JP5561026B2 - Paper folding apparatus and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet folding apparatus and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to a mechanism for folding a plurality of sheets in the same folding processing format.

  A post-processing device attached to the image forming apparatus, in addition to a case where a so-called printed sheet such as recording paper is discharged from the image forming apparatus by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a printing machine. In some cases, various folding processes may be performed via the.

  For the folding process, as shown in FIG. 9, a single fold line is folded in two, which is simply folded in two. For accommodating in the envelope, for example, a surface folded inward with two fold lines is used. Enclosed envelope C-fold, inner tri-fold called Z-fold, Z-fold folded in Z-shape, simple four-fold folded inward with the folded surface further inward, folded inward with a fold line on each of the folded surfaces There is a Kannon quadrifold that can be opened with a double door.

  As a configuration for performing folding processing, a damming member that includes a conveyance roller that conveys a sheet to be folded and a blocking member that stops the leading edge of the sheet, and is positioned according to the type and type of folding processing. There is a configuration in which a step of making a crease is repeated when a buckling deformed portion generated when a sheet is continuously conveyed with the leading end abutted is conveyed by a conveyance roller (for example, Patent Document 1).

As disclosed in the above-mentioned patent document, the inner tri-fold called envelope C-fold is a case where a plurality of papers on which images are formed from a plurality of originals are each folded in three, and these papers are stacked. There is.
When stacking paper, after folding is finished, before the folded paper is put into an envelope or the like, the operator manually opens the folding portion and inserts the folded paper of the next page inside. They will be stacked one after another.

  However, if all the sheets are subjected to the same folding process assuming that the folding process is the same, as shown in FIG. 6 (A), the fold portion of the inner sheet, that is, the both sides of the folded part and the outer sheet. There is a risk that the surface will interfere and damage the aligned paper. For this reason, there is a possibility that the outer sheet may need to be overlapped after changing the position of the fold portion, which is the fold portion, from the original position to another position and performing the folding process again.

  The object of the present invention is to consider the interference between the folded portion of the inner sheet and the both side surfaces of the outer sheet, particularly in the case of stacking sheets in the same folding process, in view of the problems in the conventional sheet folding apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet folding apparatus having a configuration that can prevent the need to change the position of the folding portion and prevent the need to change the folding position.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises the following arrangement.
(1) A sheet folding apparatus for folding process by sandwiching the folding rollers the sheet ejected from the image forming apparatus, is sandwiched in the roller deflection portion by bending the sheet to determine the folding position in the transport direction A plurality of stopper means; a conveying roller pair that forms a bend by abutting against the stopper means; and a folding roller that rotates in a direction to form a crease while sandwiching the paper, and is a folding target to be sandwiched by the paper In a sheet folding apparatus having a configuration in which a sheet that has been folded in a folding mode according to the selection of a roller is discharged toward a discharge unit, when the inner trifold is selected in the folding mode, If the paper to be the inner three-fold processing is more continuous, the side edges of the sheet corresponding the length of the side edge surfaces of the paper that corresponds to the page to overlay the outside to the fold portion, the page located inside Sheet folding apparatus characterized by comprising a control means for changing the timing of introducing flexures to said folding rollers so as to be shorter than the length to the fold portion from.

( 2 ) The sheet folding device according to (1) , wherein the control unit changes the position of the stopper unit in the conveyance direction of the sheet in accordance with an introduction timing change amount of the bending portion.

( 3 ) The control means discharges the first paper passage detection sensor located upstream in the paper introduction direction in the first clamping unit, and the paper that has been creased at least in the first clamping unit. A second paper passage detection sensor located on the input side is connected to the input side, and on the output side, the drive unit of the stopper means and the drive unit of the folding roller are connected,
The control unit calculates the movement time of the paper after the paper passage detection by the first and second paper passage detection sensors based on the input information of the paper size and the number of pages, The position of the stopper means is set such that the folding position from the side end face of the paper corresponding to the page to be overlapped is shorter than the folding position from the side end face of the paper corresponding to the page located inside. The sheet folding device according to (1) or (2) .

( 4 ) An image forming apparatus using the sheet folding device according to one of (1) to ( 3 ).

