JP4977635B2 - Paper processing apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  In the present invention, predetermined processing is performed on a sheet-like recording medium that has been carried in (meaning all sheet-like recording media such as paper, OPC sheets, etc., which are collectively referred to as paper in this specification). The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus to be applied, and a copier, a printer, a facsimile including the sheet processing apparatus, and an image forming apparatus such as a digital multifunction peripheral having a combination of these functions.

  As this type of technology, for example, the invention described in Patent Document 1 is known. In Patent Document 1, in an image forming apparatus having an image forming apparatus main body and at least one post-processing device, a paper carry-in means for carrying in paper one by one from the image forming apparatus main body, and the paper Paper storage means for storing two or more sheets of paper carried into the carry-in means, and paper carry-out means for superimposing two or more sheets of paper stored in the paper storage means and discharging them to the subsequent post-processing machine And an intermediate conveyance unit between the image forming apparatus main body and the post-processing device, and the intermediate conveyance unit feeds a sheet of paper at the same speed as a discharge linear speed of the image forming apparatus main body. An invention is disclosed in which each sheet is received and the sheet unloading means superimposes two or more sheets and unloads the sheets at the same speed as the receiving linear speed in the succeeding post-processing machine. The present invention also discloses that the stopper is raised for each sheet of paper, and the rear end of the sheet is placed in another route so as not to collide with the next sheet to prevent out-of-order.

In addition, the inventions described in Patent Documents 2 and 3 are also known as related inventions. Patent Document 2 discloses an invention in which a roller is reversed for each sheet, and the rear end of the sheet is placed in another route so that it does not collide with the next sheet. An invention has been disclosed in which the route is divided into two so that the trailing edge of the paper does not collide with the next paper to prevent out-of-order.
JP 2007-256406 A Japanese Patent No. 3617936 Japanese Patent No. 3531786

  By the way, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, as described above, the stopper is raised for each sheet of paper, and the rear end of the sheet is placed in another route so as not to collide with the next sheet. . However, in this configuration, since the sheets are lifted one by one, when the stopper is lowered, the sheets may stick to the guide plate due to static electricity or the like and may not return. In addition, if a dropping means is provided to drop the stuck paper, a new drive source is required and the cost has to be increased.

  Further, since the staying device and the post-processing device are configured as separate machines, the paper bundle is conveyed to the paper post-processing device after being retained by the staying device. However, in this configuration, a deviation occurs between the sheets during conveyance, so that an operation for correcting the deviation again is necessary before the post-processing, resulting in a decrease in productivity.

  Furthermore, when the paper cannot fall by its own weight due to sticking of static electricity or the like, the rear edge press is purposely provided to press the paper to the stopper. However, this configuration requires a new rear end pressing mechanism and a driving unit such as a solenoid for driving the rear end pressing, resulting in an increase in cost and an increase in the size of the machine.

  The inventions described in Patent Documents 2 and 3 do not deal with such problems.

  Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention is to make it possible to process a plurality of sheets with improved alignment accuracy without having to move the sheets one by one.

To solve the above problems, the present invention is carried-a dwell path for temporarily staying two or more sheets come, and conveying means for conveying the sheet to the residence path, the sheet transported to the residence path Provided in the staying path, a restricting means that covers the rear end of the paper regulated by the regulating means, a drive means that moves the pressing means so as to reciprocate in the paper transport direction, and a stay path. And a folding means for performing folding processing on the paper , wherein the conveying means and the pressing means are installed on the same member and moved together by the driving means, and the driving means when the sheet is conveyed, the pressing moves the unit to the paper near the rear end, after the leading edge of the following sheet has passed the trailing end of the preceding sheet which is retained in the retention path, the trailing for Wherein the moving the presser means while conveying in a direction away from the sheet trailing edge.

  In the embodiment described later, the staying path is the reference numeral 102a and the third conveying path 103, the conveying means is the moving roller 801, the regulating means is the first stopper 601, the pressing means is the rear end pressing 802, and the driving means. Is a motor (not shown) that lifts and lowers the frame that supports the rear end presser 802, the folding means is the folding plate 401 and the first and second folding rollers 201 and 202, and the same member that moves integrally by the driving means is the moving roller 801. A claw-like member at the rear end press 802, a guide surface at 803, a pressing surface at 804, a sheet processing device at the folding processing device ZF, and an image forming device. Corresponds to the code PR.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to process a plurality of sheets with improved alignment accuracy without having to move the sheets one by one.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1. Overall Configuration FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In FIG. 1, the image forming system according to the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus PR, a sheet post-processing apparatus PD as a sheet processing apparatus, and a folding processing apparatus ZF provided therebetween.

  In FIG. 1, the folding processing device ZF is attached to the side of the image forming apparatus PR, and the sheet (recording medium) discharged from the image forming device PR is guided to the folding processing device ZF. The paper post-processing device PD is further attached to the side (rear stage) of the folding processing device ZF, and the paper discharged from the folding processing device ZF is guided to the paper post-processing device PD. The paper passes through a conveyance path A having post-processing means (in this embodiment, a punch unit PU as a punching means) for post-processing one sheet, and then to the conveyance path B and the shift tray T2 that lead to the upper tray T1. The branching claw 15 and the branching claw 16 are configured to distribute to a conveyance path C that leads to a conveyance path D that leads to a conveyance path C that leads, and a processing tray F that performs alignment, stapling, and the like (hereinafter also referred to as a staple processing tray). The tray surface 66 on which the sheets of the staple processing tray F are stacked is inclined so that the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the sheet discharged from the staple discharge roller 11 is upward, and the inclination angle is relative to the gravity direction. The angle is set to a minimum angle that does not interfere with a later-described center folding plate 74 below the inclined surface and a drive mechanism thereof and a mechanism such as an end surface binding stapler S1.

