JP7314572B2 - Post-processing device and image forming system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to post-processing devices and image forming systems.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been known a post-processing apparatus that is connected to an image forming apparatus as part of an image forming system and performs post-processing on a sheet with an image formed thereon, which is output from the image forming apparatus. A binding device that binds a plurality of sheets is known as one type of post-processing device.

The binding device includes a stacking means for stacking sheets carried in from an image forming apparatus to form a sheet bundle, an aligning means for aligning the ends of the sheet bundle, and a binding means for performing binding processing at a predetermined position of the edge of the sheet bundle. Therefore, the binding device includes an alignment device for aligning the edges of the stack of sheets.

Sheets conveyed to the stacking means are often curved upward, and are stacked in such a curved state. In this case, the binding process is performed without sufficiently aligning the ends of the sheets while the ends of the sheets are curved upward.

A technique is disclosed in which a sheet edge is abutted against a reference fence, and the upwardly curving sheet edge is pressed by a regulating member that is movable in the thickness direction when the sheets are stacked, and binding processing is performed by a binding means (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-100003).

The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200000 has a problem that the arrangement for aligning the sheet edges becomes complicated by providing the restricting means.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an aligning device that can easily align the edges of sheets with a simpler configuration.

In order to solve the above technical problems, one aspect of the present invention ispost-processingThe apparatus relates to an accumulating means for accumulating the sheets carried in, a sheet aligning means for aligning the sheets accumulated in the accumulating means,binding means for binding the sheets stacked in the stacking means;wherein the sheet aligning means has an edge receiving surface for receiving the edge of the sheet, and the angle formed by the sheet stacking surface of the stacking means and the edge receiving surface is 80 degrees or more and less than 90 degrees.the law of nature,The binding means drives a binding needle into the rear end of the sheet bundle aligned by the sheet alignment means in a direction parallel to the stacking direction of the sheet bundle.It is characterized by

According to the present invention, the edges of the sheets can be easily aligned.

1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an image forming system according to the present invention; FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a post-processing device according to the present invention; FIG. The perspective view which shows the mode of operation|movement of the binding device which concerns on this invention. The front view which shows the comparative example of the alignment apparatus which concerns on the said embodiment. FIG. 11 is a front view showing an example of the form of aligning the edges of sheets in the comparative example; FIG. 4 is a front view showing an example of the form of aligning the edges of sheets according to the embodiment; FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of a reference fence included in the aligning device according to the embodiment; The enlarged front view explaining the effect of the reference|standard fence with which the aligning apparatus which concerns on this embodiment is provided. The front view which shows the example of the support structure of the said reference|standard fence. The front view which shows the example of the effect of the support structure of the said reference|standard fence. The front view which shows another example of the support structure of the said reference|standard fence, and another example of an effect. 4A and 4B are views for explaining an example of binding processing according to the embodiment; FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of a staple tray included in the aligning device according to the embodiment;

Embodiments of a binding device, a post-processing device, and an image forming system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment of Image Forming System]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of a printing system 1 that is an embodiment of an image forming system. The printing system 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a printing device 10, which is an image forming device that prints an image on a sheet-shaped recording medium, and a post-processing device 20 that is connected to the printing device 10 and performs predetermined post-processing on the printed sheet.

The post-processing device 20 includes devices for punching holes in printed sheets, edge binding for bundling and binding sheets, and saddle stitching for saddle stitching. It is necessary to align the edges of the sheets for these post-treatments. Therefore, the post-processing device 20 includes an aligning device for aligning the trailing edge of the sheet.

[Overall configuration of post-processing device 20]
Next, a schematic configuration of post-processing device 20 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the post-processing device 20 includes a carry-in path 201 connected to the printing device 10, an internal discharge roller 202, a staple tray 203, a tip tapping member 204, an external discharge roller 205, a discharge tray 206, a reference fence 211, and an edge binding stapler 213.

The carry-in path 201 forms a carrying path for carrying a sheet 207 (hereinafter referred to as a sheet 207) as a printed sheet carried out from the printing apparatus 10, which is the preceding apparatus, to the post-processing apparatus 20 and carrying it to the sheet edge binding apparatus 200 as a binding apparatus, which will be described later.

The internal discharge roller 202 is arranged at the end of the carry-in path 201 and discharges the sheet 207 to the staple tray 203 .

The staple tray 203 is a primary stacking tray for sequentially stacking the sheets 207 to form a bundle of the sheets 207 (hereinafter referred to as a sheet bundle) and corresponds to stacking means.

