JPH107307A - Finisher - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a finisher capable of changing the number of and position of punching holes and quickly forming the punching holes by simple constitution. SOLUTION: In this finisher equipped with a punching unit 120 for forming a punching hole on a paper sheet, a punching unit 120 is composed of five punching rods 123a-123e; a driving spindle 124 rotating for driving them; each pair of a circular cam 125 and an eccentric cam 126, fixed to the driving spindle 124; and a switching plate 140 for reciprocatingly moving the driving spindle 124 at a pitch (c) in a spindle direction. The movement of the driving spindle 124 together with the switching plate 140 in arrows (a) and (a') directions actuates rods 123a, 123c, and 123e (three-hole mode) or rods 123b and 123d (two-hole mode) contacting the eccentric cam 126, to form punching holes on a paper sheet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a finisher and, more particularly, to a finisher for forming a punch hole in a sheet discharged from a copying machine or a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various sorters (finishers) for sorting sheets on which images have been formed have been developed as options for image forming apparatuses such as electrophotographic copying machines and laser printers. In addition, this type of finisher is provided with not only a sorting function but also a function of stapling a sheet and forming a punch hole for a file in the sheet.

Conventional punch mechanisms include a method in which punch holes are formed one by one while a sheet is conveyed, and a method in which punch holes are collectively formed in a sorted sheet bundle. As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-129699, the former singular system generally has a plurality of punching rods and drives all the rods simultaneously to form a punched hole.

[0004]

The number of punched holes differs depending on the needs of the user. For example, in the United States, it is required to use two holes and three holes depending on the paper size. However, in the conventional punch mechanism described in the above publication, only two or three holes are used, and the user has to exchange punch units corresponding to the required number of holes one by one. As the latter batch system, there is provided a system in which a punch unit is moved in parallel with one side of a sheet, stopped at an arbitrary position, and a punching operation for each hole is continued. However, this has a problem that the punch unit becomes large in size including the driving means, and the processing speed is also delayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a finisher which can change the number and positions of punch holes with a simple structure and can perform a quick punching process.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a finisher according to the present invention comprises a plurality of punching rods for forming punched holes in a sheet and a drive for driving the punching rods. A rotating drive shaft,
A plurality of conversion members installed on the drive shaft corresponding to the respective punching rods, for converting rotational movement of the drive shaft into linear movements of the punching rods, and selectively operating a specific one of the conversion members; Switching means for the

In the above configuration, a plurality of punching rods are provided corresponding to the required number of holes (for example, two holes and three holes), and the number of conversion rods corresponding to the required number of holes and hole positions is changed. Only the members are selectively activated by the switching means. With this, the punching rod operates selectively,
Make the required number of holes in the paper. The punching process may be performed on one sheet being conveyed to the storage tray, or may be collectively performed on a bundle of sheets stacked on the storage tray.

According to the present invention, since the number of holes and the position of holes are changed by selectively operating the punching rod, it is not necessary to change the number of holes in accordance with the number of holes required by the punch unit, and operability is extremely high. Good. Further, there is no need to move the punch unit according to the hole position, which simplifies the mechanism and improves the processing speed.

Further, in the finisher according to the present invention,
Each of the conversion members comprises a pair of circular cams and an eccentric cam fixed axially adjacent to the drive shaft, and the switching means reciprocates the drive shaft in a predetermined stroke in the axial direction. Alternatively, it is preferable that one of the eccentric cams is brought into contact with the punching rod. When the circular cam contacts the punching rod, the punching rod does not operate even if the circular cam rotates, and only the punching rod that the eccentric cam contacts is operated. Therefore, the number of punch holes and the hole positions can be changed with a simple configuration in which the pair of cams and the drive shaft are slid in the axial direction.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a finisher according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the embodiments described below, the present invention is applied to a staple sorter connected to an electrophotographic copying machine.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an electrophotographic copying machine;
Is a staple sorter. The copier 1 forms an image on a sheet by a well-known electrophotographic method, and includes a circulation type automatic document feeder 5 at an upper portion thereof. The automatic document feeder 5 sequentially sends a group of documents stacked on the tray onto the platen glass, and after the exposure process has been performed for the number of copies designated by the operator, discharges the document from the platen glass and returns it to the tray.

