JPH07309500A - Sheet material carrying passage switching device for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a sheet material carrying passage switching device by which the device can be downsized and efficiency can be increased and the cost can be reduced and a deflecting claw does not swing when a sheet material is carried and a carry is not hindered since a flaw, an edge fold or the like are caused on the tip of the sheet material. CONSTITUTION:Plural bins to distributively house a sheet material 11 and a single tray to house the sheet material 11 are provided, and a link device 13 formed of a bent lever 2 and an arm 5 rotated by a driving means 9 and a pulling-back member is provided at a branching-off point of a sheet material carrying passage so that the sheet material 11 is distributed to the plural bin sides or the tray. The bent lever 2 of a sheet material carrying passage switching device 1 having a deflecting claw 4 to rotate by being installed on the arm 5 is formed in a bending shape, and the bending center is rotatably pivoted by a support shaft 2a, and when the sheet material 11 is carried to the deflecting claw 4 and external force is applied to the link device 13 by the sheet material 11 through the deflecting claw 4 and the moment acts, this moment is received by the support shaft 2a, so that the deflecting claw 4 does not swing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet material conveying path switching device for an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a sheet material post-processing apparatus 21 attached to an image forming apparatus 20 shown in FIG.
In the link device 13 of the sheet material conveying path switching device 1 shown in FIG. 1, a pin 3 is laterally projected perpendicularly to the direction of the lever 2'on one end of a linear lever 2'which is axially attached by a support shaft 2a. The pin 3 is engaged with the long hole 6 provided in the arm 5 integrally attached to the other side of the claw portion 4a of the deflecting claw 4, and the middle of the deflecting claw 4 is supported by the support shaft 4b. The drive means 9 composed of a plunger 7 and a single-acting solenoid 8 for rotating the lever 2'to the left is attached to a mounting hole 2b provided at the other end of the lever 2 '. The sheet material conveying path switching device 1 is shown with one end of a return spring 10 which is a pulling member urged so as to rotate the 2'clockwise direction, facing the plunger 7 via a lever 2 '. Place it in the case and install it, and normally use the return spring 10. Thus, the deflection claw 4 is held upward, and the lever 2'is rotated counterclockwise by the operation of the drive means 9 to rotate the deflection claw 4 about its supporting shaft 4b so as to face downward, A material transfer path is used. Then, the sheet material 11 sent out by the image forming apparatus 20 is conveyed to the sheet material post-processing apparatus 21, and the direction of the deflecting claw 4 is switched so that the traveling direction is upward (direction of arrow A in FIG. 4) or downward (FIG. 4). (The direction of the arrow B shown in FIG. 2) is conveyed, and the one conveyed upward is stored in the tray 22, the one conveyed downward is stored in a plurality of bottles 23, and a sheet bundle (not shown) is sandwiched and held. The moving means and the stapling means for binding the moved sheet bundle are collated, aligned, and stapled and stored.

In such a device, when the direction of the deflecting claw 4 is switched, the direction of the deflecting claw 4 held upward by the return spring 10 is operated by the drive means 9 to operate the lever 2 '. The pulling force of the return spring 10 is absorbed via the lever to rotate the lever 2'to the left to rotate the deflecting pawl 4 downward. As shown in the figure, since the sheet material 11 discharged by the pair of discharge rollers 24 of the image forming apparatus is stiffened by the discharge rollers 24, the deflection claw 4 receives a large moment to change the conveying direction of the sheet material 11, and The deflection claw 4 swings due to the reaction force of the moment during conveyance. In order to prevent this, it is necessary to strengthen the holding force of the deflection claw 4, and in order to obtain this holding force, the pulling force of the return spring 10 is strengthened.

[0004]

