JPH01267259A - Recording paper processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To get rid of an opening between a paper discharging tray and a cover as well as to prevent any trouble due to foreign matter penetration by installing a hinged sliding cover in a back lower end of the paper discharging tray, and moving it to interlock with an up-and-down motion of the paper discharging tray. CONSTITUTION:Copying paper F out of a copying device is discharged onto a paper discharging tray 40 by a paper discharging roller 44, slipped down along its slope, and aligned and mounted on a lower part of the paper discharg ing roller 44. At this time, the paper discharging tray 40 goes down successively according to the number of discharged sheets, but one end of a sliding cover 46 coupled with one end of a tray bottom plate 48 via a hinge shaft 47 also goes down, and the other end horizontally moves along an engaging groove 50 at the bossy side, thereby covering the inside together with a fixed cover 51. Thus, even at the time of an up-and-down motion of the paper discharging tray, no opening is produced in a gap with the cover, so that any trouble due to foreign matter penetration can be prevented from occurring.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a recording paper processing device suitable for use in combination with a recording device such as a copying machine.

[Behind the invention]

When creating conference materials, distribution materials, etc. from materials recorded by a recording device such as a copying device, it is necessary to align, fold, punch, or bind the materials after recording. Each set is either stably bound or bound in a file for use and storage. Therefore, in a recording paper processing device used in conjunction with a recording device, it is desirable that the plurality of sets of recording paper be differentiated for each set. For this reason, in order to distinguish between multiple sets of recording paper, the paper mounting surface on which the ejected recording paper is stacked is moved up and down and left and right in the direction of paper advance. There is a paper output tray. In a recording paper processing device equipped with such a paper output tray, recording paper is supplied from the outside, passes through a conveyance path, and is discharged from a paper output tray, which is placed opposite to the paper output tray. They are stacked and placed on the recording paper placement surface. A paper ejection roller is provided near the paper ejection port, and is driven to rotate to urge the recording paper in the paper ejection direction. After one set of recording paper is stacked and placed, the paper discharge tray moves downward, then shifts to the left or right in the direction of paper advance, and then moves upward. After such movement, the next set of recording paper to be ejected and stacked will be to the right or left in the traveling direction of the previous set of recording paper. The recording sheets of each set are distinguished from each other.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in a recording paper processing device equipped with a movable paper ejection tray as described above, the device cover body around the lower part of the moving paper ejection tray should be designed to prevent problems caused by the movement of the paper ejection tray. It is necessary. That is, the device cover body around the lower part of the moving paper discharge tray must not obstruct the movement of the paper discharge tray, and must also fulfill its purpose as a device cover body. In the case of shifting the paper output tray left and right in the recording paper conveyance direction, the opening provided on the fixed side at the boundary between the moving side and the fixed side is covered by a sufficiently large cover member on the moving side. By doing so, the opening can be prevented from being exposed at any movement position. However, when the paper output tray moves up and down, the cover body is fixed to the device frame as an exterior body of the recording paper processing device. Sometimes an opening was created between the two. If such an opening occurs, it may cause failure of the apparatus due to foreign matter entering the inside of the apparatus, and it is not preferable for safe operation.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is provided in a recording paper processing apparatus in which a plurality of sets of recording paper are stacked and stacked separately for each set by moving a paper output tray. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording paper processing apparatus that eliminates problems with a device cover body caused by vertical movement of a paper ejection tray, prevents device failure, and has excellent safety. The above object is to provide a recording paper processing device in which a paper output tray is movable up and down and a plurality of recording papers supplied one by one from the outside are stacked, and a rotatable structure is provided at the lower end of the back of the paper output tray. The hinge shaft is provided with an engagement groove in a fixed wall of the processing device, and a cover body is provided that spans the hinge shaft and the engagement groove, and the cover body moves in conjunction with the vertical movement of the paper output tray. This is achieved by a recording paper processing apparatus characterized in that it is configured to.

