JP4143626B2 - Sheet material processing apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet material processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a sheet material processing apparatus configured to be detachable from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and to perform post-processing of an image-formed sheet material. Alternatively, the present invention is suitable for application to a sheet material processing apparatus provided integrally with an image forming apparatus and an image forming apparatus including the sheet material processing apparatus.

  In recent years, sheet material processing apparatuses such as a sorter for sorting image-formed sheet materials have been developed as options for image forming apparatuses such as electrophotographic copying machines and laser beam printers.

  In addition, this type of sheet material processing apparatus has various functions such as stacking and aligning a certain amount of sheet materials, and providing a stapler for staple binding to create a sheet material bundle as well as a sorting function.

  In a sheet material processing apparatus provided with a stapler that staples staples, a binding operation is performed after the sheet material conveyed into the main body of the sheet material processing apparatus passes through a conveyance path formed inside the main body and is stacked on a post-processing tray. Like to do.

  By the way, when binding a sheet material bundle, the stapler which is a binding means is moved to perform one-point binding or plural binding (usually two-point binding).

  Here, during the binding operation, the sheet material of the next job cannot be stacked on the post-processing tray. Therefore, it is common to open a gap between jobs during the binding operation.

  However, if the paper gap between jobs is opened in this way, the productivity is lowered. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for preventing such a decrease in productivity.

  This technique will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a sheet material processing apparatus according to the prior art.

  In this apparatus, a buffer roller path is provided in a conveyance path in the middle of conveying the sheet material to the post-processing tray so that the sheet material is wound around a rotating buffer roller and waits for conveyance to the post-processing tray.

With such a configuration, the sheet material conveyed from the image forming apparatus is stored in the buffer roller path, and the previous sheet material bundle finishes the binding operation on the post-processing tray and is conveyed from the post-processing tray. The sheet material bundle stored in the buffer roller is transported to the post-processing tray, thereby preventing the productivity from decreasing.
JP 9-48545 A

  However, in the case of the sheet material processing apparatus according to the prior art as described above, there are the following problems.

  That is, in the conventional sheet material processing apparatus, after the previous sheet material bundle finishes the post-processing on the post-processing tray and is conveyed from the post-processing tray, the sheet material bundle stored in the buffer roller is transferred to the post-processing tray. It is comprised so that it may convey. For this reason, after the retreat of the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray has been completed, there has been a series of operations in which the sheet material that has been waiting by the sheet material holding mechanism for the next post-processing is conveyed. As a result, as the entire sheet material processing apparatus, it takes time to process and it is difficult to improve productivity (improve productivity).

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art, reduce the processing time of the sheet processing apparatus as a whole, and improve the productivity (improving productivity) and a sheet material processing apparatus An object is to provide an image forming apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a sheet material feeding means for feeding a sheet material into the apparatus, a conveying path for conveying a sheet material fed by the sheet material feeding means, and a conveying path conveyed by the conveying path. A post-processing unit that performs post-processing on the sheet material, a first sheet material stacking unit that stacks the sheet material to perform processing on the sheet material by the post-processing unit, and the post-processing unit performed the processing. A second sheet material stacking unit configured to stack a subsequent sheet material bundle; and a sheet material bundle transporting mechanism configured to transport the sheet material stack stacked on the first sheet material stacking unit to the second sheet material stacking unit. the transportable in the sheet material processing apparatus, while the processing is performed by the post-processing means to the sheet material stacked on the first sheet material stacking unit on, by the sheet feeding means Plurality retainable sheet material holding portion is provided a sheet material which is fed into the passage, the sheet material bundle conveyance mechanism, the sheet material bundle stacked on the first sheet stacking portion and the sheet material holding portion The sheet material is configured so that the sheet material held on the sheet can be stacked and conveyed, and the upstream end in the conveyance direction of the sheet material bundle loaded on the first sheet material stacking unit is held by the sheet material holding unit The sheet material bundle stacked on the first sheet material stacking unit and the sheet material held on the sheet material holding unit in a state shifted from the upstream end in the conveyance direction to the downstream side in the conveyance direction are overlaid on the second sheet. After transporting toward the material stacking unit and stacking the sheet material bundle on the second sheet material stacking unit, the sheet material held in the sheet material holding unit is transported to the first sheet material stacking unit. To be controlled as And butterflies.

  According to the present invention, when the sheet material bundle conveying mechanism simultaneously conveys the sheet material bundle loaded on the first sheet material loading unit and the sheet material held on the sheet material holding unit, the first sheet material loading The sheet material bundle loaded on the sheet is transported prior to the sheet material held on the sheet material holding unit, and the sheet material bundle is loaded on the second stacking unit and then held on the sheet material holding unit. Since the sheet material is controlled to be conveyed to the first sheet material stacking unit, the operation for discharging the post-processed sheet bundle and the start of the next post-processing operation are performed at the same time. Can be improved and productivity can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In all the drawings of the following embodiments, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. It should be noted that the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to those unless otherwise specified. .

