JP3658158B2 - Sheet processing apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus, and more particularly to a sheet punching apparatus that is provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and that punches a discharged sheet and a staple sorter with the sheet punching apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the past, in order to file a sheet bundle output from an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine in a binder or the like, a puncher for perforating the sheet edge was separately provided.
[0003]
These punchers are used for punching a bundle of discharged sheets after image formation, and the productivity is low because it is necessary to manually set the sheet bundle on the puncher. Also, if the number of sheet bundles is large, the puncher punch and die are overloaded, and a considerable force is required for punching, and the punch and die wear and cause punch defects and burrs. There was a case. Therefore, it is necessary to perform the drilling operation several times by dividing it within a predetermined number of sheets, which further reduces the productivity.
[0004]
In view of this, a sheet processing apparatus or the like has been proposed in which a puncher is provided on a conveyance path, and a sheet bundle stacked on a processing tray provided in the apparatus is collectively aligned and punched. As a result, the work of setting the sheet bundle on the previous puncher can be omitted, and the efficiency can be improved.
[0005]
However, in the above apparatus, since the sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray is punched all at once, the next sheet cannot be conveyed while the sheet bundle is being punched. There is a problem that it is difficult to increase the speed of the sheet conveying process of the image forming apparatus. Further, since the punching is performed collectively, the punching operation must be performed every predetermined number of times for the same reason as described above.
[0006]
In view of this, there has been proposed a system in which a puncher composed of a rotary punch and a die is provided on the sheet conveyance path, and the sheet conveyance speed and the rotation speed of the puncher are synchronized. According to this configuration, it is possible to perform the punching operation for each sheet being conveyed without stopping the conveyance.
[0007]
The sheet waste generated by the puncher is accumulated in a waste box installed in the apparatus. When the waste is full, it is necessary to remove the waste box from the image forming apparatus and discard the waste sheet.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above conventional example, the waste box must be frequently attached and detached, and the waste sheet must be discarded. Particularly in recent years, as the size and speed of the apparatus become smaller, the waste box tends to become smaller and the frequency of discarding the sheet waste tends to increase, and the need to increase the storage capacity of the waste box is increasing.
[0009]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet processing apparatus configured so as to break up piled sheet waste flatly by oscillating the waste box so that more waste can be stored in the waste box of a predetermined size. And providing an image forming apparatus.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, a sheet processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a puncher provided in a conveyance path of a sheet conveyed by a conveying unit, a trash box that stores trash generated from the puncher, and the trash Vibration means for finely vibrating the box, wherein the vibration means is a drive shaft to which the driving force of the transport means is transmitted, a one-way clutch that transmits the rotation of the drive shaft only in one direction, It consists of a cam attached to a one-way clutch.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
A sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the sheet processing apparatus, FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of a puncher, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view of the waste box, FIG. 6 is a side view of the waste box and the vibration means, and FIG. 7 is a rear view of the puncher for explaining the cam drive of the vibration means.
[0012]
(Image forming device)
First, a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus will be briefly described with reference to FIG. An image forming unit 2 is provided in the upper part of the image forming apparatus 1, and an automatic document feeder 4 for automatically circulating the document is installed on the upper surface, and a plurality of sheets are provided on the side of the apparatus (left side in the figure). A sheet processing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “sorter 3”) having a bin tray 5a is attached.
[0013]
The image forming unit 2 uses a well-known electrophotographic system, and a detailed description thereof is omitted here, but an image of a document positioned on the platen glass 2g is formed on the photosensitive drum 2a by an optical system (not shown). The toner image is developed by a developing device 2b provided around the photosensitive drum 2a, transferred to a sheet P by a transfer device 2c, and peeled off from the photosensitive drum 2a by a conveying belt 2d. And then permanently fixed by the fixing device 2e.
[0014]
(Document feeder)
The automatic document feeder 4 sends the document on the lowermost surface of the document bundle D placed on the document placing table 4a onto the platen glass 2g through the feeding path 4b, and after the reading of the document surface is completed, Is again sent and placed on the upper surface of the document bundle D through the discharge path 4c.
