JP3419202B2 - Paper saddle stitching device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a bookbinding apparatus and a saddle stitching apparatus used as a post-processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine. The present invention relates to a sheet saddle stitching apparatus that saddles a plurality of sheets in a stacked state by stapling the center of the sheets at several locations. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as the above-mentioned paper saddle stitching apparatus, a plurality of sheets are saddle-stitched by gluing a central portion of the plurality of sheets, and a plurality of staples are stapled at a plurality of central portions of the plurality of sheets. In some cases, the plurality of sheets are saddle-stitched. A paper saddle stitching apparatus that saddle stitches a plurality of sheets by gluing can glue the entire central portion of each sheet, so that the sheets can be bound firmly.
There is a problem that the processing speed is extremely slow. On the other hand, a sheet saddle stitching apparatus that saddle staples a plurality of sheets by staples is
The stapling can be performed only by hitting a plurality of staples in the center of the paper, which has the advantage of high processing speed. There is a problem of rolling. For this reason, conventionally, a saddle stitching apparatus for saddle stitching a plurality of sheets by staples is configured to be able to saddle stitch only one size sheet so as not to cause the above problem. . Specifically, the paper saddle stitching device is configured such that a plurality of sheets are stacked in a stacked state, and a sheet mounting table is opposed to both sides of the sheet mounting table, and
A pair of tampers movably arranged in the direction of nipping the plurality of sheets, and fixedly arranged so as to face the center of the long side of the sheet, to accommodate a plurality of staples. It consisted of a pair of staple means. When the plurality of sheets are placed on the sheet mounting table or each time each sheet is placed, the tamper operates to move the plurality of sheets to a predetermined position. Then, in a state where the sheets are sandwiched by the tamper, the staples are used to drive the staples into two central portions of the long sides of the sheets to saddle-stitch the sheets. [0006] However, the above-mentioned paper saddle stitching device is extremely inconvenient because only the paper of one size can be properly saddle-stitched because of the above configuration. There is another problem. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-237808 discloses a paper saddle stitching apparatus in which each tamper and each stapling means are integrally formed. In this apparatus, the stapling means is fixed to the tamper. Has been
It is not possible to staple paper of multiple sizes in an appropriate position. In other words, the paper saddle stitching device disclosed in the above publication has a plurality of sizes in a range similar to that of the conventional paper saddle stitching device in which stapling means is fixedly arranged on the paper placing table. You can only respond. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a saddle stitching process at an appropriate position even for a wide variety of sizes of paper, which is convenient, and that a high-speed stapling process is performed. It is an object of the present invention to develop a saddle stitching apparatus capable of performing the following. That is, the present invention relates to a sheet mounting table on which a plurality of sheets are mounted in a stacked state, and a plurality of sheets which face each other on both sides of the sheet mounting table. A pair of paper aligning means movably arranged in the direction of pinching,
A pair of staples arranged so as to face the paper at the center of the long side thereof and capable of accommodating a plurality of staples, and aligning the plurality of papers on the paper mounting table by the paper alignment means. Drive means for moving one of the paper aligning means or the staple means in the direction of nipping the paper, in a paper saddle stitching apparatus which binds the plurality of papers together at the center thereof by binding with the staple means; Interval adjusting means for moving the other means using the movement of one of the paper aligning means or stapling means, and narrowing the interval between the paper aligning means and the staple means in accordance with the amount of movement of the one means Is a paper saddle stitching apparatus provided with. [0010] In the present invention, the sheet mounting table may be any one on which a plurality of sheets can be placed in a stacked state. For example, when the sheet saddle stitching apparatus is used together with an image forming apparatus, The image forming apparatus can be constituted by a sheet discharge tray. The above-mentioned paper aligning means may be any means as long as it is disposed opposite to both sides of the paper mounting table and is movable so as to sandwich the plurality of papers. For example, there is a so-called tamper. The staple means may be arranged so as to be opposed to a sheet placed on a sheet placing table at a central portion in a long side direction thereof and can accommodate a plurality of staples. It can be composed of a magazine that accommodates a plurality of staples and has an opening formed at one end, and a clinch bar that is arranged to face the opening. In addition, the stapling means of the configuration is
The staple is pushed out of the opening by the clinch bar, the staple is driven into the sheet, and the tip of the staple is buckled by the sheet mounting table, whereby the staple can be driven into the sheet. The driving means may be any means capable of moving one of the paper aligning means or the stapling means in a direction for holding the paper. For example, the driving means converts a rotational motion of the driving motor into a linear motion. And a member. The distance adjusting means may be any means which can move the other means using the movement of one of the paper aligning means or the stapling means. A rack gear may be formed in the means, and the rack gears may be connected by a plurality of pinion gears so that the staple means moves in the same direction when the paper aligning means moves in the direction for holding the paper. The distance adjusting means may be any one which can reduce the distance between the paper aligning means and the staple means in accordance with the moving amount of one of the means.
