but increases, through the oblique portion 21B from the lower vertical portion 21D of the trunnion 13 Smooth transition to the upper vertical portion 21U becomes difficult. Further, when the inclination angle of the biasing portions 21B is too large, it is impossible to sufficiently large spacing GB ₁ and GB ₂ between the sheets loading surface of the bin tray 1 biasing portion B, an appropriate slope in consideration of these tradeoffs What is necessary is just to set an angle. As described above, the first offset position B
_A lower paper discharge roller 36 is disposed at a predetermined distance from the paper receiving side edge of the bin tray 1 located at the position _{No. 1} , and the space p 1 between the paper stacking surfaces GB ₁ of the bin tray 1 in which the paper p is enlarged. The paper p is ejected in between and abuts against the rear end aligning fence 14 by its own weight to align the rear end of the paper p. In the present embodiment, a pair of lower discharge rollers 36 and lower driven rollers 56 provided on the left and right sides in the transport direction are in contact with each other by receiving a predetermined pressure by a spring (not shown), and the paper p is sandwiched by these roller pairs. After being conveyed under pressure, it is released at a predetermined speed and falls onto the bin tray 1.

The sheet p discharged from the lower discharge roller 36
When the rear end is aligned, the driving of the paper aligning device 4 is started, and the jogger arm 33 swings by a predetermined angle in the counterclockwise direction (arrow s), so that the jogger wire 33 moves in the insertion hole 15 in the transport direction. On the other hand, it moves in an arc in the left upstream direction from the retreat position on the right end, and strikes the side end of the paper p stored on the bin tray 1 to perform paper alignment (see FIG. 2). By this paper alignment operation, the paper p is hit against the reference wall A in the width direction of the bin tray 1 and the left edge in the transport direction is aligned. At this time, the position at which the jogger wire 33 moves at a high speed in the direction of arrow s and hits the side end of the paper p, and presses the paper p against the reference wall A to stop depends on the size (width) of the paper p. The stop position is closer to the reference wall A side as the size of is smaller. The control of the movement and stop of the jogger wire 33 is performed by controlling the number of rotations of a driving motor for driving the sheet aligning device 4 by the control device of the sheet processing apparatus based on the sheet size information transmitted from the image forming apparatus. Will be Prior to the operation of discharging the next sheet p from the image forming apparatus, the next bin tray 1 is
In order to move the first and second bin driving bars 17a, 17a, the control device of the sheet processing apparatus issues a drive signal to rotate the vertical movement motor 27 by a predetermined number of rotations.
Raise b, to move the bin tray 1 which was in the first biasing position B ₁ to a second biasing position B ₂ (see FIG. 3). Bin tray 1 which was in the first biasing position B ₁ by bin tray 1 set of pulling operation by the vertical movement device 3 and the second
As it moves to the lowest position of the upper SekiSogun 1U through a biasing position B _2, expanded by the paper stacking surface spacing GB ₁ gradually narrow paper stacking spacing GB _2, further sheet stacking surface interval GV, and the upper Is closer to the paper p stored in the lower bin tray 1 and the paper p
Is bent, or if a certain amount of sheet bundle P has already been stored, the sheet p is pressed and rolled between the upper side of the bin tray 1 and the back surface. In this way, when the paper sorting operation is completed by the intermittent lifting operation of the bin tray 1 group by the series of the vertical moving devices 3 and the storing operation of the paper p discharged from the image forming device on the bin tray 1, the image forming device continues from the image forming device. When the instruction to execute the binding operation of the sheet bundle P is received, the process proceeds to the sheet binding operation by the sheet binding device 5 described below. 9 to 15 are schematic diagrams showing the operation of the upper and lower sandwiching pieces 61 and 62 of the sheet binding device 5 and the sheet moving unit 6 during the sheet binding operation. The outline of the sheet binding operation will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the bin tray 1 loaded with sheet bundle P in the top level moves up or down the bin tray 1 group to be positioned in the second biasing position B ₂ rotates the vertical movement motor 27. Then the paper movement motor 35 of the sheet shifting unit 6 is driven, with the upper and lower clamping pieces 61, 62 has opened the tip, penetrate the notches 16 of the bin tray 1 located in the second biasing position B ₂ (See FIG. 9), and upper and lower sandwiching pieces 6
1 and 62 close the end and hold the sheet bundle P (FIG. 10).
The sheet bundle P is pulled out to the binding position of the sheet binding device 5 by the reverse rotation of the sheet moving motor 35 (see FIG. 11). The sheet bundle P includes upper and lower sandwiching pieces 61 and 6.
2 while being held by the paper binding device 2, a binding process is performed on one end by the paper binding device 5 (see FIG. 12). When the binding process for the sheet bundle P is completed, the sheet moving motor 35 rotates forward again and pushes the sheet bundle P back to the original position (see FIG. 13).
When the sheet bundle P is returned to the original position on the bin tray 1, the upper and lower sandwiching pieces 61 and 62 open their ends (see FIG. 14), and return to the retracted position by the reverse rotation driving of the sheet moving motor 35. Thereafter, in order to move to the next stapling operation of the sheet bundle P, the next bin tray 1 moves the bin tray 1 group upward until positioned in the second biasing position B ₂ (see FIG. 15). As described above, in this embodiment, the loading spacing G between the bin tray 1 on the lowest second biasing position B ₂ and the upper vertical portion 21U
B ₂ is compared to the loading spacing GV in the upper SekiSogun 1U or lower SekiSogun in 1D, since so little larger, as shown in FIG. 10, scissors strip 61 the distance GB when entering _two or abuts the sheet bundle P stacked on the bin tray 1, not damaged by sliding the paper p of the surface. Further, the second offset position B
₂ , the sheet bundle P stacked on the bin tray 1 is pressed by the upper and lower bin trays 1 with a relatively small force. There is no failure to pull out P. 6 and 7 are a partial cross-sectional side view schematically showing the sheet moving unit 6 and a perspective view showing a sheet clamping operation of a clamping unit mounted on the sheet moving unit 6. As shown in FIG. The paper moving unit 6 has a sandwiching unit 60 and a sandwiching unit frame 70 that supports them. The unit sliding rod 73 sandwiched between the front frame 2f of the sheet processing apparatus.
Is fixedly extended to the front side, and two fitting insertion arms 71 protruding from the upper edge of the sandwiching unit frame 70 are loosely fitted therein. It is slidable. The holding unit 60 includes a holding piece 61 that is rotatably fixed to a shaft 65,
One end of which is in contact with a projection 61 a protruding from the lower surface of the upper sandwiching piece 61, and which is rotatably fixed to a shaft 66;
An operating link 68 fixed to the sandwiching unit frame 70, an operating rod 68, and an operating link 63, one end of which is pivotally attached to the tip of the operating rod 68 and rotatably fixed to a shaft 66. The other end of the operation link 63 is axially attached to a part of the lower holding piece 62, one end of the coil spring 64 is locked, and the other end of the coil spring 64 is pulled between the holding piece upper part 61 locked. The force is acting. When a signal for starting the holding operation of the sheet bundle P by the sheet moving unit 6 is received, the pinch driving solenoid 69 is driven, and the pinch driving solenoid 69 is moved to the pinch lower 62 through the operation link 63 against the pulling force of the coil spring 64. A clockwise turning force is applied. As a result, the pinch lower 62
Is rotated clockwise, and a rotational moment is applied to the protruding portion 61a with which one end thereof abuts.
1 rotates slightly counterclockwise, and the leading ends of the upper holding piece 61 and the lower holding piece 62 open apart from each other.

FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram schematically showing the control of the vertical movement motor 27 for driving the vertical movement device 3. The CPU 60, which is a control device of the sheet processing apparatus, transmits and receives various signals including post-processing mode information of sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus via the image forming apparatus and a serial input / output device (I / O) 63. The CPU 60 also exchanges data with a timer 61 as an attached counter and a storage device (MEM) 62 including a ROM storing a program and a RAM storing updated data. The detection signal from each sensor (SEN) is C via I / O64.
The control signals are transmitted to the PU 60, and control signals for a motor and a solenoid (SOL) for driving each drive mechanism are transmitted from the CPU 60 via the I / O 64. Upon reception of the sorting process mode information from the image forming apparatus, since CPU60 is to move the bin tray 1 designated by rotating the vertical movement motor 27 for driving the vertical movement device 3 by a predetermined rotational speed in a first biasing position B ₁ Of the I / O6
The digital data is output to the motor control circuit 66 via the control circuit 4. A drive control signal corresponding to the input digital data is output from the motor control circuit 66, and the motor drive circuit 67 receiving the drive control signal outputs the drive control signal to the vertical movement motor 27.
The drive motor 65 is rotated by the number of rotations according to the drive control signal. An encoder 68 is directly connected to the vertical movement motor 27, and a pulse signal of a number proportional to the rotation speed of the vertical movement motor 27 is generated from the encoder 68 and is fed back to the motor control circuit 66. The motor control circuit 66 compares the number of pulse signals fed back with the value of the digital data received by the motor control circuit 66, and stops the vertical movement motor 27 when the number of pulse signals reaches the value of the digital data. The motor drive circuit 67 is controlled as described above. Hereinafter, paper p is placed on bin tray 1.
Every time is discharged and aligned by the paper alignment device 4, the control of the vertical movement motor 27 for moving the bin tray 1 by the vertical movement distance G is similarly performed.