The leading edge striking member 204 as a pressing member is an edge regulating member that regulates the position of the front end in the carry-out direction of the sheet 207 discharged in the direction of arrow A toward the staple tray 203, and abuts the rear end in the carry-out direction, which is the opposite end of the front end in the carry-out direction, against the reference fence 211. In other words, the tip hitting member 204 strikes the tip of the sheet stacked on the staple tray 203 in the direction of arrow A in the direction of arrow B, contacts the tip of the sheet 207 in the direction of arrow A and presses the sheet 207, thereby aligning the sheet 207 with the reference fence 211.

The external discharge roller 205 is a roller that constitutes a discharge unit that discharges the sheet bundle accumulated on the staple tray 203 and bound by an end-binding stapler 213 (to be described later) to the outside.

A discharge tray 206 is a tray for stacking the discharged sheet bundle.

The reference fence 211 constitutes sheet alignment means for aligning the trailing ends (the trailing ends in the carry-out direction) of the sheets 207 stacked on the staple tray 203 . That is, the reference fence 211 constitutes a part of an aligning device that aligns the trailing edge portions of the sheets 207 .

The end binding stapler 213 constitutes a binding means for binding the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet bundle by driving a staple into the trailing end of the sheet bundle accumulated on the staple tray 203, aligned by the reference fence 211 and pressed in the thickness direction, and making the staple grip the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet bundle.

[Flow of Alignment Processing and Binding Processing]
Here, the flow of the aligning process and the binding process in the post-processing device 20 will be explained again. The sheet 207 carried out from the printing apparatus 10 is carried into the carry-in path 201, conveyed through the carry-in path 201, and carried out to the inside. After that, the front end of the sheet 207 is hit by the front end hitting member 204 , and the rear end of the sheet 207 hits the reference fence 211 . As a result, the trailing edge of the sheet 207 in the conveying direction is aligned.

After the last sheet 207 to be stacked is discharged to the staple tray 203 and stacked at the uppermost position of the sheet bundle, the edge binding stapler 213 staples the sheet bundle to perform edge binding processing.

After that, the sheet bundle subjected to the edge binding process is moved to the external discharge roller 205 side and discharged to the discharge tray 206 by the external discharge roller 205 .

[Overview of aligning device]
Next, an embodiment of the aligning device according to the present invention will be described. The edge aligning device 210 according to this embodiment includes a reference fence 211 and an edge binding stapler 213, as shown in FIG. Note that the staple tray 203 is omitted in FIG. The edge binding device 200 provided with the edge aligning device 210 also includes a jogger fence 212 for aligning the edges of the sheets 207 in the width direction.

Next, how the edge aligning device 210 operates will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the edge binding stapler 213 is configured to move in the width direction of the sheet 207 and perform binding processing at a plurality of positions. The direction of movement of the end-stitching stapler 213 is the direction of arrow C shown in FIG. A reference fence 211 is arranged in the middle of the entire lengthwise area. Also, the jogger fence 212 operates in the direction of arrow D, which is the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the sheet 207, and aligns the sheet 207 in the width direction.

[Comparative Example of Edge Aligning Device 210]
FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of a conventional end aligning device 210a illustrated as a comparative example. Alignment means provided in the edge alignment device 210a includes a reference fence 211a and an alignment guide member 214a. The alignment guide member 214a is provided to guide the trailing edge portion of the sheet 207 conveyed and placed on the staple tray 203 to the reference fence 211a. The alignment guide member 214a is an elastic member made of flexible resin, mylar, or the like.

FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating how the trailing edges of the sheets 207 are aligned in the edge alignment device 210a. One end of the alignment guide member 214a is attached to the opening of the reference fence 211a, and the other end hangs down toward the space where the reference fence 211a receives the sheet 207. As shown in FIG. The front end of the sheet 207 conveyed to the staple tray 203 is hit by the front end hitting member 204, and the sheet 207 moves toward the reference fence 211a. At this time, since the trailing edge portion of the sheet 207 is curved upward, the alignment guide member 214a acts to reduce the curvature.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, in the edge aligning device 210a, the elastic force of the aligning guide member 214a only applies a force in the direction of reducing the curvature of the trailing edge portion of the sheet.

[Embodiment of edge aligning device 210]
Next, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a front view of the edge aligning device 210 according to this embodiment. The surface of the reference fence 211 against which the rear end of the sheet 207 abuts is slightly inclined inward. As a result, as shown by the dashed line circle F in FIG. 6, the upward curvature of the rear end of the sheet 207 is corrected by the surface of the reference fence 211, and the correction of the curvature due to the elasticity of the alignment guide member 214 works more effectively.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged front view of the reference fence 211 included in the edge aligning device 210 according to this embodiment. The reference fence 211 has a sheet stacking surface 2111 and an end reference surface 2112 .

