JPH0616331A - Sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To remove the jammed recording paper quickly and easily without breaking it in a movable bin type sorter for copying machine or the like by providing a means for controlling the movement of bins on the basis of the signal from a switch, which can command the manual. CONSTITUTION:When a paper jam occures and a cover of a sorter is opened, a switch 14 is operated, and a CPU 11 output the signal for enabling the receipt of the interruption signal from a switch 10 by a CPU 12. When the operating signal from the manual switch 10 is input to the CPU 12 inside of a sorter, bins 6 are set to the initial condition (the condition that all bins 6 are positioned under geneva wheels 3, 3') on the basis of the first operating signal. With the continuous input of the operating signal, the geneva wheels 3, 3' are rotated half counterclockwise at each input to move the bins 6 upward step by step. With the repetition of these operations, a sorter comes into the condition that the jammed paper can be removed, and the jammed paper is removed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a movable bin sorter having a plurality of vertically movable bins.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a plurality of bins are provided at the discharge port of the recording paper, and these bins are moved up or down one step each time the recording paper is discharged. There is known a bin-moving sorter that sorts discharged recording paper.

In the bin moving type sorter, as shown in FIG. 4, when the recording paper P is not completely ejected and the trailing end of the recording paper P remains on the ejection roller pair 15 or the like, it is shown in FIGS. As described above, the trailing end portion of the recording paper P may be caught in the bin stopper portions 62 of the upper and lower bins 6 to cause a paper jam.
FIG. 5 shows a paper jam when the bin 6 is moved below the Geneva wheels 3 and 3'to perform the sorting operation, and the L-shaped bin 6a is moved below the Geneva wheels 3 and 3 '. A paper jam occurs at the bottle stopper portion 62a. FIG. 6 shows a paper jam when the bin 6 of the Geneva wheels 3 and 3'is moved upward to perform the sorting operation, and the bin 6b of the Geneva wheels 3 and 3'moved to the upper side. A paper jam has occurred at the bin stopper portion 62b.

Further, at the time of high-speed copying, the trailing edge of the recording sheet P that has been imperfectly ejected is pushed out by the succeeding ejected recording sheet P, and the trailing edge of the recording sheet P is moved downward to the upper bin. There is a case in which the recording paper P following the recording paper P is folded around the bin stopper portion 62 of the No. 6 and is discharged to the upper bin 6. FIG. 7 shows the state, and the lower bin 6
The trailing edge of the recording paper P that has been imperfectly ejected to the d runs around the bin stopper portion 62c of the upper bin 6c,
A paper jam occurs in a state of being folded over the recording paper P ejected to the above.

When a paper jam occurs during driving of the sorter, the conventional bin-moving sorter removes the recording paper P having the paper jam, for example, by pulling it from the leading end side of the bin 6.

[0006]

In the conventional bin-moving sorter described above, when a paper jam occurs during sorting, the recording P is removed by pulling it out from the leading end side of the bin 6, so that the jam can be quickly obtained. It has the drawback that it cannot be processed. Moreover, the recording paper P that has caused the paper jam is often damaged, resulting in the trouble of having to make a copy again.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and by making the bin manually operable, it is possible to easily and quickly remove the jammed recording paper without damaging it. Intended to provide sorter.

[0008]

The present invention is a sorter for sorting discharged recording paper by moving a plurality of bins one stage upward or downward by a predetermined amount in synchronization with the discharge of recording paper. It is provided with an operation switch capable of indicating and a movement control means for moving the bin based on a signal from the operation switch.

The driving means may move the bin by about ½ of the predetermined amount.

[0010]

According to the present invention, when the operation switch is operated, the bin is moved upward (or downward) based on the operation signal. When the trailing edge of the recording paper is caught in the bin stoppers of the upper and lower bins, the operation switch is operated to move the bin in which the recording paper is caught upward (or downward) to move the bin stopper of the bin bin stopper. A predetermined amount of a gap is generated on the front surface side (or the back surface side), and the recording paper that has been bitten can be removed from this gap.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the operation switch is operated, the bin is moved upward (or downward) by about 1/2 of a predetermined amount based on the operation signal. When the trailing edge of the recording paper wraps around the front and back surfaces of the bin at the bin stopper portion of the bin and causes a jam, the operation switch is operated to move the bin upward (or downward) by about ½ of a predetermined amount. When the recording paper is moved to, a gap of 1/2 of a predetermined amount is formed on both the front and back sides of the bin stopper part, and the recording paper that has been caught can be removed from this gap.

