JP3125635B2 - Electric stapler - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electric stapler, and more particularly to an electric stapler using a flat staple sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There has been known an electric stapler which uses a staple cartridge in which a plurality of linear staples are adhered in parallel and staple sheets are stacked in a cartridge and stored. In this type of electric stapler, a staple sheet is sent to a driver by a conveyor belt or the like, and the staple is bent into a gate shape by a forming plate that works with the driver. The folded staples are sent immediately below the driver in front of the staple, and are driven into documents or the like by the driver.

[0003]

Some staple cartridges containing flat staple sheets contain about 5,000 staples. Once the staple cartridge is mounted on the electric stapler, the staple cartridge is formed into a portal shape in advance. The spelling operation can be performed continuously for a much longer time than the electric stapler using the staples. Therefore, an electric stapler using a staple cartridge is often used in a workplace where a large amount of work is performed. Also,
This type of electric stapler is also mounted on a copier in which a copying machine and an electric stapler are integrally combined so that copying and spelling can be automatically performed according to similar requirements.

[0004] This type of electric stapler includes a feed plate that repeats a back and forth operation of pressing a rear portion of a lowermost staple sheet of a staple cartridge and protruding forward, and a staple sheet that contacts a lower surface of the protruded staple sheet. And a staple sheet feeding mechanism using a conveyor belt and a staple sheet feeding mechanism using a conveyor belt, and the operation of an elevating member that supports a forming plate and a driver are driven by one motor. Therefore, when a staple cartridge is loaded in a state where no staples remain in the staple conveyance path of the electric stapler, the forming plate and the driver repeat the idle driving operation several times to feed the staple sheet from the staple cartridge to the position of the driver. After being sent, it enters a spellable standby state.

[0005] In such a case, a single electric stapler repeats the spelling operation until the staple is driven while the operator views the spelling result. However, in a copying machine with a built-in electric stapler or the like, a copying apparatus and an electric stapler are used. Operate in conjunction with each other, and there is a problem that the first few documents are discharged in an unspelled state.

If a staple forming defect or a staple jam at a driver portion occurs for some reason, the blanking results in a spelling failure. It is possible to suppress a decrease in work efficiency.

In view of the above, a staple cartridge is immediately placed in a standby state when a staple cartridge is loaded, thereby preventing spelling defects from occurring, and detecting and displaying a staple feeding defect or the like to solve the problem in order to eliminate a decrease in work efficiency due to blank hitting. Therefore, the present invention has an object to solve the above problems.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to an electric stapler using a flat staple sheet in which a plurality of linear staples are adhered in parallel. An electric stapler in which a driver and a forming plate are mounted on a lifting member driven by an actuator such as a motor and a staple is formed in a gate shape by the forming plate, and the formed staple is driven into an object by the driver. Is mounted on the elevating member so as to be movable in a certain vertical direction, a spring is urged downward by a spring, and a detector for detecting the elevation of the forming plate with respect to the elevating member is provided, and an electric stapler is incorporated. E
The control unit of the storage device or the control provided on the electric stapler
The detector is connected to the section, and the control section sets the output state of the detector to
The ability to determine the operating state of the forming plate
The present invention proposes an electric stapler characterized by having the above configuration .

Further , a forming preform by the above detector is used.
Means for measuring the duration of the rise detection signal of the port, means for comparing the duration with a reference time, and means for stopping operation when the duration exceeds the reference time. Forming stapler and forming play by the detector during one-cycle driving operation
The present invention proposes an electric stapler, comprising: means for detecting the presence / absence of a rise detection signal of a motor; and means for stopping operation when the rise detection signal is not input.

[0010] Also, the forming preform by the above detector is used.
Means for setting a reference count number of a stall rise detection signal and a stapler driving number, means for counting the rise detection signal and the number of driving times, and an electric motor when the input count number and the driving number are each equal to or less than the set number. Means for driving the stapler, and means for halting the operation by determining that an error has occurred when the number of times of driving reaches the set number, wherein the reference count number of the rise detection signal is a standby state when a staple cartridge is loaded. The electric stapler is characterized in that the number of times of forming is required for the above, and the set number of driving is equal to or more than a reference count number of the rise detection signal.

In the above-mentioned electric stapler, the forming plate attached to the elevating member rises to the upper limit of the elevating range by the reaction force of the staple when forming the staple, and after the forming is completed, the lower portion is urged by the spring. Return to the standby position. This elevating operation is detected by a detector such as a switch or a photosensor, and it is determined whether or not the forming operation has been normally performed based on the presence or absence and duration of the detection signal. When an abnormal situation occurs, a stop process is executed.