What is necessary is just to design the gear ratios of the plurality of pinion gears so as to satisfy the condition. In the present invention, when the one of the means is a paper aligning means, the paper aligning means is X
Assuming that the amount of change in the distance between the center of the stapling means and the paper alignment means when moved by [mm] is Δx [mm], 2.5 ≦ X / Δx ≦ 3.0 (1) is satisfied. It is preferable to configure. In the expression (1), the X is positive when the paper aligning unit moves in the direction of nipping the paper, and the Δx is positive when the interval is narrow. In the present invention, in order for the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the plurality of sheets to face the stapling means, for example, when the sheet is used in an image forming apparatus, the sheet is discharged downstream from the sheet discharging direction from the apparatus. A guide member movable in the discharge direction may be provided on the side, and the guide member may be positioned so that the distance between the guide member and the staple means in the carrying-out direction is half the length of the sheet. Further, the paper saddle stitching apparatus of the present invention can align the plurality of sheets placed on the sheet placing table with a pair of sheet aligning means.
Further, the sheet saddle stitching apparatus can staple a plurality of sheets while the plurality of sheets are sandwiched by the sheet alignment means. Further, the paper saddle stitching apparatus utilizes a driving means for moving one of the paper aligning means or the stapling means in a direction for holding the paper, and a movement of one of the paper aligning means or the stapling means. To move the other means, and to adjust the distance between the paper aligning means and the staple means in accordance with the amount of movement of the one means. Since the interval between the paper aligning means and the stapling means is changed according to the amount of movement, when the pair of paper aligning means sandwiches the paper, each of the staple means is moved to an appropriate position corresponding to the width of the paper. Opposite
The stapling means can perform stapling at a plurality of appropriate positions on the sheet. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which a paper saddle stitching apparatus of the present invention is used in a post-processing apparatus of a copying machine will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 shows a copying machine using the saddle stitching apparatus of the present invention. The copying machine includes a copying machine body 1 for sequentially forming an image on a sheet Po, and a sheet P discharged from the copying machine body 1.
and a post-processing device 2 for saddle-stitching every predetermined number of sheets and folding it in half. The copying machine body 1 has an image input unit 3 on which an original sheet Ps is placed and sequentially reads an image of the original sheet Ps as image information, an image storage unit for storing the image information, and an image storage unit. And an image output unit 4 for sequentially forming images on the paper Po based on the image information stored in the
Document images are sequentially formed on the paper Po. The image input unit 3 includes a platen glass 3a on which the original sheet Ps is placed, and the platen glass 3a.