(First embodiment)
The sheet material processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the description of the first embodiment, a case where the sheet material processing apparatus is an optional apparatus configured to be detachable from the image forming apparatus as an independent apparatus will be described as an example. However, it goes without saying that the sheet material processing apparatus of the present invention is also applied to a case where the sheet material processing apparatus is integrally provided in the image forming apparatus, but it is functionally different from the case of the sheet material processing apparatus described below. Since there is no particular, the description is omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a sheet material processing apparatus is mounted on an image forming apparatus. In the illustrated example, the image forming apparatus is a copying machine, and the sheet material processing apparatus is a finisher.

(Image forming device)
First, the image forming apparatus main body will be described. A document feeder 2 is attached to the image forming apparatus main body 1. Documents are placed on the document placing unit 3 and are sequentially separated and fed one by one by the feeding unit 4.

  Subsequently, the roller is temporarily stopped by the registration roller pair 5 and the skew is corrected by forming a loop. Thereafter, the image formed on the surface of the document is read by passing through the introduction path 6 and passing through the reading position 7. The document that has passed the reading position 7 passes through a discharge path 8 and is discharged onto a discharge tray 9.

  When reading both the front and back surfaces, first, as described above, the reading of the front surface is performed by passing the reading position 7, and then after passing through the discharge path 8 and reversed by the reverse roller pair 10, the surface is reversed again. It is sent to the registration roller pair 5.

  Similarly to the front surface reading, the skew is corrected by the registration roller pair 5, and the image formed on the front surface (in this case, the back surface) is read at the reading position 7 through the introduction path 6. Then, it passes through the discharge path 8 and is discharged to the discharge tray 9.

  On the other hand, the reflected light obtained by irradiating the original image passing through the reading position 7 with the illumination system 11 is guided by the mirror 12 to the optical element 13 (CCD or other element), and the image data is obtained. obtain. The photosensitive drum 14 is irradiated with laser light based on the image data to form a latent image.

  However, although not particularly illustrated, the mirror 12 may be configured to directly irradiate the photosensitive drum 14 with reflected light to form a latent image.

  The latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 14 is further formed with a toner image by toner supplied from a toner supply device (not shown).

  A cassette 15 accommodates a recording medium such as paper or plastic film. In response to the recording signal, the recording medium is supplied from the cassette 15 to a position facing the photosensitive drum 14, and the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 14 is transferred onto the recording medium by the transfer device 16. The recording medium to which the toner image is transferred is sent to the fixing device 17 and fixed.

In the case of forming images on both sides of the recording medium, the recording medium on which the image on one side is fixed by the fixing device 17 passes through the double-sided path 18 provided on the downstream side of the fixing device 17 and is transferred again to the photosensitive drum 14. The toner image is formed between the apparatuses 16 on the back surface. Then, the toner image is fixed by the fixing device 17 and discharged to the outside (finisher 19 side).

(Sheet material processing equipment)
The finisher 19 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a sheet material processing apparatus (finisher).

  A finisher 19 as a sheet material processing apparatus is used by being engaged (attached) to the image forming apparatus main body 1.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes an inlet guide pair which receives the sheet material discharged from the paper discharge roller pair 21 of the image forming apparatus main body 1 and guides it to the finisher 19. S1 is a sheet material detection sensor that detects the sheet material that has entered the finisher 19.

  Reference numeral 22 denotes an inlet conveyance roller pair as a sheet material feeding means for nipping and conveying the sheet material, which feeds the sheet material into the apparatus. Reference numerals 23a and 23b denote conveyance guide pairs for guiding the sheet material conveyed from the inlet conveyance roller pair 22, and form a conveyance path.

  Further, the conveyance guide pair 23a and 23b will be described in detail later, but also serves as a sheet material stacking function for waiting the sheet material. In other words, a sheet material holding portion capable of holding a plurality of sheet materials is provided in the conveyance path.

  24, which will be described in detail later, a function of conveying the sheet material or sheet material bundle from the conveyance guide pair 23a, 23b to the post-processing tray 25 as the first sheet material stacking unit, This is a transport unit as a sheet material bundle transport mechanism having a function of transporting to a stacking tray 26 as a two-sheet material stacking unit.

  In the vicinity of the transport unit 24, a rear end cup 38 is provided for reliably placing the rear end of the sheet material transported from the transport guide pair 23 a and 23 b on the post-processing tray 25.

  In addition, in the vicinity of the entrance conveyance roller pair 22 inside the conveyance guide pair 23a and 23b, the sheet material conveyed from the image forming apparatus main body 1 is conveyed to the post-processing tray 25 before being conveyed to the post-processing tray 25. , 23b is provided with a sheet material holding arm 27 as a clamping member for clamping and holding the sheet material.

  The sheet material holding arm 27 has a function of guiding the rear end and a function of holding the sheet material, and is controlled to be swingable.

  Reference numeral 28 denotes an aligning plate constituting aligning means, which guides both ends of the sheet material discharged to the post-processing tray 25 and aligns the width thereof, and is aligned on both sides in the width direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the discharged sheet material. Respectively.

  Reference numeral 29 denotes a stopper which receives the rear end of the sheet material that is discharged to the post-processing tray 25 and fed by the drawing roller 43.