  According to the present invention, when a plurality of sheets are subjected to inner tri-fold processing, the length from the side end surface of the sheet located outside to the folding position is set to the length from the side end surface of the sheet positioned inside to the folding position. The introduction timing for turning the bent portion of the sheet toward the nipping / conveying position of the folding roller is set so as to be shorter than the length.

  As a result, when stacking a plurality of sheets that have been subjected to inner trifold processing, which is one of the same folding processes, the length from the side end surface to the folding portion between the sheets is different, so The folded paper and the both sides of the paper that is located outside can be prevented from interfering with each other, so the paper when aligned is caused by the interference between the both sides of the outer paper and the inner paper. Damage between each other can be prevented in advance.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a part of an image forming apparatus to which a paper folding device according to the present invention is applied. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the principal part structure of the paper folding apparatus by this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the one aspect | mode of the inner trifold process performed by the principal part structure of the paper folding apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the other aspect continuously performed from the aspect of the inner trifold processing shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating another aspect performed continuously from the other aspect of the inner trifold processing shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the relationship between the principle of operation of this invention, and the malfunction in the conventional folding part. It is a block diagram for demonstrating the structure of the control part used for the principal part structure shown in FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the procedure performed by the control part shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating one process of the inner trifold by the procedure shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the classification of the folding state by a folding process.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a part of an image forming apparatus to which a paper folding apparatus according to the present invention is applied.

  In FIG. 1, the sheet folding apparatus 100 can be installed and used between a post-processing apparatus 1001 that may be attached to the image forming apparatus 1000.

  The image forming apparatus 1000 is equipped with various devices including an image carrier for image forming processing inside, and a sheet of the sheet folding device 100 that has undergone the image forming processing passes through a paper discharge roller 1000A. Introduced in the accepting part IP.

  The post-processing apparatus 1001 is provided with a staple conveyance path, a staple tray, a proof conveyance path constituting a sheet switchback path, a binding processing apparatus, a tapping roller, and a paper discharge tray.

  Of the sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus 1000, a sheet that does not require post-processing is not introduced into the folding processing conveyance path in the sheet folding apparatus 100, and the sheet receiving unit IP (see FIG. 2) passes through the discharge portion EP (see FIG. 2), is directly introduced into the straight conveyance path in the post-processing apparatus 1001, and is discharged to the discharge tray (see FIG. 1).

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram for explaining a main configuration of the sheet folding apparatus according to the present invention.
In FIG. 2, the sheet folding apparatus 100 is provided with a branching portion in which a first switching claw 301 is arranged in the middle of a discharge path EP for discharging a sheet such as recording paper introduced from the sheet receiving unit IP in FIG. The first conveying path 101 is continuous at a position branched from the paper discharge path EP via the branch portion.

In the middle of the first conveyance path 101, the second conveyance path 102 in which the second switching claw 302 is disposed is continuous.
The downstream side of the sheet moving direction (direction indicated by arrow F1 in FIG. 1) in the first and second transport paths 101 and 102 is merged, and the circumferential position of the second transport path 102 is at the merge position. A first folding roller 201 facing a part of the first folding roller 201 and a second folding roller 202 capable of nipping and conveying the sheet facing the first folding roller 201 are disposed.

  In the first nip portion 205 corresponding to the first nipping portion constituted by the first folding roller 201 and the second folding roller 202 facing each other, the third conveyance path 103 is continuous on the side where the sheet enters. The fourth conveyance path 104 is continuously provided on the side where the sheet is discharged from the first nip portion 205.

  A third folding roller 203 capable of sandwiching and conveying the sheet introduced from the fourth conveying path 104 is opposed to and in contact with the second folding roller 202, and the second folding roller 202 and the third folding roller 203 are configured. A fifth conveyance path 105 is continuously provided on the side from which the sheet is discharged from the second nip portion 206 corresponding to the second clamping portion.

  The third folding roller 203 is in contact with the fourth folding roller 204, and from the third nip portion 207 corresponding to the third clamping portion constituted by the third folding roller 203 and the fourth folding roller 204. On the sheet discharge side, the sixth conveyance path 106 and the seventh conveyance path 107 are continuously provided in a branched state.