And a CCD sensor 3c for outputting a signal corresponding to the amount of received light, and an optical element 3d for inputting the reflected light from the original paper Ps to the CCD sensor 3c. The original sheet Ps is scanned by the illumination lamp 3b, and the image of the original sheet Ps is read as image information. The image output unit 4 includes a paper storage unit 4a that can store a large number of papers Po, and a toner image transfer unit that forms a toner image corresponding to the original image and transfers the toner image to the paper Po. Means 4b, a toner image fixing means 4c for fixing the toner image on the paper Po, and a predetermined paper Po is carried out one by one from the paper storage means 4a, and the paper Po is transferred to the toner image transfer means 4b and the toner image. A sheet conveying unit 4d for sequentially supplying the fixing unit 4c and sequentially discharging the sheet Po from the copier main body 1, and sequentially forming an image on the sheet Po based on the image information stored in the image storage unit. I do. The sheet storage means has two sheet storage trays, and can store sheets of two sizes simultaneously in the copying machine main body. The toner image transfer means includes a rotatable photosensitive drum, a uniformly charged corotron for uniformly charging the photosensitive drum, and a laser exposure device for exposing the photosensitive drum according to the image information. And a developing device for supplying a developer to the photoconductor drum, and a transfer corotron for forming a transfer electric field between the photoconductor drum, forming a latent image by charging and exposing the photoconductor drum, The latent image is developed to form a toner image, and the toner image is transferred to a sheet by a transfer electric field, so that a toner image corresponding to the original image is transferred to the sheet. The toner image fixing means includes a heating roller for heating the sheet, and a pressure roller disposed in pressure contact with the heating roller, and fixes the toner image on the sheet by carrying the sheet between them. . The post-processing device 2 includes a sheet reversing means 5 for reversing the transport direction of the sheet Po discharged from the copying machine main body 1 so that the sheet Po is turned upside down. Saddle stitching means 6 for stapling and discharging the paper Po every predetermined number of sheets and a center folding means 7 for folding the saddle-stitched sheet bundle Pb into two pieces; And a stack tray 8 for storing the stacked sheet bundle Pb. The sheet reversing means 5 has an orbit roll and a drive roll that moves around the orbit roll while being in contact with the peripheral surface thereof. By moving the roll, the transport direction is reversed so that the paper Po is turned upside down. The saddle stitching means 6 is, as shown in FIG.
The paper Po is loaded from a predetermined direction, and a paper loading tray 6a on which a plurality of papers Po can be loaded, and a center of the paper Po facing the opposite ends of the paper loading tray 6a in the paper loading direction. A pair of sliders 6d that are movably disposed in the direction and hold the tamper 6b and the stapler 6c, a drive motor (not shown) that generates a rotational driving force,
A drive force conversion member (not shown), which is composed of a rack gear and a pinion gear, and converts the rotational drive force of the drive motor into a linear motion;
a spacing adjusting member (not shown) for changing the spacing between the sheet mounting tray 6b and the stapler 6c;
The stopper 6e movably disposed on the downstream side of the sheet loading direction of the sheet a, and the stopper 6e movably disposed in the direction of coming into contact with and separating from the sheet loading tray 6a. And a discharge roller 6f for discharging. The stapler 6c is naturally disposed such that the direction of the staple stapled on the paper Po is in the short side direction of the paper Po. Also, the stopper 6e is a stapler 6c (more precisely, a position where a staple is driven).
Is set so that the distance S between the sheet Po and the sheet Po is half the length of the sheet Po in the transport direction. As shown in FIG. 3, the distance adjusting member is
For example, when the stapler 6c is fixedly arranged on the slider 6d, that is, when the driving motor is driven by the stapler 6c
Is moved along the moving path of the slider 6d, and the first rack gear 9a is fixedly arranged, and the slider 6d is engaged with the first rack gear 9a.
, A second reduction gear 9c disposed on the slider 6d so as to mesh with the first reduction gear 9b, and a second reduction gear 9c. Third reduction gear 9d disposed on slider 6d
And the third reduction gear 9d and the slider 6d
And the second tamper 6b may be fixed to the second rack gear 9e. As a result, when the slider 6d moves in the direction to pinch the paper Po, the tamper 6b in the slider 6d moves in the same direction (arrow) as the moving direction (open arrow).
Moves, the distance between the tamper 6b and the stapler 6c can be reduced according to the amount of movement of the slider 6d (stapler 6c). Further, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, when the tamper 6b is fixedly arranged on the slider 6d, as shown in FIG.
b, the first rack gear 9a is fixedly arranged along the movement path of the slider 6d;
The slider 6 is engaged with the first rack gear 9a.
