JPH079549B2 - Stapling device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a stapling apparatus, and more particularly to a stapling apparatus for stapling a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in a recording paper post-processing device such as a copying machine equipped with this type of stapler, it interlocks with RDF (also referred to as an automatic document circulation feeding device, RDH), and when a sheet document of RDF circulates, Generally, a paper binding operation is performed every time the end is detected.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the recording paper post-processing apparatus as described above, the stapler operation is performed when normal book copying is performed without using RDF or ADF (automatic document feeder). Was either impossible or required a cumbersome operation despite the relatively high frequency of use.
Further, if the stapling mode is erroneously designated in the case of a single copy, there is a disadvantage that the stapling is normally performed.

An object of the present invention is to allow a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus to be arbitrarily stapled.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a stapling device capable of preventing a wasteful operation of stapling a single sheet.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve such an object, the present invention relates to a conveying unit that conveys a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus, and a stacking unit that stacks the sheet conveyed by the conveying unit. A stapling means for stapling the sheets stacked on the stacking means, a setting means for setting a staple mode for performing the stapling operation, a manual switch for manually starting the stapling operation in the stapling mode, and the image forming After the image forming operation in the device is completed,
Control means for causing the stapling means to perform a stapling operation when the manual switch is input, wherein the control means sets the staple mode by the setting means, and the sheets stacked on the stacking means. When the number of sheets is 1, the stapling apparatus does not cause the stapling means to perform the stapling operation even when the manual switch is input.

Embodiments Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an outline of a copying machine as an example of the present invention, and 1 is a copying machine as an image forming apparatus of the present invention.
The recording paper 2 discharged from the copying machine 1 is carried out to the stacker 5 or the staple unit 6 of the finisher device 4 via the folding device 3. The folding device 3 and the finisher device 4 convey the recording paper 2 through respective paths depending on the stacker mode or the staple mode, as will be described later, and the conveying mechanism in these devices is an example of the conveying means of the present invention. Make up.

Therefore, the folding device 3 can operate according to the following five modes.

The first through-pass mode is a mode in which the sheet does not need to be folded and passes through. In this mode, the recording paper 2 carried by the pair of inlet rollers 7 and 8 is operated by the inlet deflector 9 as shown in FIG. The paper is guided to the paper path 10 and delivered to the finisher device 4 by the paper discharge roller pairs 11 and 12.

The second folding mode is carried out when half-size paper of A4 or B5 size or smaller is carried in. Similarly, in FIG. 2, the recording paper 2 guided to the entrance deflector 9 by the entrance roller pairs 7 and 8 is Here, it is guided to the paper path 13, and further by the operation of the deflectors 14, 15 and 16, between the folding rollers 17 and 18, between the rollers 18 and 19 and between the rollers 19.
It is sent out by a pair of discharge rollers 11 and 12 via a paper path 21 after passing through 20.

The third two-fold mode is a mode in which a recording sheet of A3 or B4 or larger is folded in two. The recording sheet guided from the pair of inlet rollers 7 and 8 to the sheet path 13 by the inlet deflector 9 is folded by the operation of the deflector 14. Introduced on Pass 22. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the leading end of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 23, the loop 24 formed in the central portion of the recording paper 2 is formed.
However, it is gripped in the nip between the folding rollers 17 and 18, and a fold 2A is formed in the central portion of the paper 2 as shown in FIGS. 3B and 4 (A) to form a half-folded sheet. The folded recording paper 2 is then deflector 15
And 16 to be guided between the folding rollers 18 and 19 and further from there, between the rollers 19 and 20 and the paper path 21, and then delivered by the pair of discharge rollers 11 and 12.

The fourth Z-folding mode is a mode in which only one half is folded and one of them is folded again to the opposite side. In this case, the recording paper guided from the pair of entrance rollers 7 and 8 to the paper path 13 by the entrance deflector 9 is , Is first introduced into the folding path 22 by operating the deflector 14. Then, when the leading edge of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 25 that is projected by the operation of the solenoid 25A, a loop is formed in a portion of about 1/4 from the leading edge of the paper 2, and the loop is formed by the folding roller. By being held in the nip between 17 and 18, a first fold 2B is formed as shown in FIG. 4 (B).

