JP4585374B2 - Paper handling device and printing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper handling device such as a paper discharge device connected to a subsequent stage of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer, and a printing system.

  FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus 3 and a paper discharge apparatus 2 disposed adjacent to the image forming apparatus 3. In the following description, the front side in FIG. 1 is referred to as an operator side, the depth side is referred to as an anti-operator side, the right side is referred to as a paper traveling direction side, and the left side is referred to as an anti-paper traveling direction side.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along line I-II in FIG. The paper discharge device 2 is provided at a subsequent stage of the image forming device 3 and is configured to stack printed sheets output from the image forming device 3 in a uniform manner. In consideration of post-processing such as bookbinding, the paper discharge device 2 needs to align the papers in a uniform manner in the paper advance direction and the paper advance direction (paper width direction).

  The image forming apparatus 3 is an apparatus for forming a predetermined image on the paper 1 using toner or the like. The image forming apparatus 3 sends the paper 1 to the paper discharge device 2 through the discharge port by the transport roller 6. A path sensor 12 is attached in the vicinity of the discharge port of the image forming apparatus 3. The control unit 13 detects the paper 1 discharged to the paper discharge device 2 by the path sensor 12 and notifies the control unit 14 of the paper 1 being discharged and the paper information such as the paper length and the continuous amount of paper. 14 grasps the position of the paper 1 and the paper information. The paper discharge device 2 is a unit for receiving the paper 1 printed by the image forming device 3 and stacking it inside. The paper discharge device 2 includes a paper stacking table 4 on which the paper 1 is stacked, a paper alignment unit 21 that aligns and aligns the paper 1 on the paper stacking table 4, and the paper 1 received from the image forming apparatus 3 onto the paper stacking table 4. A conveyance roller 7, a conveyance roller 8, a shift conveyance roller 9, and a second sheet alignment member 5 that fixes the end position of the sheet 1 on the side opposite to the sheet traveling direction are provided. The shift conveying roller 9 can be changed in angle by a roller direction changing means 20 (not shown in FIG. 2, see FIG. 3), and the paper 1 can be shifted to the operator side or the counter operator side. On the upper surface of the main body, an operator side paper alignment member driving unit 16, an anti-operator side paper alignment member driving unit (not shown), and a first paper alignment member driving unit 11 are arranged. An operator side paper alignment member 15 (hereinafter referred to as a front jogger) connected to the operator side paper alignment member drive unit 16 and an anti-operator side paper alignment member 17 (hereinafter referred to as a rear jogger) connected to the anti-operator side paper alignment member drive unit. ), And a first sheet alignment member 10 (hereinafter referred to as a leading end stopper) connected to the first sheet alignment member driving unit 11 is disposed. The transport rollers 6 to 9 are configured such that the paper traveling direction is shorter than the paper having the shortest paper length, and is configured to transport the paper having the shortest paper length. In addition, the paper discharge device 2 has a control unit 14, and comprehensively controls the movement of each unit of the paper discharge device 2 in accordance with the printing status of the image forming apparatus 3. Note that the control unit 13 provided in the image forming apparatus 3 instead of the control unit 14 may be configured to control the paper discharge device 2 and the image forming device 3 simultaneously.

  2. Description of the Related Art There is known a paper discharge device that can reliably stack paper of any size and can realize good paper alignment (see, for example, Patent Document 1). As shown in FIG. 3, the paper discharge device includes a shift conveying roller 9 whose job shift angle is variable by a driving mechanism 20 such as a motor and a cam, and the shift conveying roller 9 in order to determine the timing at which the shift conveying roller 9 is tilted. A sheet position detecting means 25 installed in the vicinity of the roller 9 and a pair of third sheet alignment members front and back slid in a direction orthogonal to the sheet traveling direction (sheet width direction) respectively disposed on the operator and counter operator sides of the apparatus. The jogger 17, the rear jogger 15, the leading end stopper 10 that regulates the position in the paper traveling direction, and the second paper alignment member that regulates the anti-paper traveling direction.