  The sheet guided to the staple processing tray F through the transport paths A and D and aligned and stapled by the staple processing tray F is guided to the shift tray T2 by the branch guide plate 54 and the movable guide 55 which are deflecting means. The paper is configured to be distributed to a conveyance path C, a processing tray G that performs folding or the like (hereinafter also referred to as a middle folding processing tray), and a sheet that has been folded in the middle folding processing tray G passes through the conveyance path H and is discharged. Guided from the roller 83 to the lower tray T3. Further, a branching claw 17 is disposed in the conveyance path D, and is held in the state shown in the figure by a low load spring (not shown). After the trailing edge of the sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller 7 passes through this, the guide At least the guide roller 8 and the transport roller 9 among the rollers 8, the transport rollers 9, 10 and the staple paper discharge roller 11 are reversed so that the rear end of the paper is guided to the paper storage portion E to stay the paper and overlap the next paper. It is configured so that it can be conveyed. By repeating this operation, it is possible to convey two or more sheets in a superimposed manner.

  In a common conveyance path A upstream of the conveyance path B, the conveyance path C, and the conveyance path D, an inlet sensor SN1 that detects a sheet received from the image forming apparatus, an inlet roller 1, a punch unit PU, and a conveyance downstream thereof. The roller 2, the branch claw 15 and the branch claw 16 are sequentially arranged. The branching claw 15 and the branching claw 16 are held in the state shown in FIG. 1 by a spring (not shown). By turning on a solenoid (not shown), the branching claw 15 is rotated upward and the branching claw 16 is rotated downward. The paper is distributed to the conveyance path B, the conveyance path C, and the conveyance path D.

  When guiding the paper to the conveyance path B, the branching claw 15 is in the state of FIG. 1 and the solenoid is OFF. When guiding the paper to the conveyance path C, the branching claw 15 is turned on by turning on the solenoid from the state of FIG. 1 and the branch claw 16 are rotated downward. When the paper is guided by the transport rollers 3 and 4 and the paper is guided to the transport path D, the branch claw 16 is in the state shown in FIG. The branching claw 15 is turned upward by turning on the solenoid from the state shown in FIG. 1, and is discharged onto the shift tray T2 by the discharge roller 6 including the transport roller 5 and the roller pairs 6a and 6b. .

  In this paper post-processing apparatus, punching (punching unit PU), paper alignment + edge binding (jogger fence 53, edge binding stapler S1), paper alignment + saddle stitching (jogger fence 53, saddle stitching stapler) for the paper. S2), paper sorting (shift tray T2), center folding (folding plate 74, folding rollers 81, 82), and the like can be performed.

  In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus PR performs optical writing on an image forming medium such as a photosensitive drum based on the input image data to form a latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and the formed latent image is displayed. This is an image forming apparatus using a so-called electrophotographic process in which toner is developed, transferred to a recording medium such as paper, fixed, and discharged, and the image forming apparatus using the electrophotographic process itself is well known, so the details here Description and illustration of this configuration are omitted. In this embodiment, an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic process is illustrated. However, a system using a known image forming apparatus such as an inkjet or a printing machine and a printing machine (printer) may also be used. Needless to say.

2. Stipple Processing Tray A configuration of the processing tray F that performs sheet alignment and stapling will be described.
In the processing tray F that performs sheet alignment and stapling processing, the sheets guided to the processing tray F by the staple discharge roller 11 are sequentially stacked on the tray surface 66. In this case, alignment in the vertical direction (paper conveyance direction) is performed by the tapping roller 12 for each sheet, and alignment in the horizontal direction (paper width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction) is performed by the jogger fence 53. Thereafter, the end-face stitching stapler S1 is driven by a staple signal from the CPU 351 (see FIG. 3) between job breaks, that is, between the last sheet of the sheet bundle and the first sheet of the next sheet bundle, and the binding process is performed. The sheet bundle subjected to the binding process is immediately sent to the shift paper discharge roller 6 by the discharge belt having the discharge claw 52a, and is discharged to the shift tray T2 set at the receiving position.

  The home position of the discharge claw 52a is detected by the discharge belt HP sensor SN11. The release belt HP sensor SN11 is turned on / off by the discharge claw 52a provided on the discharge belt. Two discharge claws 52a are arranged at opposing positions on the outer periphery of the discharge belt, and the sheet bundle stored in the processing tray F is moved and conveyed alternately. The drive shaft of the discharge belt driven by the discharge motor is provided with a discharge belt and its driving pulley at the alignment center in the paper width direction, and the discharge roller 56 is disposed and fixed symmetrically with respect to the discharge belt. The peripheral speed 56 is set to be faster than the peripheral speed of the discharge belt.

  The hitting roller 12 is given a pendulum motion by the hitting SOL about the fulcrum and intermittently acts on the paper sent to the processing tray F to hit the paper against the rear end fence 51. The hitting roller 12 rotates counterclockwise. The jogger fence 53 is driven via a timing belt by a jogger motor capable of forward and reverse rotation, and reciprocates in the paper width direction.

