JP3689459B2 - Sheet sorting apparatus and image forming apparatus provided with sheet bundle stacking apparatus - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sheet sorting apparatus that sorts, for example, sheets that are sequentially discharged from an image forming apparatus one by one, and more particularly to a sheet sorting apparatus that includes a stacking device that stacks sorted sheet bundles.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a sheet sorting apparatus that transfers a sheet bundle in which sheets discharged after forming an image are stacked and stacked by a transfer unit and stacked and stored in a stacker unit.
[0003]
Each time this sheet bundle is stacked on the stacker means, it is necessary to lower the stacker means in order to stack the next sheet bundle on the stacker means. For this reason, the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle is controlled by detecting the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle with one light transmission type detecting means and lowering the stacker means until the detection operation is stopped.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle stacked on the stacker unit may not always be uniform. For example, when a sheet bundle is bound by a binding means, a portion corresponding to the binding portion swells, the height of the uppermost surface is partially increased, or sheet bundles having different sheet sizes are stacked and stacked. Bulges at any position along the diagonal of the corner of the sheet bundle.
[0005]
Also, when controlling the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle, in order to stop the stacker means at a position where the sheet detecting means no longer detects the sheet bundle, the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle must be overrun for lowering. To avoid it, the stacker means had to be moved at low speed.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet sorting apparatus including a sheet bundle stacking device that accurately detects the position of the uppermost surface of a sheet bundle stacked on a stacker unit and reliably stores the next sheet bundle. It is what.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a stacking unit that stacks discharged sheets;SaidA bundle processing unit comprising transport means for transporting a sheet bundle loaded on the stack means, and stackable means that can be moved up and down to stack and store the sheet bundle transferred by the transport means, below the bundle processing unit. ,SaidDrive means for moving the stack means up and down, sheet bundle detection means fixed to the lower surface side of the bundle processing unit and detecting the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle on the stack means,A stapler capable of binding at one place for binding the downstream corner of one side of the sheet bundle in the conveying direction, or binding at two places at the front end in the conveying direction of the sheet bundle;The sheet bundle detection means comprises1 stapled by the staplerA light transmissive first detection means for detecting the upper surface of one side end portion along the sheet bundle conveyance direction of the sheet bundle;SaidFrom the vicinity of the corner on the upstream side of the first detection meansOf the other side end facing the one side end of the two stapled by the staplerAnd light transmissive second detection means for detecting the upper surface of the diagonal sheet bundle connecting the corners on the downstream side.
[0008]
  The stacking unit descends until the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle is no longer detected by the sheet bundle detecting unit when the sheet bundle is transferred by the transfer unit, and then Ascend until the upper surface of the sheet bundle is detected by the detection meansThe drive meansIt has the control means to control, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
[0009]
    [Action]
  Based on the above configuration, the discharged sheets areLoading meansThe stack of stacked sheets isTransportation meansIs transferred to the stacker means. The transferred sheet bundle is stacked on the sheet bundle stacked on the stacker means.
[0010]
The uppermost surface of the stacked sheet bundle includes a first detection unit that detects an upper surface of one end portion along the sheet bundle conveyance direction of the sheet bundle, and a downstream side from a vicinity of an upstream corner of the first detection unit. This is detected by a transmission type second detection means for detecting the upper surface of the sheet bundle of diagonal lines connecting the corners.
[0011]
When the sheet bundle is stacked on the stacking means, the stacking means is moved up and down by the driving means in order to hold the uppermost surface in a predetermined position.
[0012]
Thereby, for example, the portion where the one side end is swollen by the binding means can be detected by the first detecting means, and the position of the swollen along the diagonal line of the sheet bundle is set to the second position by the different sheet size sheet bundle. Thus, the uppermost surface portion of the sheet bundle can be properly detected.
[0013]
  The stacker means on which the sheet bundle is stacked is a sheetbundleThe detection unit descends and stops until the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle is no longer detected, and then rises and stops until the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle is detected by the sheet bundle detection unit.
[0014]
Accordingly, for example, the stacker unit after stacking the sheet bundle can be moved at high speed, and the overrun until the uppermost surface is not detected by the sheet bundle detection unit and then stopped can be raised at low speed and stopped. The stacker means can be lowered to a predetermined position at a high speed.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows an electrophotographic copying machine (image forming apparatus) 200 as a sheet output apparatus.
[0016]
The electrophotographic copying machine 200 includes a copying machine main body 201, an automatic document feeder 202 disposed on the upper portion of the copying machine main body, and a sheet post-processing device 203 arranged on the side of the copying machine main body 201 on which the sheet S is discharged. It consists of and. The sheet post-processing device 203 includes a folding device 204 and a staple / stack device 205.
[0017]
A document 207 placed on a document placing table 206 of the automatic document feeder 202 is sequentially separated from the lower side, and is fed onto a platen glass 208 of the copier body 201 via a path 209, so that the optical function of the copier body 201 is increased. After reading by the system 210 and reading, the platen glass 208 is discharged to the uppermost surface on the document table 206 via the path 211. The sheet S is fed from the deck 212, formed with an image by the image forming unit 213, fixed by the fixing unit 214, and generally passed through the folding device 204 and conveyed to the sheet carry-in port 215 of the staple / stack device 205. It has become so.
[0018]
Here, the image forming process of the copying machine 200 as the present apparatus belongs to a publicly known one, and therefore will not be described here. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the staple / stack device 205 is divided into a bin module B that is divided into two vertically.₁ , B₂ Each bin module has a plurality of bins (sheet trays) B₁₁~ B_1n, B_{twenty one}~ B_2n(N = 6 in the figure). Each bin module can be moved to the sheet receiving position or the sheet bundle discharging position by independently changing the bin interval and the bin position.
[0019]
  The sheet carry-in entrance 215 is driven by a solenoid SL3 (not shown) that switches the first conveyance path 1 in the upward direction and the second conveyance path 2 in the downward direction. The traveling direction of the sheet S is determined by the deflector 3. In addition, the first transport path 1 includes a carry-out path 6 to the non-sort tray 5 by a deflector 4 driven by a solenoid SL4 (not shown).,Upper bin module B₁WhatofBranch to path 7.
[0020]
  On the other hand, the second transport path 2 is used as it is in the lower bin module.B ₂ It becomes the path to. Therefore, regarding each roller pair 8a to 8p, the non-sort tray is conveyed by 8a, 8b and 8c, the upper bin module is conveyed by 8a, 8b and 8d to 8g, and the lower bin module is conveyed by the respective roller pairs 8a and 8h to 8p. Is done.
[0021]
  The stapling / stacking device 205 also includes a grip / stapling unit (in the space between the path to the upper bin module and the path to the lower bin module (Bundle processing unit) 9, and a bundle on each bin is conveyed to the right in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 by a first-out gripper (transfer means) 10 and selectively stapled by a stapler 11. ) And further conveyed rightward. Similarly, in a space between the path to the upper bin module and the path to the lower bin module, a stack unit (stack device) 13 stands by below the grip / staple unit 9 and is transported by the transport gripper 12. Store the bundle.
[0022]
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the right end portion of the stapler 11 and the left end portion of the stack unit 13 are almost overlapped in the left-right direction (the width l in FIG. 2).₁₅Area).
