JPH08277059A - Finisher - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To simplify the carrying mechanism of paper sheets by reducing the installation area of a finisher. CONSTITUTION: An inner tray 10 consists of a first tray 11a and a second tray 11b which are opened/closed like a door. The bind-in at least by the stapler is achieved by storing the papers P with the trays held in the horizontal condition. The papers P stored in the trays are dropped and loaded on a taking-out stacker 40 by opening the trays. A carrying mechanism to carry the papers P stored in the inner tray 10 to the stacker 40 can be dispensed with, and the floor area of a finisher can be reduced as much as possible.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a finisher which receives a sheet discharged from a document discharge device such as a printer, a facsimile or a copying machine and performs a predetermined process such as a binding operation on the sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, documents (paper sheets) discharged from a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine or the like are merely stacked on a discharge tray. Therefore, when binding a bundle of discharged documents, it is usual to manually bind the documents using a stapler. However, since the documents are manually aligned and bound, the documents are liable to be inaccurate, and the work takes time. In order to solve such a drawback, the present applicant has already proposed a finisher capable of automatically aligning and binding documents discharged from a document discharging device such as a printer, a facsimile, or a copying machine. (Japanese Patent Application No. 6-257483).

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of such a finisher. Documents (not shown) discharged one by one from the document discharge device A are rollers r2 that constitute the capturing unit B1.
Are sequentially stacked on the tray 2 of the finisher B, and are obliquely fed toward the side wall of the tray 2 by the aligning roller 4 of the aligning section B2 to be aligned in the width direction. In this way, when a set of documents are stacked and aligned, the documents are bound by the stapler 91, and then the ejection tray or stacker 11 (hereinafter referred to as a representative) for ejection by the roller r3 that constitutes the ejection unit B4. It is discharged to a stacker). By performing such an operation, the documents are stacked and stored in the stacker 11.

[0004]

In the conventional apparatus as described above, the stacker 11 is usually provided outside the apparatus, which is separated from the tray 2 in the horizontal direction. This is because it is easy to take out the documents stored in the stacker 11 from the outside. Therefore, a transport mechanism for transporting the documents from the tray 2 to the stacker 11 is required, and therefore, the installation area of the apparatus is relatively small. It has to be a big one. The present invention solves the above problems, and provides a finisher that can reduce the installation area of an apparatus as much as possible and can simplify a document (paper sheet) conveyance mechanism. The purpose is to provide. Another object of the present invention is to provide a finisher capable of stacking and storing documents in a stacker in an aligned state.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, paper sheets discharged from a document discharge device such as a printer, a facsimile or a copying machine are received in an internal tray, and the sheets stacked in the internal tray are aligned. A finisher that binds at least a stapler and stacks and stores the bound paper sheets in a stacker for taking out, wherein the internal tray comprises:
It is divided into a door-shaped first tray and a second tray that opens and closes at approximately the center of its bottom, and the bottom walls of the first tray and the second tray form a substantially horizontal surface for loading paper sheets horizontally. Opening / closing means for driving the first tray and the second tray in an interlocking manner is provided so as to rotate between the first tray and the second tray so that the bottom wall is inclined downward and the stacked sheets are dropped downward. In addition, the stacker is characterized in that it is provided with a stacking surface that is substantially parallel to the bottom wall at a predetermined distance from the bottom wall immediately below the bottom walls of the first tray and the second tray.

Further, according to the present invention, in the process in which the opening / closing means opens the first tray and the second tray,
It is characterized in that the first tray and the second tray are driven so that one of the angles formed by the respective bottom walls and the stacking surface of the stacker becomes larger than the other.

[0007]

With the first tray and the second tray provided in the shape of a door forming the inner tray being held horizontally, the sheets are accommodated and at least the binding by the stapler is performed. Then, by opening the first tray and the second tray, the documents stored in the internal tray are dropped by the weight of the internal tray and stacked on the stacker provided below the tray. Therefore, the transport mechanism for transporting the paper sheets stored in the inner tray to the stacker is simplified, and thus the installation area of the finisher can be reduced as much as possible.

Further, in the process in which the opening / closing means opens the first tray and the second tray, one of the angles formed by the bottom walls of the first tray and the stacking surface of the stacker becomes larger than the other of the first tray. When the second tray is driven, one side of the sheets stacked on the tray precedes the other side and drops to the stacker, so that the side end portion of the sheets stacked on the stacker It is possible to suppress variations in position.

[0009]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a configuration of a main part of a finisher showing an embodiment of the present invention, and a part of the finisher is shown in exploded view. FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along the line AA. 3 to 6 are explanatory views showing the operation of the embodiment.

