JPH10218475A - Paper after-treatment device of image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the deterioration of the stacking property, even when a large number of documents, parts of which consist of small number of sheets, are end-bound and piled on a loading tray. SOLUTION: This device is provided with the first paper conforming device which consists of a stopper 41, a paddle 81, and the like, and the second paper conforming device which consists of a stopper 13, a paddle 14, and the like. In the first end-binding mode, the first paper conforming device is operated, and the tips of a paper bundle are end-bound by a staple device 20. On the other hand, in the second end-binding mode, the second paper conforming device is operated, and the rear ends of the paper bundle are end-bound by the staple device 20. The first and the second end-binding modes are selected alternately, by a preset rugulation, at every specific number of documents, or at every one job, for example. As a result, the binding positions of the documents piled on the tray 93 of a stacker 90 are not made in the same position, and a swelling by superposing the binding parts is not generated, so as to improve the stacking property of the stacker 90.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer, and more particularly, to a stacking tray for stacking sheets by edge post-processing. The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus of an image forming apparatus which reduces the swelling of the sheet due to the staples of the binding section and increases the amount of sheets that can be stacked on the stacking tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A paper post-processing apparatus which is used by being connected to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine or a laser beam printer and which performs binding of a copy and the like has been generally used. As a device for simply binding with a staple, there is known, for example, a device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-35863. In the conventional example disclosed in the publication, one stapling device is provided so as to be movable along an end of a bundle of sheets to be stapled, so that stapling with a staple can be performed at an arbitrary position. .

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 64-43456 discloses that a stapling device is arranged in a sorter device which is connected to an image forming apparatus and sorts sheets, and binds the corners of the bundle of sheets. An apparatus is disclosed. The stapling apparatus used in this apparatus binds the sheets after positioning the tray of the sorter at the binding position, so that the post-processing operation of the sheets can be easily performed. Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 601 and the like disclose an apparatus that binds a central portion in the length direction of a large-sized sheet to create a book, and then folds the book into two from the binding section. In this conventional apparatus, the stitcher member and the clincher material are individually movably provided in correspondence with the upper and lower positions of the pile of stacked sheets, and the two staple members are interlocked and stopped at the binding position, Stapling is performed with staples. Further, by using the stapling device, it is possible to perform binding with a staple at an arbitrary position of a bundle of sheets.

Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-192951
In the publication, a mode for edge binding and saddle stitching is provided in the post-processing device, and when the saddle stitching mode is selected, the aligning device for edge binding is retracted from the paper transport path. A technique has been disclosed in which the leading edge of a sheet is pressed against a stopper used for saddle stitching to enable positioning, and the stapling device enables saddle stitching.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional stapling apparatus capable of edge stapling, since the place where paper is stapled is the same, for example, a large number of end stapling of a document having a small number of sheets. When the paper is accumulated on the stacking tray, the thickness of the paper on the binding side is increased by the staples of the binding portion, and a stack failure occurs. For this reason, there is a problem that the number of sheets stacked on the stacking tray is extremely reduced as compared with the case where the stacking is performed without edge binding on the stacking tray, and the stacking performance is significantly deteriorated.

That is, as shown in FIG.
When the four sets of documents 101, 102, 103 and 104 are sequentially edge-bound and stacked on a stacking tray, the binding side is the same, so the paper thickness on the binding side is increased as indicated by 105, and the stack is increased. There was a problem that the performance was significantly deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to reduce the number of copies of a small number of documents to a large number,
An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet post-processing apparatus of an image forming apparatus which does not deteriorate stacking performance even when the sheets are edge-stitched and accumulated on a stacking tray.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention relates to a stapling apparatus which is connected to a sheet discharge section of an image forming apparatus and aligns sheets and binds the sheets with staples. In the sheet post-processing device of the image forming apparatus provided in the path, the sheets sent along the sheet conveying path are aligned, and the staples are provided at the end of the aligned sheet in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction. First and second sheet aligning means for performing binding using the first and second sheet aligning means, first edge binding mode for performing binding using the first sheet aligning means, and binding using the second sheet aligning means. And a selecting means for selecting a second end binding mode for performing the first and second end binding modes according to a predetermined rule. There is a feature.

