JPH0254545B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sheet handling device for a double-sided copying machine, a double-sided printing machine, a double-sided recording machine, and other machines equipped with a mechanism for conveying double-sided recording sheets (hereinafter simply referred to as a double-sided copying machine, etc.). This invention relates to a sheet handling device such as a double-sided copying machine that can perform double-sided recording by selecting a sheet conveyance path.

Conventionally, in this type of device, after the sheet recorded on one side is guided to an intermediate tray (a tray that stores sheets recorded on one side) and stacked,
The stacked sheets are aligned, separated again, fed again by a paper feed roller, etc., and guided to a timing roller or the like to perform recording on both sides of the sheet.

Therefore, jamming or skewing often occurs at this intermediate tray portion where sheet conveyance is temporarily stopped, and the processing thereof is complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a novel sheet handling device such as a double-sided copying machine that is improved in view of these drawbacks.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet handling device such as a double-sided copying machine that can perform double-sided recording by selecting a sheet conveyance path in order to eliminate causes of sheet jamming, skewing, etc. as much as possible.

That is, the main structure of the present invention that can achieve the above object is that after recording is performed on one side of a sheet fed from a sheet storage section, the sheet is stored and stacked on an intermediate tray and then fed again, thereby inverting the sheet. In a sheet handling device such as a duplex copying machine that transports sheets so as to record on the other side and record on both sides of the sheet, the sheet that has already been recorded on one side is fed to the recording unit again in order to record on the other side. , a separate conveyance path that does not pass through the intermediate tray, and a switching means for selectively switching between guiding the single-sided recorded sheet to the intermediate tray or to the other conveyance path. This is a sheet handling device such as a double-sided copying machine.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The figure is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the invention.

In the figure, a light source 2 and a scanning mirror 3 scan an original placed on an original placing table 1.
It is equipped with an optical system that forms an image on a photosensitive drum 8 via a second mirror 4 and a lens 5, a third mirror 6, and a fourth mirror 7 that move at a speed of 1/2 of the speed of the toner image. After the toner image is formed on the drum 8, a transfer paper is separated and fed from the cassette 10 by the paper feed roller ₁₀₁ , and is further fed at the right timing by the registration roller 11, and transferred, in accordance with the toner image on the drum 8. The toner image is sent to the fixing device 13 by the conveyor belt 12, and the toner image is fixed on the transfer paper, and then the paper is discharged. Any known configuration of the process may be used as appropriate. If the operator issues a command to obtain a double-sided copy by operating a key or the like (not shown), the transfer paper is guided in the direction of arrow A by the flapper 14 and enters the reversing path 15. The paper discharge roller group 16 has a three-roller configuration, and after the transfer paper has completely entered the reversing path 15, it is configured to apply a conveying force to the transfer paper in the direction of arrow B, and here the transfer paper is reversed. . Next, if the operator commands a number of copies using a number key (not shown) or the like, the transfer paper is controlled to be guided to the intermediate tray 18 by the flapper 17 until the copy cycle for the required number of copies is completed. After temporarily waiting on the intermediate tray 18 and being stacked and stored, the paper is fed into the copying process again by the paper refeed roller 19 in response to a second side copy command from the operator. Here, as mentioned above, the intermediate tray 18 is required when a plurality of parts are required, and providing a discontinuous part such as the intermediate tray 18 prevents jamming, etc., which reduces the reliability of the machine. As described above, in this configuration, when the required number of copies is one, the flapper 17 is switched to guide the transfer paper to another conveyance path 21 that does not pass through the intermediate tray 18, and a conveyance roller or a conveyance belt (not shown) is used in between. etc. to keep the registration roller 11 in a restrained state at all times.
When a micro switch or the like detects that a loop has been formed before the registration roller, the conveyance roller 20 before the registration roller stops and becomes ready for the second side copy command. The subsequent second side copying process is exactly the same as described above, and the transfer paper after second side copying is guided to the tray 22.

As explained above, in the present invention, the sheet conveyance path can be arbitrarily selected between passing through an intermediate tray and passing through another conveyance path without passing through the intermediate tray. For example, when only a few copies are required, the sheet can be selectively conveyed using a conveyance path that does not pass through an intermediate tray so that it is less likely to be skewed or jammed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a sectional view of an embodiment of the invention. In the figure, 17 is a flapper, 18 is an intermediate tray, and 21 is another conveyance path.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. After recording on one side of a sheet fed from a sheet storage unit, the sheet is stored and stacked on an intermediate tray and then fed again, thereby recording on the other side of the sheet which has been reversed. In a sheet handling device such as a duplex copying machine that handles the conveyance of a sheet so as to record on both sides of the sheet, the sheet that has already been recorded on one side is fed to the recording unit again in order to record on the other side, and the sheet does not pass through the intermediate tray. A sheet handling device such as a double-sided copying machine, comprising: a conveyance path; and a switching means for selectively switching whether to guide the single-sided recorded sheet to the intermediate tray or to the other conveyance path. .