[0023]
  Bin B of upper bin module₁₁~ B₁₆After the sheet bundle is filled, the grip / staple unit 9 is moved to the position indicated by the broken line in FIGS. 1 and 2 to remove the sheet bundle from the bin.OutIn between, Bin B of the lower bin module₂₁~ B₂₆The sheet is conveyed to Bin B₁₁~ B₁₆After the bundle is taken out from the lower bin module bin B₂₁~ B₂₆After the transfer to the end, the bundle is taken out from the lower bin module at the position indicated by the solid line in FIGS. By repeating this operation, copying can be continued continuously until the stack unit is full.
[0024]
Next, the folding device 204 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the folding device 204 can operate according to three modes such as a through-pass mode, a Z-folding mode, and a C-folding mode.
[0025]
The first through-pass mode is a mode in which the folding operation of the sheet S is not required, and in this mode, the folding sheet 251 conveyed by the inlet roller pair 227, 228 is operated by operating the inlet deflector 229. The paper is guided to the path 230 and sent to the sheet post-processing device 203 by the pair of paper discharge rollers 231 and 232.
[0026]
In the second C-folding mode, the LGL folding sheet 251 is folded into two LTRs (vertical size), and the folding sheet 251 guided from the entrance rollers 227 and 228 to the entrance decretor 229 is: The fold path 236 is introduced by operating the deflector 234.
[0027]
Thus, as shown in FIG. 34A, when the leading end of the folding sheet 251 abuts against the stopper 243, the loop 250 formed at the central portion on the downstream side of the folding sheet 251 is the folding roller 238, Nip 251 is formed in the center of the sheet 251 on the downstream side of the folding sheet 251, as shown in FIGS. 34 (b) and 34 (a). Become a sheet. Thus, the folded sheet 251 is then passed through the path 240 and sent out by the paper discharge roller pair 231 and 232.
[0028]
The third Z-folding mode is a mode in which the folding sheet 251 is once folded in half and then folded back to the opposite side again. First, the inlet roller pair 227, 228 is moved by the inlet deflector 229. The folding sheet 251 is sent to the path 233. Further, the sheet is sent to the path 242 by the deflector 234, and the leading end thereof contacts the stopper 245. Thus, similarly to the above-described two-fold mode, a loop is formed at about 1/4 of the front end of the sheet 251. The loop is inserted into the nip between the pair of folding rollers 238 and 237 and the fold 251B is formed. Is formed into a half-folded sheet (FIG. 35A).
[0029]
Next, the folding sheet 251 folded in this way is introduced into the folding path 236, and when the fold 251B of the folded sheet 251 is abutted against the stopper 244, it is folded in half. A loop is formed in the center of the folded sheet 251 in the same manner as described above, and this loop is inserted into the nip between the pair of folding rollers 238 and 239 to form a second fold 251C. (FIG. 35B). In this way, the Z-folded sheet 251 folded back and forth passes through the path 240 and is sent out by the paper discharge roller pair 231 and 232.
[0030]
Next, the grip / staple unit 9 will be described (FIGS. 12 and 13). 12 is a top view of the grip / staple unit 9, and FIG. 13 is a front view.
[0031]
  The overall structure is a frame in which guide stays 52 and 53 and a right stay 54 are passed between the unit front side plate 50 and the unit rear side plate 51, and a total of four lifting rollers are provided at the back and right sides of the frame. 55 is crimped. A member 53a for guiding the sheet bundle when the sheet bundle is conveyed is attached to the back side of the lower guide stay 53. The four rollers 55 are guided in two rails 56 fixed to the main body side. A rack cut integrally with the rail 56 and penetrated in the lateral direction of the frameaxis57 is engaged with pinion gears 58 provided at both ends, and the gears are driven by a lifting motor M4.MovementThe entire frame can be moved up and down.
[0032]
  Three moving bodies are arranged in the frame. The advance gripper 10 moves in the direction of arrow D in FIG.PossibleAnd grips the vicinity of the right end of the front side of the sheet bundle S on the bin, and pulls out the sheet bundle to the right. FirstShiDistance l from the right end of the gripper 10 to the leading end of the sheet bundle S₄Is the distance l from the left end of the stapler 11 to the front end of the sheet bundle S when the drawing is completed.₅Is set longer than.
[0033]
The stapler 11 is movable in the direction of arrow E in the figure, and can be moved to a front or rear retreat position that does not overlap the sheet width, or to an arbitrary position at the leading end of the sheet bundle.
[0034]
The conveyance gripper 12 is configured to be movable in the direction of arrow F in FIG. 12 and also movable in the direction of arrow G in the drawing including the entire front and rear side plates 59 and 60. The conveyance gripper 12 grips the approximate center position of the sheet width according to the size of the sheet bundle in the direction of arrow F, conveys the sheet bundle in the direction of arrow G (right direction in the figure), and completes the sheet bundle from above the bin. Is pulled out and transported to a stacker described later.
[0035]
The movement of the conveyance gripper 12 in the arrow F direction is used for the purpose of sorting on the stacker in addition to the movement according to the size as described above. That is, when the bundle is conveyed to the stacker, the conveyance amount in the arrow G direction depends on the sheet bundle size, but by changing the conveyance amount of the sheet bundle in the F direction, the same-size sheet bundle can be sorted or different. Sorting between jobs is possible.
[0036]
Depth dimension l of transport gripper 12₆ The dimension is set so that the front end of the sheet bundle S can be clamped even at the position where the stapler 11 is operating with respect to the sheet bundle S.
[0037]
Hereinafter, each moving body 10, 11, 12 in the grip / staple unit 9 will be described in detail.
[0038]
First, a grip portion for sandwiching a sheet bundle will be described. This is a configuration common to the first-out gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12 (FIG. 14).
[0039]
Three shafts 63, 64 and 65 are supported on the side plates 62 and 62. An upper gripper 66 and a lower gripper 67 are disposed on the shaft 65, and the lower gripper cam 68 fixed to the shaft 63 and the upper gripper cam 69 fixed to the shaft 64 rotate in the direction of the arrow. The swinging in the directions of arrows H and I is repeated (solid line and broken line diagram). The spring member 70 urges the cam portion 67a of the lower gripper 67 to the lower gripper cam 68, and the spring member 71 urges the cam portion 66a of the upper gripper 66 to the upper gripper cam 69 so that the upper gripper and the lower gripper come into contact with each other. The pressure is controlled to be substantially constant. The upper and lower gripper cams 69 and 68 are driven by a motor M5 (first gripper gripping) and M6 (transport gripper gripping) (not shown).
[0040]
The first gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12 have the same basic configuration as described above, but the conditions such as the clamping pressure, the width of the gripper, and the maximum opening amount may be set optimally according to the respective use conditions. Absent.
[0041]
For example, in the case of the present embodiment, the advance gripper is small in space, but is clamped only on the reference side, so that the clamping pressure is set high to prevent bundle displacement, and the opening amount also enters between the bins. Make the presser as easy as possible. On the other hand, since the conveyance gripper can clamp the sheet bundle center, the clamping pressure can be set low. In addition, it can be generally set according to the curl amount, basis weight, presence / absence of folding, the number of sheets, and the like.
[0042]
Next, the drive configuration of the advance gripper 10 will be described (FIGS. 15 and 16). 15 is a top view, and FIG. 16 is a front view.