  The end-face stitching stapler S1 is driven via a timing belt by a forward / reversely movable stapler moving motor (not shown), and moves in the sheet width direction in order to bind a predetermined position of the sheet edge. A stapler movement HP sensor for detecting the home position of the end face binding stapler S1 is provided at one end of the moving range, and the binding position in the paper width direction is controlled by the amount of movement of the end face binding stapler S1 from the home position. The

  The saddle stitching stapler S2 is arranged such that the distance from the rear end fence 51 to the needle striking position of the saddle stitching stapler S2 is equal to or longer than a distance corresponding to half of the conveyance direction length of the maximum sheet size that can be saddle stitched, and Two are arranged symmetrically with respect to the alignment center in the paper width direction and are fixed to a stay (not shown). The saddle stitch stapler S2 includes a needle portion, and is divided into two units of a stitcher (driver) unit S23 for driving out the needle and a clincher unit S22 for bending the needle, and the stitcher unit S23 conveys the processing tray F. It is arranged on the road D side. Reference numeral SN10 in the figure is a paper presence sensor for detecting the presence or absence of paper on the staple processing tray F.

  The sheet bundle that has undergone saddle stitching in the staple processing tray F is folded in the middle of the sheet. This middle folding is performed in the middle folding processing tray G. For this purpose, it is necessary to transport the bound sheet bundle to the middle folding processing tray G. In this embodiment, a sheet bundle deflecting unit is provided on the most downstream side in the conveyance direction of the staple processing tray F, and conveys the sheet bundle to the middle folding processing tray G side. The sheet bundle deflection mechanism includes a branch guide plate 54 and a movable guide 55. The branch guide plate 54 is provided so as to be swingable in the vertical direction around a fulcrum. A pressure roller 57 that is rotatable is provided on the downstream side of the branch guide plate 54 and is pressed toward the discharge roller 56 by a spring.

3. Middle folding processing tray The folding plate 74 is supported by loosely fitting long holes on two shafts standing on front and rear side plates (not shown), and the shaft standing from the folding plate 74 is connected to the link arm. It is loosely fitted in the long hole portion, and the link arm swings around the fulcrum, thereby reciprocating left and right in FIG. That is, in FIG. 1, the folding plate 74 reciprocates in a direction perpendicular to the upper and lower bundle conveyance guide plates 91 and 92.

  In the middle folding processing tray G, the lower end of the sheet bundle conveyed by the bundle conveying rollers 71 and 72 is regulated by the rear end plate 73, and the rear end position of the sheet bundle can be moved by the rotation of the pulley 322. The central portion of the sheet bundle can be opposed to the front end portion of the folding plate 74.

  In FIG. 1, reference signs SN2, SN3, SN4, SN5, SN21, SN23, and SN24 are sensors for detecting the conveyance state of the sheet or sheet bundle, and reference numeral SN30 is stacked on the shift tray T2 and returned by the return roller 13. It is a paper surface sensor for detecting the upper surface of the printed paper.

4). Folding device FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the folding device shown in FIG. This fold processing device ZF is a fold processing device capable of folding operations of two folds, Z folds, outer three folds, inner three folds, simple four folds, and four-tone folds. Is attached. The folding processing device ZF is provided with first to seventh conveying paths 101 to 107 and first to fourth folding rollers 201 to 204, and the first to fourth folding rollers 201 to 204 have the first folding. A first nip 205 is provided between the roller 201 and the second folding roller 202, and a second nip 206 is provided between the second folding roller 202 and the third folding roller 203, and the third folding roller 203 and the fourth folding roller 203. A third nip 207 is formed between the folding rollers 204 to enable a folding operation. The first to fourth folding rollers 201 to 204 are configured to rotate synchronously because they form nips with adjacent rollers.

  The sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus PR is guided to the entrance roller 211 in the folding processing apparatus ZF. The folding processing device ZF includes first and second transport paths 101 and 102 that are switched by a first switching claw 301 and a second switching claw 302 from the inlet 221 to the outlet 222 through the paper discharge roller 212. ing. The first and second transport paths 101 and 102 and the third transport path 103 are connected to the upstream side (the right side in the drawing) of the first nip 205 when viewed from the inlet direction, and the downstream side of the first nip 205 ( The fourth conveyance path 104 continues on the left side in the figure. Further, the fourth conveyance path 104 continues to the upstream side (the upper side in the drawing) of the second nip 206 in the sheet conveyance direction. The fifth transport path 105 continues downstream of the second nip 206 (lower side in the figure), and the fifth transport path 105 continues upstream of the third nip 207 (right side in the figure). It continues to the sixth or seventh transport path 106, 107 on the downstream side (left side in the figure).

  The sixth transport path 106 and the seventh transport path 107 are selected by the fourth switching claw 304. When the sixth transport path is selected, the sixth transport path 106 and the seventh transport path 107 are guided not to the paper discharge roller 212 but to the lower part of the apparatus main body, The paper is discharged to a stacker 700 arranged at the lower part of the apparatus main body. On the other hand, when the seventh transport path 107 is selected, it merges at the A position with the fourth transport path 104 extending from the fourth switching claw 304 in a substantially vertical direction and extending substantially linearly at the top. The paper is discharged from the outlet 222 via the paper discharge roller 212.

  In the present embodiment, third and fourth switching claws 303 and 304 are provided in addition to the first and second switching claws 301 and 302. The third switching claw 303 selects the paper conveyance direction downstream of the second nip 206, and the fourth switching claw 304 selects the paper conveyance direction downstream of the third nip 207. The third conveyance path 103 extends substantially linearly downward, and a first stopper 601 is provided along the conveyance path 103 so as to be movable. Similarly, second and third stoppers 602 and 603 are also provided in the fourth and fifth transport paths 104 and 105 so as to be movable along the corresponding transport paths. A folding plate 401 is provided on the upstream side of the first nip 205 in the sheet conveying direction so that the advancing and retreating operation can be performed with respect to the nip 205.

