JPH0645418B2 - Sheet material sorting and loading device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a sheet material sorting and stacking apparatus, and more particularly, to an image-formed sheet conveyed from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer. The present invention relates to a device for sorting and loading each job.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers tend to be multifunctional, and in response, post-processing apparatuses for image-formed sheets carried out from the image forming apparatus have various functional improvements. Is being requested. Under these circumstances, a device that stacks paper on the tray while sorting paper by job was proposed by improving the tray that had the function of simply stacking the image-formed paper that had been carried out. There is.

That is, in the sorting and stacking apparatus 1 described above, as shown in FIG. 7, when the image-formed sheet 2 is conveyed by the sheet discharge roller pair 3 and discharged onto the tray 5, the sheet 2 falls by its own weight. While moving according to the inclination of the tray 5,
The back plate 6 which is erected at the end is struck and is sequentially stacked on the tray 5 as indicated by 7.
At this time, in order to change the stacking position of the sheets for each job, that is, for each set of a plurality of identical pages, for example, when a large number of copies are made from an original consisting of a plurality of pages, the tray 5 of FIG. The paper 7 is shifted in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface, so that the sheets 7 accumulated on the tray 5 at the end of image formation are divided into right and left for each job and accumulated.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in the sorting and stacking apparatus 1 described above, the sheet 2 after being released from the constraint of the discharge roller pair 3 is simply moved by its own weight and then collides with the back plate 6 to be accumulated on the tray 5. Therefore, depending on the discharge status from the discharge roller pair 3, the movement status of the paper after discharge, and the collision status with the back plate 6, as shown by arrows a and b in FIG. It has a tendency to be shifted and loaded. In particular, when the sheet 2 moves in the direction of arrow C and collides with the back plate 6, the front end of the sheet 2 and the back plate 6 are not always in parallel with each other. Whether or not the sheet 2 is displaced in the A direction or the B direction due to the collision between the corner portion and the back plate 6 is deterministically determined. Therefore, the stacking position greatly varies, and the alignment degree becomes extremely poor even in the same job unit. Due to this, even if the tray 5 is moved in the directions of D to E in FIG. 8 in order to sort the sheets for each job, as shown in FIG. 9, the sorting of each job unit I, II, and III is performed. It had a defect that the boundaries 9 and 10 became unclear.

[Object of the Invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems, that is, the inconvenience that the boundaries of sorting of sheet materials become unclear, and to provide a sorting and stacking apparatus with improved alignment of sheet materials.

[Means for solving problems]

The tray for accumulating the sheet material discharged from the image forming apparatus is moved to the left and right in a direction substantially orthogonal to the sheet material discharging direction to be positioned, and the sheet material is loaded while being sorted on the right side and the left side of the tray. In the sorting and stacking device, the relative angular relationship between the discharge direction of the sheet material and the back plate of the tray is set to 90 ° + α (oblique angle) so that the sheet material discharged onto the tray rotates. In addition, the sheet material is provided with an end portion position regulating means on the side on which the sheet material is swung, and further, means for releasing the end portion position regulating means while the tray is moving to the left or right. Sheet material sorting and loading device.

[Work]

By adopting the above means, the sheet material is discharged not at a right angle to the tray back plate but at a certain angle (acute angle). exercise. On the other hand, since the positioning member is provided on the rotational movement direction side, the discharged sheet material hits the positioning member and is always positioned and aligned at the same position. Further, since the positioning member is pulled up while the trays are moved for sorting, the sheet materials that are aligned and stacked are not disturbed.

In this way, the boundary of sorting for each sorted job is clarified, and at the same time, aligned loading is possible.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

The paper sheet sorting and stacking device 11 discharges the paper sheet (sheet material) on the surface of which the image forming apparatus (not shown) has completed image formation, and the discharged paper sheet. The tray 13 for stacking is provided. The paper sheet discharge section 12 has upper and lower guide members 15 and 16 (shown in FIG. 2) for guiding the discharged paper sheet and a pair of paper discharge rollers 17, and the upper and lower guide members 15 are provided. , 16 are discharged onto the tray 13 by the discharge action of the discharge roller pair 17.

The paper discharge roller pair 17 includes a paper discharge roller 19 driven by a drive source (not shown) and a driven roller 20 pressed by the paper discharge roller. The driven roller 20 is like a leaf spring. It is rotatably supported by things. Further, the discharge rollers 19a, 10b, 19c, 19d
Of these, only 19a is larger than the others by about 1 mm in diameter.