[0043]
A grooved roller 72 is caulked on the front side surface of the advance gripper and is engaged with a long hole 50 a provided in the unit front side plate 50 of the grip / staple unit 9. The elongated hole 50a is formed substantially horizontally on the right side of FIG. 16 near the stapler 11, but the left side of FIG. 16 near the bottle is an elongated hole having an angle corresponding to the inclination of the bottle. . The tip portions of the shafts of the two rollers 72 are connected by a coupling sheet metal 73, and a pin member 74 is attached to the sheet metal 73.
[0044]
On the other hand, a first-out motor M7 is attached to the front side of the unit front plate 50, and a swing arm 76 is fixed to the tip of the drive shaft. A long hole 76a is formed at the other end of the swing arm 76, and the tip of the pin member 74 is engaged with the long hole 76a. By driving the advance motor M7, the swing arm 76 reciprocates between the solid line position and the two-dot chain line position in FIGS. Accordingly, the advance gripper 10 grasps the sheet bundle at the inclined position along the elongated hole of the unit front side plate 50, conveys the sheet bundle to the horizontal position, releases the sheet bundle at the horizontal position, and returns to the inclined position again.
[0045]
Next, the drive configuration of the transport gripper 12 will be described (FIGS. 17 and 18). 17 is a top view, and FIG. 18 is a front sectional view.
[0046]
First, driving in the horizontal direction and the sheet bundle conveying direction in FIGS. 17 and 18 will be described.
[0047]
The transport gripper 12 is supported by the two shafts 77 and 78 at a lower position thereof. One shaft 77 is composed of a ball screw, and the other shaft 78 is composed of a normal shaft. Both ends of the shaft 77 are rotatably supported between the front and rear side plates (the front side plate is omitted, the rear side plate 60), and both ends of the shaft 78 are completely fixed. A guide roller 79 is squeezed on each side plate, and the roller 79 can move in the left-right direction along the elongated hole 5la formed in the unit side plate 51.
[0048]
  The transport gripper left / right movement motor M8 is attached to the unit side plate 51 and transmits drive to the through shaft 83 via the motor pulley 80, the belt 81, and the pulley 82. On the through shaft 83, one driving pulley 84 is attached on the front side and one on the back side, and a belt is provided between the opposing driven pulleys 85.86Has been applied. belt86Is fixed to the rear plate 60 by the regulating member 87, so that the drive of the motor M8 is transmitted to the transport gripper 12, and movement in the left-right direction in FIGS. 12 and 13 is possible.
[0049]
Next, the driving in the vertical direction in FIG. 17, that is, the direction orthogonal to the sheet bundle conveyance will be described.
[0050]
A transport gripper forward / reverse motor M9 is mounted on the rear plate 60 via a base 88. The drive of the motor M9 is transmitted to the ball screw shaft 77 through the motor pulley 89, the belt 90, and the pulley 91. A similar screw is also cut in the portion of the transport gripper 12 that is engaged with the ball screw shaft 77, so that the transport gripper 12 can move forward and backward by rotating the ball screw shaft 77.
[0051]
The position of the transport gripper 12 is determined by detecting the home position and the rotation amount of the motor M8. In the left-right direction, the protrusion 87a above the restricting member 87 is detected by the home position sensor S7, the amount of movement is detected by the sensor S8 that reads the encoder 92 of the motor M8, and stopped at a predetermined position.
[0052]
On the other hand, the forward / backward movement of the transport gripper 12 also detects the negative portion of the transport gripper at the home position S9, detects the amount of movement by the sensor SIO that reads the encoder 93 of the motor M9, and stops the transport gripper 12 at a predetermined position. .
[0053]
Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a control device (CPU) for controlling the operation of each of the above parts is provided.
[0054]
Based on the above configuration, the operation of each component will be described below. First, the basic operation of the apparatus will be described.
[0055]
  First, the document placing table of the automatic document feeder 202 disposed in the copying machine main body 201.206An original is set on the screen (FIG. 1), a predetermined mode condition is input by an operation unit (not shown), and a start key is pressed. In response to the start key pressing signal, each unit of the sheet post-processing apparatus 203 is controlled to a standby state. Hereinafter, description will be made separately for each mode condition.
[0056]
(A) Non-sort mode
2 and 26, the deflector 3 is positioned in the direction of the solid line and the deflector 4 is positioned in the direction of the broken line so that the roller pairs 8a, 8b, and 8c existing from the first transport path 1 to the unload path 6 are rotated. The motor Ml4 is controlled (FIG. 26). Of course, the pair of rollers in the upper part of the folding device 204 is also rotated by a folding motor Ml7 (not shown) to be in a sheet receiving state.
[0057]
  However, the standby operation may be performed after the copying operation described below and before the sheet is discharged from the copying machine main body 201. When the sheet post-processing apparatus side enters a standby state, the document shown in FIG.207Is fed onto the platen glass 207 of the copier body 201 by the document feeder 202, and the copier body 201 is in a copying operation.
[0058]
The first sheet discharged after being subjected to image formation processing in the copying machine main body 201 passes through the upper path of the folding device 204 and enters the staple / stack device 205 from the carry-in entrance 215. The sheet is deflected vertically upward by the deflector 3, conveyed on the right side of the deflector 4 vertically upward, and discharged onto the non-sort tray 5 by the discharge roller pair 8 c.
[0059]
(B) In sort mode
The special sort mode may be controlled depending on the sheet conditions and mode setting conditions. The operation in the general sort mode will be described.
[0060]
First, as a standby operation, the deflector 3 is positioned in the direction of the solid line, the deflector 4 is also positioned in the direction of the solid line, and the rollers of the upper path of the folding device 204 and the roller pairs 8a, 8b, and 8d to 8g rotate. Upper and lower bin module B₁ , B₂ Is the top bin B₁₁, B_{twenty one}Is shifted so as to come to a position facing the discharge roller pair 8g, 8p. The alignment wall 15 of the bin module stands by at a home position that matches the width of the sheet.
[0061]
Since the origami guide member is not operated, it is checked that the origami guide member is in the retracted position so as not to protrude to the bin side. Further, regarding the driving of the bin standing portion, the control device 270 checks that it is in the non-operating position.
[0062]
The grip / staple unit 9 moves to a position corresponding to the sheet bundle taking-out of the upper bin module (a broken line position in FIG. 2) and stands by.
[0063]
The moving body in the grip / staple unit 9 will be described with reference to FIG. The advance gripper 10 stands by at the position shown in FIG. 12 so that the sheet on the bin is not obstructed when the bin moves up and down in the bin module located on the left side of the grip / staple unit 9.
[0064]
Since the stapler 11 is not operated, the stapler 11 moves to the front retracted position indicated by a broken line in FIG. As indicated by a broken line in FIG. 12, the conveyance gripper 12 is positioned in the direction of the arrow F to grip the approximate center of the sheet bundle being conveyed, and in the direction of the arrow G, the sheet advanced by the advance gripper 10. The front end of the bundle waits at a grippable position 12a.
[0065]
The gripper waits at each position with the upper and lower grippers being opened for both the first-out gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12.
