JPH04133965A - Sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To smooth unloading work smooth by providing a control means that moves trays to the home position after duplication is finished, and a control means that shifts trays comparing existence of copying paper by means of a detecting means of paper in each tray with stored number of sort parts. CONSTITUTION:When duplication is finished, the number of original sheets duplicated is judged whether or not it is an odd or an even sheet number, and, when it is an odd sheet number, a tray unit 33 is moved to a home position by the signal of a first control means as the tray unit 33 stops in the state wherein it is shifted upward. Then, when copying paper stored in a sort tray 3 of the first stage is unloaded, existence of paper is detected by a paper detecting sensor 4 at the part of sort tray 3 of the first stage, and, if it is detected that paper does not exist in the tray 3 of the first stage, the number of sort parts previously stored and the number of the stages of the trays wherefrom copying paper is unloaded are compared. When both do not coincide, the sort tray unit 33 is shifted upward to the extent of one stage of trays by the signal of a second control means, and repeat this successively until coincides with the number of sort parts stored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an ivy that is used in connection with a copying machine main body.

<Prior Art> When copying is performed using a conventional copying machine equipped with a sorter, for example, when 18 copies of 11 originals are processed by saw Y, the following procedure is used for copying.

First, a document was set on the document table, and the keys on the operation panel of the main body were operated to select a sort mode and set copy conditions such as the number of copies.

Next, press the copy start button to start copying, and
18 copies of one copy manuscript were sequentially copied. Copied copies were sequentially discharged onto a sorting tray.

In the end, 1 set of 18 sheets of copy paper was completed.
They are accommodated on eight sorting trays.

As described above, the user inserts his/her hand into the sorting tray and takes out the stack of copy sheets after sorting and copying.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> In conventional sorters, it was necessary to insert one's hand into each sorting tray to take out copy sheets, making it difficult to take out the lower trays. In addition, it was difficult to see the copy paper on the lower tray, so I sometimes forgot to take it out.

N Means for Solving the Problems The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, and includes a plurality of stacked trays that are connected to the main body of the copying machine and that store the copy paper ejected from the main body. In the sorter, the sorter is equipped with a tray shift means for moving the tray unit below the tray unit, and a paper detection means for detecting the presence or absence of copy paper in each tray. a first control means for determining whether the number of sheets is an even number, and operating the tray shift means to move the tray unit to a home position if the number of sheets is an odd number; When taking out copy sheets in sequence,
The presence or absence of copy paper is detected for each tray by the paper detection means, and if there is no copy paper, the number of sorted copies stored in advance is compared with the number of trays from which the copy paper was taken out, and if the two match. and second control means for operating the tray shifting means to shift all the tray units upward by 41 stages when the tray is not loaded.

According to the sorter as described above, when taking out the copy paper after copying is completed, the tray shifts upward one step at a time from the home position, so the copy paper can always be taken out from the same height. 'i! In addition, since the copy paper can always be taken out from a high position above the tray, it is easy to visually check the copy paper.

<Example> An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 are explanatory diagrams for taking out paper from a sorter according to the present invention, FIG. 8 is a control flowchart according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of a copying machine according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a sorter, which is fixed to the side surface of the main body of the copying machine (not shown) on the paper discharge side with screws or the like via a mounting plate or the like. The sorter shown here is a stable sorter. The sorter is comprised of a paper transport mechanism section that transports copy sheets discharged from the main body to a sorting tray, a tray section that stores the transported copy sheets, and other moving parts.

The tray section is provided with a fixed tray 2 that accommodates copy sheets when a non-sort mode is selected, and a tray 3 that accommodates copy sheets when a sort mode is selected. The sorting trays 3 are stacked in 18 stages vertically to form a unit 33, and the tray unit 33 is provided to be shiftable up and down. In addition, each of the above sorting trays 3...
In the third section, a paper detection sensor 4 for detecting whether or not there is copy paper on the tray is provided in each sorting tray section. In addition, a tray shift motor 11, a vine circuit, etc. are also provided.