  Here, in the present embodiment, a case of a stapler mechanism (stapler means) that performs needle driving on a bundle of sheet materials will be described as a post-processing function (post-processing means) of the sheet material.

However, the post-processing function is not limited to this. For example, in the case of a bookbinding function (bookbinding means) for binding and binding to a sheet material bundle, or a punch function (punching) for punching a sheet material A post-processing mechanism such as means) can also be applied.

  The stapler mechanism in the present embodiment includes an upper stapler 32, and the upper stapler 32 has a bending portion that bends a needle hit from the lower stapler 31.

  The lower stapler 31 is configured to swing about a shaft 33, and the upper stapler 32 is configured to swing about a shaft 34.

  Further, the lower stapler 31 and the upper stapler 32 are configured to be able to move the shafts 33 and 34 in the thrust direction (width direction orthogonal to the sheet material conveying direction).

  The lower stapler 31 has a threaded portion that engages with a screw shaft 35 having a helical thread groove on the outer periphery, and is configured to be movable in the thrust direction by the rotation of the screw shaft 35.

  The upper stapler 32 has a threaded portion that engages with a screw shaft 36 having a helical thread groove on the outer periphery, and is configured to be movable in the thrust direction by the rotation of the screw shaft 36.

  The screw shafts 35 and 36 are connected to drive motors (not shown) via gears and are driven.

  26 is a stacking tray for stacking post-processed sheet materials or sheet material bundles, or sheet materials that are not post-processed when post-processing is unnecessary, and can be moved vertically (movable up and down). It is configured.

  S2 is a paper surface detection sensor for detecting the uppermost surface of the sheet material on the stacking tray 26.

  Reference numeral 37 denotes a rear end guide constituted by a substantially vertical surface, which guides the rear end of the sheet material on the stacking tray 26 moving in the vertical direction.

  Next, the configuration of the sheet material holding unit and the sheet material standby mechanism for holding and waiting the sheet material inside the conveyance guide pair 23a and 23b of the finisher 19 (inside the conveyance path), and conveyance of the sheet material at that time The state will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4A, 4B, 5C, and 5D.

  First, the sheet material is conveyed from the discharge roller pair 21. When the sheet material detection sensor S1 detects this sheet material, the M3 motor is driven to rotate the inlet conveyance roller pair 22 and the roller 24a to convey the sheet material in the downstream direction. Here, the roller 24a is a sheet material conveying means capable of switching the conveying direction of the sheet material between the upstream side and the downstream side.

  When the rear end of the sheet material passes through the entrance conveyance roller pair 22 and is conveyed by a predetermined amount “point A in FIG. 4B”, the driving of the M3 motor is stopped, and then the driving of the M3 motor is reversed, The sheet material is conveyed in a direction (upstream direction) opposite to the conveying direction that has been conveyed so far.

  At the same time, the sheet material holding arm 27 urged to the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4A by the spring 49 is energized to the solenoid 48, so that the upward direction of the arrow in FIG. To rock).

  Then, the rear end of the sheet material to be switched back (in this case, the upstream front end) is sent to the abutting portion 23 c of the conveyance guide pair 23.

Therefore, by releasing the excitation of the solenoid 48 and returning the sheet material holding arm 27 downward in FIG. 5, the sheet material can be held and the sheet material can be put on standby.
In this way, the sheet material can be held below the conveying surface of the sheet material by the entrance conveying roller pair 22 in the gravity direction.

  At this time, the held sheet material is stacked over both of the conveyance guides 23a and 23b and the downstream post-processing tray 25 or the sheet material bundle stacked there.

  Next, the same operation is performed on the sheet material conveyed from the image forming apparatus main body 1 to stand-by and stack a plurality of sheet materials (in this embodiment, three sheets are stacked). It is possible.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 5D, when there is a sheet material that is already held / waiting, when the sheet material is next carried into the conveyance guide pair 23a, 23b, the rollers of the conveyance unit 24 are used. 24a rotates in a direction to try to pull out the sheet material held by the sheet material holding arm 27. Therefore, by using the roller 24a as a sponge roller, the conveying force to be pulled out is reduced. However, the roller 24a is not limited to a sponge roller, and may be a low conveying member (a low friction member having elasticity). That is, the force for holding the sheet material by the sheet material holding arm 27 is set larger than the conveying force for conveying the sheet material in the downstream direction by the roller 24a.

  By doing so, the sheet material can be held while the sheet material is held between the rollers 24a. Therefore, since the sheet material can be held while shortening the distance of the conveyance path, it is possible to wait for the sheet material in a small space, and it is not necessary to interrupt the conveyance of the sheet material.

  Next, a configuration of the transport unit 24 having a function of transporting a sheet material or a sheet material bundle from the transport guide pair 23 to the post-processing tray 25 and a function of transporting the sheet material from the post-processing tray 25 to the stacking tray 26 and the sheet at that time The material conveying state will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 6A, 6B, 7C, 7D, 8E, 8F, 9 and 10A, 10B.