A sheet stacking surface 2111 is a surface on which the sheets 207 are stacked, and is parallel to the stacking surface on which the staple tray 203 stacks the sheets 207 . The sheets 207 stacked on the staple tray 203 are hit by the tip hitting member 204 so that the trailing edge of the sheet 207 hits the edge reference surface 2112 while sliding on the sheet stacking surface 2111 .

The edge reference surface 2112 is a surface against which the trailing edge of the sheet 207 abuts, and corresponds to an edge receiving surface forming a predetermined angle with the edge of the sheet stacking surface 2111 .

For the sake of explanation, the angle formed by the sheet stacking surface 2111 and the edge reference surface 2112 is assumed to be a fence inner angle 2113 . In this embodiment, the fence inner angle 2113 is an angle smaller than a right angle.

The effect of the edge aligning device 210 having the reference fence 211 will be described with reference to FIG. The edge reference surface 2112 is the surface where the reference fence 211 is “tilted inward” with respect to the space in which the sheet 207 is received. As a result, even if the trailing edge of the sheet 207 curved upward and hits the edge reference surface 2112 tries to float in the curving direction, the lift is suppressed by the friction with the edge reference surface 2112 . For example, as indicated by the dotted line arrow G in FIG. 8, the force with which the trailing edge of the sheet 207 tends to be lifted is reduced by the edge reference surface 2112 that is tilted inward. That is, the edge aligning device 210 can improve the alignment accuracy of the trailing edges of the sheets 207 by adjusting the angle between the sheet stacking surface 2111 and the edge reference surface 2112 .

In addition, the fence inner angle 2113 is 80 degrees or more and less than 90 degrees. A preferred example of the fence inner angle 2113 is 87 degrees or more and 89.5 degrees or less.

Next, the tip tapping member 204, which is a pressing member provided in the edge aligning device 210, will be described with reference to FIG. The leading edge tapping member 204 is configured such that the surface against which the front edge of the sheet 207 (the leading edge of the sheet 207 conveyed in the direction of arrow A illustrated in FIG. 2) strikes is slightly inclined inward. As a result, the upward curve of the leading edge of the sheet 207 conveyed to the staple tray 203 is corrected by the surface of the leading edge striking member 204 .

FIG. 13 is an enlarged front view of the tip tapping member 204 included in the edge aligning device 210 according to this embodiment. The front end tapping member 204 has a sheet stacking surface 2041 and a front end pressing surface 2042 .

A sheet stacking surface 2111 is a surface on which the sheets 207 are stacked, and is parallel to the stacking surface on which the staple tray 203 stacks the sheets 207 . The front ends of the sheets 207 stacked on the staple tray 203 are struck by the front end pressing surface 2042 of the leading edge striking member 204 . As a result, the trailing edge of the sheet 207 abuts against the reference fence 211 . That is, the front end of the sheet 207, which is the opposite end to the rear end of the sheet 207, is aligned by the front end pressing surface 2042, which is the end contact surface.

The front end pressing surface 2042 is a surface against which the front end of the sheet 207 abuts, and corresponds to an end receiving surface forming a predetermined angle with the end of the sheet stacking surface 2041 .

For the sake of explanation, the angle formed by the sheet stacking surface 2041 and the front end pressing surface 2042 is assumed to be a tapping inner angle 2043 . In this embodiment, the tapping interior angle 2043 is an angle that is less than a right angle.

The effect of the edge aligning device 210 having the tip tapping member 204 will be described. The front end pressing surface 2042 is a surface where the front end striking member 204 is “tilted inward” with respect to the space in which the sheet 207 is received. As a result, the front end of the sheet 207 curved upward and hit against the front end pressing surface 2042 is prevented from being lifted up by friction with the front end pressing surface 2042 . That is, the edge aligning device 210 can improve the alignment accuracy of the front edges of the sheets 207 by adjusting the angle between the sheet stacking surface 2111 and the front edge pressing surface 2042 .

[First example of support structure for reference fence 211]
The reference fence 211 is fixed in place by fence stays 221, for example, as illustrated in FIG. The fence stay 221 is an L-shaped member having one surface fixed to the back surface of the staple tray 203 and the other surface standing from the back surface of the staple tray 203 . A fixed end of the reference fence 211 is fixed to an upright surface of the fence stay 221 by a fastening member 222 .