  A guide 110 that is curved along the roller surface of the first folding roller 201 is formed at the most downstream portion of the second conveyance path 102 in the sheet conveyance direction. Further, a hitting roller 501 and a jogger 502 are provided for aligning the paper when the paper hits the first stopper 601. The hitting roller 501 aligns the leading edge in the sheet conveying direction, and the jogger 502 aligns the sheet from the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction to align the sheet width direction. Also, a stacker 700 is provided at the lower part of the apparatus main body, and when the sixth transport path 106 is selected, the sheet is guided to the stacker 700, dropped, and the sheet is accumulated in the stacker 700. The stacker 700 can be pulled out by opening a front door of the apparatus main body (not shown) as needed.

  The first conveying path 101 has a conveying roller 231 and a first skew roller 108 from the upstream side, and the second conveying path 102 has a moving roller unit 800 having a rear end press, and a second The skew roller 109, the transport roller 235 in the fourth transport path, the transport rollers 237, 238, 239 in the sixth transport path 106, and the transport rollers 240, 241, in the seventh transport path 107. 242 are provided, respectively, so as to convey the sheet before the folding process, during the folding process, and after the folding process.

  Further, a path 102a downstream of the moving roller unit 800 in the second transport path 102 in the paper transport direction and a third transport path 103 downstream of the path 102a in the paper transport direction function as a staying path. Hereinafter, a description will be given with reference 102a as a staying path.

5. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the image forming apparatus and the folding processing apparatus. As shown in FIG. 3, the control device 360 of the folding processing device ZF is configured around a CPU 361 that transmits and receives signals to and from the control device 350 of the image forming apparatus PR and controls each unit. The CPU 361 drives a solenoid and clutch 371, a stepping motor 372, a brushless motor 373, and the like according to the input from each sensor 370 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the control device 360 is provided with a first driver 362 for driving the solenoid and clutch 371, a motor driver 363 for driving the stepping motor 372, and a second driver 364 for driving the brushless motor 373. A clock generating means (vibrator) 365 for supplying a clock to the CPU 361 is provided. Note that the sensor 370, the solenoid and clutch 371, the stepping motor 372, and the brushless motor 373 are provided in the respective parts to be operated, but only one is shown here representatively. In the following description, a plurality of items are summarized by the one symbol.

  The CPU 361 of the control device 360 of the folding processing device ZF transmits and receives control signals to and from the CPU 351 on the control device 350 side of the image forming device PR, and receives power for driving from the control device 350 of the image forming device PR. ing.

  In FIG. 3, the control device 360 of the folding processing device ZF is connected to the control device 350 of the image forming device PR. In this case, the image forming device PR is a copier or a multifunction device, and is a printer. In addition, signals are transmitted to and received from the host device. The control device of the folding processing device ZF is performed by the CPU 361 executing a program written in a ROM (not shown) while using a RAM (not shown) as a work area. The program data is downloaded from a server via a network or from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or SD card to a storage medium such as a hard disk device (not shown) via a recording medium driving device instead of or in addition to the ROM. It can also be used after being upgraded.

With such a configuration, the folding apparatus generally operates as follows.
6). Operation When the user selects a desired fold from the operation panel (not shown) of the image forming apparatus PR, the first switching claw 301, the second switching claw 302, the third switching claw 303, and the fourth switching claw 304 are folded from the home position. The folding blade 401, jogger 502, first stopper 601, second stopper 602, and third stopper 603 move from the home position according to each paper size. At this time, the moving roller unit 800 provided with the rear end pressing member moves approximately between the second switching claw 302 and the second skew roller 109. Hereinafter, each folding process is performed on the assumption of this operation.

6.1 Single-folding 6.1.1 Folding operation in half FIG. 4 to FIG. 7 are operation explanatory views showing the folding operation in two. When folding is not performed according to an instruction from the image forming apparatus PR, the switching claw 301 is switched clockwise by a solenoid 371, and the sheet is conveyed straight from the inlet roller 211 of the inlet 221 through the upper conveying path to be discharged by the discharge roller. 212, and is discharged from the exit 222 to the outside of the folding processing device ZF by the paper discharge roller 212. When the folding process is instructed, the first switching claw 301 is switched in the counterclockwise direction in the figure, the second switching claw 302 is switched in the clockwise direction, and the leading edge of the sheet is guided to the second conveyance path 102. (Fig. 4). And it is guide | induced to the 3rd conveyance path 103 as shown in FIG. The third conveyance path 103 is provided with a movable first stopper 601, and the movement of the first stopper 601 is controlled so that the folding position is appropriate for each paper size. The mechanism is the same as that of the second stopper 602 in the fourth transport path 104 to be described later, and the description is omitted here.

  When the leading edge of the sheet hits the first stopper 601 and is continuously conveyed, bending occurs near the nip between the first folding roller 201 and the second folding roller 202, and the bending is the first and second bending. Guided to the first nip 205 of the folding rollers 201 and 202, the first folding part P1 is folded in half. After that, the sheet folded in two is guided to the fourth transport path 104 with the first folding portion P1 as the leading end as shown in FIG. 6, and with the seventh transport path 107 as shown in FIG. The paper is discharged through the junction A and through the paper discharge roller 212 and the outlet 222.

