JPH0480179A - Regulating device for paper sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten working stroke of a solenoid by moving a paper collecting roller to a first position of contacting with a paper sheet in a receiving part, a second position of turning out from the upper part of the receiving part, and a third position of the middle of them, and moving the paper sheet to a regulating member with the paper collecting roller. CONSTITUTION:A four node linkage is formed out of a supporting plate 20 fixed to a rotational movement supporting shaft 18, a second supporting plate 22, a link member 34, and an arm 36. A paper collecting roller fitted to the plate 22 is rotated with an elastic angular belt 28, interlocking with a transport belt pulley 11. The shaft 18 is rotationally moved by excitation of a solenoid, the paper collecting roller 24 is moved on a second position over a paper sheet curvedly transported in a reversal mode, by rotational movement of a control shaft 37 due to excitation of another solenoid the roller 24 is moved to the middle position, and by demagnetization it is contacted with the paper sheet at completion of reversal on a tray 7. The paper sheet is moved to a stopper 51 by rotation of the roller 24 and regulated. Therefore, stroke of the two solenoid can be shortened and responsibility of contact/separation can be improved.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a method for subjecting paper that has been copied by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, facsimile, or printer to post-processing such as image processing or bookbinding. This invention relates to a paper alignment device.

[Conventional technology]

As a conventional paper aligning device, for example, Utility Model Application Publication No. 1-943
There is No. 53. Here, a transfer paper moving roller member is provided to align the transfer paper after one-sided copying to the paper feeding position again.
This roller member is composed of a plurality of rollers having different diameters and coefficients of friction, and a specific roller is selected by means of changing the pressure applied to the rollers. The roller member is driven up and down by a solenoid via an arm.

[Invention or problem to be solved]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, since a solenoid is used as a drive source for the roller member, if the conveying means is moved far away from the conveying space, the solenoid stroke becomes large, leading to an increase in the size of the solenoid and Decreases contact/separation response. Furthermore, since the inertial force when contacting the paper increases, a large impact sound is generated, and the conveying pressure fluctuates, making it difficult to obtain good alignment.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet aligning device that can improve contact/separation response and obtain stable conveying force without increasing the size of the solenoid.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a paper accommodating section that is equipped with an alignment member that aligns paper edges in the advancing direction and sequentially accommodates the sheets carried in, and a paper accommodating section that sequentially accommodates the sheets carried into the paper accommodating section. In the paper alignment device including a conveying means for moving toward the alignment member, a first position where the paper contacts the paper in the paper storage unit, a second position where the paper is evacuated from the upper space of the paper storage unit, and the first position where the paper is moved in the direction of the alignment member. A paper gathering roller forming a part of the conveyance means is moved to each of a third position between the position and the second position, and the paper in the paper storage unit is moved to the third position between the paper storage unit and the second position. A driving means for moving the alignment member toward the alignment member is provided.

[Effect]

According to the above-mentioned means, the paper stacking roller of the conveying means descends onto the paper in conjunction with the completion of stacking of the paper in the paper storage section, and then the paper stacking roller rotates, so that the paper collides with the alignment member. is moved and alignment is performed. Further, when conveying the paper, the paper shifting roller moves to retreat from the conveyance space. As a result of the conveyance means operating in stages according to conveyance and alignment, the stroke of the solenoid can be shortened, which prevents it from becoming too large, and improves the responsiveness of contact with and separation from the paper. It becomes possible to alleviate shock and stabilize conveyance force.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a paper alignment device according to the present invention. Here, a case of double-sided copying is illustrated.

A conveyance path is formed on the cylindrical photoreceptor drum l so that the paper 2 that has been copied on one side can come into contact with it.
A fixing device 3 including a pair of fixing rolls is disposed behind the photoreceptor drum 1 .

A branch claw 4 is disposed downstream of the fixing device 3 for selecting whether to discharge the copied transfer paper to the outside of the machine or to convey it to the photosensitive drum l again.