【Example】

The present invention will be explained below based on the drawings. The processing device illustrated next is a copy paper processing device used in combination with a copying device, and as shown in Figure @1, the copy paper processing device I is used by being connected to the copying device 2 at the position indicated by the broken line E. . Before explaining the copy paper processing apparatus II, which is the object of the present invention, the copying apparatus 2 will be briefly explained. A copy paper processing device to which the present invention is applicable is a copy document consisting of a plurality of sheets (for example, five sheets from the first page to the fifth page of a document).
Since the purpose is to copy a document to obtain at least one copy, it is necessary for the copying device to have a function to repeatedly copy multiple copies of originals in sequence, and a circulating device is used as a device for this purpose. type automatic document feeder (hereinafter referred to as RD)
H device) is used. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the copying apparatus 2 is equipped with an RDH device 3 on the top, and is configured to copy originals fed one by one by the RDH device 3 using a normal electrophotographic process. ing. The general structure and function of the copying device 2 and the RDH device 3 are already known and will be briefly described. The RDH device 3 is installed on a platen glass 10 provided on the top surface of the copying device 2. Original e, the multiple originals to be copied on the placement plate 11, facing up, one from the top.
The pages are stacked in the order of page 1, page 2, and so on. The document placement sensor R detects that the document is placed on the document i placement plate 11.
5, is detected by. When the copy button provided on the operation panel of the copying device 2 is pressed here, the rear end regulating plate I2 of the RDH unit R3 moves forward and the entire document tray is pushed forward (rightward in the figure) and the front passage is pushed out. Game 1-1 above
3" increases by 1. When the document passes through the gate 13 and advances a little, the document leading edge detection sensor R5 detects the leading edge of the document, the trailing edge regulating plate 12 stops, and the gate 13
is lowered, and the rear end regulating plate 12 retreats. Here, when the copying device 2 outputs a document feed signal at a predetermined timing, the half-moon-shaped feed roller 14 rotates once, and the double-feed prevention roller 15 rotates to feed only the lowest document. It will be done. The sent document is placed on guide plate 1
6, is sent by the feed roller 17, the tip is detected by the timing sensor R3, and the conveyor belt 1-1
8 and moves on the platen glass IO of the copying device 2 at a predetermined speed. Below the platen glass IO is an optical system 19 consisting of a lamp for document illumination, a reflecting mirror, etc.
is provided, and the original is exposed to light while being moved by this optical system 19. When a document leading edge detection signal from the timing sensor R33 is sent to the copying device 2, feeding of the transfer paper starts within the copying device 2. The exposed original is detected by the paper ejection sensor R3, and then transferred to another conveyor belt 20.
, and is placed on the remaining originals placed on the original placing plate 11 . The final discharge of the document is detected by a circulation discharge sensor R5. If a jam occurs while feeding the original,
This can be determined by the detection timing of the timing sensor RS and the discharge sensor R3. Feeding of the second document starts when the trailing edge of the first document is detected by the timing sensor RS3. In the same manner, when the exposure by the optical system of the copying device is completed for the third, fourth, etc. documents, the document leading edge detection sensor R5 confirms that the number of documents is 0,
In this way, the feeding of the original for one portion of the copy is completed. If a plurality of copies (for example, five copies) of the same copy are to be made, the document is automatically fed again sequentially from the last page, and exposure is performed sequentially up to the first page. This document feeding operation is repeated for the required number of copies. In synchronization with the above operation of the RDH device 3, the following electrophotographic process is performed within the copying device 2. When a document passing at a constant speed over the platen glass IO of the copying device 2 is exposed by the optical system 19, the reflected light from the document is reflected by the mirror 20, lens 21, . The light is projected onto the photoreceptor 23 via the mirror 22. The surface of the photoreceptor 23 is charged by the charging device 2
4, an electrostatic latent image is formed when reflected light from the document is projected. The electrostatic latent image is developed into a visible image by the developing device 25, and is then placed on the transfer paper F0 fed from one of the paper feed cassettes 26, 27, and 28 in synchronization with the automatic document feeding operation. is transferred by the transfer device 29. The transfer paper on which the visible image has been transferred is transferred to the photoreceptor 2 by a separating device.