[0066]
Next, the stack unit 13 is moved to a position indicated by a broken line in FIG. 2 and can receive a sheet bundle conveyed by the grip / staple unit 9. In FIG. 23, the stack tray (stacker means) 116 inside the stack unit 13, the reference wall 117, and the pressing member 118 are positioned so that the upper surface of the stack tray 116 can receive the sheet bundle, and others. Move to the position corresponding to. The front end of the presser member 118 is in a state of protruding toward the stack tray 116 as shown in FIG.
[0067]
  With the above, the sheet post-processing apparatus side is in a standby state, and in the non-sort mode.SameA document is fed to the printer, an image is formed, and a sheet is fed. The first sheet in FIG. 2 passes through the upper path of the folding device, enters from the carry-in entrance 215, and is deflected by the deflector 3.Vertically upwardIn addition, it is further conveyed to the left by the deflector 4 and is binned by the discharge roller 8g.B ₁₁ Discharged to the top.
[0068]
When the discharge sensor S18 detects that the first sheet has been discharged to the bin Bll, the bin is shifted upward by one bin and the bin B₁₂Rises to the sea tub accommodation position. When the above operation is repeated and sheets of the same image are discharged to all the bins of the upper bin module, the document is replaced and image formation is performed on the second document. The bin of the upper bin module is the bottom bin (B in FIG.₁₆) Is in the seam storage position, and the second sheet is stored in order from the lowest bin. The above operation is repeated for all the originals, and the operation of storing the sheets in the bin ends. In this finished state, if the number of documents is an odd number, the bottom bin B₁₆Is at the position where the sheet is stored and the number of documents is an even number, the top bin B₁₁Is in the seat receiving position.
[0069]
Next, the operation moves to the operation of taking out the sheet bundle from the bin. In this embodiment, in the upper bin module, the take-out position of the sheet bundle, that is, the gripper / staple unit 9 is waiting than the sheet storage position. The position is 2 bins below. Accordingly, the control of the bundle extraction order varies depending on whether the number of documents is odd or even.
[0070]
(B)-(i) When the number of documents is an even number
If the number of originals is an even number, the bin position after the end of sorting is the same as that at the start, so the state shown in FIG. In this case, bin B at the bundle removal position₁₃First, lower it by 2 bins to the state shown in FIG.₁₁To B₁₆The bundle is taken out in order (FIG. 29).
[0071]
  Next, upper bin module B₁Is raised by 2 bins to the state shown in FIG. 30, and preparation for receiving the next sheet bundle is completed. Even at the next opportunity for the upper bin module to accept sheets in a continuous job, since the document is an even number, if the sort is started in the state of FIG. 30, the sort ends in the state of FIG. In this case, since there is no bin corresponding to the bundle take-out position, the upper bin module B₁Lower by 2 bins to the state shown in FIG.B ₁₆ B in order₁₁Remove the bundle until At this time, since the state shown in FIG. 28 is obtained, the state is raised by 2 bins and returned to the state shown in FIG. Therefore, when the upper bin module repeats a plurality of times and accepts the sheet bundle, the state change described above is repeated.
[0072]
(B)-(ii) When the number of documents is an odd number
If the number of originals is an odd number, the bin position after sorting is completely opposite to that at the start. That is, if sorting is started from the state shown in FIG. 27, the state shown in FIG. 30 is reached at the end. At this time, since there is no bin corresponding to the bundle extraction, the bin is lowered by 2 bins to obtain the state shown in FIG.₁₆B in order₁₁Remove the bundle until At this time, since the state shown in FIG. 28 is reached, the bin is raised by two bins and the preparation for receiving the next sheet bundle is completed in the state shown in FIG. If the job is the same, the number of originals is odd even at the next sheet reception opportunity, so if the sort starts in FIG. 27, the process ends in FIG. Therefore, in this case as well, the above-described state change is repeated.
[0073]
In the case of the lower bin module, in this embodiment, the relationship between the bin sheet receiving position and the bundle take-out position is reversed, and the bundle take-out position is positioned two bins above. Bin control in the lower bin module is not described in detail here, but is controlled by repeatedly changing the state in substantially the same manner as in the case of the upper bin module described above. The operation following the sort mode will be described below.
[0074]
The sheets stacked on the bin are aligned by moving the alignment wall 15 in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance with respect to the reference rods 14a and 14b shown in FIG. When sorting and alignment is completed, the first-out gripper 10 that holds the sheet bundle S on the bin moves from the solid line position to the broken line position with the first-out gripper 10 opened in FIG. 13, and then holds the sheet bundle S. A sheet bundle in which the bin standing portion Bj shown in FIG. 11 is opened by the solenoid SLl and can be conveyed is a reference bar 14a, 14b in FIG. 4 on the front side and an alignment bar 15 on the back side. Both sides are regulated by the guide member 53a of FIG. 12, and the lower direction is guided by the bin surface and the falling bin standing surface, the guide stay 53, and the upper direction is guided by the guide stay 52, and is conveyed rightward in the figure. The And it stops at the position of the continuous line shown in FIG. 13, and the delivery of the bundle between the first-out gripper 10 and the transport gripper 12 is performed here.
[0075]
  First, the conveyance gripper 12 that has been waiting while being opened at the position of the broken line in FIG. 12 sandwiches the substantially central portion of the sheet bundle. Next, the advance gripper 10 releases the nipping and prepares for the next conveyance. The conveyance gripper 12 is driven in the right direction of an arrow G in FIG. 12 to convey the sheet bundle in the right direction, and stops at an appropriate position according to the size. In this state,31As shown in FIG. 4, the rear end of the sheet bundle S is dropped on the upper surface of the stack tray 116, the left side is regulated by the stacker reference wall 117, and the upper surface of the bundle is pressed by a pressing member 118 driven by a solenoid. ing. From this state, the conveyance gripper 12 is opened, and the leading end of the sheet bundle is dropped onto the stack tray.
[0076]
At this time, the presser member 118 functions to prevent a shift in the bundle that falls.
[0077]
Next, when the second bundle of sheets is conveyed, the process is the same as the first bundle until the gripper 12 grasps the substantially central portion of the sheet bundle and passes the bundle between the grippers. Only the operation will be described.
[0078]
  After delivery of the bundle, the transport gripper 12 moves by a predetermined amount in the direction of arrow F in FIG. At this time, the reference bar, the alignment wall, and the guide member 53a may escape so that the rear end side of the sheet bundle is not regulated, and these width regulating members are removed from the rear end of the sheet bundle completely. The conveyance gripper 12 may be moved in the direction of arrow F. By this movement, when the sheet bundle is stacked on the stack tray 116, it is possible to distinguish it from the first sheet bundle. During the conveyance in the right direction by the conveyance gripper 12,32As shown in FIG. 3, the central portion of the sheet first falls on the upper surface of the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116 before the rear end of the sheet bundle S reaches a predetermined position, and if the sheet is continuously conveyed, the sheet is conveyed. Sheet bundle S₂Is already loaded sheet bundle S₁There is a risk of disturbing the alignment. At this time,32As shown in FIG.₁By pressing the upper surface of the sheet stack S₁Can be prevented.
[0079]
  The stack of sheets stacked on the stack tray 116 is always detected by a sensor so that the distance between the upper grip / staple unit 9 and the uppermost stack is always constant.116Is controlled by gradually lowering.
[0080]
Further, regarding the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116, when the stack unit 13 is not in operation, the sheet bundle can be arbitrarily taken out. When the operator depresses a take-out button (not shown), the stack unit 13 moves to the take-out position, and only the stack take-out cover can be opened and closed.
