JP6643817B2 - Sheet processing apparatus and image forming apparatus having the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for bonding sheets bundled out of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer with an adhesive to form a bundle and folding the bundle at a predetermined folding position as necessary. The present invention relates to an apparatus capable of providing an easy-to-handle laminated sheet booklet.

  2. Description of the Related Art In general, a processing apparatus that aligns sheets conveyed from an image forming apparatus, folds the sheets in a booklet shape with glue or an adhesive, and then folds the bonded sheets into two is widely known. Further, a device that maintains the bonding strength even when the number of sheets to be bonded increases is disclosed.

  For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a device that includes a device that heat-melts solid glue and applies the same to a sheet using a nozzle, and increases the application range of the adhesive as the number of sheets increases. This point will be described with reference to FIGS. 30 (a) and 30 (b), for example, assuming that 15 sheets are applied. As shown in FIG. The adhesive amount is doubled for 6 to 10 sheets. Further, the adhesive amount is tripled from 11 to 14 sheets. Therefore, when this is folded, as shown in FIG. 30 (B), a large amount of adhesive is applied to the cover side sheet, for example, from 11 to 14, so that even if the outer side is spread by bending, the cover is spread. And the booklet strength is increased without the cover side being peeled off.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-163873 includes a device for attaching a glue (adhesive) to a flexible tape and pressing the glue onto a sheet to transfer the glue. As shown in FIG. This is to increase the strength of the bundle by preventing the transfer length from becoming longer at the center and shortening the glued portion on the outside (cover side) of the booklet.

JP 2009-269746 A JP 2009-143036 A

  However, in each of the apparatuses disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, as the number of bonded sheets increases, the adhesive a on the sheet including the cover, as shown in FIG. The adhesive b and the adhesive c are solid-filled with no gap therebetween. This improves booklet strength, but the more adhesive sheets used, the greater the amount of adhesive used, and cannot be used if the user does not need much adhesive strength or wants to increase processing productivity. there were.

    Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and when the user needs booklet strength, the application amount of the adhesive is increased in accordance with the number of sheets to be bound, so that the user is not so much. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet processing apparatus that allows a user to select binding with substantially the same amount of adhesive when binding strength is not required.

The present invention employs the following configuration in order to solve the above problems. That is,
A sheet processing apparatus to match folding after bonding the sheets, and a stacker which sequentially integrated sheet moving in the moving direction of Jo Tokoro, in the moving direction of the sheet other than the last sheets sequentially stacked in the stacker portion An adhesive unit that applies an adhesive at a predetermined application position substantially at the center, and presses and adheres the sheet to an already applied adhesive-stacked sheet in the stacker unit, performing a sheet bundle forming process; Each time sheets are sequentially stacked on the stacker unit, except for the last sheet that is stacked on the stacker unit, in order for the bonding unit to perform the bundle forming process, the stacker unit is placed on the application position of the bonding unit. a moving member for moving the sheet, a blade by previous SL bonding unit presses the sheet bundle performing the bundling process, the stacker Disposed opposite to the folding blade across the folding rollers adhesive of the sheet bundle is pushed by the blade to form a crease position coating, the thickness of the sheet to be stacked on the stacker unit a thickness information acquiring unit for acquiring information is, before when the thickness information of the sheet obtained by KiAtsu of information acquisition unit of thickness greater than a predetermined value, is carried out the bundle forming process by the adhesive unit wherein the adhesive unit according to the number of sheets increases for constituting the sheet bundle so that increasing the area of applying the adhesive, before KiAtsu of information thickness information is a predetermined value of the sheet obtained by the obtaining unit for thick or less, to the area of the adhesive unit by bundling processing subjected sheet bundle sheet number is increased by the adhesive unit also constituting a to applying the adhesive substantially constant Ku, and a control unit for controlling the adhesion unit and the moving member.

According to this, when a user desires a booklet having a high adhesive strength, the application area of the adhesive is increased in accordance with the number of sheets to be bonded, and substantially the same amount of adhesive is applied to a material that does not need to have a strong adhesive strength. An agent can be applied to improve the production of booklets.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration in which an image forming apparatus and a sheet processing apparatus according to the present invention are combined. FIG. 1 is an overall explanatory diagram of a sheet processing apparatus including an adhesive binding unit according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged explanatory view showing a peripheral mechanism of the adhesive binding unit in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is an explanatory perspective view of the adhesive binding unit of FIG. 2. 3A and 3B are views illustrating the adhesive binding unit of FIG. 3, where FIG. 3A is a plan view of an adhesive tape stamper, FIG. 3B illustrates an engagement state with a cam member that moves a stamper holder, and FIG. FIG. Explanatory diagram of an adhesive tape to which an adhesive is applied, (a) is an external view, (b) is a diagram in which the adhesive tape is wound around a reel, (c) is a gear state diagram before pressing an adhesive tape stamper (d) FIG. 3 is a gear state diagram pressed by an adhesive tape stamper. FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams for explaining the operation of a stamper holder for applying an adhesive to a sheet. FIG. 8A is a diagram in which two stamper holders are at an ascending position, FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation state in which the sheet presser holds down the sheet. FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams showing an operation state of the stamp holder subsequent to FIGS. 7A and 7B, wherein FIG. 7A is a diagram in which the second stamp holder has also started to descend, and FIG. (C) is a view in which both of the adhesive tape stampers of the two stamp holders apply an adhesive to the sheet by pressing. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a sheet side edge alignment member arranged in the stacker unit. FIG. 10A is a diagram illustrating the separation and contact of a pinch roller with a driving roller in a sheet carrying path, and FIG. 10B is a diagram illustrating a pressure roller that presses and separates a sheet in a stacker unit. FIG. 11A is an explanatory diagram of a stopper portion and a gripper that moves up and down in the stacker portion, and FIG. 11B is an explanatory diagram of a plan view of the stopper portion and the gripper. FIG. 4 is a drive perspective view of a drive mechanism in the folding processing unit shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 13 (a) is a bottom view of the adhesive tape stamper, and FIG. 13 (b) is an explanatory view for transferring the adhesive with the same height. 13 (c) is an explanatory view of a state in which an adhesive is applied to the cover sheet with the folding position (Y) interposed therebetween, and FIG. 13 (d) is pressed by a pressing portion of the stamper holder for bonding including the cover sheet. Explanatory drawing which shows a state. FIG. 14A is a view showing a state in which an adhesive tape is transferred to a sheet, and shows a state in which an adhesive tape (adhesive) is transferred to a folding position (Y). FIG. Indicates a state where the ink is applied across the folding position. FIG. 14B shows a state in which the number of bonded sheets is large, and the adhesive tapes are transferred in close contact with each other across the folding position. FIG. 14C is a diagram illustrating a state in which the adhesive tape is further transferred with a gap (S) therebetween with the folding position interposed therebetween in order to bond the sheets in excess of a predetermined number. 14A and 14B are explanatory diagrams of folding processing of a small number of laminated sheets in the folding processing unit in FIG. 11, wherein FIG. 14A illustrates a state in which a sheet bundle is accumulated, and FIG. (C) shows an initial state in which the sheet bundle is folded by the folding roller, and (d) shows a state in which the sheet bundle is folded by the folding roller. 14 (a) to 14 (c) are explanatory views of a folding process performed by the folding processing unit shown in FIG. 11 for a sheet exceeding a predetermined number of sheets, wherein FIG. 14 (a) shows a state in which a sheet bundle is accumulated, and FIG. A state in which the sheet bundle is inserted into the folding roller by the folding blade, (c) shows an initial state of folding by the folding roller, and (d) shows a state in which the sheet bundle is folded by the folding roller. FIG. 17A is a diagram showing a sheet bonded and bonded and a sheet obtained by folding this sheet. FIG. 17A shows a state in which a small number or a large number of sheets are coated with an adhesive with the same length. It is a figure explaining an alignment. FIG. 17C is an explanatory diagram in which an adhesive is applied to a sheet exceeding a predetermined number with a gap (S) sandwiching the folding position (Y). FIG. 17D shows a booklet obtained by folding the laminated sheet shown in FIG. 17C at the folding position (Y). FIG. 18A is a flowchart illustrating a state in which the first sheet is carried into a carry-in path, and FIG. It is a figure showing the state where it passed through a branch point of a carry-in route and a retreat route. FIG. 19A is a flowchart of the sheet following FIG. 18, in which FIG. 19A illustrates a state in which the leading end of the first sheet moves to the retreat path and moves to the bonding position, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the state in which the stop adhesive is apply | coated (transferred) in the adhesion position. (In this state, the adhesive is applied by moving in FIG. 14) 20A is a flowchart of the sheet subsequent to FIG. 19, in which FIG. 20A illustrates a state in which the adhesive application position of the first sheet has moved to the retreat path, and FIG. It is a figure showing the state where it is carried into a part. FIG. 21A is a flowchart of the sheet subsequent to FIG. 20, and FIG. 21A shows that the leading end of the second sheet is in contact with the stopper portion and the first sheet is aligned with the leading end side overlapping, and FIG. () Is a diagram showing a state where the rear end of the first and second sheets has passed the branch point of the carry-in path and the retreat path. FIG. 22A is a flowchart of the sheet subsequent to FIG. 21, and illustrates a state in which the first sheet and the second sheet are gripped by the gripper, moved to the bonding position, and the application and the pressing between the sheets are performed. (In this state, the adhesive is applied by the movement of FIG. 14) FIG. 22B shows a state in which the application positions of the first and second sheets in the bundle are retracted to the evacuation route and the third sheet is waiting to be carried in. FIG. 23A is a flow chart of sheets following FIG. 22. FIG. 23A illustrates a state in which the third sheet of the final sheet has been carried in to the stopper portion, and FIG. 23B illustrates gripping of all sheets including the third sheet by the gripper. It is a figure which shows the state which is moving to the bonding position and pressing without applying the adhesive. FIG. 24A is a diagram illustrating a state in which the rear end of the third sheet has once passed through a branch point between the carry-in path and the retreat path. FIG. 24B is a diagram illustrating a state in which all the sheet bundles including the third sheet switch back the evacuation route. FIG. 25 is a sheet flowchart following FIG. 24, showing a state in which a bundle of three sheets has been moved to the folding position (Y) and is waiting for folding processing. It is a flowchart which shows an adhesive tape (adhesive) application process. FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing a process continued from the “stick firmly mode” of FIG. 26. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows other embodiment of an adhesive tape (adhesive) application process. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a control configuration in the overall configuration of FIG. 1. Explanatory drawing showing the state of application of a conventional adhesive

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on preferred embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an overall configuration in which an image forming apparatus and a sheet processing apparatus according to the present invention are combined, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the overall configuration of the sheet processing apparatus, and FIG. FIG. Therefore, the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes an image forming apparatus A and a sheet processing apparatus B, and the sheet processing apparatus B incorporates an adhesive unit 50 as a unit.

[Configuration of Image Forming Apparatus]
The image forming apparatus A shown in FIG. 1 sends a sheet from a paper feed unit 1 to an image forming unit 2, prints the sheet on the image forming unit 2, and then carries out the sheet from a main body discharge port 3. The sheet feeding unit 1 stores sheets of a plurality of sizes in sheet feeding cassettes 1a, 1b, and 1c, and separates designated sheets one by one and feeds them to the image forming unit 2. The image forming unit 2 includes, for example, an electrostatic drum 4, a print head (laser light emitter) 5 and a developing unit 6, a transfer charger 7 and a fixing unit 8 disposed around the electrostatic drum 4, and a laser on the electrostatic drum 4. An electrostatic latent image is formed by a light emitting device 5, toner is adhered to the electrostatic latent image by a developing device 6, an image is transferred onto a sheet by a transfer charger 7, and is fixed by heating by a fixing device 8. The sheet on which an image is formed in this manner is sequentially carried out from the main body discharge port 3. 9 is a circulation path, in which the sheet printed on the front side from the fixing unit 8 is turned over via the main body switchback path 10 and then fed again to the image forming unit 2 to print on the back side of the sheet. This is the path for double-sided printing. The sheet printed on both sides in this way is turned over by the main body switchback path 10 and then carried out from the main body discharge port 3.

  Reference numeral 11 denotes an image reading device, which scans a document sheet set on a document platen 12 with a scanning unit 13 and electrically reads the document sheet with a photoelectric conversion element 14 through a reflection mirror and a condenser lens. The image data is subjected to, for example, digital processing in the image processing unit, and then transferred to the data storage unit 17 to send an image signal to the laser emitter 5. Reference numeral 15 denotes a document feeder, which is a feeder device that feeds the document sheets stored in the stacker 16 to the document platen 12.

  The image forming apparatus A having the above configuration is provided with a control unit (controller). From the control panel 18, image forming conditions such as sheet size designation, color / monochrome printing designation, number of prints designation, single-sided / double-sided printing designation, enlargement / reduction. Printout conditions such as print designation are set. On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus A, the image data read by the scan unit 13 or the image data transferred from the external network is stored in the data storage unit 17, and the image data is transferred from the data storage unit to the buffer memory 19. The data signal is sequentially transferred from the buffer memory 19 to the laser light emitter 5.

  The post-processing conditions are input and specified from the control panel 18 simultaneously with the image forming conditions. The post-processing conditions will be described later.

[Configuration of sheet processing apparatus]
As shown in FIG. 2, the sheet processing apparatus A includes a first discharge tray 21 and a second discharge tray 22 in a casing 20, and a sheet carry-in path P1 having a carry-in port 23 connected to the main body discharge port 3 is provided. I have. The sheet carry-in path P <b> 1 is formed of a substantially horizontal straight path in the casing 20. A first switchback transport path SP1 and a second switchback transport path SP2 that branch off from the sheet carry-in path P1 and transport the sheet in the reverse direction are arranged. The first switchback transport path SP1 is branched off from the sheet carry-in path P1 on the downstream side of the path, and the second switchback transport path SP2 is branched off from the sheet carry-in path P1 on the upstream side of the path, and both transport paths are arranged apart from each other.

