JPH0544364Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] This invention relates to a copying machine with a sorter that connects a plurality of sorter units each having a predetermined number of bins, and is particularly useful when a paper jam occurs. Regarding improvement of post-processing.

[Conventional device]

Conventionally, in a copying system in which one unit of sorter having a predetermined number of bins is combined, a bypass path having a tray exclusively for jams is provided above the paper storage section of the sorter, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-224859, for example. When a jam occurs in the sorter, a switching gate provided at the sorter entrance is switched from the normal paper conveyance path side to the bypass path side, and the paper discharged from the copying machine main body is stored in the jam-dedicated tray. Therefore, the paper that obstructs restarting after removing the jammed paper, that is, the paper remaining in the copying machine main body, is discharged to the jam-dedicated tray.

By the way, some sorter systems are designed to increase the number of bins by connecting a plurality of similar sorter units to one sorter having a predetermined number of bins. The bypass path having a dedicated jam tray and the switching gate for switching the conveyance destination are provided only in the first sorter unit that is directly connected to the copying machine main body, so that the remaining paper on the copying machine main body side is transferred to the jam Although it is possible to automatically discharge the paper to a special tray, the only way to remove the paper that has already passed through the switching gate and been carried into the sorter is to manually remove it from the operator.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

This idea was made in view of the above circumstances,
In a copying machine with a sorter in which multiple sorter units are connected, when a paper jam occurs in the copying machine or the sorter, some of the paper that has already been carried into the sorter is transferred to the horizontal transport (in each sorter unit, the paper is transported in the horizontal direction). The purpose of this system is to automatically discharge the paper being conveyed (where the paper is carried out) to a predetermined discharge tray, thereby reducing the operator's effort and minimizing paper waste.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

Therefore, this invention consists of a plurality of bins for storing sheets, a horizontal conveyance path, and a vertical conveyance path, and the paper is conveyed to the plurality of bins by sequentially passing through the horizontal conveyance path and the vertical conveyance path. In a copying machine with a sorter, in which a plurality of sorter units are connected, each of which has a paper transport section and a paper distribution member that distributes sheets of paper to the plurality of bins, a discharge tray that discharges sheets carried into the unit, and a paper distribution member that distributes sheets of paper to the plurality of bins are arranged. A first switching gate that switches and guides the paper carried into the unit either in the direction of the output tray or in the direction of the horizontal conveyance path in the unit; A second switching gate is provided for each sorter unit to switch between the direction of the stack unit and the direction of the vertical conveyance path within the unit, and the copy start button can be turned on after detecting the occurrence of a paper jam. If it is detected that the copy start button has been pressed, all the first switching gates provided in each sorter unit are switched to the ejection tray side, and the second switching gate is switched to the output tray side.
At the same time, when a predetermined period of time set in advance has elapsed after this switching, all the first switching gates provided in each of the sorter units are switched to the horizontal conveyance path direction. The above-mentioned problem is solved by including a control means for controlling the copy operation to be executed according to the job contents.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a copying system in which two sorter units 20 and 30 are connected to a copying machine main body 1.
The guide 2 guides the carried paper into the sorter, the guide 3 guides the carried paper to the ejection tray 4, the ejection tray 4 that accommodates the paper guided by the guide 3, and the paper path switch. A switching gate 5, a horizontal transport 6 that transports paper horizontally, a guide 7 that guides paper from the horizontal transport 6 to a vertical transport 8, a vertical transport 8 that transports paper vertically, and performs sorting positioning. An indexer 9, a paper storage unit 10 having a large number of bins arranged vertically, and jam detection sensors (not shown) arranged at various locations on the paper transport path in the copying machine body and sorter to detect paper jams. ) etc. Also,
The sorter unit 20 includes a horizontal transport 6.
It is provided with a switching gate 12 for selectively switching sheets conveyed from the unit to the vertical transport 8 of the unit and to the sorter unit 30 side, and a guide 13 for guiding the sheets to the sorter unit 30 side. Incidentally, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 indicates a discharge roller provided on the side of the main body 1 of the copying machine.

Next, FIG. 2 shows an example of the control configuration of the above embodiment configuration.

In FIG. 2, the switching gate 5 of the sorter unit 20, the switching gate 5 of the sorter unit 30,
The switching gate 12 of the sorter unit 20 is controlled by turning on and off solenoids 31, 32 and 33, respectively. Further, in the same figure, 34 and 35 are sorter motors that drive the horizontal transport 6 and vertical transport 8 of each unit 20 and 30, respectively, 36 is an operation display unit consisting of a start button, etc., and 37 is a copy sequence, a sorter motor, etc. ROM in which programs such as control means are stored; 38 is RAM for data processing;
40 is a CPU that controls these components.

The specific operation of the configuration example shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3.

First, when a jam does not occur in the sorter, the solenoids 31 and 32 are turned off, and therefore the switching gates 5 of each sorter unit 20 and 30 are switched to the side where the paper is conveyed to the horizontal transport 6 side. . Therefore, the paper discharged from the copying machine main body 1 by the discharge roller 14 passes through the guide 2, the horizontal transport 6, the guide 7, and the vertical transport 8 of the unit 20, and is delivered to each of the paper storage sections 10 of the unit 20. contained in the bin or the guide 2 of the unit 20;
Horizontal transport 6, guide 13, unit 3
The paper is stored in the paper storage section 10 of the unit 30 via the guide 2, the horizontal transport 6, the guide 7, and the vertical transport 8 (step 110).

