JP3223588B2 - Sheet distribution and 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 distributing and accommodating apparatus for collating and accommodating recording sheets discharged from an image recording apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer. The present invention relates to an improvement in a sheet distributing and storing apparatus which enables post-processing of ring or punching.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A sheet distributing and storing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a sorter) having a post-processing function for stapling or punching is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-82793. In this sorter, the bin trays stacked in a plurality of stages sequentially move to the sheet distribution stage according to the distribution timing of the recording sheets in the sheet distribution stage, and the recording sheets are sorted to each bin tray.
Further, a stapler is provided at a post-processing stage different from the sheet distribution stage. After the sorting process is completed, the bin trays are sequentially moved to the post-processing stage, and stapled to the recording sheet bundle stored in each bin tray. It is configured to perform a ring process. The stapler includes a total of three staplers: a corner stapler for driving staples into the corners of the recording sheet bundle and two dual staplers for driving staples at one side edge of the recording sheet bundle.

A flange is provided upright on one side edge of the bin tray, and the flange constitutes a positioning abutting surface for a recording sheet accommodated in the bin tray. In addition, 3 of one side edge of the bin tray having the flange portion
Notches are provided at corresponding locations for the three staplers, respectively, and during stapling processing, each stapler advances into the notch and sandwiches a recording sheet. Further, this sorter is provided with a rod-shaped tamper for aligning the recording sheets sorted on each bin tray at a predetermined reference position, and by improving the processing quality by aligning the recording sheets prior to stapling processing. I have.

[0004]

However, as shown in FIG. 11, if notches 71 for stapling processing are formed in three places of the bin tray 70, depending on the size of the recording sheet 72, In some cases, the corner 72a was positioned in the cutout 71, and the recording sheet 72 was stored in the bin tray 70 at a tilt from a predetermined alignment position. When the recording sheet 72 is accommodated in the bin tray 70 in a tilted state, the corner 72a of the recording sheet 72 protrudes from the bin tray 70, and the protruding corner 72a hinders the movement of the bin tray 70. However, there has been a problem that the recording sheet 72 is prevented from being discharged to the bin tray 70 in the sorting process, or the stapler is prevented from entering the notch 71 in the stapling process.

[0005] Such a problem occurs particularly in a so-called mix size process in which recording sheets of different sizes and different orientations are collated on one bin tray. Because, if the size of the collated recording sheets is all the same, all the recording sheets can be aligned to the reference position by the tamper, and there is no fear that the recording sheets are accommodated in the bin tray in an inclined state. Because. On the other hand, in the case of the mix size processing, since the recording sheets cannot be aligned by tamper, the above problem cannot be avoided.

In a sorter having such a post-processing function, for example, a cutout portion of a bin tray is provided in order to widen processing positions in stapling processing and punching processing and to cope with post-processing functions other than these processing. Is desired to be as large as possible. But,
If the notch of the bin tray is formed to be large, the above-mentioned problem will occur more remarkably. Therefore, conventionally, it was necessary to reduce the size of the notch. For this reason, the design of the post-processing function mounted on the sorter must be restricted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet distributing and storing apparatus in which a plurality of notches for post-processing are formed in a bin tray. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet distributing and accommodating apparatus capable of stabilizing a posture of a recording sheet and aligning the recording sheet with a predetermined reference position. Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet distributing and accommodating apparatus that can form a large post-processing cutout in a bin tray and can respond to diversification of post-processing functions.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a sheet distributing and accommodating apparatus of the present invention conveys a recording sheet discharged from a sheet discharge port of an image recording apparatus to a preset sheet distributing stage. A sheet conveying means, a bin tray which is vertically stacked at a predetermined pitch and which is sequentially moved to the sheet distribution stage according to recording sheet distribution timing, and a post-processing notch formed at an edge of the bin tray And post-processing means for performing post-processing as needed on the edges of the recording sheets distributed and accommodated in each bin tray, and as shown in FIG. At a predetermined timing synchronized with the discharge timing of the bin tray 2, advances toward the post-processing notch 3, and when the bin tray 2 is moved, Guide member 4 retracts from the cutout portion 3
When the guide member 4 advances, one surface of the guide member 4 has a recording sheet accommodated in the bin tray 2.
This is a part of the positioning abutment surface 5 of FIG.

