JPH06143863A - Jogger - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable paper to be uniformly arranged accurately irrespective of the number of sheets of stacked recording paper by a method wherein the number of revolutions of a brush roller is varied according to a stacked state of the recording paper. CONSTITUTION:In a finisher 4 adjacent to a copying machine 4, control of the number of revolutions of a brush roller 28 and control of contact time (pressing time) of a hammering roller 32 which is driven with a solenoid 11 are performed according to the number of stacked sheets of recording paper which are carried in a guide board 33. At first, for example, the number of stacked sheets detected with an inlet sensor S1 is compared with the number of set sheets, and the number of revolutions of a motor 10 is controlled based on the result. That is, when the number of stacked sheets is judged to be less than the number of set sheets, the number of revolutions of the motor 10 is controlled with a CPU 7 so as to become the small number of revolutions. Thereby, accurate paper arrangement can be performed in any case irrespective of the number of stacked sheets.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer, and more particularly to a paper aligning apparatus for aligning sheets when stapling the recording sheets after the image formation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, recording paper discharged from a fixing device is
The post-processing device performs stippling of a plurality of recording sheets for one document. When performing such a process, conventionally, the recording paper is once housed vertically in a guide plate, and every time it is housed in the guide plate, a brush roller is rotated and brought into contact with the surface thereof, and the frictional force at that time is used. Press the recording paper against the bottom of the guide plate to align the paper,
I try not to spoil the aesthetics of the bundle of paper after binding.

In addition to the brush roller, a tapping roller is used to press the recording paper to prevent misalignment of the recording papers.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, when the number of recording paper stacks increases,
The recording paper becomes full of the guide plate and is hard to hit the guide plate, and the final paper or the misalignment of two to three recording papers from the final paper occurs as shown in FIG.
Is a brush roller, 2 is a guide plate, and 3 is a recording sheet housed in the guide plate 2.

In order to improve this, if the brush roller is replaced with one having a large frictional force, the leading edge of the recording paper does not stop by hitting the guide plate when the number of recording paper stacks is small, and the leading end is warped in the guide plate. As a result, the paper cannot be accurately aligned, and a paper misalignment occurs as shown in FIG.

For this reason, the frictional force of the brush roller could only be increased to a certain extent. for that reason,
If the number of stacks increases, paper misalignment occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper aligning device which enables accurate paper alignment regardless of the number of recording paper stacks.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention collects the recording paper discharged from the image forming apparatus to a guide plate by a brush roller prior to the bookbinding process. The paper aligning device is provided with a control means for varying the number of rotations of the brush roller according to the stacking state of the recording papers.

The content of the control means is to change the rotation speed of the brush roller according to the number of recording sheets stacked on the guide plate, or the number of recording sheets stacked on the guide plate exceeds a set number. , And changing the rotation speed of the brush roller when the last paper or a few sheets before the last paper, or when the recording paper stacked on the guide plate is determined to be the last paper, It is conceivable to lengthen the rotation time of the tapping roller for moving the recording paper.

[0010]

According to the above-mentioned means, the rotation number of the brush roller is controlled to increase when the stack state, for example, the number of sheets stacked on the guide plate exceeds the set number. As a result, accurate paper alignment can be performed in any case regardless of the number of stacks. This also applies to the case where the rotation number of the brush roller is controlled or the rotation time of the tapping roller is controlled for the final paper or the number of stacks several sheets before the final paper.

[0011]

1 is a block diagram showing the construction of an electric system of a paper aligning apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view showing a mechanical portion of the paper aligning device according to the present invention.

First, the configuration of FIG. 2 will be described. FIG. 2 shows an example in which the paper aligning device is applied to a finisher.

The finisher 4 is arranged so as to be adjacent to the copying machine 5 which is an image forming apparatus and so that the recording paper conveying system is in communication therewith, and a signal line is connected between the two via an optical fiber or the like. .

