JPH0687565A - Sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the economical manufacture of a sorter meeting the demand of a user by providing the sorter removably with a stapler device, its driving means and an adjusting means. CONSTITUTION:A stapler device 102 and a driving means 200 for moving the stapler device 102 are provided on an upper base plate 210 and fitted removably to a part of the case 10c of a sorter 10 by fitting screws G. A paper arranging member which is an adjusting means, and a second driving means 300 are provided at an upper plate 301 and a lower plate 302 to be fitted to a part of the case 10c of the sorter 10 by fitting screws G1. In the case of fitting the stapler device 102 and the driving means 200 to the sorter 10, the paper arranging member 527 is also fitted, together with the second driving means 300, to the sorter 10. The sorter 10 not in need of the stapler device is used only for sorting by removing the stapler device 102 and the driving means 200 by the removal of the fitting screws G from the case 10c and also removing the paper arranging member 527 by the removal of the fitting screws G1 leaving only bins 51a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sorter which is connected to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, conveys recording sheets discharged from the apparatus, sorts the recording sheets, and further binds to a stapler apparatus. Is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, as shown in FIG. 2, a sorter is provided with a recording sheet P, which is a recording sheet coupled with an image forming apparatus 100 or the like and discharged from the apparatus 100, in a conveying section 11 in the sorter 10. The transfer means and, for example, a switching gate, sequentially transfer and store in a large number of bins 51 provided in the sorter 10 to sort into a designated number of copies.

In the fixed bin sorter, as a method of distributing the recording paper P to each bin, a method of distributing the recording paper P to each bin by switching the switching gate and a method of distributing the recording paper P to each bin by a distributor (indexer). There are two methods of distributing the current, and the method using the distributor is superior in terms of cost and has become the mainstream recently. A stapler device 102 that moves up and down the side of the bottle is provided.

After the recording paper P is distributed to the respective bins by using the distributor, a stapler device 102 which moves vertically along the sides of the bins arranged in parallel at the upper and lower positions is provided, and the recordings accumulated in the respective bins are provided. The paper P is bound.

By attaching the stapler device 102 as described above, there is also provided an aligning means for aligning the recording papers P to one of the bins in order to stack the recording papers P in the bin of the sorter at the correct position. By providing the stapler device 102 in this manner, a plurality of recording papers discharged to the bin of the sorter are aligned and bound by the stapler device, and post-processing is easy especially when a large number of copies are made. The bound recording paper P can be delivered immediately.

[0006]

As described above, the operation of binding the recording sheets accumulated in each bin by the stapler device is an extremely convenient means, and is effective especially in a high speed copying machine because of the efficiency of the post-processing. As described above, in the stapler device, as described above, the driving means and the guide means for moving up and down the side of each bin are attached to the sorter, and the aligning means for aligning the accumulated recording paper to the side of the bin. Must be configured to act on each bottle, but the overall size of the device is increased. Although such a device is strongly attached to the demand of the user, on the other hand, since it can be manufactured at low cost and only needs to use only the sorter which does not increase in size, a sorter without a stapler device must be produced. I won't. Therefore, there is a problem that the sorter is expensive to manufacture because two kinds of sorters must be manufactured according to demand.

In order to solve the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide the stapler device and its driving means and matching means in a detachable manner so that the mere sorter 2 can provide a sorter with a stapler device.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a plurality of bins arranged in parallel in a vertical position on a sorter body having a sorter frame and recording paper distributing means. Further, in a sorter for stapling with a stapler device on the side of the bin, a plurality of recording papers attached to a part of the sorter body and discharged to the plurality of bins are aligned to one of the bins. The means and the stapler device provided on the side of the bottle are detachably attached to the sorter body.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the aligning means has a paper aligning means that vertically penetrates a plurality of bins arranged in parallel on the upper and lower sides of the sorter body.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the stapler device comprises a guide member which moves up and down laterally of the bin, and a drive means.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A sorter according to the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The structure is such that the distributor 21 is supported between the rows of the bottles 51 so as to be reciprocally movable up and down.