[0081]
Further, after taking out the sheet bundle, if the cover is closed, the processing can be continued.
[0082]
(C) Staple sort mode
The conveyance of sheets and sheet bundles is the same as that in the sort mode described above, and a description thereof will be omitted. Here, the movement control of the stapler will be described.
[0083]
As shown in FIGS. 12 and 22, the stapler 11 can be stopped at an arbitrary position between the retracted position 1la on the near side and the retracted position 1lb on the far side.
[0084]
(C)-(i) In case of one binding at the front
In the non-staple mode, the stapler 11 was at the front retracted position 1la. However, when the front one-point binding mode is selected, the stapler 11 waits at a position 1lc shown in FIGS. . As shown in FIG. 12, even when the stapler is at the position 1lc, the transport gripper 12 can stand by without interfering with each other at the position 12a. The stapler 11 performs a stapling operation on the sheet bundle conveyed by the first-out gripper 10 and then moves to the front retracted position 1la. Thereafter, the sheet bundle is conveyed rightward by the conveyance gripper 12. When the trailing end of the sheet bundle comes out of the movement area of the staple 11, the stapler 11 moves again to the single binding position 11c and waits for the reception of the next sheet bundle.
[0085]
(C)-(ii) When binding at two locations
The two binding positions take various positions depending on the size in the width direction of the sheet bundle. However, it is assumed that there is a size having two binding positions of the stapler positions 1ld and 1le shown in FIGS. Also in this case, as shown in FIG. 12, the stapler does not interfere with the position of the transport gripper 12a even if the stapler is in either 1ld or lle position. At the time of standby at two places, the stapler moves from the retracted position 1la on the near side to the driving position 1ld on the near side at two places and stands by. At this time, the transport gripper 12 stands by at the position 12b of the solid line.
[0086]
When the sheet bundle is conveyed by the first-out gripper 10, the stapler 11 staples one position on the near side at the position 1ld while the first-out gripper 10 holds the sheet bundle. Next, the stapler 11 moves to the position of 1le and staples the two positions on the back side. As soon as the stapler 11 moves from the 1 ld position to the 1 le position, the transport gripper 12 enters the holding position 12 a from the standby position 12 b. The conveyance gripper 12 holds the sheet bundle, while the first-out gripper 10 releases the sheet bundle. The stapler performs the second stapling operation at the position 1le and then moves to the retreat position 1lb on the back side.
[0087]
  When the rear end of the first bundle of sheets exits the stapler moving area, the stapler 11 moves from the retracted position 11b to the rear staple position 1le, and receives the second bundle of sheets. This time, after hitting the back side of the two places first,l1dMove to. As with the first bundle, the transport gripper 12 strikes the first place and staples the second place.11Waits at the position 12b until it moves, then moves to 12a, and the stapler11The sheet bundle is conveyed after the retreating operation before the sheet. As described above, at the time of two-point binding, the processing time is shortened by alternating the retracting position of the stapler with the front side and the back side.
[0088]
(C)-(iii) In case of binding at one location
In this case, since the binding is performed only on the back side with respect to the paper size center, the stapler reciprocates between the retracted position 1lb on the back side and the binding position in the reverse of (C) to (i) described above.
[0089]
(D) In folding mode
Also in the folding mode, a sheet that is relatively long in the conveying direction is subjected to a folding operation inside the folding device 204 shown in FIG. 2, and then discharged onto a bin and selectively post-processed in the same manner as a normal sheet. And loaded on the stack unit 13.
[0090]
Although the schematic configuration has been described above, the detailed configuration of other units will be described below for reference.
[0091]
First, bin module B₁ , B₂ Will be described.
[0092]
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bin module. Below bin module B₁ I will explain about B₂ The same configuration is also applied to.
4-bin module B₁ Is mainly Bin B₁₁~ B_1nAnd two reference rods 14a and 14b, an alignment wall 15, lead cams 16a to 16c for raising and lowering the bins, and drive units thereof. The reference rods 14a and 14b are members for determining a reference line for post-processing such as stapling on the sheet discharged onto the bin, and are usually slightly retracted from the end position when the sheet is discharged. Is set. The alignment wall 15 is configured to bring one or more sheets discharged onto the bin one by one in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction (in the direction of arrow A in the figure), and the opposite ends to the reference rods 14a and 14b. Match by hitting.
[0093]
FIG. 4 is a top view of the bin module. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lead cams 16a, 16b, and 16c are arranged one on the front side of the bin and two on the back side. It has a helical lead cam. The roller portions Ba, Bb, and Bc protruding from the bin are engaged with the lead cam, respectively, and the bin is raised and lowered by a predetermined pitch each time the lead cam rotates once in synchronization.
[0094]
As shown in FIG. 4, the bin has a notch Bd corresponding to the reference rod and a hole Be corresponding to the alignment wall, as well as a notch Bf for a gripper, which will be described later, and a bin standing drive mechanism The notch Bg and the notch Bh necessary for operation are formed.
[0095]
FIG. 5 is a front view of the bin module. As shown in FIG. 5, the bins are arranged in parallel at an angle with respect to the horizontal. On the other hand, the bin roller portions Ba, Bb, and Bc are configured to have the same height when the bin is inclined. That is, the position of the bin roller Bb near the right side of the bin is in the vicinity of the reference plane of the bin, while the position of the bin roller Bc near the left side of the bin is considerably below the reference plane of the bin. It is connected to the bottle by a V-shaped fixed arm.
[0096]
As a result, B shown in FIG.₁₅, B₁₆Even when adjacent bins such as the above approach, interference of the arm portion can be avoided. Further, since the bin roller portions Ba, Bb, and Bc all have the same height, the positions of the lead cams 16a to 16c in the height direction can all be set to the same height, and the overall dimensions can be reduced. That is, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), the dimension l shown in FIG. 5 (b) is compared to the case where rollers Ba, Bb, and Bc are provided near the thick portion of each bottle.₁₆Minutes can reduce the overall size of the device.
[0097]
Next, the bin interval will be described with reference to FIG. 5 shows the upper bin module B₁ In the figure, the second bin B from the top₁₂Is at a position corresponding to the discharge roller pair 8g and receives the discharged sheet. On the other hand, the fourth bin B from the top₁₄Is in the bundle discharge position. When the sheet discharge to the bin is completed, the bin is sequentially shifted to this position, and the bundle is discharged from each bin. In FIG. 5, bin B₁₁~ B₁₅Until the bin interval is l₁₇And big, B₁₅, B₁₆Only between₁₈Although it is small, the space between bins varies depending on the situation. 6 shows bin B₁₆Is in the sheet receiving position, and the bin is shifted to the top. At this time, the bin interval is B₁₁~ B₁₅Until l₁₈Small and B₁₅, B₁₆L only₁₇It ’s big.
[0098]
FIG. 7 shows bin B₁₁Is in the bundle discharge position and the bin is shifted to the lowest position.₁₁, B₁₂L only₁₇Large, others l₁₈It is small. That is, the distance between the bin in the sheet receiving position and the bin above it is l₁₇The distance between the bin at the bundle discharge position and the upper and lower bins is l₁₇It needs to be big enough. In FIG.₁₁And B₁₂, B₁₃And B₁₄, B₁₄And B₁₅It is. In FIG.₁₂And B₁₃This is functionally l₁₈The interval may be as small as possible, and the size of the interval is determined by the relationship between the upper half space of the stapler 11 and the bin interval.