  In such a path configuration, the carry-in roller 24 and the paper discharge roller 25 are arranged on the sheet carry-in path P1, and these rollers are connected to a drive motor (M1) that can rotate in the normal and reverse directions. Further, a path switching piece 27 for guiding the sheet to the second switchback conveyance path SP2 is disposed on the sheet carry-in path P1, and is connected to operating means such as a solenoid. Further, a punch unit 28 for processing a punch hole in a sheet from the carry-in entrance 23 is provided downstream of the carry-in roller 24 in the sheet carry-in path P1. The illustrated punch unit 28 is disposed at the carry-in entrance 23 and upstream of the carry-in roller 24 so that the punch unit 28 can be attached to and detached from the casing 20 according to device specifications. Below the punch unit 28, a punch waste box for storing punch waste after punching is detachably mounted from the casing 20.

[Configuration of First Switchback Transport Path SP1]
The first switchback conveyance path SP1 disposed downstream (at the rear end of the apparatus) of the sheet conveyance path P1 in FIG. 2 is configured as follows. A sheet discharge roller 25 and a sheet discharge port 25a are provided at the exit end of the sheet carry-in path P1, and a first processing tray (hereinafter, referred to as a "processing tray 29") is provided below the sheet discharge port 25a with a step. Is provided. The processing tray 29 is configured as a tray for stacking and supporting sheets from the sheet discharge port 25a. A forward / reverse roller 30 is provided above the processing tray 29. The forward / reverse roller 30 is connected to a forward / reverse rotation motor M1 to rotate clockwise when a sheet enters the processing tray 29, and to rotate counterclockwise after the sheet rear end enters the tray. Is controlled as follows. The forward / reverse rotation roller 30 is provided with an elevating roller 31 which is connected to the caterpillar belt and moves to a position in contact with the tray and a position away from the tray. Therefore, a first switchback transport path SP1 is formed on the first processing tray 29.

  A first discharge tray 21 is disposed downstream of the above-described first switchback transport path SP1, and the first discharge tray 21 is guided to the first switchback transport path SP1 and the second switchback transport path SP2. It is configured to support the leading end side of the sheet.

  With the above configuration, the sheet from the paper output port 25a enters the processing tray 29 and is transported toward the first paper output tray 21 by the forward / reverse rotation roller 30, and the trailing edge of the sheet passes from the paper output port 25a to the processing tray 29. Then, when the forward / reverse rotation roller 30 is rotated in the reverse direction (counterclockwise in the drawing), the sheet on the processing tray 29 is transported in the direction opposite to the sheet discharging direction. At this time, the elevating roller 31 connected to the caterpillar belt cooperates with the forward / reverse roller 30 at the position in contact with the tray to convey the rear end of the sheet along the processing tray 29 in a switchback manner.

  A rear end regulating member 33 for regulating the position of the rear end of the sheet and an end stapling stapler 35 are arranged at the rear end of the first processing tray 29 in the sheet discharging direction. The illustrated end-face stapling stapler 35 includes an end-face stapling stapler 35, and staples the stapled sheet at one or a plurality of positions at the rear end edge of the sheet bundle stacked on the tray. Further, the rear end regulating member 33 reciprocates in the sheet discharging direction along the processing tray 29 because the rear end regulating member 33 also has a function of carrying out the stapled sheet bundle to the first sheet discharging tray 21 disposed downstream of the processing tray 29. It is configured to be movable. The illustrated rear end regulating member 33 is connected to a bundle discharge motor (M7) (not shown) and reciprocates.

  Further, the processing tray 29 is provided with a side alignment plate 36 for aligning the sheets stacked on the tray in the width direction. It is composed of a pair of alignment plates, is configured to approach and separate from the center of the sheet, and is connected to a side alignment plate motor (M6) not shown.

  The first switchback transport path SP1 configured as described above aligns the sheet from the paper discharge port 25a on the processing tray 29 in the "staple binding mode", and then rearranges this sheet bundle by the end face binding stapler 35. One or more edges are stapled. Further, in the "printout mode", the sheet sent along the processing tray 29 is carried out to the first paper ejection tray 21 by the forward / reverse rotation roller 30 without switchback conveying the sheet from the paper ejection port 25a. In this manner, the apparatus shown in the figure has a compact structure by supporting the sheets to be stapled in a bridge between the processing tray 29 and the first paper discharge tray 21.

[Configuration of Second Switchback Transport Path SP2]
The configuration of the second switchback conveyance path SP2 branched from the sheet carry-in path P1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the second switchback transport path SP2 is disposed in the casing 20 in a substantially vertical direction, and a path loading roller 45 is disposed at a path entrance and a transport roller 46 is disposed at a path exit. The transport roller 46 is configured to be separable between a position where it nips the sheet and a position where it is separated from the sheet. This configuration will be described later.

  The path carry-in roller 45 disposed at the entrance of the path of the second switchback path SP2 is configured to be rotatable in the normal and reverse directions, and temporarily switches the sheet carried into the first switchback path SP1 on the downstream side by the second switch. It is held (resides) in the back conveyance path SP2. In this case, the preceding sheets are accumulated in the processing tray 29, stapled by a job end signal, and then sent out from the image forming apparatus A to the sheet carry-in path P1 while the sheet bundle is carried out to the first discharge tray 21. This is to temporarily hold the sheet in the second switchback conveyance path SP2 and convey the standby sheet from the first switchback conveyance path SP1 onto the processing tray 29 after the processing of the preceding sheet is completed.

A stacker constituting a second processing tray for aligning and temporarily accumulating the sheets sent from this conveyance path is located downstream of the conveyance path 41 which is both the second switchback conveyance path SP2 and the sheet conveyance path. A part 40 is provided. The illustrated stacker unit 40 is configured by a transport guide that transports a sheet. The transport guide is formed of a stacker upper guide 40a and a stacker lower guide 40b, and is configured to stack and store sheets in the guides. The illustrated stacker unit 40 is connected to the carry-in path 41 and is disposed substantially vertically in the left and right central portions of the casing 20. This makes the device compact and compact. The stacker section 40 is formed in a length shape for storing a maximum size sheet therein. Further, inside the stacker unit 40, an adhesive unit 50 as an adhesive application unit for applying an adhesive to the sheet, a folding processing unit 80 including a folding blade 86 for folding the sheet and a folding roller 81 are arranged. These configurations will be described later.

[Description of evacuation route (third switchback route SP3)]
At the rear end side in the transport direction of the stacker section 40, the sheet is branched from the carry-in path 41 for carrying the sheet into the stacker section 40 together with the second switchback transport path SP2, and overlaps with the exit end of the carry-in path. The evacuation route 47, which is the third switchback route SP3 for entering the switchback, is provided continuously. The evacuation route 47 is configured by the switchback guide 42 made of a plate material as shown in FIGS. The switchback guide 42 has ribs protruding from the surface thereof in the sheet conveying direction to facilitate sheet conveyance. Further, the switchback guide 42 is configured to be rotatable about the guide release shaft 43 and released when a sheet bundle is jammed in the retreat path.

The switchback conveyance to the retreat path 47 is performed by a stopper 90 as a regulating member at the leading end of the sheet when the rear end of the sheet conveyed from the carry-in path 41 to the stacker unit 40 passes through a position branched from the carry-in path 41. The trailing end of the sheet is moved (up) and the sheet bundle in the stacker section 40 is conveyed to the retreat path 47 in a switchback manner.
In addition, the stopper portion 90 is a moving member that moves the sheet with a regulating member that regulates the leading end of the sheet and a gripper 91 that grips the sheet, which will be described later. Although the regulating member and the moving member may be configured separately, they are shared in this embodiment.

At the confluence of the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47, a deflection guide 44 biased by a guide tension spring 44a is provided on the switchback guide 42 side of the retreat path 47. At the junction, an adhesive unit 50 for applying an adhesive to a sheet is disposed immediately after the deflection guide 44. The bonding unit 50 includes an adhesive tape stamper 51 as a bonding member. Although the configuration of the bonding unit 50 will be described later, after the adhesive tape is applied (transferred) to the preceding sheet by the adhesive tape stamper 51 of this apparatus, when the next sheet is carried in from the carry-in path 41, the leading end of the next sheet becomes The adhesive adheres to the application portion of the sheet, and the adhesive cannot be applied to the central portion of the sheet bundle in the transport direction. Therefore, the next sheet is conveyed to the adhesive tape stamper 51 after being switched back and conveyed to the retreat path 47 so that the adhesive applied portion of the preceding sheet does not hinder the conveyance of the sheet. Therefore, the retreat path 47 functions as a path for retreating the sheet on which the adhesive has been applied.

Further, by switching back to the retreat path 47, the leading end of the next (following) sheet sent from the transport roller 46 of the carry-in path 41 which is also the second switchback transport path SP2 and the stacking supported by the stacker unit 40. The function of ensuring the page order of the sheets to be stacked by overlapping the rear ends of the completed (preceding) sheets will also be performed.

[Overview from evacuation route to stopper]
Here, an outline of the configuration from the retreat path 47 branched from the carry-in path 41 to the stopper portion 90 will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, at the junction of the carry-in path 41 and the evacuation path 47, a deflection guide 44 provided with a spring is provided so as to lightly press the sheet toward the switchback guide 42 of the evacuation path 47. The deflection guide 44 is set as a comb tooth avoiding the position where the adhesive is applied to the sheet. Therefore, even if the sheet on which the adhesive has been applied passes under the deflection guide 44, the adhesive does not adhere to the conveyance path. The flow of these sheets will be described separately.

At the junction of the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47 on the downstream side of the deflection guide 44, an adhesive unit 50 for applying an adhesive to a sheet is provided in the stacker section 40 as shown in FIG. Are located. A sheet retainer 65 that presses the sheet stopped at the bonding position for bonding to restrict the sheet toward the stopper portion 90 is attached to the bonding unit 50 so as to be able to move up and down. A sheet press slider 71 that presses the sheet by moving up and down and feeds out an adhesive tape AT as an adhesive is disposed on the tip side of the sheet press 65. A transfer head 72 for backing up the adhesive tape AT fed from the reel is provided above the sheet pressing slider 71. The transfer head 72 also presses the sheet and separates it from the adhesive position where the adhesive tape AT is applied to the sheet. Then, the sheet is moved to a separation position where the sheet can be conveyed and moved.
The application in the present invention includes so-called transfer in which the adhesive is transferred from the tape while pressing the sheet. In addition, a method in which an adhesive is sprayed while pressing the sheet is also included.

  On the downstream side of the bonding unit 50, sheet side edge alignment members 48 that move in the width direction of the sheet and press the sheet side edges in the stacker unit 40 are disposed on both sides thereof. The sheet side edge aligning member 48 has a substantially U-shape. In the center thereof, folding rollers 81a and 81b as folding processing units and a folding blade 86 for pressing the sheet against the folding roller press the sheet. It is movable so as to be separated. Immediately after the sheet side edge aligning member 48, a pressure roller 49 that can be separated so as to be in contact with and separate from the lower stacker guide 40b, which is one of the guides constituting the stacker unit 40, is provided. The pressing roller 49 is separated until the leading end of the sheet passes this roller position. When the leading end of the sheet passes, the pressing roller 49 rotates while pressing the sheet so as to press the sheet against the lower stacker guide 40b.

  A restricting member (hereinafter, referred to as a stopper 90) for restricting the leading end of the sheet in the carrying direction is disposed on the lower end side of the stacker unit 40. The stopper portion 90 is supported by a guide rail of the apparatus frame so as to be movable along the stacker portion 40, and is configured to be able to move up and down by an elevating belt 93 stretched over an upper pulley 94a and a lower pulley 94b positioned in a vertical direction. ing. The lifting belt 93 is moved by moving these bridging pulleys 94 with a motor (M10). The lifting belt 93 stops and moves to respective positions of Sh0, Sh1, Sh2, Sh3, and Sh4 as shown in FIG.

  First, Sh0 at the lowermost position is the home position of the stopper, and this position is detected by a sensor (not shown) to set an initial position. Sh1 is the first sheet receiving position, and the rear end of the sequentially stacked sheets passes through the carry-in path 41, and the rear end is pressed by the deflection guide 44 toward the switchback guide side of the retreat path 47. Sh2 is a position where the bundled sheets are folded at a half position in the sheet conveying direction. Sh3 is a position where the adhesive tape AT is applied (transferred) to the sheet by the adhesive tape stamper 51 serving as an adhesive member in the sheet width direction at approximately a half position in the sheet conveyance direction. Sh4 is a position where the application position where the adhesive member is applied to the sheet is moved to the retreat path 47. This position prevents the next sheet from coming into contact with the adhesive application position of the preceding sheet when the next sheet is carried into the stacker section 40 from the carry-in path 41, and prevents the paper from jamming and the adhesive from adhering to unexpected positions. In addition, the application position of the preceding sheet can be retracted to a position (application hiding position 100) away from the carrying path of the next sheet. In this apparatus, the sheet is loaded, the adhesive is applied to the sheet, the application position is moved to the retreat path, the next sheet is loaded, and the adhesive is repeatedly applied to the next sheet to form a bundle while bonding the sheets together with the adhesive. Things. The formation of the bundle will be described later in order.

  After the formation of the sheet bundle, the sheet is folded in two by the folding processing unit 80, and the folded sheet bundle is discharged to the second discharge tray by the bundle discharge roller 95 provided with the bundle kick-out piece 95a. The discharged sheet bundle is stacked on the second tray by a bundle holding guide 96 for preventing the bundle from opening and reducing the stacking range, and a bundle holding member 97 located downstream of the guide.

[Explanation of bonding unit]
Next, the bonding unit 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. A range surrounded by a broken line in FIG. 3 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of the bonding unit 50 in the present embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the bonding unit 50, in which the sheet processing apparatus B is mounted with this apparatus range as a unit. 5A and 5B are explanatory views of main parts of the adhesive tape units 50a and 50b as an adhesive unit. FIG. 5A is a plan view of the cam member 57 and the like, and FIG. 5B is a front view showing an engagement state between the cam member 57 and the stamper holder 52. 5c is an explanatory view of the cam member 57 moved to a position where the adhesive tape stamper 51 is separated from the sheet, and a lower part thereof is in contact with the sheet and moved to a position where the stamper holder 52 is pressed against the platen 79 side. 6A and 6B are explanatory views of the adhesive tape stamper 51 as an adhesive member, FIG. 6A is a perspective view, FIG. 6B is an internal mechanism diagram, and FIGS. 6C and 6D are drive explanatory diagrams for winding the adhesive tape AT by a stamp operation. FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory views of the operation of applying and transferring an adhesive tape to a sheet by the adhesive tape units 50a and 50b supporting a plurality of adhesive tape stampers 51. FIG.

