JP3344262B2 - Electric stapler - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric stapler which can be used alone or attached to a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like, and more particularly, to a clincher body for bending a leading end of a staple for binding a sheet bundle. The present invention relates to an electric stapler improved in operation and adapted for high-speed binding.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an electric stapler mounted on a copying machine or the like is disposed near a stack tray of copy paper of the copying machine. This electric stapler includes a magazine for inserting staples into a bundle of copy papers, and a clincher body for bending the leading end of the staples inserted into the bundle of copy papers along the bundle of copy papers.

[0003] A magazine separates a cartridge in which a large number of linear staples are arranged and connected with an adhesive to store sheet staples in the form of a sheet, and a staple at an end of the sheet staples and bends them into a gate shape. The apparatus includes a deforming plate and an extruding plate that pushes staples formed in a gate shape by the deforming plate toward the sheet bundle.

The clincher body also includes a table on which a sheet bundle of copy paper to be bound is placed, and a bending member for bending a staple insertion tip protruding from below the sheet bundle along the sheet bundle. .

[0005] The table has an insertion opening for inserting a leading end of a staple inserted from below the sheet bundle. A pair of bending members are provided below the insertion port corresponding to the pair of staple insertion tips, and the pair of bending members swing so as to push the pair of insertion tips inward from both sides. It is composed of a moving type cam-shaped bent plate. The pivot shafts of the pair of bending plates are driven by the electric motor and its torque transmission mechanism, and the rotation of the electric motor causes the pair of bending plates to swing.

In this electric stapler, when a predetermined number of sheets are discharged, a magazine pulls out a sheet staple from a cartridge after a predetermined time elapses in response to an output signal from the copying machine, and pushes out the staple at the leading end of the sheet staple by a plate. It is extruded along the guide wall, bent into a gate shape, and driven into a sheet bundle. Before the push-out plate drives the staples into the sheet bundle, the pair of bent plates are each substantially parallel to the outside of the insertion tip so as not to interfere with the movement area of the staple insertion tip. Once the staples have been completely driven into the sheet bundle, the pair of flexure plates will begin to oscillate, approximately 90
The staples are bent inward so as to face each other inward.

[0007]

By the way, the angular velocity of the motor that swings the bent plate of the clincher body increases with the passage of time until a certain time elapses after the start of rotation, and the bent plate swings, causing the staples to rotate. When the insertion leading end is rotated to a position where it is bent substantially parallel to the sheet bundle, the angular velocity becomes large.

For this reason, when the bending plate bends the insertion leading end substantially in parallel with the sheet bundle, a large force is applied to the pushing plate of the clincher via the sheet bundle. The magazine is equipped with a cartridge containing sheet staples and is heavy, so a large impact is applied and a large noise is generated, and there is a risk that the connected portion of the sheet staple is separated by the impact. .

In particular, in the case of an electric stapler in which the table and the magazine are separated, the reciprocating operation of the magazine is set at a high speed so that a series of spelling operations can be completed in a short time. It was remarkable.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides an electric stapler capable of performing a series of spelling operations in a short time and reducing the impact of a bending plate and a magazine. The purpose is to:

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an electric stapler according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises a magazine for inserting a staple having a gate shape into a sheet bundle, and a staple inserted into the sheet bundle. And a clincher body that bends a pair of insertion tips protruding from the sheet bundle along the sheet bundle. The clincher body mounts the sheet bundle and inserts the insertion tip of the staple. And an insertion end of a staple disposed below the insertion opening, wherein the magazine is inserted into the sheet bundle, and then the staple advances and retreats toward the magazine and protrudes downward from the insertion opening. And a bending means for bending the staple along the sheet bundle. One bending step along which the bending means advances and retreats a plurality of times toward the magazine side, and the first step in the plurality of advancing and retreating steps is a strong pressing in which the bending means bends the pair of insertion tips. And a subsequent step is a weak pressing step in which the pressing force of the bending means is reduced.