  At the start of printing, the front jogger 17 and the rear jogger 15 first move to a predetermined position, and then rise until the paper stacking table 4 is detected by the paper upper surface detection means 18 from the print standby position, and then the front end after lowering for a predetermined time. The front jogger 17 or the rear jogger 15 and the front end stopper 10 slide back and forth when the stopper 10 moves to a position defined by the size in the paper traveling direction and the paper is conveyed to the paper discharge device.

JP 2004-67337 A

  In the above configuration, when intermittent printing is performed, particularly when there is a long time when there is a time for the paper stacking table 4 to descend, the printed paper 1 stacked on the paper stacking table 4 is moved in the direction and the paper traveling direction. There is no restriction in the direction perpendicular to the direction.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when intermittent printing is performed while the printed sheets 1 are stacked on the sheet stacking table 4, the sheet stacking table 4 is moved up until the sheet stacking table 4 is detected by the sheet upper surface detecting unit 18. In some cases, the uppermost printed sheet stacked on top is pushed out by the actuator 18a of the sheet upper surface detection means 18 in the sheet traveling direction and jumps out. When the pop-out amount is large, the leading edge stopper 10 cannot push the leading edge portion of the printed paper 1 in the sheet traveling direction. For this reason, a paper alignment failure may occur in the paper discharge device, or the paper may enter between the leading edge stopper 10 and the leading edge portion in the paper traveling direction, and the leading edge stopper 10 cannot align the paper, causing a paper jam. It is.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a paper discharge device that avoids the above-described problems, realizes good paper alignment of printed paper discharged into the paper discharge device, and prevents paper jam. is there.

  The above object is achieved by providing a control device for controlling the operation of the leading end stopper in the vicinity of the leading edge portion of the printed paper in the paper traveling direction immediately after the paper stacking table is raised and detected by the paper upper surface detecting means.

  According to the present invention, by controlling the operation of the leading end stopper of the paper discharge device, there is an advantage that it is possible to prevent the stacked uppermost paper from jumping out in the paper traveling direction during intermittent printing.

  When the paper stacking table is lowered during intermittent printing and the front jogger, rear jogger, and front end stopper are retracted, the upper surface of the printed paper generated by the actuator of the paper upper surface detection means is prevented from popping out in the paper advance direction. This is achieved by the same configuration as before by controlling the operation near the leading edge of the printed paper in the paper traveling direction immediately after the paper upper surface detecting means detects the uppermost surface of the paper.

  Embodiments embodying the present invention will be described. The paper discharge device 2 is disposed behind the image forming apparatus 3 such as a copying machine and a laser printer, and the printed paper 1 fed from the image forming apparatus 3 is placed on the operator side or the non-operator side in the next stage. A shift conveying roller 9 for sorting and feeding, a sheet stacking table 4 for stacking and storing printed sheets 1 supported so as to be movable up and down, and being printed and arranged in parallel with the stack sheet moving direction. A slidable front jogger 17 and rear jogger 15 for aligning the printed paper 1 in a direction orthogonal to the paper traveling direction by repeatedly pressing both edge portions parallel to the traveling direction of the paper 1, and a direction orthogonal to the stack paper traveling direction The slide is arranged to align the paper 1 in the paper traveling direction by repeatedly pressing the tip of the printed paper 1. Leading edge stopper 10, position detection means (not shown) of front jogger 17 and rear jogger 15, position detection means (not shown) of tip stopper 8, and printed paper 1 on paper stacking table 4 A rotating member 22 that presses the end in an orthogonal direction, a comb-like second sheet alignment member (hereinafter referred to as a sheet trailing edge stopper) 5 that is erected and fixed at a fixed position near the rotating member 22, and a sheet stacking table 4 A plurality of paper upper surface pressing rollers 23 arranged in order to press the upper surface of the printed paper 1 discharged upward, and an upper surface detecting means 18 for detecting the upper surface of the paper stacking surface. The paper stacking table 4 is detachably provided on a table arm 24 provided so as to be movable up and down. When a predetermined amount of paper is stacked on the paper stacking table 4, the paper stacking table 4 is transferred from the table arm 24. It can be removed and transported by the operator. The paper stacking table 4 is provided with a front jogger 17 and a rear jogger 15 and a paper rear end protrusion (not shown) for preventing the printed paper 1 from swinging. The front jogger 17, the rear jogger 15 and the front end stopper 10 are slid in accordance with the size of the printed paper 1 stacked via a power transmission belt and a drive shaft (not shown). The rotating member 22 is rotated by power from a motor (not shown) via a power transmission belt and a drive shaft (not shown).