[0099]
On the other hand, in the case of the lower bin module, as can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheet receiving position and the bundle discharging position are upside down from those in the upper bin module. Accordingly, in the same way, the bin B in the sheet receiving position in FIG._{twenty four}Bin B above_{twenty three}The interval between₁₇Bin B at a large size and in the bundle discharge position_{twenty two}And upper and lower bin B_{twenty one}, B_{twenty three}The interval between₁₇Need to be as large as B_{twenty four}And B_{twenty five}L between₁₇It does not have to be as large.
[0100]
But B_{twenty four}And B_{twenty five}L₁₇By increasing the size to the extent, the sheet receiving position and the bundle discharging position are reversed, and the interval configuration of the bins of the upper and lower modules becomes the same. That is, the pitch of the lead cams that determine the bin interval may be the same, and there is a merit that the upper and lower lead cams are shared. In addition, the fact that the sheet receiving position and the bundle discharging position are reversed in the upper and lower bin modules has another advantage that the grid / stapler unit 9 and the stack unit 13 can be shared when the sheets are taken out.
[0101]
Next, bin shift driving will be described (FIGS. 4 and 5).
[0102]
The bin shift motor M1 synchronously transmits the drive to the lead cams 16a to 16c by the motor pulley 18 and the belt 19 and the lead cam pulleys 20a to 20c, and rotates the motor forward and backward to rotate the lead cam once, so that the bin is shifted by the cam pitch. Move up and down. Each of the lead cams 16a to 16c is rotatably supported by a bearing by a bearing, and drive is transmitted from a pulley 20 attached to one side thereof. The bin shift motor 17 has an encoder 21 on the side opposite to the pulley 18 and detects one rotation by the sensor S1.
[0103]
Each bin module B₁ , B₂ Each have a bin home position detection sensor S2 (not shown), and each top bin B₁₁, B_{twenty one}Is detected at each sheet receiving position. Each bin module B₁ , B₂ Includes a penetrating sensor S3 (FIG. 2) that detects a sheet on the bin, and detects the presence or absence of the sheet on the bin to determine timing for switching modules.
[0104]
Next, the drive configuration of the alignment wall 15 that aligns the sheets on the bin will be described (FIGS. 8 and 9). FIG. 8 is a top view of the alignment wall driving unit, and FIG. 9 is a front view.
[0105]
A shaft 22 is crimped to the alignment wall 15, and the crimping shaft 22 is stopped through a U-shaped support plate 23. On the other hand, a compression spring 24 is incorporated in the inside of the U-shaped support plate 23 while being slightly urged in the compression direction, one side being a stopper provided on the inner wall of the plate 23 and the other being a caulking shaft. 25. The caulking shaft 22 and the alignment wall 15 are urged downward in FIG. 8 by the force of the compression spring.
[0106]
The lower side of the U-shaped support plate 23 is fixed to the moving side of the accumulator 27 via the slide plate 26, and the fixed side of the accumulate 27 is fixed to the accumulator rail plate 28 extending in the sliding direction of the alignment wall. ing. Caulking shafts 29 and 30 stand on the front side and the back side of the accumulator rail plate 28, and a pulley gear 31 and a pulley 32 are rotatably attached to the accumulating rail plate 28, respectively. A timing belt 33 is passed between the pulleys 31 and 32, and the slide plate 26 is fixed to the belt 33. On the other hand, when the motor gear 34 of the alignment wall drive motor M2 is engaged with the gear portion of the pulley gear 31, the driving force is transmitted.
[0107]
The home position of the alignment wall 15 is detected by the sensor S4. Above the U-shaped support plate 23, a slide member 35 is attached, and is guided by engaging with a recessed portion of the fixed rail 36. In FIG. 9, driving is performed from below the alignment wall 15 and the upper portion is guided by the rail, but it may be configured upside down. In addition, the configuration of the alignment wall and the driving method may be reversed between the upper bin module and the lower bin module.
[0108]
Next, the drive configuration of the bin standing part forming the alignment surface in the conveyance direction on the bin will be described (FIGS. 10 and 11).
[0109]
This is to move the bin stand when the sheet bundle stacked on the bin is conveyed in the bin stand direction from the bin in order to post-process and stack the sheet bundle. 10 is a top view, and FIG. 11 is a front view.
[0110]
The bin B is composed of a sheet stacking portion Bi and a member of the aligning portion Bj. The rotating shaft on the aligning portion Bj side is fitted to the rotation hole on the stacking portion Bi side, and the aligning portion Bj rotates. It is possible. As shown in FIG. 11, the rotation angle of the aligning portion Bj is approximately 90 °, and the aligning surface standing at a right angle to the fixed stacking surface can be rotated until it is substantially flush with the stacking surface. ing. Usually, it is urged by a spring or the like so that the alignment surface is perpendicular to the loading surface (solid line in FIG. 11). This spring is strong enough to prevent the alignment portion Bj from falling even with the weight of the sheet bundle on the bin. A drive arm 45 is attached to the back side of the alignment portion Bj. A pin 45a is raised at the tip of the drive arm.
[0111]
The bin standing drive solenoid SL <b> 1 is supported on the base 46. As the link 47 is rotatably supported on the base 46, one end of the arm 48 is engaged with a pin 47a on the link. The other end of the arm 48 is attached to the solenoid SL1, and the link 47 is moved from the solid line portion to the two-dot chain line portion by operating the solenoid. A pin abutting member 47b is attached to the tip of the link 47, but in a normal state, the 47b and the pin 45a are separated from each other and do not hinder the lifting operation of the bin B. When the sheet discharge onto the bin is completed and the sheet bundle in the bin is post-processed and stacked, the corresponding bin is shifted to the position shown in FIG. 11 and the solenoid SLl is operated. The pin abutting member 47b abuts on the pin 45a, and further rotates the link 47, thereby moving the alignment portion Bj to the position of the two-dot chain line in FIG. When the solenoid SLl is turned OFF, the link 47 returns to the original solid line position by the action of the spring 49, and the matching portion Bj also returns to the position orthogonal to the stacking surface correspondingly.
[0112]
Next, the forward / backward drive of the stapler 11 will be described (FIGS. 19 and 20). 19 is a left view of the stapler driving unit, and FIG. 20 is a top view.
[0113]
In FIG. 19, the stapler 11 is fixed on a base 94. A slider 95 is attached above the base 94. The slider 95 is provided with four bearing portions for passing two shafts. By fixing the two shafts 96 and 97 between the front and rear side plates 50 and 51, the stapler 11 can be Suspended and supported by two axes. A motor base 98 is attached to the unit rear plate 51 side, and a stapler forward / reverse motor M10 is fixed. The drive of the motor M10 is transmitted to the motor gear 99, the motor pulley 100, the driven pulley 101, and the belt 102 passed between both pulleys, and this drive is performed via the slider 95 to which the belt 102 is fixed by the regulating member 103. It is sent to the stapler 11 unit. As a result, the staple unit can be moved in the direction of arrow J in FIG. The stapler 11 can be stopped at an arbitrary position between the front side retracted position 1la and the rear side retracted position 1lb. The position setting of the stapler 11 is determined by reading the encoder 104 of the motor M10 with the sensor S13 from the detection by the front position sensor Sll or the back position sensor S12.
