JPH0624636A - Geneva wheel structure of bin shifting type sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To absorb and lighten an impulse at the time of a trunnion engaging with a cut by forming the outside periphery section including the cut out of a soft material, and the inside periphery section out of a hard member, in a Geneva wheel which lifts up a bin by engaging the trunnion with the cut. CONSTITUTION:A bin shifting type of a sorter 2 is arranged to face the paper discharge part of the body 1 of a copy machine. Guide grooves 22 are made in vertical direction in both side plates 21 and 21' of the sorter 2, and also Geneva wheels 3 and 3' are attached rotatably to these centers. The trunnions 61 of bin 6 engage with the cuts 34 of the Geneva wheels 3 and 3', whereby the bin 6 is lifted up. In the above constitution, for the Geneva wheels 3 and 3', the front cam parts 31 ad 31' being the outside peripheries are made of soft members, while the joint cam members 32' being the inside periphery is made of a hard material. Hereby, an impulse at the time of a tunnion 61 engaging with a cut 34 is absorbed, and the collision sound is reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bin-moving sorter of an image forming apparatus for sorting recording sheets on which images have been formed (copied) by raising and lowering a plurality of bins one step at a time, and more particularly to such bins. The present invention relates to a structure of a Geneva wheel for moving up and down.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, there is known a bin-moving sorter for sorting recording sheets discharged by raising and lowering a plurality of bins one by one. In this bin moving type sorter, the trunnions formed at the respective base end portions of the plurality of bins are urged upward as a whole, while two notches are provided at the circumferentially symmetrical positions on the peripheral surface at appropriate positions above the trunnions. The upward movement is restricted by the peripheral surface of the substantially disk-shaped Geneva wheel which is formed so as to be rotatable. Then, the Geneva wheel is rotated in synchronism with the discharging operation of the recording paper to engage the trunnion with the cutout portion to move the bin upward or downward step by step to sort the discharged recording paper. It has become.

In the conventional bottle moving type sorter described above,
When the Geneva wheel is rotated to move the bin, there is a problem that a collision noise is generated when the trunnion of the bin is engaged with the cutout portion of the Geneva wheel because the trunnion of the bin is biased upward. In order to solve this problem, conventionally, it has been proposed to absorb the collision force of the trunnion to reduce the collision noise.

For example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-200863 discloses that a Geneva wheel is provided with an elastic body at the bottom of the notch. Further, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 64-7165 discloses that the inner wall of the cutout portion of the Geneva wheel is made of an elastic member.

[0005]

In the conventional Geneva wheel of the bin moving type sorter described above, since only the bottom or inner wall of the notch is made of the elastic member, it is in contact with the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel. It is possible to absorb the collision sound generated when the bin trunnion engages with the notch, but it is not possible to absorb the collision sound generated when the bin trunnion in the next stage comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel. Therefore, the collision noise generated when the bin was moved could not be sufficiently reduced. Moreover, the work of attaching the elastic body or the like to each of the notches has been forced.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention relates to a bin for raising and lowering the bin by engaging a trunnion at the base end of the bin with a notch formed in a substantially disk-shaped peripheral surface. In a Geneva wheel of a movable sorter, it is composed of an inner peripheral part made of a hard member and an outer peripheral part made of a soft member including the cutout part.

[0007]