According to the present invention, the binding position of the document by the staple is changed according to the predetermined rule, so that the binding position of the document deposited on the tray of the stacker is not the same, and the binding position of the document on the tray is not the same. The height becomes almost uniform. Therefore, the stacking performance of the stacker can be improved.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of one embodiment of the present invention. The paper post-processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is used by being connected to an image forming apparatus such as a laser beam printer. The operation of directly discharging the discharged paper to the discharge tray 6 and the operation of binding using a stapling device can be arbitrarily selected and performed. The upper transport path 2 is provided with a plurality of transport roller devices 3 and 3a and a discharge roller device 5. The discharge roller device 5 includes a driving roller member 5a and a pinch roller member. It is composed of a combination with an orbit roller 5b that functions.

A discharge roller device 7 is provided downstream of the discharge roller device 5. The discharge roller device 7
Is composed of a driving roller member 7a and a pinch roller member 7b corresponding to the driving roller member 7a. When the paper sent from the discharge roller device 5 is directly discharged to the discharge tray 6, the drive roller member 7a is driven in the discharge direction (forward direction).

When the sheet is turned over and guided toward the staple tray member 10, the discharge roller device 5
With the paper sandwiched between the drive roller member 5a and the orbit roller 5b, the orbit roller 5b performs an planetary rotation around the drive roller member 5a, and the leading end of the paper is inverted toward the staple tray member 10. To be guided. When this operation is repeated, the inverted and discharged paper is deposited on the staple tray member 10. This paper transport system is called a U-turn path system.

A mechanism for swinging the upper guide plate 4 about the support shaft 4a, which is effective when the sheet is turned over, is provided upstream of the discharge roller device 5. By this mechanism, the sheet is guided by the upper guide plate 4 and transported while being greatly curved and forming a loop when the sheet is inverted.

On the other hand, when the paper is discharged to the staple tray member 10 using the switchback type transport system without performing the reverse discharge by the discharge roller device 5, the orbit roller 5b is moved downward without rotating the planetary rotation. After the discharge roller unit 7 is driven in the forward direction, it is driven in the reverse direction at an appropriate timing. By repeating this operation, on the staple tray member 10,
The paper is deposited without reversing.

Further, the discharge roller unit 7 can discharge the documents stapled on the staple tray member 10 toward the discharge tray 6 or the stacker 90. In order to cope with the above, the pinch roller member 7b is provided so as to be able to contact and separate from the drive roller member 7a.

A staple device 20 for binding sheets is provided at a predetermined position of a staple tray member 10 arranged below the upper conveying path 2 of the sheet post-processing device 1. The stapling device 20 includes an upper staple member 21 and a lower staple member 25 provided so as to be positioned above and below a sheet stacked on the staple tray member 10. Further, the staple tray member 10 is not constituted by a single plate member, but is constituted by combining a guide plate of a lower staple member and a paper support plate member disposed at positions before and after the lower staple member as described later. ing. A stopper 41 is disposed slightly downstream of the stapling position T by the stapling device 20, and the stopper 41 is provided so as to be able to protrude and retract with respect to the sheet transport path. Further, on the upstream side of the stapling apparatus 20, a swingable guide plate member 70 and a paddle 81 that can be moved into and out of the paper transport path are disposed above the staple tray member 10. The stopper 41 and the paddle 81
Constitutes a first sheet aligning means (first sheet aligning device) that operates in the first edge binding mode.

Downstream of the stapling device 20, a second sheet aligning means (second sheet aligning device) 12 for aligning the leading end of the sheet is provided.
The sheet aligning device 12 includes a stopper 13 and a paddle member 14.
It is composed of A transport roller device 11 is provided between the stapling device 20 and the second sheet aligning device 12. The second sheet aligning device 12 is provided so as to be movable in the upstream and downstream directions, and when binding the rear end of the sheet, the sheet aligning device 12 can be held at an arbitrary position. Therefore, the binding position at the rear end of the sheet can be adjusted to a desired position.

Further, it can correspond to various paper sizes. For example, for the B4 size paper, the paper aligning device 12 is moved to the position indicated by the virtual line (dotted line) in the figure, and for the A4 size paper, the paper aligning device is positioned at the position of the solid line in the figure Thus, the position of the sheet aligning device 12 is changed according to the length of the sheet.

It is to be noted that, when the second edge binding mode is selected so that the sheets bound in the first edge binding mode and the second edge binding mode are the same, they are not shown. The printing device is configured to rotate the image by 180 °, print the image on a sheet, and discharge the image to the sheet post-processing apparatus 1.

Further, in the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, a sheet discharge path 17 is arranged from the end of the staple tray member 10 to the lower part of the apparatus main body. The sheet is guided to the sheet discharge path 17 by the gate member 15 and the discharge roller device 16 and is discharged from the sheet discharge path 17. Note that the sheet aligning device 12
Is moved to the position indicated by the imaginary line, and when the trailing end of the sheet is bound by the stapling device 20, after the binding operation is completed, the transport roller device 11 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, and the leading end of the document is moved. One end reaches the upstream part of the gate member 15. Thereafter, the document is guided toward the discharge path 17 by switching the gate member 15 and driving the transport roller device 11 forward again.

The stacker 90 is located downstream of the discharge path 17.
Is placed. The stacker 90 has a transport roller 91 and a discharge roller 92. The end-stitched document discharged from the discharge path 17 is guided by the transport roller 91 and the discharge roller 92, and is placed on a tray 93. Deposited on
The stacker 90 also has a mechanism for moving the tray 93 up and down. The mechanism includes a motor 94, a pulley 95, a chain 96a, pulleys 97a and 97b, a chain 96b.
And a roller 98. The power of the motor 94 is supplied to the pulley 9 via the pulley 95 and the chain 96a.
7a. Since the chain 96b is stretched between the pulley 97a and the pulley 97b, when the pulley 97a rotates, the chain 96b rotates, the rollers 98 rotate, and the tray 93 moves up and down smoothly. The height of the tray 93 is controlled according to the height of the sheets P deposited on the tray 93.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail. As described above, when the first end binding mode is selected, the stopper 41 is projected above the staple tray member 10. On the other hand, when the second end binding mode is selected, the stopper 41 is retracted from above the staple tray member 10.

Now, an image F shown in FIG.
When the sheet 111 of the first copy on which is printed enters the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, the stopper 41 is protruded above the staple tray member 10. Therefore, the leading end of the sheet 111 comes into contact with the stopper 41, and at this position, a predetermined number of sheets 111 are deposited. Paper 11 in this position
When a predetermined number of sheets 1 are accumulated, the stapling device 20 is operated, and the leading end position of the sheet 111 is bound as shown in the figure. Thereafter, the stopper 41 is retracted from the staple tray member 10, and the pinch roller member 7b
Is lowered toward the drive roller member 7a to pinch the bound document. Subsequently, the drive roller member 7a, the transport roller device 11, the discharge roller device 16, the transport roller 91
Then, the discharge roller 92 is driven, and the document is discharged onto the stacker 93.

Next, when a sheet 112 of the second copy having the same size as the sheet 111 on which the image obtained by rotating the image F by 180 ° enters the sheet post-processing apparatus 1, the stopper 41 Is the staple tray member 10
The sheet 112 of the second copy is transported until it comes into contact with the stopper 13 because the sheet 112 is in a state of being retracted. As described above, the stopper 13 and the paddle member 14
The position of the stopper 13 can be adjusted back and forth. The position of the stopper 13 at which the rear end of the sheet 112 is bound by the stapling device 20 is 180 degrees.
When rotated, the paper 111 is placed at the same position as the binding position of the paper 111.

In the above state, the staple tray member 10
When the predetermined number of sheets of paper 112 are accumulated, the stapling device 20 is operated, and the rear end of the accumulated sheets of paper 112 is bound. When the binding operation is completed, the transport roller device 11, the discharge roller device 16, the transport roller 91, and the discharge roller 92 are driven, and the document of the second copy is discharged onto the stacker 93.