A transport roller pair 5 consisting of a pair of rollers for transporting the paper 2 is disposed below the branching claw 4, and a paper transport belt 6 that transports the paper 2 from the transport roller pair 5 in the horizontal direction serves as a fixing device. It is located at the bottom of 3. Furthermore, an intermediate tray 7 (paper storage section) that temporarily stores the paper 2 is provided below the paper conveyance belt 6 .

A pick-up roller 8 for carrying out the paper 2 is disposed at the tip of the intermediate tray 7, and a feed roller 9 and a reverse roller 10 are disposed opposite to the pick-up roller 8 adjacent to the pick-up roller 8.

In order to rotate the paper conveyance belt 6, belt support rollers 11 and 12 are provided at both ends. A movable plate 13 is disposed below the belt support roller 11 at the rear end of the intermediate tray 7, a drive wire 14 is disposed so as to surround the movable plate 13, and a drive source for rotating the drive wire 14 is disposed. A stepping motor 5 is provided as a motor.

An entry roller 16 is disposed adjacent to the belt support roller If, and an entry roller 17 that rotates while being pressed against the entry roller 16 is provided opposite to the entry roller 16. Further, a rotation support shaft 18 is provided diagonally above the belt support rollers 11 and 12, and a paper gathering roller 19 that rotates about the rotation support shaft 18 is supported.

Furthermore, a paper detection sensor 50 that detects passage of paper 2 is provided directly above the pair of transport rollers 5 .

In this configuration, the paper 2, which has been copied on one side, passes through the fixing device 3, the branching claw 4, and the pair of conveying rollers 5 (i.e., A
-+B-+C) toward the intermediate tray 7. In synchronization with the front end of the paper 2 being locked with a clamp claw (not shown) provided on a specific roller of the inlet roller 17, the inlet roller 17 starts rotating in the F direction.

However, since the transport speed of the paper 2 is faster than the peripheral speed of the input reroll roller 17, the paper 2 gradually bulges out.

Then, at the timing when the paper 2 changes direction by about 180°, only the roller having the clamp claw of the roller 17 that enters with the leading edge of the paper 2 still attached is stopped. At this time, the rollers without clamp claws, the entry roller 16 and the entry roller 17, continue to rotate, and the paper conveyance belt 6 continues to rotate.
is rotating, so the trailing edge of paper 2 continues to move forward. When the rear end of the paper 2 leaves the paper conveyance belt 6 in this state, the paper 2 is stacked on the intermediate tray 7 due to its own weight. Thereafter, the clamp claw of the entry roller 17 releases the leading edge of the paper 2. On the other hand, the roller having the clamp claw of the entry roller 17 is returned to the initial position before the next sheet 2 reaches the inlet section.

When the stacking on the intermediate tray 7 is completed, the moving plate 1
3 moves a predetermined distance in the E direction, and moves the stacked paper bundle to the paper refeeding position. Thereafter, the pickup roller 8 is lowered to the east of the paper, and the uppermost paper is sent in the D direction, that is, to the image forming section, and an image is formed on the back surface of the paper 2.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing the detailed structure of the paper gathering roller 19.

A first support plate 20 having a 90° bent portion on both sides is attached to the rotation support shaft 18, and a shaft 21 is attached between the side walls at the tip thereof. A second support plate 22 is attached to the shaft 21, and a fixed shaft 23 is supported between the distal ends thereof. A paper shifting roller 24 (conveying means) is attached to the fixed shaft 23, a gear portion is formed at one end of the paper shifting roller 24, and a gear 25 is disposed so as to be able to mesh with this gear portion.

The gear 25 is a shaft 2 rotatably supported by a bearing 29.
1, and a pulley 26 is attached to one end of this shaft 21. A pulley 27 is attached to one end of the pivot shaft 18 so as to form a pair with this pulley 26, and an elastic square belt 28 is passed between these pulleys.