  Here, as shown in FIG. 5, when printing of a print job, particularly an intermittent print job, is started in the image forming apparatus 3, first, the paper stacking table 4 is raised until it is detected by the upper surface detection means 18. At that time, the front jogger 17, the rear jogger 15, and the tip stopper 10 detect the home position positions by the respective position detecting means. Thereafter, the upper surface detection means 18 detects the paper stacking table 4 and after 200 ms, the leading edge stopper 10 moves to the leading edge position in the printed paper traveling direction. Thereafter, the paper stacking table 4 is lowered 35 mm from the position detected by the upper surface detection means 18 and stops at the home position. At this time, the rear jogger 15 and the front jogger 17 are specified in accordance with the paper size to be printed or the job shift direction. The sheet stacking table 4 is further raised by 20 mm and stopped at the home position during printing.

For this reason, it is possible to push the printed sheet 1 that has jumped out in the sheet traveling direction to the original aligned position by the actuator 18a of the upper surface detection means 10.

1 is a perspective view showing a printing system including the present invention. The schematic sectional drawing in the II-II line of FIG. FIG. 10 is a top view illustrating positions of alignment members immediately after a sheet upper surface detecting unit detects a sheet stacking table in the related art. The side view which shows the malfunction which the printed paper protruded conventionally. The top view which shows each alignment member position immediately after a sheet | seat upper surface detection means detects a sheet | seat stacking table in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 is printed paper, 2 is a paper discharge device, 3 is an image forming device, 4 is a paper stacking table, 5 is a paper trailing edge stopper, 6 is a transport roller, 7 is a transport roller, 8 is a transport roller, and 9 is shift transport Roller, 10 is a front end stopper, 11 is a front end stopper driving unit, 12 is a path sensor, 13 is a control unit, 14 is a control unit, 15 is an operator side jogger, 16 is an operator side jogger driving unit, 17 is an anti-operator side jogger, 18 Is the driving direction of the non-operator side jogger, 18a is the actuator, 19 is the paper traveling direction, 19 'is the paper traveling direction, 20 is the roller direction changing means, 21 is the paper alignment unit, 22 is the rotating member, and 23 is the top surface of the paper A pressing roller, 24 is a table arm, and 25 is a sheet position detecting means.

Claims (3)

A paper discharge roller you sending the paper fed from the paper discharge apparatus in the paper traveling direction, and the paper stacking table to accommodate a stack of the paper in the paper loading position, and a table drive mechanism for elevating the sheet stacking table, A controller for controlling the table driving mechanism and an upper surface detecting means for detecting the uppermost surface position of the paper, and is arranged downstream of the paper traveling direction and reciprocally slides in the paper traveling direction to advance the paper of the paper. A first paper alignment member that regulates the direction position, a second paper alignment member that is arranged upstream of the paper advance direction and restricts the paper advance direction position of the paper, and is arranged along the paper advance direction; A third paper alignment member that regulates a position in a width direction perpendicular to the paper traveling direction of the paper by reciprocatingly sliding the paper in a direction perpendicular to the paper traveling direction; A sheet handling device having a sheet aligning member and a position detecting means for detecting a position of the third sheet aligning member, wherein the first sheet aligning member is lifted up by the sheet stacking table. Immediately after detecting the sheet stacking table by the upper surface detecting means for detecting the upper surface position, the sheet handling apparatus moves to the vicinity of the leading edge portion in the sheet traveling direction of the stacked and stored sheets.
  2. The paper handling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper discharge apparatus is an image forming apparatus. A printing system comprising the paper handling device according to claim 1.

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