The range surrounded by the broken line in FIG. 3 is the bonding unit 50 in the present embodiment. An adhesive tape stamper 51 as an adhesive member, a stamper holder 52 as an adhesive unit for grouping and supporting the adhesive tape stampers 51 in a parallel manner, the adhesive tape stamper 51 Is pressed between the sheet and the position where the adhesive (adhesive tape AT) is applied to the sheet, and a cam member 57 that moves up and down between the position separated from the platen 79 and the cam member 57 intersecting the sheet conveying direction. A cam moving motor 60 (M13) that moves in the direction is arranged. Further, the plurality of adhesive tape units 50a and 50b are configured as a unitized adhesive unit 50 so as to be attachable to the sheet processing apparatus B, more specifically, to a position upstream of the stacker unit 40. Further, the bonding unit 50 is provided with a part of the carry-in path 41 (more specifically, the unit path entrance shown in FIG. 143 to the carry-in path exit 144), the deflection guide 44, a part of the branched retreat path 47 (more specifically, the retreat path exit 145), and the platen 79 are also mounted in the apparatus as this unit. These are the bonding units 50 in a range surrounded by a broken line in FIG. 3, and are shown in a perspective view in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the attachment unit 50 is attached to the sheet processing apparatus B by fixing a fixing portion (not shown) of the sheet processing apparatus B and a set screw hole 50cb provided in a frame of the adhesion unit 50 with a screw shown in FIG. This is done by fixing. By changing the screws, a rail may be provided for each of the sheet processing apparatus B and the bonding unit 50 so that the sheet processing apparatus B and the bonding unit 50 can be pulled out.
By unitizing as described above, each positional relationship is more accurate than individually attached to the sheet processing apparatus B, and particularly, in a position where the adhesive is not originally required to be adhered by the movement of the sheet after the adhesive is applied, the position is determined. Adhesion due to misalignment is reduced.

  The bonding unit 50 includes a left and right coating device frame 50c, a central support frame 63 for connecting the left and right coating device frames 50c at the center, a rear support frame 64a for connecting rear, and a lower support frame 64b for connecting below the platen 79. Constitute one housing. A cam moving motor 60 is attached to the one coating device frame 50c. The driving of the cam moving motor 60 is transmitted to the moving belt 58 via a gear train 59. The moving belt 58 is connected to a cam member 57 slidable in the sheet width direction by two cam guide rods 57a between the left and right coating device frames 50c. Therefore, when the cam moving motor 60 is driven, the cam member 57 moves left and right according to the rotation direction.

  The cam member 57 has a cam groove 61 as shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C. As shown in the figure, the cam groove 61 includes an upper horizontal groove cam 61a provided above the cam member 57, a lower horizontal groove cam 61c provided below the cam member 57, and an inclined cam groove 61b communicating these. These two cam grooves 61 are formed on the left and right as shown, but their phases are slightly different. In this cam groove 61, a roller 56 as a cam follower is fitted to a moving block 54 for moving up and down the stamper holder 52.

The roller engaged with the cam groove 61 is fixed to the moving block 54 via a shaft. Referring now to FIG. 7A, the moving block 54 is provided on a stamper holder 52 that supports the adhesive tape stamper 51 (although this figure is an explanatory view seen from the back side of the cam member 57 shown in FIG. 4). It is slidably supported by two inner guide rods 53 among the four guide rods 53 extending vertically. On the other hand, each of the two outer guide rods 53 is slidably supported by a support block 55 fixed to a central support frame 63 that connects the left and right coating device frames 50c. Therefore, the stamper holder 52 supporting the adhesive tape stamper 51 is supported by the support block 55 on which the outer guide rod 53 slides.

On the other hand, a moving block 54 is slidably mounted on the two guide rods 53 at the center of the stamper holder 52. The moving block 54 is fixed to a roller 56 which engages with the cam groove 61 as a cam follower. I have. A pressure spring 62 is wound around a center guide rod 53 on the bottom surface of the moving block 54 and the back surface 52c of the bottom surface of the stamper holder 52. The pressure spring 62 constantly urges the moving block 54 in a direction of pressing the moving block 54 against the upper portion of the stamper holder 52. Therefore, when the cam member 57 moves and the roller 56 engaged with the cam groove 61 descends, the transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 described below comes into contact with the sheet, and the descending of the stamper holder 52 stops. Then, the pressing spring 62 is compressed between the bottom surface of the moving block 54 and the back surface 52 c of the bottom surface of the stamper holder 52. As a result, the transfer head 72 is compressed by the moving block 54 and the transfer head 72 is more strongly pressed against the sheet by the elastic force of the pressure spring 62, so that the adhesive on the adhesive tape AT can be reliably applied (transferred) to the sheet.

Further, the right and left cam grooves 61 in which the rollers 56 engaged with the cam grooves 61 are fitted have different phases as shown in FIG. 5C and also have different initial positions of the cam grooves 61 of the rollers 56. For this reason, the roller 56 on the left side in the figure starts to descend early, and the roller 56 on the right side reaches the lower horizontal cam groove 61c with a delay. For this reason, the left lower horizontal cam groove 61c is set longer than the right horizontal cam groove 61c. This is because the adhesive tape units 50a each having the adhesive tape stamper 51 press the sheet earlier than the adhesive tape unit 50b, and thereafter the adhesive tape unit 50b presses the sheet with a delay. This is because each of the adhesive tape units 50a and 50b requires a considerable pressing force to press the sheet at a time, and the movement of the cam member 57 must use a larger drive motor. Size and weight of the frame can be reduced. Further, since the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape units 50a and 50b press the sheet at a shifted timing, wrinkles and twists of the sheet hardly occur.

[Description of adhesive member (adhesive tape stamper)]
Here, the adhesive tape stamper 51 that can be attached to and detached from the stamper holder 52 constituting the adhesive tape units 50a and 50b will be described with reference to FIG. First, FIG. 6A shows an external appearance, in which a stamper cover 70, an adhesive tape AT which has an adhesive on a tape base material and is sequentially fed out, and the tape is wound, and the adhesive tape AT is pressed against a sheet. A transfer head 72 to be backed up and a sheet pressing slider 71 that can move up and down between a position protruding from the transfer head 72 located beside the transfer head 72 and a position retracted to the same position of the transfer head 72 appear. I have. The sheet pressing slider 71 presses the sheet below the sheet pressing slider 71 when the transfer head 72 moves down to apply and transfer the adhesive tape AT to the sheet, and at the same time, feeds out the adhesive tape AT by the pressing operation, and the new sheet pressing slider 71 moves out. The transfer surface is unwound, and this is backed up by the transfer head 72 to apply and transfer the adhesive to the sheet.

Next, a configuration in which the adhesive tape AT is fed out by expansion and contraction of the sheet holding slider 71 will be described. As shown in FIG. 6B, in the stamper cover 70, a supply reel 74 rotatable around a supply reel shaft 74a around which an unused adhesive tape AT is wound, and a transfer head 72 fed from the supply reel 74 to the transfer head 72. A rotatable take-up reel 75 is disposed on a take-up reel shaft 75a that is wound around and takes up the adhesive tape AT. FIG. 6C shows a state before the adhesive tape AT is fed from the supply reel 74, and a slider rack 77 is formed of resin above the sheet pressing slider 71 which expands and contracts in the stamper cover 70. The slider rack 77 is engaged with a gear that rotates together with the take-up reel 75. The gear of the take-up reel 75 meshes with a gear that rotates integrally with the supply reel 74 via an inter-reel gear 76.

A slider spring 73 is provided inside the sheet holding slider 71, and constantly biases the sheet holding slider 71 outward (downward in FIG. 6). Therefore, when the adhesive tape stamper 51 in the state of FIG. 6D is pressed down from the state where the slider spring 73 of FIG. 6C is extended, the slider spring 73 is compressed. At the same time, the slider rack 77 engages with the take-up reel gear 75b of the take-up reel 75, and rotates the take-up reel 75 clockwise in the figure. The take-up reel gear 75b meshes with the inter-reel gear 76, and the other of the inter-reel gear 76 meshes with the supply reel gear 74b. Accordingly, when the take-up reel 75 rotates clockwise in the drawing, the supply reel 74 also rotates, and the adhesive tape AT is taken up by the take-up reel while being unwound from the supply reel, and a new adhesive surface is positioned on the transfer head 72.

Next, when the adhesive tape stamper 51 is raised from the state shown in FIG. 6D, the slider spring 73 is elastically restored, and the sheet pressing slider 71 is pressed down. At this time, since the take-up reel gear 75b is meshed with the slider rack 77, the take-up reel gear 75b rotates counterclockwise. However, since a ratchet mechanism that transmits only in one direction is interposed between the take-up reel 75 and the take-up reel gear 75b, The take-up reel 75 does not rotate. The inter-reel gear 76 and the supply reel gear 74b meshing with the take-up reel gear 75b also rotate in the counterclockwise direction, but interpose a ratchet mechanism between the supply reel 74 and the supply reel 74 for transmitting in only one direction. Therefore, the supply reel 74 does not rotate. With such a mechanism, the supply reel 74 and the take-up reel 75 rotate only when the sheet pressing slider 71 is pressed down, and the new adhesive surface of the adhesive tape AT is fed to the transfer head 72 and positioned. In this embodiment, the ratchet mechanism is not particularly shown, but a one-way clutch or the like that transmits rotation in only one direction between each reel gear and the reel may be employed.

The movement from FIG. 6C to FIG. 6D in this embodiment is performed by moving the stamper holder 52 that supports the plurality of adhesive tape stampers 51 up and down by the cam member 57. This mechanism is as described above. As shown in FIG. 3, a cushion member 52a made of foamed resin or the like that buffers the impact of the elevating operation is supported between the stamper holder 52 and the adhesive tape stamper 51. This improves the application (transfer) of the adhesive from the adhesive tape AT to the sheet.
The pressure-sensitive adhesive tape AT according to the embodiment has an adhesive on a tape base material, and the adhesive is transferred to the sheet by pressing the adhesive against the sheet.

[Description of sheet bundle press adjacent to stamper holder]
Next, before the sheet pressing slider 71 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 described with reference to FIG. 6 presses the sheet against the platen 79, which is the bonding position, the sheet pressing 65 that regulates the movement and flutter of the sheet is described with reference to FIGS. This will be explained in particular with reference to FIG.
As described above, the sheet holding unit 65 that presses the sheet stopped at the bonding position for bonding toward the platen 79 is attached to the bonding unit 50 so as to be able to move up and down. As shown in FIG. 7A, on both sides of two stamper holders 52 supporting the adhesive tape stamper 51, a sheet press support block 67 that slides and supports a sheet press guide rod 68 having a sheet press 65 is provided. The sheet holding support block 67 has a round hole shown in the drawing fixed to the central support frame 63 by screws or the like. Further, a pressing pressure spring 65c wound around a sheet pressing guide rod 68 is disposed on both side ends of the sheet pressing supporting block 67 and the side edge pressing 65a of the sheet pressing 65.

Further, the sheet bundle presser 65 is constantly urged in the direction of pressing the sheet, but one of the stamper holders 52 (left side in FIG. 7) and the sheet presser 65 are engaged by the engaging portion 69, and the platen 79 The sheet presser 65 is locked at a position separated from the sheet. Therefore, when the stamper holder 52 does not move down due to the movement of the cam member 57, the sheet presser 65 also stops at a position separated from the sheet and allows the sheet to be conveyed. When the stamper holder 52 starts descending toward the sheet by the movement of the cam member 57, the engaging portion between the stamper holder 52 and the engaging portion 69 of the sheet presser 65 descends as shown in FIG. Then, the sheet is regulated so that the sheet is not shifted or fluttered on the platen 79. By this regulation, when the stamper holder 52 is further lowered and the sheet pressing slider 71 presses the sheet, or when the transfer head 72 which further lowers and supports the adhesive tape AT and presses the sheet presses the sheet, the sheet is pressed. Displacement and flutter can be suppressed.

When the application (transfer) of the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT by the adhesive tape stampers 51 in the sheet width direction is completed by lowering the two stamper holders 52, when the cam member returns to the original state shown in FIG. The engaging portion engages with the stamper holder 52 and rises to a position retracted from the sheet by the rise of the stamper holder 52. As described above, the sheet presser 65 of this embodiment presses the sheet before other members in conjunction with the elevation of the stamper holder 52, but this sheet presser is used to lower the stamper holder 52 by a solenoid or the like. You may move ahead. Further, the side edge presser 65a and the center presser 65b are provided so as to press over the entire sheet width, but only the side edge presser 65a or the center presser 65b may be provided as necessary. What is necessary is just not to move a sheet before.

[Description of operation of the bonding unit]
Here, the operation of applying (transferring) the adhesive to the sheet by the bonding unit 50 will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 are explanatory views of the cam member 57 on the opposite side of the adhesive tape stamper 51 of FIG.
7A, the cam member 57 is at the initial position, and the stamper holder 52 having the adhesive tape stamper 51 mounted on the cam groove 61 of the cam member 57 slides along the guide rod 53 inside. The moving block 54 and the roller 56 are engaged with each other. As described above, the pressing spring 62 is interposed between the moving block 54 and the stamper holder 52, and the moving block 54 presses the moving block 54 so as to contact the rear surface 52c of the stamper holder 52 as shown in FIG. 7A. Further, the stamper holder 52 is configured to slide on the outer guide rod 53 so as to be vertically movable on a support block 55 fixed to a central support frame 63 connecting the coating apparatus frame 50c at the center.

In FIG. 7A, the stamper holder 52 and the sheet retainer 65 locked to the stamper holder 52 are also separated from the platen 79 to maintain a gap in which the sheet can move. In this state, the sheet pressing slider 71 and the transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 are also located farthest from the sheet. The other stamper holder 52 is also at the same position.

Next, in FIG. 7B, the sheet is located at the bonding position, and the cam moving motor 60 is driven by the signal for applying the adhesive tape AT, and the cam member 57 moves rightward in the figure. Then, the roller 56 on the left side in the drawing starts moving downward along the inclined cam groove 61b. By this movement, the guide rod 53 of the stamper holder 52 on the left side also slides down on the support block 55 and descends. With the lowering of the stamper holder 52, the engaging portion 69 locked by the lowering also lowers, and starts pressing the sheet on the platen 79. On the other hand, the sheet pressing slider 71 and the transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 also descend but do not contact the sheet. In the stamper holder 52 on the right side in the figure, the roller 56 has only moved the upper horizontal cam groove 61a of the cam groove 61, so that no lowering operation has occurred.