[0114]
Next, the configuration of the stack unit 13 will be described (FIGS. 21, 23, and 24). 21 is a top view of the stack unit 13, FIG. 23 is a front view of the stack frame portion, and FIG. 24 is a left view.
[0115]
First, in FIG. 21, a stack frame 105 that is an outer frame of the stack unit 13 is composed of four parts, that is, a rear side plate 105a, then a left side plate 105b, a right side plate 105c, and a bottom plate 105d. Two elevating rollers 106 are installed on each of the outer side surfaces of the left and right side plates 105b, 105c of the outer frame 105, for a total of four, and are guided by rails 107 fixed to the main body. The rail 107 may coexist with the same member as the rail 56 of the grip / staple unit 9 shown in FIG.
[0116]
21 and 24, a chain 109 is fixed to a bent portion on the back side of the left and right side plates 105b and 105c by a fixing plate, and the left and right chains 109 are respectively passed between the upper and lower sprockets 110 and 111. . The lower sprocket is connected by the through-shaft 112, and the drive of the stack frame lifting motor Mll fixed to the main body side is transmitted to the through-shaft 112 by the gears 113 and 114, and the stack frame 105 is moved up and down.
[0117]
The stop position of the frame 105 is normally described later in addition to the two stop positions corresponding to the two stop positions (the upper broken line portion and the lower solid line portion) of the grip / staple unit 9 shown in FIG. It is set at multiple locations such as when changing the stacker tray drawer position and the stacker limit number. Usually, the home position of the stack frame 105 is a position corresponding to the upper bin module. Returning to FIG. 21, the encoder 115 of the motor Mll is read by the sensor S14, and can be stopped at the various setting positions.
[0118]
On the left side plate 105b of the stacker frame, a stacker reference wall 117 serving as a reference wall for the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116 is supported so as to be lifted and lowered, and a pressing member 118 that presses the sheet bundle on the stack tray 116 from above. Is also supported.
[0119]
The stacker reference wall 117 is normally located at the lower side, and moves upward when a stacker limit number to be described later is changed.
[0120]
As shown in FIG. 21, the stacker reference wall 105 is raised and lowered by providing four rollers 119 on the reference wall side, two at the back and the front, and a rail 120, 121 fixed to the stacker frame left side plate 105b. It can be moved up and down and is driven by a lifting motor Ml2 (not shown). As shown in FIGS. 21 and 23, a guide roller 117a is rotatably supported on the reference wall 117 so that the rear end of the sheet bundle does not remain on the upper inclined surface 117b of the reference wall 117. .
[0121]
Further, a proximity prevention sensor S16 is attached to the upper end portion of the reference wall. When the distance between the stack unit 13 and the upper gripper / staple unit 9 is detected and approached below a certain distance, Control to stop driving in the proximity direction is performed to prevent interference. Further, a stack height detection sensor S17 is attached to the side surface of the reference wall, and the top sheet of the stack is detected by S17 to control the height of the stack tray 116 and the like.
[0122]
Next, the pressing member 118 will be described with reference to FIG.
[0123]
The pressing member 118 presses the sheet bundle S on the stack tray 116 to prevent disturbance of the already loaded sheets due to the next bundle loaded on the stack tray, and then stacks on the stack tray. There are two functions to prevent deviation in the bundle when the bundle is dropped.
[0124]
Next, the stack tray 116 will be described (FIGS. 21 and 22). FIG. 22 is a front view of the stack tray portion.
[0125]
The stack tray 116 is gradually lowered to keep the top surface of the stack inside the stack frame 105 described above.
[0126]
21 and 22, reference numeral 128 denotes a rail that is fixed to both side plates of the stack frame 105. The stack tray 116 is configured so that it can be pulled out forward with the Acculide 130 with respect to the stack tray base 129. A U-shaped roller receiving plate 131 is attached to both end surfaces of the stack tray base 129, and two rollers 132 are respectively crimped and guided by rails 128. At one end of the rail 128, a rack is formed in the vertical direction, and meshes with pinion gears 134 attached to both ends of a shaft 133 penetrating the base 129 in the horizontal direction. The stack tray lifting / lowering motor M13 is attached to the stack tray base 129 by the motor base 135, and driving is input to the through shaft 133 by the gears 136 and 137. An encoder 138 is attached to the other end of the motor M13 and is read by the sensor S15, thereby controlling the amount of lowering of the stack tray.
[0127]
Next, the drive configuration of the transport system will be described (FIG. 26). FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram of the drive configuration, where the hatched side of each roller pair is the drive input shaft and the other is the driven side. The drive system is roughly divided into three systems.
[0128]
First, the conveyance motor M14 takes charge of driving on the side close to the copying machine main body and transmits it to the vertical path and the non-sort path after branching to the upper and lower bin modules. The corresponding roller pairs are 7 pairs of 8a to 8c and 8h to 8k.
[0129]
Next, the conveyance motor M15 takes charge of the horizontal path of the upper bin module path and supplies driving to the four roller pairs 8d to 8g.
[0130]
Next, control of the height position of the stack tray 116 of the stack unit 13 will be described.
[0131]
Both bin unit B as loading means₁ , B₂ As described above, the bundle of sheets stacked thereon is transferred to the stack tray 116 of the stack unit 13 and stacked by the first-out clipper 10 and the transport gripper 12 of the grip / staple unit 9 (FIG. 13). The stack tray 116 is moved up and down with respect to the stack frame 105 of the stack unit 13 by a stack tray lifting motor (driving means) M13.
[0132]
The stacked sheet bundle is detected by a pair of sheet bundle detection units 305 and 306. The sheet bundle detection means includes a light transmission type first detection sensor (first detection means) 305 and a light transmission type second detection sensor (second detection means) 306. Both detection sensors 305 and 306 are fixed to attachment plates 301 and 302 provided on the upstream side and the downstream side of the lower part of the grip / staple unit 9 as shown in FIGS.
[0133]
FIG. 37 is a top view showing the arrangement of the detection elements of both detection sensors 305 and 306.
[0134]
The first detection means 305 includes a light emitting element 305a and a light receiving element 305b, and is arranged to detect the upper side of one side end (lower side in the drawing) of the sheet bundle in the sheet bundle conveyance direction. Sheet bundle S₀ 37 is aligned by the alignment rod 14 (FIG. 3) with the lower one side end as a reference plane in FIG. 37, and the downstream end corner portion is stapled by the stapler 11, thereby the one side end portion. Swelling occurs in the region along the line. This bulge is detected by the first detecting means 305 arranged as described above.
[0135]
The second detection unit 306 includes a light emitting element 306a disposed in the vicinity of the detection element (light emitting element 305a) on the upstream side of the first detection unit 305, and a sheet bundle S.₀ The light receiving element 306b is disposed in the vicinity of the corner of the diagonal line connecting the corners of the front end in the transport direction.
[0136]
  Sheet bundle S₀The front end portion (the right side end portion in FIG. 37) may be bound at two places by the stapler 11, and the back side (upper side in the drawing) is a stack of sheet bundles or sheet bundles of different sizes. May cause swelling in the diagonal region. This diagonalregionSheet bundle S₀Is detected by the second detection sensor 306.