3, transported by a transport belt 30, fixed by a fixing device R31, and discharged from the apparatus by a paper discharge roller 32. At this time, the transfer paper is detected by the paper discharge microswitch MS and a detection signal is output. A cleaning device 33 removes toner remaining on the surface of the photoreceptor 23 after the transfer paper is separated. Although the simplest type of copying device that performs one-sided copying from a one-sided original is shown as an example, the recording paper processing device of the present invention is not limited to this type of copying device. Of course, it is also possible to use it in combination with a type of copying device that performs copying or double-sided copying. In order to make these types of copies, it is necessary to invert the original or invert the transfer paper, and the copying device 2 or RD
The H device 3 requires a mechanism for this purpose. As shown in FIG. 1, the copy paper processing apparatus 1 according to the present invention includes a route switching gate 42 that switches the route of a copy F1 that is copied by the copying machine 2 and discharged from the copy machine 2, and a shift operation that switches the copy paper F1 one by one. A paper discharge tray 40 on which a plurality of sets of supplied recording paper are stacked and stacked separately for each set, and a conveyor whose path is switched by the switching gate 42 and conveys the loaded recording paper to the paper discharge tray 40. roller 41 and
It is constituted by a paper discharge roller 44 that discharges the recording paper conveyed by the conveyance roller 41 to a paper discharge tray 40 . In addition, in the figure, the dashed-dotted line indicates the discharge conveyance path of the recording paper. Next, the structure of a copy paper processing apparatus, which is a recording paper processing apparatus according to the present invention, will be explained in detail. FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the main transport parts of the copy paper processing device, and rollers 41a, 41b, 41c, and 41d constitute a transport roller 41 together with other rollers (not shown), and the path switching gate 42 is operated by a solenoid. Driven by SD,
When the solenoid SD is not energized, the solenoid SD assumes a first position for conveying the copy to the paper output tray 40;
is energized to assume a second position for transporting copies to intermediate stacker 43 for stapling and/or punching. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the drive system in the conveyance section of the copy paper processing apparatus. The drive system of the conveyance section includes a conveyance roller 41 and a discharge roller 44, a drive shaft to which these rollers are fixed, a drive pulley fixed to the end of the drive shaft, and a belt 45 stretched around the drive pulley. It is composed of a paper discharge conveyance motor M1 that transmits driving force to each drive pulley via a belt 45. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the vicinity of the paper discharge tray 40. Fl is the first set of recording paper bundles, and F2 is the second set of recording paper bundles. The paper discharge tray 40 is driven by a tray lift motor (not shown) and a tray shift motor (not shown). When the last recording paper of a set is detected (last paper detected), the tray elevating motor is reversed after a predetermined time (for example, 100 m5ec) has elapsed using a timer, and the paper ejection tray 40 is lowered. When the end of the descent of the paper discharge tray 40 is detected, the tray shift motor rotates to shift the paper discharge tray 40 in the left and right direction. After detecting the completion of the shift operation of the paper discharge tray 40, the tray lifting motor is rotated in the normal direction to raise the paper discharge tray 40. Then, the second set of recording sheets is stacked on top of the first set of recording sheets F1. The second set of recording sheets F2 is placed at a position shifted from the placement position of Fl in the left-right direction by the shift operation of the paper discharge tray 40. In this example, this horizontal shift (shift amount) is 30 m.
It is m. After the last paper is detected, the drive of the paper ejection roller 44 is stopped by stopping the paper ejection transport motor M1 after a predetermined time (for example, 100 m5ec) has elapsed using a timer. The last paper detection described above is performed as follows. The first set of original documents is circulated by the RDH device 3 described above, and the first set of copy sheets is ejected from the copying device 2 accordingly. This first set of copy paper F1. . The passage of Fl 2 * Fl 3 is detected by a paper discharge microswitch MS (shown in FIG. 1). Each time a copy sheet passes, a signal is output from the paper discharge microswitch MS, and this signal is input to a CPU 100, which will be described later, and is counted up. The number of copy sheets ejected from the copying device 2 that is counted up in this way is counted up by the RDH device 3.