[0015]
(Sheet processing equipment)
As shown in FIG. 2, the sorter 3 as a sheet processing apparatus is a so-called bin moving type sorter, and a bin unit 5 stores a plurality of bin trays 5 a for stacking and storing sheet materials. The bin trays 5a stacked in the vertical direction are configured such that the bin rollers 5b provided on both sides are moved up and down and moved up or down one by one.
[0016]
The sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus 1 to the sorter 3 is conveyed by an entrance roller 7 and branched by a flapper 8, and selectively selected as a non-sort pass 3a for direct discharge and a sort pass 3b for sorting and punching. Sent out. When the paper is simply discharged, the paper is discharged from the non-sort path 3a through the discharge roller 9 to the outside of the apparatus.
[0017]
The sheet P sent to the sort path 3b is conveyed by the first intermediate roller 10, punched through the puncher 13, conveyed by the second intermediate roller 11 and the sort discharge roller 12, and discharged to the bin unit 5. . At this time, the sheets P are sorted by raising and lowering each bin tray 5a in synchronization with the conveyance. Further, the sheets P stacked on the bin tray 5a are stapled by the staple unit 6 as necessary.
[0018]
(Puncher)
FIG. 3 shows an enlarged view near the puncher 13. The puncher 13 forms a transport path 13a in the center, and a punch 14 and a die 15 are arranged on both sides thereof. Two punches 14 and dies 15 are disposed in the width direction of the sheet P in the case of a puncher for two holes and three in the case of a puncher for three holes, and a predetermined number of holes are punched in the sheet P at a time. Is configured to do.
[0019]
The punch 14 and the die 15 rotate synchronously at a peripheral speed equal to the conveyance speed of the sheet P, and perforate at a predetermined position at the rear end of the sheet P. After punching, the punch 14 and the die 15 rotate once and stop at the initial position, and wait until the next sheet P is conveyed.
[0020]
Further, a scrap hole 16 and a slope 17 are provided in the lower part of the puncher 13 on the side of the die 15, from which sheet scrap generated by perforation falls. Furthermore, a waste box 18 is installed below the die 15 side of the puncher 13. As shown in FIG. 5, the trash box 18 is provided with a handle 18a at one end, and is detachably attached to the trash box stay 21 as shown in FIG. 3, and is locked by an elastic member 21a. A reflecting plate 19 is attached to the inner surface of the waste box 18, and two detection holes 20a and 20b are provided on the surface facing the reflecting plate 19.
[0021]
In addition, a sensor 24 as a detection means is attached to the waste box stay 21. The sensor 24 includes a sensor holder 22 fixed to the waste bin stay 21, a base 23 supported by the sensor holder 22, a light emitting element 24a and a light receiving element 24b attached to the base 23. The light emitting element 24a and the light receiving element 24b are disposed at positions corresponding to the detection holes 20a and 20b, and the reflecting plate 19 is opposed to the light emitting element 24a and the light receiving element 24b across the storage portion of the waste box 18. Is arranged.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 4, the light emitted from the light emitting element 24a passes through the detection hole 20a, is refracted twice at a right angle by the reflection plate 19, and then passes through the detection hole 20b to reach the light receiving element 24b. Detected. Therefore, when the trash box 18 is not correctly attached to the trash box stay 21, the light receiving element 24b cannot detect the light of the light emitting element 24a.
[0023]
FIG. 5 shows the arrangement of the punch 14 and the detection holes 20a and 20b. For example, when punching with a two-hole puncher, the punch 14 and the die 15 are arranged at the two-hole position 14a shown in FIG. 5, and when punching with the three-hole puncher, the hole is positioned at the three-hole position 14b. Deploy. At this time, the sheet scrap generated by the two-hole puncher is deposited by forming a two-hole scrap pile X indicated by a solid line in the storage portion of the scrap box, and the sheet scrap generated by the three-hole puncher is a one-dot chain line The three-hole scrap pile Y shown is formed and deposited. In the figure, a two-hole scrap pile X and a three-hole scrap pile Y indicate a state (about 20,000 pieces) in which the sheet scrap is full in the scrap box.