Further, the electric stapler according to claim 4 is
When a new staple cartridge is loaded, the idle driving operation is automatically executed. Then, the operation is stopped after detecting the forming signal of the number of times necessary for the staple sheet to reach the driver, and the apparatus automatically enters the standby state. Further, when the forming signal is not detected the set number of times even after performing the set number of idle shots, it is determined that the staple is not properly fed, and the apparatus enters an error stop state.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a chassis of an electric stapler 1, and a link arm 3 and a staple guide 4 are coaxially pivotally mounted on a rear portion of a frame 2 so as to be vertically rotatable. The motor 5 is disposed below the link arm pivot portion, and the power of the motor 5 is transmitted to the reduction gear mechanism 6.

The connecting plate 9 and the link arm 3, which are loosely fitted on the eccentric shaft 8 of the gear 7 at the forefront of the reduction gear mechanism 6, are connected via a compression coil spring 10, and the connecting plate 9 is moved up and down by the rotation of the gear 7. The link arm 3 and the staple guide 4 are moved downward from the upper standby position shown in FIG. Then, the staple guide 4 comes into pressure contact with the clincher portion 11 at the front of the frame, drives the staples, then rises and stops, and the spelling operation of one cycle is performed.

The staple guide 4 is provided with a conveyor belt (not shown) from the rear to the vicinity of the front end.
The conveyor belt is rotated by the reduction gear mechanism 6 in conjunction with the elevating operation of the link arm 3. The lower surface of the staple cartridge 12 mounted on the rear upper surface of the staple guide 4 is open, and the lowermost staple sheet stacked in the staple cartridge 12 comes into contact with the conveyor belt and is sequentially transported forward.

At the rear of the staple guide 4, a staple sensor (not shown), which is a reflection type photo sensor, is embedded with its light emitting direction facing upward, and a staple sheet in the staple cartridge 12 located above the staple sensor. Is detected by reflected light.

The staple guide 4 has a driver 14 and a forming plate 15 slidably mounted on the back side of the face plate 13 at the tip end thereof, respectively. , 15a are engaged with holes 3a provided on the left and right side surfaces of the link arm 3, respectively.

As shown in FIG.
The vertical dimension of a is the height of the convex portion 15 of the forming plate 15.
The forming plate 15 is longer than the vertical dimension of a and is formed so that the forming plate 15 can move up and down with respect to the link arm 3 within a certain range. Then, as shown in FIG. 1, one end of a tension coil spring 16 is connected to the projection 15 a of the forming plate 15, and the other end of the tension coil spring 16 is locked to the side surface of the lower link arm 3, so that the forming plate 15 is moved. It is biased downward.

On one side surface of the link arm 3, a forming sensor 19 comprising a photo-interrupter 17 and a lever-shaped light-shielding plate 18 rotatable back and forth for blocking or opening the optical path of the photo-interrupter 17 is mounted. Forming plate 1 on the forming sensor 19 mounting side
5 is extended rearward, and the lever-shaped light shielding plate 18 is extended.
Approach one end, and as shown in FIG.
When the vertical position of the forming plate 15 is at the lower standby position, the lever-shaped light shielding plate 18 blocks the optical path of the photointerrupter 17.

When the electric stapler enters the spelling operation and the staple guide 4 is pressed against the clincher portion 11 and stops rotating, as shown in FIG. 3, the link arm 3 is further lowered by the connecting plate 9 and the convex portion 14a is formed. , 15a, the driver 14 engaged with the link arm 3 and the forming plate 15 are lowered in conjunction with each other. As a result, the driver 14 drives the first staple on the staple guide 4 onto the sheet, and the forming plate 15 forms the rear row of staples in a gate shape.

At this time, when a normal forming operation is performed, as shown in FIG. 3, the forming plate 15 is raised to the upper limit of the lifting range with respect to the link arm 3 by the reaction force of the staple to be formed. The front end of the plate 18 is the forming plate 15
The lever-shaped light shielding plate 18 is rotated by being pushed up by the rear end of the projection 15a, and the optical path of the photointerrupter 17 is opened to output an ON signal.

As shown in the figure, the forming plate 15 which has been pressed against the staples during forming and raised to the upper limit of the elevating range engages with the staples due to a forming defect or a staple jam or the like. If the return to the initial position is delayed, the duration of the ON signal from the photointerrupter 17 will be longer than the normal ON signal output time.