Further, when the cam member 57 moves, as shown in FIG. 7C, the roller 56 on the left side of the drawing further descends the inclined cam groove. By this lowering, the engagement of the engaging portion 69 between the sheet presser 65 and the right stamper holder 52 is released. When the locking is released, the sheet presser 65 is more reliably pressed against the sheet by the presser pressure spring 65c interposed between the sheet presser 65 and the sheet presser support block 67 to regulate the position. On the other hand, the sheet pressing slider 71 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 starts to contact the sheet, and due to this contact, the adhesive tape AT also moves as shown in FIGS. 6C to 6D to expose a new adhesive surface. Even at this position, the transfer head 72 has not yet contacted the sheet. Also, the lowering operation does not occur in the stamper holder 52 on the right side in the figure, because the roller 56 has only moved the upper horizontal cam groove 61 a of the cam groove 61.

Subsequently, when the cam member 57 moves to the right side in the drawing as shown in FIG. 8A, the stamper holder 52 on the left side in the drawing moves down, and the sheet pressing slider 71 and the transfer head 72 contact the sheet. At this time, when the transfer head 72 comes in contact with the sheet, the stamper holder 52 stops further lowering, but the moving block 54 moves in the inclined cam groove 61b so as to further lower. Then, the compression of the pressure spring 62 is started by this movement, and this elastic force acts as a pressing force of the transfer head 72 via the stamper holder 52, thereby pressing the adhesive tape AT more strongly against the sheet. This makes it possible to apply and transfer the adhesive to the sheet without fail.
On the other hand, the roller 56 of the stamper holder 52 on the right side in the drawing also starts descending the inclined cam groove 61b, and the sheet pressing slider 71 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 on the right side starts pressing the sheet.

Further, when the cam member 57 moves to the state shown in FIG. 8B, the stamper holder 52 on the left side in the drawing maintains the pressurized state by the elastic force of the pressurizing spring 62. On the other hand, the roller 56 of the stamper holder 52 on the right side also reaches the end point of the downward movement of the inclined cam groove 61b, whereby the sheet pressing slider 71 and the transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 on the right side also press the sheet.

As shown in FIG. 8C, when the cam member 57 is located at the rightmost position, the stamper holder 52 on the left side in the drawing is in a state in which the pressing state is further maintained by the elastic force of the pressing spring 62. On the other hand, the roller 56 of the stamper holder 52 on the right side also reaches the lower horizontal cam groove 61c, whereby the sheet pressing slider 71 and the transfer head 72 of the left adhesive tape stamper 51 press the sheet, and the pressing spring 62 is further compressed. This elastic force acts as a pressing force of the transfer head 72 via the stamper holder 52 on the right side in the figure, and the adhesive tape AT is pressed more strongly against the sheet. Thereby, the adhesive can be applied (transferred) to the sheet without fail.

When the transfer heads 72 complete applying the adhesive to the sheet by lowering the left and right stamper holders 52, the cam member 57 moves to the left in the drawing, and the stamper holders 52 are raised in the reverse order of the lowering. 7A, the stamper holder 52 on the left side engages with the engaging portion 69 of the sheet presser 65 to move the sheet presser 65 to a position separated from the sheet, and further returns to the state of FIG. Prepare for application of the agent.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the transfer head 72 of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape stamper 51 preliminarily presses the sheet with the sheet presser 65 before applying the adhesive to the sheet, the sheet is misaligned. It can be applied at a predetermined position on the sheet without flapping. Further, since the stamper holder 52 supporting the transfer head 72 is pressed by the pressing spring 62 even after the transfer head 72 comes into contact with the sheet, the transfer head 72 can be pressed more strongly by the sheet. The adhesive on the tape AT can be reliably transferred to the sheet.

Further, as described in the description of the operation of the bonding unit 50, the left and right stamper holders 52 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 do not press the transfer head 72 on the sheet simultaneously on both the left and right sides. The groups are pressed against the sheet, and while maintaining this state with the cam member 57, the timing for sequentially pressing the right transfer head 72 group is shifted so as to press against the sheet. The driving force can be reduced, and the cam moving motor 60 can be reduced in size, and the apparatus can be constructed even if the apparatus frame is somewhat fragile, so that the weight can be reduced.

  Next, a sheet side edge aligning member 48 located on the downstream side of the bonding unit 50 in the stacker unit 40, a conveying roller 46 and a pressure roller 49 separated from the sheet during the aligning operation, and a leading edge of the sheet to be carried into the stacker unit 40 , A gripper 91 provided on the stopper 90 and capable of gripping a sheet, and a folding processing unit 80 for folding a sheet bundle into two will be sequentially described.

[Description of sheet side edge alignment mechanism]
As described above, on the downstream side of the bonding unit 50, the sheet side edge alignment members 48 that move in the sheet width direction and press the sheet side edges in the stacker unit 40 are disposed on both sides thereof. . This configuration will be further described with reference to FIG. The sheet side edge aligning member 48 includes, on both sides in the sheet width direction, an upstream aligning plate 110 located on the upstream side in the sheet conveying direction and a downstream aligning plate 111 slightly wider in the conveying direction than this. Are joined by In the matching plate connecting portion 112, racks 114 extending in the sheet width direction are fixed to the matching plate connecting portion 112 by left and right rack connecting portions 113. A pinion 116 meshing with the rack teeth is provided at the center of the left and right racks 114, and is connected to the alignment motor 117 (M12). The forward / reverse rotation of the alignment motor 117 rotates the pinion 116, and the upstream alignment plate 110 and the downstream alignment plate 111 reciprocate in the sheet width direction by the rack 114 meshing with the pinion 116, and press the side edge of the sheet. To perform the alignment operation.

The alignment motor 117 is driven and controlled by a sheet binding / adhesion processing operation control unit 201 described later. In the present embodiment, the adhesive application position of the sheet to which the adhesive is applied and adhered retreats to the retreat path 47. Accordingly, a sheet in a straddling state in which a new sheet to be bonded next is located in the carry-in path 41 and the leading ends of both sheets are in contact with the stopper portion 90 can also be aligned. Further, since the sheet side edge alignment member 48 is arranged at this position, the alignment is performed immediately before the next sheet is bonded to the sheet having the adhesive applied on the surface, so that the alignment accuracy of the bonded sheet is improved.

[Description of separation mechanism such as transport rollers]
Next, at the time of the aligning operation of the sheet side edge aligning member 48, it is necessary to release the nip and the pressure contact with the sheet. This mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10A shows the configuration of the nip and the nip release of the transport roller 46 located on the downstream side of the carry-in path 41. FIG. 10B is a view of the pressure contact of the pressure roller 49 which is located in the middle of the stacker unit 40 and immediately downstream of the folding processing unit 80 and presses the sheet against the lower stacker guide 40b to apply a conveying force to the stopper unit 90 side. Indicates a separated configuration

First, the transport roller 46 of FIG. 10A will be described. The transport roller 46 rotated by the roller transmission belt 124 from the forward / reverse transport motor M2 includes a drive roller shaft 121, a drive roller 120, and a pinch roller 125 separated from and in contact with the drive roller. The nip release of the transport roller 46 is performed by separating the pinch roller 125 from the drive roller 120. The pinch roller 125 includes a support bracket 126 for supporting the pinch roller 125 and a rotation shaft 127 for supporting the support bracket 126 for rotation. The rotating shaft 127 is fixed to a rotating gear 129 at the end of the apparatus. The rotation gear 129 is engaged with a separation motor 131 (M3) via a separation motor gear 130. A protruding pin 127 a having a lower end buried in the rotation shaft 127 and having an upper end protruding is engaged with the pin receiving groove 128 of the support bracket 126. The pin receiving groove 128 allows the projecting pin 127a to move freely within a predetermined range. In addition, a winding spring 122 wound around a rotating shaft 127 and positioned between the support bracket 126 and a device frame (not shown) is located.

  Therefore, the pinch roller 125 is constantly urged by the drive roller 120 by the winding spring 122 to apply a conveying force to the sheet. On the other hand, when a signal for separating the pinch roller 125 from the drive roller 120 is output from the sheet conveyance control unit 195 when the above-described sheet side edge alignment member 48 is operated, the separation motor 131 for the pinch roller 125 is driven. By this driving, the rotating gear 129 having the rotating shaft fixed via the separating motor gear 130 is rotated in the illustrated direction. By this rotation, the protruding pin 127a on the rotating shaft 127 also rotates in the pin receiving groove 128 in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and when it comes into contact with the protruding wall of the pin receiving groove 128, the support bracket 126 moves to drive the pinch roller 125. The sheet is separated from the roller 120, and the nip of the sheet is released. Conversely, in order to press the pinch roller 125 against the drive roller 120 in order to convey the sheet, when the separation motor 131 is rotated in the reverse direction, the protruding pin 127a is located substantially in the center of the original pin receiving groove 128. Accordingly, the pinch roller 125 is pressed against the drive motor by the elastic force of the winding spring 122 of the support bracket 126, and a constant conveying force can be applied to the sheet.

  Next, FIG. 10B shows a pressure roller 49 that can move so as to be in contact with and separate from the lower stacker guide 40b of the stacker unit 40. The pressure roller 49 is separated until the leading edge of the sheet passes, and when the leading edge of the sheet passes, rotates while pressing the sheet so as to press the sheet against the lower stacker guide 40b. The illustrated pressure roller 49 is provided substantially at the center in the sheet width direction. The pressure roller 49 is supported by support arms 132 on both sides, and is raised and lowered by a spring clutch 134 wound between an intermediate shaft holder 136 fixed to the intermediate shaft 135 and the arm holder 132a. It is configured to perform an operation. The driving of the pressure roller 49 is performed by transmitting the rotation of the intermediate shaft 135 by the pressure roller transmission belt 133. The intermediate shaft 135 is driven by a motor between an intermediate transmission belt 137, an intermediate gear 138, a drive shaft 139 for driving the intermediate gear 138, and a pressure roller nip separation motor 141 (M9) for rotating the drive shaft 139. This is performed by the transmission belt 140.

  The pressure roller 49 having the above configuration detects that the leading edge of the sheet has passed through the pressure roller 49 in the stacker unit 40, and rotates the pressure roller nip separation motor 141 forward by the stacker unit accumulation operation control unit 200. The intermediate shaft holder 136 also rotates in the forward direction. The rotation in this direction causes the spring clutch 134 to be loosened, and the regulation of the arm holder 132a is released, and the pressure roller 49 presses against the sheet by its own weight. During the pressing of the pressure roller 49, rotation for conveying the sheet to the downstream side is applied, and the sheet is conveyed in the direction of the stopper portion 90 in the figure.

On the other hand, when aligning the sheet that has entered the stacker unit 40 or when conveying the sheet upstream (for example, in the direction of switchback conveyance to the retreat path 47), when the pressure roller nip separation motor 141 is rotated in the reverse direction, the spring clutch 134 In the tightening direction, and the pressure roller 49 is raised. Even if the pressure roller nip separation motor 141 is stopped in this state, the pressure roller 49 is held at the retracted position separated from the sheet by the motor torque and the spring clutch. Incidentally, the lifting and lowering of the pressure roller 49 may be directly coupled to a solenoid or the like, and may be raised and lowered.

[Description of gripper opening / closing mechanism of stopper section]
With reference to FIG. 11, a closed state in which the gripper 91 located at the tip of the stopper portion 90 grips the sheet and an open state in which gripping is released will be described. Since the raising and lowering of the stopper portion 90 has already been described, the description here is omitted.
FIG. 11A shows the entire moving range of the gripper 91, and the vertical position is indicated by a virtual line. FIG. 11B is a plan view of the gripper 91 and the stopper portion 90 as viewed from above. The gripper 91 is disposed at the tip of the stopper portion 90, and is configured such that the moving piece 91b is separated from the 90 fixing piece 91a of the stopper portion. The gripper connecting portion 152 of the moving piece 91b is disposed below the stopper portion 90 and the stopper connecting portion 151 so as to freely advance and retreat. A closing spring 91c is provided below the moving piece 91b to constantly urge the moving piece 91b in the closing direction.

Incidentally, the gripper connecting portion 152 has a connecting arm 153 having an opening hole projecting rearward from the stopper portion 90. A turning bracket 154 is provided that penetrates through the opening of the connecting arm 153 and supports the turning bar 156 vertically. As shown in FIG. 11B, the rotation bracket 154 rotates on the rotation support point 155 in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 11B. In this rotation, the rotation bracket 154 has a rotation cam 157 and a bracket pressing surface 158. The rotating cam 157 is rotated by a gripper opening / closing motor 160 (M11). When the bracket pressing surface 158 presses the rotating bracket 154 by this rotation, the bracket pressing surface 158 swings about the rotating fulcrum 155. By this swinging, the turning bar 156 supported by the turning bracket 154 moves up and down. Since the rotation bar 156 passes through the opening of the connecting arm 153, the moving piece 91 b at the tip of the connecting arm 153 comes into contact with and separates from the fixed piece 91 a of the stopper 90.

Also, as shown in FIG. 11A, even if the stopper portion 90 moves up and down, the connecting arm 153 has the pivot bar 156 located in this elevating range. The piece 91b can be moved forward and backward. Accordingly, the stacker unit integration operation control unit 200 turns the gripper opening / closing motor 160 to bring the gripper 91 into a closed state in which the sheet is gripped and an open state in which the gripper is released. As shown in the drawing, the stacker section 40 is arranged in an inclined state, so that the rotating bracket 154 is always in contact with the rotating cam 157. The rotating bracket may be urged against the rotating cam 157 toward the rotating cam 157 by a spring or the like.

[Description of Drive Mechanism of Folding Unit]
Next, a drive mechanism of the folding processing unit 80 that folds the sheet bundle stuck to the adhesive binding unit 50 into two will be described with reference to FIG. This drawing is a perspective view of the driving mechanism showing a state where the folding blade 86 is at the home position where the folding blade 86 is on standby.
A drive system path for reciprocating the folding blade 86 shown in FIG. 12 is indicated by a two-dot chain line in the figure. First, the drive is started by the folding drive motor 300 (M15) arranged below in the figure. This drive is transmitted from the pulley 302 attached to the drive shaft of the folding drive motor 300 to the drive pulley 306 via the drive belt 304. Then, the driving force is transmitted from a transmission gear 308 provided on the shaft of the driving pulley 306 to a gear 310 with a one-way clutch. The one-way clutch gear 310 is driven and engaged with the shaft by rotation in one direction, and the drive is driven to rotate the transmission gear 312. In the other rotation, the drive engagement with the shaft is released, and only the one-way clutch gear is used. Rotate to the other.