In the present invention, the Geneva wheel rotates,
When the trunnion of the leading bin, which is in contact with the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel, is engaged with the notch, the trunnion of the next-stage bin contacts the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel by the biasing force. At this time, the collision force when the trunnion of the next-stage bin comes into contact with the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel is absorbed by the outer peripheral portion of the Geneva wheel composed of the soft member, and the collision noise is reduced.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A Geneva wheel structure of a bottle moving type sorter according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. ◇ FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a bottle moving type sorter in which the Geneva wheel according to the present invention is used. 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. Guide grooves 22, 22 'are formed in appropriate positions on the side plates 21, 21' of the sorter 2 in the vertical direction. The guide groove 22 'on the side plate 21' side is not visible. Guide groove 22,
The peripheral edge portion of the guide groove 22, 2 is formed at a substantially central position of 22 '.
Geneva wheels 3 and 3'having a substantially disc shape are rotatably mounted in close proximity so as to shield 2 '. As will be described later, the Geneva wheels 3 and 3'include front cam portions 31 and 31 'that form an outer peripheral portion and joint cam portions 32 and 32' (32 are not visible) that form an inner peripheral portion. The cam portions 31, 31 'are made of a soft material such as nylon resin, and the joint cam portion 3
2, 32 'are made of hard members such as polyacetal resin.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the front cam portion 31 'of the Geneva wheel 3'. 3 is a bottom view of the front cam portion 31 ', and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. The front cam portion 31 'of the Geneva wheel 3'has a substantially disc shape having an appropriate diameter, and the rotary shaft 4 is provided at the center thereof.
A hole 33 for attachment (see FIG. 1) is formed, and a notch 34 having an appropriate depth at an axially symmetrical position on the peripheral surface thereof.
Are formed (see FIG. 3). Further, a drive gear 35 is provided in a protruding manner in the central portion on the outer surface side (see FIG. 2), and an hourglass-shaped recess 37 having a protruding surface 36 is provided on the inner peripheral surface on the inner surface side (see FIG. 2). 3). In addition, 38 in FIG. 1 and 39 in FIG. 2 are reinforcing portions.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the joint cam portion 32 'of the Geneva wheel 3'. 6 is a bottom view of the joint cam portion 32 ', and FIG. 7 is a half sectional view.
The joint cam portion 32 'is the front cam portion 31'.
It has a shape that fits into the hourglass-shaped recess 37, and has a hole 40 formed in the center for attachment to the rotary shaft 4.
In addition, a groove 41 is formed in the central portion on the inner surface side, with which a rotation stopping pin protruding from the rotation shaft 4 is engaged. And
The Geneva wheel 3'is assembled by fitting the joint cam portion 32 'into the recess 37 of the front cam portion 31'. The Geneva wheel 3 is also constructed in the same manner as the Geneva wheel 3 ', but as shown in FIG. 7, a detection piece for detecting the rotational position is provided on the outer surface side of the front cam portion 31 instead of the drive gear 35. The difference is that 31a is provided so as to project along the peripheral edge. The detection piece 31a has a cutout portion 31b formed at a position orthogonal to the cutout portion 34 formed on the inner surface side.

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. The drive gear 35 of the Geneva wheel 3'is connected to a drive motor (not shown) by a timing belt (not shown), and is rotationally driven by the drive motor. When the front cam portion 31 'of the Geneva wheel 3'is rotated by the drive motor, the rotation is performed by the joint cam portion 32' and the rotating shaft 4.
Also, it is transmitted to the front cam portion 31 via the joint cam portion of the Geneva wheel 3 (not shown). As described above, since the joint cam portions 32 and 32 'are made of hard members, the front cam portions 31 and 31' can be rotationally driven without being out of synchronization. A photo interrupter (rotational position detection sensor) 5 is provided at an appropriate position on the side plate 21, and the detection piece 31a is detected by the photo interrupter 5.
Geneva wheel 3 by detecting the notch 31b of
The rotational position of is detected.

In the guide grooves 22, 22 ', trunnions 61 projecting from both ends of each base end of a plurality of bins are loosely fitted. A drive bar 7 is loosely fitted in the guide grooves 22 and 22 'below the trunnion 61 of the lowermost bin 6 so that the drive bar 7 can be moved up and down, and the drive bar 7 is biased upward by a spring 8. There is. As a result, the bin 6 is urged upward as a whole, while the trunnion 61 of the leading bin 6 of the bin 6 below the Geneva wheel 3, 3'is in contact with the peripheral surface of the Geneva wheel 3, 3 '. Thus, the upward movement is restricted.