First, the configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The internal tray 10 includes a first tray 11a and a second tray 11b that are divided into left and right sides on the paper surface of FIG. On both trays, bottom walls 12a and 12b, which form stacking surfaces for stacking documents (paper sheets), respectively.
And the bottom wall 12a so as to surround the edges of the loaded documents,
Side wall 1 that is raised from the edge of 12b in a substantially U shape
3a and 13b are provided.

The side walls 13a and 13b of both trays have hinge portions 17a, 141a and 17b, respectively, at two front and rear positions.
141b is provided. The rear hinge part 141a,
141b is a bearing 1 fixed to the side walls 13a and 13b.
4a and 14b, and support shafts 15a and 1 supported by the apparatus main body
5b, and the trays 11a and 11b include the support shaft 15
It is rotatably supported around a and 15b.

On the other hand, the front hinge portions 17a and 17b are
Arms 16a and 16b fixed to the side walls 13a and 13b
And the support shafts 15a and 15b. Further, the positions of the hinge portions 17a, 17b, 141a, 141b and the shafts 15a, 15b are determined by the bottom walls 12a, 12 of the tray.
It is provided at a position higher than b. With the above configuration, both trays 11a and 11b are respectively provided with shafts 15a and
It is provided as a door that opens and closes around 5b.

The arm 16a is provided with a groove 18a in the radial direction around the shaft 15a, and a pair of upper and lower fish tail pieces 181a and 182a are provided so as to sandwich the groove. Similarly, the radial groove 1 is also formed in the arm 16b.
8b and fish tail pieces 181b and 182b are provided.

On the other hand, a disc 20a, on which a pin 18a that fits in and out (hereinafter referred to as "fitting and unmating") of the groove 18a of the arm 16a is projected, is pivotally supported by a shaft 201a. The circular plate 20a is provided with a convex arcuate portion 202a that prevents the arm 16a from rotating by coming into contact with the concave arcuate portions of the fish tail pieces 181a and 182a. Further, the circular plate 20a is provided with a concave arc portion (broken line) centering on the pin 19a so as to connect both ends of the arc portion 202a, and is provided between the concave arc portion and the pin 19a. A space for receiving the fish tail pieces 181a, 182a is formed therein.

In the same manner as described above, the disc 20b provided with the pin 19b which is fitted into and removed from the groove 18b of the arm 16b is provided with the shaft 201.
It is pivotally supported by b. As shown in FIG.
The arm 16b is brought into contact with the concave arc portions provided on the fish tail pieces 181b and 182b of the arm 16b.
A convex arcuate portion 202b that prevents the rotation of b is provided. The disc 20b is provided with a concave arc portion (broken line) centering on the pin 19b so as to connect both ends of the arc portion 202b. The concave arc portion and the pin 19b are provided.
A space for receiving the fish tail pieces 181b, 182b is formed between the and.

The above-described mechanism corresponds to a Geneva mechanism for intermittently transmitting the continuous rotation on the driving side to the driven side.
It should be noted that, whereas a general Geneva mechanism has a large number of grooves on the driven side, the present embodiment is characterized in that one groove is provided on the driven side. That is, in this embodiment, the disks 20a, 20 having the pins 19a, 19b and the arc portions 202a, 202b on the driving side as the Geneva mechanism.
b, and the driven side is also groove 18a, 1
8b and fishtail pieces 181a, 181b, 182a, 182
It is constituted by arms 16a and 16b having b. According to such a configuration, the pins and the circular arc portions on the discs 20a and 20b side and the grooves and the circular arc portions of the fishtail pieces on the arm 16a and 16b sides are always in contact with or fitted to each other,
The both arms can always maintain a state of being reliably locked to the disc during the process of rotation of the disc, and the arms are not separated from the disc to be in the free state.

The disc 20a is fixed on the same axis as the gear 23 meshing with the gear 22 directly connected to the drive shaft of the motor 21, and is rotated by the rotation of the motor 21. The circular plate 20b is fixed on the same axis as the gear 24, and the gear 24 and a gear 25 directly connected to the drive shaft of the motor 21.
A toothed belt 26 is wound around the
The driving force of 1 is transmitted.

Behind the inner tray 10, there is provided a conveying roller 30 for receiving the document P discharged from a document discharging device (not shown) in the direction of arrow F into the inner tray 10.

Above the inner tray 10, the inner tray 1
The document P (1) received in 0 is obliquely fed in the direction of the arrow F1 to collide with the side wall 13a of the tray and to align the document P (2) to the position of the document P (2). Is provided. The width adjusting means for adjusting the width of the document is not limited to the width adjusting roller 31, but any width adjusting mechanism can be used.

At the rear left corner of the inner tray 10, a stapler 3 for binding the corner of the width-aligned document P (2) is formed.
2 are provided. In addition to the stapler 32, a punch mechanism for opening a binding hole in the document P may be provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, immediately below the bottom walls 12a and 12b of the inner tray 10, the bottom wall 12 in a horizontal state is provided.
A stacker 40 (not shown in FIG. 1) having a stacking surface 41 that is substantially parallel to the bottom walls is provided at a predetermined distance from a and 12b.

Next, the operation of the finisher of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the inner tray 10 has the first tray 11a,
The second tray 11b maintains a horizontal state, and in that state, the document P is received inside the tray. Each time the documents P are received one by one by the width-adjusting roller (shown only in FIG. 1), the above-described width-adjusting operation is performed, and the document P is moved.
Are collided with the side wall 13a of the first tray 11a so that the width of the first tray 11a is reduced. A set of documents P is the internal tray 10
When loaded inside, the stapler shown in FIG. 1 performs a binding operation on the document P.

Then, the motor 21 (only shown in FIG. 1) starts rotating counterclockwise in FIG. As a result, the turning force from the drive shaft of the motor 21 is transmitted to the disc 20a via the gear 25, the toothed belt 26, and the gear 24, while the turning force is passed through the gear 22 and the gear 23. It is also transmitted to the plate 20b. As a result, the disc 20a is
Rotated counterclockwise, the disc 20b is rotated clockwise.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the discs 20a,
With the rotation of 20b in the direction of the arrow, the pins 19a, 19b
Are grooves 18a and 18b of the arms 16a and 16b, respectively.
Both arms are moved by entering inside and fitting. Now, as shown in FIG.
The positional relationship between a and the groove 18a and the positional relationship between the pin 19b and the groove 18b are set so that the former slightly precedes. That is, the phase (position) of the pin 19a is
The rotation angles of the disks 20a and 20b are set in advance so as to precede b.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
As the groove 19a of the arm 16a is driven by the rotation of the disc 20a, the first tray 11a rotates so as to incline downward prior to the second tray 11b. At this time, the arc portion of the fish tail piece 182a on the lower side of the arm 16a is the disc 2
0a of the arc portion 202a away from the arm 16
Since the pin 19a of the disc 20a is fitted in the groove 18a of "a", the arm 16a holds the weight of the document P by being reliably locked to the disc 20a. As a result, in the document P, the side stacked on the first tray 11a precedes and curves downward.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the discs 20a,
As the 20b rotates in the direction of the arrow, the second tray 11
The groove 19b of the arm 16b on the b side is the pin 19 of the disc 20b.
By following the rotation of b, the second tray 11b also rotates so as to incline downward. At this time, the arm 16b
The arc portion of the fishtail piece 182b on the lower side is separated from the arc portion 202b of the disc 20b, but the groove 18 of the arm 16b is formed.
Since the pin 19b of the disc 20b is fitted to b, the arm 1
6b holds the weight of the document P by being reliably locked to the disc 20b. Therefore, FIG.
As shown in, the bottom wall of the first tray 11a is the stacker 40.
The inclination angle of the second tray 11 with respect to the loading surface 41 is
The state in which it is slightly larger than the inclination angle of the bottom wall of b is maintained.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, the document P
Due to its own weight, the side end portion stacked on the first tray 11a precedes and falls onto the stacking surface 41 of the lower stacker 40.

From the state of FIG. 6, the first tray 11 is further
When the a and the second tray 11b rotate, the side edges of the document P stacked on the second tray 11b also drop onto the stacking surface 41 of the stacker 40. At this time,
Both of the pins 19a, 19b of the discs 20a, 20b are disengaged from the grooves 18a, 18b of the arms 16a, 16b, but at that time, the arc portions of the fish tail pieces 181a, 181b above the arms 16a, 16b are already circular. Since the arcs 202a and 202b of the plates 20a and 20b are in contact with and locked by the arcs 202a and 202b, respectively, both arms are prevented from rotating in the arrow direction in the free state.

In the above series of processes, the first tray 11a is
By opening the second tray 11b and the second tray 11b, the document P falls on the stacker 40 by its own weight, and the bundle of documents P is collected.
Is complete. After that, if the motor 21 is rotationally driven in the opposite direction to the above, the first tray 11a and the second tray 11a
The tray 11b returns to the original horizontal state in a process substantially reverse to the above process, and is ready to receive the next document from the document ejection device.

Although the structure of the stacker is not shown in detail, for example, the stacker is provided slidably in the lower portion of the finisher and the stacker can be pulled out of the finisher so that the loaded documents can be easily taken out. Just configure it.