According to the electric stapler of the first aspect of the present invention, when the binding operation of the sheet bundle is required to be fast, and when the reciprocating operation of the bending means moving forward and backward to the sheet bundle side is fast, the magazine and the clincher main body are subjected to a strong force. Although it is easy to collide, the advancing and retracting process of the bending member of the clincher main body consists of multiple steps, first bending the staple insertion tip with strong pressing force, and with respect to the bent staple insertion tip Since the contact is made with a weak pressing force, it is possible to prevent the magazine into which the staples are to be inserted from being hit twice with a strong pressing force to damage the magazine or the clincher body or to reduce the durability.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the electric stapler according to the first aspect, wherein the drive control means comprises power supply control means for supplying electric power to a motor for driving the bending means. The power supply control means reduces driving power to the motor for moving the bending means forward and backward in the weak pressing step.

According to the electric stapler of the second aspect of the present invention, a weak pressing step of the bending means is generated by controlling the driving power to the motor which is the driving source, so that the switching of the steps in the bending step is quick and the bending step is performed. Adjustment of the cycle of the process is also easy. The weak pressing step of the bending means may be performed a plurality of times in order to eliminate the inertia of the motor. Also, by performing a strong pressing step by the bending means a plurality of times, the insertion tip is bent at first, and then the crimping of the flattening of the bent portion of the insertion tip is performed in a stepwise manner. It is also possible to adjust so that the pressing step is performed.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electric stapler according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 6 shows an electric stapler 10 mounted on a copying machine or the like.
Is provided with a clincher main body 11 on which the copied sheet bundle S is placed, a magazine 12 disposed above and facing the clincher main body 11 and capable of moving up and down, and a drive mechanism 20 for moving the magazine 12 up and down. .

The clincher body 11 is provided with a clincher mechanism 13 for clinching the staple legs that have penetrated the sheet bundle S.

The magazine 12 is configured to move up and down by the drive link 14 moving up and down between a solid line position and a chain line position. A large number of linear staples N are arranged and solidified with resin. A cartridge 15 in which sheet staples Q are stacked and stored is detachably mounted. The magazine 12 separates an extruding plate (not shown) that pushes the lowermost sheet staple Q of the cartridge 15 forward, and a staple N at the front end of the extruded sheet staple Q formed on both sides in a fork shape. Forming plate F1 which is bent in a U-shape, and staple N in cooperation with forming plate F1 (see FIG. 4)
And a push-out plate 17 for ejecting the staple N formed in the gate shape from the ejection portion 16.

The forming plate F1 and the push-out plate 17 have a bearing 17A for holding a shaft 14A of the drive link 14, and move up and down by the drive link 14 while slidingly contacting the front plate portion 12A of the magazine 12. . After the magazine 12 is moved down to the chain line position by the drive link 14 and the sheet bundle S is held between the clincher main body 11, the drive link 14 is further moved down. As a result, the extrusion plate 17 drives the portal staple N from the driving portion 16 in the gap between the front plate 12A and the forming plate F2.

The drive mechanism 20 includes a drive motor 21, a reduction gear train 22 rotated by the drive motor 21, and a cam 23 rotated by the reduction gear train 22 to move the drive link 14 up and down. The drive shaft 24 of the cam 23 is provided with a disk-shaped encoder 24A that rotates integrally with the cam 23. A notch of a predetermined angle region is formed in a peripheral portion of the encoder 24A. Transmissive interrupters 24B are provided on both sides of the encoder 24A to detect notches. The position and width of the notch correspond to the period during which the push-out plate 17 is at the home position (the position waiting upward as shown in FIG. 3). When the push-out plate 17 is at the home position, the interrupter 24B cuts the notch. Detect.