Next, as for the document of the third copy, similarly to the document of the first copy, the paper 113 on which the image F without rotation of 180 ° is printed is input to the paper post-processing apparatus 1. come. At this time, just like the document of the first copy, the stopper 41 is protruded above the staple tray member 10 and the stapling device 20 is operated at the place where the predetermined number of sheets 113 have been deposited, and The front end of the sheet 113 is bound. The bound document is discharged onto the tray 93 on the stacker 90 by the same operation as described above.

Hereinafter, the same operation as that of the document of the second copy is performed for the even-numbered document such as the fourth copy and the sixth copy, and the odd-numbered document such as the fifth copy and the seventh copy is performed. Is the first part, the third
The same operation as that of the copy document is performed.

As a result, according to the present embodiment, the binding positions of the documents stacked on the tray 93 of the stacker 90 are alternated one by one, and the height of the documents is left and right as shown at 115 in the drawing. It is almost equal. For this reason, the stack performance of the stacker 90 can be improved.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the stapling position of the stapling apparatus 20 is changed for each job. As shown in the drawing, for example, for the documents 121 and 122 belonging to job 1, the leading end position of the sheet is bound, and for the documents 123 and 124 belonging to job 2, the trailing end position of the sheet is bound. If there are more jobs, the binding position of the document belonging to each job is alternately set to the leading end position and the trailing end position. In this way, the binding positions of the documents stacked on the tray 93 of the stacker 90 are alternated for each job, and the
The swelling of the document at the binding position is eliminated.
For this reason, the amount of documents that can be deposited on the stacker 90 increases, and stack performance can be improved. The documents belonging to the job 2 are, of course, images whose images to be printed are rotated by 180 °.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the stapling position of the stapling apparatus 20 is changed for each specific number of copies. In the illustrated example, the binding position of the paper is changed to the leading edge position and the trailing edge position of the paper every ten copies. By doing so, the tray 93 of the stacker 90
As can be seen, the height of the documents deposited on top is approximately equal on the left and right, which can improve the stacking performance of the stacker 90.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the binding position of the document is set at one position in the upper left corner. As shown, the first copy 141 binds the upper corner of the leading end of the document, and the second copy 142 rotates the image F by 180 ° for printing and binds the lower corner of the trailing end. The above operation is repeated for each part, and the sheet is discharged onto the stacker 90 and deposited on the tray 93. According to this embodiment, since the binding positions do not overlap, the thickness of the binding positions is dispersed,
The height of the documents deposited on 3 can be averaged.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Shown in In this embodiment, the binding position is changed to the top corner and the bottom corner of the document for each job.
That is, the documents 151 and 152 of job 1 are bound at the upper end corners, and the documents 153 and 154 of job 2 are bound at the lower end corners.

FIG. 9C shows a sixth embodiment of the present invention, in which the binding position is changed for each specific number of copies. In the illustrated example, the binding position is changed every ten copies.

Next, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the binding position of the document is the upper left corner and the upper right corner. As shown, the first copy 161 binds the upper corner of the leading edge of the document, and the second copy 162 rotates the image F by 180 ° for printing and binds the upper corner of the trailing edge. The above operation is repeated for each part, and the sheet is discharged onto the stacker 90 and deposited on the tray 93. According to this embodiment, since the binding positions do not overlap, the thickness of the binding positions is dispersed,
The height of the documents deposited on 3 can be averaged.

FIGS. 7B and 7C show the eighth and ninth embodiments of the present invention, respectively.
For each specific number of copies, the binding position of the document
This is different from the upper corner of the rear end. In these embodiments, the same effects as in the seventh embodiment can be obtained.

Next, the configuration of a specific example of the above-described stapling apparatus 20 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown, the stapling device 20 includes an upper staple member 21 and a lower staple member 25 which are positioned above and below the sheets stacked on the staple tray member 10. The lower staple member 25 is connected to the guide bar 2.
Stitcher member 26 slidably supported by 8, 28a
Is provided. The stitcher member 26 functions to drive staples into a bundle of sheets stacked on the staple tray member 10. A belt member 39 for driving the lower staple member 25 back and forth is provided between the guide bars 28 and 28a.