Further, the tray 13 has a front overhanging portion 22, a paper sheet stacking portion 23 that inclines rearward from the front, a back plate 25 standing substantially vertically, and a rear overhanging portion 26. The guide rail member 27 fixed to the lower portion of the overhanging portion 22 and the rearward overhanging portion 26 are provided by roller members 30, 31, 32 provided on a base portion 29 that can be fixed to the main body of the image forming apparatus (not shown). By being guided, the tray 13 can be moved by the tray moving device 33 in the direction shown by the arrow Niho in FIG. 1 and in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tray moving device 33 includes a motor 35, gears 36, 37, 38, 39 which are respectively arranged on the base 29. 39
A cam plate 40 that rotates integrally with the micro switch 41,
The cam plate 40 and a part of the tray 13, for example, an arm member 42 that connects the guide rail member 27 are formed.

Further, a unit 14 for controlling the position of the discharged paper is arranged above the paper sheet discharge unit 12. Unit 14
First, the lever 48 for regulating the position of the paper in the direction perpendicular to the paper discharge direction, the rotary shaft 46 of the lever, and the U-shaped member 4 having both ends fixed to the rotary shaft 46 will be described.
7, the lever 48 is supported rotatably with respect to the rotating shaft 46 and is movable in the axial direction. Also,
An arm member 45 is fixed to one end of the rotary shaft 46, and a pin 45 a provided on the arm member 45 is engaged with a link 44 whose one end is rotatably fixed to the solenoid 43. Naturally, both ends of the rotary shaft 46 are rotatably supported (not shown). On the other hand, at the center of rotation of the lever 48, an arm 54 for moving the lever is arranged without hindering the rotational movement of the lever 48 around the shaft 46 within a necessary range, and the other end of the arm 54 is provided. Rack 5
It is fixed at 2. The rack 52 is the groove 5 of the base 50.
It is fitted to 0a and is capable of rectilinear movement only in the direction of Niho in FIG. A pinion 53 that meshes with the rack 52 is provided in the center of the base 50, and the pinion 53 is fixed to the shaft of a drive motor 49 having one end supported by a hole in the base 50.

Since the first embodiment has the above-described configuration, when the paper sheets discharged from the paper discharge roller pair 17 are stacked near the direction of the arrow E of the tray, the motor 35 is appropriately started by the start signal. The rotation is transmitted to the gear 39 via the gears 36, 37 and 38, and the cam plate 40 is rotated in the direction of arrow H in FIG. Then, the arm member 42 moves the tray 13 in the arrow D direction, that is, the left direction, and when the cam portion 40a of the cam plate 40 operates the micro switch 41 and the motor 35 stops, the tray 13 is moved to the arrow direction in FIG. They are positioned closest to each other in the direction of Niho (Fig. 1). On the other hand, the discharged paper sheet skews due to the difference in peripheral speed due to the large diameter of the paper discharge roller 19a, and as shown in FIG. 4, when it returns in the direction of arrow C, it rotates in the direction of arrow T, The restricting member 8 (the lever 48 in FIG. 1) is abutted and aligned.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the stacking of the paper sheets II in a predetermined job unit on the tray 13 is completed, a start signal is again issued to the motor 35 to operate the motor 35, and the cam plate 4 this time.
The cam portion 40b of 0 continues rotating until the micro switch 41 is actuated, the tray 13 is moved in the direction of arrow E in FIG. 1, and is positioned when the motor 35 stops.

Next, the operation of the lever 48 when the tray 13 is moved will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 shows a state immediately before the tray 13 is moved after the stacking paper I in a predetermined job unit is completed. When the solenoid 43 is excited before the tray 13 moves from this state, the link 44 and the member 45 cause the shaft 46 to rotate in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Is pushed up to the position of the chain double-dashed line in the direction of and is completely separated from the stacked paper I. In this state, the tray moving motor 35 is operated next to move the tray. After the tray movement is completed, the solenoid 43 is de-energized and the lever 48 tries to return to the original position. However, since there is the stacked paper I, the lever 48 stops on the paper surface of the stacked paper I, and after the end of the stacking of the stacked paper II, after the tray shift in the direction of arrow E in FIG. 1, the lever 48 is placed on the receiving surface 23 of the tray 13. Stop.

FIG. 3 in which the lever 48a shows that the series of operations has been completed and the next paper sheet II in the unit of a job is being loaded. The perspective view of FIG. 3 seen from diagonally above corresponds to the perspective view of FIG.

If the paper transport reference position is fixed at the paper edge, the position of the lever 48 may be fixed regardless of the paper size, but if it is the center reference, the lever 48 also needs to be moved according to the paper size. In this embodiment, the lever 48 can be moved in the direction of the arrow Niho so that the latter can be accommodated. The moving mechanism of the lever 48 will be described below.