  First, a desired specified number of sheet material bundles are stacked on the post-processing tray 25 in order to perform staple binding (FIG. 6A).

  Further, the conveyance of the sheet material is not interrupted so as not to lower the productivity. That is, the sheet material conveyed from the image forming apparatus is held in a state of being stacked on the sheet material bundle stacked on the conveyance guide pairs 23a and 23b and the post-processing tray 25 by the above-described sheet material standby mechanism. Wait for conveyance to the post-processing tray.

  In the sheet material processing apparatus according to this embodiment, the stapling operation for the sheet material bundle stacked on the post-processing tray 25 can be completed by waiting the three sheet materials.

  When the standby operation for the three sheets is completed, the driving of the M1 motor shown in FIG. 9 is started. FIG. 9 is a drive system perspective view of the transport unit 24.

  By driving the M1 motor, the transport unit 24 falls in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 6B with the shaft 24b as the center of rotation, using a known spring clutch configuration. Then, the sponge roller 24d descending is brought into contact with the stapled sheet material bundle stacked on the post-processing tray 25 and the three standby sheet materials stacked thereon.

  However, at this time, the sponge roller 24d rotates in the direction opposite to the direction in which the sheet material bundle is conveyed to the stacking tray 26, and thus the driving of the M1 motor is stopped here.

  Further, since the sponge roller 24d is provided like a collar on the circumferential surface of the shaft 24c, even if the shaft 24c rotates, the drive is not transmitted to the sponge roller 24d. .

  Next, as shown in FIG. 10, the conveying unit 24 is pushed in the direction of the arrow, and the pushing unit 39 pushes the carrying unit 24 more than the sponge roller 24d is in contact with the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray 25 ( The rubber roller 24g, which is engaged with the shaft 24c and has a diameter smaller than that of the sponge roller 24d, can be brought into contact with the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray 25. .

  Therefore, the driving of the M2 motor is started, and the rubber roller 24g engaged with the shaft 24e provided so as to be paired with the rubber roller 24g is rotated to convey the sheet material bundle toward the stacking tray 26. Let

  Here, the structure of the push-in mechanism 39 includes a push-in arm 40 that makes contact with the transport unit 24 and pushes in, a slide plate 41 that is provided on the push-in arm 40 via a spring and slides up and down, and is driven by the slide plate 41. And a transmission gear 42 that exists between them and transmits the drive of the motor to the slide plate 41.

  As described above, the stapled sheet material bundle stacked on the post-processing tray 25 and the three standby sheet materials stacked thereon can be simultaneously conveyed in the same direction toward the stacking tray 26 (see FIG. 6 (b)).

  Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the distance from the sheet material abutting surface of the abutting portion 23c to the roller 24a of the transport unit 24 is L1, and the sheet material abutting of the sheet material trailing edge stopper 29 of the post-processing tray 25 is performed. When the distance from the contact surface to the roller 24f of the transport unit 24 is L2, the relationship of L2 <L1 is established.

  In other words, the protruding amount of the sheet material stacked on the post-processing tray 25 toward the stacking tray 26 side is toward the stacking tray 26 side of the sheet material held by the sheet material holding portion in the conveyance guide pair 23a, 23b. It is set to be larger than the protruding amount.

  Thereby, when the sheet material stacked on the post-processing tray 25 and the sheet material held by the sheet material holding unit are simultaneously conveyed by the conveyance unit 24, the former is preceded.

  Therefore, of the stapled sheet material bundle conveyed in the direction of the stacking tray 26 and the three standby sheet materials stacked thereon, the rear end of the stapled sheet material bundle passes through the roller 24f and is stacked. Even when the sheets are discharged and stacked on the tray 26, the three standby sheet materials stacked on the tray 26 can be kept sandwiched by the rollers 24a (FIG. 7c).

As a result, when the stapled sheet material bundle passes through the roller 24f, it is possible to prevent misalignment due to the three standby sheet materials stacked thereon falling to the roller 24f side by the thickness of the bundle. it can.

  When the trailing edge of the three standby sheet materials passes through the roller 24a and is conveyed by a predetermined amount, it is conveyed in the direction of the post-processing tray 25 where stapling is performed from the direction in which the driving of the M2 motor is conveyed in the direction of the stacking tray 26 so far. The reverse drive is performed in the direction to be driven (FIG. 7D).

  At the same time, by reversing the motor, the pressing state by the push-in mechanism 39 is released, the contact of the rubber roller 24g with the upper surface of the sheet material is released, and the contact with only the sponge roller 24d is switched.

  At the same time, the driving of the M1 motor is started and the sponge roller 24d is rotated. Then, the drawing roller 43 using the driving of the M3 motor is also used to convey the three standby sheet materials.

  Here, the pull-in roller 43 is provided with a one-way clutch, and when the sheet material is fed to the abutting portion 23c of the conveyance guide pair 23a, 23b by rotating the M3 motor in reverse to perform the standby operation of the sheet material. The pulling roller 43 is configured not to reverse. This prevents the consistency of the sheet material stacked on the post-processing tray 25 from being disturbed.