That is, the bins 51 are arranged on the housing 10c of the sorter 10 in order from the top by means (not shown).
... A receiving member 511 that receives the rear ends of the bins 51a, 51b, 51c so as to be attached in a line at equal intervals such as 51n.
a, 511b, 511c ... 511n, and U-shaped guide grooves 512a, 5
12b, 512c, ...
The transfer belt 12 is provided on the transfer belt pulleys 13a and 13c.
It is suspended as shown in b, and is rotated clockwise when driven. The recording sheet P, which is a recording sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming apparatus 100, is ejected from the sheet ejection port 100g of the image forming apparatus, and immediately inserted into the sheet receiving port 10g of the sorter 10. Will be guided by the conveyance roller 14 and the guide plate 16 and conveyed to the right downward traveling portion of the conveyance belt 12.

The distributor 21 has an inlet 23 with a wide opening at the top.
It has a recording paper receiving guide member 23a having a recording sheet, and is integrally attached to the distributor frame 22. A discharge port 23b is provided at the other end of the reception port 23, and a pair of discharge rollers are vertically contacted in the direction of an arrow by a driving means (not shown) so as to be adjacent to the discharge port 23b. The recording paper P is discharged onto the bin in the arrow direction by the discharge port 23b.

In FIG. 1, one timing belt 28 is provided at the front and the other at the back of the longitudinal ends of the distributor frame 22.
Both ends of b are fixed as shown. The distributor frame 22 is just suspended from above and below by a timing belt 28b. A timing belt 28a is suspended between the timing gear 29a attached to the shaft of the stepping motor 10m, which is a drive motor, and the rotation timing gear 29b integrally with the timing gear 29c of the drive gear of the timing belt 28b. The rotary shaft of the timing gear 29b (29c) extends to the timing gear 29c of the timing belt 28b on the opposite side so that the front and rear timing belts 28b can be integrally driven.

Then, a distributor 21 is provided at a position corresponding to each bin.
A positioning sensor (not shown) is provided so as to be able to stop, and the stepping motor 10m is driven by the information of the positioning sensor to stop the distributor 21 at a predetermined position for each bin 51. It has become.

The timing belt 28b is also suspended on the timing gear 29d at the upper part of the sorter, and the timing gear 29d is coaxially connected to the wire winding pulley 27. The wire 24 wound around the wire take-up pulley 27 passes through the pulleys 27a, 27b and the wire receiver 26, and its tip is attached to one end of the wire spring 25, and the other end of the wire spring 25 is attached to the rotation shaft of the discharge roller 30. It is caught. The wire spring 25 is a spring for applying an appropriate tension to the wire 24.

The other end of the wire spring 25 is connected to the discharge roller 30.
It does not make any sense to be hooked on the rotating shaft of, and it is merely that there was a good shaft for spring hooking there, that is, the other end of the wire spring 25 is hooked on the distributor frame 22. Means that.

In this way, the distributor 21 drives the drive motor 10
When driven vertically by m, the wire take-up pulley 27 having the same diameter as the timing gear 29d that is rotated by the vertical drive of the distributor 21 is rotated.
Is also wound or unwound around the wire take-up pulley 27 while maintaining an appropriate tension. That is, by driving the distributor 21 in the vertical direction, the tension with respect to the wire 24 is properly maintained regardless of the position of the bin 51 of the distributor 21.

Further, in FIG. 1, the distributor of the conveyor belt 12
At the traveling side of 21, the conveyor belt pulley 13 of the conveyor belt 12 is
A pressing roller unit that presses one of the substantially central portions between the pulley shafts a and 13b from the inside of the conveyor belt 12 with a light load.
40 will be described.

The pressing roller unit 40 is a pressing roller.
41 is supported by a U-shaped plate 42, and the sorter frame
The support shaft of the U-shaped plate 42 is inserted into the base 44 attached to the 10f with the pressing spring 43 interposed therebetween. Although not shown, the rotating shaft of the pressing roller 41 is structured to be kept parallel to the rotating shafts of the conveyor belt pulleys 13a and 13b.