In the conventional sheet material conveying path switching device as described above, if the return spring is strengthened, the suction of the single-acting solenoid becomes insufficient and the single-acting solenoid cannot be sucked. Therefore, the size of the single-acting solenoid is increased. In addition, when the sheet material is conveyed and comes into contact with the deflecting claw, a moment is generated in the deflecting claw, and the direction of the moment is the same as the rotation direction of the lever. The deflection claw swings because it cannot receive the moment generated by the resistance force of the sheet material, and the leading edge of the sheet material is scratched, ears are broken, etc., and it interferes with transportation. There is a problem in that the tension of the return spring and the single-acting solenoid must be strengthened in order to make it easy to move by the external force due to the internal resistance, and the device becomes a model, which increases the cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional sheet material conveying path switching device as described above, to make the device compact, efficient, and low in cost, and to swing the deflecting claw. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet material conveying path switching device that does not cause damage to the leading edge of the sheet material and causes no trouble in conveying the sheet material.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention according to claim 1 distributes and stores the sheet material discharged from the image forming apparatus and loads it. A plurality of bottles having means for holding and moving the sheet bundle and stippling means for binding the moved sheet bundle, and a tray for storing the sheet material separately from the plurality of bottles are provided. A link composed of a lever and an arm that are rotated by a driving means and a pulling-back member that pulls back the operation of the driving means to a branch point of the sheet material conveying path so as to be distributed to a plurality of bottles and the tray. In the sheet material conveying path switching device of the image forming apparatus which is provided with a device and is provided with a deflecting claw which is mounted on the arm and rotates, the lever is arranged so that a moment applied to the link device via the deflecting claw does not work. It is formed by folding it, and the center of refraction is rotatably supported by a support shaft. The sheet material is conveyed to the deflecting claw, and an external force is applied by the sheet material to the link device via the deflecting claw to generate a moment. When working, this moment is received by the support shaft so that the deflection claw does not swing. According to the invention of claim 2, in the invention of claim 1, the plunger of the drive means for driving the link device is arranged so as to be perpendicular to the lever of the link device before it is actuated, and Contrary to its action during operation, a pullback member for pulling back the link device is arranged at a position facing the plunger of the drive means via the lever, the line of action of which is relative to the lever located at the completion of the operation of the drive means. The link device performs the switching operation with a small acting force. According to a third aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the lever of the link device is formed by bending the lever substantially at a right angle, and an external force is applied to the deflecting pawl that engages with the link device so that the link device has a moment via the deflecting pawl. When the action occurs, the link device does not receive the moment in the direction of fixing the deflecting claw and the swing of the deflecting claw does not occur.

[0007]

In this invention as described above, the invention according to claim 1 is formed by bending the lever of the link device of the sheet material conveying path switching device, and the center of refraction thereof is rotatably mounted on the support shaft. When the sheet material is conveyed to the deflecting claw and an external force is applied to the link device by the sheet material via the deflecting claw and a moment acts, the moment is received by the support shaft and is transmitted to the link device via the deflecting claw. The additional moment does not act and the deflecting pawl does not swing. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the plunger of the drive means is arranged so as to be perpendicular to the lever of the link device before the plunger is actuated, and the plunger of the drive means is arranged at a position facing the plunger so that the line of action thereof is provided. Is provided so as to be perpendicular to the lever positioned when the operation of the driving means is completed, and a pulling back member for pulling back the lever against the pulling force thereof during the operation of the driving means is provided. The direction of the deflecting claw is switched to the downward direction by the action force of, and the retracting member most efficiently switches the direction of the deflecting claw to the upward direction. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the lever of the link device is bent substantially at a right angle, and when an external force is applied to the deflecting claw engaging with the link device and a moment acts on the link device via the deflecting claw, The link device receives this moment in the direction in which the deflecting claw is fixed, and the deflecting claw does not swing.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the embodiments of the present invention, the same parts as those of the prior art will be referred to with the same numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. 1 and 2 showing the first embodiment of the present invention, the link device 13 is a bending lever 2
And an arm 5 is engaged with a pin 3 projecting from one end of the bending lever 2, and the driving means 9 has a plunger 7
And a single-acting solenoid 8. The bending lever 2 is bent substantially at a right angle, and is pivotally attached to a casing (not shown) of the sheet material conveyance path switching device 1 by a support shaft 2a with the center of refraction as the center of rotation. A deflecting claw 4 is integrally attached to the arm 5, and a pin 3 is slidably engaged with an elongated hole 6 provided in the arm 5, so that the bending lever 2
Together with the plunger 7 of the driving means 9 for rotating the bending lever 2 in the left rotation direction by providing the mounting hole 2b at the other end of
Return spring which is a retracting member that rotates in the clockwise direction
One end of 10 is attached, and when the drive means 9 is actuated, the deflecting claw 4 is rotated in the counterclockwise rotation direction against the tensile force of the return spring 10. The end of the long hole 6 on the pin 3 side may be an open type.

A stopper 12 for stopping the refraction lever 2 is provided at a position where a line connecting the support shaft 2a of the refraction lever 2 and the mounting hole 2b (hereinafter referred to as line 2a-2b) is horizontal, and the refraction lever 2 is at that position. Line 2a-2 when stopped at
When the plunger 7 is provided at a position vertically downward with respect to b, and when the conveying direction of the sheet material 11 is switched to the upper direction (direction of arrow A in FIG. 2), as shown in FIG.
Pull down and turn the bending lever 2 counterclockwise to move the sheet material 11
The deflection claw 4 is directed upward so that the arrow moves in the direction of arrow A.
The single-acting solenoid 8 has the characteristic that the suction force is weak when the suction amount is large and is strong when the suction amount is small, and it is most efficient that the plunger 7 is mounted vertically as described above at the beginning of pulling.