  The three standby sheet materials conveyed on the post-processing tray 25 come into contact with the stopper 29 and simultaneously reverse the M1 motor to lift the conveyance unit 24 in the direction of the arrow. The conveyance to the post-processing tray 25 is finished (FIG. 8E).

  Thereafter, the sheet material continuously conveyed from the image forming apparatus main body 1 is not waited and stacked by the sheet material standby mechanism until the predetermined number of sheets to be stapled to the post-processing tray 25 is reached. Therefore, when the sheet material is conveyed by the inlet conveyance roller pair 22 and the roller 24a and the trailing end of the sheet material passes through the roller 24a and is conveyed by a predetermined amount, the M1 motor is started to drive the conveyance unit 24 in the direction of the arrow. The roller 24d is brought into contact with the sheet material (FIG. 8F).

  The roller 24d is rotated by driving the M1 motor as it is, the sheet material is conveyed along the post-processing tray 25, and this sheet material is abutted against the stopper 29 and stacked. Then, the M1 motor is reversely rotated to return the transport unit 24 to a predetermined position. Thereafter, the above-described operation is repeated, and the operation is repeated until the designated number of bundles is reached.

  Here, the drive transmission system of the inlet conveyance roller pair 22, the roller 24a, and the drawing roller 43 inside the conveyance guide pair 23a, 23b will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a drive transmission system of the sheet material processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  A pulley is engaged on the shaft of the M3 motor serving as a drive source, and the belt T1 is stretched over the gear and the step gear a44 and the step gear b45 that are engaged on the shafts of the inlet conveyance roller pair 22. Is provided.

  Further, the step gear a44 is connected to a gear engaged with a shaft 24b provided on the roller 24a, and the step gear b45 is connected to the pulling roller 43 via the belt T2, the step gear c46, and the belt T3. It is engaged with a gear engaged on a shaft.

As a result, when the M3 motor performs forward rotation or reverse rotation, the inlet transport roller pair 22 and the roller 24a rotate in the forward rotation or reverse rotation direction.

  Further, since the pull-in roller 43 is provided with a one-way clutch, the pull-in roller 43 can rotate only in the direction in which the sheet material is pulled into the stopper 29.

  Further, the sheet material detection sensor S1 and the paper surface detection sensor S2 in the finisher 19 are connected to a CPU that controls driving of the entire apparatus. The CPU controls the rotation of the motors described above based on the detection signals from the sensors, and controls the excitation of the pressure contact solenoids.

  FIG. 13 shows a control block diagram for the CPU.

  As shown in the control block diagram, a ROM and a RAM are connected to the CPU to control various members related to the transport system, various members of the stacking tray section, and various members related to alignment / stapling.

  As shown in FIG. 13, the various members related to the transport system include a sheet material detection sensor S1, transport drive motors M1, M2, M3, a push-in mechanism motor, a sheet holding arm solenoid, and a transport roller solenoid.

  The various members of the stacking tray section include a paper surface detection sensor S2, a tray lift motor, a lift clock sensor, an upper switch, a lower switch, and the like. Examples of the alignment / staple-related members include an alignment HP sensor, an alignment motor, a staple HP sensor, and a staple motor.

  Next, the operation of the finisher configured as described above when each processing mode is selected will be described.

(When stack mode is selected)
First, the finisher operation when the stack mode is selected will be described. When the sheet material discharged from the sheet discharge roller pair 21 of the image forming apparatus main body 1 is detected by the sheet material detection sensor S1, the M3 motor starts to be driven, and the inlet conveyance roller pair 22 and the roller 24a rotate. . The M3 motor is rotated at least as much as the rear end of the sheet material passes through the nip of the roller 24a. As a result, the sheet material is discharged onto the post-processing tray 25.

  Then, the M1 motor starts driving, the transport unit 24 is tilted toward the post-processing tray 25, and the roller 24d is brought into contact with the sheet material discharged onto the post-processing tray 25.

  The sponge roller 24d is rotated by driving the M1 motor as it is, and the sheet material is conveyed along the post-processing tray 25. When the sheet material hits the stopper 29, the driving of the M1 motor is stopped and stacked. Then, the M1 motor is reversely rotated to return the transport unit 24 to a predetermined position.

  Next, an alignment motor (not shown) is rotated, the alignment plate 28 is moved in the width direction orthogonal to the sheet material conveyance direction, and is applied to both ends of the sheet material on the post-processing tray 25 to perform alignment. This is repeated a predetermined number of times.

When a predetermined number of sheet material bundles are obtained, the M1 motor is driven, the transport unit 24 is tilted toward the post-processing tray 25, and the sponge roller 24d is brought into contact with the sheet material bundle. Then, the M1 motor is stopped, and the push-in mechanism 39 pushes the transport unit 24 more than the sponge roller 24d is in contact with the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray 25 (pushing so that the sponge portion is recessed). A rubber roller 24g engaged with the shaft 24c and having a diameter smaller than that of the sponge roller 24d is allowed to come into contact with the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray 25.

