JPH06321418A - Sheet after-treatment device provided with shet aligning means - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable stable sheet alignment without increasing the size of a sheet after-treatment device by mounting a variable means which increases the length of an aligning reference surface for bringing the side end of a dis charged sheet into contact thereto at the time of alignment, and decreasing it at the time of retreat. CONSTITUTION:When a sheet moves to a position A which is the reference surface of sheet alignment, a wire 12 extends following the movement of a reference rod 8a. When the wire 12 extends to the maximum extent, a jointed reference rod 8b also moves together until the reference rod 8a stops. At the same time when the reference rod 8a stops, the reference rod 8b also stops to form a reference surface with a width L obtained by adding the length L1 of the wire 12 to the lengths I of both reference rods 8a, 8b. When the sheet moves on a bin tray (b) to take out the sheet from the user's side, the reference rod 8b moves toward a position B, the wire 12 is loosened and brought into contact with the reference rod 8b, and retreats to the outside of the bin tray (b) as it is so as to loosen the wire 12, so it is possible to retreat the sheet with a width of length I correspouding to that of the aligning rods 8a, 8b.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus provided with sheet aligning means, and more specifically, to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, for sorting, storing, and rearranging sheets discharged after image formation. The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing device such as a sorter having a processing function.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventional sheet post-processing apparatus, as shown in FIG. 7, the length l ₀ of the alignment reference plane with the one of the reference rod 8 (located on the dashed line position), the discharged sheet The sheets have been aligned by bringing them into contact with each other.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the reference plane alignment surface for abutting and aligning the discharged sheet has a length of l ₀ , and when the sheet is pressed by the alignment rod 7, However, the contact width l ₀ of the reference rod cannot be easily changed on the bin tray 4 in order to move the ejected paper.

There is also a problem that the position of the reference rod 8 must be controlled in a complicated manner because the size of the discharged paper is various.

[0005]

According to the present invention, the length of the alignment reference surface with which the side edge of the discharged sheet is brought into contact is long during alignment and when retracting for moving the paper. Is a device characterized by stably adjusting the sheet without increasing the size of the sheet post-processing device by providing a variable means for shortening the sheet.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention for solving the above problems will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall view of the sheet post-processing apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic document feeder 300 that automatically circulates a document is installed on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 200, and 20 bin trays b are provided downstream.
Sorting device 10 having (b ₁ , b ₂ ... b ₁₉ , b ₂₀ )
0 is attached.

The image forming apparatus 200 uses a well-known electrophotographic method, and although detailed description is omitted here, an original document positioned on the platen glass 208 is formed on the photosensitive drum 201 by an optical system (not shown). A developing device 202 provided around the photosensitive drum 201 and a transfer electrode 203
Then, the image is transferred to the sheet and is permanently fixed by the fixing device 205.

The sorting device 100 is a so-called bin-moving sorter, and bin trays b stacked in the vertical direction are raised or lowered one step by one rotation of the spiral cams 4 provided on both sides.

The sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming apparatus 200 is sent to the sorting apparatus 100 through the pair of paper discharge rollers 20, and the flapper 1 selects the direction of sorting path or non-sorting path. At the time of non-sorting without classifying the sheets, all the sheets pass through the non-sorting path and are discharged to the non-sorting tray 30. At the time of sorting for classifying the sheets, the sheets passing through the sorting path and discharged by the discharge rollers are , Bin bins that move up and down in synchronization gather.

Reference numeral 9 (broken line portion) is an electric stapler for binding sheets with staples and is attached at a predetermined position facing the bin tray b.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the present invention, showing how the image forming apparatus 1 is equipped with the sheet post-processing apparatus 2 of the present invention. The sheet 10 is discharged from one end of the image forming apparatus 1 and transferred to the sheet post-processing apparatus 2,
The sheet is discharged onto the bin tray b by the conveying roller 3 in the apparatus.

2 to 5, the subsequent alignment of the sheets,
Describe movement.

When the sheet 10 is discharged onto the bin tray b, the reciprocating movement of the aligning rod 7 pushes it against the reference rods 8a and 8b to align it. The operation is repeated until all the set sheets are discharged (FIG. 4).

In the present invention, when moving to the position A which is the reference plane for sheet alignment, first, the reference rod 8 is moved.
The wire 12 extends along with the movement of a. When the wire is fully extended, the reference rod 8b connected to it also moves and the reference rod 8b
Move together until a stops. When the reference rod 8a is stopped, the reference rod 8b is also stopped to form a reference surface having a width L obtained by adding the length L ₁ of the wire 12 to the length 1 of the two reference rods. Further, when the paper 10 is moved on the bin tray b in order to be taken out from the user side, the reference rods 8a and 8b are used.
Both must be retracted from the bin tray b. At that time, the reference rod 8a moves toward the position B. The wire 12 slackens, comes into contact with 8b, and retreats outside the bin tray b as it is, and the wire 12 loosens and the two alignment rods 8
It is possible to evacuate with a width of length l corresponding to a and 8b.