In the above-described embodiment, the jogger wire 33 which presses the paper dropped on the bin tray 1 against the reference wall and aligns the paper uses a linear material. However, the jogger wire 33 is not limited to the linear material and may be a band. Alternatively, it may be a bar-shaped member that stands upright in the vertical direction. In addition, although the suspension system using the suspension wire 30 is adopted as the vertical movement device of the bin tray 1 group, it is needless to say that another movement device may be used, and the rolling rollers 31 are not necessarily required. It may be formed by fitting concave and convex grooves formed on the lower surface. Further, although the rolling rollers 31 are spherical, they may be cylindrical.

[0014]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the biasing means causes each of the sheet receiving tables to move in parallel in the sheet conveying direction by the biasing unit, and the sheet discharging means is provided between the sheet receiving tables. And a second expanded sheet stack that is smaller than the first expanded sheet stack distance and larger than the sheet stack surface at positions other than the biasing portion. Since the surface spacing is formed, when the mechanical processing means binds the sheets stacked on the sheet receiving table and performs mechanical processing such as punching, the sheet stacked on the sheet receiving table is subjected to mechanical processing. When a mechanical processing means or a drawer that pulls out the sheet approaches the sheet, it is possible to prevent the sheet from being damaged by contact with the sheet or to prevent processing failure due to drawer failure of the drawer. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the biasing means is constituted by the guide means for guiding the sheet receiving table by engaging with a part of the sheet receiving table, the configuration of the biasing means is extremely simplified. be able to. According to the third aspect of the invention, the first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval and the second enlarged sheet stacking surface interval are formed between three consecutive sheet receiving tables of the biasing portion. This facilitates the design of the mechanical processing means and the mechanism for moving the drawer that pulls out the sheet to the sheet receiving table. According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the mechanical processing means is loaded on the sheet receiving table while the first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval and the second enlarged sheet stacking surface interval are formed. Since the sheet is mechanically processed, it is possible to secure a space for avoiding contact with the sheet when the mechanical processing means or the drawer for extracting the sheet approaches the sheet.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the vicinity of a bin tray of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a bias operation of a bin tray of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a bias portion of the sheet processing apparatus in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration near a conveyance path of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional side view schematically illustrating a sheet moving unit.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a sheet holding operation of a sheet holding unit mounted on the sheet moving unit.

FIG. 8 is a circuit block diagram illustrating an outline of drive motor control of the sheet aligning apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the sheet binding device and the upper and lower sandwiching pieces of the sheet moving unit during the sheet binding operation.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing the operation following FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing the operation subsequent to FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing the operation following FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view showing the operation following FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing the operation following FIG.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing the operation following FIG.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a state near a recording paper discharge position during a sorting operation of a post-processing apparatus according to a conventional example.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a state near a recording paper discharge position during a sorting operation of a post-processing apparatus according to another conventional example.

[Description of Signs] 1 Bin tray 3 Vertical moving device 5 Paper binding device 6 Paper moving unit 10 Slide cam 13 Trunnion 16 Notch portion 21 Cam track 27 Vertical moving motor 35 Paper moving motor 36 Discharge roller, lower discharge roller 60 Unit 61 Upper sandwiching piece 62 Lower sandwiching piece 69 Clamping piece driving solenoid

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of vertically stacked multi-tiered sheets, which are accommodated in a sheet stacking surface inclined in a sheet conveying direction and which can receive a sheet received from an external sheet discharging device, are movable in parallel in the sheet conveying direction. A sheet cradle, up and down moving means for moving the sheet cradle group in the up and down direction collectively, and, according to the up and down movement of the sheet cradle group by the up and down moving means, each of the sheet cradles is biased by the bias portion. A biasing means for moving the sheet in parallel with the sheet conveying direction so as to increase a sheet stacking surface interval with another sheet receiving table located immediately above the sheet receiving table than that at a position other than the biasing section; Sheet discharging means for discharging a sheet onto the sheet receiving table held with an enlarged sheet stacking surface interval between the sheet receiving table and another sheet receiving table located immediately above the sheet receiving section, and the sheet receiving table In a sheet distributing and storing apparatus having mechanical processing means for mechanically processing a sheet stacked thereon, the biasing means is the biasing portion, and is provided between the sheet receiving table and another of the sheet receiving tables. Forming a first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval for receiving a sheet discharged from the sheet discharging means, and a sheet stacking position smaller than the first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval and other than the bias portion. A sheet distributing and storing apparatus for forming a second enlarged sheet stacking surface interval larger than the surface interval. 2. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the biasing means includes a vertical portion extending in a vertical direction, and a skewing portion extending in a direction inclined with respect to the sheet stacking surface at the biasing portion. A sheet distributing and storing device, which is a guiding means for guiding the sheet receiving table by engaging. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval and the second enlarged sheet stacking surface interval are formed between three consecutive sheet receiving tables of the biasing portion. A sheet distributing and storing device, characterized in that: 4. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the mechanical processing means loads the sheet on the sheet receiving table while the first enlarged sheet stacking surface interval and the second enlarged sheet stacking surface interval are formed. A sheet distributing and storing apparatus, wherein a mechanical processing is performed on a processed sheet.