  On the sheet discharge side of the second nip portion 206 constituted by the second folding roller 202 and the third folding roller 203, a third nip portion 207 constituted by the third folding roller 203 and the fourth folding roller 204 is provided. A second switching claw 303 that can select whether to guide the sheet toward the fifth conveyance path 105 or the case where the sheet is guided toward the fifth conveyance path 105 is disposed, and the sixth conveyance path 105, the seventh conveyance path 107, A third switching claw 304 selected so as to guide the sheet toward each of the conveyance paths is disposed at the branch position.

The first and second conveyance paths 101 and 102 are both parts for guiding the introduced sheet, and the third conveyance path 103 is a part for stopping the introduced end of the sheet when folding is performed. is there. For this reason, the third conveyance path 103 is provided with slidable first stopper means 601 for defining the leading end position for determining the folding position of the sheet along the sheet conveyance direction.
As the stopper means, second stopper means 602 and third stopper means 603 each having the same function are provided in the fourth transport path 104 and the fifth transport path 105, respectively.

  Each of these stopper means can be moved along the transport direction, and can change the stop position of the sheet based on a command from a control unit to be described later.

Among the respective conveyance paths, the ends of the fifth conveyance path 105 and the seventh conveyance path 107 are opposed to the stack unit 700 so that the sheet after folding can be introduced.
In the fourth conveyance path 104 and the sixth conveyance path 106, the end portions on the side from which the sheet is discharged from the second nip portion 206 and the third nip portion 207 are merged as indicated by symbol A, and the sheet is fed from this merge position. The sixth transport path 106 is extended toward the discharge path EP. The first and second conveyance paths 101 and 102 are provided with skew correction rollers (not shown) for correcting the skew of the introduced sheet.

  Further, on the downstream side of the sheet moving direction in the first and second conveying paths 101 and 102, the sheet is pushed from the first conveying path 101 and the second conveying path 102 toward the first nip portion 205 to become a fold portion. A guide plate 401 that is used as a folding blade that can be advanced and retracted to guide the portion is provided.

  As an initial state of the first to fourth switching claws 301 to 304, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 1, the first and second switching claws 301 and 302 are configured to place the sheet introduced from the sheet receiving portion IP into the first state. The third switching claw 303 is set in a direction to guide the sheet that has passed through the second nip portion 206 from the fourth conveying path 104 toward the fifth conveying path 105, and is set in a direction to guide toward the conveying path 101. The fourth switching claw 304 is set in a direction for guiding the sheet discharged from the third nip portion toward the sixth conveyance path 106.

A case where the inner folding process is performed in the sheet folding apparatus 100 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
In FIG. 3, the leading edge of the sheet introduced into the second conveyance path 102 is bumped by the first stopper means 601 in the fifth conveyance path 105, so that the fold portion is opposed to the first nip portion 205. In this state, when the fold portion is pushed and moved toward the first nip portion 205 by the guide plate 401, the first fold processing is performed by being nipped and conveyed in the first nip portion 205.

  The sheet that has passed through the first nip portion 205 by being nipped and conveyed is stopped by the second stopper means 602 positioned in the fourth conveyance path 104 by continuing the conveyance.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the paper stopped by the second stopper means 602 in the fourth conveyance path 104 is continuously conveyed, as shown in FIG. A bulge is formed at a position passing through the first nip portion 205 constituted by the roller 202.

When the sheet on which the bulge is formed is continuously conveyed, the bulge portion passes through the second nip portion 206 configured by the second folding roller 202 and the third folding roller 203 as shown in FIG. As a result, a second fold is formed and conveyed toward one of the stack portions 700 via the fifth conveyance path 106 or the sixth conveyance path 107 according to the position setting of the fourth switching claw 304. At this time, the third switching claw 303 is set to a state (a state indicated by a solid line in FIG. 5) in which the sheet is conveyed toward the third nip portion 207.
In the above process, the inner folding process is performed for one sheet.

  In the present invention, when the inner tri-fold process is performed for a plurality of pages of paper, the position of the folding portion, that is, the distance from the paper end surface to the crease portion is different between the inner paper and the outer paper. ing. Hereinafter, this reason will be described.

  When the inner tri-fold process is applied to a plurality of sheets of paper according to the same procedure, when these sheets are overlapped, as shown in FIG. 6A, the fold portion of the inner sheet, that is, the folded part and the outer sheet As described above, there is a possibility that both sides of S interfere with each other and damage the aligned paper.

Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 6B and 6C, the sheet folds on the outer side, that is, the sheet positioned on the outer side with respect to the length from the side end surface of the sheet to the fold (for convenience). The length from the side end surface to the crease portion (indicated by reference numeral S1) is made shorter than the length from the side end surface to the crease portion for the paper (indicated by reference numeral S2 for convenience) positioned inside, in other words, For example, the length of the surface (the surface indicated by reference numeral S1A in FIG. 6) located between the end portions of the paper to be folded is increased.
As a result, when multiple pages of paper are stacked, the inner paper folds are positioned between the paper edges of the outer paper and the sides of the outer paper interfere with the folds of the inner paper. Wrapped to not.
In the form shown in FIG. 6C, the gap between both side surfaces of the outermost sheet is about 0 mm, and the appearance in the folded state can be improved.

  The length between the end portions obtained by changing the length from the side end portion of the paper to the crease portion is set based on the paper size or page number, and the longer the paper size in the sub-scanning direction, Alternatively, the smaller the page number (discharge order), the larger the value. As a result, the sheets stacked on the inner side in the order in which they are ejected are prevented from interfering with both side surfaces of the outer sheet.

  In the present invention, the control unit 500 shown in FIG. 7 is used as a configuration for changing the length from the side end surface of the paper to the crease portion between the paper located outside and the paper located inside.

  In FIG. 7, the control unit 500 also serves as a control unit that performs sequence control of the entire image forming process executed in the image forming apparatus 1000. As a configuration related to the present invention, the input side includes a folding processing mode and An operation unit 501 capable of inputting the number of pages in the folding mode, a first sheet passage detection sensor 502 for detecting passage of a sheet in the fifth conveyance path 105 provided with the first stopper unit 601, and a second stopper. A second paper passage detection sensor 503 for detecting passage of paper in the fourth conveyance path 104 provided with the means 602 is connected, and on the output side, the drive unit 504 of the first stopper means 601, The drive unit 505 of the two stopper means 602 and the rotation drive unit of the first to fourth folding rollers 201 to 204 (collectively indicated by reference numeral 506 for convenience) are connected.

  The first and second stopper means 601 and 602 are configured such that the movement distance from the initial position is set by the control unit, and the initial position is detected by a position sensor or the like (not shown). The first to fourth folding rollers 201 to 204 are set by the control unit 500 so that the rotation timing, the rotation amount, and the rotation direction are set.

In the control unit 500, based on the paper size and the number of pages, which are input information from the operation unit 501, the elapsed time Aps seconds obtained from an expression described later after the leading edge of the sheet passes through the first sheet passage detection sensor 501. The paper is stopped after Aps seconds.
After the stop, as described in FIG. 3, the sheet is pushed and pushed by the guide plate 401 to guide the sheet to the nipping position between the first folding roller 201 and the second folding roller 202, and the first folding roller 201 The second folding roller 202 is rotationally driven to perform the first folding operation.

The value of Aps corresponding to the elapsed time described above becomes larger as the paper size (length in the sub-scanning direction) is longer or the page number is smaller.
After the first folding process, when the leading edge of the sheet is introduced into the fourth conveying path 104 via the nipping and conveying by the first and second folding rollers 201 and 202, the second sheet passing detection sensor 503 passes. After that, the elapsed time Bps seconds obtained by an expression described later is calculated, and the paper is stopped after Bps seconds. The value of Bps becomes larger as the paper size (length in the sub-scanning direction) is longer or the page number is smaller.

The elapsed times Aps and Bps described above are obtained by the following equations.
Aps = (α1-β1- (p × γ)) ÷ Conveying line speed Bps = (α2-β2- (p × γ)) ÷ Conveying line speed α1: Folding length from the end face of the sheet (the inner folding paper When the gap between both end faces is 0 mm, paper sub-scan length x 3/4)
α2: Folding length from the edge of the paper (paper sub-scanning length × 1/2 when the gap between both ends of the innermost folding paper is 0 mm)
β1: length from the guide plate 401 to the first paper passage detection sensor 502 β2: length from the second / third folding roller (202/203) to the second paper passage detection sensor 503 γ: page P Difference in folding length between eyes and P + 1 pages

When the control unit 500 having the above-described configuration performs the inner tri-fold process on a sheet corresponding to a plurality of pages, the procedure is as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
In FIG. 8, when the paper size and the number of pages are input (ST1), the above-mentioned elapsed times Aps and Bps corresponding to the timing at which the paper is stopped in the second and fourth transport paths are set as the folding position adjustment values. Seconds are set (ST2).
The positions of the first stopper means 601 and the second stopper means 602 are changed corresponding to the elapsed time set in step ST2.