In such a technical means, the guide member may be advanced toward the post-processing notch every time the recording sheet is discharged to the sheet distribution stage. From the viewpoint of achieving the above, it is preferable that the guide member is advanced only when the recording sheet (for example, A4 vertical, B5 vertical) in which the corner portion is positioned in the post-processing notch portion is discharged.

The guide member advances to the post-processing notch at a predetermined timing synchronized with the discharge timing of the recording sheet. The predetermined timing is set after the bin tray is set to the sheet distribution stage. It may be before or after the sheet is discharged to the sheet distribution stage.

In the sheet distributing and storing apparatus, it is preferable to provide a tamper for aligning the recording sheets stored in each bin tray with a predetermined reference position in the width direction. In this case, if only the recording sheets whose corners are located in the notches for post-processing are sorted into the bin trays, the alignment of the recording sheets can be performed by a tamper. There is no need to advance toward the notch. Therefore,
It is preferable that the guide member is moved forward and backward toward the post-processing cutout portion from the point in time when it becomes impossible to align the recording sheets depending on the tamper. Note that the point at which the recording sheets cannot be aligned by the tamper is that a recording sheet having a different size or the same size as the recording sheets already discharged to the bin tray has a different orientation on the bin tray. It is at the time of discharge.

As a specific apparatus configuration, as shown in FIG. 1, as a part of the control means 6 for moving the guide member 4 forward and backward, the size of the recording sheet 1a discharged to the bin tray 2 is first set. Recording sheet 1b stored in
Mix size detection means 7 for comparing with the size of
The guide member 4 may be started to move forward and backward when the size of the discharged recording sheet 1b does not match the size of the previously stored recording sheet 1a.

In the sheet distributing and accommodating apparatus without the tamper, when the recording sheet whose corner portion is located in the post-processing notch is discharged to the bin tray, it is necessary to always advance the guide member. There is.

[0014]

According to the above technical means, one surface of the guide member which has advanced to the notch for post-processing constitutes a part of the abutting surface for positioning the recording sheet stored in the bin tray.
Even when the corner portion of the recording sheet is located at the notch for post-processing, the corner portion abuts on the guide member, and the recording sheet is not tilted from a predetermined alignment position and stored in the bin tray.

[0015]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet distributing and accommodating apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a first embodiment of a sheet collating apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as a sorter in this embodiment) 20 to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 2, a sorter 20 is a copier main body with an ADF (not shown). It is attached to 10.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 denotes a housing of the sorter 20. An opening 24 communicating with the inside of the housing 21 is formed along the vertical direction on the side of the housing 21 opposite to the copying machine main body 10, and a plurality of steps (two in this embodiment)
(0-stage) bin tray 40 is arranged so as to be able to move up and down. On the other hand, on the top of the housing 21, a non-sorting tray 25 used when sorting processing is unnecessary is arranged.

A sheet introduction port 26 is provided in the housing plate 21a corresponding to the sheet discharge port 11 of the copying machine body 10, and the recording sheet 12 introduced from the sheet introduction port 26 passes through a sheet transport system 30. The tray is conveyed to either bin tray 40 or the non-sort tray 25. The sheet transfer system 30 includes a first sheet conveying path 32 leading to the sheet distribution stage S ₁ for discharging the recording sheet 12 to the bin tray 40, tray above the non-sort
One of the sheet conveyance paths is switched and selected by a switching gate 39 provided with a second sheet conveyance path 33 leading to the sheet introduction port 25 and disposed near the sheet introduction port 26. Further, in the vicinity of the outlet of the first sheet conveying path 32, the sheet discharge sensor 38 for detecting that the recording sheet 12 is discharged to the sheet distribution stage S ₁ is provided.

The bin tray 40 is provided with a positioning flange 42 at an edge of a flat tray base 41, is arranged obliquely downward at a predetermined angle toward the opening 24 side of the housing, and has a width direction ( It is arranged slightly inclined toward the near side (in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface).

Furthermore, Suthep against the the sheet transfer system 30 below the housing 21 and the stapler 100 is arranged, in the post-processing stage S ₂ opposed to the stapler 100, the recording sheet 12 accommodated in the bin tray 40 A ring process is performed.