  Therefore, the driving of the M2 motor is started, and the rubber roller 24g, which is provided so as to be paired with the rubber roller 24g via the sheet material bundle, is rotated to rotate the sheet roller to the stacking tray 26 direction. Transport and load.

  Then, the tray shift motor (not shown) is rotated to lower the stacking tray 26 by a predetermined amount, and then the tray shift motor is reversed to raise the stacking tray 26. At this time, if the paper surface detection sensor S2 detects the upper surface (uppermost surface) of the stacked sheet materials, the drive of the tray shift motor is stopped.

(When staple mode is selected)
Next, the finisher operation when the staple mode is selected will be described. Note that the sequence of discharging, stacking, and aligning a desired number of sheet materials onto the post-processing tray 25 is the same as the above-described stack mode, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

  After the alignment, the lower stapler 31 and the upper stapler 32 perform one or more binding processes on the edge of the sheet material on the post-processing tray 25. After the binding process is completed, the sheet material is transferred and stacked on the stacking tray 26 in the same sequence as the stack mode described above.

(When staple mode for creating multiple bundles is selected)
Next, the operation of the finisher 19 at the time of selecting the staple mode for creating a large number of bundles, which is a feature of this embodiment, will be described.

  First, as in the above-described stack mode, the sheet material is stacked on the post-processing tray 25 and aligned. This operation is repeated until a predetermined number is reached.

  Thereafter, the finisher 19 starts the staple binding operation by stapling, but the sheet material is conveyed from the paper discharge roller pair 21 of the image forming apparatus main body 1 without interruption. Then, when the sheet material is detected by the sheet material detection sensor S1 while performing the stapling operation in the post-processing tray 25, the M3 motor starts to be driven, and the inlet conveyance roller pair 22 and the roller 24a are rotated. Transport.

  When the trailing edge of the sheet material is detected by the sheet material detection sensor S1 and the trailing edge of the sheet material is conveyed to the position of point A in FIG. 4, the sheet material is fed in the direction opposite to the conveying direction that has been conveyed so far. At the same time, the sheet material holding arm 27 urged by the spring is energized to the solenoid so as to swing in the opening direction.

  Then, the rear end of the sheet material that is reversed (in this case, the front end in the transport direction) is sent to the contact portion 23 c of the transport guide pair 23. Then, by releasing the excitation of the solenoid and returning the sheet material holding arm 27 (closing the tip), the sheet material can be held and put on standby.

  At this time, the held sheet material is stacked over the sheet material bundle stacked on the conveyance guide pair 23 and the post-processing tray 25 downstream thereof.

  Next, the same operation is performed on the sheet material conveyed from the image forming apparatus main body 1, and the three sheet materials are waited and stacked.

  Here, since the sheet material bundle loaded on the post-processing tray 25 that has been subjected to the staple binding process using the stapler has been processed, the driving of the M1 motor is started and the conveyance unit 24 is moved to the rear. The roller 24d is brought into contact with the stapled sheet material bundle stacked on the post-processing tray 25 and the three standby sheet materials stacked thereon.

  Then, the M1 motor is stopped, and the conveying unit 24 is pushed by the push-in mechanism 39 so that the sponge roller 24d is in contact with the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray 25 (pushing so that the sponge portion is recessed). The rubber roller 24g, which is engaged with the shaft 24c and is smaller than the diameter of the sponge roller 24d, can contact the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray 25.

  Then, the driving of the M2 motor is started, and the rubber roller 24g engaged with the shaft 24e provided so as to be paired with the rubber roller 24g and the sheet material bundle is rotated and loaded on the post-processing tray 25. The stapled sheet material bundle and the three standby sheet materials stacked thereon are simultaneously conveyed toward the stacking tray 26 in the same direction.

  As described above, the stapled bundle of sheet materials stacked on the post-processing tray 25 and the rear end of each of the three standby sheet materials stacked thereon are shifted and conveyed, thereby stapling. Even if the rear end of the sheet material bundle passes through the roller 24f and is discharged and stacked on the stacking tray 26, the three standby sheet materials stacked on the stack can be held between the rollers 24a.

  Here, in order to process the sheet material bundle discharged and stacked on the stacking tray 26, a tray shift motor (not shown) is rotated to lower the stacking tray 26 by a predetermined amount, and then the tray shift motor is reversed. The stacking tray 26 is raised.

  At this time, if the paper surface detection sensor S2 detects the upper surface (uppermost surface) of the stacked sheet materials, the drive of the tray shift motor is stopped.

  On the other hand, when the trailing edge of the three standby sheet materials passes through the roller 24a and is conveyed by a predetermined amount, the M2 motor is driven in the direction toward the stacking tray 26 from the direction in which the stapling process is performed. Is driven in the reverse direction in the direction of conveyance.

  At the same time, by reversing the motor that drives the push-in mechanism 39, the pressure state is released, the contact of the rubber roller 24g with the upper surface of the sheet material is released, and the contact with only the sponge roller 24d is switched.

  At the same time, the driving of the M1 motor is started and the sponge roller 24d is rotated. Then, the drawing roller 43 using the driving of the M3 motor is also used to convey the three standby sheet materials.