Then, the recording paper 2 folded in this way is introduced into the folding path 26 by operating the deflector 15. Thus, when the crease 2B of the recording paper 2 folded in two is abutted against the stopper 27, the crease 2B of the recording paper 2 folded in two is further laid in the vicinity of the latter half of the 1/4 in the same manner as described above. Loop is formed, and this loop is gripped in the nip between the folding rollers 18 and 19 to form the second fold 2C. The Z-folded sheet folded back to the front side in this way is further operated by the deflector 16 to form a pair of folding rollers.
And 20 and is further sent out to the finisher device 4 by the paper discharge roller pairs 11 and 12 via the paper path 21.

In the case of the fifth back Z-folding mode, the recording paper 2 guided to the paper path 13 from the pair of entrance rollers 7 and 8 by the operation of the entrance deflector 9 is deflected in the same manner as described above.
Is guided to the pair of folding rollers 17 and 18, and is introduced into the folding path 26 from here by operating the deflector 15. When the leading edge of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 27, a loop formed at about 1/4 of the leading edge of the recording paper 2 is gripped in the nip between the folding rollers 18 and 19, As shown in FIG. 4 (C), the first fold 2D is formed.

After this, the deflector 16 is introduced into the folding path 28 and the fold 2D of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 29, so that the fold 2D of the recording paper 2 is further formed in the vicinity of the overlap portion of about 1/4. The loop thus formed is held in the nip between the folding rollers 19 and 20, and a second fold line 2E as shown in FIG. 4 (C) is formed.

Thus, the Z-folded sheet folded back to the back side is the paper path 21.
And is delivered by the pair of paper ejection rollers 11 and 12.

In FIG. 2, S0 is an entrance sensor for the recording paper 2 in the folding device 4, and S5 is a fold detection sensor provided in the paper path 21 through which the folded sheet is finally guided and which measures the length of the folded sheet. Is.

Next, the finisher device 4 will be described with reference to FIG. The finisher device 4 is roughly divided into a stacker 5 side on which the recording papers 2 are successively sent out and accumulated, and a stapler 6 side on which the sheets are bound by a stapler.

First, in the stacker mode, the recording paper carried in by the entrance roller pair 30 and 31 is guided to the paper path 33 by the operation of the deflector 32, from which the paper discharge roller pair 34 and
The sheet is discharged onto the stacker 5 by 35. In addition, stacker 5
When the cumulative height of the upper recording paper 2 increases, a large amount of recording paper 2 can be accommodated by lowering the stacker 5 accordingly.

Next, in the staple mode, the pair of entrance rollers 30 and
The recording paper carried in by 31 is guided to the other paper path 36 by the operation of the deflector 32, and by the roller pair 37 and 38,
Once discharged on the intermediate tray 39 as the loading means of the present invention. Here, 40 is a belt suspended by rollers 37, and the recording paper 2 is once aligned by this belt 40.

Thus, the recording papers 2 aligned on the intermediate tray 39 are stapled at their ends by a stapler 41 as stapling means of the present invention, as will be described later, and then the stapled recording is performed by the rotation operation of the stopper 42. The stack of paper is dropped onto the lower tray 43 and stored.

Here, S1 is an entrance sensor provided at the recording paper entrance of the finisher unit 4, S2 is a stacker exit sensor that detects a sheet sent to the stacker, and S3 is a sheet exit sensor that detects a sheet sent to the intermediate tray. Intermediate tray exit sensor, S4
Is a sensor for detecting the sheet sent to the intermediate tray, and S6 is a level detection sensor provided along the stacker 5.

FIG. 6 shows the operation parts of the finisher device 4 and the folding device 3, wherein 50A is the operation part of the finisher device and 50B is the operation part of the folding device. 52 in the operation unit 50A
Is a mode selection switch of the finisher and can select either the stack mode or the staple mode. Reference numerals 55 and 53 are light-emitting diode LEDs or lamps indicating the mode selected by the switch 52, and the indicator light 55 indicates the stack mode by simultaneous display with the pictorial display 56 indicating the stack mode. Further, the indicator light 53 shows the staple mode by simultaneous display with the pictorial display 54 showing the staple mode.