d, a first reduction gear 9b disposed on the slider 6d so as to mesh with the first reduction gear 9b, and a second reduction gear 9c engaged with the second reduction gear 9c. And a second rack gear 9f movably disposed on the slider 6d, and the stapler 6c may be fixed to the second rack gear 9f. Thereby, the slider 6
When d (tamper 6b) moves in the direction of nipping the paper Po, the stapler 6c moves in the slider 6d in the direction (arrow line) opposite to the moving direction (open arrow line), so that the slider 6d (tamper 6b The distance between the tamper 6b and the stapler 6c can be reduced in accordance with the amount of movement of (1). In the present embodiment, the saddle stitching means 6 is configured to be capable of saddle stitching A4, B4, and A3 size sheets of paper Po on the basis of a center register, and to adjust the amount of movement of the slider 6d by X. The change amount of the distance between the center of the needle driven into the paper Po and the end of the paper Po is Δx
When [mm] was set, the reduction ratio by the distance adjusting member 9 was set so that Δx / X = 2.8. Note that the above X
Is positive when the tamper 6b moves in the direction of nipping the paper Po with reference to the end position of the A3 size paper Po, and Δx is positive when the interval is narrow (FIG. 5). As shown in FIG. 6, the saddle stitching means 6 will be described by taking as an example the case of saddle stitching n sheets of paper Po. First, the discharge roller 6f is separated from the sheet tray 6a. , The slider 6d retracts to both sides (hereinafter, the above positions of the above members are referred to as home positions of the respective members),
Further, each sheet Po is carried into the sheet tray 6a with the stopper 6e positioned at a position corresponding to the length of the sheet Po. Then, the saddle stitching means 6
Each time each paper Po is carried into the paper tray 6a, the slider 6d is moved to set the paper Po at the predetermined position (that is, the second and subsequent papers Po are already carried in at the predetermined position). (It is to be stacked on the cut sheet Po) (see (a) and (b)). Further, when the n-th paper Po is carried in, the saddle stitching means 6 operates the stapler 6c with the slider 6d stopped at the position where the paper Po is held, and The sheets Po are saddle-stitched (see (c), (d) and (e)). Further, the saddle stitching means 6 moves the discharge roller 6f toward the sheet tray 6a to make it contact the upper surface of the sheet bundle Pb, and then rotates the discharge roller 6f to transfer the sheet bundle Pb to the sheet bundle Pb. The sheet is discharged from the sheet tray 6a and the saddle stitching operation is completed (see (f)). Then, A3 size paper and A4 size paper were saddle stitched by using the above copying machine. As a result, in the above-described copying machine, saddle stitching could be performed at an appropriate position on paper of each size. As described above, in the paper saddle stitching apparatus of the present invention, the driving means for moving one of the paper aligning means or the staple means in the direction for holding the paper, the paper aligning means or the stapling means A distance adjusting means for moving the other means by utilizing the movement of one of the means and for reducing the distance between the paper aligning means and the staple means in accordance with the movement amount of the one means; Can be made to face the paper at an appropriate position according to the width of the paper, so that saddle stitching can be performed at an appropriate position even for paper of various sizes, which is convenient and High-speed processing can be performed by the stapling method. In the above-described paper saddle stitching apparatus, the movement of one of the paper aligning means and the stapling means is used to move the other means. Therefore, the paper aligning means and the stapling means are driven by one driving means. Can be driven, and the configuration is simple.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a top view of the saddle stitching unit shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a configuration example (part 1) of the interval adjusting member of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a configuration example (part 2) of the interval adjusting member of FIG. 2; FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a moving relationship between a stapler and a tamper according to the embodiment ((a) a definition diagram of variables, (b) numerical data serving as a basis for setting constants). FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the saddle stitching unit in FIG. 2; [Description of References] 6a: paper loading tray (paper loading table), 6b: tamper (paper alignment means), 6c: stapler (staple means), 6d: slider, 9: interval adjustment member (interval adjustment means).

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 37/04 B42C 1/12 B65H 31/34 G03G 15/00 534

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims 1] A sheet mounting table on which a plurality of sheets are mounted in a stacked state, and a direction in which both sides of the sheet mounting table are opposed to each other and the plurality of sheets are sandwiched. A pair of paper aligning means movably disposed on the sheet, and a pair of staple means arranged to face the paper at the center of the long side thereof and capable of accommodating a plurality of staples, In a paper saddle stitching apparatus in which a plurality of sheets on a sheet mounting table are aligned by a sheet aligning unit and bound by a stapling unit, the plurality of sheets are bundled into one at a central portion thereof. Drive means for moving the paper in the direction of nipping the paper, and movement of one of the paper aligning means or stapling means to move the other means, and in accordance with the amount of movement of the one means. The distance between the jogger means and stapling means are provided gap adjusting means for narrowing Te paper saddle stitching apparatus according to claim.