As shown in FIG. 1, the electrical system of the paper aligning apparatus includes an interface 6 using an optical fiber as a transmission medium, and a CPU 7 (for example, an 8-bit 1-chip microcomputer "μP" connected to the interface 6).
D7810 "), drive circuits 8 and 9 connected to the CPU 7, a motor 10 for driving a brush roller connected to the drive circuit 5, and a solenoid 11 for driving a beating roller connected to the drive circuit 9. Consists of

Next, the structure of the mechanical section will be described.

A conveying roller 12 is arranged to guide the recording paper (copy paper) discharged from the copying machine 5 into the finisher 4, and a deflecting claw 13 for selecting a destination is provided at the rear of the conveying roller 12. It is arranged. This deflection claw 1
3 and the finisher 4 for storing the processed recording paper.
A discharge tray 14 is provided so as to protrude to the outside, and a transport path 15 is arranged between the discharge tray 14 and the deflection claw 13. Further, in the middle of the transport path 15, the transport roller 1
6 and 17 are provided, and driven rollers 18 and 19 are provided in pairs with the conveying rollers 16 and 17, respectively.

A paper discharge roller 20 is arranged at the exit of the conveying path 15, and a driven roller 21 is arranged so as to make a pair with the paper discharge roller 20. Furthermore, a sponge roller 22 for advancing the paper is provided adjacent to the paper discharge roller 20 and receives the rotational force thereof to rotate.

A conveying path 23 having an "L" shape is arranged below the deflecting claw 13, and conveying rollers 24 and 25 are arranged at a plurality of positions along the conveying path 23 so as to form a pair. The driven rollers 26 and 27 are provided. A brush roller 28 is arranged at the tip of the conveying path 23, and a discharge belt 29 is arranged so as to face the brush roller 28 and be inclined. A jogger fence 30 is arranged facing the surface of the paper discharge belt 29. Further, a paper ejection claw 31 is provided on the back of the jogger fence 30, and a tapping roller 32 for pulling the ejected recording paper downward is provided on the front side.

Further, a guide plate 33 is disposed immediately below the brush roller 28, and a stapler 34 is disposed below the guide plate 32. In addition, in the figure, the portion indicated by the alternate long and short dash line indicates the staple binding unit. Further, an entrance sensor S ₁ for detecting the passage of the leading end and the trailing end of the recording paper to be carried in is installed on the entrance side of the carrying roller 12.

In the configuration of FIG. 2, the recording paper from the copying machine 5 is carried into the deflecting claw 13 through the carrying roller 12. When the stapling process is not performed, the deflecting claw 13 is rotated counterclockwise in the drawing, and the recording paper from the carrying roller 12 is carried into the carrying path 15. The recording paper is the conveyance rollers 16 and 1.
It is sent out into the discharge tray 14 by 7.

On the other hand, when stapling is performed, the deflection claw 13
Rotates in the clockwise direction, the recording paper from the transport roller 12 is fed into the transport path 23, and is transported by the driving force of the transport rollers 24 and 25. The recording paper output from the transport path 23 is
The rotating brush roller 28 bends the sheet upward and feeds it onto the sheet discharge belt 29, and the recording sheet is fed into the jogger fence 30. Then, when the trailing edge of the recording paper leaves the brush roller 28, the recording paper is attracted to the guide plate 33 due to natural fall and rotational friction of the brush roller 28. At this time, the tapping roller 32 functions so as to bring the recording paper to the guide plate 33.

As described above, when a plurality of recording sheets are carried in and the entrance sensor S ₁ counts the set number of sheets, the stapler 34 binds the sheets. The staple-stitched copy bundle is conveyed upward by the rotation of the paper discharge belt 29, and is discharged into the discharge tray 14 by the discharge rollers 20.