The clincher main body 11 has an insertion slot SL for inserting the leading end Nd of the staple N into the upper plate 11A on which the sheet bundle S is placed. Below the upper plate portion 11A, a pair of bending claws 25, 25 for bending the insertion leading end portions Nd of the staples N inward each other are provided as bending means. The bent claws 25 are held by shafts 26 protruding from the housing of the clincher body 11 shown in FIG. 6, and are normally urged downward by urging means such as a helical spring (not shown). . Bent nail 2
A cam plate 27 for swinging the bent claw 25 up and down is provided below the fifth plate 5.
Are arranged. The horizontal plate portion 28 at one end of the cam plate 27 contacts the peripheral surface of the bending claw 25 to swing the bending claw 25. A shaft 29 is attached to the other end of the cam plate 27, and a substantially central portion of the cam plate 27 is supported by a fulcrum shaft 30 held in a housing of the clincher body 11. The shaft 29 of the cam plate 27 is driven by a drive motor 33 via a cam 31 and a gear 32. When the cam plate 27 is at the home position (the position of the cam plate 27 shown by the solid line in FIG. 6), the cam plate 2
7 is coaxially mounted with an encoder type notch encoder 34 for detecting the home position. On both sides of the rotation area of the encoder 34, transmission type interrupters 3
5 is provided, and outputs a signal for detecting the home position of the encoder 34.

A control circuit 36 for controlling the drive motor 33 and the drive motor 21 includes a spelling operation command signal from the copying machine main body, a notch detection signal of the interrupters 24B and 35, and a start sensor (start sensor) for detecting the start of the drive motor 33. The drive motor 21 is controlled based on the notch detection signal of the interrupter 35), and the spelling indicating the completion of the spelling on the copying machine main body side or the replenishment or jam of the staples N is performed. The status signal is transmitted to the copying machine.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit 36 is composed of a microcomputer, a PWM control circuit, and peripheral circuits such as an interface. Of the DC drive motor 21 on the side is started. Drive motor 21
When the interrupter 24B stops outputting the detection signal after the start of the drive, the current supply to the drive motor 21 is temporarily stopped for 20 milliseconds (mmS) from that time, and the drive of the drive motor 21 is decelerated and pushed out. The pressing force of the plate 17 is reduced.

The control circuit 36 drives the DC drive motor 33 to swing the cam plate 27 after a predetermined time has elapsed after the start of rotation of the drive motor 21 and before the pushing plate 17 reaches the bottom dead center. Then, the bending claws 25, 25 are started to rise. When the pushing plate 17 reaches the bottom dead center due to the lowering of the drive link 14, the bending claws 25, 2 are slightly delayed.
5 bends the insertion tip Nd of the staple N projecting from below the sheet bundle S inward (see FIG. 1).

As shown in FIG. 2, the control circuit 36 has a bending step of reciprocating the bending claws 25, 25 twice in the driving step of the driving motor 33 composed of a DC motor, so that the interrupter 35 is re-started from the initial state. In the first rotation before the notch detection signal is detected, a strong pressing step is performed in which the drive power to the drive motor 33 is increased by increasing the duty ratio and increasing the drive motor pulse width.

After the interrupter 35 detects one rotation of the drive motor 33, the pulse width of the drive current is reduced in accordance with the clock signal to reduce the duty ratio, and the drive motor 33
And a weak pressing step with reduced torque. This allows
The bending claws 25, 25 rise again to the leading end side of the staple N and come into contact with the sheet bundle S. However, the pushing plate 17 on the magazine 12 side has risen, and the bending claws 25, 25
Since the pressing force of the bending claw 25 is also weak,
Of the sheet bundle S is prevented from colliding with the pushing plate 17 or giving an impact force to the sheet bundle S by the pushing plate 17 and the bent claws 25, 25.

The interrupter 3 of the clincher body 11
The pulse width and the duty ratio of the power supplied to the drive motor 33 during the weak pressing process may be determined by measuring the width during the strong pressing process using the notch detection signal of No. 5. Further, a slit is opened in an area detected by the interrupter 35 before the notch in the encoder 34, and the time interval between the slit and the notch is measured at the time of the strong pressing step, so that the drive motor 33 at the time of the weak pressing step is provided. The pulse width and the duty ratio of the supplied power may be determined.