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between the bin tray 40 and the stapler 100 which is set to the post-processing stage S _2.
In this embodiment, the stapler 100 is a bin tray 40.
Of being mounted to a processing position moving system 125 that is disposed along the periphery, corner stapling position P ₀ or dual stapling position according to the mode selection of the stapling process
P ₁ and P ₂ are set. Further, the stapler 100 is mounted on an advance / retreat movement system, and at each processing position, the stapler 100 advances from the evacuation position to the stapling processing execution position to perform the stapling operation, but does not hinder the movement of the bin tray 40 after the stapling operation. To the original retreat position again.
At the edge of the bin tray 40 corresponding to each processing position, notches 44 to 46 for stapling processing are formed, and the stapler 100 that has advanced to the stapling processing execution position has a recording sheet 12 at these notches 44 to 46. Bite. Therefore, if it is cornering mode stapling process selected, the stapler 100 while driving a staple into the corner portion of the recording sheet 12 at the corners stapling position P _0, if stapling process is selected dual mode , the stapler 100 is driven into the staple in two places on one side edge of the recording sheet 12 in the dual stapling position P ₁ and P _2.

In the same figure, reference numeral 48 denotes a bin tray 40.
This is a positioning wall serving as a position reference in the width direction of the recording sheet 12 accommodated in the housing 21. In this embodiment, a part of the housing 21 is used. Further, reference numeral 71 denotes each bin tray 40.
The tamper penetrates the opening 47 formed in the vertical direction, moves in the direction of the arrow to press the recording sheet 12 stored in each bin tray 40 against the positioning wall 48, and aligns the recording sheet 12 in the width direction. Do. Therefore, the recording sheet discharged to the bin tray is aligned with respect to the discharging direction with reference to the positioning flange 42 and with respect to the width direction with reference to the positioning wall 48.
Reference numeral 46 denotes a recording sheet stored in the bin tray 40.
This is a notch for gripping to facilitate removal of the 12.

On the other hand, the guide member 50 in the above-mentioned sheet distribution stage S _1, to advance towards the predetermined bin tray at the timing of the cutout portion 46 corresponding to the discharge timing of the recording sheet
Are arranged. 4 and 5 show the guide member 50. FIG. The guide member 50 is a plate-like member whose length in the width direction is slightly shorter than the width of the notch 46, and a hanging flange 51 formed near the center of the upper end is provided with a pin 61.
Is rotatably supported by the holder 60. One end of a link member 53 is connected to a connection flange 52 protruding to the rear side of the guide member 50, and the guide member swings about the pin 61 with the movement of the link member 53. On the other hand, the other end of the link member 53 is connected to a solenoid 55 by a connection pin 54. When the solenoid 55 is operated, the link member presses the guide member 50 in the bin tray direction. The solenoid 55 is fixed to the holder 60 by screws 56, while the holder 60 is fixed to the housing 20 by means not shown.
Further, a biasing force by a spring 57 is acting between the holder 60 and the connecting pin 54, and the link member 53 is configured to pull the guide member 50 in the opposite direction to the bin tray 40 when the solenoid 55 is not operated. I have. The moving amount of the link member 53, that is, the swing amount of the guide member 50 is adjusted by the length of the regulating hole 59 of the link member 53 into which the screw 58 screwed into the holder 60 is loosely fitted.

The guide member 50 includes a solenoid.
At the time of operation 55, the swinging motion is set from the home position indicated by the solid line to the alignment position indicated by the broken line, and the bin tray 40 is set.
Are aligned with the positioning flange 42 of the above. At this time, the guide member cooperates with the positioning flange 42 to form the recording sheet 12.
Of the positioning abutment surface. On the other hand, when the solenoid is not operated, the guide member 50 is retracted from the alignment position by the urging force of the spring 57, and is held at the home position where the movement of the bin tray 40 is not hindered.