Note that the paper gathering roller 24 is mainly composed of a boss portion 30, and has a multilayer structure except for a gear portion.

That is, a resin coil spring 31 is externally fitted onto the small diameter portion of the boss portion 30 so that approximately half of the resin coil spring 31 is fixed to the boss portion 30, and the housing portion 32 is attached so as to fit this resin coil spring 31 internally. There is. These three members form a torque limiter. Further, an elastic rubber 33 is fitted onto the housing portion 32 .

Here, the resin coil spring 31 is made of a high-strength resin material with wear resistance and heat resistance. In processing, for example, it can be made by molding a wire rod having a square cross section.

The inner diameter, the outer diameter of the clutch body, and the number of turns of the coil spring are appropriately determined in consideration of the magnitude of idling force as a torque limiter.

A link member 34 is fixed to the shaft end of the fixed shaft 23 with a screw 35, and a tip of a protruding portion of the link member 34 is rotatably supported by one end of an arm 36. The other end of the arm 36 is rotatably supported by a control shaft 37 arranged parallel to the rotation support shaft 18 .

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing details of the drive system of the control shaft 37.

The other end of the arm 38, one end of which is supported by the pivot shaft 18, is
It is biased toward the left in the figure by a spring 39,
The solenoid 4 is moved slightly closer to the pivot shaft 18 from this energized position.
0 connection member 41 is engaged. When the solenoid 40 is energized (energized), the connecting member 41 moves to the right in the figure, and the arm 38 rotates clockwise against the spring 39, causing the rotation support shaft 18 to rotate. move.

One end of the arm 42 is fixed to the control shaft 37, a protrusion is provided at the other end, and a convex portion having a curved surface shape is formed in the intermediate portion so as to protrude in the width direction. An elongated hole 43 is provided to guide a protrusion provided at the other end of the arm 42.

A swinging arm 44 supported by a support shaft 45 is disposed at the lower part of the arm 42, and a pin 46 is fixed to the upper end so as to be able to come into contact with a convex portion of the arm 42. Further, one end of the connecting member 7 is connected to the lower end of the arm 42, and the armature of the solenoid 8 is connected to the other end. In addition, the intermediate part between the support shaft 45 and the pin 46 and the solenoid 4
A spring 49 is installed between the end of the swing arm 44 and the swing arm 44 in the clockwise direction.

In the configuration of FIG. 3, the arm 42 engages with the pin 46 of the swing arm 44 under its own weight and is normally located in the locking position P. By being magnetized by solenoid 48,
The swinging arm 44 rotates counterclockwise about the support shaft 45 against the spring 49, and the arm 42 becomes uncoupled.
Lower to position Q.

Next, regarding the operation of the configuration shown in Fig. 2, Figs. 4, 5,
This will be explained with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

In the following, the inversion mode and the non-inversion mode will be explained separately. The non-inversion mode will be explained with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

In the reverse mode> The paper 2 is conveyed in a curved manner between the paper conveyance belt 6 and the intermediate tray 7. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the paper shifting roller 24 is retracted above the lower surface of the paper conveyance belt 6. At this time, the solenoid 40 and the solenoid 4
8 are both demagnetized (energized off).

<In non-inversion mode> First, only the solenoid 40 is energized (step 101
). This causes the arm 38 to rotate clockwise and the first
The support plate 20 moves to a lowered position slightly above the intermediate tray 7. That is, the first support plate 20, the second support plate 22,
The link member 34 and the arm 36 form a four-bar link, and as shown in FIG. 5, the link member 34 and the arm 36 stop at a position separated from the paper gathering roller 24.

The paper 2 is guided by an elastic square belt 28 and transferred to an intermediate tray 7.
It will be possible to enter the interior without any hindrance.

The solenoid 48 is energized at the time when the rear end of the paper 2 has finished being carried in. The end of conveyance of the paper 2 is determined by setting the detection time of the paper detection sensor 50 (steps 1 and 2) as the start time of the timer (step 103), and when it is determined that the timer has counted up (step 104), the solenoid 48 is activated. Excitation is started (step 105).

