JPS59185355A - Storing and stacking device of sheet material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To speed up copying work by forming a projectable binding tool in a moving course of sheets in trays of a device storing and stacking sheet materials in the tray and binding the sheet bundle stacked in the trays. CONSTITUTION:In the device moving plural trays 41-410 successively to a position opposed to a discharge port of sheet materials P discharged from an image formation device C, projectable binding tool 30 in the sheet moving course in the trays 41-410. In said constitution, the sheet bundle is bound simultaneously with the end of distribution and stacking of the sheet materials to/in the trays, the sheet bundle bound by the required number of sheets can be obtained speedy and automatically and the work of the copying work can be increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an improvement of a so-called sorter, which is a device that distributes sheet materials such as copy paper and printing paper discharged from image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, printing machines, and line printers, and stores and accumulates them in trays. It is related to.

An example of a sorter S is shown in FIG. 1, in which copy method sheet materials P discharged from a copying machine C are transferred to trays 41, 42, . . .
・4. . The structure is as follows.

The trays IY41, 42, . . . 410 are attached to the tray support plate 5. The lifting member 6 attached to the support plate 5 moves along the guide groove 8 of the support column 7 at least to the tray 41.
It is possible to move downward by a distance corresponding to the distance from the tray 410 to the tray 410. A chain 10 connected to the elevating member 6 is suspended around an idle sprocket 11 on the upper side and a sprocket 13 at the shaft end of the motor 12 on the lower side. Therefore, if the motor 12 is rotated clockwise in the figure, the tray groups 41, 42, . . . 4□0 will rise together with the elevating member 6. Note that a spring 14 is connected to a part of the chain 10 to absorb tension shock.

The elevating member 6 is provided with notched grooves 15 equally spaced between the trays, and when the position detection sensor 16 attached to the support 7 detects the notched groove 15 corresponding to the tray, the notched groove 15 corresponds to the tray. The sheet material receiving opening of the tray is aligned with the nip portion of the feed rollers 2 and 3.

A photoelectric sensor 1 is provided between the nip portion of the rollers 2 and 3 and the tray, across the sheet material conveyance path, to detect the passage of the sheet material.
7 and 18 are arranged, and it is possible to detect that the sheet material is stored in the tray.

In such a sorter, the operation of the l-ray group starts from the first movable position, that is, the device that receives the sheet I and the material P into the tray 4□. Each tray 4 holds sheet materials for one or more sheets.
, 42 . . . 41° and one cycle of distribution is performed. This operation is repeated in multiple cycles to store and accumulate a preset number of sheet materials.

When the sheet bundles stored and accumulated in each tray are taken out, the sheet materials in the bundles become dispersed, which is extremely inconvenient in handling. When the sheet bundles are stacked and handled, the sheet bundles become together, and when attempting to bundle them, they must be redistributed again, and the distribution by the sorter is wasted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to eliminate such inconvenience, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sorter for bundling bundles of stacked sheets distributed within a tray.

In order to achieve this object, the present invention sequentially moves a plurality of trays 4, 42, 41 degrees to a position facing the outlet of the sheet material P discharged from the image forming apparatus C, and In a device for storing and stacking sheet materials P, a binding tool 30 that can extend into the sheet moving path in trays 41, 42, . . . 410 is provided to bind sheets I/bundles accumulated in the trays. This is a sheet material storage and accumulation system featuring the following.

Embodiments of the wooden invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

Figure 2 shows the stiffener 3 used as a binding tool for the sheet storage device.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part when 0 is used. The figure shows a state in which the stiffener 3o has advanced into the moving path of the sheet material in the tray and is binding the sheet bundle P on the tray 43.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing this detail.

The stiffener 30 is rotatably attached to the support 7 around a shaft 31. The solenoid 32 and the stiffener 30 mounted on the support column 7 are connected to each other, and by energizing the solenoid 32, the stiffener 30 is rotated about the support 31 to the operating position (shown by the solid line). A spring 33 is passed between the stiffener 30 and the column, and the plunger 3
When the energization of 2 stops, the stiffener 30 is returned to the starting stirrup position (indicated by a chain line). The micro switch 34 is the stiffener 3
This detects the position of o. Tray 41/42 ・
...-410's bottom plate is cut out in the locus range where the stiffener rotates and advances.

Details of the stiffener 30 are shown in FIG.

Arm 2 with a staple 23 inserted inside
1 swings around a support shaft 22. The driving force for this swing is provided by the solenoid 24. An iron piece 25 attached to the rear end of the arm 21 is attracted when the solenoid 24 is energized, thereby performing the binding operation of the stiffener.

Next, the operation of such a sheet material storage device will be explained.

Similar to the conventional sorter, a preset number of copied sheet materials are distributed to the trays 4□, 42, . . . , 410. When the sheet material detection sensors 17 and 18 detect that the set number of sheets are stored in the tray 41, the solenoid 32 is energized. The stiffener 30 is located at a position corresponding to the tray immediately after the sheet material is carried in, in this case tray 41, so when the solenoid 32 is energized, it rotates the sheet bundle loaded on the tray 4I to a position where it can be bundled. Move forward. When the microswitch 34 detects that the stapler 30 is in the position where stapling is possible, the solenoid 24 is energized, the stapler 30 performs the stapling operation, and the binding is completed. When the energization of the solenoid 24 is finished, the energization of the solenoid 32 is also cut off, and the stiffener 30 returns to its original position. Note that the solenoid 32 is energized by a timer (not shown).
The power may be cut off when a preset time has elapsed since the microswitch 34 was activated.

Next, the tray group moves up one stage, a set number of sheets are stored in the tray 42, and the same operation is repeated. 2 and 3 show the sheet bundle on the tray 43 being bound. In this way, the sheets are bound up to the sheet stack on the tray 41°.

Therefore, as soon as sheet materials are distributed to each tray and storage and accumulation are completed, the sheet bundle is bound, and the desired number of bound sheets can be quickly and automatically queued.
Copying operations can be speeded up.

Since the subsequent handling of the sheet bundle is facilitated, it is also useful for increasing the efficiency of processing operations performed after copying.

Further, since the binding device is a single unit and has an extremely simple mechanism that swings in a fixed position, it can be realized at a low cost.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the main parts of another embodiment of a sorter to which the present invention can be applied. is a sorter in which the inlet of the l-ray opposite to the nip widens when the rotation is I-. The figure shows a time when I. Ray 44 rotates and the population of I. Ray 43 expands. In this embodiment, a stack of sheets in a tray 44'' is bound. In this state, the root of the tray 44 is nearly horizontal, so the sheet bundle stored therein is also nearly horizontal. Therefore, the rotating direction of the binding tool 30 only needs to be horizontal, and the rotating mechanism becomes simpler.

In addition, a selector switch is provided to select whether the binding tool is inactive or not.
If there is no need to bind the sheet bundle in the tray, it may be switched to the non-operating side.

Further, the binding tool is not limited to a stapler, but may also be a clip stopper, a glue tool, or the like.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a sheet material storage device to which the present invention is applicable, FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a sheet material storage device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 3 is a partial plan view of the same device, and FIG. 4 5 is a side view of the stapler, and FIG. 5 is a partial side view of another embodiment. 4□ ・42...410 is a tray, 30 is a binding tool,
C is an image forming apparatus, P is a sheet material, and S is a sheet I/material storage device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a device that sequentially moves multiple trays to a position facing the discharge port for sheet materials discharged from an image forming apparatus, and stores and accumulates sheet materials in the trays, the movement path of the sheets in the trays is A sheet material storage and accumulation device characterized by being provided with an extendable binding tool and binding sheet bundles accumulated in a tray.