[0012]

EXAMPLE A sorter according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. ◇ FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a sorter according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a main body of a copying machine (image forming apparatus), and 2 is a bin-moving sorter provided in a paper discharge section (not shown) of the copying machine main body 1. Sorter 2
Of the side plates 21 and 22 'in the vertical direction are provided with guide grooves 22,
22 'is formed. The guide groove 22 'on the side plate 21' side is not visible. Geneva wheels 3 and 3'having a substantially disk shape are rotatably mounted at the substantially central positions of the guide grooves 22 and 22 'so that their peripheral portions are close to each other so as to shield the guide grooves 22 and 22'. . The Geneva wheel 3'comprises a front cam portion 31 'made of a soft member and a joint cam portion 32' made of a hard member, and the joint cam portion 32 'is formed in an inner surface of the front cam portion 31'. It is assembled by fitting it into the hole or recess 33 '.
Further, a notch 34 'is formed at a position symmetrical with respect to the peripheral surface of the front cam portion 31'. In addition, Geneva wheel 3
Similarly to the Geneva wheel 3 ', the joint cam portion (not shown) is assembled by fitting it into, for example, a drum-shaped hole or a recess (not shown) formed on the inner surface of the front cam portion 31.

The Geneva wheels 3 and 3'include the side plates 21 and
The rotary shaft 4 is rotatably supported by the rotary shaft 21 'and is attached to both ends of the rotary shaft 4 so as to rotate integrally with the rotary shaft 4.
A drive gear 35 is provided at the center of the outer surface of the Geneva wheel 3 ', and the drive gear 35 is connected to a drive motor (not shown) by a timing belt (not shown). ′ Is driven to rotate. When the Geneva wheel 3'is rotated by the drive motor, the rotation is transmitted to the Geneva wheel 3 via the rotary shaft 4, and the Geneva wheel 3 is rotated in synchronization with the Geneva wheel 3 '. On the outer surface of the Geneva wheel 3, a detection piece 31a for detecting the rotational position of the Geneva wheel 3, 3'is provided along the peripheral edge so as to be orthogonal to the cutout 34 formed on the inner surface. The notch 31b is formed in the. On the other hand, a photo interrupter (rotational position detection sensor) 5 is provided at an appropriate position of the side plate 21, and the notch 3 of the detection piece 31 a is provided by the photo interrupter 5.
The rotational position of the Geneva wheel 3, 3'is detected by detecting 1b.

A plurality of bins 6 are formed in the guide grooves 22, 22 'by loosely fitting trunnions 61 projecting from both ends of the base end.
Is mounted so that it can be raised and lowered. In addition, the guide groove 2
2, 22 'further include the trunnion 61 of the lowermost bin 6.
A drive bar 7 is loosely fitted on the lower side so as to be able to move up and down, and the drive bar 7 is biased upward by a spring 8. As a result, the bin 6 is urged upward as a whole, while the bin 6 below the Geneva wheels 3, 3'moves upward because the trunnion 61 of the leading bin 6 abuts the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel 3, 3 '. Are being regulated.

Further, the side plate 21 is provided with a drive control circuit 9 for controlling the drive of the sorter body 2, and the drive control circuit 9 is further provided with a switch 10 for manually driving the sorter 2. ing. A position corresponding to the switch 10 is cut out in the cover that covers the drive control circuit 9, so that the switch 10 is exposed to the outside. The operation of the drive control circuit 9 will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the sorter according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 11 is a CP for centrally controlling the image forming operation and the sorting operation of the copying machine body 1.
U and 12 are CPUs that control the drive of the sorter 2, 13 is a bin drive unit that controls the rotational drive of the Geneva wheels 3, 3'including the drive motors, and 14 is an open / close switch for the cover of the sorter 2, for example. The set state of the sorter 2 is detected.