  The fourth transport path 104 is provided with a second stopper 602 that is movable similarly to the third transport path. The first stopper 601 has an appropriate folding position for each paper size. Movement stop control is performed. Although not specifically illustrated, the mechanism includes a driving pulley, a driven pulley, a timing belt stretched between the two, and a stopper member standing vertically from the timing belt. That is, a timing belt having a length that covers at least the moving range of the second stopper 602 in parallel with the fourth conveyance path 103 is stretched between the driving pulley and the driven pulley, and the claw-like stopper member, for example, extends from the timing belt. Is erected so as to cross the fourth conveyance path 104. Then, the driving pulley is driven by a stepping motor (not shown), and the timing belt is rotated to move the stopper member along the paper transport direction, thereby regulating the paper leading edge position at an arbitrary position. When the stopper member is retracted from the fourth conveyance path 104, the driving belt is driven and the timing belt is rotated to a position where the stopper member does not appear on the conveyance path of the fourth conveyance path 104. A similar mechanism is also provided in the third stopper 603, and similarly restricts the leading end position of the paper in the fifth transport path 105.

  Here, the type of folding of the folding device ZF shown in FIG. 2 will be described. In the folding device ZF shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG. 8, six types of folding processes are possible: Z-folding, two-folding, three-outer folding, three-inner folding, simple four-folding, and four-tone folding. The folding order is also shown in the figure.

6.1.2 Z-folding operation FIGS. 9 to 13 are operation explanatory views showing the Z-folding operation. In the Z-folding operation, as shown in FIG. 9, both the first and second switching claws 301 and 302 operate counterclockwise, and the sheet is guided to the first conveyance path 101. The sheet is skew-corrected by the first skew roller 108, and the leading edge of the sheet reaches the first nip 205 position (see FIG. 2) between the first and second folding rollers 201 and 202 as shown in FIG. Then, the sheet is nipped by the first nip 205 and advances to the fourth conveyance path 104 through the nip 205.

  The fourth transport path 104 is provided with a movable second stopper 602, and the position stop control is performed as described above so that the folding position is appropriate for each paper size. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, when the leading end of the sheet hits the second stopper 602 and is continuously conveyed, bending occurs in the vicinity of the second folding roller 202 and the third folding roller 203. The bending is guided to a second nip 206 (see FIG. 2) formed by the second and third folding rollers 202 and 203, and the first folding is performed at the nip 206.

  When the folding progresses, the first folding portion, that is, the first folding portion P1 is used as a tip to enter the folding position of the fifth conveyance path 105. At this time, the third switching claw 303 is in the open position (solid line position), and the sheet can enter the fifth transport path 105. The folding position is defined for each paper size by a movable third stopper 603. If the conveyance state of the second and third folding rollers 202 and 203 is continued in this state, the leading edge of the sheet hits the third stopper 603 as shown in FIG. Deflection occurs in the vicinity of 203 and the fourth folding roller 204. The bending is guided to a third nip 207 (see FIG. 2) formed by the third and fourth folding rollers 203 and 204, the second fold is performed at the nip 207, and Z-folding is performed. Then, with the second folding portion P2 folded, the sheet is conveyed along the seventh conveyance path 107 toward the sheet discharge roller 212 by the third and fourth folding rollers 203 and 204 as shown in FIG. The paper is discharged from the outlet 222.

6.1.3 Outer 3 folds, Inner 3 folds, Simple 4 folds As shown in FIG. 8, the Z fold is 2 folds, the outer 3 folds, the 3 inner folds, and the simple 4 folds are also 2 folds. . Therefore, by controlling the positions of the stoppers 601, 602, 603, the various folding operations can be performed in the same manner as the Z-folding.

The sheet is guided to the second conveyance path 102 by the first switching claw 301. The leading edge of the sheet is conveyed to the third conveyance path 103 and comes into contact with a movable first stopper 601 provided in the third conveyance path 103. The position of the first stopper 601 is controlled so that the folding position is appropriate for each paper size. When the leading edge of the sheet hits the first stopper 601 and is continuously conveyed, bending occurs in the vicinity of the first folding roller 201 and the second folding roller 202. This bending is guided to the first nip 205 of the first folding roller 201 and the second folding roller 202, and the first folding is performed by the nip 205.
Next, with the first folded portion as the leading edge, the leading edge of the sheet enters the folding position of the fourth conveyance path 104. A movable second stopper 602 is provided in the fourth conveyance path 104, and position stop control is performed so that the folding position is appropriate for each paper size. The leading end of the first folding portion hits the second stopper 602 and is continuously conveyed, so that bending occurs in the vicinity of the second folding roller 202 and the third folding roller 203. A second folding is performed by the second folding roller 202 and the third folding roller 203, and the folding is completed.

  The relationship between the stopper and the position of the folding part in such an operation is shown in FIGS. That is, the leading edge P1, the first folding part P2, the second folding part P3, the first stopper 601 and the second stopper 602 are the leading edge of the first sheet, as shown in FIGS. P1 comes into contact with the first stopper 601, and then the first folding portion P2 comes into contact with the second stopper 602 and is folded at the nip of the first to third folding rollers 201, 202, and 415.

  In addition, the first and second stoppers 601 and 602 are stepping (not shown) to positions corresponding to the respective sizes before the paper enters the second transport path 102 based on the paper size information from the image forming apparatus PR. The folding position for each paper size is changed depending on the positions of the first and second stoppers 601 and 602, which are moved by a motor. The position is set by the number of steps of the stepping motor that moves from the home position of the first and second stoppers 601 and 602 detected by an HP sensor (not shown).

