JP4830842B2 - Staple cartridge - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a staple cartridge used in an electric stapler, and more particularly to a staple cartridge that is reduced in size.

  Electric staplers and stand-alone electric staplers incorporated in copiers, binding processors, etc. are detachable from the cartridge for the convenience of staple replenishment. The staple cartridge is replaced with a new one, or a staple sheet is loaded into the staple cartridge and mounted on the electric stapler again (Patent Documents 1, 2, 3, etc.).

  Regarding replenishment of staple sheets, a conventional electric stapler is generally of a type in which the entire staple cartridge is replaced, but in recent years, a staple cartridge stacked and accommodated in a refill container is loaded into the staple cartridge. As a structure, there are many structures in which staple cartridges can be used repeatedly (for example, Patent Documents 4 and 5).

  Regarding the loading of the staple cartridge into the electric stapler, an upper loading type electric stapler (for example, FIGS. 28 to 30 of Patent Document 3) having a loading port on the upper surface and a rear loading type having a loading port on the back surface. There is an electric stapler (for example, FIG. 9 of Patent Document 4).

As a means for pressing the staple sheet in the staple cartridge or the refill container to the inner bottom surface, a pressing means comprising a spring and a lever is provided on the electric stapler side (for example, “arm member 106” in Patent Document 4). ), One provided with pressing means consisting of a spring and a pressing plate in the staple cartridge itself (Patent Document 6), one provided with pressing means consisting of a spring and a push rod on the openable lid of the staple cartridge (Patent Document 7) and so on. In the upper loading type electric stapler, the upper surface is opened for exchanging the cartridge, and it is difficult to provide a pressing means for pressing the upper surface of the staple sheet on the electric stapler side. Need to be deployed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 9-93044 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-99505 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-235679 JP 2004-237446 A JP 2006-116637 A JP-A-6-218676 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-127461

  In general, a mechanical device is often required to be miniaturized. For example, a binding processing machine that performs two-fold binding by placing two electric stapler units in parallel and driving staples on two left and right center lines of printing paper. In order to perform a binding process with a narrow stapling interval such as A4 double fold or B5 double fold, the lateral width of the electric stapler unit must be reduced accordingly.

  In order to reduce the unit size of the electric stapler, it is advantageous to arrange the staple pressing means described above not on the electric stapler side but on the staple cartridge itself, but it is also necessary to reduce the staple cartridge itself as much as possible. is there.

  Accordingly, there is a technical problem to be solved in order to provide a staple cartridge in which the size of the staple cartridge is further reduced and the refill container can be easily replaced, and the present invention aims to solve the above problem. And

The present invention proposes to achieve the above object, and is a staple cartridge for an electric stapler, which is a refill container replacement using a refill container in which a plurality of linear staples bonded in parallel is stacked and stored. A staple cartridge comprising a base frame on which a refill container is placed, and an openable / closable upper cover that is hinged to a front portion of the base frame and covers the refill container on the base frame, A cover lock mechanism by a rear hook type cover lock lever pivotally attached to the rear portion of the upper cover and a lock pin provided at the rear portion of the base plate, and a downward compression coil spring attached to the ceiling surface of the upper cover,
The refill container is composed of a container portion for storing staple sheets and a cover plate stacked on the upper surface of the staple sheets. The container portion consumes all the staple sheets therein, and the cover plate is moved to the bottom of the container portion. When the cover plate is lowered, it has a guide that allows the cover plate to move forward, and a hinged back plate that can be rotated forward with the upper back of the container portion as a fulcrum. When the cover plate is lowered to the bottom of the container portion The cover plate and the back plate facing the rear end of the cover plate can be moved forward, and when the refill container is loaded into the staple cartridge and the upper cover is closed, the cover lock lever is The upper cover is locked by engaging the lock pin of the base plate. When the cover lock lever is positioned close to the back side of the back plate of the refill container, the cover lock lever cannot be unlocked and the cover plate is lowered when the cover plate is lowered to the bottom of the container portion. A staple cartridge is provided in which the back plate and the back plate are movable forward and the cover lock lever can be unlocked.

  The upper cover includes a front surface portion and an upper surface portion, and provides a staple cartridge in which left and right side surfaces and the back surface are open.

  Further, the cover lock lever attached to the rear portion of the upper cover provides a staple cartridge formed so that the upper portion of the cover lock lever can be grasped and the staple cartridge main body can be attached to and detached from the electric stapler.

  The lock pin provided at the rear part of the base plate provides a staple cartridge which is inserted through a long slot in the front and rear direction and is urged forward by a spring.