According to the electric stapler of this embodiment, the bending claws 25 are connected to the magazine 1 via the sheet bundle S.
2 extrusion plate 17 or clincher body 11
Impact on the table 11A is small, and loud noise is generated, the staples are bent, and the impact is small, so that the durability of the bending claws 25, 25 and the drive system of the pushing plate 17 and the like can be improved. .

The above-mentioned bending means comprises a pair of bending claws 2.
Although the swinging members 5 and 25 are configured, a single flat pressing member may be moved toward and away from the magazine 12. Further, in order to operate the strong pressing process and the weak pressing process of the bending claws 25, 25, the electrical control is performed at high speed and the adjustment of the pressing force is easy, but a cam mechanism may be used.

[0030]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
According to the electric stapler described above, a high speed is required for the binding operation of the sheet bundle, and when the reciprocating operation in which the bending means advances and retreats to the sheet bundle side becomes faster, the magazine and the clincher body easily collide with a strong force. Since the bending step of the bending member comprises a plurality of steps, the staple insertion tip is bent with a strong pressing force at first, and comes into contact with the bent staple insertion tip with a weak pressing force. It is possible to prevent the magazine or the clincher main body or the like from being hit twice with a strong pressing force on the magazine side into which the paper is inserted, and to prevent the durability from deteriorating.

According to the electric stapler of the second aspect of the present invention, a weak pressing step of the bending means is generated by controlling the driving power to the motor as the driving source, so that the switching of the steps in the bending step is quick and the bending is performed. Adjustment of the cycle of the process is also easy. The weak pressing step of the bending means may be performed a plurality of times in order to eliminate the inertia of the motor. Also, by performing a strong pressing step by the bending means a plurality of times, the insertion tip is bent at first, and then the crimping of the flattening of the bent portion of the insertion tip is performed in a stepwise manner. It is also possible to adjust so that the pressing step is performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a bending state of an electric stapler according to an embodiment of the present invention by a time-series change in vertical movement of a magazine and a clincher body.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing changes in a pulse signal and a duty ratio for supplying power to a drive motor 33;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system of the electric stapler.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing an arrangement positional relationship between a magazine of an electric stapler and a clincher main body.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a bent claw of the clincher main body and a bent state of a staple insertion tip portion;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electric stapler with a magazine and a clincher main body.

[Description of Signs] 11 Clincher main body 12 Magazine 15 Cartridge 17 Extrusion plate 21 Drive motor on magazine side 24A Encoder 24B Interrupter 25 Bending claw (Bending means) 27 Cam plate 33 Driving motor on clincher body side 34 Encoder 35 Interrupter 36 Control circuit S Sheet bundle Q Sheet staple (staple)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A magazine for inserting a portal-shaped staple into a sheet bundle; and a clincher for bending a pair of insertion tips projecting from the sheet bundle of staples inserted into the sheet bundle along the sheet bundle. A main body, and the clincher main body is mounted with the sheet bundle, and an insertion opening for inserting a leading end of the staple.
After the magazine is inserted under the insertion slot and the magazine inserts the staples into the sheet bundle, the leading end of the staple that advances and retreats toward the magazine and projects downward from the insertion slot is inserted into the sheet bundle. Bending means for bending along the bending means. In the drive control means of the bending means, one bending step of making the insertion end portion of the one staple follow the sheet bundle includes moving the bending means toward the magazine. The first step is a strong pressing step in which the bending means bends the pair of insertion tips, and the subsequent steps reduce the pressing force of the bending means. An electric stapler characterized by a weak pressing process. 2. The electric stapler according to claim 1, wherein said drive control means comprises power supply control means for supplying electric power to a motor for driving said bending means, and said power supply control means comprises said weak pressing means. An electric stapler for reducing driving power to the motor for moving the bending means back and forth in a step.