  Since the restriction on the paper size on which the folding process is performed can be eliminated in this way, for example, not only the paper size is folded to half of the original paper size by Z-folding as shown in FIG. 14, but also four-folded as shown in FIG. It is possible to fold approximately 1/4 of the original paper size, or to fold inward, as shown in FIG. 15, and to fold inward by changing the fold size in FIG. Become. In this case, multiple folds to any size between 1/2 and 1/4 of the original size are possible.

  As will be described later, in these cases, since folding can be performed at the two nips of the first nip 205 and the second nip 206, after passing through the third nip 207 as shown in FIG. The paper is discharged from the paper discharge roller 212 side using the seventh transport path 107, the paper is discharged from the lower part of the apparatus main body to the stacker 700 using the sixth transport path 106, or the second nip. It is also possible to provide a guide path 114 for guiding from 206 to the stacker 700 and discharge the paper to the stacker 700.

6.1.4 Kannon 4-folding FIGS. 17 to 22 are operation explanatory views showing the folding operation of the 4-fold Kannon. In the fourfold folding operation, the first switching claw 301 operates counterclockwise and the second switching claw 302 operates counterclockwise as shown in FIG. 17, and the sheet is guided to the second conveyance path 102. The paper is skew-corrected by the second skew roller 109, and the leading edge of the paper is conveyed to the third conveyance path 103. A first stopper 601 is movably provided in the third conveyance path 103, and position stop control is performed so that the folding position is appropriate for each paper size.

  When the leading edge of the sheet hits the first stopper 601 and is continuously conveyed, the sheet is bent at the position of the first nip 205 as described above (FIG. 18), and the first folding is performed. Next, the sheet enters the folding position of the fourth conveyance path 104 with the first folded portion as the leading edge (FIG. 19). Then, it comes into contact with a second stopper 602 that is movable and controlled to stop its position so that the folding position is appropriate for each paper size. By continuing the conveyance in the abutted state, the second folding is performed in the second nip 206 in the same manner (FIG. 20).

  After the second folding, the sheet enters the fifth conveyance path 105 to the folding position with the second folding portion as the leading edge. The leading end of the sheet hits the third stopper 603 controlled in the same manner as the first and second stoppers 601 and 602, and is continuously conveyed, whereby the third folding roller 203 and the fourth folding roller Deflection occurs in the vicinity of 204. Then, the third fold is performed at the third nip 207, and the folding operation is completed (FIG. 21), guided downward from the sixth conveyance path 106 (FIG. 22), and discharged to the stacker 700. The The switching of the paper discharge direction is performed by the fourth switching claw 304.

  In this case, it is possible to discharge from the seventh conveyance path 107 via the discharge roller 212 in terms of mechanism, but it is considered that no post-processing is performed when this folding is performed. When transported to the apparatus side, the sheet passes between a plurality of rollers, so that the sheet is discharged to the stacker 700 as it is.

6.2 Overlapping (overlapping using prestack)
<Pre-stack>
In the present embodiment, a prestack operation is also possible. FIG. 23 to FIG. 28 are operation explanatory views showing the main part of the prestack operation.

Prior to a so-called stacking operation in which sheets of paper to be processed are stacked and accumulated before performing predetermined processing on sheets, such as the staple processing tray F, in other words, a predetermined number of sheets is once stacked before stacking processing. A so-called prestack operation is performed in the second transport path 102. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, on the upstream side of the first skew roller 109 in the second conveyance path 102 in the sheet conveyance direction, a moving roller unit 800 that conveys the sheet to the first stopper 601 and discharges the sheet is installed. . As shown in FIG. 23, the moving roller unit 800 includes a moving roller 801 that transports while moving in the paper transport direction, a rear end press 802 that aligns the transport direction of prestacked paper, and a moving roller 801. And a frame (not shown) that supports the rear end presser 802, and a drive unit (not shown) that moves the moving roller unit 800 up and down in the paper transport direction. The driving unit includes a motor (not shown), and the motor moves the frame up and down along a guide (not shown) to move the moving roller unit 800 supported by the frame up and down.

  The rear end presser 802 is rotatably supported at its upper end side by a support shaft 802a located on the side of the second transport path 102 and upstream in the paper transport direction. On the lower end side which is a free end, a guide surface 803 for guiding the passage of the paper and a pressing surface 804 for pressing the rear end of the prestacked paper are provided. The rear end presser 802 is elastically biased by a tension spring 805 in a direction in which the guide surface 803 closes the second transport path 102. The guide surface 803 forms an acute angle with the second transport path 103, and when the paper is transported from the upstream side to the downstream side, the front end of the paper abuts against the guide surface 803 and resists the elastic biasing force of the tension spring 805. It is set so as to allow the conveyance of the sheet. The pressing surface 804 is formed at the edge opposite to the guide surface 803, and is provided with a substantially concave receiving surface 804a. As shown in FIG. 27, the receiving surface 804a presses the rear end of the sheet to align the position in the sheet conveying direction, so that the portion of the receiving surface 804a that presses the rear end of the sheet moves in the second conveying path 102 during the pressing operation. The shape is set so as to be substantially orthogonal to the paper transport direction. The initial state of the trailing edge presser 802 is a position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 23, and this position is also a position for pressing the trailing edge of the sheet or sheet bundle when the sheets are aligned on the receiving surface 804a.

