JPH0527397Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] This invention is a method for processing a series of sheets conveyed from a printing, image, or other forming device such as a printer, facsimile machine, copier, or printing machine into groups, for example, a predetermined number of sheets. The present invention relates to a paper conveyance device that separates paper by paper or by page.

[Conventional technology]

For printing, image forming, etc. devices that easily sort a series of sheets that are continuously conveyed from a copying machine, for example, there is a system in which sheets are stacked and accommodated in different orientations for each number of sheets on a paper ejection stacker. What has been done is known.

For example, a series of sheets with a predetermined number of pages and a series of sheets with the next number of copies are stacked in different orientations to make it easier for the user to pick up the sheets one by one.

Conventionally, such an apparatus shifts the paper stacker between the right side position and the left side position at each division of the number of copies, or rotates the paper stacker at each division of the number of copies.

Therefore, since the paper output stacker shifts with paper stacked on it, the stack of paper that is already stacked on it may collapse, making it difficult to distinguish between copies, and the stacker no longer fulfills its original role. occurs frequently.

For this purpose, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 55-165852, a shift means for shifting the paper in a direction transverse to the direction in which the paper travels is provided in the paper conveyance path, and the operating state and the non-operating state of the shifting means are selected. 2. Description of the Related Art There is a paper conveyance device that alternately stacks sheets of paper by number of copies on a paper discharge stacker.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

By the way, the invention disclosed in JP-A No. 55-165852 shows that the shift is made in two stages in Fig. 8, but this is not done in two stages according to the width size of the paper. This simply allows paper of the same size to be sorted into three types on the paper discharge tray 8, so that more sorting than the number of trays can be achieved.

Similarly, in FIG. 8 of the conventional example, the sheet receiver 2
2 ₄ to 22 _o , sheets are stored on the left and right without overlapping. Therefore, if this device attempts to classify sheets according to their width size, it is necessary to set a shift amount according to the sheet size. However, it is difficult to set how much to shift the paper, and there is a risk that the shift amount will not be constant.

Moreover, in a paper conveyance device that separates paper of multiple sizes, there is a large difference in size between the largest paper and the smallest paper, so if the shift amount is set to the largest paper, the overlapped portions for each number of copies will be small for the smallest paper. As shown in Figure 9, as the number of divisions increases, not only the non-overlapping parts but also the overlapping parts become slanted, making it easy for the paper to slip off from the overlapped parts, resulting in poor alignment and unclear divisions. become.

[Purpose of invention]

The object of this invention is to provide a paper conveying device that can store papers of a plurality of sizes in a paper discharge stacker in an orderly manner divided into groups without the paper slipping down from the overlapping portion.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, in this invention, the side edges of the paper shifted by the shifting means are received and regulated at multiple positions according to the width size of the paper so that the shift amount of the paper is smaller than the overlapping amount in the width direction of the paper. A stopper is installed in the paper ejection path to reduce the variation in shift amount for each group of paper stored in the paper stacker, and even if the paper width size changes, the paper can be neatly separated into groups in the paper stacker. It was designed so that it could be accommodated.

〔Example〕

A first embodiment of this invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 1, printing, image, etc. forming device 1
is equipped with, for example, an electrostatic copying mechanism for forming an image on copy paper P, and the image formed on drum 3 is transferred to paper P and fixed by printer 5.

A document (original) circulation feeding device 7 is provided on the forming device 1, and is configured to feed and eject a series of documents by circulating them between a platen 9 and a document table 11 a number of times depending on the number of copies to be made. It's getting old. In addition,
13 indicates a conveyor belt.

The sheets P processed by such a forming apparatus 1 are stored in a stacker 17 via a sheet discharge path 15. However, in the illustrated example, the circulation feeding device 7 feeds the document from the first page.
Copies of the first page are conveyed upward from the forming apparatus 1, and if they are stored in the paper discharge stacker 17 as they are, the order of the pages will be out of order.

Then, the paper P sent out by rollers 19 and 21
The paper is switched back on the switchback path 23, the switching lever 25 is switched as shown in FIG.

A roller 3 is provided at the paper discharge port 31 of this reversing path 29.
3,35 are attached.

Note that a sensor S is provided at the entrance of the rollers 19 and 21 to detect the passage of paper.

An intermediate stacker 37 as shown in Fig. 3 is provided in the switchback path, and flanges 3
It is equipped with 7L and 37R.

Holes 39 and 4 are provided on the bottom of this intermediate stacker 37.
1,43 are provided. The hole 39 is provided with shifting means, such as a notched roller 45 driven by a motor. This notched roller 45 has a notched portion and a circular arc portion, and is adapted to rotate once in response to a shift signal.

Further, a pressure contact spring 47 is attached to the flange 37L facing the notched roller 45. Therefore, as the notched roller 45 rotates, the circular arc portion of the notched roller 45 and the pressure contact spring 47 are brought into pressure contact with each other, thereby shifting the paper P carried in.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a stopper 49 formed of an elastic leaf spring or the like is attached to the hole 41, and the stopper 49 moves out of the hole 41 depending on the presence or absence of paper P.