  The staple cartridge of the present invention is provided with a cover lock lever at the rear part of the upper cover that covers the refill container, and the upper cover is fixed when the cover lock lever is engaged with the lock pin of the base frame. If the engagement with the lock pin is released by rotating, the upper cover can be opened upward with its front portion as a fulcrum. By eliminating the left and right side surfaces and the rear wall of the upper cover, the entire width of the staple cartridge can be made as small as possible, and the electric stapler can be miniaturized.

  In addition, the back surface of the refill container accommodated in the staple cartridge is a hinge-type back plate, and when the staples remain in the container, the back plate cannot contact the staple sheet and rotate. . When the refill container is loaded in the staple cartridge and the upper cover is closed, the cover lock lever of the upper cover is located behind the back plate of the refill container and the back plate cannot be rotated. When it hits, it becomes impossible to rotate. That is, the unlocking operation becomes impossible.

  When all the staple sheets in the refill container are consumed, the back plate of the refill container and the cover lock lever of the upper cover can be rotated, the cover lock lever is unlocked, the upper cover is opened, and the refill container is replaced. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the refill container from being removed when the staples remain, and the container replacement operation is extremely simple.

  An openable / closable upper cover that covers the refill container on the base frame is hinged to the front portion of the base frame of the refill container replaceable staple cartridge. The upper cover eliminates the side and back walls, a rear hook type cover lock lever is pivotally attached to the rear part of the upper surface part, and a cover lock mechanism is constituted by a lock pin and a cover lock lever provided at the rear part of the base plate. A downward compression coil spring is attached to the ceiling surface of the upper cover.

  The refill container is composed of a container part for storing staple sheets and a cover plate stacked on the upper surface of the staple sheet. The container part consumes all the staple sheets inside and the cover plate is lowered to the bottom of the container part. When the cover plate is lowered to the bottom of the container part, the cover plate is provided with a guide that allows the cover plate to move forward and a hinged back plate that can be rotated forward with the upper back part of the container part as a fulcrum. The back plate facing the rear end of the plate and the cover plate is configured to be movable forward.

  When the refill container is loaded in the staple cartridge and the upper cover is closed, the cover lock lever engages with the lock pin of the base plate to lock the upper cover, and the cover lock lever is on the rear side of the back plate of the refill container. By setting the positional relationship so as to be positioned closer to the cover, the unlocking operation of the cover lock lever becomes impossible. When the cover plate is lowered to the bottom of the container portion, the cover plate and the back plate can move forward, and the cover lock lever can be unlocked. With the configuration as described above, the object of providing a staple cartridge that is small and can be easily replaced with a refill container is achieved.

  FIG. 1 shows a staple cartridge 1 in which an upper cover 3 is attached on a base frame 2, and a refill container is loaded between a front wall portion 4 and a rear wall portion 5 of the base frame 2.

  The upper cover 3 is an L-shaped member composed of a front surface portion 6 and an upper surface portion 7, and the left and right side surfaces and the back surface are open, and has holes 8 formed at the lower ends of both the left and right side surfaces of the front surface portion 6. The base frame 2 is engaged with the shafts 9 on the left and right side surfaces of the front wall portion 4. A vertical cover lock lever 10 is attached to the rear end of the upper surface portion 7 of the upper cover 3. The cover lock lever 10 also serves as a knob for attaching to and detaching from the electric stapler (not shown). The hole 11 provided in the middle between the upper and lower sides engages with the shaft 12 provided on the left and right side surfaces of the upper surface portion 7 of the upper cover 3. And can be swung back and forth within a certain range.

  The cover lock lever 10 has a gate shape in which at least the lower part of the left and right middle part (the back side of the paper surface) is a space, and the left and right leg parts 13 are positioned on the left and right side surfaces of the rear wall part 5 of the base frame 2. is doing. A groove 14 is formed horizontally from the back side (right side in the figure) at the bottom of the leg portion 13 of the cover lock lever 10, and the lock pin projects laterally from both side surfaces of the rear wall portion 4 of the base frame 2. When the groove 14 of the cover lock lever 10 is engaged with 15, the upper cover 3 is fixed in a closed state. A long hole 16 that is long in the front-rear direction passes through the rear wall 5 of the base frame 2 from side to side. The lock pin 15 inserted into the long hole 16 is attached to the front end of the long hole 16 by a compression coil spring 17. The cover 14 is engaged with the groove 14 of the cover lock lever 10.