  When the overlap folding is selected, the sheet is sent to the second conveyance path 102, and the sheet reaches the position of the moving roller unit 800, the leading edge of the sheet abuts against the guide surface 803 of the trailing edge press 802 as shown in FIG. Since the sheet conveyance is continuously performed, the sheet is rotated in the direction in which the rear end presser 802 is retracted from the second conveyance path 102 against the elastic biasing force of the tension spring 805, and FIG. 23 to FIG. As shown, it passes through the gap between the guide surface 803 and the inner surface of the second transfer path 102 and is transferred to the stay path 102a. At this time, if the elastic urging force of the tension spring 801 is strong, the paper is buckled and the paper cannot be conveyed, so that the urging force is set so that the paper does not buckle.

  As shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, the sheet conveyance is continued, and in parallel, the moving roller unit 801 is driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) and moves up in the direction of the arrow. When the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the guide surface 803, the sheet slides down in the stay path 102a until the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the first stopper 601 by its own weight as shown in FIG. When the leading edge of the sheet reaches the first stopper 601, the moving roller unit 800 is driven by a driving device (not shown) and moves in the direction of the trailing edge of the sheet (downward in the direction of the arrow). In the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 27 and 28, the receiving surface 804a of the trailing edge presser 803 covers about 10 mm with respect to the trailing edge of the sheet.

  Next, when the second sheet is sent to the moving roller unit 800, the leading edge of the sheet abuts against the guide surface 803 of the trailing edge presser 802 as shown in FIG. In contrast, the paper is conveyed (FIG. 28). At this time, the trailing edge of the first sheet staying in the staying path 102a is covered with the guide surface 803, so that the leading edge of the second sheet does not hit the trailing edge of the first sheet. It has come to be. The same operation is repeated until the second sheet, the third sheet,.

  Note that the path for prestacking in the folding processing apparatus ZF, that is, the staying path 102a set in the second transport path 102 is functionally different from the sheet storage portion E in the sheet post-processing apparatus PD. That is, the paper storage unit E also has a pre-stacking function for storing one or a plurality of papers in the front stage of the stapling processing tray F. The pre-stacking in the paper storage unit E performs stippling processing on the stapling processing tray F. Until this is done, the sheet conveyed from the image forming apparatus PR side is not conveyed to the staple processing tray F side, and the folding operation described later is not performed in this sheet main portion E. In the folding operation, only the folding process is executed in the middle folding processing tray G of the folding processing device ZF.

<Fold in half>
FIG. 29 and FIG. 30 are operation explanatory views showing the overlap folding operation.
In the case of overfolding, the driving roller 234 and the driven roller of the second skew roller 109 indicated by the broken lines in the second conveying path 102 are driven so that the conveying force is not applied to the paper before carrying the paper. Wait at a position away from the rollers. In this state, the path for guiding the sheet to the second transport path 102 by switching the free end side of the first switching claw 301 counterclockwise and the free end side of the second switching claw 302 clockwise is opened, and the sheet is opened. Is conveyed to the second conveyance path 102 by the entrance roller 211.

  When the sheet is conveyed by the entrance roller 211 and reaches the moving roller unit 800 in the second conveyance path 102, the leading edge of the sheet abuts against the guide surface 803 of the trailing edge presser 802 as shown in FIG. As described with reference to FIG. 27, the leading edge of the first sheet slides down the stay path 102a to the stopper 601 position, and further, the trailing edge of the sheet is pushed by the receiving surface 804a as shown in FIG. Align the positions of. This operation is repeated for a preset number of prestacks.

  After the pre-stacking is completed, the paper width direction (direction orthogonal to the paper conveyance direction) is aligned by the jogger 502, and the paper conveyance direction is aligned by the receiving surface 804a of the rear end press 802. This state is a state in which the sheet conveying direction of the bundle of sheets corresponding to the number of pre-stacks is aligned with the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction and can be folded. The stopper 601 is located at a position where the folding position of the sheet bundle is folded at the tip of the folding blade 401. In this state, as shown in FIG. 30, the folding blade 401 is driven in the protruding direction to push the sheet bundle into the first nip 205 of the first folding roller 201 and the second folding roller 202, and the folding position of the sheet bundle. Is held in the first nip 205. At this time, since the folding blade 401 is pushed into the folding portion of the sheet bundle while the trailing edge of the sheet bundle is pressed by the receiving surface 804a of the trailing edge press 802, the folding deviation at the time of folding is suppressed.

  The folded paper is switched to the fifth transport path 105 when transported to the post-processing device PD, and to the sixth transport path 106 when transported to the stacker. Guided by selection. When folding at the center of the sheet bundle, the conveyance path length from the first stopper 601 to the first nip 205 is set to ½ of the sheet length, and the rear end press 802 of the moving roller unit 800 from the first stopper 601 is set. The distance to the receiving surface 804a is set slightly longer than the paper size. Thereby, after pre-stacking, the folding process can be executed as it is at the position where the sheets are aligned without conveying the sheet bundle.

  In addition, the first stopper 601 is moved to the folding position in the same manner as two folds in the inner three folds and the outer three folds that can be overfolded, and the distance from the first stopper 601 to the receiving surface 804a of the rear end presser 802 is slightly smaller than the paper size. It is long.