Referring next to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 shows a specific mounting structure of the bin 51 described in FIGS. 1 and 2 to the sorter 10. FIG. 3 shows the bin shown in FIG.
The inner bins 51a and 51b of the unit 51 are shown in an enlarged manner. First, the rear ends of the bottles 51a and 51b are fixed to the frame bodies 111 and 111a provided on both sides of the sorter 10, and the walls 5111 and the bottom portion 5112 formed at the rear ends of the bin 51a are closely attached to each other. Further, a receiving plate 5111a that is received so as to be slidable in the direction perpendicular to the paper discharge direction of the recording paper P, and a receiving member 511a formed by the receiving plate 5111b are provided. 3 and 5
The guide pin 5113 shown in FIG. 3 is provided so as to project from the wall portion 5111 of the bottle 51a, and is slidably fitted to the guide 5114 formed on the receiving member 511a. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the tip of the bin 51a is fitted in a U-shaped guide groove 512a of the tip receiving member 513. The groove 512a has a thickness and a length of the tip of the bin 51a. On the other hand, it is formed to have a wide width, and a play width is provided as shown in the figure. Similarly to the above-mentioned bin 51a, the bins 51b arranged below are in close contact with the respective surfaces of the wall portion 5115 and the bottom portion 5116 formed at the rear end, and slide in the direction perpendicular to the paper discharge direction of the recording paper P. There is provided a receiving plate 5115a for receiving the receiving member and a receiving member 511b formed by the receiving plate 5116a. And the bottle 51b is also the bottle 5
As in the case of 1a, the wall portion 5115 is provided with the guide pin 5117, and the receiving member 5
It is slidably fitted to a guide 5118 formed on 11b. On the other hand, similarly to the bottle 51a, the tip of the bottle 51b is formed in a U-shaped guide groove 5 provided below the guide groove 512a as shown in FIG.
It is fitted to 12b. The guide groove 512b is also formed wider than the thickness and length of the tip of the bottle 51b, and is provided with a play width as shown in the drawing.

FIG. 4A is a structural view of the bin 51a as seen from above. The bin 51a is supported by the receiving portion 511a and the guide groove 512a of the tip receiving member 513 as described above. Although not particularly described in FIG. 3, the guide groove 512a is provided in the bin 51
Although the structure is shown in which the tip of a is held at two points, it may have two or more points or a wide width in terms of performance, and is not particularly limited. According to the present invention, a plurality of recording papers P loaded in the bin 51a are provided on the side of the bin 51a, and are slidably provided on the guide member 107 so as to be movable up and down as shown in FIG. A moving device 103 for moving the bin 51a to perform a binding operation with a stapler device 102 suspended by a pulley 108 and a wire 109 is provided in part.

FIG. 6 shows the stapler device 102 and a drive means 200 for moving the stapler device 102 up and down, and the drive means 20 is provided in a part of the housing 10c of the sorter 10.
0 is provided on the upper and lower substrates 210 and is detachably provided by a plurality of mounting screws G. A thumbscrew may be used as the mounting screw.

A motor 211 is fixed on the upper substrate 210,
A drive gear 213 driven by a worm gear 212 fixed to the motor 211 is provided, and gears 214, 215, 216 are provided from the drive gear 213.
A pulley 217 in which a wire 109 is wound around a shaft of a gear 216 is provided via a wire, and the wire 109 has one end fixed to the moving device 103 via a pulley 108 as shown in FIG. The stapler device 102 is integrally provided with the moving device 103 as shown in the figure. The other end of the wire 109 is suspended via a pulley 108 on a pulley 219 provided on a balance weight 218,
It is fixed to the housing 10c via a spring 220. The balance weight 218 is provided so as to be guided in the vertical direction by the guide member 221, and fixes the guide member 221 to the lower substrate 222. Also, a guide member 107 for guiding the moving device 103 up and down.
Are detachably fixed to the upper substrate 210 and the lower substrate 210, respectively.

The lower substrate 210 is also detachably fixed to the housing 10c with mounting screws G. Drive means configured as described above
The motor 211 of 200 is rotated to move the stapling device 102 together with the moving device 103 into a plurality of bins 51a, 51b, 51c ... 51n.
Move up and down to the side. The above driving means 200 and moving device 103
The stapler device 102 removes the mounting screws G of the upper substrate 210 and the lower substrate 222 together with the guide members 103 and 221, and
It can be removed from the 10 housings 10c.

The moving device 103 is operated by a rotating member 104 which is rotated by a driving means (not shown), and a pullout arm 106 is provided at the tip of the connecting frame 105, as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b). Side projections 52 on each of the bins 51a, 51b, etc.
1, the recording paper pressing member 523 provided with the recording paper pressing arm 522 on the projecting portion is rotatably pivoted, and the spring 524 separates the recording paper pressing arm 522 from the recording paper P. It is provided in the bottle. Further, a projection 525 is provided on a part of the recording paper pressing member 523.

As shown in FIG. 1, the recording paper P is ejected in the page order by the distributor 21 to the bin 51a having the above-described configuration, and the ejection is completed. Next, after the paper is discharged, the long hole 52 of the bin 51a is
The paper aligning member 527, which is an aligning means provided penetrating through 8, is operated to align the recording paper P to the side of the bin 51a as shown in FIG. The paper aligning member 527 is the bins 51a, 51 shown in FIG.
b, 51c, ..., 51n, respectively, and is operated after all the recording papers are completed in the bin 51.

FIG. 7 shows the paper aligning member 527 which is an aligning means.
The second driving means 300 for activating the above is shown, and an upper plate 301 and a lower plate 302 are detachably provided by a mounting screw G1 on a part of the housing 10c of the sorter 10. A thumbscrew may be used as the mounting screw G1.

First, a motor 304 is provided on the lower plate 302, a drive pulley 305 is fixed to the motor 304, and a rotary shaft 306 provided between the upper plate 301 and the lower plate 302 is provided on the rotary shaft 306. A pulley 30
A drive belt 308 is provided between the drive pulley 305 and the drive pulley 305. On the other hand, pulleys 309 and 310 are provided at both ends of the rotating shaft 306, respectively. The pulleys 309 are arranged on the upper plate 301, the pulleys 310 are arranged so as to be arranged on the lower plate 302, respectively. On the upper plate 301, a pulley 311 is arranged together with the pulley 309, and a belt 312 is suspended.
One end of the paper aligning member 527 is detachably supported on the belt 312, and one of the first moving elements 313 is fixed, and the other of the first moving elements 313 is slidable on a guide frame 314 provided on the upper plate 301. To fit. In addition, an elongated hole 315 is formed in the upper plate 301 so that the paper aligning member 527 supported by the first moving element 313 can pass therethrough. Further, a pulley 316 is provided on the lower plate 302 together with a pulley 310, and a belt 317 is suspended. The belt 317 has a second moving member 3 that detachably supports the other end of the paper aligning member 527.
18 is fixed, one of the two moving elements is fixed, and the second
The other of the movers 318 is slidably fitted to a guide frame 319 provided on the lower plate 302. Second drive means 30 configured as described above
The paper aligning member 527 is driven to the right and left by 0 to penetrate the elongated hole 528 of the bin 51a as shown in FIG. 7, the recording paper P is aligned with one end of the bin 51a as shown in FIG. 4, and the stapler device 102 performs a binding operation. Can be done. As described above, when the stapler device 102 is mounted on the sorter 10 with the driving means 200 shown in FIG.
Is also mounted on the sorter 10 together with the second drive means 300. For the sorter 10 which does not require the stapler device 102, the stapler device 102 and the driving means 200 are removed together with the upper substrate 301 and the lower substrate 222 by removing the mounting screw G from the housing 10c of the sorter 10, and the paper aligning member 527 is also the upper plate 301. 51n together with the lower plate 302, the mounting screws G1 are removed from the bins 51a, 51b, 51c, ..., 51n, and are removed from the housing 10c. As shown in FIG.
51n are left in the sorter 10 and used only for sorting.

Next, the binding of the recording sheets P will be described in the case where the stapler device 102 is attached to the sorter 10. To move the plurality of recording sheets P by the stapler device 102, the moving device 103 is rotated. Member 104 and connecting portion 105
As shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the rotation member 104 is rotated to move the protrusion 525 to the left with respect to FIG. At this time, the recording paper pressing member 523 rotates against the spring 524, and the upper end of the recording paper P is pressed by the tip of the recording paper pressing arm 522 as shown in the figure to hold the recording paper P in the bin 51a. Further rotating member
By rotating 104 to the left, the bottle 51a
Moves in the direction of the stapler device 102 together with the recording paper P against the elastic force of the spring 526 shown in FIG.

At this time, the plurality of recording sheets P placed on the bin 51a are strongly pressed against the upper portion of the previous recording sheet P against the elastic force of the spring 524 of the recording sheet pressing arm 522 during movement. Cage,
The recording papers P, which are aligned on the side of the bin 51a, do not move or are disturbed on the bin 51a.