The reference fence 211 is cantilevered by fence stays 221 and fastening members 222 . When the sheets 207 are stacked and the load applied to the end reference surface 2112 increases, the entire reference fence 211 slightly bends in the direction of the arc arrow H as illustrated in FIG. FIG. 10 exaggerates the degree of bending. The material and flexibility of the reference fence 211 are set so that the fence inner angle 2113 remains less than 90 degrees even if the sheets 207 are loaded up to the stacking limit (for example, 100 sheets).

[Second example of support structure for reference fence 211]
Next, another support structure for the reference fence 211 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 11 . FIG. 11 is an example of supporting the reference fence 211 in the first avoidance structure 220 that retracts the reference fence 211 from interference with the end binding stapler 213 . As shown in FIG. 11, the first avoidance structure 220 also serves as a holding structure for holding the reference fence 211 at a predetermined position, and is fixed to the back surface of the staple tray 203 (the surface opposite to the stacking surface of the sheets 207).

Therefore, also in the structural example of FIG. 11, the reference fence 211 is cantilevered. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 11, when the sheets 207 are stacked and the load applied to the end reference surface 2112 increases, the entire reference fence 211 slightly bends in the direction of the arc arrow H. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 11, the degree of bending is exaggerated. The material and flexibility of the reference fence 211 are set so that the fence inner angle 2113 remains less than 90 degrees even if the sheets 207 are loaded up to the stacking limit (for example, 100 sheets).

[Binding processing example of sheet 207]
As described above, when the rear ends of the sheets 207 are aligned by the reference fence 211 having an inward tilting structure, the rear ends of the sheets 207 are also inclined along the inward tilting specifics of the end reference plane 2112 . This example is illustrated in FIG. 12(a). When the end-stitching stapler 213 drives the binding needle 2131a in accordance with the degree of inclination of the sheet 207, the driving direction of the binding needle 2131a becomes oblique as shown in FIG. 12(a).

Therefore, in the edge aligning device 210 according to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12B, the edge-stitching stapler 213 is tilted in line with the edge reference plane 2112 so that the staples 2131 are parallel to the stacking direction of the sheets 207 by the stapling processing of the edge-stitching stapler 213. As a result, the sheets 207 can be bound without tilting the binding direction of the binding needles 2131 .

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible without departing from the technical scope of the invention. Although the above embodiment shows a preferred example, a person skilled in the art can realize various modifications from the disclosed contents. Such modifications are also included in the technical scope described in the claims.

1 : printing system 10 : printing device 20 : post-processing device 200 : edge binding device 201 : carry-in path 202 : internal discharge roller 203 : staple tray 204 : leading edge tapping member 205 : external discharge roller 206 : discharge tray 207 : paper 210 : edge aligning device 210a : edge aligning device 211 : reference fence 211a : reference fence 212 : Jogger fence 213 : Edge binding stapler 214 : Alignment guide member 214a : Alignment guide member 220 : First avoidance structure 221 : Fence stay 222 : Fastening member 2041 : Sheet stacking surface 2042 : Front end pressing surface 2043 : Tap inside angle 2111 : Sheet stacking surface 2112 : End reference surface 2113 : Fence inside angle 2131 : Needle

JP-A-11-130338

Claims (4)

a stacking means for stacking the sheets that have been carried in;
sheet alignment means for aligning the sheets stacked in the stacking means;
binding means for binding the sheets stacked in the stacking means;
with
the sheet aligning means has an edge receiving surface for receiving an edge of the sheet;
an angle between the sheet stacking surface of the stacking means and the end receiving surface is 80 degrees or more and less than 90 degrees;
The binding means drives a binding needle into the rear end of the sheet bundle aligned by the sheet alignment means in a direction parallel to the stacking direction of the sheet bundle.
A post-processing device characterized by: The sheet aligning means is a cantilever support structure having one end supported by the stacking means and the end receiving surface at the other end.
The post-processing device according to claim 1, characterized in that: a pressing member for aligning the sheets by pressing against the end receiving surface side the opposing end portion of the sheet which is received by the end receiving surface against the sheets stacked in the stacking means;
The pressing member is
Having an end contact surface that contacts the opposing end,
3. The post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an angle formed by said sheet stacking surface of said stacking unit and said end contact surface is 80 degrees or more and less than 90 degrees. an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet and carries it out;
The post-processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which carries in the sheet carried out from the image forming apparatus;
An image forming system comprising: