JPS5842560A - Collator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a collator which can operate direction change means in response to a signal from an image recording apparatus body to distribute and control sheet materials so as to reduce installation space. CONSTITUTION:A deflector 20 is operated in response to a signal from an image recording apparatus to control to which tray, right or left is a sheet material to be conducted. A signal for storing a sheet material with face-up or face-down is given from the main body so as to determine in which tray the sheet material is to be put at the beginning. Thus, sheet materials can be collated and accumulated without a reversing unit, so that the length of a path for transporting the sheet material is reduced so as to heighten reliability.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention relates to a sorter that collects and sorts sheet materials such as copy paper, transfer paper, and recording paper discharged from image recording devices such as copying machines, printing machines, and recording equipment. -5″Ai.

Conventionally, in such a sorter, in order to be able to selectively store sheet materials in a 7-eighth-up or face-melon state, the ridges are arranged and placed roughly horizontally. The sheet material sent out from the image recording device is loaded onto the tray from one side of the tray, and when storing it in the 7-eighth down, the sheet material is passed through the -H tray, and then reversed and placed on the other side of the tray. Two conveyance paths arranged to load onto the tray from the sides are required, making the configuration complex, high in cost, and difficult to load.

Furthermore, when a jam occurs, it is a major hurdle to remove the jammed sheet.゛Also, there is a system that has two sorting storage units and uses a reversing mechanism to store sheet materials in 7-eighths-a-g or 7-eighths-down, but these are also expensive and large-scale, or are limited by the number of trays. was there.

The present invention aims to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional sorters and provide a space-saving, low-cost, and stable sorter.In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a space-saving, low-cost, and stable sorter. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sorter which can be selectively stored in either of the two modes, and which is simple in construction and inexpensive.

For this purpose, the present inventor first developed a sorter for sorting and storing sheet materials discharged from a 1iiiie recorder, and a sorter for transporting sheet materials discharged from an image recording device.
a conveyance path, a row of trays arranged in parallel on both sides of the conveyance path for receiving sheet material, and a direction change means for selectively guiding the sheet material carried by the carcass conveyance path to the row of trays on either side thereof. We have developed a sorter that is characterized by:

The present invention further improves such a sorter and operates the above-mentioned direction changing means in response to a signal from the image recording apparatus main body to control which tray the sheet material is guided to, the left or the right. To provide a sorter which minimizes the use of a sheet reversing unit provided before conveying sheet materials to a sorter in order to convert the sheet materials into either 7-eight up or face down.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The illustrated embodiment is an example in which an electrophotographic copying device capable of double-sided copying is used as an image recording device. In FIG. , G, CI/'i A double-sided unit for carrying out an image on the present invention and carrying out the copied sheet material from the carrying-out port 2,
B#i, a conveyance system 3 that conveys the sheet materials carried out from the conveyance outlet 2 to a sorter, an inversion unit installed in the middle of the conveyance system that inverts the sheet materials, and It has a double-sided recording system 5 for reversing the conveyed sheet material and feeding it into the copying lid again to perform double-sided recording.
At the sheet material exit of the duplex unit y)H, there is a discharge roller 6 for discharging the sheet material onto a paper discharge tray (not shown) arranged on the 1i11 side of the duplex unit, and a discharge roller 6 for transporting the sheet material to a sorter. A discharge row 27 is arranged, and a deflector 8 is provided to switch the discharge.

The sheet material discharged from the output port 2 of the image recording device A passes through the conveyance system 3 of the double-sided unit B, is sent to the discharge row 26 by the deflector 8, and is discharged onto a paper discharge tray (not shown). Alternatively, it is sent to the discharge row 27, which sends it to the scissor.

When the sheet material is reversed and sent, the sheet material is introduced into the switch/4 switch/4 switch 1O of the reversing unit 4 by a nine deflector 9 provided in the middle of the conveyance system 3, and then transferred to the conveyance system 3 by the roller IIK. be returned. In addition, when double-sided recording is performed, the sheet material recorded on the first side is introduced into the image recording apparatus A again through the double-sided recording system 5,
After being recorded on the 211th ili, it is sent through the above-mentioned transport system 3.

The sorter C has one conveyance path 15 for conveying the sheet material that is conveyed upward by the above-mentioned discharge row 27 and is fed into the sorter by an id 12, a conveyance roller 13, and an id 14, and a conveyance path 15 on both sides of the conveyance path. rows 16 and 17 of trays arranged in parallel to receive sheet materials;
and direction changing means for selectively guiding the vehicle.

The conveyance path 15 is made up of a row of driving rollers 18 and driven rollers 19, and conveys the recording sheet upward.

In the illustrated example, the rows of trays 16, 17 are trays 16a arranged vertically next to each other.

16b,...16n and 17 a e 17
b e・・・・・・Consists of 17n. The direction changing means also comprises a deflector 20, as shown in FIG. 2, which deflects the sheet material conveyed by the conveying path 15 to the right or left at a desired tray. Thus, the sheet material is deflected to the left or right to the tray 161@16b.
e...16n1 and 17m-17b
*......17n are classified and stored sequentially.

In the above sorter, in the normal space of the duplex unit 3, there are trays 16, 16 b *...
・When entering 16n, face down 9, tray 1
7 a e 17 b-...When entering 17n, it becomes face-up. On the other hand, when the reversing unit of duplex unit B, the switch of switch 4, and the reversing unit of duplex unit B enter the reversing unit IOK, pass through the rollers 11, and exit to the path to the normal sorter.
Trays 16, 16b, . . . 16n are stored face up, and tray 17m.

17b,...17] are stored face down.

However, in the sorter of the present invention, the 20 deflectors of the first generation are operated according to the signal from the main body of the image recording device to control whether the sheet material is guided to the left or right tray, and thereby the reversing unit, Minimize the use of point 4. That is,
It receives a signal from the main unit to indicate whether to store it face-up or face-down, and then decides which tray to put it in first. When copying more than 9 trays at the beginning, as shown in the illustration, invert the tray,
If a tray is provided, a tray is also provided and stored in the tray on the opposite side.

In actual use, in the sorter as mentioned above, 9511 of the total sheet material with 10 trays, 97 with 15 trays.
It is said that the sorter according to the present invention can classify and accumulate sheet materials without using much reversing. By conveying the recording sheet material unloaded from the recording device along the conveyance path and introducing it into the trays of the sorter installed on the left and right sides of the conveyance path, the recording sheets can be selectively placed in face-up, face-down, and face-down states. A reversible unit is used in a sorter that sorts and stores items in trays.

Since the sheet materials can be sorted and accumulated without using too much paper, the length of the sheet materials to be conveyed can be shortened and reliability can be increased.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of the apparatus shown in FIG. A...Electrophotographic copying device B...Double-sided 22, C...Sort...Inlet 2...Outlet 3...Transportation system 4...Reversing unit, G5... Double-sided recording system 6... Ejection roller 7... Ejection roller
8...Deflector 9...Deflector 10...Switchper, reversing type/4s 11...Roller 12...Guide 13...Transportation roller 14...Id 15...Transportation path 16.17... Tray row 18... Drive roller 19... Followed roller 20
...Deflector Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] One conveyance path for conveying records/sheets carried out from an image recording device, and rows of trays arranged in parallel on both sides of the conveyance path) 11.4 A row of trays for receiving sheet materials, and the conveyance path. In a sorter equipped with a direction change means for selectively guiding sheet materials conveyed by a path to a row of trays on either side, the direction change means is actuated by a signal from the image recording apparatus main body to change the direction of the sheet materials. The feature of this sorter is that it controls which tray is guided to the left or right tray.