In the sorter of the present embodiment configured as described above, the sorting process is performed as follows. First, when the sorting process is selected in the copying machine body 10, the first sheet conveyance path 32 is selected by the switching gate 39, whereby the recording sheet 12 discharged from the sheet outlet 11 of the copying machine body 10 , sequentially conveyed to the sheet distribution stage S _1. When the recording sheet 12 is discharged to the bin tray 40 in the sheet distribution stage S _1,
The bin tray 40 moves up or down by one pitch in synchronization with the timing at which the sheet exit sensor 38 changes from ON to OFF. In this way, for the first page of the copy document, the storage of the recording sheets 12 is started from the uppermost bin tray 40, and the bin tray 40 is sequentially recorded on the bin trays 40 of the number of copies (for example, n stages) while being raised one pitch at a time. The seat 12 is accommodated. Next, for the second page of the document, the storage of the recording sheets 12 is started from the bin tray 40 of the nth stage, and the bin tray 40 is lowered by one pitch, and finally, the recording sheets 12 are moved to the uppermost bin tray 40. To accommodate. Thereafter, the above operation is repeated for each page of the copy document, and the recording sheet 12 relating to the last page of the copy document is read.
Is stored in each bin tray 40, the sorting process ends.

During the above-described sorting process, each time a copy operation of each page of a copy original is started, the size information of the recording sheet 12 on which the original page is copied is copied to the copying machine main body.
Sent from 10 to sorter 20. In the sorter 20, a program relating to the driving of the tamper 71 and the guide member 50 is executed based on the size information, and the recording sheets 12 accommodated in the bin trays 40 are aligned in the width direction. Hereinafter, the tamper 71 and the guide member will follow the flow of the sorting process.
50 operations will be described. For convenience of explanation, the sorting process for each page of the copy document will be referred to as a job.

When the sorting process is started and the size information of the recording sheet 12 relating to the first page of the copy original is taken into the sorter 20, the tamper 71 moves one point from the solid line home position as shown in FIG. It is set to move to a reference position for each size of the chain line (a position slightly larger than the storage position of the recording sheet 12). As a result, the movement of the recording sheet 12 discharged to each bin tray 40 in the width direction is restricted to some extent by the tamper 71. When the job related to the first page of the copy original is completed, the tamper 71 is set to move from the solid-line size-based reference position to the edge position of the recording sheet 12 indicated by the dashed line, as shown in FIG. After the 12 is pressed against the positioning wall 48, the reference position is set again for each size.

Next, when the size information of the recording sheet 12 relating to the second page of the copy document is taken into the sorter 20, this size information is compared with the size information of the recording sheet 12 relating to the previous page job which is already held. As a result of the comparison, when it is determined that the recording sheet 12 of the next page job to be sent to the sorter 20 is the same size as the recording sheet 12 of the previous page job, the tamper 71 is left as is. Held in position. When the job for the second page of the copy original is completed, the tamper 71 is executed in the same manner as when the previous page job is completed.
Is set to the size-specific reference position after being set to move to the edge position. Thereafter, as long as it is determined that the recording sheet size of the previous page job and the recording sheet size of the next page job are the same, the tamper 71 repeats the above operation for each job. Here, the recording sheet of the same size is, of course, the same size as the recording sheet such as A3, A4, etc., and the recording sheet discharge direction, such as A4 portrait, A4 landscape, etc. Also means that they match.

On the other hand, as a result of comparing the recording sheet size of the previous page job and the recording sheet size of the next page job, when it is determined that the sizes of these recording sheets 12 are different, the tamper 71 is moved from the size-specific reference position. The moving position is set to the home position, and thereafter, the sorting process is continued while the tamper 71 is held at that position.
Next, the recording sheet 12 of the next page job is
It is checked whether or not the corner portion of the recording sheet 12 is located in the cutout portion 46 of the bin tray 40 when the recording sheet 12 is stored.
If it is determined that the corner is located in the notch 46 of the bin tray 40, the guide member 50 is used every time the recording sheet 12 is discharged to the bin tray 40 in the next page job.
Is set to move to the matching position. In this embodiment, the recording sheet 12 whose corner is located at the notch 46 is A4
Vertical, B5 vertical. Therefore, the recording sheet for the next page job
If 12 is one of A4 portrait and B5 portrait, the guide member 50 is set to move to the alignment position.