In FIG. 5, the vicinity of the rotation axis 46 of the lever 48 is positioned by the moving arm 54 as shown in the figure, so that the lever 48 can move along the axis 46 following the movement of the arm 54. For example, a stepping motor is used as the drive motor 49, and the stepping motor 49 is driven according to a paper size signal (for example, from a paper cassette), and the position of the lever 48 is aligned with the position of the paper size edge.
The position of the lever 48 is set with a sufficient margin after considering the skew amount of discharged paper.

In addition, it is necessary to excite the solenoid 43 and pull up the lever 48 to a position where the lever 48 is completely separated from the paper during movement of the lever according to the paper size, that is, so as not to disturb the stacked paper sheets. . However, it is always necessary when changing the paper size from large to small, but it is not always necessary to pull up the lever 48 when changing from small to large.

In this embodiment, the lever 48 is moved by the stepping motor, but it may be manually moved by attaching a knob to the arm 54.

Another modification of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the first embodiment, the discharge direction of the discharged paper is intentionally changed with respect to the back plate portion 25 of the tray and the sheet is discharged obliquely, but the relative angular relationship between the tray back plate portion 25 and the discharge direction is the same. If so, the same effect can be obtained, so in the modified example, the back plate portion of the tray is inclined. In FIG. 6, the back plate portion 60 of the tray 55 has an angle α with respect to the paper discharge roller portion 56.
Is inclined and arranged, and is abutted and aligned with the restriction member 57 on the same principle as the description of FIG. Therefore, in the modified example, it is not necessary to skew the paper, and the configuration is simple.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the tray 13 for accumulating the paper sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus is moved to the left and right in the direction orthogonal to the discharge direction of the paper sheets to be positioned, When the paper sheets are stacked while being sorted on the right side and the left side on the tray 13, the position of one end in the direction orthogonal to the discharging direction of the discharged paper sheets is regulated, and the sheet is slanted relative to the tray back plate. By discharging the paper in line and releasing the position regulation of the paper sheet during the movement of the tray, the paper sheet is loaded on the receiving surface 23 of the tray 13 with the boundaries clearly separated for each job. Not only can it be loaded, but it can be loaded on each job without disorder.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, when the paper sheet 2 is conveyed obliquely to the left as shown by the dotted line with respect to the back plate 6 of the tray, the paper sheet 2 is similarly removed. It rotates in the direction of the arrow T around the left end corner 2b that collides with the back plate 6 and settles in the position indicated by the chain double-dashed line. At that time, similarly, the paper sheet 2 receives a force capable of slightly shifting to the right in the drawing. In this way, by intentionally skewing the paper sheet with respect to the back plate 6 of the tray and landing it from one of the left and right corners 2a or 2b, the position where the paper sheet is settled can be set in the desired direction. It becomes possible to stabilize it.

Further, by providing the positioning member 8 at the paper end portion on the arrow T direction side, the position at which the paper sheet is settled is further stabilized.

In the embodiment according to the present invention, the sheet material discharged from the image forming apparatus is obliquely discharged relative to the back plate of the stacking tray, and the discharged sheet material follows the back plate of the tray. A positioning member that regulates the end position of the sheet material on the direction of the rotational movement is provided, and the positioning member can be separated from the end portion of the sheet material while the tray is moving from left to right or right to left. It has a feature.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the sheet material sorting and loading apparatus according to the present invention is configured as described above, there is an effect that the boundary of sheet material sorting becomes clear.

[Brief description of drawings]

 FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the loading device of this embodiment, FIGS. 2 to 3 are sectional views of the loading device of this embodiment, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the operating principle of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a top view of the second embodiment, FIG. 7 is a main sectional view of a conventional sheet stacking and stacking apparatus, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the conventional example, and FIG. It is a sheet | seat sheet stacking state figure by an example. 13 ... Tray 20 ... Ejection roller 43 ... Lever drive solenoid 48 ... Position control lever

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tray for accumulating sheet materials discharged from an image forming apparatus is moved to the left and right in a direction substantially orthogonal to the sheet material discharging direction to be positioned, and the sheet material is placed on the right and left sides of the tray. In a sorting and stacking device that sorts and stacks sheets, the relative angular relationship between the sheet material discharge direction and the back plate of the tray is 90 ° + α (oblique angle), and the sheets discharged onto the tray are arranged. The material is swung, the sheet material is provided with an end position regulating means on the side where the sheet is swiveled, and further, means for releasing the end position regulating means while the tray is moving to the left or right, A sorting and stacking apparatus for sheet materials, comprising: 2. The sorting and stacking device for sheet materials according to claim 1, wherein the sheet materials are discharged obliquely.