[0024]
Here, the detection holes 20a and 20b are installed in the vicinity of the intersection of the two-hole scrap pile X and the three-hole scrap pile Y, and the detection hole 20a is placed on the two-hole scrap pile X and the detection hole 20b is placed on the three-hole scrap pile Y. doing. Therefore, when punching with either a two-hole punch or a three-hole puncher, the light from the light emitting element 24a is blocked by the dust pile due to full sheet waste, and is not detected by the light receiving element 24b. It becomes.
[0025]
Therefore, when the light emitted from the light emitting element 24a reaches the light receiving element 24b, it can be known that the waste box is installed at a predetermined position and the amount of sheet waste does not reach the predetermined amount. Conversely, if the light receiving element 24b does not detect light, the sheet waste is full or the waste box is not installed at a predetermined position.
[0026]
(Excitation means)
Next, the structure of the vibration means according to the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, a one-way cam 30 serving as a vibration means is provided at the lower portion of the waste box 18. As shown in FIG. 6, the one-way cam 30 is composed of a one-way clutch 30a and a cam 30b formed by a mold.
[0027]
A drive shaft 35 is attached to the one-way clutch 30a, and is configured to transmit only rotation in one direction of the drive shaft 35 to the cam 30b. A pulley 34 is attached to the tip of the drive shaft 35, and a driving force is transmitted via a timing belt 38 by a conveyance motor 37 provided on the rear side plate 32 as shown in FIG.
[0028]
During normal sheet conveyance, the timing belt 38 is driven in the direction of the arrow 38a shown in FIG. By making the rotation direction of the drive shaft 35 at this time the free direction of 30a, the one-way cam 30 is configured not to rotate during the conveying operation.
[0029]
When the transport motor 37 is rotated reversely after the transport operation is completed, the one-way clutch 30a transmits the rotation of the drive shaft 35 to the cam 30b, and the one-way cam 30 rotates in the direction of the arrow 30c shown in FIG. As the one-way cam 30 rotates, the cam 30b comes into contact with the bottom of the trash box 18, and the trash box 18 is vibrated as indicated by an arrow 30d.
[0030]
As shown in FIG. 6, when vibration is applied in a state where the sheet scrap dropped from the three-hole position 14b is accumulated as indicated by the three-hole scrap pile Y, the three-hole scrap pile Y collapses and is flat as indicated by Y1. It becomes. In this way, more sheet waste can be accommodated without overflowing.
[0031]
Such vibration is first performed before the image formation (hereinafter referred to as a punching job) for performing punching, and after the punching job for a predetermined number of sheets P is completed, the second excitation is performed. Shake. Then, the piles piled up by the second vibration are moderately broken, and the sensor 24 determines whether or not to accept the next drilling job by detecting the full waste box. If it is not detected that the trash box is full, the next job is accepted and the first vibration is performed to further destroy the trash. Further, when the trash box is full, the next job is not accepted.
[0032]
In addition, a sensor 24 that detects the fullness of the waste bin is installed at a lower position by a predetermined amount so that the waste waste from the waste bin 18 does not overflow when the maximum number of punch jobs (1000 punches) is performed. . As a result, even if the number of punching jobs is the maximum number on the apparatus, waste can be prevented from overflowing from the waste box, and the capacity of the waste box can be increased.
[0033]
In this embodiment, the rotation speed when the conveyance motor 37 rotates in reverse is set to 150 rpm, the amplitude of the waste box is set to about 2 mm, the first excitation is 2 seconds, and the second excitation is 1 second. It is configured to add vibration. The rotation speed of 150 rpm is set to an appropriate rotation speed because the sound generated by vibration is moderately small and the waste mountain is broken.