  The three standby sheet materials conveyed on the post-processing tray 25 abut on the stopper 29 and simultaneously reverse the M1 motor, lift the conveyance unit 24, and stop the M2 motor to post-process the three standby sheet materials. The conveyance to the tray 25 is completed.

  Next, an alignment motor (not shown) is rotated, and the alignment plate 28 is moved in the width direction orthogonal to the sheet material conveyance direction and applied to both ends of the sheet material on the post-processing tray 25 to perform alignment.

  Thereafter, the sheet material subsequently conveyed from the image forming apparatus main body 1 does not need to be standby / stacked by the sheet material standby mechanism until the predetermined number of sheets to be stapled to the post-processing tray 25 is reached. Accordingly, when the sheet material is conveyed by the inlet conveyance roller pair 22 and the roller 24a and the rear end of the sheet material passes through the roller 24a and is conveyed by a predetermined amount, the driving of the M1 motor is started and the conveyance unit 24 is moved backward. The roller 24d is brought into contact with the sheet material by tilting in the direction of the processing tray 25.

  The roller 24d is rotated by driving the M1 motor as it is, and the sheet material is conveyed along the post-processing tray 25, and abutted and stacked on the stopper 29. At the same time, the M1 motor is reversely rotated to lift the transport unit 24.

  Next, an alignment motor (not shown) is rotated, the alignment plate 28 is moved in the width direction perpendicular to the sheet material conveyance direction, and is applied to both ends of the sheet material on the post-processing tray 25 to perform alignment.

  In this way, the above operation is repeated until the designated number of bundles is reached.

  When the specified number of sheets to be stapled is accumulated, the same operation is repeated according to the sequence written at the beginning of the same mode until the desired number of stapled bundles is created.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, since the sheet material holding mechanism is provided in the conveyance path, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated path (such as the buffer roller path described above) for waiting the sheet material.

  In addition, by loading and holding the sheet material to be waited over the existing conveyance path and the sheet material bundle loaded on the post-processing tray downstream thereof, the space for holding the sheet material is almost completely existing. To use.

  Therefore, since it is not necessary to interrupt the conveyance of the sheet material, it is possible to provide a space-saving and low-cost apparatus while preventing a decrease in productivity.

  In addition, the conveyance mechanism provided downstream of the conveyance path allows the sheet material waiting by the sheet material holding mechanism and the sheet material bundle loaded on the post-processing tray to be simultaneously conveyed in the same direction, and It is made to convey so that it may be in the state which shifted the rear-end position with respect to the conveyance direction of a sheet material or a sheet material bundle. Thus, normally, after the sheet material bundle on the post-processing tray has been retracted, the sheet material that has been waiting by the sheet material holding mechanism for the next post-processing is transported. It is also possible to provide an apparatus that shortens the time and leads to improvement of productivity (improvement of productivity).

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 12 shows a second embodiment. In the first embodiment, the case where an arm-shaped member as shown in FIG. 4A is used as the sheet material holding means (clamping means) in the sheet material standby mechanism is shown. In the embodiment, the case where the sponge roller 47 is used as the clamping means will be described.

  Since other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the main part of the sheet material processing apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a sponge roller 47 is provided in the conveyance path, and the sponge roller 47
Thus, the sheet material is sandwiched and held.

  That is, in this embodiment, when the rear end of the sheet material is conveyed to the position of point A in FIG. 4B, the sponge roller reverses the conveyance direction and rotates the sheet material in the direction of the arrow in the figure. The sheet material is held and loaded on a sheet 47 and held and stacked.

  Here, when there is a sheet material that is already held and waiting, when the sheet material is next carried into the conveyance guide pair 23, the roller 24a of the conveyance unit 24 is in a state of being held by the sponge roller 47. It rotates in the direction to pull out the sheet material.

  Therefore, the sponge roller 47 is provided with a spring for applying a certain amount of urging force so that the holding force of the sponge roller 47 is larger than the pulling force of the roller 24a. Thereby, like the case of the said embodiment, a some sheet material can be hold | maintained by space saving.

(Other embodiments)
In the above-described embodiment, a copying machine is exemplified as the image forming apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be another image forming apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile. In any image forming apparatus, the same effect can be obtained by applying the sheet material processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  Further, as described above, the sheet material processing apparatus that is detachable from the image forming apparatus has been exemplified in the above description, but the same applies to the case of the sheet material processing apparatus integrally provided in the image forming apparatus. And similar effects can be obtained.

  In addition, although the case of the electrophotographic method is exemplified as the recording method in the above-described image forming apparatus, the present invention is not limited to this, and other recording methods such as an ink jet method can be adopted.

  Further, as described above, the stapler unit that creates the sheet material bundle is illustrated as the post-processing unit inside the finisher of the sheet material processing apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a glue binding mechanism It is also possible to apply sheet material bundle creation means such as.