On the other hand, the paper conveyance mechanism section is provided with a paper feed conveyance roller 5, a gate switching claw 6, a paper guide 7, a conveyance roller 8, and the like. Since the sorter of this embodiment is a staple sorter, in addition to the above, a paper press roller, a stable unit, a stapler guide bar, a stapler guide bar swing motor, etc. are provided.

Further, the control unit 10 of the sorter is configured to determine whether the number of originals to be copied is an odd number or an even number after copying is completed, and if it is an odd number, operates the tray shift motor to move the tray unit 88. A first control means 10a is provided for moving the to the home position.

Further, when taking up copy sheets one by one from the first sorting tray 3 of the tray unit 38, the paper detection sensor 4 detects whether the copy sheets are stored on the tray 8 for each tray 3. In other words, if the presence or absence of paper is detected, and as a result, there is no copy paper on the tray 3, the number of copies to be sorted and the number of trays from which the copy paper was taken out are stored in advance in the storage means of the control unit 10. A second control means 106 is provided which drives the tray shift motor 11 to shift the tray unit 88 upward by 41 steps when the two do not match.

The operation of the sorter configured as described above will be explained. Here, a case will be described in which copies are made in the sort mode for 18 copies of 11 originals.

First, select the stable sort mode by operating the keys on the operation panel, and select the copy size and
Set conditions such as the number of copies. When copying originals using a document table or automatic document feeder (ADF), use the ADF.
place it on the tray.

When the copy start button is pressed, copying starts, and the copy paper that has been copied through each copying process of charging, exposure, development, transfer, and fixing is discharged from the copying machine main body and conveyed to the sorter 1. Since the gate switching claw 6 provided on the entrance paper conveyance path of the sorter 1 has the sort mode selected here,
The paper has been switched to the position where it is ejected to the sorting tray. Therefore, the copy paper is discharged to the sorting tray 3 of the first stage via the paper guide 7 and the conveyance roller 8. The paper is sequentially ejected to tray 3 of the second stage, third stage, etc., and then first
Eighteen copies of the document in the row are stored on the tray 3.... When copying and discharging the first document, the tray unit 33 shifts upward from the home position one step at a time, so when all copy sheets have been sorted, the sorting tray unit 33 stops in the upwardly shifted state. It turns out.

Next, the documents on the second stage are copied and sorted, but at this time, contrary to the case on the first stage, they are sequentially shifted downward from the 188th stage tray 3 and then ejected and stored. Thereafter, the up and down reciprocation of the tray unit 33 is repeated until 11.
Eighteen copies of each sheet of original are made and stored on each sorting tray 3.

The operation after copying is completed will be explained according to the flowchart of FIG.

When copying is completed in step 5101, it is determined in step 5102 whether the number of copied original sheets is an odd number or an even number.

If the number of originals to be copied is an odd number, this means that the tray unit 33 is stopped in an upwardly shifted state, and therefore, in step 8103, the first
A control signal from the control means is sent to the sorter circuit 121, and the signal from the circuit drives the tray shift motor 11 to move the tray unit to the home position, after which the process proceeds to step Sl04. If the number of originals to be copied is an even number, the tray unit 33 is stopped at the home position, so step 5103 is skipped and the process proceeds to step 5104. In step S]04, the number n of copies to be sorted is stored. Here, n=18 is stored. The number of copies to be sorted may be stored when setting copy conditions at the time of copying.

Next, when the copy paper stored in the sort tray 3 of the ]th stage (top stage) is taken out, the paper detecting sensor 4 provided in the sort tray 3 of the first stage detects the paper in the tray in step 5105. The presence or absence of paper on 3 is detected. When it is detected that all the copy sheets have been taken out and there is no paper on the first tray 3, the process proceeds to step S]06 where the number of copies to be sorted is n = 18 and the number of trays from which the copy sheets have been taken out = 1. are compared. As a result, if the two values do not match, the tray shift motor is driven based on a control signal from the second control means of the control section to move the sorting tray unit 33 up 41 stages. shifted to (See Figure 2) In this state, the second tray 3 of the tray unit 33 is located at the position where the first tray 3 was originally located.