As shown in FIG. 2, the staple sorter 10 is for roughly drawing out a large-capacity non-sort tray 20, a bin assembly 30 having 20-stage bins 31, and a sheet bundle stored in each bin 31. , A staple unit 70, a paper transport unit 80, a paper transport gate 100, and a punch unit 120.

The staple sorter 10 can process an image-formed sheet discharged from the copying machine 1 in the following modes. Non-sort tray 20 without sorting paper
Processing for loading and storing on top (non-sorting), paper is stored in each bin 3
1. Processing for sorting pages in order (sort), processing for stapling the sorted sheet bundle (sort / staple), processing for taking out the stapled sheet bundle from each bin 31 and stacking and storing them on the non-sort tray 20 (sort / stack) Further, a process (group) for sorting sheets into each bin 31 for each page, a process for stapling a sheet bundle sorted for each page (group / staple), and taking out a stapled sheet bundle from each bin 31 The processing (group / stack) for loading and storing in the sort tray 20 can be executed. Further, a punching process for forming a punch hole one by one while the paper is being transported by the transport unit 80 can be executed in combination with each of the above modes.

Next, the internal structure of the staple sorter 10 will be described in detail. First, the paper transport unit 80 includes a pair of receiving rollers 81 for receiving the paper discharged from the copying machine 1.
A switching claw 82 for switching a paper transport direction; a first transport path 83 extending in a substantially vertical direction;
And a second transport path 90 extending substantially horizontally to the bin assembly 30 side. The switching claw 82 is rotatably mounted on the pin 82a as a fulcrum based on the on / off state of the solenoid SL50. Switching claw 82
Is set at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2 when the solenoid SL50 is off. At this time, the sheet received by the receiving roller pair 81 is guided by the curved right side surface of the switching claw 82 and sent to the first transport path 83. When the solenoid SL50 is turned off, the switching claw 82 slightly rotates clockwise. At this time, the sheet is guided by the upper surface of the switching claw 82 and sent to the non-sort tray 20 through the sheet transport gate 100 described below.

The first transport path 83 includes guide plates 84, 85, 8
6, 87, and a punch unit 120 is provided in the middle section for forming a binding hole at the leading end or the trailing end in the sheet transport direction. The punch unit 120 will be described later in detail.

The second conveying path 90 includes a pair of conveying rollers 91 and 9
2 and guide plates 93 and 94, which are rotatable by about 90 ° about a support shaft 95 as a fulcrum. At the time of the sort mode or the group mode processing, the second transport path 90 is set at the transport position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 2, and the paper sent from the first transport path 83 is sent to each bin 31. During the sheet take-out process described below, the second conveyance path 90 is turned by about 90 ° clockwise about the support shaft 95 as a fulcrum (see FIG. 5), and retracts from the sheet conveyance position. The roller pair 81, 91, 92 is driven to rotate by a motor M50.

The bin assembly 30 is composed of 20 stages of bins 31.
₁…… 31₂₀And each bin 31 is inclined at regular intervals
And each pin 32 provided on the lower end side is vertically
A spa formed on the outer peripheral surface of the installed drive shaft (not shown)
Engage with the iral groove. This drive shaft is driven by a motor M60.
By rotating forward / reverse, one rotation of the drive shaft
31 goes up and down one pitch. The bin assembly 30 is shown in FIG.
The position indicated by the solid line is the lower limit position (home position).
At this time, the first bin 31₁Is staple unit 7
0. Hereinafter, the bin assembly 30 is
When set to the first position, the first bin 31₁
Position X₁Called. One more rotation of the drive shaft
(Forward rotation), the first bin 31₁Is level X_TwoRises to
This level X _TwoPaper is fed from the paper transport unit 80
You. Further, when the drive shaft makes one rotation, the first bin 31₁Is
Level X_ThreeRise to this level X_ThreeTake out the paper bundle with
It is.

On the other hand, the bin assembly 30 is provided with first and second chucking units 40 and 40a for holding one side of the sheet bundle and pulling out or returning from the bin 31. First chucking unit 40 is attached to a position corresponding to a bin 31 set on the level X _1. The second chucking unit 40a is attached to a position corresponding to a bin 31 set on the level X _3. Chucking unit 40, 40a
Are mounted on a single movable frame (not shown) in two upper and lower stages, and are movable along the inclination of the bin 31 together with the movable frame. The chucking unit 40,40a home position retracted from the side of the bottle 31 (not shown), is movable in a chucking position Y ₁ and drawer position Y _2, level stroke of Y ₁ -Y ₂ withdrawing the sheet bundle from the bin 31 set to X ₁ and level X _3.