By energizing the solenoid 48, the arm 42 rotates in the Q direction shown in FIG. As a result, arm 3
6 rotates clockwise around the control shaft 37, and the paper gathering roller 24 is moved by its own weight to the intermediate tray 7 as shown in FIG.
press against.

Since the paper gathering roller 24 is rotating clockwise, the topmost stacked paper is moved by a stopper 51 (shown in FIGS. 5 and 6) as an aligning member provided at the entrance of the intermediate tray 7. direction, the paper 2 is aligned,
Skew is removed. When the leading edge of the paper 2 reaches the stopper 51, the conveyance load on the paper shifting roller 24 rapidly increases and exceeds the torque limit value of the torque limiter, and the paper shifting roller 2
4 stops or decelerates.

Before the subsequent paper is carried in, the solenoid 48 is demagnetized, the paper gathering roller 24 is separated from the paper surface, and the state shown in FIG. 5 is returned. Note that when it is determined that the last sheet of paper 2 is present (step 106), the solenoid 40 is also demagnetized (step 107), and the state shown in FIG. 4 is returned.

Although the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus above, the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to any apparatus that requires paper alignment.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above, according to the present invention, there is provided a paper accommodating section that is equipped with an alignment member that aligns the edges of sheets in the advancing direction and sequentially accommodates the sheets carried in, and a paper accommodating section that sequentially accommodates the sheets carried into the paper accommodating section. In the paper alignment device including a conveying means for moving toward the alignment member, a first position in contact with the paper in the paper storage unit, a second position evacuated from the upper space of the paper storage unit, and the first position and a third position between the second position and a third position intermediate the second position, and move the paper gathering roller forming a part of the conveyance means to the first position, and move the paper in the paper storage unit to a third position between the first position and the second position. Since a driving means for moving the aligning member in the direction is provided, stepwise operation according to conveyance and alignment is possible, which reduces the size of the solenoid, improves the contact/separation response with the paper, and makes pressure contact with the paper. This makes it possible to reduce the impact caused by transport and improve the stabilization of the conveying force.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the paper aligning device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view showing the detailed configuration of the paper alignment roller,
Figure 3 is a sectional view showing details of the drive system of the control shaft, Figure 42
5 and 6 are front views showing the operating state of the drive system shown in FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing of the drive system shown in FIG. 3 in a non-reversing mode. ■...Photosensitive drum, 2...Paper, 3...Fixing device, 4...Branch claw, 5...Transport roller pair, 6...
Paper conveyance belt, 7... Intermediate tray, 8... Pick up roller, 13... Moving plate, 16, 17... Input roller, 18... Rotating shaft, 19... Paper gathering roller , 20... first support plate, 21... shaft, 22...
-Second support plate, 23...Fixed shaft, 24...Paper gathering roller, 25...Gear, 26.27...Pulley, 28
... Elastic square belt, 29 ... Bearing, 3° ... Boss part, 31 ... Resin coil spring, 32 ... Housing part, 33 ... Elastic rubber, 34 ... Link member, 36, 38... Arm, 37... Control axis, 39.
・・Spring, 40° 48・・Solenoid, 42・
... Arm, 44... Swinging arm, 45... Support shaft, 46... Bin, 50... Paper detection sensor, 51...
...stopper. Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] A paper storage unit that sequentially accommodates sheets carried in and equipped with an alignment member that aligns paper edges in a traveling direction, and a paper storage unit that includes a conveyance unit that moves the sheets carried into the paper storage unit in the direction of the alignment member. In the aligning device, a first position in contact with the paper in the paper storage unit, a second position evacuated from the upper space of the paper storage unit, and a third position intermediate between the first position and the second position. driving means for moving the paper gathering roller constituting a part of the conveyance means to each of the positions, and for moving the paper in the paper storage section toward the alignment member when in the first position; A paper alignment device featuring: