JPH11139674A - Sheet processing device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To increase the receiving quantity for sheet waste without changing the size of a waste box by providing an exciting means to the waste box so as to pull down waste mountains piled up in the waste box. SOLUTION: A one-way cam 30 as an exciting means is provided on the lower part of a waste box 18. The one-way cam 30 is constituted of a one-way clutch 30a and a cam 30b molded by molding. A pulley 34 is fitted to the extreme end of a drive shaft 35 fitted to the one-way clutch 30a, and drive force is transmitted by a carrying motor provided on the rear side plate 32. When the carrying motor is rotated after completing the carrying operation of a sheet, the one-way clutch 30a transmits rotation of the drive shaft 35 to the cam 30b, and the one-way cam 30 rotates. The cam 30b is brought in contact with the bottom part of the waste box 18 by rotation of the one-way cam 39, and vibration is generated in the waste box 18. When sheet waste falling from three hole positions 14b is excited under the condition piled up shown with three hole waste mountains Y, the three hole waste mountains Y collapse to be flat as shown with Y1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is provided in a sheet processing apparatus, specifically, an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.
The present invention relates to a sheet punching device for punching a discharged sheet and a staple sorter with a sheet punching device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the past, in order to file a sheet bundle output from an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine in a binder or the like, a puncher for punching a sheet end was separately provided.

[0003] These punchers punch a batch of sheets formed and discharged after image formation.
The productivity was low because the sheet bundle had to be manually set on the puncher. In addition, when the number of sheets is large, the punch and the die of the puncher are overloaded, and a considerable amount of force is required for punching, and the punch and the die are worn to cause defective punches and burrs. There was a thing. Therefore, it is necessary to perform the drilling operation several times by dividing the work into a predetermined number or less, which further reduces the productivity.

Accordingly, a puncher is provided on the transport path,
There has been proposed a sheet processing apparatus and the like that collectively aligns and punches a bundle of sheets stacked on a processing tray provided in the apparatus. As a result, it is possible to omit the work of setting the sheet bundle on the previous puncher, and it is possible to improve efficiency.

However, in the above-described apparatus, since a sheet bundle stacked on a processing tray is punched at a time,
While the perforation work is being performed on the sheet bundle, the next sheet cannot be conveyed, and there is a problem that it is difficult to increase the speed of the sheet conveying process of the image forming apparatus.
In addition, since punching is performed in a lump, punching must be performed every predetermined number of sheets for the same reason as described above.

Therefore, a system has been proposed in which a puncher composed of a rotary punch and a die is provided on a sheet conveying path to synchronize the sheet conveying speed with the rotation speed of the puncher. According to this configuration, it is possible to perform the punching operation without stopping the conveyance for each sheet being conveyed.

[0007] Sheet waste generated by the puncher is accumulated in a waste box installed in the apparatus. When the waste is full, it is necessary to remove the waste box from the image forming apparatus and discard the sheet waste.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the waste box must be frequently attached and detached, and the waste sheet must be discarded. In particular, in recent years, the size of the waste box tends to be increased with the reduction in size and speed of the apparatus, and the frequency of discarding the sheet waste tends to increase. Therefore, the necessity of increasing the storage capacity of the waste box has been increased.

An object of the present invention is to vibrate the waste box so that more waste can be stored in the waste box of a predetermined size, so that the piled sheet waste is broken flat. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention are provided.
A sheet conveying means for conveying a sheet, a puncher provided in a conveying path of the sheet, and a waste box for storing waste generated from the puncher; and a vibration means for finely vibrating the waste box is provided. It is characterized by having.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus provided with a sheet processing apparatus according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the sheet processing apparatus, FIG.
5 is a plan view of the waste box, FIG. 5 is a side view of the waste box, FIG. 6 is a side view of the waste box and the vibrating means, and FIG. 7 is a rear view of the puncher illustrating cam driving of the vibrating means.

(Image Forming Apparatus) First, the schematic structure of the image forming apparatus will be briefly described with reference to FIG. An image forming unit 2 is provided on the upper part of the image forming apparatus 1, and an automatic document feeder 4 for automatically circulating the original is provided on the upper surface. A plurality of sheets are provided on the side of the apparatus (left side in the figure). A sheet processing apparatus having a bin tray 5a (hereinafter, “sorter 3”)
Is attached.

The image forming section 2 uses a well-known electrophotographic system, and detailed description is omitted here. However, an image of a document positioned on the platen glass 2g is transferred to the photosensitive drum 2a by an optical system (not shown). An image is formed on the photosensitive drum 2a, and is visualized (toner image) by a developing device 2b provided around the photosensitive drum 2a. The developed image is transferred to a sheet P by a transfer device 2c, and the photosensitive drum 2a is conveyed by a transport belt 2d. After the film is peeled from the fixing device 2, it is permanently fixed by the fixing device 2 e.

(Original Document Feeder) The automatic document feeder 4 comprises:
The lowermost original of the original bundle D placed on the original placing table 4a is sent out onto the platen glass 2g via the feed path 4b,
After the reading of the document surface is completed, the document is sent out again to the upper surface of the document bundle D via the discharge path 4c and placed.

(Sheet Processing Apparatus) As shown in FIG. 2, a sorter 3 serving as a sheet processing apparatus is a so-called bin-movable sorter, and a bin unit 5 stores a plurality of bin trays 5a for stacking and storing sheet materials. The bin trays 5a stacked vertically include bin rollers 5b provided on both sides.
Are raised and lowered one by one.

The sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus 1 to the sorter 3 is conveyed by an inlet roller 7 and branched by a flapper 8 into a non-sort path 3a for directly discharging and a sort path 3b for performing sorting and punching. Sent selectively. When the paper is simply discharged, the paper is discharged from the non-sort path 3a via the discharge roller 9 to the outside of the apparatus.

The sheet P sent to the sort path 3b is conveyed by the first intermediate roller 10, passed through the puncher 13, perforated, conveyed by the second intermediate roller 11, and the sort discharge roller 12, and transferred to the bin unit 5. Is discharged. At this time, the sheets P are sorted by raising and lowering each bin tray 5a in synchronization with conveyance. The sheets P stacked on the bin tray 5a are stapled by the stapling unit 6 as needed.

(Puncher) FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the vicinity of the puncher 13. The puncher 13 forms a transport path 13a at the center, and a punch 14 and a die 15 are arranged on both sides thereof. These punches 14 and dies 15 are arranged in the width direction of the sheet P in the case of a punch for two holes, two in the case of a puncher for three holes, and three in the case of a puncher for three holes. It is configured to perform.

The punch 14 and the die 15 rotate synchronously at a peripheral speed equal to the conveying speed of the sheet P,
Drill at a predetermined position at the rear end. Punch after punch 14, die
Reference numeral 15 rotates once and stops at the initial position, and waits until the next sheet P is conveyed.

In the lower part of the puncher 13 on the die 15 side, there is provided a scrap hole 16 and a slope 17, from which sheet scrap generated by punching falls. Further, a waste box 18 is provided below the puncher 13 on the die 15 side. The waste box 18 has a handle 18a at one end as shown in FIG. 5, and is detachably attached to the waste box stay 21 as shown in FIG. 3, and is locked by the elastic member 21a. A reflection plate 19 is mounted on the inner surface of the waste box 18, and two detection holes 20a and 20b are provided on a surface facing the reflection plate.

The waste box stay 21 is provided with a sensor 24 as a detecting means. Sensor 24 stays in trash box
It comprises a sensor holder 22 fixed to 21, a base 23 supported by the sensor holder 22, and a light emitting element 24 a and a light receiving element 24 b attached to the base 23.
The light emitting element 24a and the light receiving element 24b are connected to the detection hole 20a,
The reflection plate 19 is disposed at a position corresponding to the light-emitting element 24a and the light-receiving element 24b with the storage portion of the waste box 18 interposed therebetween.

As shown in FIG. 4, the light emitted from the light emitting element 24a passes through the detection hole 20a, is refracted twice at a right angle by the reflection plate 19, and then passes through the detection hole 20b to the light receiving element 24b. Reached and detected. Therefore, when the waste box 18 is not properly attached to the waste box stay 21, the light from the light emitting element 24a cannot be detected by the light receiving element 24b.

FIG. 5 shows the punch 14 and the detection holes 20a and 20b.
The following shows the arrangement. For example, when punching with a two-hole puncher, a punch 14 and a die are placed at a two-hole position 14a shown in FIG.
15 is arranged, and when drilling with a three-hole puncher, it is arranged at a three-hole position 14b. At this time, the sheet waste generated by the two-hole puncher forms and accumulates a two-hole waste pile X indicated by a solid line in the storage part of the waste box, and the sheet waste generated by the three-hole puncher is indicated by a one-dot chain line. A three-hole scrap pile Y is formed and deposited. In the figure, two-hole scrap pile X, three-hole scrap pile Y
Indicates a state (about 20,000 pieces) in which the sheet waste is full in the waste box.

Here, the detection holes 20a and 20b are installed near the intersection of the two-hole scrap pile X and the three-hole scrap pile Y, and the detection hole 20a is located in the two-hole scrap pile X and the detection hole 20b is located in the three-hole scrap pile Y. It is arranged to hang. Therefore, when punching is performed with either the two-hole puncher or the three-hole puncher, the light from the light emitting element 24a is blocked by the pile of chips due to the full sheet dust, and the light receiving element
It will not be detected by 24b.

Therefore, when the light emitted from the light emitting element 24a reaches the light receiving element 24b, it is known that the waste box is installed at a predetermined position and the amount of sheet waste has not reached the predetermined amount. Can be. Conversely, when the light receiving element 24b does not detect light, it means that the sheet waste is full or the waste box is not installed at a predetermined position.

(Vibration means) Next, the configuration of the vibration means according to the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, a one-way cam 30 serving as a vibrating means is provided below the waste box 18.
As shown in FIG. 6, the one-way cam 30 includes a one-way clutch 30a and a cam 30b formed by molding.

A drive shaft 35 is attached to the one-way clutch 30a.
30b. A pulley 34 is attached to the tip of the drive shaft 35, and a drive force is transmitted via a timing belt 38 by a transport motor 37 provided on the rear side plate 32 as shown in FIG.

During normal sheet conveyance, the timing belt 38 is driven by the conveyance motor 37 in the direction of arrow 38a shown in FIG. By setting the rotation direction of the drive shaft 35 at this time to the free direction of 30a, the one-way cam 30 is configured not to rotate during the transfer operation.

After the transfer operation is completed, the transfer motor
When 37 is rotated in the reverse direction, the one-way clutch 30a
The rotation of 35 is transmitted to the cam 30b.
Rotate in the direction of arrow 30c shown in FIG. This one way cam 30
The rotation of the cam 30b makes contact with the bottom of the waste box 18,
A vibration is generated at 18 as shown by an arrow 30d.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the sheet scraps dropped from the three-hole position 14b are vibrated in a state where they are piled up as shown in the three-hole scrap pile Y, the three-hole scrap pile Y collapses and is shown at Y1. So that it becomes flat. In this way, more sheet waste can be accommodated without overflowing.

Such a vibration is performed by first performing a first vibration before forming an image for performing perforation (hereinafter referred to as a perforation job), and then performing a first vibration after a perforation job for a predetermined number of sheets P is completed. Perform a second excitation. Then, the waste pile accumulated by the second vibration is appropriately broken, and it is determined whether or not the next punching job is to be accepted by the sensor 24 detecting that the waste bin is full. If the waste bin is not full, the next job is accepted and the first vibration is performed to further break the waste pile. If the waste bin is full, the next job is not accepted.

A sensor 24 for detecting the fullness of the waste box is installed at a position lower by a predetermined amount so that the sheet waste does not overflow from the waste box 18 even when the maximum number of punching jobs (1000 punches) are performed. doing. Thus, even if the number of punching jobs is the maximum on the apparatus, it is possible to prevent dust from overflowing from the waste box and increase the capacity of the waste box.

In this embodiment, the number of rotations when the transport motor 37 rotates in the reverse direction is set to 150 rpm, the amplitude of the waste box is set to about 2 mm, the first excitation is performed for 2 seconds, and the second excitation is performed. Is configured to apply vibration for one second. The rotation speed of 150 rpm is set to an appropriate rotation speed so that the sound due to the vibration is appropriately low and the scraps are collapsed.