A stopper 51 is provided in the hole 43 for receiving and regulating the paper shifted by the notched roller 45. A rack 53 is attached to this stopper 51, and is adapted to shift in the width direction along the hole 43 by rotation of a pinion 55 driven by a motor. As shown in FIG. 3, the stopper 51 is driven and controlled to, for example, shift position L for B5 size, A4 size, and letter size paper, shift position B4 for B4 size paper, and shift position A3 for A3 size paper.

In such a configuration, the operation will be described by taking as an example a case where a plurality of copies of a continuous page document are to be copied.

The trailing edge of the first page of paper P (for example, B5, A4, or letter size paper) that has been copied and discharged from the forming device 1 is detected by the sensor S, and is moved along the switchback path 23 by the rollers 19 and 21. It is fed onto the intermediate stacker 37 along the flange 37L as shown in FIG. At this time, the paper is positioned between the notch roller 45 and the pressure-cutting spring 47 while pushing the stopper 49 into the hole 41. Note that at this time, the ends of the paper P on the rollers 19 and 21 side remain on the switching lever 25.

When a predetermined period of time elapses after the sensor S detects the trailing edge of the paper in this state, the switching lever 25 rotates upward as shown in FIG. is pressed against the roller 27 by the lever 25, and the paper P is pressed against the rollers 21, 27.
is sent to the reversing path 29 by the rotation of the roller 3.
3 and 35, the paper is discharged from the paper discharge port 31 and stored in the paper discharge stacker 17.

Similarly, the second and subsequent pages of the original are also copied and stored in the paper discharge stacker 17 via the switchback path 23 and the reversal path 29. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the first set of sheets _P1 consisting of a plurality of pages is stacked.

Next, the second copy is made, and when the notch roller 45 rotates once with the paper P positioned between the notch roller 45 and the pressure cut spring 47, the notch roller 45 rotates once.
5 contacts the paper P by the length of the circumferential surface of the circular arc portion, and the paper P is shifted toward the stopper 51 side. Therefore, the side edge of the paper P abuts against the stopper 51. At that time, the end of the paper P on the notch roller 45 side is
pass above. Therefore, the stopper 49 protrudes from the hole 41 due to the return force as shown in FIG.
This prevents the paper P from moving when it hits the paper P and rebounds.

In this state, when the switching lever 25 is rotated upward after a predetermined period of time after the sensor S detects the trailing edge of the sheet, the sheet P is stored onto the sheet discharge tray 17 via the reversing path 29. Therefore, the sheets are stored in the discharge stacker 17 in a state shifted in the width direction from the first sheet stored earlier.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 6, the stacker 17 has odd numbered copies P ₁ , P ₃ , P ₅ . . . and even numbered copies P ₂ , P ₄ .
...and are accommodated alternately.

Note that if there is no need to separate the paper P, it is discharged straight like the first copy without shifting in the width direction.

Next, when a paper larger than the previous paper, for example, B4 size paper, is ejected from the forming device 1,
The motor is driven to move the stopper 51 to the B4 size position, and classification is performed in the same manner as before. When transporting even larger paper, such as A3 size paper, the stopper 51 should be
Move it to the size position and divide it.

According to this embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.

A stopper 51 that receives and regulates the side edge of the paper being shifted by the notch roller 45 is provided with a plurality of stoppers 51, for example, driven by a motor to widen the width when the width of the paper is large and to narrow it when the width is small. Since it is movable in the 9th position, even if the paper size changes, there is little change in the shift amount of the sheets staggered in the paper discharge stacker 17.
The 6th
It can be stored neatly as shown in the figure.

Next, a second embodiment of this invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the switchback section 23 is provided with an intermediate stacker 57 which can take a horizontal or inclined position in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction. This intermediate stacker 57 has a flange 59 on one side, and on the other end, for example, stoppers 61 for B5 size, A4 size, and letter size, stoppers 63 for B4 size, and stoppers 65 for A3 size are provided at predetermined intervals. There is. In addition, the stoppers 61, 6
3 and 65 are formed gradually higher as the paper size increases.

The relationship between paper size and shift amount is shown in Figure 8. The shift amount for letter size paper L, B4 size paper B4, and A3 size paper A3 is
For example, the shift amount for 30mm, A4 size paper is Y
For example, the shift amount for 36mm, B5 size paper B5 is Z
For example, it is 79mm.

The intermediate stacker 57 is rotatably supported on a support member 67 by a shaft 69, is swingable between a horizontal state and an inclined state, and is rotated by a solenoid 73 against a return spring 71.

In such a configuration, the operation is as follows. If the paper P discharged from the forming device 1 is, for example, B4 size paper, the intermediate stacker 5
As shown in FIG. 7, the paper P is supplied with one side above the stopper 61.

Odd-numbered copies when the copies are not sorted or when they are sorted are stored in the paper discharge stacker 17 via the reversing path 29 as they are.