Next, the operation of the sorter according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. ◇ Figure 3 shows Geneva wheel 3
It is a principal part side view of the sorter main body 2 seen from the 1'side. When the sort mode is selected in the copy operation, the CPU
11 outputs a control signal to the CPU 12 to control the sorting operation. The CPU 12 outputs a drive signal to the bin drive circuit 13 based on the control signal, and moves the bin 6 upward or downward by one step by a predetermined amount (L in the figure) in synchronization with the ejection of the recording paper P. In the initial state of the sorter 2, all the bins 6 are arranged below the Geneva wheels 3 and 3 ′, and the sorting operation is synchronized with the ejection operation of the recording paper after copying, first from the uppermost bin 6. It is carried out by sequentially moving the Geneva wheel 3'upward one step at a time. When all the bins 6 have been moved above the Geneva wheels 3 and 3 ', the bins 6 at the bottom are successively moved one by one below the Geneva wheels 3 and 3', and so on.
The sorting operation is performed by repeating the upward movement and the downward movement of. When the drive signal is output from the bin drive unit 13 to the drive motor to move the bin 6, the Geneva wheel 3 '
Is rotated clockwise (R direction), and the position where the cutout 31b of the detection piece 31a is detected by the photointerrupter 5, that is, the cutouts 34 'and 34' of the front cam portion 31 'are in the vertical direction. The drive is stopped at the position. In this rotation operation, the opening surface of the notch 34 'on the lower side of the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel 3'is guided by the guide groove 2 of the side plate 21'.
When facing 2 ', the trunnion 61A of the leading bin 6A is slid into the notch 34' from the opening surface and engaged.
The trunnion 61C of the bin 6C next to the leading bin 6A comes into contact with the peripheral surface S of the Geneva wheel 3'and its upward movement is restricted, and only the leading bin 6A is moved upward. Then, the notch 34 'is rotated and the guide groove 2 of the side plate 21' is again rotated.
2 ', the trunnion 61A has a cutout 34'.
Is guided to the guide groove 22 ', abuts on the peripheral surface S of the Geneva wheel 31', and is regulated so as not to move downward. Thereafter, the Geneva wheels 3 and 3'are similarly driven by half rotations to sequentially move the bin 6 upward by one step. Also, all bottles 6 are Geneva wheels 3
When moving above 1, 31 ', the Geneva wheel 31' is driven counterclockwise in synchronism with the recording paper discharging operation, and by the operation reverse to the above, the bin 6 at the bottom is sequentially
It is moved down one step.

When a paper jam occurs in the sorter 2 and the cover of the sorter 2 is opened, this state is set in the switch 1.
4, the CPU 11 outputs to the CPU 12 a control signal that allows the interrupt signal from the switch 10 to be accepted. When an operation signal is input from the switch 10, the CPU 12 sets the bins 6 to the initial state by the first operation signal (a state in which all the bins 6 are below the Geneva wheels 3 and 3 ').
Set to. Subsequently, when an operation signal is input, the Geneva wheels 3 and 3 ′ are rotated by a half turn clockwise each time the operation signal is input to move the bin 6 upward by one step. In addition, CPU1
The bin 6 may be set to the initial state by the control signal from 1 and the bin 6 may be moved when the operation signal of the switch 10 is input. The operator operates the switch 10 a desired number of times to move it upward to the bin 6 immediately above the bin 6 in which the paper jam has occurred, thereby opening the bin stopper portion 62 of the bin 6 in which the paper jam has occurred. Therefore, the jammed recording paper can be easily and quickly removed without damaging it.

When the paper jam processing is completed and the cover of the sorter 2 is closed, the CPU 11 outputs a control signal so that the interrupted copy operation can be restarted. CPU
Receiving this signal, 12 prohibits interruption of the operation signal from the switch 10 and sets the bin 6 to the initial state. Subsequently, the CPU 11 outputs the position information of which the sorting operation has been interrupted to the CPU 12, and the CPU 12 moves upward to the bin 6 immediately above the bin 6 from which the copied recording paper should be ejected based on this position information. . And
After that, the sorter 2 continues the normal sort operation operation based on the control signal from the CPU 11. The switch 14 detects the cover state of the sorter 2 by the PCU.
It may be input to 12, and the above-mentioned operation may be controlled by communicating between the CPU 11 and the CPU 12.