  When the sheet is transported and introduced into the second transport path 102, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time (Aps seconds) has elapsed from the time when the passage of the sheet is detected by the first sheet passage detection sensor 502 (ST3). ), When it has elapsed, the tip is stopped by the first stopper means 601 and stopped. Due to this stop, the transport member that has transported the paper until then stops, and the transport roller 109 arranged in the second transport path 102 stops with the rear end of the paper sandwiched.

  As shown in FIG. 9A, the sheet whose leading edge is stopped by the first stopper means 601 faces the first nip portion 205 by the first stopper means 601 push-up operation and the rear end clamping by the conveying roller 109. The portion that swells and is swelled by pushing and pushing the guide plate 401 is introduced toward the first nip portion 205, and the first folding operation is performed by nipping and conveying the first folding roller 201 and the second folding roller 202 ( ST4).

  For the paper introduced into the fourth transport path 104, the elapsed time (Bps seconds) from the time when it has passed through the second paper passage detection sensor 503 is determined (ST5). Stopped by 602. As shown in FIG. 9B, the sheet that is stopped by the second stopper means 602 swells at a position facing the second nip portion 206 by the pushing of the stopper means 602, and the second and third folding rollers. When 220 and 203 are rotationally driven, they are introduced toward the second nip portion 206 and pass through the second nip portion 206 as shown in FIG. 9C, whereby a second folding operation is performed ( ST6).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Paper folding apparatus 101-107 1st-6th conveyance path 201-204 1st-4th folding roller 205 1st nip part 206 2nd nip part 500 Control part 501 Operation part for paper size and page number input 502 First paper passage detection sensor 503 Second paper passage detection sensor 504 First stopper means driving portion 505 Second stopper means driving portion 506 Folding roller rotation driving portion 601 First stopper means 602 Second stopper means

JP 2009-126698 A

Claims (4)

In a sheet folding apparatus that folds a sheet ejected from an image forming apparatus by sandwiching it between a pair of folding rollers,
A plurality of stopper means for determining the folding position in the conveying direction by holding the bent portion between the rollers by bending the paper, a pair of conveying rollers for forming the deflection by abutting against the stopper means, and a fold line by holding the paper and a folding roller rotates in the direction of forming, a sheet folding apparatus having a structure for discharging the sheet that has been subjected to folding process by folding mode corresponding to the selected clamping subject to folding rollers of the sheet ,
When inner tri-folding is selected in the folding mode, when a plurality of sheets to be subjected to the inner tri-folding process are consecutive , the sheet from the side end surface of the paper corresponding to the page to be stacked on the outside to the crease part. It is characterized by comprising control means for changing the introduction timing of the bending portion with respect to the folding roller so that the length is shorter than the length from the side end surface of the paper corresponding to the page located inside to the crease portion. Paper folding device. The control means, the paper folding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein changing the position of said stopper means in response to the introduction timing change amount of the deflection unit in the conveying direction of the paper. The control means includes a first paper passage detection sensor located upstream in the paper introduction direction in the first clamping unit, and at least a side on which the creased paper in the first clamping unit is discharged. A second paper passage detection sensor located on the input side is connected to the input side, and on the output side is connected the drive unit of the stopper means and the drive unit of the folding roller,
The control unit calculates the movement time of the paper after the paper passage detection by the first and second paper passage detection sensors based on the input information of the paper size and the number of pages, The position of the stopper means is set such that the folding position from the side end face of the paper corresponding to the page to be overlapped is shorter than the folding position from the side end face of the paper corresponding to the page located inside. The sheet folding apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 . An image forming apparatus using the sheet folding device according to claim 1 .

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