When dividing, even numbered parts are solenoid 73
is energized to tilt the intermediate stacker 57 as shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG.

As a result, the paper P slides on the stacker 57,
It hits the stopper 63 from one side and stops.
After a predetermined time, the solenoid 73 is deenergized, the stacker 57 is returned to a horizontal state, and the stacker 57 is transported out. Therefore, the sheets are stored in the sheet discharge stacker 17 in a state as shown in FIG. According to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

The intermediate stacker 57, which shifts the paper P supplied to the switchback path 23 by tilting it at a predetermined angle from a horizontal state, is provided with stoppers 61, 63, and 65 on the lower end side of the inclination according to the paper size, and each stopper 61, 63 , 65 are formed higher as the paper size increases, so that the paper P supplied to the intermediate stacker 57 is placed on the stopper of a size smaller than the paper size.

Therefore, when the intermediate stacker 57 is tilted, the paper on the intermediate stacker 57 is received by the first stopper it hits.

Therefore, it is possible to set the shift amount according to the paper size without moving the stopper according to the paper size as in the first embodiment. The sheets can be stored in the discharge stacker 17 in a well-aligned and divided manner.

[Modified example]

This invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and for example, the following modifications are possible.

(1) In the first embodiment, the stopper 51 is moved to the rack 53.
Although the motor is driven by the pinion 55, the stopper 51 may be moved by a solenoid or the like.

(2) In the first embodiment, one stopper 49 is provided to catch the paper rebounding from the stopper 51, but it may be provided for each size at a position corresponding to the paper size.

(3) In the embodiment described above, the paper is discharged after being reversed in the reversing path 29, but the paper may be discharged without being reversed.

(4) In the above embodiment, the shorter side of the sheet width is implicitly taken as the length of the side, but the length of the longer side may also be used. That is, either the vertical length or the horizontal length of the paper may be used as the width size of the paper.

(5) Although in the embodiment described above, the paper conveying device is separate from the forming apparatus 1, it may be incorporated into the forming apparatus 1.

(6) As the shifting means, one that shifts the paper using the notched roller 45 and one that shifts the paper by tilting the intermediate stacker 57 have been shown;
Any other device may be used as long as it shifts the paper in the width direction of the paper ejection path.

[Effect of idea]

The invention of this application is to shift the paper whose one side edge is guided by the guide means in a direction away from the guide means by the shift means, and to shift the other side edge of the shifted paper by a stopper. According to the width size of the paper, the paper is received and regulated at a plurality of positions so that the amount of shift of the paper is smaller than the amount of overlapping of the paper in the width direction.

Therefore, with the shift means, the shift amount can be reliably set at the stopper position without having to set the shift amount according to the paper width size, and the shift amount is constant and the division is clear. The paper is received and regulated at a position where the shift amount of the paper is smaller than the overlapping amount in the width direction of the paper, and the non-shifted paper and the shifted paper are always stored in the paper output stacker with the overlapping part larger than the non-overlapping part. Therefore, even if the non-overlapping portions are tilted, the overlapping portions are unlikely to be tilted, and the sheets can be reliably divided into groups without falling off the overlapping portions.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 6 are diagrams showing a first embodiment of this invention, and FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall structure of the device;
Figure 2 is a diagram for explaining the reversal operation, Figure 3~
FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the switchback path, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the paper storage state. 7th
8 and 8 are views for explaining a second embodiment of this invention, with FIG. 7 showing the configuration of the switchback path and FIG. 8 showing the mounting position of the stopper. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a conventional paper storage state. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Forming device, P... Paper, 15... Paper discharge path, 17... Paper discharge stacker, 23... Switchback path, 29... Reversing path, 37... Intermediate stacker, 45... Notch roller, 47 ...pressure spring,
51... Stopper, 53... Rack, 55... Pinion, 57... Intermediate stacker, 61, 62, 6
3... Stopper, 71... Return spring, 73
……solenoid.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. A paper conveyance device that stores a series of sheets discharged from a printing, image, etc. forming device into a paper discharge stacker via a paper discharge path, wherein a guide means for guiding a side edge; a shifting means capable of shifting the paper in the paper discharge path in a width direction of the paper discharge path in a direction away from the guide means; and other paper shifted by the shiftable means. a stopper that receives and regulates the side edges of the paper at multiple positions according to the width size of the paper so that the shift amount of the paper is smaller than the overlapping amount in the width direction of the paper; A paper conveyance device characterized in that the paper can be stacked on top of each other and accommodated in the paper discharge stacker. 2. Utility Model Registration Scope of Claim 1. The paper transport device according to claim 1, wherein the stopper is movable in the width direction of the paper discharge path according to the width size of the paper. 3 Utility Model Registration Scope of Claim 1. The paper transport device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the stoppers are sequentially provided in the width direction of the paper discharge path according to the width size of the paper. 4 Utility Model Registration The paper conveying device according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of stoppers are formed to protrude more as the width of the paper increases.