In the above description, the bin 6 of the sorter 2 is manually moved during the continuous copying operation, but the switch 10 is operated even when the copying operation is not performed, for example, at the end of copying. Bin 6 by doing
Is manually movable.

In the above embodiment, since the bin 6 is moved step by step in the manual operation by the switch 10,
For example, it is difficult to remove the recording paper when the trailing edge of the recording paper wraps around the bin stopper portion 62 of the upper bin 6 and causes a paper jam on the front surface side of the bin 6. Even in such a case, in order to enable the handling of the paper jam, for example, as shown by the phantom line in FIG. 3, the downward movement of the jammed bin 6A is restricted by the peripheral surfaces of the Geneva wheels 3 and 3 '. Bottle 6B that is open and bottle 6 that is restricted from moving upward
It may be stopped at an intermediate position with respect to C, and a gap may be generated on both front and back surfaces of the bottle 6A. In this case, for example, the first operation signal of the switch 10 drives the Geneva wheels 3 and 3'to rotate approximately 1/4, and the second and subsequent operation signals drive the Geneva wheels 3 and 3'to 1/2 rotation. By controlling the motor, all the bins 6 can be stopped at the intermediate position, and the gap can be generated. The drive control of the drive motor is performed, for example, by counting the rotation pulse of the drive motor or by controlling the drive time. When the leading bin 6 moves, the leading bin 6 stops at the intermediate position. Then, the drive motor is driven for a predetermined number of pulses (or a predetermined time) from the time when the first operation signal is input, and for the second and subsequent bins 6,
For each input operation signal, the drive motor is stopped when it is driven from the detection position of the photo interrupter 5 by the predetermined number of pulses (or a predetermined time).

In the above embodiment, the switch 10 is provided as the manual operation switch, and the bin 6 is moved upward every time the operation signal of the switch 10 is input. However, in order to simplify the operation, a ten-key pad or the like is used. May be provided so that the number of bins 6 to be moved can be set. Further, it is possible to provide two switches capable of instructing the upward movement and the downward movement of the bin 6, respectively. In this case, the bin 6 is moved upward or downward without the bin 6 being in the initial state, and the bin stopper portion 62 of the bin 6 relating to the paper jam is caused.
Since the paper can be released, the paper jam processing can be performed more quickly.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the sorter body is provided with the operation switch capable of manually operating the bin, when the paper jam occurs in the sorter, the bin related to the paper jam can be manually operated. The recording paper that has been moved and caught between the bins can be easily and quickly removed without damage.

Further, since the bin can be moved up or down by about ½ of a predetermined amount by the operation switch, the trailing edge of the recording paper immediately wraps around the bin stopper portion of the upper bin and the surface of the bin. Even if it is caught in the side, the recording paper can be easily and quickly removed without damaging it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a sorter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a sorter according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the sorter according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state where paper jam of a bin of a sorter occurs.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a paper jam when the bin of the sorter moves downward.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a paper jam when the bin of the sorter moves upward.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which a recording sheet has jammed due to wrapping around a bin stopper portion of a bin.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 sorter 3,3 'Geneva wheel 4 rotating shaft 5 photointerrupter 6,6A, 6B, 6C bin 7 drive bar 8 spring 9 drive circuit 10,14 switch 11,12 CPU 13 bin drive unit 15 discharge roller pair 21,21 ′ Side plate 22 Guide groove 31, 31 ′ Front cam part 31a Detection piece 31b, 34, 34 ′ Cutout part 32 ′ Joint cam part 61, 61B, 61C Trunnion 62, 62A Bin stopper part P Recording paper

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of bins are set in synchronization with the ejection of recording paper.
A sorter for sorting the discharged recording paper by moving a predetermined amount upward or downward step by step, comprising an operation switch capable of manually instructing and a movement control means for moving the bin based on a signal from the operation switch. A sorter characterized by that. 2. The sorter according to claim 1, wherein the movement control means moves the bin by about ½ of the predetermined amount.