FIGS. 7 to 9 show specific examples when the recording sheet size of the previous page job is different from the recording sheet size of the next page job. As shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the recording sheet 12a on the A4 side is stored in the bin tray 40 from the start of the sorting process to the end of the previous job. At this time, the tamper 71 is set to the size-specific reference position corresponding to the A4 width. When the next page job is started and the recording sheet of the job is determined to be A4 portrait,
As shown in FIG. 8, the tamper 71 is set to move to the home position, and the first recording sheet 12b of the job is stored in the first bin tray 40. When the sheet ejection sensor 38 detects ejection of the recording sheet 12b, as shown in FIG. 9, the guide member 50 is set to move from the home position to the alignment position at a predetermined timing, and the corner of the recording sheet 12b is moved to the guide member 50. bump into. After this, the guide member 50
Returns to the home position not interfering with the movement of the bin tray 40, the bin tray 40 of the second stage in preparation for discharge of the second recording sheet is moved in the sheet distribution stage S _1. And
After that, the recording sheet will be
The discharge of 12b, the advance and retreat of the guide member 50, and the movement of the bin tray 40 are repeated.

Further, in the above specific example, the recording sheets of the next page job are A3, B4, B5 horizontal and the like, and as shown in FIG. 10, the corner portion of the recording sheet 12c stored in the bin tray in this job is the bin tray. If the tamper 71 and the guide member 50 are not set at the home position, the job is completed in a state where the tamper 71 and the guide member 50 are both set to the home positions.

As described above, in the sorter 20 according to the present embodiment, the guide member 50 is advanced to the notch 46 so that the member 50 abuts against the corner of the recording sheet 12b. Without falling into the notch 46,
The recording sheet is not tilted and stored in the bin tray. When the recording sheet 12 cannot be aligned using the tamper 71, that is, when the recording sheet 12
Since the guide member 50 is operated only when the sorting process is performed with different sizes of 12, the reduction of the sorting process speed is prevented as much as possible.

In this embodiment, the details of the drive system for moving the bin tray 40 up and down, the system for moving the stapler 100 forward and backward, the system for moving the processing position, and the stapling process are described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-82793, filed earlier. Since these are the same as those described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-223, these descriptions are omitted.

[0033]

As described above, according to the sheet distributing and accommodating apparatus of the present invention, one surface of the guide member which has advanced to the notch for post-processing is used as the abutting surface for positioning the recording sheet accommodated in the bin tray. Since a part of the recording sheet is formed, the recording sheet stored in the bin tray can be aligned with a predetermined reference position without the corner of the recording sheet falling into the post-processing notch.

Further, since the corner of the recording sheet can be prevented from dropping into the notch, the notch for post-processing of the bin tray can be formed large.
For example, it is possible to cope with diversification of post-processing functions such as widening of a stapling processing position.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a sheet distribution and storage device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically illustrating a sheet distribution and storage device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a post-processing stage of the apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a guide member of the device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a guide member of the device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing an operation of a tamper in a sorting process.

FIG. 7

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing operations of a tamper and a guide member according to the size of a recording sheet.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem in a conventional sheet distribution and storage device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Recording sheet, 2 ... Bin tray, 3 ... Notch for post-processing, 4
... Guide member, 5 ... Abutment surface for positioning, 6 ... Control means,
7… Mix size detection means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-4-189192 (JP, A) JP-A-2-305761 (JP, A) JP-A-64-60561 (JP, A) JP-A-1- 281258 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 39/11

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sheet conveying means for conveying a recording sheet discharged from a sheet discharge port of an image recording apparatus to a preset sheet distribution stage, and a plurality of vertically stacked recording sheets distributed at a predetermined pitch to distribute recording sheets. A pin tray that moves sequentially to the above-mentioned sheet distribution stage in accordance with the timing, and a post-processing notch formed in the edge of this bin tray is inserted into a notch for post-processing, and the edge of the recording sheet distributed and stored in each bin tray is used as needed. And a post-processing means for performing post-processing on the bin tray.
The record that has advanced toward the notch and stored in the bin tray
While forming a part of the sheet positioning abutment surface,
When moving the bin tray, retract from the notch for post-processing.
The guide member is provided, the control means for advancing and retracting the guide member, the sheet component
The corner of the recording sheet discharged to the distribution stage is
Only when located in the post-processing notch
The guide member at a predetermined timing synchronized with the
A sheet distributing and accommodating device, characterized in that the sheet distributing and accommodating device is configured to advance . 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said control means includes a mix size detecting means for comparing a size of the recording sheets discharged to one bin tray with a size of the recording sheets stored in said bin tray first. 2. The sheet distributing and storing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide member starts moving forward and backward when the size of the recording sheet no longer matches the size of the previously stored recording sheet.