Further, the present invention is based on FIG. 4 (a), FIG. 5 (a),
As shown in (b), one end of the spring 526 is provided on the bin 51a, and the other end of the spring 526 is fixed to the support frame 10a provided on the sorter 10, so that the pin 51a moves to the left. Moves against the elasticity of the spring 526. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the spring 526 is provided so as to be inclined by a θ angle with respect to the moving direction, and is arranged so as to slightly press the bin 51a toward the receiving member 511a. During the movement, the wall 5115 formed at the rear end of the bin 51a moves toward the receiving plate 5111a because the spring 526 is inclined by the angle θ as shown in FIG. 4 (b). Since the force of vector A is generated by the tensile force of 526, a pressing force is exerted. Therefore, vector B is generated as a pressing force against the receiving plate 5111a, and the wall portion 5115 of the bin 51a is always receiving the receiving plate by the pressing force of vector B. Pressed by 5111a.

The rear end of the bin 51a thus arranged is the receiving plate 511a provided on the receiving member 511a by the spring 526.
And 511b are reliably pressed, and the pull-out arm 106
When it is pulled out, the wall portions 511 and the bottom portion 511 are attached to the receiving plates 511a and 511b.
2 moves in close contact with the weight of the bin 51a and moves the recording paper P to the position of the stapler device 102 accurately. Therefore, the stapler device 102 can perform a binding operation at a predetermined position on the recording paper P.

As described above, the action of the spring 526 also prevents the swinging movement of the bin 51a when the 51a is moved, so that the recording paper together with the recording paper pressing arm 522 is not accurately disturbed at the binding position, and the bin 51a is not disturbed. Move with.

Next, the stapler device 102 for the recording paper P is used.
After the binding operation is completed, the pull-out arm 106 is separated from the projection 525, and the bin 51a is automatically returned to the original position by the restoring force of the spring 526. Also at that time, the vector B force is generated due to the θ angle of the spring 526, and the wall portion 5111 of the bin 51a surely moves in close contact with the receiving plate 5111a, and accurately moves to the original position. After the binding operation of the bin 51a is completed, the stapler device 102 moves to the next bin 51b portion by the guide member 107, and the recording paper P is bound by the same operation as described above.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, the sorter is attached to or detached from the sorter together with the drive means having the stapler device and the paper aligning means for aligning the recording paper P, respectively, if necessary. It is possible to provide the sorter that the user most demands.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a central cross-sectional view of a sorter according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a combined state of an image forming apparatus and a sorter.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the discharge bin in an enlarged manner.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a discharge bin and a stapler device.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a moving state of a paper discharge bin.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a stapler device and a driving unit.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a sheet aligning unit and a driving unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Sorter 10m Drive motor 12 Conveyor belt 13a, 13b Conveyor belt pulley 21 Distributor 22 Distributor frame 23a Distributor inlet 23b Receiving guide member 24 Wire 25 Wire spring 26 Wire receiver 27 Wire winding pulley 28a, 28b Timing belt 29a, 29b , 29c, 29d Timing gear 30 Discharge roller 40 Pressing roller unit 41 Pressing roller 42 U-shaped plate 43 Pressing spring 44 units 51a, 51b, 51c ... 51n Bins 5111, 5115 Walls 5112, 5116 Bottom 5111a, 5111b, 5115a, 5116a Support plate 511a, 511b Support member 513 Tip support member 512a Guide groove 102 Stapler device 526 Spring 100 Image forming device P recording sheet 200 Driving means 210 Upper substrate 222 Lower substrate 300 Second driving means 313 1st mover 318 318th 2 mover G, G1 mounting screw

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hisao Hosoya 2970 Ishikawa-cho, Hachioji, Tokyo Konica stock company (72) Inventor Akihiko Nishiki 2970 Ishikawa-cho, Hachioji, Tokyo Konica stock company (72) Inventor Keisuke Tanaka 2970 Ishikawa-cho, Hachioji City, Tokyo Konica Stock Company

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sorter in which a plurality of bins are provided side by side in a vertical position on a sorter body having a sorter frame and recording paper distributing means, and staples are provided on a side portion of the bin by a stapler device. An aligning unit that is attached to a part of the sorter main body and aligns a plurality of recording sheets discharged to the plurality of bins with one of the bins, and a stapler device provided on a side portion of the bin, respectively. A sorter, which is detachably attached to the sorter body. 2. The sorter according to claim 1, wherein the aligning means has a paper aligning means that vertically penetrates a plurality of bins arranged in parallel on the upper and lower sides of the sorter body. 3. The sorter according to claim 1, wherein the stapler device includes a guide member that moves up and down laterally of the bin, and a driving unit.