However, if the CPU 40 detects a jam in the sorter based on the detection outputs of jam detection sensors (not shown) disposed at various locations in the copying machine body and the sorter, the CPU 40 stops the sorter motors 34 and 35. After performing predetermined jam handling such as stopping paper conveyance, the operation display section 36 is controlled to display that a paper jam has occurred (step 120). Based on this display, the operator removes the jam paper (the paper that directly caused the paper jam) in the sorter (step 130). Next, in order to restart the copying operation that was stopped midway due to the occurrence of the paper jam, the operator performs an operation such as resetting the rest of the original, and then presses the copy start button again.

After the CPU 40 displays the paper jam,
A search is made to see if the copy start button on the operation display section 36 has been pressed (step 130). When it is detected that the copy start button is pressed again, the switching gates 5 of each sorter unit 20 and 30 are switched to the guide 3 side by turning on the solenoids 31 and 32 (step
150). In addition, the CPU 40 turns on the solenoid 33 to switch on the switching gate 1 in the sorter unit.
2 to the guide 13 side (step
160), and by turning on the sorter motor 34, the horizontal transport 6 of the sorter unit 20 is
and drives the vertical transport 8 (step 170). According to this control operation, for example, when a paper jam occurs in the sorter unit 30, the paper remaining in the copying machine main body 1 is carried into the sorter unit 20 via the ejection roller 14, and then transferred via the guide 3 of the sorter unit 20. Same unit 20
The paper remaining on the horizontal transport 6 of the sorter unit 20 is carried into the sorter unit 30 via the switching gate 13, and is then carried through the guide 3 of the sorter unit 30. and can be stored in the discharge tray 4 of the unit 30. Further, when a paper jam occurs in the copying machine main body 1, the paper already being conveyed on the horizontal transport 6 of the sorter unit 20 can be stored in the discharge tray 4 of the sorter unit 30 in the same manner as described above.

That is, according to the configuration of this embodiment, when a jam occurs in the sorter or the copying machine main body, not only the remaining paper in the copying machine main body 1 but also the paper in the horizontal transport 6 of the sorter unit 20 is ejected from the upper part of the sorter. Since the paper can be automatically discharged onto the tray 4, the operator only has to remove the jammed paper that is the direct cause of the jam when disposing of the jam, which reduces the burden on the operator.

After performing this control operation, the CPU 40 switches the switching gate 5 of each sorter unit 20 and 30 to the guide 2 side by turning off the solenoids 31 and 32 after the predetermined time required for the paper ejection operation has elapsed. As a result, the sheets subsequently carried in are conveyed to the horizontal transport 6 side (steps 190 and 200). and,
From now on, the CPU 40 performs normal copy control and sorter control according to the contents of the re-job specified on the operation display section 36 (step
210).

In the above embodiment, when a paper jam occurs, the operator removes the jammed paper and then
By pressing the restart button, each unit
The switching gate 5 of 30 and 30 is switched to the output tray 4 side, but in addition, for example, the position of a paper jam is determined, and the sorter unit that switches the switching gate 5 to the output tray 4 side is selected according to the position of the paper jam. By doing so, the jam paper removal operation by the operator can be performed after the paper ejection operation.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, according to the present invention, each sorter unit is provided with an ejection tray and a switching gate, and when the input of the copy start button is detected after the occurrence of a paper jam is detected, the output tray and the switching gate provided in each sorter unit are All of the first switching gates provided in each sorter unit are switched to the ejection tray side, and when a predetermined time period has elapsed after this switching, all of the first switching gates provided in each of the sorter units are switched to the horizontal transport path direction, and further Since the copy operation is executed according to the job contents, when restarting the copy operation, the operator only needs to remove the jammed paper that directly caused the jam, and then press the copy start button. This reduces the number of sheets the operator has to remove, greatly reduces the burden on the operator, and allows even inexperienced operators to easily resume copying.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a device showing an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the control configuration of the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the operation of the device of the same embodiment. 1... Copying machine body, 2, 3, 7, 13... Guide, 4... Ejection tray, 5, 12... Switching guide, 6... Horizontal transport, 8... Vertical transport, 9... Paper Distribution member, 10... Paper storage section, 20, 30... Sorter unit, 31,
32, 33... Solenoid, 34, 35... Sorter motor, 36... Operation display unit, 40... CPU.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] Consisting of a plurality of bins for storing sheets, a horizontal conveyance path and a vertical conveyance path, the imported sheets are sequentially passed through the horizontal conveyance path and the vertical conveyance path to form the bins in the plurality of stages. In a copying machine with a sorter, in which a plurality of sorter units are connected, each of which has a paper transport unit that transports the paper to the bins, and a paper distribution member that distributes the paper to the plurality of bins, the output tray discharges the paper carried into the unit; a first switching gate that switches and guides the paper carried into the unit into either the direction of the output tray or the horizontal conveyance path within the unit; and the paper carried into the horizontal conveyance path of the unit. A second switching gate is provided for each sorter unit, and a second switching gate is provided for switching and guiding the paper to either the next stage unit or the vertical conveyance path direction within the unit, and the copying starts after detecting the occurrence of a paper jam. It detects whether or not the button has been pressed, and when it detects that the copy start button has been pressed, all the first switching gates provided in each sorter unit are switched to the ejection tray side, and all the second switching gates are switched to the next stage. While switching to the unit direction side,
When a preset predetermined time has elapsed after this switching, all the first switching gates provided in each of the sorter units are switched to the horizontal transport path direction to execute a copy operation according to the specified job content. A copying machine with a sorter, characterized in that it includes a control means for controlling the copying machine.