As described in detail above, according to this embodiment,
The first tray 11a and the second tray 11b constituting the internal tray 10 are held in a horizontal state, and the documents P are accommodated and bound at least by a stapler, and then the first tray 11a and the second tray 11b are opened. By doing so, the documents P stored in the internal tray 10 are dropped and stacked on the stacker 40 provided below the tray due to their own weight. Therefore, the inner tray 10
The transport mechanism for transporting the documents P accommodated in the stacker 40 to the stacker 40 is simplified, which has the advantage that the installation area of the apparatus can be reduced as much as possible.

Further, in the present embodiment, in the process of opening the internal tray 10, one of the inclination angles at which the bottom wall of each of the first tray 11a and the second tray 11b becomes the stacking surface 41 of the stacker 40 is larger than the other. The positions (phases) of the pins 19a and 19b are set so that they become larger first. As a result, the documents P loaded on the internal tray 10
One of the side edges of the document P always falls ahead of the other to the stacker 40, so that the falling posture of the document P is regulated to be substantially constant, and the position variation of the side edges of the documents P stacked on the stacker 40 is prevented. It becomes possible to suppress.

In the process of opening the internal tray 10, the positions (phase) of the pins 19a and 19b are set so that the inclination angles of the first tray and the second tray are the same.
You can set. In this case, since the document P falls in a substantially horizontal state, there is a possibility that the falling posture of the document changes variously, especially when the weight of the document P is light. Therefore, the variation in the positions of the side edges of the documents P stacked on the stacker 40 is expected to be slightly larger than that in the above-described embodiment.

The motor 21 and the gear 2 shown in this embodiment
2, 23, 24, 25, toothed belt 26, disc 20a,
20b, grooves 18a provided on the arms 16a, 16b,
18b and fishtail pieces 181a, 182a, 181b, 18
1b constitutes a typical example of "opening / closing means for driving the first tray and the second tray in conjunction with each other" shown in the claims. The above-mentioned opening / closing means is not limited to the structure of this embodiment, and a known cam mechanism, link mechanism, rack /
Of course, the pinion mechanism, the motor capable of rotating in the forward and reverse directions, and the like can be appropriately combined and configured.

In this embodiment, the opening / closing means is the pin 1
Discs 20a and 20b provided with 9a and 19b, and groove 18
a, 18b and fish tail pieces 181a, 182a, 181b,
Since the Geneva mechanism composed of the arms 16a and 16b provided with 182b is used, the first tray 11a and the second tray 11b on which the documents are stacked can be securely held and rotated while being rotated. There is an advantage that can be.

[0036]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention,
The first tray and the second tray, which are provided in the shape of a door and constitute the internal tray, are held in a horizontal state, and the sheets are accommodated and at least the binding by the stapler is performed. Then, by opening the first tray and the second tray, the documents stored in the internal tray are dropped and stacked on the stacker. Therefore, the transport mechanism for transporting the paper sheets stored in the internal tray to the stacker is simplified, and the installation area of the apparatus can be reduced as much as possible.

In the process of opening the first tray and the second tray by the opening / closing means, one of the angles formed by the bottom walls of the first tray and the stacking surface of the stacker becomes larger than the other of the first tray. When the second tray is driven, one side of the sheets stacked on the tray precedes the other side and drops to the stacker, so that the side end portion of the sheets stacked on the stacker It is possible to suppress variations in position.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a configuration of a main part of an embodiment of a finisher of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along the line AA.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a configuration of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Inner tray 11a First tray 11b Second tray 16a, 16b Arms 18a, 18b Grooves 181a, 182a, 181b, 182b Fish tail pieces 20a, 20b Discs 19a, 19b Pins 40 Stacker 41 Loading surface P documents (paper sheets)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Paper sheets discharged from a document discharge device such as a printer, a facsimile or a copying machine are received in an internal tray, and the sheets stacked in the internal tray are aligned and bound at least by a stapler and bound. A finisher for stacking and accommodating paper sheets in a stacker for taking out, wherein the internal tray is divided into a door-like first tray and a second tray that opens and closes at substantially the center of the bottom thereof. And the bottom wall of the second tray forms a substantially horizontal surface to load paper sheets in a horizontal state, and the bottom wall inclines downward to be opened to drop the stacked paper sheets downward. As described above, the opening / closing means for driving the first tray and the second tray in cooperation with each other is provided, and the stacker is provided on the bottom of the first tray and the second tray. Finisher, characterized in that, where the has a stacking surface that forms a substantially parallel to the bottom wall at a predetermined interval. 2. The opening / closing means includes the first tray and the second tray.
In the process of opening the trays, the first tray and the second tray are driven so that one of the angles formed by the respective bottom walls and the stacking surface of the stacker becomes larger than the other. The finisher according to Item 1.