This drive is transmitted to the shaft gear 324 via the illustrated transmission gears 314, 316, 318, 320, 322. A moving cam 328 is rotatably provided on both sides of the rotating shaft 326 to which the shaft gear 324 is attached. The rotation of the drive motor 300 in one direction causes the movement cam 328 to rotate. The rotation shaft 326 of the movement cam 328 is mounted at an eccentric position. Therefore, the cam engaging member 334 engaged with the groove in the moving cam 328, the blade support plate 336 to which the cam engaging member 334 is attached, and the folding blade 86 attached to this move back and forth in the figure. That is, the folding blade 86 moves to the home position (330) in FIG. 12 away from the folding roller 81 and to the moving position inserted into the folding roller 81 that has moved forward. Prior to the operation of pushing the sheet into the folding roller 81 by the folding blade 86, a sheet urging plate for pressing the sheet bundle against the folding roller is attached to the blade supporting plate 336 so as to be movably urged by a spring or the like (not shown). ing.

[Drive path of folding roller]
The rotation drive path of the folding roller 81 that folds the sheet bundle into two is indicated by a dashed line in FIG. That is, the drive is branched from the drive motor 300, which is the same as the drive source for moving the folding blade 86, from the transmission gear 308 to the drive system on the folding roller 81 side via the transmission gear 350 via the one-way clutch engagement gear 310. Therefore, even if the drive motor rotates on the other side, the transmission gear 350 also rotates forward and reverse. The drive from the transmission gear 350 is transmitted to the transmission gear 354 via the transmission gear 352.

The drive from the transmission gear 354 includes a forward and reverse transmission gear 356 that transmits the drive to the shaft even if the rotation direction is forward or reverse, as indicated by the two-dot chain line circle in the lower left column of FIG. There is provided a forward one-way clutch gear 358 provided coaxially with this and to which drive is transmitted only during forward rotation, and a reverse one-way clutch gear 357 to which drive is transmitted only during reverse rotation. The forward rotation one-way clutch gear 358 is engaged with the large diameter portion of the next-stage two-stage transmission gear 360, the reverse rotation one-way clutch gear 357 meshes with the intermediate gear 359, and the intermediate gear 359 is connected to the two-stage transmission gear 360. It is meshed with the small diameter part.

Therefore, when the folding drive motor 300 rotates forward, the transmission is transmitted to the two-stage transmission gear 360 via the transmission gear 354, the forward / reverse transmission gear 356, and the forward rotation one-way clutch gear 358. On the other hand, when the folding drive motor rotates in the reverse direction, it is transmitted to the two-stage transmission gear 360 via the reverse rotation one-way clutch gear 357 and the intermediate gear 359. In this case, regardless of the rotation direction of the folding drive motor 300, the shaft 361 of the two-stage transmission gear 360 rotates in the same direction (the sheet folding direction of the folding roller 81).

  A transmission gear 362 is provided outside the shaft 361 that rotates only in one direction. The drive of the transmission gear 362 is transmitted to the transmission gears 364 and 366, and then transmitted to the bundle discharge roller gear 374 via the transmission belt a368, the belt pulley 370, and the transmission gear 372. The driving of the bundle discharge roller gear 374 is transmitted to the bundle discharge roller 95 via the shaft thereof, the folding roller 81a via the transmission gear 378, and the other folding roller 81b via the transmission belt b377, respectively. I do.

  The drive transmission configuration of the folding processing unit 80 configured as described above is such that the folding blade 86 is reciprocated between the home position and the moving position where the sheet bundle is pushed into the folding roller 81 by the normal rotation of the folding drive motor 300. The folding roller 81 is also driven to rotate in the folding direction. On the other hand, in the reverse rotation of the folding drive motor 300, the folding blade 86 is stopped by the action of the gear 310 with the one-way clutch. The folding roller 81 is driven to rotate in the folding direction without stopping by the action of the normal rotation one-way clutch gear 358 and the reverse rotation one-way clutch gear 357. Therefore, when the reciprocating motion of the folding blade 86 is completed, the folding roller 81 continues to rotate in the folding direction even if the folding drive motor 300 is rotated in the reverse direction, and even if the sheet size is long, the folding roller 81 is folded by one drive motor. Can be processed.

[Transfer of adhesive with adhesive tape stamper]
Here, the application (transfer) position of the adhesive by the adhesive tape stamper 51 described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 13A is a bottom view of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape stamper 51, which has a substantially square shape, and a pressing portion 170 of a sheet pressing slider 71 for pressing a sheet relatively widely, and a horizontal pressing portion extending from both sides of the pressing portion 170. It comprises a part 171 and a tip holding part 172 connecting the tip side. A transfer head 72 that supports the adhesive tape AT is located inside each of these holding portions. X in the drawing is a center position of the adhesive tape AT, and the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is applied to the sheet around this position. Z is a sheet holding position for pressing a later-described final sheet to a position where the adhesive of the preceding sheet is applied.

FIG. 13B is a cross-sectional view of the side surface of the adhesive tape stamper 51, illustrating that the adhesive is transferred with the same length. The adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is transferred to a newly conveyed and positioned sheet. FIG. For the sake of explanation, every fifth sheet is shown, but in this figure, the adhesive is applied to the eleventh sheet so as to extend all over the folding position Y. As described above, first, the sheet is pressed toward the platen by the sheet pressing slider 71, and the movement of the sheet pressing slider 71 exposes a new surface of the adhesive tape AT, and further moves the transfer head 72 on the platen 79. Press on the sheet. Due to this pressing, the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is applied to the new sheet, and the first to tenth and earlier sheets to which the adhesive has been applied in advance and the new eleventh sheet are bonded. Are bonded together and an adhesive is applied to the eleventh sheet. When the application of the adhesive and the bonding of the sheets are completed, the transfer head 72 and the sheet pressing slider 71 are separated from the sheet as illustrated.
The application of the adhesive and the bonding of the sheets are repeated until one sheet before the final sheet. The application and bonding are performed by binding the sheets so far as a bundle and the application and bonding of the adhesive are repeated for each sheet.

Next, in FIG. 13C, the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is applied on the folding position Y from the first sheet to the fifth sheet in the same manner as described above, but the adhesive after the sixth sheet is different from the above. The coating was performed. That is, from the sixth to eleventh sheets, the adhesive is applied to the left and right sides of the folding position in close contact with each other. According to this application, when the sheet bundle is folded at the folding position Y, the adhesive is widely applied from the sixth sheet to the eleventh sheet on the outer side. Can be prevented. Further, in applying the adhesive to the eleventh sheet, the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is applied while being separated from each other with respect to the folding position Y. When the adhesive is applied to the two places with the adhesive tape AT separated in this manner, the eleventh sheet and the twelfth sheet are not solid-coated with the adhesive, so that they are easy to fold and relatively hard to peel off. The use of can be reduced.

  The method of applying the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT shown in FIG. 13C will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 shows the gripper 91 and the stopper 90 of the stacker unit 40 shown in FIG. 2, and the adhesive part of the adhesive tape AT is represented by AT in a sheet for convenience. As described above, the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is applied by pressing the transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 onto the sheet. Therefore, the application position can be adjusted by moving the sheet by the stopper portion 90.

First, in FIG. 14A, the adhesive is applied across the folding positions of one to five sheets, and the sheet is moved in the right direction in the drawing (in the ascending direction in the stacker portion), and the folding position is changed. When the transfer unit 72 reaches below the transfer head 72, the movement of the stopper unit 90 is temporarily stopped, and the transfer head 72 is pressed onto the sheet. This movement of the sheet is performed when the rear end of the sheet received by the stopper portion 90 has passed the confluence position of the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47, and then the sheet is transported in a switchback manner toward the retreat path 47 side. This is indicated by the arrow to the right in the figure. Thereafter, when the folding position Y of the sheet coincides with the sticking position X, the sheet is stopped, and the transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 is pressed against the sheet to transfer the adhesive tape AT to the sheet. This state is shown in FIG. 14A as six ATs. This transfer is again moved rightward in the figure by the stopper portion 90 so as to move the transferred adhesive tape AT position to the retreat path 47. In this embodiment, the same operation is repeated up to five sheets. This state is shown as 1 to 5 in FIG.

  Next, FIG. 14B shows the transfer positions of the adhesive tape AT from six to ten subsequent tapes in this embodiment. In the sheet movement in this case, the sheet is stopped slightly before the folding position Y in the process of moving the rear end side of the sheet to the retreat path 47 side, and the adhesive tape AT is transferred. Thereafter, the sheet is slightly moved, stopped again, and the adhesive tape AT is transferred. In this case, the two transferred adhesive tapes AT are in close contact with each other across the folding position Y (2AT). The state of this 2AT is shown as 6 to 10 in FIG. When this sheet is folded at the folding position Y, the adhesive tape AT bonds the sheets as an adhesive between the sheets in a wide range.

Further, FIG. 14 (c) shows a state in which the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is applied to the eleventh sheet at an interval across the folding position Y at the folding position. In the movement of the sheet, the sheet is stopped before the folding position Y (a position farther from the folding position Y than in FIG. 14B) in the process of moving the rear end of the sheet to the retreat path 47 side, and the adhesive tape AT is transferred. I do. Thereafter, the sheet is moved and after a predetermined interval (S) is left, the operation is stopped again and the adhesive tape AT is transferred. In this case, the two transferred adhesive tapes AT are in a state (2AT + S) with an interval (S) separated by the folding position Y. The state of 2AT + S is shown on the eleventh sheet in FIG. When this sheet is folded at the folding position Y, the position where the space between the adhesives is separated is folded, which makes it easier to fold and reduces the consumption of re-adhesion as compared with the case where the adhesive is entirely coated, and at two places. , A booklet that is difficult to peel off can be created.

Here, a state where the twelfth sheet is bonded to the eleventh sheet will be described with reference to FIG. Since the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is not applied to the twelfth sheet, the pressing portion 170 of the sheet pressing slider 71 presses the final sheet pressing portion of the platen 79 as shown. In this figure, the position where the pressing unit 170 presses without applying the adhesive is the sheet pressing position (Z). By this pressing, the bonding of the twelfth sheet is ensured, and when the pressing part presses while moving the sheet, the adhesive force of the twelfth sheet is further strengthened.
The platen 79 faces the positions of the platen guide 176, the final sheet pressing unit 175, and the transfer head 72, which guide the conveyance of the sheet from the upstream side, and backs up the application of the adhesive to the sheets and the bonding of the sheets. The platen cushion section 174 has a sheet having some elasticity attached thereto. This ensures that the sheets are stuck together.

[Folding operation]
The operation of folding the sheet adhered with the adhesive of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape AT by the folding processing unit in FIG. 12 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16.

[Folding a small number of laminated sheets]
First, FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing how a small number (for example, four) of the laminated sheets are folded by the folding processing unit shown in FIG.
At a folding position Y disposed downstream of the bonding unit 50 described above, a folding roller 81 for folding the bonded sheet bundle and a sheet bundle are inserted into the nip position of the folding roller 81 as shown in FIG. A folding blade 86 is provided. The folding roller 81 is composed of rollers 81a and 81b pressed against each other, and each roller is formed to have a width substantially equal to the maximum sheet width. The rollers 81a and 81b constituting the folding roller 81 are fitted with the rotating shafts 81ax and 81bx in the long groove of the device frame (not shown) so as to be pressed and joined to each other, and are urged in the pressing direction by the compression springs 81as and 81bs. I have. In addition, at least one of the rollers may be axially supported so as to be movable in the pressing direction, and may have a structure in which an urging spring is wound around one of the rollers.

  The pair of folding rollers 81a and 81b are formed of a material having a relatively large friction coefficient such as a rubber roller. This is for transferring the sheet in the rotating direction while bending the sheet with a soft material such as rubber, and may be formed by lining the rubber material.

  Next, the operation of folding the sheet by the above-described folding roller 81 will be described with reference to FIGS. The pair of folding rollers 81a and 81b are located above the stacker unit 40 and below the bonding unit 50, and have a folding blade 86 having a knife edge at a position facing the sandwiched sheet bundle supported by the stacker unit 40. Is provided. The folding blade 86 is supported by the apparatus frame so as to be able to reciprocate between a home position in FIG. 15A and an operating position in FIG. (See Fig. 12)

Thus, the sheet bundle supported by the stacker unit 40 is locked by the stopper unit 90 at the leading end in the state shown in FIG. 15A, and the fold position is determined as the position where the sheets are bonded by the bonding unit 50.
Then, the sheet folding process control unit 202 moves the folding blade 86 from the standby position toward the nip position. Thus, in the state shown in FIG. 15B, the sheet bundle is bent at the fold position by the folding blade 86 and inserted between the rollers. At this time, the pair of folding rollers 81 are driven and rotated so as to fold the moving sheet by the folding blades 86, respectively. Then, after an estimated time for the sheet bundle to reach the predetermined nip position, the sheet folding process control unit 202 reversely rotates the folding drive motor 300 (M15) and stops the folding blade 86 at the position shown in FIG. On the other hand, the folding roller 81 continues to rotate in the folding direction. Thereby, the sheet bundle is sent out in the feeding direction (left side in the drawing). After that, the sheet folding process control unit 202 changes the rotation direction of the folding drive motor 300 (M15) to the normal rotation again, and moves to the nip position in parallel with the feeding of the sheet bundle by the folding roller 81 in the state of FIG. The folding blade 86 located is moved and returned toward the standby position.
As described above, when the number of sheets bundled by the bonding unit 50 is a small number, the sheets can be folded relatively easily and the folded sheets are hardly peeled off.

[Folding of multiple laminated sheets]
FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a folding process for a large number of sheets (twelve bonded sheets in this embodiment) exceeding a predetermined number as shown in FIGS. 13C and 14C. Folding processing of many sheets bonded by the bonding unit 50 is also performed by the same folding roller 81 and folding blade 86 as in FIG. In the case where the operation is the same, the description is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 16A, a folding roller 81 for folding a sheet bundle adhered with an adhesive with an adhesive tape AT and a folding blade 86 for inserting the sheet bundle into a nip position of the folding roller 81 is provided. ing.