On the other hand, the upper staple member 21 includes a clincher member 22 slidably supported by guide bars 24 and 24a and acting to bend and stop the tip of the staple. The clincher member 22 includes
The belt member 36 is driven along the guide bars 24 and 24a. Further, the upper staple member 21 and the lower staple member 25 have upper and lower guide plates 23 and 27, respectively, and the guide plates 23 and 27 guide the sheets on the staple tray member 10 in a predetermined direction. Works.

A driving device 30 for driving the belt members 36 and 39 of the upper staple member 21 and the lower staple member 25 is provided. The driving device 30 includes a motor 31
, And the rotation of the motor 31 is transmitted to the drive shaft 33 via the transmission device 32. A pulley 35 is connected to the drive shaft 33 via a clutch 34, and the upper staple member 2 is connected to the drive shaft 33 via the pulley 35.
One belt member 36 is driven. In addition, the drive shaft 33
Is connected to a pulley 38 via a clutch 37, and the belt member 39 of the lower staple member 25 is driven via the pulley 38.

The motor 31 is constituted by a stepping motor which can be driven in the forward and reverse directions, and moves the upper and lower staple members by an arbitrary distance in the forward and backward directions along the guide bars 24, 24a and 28, 28a. be able to. Thereby, the upper and lower staple members can be positioned at arbitrary positions within the range of the distance, and the binding operation using the staple can be performed. In the stapling apparatus 20, when the upper and lower staple members are moved, for example, an initialization operation of detecting a reference position of a side portion of the lower staple member 25 with the sensor S is performed, and then, the motor is moved to the motor. By applying a predetermined number of pulses, the staple members 21, 25
Perform positioning. By this operation, the binding position of the staples with respect to the sheet bundle can be accurately set, and the binding can be performed at the binding position shown in FIGS.

Next, the structure and operation of the first sheet aligning apparatus will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The stopper device and the conveying member constituting the first sheet aligning device are used in combination with the stapling device shown in FIG. The stopper device 40 is provided on the upper staple member 21. Further, a mechanism for supporting and swinging the guide plate member 70 is disposed on a fixed frame separate from the stapling device 20, and the guide plate member 70 is used to move the paddle 81 of the transport member 80 up and down. Followed and rocked.
In the example shown in FIG. 6, the guide plate members 60 and 60a arranged close to the stopper device are the same as those in FIG.
Indicate the guide plates 23 and 23a arranged on both sides of the upper staple member, but in FIG.
The description is given in relation to other members.

The guide plate members 60 and 60a are supported by a support shaft 66 provided on the upper staple member.
The arm 65 is supported by a support shaft 66.
A biasing means is provided by a spring 67 at the rear end, and the arm 65 is biased clockwise (in a direction to lower the guide member) via a support shaft 66. A link 63 is disposed at the distal end of the arm 65, and a guide plate member 60 is supported via a support shaft 62 provided at the distal end of the link 63. The two members of the arm 65 and the link 63 can be configured as an integral member. However, in order to finely adjust the arrangement position of the guide member, the two arm members are slid relative to each other. Let me
It is good to be able to fix at an arbitrary position. The guide surface of the guide plate member 60 on the upstream side in the paper transport direction is provided so as to ride on the end of the guide plate member 70, as described later, so that the paper transported through the paper transport path is invite. The sheet is stopped by the stopper 41 of the stopper device 40.

In the first sheet aligning apparatus shown in FIG. 6, the guide plate member 70 disposed on the upper part of the sheet conveying path is provided so as to face the staple tray member 10, and as shown in FIG. Is provided via a support shaft at a position close to the discharge roller device 5 at the leading end of the sheet insertion side. Further, springs 73 and 73a are disposed on the guide plate member 70 at a downstream portion in the sheet conveying direction, and the guide plate member 70 is urged in a direction of lifting upward. The operation of lifting the end of the downstream part of the paddle 81 is performed in relation to the operation of vertically moving the paddle 81 in the conveying member 80. Paddle 8 arranged corresponding to guide plate member 70
The reference numerals 1 and 81a are fixedly arranged so as to sandwich the roller member 82 with respect to the drive shaft 83, and the collar members 84 and 84a provided on the drive shaft 83 are placed above the guide plate member 70. This prevents the guide plate member 70 from being swung upward by the force of the spring by the collar members 84 and 84a. The drive shaft 83 provided with the paddle can be rotated by using any drive means.