[0137]
In this way, the sheet bundle S that is transported and stacked on the stack tray 116.₀ Can be accurately detected by any one of the detection sensors 305 and 306.
[0138]
Next, when the sheet bundle is stacked on the stack tray 116, the sheet bundle S is stacked in order to stack the sheet bundle to be transferred next.₀ Therefore, the stack tray 116 is lowered by a predetermined amount.
[0139]
As shown in FIG. 36, the stack tray 116 is fed with the sheet bundle S by the transport gripper 12.₀ Are stacked, as shown by the arrow 307, the sheet bundle S₀ Is controlled by the control device 207 (FIG. 1) so as to stop when the uppermost surface of the sensor is not detected by both detection sensors 305 and 306.
[0140]
Next, the stack tray 116 moves up as indicated by an arrow 309, and the sheet bundle S₀ When the uppermost surface of the sheet is detected by any one of the detection sensors 305 (or 306) of the sheet bundle detection means 305 and 306, it stops at that position.
[0141]
Here, the stack tray 116 moves at a high speed when the stack tray 116 descends, and moves at a low speed when it rises. By controlling the vertical movement of the stack tray 116 in this way, after the stack tray 116 is lowered at a high speed, the amount of overrun at the time of stop is corrected by the low speed rise of the stack tray 116, and the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle Is set at a predetermined position.
[0142]
By controlling the operation of moving the stack tray 116 for each stack of sheet bundles as described above, the operation of moving the stack tray 116 can be performed at high speed.
[0143]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when the sheet bundle on the stacking unit is transferred by the transfer unit of the bundle processing unit and stacked on the stacker unit, the uppermost surface of the stacked sheet bundle is First detection means for detecting one side end portion along the sheet bundle conveyance direction, and second detection means for detecting the corner and diagonal corner areas in the vicinity of the detection element upstream of the first detection means. Therefore, it is possible to reliably detect the bulge of an arbitrary position of the stacked sheet bundle, and to accurately hold the position of the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle at a predetermined position.
[0144]
In addition, when the sheet bundle is stacked, the stack means is lowered after the stack means is lowered until the uppermost surface is not detected by the sheet bundle detecting means, and the uppermost surface is detected by the sheet bundle detecting means. Since the stack means is sometimes stopped, for example, the stack means can be moved at a high speed when descending and can be moved at a low speed when ascending, and the stack means for holding the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle in a predetermined position. Can be moved at high speed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal front view of a sheet post-processing apparatus including a sheet bundle stacking apparatus of the present invention and an image forming apparatus main body to which the sheet post-processing apparatus is connected.
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal front view of the sheet post-processing apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bin module.
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the bin module.
FIG. 5 is a side view of the bin module.
FIG. 6 is an operation diagram of the bin.
FIG. 7 is an operation diagram of the bin.
FIG. 8 is a plan view of the matching wall driving unit.
FIG. 9 is a side view of the matching wall driving unit.
FIG. 10 is a plan view of the bin standing part driving unit.
FIG. 11 is a side view of the bin standing part driving unit.
FIG. 12 is a plan view of the grip / staple unit.
FIG. 13 is a side view of the grip / staple unit.
FIG. 14 is a side view of the gripper portion.
FIG. 15 is a plan view of the first-out gripper driving unit.
FIG. 16 is a side view of the first-out gripper driving unit.
FIG. 17 is a plan view of the conveyance gripper driving unit.
FIG. 18 is a side view of the conveyance gripper driving unit.
FIG. 19 is a left view of the staple unit driving unit in FIG.
FIG. 20 is a plan view of the staple unit driving unit.
FIG. 21 is a plan view of the same stack unit.
FIG. 22 is a front view of the stack tray.
FIG. 23 is a front view of the stack unit.
24 is a left view of the driving unit of the stack unit in FIG.
FIG. 25 is a front view of the stack pressing member.
FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram of a driving system of the transport system.
FIG. 27 is a side view showing the operation of the bin.
FIG. 28 is a side view showing the operation of the bin.
FIG. 29 is a side view showing the operation of the bin.
FIG. 30 is a side view showing the operation of the bin.
FIG. 31 is an operational view showing the effect of the stack pressing member.
FIG. 32 is an operational view showing the effect of the stack pressing member.
FIG. 33 is a front view of the same folding device.
FIG. 34 is a side view of the folding device that similarly shows the operation in the C-folding mode.
FIG. 35 is a side view of the folding device that similarly shows the operation in the Z-folding mode.
FIG. 36 is a schematic front view of the grip / staple unit and the stack unit showing the stack tray height control of the stack unit.
FIG. 37 is a plan view of FIG. 36.
[Explanation of symbols]
S sheet
S₀               Sheet bundle
M13 Stack tray lift motor (drive means)
B₁ (B₁₁~ B_1n) First bin module (loading means)
B₂ (B_{twenty one}~ B_2n) Second bin module (loading means)
B₁₁~ B_1n, B_{twenty one}~ B_2n  Bottle (sheet tray)
9 Grip / staple unit (bundle processing unit)
10 First-out clippers (transportation means)
11 Stapler
12 Transport gripper (transfer means)
13 Stack unit
116 Stack tray (stacking means)
201 Copier body (image forming apparatus body)
203 Sheet post-processing apparatus
204 Folding device (folding means)
205 Staple / stack device
271 Discharge roller (discharge means) of the copier body
270 CPU (control means)
305 First detection sensor (first detection means)
306 Second detection sensor (second detection means)
305, 306 Sheet bundle detection means

Claims (5)

A stacking means for stacking discharged sheets;
A bundle processing unit comprising transfer means for transferring a sheet bundle stacked on the stacking means;
Stackable means that can be moved up and down below the bundle processing unit for stacking and storing the sheet bundle transferred by the transfer means;
A driving means for vertically moving said stack means,
A sheet bundle detecting means fixed to the lower surface side of the bundle processing unit and detecting the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle on the stack means;
A stapler capable of binding at one place for binding the downstream corner of one side of the sheet bundle in the conveying direction, or binding at two places at the front end in the conveying direction of the sheet bundle;
With
The sheet bundle detection means includes a light transmission type first detection means for detecting an upper surface of one end portion along the sheet bundle conveyance direction of the sheet bundle bound at one place by the stapler ;
The diagonal of the sheet bundle top surface connecting the corner portion on the downstream side of the other end portion opposite to the one end of which the vicinity of the corner portions of the upstream side are two binding by the stapler of the first sensing means A light transmissive second detecting means for detecting;
A sheet bundle stacking device comprising: The stacking unit descends until the uppermost surface of the sheet bundle is no longer detected by the sheet bundle detecting unit when the sheet bundle is transferred by the transfer unit, and then the first or second detecting unit. 2. The sheet bundle stacking apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit configured to control the driving unit so as to rise until the upper surface of the sheet bundle is detected.   2. The sheet bundle stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after the sheet bundle is bound by the stapler, the sheet bundle is stored in the stack unit by the transfer unit. Comprising a sheet bundle stacking apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the stacking means, the sheet sorting apparatus which is a plurality of stacking means for stacking and sorting the sheet. An image forming apparatus comprising: the sheet classification apparatus according to claim 4 ; an image forming unit that forms an image; and a discharge unit that discharges the image formed sheet to the sheet classification apparatus.

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