  A pair of front and rear compression coil springs 18 are attached to the lower surface of the upper surface portion 7 of the upper cover 3. The compression coil spring 18 is for holding a staple sheet of a refill container to be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the upper part of the cover lock lever 10 is tilted backward, the lower end of the cover lock lever 10 is rotated forward to disengage the groove 14 and the lock pin 15, and the rear part of the upper cover 3 is moved. Can be lifted.

  FIG. 3 shows a state in which the rear portion of the upper cover 3 is lifted and rotated forward to open the upper surface of the base frame 2, and the refill container 21 is loaded on the base frame 2 in this state.

  The refill container 21 is the same as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-237446, and a large number of linear staples are bonded in parallel in a box-shaped plastic container part 22 whose upper surface is open. Dozens of staple sheets S are stacked, and a cover plate 23 is placed on the upper surface thereof. Guide pins 24 are provided in the vicinity of the front ends of the left and right side surfaces of the cover plate 23, and the guide pins 24 of the cover plate 23 protrude outward through vertical grooves 25 formed on the left and right side surfaces of the container portion 22.

  The vertical groove 25 of the container portion 22 has a Z shape in which the width of the upper end is expanded rearward and the width of the lower end is expanded forward, and the cover plate 23 moves forward when it descends to the bottom of the container portion 22. Can slide. The back surface of the container portion 22 is a back plate 27 that can rotate with the hinge portion 26 at the upper end as a fulcrum, and a knob portion 28 extends forward from the left and right ends of the back plate 27 along the side surface of the container portion 22.

  FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view for explaining the back plate 27. As shown in (a), when the staple sheet S is in the refill container 21, the rear plate 27 hits the rear end of the staple sheet S and is prevented from rotating when the knob 28 is pulled up. On the other hand, as shown in (b), when the staple sheet S is completely consumed and the cover plate 23 is lowered to the bottom of the container portion 22, the lower end portion of the vertical groove 25 of the container portion 22 is forward as described above. Since the cover plate 23 is slidable forward, the rear plate 27 is not prevented from rotating, and the knob 28 can be pulled up.

  A hole 29 is formed in the lower part of the back plate 27, and if the staple cartridge 1 is provided with a claw 19 or a convex portion that engages with the hole 29 as shown in the figure, the refill container 21 is moved to the staple cartridge 1. A locking mechanism for fixing is configured. In this configuration, when the refill container 21 is loaded into the staple cartridge 1, the back plate 27 is elastically deformed and the holes 29 and the claws 19 and the like are fitted to lock the refill container 21, so that the refill container 21 As long as the staple sheet S is present, the knob 28 cannot be lifted, and the refill container 21 cannot be removed.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, when all the staple sheets S are consumed and the cover plate 23 is lowered to the bottom of the container portion 22, as described above, when the knob portion 28 is pulled up, the cover plate 23 is moved to the rear surface. The rear plate 27 is removed from the claw 19 of the staple cartridge 1 by being pushed by the plate 27 and slid forward, and the refill container 21 can be taken out upward. In the staple cartridge 1 of FIGS. 1 to 3, the claw or the like that engages with the hole 29 of the back plate 27 is not provided, and the refill container 21 is pressed by the upper cover 3, but as described above, the staple cartridge 1 A claw 19 or the like may be provided on the rear wall portion 1 of 1 so that the refill container 21 is locked.

  FIG. 5 shows a state in which the refill container 21 is loaded into the staple cartridge 1 and the upper cover 3 is closed. When the upper cover 3 is closed, the cover lock lever 10 hits the rear end surface of the knob portion 28 of the refill container 21, descends in a state of being substantially perpendicular to the upper surface portion 7 of the upper cover 3, and the lower end portion contacts the upper surface of the lock pin 15. . The rear side of the lower end of the cover lock lever 10 has an obliquely cut slope, and the lock pin 15 is retracted by the cam action of this slope, and then fitted into the groove 14 of the cover lock lever 10 so that the upper cover 3 is fixed. Further, the compression coil spring 18 of the upper surface portion 7 of the upper cover presses against the cover plate 23 of the refill container 21 and presses the cover plate 23 and the staple sheet S downward.

  As described above, when the refill container 21 is loaded into the staple cartridge 1 and the upper cover 3 is closed, the back plate 27 of the refill container 21 is in a non-rotatable state. The cover lock lever 10 located on the back side is also unrotatable, and the upper cover 3 cannot be opened until all the staple sheets S are consumed.

  Although not shown, rectangular holes are formed in the bottom surfaces of the staple cartridge 1 and the refill container 21 as in the conventional type, and the staple cartridge 1 with the refill container 21 set as shown in FIG. When loaded, the feeding claw, which is a staple feeding mechanism of the electric stapler, elastically contacts the lower surface of the staple sheet S through the rectangular holes on the bottom surface of the staple cartridge 1 and the refill container 21. When the electric stapler is operated, the staple claw is reciprocated back and forth in conjunction with the driving operation of the driver, so that the staple sheets S are sequentially fed toward the front end of the base frame 2.

  As the staple sheet S in the staple cartridge 1 is consumed, the cover plate 23 is pushed down by the compression coil spring, and the staple sheet S is pressed toward the lower feed claw until the staple sheet S is completely consumed. Thus, the staple sheet S is sent stably.

  When all the staple sheets S are consumed, as shown in FIG. 6, the cover plate 23 of the refill container 21 descends to the bottom of the container portion 22, and the cover plate 23 can be advanced as described above, and the cover lock lever. 10 can be rotated. Therefore, the staple cartridge 1 is detached from the electric stapler by grasping the cover lock lever 10, and the upper portion of the cover lock lever 10 is rotated rearward to open the upper cover 3 as shown in FIG. Can be taken out.

  As described above, when the refill container 21 is loaded into the staple cartridge 1 and the upper cover 3 is closed, the refill container 21 is fixed so that it cannot be removed, and when the staple sheet S of the refill container 21 becomes empty, the cover lock The upper cover 3 can be opened by rotating the lever 10, and the replacement of the refill container 21 is extremely simple. In addition, since the side wall of the staple cartridge is not provided with a wall, the entire width of the staple cartridge can be made substantially the same as the entire width of the refill container, and the width dimension of the electric stapler can be reduced as much as possible.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the technical scope of the present invention, and it is natural that the present invention extends to those modifications.

The side view of the staple cartridge which shows one Embodiment of this invention. The side view of a staple cartridge which shows upper cover open operation. The side view of the staple cartridge and refill container which show a refill container loading process. FIG. 4 shows a refill container locking mechanism of a staple cartridge, (a) is a side sectional view in a locked state, and (b) is a side sectional view showing an unlocking operation. Side view of staple cartridge showing completion of refill container loading The side view of a staple cartridge which shows upper cover open operation. Side view of staple cartridge showing upper cover open state

Explanation of symbols

1 Staple cartridge
2 Base frame
3 Top cover
4 Front wall
5 Rear wall
10 Cover lock lever
14 groove
15 Lock pin
16 Slotted hole
17 Compression coil spring
18 Compression coil spring
21 Refill container
22 Container section
23 Cover plate
24 Guide pin
25 Vertical groove
26 Hinge
27 Back plate
28 Pick section

Claims (4)

In an electric stapler staple cartridge, a refill container replaceable staple cartridge that uses a refill container in which a plurality of linear sheets bonded in parallel is stacked and stored.
A staple cartridge comprising a base frame on which a refill container is placed and an openable and closable upper cover that is hinged to the front portion of the base frame and covers the refill container on the base frame. A cover-lock mechanism with a rear-facing hook-type cover lock lever and a lock pin provided at the rear of the base plate, and a downward compression coil spring attached to the ceiling surface of the upper cover,
The refill container is composed of a container portion for storing staple sheets and a cover plate stacked on the upper surface of the staple sheets. The container portion consumes all the staple sheets therein, and the cover plate is moved to the bottom of the container portion. When the cover plate is lowered, it has a guide that allows the cover plate to move forward, and a hinged back plate that can be rotated forward with the upper back of the container portion as a fulcrum. When the cover plate is lowered to the bottom of the container portion The back plate facing the rear end of the cover plate and the cover plate is configured to be movable forward,
When the refill container is loaded into the staple cartridge and the upper cover is closed, the cover lock lever engages with the lock pin of the base plate to lock the upper cover, and the cover lock lever Positioning close to the back side of the back plate makes it impossible to unlock the cover lock lever, and when the cover plate is lowered to the bottom of the container part, the cover plate and the back plate move forward. The staple cartridge is configured to be capable of unlocking the cover lock lever.   The staple cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the upper cover includes a front surface portion and an upper surface portion, and left and right side surfaces and a rear surface are open.   2. The staple cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cover lock lever attached to the rear portion of the upper cover is formed so that the staple cartridge main body can be attached to and detached from the electric stapler by grasping an upper portion thereof. 2. The staple cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the lock pin provided at the rear portion of the base plate is inserted through a long hole in the front and rear direction and is urged forward by a spring.

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