On both sides of the drive shaft 83 supporting the paddle, links 85, 85a are arranged via long holes 86, 86a. The upper end of the link 85 is connected to the arm member 90 via a support shaft 91. Similarly, the upper end of the link 85a is connected to the arm member 90a via a support shaft 91a on the opposite side of the device. ing. The ends of the arm members 90 and 90a are connected by a long shaft member 92,
The shaft member 92 is rotated by a solenoid 95. As a result, a drive shaft supporting the paddles 81 and 81a,
That is, the arm members 90, 90a, the links 85, 8
5a moves up and down, and accordingly, the paddles 81 and 81a also move up and down.

A spring 98 is disposed on the shaft member 92 via a rear link 97. The spring 98 urges the arm member 90 clockwise as viewed from the side via the shaft. Is composed. Further, the roller member 82 and the paddles 81 and 81a constituting the transport member 80 disposed on the drive shaft 83 are provided so that the weight of these members is given to the sheet and exerts an action of feeding the sheet. It is configured.

Therefore, in the transporting member 80, as shown in FIG. 6, when the paddles 81 and 81a are lowered, the sheet inserted between the guide plate member 70 and the staple tray member 10 is padded. The function of transporting toward the stopper can be performed by 81. The paddles 81 and 81a are formed by projecting a number of soft rubber or other blade members around a cylindrical member provided on a drive shaft, similarly to a paddle generally used for paper feeding. Have been. And the paddle 8
1, 81a and the roller member 82 are arranged close to each other, so that when the paddle and the roller member press the sheet by its own weight, the outer peripheral portion of the roller member 82 contacts the sheet, and the paddle blade member Since it is not excessively bent, the effect of the paper feeding by the paddle can be exhibited in a good state.

The stopper device 40 arranged corresponding to the upper staple member 21 comprises a stopper 41 supported by a frame 42, and the frame 42 of the stopper 41 is swung about a support shaft 43 as an axis. Stopper 4
Reference numeral 1 denotes an operation capable of appearing and retracting on the sheet transport path. Then, in order to drive the stopper device 40,
A driving device using the solenoid 50 is provided. The driving force of the solenoid 50 rotates the gear 53 connected to the solenoid link 51, and the rotation of the gear 53 is transmitted to the gear 55, and then the gear 5 provided on the drive shaft 56 is rotated.
It is transmitted to the gear 57 of the drive unit of the stopper 41 via 5a. The rotation of the gear 57 causes the frame 42 to swing, and the stopper 41 to swing about the support shaft of the frame.

Similar stoppers are also arranged around the guide member 60a on the opposite side. However, since these drive mechanisms are configured in the same manner as those for the stopper 41, they are not shown. .

Gear 55a for driving the stopper 41
Is provided so as to be slidable with respect to the drive shaft 56, the drive shaft 56 is configured to have a D-cut cross section, and a shaft hole corresponding to the shaft of the gear 55a has a D-cut cross section of the drive shaft. It is configured to correspond to. And said 2
When the stopper slidably provided through the two gears 53 and 57 is moved together with the upper stapling device 21,
At any position where the stopper is moved along the drive shaft,
It is possible to perform a stop operation on the sheet. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the drive device by the solenoid 50, the gear 55 disposed on the shaft 56, and the like are disposed outside the arm member 90a. It is described inside.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described. When the first end binding mode is set, each component is positioned in the state shown in FIG. That is, the guide plate member 70 and the paddle 81
Is positioned at a predetermined alignment position with respect to the upper and lower staple members 21 and 25 constituting the stapling apparatus 20. The stopper 4 provided on the upper staple member 21
1 is positioned at a position where the sheet transport path is closed. Now, when the sheet P is sent from the upstream portion via the discharge roller device 5, the leading end of the sheet P is sent downstream by the paddle 81 and is brought into contact with the stopper 41 to be aligned. A second device disposed downstream of the stapling device 20
The sheet aligning device 12 is not used in the first edge binding mode, so that it is not operated.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view showing the relationship between the stopper 41, the guide plate member 70 and the paddle 81 in FIG. In the example of FIG. 8, the guide plate member 70 is provided so as to be swingable by a support shaft 71. The spring 73 is shown at a different position from FIG. 6 for the sake of simplicity. Further, a stopper 74 is disposed above the swing-side tip portion of the guide plate member 70 to limit the position at which the guide plate member 70 is lifted. Stopper 7
Due to the operation of 4, even when the paddle 81 is largely raised, the raised position of the guide plate member 70 is limited.