At the lower end of each bin 31, a bin 31 is provided.
Stopper 3 for regulating the lower end of the paper stored above
4 is attached. Each stopper 34 is always set in an upright position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 by a spring member (not shown). The chucking units 40, 4
0a and rods (not shown) is attached to the, when the chucking units 40,40a moves from the chucking position Y ₁ to the extraction position Y _2, a stopper 34 is brought down by the tip of the rod, the sheet bundle bin 31 Can be removed from

Next, the paper transport gate 100 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the paper transport gate 100 has a box 101 provided with a pair of rollers 102 and 103 and paper guide plates 104 and 105. Roller 10
2 and 103 can be driven forward / reversely by a motor M21. The sheet transport gate 100 can be moved up and down by being guided by a guide member (not shown), and a motor M20 is provided as a driving source. Paper transport gate 100
The home position is a position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 2, and in this home position, the gate 100 moves the sheet guided by the upper surface of the switching claw 82 from the receiving roller pair 81 by rotation of the rollers 102 and 103. 2 is transported to the left in the middle, and is sent onto the non-sort tray 20.

Meanwhile, the paper conveying gate 100 for receiving the stapled sheet bundle can be lowered to a position corresponding to the bin 31 set at the level X ₃ (FIG. 5
reference). In this transfer position, the gate 100 holds the bundle of sheets pulled out of the bin 31 by the second chucking unit 40a and the rollers 102 and 103.
(See FIG. 6). At this time, the second chucking unit 40a releases the sheet bundle from being pinched, and at the same time, the rollers 102 and 103 are driven to rotate forward, and the sheet bundle is bin 3
1 (see FIG. 7). Paper bundle is completely bin 3
When exiting from 1, the normal rotation of the rollers 102 and 103 is stopped, and at the same time, the gate 100 is raised (see FIG. 8). When the gate 100 rises to a predetermined height, the rollers 10
2 and 103 are reversed, and the sandwiched sheet bundle is discharged onto the non-sort tray 20 (see FIG. 9). Next, Gate 1
00 lowers to the delivery position (see FIG. 10) and repeats the stacking operation.

Next, the staple unit 70 will be described. The staple unit 70 has a well-known electrically driven structure, and includes a head portion 71 capable of attaching and detaching a cartridge containing a staple, and an anvil portion 72 that receives and bends a staple ejected from the head portion 71. . The staple unit 70 drive staples at two points of the one point of the corner ends from the level X ₁ bottle 31 set on the sheet bundle drawn by the first chucking unit 40 or the central portion. Accordingly, the staple unit 70 has the front side of the staple sorter 10 as a home position, is movable toward the back side, stops at a predetermined position, drives in staples, and returns to the home position.

Next, the punch unit 120 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
Are plates 121 and 122 also serving as a paper guide function.
And five punching rods 123a each having a blade at the tip.
To 123e, a drive shaft 124, and a pair of circular cams 1
25, an eccentric cam 126, a one-turn clutch 127,
It is composed of a flapper solenoid SL60 and a switching plate 140 provided with a motor M70. Each of the punching rods 123a to 123e is slidably inserted into a guide cylinder 130 fixed to the plate 121, and is urged by a coil spring 131 in a direction away from the plate 122 toward the plate 121. The cams 125 and 126 are provided on the drive shaft 124 with the respective punching rods 123a to 123e.
It is fixed at the position corresponding to. The plate 122 is provided with a punch hole die (not shown) into which the tips of the punching rods 123a to 123e can be inserted.

By the way, three punching rods 123
a, 123c and 123e are for three holes, and the other two punching rods 123b and 123d are installed for two holes. In order to switch these operations, the drive shaft 124 is reciprocally movable in the axial direction. That is, the drive shaft 1
One end of 24 is rotatably and slidably supported by a fixed plate 139, and the other end is rotatably supported by a switching plate 140 and supported in a state fixed in the axial direction. Switching plate 140
Is a guide groove 1 in which a pin 141 is formed in a plate 121.
Arrow a on the plate 121 while being guided by 21a
It is slidable in the a 'direction. On the other hand, the switching plate 140
A pin 143 projecting from the center axis 142a of the switching cam 142 at an eccentric position is engaged with the groove 140a formed in the switching cam 142. The switching cam 142 is rotationally driven in one direction by a motor M70 via a belt 144.
The switching plate 140 is slid in the directions of the arrows a and a 'every rotation of 80.degree., And in synchronization with this, the drive shaft 124 also slides in the same direction. The slide pitch of the switching plate 140 corresponds to the distance c between the cams 125 and 126.