On the other hand, reference numeral 58 is a mode selection switch of the folding device provided in the operation unit 50B, and can select either the two-fold mode or the Z-fold mode. 61 and 59 are switches 58
LED or lamp indicating the mode selected by, the indicator 61 is a pictorial display 62 indicating the two-fold mode.
Indicates the two-fold mode, and the indicator light 59 indicates the Z-fold mode by the pictorial display 60 showing the Z-fold mode. Reference numeral 57 is a jam display lamp that displays a jam in the folding device 3 and the finisher device 4. When the back Z-fold is selected, the Z-fold and the back Z-fold provided inside the folding device 3 are selected.
A folding switch (not shown) can be used to select one of them according to the user's preference.

Furthermore, in the present example, the book stapling mode can be implemented by the finisher device 4 in addition to the two modes, that is, the stacking mode and the stapling mode.

Now, with reference to FIG. 6, the procedure for selecting the book stapling mode will be described. In the operation unit 50A, whether the stack mode or the stapling mode is selected is selected by the indicator light selection switch 52 from the indicator light 55 or 53. Although it is displayed by either one, it can be indicated by turning off both of the indicator lights 55 and 53 as a means for displaying the book staple mode without increasing the indicator lights. As described above, one configuration example of the setting means for setting the staple mode of the present invention is the selection through the indicator light selection switch 52 and the microcomputer described later according to the selection.
It is configured by the setting process by MC.

Further, although not shown, it goes without saying that an additional indicator light may be additionally provided or a special switch may be provided on the outside thereof.

Next, an example of the control circuit of the recording paper processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Asynchronous serial communication partially overlapping is performed between the copying machine 1 and the microcomputer MC provided in the finisher unit 4. In response to the communication request signal REQ from the copying machine 1, a communication enable signal ACK from the finisher side. Is output, and then communication is sequentially performed by transmitting DI for each data signal DO. The data signal DO transmitted from the copying machine 1 is mainly an intermediate state signal such as copy start, end, copy size, number of copies, JAM, etc., and the data signal DI transmitted from the finisher side is the number of completed sheets or staple. None, intermediate state such as JAM, etc. Reference numeral 50 denotes the operation unit shown in FIG. 6, and S1, S2, S3, and S4 are the finisher inlet sensor, the stacker outlet sensor, the intermediate tray outlet sensor, and the intermediate tray paper detection sensor, respectively. In addition, the up / down signals U / D and ON / OFF for controlling the stacker unit 5 ascending / descending and on / off.
The signals are input to the control circuit 68 via the buffers 66 and 67, respectively, and the stacker motor M1 is controlled. The stacker unit 5 is provided with an upper limit sensor 69, a lower limit sensor 70 and a stacker level sensor S6, and these sensor groups also contribute to the control of the stacker motor M1.

Reference numeral 72 is a signal for operating and controlling the deflector 32 (hereinafter, refer to FIG. 5) provided at the entrance of the finisher device 4, and the signal 72 drives the solenoid 32A through the buffer 74 to cause the recording paper 2 Is sent to the stacker unit 5 or the intermediate tray 39.

73 is a signal for controlling the rotation of the stopper 42.
73 drives the solenoid 42A via the buffer 75,
The stapled sheet bundle can be dropped onto the lower tray 43.

Reference numeral 76 is a signal for driving the conveying motor M2 for the recording paper 2 via the buffer 77, and 79 is a signal for driving a staple plunger 81 to be described later via the buffer 80. 78 is a transport motor
An interrupter that outputs a pulse proportional to the rotation speed of M2,
Reference numeral 82 is, for example, a reflection sensor that detects the presence or absence of staples in the staple unit 6 as described later.

Further, reference numeral 83 denotes a staple manual switch as a manual switch of the present invention, which is used at the time of book copy and stapling.

On the other hand, for the folding device 3, a buffer 85 is generated by the signal 84.
The sheet conveying motor IM can be driven through the buffer, and a plurality of deflectors and stoppers associated with the folding mode can be driven by the mode signal 89 depending on the type of the folding mode. The one selected from the stopper solenoids 87 is appropriately driven. Reference numeral 88 is an interrupter that outputs a pulse proportional to the rotation speed of the carry motor IM.

Next, the control operation of the recording paper post-processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. At the same time when the recording operation is detected to be started in step K1, the folding device 3 and the finisher device 4 are brought into a driving state. In step K2, it is determined whether or not the book staple mode is set.