On the other hand, the return spring 10 for returning the deflecting claw 4 to the state shown in FIG. 1 requires the most force when releasing the force shown in FIG. 2, that is, when the force pulled downward by the plunger 7 is released. Therefore, the other end of the return spring 10 is positioned above the line 2a-2b in the state shown in FIG. 2 in the vertical direction and fixed to the casing (not shown) of the sheet material conveying path switching device 1.

In such a case, as shown in FIG. 1, the bending lever 2 receives a moment in the right rotation direction by the return spring 10, but the line 2 is moved by the stopper 12.
a-2b is horizontal, and the spindle 2a and the pin 3 are line 2a-
2b, which is held at a position aligned on the vertical line,
The long hole 6 of the arm 5 attached to is engaged with the pin 3 of the bending lever 2, and the deflection claw 4 is switched upward so that the conveying direction of the sheet material 11 is downward.
When 11 hits the deflecting claw 4 while being conveyed, the deflecting claw 4 and the arm 5 generate a moment, and the pin 3 of the bending lever 2 receives the moment from the deflecting claw 4 via the arm 5. The pin 3 transmits the moment in the direction of the support shaft 2a (or the opposite direction) which is the center of rotation of the bending lever 2, but the bending lever 2 receives the moment by the support shaft 2a and does not generate a rotational force. Therefore, the deflection claw 4 is held without swinging by the external force generated by the sheet material 11. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, during the attraction of the single acting solenoid 8, the direction of the pulling force of the return spring 10 is the line 2a.
-2b has an angle deviated from the vertical, and its pulling force is smaller than that when it is vertical, but the bending lever 2 receives the moment from the deflecting claw 4 without generating a rotational force. Therefore, a force that overcomes the moment generated by the conveyance of the sheet material 11 is not necessary and may be a small force, and when the single-acting solenoid 8 performs the suction operation, it can be sucked vertically downward and Dynamic spring
The pulling force of 10 is in the direction of alleviating the obstruction to the attraction force of the single-acting solenoid 8, and the switching operation of the bending lever 2 can be performed efficiently.

As shown in FIG. 2, during the suction operation of the single-acting solenoid 8, the bending lever 2 and the deflecting claw 4 are in the upward position, and the single-acting solenoid 8 moves while the sheet material 11 is being conveyed. When it hits the deflection claw 4, a moment is generated in the deflection claw 4, and the moment is transmitted to the refraction lever 2 via the deflection claw 4. However, since the attraction force of the single-acting solenoid 8 has the highest attraction force, the deflection is performed. The holding force of the claw 4 can be sufficiently obtained and the moment can be sufficiently received, and the deflecting claw 4 does not swing. Conversely, when the suction action of the single-acting solenoid 8 is released, the return spring 10 pulls the bending lever 2 upward in the vertical direction, so that the pulling force acts most effectively.

In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the bending angle of the bending lever 2 is set to 90 ° or less, and when the single-acting solenoid 8 is not operating, that is, when the deflecting claw 4 is upward, There is no difference from the first embodiment except that 3 is provided at a position where it abuts on the left end of the elongated hole 6 of the arm 5. In such a structure, the bending lever 2 holds the deflection claw 4 at the left end of the elongated hole 6 of the arm 5 while receiving the moment of the right rotation by the return spring 10. At this time, the pin 3 has an angle of θ in the right rotation direction with respect to the vertical direction of the support shaft 2a, and θ is set in the range of 0 ° <θ <90 °. While the sheet material 11 is being conveyed, the sheet material 11
A moment is generated in the deflection claw 4 by the deflection lever 2
Also, although a moment is applied via the arm 5, the deflection claw 4 can be swung by the external force of the sheet material 11 by receiving the moment at the left end of the elongated hole 6 of the arm 5 together with the direction of the set angle. Absent.