On the other hand, if there is no staple at the position of the forming plate 15 due to a staple supply defect or the like, no reactive force is applied to the forming plate 15 and, as shown in FIG.
Since the light-receiving plate 18 descends while maintaining the initial position at the lower limit of the ascending / descending range, the lever-type light shielding plate 18 does not rotate, and no ON signal is output from the photointerrupter 17.

FIG. 5 shows a circuit block of the electric stapler 1, and includes a forming sensor 19 and a staple sensor 2.
0 and a paper detection switch 21 that is disposed near the clincher unit 11 and detects insertion of a paper sheet is connected to the control unit 22. The control unit 22 controls the motor 5 and the display unit 23 according to the output state of each of the detectors 19, 20, and 21 to execute a spelling operation, an automatic staple introduction operation for automatically setting a standby state, a message display, and the like. . Control circuit 22
Is provided with a rewritable nonvolatile memory 24 for storing the number of times of forming, the number of times of driving at the time of automatic staple introduction operation, and the like.

The operation of the electric stapler 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, the power is turned on in the initial state (step 101). If the output of the staple sensor 20 is off, the process proceeds from step 102 to step 103, where a message requesting the loading of the staple cartridge is displayed on the display unit 23, and the stop state is set. (Step 111) is maintained.

When the staple cartridge is loaded, the output of the staple sensor 20 is turned on, and step 102 is executed.
Then, the process proceeds to step 104 to read the count number of the forming signal. The number of times of forming, which is a criterion value for standby, is determined by forming plate 15 and driver 1.
The number of times is determined by the interval between the staple sheet and the staple sheet in the electric stapler 1 shown in FIG.
This is because three forming operations are required before forming by 5 and reaching the position of the driver 14.

Then, in the initial state, the count number of the forming signal is 0, so that the routine proceeds to step 105, where the number of drive cycles 0 of the electric stapler 1 is compared with 10 which is set as the abnormality judgment value, and the routine proceeds to step 106. The motor 5 is driven to execute one cycle of the idling operation.

When a staple cartridge 12 is newly loaded, the forming plate 15 does not come into contact with the staple sheet until the staple sheet is conveyed from the staple cartridge 12 to the position of the forming plate 15, as shown in FIG. The forming signal is not output from the forming sensor 19, and the routine of returning from step 107 to step 102 is repeated.

Normally, after several cycles of driving, the staple sheet reaches the position of the forming plate 15 and is formed, and the forming sensor 19 outputs a forming signal. When the forming signal is detected, the process proceeds from step 107 to step 108. If the duration of the forming signal is normal, the forming count n is set to 1 (step 109), and step 10
2 and the forming signal detection routine is repeated.
Then, when the count number of the forming signal becomes 3, it is considered that the top staple that has been formed has reached the position of the driver 14 and the apparatus enters the standby state (step 201).

The loaded staple cartridge 1
If the staple sheet is not conveyed due to the abnormality of the staple sheet 2 and the count number of the forming signal does not reach 3 at the time of driving for 10 cycles, step 10 is executed.
From 5, the process proceeds to step 110 to display an abnormal message, reset the count number of the forming signal and the number of times of driving, and enter an error stop state (step 111).

When the user removes the staple cartridge according to the message, removes the defective staple sheet on the staple guide 4 and reloads the staple cartridge, the above-described automatic staple introduction operation is executed again from step 102.

When a sheet is inserted into a predetermined position in the standby state of step 201, the sheet detection switch 21 is turned on and driven for one cycle to spell the sheet (step 20).
2) If the forming signal is normal, step 20
3 → 204 → 102 → 104 → 201 to enter the standby state.

During the spelling operation, if a staple sheet is not continuously conveyed due to a staple feeding failure and a forming signal is not detected due to an interval, the process proceeds from step 203 to step 110 to display an error message. Thus, the count number and the driving number of the forming signal are reset, and the apparatus enters an error stop state (step 111).
Then, the user removes the staple cartridge and removes the defective staple sheet on the staple guide 4,
When the staple cartridge is loaded again, step 1
From 02, the automatic staple introduction operation is executed and the apparatus enters the standby state (step 201).

If, for example, the staples are jammed due to the engagement of the forming plate 15 and the staples, the return of the forming plate 15 to the initial position is delayed, and the forming signal exceeds the duration of the normal operation. Proceeding to step 110, as in the case of the supply failure described above, an abnormal message is displayed, the count number of the forming signal and the number of times of driving are reset, and the apparatus enters an error stop state (step 112).

When the staples of the staple cartridge 12 are consumed with the normal spelling operation and the last staple sheet passes over the staple sensor 20, the staple sensor 20 is turned off (step 102), and a staple cartridge replacement message is displayed on the display unit. 23 is displayed (step 103 → 111). Here, when the staple cartridge 12 is replaced, the process proceeds from step 102 to step 104.
= 3 is not reset, so that the automatic stapling operation is not performed, and the process proceeds to step 201 to be in the standby state, where the spelling operation can be immediately resumed. Then, the staple sheet of the staple cartridge is transported forward along with the spelling operation, and a new staple sheet comes into contact with the tail of the staple sheet remaining on the staple guide 4 at the time of cartridge replacement, thereby interrupting the staple supply. The spelling operation can be continued without any spelling.

Even when the power is turned off, the count number n = 3 of the forming signal is stored in the non-volatile memory 24.
02 → 104 → 201 to enter the standby state.

As described above, when a staple supply failure occurs, the occurrence of an abnormal situation is immediately displayed, and after the defective staple is removed, the apparatus automatically enters the standby state by the automatic staple introduction operation. Further, when the staple cartridge is replaced during the normal operation, the staple introduction operation is not performed, and unnecessary idle driving is not performed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, a detector for detecting the vertical displacement of the forming plate is not limited to an optical type, but may be a limit switch or another type of detector. You may. Further, when the electric stapler is built in the copying machine, various modifications can be made within the technical scope of the present invention, such as performing the above control and display by the control circuit and the display unit of the copying machine, Of course, the invention extends to those modifications.

[0039]

As described in detail in the above embodiment,
When the staple cartridge is loaded, the electric stapler of the present invention automatically introduces staples according to the remaining staples on the staple guide and enters a standby state. In addition, when a staple forming defect or a feeding defect occurs, the operation is stopped, so that the occurrence of a spelling defect can be prevented beforehand, and a decrease in work efficiency can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an electric stapler according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a mounting state of a forming plate of the electric stapler shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows an operation state of the electric stapler shown in FIG. 1,
The side view at the time of normal forming.

FIG. 4 shows an operation state of the electric stapler shown in FIG. 1,
The side view at the time of forming failure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the electric stapler shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a staple introduction operation of the electric stapler shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of the staple driving operation following FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electric stapler 3 Link arm 3a hole 4 Staple guide 10 Compression coil spring 12 Staple cartridge 14 Driver 15 Forming plate 15a Convex part 16 Extension coil spring 17 Photointerrupter 18 Lever type light shielding plate 19 Forming sensor 22 Control part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-56401 (JP, A) JP-A-4-106179 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B27F 7/17-7/23 B25C 5/06

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An electric stapler using a flat staple sheet in which a plurality of linear staples are adhered in parallel, wherein a driver and a forming plate are mounted on an elevating member driven by an actuator such as a motor. In an electric stapler in which a staple is formed in a gate shape by a plate and the formed staple is driven into an object by the driver, the forming plate (15) is attached to the elevating member (3) so as to be vertically movable within a certain range. A detector (1) that urges the forming plate (15) downward by a spring (16) and detects a rise of the forming plate (15) with respect to the lifting member (3).
9) is provided for the host device in which the electric stapler is incorporated.
A control unit (22) or a control unit provided on the electric stapler
To the detector (19), and the control unit (22) detects
Plate (1) depending on the output state of the vessel (19).
5) An electric stapler characterized in that the operation state of 5) can be determined . 2. A forming plate using the detector.
Means for measuring the duration of the rise detection signal, a means for comparing the duration with a reference time, and a means for stopping operation when the duration exceeds the reference time. Item 2. The electric stapler according to Item 1. 3. The above detection during a one-cycle driving operation.
2. The electric stapler according to claim 1, further comprising: means for detecting the presence / absence of a rise detection signal of the forming plate by the heater, and means for stopping the operation when the rise detection signal is not input. 4. A forming plate using the detector.
Means for setting the reference count number of the rise detection signal and the number of times of stapling, the means for counting the rise detection signal and the number of times of driving, and the electric stapler when the input count and the number of times of driving are respectively less than the set number. Means for driving, and means for judging an error when the number of times of driving reaches a set number and stopping the operation, the reference count number of the rise detection signal is set to a standby state when a staple cartridge is loaded. The electric stapler according to claim 1, wherein the number of times of forming is a required number of times, and the set number of times of driving is equal to or greater than a reference count number of the rise detection signal.