When the second edge binding mode is set, each component is positioned as shown in FIG. That is, the stopper 41 is swung clockwise around the support shaft and retracted from the sheet transport path, and the
And the guide plate member 70 is raised. With this operation, the leading end of the sheet passes through the stapling device 20 and is fed to the second sheet aligning device 12. As shown in FIG. 9, the paddle 81, the guide plate member 70, and the stopper 41 disposed upstream of the stapling device 20 are retracted more than the interval between the upper and lower staple members 21, 25, The sheet P is in the second sheet aligning device 1
There is no hindrance to the operation of moving toward 2. Further, as described later, the guide plate member 70 guides the leading end of the paper so that the leading end of the paper does not catch on the lower surface of the upper staple member 21.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view showing the relationship between the stopper 41, the guide plate member 70 and the paddle 81 in FIG. In the example of FIG. 10, when the paddle 81 is swung upward, the guide plate member 70 is released from restraint by the drive shaft of the paddle 81 and is raised by the spring 73. When the guide plate member 70 is lifted by following the operation of raising the paddle 81, the rising position of the guide plate member 70 is restricted by the stopper 74, so that the blades of the paddle 81 Is set to a position located above the lower surface of by a distance h. Thus, the blades of the paddle 81 do not hinder the sheet passing through the sheet transport path.

The stopper 41 and the guide plate member 7
0 is swung up, the staple tray member 1
Between the zero and the upper guide plate member 70 or the like, an extra space of the interspace H can be formed. For this reason, it is possible to satisfactorily align the sheets in the second edge binding mode.

Next, the operation of the first edge binding mode will be described.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The paper P discharged from the discharge roller device 5 is fed to the staple tray member 10 via the discharge roller device 7 of FIG. 1 in a switchback manner so as to slide down to the stapling device 20 along the inclination of the tray. It is. The staple tray member 1
The sheet P fed into the guide plate member 70 is fed by the paddle 81 between the guide plate member 70 and the staple tray member 10 so that the leading edge of the sheet P is guided from the guide surface of the guide plate member 70 to the guide plate member 60. It is guided along the surface 61. Thereafter, the leading end of the sheet P is
When the sheets are stacked in a state where they are brought into contact with and aligned with each other, the function of the first end binding is applied to the stacked sheets. In the first end binding, the leading end of the sheet bundle is bound.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the operation in the second edge binding mode. In the second edge binding mode,
By raising the paddle 81, the guide plate member 70 is raised, and the guide plate member 60 riding on the distal end of the guide plate member 70 is also raised. As a result, the link 63 is swung counterclockwise about the support shaft 66 as a rotation axis, and the sheet conveyance path is widely opened. Further, in conjunction with the operation of raising the guide plate member 60 and the guide plate member 70, the stopper 41 is swung, and the sheet conveyance path is opened. As a result, the leading end of the sheet P is
Is fed to a predetermined position.
When the sheet is positioned at a predetermined position of the second sheet aligning device, the stapling apparatus 20 is operated, and the second end binding is performed. In the second end binding, the rear end of the sheet bundle is bound.