  Therefore, the sheet bundle supported by the stacker unit 40 is locked by the stopper unit 90 at the leading end in the state shown in FIG. 16A, and the fold position is determined as the center position of the bonding of the bonding unit 50. . Then, the sheet folding processing control unit 202 causes the sheet bundle to be bent at the fold position by the folding blade 86 and inserted between the rollers in the state of FIG. At this time, the pair of folding rollers 81 are driven and rotated at the same speed as the sheet moved by the folding blade 86, respectively.

Then, after an estimated time for the sheet bundle to reach the predetermined nip position, the sheet folding process control unit 202 rotates the folding drive motor 300 in the reverse direction and stops the folding blade 86 at the position shown in FIG. On the other hand, the folding roller continues to rotate in the folding direction. Thereby, the sheet bundle is sent out in the feeding direction (left side in the drawing). After that, the sheet folding process control unit 202 changes the rotation direction of the folding drive motor 300 to the normal rotation again, and the folding at the nip position in parallel with the feeding of the sheet bundle by the folding roller 81 in the state of FIG. The blade 86 is moved and returned toward the standby position.

  In the sheet bundle to be folded shown in FIG. 16, as shown in FIG. 13C, one to five of the laminated sheets are coated with an adhesive at one position on the folding position, and The adhesive of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape AT is applied so that up to ten sheets are in close contact with each other across the folding position. Further, an interval (S) is interposed between the eleventh sheet and the last twelfth sheet with the folding position Y interposed therebetween. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16B, the sheet is easily nipped between the folding rollers 81.

Next, FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a sheet bundle bonded with an adhesive and a sheet obtained by performing a folding process on the sheet bundle. FIG. 17 (a) is a diagram for explaining bonding in which a small number or a large number of sheets are applied with an adhesive of the same length. In the description so far, the case where the adhesive tape AT is applied at one place centering on the folding position only when the number of sheets is small has been described. In such a case, they may be bonded in this manner. In FIG. 17A, the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT is applied to folding positions of 12 sheets. In this case, when the folding process is performed, as shown in FIG. 17B, the adhesive is slightly stretched at the bent portion of the outer folded sheet, but the adhesive is easily peeled.

On the other hand, in FIG. 17C, as described above, the bonding area increases when the number of sheets increases, and when the number of sheets exceeds a predetermined value, the adhesive is spaced. ), The bonding shown in FIG. 14 (c) or FIG. 16 is performed. When the folded sheet bundle is folded, as shown in FIG. 17D, the adhesive is not applied to the first portion nipped by the folding roller 81, so that the nip is easily performed. In addition, the booklet of FIG. 17D can provide a booklet that holds down the amount of the adhesive and is relatively easy to open.

[Explanation of sheet bundle generation operation by bonding]
Next, a generation operation of a sheet bundle in which an adhesive is applied to a sheet conveyed from the image forming apparatus A by the bonding unit 50 in the stacker unit 40 and the sheets are bonded to each other will be sequentially described with reference to FIGS. .
First, in the image forming apparatus, after the sheets from the main body output port 3 are aligned in a bundle, the sheets are bonded and then folded in a booklet form and stored in the second discharge tray 22 in the “adhesive sheet bundle folding mode”. Instruct.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 18A, the first sheet on which an image is formed from the main body discharge port 3 of the image forming apparatus A is conveyed by the path carry-in roller 45 and the carry roller 46 on the carry-in path 41. The state is shown. At this time, the stopper portion 90 that regulates the leading edge of the sheet conveyed into the stacker portion 40 has a length corresponding to the length of the sheet from the initial home position Sh0 shown in the drawing to the position where the rear end of the sheet branches off into the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47. It moves to the branch passing position Sh1 at the rear end of the sheet (bundle) and waits.

  FIG. 18B shows that the sheet is carried into the stacker unit 40 and the trailing end of the sheet is at the above-mentioned branched position. The sheet conveyed to this position is conveyed until the sheet (bundle) comes into contact with the stopper portion 90 waiting at the branch passing position Sh1 at the rear end of the sheet (bundle). During this conveyance, the leading end of the sheet is conveyed by pushing up a deflection guide 44 located near the exit of the carry-in path 41. Thereafter, when the sheet passes the position of the pressure roller 49, the pressure roller 49 moves to a position where the sheet is pressed, and the sheet is conveyed to the stopper portion 90. The gripper 91 disposed at the tip of the stopper portion 90 is at a position where the gripper is released so as to receive the sheet in a state where the moving piece 91b is separated from the fixed piece 91a. When the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the stopper portion 90, the trailing edge of the sheet is located at the above-mentioned branched position, and the trailing edge of the sheet is directed to the retreat path 47 by the deflection guide 44.

  FIG. 19A illustrates a state where the sheet is gripped by the gripper 91 at the time when the rear end of the sheet passes through the branching position, and the stopper portion 90 is raised in the gripped state. In this case, since the rear end of the sheet is directed to the retreat path 47 by the deflection guide 44, the sheet is conveyed in a switchback manner in the retreat path. At this time, the second sheet is carried into the sheet carrying path P1.

  FIG. 19B illustrates a state in which the first sheet is lifted by the stopper unit 90, and a half of the sheet in the conveying direction is a bonding position of the bonding unit 50 (a sheet pressing position of the adhesive tape stamper 51) Sh <b> 3. At the adhesive tape transfer position, the movement of the sheet by the stopper unit 90 is stopped. Here, the sheet in the stopped state is aligned by hitting the side edge in the width direction of the sheet with the sheet side edge alignment member 48 arranged adjacent to the bonding unit 50. When the aligning operation is completed, the cam moving motor 60 of the bonding unit 50 is driven to move the adhesive tape stamper 51 to the sheet side. First, the sheet is pressed by the sheet press 65, and then the sheet press slider 71 presses the sheet. Thereafter, the transfer head 72 is pressed against the sheet to apply the adhesive of the adhesive tape AT to the sheet. After the application, each member holding the sheet is separated from the sheet. During the coating, the gripper 91 grips the leading end of the sheet.

  Here, the application of the adhesive to the adhesive tape AT is stopped once at a position corresponding to the folding position Y depending on the number of sheets to be bonded, and the adhesive is applied, as already described with reference to FIG. Alternatively, the first application is performed, and the sheet is slightly moved to a position in close contact with the first application, and then the second application is performed, or when the number of sheets exceeds a predetermined number, the adhesive is separated by an interval (S) in the sheet moving direction. The stopper 90 is moved and the position of Sh3 is controlled to set whether to apply. This point will be further described with reference to the flowchart from FIG.

  Next, FIG. 20A shows that after the transfer head 72, the sheet press slider 71, and the sheet press 65 are separated from the sheet, the application position of the sheet to which the adhesive is applied does not hinder the conveyance of the next sheet. Then, the stopper 90 is moved to the adhesive tape hiding position (next sheet receiving position) Sh4 so as to retract the application position to the position of the retreat path 47. The distance at which the application position on the apparatus switches back is set in the retreat path 47 of about 35 mm from the above-mentioned bonding position (the position indicated by reference numeral 100). This moving distance is desirably set as short as possible so that the portion to which the adhesive is applied does not adhere to the transport guide and the deflection guide 44. In addition, members that come into contact with the sheet, such as the deflection guide 44, are arranged in the gap between the positions where the adhesive is applied. After the application position of the preceding sheet is moved to the retracted position, the gripper 91 that has been in the grip state during the application and during the movement is released.

In FIG. 20B, in the state where the gripper 91 is released, the next sheet moves along the carry-in path 41 as shown in the drawing and starts carrying in the stacker unit 40. During this carry-in, the application position of the preceding sheet is retracted and hidden in the retreat path, so that the next sheet can be carried on the preceding sheet without any trouble. The stopper unit 90 waits for the next sheet to be carried in at the adhesive tape hiding position (next sheet receiving position / position of reference numeral 100) Sh4.

In FIG. 21A, the stopper 90 receives the leading end of the next sheet at the adhesive tape hiding position (next sheet receiving position / position 100) Sh4. In this state, the trailing end of the preceding sheet is located on the retreat path 47 including the application position, and the trailing end side of the next sheet is located on the carry-in path 41. The leading ends of the preceding sheet and the next sheet are in contact with the stopper portion 90. Note that the pressure roller 49 is brought into downward pressure contact with the next sheet so as to press the next sheet when the leading end of the next sheet passes through the pressure roller 49, thereby applying a conveying force. After the preceding sheet and the next sheet abut against the stopper portion 90, the sheet side edge aligning member 48 is operated to align the two sheets. Prior to the aligning operation, the conveying roller 46 positioned on the carry-in path 41 is moved. The nip is released, and the pressure roller 49 is separated from the sheet. Thereafter, the sheet side edge aligning member 48 presses and aligns the side edges of the respective sheets overlapping over the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47. In this embodiment, the sheet is pressed twice by each sheet side edge alignment member 48. In this alignment operation, the gripper 91 is in a state where the gripping of the sheet is released.

When the alignment operation is completed, as shown in FIG. 21B, the sheet is nipped by the transport roller 46 of the carry-in path 41, and the pressure roller 49 is pressed against the sheet. Further, the gripper 91 sets the sheet in a gripping state. In this gripping state, the stopper 90 is moved to the rear end branch passing position Sh1 of the sheet (bundle) where the rear end of the second next sheet passes the branch position. Here, since the position of the first preceding sheet to which the adhesive is applied passes through the pressure roller 49, the pressure of this roller causes the next sheet to be bonded to some extent. The third sheet is being carried into the sheet carrying path P1.

  Next, in FIG. 22A, the stopper unit 90 is moved from the rear end branch passage position Sh1 of the sheet (bundle) to the adhesive tape transfer position Sh3. At the start of this movement, the rear end of the second next sheet is urged toward the retreat path 47 by the deflection guide 44, so that it is bundled with the first preceding sheet in the retreat path 47 for switchback conveyance. Is done. This Sh3 is a position at which the position of the adhesive tape stamper 51 of the adhesive unit 50 presses the adhesive tape AT against the sheet and applies the adhesive to the second sheet, as described above. is there. The bonding unit 50 is operated to apply the adhesive to the next sheet, and at the same time, presses the preceding sheet to bond the sheets. In particular, at this position, the transfer head 72 presses the sheet from above the position where the adhesive is applied, so that the bonding between the sheets is more reliably performed. The leading end of the third sheet is entering the carry-in path 41.

In FIG. 22B, the stopper 90 is moved to the position where the adhesive tape is hidden (the next sheet receiving position / the next sheet receiving position / position) so that the first and second adhesive application positions where the adhesive is applied and bonded are carried into the retreat path 47. The position moves to Sh4 (indicated by reference numeral 100) and waits for loading of the third sheet. The gripper 91 of the stopper portion 90 grips the sheet during the movement of the sheet bundle and during the application of the adhesive, but releases the grip when receiving the next sheet. FIG. 22B shows the same state as FIG. 20B, and thereafter, FIG. 20B to FIG. 22B are repeated until the desired number of sheets up to one sheet before the last sheet is obtained.
It is to be noted that the adjustment of the application position of the adhesive based on the number of sheets to be bonded is performed by the stopper portion 90 as described above.
Here, for convenience of explanation, the following description will be made assuming that the third sheet is the final number of the bundle.

  In FIG. 23A, the application position of the second sheet to which the adhesive has been applied is located in the retreat path 47, the final number of third sheets is loaded, and the leading end of the sheet abuts on the stopper 90. . In this state, the sheet side edge aligning member 48 is operated to press the sheet side edge to perform the aligning operation in order to align the third sheet and a part of the sheet up to the second sheet in the retreat path 47. When performing this alignment operation, the release of the nip of the transport roller 46, the retraction of the pressure roller 49 from the sheet pressing position, and the release of the gripper 91 are the same as those of the second sheet at the same position. Therefore, the rear end side of the second and subsequent sheets is located on the retreat path 47, and the third sheet is located on the carry-in path 41 and branched, and the alignment operation is performed in a state where the leading ends are overlapped.

  In FIG. 23B, after the above-described alignment operation is completed, the nip of the transport roller 46, the movement of the pressure roller 49 to the sheet pressing position, the gripping of the gripper 91 are performed, and the vicinity of the adhesive tape transfer position Sh3 (this embodiment). In (2), since the sheet is pressed by the sheet pressing slider 71 located on the upstream side of the transfer head 72, the position is about 5 mm upstream from the adhesive tape transfer position Sh3 to be bonded to (Z position in FIG. 2). This is because the adhesive is not applied to the final sheet, so that the sheet is pressed not at the bonding position, which is the position of the transfer head 72, but at the position where only the sheet is pressed, thereby bonding the sheets.

  FIG. 24A illustrates a sheet in which the rear end of the third sheet exceeds the branch point between the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47 after the third sheet is bonded to the preceding second sheet. The bundle moves to the rear end passing position Sh1 while being gripped by the gripper 91 of the stopper portion 90. Further, since the pressure roller 49 is already at the sheet pressing position, the sheet can be pressed by the pressure roller 49 to further ensure the adhesion of the adhesive.

  The stopper 90 is moved from the rear end passing position Sh1 of the sheet (bundle) in FIG. 24B to the adhesive bundle folding position Sh2 on the upper side while being gripped by the gripper 91. By this movement, the upstream end of the sheet bundle is carried into the deflection gate retreat path 47, and all three sheet bundles are switch-back conveyed.

  FIG. 25 shows a state in which the movement of the sheet bundle is stopped when the gripper 91 is moved to the adhesive bundle folding position Sh2 while the gripper 91 is gripped, the gripper 91 is released, and the folding roller 81 and the folding blade 86 are used as shown in FIG. The folding process indicated by is performed. Since the folding blade 86 also presses the adhesive application position of the sheet, the adhesion between the sheets is further strengthened.

[Procedure 1 of laminated sheets according to the number of sheets]
Hereafter, in addition to the bonding operation by the bonding unit 50 described with reference to FIGS. 18 to 25, switching of the application position of the adhesive tape (adhesive) AT depending on the number of sheets will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. I do. First, a procedure for increasing the application range of the adhesive tape AT for each number will be described with reference to FIGS.