Therefore, the switching plate 140 and the drive shaft 124
Is slid in the direction of arrow a, the eccentric cam 126
Contact the punching rods 123a, 123c, 123e, and the circular cam 125 contacts the punching rods 123b, 1b.
23d (see FIG. 4A). At this time,
When the drive shaft 124 makes one rotation, the rods 123a, 123c, and 123e that come into contact with the eccentric cam 126 perform one stroke, and the paper 123 positioned between the plates 121 and 122
Form a hole. Rod 1 in contact with circular cam 125
23b and 123d do not operate. On the other hand, when the switching plate 140 and the drive shaft 124 are sliding in the direction of the arrow a ′, the eccentric cam 126
b, 123d, and the circular cam 125 contacts the punching rods 123a, 123c, 123e (see FIG. 4B). At this time, when the drive shaft 124 makes one rotation, the rods 123b and 123 contacting the eccentric cam 126
d moves one stroke to form two holes in the paper. Rods 123a, 123c, which are in contact with the circular cam 125,
123e does not operate.

The switching plate 14 is provided on the plate 121.
0 to detect the slide position of the sensor SE64, S
E65 is installed. Sensor SE64 is switching plate 1
When the 40 projections 145 shield the optical axis, an ON signal is generated, and it is detected that the punch unit 120 is set in the two-hole mode. The sensor SE65 is a switching plate 14.
When the zero protruding piece 146 blocks its optical axis, an ON signal is generated to detect that the punch unit 120 is set to the three-hole mode.

One rotation of the drive shaft 124 is equivalent to one rotation clutch 1
27. That is, the one-rotation clutch 127 transmits the rotational force of the gear 128 connected to the transport motor M50 to the drive shaft 124 when the flapper solenoid SL60 is momentarily turned on, and rotates the drive shaft 124 once. This kind of one-turn clutch 127 is a well-known one having a mechanism including a kick spring or the like built therein. The punch operation timing is controlled based on the timing at which a sensor (not shown) installed near the punch unit 120 detects the leading end or the trailing end of the sheet conveyed through the first conveying path 83.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show the screen of the touch panel 151 by the liquid crystal display on the operation panel provided in the copying machine 1. FIG. 11 shows a screen for selecting a paper size for copying. The operator turns on either the displayed APS key or manual key 153. APS key 15
2 is for setting the automatic paper selection mode,
The optimum paper size is automatically selected from the original size and the copy magnification set on the platen glass. When the manual key 153 is turned on, the touch panel 151
The screen changes to the screen shown in FIG. On this screen, keys 154 to 157 for the operator to select the paper size are displayed. When the operator turns on any key 154 to 157, the paper of the corresponding size is selected.

The touch panel 151 has a screen (not shown) for selecting a punch mode, a sort mode, a group mode, a staple mode, and a stack mode.
Can also be displayed, and the punch mode is selected on this screen.

FIG. 13 shows a copying machine 1 and a staple sorter 1.
0 shows a control circuit. The control circuit is ROM 171 and RA
It is configured around a CPU 170 having M172,
The CPU 170 operates according to the program stored in the ROM 171 according to the motors M20, M21, M50, M6.
0, M70, solenoids SL50, SL60, etc. Further, the CPU 170 includes the sensors SE64, SE
Detection signals from 65 and the like are input. Furthermore, CPU1
Reference numeral 70 communicates with another CPU, for example, the CPU 173 for controlling the automatic document feeder 5, and exchanges necessary data.

FIGS. 14 and 15 show the punch unit 12.
A control procedure for switching the operation mode 0 to the two-hole mode or the three-hole mode will be described. In the present embodiment, the punch mode is predetermined according to the selected paper size. For example, when the paper size is A3T, B5T, or letter, the mode is the two-hole mode, and when the paper size is the legal size, the mode is the three-hole mode. This can save the operator the trouble of manually selecting the two-hole or three-hole mode according to the paper size, and can prevent a selection error. Note that "T" refers to a case where the paper is set with its long side parallel to the transport direction.