On the other hand, if it is detected in step 5105 that there is copy paper on the first tray 8, paper detection is continued until the paper is removed from the tray 3 and no paper is detected. Further, if the number of copies to be sorted is 1 in step 5106 and matches the number of trays from which the copy paper was taken out, the process advances to step Sn, 12 and the taking out of the copy paper is completed.

In step 5107, the tray unit 33
When it is shifted to the upper level, the second sorting tray 3 is moved.
The copy paper is taken out. When copy paper is taken out from the second tray 3, the presence or absence of paper on the tray 3 is detected by a paper detection sensor 4 provided on the second tray 3.

When it is detected that all copy paper has been taken out and there is no paper on the first tray 3, the process advances to step 5109 where the number of copies to be sorted is n=18 and the number of trays from which copy paper has been taken out =
2 is compared. As a result, if the two values do not match, the tray shift motor 1 is driven and the sorting tray unit 33 is shifted to one tray level, as in the case of the first stage. Thereafter, the same operations as those for the first and second sorting trays are repeated. Finally, when the copy paper on the 18th sort tray 3''2 is taken out and in step 5ill, it is detected that there is no paper on the tray 3, that is, when the copy paper on the 18th sort tray 3'' is removed, When all the copy sheets have been taken out, the taking out of the copy sheets ends in step 8112. By shifting the tray unit as described above, it is possible to always take out copy sheets from a high position and from the same position.

In this embodiment, we have explained the case where 18 copies are sorted by a sorter having 18 stages of sort L-ray units, so paper detection up to the 18th stage (lowest stage) sorting tray was performed. For example, if the number of copies to be sorted is 10, paper out is detected by paper detection after the copy paper on the 10th sorting tray is taken out, and the number of copies to be sorted after that is compared with the number of trays. Since the two match, at that point the process advances to step 8112 and the removal of the copy paper is completed.

When the copy paper has been taken out, the process proceeds to step 5113, where the train lift motor is driven to move the tray unit 33 to the home position.

<Effects> According to the sorter of the present invention, when taking out copy sheets from a plurality of trays, it is possible to always take out copy sheets from the same height, so the take-out work is extremely smooth without having to bend down. It will be held in

In addition, since the copy paper is always taken out from a high position above the tray, the copy paper can be easily recognized and there is no chance of forgetting to take it out.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are explanatory diagrams for taking out paper from a sorter according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a control flowchart according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of a copying machine according to the present invention. 3: sorting tray, 4: paper detection means, 10a: first control means, 10b: second control means. 10c: Eighth control means, 33: Sorting tray unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vertically movable tray unit that is connected to a copying machine body and has multiple stacked trays for storing copy paper ejected from the body, and a tray that moves the tray unit vertically. In a sorter equipped with a shift means and a paper detection means for detecting the presence or absence of copy paper on each tray, after copying is completed, it is determined whether the number of copies is an odd number or an even number, and whether the number of copies is an odd number or not is determined. a first control means for operating the tray shift means to move the tray unit to the home position when The presence or absence of copy paper is detected by the paper detection means, and if there is no copy paper, the number of sorted copies stored in advance is compared with the number of trays from which the copy paper was taken out, and if the two do not match, the tray is Operate the shift means to move the tray unit to tray 1.
A sorter comprising: second control means for shifting up by a number of stages. 2. Compare the number of sorted copies with the number of trays from which the copy paper has been taken out, and when they match, it is determined that the copy paper removal has been completed, and the tray shift means is operated to move the tray unit to the home position. The sorter according to claim 1, further comprising third control means for moving the sorter to the position.