  When the operator specifies the "adhesive sheet bundle folding mode", the setting is made so as to execute the adhesive tape attaching process. Here, it is confirmed whether or not to perform the “firm attachment mode” in which the attachment range of the adhesive tape AT is increased according to the number of sheets (S1). If NO (do not execute) is selected here, the process shifts to the "normal pasting mode" (S2). In this mode, the transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 is pressed once for each sheet to a position corresponding to the folding position Y, which is a position substantially at the center of the length in the sheet conveyance direction to be bonded. (S3) Thereby, the adhesive tape AT is applied to the sheet. This is executed up to one sheet before the last sheet (S4). As for the last sheet, the sheet is pressed by the pressing unit 170 shown in FIG. 13D (S5). With this execution, the adhesive tape AT is applied to the sheet bundle in the state of FIG. 17A, and the adhesive tape AT having substantially the same size as shown in FIG. 17B is applied by executing the folding process of FIG. A folded sheet is created. Although this booklet does not have a strong sticking force, it can produce a sheet bundle relatively quickly.

On the other hand, when the operator selects YES (execute) in the “stick firmly mode” of FIG. 26 (S1), the process shifts to the “stick firmly mode” (S10). In this embodiment, assuming that 15 sheets are to be stuck, the adhesive tape AT is increased every five sheets and the sticking position is adjusted. This will be described sequentially. First, the folding position, which is the center of the length of the sheet to be bonded in the sheet conveyance direction, is the same for the first to fifth sheets as shown in FIG. The transfer head 72 of the adhesive tape stamper 51 is pressed to a position corresponding to Y once for every five sheets. (S11).
If the sheet is the last sheet up to five sheets, the sheet is pressed without applying the adhesive tape AT by the pressing portion 170 shown in FIG. 13D, and the sticking operation ends. (S21, S22 in FIG. 27 with a circle 2)

  Next, for the sixth and subsequent sheets, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 27, as shown in FIG. 14B, a position corresponding to a folding position Y which is a substantially center position of the length in the sheet conveyance direction to be bonded is sandwiched. Then, the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape AT is closely adhered and applied twice (S16). Here, if the number of sheets does not reach 10 and is the last sheet, the last sheet is pressed and the sticking process is terminated (S21, S22).

When there are 11 or more sheets, as shown in FIG. 14 (c), the adhesive tape AT is placed at a predetermined interval with a position corresponding to the folding position Y, which is a substantially central position in the length in the sheet conveying direction to be bonded. (S) is opened and applied twice (S19). Thus, the adhesive tape AT is applied with a gap. Next, when the sheet is the fifteenth last sheet, the last sheet blanking process is executed, and the attaching process ends (S21, S22).
If, for example, 12 sheet bundles are bonded and folded in accordance with this flow, the sheets are laminated in the state shown in FIGS. 17C and 17D and folded. According to this, since the adhesive tape AT is applied with the sheet folding position interposed therebetween, the amount of the adhesive tape AT used is reduced while maintaining the booklet strength to some extent, and a booklet that is easy to spread at the time of use is produced. can do.

[Other procedures for bonding sheets according to the number of sheets]
Next, a modification of FIGS. 26 and 27 will be described with reference to FIG. 26 and FIG. 27 in the flow of the individual hand is that the sheet processing apparatus B acquires the sheet thickness information (S01), and in the case of a sheet thinner than the preset sheet thickness, the normal pasting described above. It is to shift to the mode (S2). Further, when the sheet is thicker than the set sheet thickness in advance, the mode shifts to the sticking mode firmly (S10), but the point of confirming this shift to the operator again is added (S1). This confirmation is performed in order to confirm whether or not it is necessary depending on the use of the booklet, since the use of the adhesive tape AT increases in the firm attachment mode. After this confirmation is performed, the flow is the same as that described with reference to FIGS. 26 and 27, and a description thereof will not be repeated. Further, in this modification, in the case of a thin sheet, even if the bonding range is narrow, it is relatively difficult to peel off, so that the normal sticking mode is automatically set.

[Description of control configuration]
The system control configuration of the above-described image forming apparatus will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. The system of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes an image forming apparatus controller 180 of the image forming apparatus A and a sheet processing controller 191 of the sheet processing apparatus B. The image forming apparatus control section 180 includes an image forming control section 181, a sheet feeding control section 186, and an input section 183. Then, the user sets “image forming mode” and “sheet processing mode” from the control panel 18 provided on the input unit 183. As described above, the image forming mode sets the number of printouts, sheet size, color / monochrome printing, enlargement / reduction printing, double-sided / single-sided printing, and other image forming conditions. The image forming apparatus control unit 180 controls the image forming control unit and the sheet feeding control unit in accordance with the set image forming conditions, forms an image on a predetermined sheet, and sequentially carries out the sheet from the main body discharge port 3. .

  At the same time, the sheet processing mode is set by an input from the control panel 18. The processing mode is set to, for example, “printout mode”, “staple binding finishing mode”, “adhesive sheet bundle folding mode”, or the like. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus control unit 180 transfers the sheet processing finishing mode, the number of sheets, the number of copies, and the binding or bonding mode (single place binding or two or more places multiple binding) information to the sheet processing control unit 191.

The sheet processing control unit 191 includes a control CPU 192 for operating the sheet processing apparatus B according to the specified finishing mode, a ROM 193 storing an operation program, and a RAM 194 storing control data. The control CPU 192 executes a sheet conveyance control unit 195 that conveys the sheet sent to the carry-in entrance 23, a sheet punching control unit 196 that performs a punching process on the sheet by the punch unit 28, and a stacking of the sheet by the processing tray 29. A processing tray stacking operation control unit 197 for performing an operation, a processing tray discharging operation control unit 198 for discharging sheets bundled from the processing tray 29, and a sheet or a sheet bundle discharged from the processing tray 29 to a stacking amount. A first discharge tray sheet stacking operation control unit 199 that raises and lowers the first discharge tray 21 accordingly.
The sheet processing control unit 191 acquires the thickness information of the sheet detected by the control of the image forming apparatus, and controls each unit based on the thickness information. The sheet nip interval of the carry-in roller 24 in the opening 23 may be detected.

Further, in order to control when the sheets are folded and bundled while being stacked on the stacker unit 40, a stacking unit stacking operation control unit 200, a sheet binding / bonding processing operation control unit 201 for instructing an operation of bonding sheets, A sheet folding process control unit 202 that folds a sheet bundle attached with an adhesive into two is provided. Note that the sheet binding / adhesion processing operation control unit 201 also controls an end-face binding stapler 35 that binds the sheets stacked on the processing tray 29 with staples. Although not shown, each control unit receives a position signal from a sensor that detects the position of the sheet conveyance path and each member.

The connection between each control unit and each unit of the motor will be described with reference to FIG. First, the sheet conveyance control unit 195 is connected to a control circuit of the drive motor M1 so as to control driving of the carry-in roller 24 for receiving and conveying the sheet from the image forming apparatus A. Further, when the sheet is conveyed into the processing tray 29, the sheet conveyance control unit 195 once puts the sheet in the second switchback path SP <b> 2 in a switchback standby state, and discharges the sheet to the processing tray 29 together with the next sheet. This is to enable processing without stopping the operation on the image forming apparatus A side. In order to perform this switch-back conveyance, the path carrying roller 45 in the carrying-in path 41 is driven by a drive motor M2 capable of normal and reverse conveyance. Is controlling. Also, a separation motor 131 (M3) that positions the leading end side of the stacker unit 40 and the rear end side of the carry-in path 41 to separate the pinch roller 125 from the drive roller 120 when aligning sheets is used. Controlling.

Next, the sheet punching control unit 196 is connected to a control circuit of the punching motor M4 for punching a punch hole in the sheet.
The processing tray integration operation control unit 197 controls the control circuit of the nip separation motor M5 that nips or separates the paper discharge rollers 25 to carry in the processing tray 29 or the first paper discharge tray 21 or carry out the sheet bundle from the processing tray 29. It is connected. In addition, it is connected to a control circuit of a side alignment plate motor M6 that reciprocates the side alignment plate 36 in the sheet width direction in order to align the sheets on the processing tray 29.

The processing tray discharge operation control unit 198 moves the rear end regulating member 33 toward the paper discharge port 25a in order to discharge the sheet bundle bound at the end by the end binding stapler 35 on the processing tray 29 to the first paper discharge tray. It is connected to the control circuit of the moving bundle discharge motor M7. The control circuit of the first tray lifting motor M8 that moves up and down according to the amount of sheets stored in the first discharge tray 21 is connected to and controlled by the first discharge tray sheet stacking operation control unit 199.

Next, an outline of a control unit that applies an adhesive to a position １ ／ in the sheet conveyance direction, bonds the sheets together, and folds the sheet at the application position of the adhesive will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the stacking unit stacking operation control unit 200 moves the pressing roller 49, which is located in the middle of the stacker unit 40 and presses the sheet conveyed to the stacker unit 40 and conveys the sheet downstream, to the pressing position. It is connected to and controlled by a control circuit of a pressure roller nip separation motor 141 (M9) that rotates and reversely separates the sheet from the sheet.

Further, the position of the sheet entering the stacker unit 40 is controlled to control the initial home position Sh0, and the rear end of the sheet (bundle) at the rear end of the sheet (bundle) at the branch position between the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47, Sh1. The adhesive bundle folding position Sh2 for folding the bonded sheet bundle into two, the adhesive tape transfer position Sh3 for applying the adhesive tape AT to the center of the sheet, In order to prevent the adhesive application position of the sheet from sticking, it is connected to the control circuit of the stopper motor 90 that moves back and moves to the adhesive tape hiding position Sh4 that is switched back to the evacuation path 47 and waits. The relationship such as the sheet flow at each position is as described in detail with reference to FIGS.
In addition, as described in FIG. 14 and FIG. 26 to FIG. 28, whether the adhesive tape AT is provided at the center or at two places of the sheet or at two places separated from each other may be moved by the moving motor M10. ing.

The stacker unit integration operation control unit 200 includes a control circuit of a gripper opening / closing motor 160 (M11) that opens and closes the leading end of the sheet with the leading end of the stopper unit 90 and discloses the holding. Also connected and controlled. Since the gripping timing of the gripper and the like have already been described, the description thereof is omitted. Further, the stacking unit stacking operation control unit 200 is capable of aligning a sheet side edge which can be aligned even if the sheet front end is located in the stacker unit 40 and the rear end is positioned over the carry-in path 41 and the retreat path 47, respectively. The alignment member 48 is also connected to and controlled by a control circuit of an alignment motor 117 (M3) that reciprocates in the sheet width direction.

The sheet binding / adhesion processing operation control unit 201 is a cam moving motor that reciprocates a cam member 57 that moves between a position where the adhesive tape stamper 51 of the bonding unit 50 is pressed against the sheet to apply the adhesive and a position that is separated from the sheet. 60 (M13). The sheet binding / adhesion processing operation control unit 201 is connected to the end-face binding stapler 35 of the processing tray 29. In addition, as described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 26 to 28, the cam may determine whether the adhesive tape AT is pressed to the center in the sheet moving direction, pressed to two places, or pressed away to two places. This is performed by the operation of the moving motor 60.

  Finally, the sheet folding process control unit 202 is configured to rotate or reciprocate the folding blade 86, the folding rollers 81a and 81b, and the bundle discharge roller 95 with a common motor, as described above. The motor M15 is also connected to the drive circuit so as to be controlled.

The control unit configured as described above causes the sheet processing apparatus to execute the following processing operation.
"Printout mode"
In this mode, a sheet on which an image has been formed by the image forming apparatus A is stored in the first discharge tray 21 via the sheet carrying-in path P1 of the sheet processing apparatus B, and, for example, in a face-down attitude, sequentially from page 1 to page n. It will be loaded and stored above.

"Staple binding finishing mode"
In this mode, the image forming apparatus A forms an image of a series of documents in the order from the first page to the nth page in the same manner as in the above-described mode, and carries out the document from the main body outlet 3 in a face-down state. Then, after being sent to the sheet carry-in path P1, the sheet is conveyed by switchback onto the processing tray 29 along the first switchback conveyance path SP1. By repeating this sheet conveyance, a series of sheets is stacked on the first processing tray 29 in a face-down state. After this stacking, the stapling stapler 35 is operated to bind the trailing edges of the sheet stacks stacked on the tray. The stapled sheet bundle is carried out and stored on the first discharge tray 21. As a result, a series of sheets on which an image has been formed by the image forming apparatus A are stapled and stored in the first discharge tray 21.

"Adhesive sheet bundle folding mode"
In this mode, the image forming apparatus A applies an adhesive in the sheet processing apparatus B and attaches the sheets to finish the booklet. For this reason, the sheet processing apparatus B guides the sheet sent to the sheet carrying-in path P1 to the second switchback carrying path SP2, and is guided by the path carrying-in rollers 45 and the carrying rollers 46 arranged in this path and guides the sheet to the stacker unit 40. Is done.
Since the subsequent flow of the sheets, the operation of bonding the sheets, and the relationship between the preceding sheet and the next sheet have already been described with reference to FIGS. 19 to 27, the description is omitted here. The position to be adhered is changed depending on the number of sheets, and this point is also as already described with reference to FIG. 13, FIG. 14, and FIG. 26 to FIG.
As described above, after the adhesive is applied and the bundle is generated in the stacker unit, the sheet bundle is subjected to the folding process, and the sheet bundle is carried out to the second discharge tray 22.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
1. A sheet processing apparatus for folding sheets after laminating the sheets, wherein a stacker section 40 for sequentially stacking the moved sheets and an adhesive is applied to substantially the center in the moving direction for each sheet sequentially stacked on the stacker section 40. Unit 50 for attaching a sheet to the adhesive unit 50, a moving member 90 for moving the sheet to the application position of the adhesive unit 50, and bonding of the sheet on which the adhesive is applied by the adhesive unit 50 to a folding roller 81 for folding the sheet. As the number of sheets to be bonded by the folding blade 86 for pushing the position X and the bonding unit 50 increases, the number of sheets to be bonded increases with the area variable mode in which the bonding area for applying the adhesive is changed. There is also a sheet processing apparatus having a control member capable of setting any one of a constant area mode in which the bonding area is substantially constant.
According to this, when a user desires a booklet having a high adhesive strength, the application area of the adhesive is increased in accordance with the number of sheets to be bonded, and substantially the same amount of adhesive is applied to a material that does not need to have a strong adhesive strength. An agent can be applied to improve the production of booklets.