While the CPU 170 is processing the main routine,
When the punch switching process is called, in FIG.
First, after confirming that the copying machine 1 is on standby in step S1, it is determined in step S2 whether or not the actuator flag is "0". If it has been reset to "0", the paper size is selected in step S3. Here, the paper size is selected on the touch panel 151 shown in FIGS. Next, in step S4, the mode is switched to the punch mode corresponding to the sheet size, and the process returns to the main routine.

FIG. 15 shows a switching execution subroutine executed in step S4. Here, first, the actuator flag is set to “1” in step S11.
Next, if it is determined in steps S12, S13, and S14 that the paper size is A3T, B5T, or letter, it is determined in step S15 whether the sensor SE64 is on. The sensor SE64 includes the switching plate 140 and the drive shaft 1 as described above.
24 is set to the two-hole mode position. Therefore, if it is on, the motor M7 in step S16
0 is stopped, the actuator flag is reset to "0" in step S17, and the process returns to the main routine. If the sensor SE64 is off, the motor M7 is turned on in step S18.
Rotate 0 and return to the main routine. If YES is determined in step S15 after rotating the motor M70, steps S16 and S17 are executed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S19 that the paper is legal size, then in step S20 the sensor S
It is determined whether E65 is ON. The sensor SE65 detects that the switching plate 140 and the drive shaft 124 are set to the three-hole mode as described above. Therefore, if it is on, the motor M70 is stopped in step S21, and the actuator flag is reset to "0" in step S22,
Return to the main routine. If the sensor SE65 is off, the motor M70 is rotated in step S23, and the process returns to the main routine. If YES is determined in the step S20 after rotating the motor M70, a step S21,
Execute S22. It should be noted that the paper size and the corresponding punch operation mode are merely examples, of course.

The finisher according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified within the scope of the invention. In particular, the punch unit may perform the punching process on a bundle of sheets sorted on the bin 31 at a time, instead of performing the punching process one by one on the paper being transported. In this case, a punch unit may be provided instead of the staple unit 70.

In addition to the copying machine 1, the present invention may be applied to a staple sorter connected to a printer that outputs a hard copy of image information transferred from a host computer. Further, the configurations of the bin assembly 30 and the sheet transport unit 80 are arbitrary. For example, if the copying machine or printer has an image memory function and forms a desired number of images in page order, only one bin 31 may be provided. Alternatively, a bin dedicated to stapling may be provided separately from the sort bin.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the appearance of a staple sorter and a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the staple sorter.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a punch unit in the staple sorter.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the punch unit, FIG.
Hole mode, (B) shows two-hole mode.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of staples and sheet bundle removal / stacking in a staple sorter.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of staples and sheet bundle removal / stacking in the staple sorter, continued from FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of staples and sheet bundle removal / stacking in the staple sorter, continued from FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of staples and sheet bundle removal / stacking in the staple sorter, and is a continuation of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of staple and sheet bundle removal / stacking in the staple sorter, continued from FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of staple and sheet bundle removal / stacking in the staple sorter, continued from FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing one screen of a touch panel on an operation panel of the copying machine.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing another screen of the touch panel.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the copying machine.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure of a punch switching process.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a control procedure for executing switching of a punch mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Copy machine 10 ... Staple sorter 120 ... Punch unit 123a-123e ... Punching rod 124 ... Drive shaft 125 ... Circular cam 126 ... Eccentric cam 140 ... Switching plate 170 ... CPU M70 ... Switching motor

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A finisher for forming a punched hole in a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus, comprising: a plurality of punching rods for forming a punched hole in the sheet; and a drive for driving the punching rod. A rotating drive shaft, a plurality of conversion members installed on the drive shaft corresponding to the punching rods, and converting rotational movement of the drive shaft into linear motions of the punching rods, and a specific one of the conversion members And a switching means for selectively operating the finisher. 2. Each of the conversion members comprises a pair of circular cams and an eccentric cam fixed to the drive shaft in the axial direction adjacent to the drive shaft, and the switching means reciprocates the drive shaft in the axial direction at a predetermined stroke. The finisher according to claim 1, wherein either a circular cam or an eccentric cam is brought into contact with the punching rod.