[0034]
In the embodiment described above, the driving force of the vibrating means is obtained by rotating the transport motor 37 in the reverse direction, but a separate driving source may be provided. In that case, the provision of the one-way clutch can be omitted by controlling a separately provided drive source by a control means (not shown).
[0035]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the sheet processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, by providing the vibration unit in the waste box, the waste piles accumulated in the waste box can be destroyed, and the size of the waste box. It is possible to increase the storage amount of sheet waste without changing. Therefore, for example, it is possible to reduce the frequency of the work of attaching / detaching the waste box and discarding the waste sheet.
[0036]
Further, by using the drive source of the transport means as the drive source of the vibration means, it is possible to provide the vibration means without adding a drive source. This makes it possible to add functions at a low cost without greatly increasing the production cost of the apparatus.
[0037]
In addition, since the driving force is transmitted to the vibrating means when the conveying means is rotated in the reverse direction, the optimum rotational speed and vibration time can be achieved with a simple structure regardless of the driving speed of the conveying means and its acceleration / deceleration. Can be set.
[0038]
Further, the first vibration is performed before the image formation for punching, and the second vibration is performed after the image formation and punching on the predetermined number of sheets P is completed. The amount of waste stored in the waste bin was increased by shaking, and overflow of sheet waste was prevented.
[0039]
In addition, when the maximum punching job is performed, it is configured to detect that the waste bin is full when the sheet waste does not overflow. By detecting fullness when image formation for punching is not performed, maximum punching is performed. Even a job can be continued without stopping.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the sheet processing apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the puncher.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of a waste box.
FIG. 5 is a side view of a waste box.
FIG. 6 is a side view of the waste box and the vibration means.
FIG. 7 is a rear view of the puncher for explaining the cam drive of the vibration means.
[Explanation of symbols]
D ... Document bundle P ... Sheet X ... Two-hole scrap pile Y ... Three-hole scrap pile 1 ... Image forming apparatus 2 ... Image forming section 2a ... Photosensitive drum 2b ... Developer 2c ... Transfer device 2d ... Conveyor belt 2e ... Fixing device 2g ... Platen glass 3 ... Sorter 3a ... Non-sort pass 3b ... Sort pass 4 ... Device 4a ... Document placement table 4b ... Feeding pass 4c ... Discharge pass 5 ... Bin unit 5a ... Each bin tray 5b ... Bin roller 6 ... Staple unit 7 ... Inlet Roller 8 ... Flapper 9 ... Discharge roller
10… First intermediate roller
11… Second intermediate roller
12… Sort discharge roller
13a ... transport route
14… punch after drilling
14a… Two holes
14b ... Three hole position
15… dice
16 ... Trash hole
17… Slope
18… Trash box
18a ... handle
19 ... Reflector
20a ... Detection hole
20b ... Detection hole
21… Trash box stay
21a ... Elastic member
22… Sensor holder
23… infrastructure
24… Sensor
24a ... Light emitting element
24b ... Light receiving element
30… one way cam
30a ... one-way clutch
30b ... cam
32… Rear side plate
34… pulley
35… Drive shaft
37… Conveyance motor
38… Timing belt

Claims (4)

A puncher provided in a conveyance path of a sheet conveyed by the conveyance unit; a trash box for storing trash generated from the puncher; Comprises a drive shaft to which the driving force of the conveying means is transmitted, a one-way clutch that transmits the rotation of the drive shaft in only one direction, and a cam attached to the one-way clutch. apparatus.   The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste box is detachably attached.   3. The sheet according to claim 1, wherein the vibration unit is configured to be stationary when the sheet is conveyed by the conveyance unit and to perform vibration when the sheet is not conveyed. 4. Processing equipment. And detecting means for detecting that the trash box is full. The first vibration is performed and the second vibration is performed for a predetermined time after the conveyance is finished, and the fullness of the waste bin is detected by the detection means between the second vibration and the first vibration. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet processing apparatus is configured to perform the sheet processing.

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