If it is determined in step K2 that the book stapling mode is not set, the process proceeds to step K3, in which it is determined based on the number-of-copies data transmitted from the copying machine 1 whether or not the copy is one copy. If so, the process proceeds to step K4 and is sent to the stacker 5 as it is, and if it is determined that the copy is not one copy, it is determined that the copy is multiple copies.
It is operated by branching to another flow A. Since the flow A is not directly related to the present invention, its explanation is omitted.

If it is determined in step K2 that the book stapling mode is set, step K5 follows and the sheet is sent to the stapling section 6. Thus, in the next step K6, it is determined whether or not a series of recording is completed, and after the sheet is continuously delivered to the stapling section 6 until the recording is completed, the process proceeds to step K7 and the manual staple switch is turned on. Is determined.

If the manual staple switch is turned on in step K7, it is further determined in step K8 whether the number of sheets sent to the staple unit 6 is one or not.
If it is a single sheet, proceed to Step K9 and staple section 6 as it is.
From the lower tray 43, and if there are multiple sheets, step
Staple is executed in K10, and the bound paper is dropped onto the lower tray 43 in step K11. In this way, in steps K7 to K11 described above, the processing according to the present invention is performed by the microcomputer MC as the control means of the present invention.

Furthermore, if the manual staple switch is not in the "ON" state in step K7, the process branches to step K12, in which it is determined whether or not the next recording has already started, and recording has already started. If so, return to step K1.

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, in the staple mode, when the manual switch is input after the completion of the image forming operation, the staple means is caused to perform the staple operation,
When the number of sheets stacked on the stacking unit is one, the stapling unit does not perform the stapling operation even when the manual switch is input, so that the operator can arbitrarily select the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus. Can perform the stapling operation, and when only one sheet is stacked on the stacking means, even if the operator mistakenly presses the manual switch without confirming the number of sheets, one sheet is stapled. It is possible to prevent useless operations that would otherwise occur.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the outline of a recording paper post-processing apparatus to which the present invention can be applied, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a folding device together with a transport path, and FIGS. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a process of forming a fold in the first fold forming device, and FIG. 4 shows three forms of the fold formed in the fold forming device of (A), (B) and (C). FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing the constitution of the finisher device together with the conveying path, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the constitution of the operation part of the finisher device and the folding device, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of a control circuit of a recording paper post-processing apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 8 is a flow chart of its control operation. 1 ... Copier, 2 ... Recording paper, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E ... Folds, 3 ... Folding device, 4 ... Finisher device, 5 ... Stacker unit, 6 ... Stapling unit, (7,8), (11,12), (30,31), (34,35), (37,3)
8) …… Roller pair, 9,14,15,16,32 …… Deflector, 10,13,21,22,26,33,36 …… Paper path, 17,18,19,20 …… Folding roller, 23,27 …… Stopper, 24 …… Loop, 26,27 …… Fold path, S0 to S6 …… Sensor, 39,43 …… Tray, 40 …… Belt, 41 …… Stapler, 42 …… Stopper, 50A , 50B, 50 …… Operation part, 52,58 …… Mode selection switch, 53,55,59,61 …… Indicator, 54,56,61,62 …… Picture display, 57 …… Jam indicator, 66 , 67,74,80,85,86 …… Buffer, M1 …… Stacker motor, 69,70 …… Sensor, 72,73,76,84,89 …… Signal, 32A, 42A, 87 …… Solenoid, 81 …… Plunger, 78,88 …… Interrupter, 82 …… (reflection) sensor, 83 …… Manual switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A conveyance unit configured to convey a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus, a stacking unit configured to stack the sheets conveyed by the conveyance unit, and a stapling unit configured to staple the sheets stacked on the stacking unit. Setting means for setting a staple mode for performing a stapling operation, a manual switch for manually starting the stapling operation in the stapling mode, and the manual switch being input after the image forming operation in the image forming apparatus is completed. Control means for causing the stapling means to perform a stapling operation, wherein the control means sets the stapling mode by the setting means, and the number of sheets stacked on the stacking means is 1, Even if the manual switch is input, the stapling means should not perform the stapling operation. A stapling device characterized by the fact that