2. The bonding area variable mode is to set the bonding area of the sheet between the folding roller 81 and the folding blade 86 to which the adhesive is applied on the folding roller 81 side to be gradually increased for every plural sheets. 1. The sheet processing apparatus according to 1.
According to this, since the sheets to be laminated are stacked from the folding blade 86 side toward the folding roller 81 side, a booklet in which the amount of the adhesive is gradually increased from the folded inner sheet to the outer sheet can be created.

3. The adhesive unit 50 includes a transfer tape (adhesive tape AT) having an adhesive on a tape substrate, and the adhesive is applied to the sheet by transferring the adhesive from the transfer tape to the sheet so that the adhesive is transferred to the sheet. 3. The sheet processing apparatus according to the item 2, wherein the pressing is performed by pressing a tape, and the bonding between the sheets is also performed by the pressing.
According to this, the adhesive is applied to the sheet by pressing the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape AT against the sheet, so that an attaching mechanism with a relatively easy configuration can be provided.

4. The moving member (stopper portion 90) includes a gripper member (gripper 91) for gripping the sheet, and stops and moves so that the gripper member can apply a large area of the adhesive at the tape transfer position X of the bonding unit 50. 4. The sheet processing apparatus according to the above 3, wherein the adhesive unit 50 is operated during this stop to transfer the transfer tape (adhesive tape AT) to the sheet.
According to this, the amount of the adhesive applied to the sheet is adjusted by controlling the movement of the stopper portion 90 having the gripper 91 and pressing the sheet of the adhesive tape AT by the adhesive tape stamper 51 of the adhesive unit 50. The configuration is relatively easy because it can be adjusted.

5. The sheet processing apparatus according to the item 4, wherein the adhesive unit is configured such that a plurality of tape holders supporting a transfer tape are arranged in a sheet width direction, and the adhesive is transferred to the sheet by sequentially pressing the tape holder against the sheet in the width direction. is there.
According to this, the adhesive can be applied by pressing the adhesive tape AT at a plurality of positions in the sheet width direction, so that the adhesive force between the sheets can be increased.

6. A sheet processing apparatus for laminating sheets after laminating the sheets, wherein a stacker section 40 for sequentially stacking the conveyed sheets, and an adhesive is applied to substantially the center in the moving direction for each sheet sequentially stacked on the stacker section 40. Unit 50, a moving member (stopper unit 90) for moving the sheet to the application position of the adhesive unit 50, and a sheet to which the adhesive has been applied is applied to the folding roller 81 and the folding roller 86. A folding blade 86 for pushing the bonding position X to which the adhesive has been applied by the bonding unit 50, and a control member (sheet for controlling the bonding unit 50 and the moving member (stopper portion 90) and obtaining sheet thickness information) Processing control section 191), and the control member performs the above-described operation in accordance with the thickness information of the sheet to be bonded by the bonding unit 50. Or also the area of applying an adhesive from which the increase in the number of over preparative increase is adhesion area also the number of sheets is increased bonding sheet processing apparatus can be set or substantially constant.
According to this, when a user desires a booklet having a high adhesive strength, the application area of the adhesive is increased in accordance with the number of sheets to be bonded, and substantially the same amount of adhesive is applied to a material that does not need to have a strong adhesive strength. An agent can be applied to improve the production of booklets.

7. The adhesive unit 50 includes a transfer tape (adhesive tape AT) having an adhesive on a tape substrate, and the adhesive is applied to the sheet by transferring the adhesive from the transfer tape to the sheet so that the adhesive is transferred to the sheet. 7. The sheet processing apparatus according to the above item 6, wherein the pressing is performed by pressing the tape, and the bonding between the sheets is also performed by the pressing.
According to this, the adhesive is applied to the sheet by pressing the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape AT against the sheet, so that an attaching mechanism with a relatively easy configuration can be provided.

8. A sheet processing apparatus for folding sheets after laminating the sheets, the stacker section 40 accumulating the sheets moved along a transport path (a carry-in path 41), and the sheet processing apparatus restricting the sheets moved to the stacker section 40. A sheet regulating member (stopper portion 90) including a gripper member (gripper 91) that grips and moves the sheet, and a sheet that is located on the upstream side of the stacker portion 40 and moves to the stacker portion 40 and is carried in the carrying direction. An evacuation path 47 branched from a conveyance path (loading path 41) that allows reverse feeding in the reverse direction, and an adhesive (adhesive tape AT) located at the confluence of the conveyance path (loading path 41) and the retreat path 47 A bonding unit 50 for bonding sheets by coating, a folding processing unit 80 for folding sheets stacked in the stacker unit 40 bonded by the bonding unit 50, A control member (sheet processing control section 191) for controlling the sheet regulating member (stopper section 90) and the adhesive unit 50 and acquiring thickness information of a sheet carried into the stacker section 40 is provided. The sheet to which the adhesive has been applied is temporarily retracted to the retreat path 47, and the area to which the adhesive is applied in accordance with the increase in the number of sheets to be bonded by the bonding unit 50 based on the acquired sheet thickness information. This is a sheet processing apparatus that can be set to make it variable or to keep the bonding area substantially constant even when the number of sheets to be bonded increases.
According to this, it is possible to prevent the sheet adhesive to be bonded from being attached to an extra portion, and to increase the application area of the adhesive according to the number of sheets to be bonded, when the user desires a booklet having a high bonding strength. In addition, the adhesive which does not need to have high adhesive strength can be coated with approximately the same amount of adhesive to improve the production of booklets.

9. When the acquired sheet thickness information exceeds a predetermined value, the control member (sheet processing control unit 191) changes the area to which the adhesive is applied according to an increase in the number of sheets. The sheet processing apparatus according to the above item 8, wherein the bonding area is set substantially constant even when the number of sheets to be bonded increases.
According to this, when the thickness is equal to or less than the predetermined value, the adhesive area is automatically set to be substantially constant, so that the productivity of the bundle production is less reduced.

10. The control member (sheet processing control unit 191) further determines that if the acquired sheet thickness information exceeds a predetermined value, the area for applying the adhesive is changed according to the increase in the number of sheets. Even in the case of the sheet processing apparatus, the bonding area to be bonded to these sheets can be changed to be substantially constant.
According to this, when the user determines that a thick sheet does not have much adhesive strength and is very good, the adhesive area can be made substantially constant, so that a booklet can be created according to the scene of use. .

11. The adhesive unit 50 includes a transfer tape (adhesive tape AT) having an adhesive on a tape substrate, and the adhesive is applied to the sheet by transferring the adhesive from the transfer tape to the sheet so that the adhesive is transferred to the sheet. The sheet processing apparatus according to the above item 10, wherein the pressing is performed by pressing a tape, and the pressing is performed to bond the sheets.
According to this, the adhesive is applied to the sheet by pressing the pressure-sensitive adhesive tape AT against the sheet, so that an attaching mechanism with a relatively easy configuration can be provided.

12. An image forming section for sequentially forming an image on a sheet, and a sheet processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a sheet from the image forming section. The sheet processing apparatus has any one of the above configurations 1 to 11. It is an image forming apparatus provided.
According to this, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus having the effects 1 to 11 described above.

  In the description of the effects of the above-described embodiment, for each part of the present embodiment, the members corresponding to the respective constituent elements in the claims are shown in parentheses or the reference numerals are used to indicate the relationship between the two. Clarified.

  Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the present invention, and all the technical matters included in the technical idea described in the claims are described in the present invention. The subject of the invention. Although the embodiments described above show preferred examples, those skilled in the art can realize various alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements from the contents disclosed in this specification. And these are included in the technical scope described in the appended claims.

A image forming apparatus B sheet processing apparatus X adhesive application position Y folding position Z final sheet pressing position AT adhesive tape (adhesive)
29 Processing tray 40 Stacker unit (second processing tray)
40a Stacker upper guide 40b Stacker lower guide 41 Load-in path 44 Deflection guide 46 Transport roller 47 Evacuation path 48 Sheet side edge alignment member 49 Pressure roller 50 Adhesive unit 51 Adhesive tape stamper (adhesive member)
52 stamper holder 53 guide rod 54 moving block 55 support block 56 roller 57 cam member 60 cam moving motor (M13)
61 Cam groove 62 Pressure spring 63 Central support frame 65 Sheet presser (Sheet restricting means)
71 Sheet pressing slider 72 Transfer head 79 Platen 80 Folding unit 81 Folding roller 86 Folding blade 90 Stopper unit 91 Gripper 103 Bend (deflection guide)
106 Projection guide 106a Projection surface (projection / guide)
170 Pressing part (Sheet press slider)
191 Sheet processing control unit 200 Stacker unit accumulation operation control unit 201 Sheet binding / adhesion processing operation control unit

Claims (11)

A sheet processing apparatus that can be folded after laminating sheets,
A stacker unit for sequentially accumulating sheets moving in a predetermined moving direction,
Adhesive is applied at a predetermined application position to the approximate center of the sheet other than the last sheet sequentially stacked in the stacker portion at the predetermined application position, and the sheet is stacked on the already applied sheet in the stacker portion where the adhesive has been applied. An adhesive unit for performing a sheet bundle forming process, pressing and bonding together,
Each time sheets are sequentially stacked on the stacker unit, except for the last sheet that is stacked on the stacker unit, in order for the bonding unit to perform the bundle forming process, the stacker unit is placed on the application position of the bonding unit. A moving member for moving the sheet of
A blade that presses the sheet bundle on which the bundle forming process has been performed by the bonding unit;
A folding roller arranged to face the folding blade with the stacker portion interposed therebetween, and forming a fold at a position where the adhesive of the sheet bundle pushed by the blade is applied;
A thickness information acquisition unit that acquires thickness information of the sheet integrated in the stacker unit,
When the thickness information of the sheet acquired by the thickness information acquisition unit is a thickness exceeding a predetermined value, the number of sheets constituting the sheet bundle subjected to the bundle forming process by the bonding unit increases. The adhesive unit increases the area to which the adhesive is applied according to the thickness information, and when the thickness information of the sheet acquired by the thickness information acquiring unit is a thickness equal to or less than a predetermined value, a bundle is formed by the adhesive unit. A control unit that controls the moving member and the bonding unit so that the area where the bonding unit applies the adhesive is substantially constant even when the number of sheets constituting the processed sheet bundle increases.
Sheet processing device provided with The controller is configured to increase an area in which the adhesive unit applies the adhesive in accordance with an increase in the number of sheets constituting the sheet bundle on which the bundle forming process is performed by the adhesive unit. 2. The sheet processing according to claim 1, wherein each time a plurality of sheets are stacked on the stacker , the moving member and the bonding unit are controlled so as to gradually increase the area where the bonding unit applies the adhesive. 3. apparatus. The adhesive unit includes a transfer tape having an adhesive on a tape substrate,
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the adhesive is applied to the sheet by pressing the transfer tape against the sheet at the application position, and the sheet is pressed and bonded to the integrated sheet on which the adhesive has been applied. Sheet processing equipment. The moving member includes a gripper member that grips a sheet of the stacker unit,
While the gripper member is holding the sheet of the stacker unit, the stop and the movement are repeatedly performed with respect to the application position of the bonding unit, and the transfer unit is operated by operating the bonding unit while the gripper member is stopped. 4. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an area in which the bonding unit applies the adhesive is increased by pressing the sheet processing apparatus. 5.   The bonding unit includes a plurality of tape holders that support the transfer tape arranged in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the moving direction along a surface of the sheet of the stacker unit, and sequentially presses the tape holder against the sheet. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the adhesive is applied to a sheet. A sheet processing apparatus that can be folded after laminating sheets,
A conveyance path for guiding the sheet in a predetermined conveyance direction,
A stacker unit that sequentially accumulates sheets guided in the transport direction by the transport path;
A sheet regulating member including a gripper member that regulates and sequentially grips the sheets sequentially stacked in the stacker unit and moves in a direction opposite to the transport direction;
An evacuation route that is located on the upstream side in the transport direction of the stacker unit and is configured to be able to receive a sheet moved in the reverse direction by the sheet regulating member,
The adhesive is applied at a predetermined application position substantially at the center in the transport direction of the sheets other than the last sheet sequentially stacked on the stacker unit, which is located at a confluence position of the transport path and the retreat path, and the sheet is applied. An adhesive unit that performs a bundle forming process of forming a sheet bundle by pressing and bonding the stacked adhesive sheets that have been applied with the adhesive moved to the evacuation path;
A blade that presses the sheet bundle on which the bundle forming process has been performed by the bonding unit;
A folding roller arranged to face the folding blade with the stacker portion interposed therebetween, and forming a fold at a position where the adhesive of the sheet bundle pushed by the blade is applied;
A thickness information acquisition unit that acquires thickness information of the sheet integrated in the stacker unit,
When the thickness information of the sheet acquired by the thickness information acquisition unit is a thickness exceeding a predetermined value, the number of sheets constituting the sheet bundle subjected to the bundle forming process by the bonding unit increases. The adhesive unit increases the area where the adhesive is applied according to the thickness information of the sheet acquired by the thickness information acquisition unit is equal to or less than a predetermined value. A control unit that controls the sheet regulating member and the bonding unit so that the area where the bonding unit applies the adhesive is substantially constant even when the number of sheets constituting the processed sheet bundle increases. ,
Sheet processing device provided with The controller is configured to increase an area in which the adhesive unit applies the adhesive in accordance with an increase in the number of sheets constituting the sheet bundle on which the bundle forming process is performed by the adhesive unit. 7. The sheet according to claim 6, wherein each time a plurality of sheets are stacked on the stacker unit, the sheet regulating member and the adhesive unit are controlled so as to gradually increase the area where the adhesive unit applies the adhesive. 8. Processing equipment. The adhesive unit includes a transfer tape having an adhesive on a tape substrate,
8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the adhesive is applied to the sheet by pressing the transfer tape against the sheet at the application position, and the sheet is pressed and bonded to the integrated sheet on which the adhesive has been applied. Sheet processing equipment.   While the gripper member grips the sheet of the stacker unit, the stop and the movement are repeated with respect to the application position of the adhesive unit, and the adhesive unit is operated while the gripper member is stopped to transfer the transfer tape to the sheet. 9. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein an area in which the adhesive unit applies the adhesive is increased by pressing the sheet processing unit.   The adhesive unit is provided with a plurality of tape holders supporting the transfer tape arranged in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the moving direction along the surface of the sheet of the stacker unit, and sequentially pressing the tape holder against the sheet. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the adhesive is applied to a sheet. An image forming unit for sequentially forming an image on a sheet;
A sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
An image forming apparatus comprising:

Images