In the finisher 4 having the above-described structure, according to the present invention, the rotation number of the brush roller 28 is controlled in accordance with the number of stacks of the recording sheets carried into the guide plate 33.
The contact time (pressing time) of the tapping roller 32 driven by the solenoid 11 is controlled.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, for example, the stack number (set number) detected by the inlet sensor S ₁ is compared with the set number (eg, 30), and the rotation speed of the motor 10 is based on the result. To control. That is, when it is determined that [the number of stacks is less than 30] (step 301), the CPU 7 controls the rotation speed of the motor 10 to be a low rotation speed (for example, 500 rpm). If [30 sheets> number of stacked sheets] is determined in step 301, the rotation speed of the motor 10 is increased (for example, 800 rp).
m) is controlled (step 303).

The conveying force for pressing the recording paper against the guide plate 33 changes depending on the number of rotations of the brush roller 28. When the number of sheets is small, the force to press against the guide plate 33 may be small (when it is increased, unevenness is generated on the contrary), but when the number of sheets is increased, the frictional force between the sheets also becomes large. Occurs. Therefore, the number of rotations of the brush roller 28 is increased when the number of stacks exceeds a certain value. Further, by reducing the rotation speed of the brush roller 28, it becomes possible to extend the life of the brush.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, step 301
When it is determined whether or not the number of stacked sheets exceeds the set number, the number of rotations of the motor 10 is increased to 800 rpm (step 303). Further, when it is determined that the number of stacked sheets reaches the final sheet (for example, 50 sheets) or the number of sheets in the vicinity thereof (for example, 47 to 49 sheets) (step 401), the rotation speed of the motor 10 is further increased (for example, , 1000 rpm) and the carrying force is increased (step 402).

The recording paper is pressed against the guide plate 33 by the brush roller 28 and the tapping roller 32, but it becomes difficult to hit the guide plate 33 when the number of stacks increases. In particular, misalignment is likely to occur on the last paper or about a few recording papers from the last paper (except for the last few sheets,
The frictional force between the sheets pushes them against the stacked sheets and pushes them against the guide plate 33, so that misalignment is unlikely to occur).

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the number of recording sheets to be stacked near the final sheet is increased, the number of rotations of the motor 10 is controlled so as to prevent the occurrence of misalignment. If the number of rotations of the brush roller 28 is increased when the number of stacks is small, the carrying force becomes excessive and unevenness occurs.

Further, by controlling the solenoid as shown in FIG. 5, the occurrence of misalignment can be further reduced.

In this control example, first, it is judged whether or not the number of recording sheets to be stacked is larger than 30 (step 50).
1) If it is 30 sheets or more, it is judged whether it is the final sheet (step 502). In this case, the recording paper to be judged may be judged to be two or three sheets before the last paper for the above reason. When it is determined in step 502 that the sheet is the last sheet, the on time of the solenoid (SOL) 11 is shortened (for example, 0.7 seconds) as shown in step 503, while in step 502, [recording sheet = last sheet ], It is determined that the solenoid (SOL) 1
The ON time of 1 is lengthened (for example, 3 seconds) (step 504). As a result, the tapping roller 32 on the final paper
The contact time (rotation time) of the recording paper becomes longer, and the recording paper is pushed out to the guide plate 33 by the rotation, but the roller rotation time at the time of stacking the final paper is long enough to prevent paper misalignment. Become. The same applies when the above control is performed by recording a few sheets before the last sheet.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing another structural example of the brush roller according to the present invention.

In the above description, the brush roller 28
It is assumed that all the brushes planted in the same length have the same length (the same diameter), but the brush roller 28 of FIG. 6 has two kinds of diameters set. With such a configuration, the large-diameter brush contacts the recording paper 3 when the number of stacks is small, and the small-diameter brush and the large-diameter brush simultaneously contact the recording paper 3 when the number of stacks is large. As a result, when the number of stacks is small, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (3), a small carrying force is applied to the recording paper 3. When the number of stacked sheets is large, a large conveyance force is applied to the recording paper 3 as shown in FIG. As a result, the carrying force of the brush roller 28 can be adjusted according to the number of stacks, and the recording paper does not become uneven.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a combination according to the diameter of the brush roller.