  Further, according to each of the above-described embodiments, since the sheet material holding portion capable of holding a plurality of sheet materials is provided in the conveyance path, there is no need to provide a dedicated path for waiting the sheet material. In addition, since it is not necessary to interrupt the conveyance of the sheet material, it is possible to realize space saving and low cost while improving productivity. In addition, when the sheet material is held by the sheet material holding unit, the space for holding the sheet material is obtained by holding the sheet material with the leading edge of the sheet material exceeding the sheet material conveying means. It's narrow.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view (main cross-sectional view) illustrating a state in which a sheet material processing apparatus is mounted on an image forming apparatus. It is typical sectional drawing (main sectional drawing) of the sheet material processing apparatus which concerns on a prior art. It is typical sectional drawing of a sheet material processing apparatus. It is a mechanism and operation | movement explanatory drawing for making a sheet | seat material stand by. It is a mechanism and operation | movement explanatory drawing for making a sheet | seat material stand by. It is a mechanism and operation | movement explanatory drawing of the conveyance unit in the sheet material processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a mechanism and operation | movement explanatory drawing of the conveyance unit in the sheet material processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a mechanism and operation | movement explanatory drawing of the conveyance unit in the sheet material processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the drive transmission mechanism of the conveyance unit in the sheet material processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing of the pushing-in mechanism of the conveyance unit in the sheet material processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the drive transmission system of the sheet material processing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a typical sectional view of the principal part of the sheet material processing apparatus concerning a 2nd embodiment of the present invention. It is a control block diagram of the sheet material processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus main body 2 Document feeder 3 Document placing part 4 Feeding part 5 Registration roller pair 6 Introduction path 7 Reading position 8 Discharge path 9 Discharge tray 10 Reverse roller pair 11 Illumination system 12 Mirror 13 Optical element 14 Photosensitive drum 15 cassette 16 transfer device 17 fixing device 18 double-sided path 19 finisher 20 inlet guide pair 21 paper discharge roller pair 22 inlet transport roller pair 23a, 23b transport guide pair 24 transport unit 25 post-processing tray 26 stacking tray 27 sheet material holding arm 28 alignment Plate 29 Stopper 31 Lower stapler 32 Upper stapler 33, 34 Shaft 35, 36 Screw shaft 37 Rear end guide 38 Rear end push 39 Push mechanism 40 Push arm 41 Slide plate 42 Transmission gear 43 Pull roller 44 Step gear a
45-speed gear b
46 step gear c
47 Sponge roller S1 Sheet material detection sensor S2 Paper surface detection sensor

Claims (5)

Sheet material feeding means for feeding the sheet material into the apparatus;
A conveyance path through which the sheet material fed by the sheet material feeding means is conveyed;
Post-processing means for performing post-processing on the sheet material conveyed by the conveyance path;
A first sheet material stacking unit for stacking sheet materials for processing the sheet materials by the post-processing means;
A second sheet material stacking unit for stacking a bundle of sheet materials after being processed by the post-processing means;
A sheet material processing apparatus comprising: a sheet material bundle conveying mechanism configured to convey the sheet material bundle loaded on the first sheet material stacking unit to the second sheet material stacking unit;
During the processing by the post-processing means to the sheet material stacked on the first sheet material stacking portion on is performed, which can hold a plurality of sheet materials that are fed into the conveying passage by the sheet feeding means A sheet material holding part is provided,
The sheet material bundle conveyance mechanism is configured to be able to convey the sheet material bundle stacked on the first sheet material stacking unit and the sheet material held on the sheet material holding unit in an overlapping manner ,
The first end in a state in which the upstream end in the transport direction of the sheet material bundle stacked on the first sheet material stacking unit is shifted to the downstream side in the transport direction from the upstream end in the transport direction of the sheet material held by the sheet material holding unit. The sheet material bundle stacked on the sheet material stacking unit and the sheet material held on the sheet material holding unit are overlapped and conveyed toward the second sheet material stacking unit, and the sheet material bundle is transferred to the second sheet material A sheet material processing apparatus, wherein the sheet material processing apparatus is controlled to convey the sheet material held by the sheet material holding unit to the first sheet material stacking unit after being loaded on the stacking unit. The sheet material bundle conveying mechanism has a pair of conveying rollers for nipping and conveying the sheet material bundle, and an upstream end in the conveying direction of the sheet material bundle stacked on the first sheet material stacking unit passes through the conveying roller pair. After the sheet material bundle is stacked on the second sheet material stacking unit, the sheet material held on the sheet material holding unit is transported to the first sheet material stacking unit by reversing the pair of transport rollers. The sheet material processing apparatus according to claim 1. The post-processing unit includes at least one of a stapler unit that performs needle punching on the sheet material bundle, a bookbinding unit that binds the sheet material bundle, and a punch unit that punches the sheet material. sheet material processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein. It is configured to be detachable from an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet material,
The sheet material image-formed by the image forming apparatus while being attached to the image forming apparatus is fed into the apparatus by the sheet material feeding means, and post-processing is performed on the sheet material. The sheet material processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . Image forming means for forming an image on a sheet material conveyed, the sheet material processing according to any one of claims 1 to 4 subjected to post-processing on the sheet material subjected to image formation by said image forming means And an image forming apparatus.

Images