[0014]

The present invention is as described above, and the invention of claim 1 is a means for distributing and accommodating the sheet material discharged from the image forming apparatus, and nipping and moving the stacked sheet bundle. A plurality of bottles having stapling means for binding the moved sheet bundle and a tray for storing sheet material separately from these plurality of bottles are provided, and the sheet material is provided on the plurality of bottle sides and the tray. A link device constituted by a lever and an arm that is rotated by a driving means and a pulling-back member that pulls back the operation of the driving means is provided at a branch point of the sheet material conveying path so as to be distributed, and is attached to the arm. In a sheet material conveying path switching device of an image forming apparatus provided with a deflecting claw which is rotated by a lever, the lever is bent so that the moment applied to the link device via the deflecting claw does not act, and the bending center is formed. When the sheet material is rotatably supported by a support shaft and is conveyed to the deflection claw and an external force is applied to the link device via the deflection claw by the sheet material, a moment acts on the support shaft. Since the deflection pawl does not swing when it is received by the device, the force to operate the deflection pawl can be small, and the device can be made compact, efficient, and cost-effective, and can be deflected by external force due to resistance during sheet material conveyance. There is an effect that the claws do not easily swing, scratches, edge folds, and the like occur at the tip of the sheet material, and the conveyance is not hindered, and reliable conveyance performance can be obtained. According to the invention of claim 2, the plunger of the drive means for driving the link device is arranged so as to be vertical to the lever of the link device before it is actuated, and contrary to its action during the operation of the drive means. , A retracting member for retracting the link device is arranged at a position facing the plunger of the drive means via a lever, and its line of action is provided so as to be perpendicular to the lever positioned when the operation of the drive means is completed. Since the link device performs the switching operation with a minute acting force, the force for actuating the deflecting claw may be very small, and there is an effect that the device can be made small, efficient, and low in cost. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the lever of the link device is bent substantially at a right angle, and when an external force is applied to the deflecting claw that engages with the link device and a moment acts on the link device via the deflecting claw, the link is generated. Since the device does not receive this moment in the direction of fixing the deflecting pawl to cause the deflecting pawl to oscillate, the force for operating the deflecting pawl may be small, and the device is small, efficient, and low in cost. Can be realized, and the deflection claw does not easily swing due to external force due to resistance during conveyance of the sheet material, and the tip of the sheet material is scratched,
There is an effect that reliable conveying performance can be obtained without causing a trouble such as an edge break or the like in the conveyance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a state in which the drive means of the first embodiment is activated.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a second embodiment of the above.

FIG. 4 is a schematic vertical sectional view in which a conventional sheet material post-processing apparatus having a sheet material conveying path switching device is mounted on an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of the above-described sheet material conveyance path switching device.

FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating a state in which a sheet material discharge roller pair of the image forming apparatus discharges a sheet material.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 sheet material conveying path switching device 2 bending levers 2a, 4b spindle 3 pin 4 deflection claw 5 arm 6 long hole 7 plunger 8 single acting solenoid 9 driving means 10 return spring 11 sheet material 13 link device 20 image forming device 21 Sheet material post-processing equipment 22 Tray 23 Bottle

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of bottles having means for distributing and accommodating the sheet material discharged from the image forming apparatus, holding and moving the stacked sheet bundle, and stapling means for binding the moved sheet bundle, and these bottles. And a tray for storing the sheet material separately from the plurality of bottles, and driving means and drive means at a branch point of the sheet material conveying path so that the sheet material is distributed between the plurality of bottles and the tray. A sheet material conveying path for an image forming apparatus, which is provided with a link device including a lever and an arm that are rotated by a pullback member that returns the operation of the means, and a deflection claw that is attached to the arm and that is rotated. In the switching device, the lever is formed by bending so that the moment applied to the link device via the deflecting claw does not act, and the center of refraction is rotatably pivotally attached by a support shaft, and the sheet material is conveyed to the deflecting claw. It When an external force is applied to the link device by the sheet material via a deflecting claw and a moment acts, the moment is received by the support shaft and the deflecting claw does not swing. Route switching device. 2. The plunger of the drive means for driving the link device is arranged to be perpendicular to the lever of the link device before it is actuated, and contrary to its action during operation of the drive means. A pulling member for pulling back the device is arranged at a position facing the plunger of the driving means via a lever, and a line of action of the pulling member is provided so as to be perpendicular to the lever positioned at the completion of the operation of the driving means. 2. The sheet material conveying path switching device according to claim 1, wherein the device performs the switching operation with a small acting force. 3. The link device is formed by bending a lever of a link device at a substantially right angle, and when an external force is applied to a deflecting claw engaging with the link device so that a moment acts on the link device via the deflecting claw, 2. The sheet material conveying path switching device according to claim 1, wherein the moment is not received in the direction of fixing the deflecting pawl to cause the deflecting pawl to swing.