When the recording paper is centered, when the axial arrangement of the brush roller 28 formed by a combination of a plurality of brushes having different diameters is symmetrical with respect to the reference position, the brush roller 28 moves to the guide plate 33. The pressing force of is applied to the left and right, and the recording paper is slanted to guide plate 3
It is no longer pushed to 3. As a result, the stacked recordings are stacked without a horizontal shift.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing another example of the combination depending on the diameter of the brush roller.

In FIG. 9, the axial arrangement of the brush roller 28 constituted by a combination of a plurality of brushes having different diameters is such that the diameter of the brush roller 28 is within the minimum recording paper width a in the vicinity where the minimum recording papers are stacked. All the different brushes are arranged. This makes it possible to change the carrying force of the brush roller 28 according to the number of stacked sheets even when the minimum recording sheets are stacked.

[0037]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

In the paper aligning apparatus of the first aspect, since the control means for changing the number of rotations of the brush roller according to the stacking state of the recording papers is provided, regardless of the number of stacks, in any case. Accurate paper alignment can be performed.

In the paper aligning apparatus of the second aspect, the control means changes the rotation speed of the brush roller according to the number of stacks of recording paper on the guide plate, so that the number of stacks is always adjusted according to the number of stacks. It becomes possible to give the optimum conveying force to the recording paper.

In the paper aligning apparatus of the third aspect, the control means controls the brush roller when the number of stacks of recording paper on the guide plate exceeds the set number and is the last paper or a few sheets before the last paper. Since the rotation speed is variable, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of paper misalignment even when the number of stacks is large.

In the paper aligning device of the present invention, the control means, when it is judged that the recording paper stacked on the guide plate is the final paper, a tapping roller for bringing the recording paper to the guide plate. Since the rotation time of is increased, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of paper misalignment even when the number of stacks increases.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric system of a paper aligning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a mechanical portion of the paper aligning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a first processing example of rotation number control of a brush roller according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a second processing example of brush roller rotation speed control in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a third processing example of rotation number control of the brush roller in the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing another configuration example of the brush roller according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing an operation state when the number of stacks of the brush roller shown in FIG. 6 is large.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a combination of brush rollers depending on their diameters.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing another example of the combination according to the diameter of the brush roller.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing an example of a paper alignment failure state by a conventional paper alignment device.

FIG. 11 is a front view showing another example of a paper alignment failure state by a conventional paper alignment device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Finisher 5 Copying machine 6 Interface 7 CPU 8 Drive circuit 9 Drive circuit 10 Motor 11 Solenoid 13 Deflection claw 14 Discharge tray 15 Conveyance path 20 Discharge roller 23 Conveyance path 28 Brush roller 29 Discharge belt 30 Jogger fence 32 Tapping roller 33 Guide Board 34 Stippura

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B65H 31/36 7309-3F G03G 15/00 114 7369-2H

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A paper aligning device equipped with a brush roller and a tapping roller for gathering recording paper discharged from an image forming apparatus to a guide plate prior to a bookbinding process. A sheet aligning device, which is provided with a control unit that is variable according to the stack state of the sheet. 2. The paper aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the control means varies the rotational speed of the brush roller according to the number of recording sheets stacked on the guide plate. 3. The control means changes the rotational speed of the brush roller when the number of recording sheets stacked on the guide plate exceeds a set number and is the last sheet or a few sheets before the last sheet. The paper aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper aligning apparatus is a paper aligning apparatus. 4. A paper aligning device provided with a brush roller and a tapping roller for gathering recording paper discharged from an image forming apparatus to a guide plate prior to a bookbinding process, and a rotation time of the tapping roller is set as a guide plate. A sheet aligning device, which is provided with a control unit that is variable according to the number of stacks of recording sheets on the sheet.