Next, another operation of the first edge binding mode will be described with reference to FIG. In this example, the orbit roller 5b of the discharge roller device 5 is
The leading end of the sheet is guided toward the stapling apparatus by the U-turn path method by rotating the planetary gears with respect to a. When the discharge roller device 5 pinches the leading end of the sheet at the position shown in FIG. 11, it is planetarily rotated in the state shown in FIG. 13, and the leading end is also rotated planetarily and fed into the staple tray member 10. With this operation, the front and back of the sheet are reversed.

When the conveyance of the sheet fed to the staple tray member 10 proceeds and the trailing end of the sheet passes through the holding position of the discharge roller device, the orbit roller 5b returns to the original position (shown in FIG. 11). Then, it is prepared for the conveyance of the subsequently input paper. Also in the second end binding mode in FIG. 14, the orbit roller 5b of the discharge roller device 5 operates in the same manner as described above, and thus the description is omitted.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the switchback system and the U-turnpass system are provided. Therefore, the U-turnpass system can be selected for single-sided printing, and the switchback system can be selected for double-sided printing. it can.

[0059]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the first end binding mode and the second end binding mode are alternately selected according to a predetermined rule, and the first end binding mode and the second end binding mode are selected alternately. The binding position of the document can be changed according to the edge binding mode and the second edge binding mode. For this reason, the height of the documents discharged from the sheet post-processing device and deposited on the tray of the stacker is made uniform without expanding due to the overlapping of the binding portions, so that the stacking performance of the stacker can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of the first to third embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of fourth to sixth embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of seventh to ninth embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a specific example of the stapling apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a specific example of the stopper device and a sheet conveying member of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of the first sheet aligning device of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a position of an alignment member in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation of the second sheet aligning device of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a position of an alignment member in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a member that contributes to edge binding of a leading end portion of a sheet.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a member that contributes to end binding of a rear end portion of a sheet.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a member that contributes to end binding of a leading end portion of a sheet.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a member that contributes to end binding of a rear end portion of a sheet.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the operation of the conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Paper post-processing apparatus, 5 ... Discharge roller apparatus, 5b ... Orbit roller, 7 ... Discharge roller apparatus, 10 ... Staple tray member, 12 ... Second sheet aligning apparatus, 13 ... Stopper, 14 ... Paddle apparatus, 20 ... Stapling device, 21 ...
Upper staple member, 25 ... lower staple member, 90
... Stacker, 93 ... Tray.

Claims (7)

[Claims] An image forming apparatus that is connected to a sheet discharge unit;
In a sheet post-processing device of an image forming apparatus provided with a stapling device for aligning sheets and stapling with staples in the sheet conveying path, the sheets sent along the sheet conveying path are aligned, and the aligned sheets are aligned. At the end in the direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction,
A first and a second sheet aligning means for performing binding by the staples; a first end binding mode for performing binding using the first sheet aligning means; and a second sheet aligning means. Selecting means for selecting a second end binding mode in which binding is performed using the first and second end binding modes, wherein the selecting means alternately selects the first end binding mode and the second end binding mode according to a predetermined rule. A sheet post-processing device for an image forming apparatus, comprising: 2. The sheet post-processing apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined rule is that the first end binding mode and the second end binding mode are set for each of one or a specific plurality of documents. A sheet post-processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus, wherein the sheet post-processing apparatus is configured to alternately select the sheet. 3. The sheet post-processing apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined rule is to alternately select the first end binding mode and the second end binding mode for each job. A sheet post-processing device for an image forming apparatus. 4. The sheet post-processing apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an image recorded on the sheet is rotated by 180 ° in synchronization with the first end binding mode and the second end binding mode. Or a sheet post-processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus, wherein the sheet is rotated by 180 degrees. 5. The sheet post-processing device of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stapling device binds a corner of a sheet at one position, and the stapling device is configured to be in the first end binding mode. A sheet post-processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus, wherein a sheet is moved in a direction perpendicular to a sheet conveying direction according to a second edge binding mode. 6. The sheet post-processing device of the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first edge binding mode and the second edge binding mode are alternately selected for each one or a specific plurality of documents. A sheet post-processing device for an image forming apparatus. 7. The sheet post-processing apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the first edge binding mode and the second edge binding mode are alternately selected for each job. Paper post-processing device of the image forming apparatus.