In the above embodiment, the transport motor 37
The driving force of the vibrating means is obtained by reversely rotating, but a separate driving source may be provided. In this case, the provision of a one-way clutch can be omitted by controlling a separately provided drive source by control means (not shown).

[0035]

As described above, in the sheet processing apparatus and the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the provision of the vibrating means in the waste box enables the waste pile accumulated in the waste box to be broken. The storage amount of sheet waste can be increased without changing the size of the waste box. Therefore, for example, the frequency of the operation of disposing and removing the waste box and discarding the sheet waste can be reduced.

Further, by using the driving source of the conveying means as the driving source of the vibrating means, it becomes possible to provide the vibrating means without adding a driving source. As a result, it is possible to add functions at low cost without significantly increasing the production cost of the device.

In addition, since the driving force is transmitted to the vibrating means when the conveying means is rotated in the reverse direction, a simple structure can be employed to obtain an optimum rotational speed and speed regardless of the driving speed of the conveying means and its acceleration / deceleration. It is possible to set the excitation time.

Further, the first vibration is performed before forming an image to be perforated, and the second vibration is performed after forming and perforating a predetermined number of sheets P. It was possible to increase the amount of waste stored in the waste box and prevent overflow of sheet waste by using less vibration.

Further, the apparatus is configured so as to detect a full dust box in a state where sheet waste does not overflow when a maximum punching job is performed, and to detect a full detection when an image forming for punching is not performed. Even the largest punching job can be continued without stopping.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the puncher.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a waste box.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the waste box.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a waste box and a vibration unit.

FIG. 7 is a rear view of the puncher for explaining cam driving of the vibration unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 D: Document bundle P: Sheet X: Double-hole scrap pile Y: 3-hole scrap pile 1 ... Image forming apparatus 2 ... Image forming unit 2a ... Photoconductor drum 2b ... Developing unit 2c ... Transfer unit 2d ... Transport belt 2e ... Fixing unit 2g ... platen glass 3 ... sorter 3a ... non-sort path 3b ... sort path 4 ... apparatus 4a ... original mounting table 4b ... feed path 4c ... discharge path 5 ... bin unit 5a ... each bin tray 5b ... bin roller 6 ... staple unit 7 ... entrance Roller 8 ... Flapper 9 ... Discharge roller 10 ... First intermediate roller 11 ... Second intermediate roller 12 ... Sort discharge roller 13a ... Transport path 14 ... Punch after punching 14a ... Double hole position 14b ... Three hole position 15 ... Dies 16 ... Scrap Hole 17: Slope 18: Scrap box 18a: Handle 19: Reflector 20a: Detection hole 20b: Detection hole 21: Scrap box stay 21a: Elastic member 22: Sensor holder 23 ... Base 24 ... Sensor 24a ... Light-emitting element 24b ... Light-receiving element 30 ... One-way cam 30a ... One-way clutch 30b ... Cam 32 ... Rear plate 34 ... Pulley 35 ... Drive shaft 37 ... Transport motor 38 ... Timing belt

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sheet conveying means for conveying a sheet, a puncher provided in a conveying path of the sheet, and a waste box for storing waste generated from the puncher, wherein the waste box is finely vibrated. A sheet processing apparatus provided with a vibration unit. 2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waste box is detachably mounted. 3. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a driving force of the transport unit is transmitted to drive the vibration unit. 4. The vibrating means includes: a drive shaft to which a driving force of the transport means is transmitted; a one-way clutch for transmitting rotation of the drive shaft only in one direction; and a cam attached to the one-way clutch. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 3, comprising: 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vibrating means is configured to be stationary when the sheet is being conveyed by the conveying means, and to vibrate when the sheet is not being conveyed. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 4. 6. The sheet processing apparatus is provided with a detecting means for detecting the fullness of the waste box, wherein the vibrating means performs a first vibration for a predetermined time before the conveyance of the sheet is started and a predetermined vibration after the conveyance is completed. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a second excitation is performed for a time, and the detection unit detects a full state of the waste box from the second excitation to the first excitation. 3. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 5. 7. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming means for recording an image on a recording sheet; and the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1.