Next, the operation of the sorter will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a side view of the main parts of the sorter body 2 as viewed from the Geneva wheel 3'side. In the figure, 9 is a pair of discharge rollers for discharging the recording paper after copying. The Geneva wheel 3'is stopped at a position where the photo interrupter 5 detects the cutout portion 31b of the detection piece 31a, that is, a position where the cutout portions 34, 34 of the front cam portion 31 'are vertical. In this state, the trunnion 61a of the leading bin 6a that is biased upward contacts the circumferential surface S of the Geneva wheel 3 ', and the bin 6 below the leading bin 6a is restricted from moving upward. The Geneva wheel 3'is rotationally driven, for example, in the clockwise direction (R direction in the drawing) in synchronization with the ejection operation of the recording paper after copying. When this rotation causes the opening surface of the lower cutout portion 34 of the Geneva wheel 3'to face the guide groove 22 'of the side plate 21', the trunnion 61a of the leading bin 6a slides into the cutout portion 34 from the opening surface. On the other hand, the trunnion 61b of the bin 6b next to the leading bin 6a moves upward, 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 moves upward. . At this time, since the trunnion 61 of the bin 6 is urged upward by the spring 8 with a considerably strong force, the trunnion 61a of the leading bin 6a and the trunnion 61b of the next bin 6b are respectively the inner wall of the notch 34 and the peripheral surface S. Collided with
The collision force is made of a soft material and is absorbed by the front cam portion 31 'of the Geneva wheel 31, so that unpleasant collision noise is reduced. Then, when the cutout portion 34 reaches the guide groove 22 'of the side plate 21' again, the trunnion 61 of the leading bin 6a is formed.
The a is removed upward from the notch 34 by the guide groove 22 ', abuts on the peripheral surface S of the Geneva wheel 3', and the leading bin 6 is removed.
The bin 6 above a is regulated so as not to move downward. The Geneva wheel 3 rotates in synchronization with the Geneva wheel 3'and operates in the same manner as described above. When all the bins 6 have moved above the Geneva wheels 3 and 3 ', the Geneva wheels 3'are synchronized with the discharging operation of the recording paper.
Is driven counterclockwise, and the lowermost bin 6 is moved downward one by one by the operation reverse to the above. The sorting may be performed when the bins 6 are raised, and all the bins 6 may be lowered and reset to the reset state each time one copy is completed.

The Geneva wheels 3 and 3'include an inner peripheral portion made of a hard member and a notch portion 34, 3 made of a soft member.
The structure is not limited to the above as long as it is composed of the outer peripheral portion including 4 '. For example, the front cam portion 31,
The concave portion 37 of 31 'may be circular, and the disc-shaped joint cam portions 32, 32' may be fitted into the concave portion 37 and adhered thereto, or the disc-shaped inner peripheral portion may be fitted into the ring-shaped outer peripheral portion. However, the peripheral surface of the inner peripheral portion may be bonded to the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral portion.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The Geneva wheel's outer circumference is made of a soft material, and its inner circumference is made of a hard material, so the collision force when the bin trunnion engages with the notch formed on the peripheral surface is absorbed, causing an uncomfortable collision. The sound is reduced. Further, since it is composed of two members, that is, the inner peripheral portion and the outer peripheral portion, it is possible to assemble it only by the fitting work, and the manufacturing work becomes easier accordingly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a sorter in which a Geneva wheel according to the present invention is used.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a front cam portion of the Geneva wheel according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view showing the front cam portion of the Geneva wheel according to the present invention.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a joint cam portion of the Geneva wheel according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a bottom view showing the joint cam portion of the Geneva wheel according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a half sectional view of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a movement operation of a bin by a Geneva wheel.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 3,3 'Zerva wheel 4 Rotation shaft 5 Photo interrupter (rotational position detection sensor) 6,6a, 6b Bin 7 Drive bar 8 Spring 31, 31' Front cam part 31a Detection piece 32, 32 'Joint cam Part 33, 40 Hole 31b, 34 Notch 35 Drive gear 37 Recess 38, 39 Reinforcing part 61, 61a, 61b Trunnion

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A Geneva wheel for a bin-moving sorter, in which a trunnion at a base end of a bottle is engaged with a notch formed in a substantially disk-shaped peripheral surface to raise and lower the bin, an inner peripheral portion made of a hard member. And a Geneva wheel structure for a bottle-moving sorter, which comprises a soft member and an outer peripheral portion including the cutout portion.