When the last paper detection signal matches the output of the circulation paper discharge sensor R3, a last paper detection signal is output. 5(A) is a sectional view of the vicinity of the paper ejection tray 40 before the recording paper is ejected, FIG. 5(B) is a sectional view of the vicinity of the paper ejection tray 40 after the recording paper is ejected, and FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the vicinity of the paper ejection tray 40. It is a perspective view seen from behind. In these figures, 46 is a movable cover, 47 is a hinge shaft, 4
8 is a tray bottom plate, 49 is a sliding pin, 50 is an engagement groove, 51
is a fixed cover. Both ends of the movable cover 46 are bent into a curled shape, a hinge shaft 47 is inserted into one of the curled parts, and a sliding pin 49 is inserted and fixed into the other curled part with its tip protruding. . The hinge shaft 47 is also inserted through the curled portion at one end of the tray bottom plate 48, so the movable cover 46 is attached to the hinge shaft 4.
7 is hinged to the tray bottom plate 48 . As a result, the movable cover 46 can be rotated about the hinge shaft 47 with respect to the tray bottom plate 48. The image tip of the sliding pin 49 engages with a retaining groove 50 provided on both side walls of the main body of the device. The engagement groove 50 is a horizontally long groove with a concave cross section, and the sliding pin 49 slides within the engagement groove 50 in the horizontal direction. A fixed cover 51 is provided above the movable cover 46 on the side of the sliding bin 49 insertion/fixation part so as to closely face the surface of the movable cover, and together with the movable cover 46 forms a shielding wall that blocks the inside and outside of the device. do. Next, the operation of the copy paper processing device will be explained. -A4 as an example
A case will be described in which two sets of copies are created by copying a three-page original. 7 is a timing chart of the operation of the copy paper processing device, and FIG. 8 is a control block diagram of the processing device 1. As shown in FIG. Time 1. When the copy button is turned on, the RDH device 3 operates as described above, and the bottom document (in this case, the third page document) is sent out and moved over the platen glass IO of the copying device 2. During this time, an electrostatic latent image of the original image irradiated by the optical system 19 is formed on the photoreceptor 23, and a series of electrophotographic processes proceed. On the other hand, A4 size copy paper P selected by the size selection button is supplied from the paper feed cassette 27, and the transfer electrode 2
9, a visible image of the original image is transferred to this copy paper P,
After being fixed by the fixing device 31, the sheet is discharged from the apparatus by a discharge roller 32. The discharge of the copy paper F1□ is detected by the paper discharge microswitch MS, and the detection signal is sent to the CPU 100.
transmitted and counted. The ON signal of the copy button is transmitted to the CPU 100 and starts a start timer TM built in the CPU 100. After a predetermined time period determined by the start timer TM, the paper discharge conveyance motor M1 of the processing device 1 is started. As a result, the first copy paper F, , (
The third page) is directed in the discharge direction by the path switching gate 42, conveyed by the conveyance rollers 41, and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 40. The copy paper Fll is ejected using the paper ejection sensor PSI (
(shown in Figure 1), and the detection signal is detected by the CPU
It is transmitted to IQQ and counted. After sending out the first original (third page), the RDH device 3 sends out the second original (second page), and the copying device 2 copies the original image in the same manner as the first original. The same applies to the third document. The original images thus copied are sequentially ejected from the copying device 2 following the first image. The ejected copy sheets Flr and F1□ are conveyed by the conveyance rollers 41 of the processing device l and are ejected to the paper ejection tray 40. During this time, the CPU
At 100, a copy paper count is performed. In addition to counting up copies by the paper discharge sensor PSI, the last paper is detected by the paper discharge microswitch MS. The first set of originals is circulated by the RDH device 3 described above, and the first set of copy sheets is ejected from the copying device 2 accordingly. This first set of copy paper F l l
The passage of r F l 2 + Fl 3 is detected by a paper discharge microswitch MS (shown in FIG. 1). Each time a copy sheet passes, a signal is output from the paper discharge microswitch MS, and this signal is input to the CPU 100 and counted up. When the number of copy sheets ejected from the copying device 2 counted up in this way matches the output of the circulating sheet ejection sensor R3 of the RDH device 3, a last paper detection signal is output. This last paper detection signal activates the stop timer TM2 built into the CPU 100, and the stop timer TM2 is activated for a predetermined period of time (for example, 1