On the other hand, when the staple mode is selected, post-processing is performed by the stapler 9 in the setting mode after the paper discharge alignment is completed. Next, the reference rod 8a,
8b is retracted from the alignment position to the outside of the bin tray as described above. Then, the aligning rod 7 pushes out all the discharged sheets to the user side (Fig. 5). After the pushing out of a certain amount, the aligning rod 7 stops and this time the reference rods 8a and 8b move so as to lift one corner of the paper. Then, the paper is tilted with respect to the bin tray and stopped (FIG. 6). Then, the aligning rod 7 moves again, moves the sheet, guides the sheet to the opening 11 on the user side, and stops the sheet, so that the user can take out the sheet from the front side.

Next, the reference rods 8a and 8b according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The reference rod is composed of two or more members connected by the wire 12, and has a role of being a matching reference surface of ejected paper and a member of pushing up the paper.

Next, the structure of the reference rod 8 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

At a position opposite to the alignment rod 7, a reference rod 8 is installed so as to penetrate a notch portion A formed in a bin tray b (only 8a is shown and 8b is omitted, but
The wire 12 is connected and configured in the same manner as 8a. ) The reference rod 8 extends in the sheet discharge direction, fits with the guide rail 23 supported below the non-sort tray 30, and has one end fixed to a belt 24 stretched in parallel with the guide rail 23. . One of the belts 24 is a pulse motor 2 fixed below the non-sort tray 30.
The pulley 26 of No. 5 is hooked on the other side of the idler pulley 27, and the forward / reverse rotation of the motor 25 causes the reference rod 8 to retract to the outside of the bin tray area (rear of the stopper b ′) (home position) P ₁ and the sheet. It is possible to move to the position P ₂ that acts during alignment and during extrusion. The position detection at P ₁ is performed by the sensor S ₁ .
The position of P ₂ is detected by inputting a predetermined number of pulses to the pulse motor 25.

(Embodiment 2) In the previous embodiment, the reference rod forms the widthwise variable sheet alignment reference surface by the connection of the two members and the auxiliary member, but in the present embodiment, the reference rod 8 is used. Seat 13 fixed to (longitudinal length is the same as rod 8)
And a take-up roller 41 and a relay roller 42 provided outside the bin tray b form a sheet alignment reference surface. When the sheet moves, the reference rod 8 moves to a position B outside the bin tray b, and the sheet 13 The sheet post-processing device is characterized by being wound around a winding roller 41.

(Embodiment 3) In Embodiment 1, the reference rod 8 is used.
Although the reference rod 8b was pulled by the wire 12 along with the movement of a and was stationary in the state shown in A in FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, alignment of sheets of various sizes is performed. for sex improve after the reference rod 8a is stationary, it returns a 8a by a predetermined amount, the reference plane of the two length plus the length L ₂ of the present wire flabby length l plus the reference rod L ₃ And l <L ₃
The sheet post-processing apparatus is characterized in that the relationship <L holds.

(Embodiment 4) In Embodiment 1, the two reference rods are moved substantially horizontally with the paper discharge direction. In the present invention, however, the paper is once aligned as shown in FIG. In order to avoid disturbing the alignment, the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in that when the reference rods 8a and 8b move forward and backward, the reference rods 8a and 8b incline relative to the alignment surface. Therefore, the guide rail 23 is arranged so as to be inclined.

[0024]

As described above, there is provided a means for varying the alignment of ejected sheets, particularly the length of the reference rod alignment surface which is the contact reference, during alignment and during withdrawal from the bin tray. Enables stable operation without increasing the size of the device,
The effect is that the ejected sheets can be aligned.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an image forming apparatus including a sheet post-processing apparatus embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a sorter specifically showing the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing alignment and movement of sheets on a bin tray.

5 is an operation diagram of FIG.

6 is an operation diagram of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing details of a reference rod.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the third embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Image Forming Device 2 Sheet Post-Processing Device 3 Conveying Roller 4 Bin Tray 5,6 Sword Cam 7 Alignment Rod 8 Reference Rod 9 Stapler 10 Ejected Paper 11 Paper Ejection Opening 12 Wire 13 Sheet 14 Winding Roller 15 Relay Roller

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. At least one sheet tray for accommodating discharged sheets, alignment reference means for aligning end faces of the sheets discharged to the tray, and means for pressing the sheet to the aligning means. In the sheet post-processing apparatus having the aligning means, the aligning reference means is a moving means that is capable of retracting with respect to the sheet tray,
A sheet aligning sheet having an aligning surface serving as a sheet aligning reference, and a length in the aligning direction of the aligning surface is longer when it is advanced into the sheet tray than when it is retracted. A sheet post-processing apparatus having a means. 2. The alignment reference means forms an alignment surface at a position including a center of gravity of a discharged sheet when the alignment reference means advances into the sheet tray to form an alignment surface. Sheet post-processing device. 3. At least one sheet tray for accommodating discharged sheets, alignment reference means for aligning the sheet end faces discharged to the tray, and means for pressing the sheet to the alignment reference means. In the sheet post-processing apparatus having the aligning means, the aligning reference means has a moving means that can be retracted and retractable from the sheet tray and an aligning surface that serves as the aligning reference of the sheet, and the aligning reference means. Is a sheet post-processing apparatus provided with a sheet aligning means, wherein the sheet is moved while being inclined with respect to the sheet discharge direction. 4. An image forming apparatus provided with the sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1.