As described above, according to this embodiment,
1) The leading edge of the succeeding sheet to be discharged next is separated from the leading edge of the succeeding sheet by covering the sheet with the pressing surface 804 of the trailing edge presser 802 that is movable in the sheet thickness direction at the trailing edge of the sheet. Since the succeeding paper does not collide with the preceding paper, it is possible to prevent page order error. Thereby, it is not necessary to move the sheets one by one, and it is possible to provide a sheet processing apparatus with high alignment accuracy.
2) The folding plate 401 (folding portion) and the staying path 102a are set in the same conveyance path 102, and the first stopper 601 and the moving roller unit 800 are configured to be movable along the sheet conveyance direction. A paper processing apparatus with high accuracy and high productivity can be provided.
3) Since the trailing edge press 802 and the transport roller (moving roller 801) for moving the paper are integrated, an inexpensive and small paper post-processing device can be provided.
4) When the paper passes through the trailing edge retainer 802, the sheet is transported by pushing the elastic biasing force of the tension spring 805 in the pulling direction, and is returned by the resilient biasing force after passing through the sheet. The drive part which drives is unnecessary.
There are effects such as.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which expands and shows the folding processing apparatus of FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of an image forming apparatus and a folding processing apparatus. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows the state at the time of paper conveyance of a folding operation. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows the state at the time of the start of folding operation of 2 folding operation | movement. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows a state when folding operation | movement of 2 folding operation is progressing. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows a state when folding operation | movement of a 2-fold operation is complete | finished and discharging. It is explanatory drawing which shows 6 types of folding processes of Z folding, 2 folding, 3 outer folding, 3 inner folding, 4 simple folding, and 4 Kannon folding. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows the state at the time of paper conveyance of Z folding operation | movement. FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state when the leading end of the sheet reaches the first nip position between the first and second folding rollers in the Z-folding operation. FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state when the leading end of the sheet hits the second stopper in the Z-folding operation and is continuously conveyed, and bending occurs in the vicinity of the second folding roller and the third folding roller. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which the leading end of a sheet hits a third stopper and is continuously conveyed in the Z-folding operation. FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state of a sheet conveyed in a Z-folding operation along a seventh conveyance path by a third and fourth folding rollers in a state where a second folding portion is folded. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the stopper in an outer three fold, and the position of a folding part. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the stopper and the position of a folding part in an inner three fold. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the stopper in simple 4 folding, and the position of a folding part. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows the state at the time of the paper insertion in Guanyin fourfold. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows a state when the first folding is performed in Kannon fourfold. It is a figure which shows a state when approaching to the folding position of a 4th conveyance path by making the folding part of the 1st time into a front end in fourfolds of a Kannon. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows a state when the second folding is performed in Kannon fourfold. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows a state when the third folding is performed in Kannon fourfold. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows a state when it discharges to a stacker from a 6th conveyance path in a fourfold folding. FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state when the leading end of the sheet hits the guide surface of the trailing edge press during prestacking. FIG. 24 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which the sheet is transported between the guide surface and the inner surface of the second transport path after the state of FIG. 23. FIG. 25 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state when the moving roller unit is driven continuously from the state of FIG. 24, is raised in the direction of the arrow, and the guide surface reaches the rear end of the sheet. FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the guide surface and slides down by its own weight until the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the first stopper. FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which the moving roller unit is lowered and the receiving portion has reached a position close to the rear end of the sheet. FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a subsequent sheet is carried in, a guide surface is pressed, a receiving portion covers the rear end of the preceding sheet, and the front end and the rear end of the sheet are separated to convey the sheet. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows the state when carrying out the pre-stack of several sheets and aligning a paper bundle. It is operation | movement explanatory drawing which shows the operation | movement when folding in half from the state of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 102 2nd conveyance path 102a Staying path 103 3rd conveyance path 401 Folding plate 601 Stopper 800 Moving roller unit 801 Moving roller 802 Rear end pressing 803 Guide surface 804 Pressing surface 804a Receiving surface 805 Tension spring PD Paper post-processing device PR Image Forming device ZF folding processing device

Claims (7)

And dwell path for carried-come temporarily staying two or more sheets,
Conveying means for conveying the paper to the staying path;
Restricting means with which the leading edge of the sheet conveyed to the staying path abuts,
Holding means for covering the rear end of the paper regulated by the regulating means;
Driving means for reciprocally moving the pressing means in the paper transport direction;
A folding means provided in the stay path for performing a folding process on the paper;
In a paper processing apparatus having
The conveying means and the pressing means are installed on the same member, and move together by the driving means,
The driving means includes
When the paper is carried into the staying path, the pressing means is moved to the vicinity of the rear end of the paper,
After the leading edge of the succeeding sheet passes through the trailing edge of the preceding sheet staying in the staying path, the pressing means is moved away from the trailing edge of the sheet while conveying the succeeding sheet. Characteristic paper processing apparatus. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit and the pressing unit each have a sheet receiving position set according to a sheet size and move to the position according to the sheet size . In the paper processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The pressing means is
A claw-like member that is rotatably supported by a rotation fulcrum provided on the upstream side in the sheet conveyance direction, and whose free end projects into the stay path;
Elastic urging means for constantly urging the claw-like member in the direction in which the free end side protrudes into the stay path;
With
The paper is allowed to be carried in when the paper is carried into the staying path, and after the paper has passed, the rear end of the paper in the staying path is pressed on the rear end side of the paper. Processing equipment. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3.
The claw-like member allows passage of the paper between the free end side of the claw-like member and the inner wall of the staying path by abutment of the front end of the paper on the upstream side in the paper conveyance direction on the free end side. A sheet processing apparatus comprising a guide surface that performs the above processing. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3 .
The paper processing apparatus , wherein the claw-like member includes a pressing surface that contacts the rear end of the paper and aligns paper on the downstream side in the paper transport direction on the free end side . The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
The pressing surface presses the trailing end of the preceding sheet when the leading end of the succeeding sheet passes through the claw-like member when the preceding sheet stays in the retention path, and the succeeding sheet A paper processing apparatus for separating the leading edge of the paper and the trailing edge of the preceding paper . An image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 .

Images