0m5ec), the paper discharge conveyance motor M1 is stopped. During this stop period, the above-described shift operation of the paper discharge tray is performed. The paper discharge tray 40 moves downward and upward before and after the left-right shift operation. When the paper output tray 40 moves vertically, one end of the movable cover 46 hinged to one end of the tray bottom plate 48, which moves up and down as the paper output tray 40 moves up and down, also moves up and down (the fifth Arrow ■ in figure (A)). The other end of the movable cover 46 moves horizontally along a retaining groove 50 provided on the side wall of the main body (arrow ■ in FIG. 5(A)), and the other end of the movable cover 46 that moves horizontally is covered with a fixed cover 51. I did it like that. Therefore, even when the paper ejection tray 40 is moved up and down, no opening is created between it and the cover. 1 set (3 copies) of copies F l l * Fl 2 r
F l 3 is ejected to the paper ejection tray 40, and the CPU 10
At 0, the count value based on the signal of the paper discharge sensor Ps and R
The count values based on the output of the circulation discharge sensor R3 provided in the DH device 3 are compared, and when it is confirmed that the two match, the state enters a standby state for sending out the second set of originals, and another start timer sets the count value to a predetermined time. After waiting for a certain period of time, sending out the documents for the second set is started. Simultaneously with the start of operation of the another start timer, the start timer of the paper discharge transport motor M1 is activated, and after a predetermined period of time, the drive of the paper discharge transport motor M is restarted. When the paper discharge conveyance motor M1 is stopped, the paper discharge tray 40 is shifted. The feeding and copying process of the second set of originals and the discharge of the sheets in the copy paper processing apparatus 1 are exactly the same as those for the first set, and therefore the description thereof will be omitted. The second set of copies is F, , F2□, F2
．． It is shown as follows. As can be seen from Figure 7, the last copy of the second part F23
is ejected from the copying apparatus 2, and when this is detected by the paper ejection microswitch MS (last paper detection), the copying operation ends after a predetermined period of time. Then, when a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the end of the copying operation (time t2), the paper ejection conveyance motor M1 is stopped.

【Effect of the invention】

As explained above, the recording paper processing device of the present invention is a recording paper processing device in which a paper output tray is movable up and down and a plurality of recording papers are placed in a stack, and a hinge is provided at the lower end of the back of the paper output tray. A combined movable cover is provided and moved in conjunction with the vertical movement of the paper output tray, so when the paper output tray moves up and down, there will be no opening between the paper output tray and the cover, resulting in malfunctions due to foreign objects getting mixed in. It is now possible to provide a recording paper processing device that prevents this and improves safety during operation of the device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a copying machine equipped with a recording paper processing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main transport portion of the recording paper processing device.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the drive system of the conveyance section of the recording paper processing device, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the vicinity of the paper ejection tray, and Fig. 5(A) is a perspective view of the vicinity of the ejection tray before the recording paper is ejected. Cross-sectional view, Figure 5 (B)
is a sectional view of the vicinity of the paper output tray after the recording paper has been ejected, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the paper output tray seen from behind, Figure 7 is a timing chart of the operation of the recording paper processing device, and Figure 8 is a diagram of the recording paper FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the operation of the processing device. l... Copy paper (recording paper) processing device 2... Copying device 3... RDH device 40.
... Paper ejection tray 41 ... Conveyance roller 42 ...
Path switching gate 44... Paper discharge roller 45... Belt 46... Moving cover 47... Hinge shaft
48...Tray bottom plate 49...Sliding bin
50...Engagement groove 51...Fixed cover 100...CPU Ml...Sheet discharge conveyance motor MS...Sheet discharge micro switch PS,...Sheet discharge sensor Town Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a recording paper processing device in which a paper discharge tray is movable up and down and a plurality of recording papers supplied one by one from the outside are stacked, a rotatable hinge shaft is provided at the lower end of the back of the paper discharge tray, An engagement groove is provided in the fixed wall of the processing device, and a cover body is provided that spans the hinge shaft and the engagement groove, and the cover body is configured to move in conjunction with the vertical movement of the paper output tray. A recording paper processing device characterized by: