JPS6026564A - Automatic sheet processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure sheet registering by forming an inward bulging edge on the lower side of sheet registering ruler plate separated from a tray and disposing this edge to oppose to the end face of tray side at the ruler plate side with the upper surface being located below the tray surface. CONSTITUTION:A sheet P delivered from an output unit 100 is received in a swingable sheet collecting tray 6 to be located and registered by sheet registering ruler plates 7, 8 arragned at right angle to each other and separately from the tray 6. These registering ruler plates 7, 8 are formed on the lower sides with inward bulging edges 7a, 8a which are opposed to the end face of the tray side while the upper surfaces 7a', 8a' are located below the upper surface 6' of the tray. Thus, before the sheets are registered by both ruler plates 7, 8, the sheet edge enters between boundary gaps d1, d2 between the tray and ruler plate to prevent the stagnation of sheets, ensure the sheet registering and improve reliability of the device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention applies to image forming devices such as ruler plates, printing devices, simple printing machines, and other devices that output sheets one after another (sheets such as cut sheet paper, cards, thin boards, etc.). It is used by being attached to the output unit, receives the sheets sequentially output from the sheet output device, automatically aligns the received sheets with each other (aligns the sheets with each other), and then automatically binds the bundle of aligned sheets into a book. The present invention relates to an automatic sheet processing device that performs processing (stapling, gluing, etc.) and automatically discharges the sheets.

This type of automatic sheet processing device is effective in streamlining office processing, and various proposals have already been made (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 50-99548, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 53-118047).
There are also commercially available machines. However, conventional devices are generally large, complex, and expensive devices that are used in combination with a specific model of high-end sheet output device, and cannot be easily used in combination with, for example, a general-purpose copying machine. However, it lacked versatility.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above, and has the versatility to be widely used in combination with various existing sheet output devices, is highly reliable, is compact overall, and is low cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide this type of automatic sheet processing device.

A detailed explanation will be given below based on an embodiment shown in the figure.

In the figure, l is the overall code of the automatic sheet processing device of this example, and 1
00 indicates a sheet output device, and 200 indicates a pedestal on which the sheet output device is placed. In this example, the sheet output device 100 is a copying machine. Reference numeral 101 denotes a sheet output (sheet discharge port) formed horizontally on the left end face plate 102 of the ruler plate machine housing, and reference numeral 103 denotes a sheet discharge pinch disposed inside the sheet output port 101 and near the output port. It's Laura.

A copy sheet on which an image has been formed by an image forming process mechanism (not shown) built into the copying machine housing is conveyed out by the sheet ejection pinch roller 103 to an output port 101.
is output from the machine.

(1) General structure of the automatic sheet processing device 1 The device 1 of this embodiment performs sheet alignment using an inclined tray 6 and first and second sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 arranged at right angles. The bookbinding is performed by stabilization, and its general structure consists of the following members and mechanisms assembled to the device chassis 2.

a, a pair of upper and lower sheet guide plates 3-3 that successively receive the sheet P output from the sheet output port 101 of the copying machine 100 and guide it forward; b, a sheet disposed on the leading edge of the sheet guide plate; Discharge pinch rollers 4 and 5 C1 Sheet collection tray d arranged in an inclined position receives the sheets sent out by the pinch rollers, and cooperates with the inclined tray to collect the sheets that are sequentially discharged and accumulated into the tray. First and second sheet aligning ruler plates 08e arranged at right angles to each other, which align the sheets at right angles to each other in an aligned state; A tray swinging mechanism 9f for selectively converting to a tilted position, a stapler mechanism 10g for collectively stapling (binding) the bundle of sheets aligned and stacked in the tray, and other electric circuits and copies of the electric circuits. Cables (signal transmission/reception lines), etc. that connect the electric circuit on the machine 100 side (2) Machine chassis 2 (Fig. 2) The machine chassis 2 includes the left end face plate 102, which is the sheet output port side of the copy machine 100, and the machine where the copy machine is placed. pedestal 200
The main body is a vertical back plate portion 2a that is large enough to almost span both left end face plates 201, and left and right side plate portions 2b and 2c projecting forward from the upper left and right sides of the vertical back plate portion 2a, respectively, and a vertical back plate portion 2a. A horizontally long Φ is arranged at a position slightly higher than the middle part of the plate part 2a, with the back plate substantially crossing from the left side to the right side of the back plate.
An intermediate shelf part 2d, a front protruding arm 2e formed in series with the shelf board on the left end side of the intermediate shelf part, and a wide shelf also formed in series with the shelf board on the right end side of the intermediate shelf part. Plate portion 2f,
A horizontally elongated window hole 2g formed on the upper side 8 of the vertical back plate portion 2a, a long hole 2h for inserting a screw in the vertical direction formed at each of the four corners of the substantially half-plane portion of the vertical back plate portion 2a, etc. It is equipped with.

Φ shelf board part 2d, and a series of arm parts 2e on the left end side thereof
The wide shelf board section 2f on the right end side is entirely inclined forward with respect to the vertical back board section 2a in relation to the inclination of the tray, which will be described later. It is arranged in a posture.

(3) Sheet guide plate 3113 and sheet discharge pinch rollers 4 and 5 (Figures 1, 3, and 4) Sheet guide plates 3 and 3 are the sheet output port l of the copier loo.
This is to successively receive the sheet P output from the ot and guide the leading edge of the sheet to the nip portion of the sheet discharge pinch rollers 4 and 5. Both ends are placed inside the chassis side plates between the left and right side plates 2b and 20 of the chassis. It is fixedly placed.

The sheet discharge pinch roller 4Φ5 is attached to the sheet guide plate 3.
・It is disposed on the leading edge side of the guide plate 3 and performs the function ``1'' of catching the sheet sent through the gap passage of the guide plate 3 and discharging it into the tray 6 to be described later. The side roller 4 is a driving roller, and the upper roller 5 is a driven pressure roller.The driving roller 4 is rotatably supported between the left and right side plates 2b*2c of the chassis, and is supported by a motor Ml mounted on the outside of the left side plate 2b of the chassis. A rotating shaft 11 that is rotationally driven by
Three pieces are fixedly supported at predetermined intervals along its length. The driven roller 5 for each drive roller 41 is rotatably supported by a bearing on the tip side of a support arm 12 made of a spring plate whose base is fixed to a stay 13 disposed between the left and right side plates 2b and 20 of the chassis with screws or the like. The upper surface of the drive roller 4 is always pressed against the upper surface of the drive roller 4 by the downward biasing force of the spring plate support arm 12, respectively.

The passage formed by the lower right sheet guide plates 3, 3 is preferably made with a small gap of about 1 to 2 mm to prevent the sheet from fluttering between the inner guide plates. In order to prevent condensation of water vapor generated from the sheet passing between the sheet guide plates and trouble with sheet conveyance due to the dew condensation, the sheet guide plates may be provided with ventilation holes or wire-like members, as long as the conveyance of the sheet is not hindered.・It is preferable to use a mensch member or the like.

Sheet discharge pinch rollers 4 and 5 are sheet guide plates 3φ3
In order to prevent the sheet from sagging between the sheets, its rotational peripheral speed is set to be somewhat faster than that of the pinch roller 103 on the side of the copying machine 100, and the nip pressure is
It is set weaker than that of the roller 103 on the 100 side.

(4) Sheet collection tray 6 and its swing mechanism 9 (f51
．． 3 to 5) The tray 6 has its base firmly held by the fixed support member 14 at a position slightly closer to the left end than the intermediate position of the shelf on the back side of the chassis intermediate shelf 2d, and is moved forward. A bearing member 16 is attached to the back side of the shaft rod 15 which is arranged with an upward slope (α).
- It is connected and supported so that it can swing freely left and right about the shaft 15 via the shaft 16. Therefore, the tray 6 is constantly subjected to a tensile force due to a tension spring 17 (ffil, Fig. 5) stretched between the lug 21 formed on the chassis arm ze side and the back surface of the tray 6 near the left side. It is urged to rotate in a counterclockwise direction around the shaft s15, and normally, the rear surface of the left side of the tray is ultimately received by coming into contact with the upper surface of the chassis arm part 2e, and the tray is tilted forward and upward. It is held in a tilted posture state in which it is tilted downward to the right. Hereinafter, this posture state will be referred to as the first posture. The front upward inclination angle α and the right downward inclination angle β in the first posture of the tray 6 are, for example, 23 to 26° and 6 to 1O, respectively.
Setting life is designed within the range of 9.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a tray swinging cam, and this cam is connected to the tip of the forward-protruding rotating shaft 19 of the forward-reverse pulse motor M2, which is fixedly disposed on the back side of the chassis intermediate shelf board 2d at a position near the left end of the shelf board. The motor M2 is fixedly supported at right angles to the motor M2.
0' Normal rotation/reverse rotation control converts the left horizontal position shown by the solid line in FIG. When the cam 18 is in the horizontal position, it is not in contact with the tray 6 and the tray 6 is maintained in the above-mentioned first position, but the cam 18 is rotated upward by approximately 90° normal rotation drive of the motor M2. When the tray 6 is converted into a position, the tip of the cam comes into contact with the rear surface of the rear left corner of the tray and presses it in the upward direction, and the tray 6 is rotated in the direction 31 about the shaft 15 against the tension spring 17. At t55, the attitude state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 5 is maintained, in which the attitude is inclined downward to the right at an angle β that is larger than the downward inclination angle β to the right in the first attitude.

Hereinafter, this posture state will be referred to as a second posture. When the cam 18 in the upward position is again changed to the sideways position by the approximately 90° reverse drive of the motor M2, the tray in the second position is moved back to the first position.
Return to posture.

In this example, the tray swinging mechanism 9 refers to the entire mechanism including the above-mentioned tray support shaft 15, tension spring 17, cam 18, motor M2, etc. as constituent members.

(5) Sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 (Figs. 1 to 6.11) The sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 are ejected into the tray 6 in the first posture state and slide down the tray due to the tray's inclination. The two right-angled sides on the sliding down side of the sheet, i.e., in this example, the trailing edge 2 (FIG. 11) and the right side PR of the sheet are received, and each sheet that is discharged and accumulated one after another into the tray is aligned with each other in a shape IE. (aligned state), the ruler plate 7 on the side that receives the rear side PB of the sheet is the first sheet alignment ruler plate, and the ruler plate 8 on the side that receives the right side PR of the sheet
Let be the second sheet alignment ruler plate.

The first ruler plate 7 is supported via a bracket 20 (Figs. 2 and 3) along the front edge of the chassis intermediate shelf part 2d, and the second ruler plate 8 is supported on a wide shelf. The rear end of the ruler plate is firmly attached and supported in a cantilever manner via a bracket 21 at the tip of the plate portion 2f, and the ruler plates 7 and 8 are at right angles to each other. The right corner of the rear side of tray 6 is diagonal! , lJ has fallen off (Fig. 1-11), 1st
The right end of the second ruler plate 7 and the rear end of the second ruler plate 8 are brought up to a position corresponding to the tray cut-off portion so that they do not meet each other, and that portion is an opening 22.

Both of the ruler plates 7 and 8 shown in FIG. 1 and 2 have their lower sides bent inward at right angles to form narrow projecting edges 7a and 8a. As shown in FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b), the tray 6 is in the first posture with its rear side 6B
is positioned corresponding to the lower narrow overhanging edge 7a of the first ruler plate 7 with a gap di interposed therebetween, and the right side 6R is positioned against the lower narrow overhanging edge 8a of the second ruler plate 8. The trays are placed in corresponding positions via the tray rotation allowance gap d2. Also, at this time, a relational structure is created in which a step W is created so that the upper surfaces 7a and 8a of the lower narrow protruding edges 7a and 8b of the first and second ruler plates 7 and 8 become lower surfaces with respect to the upper surface 6 of the tray 6. It's Nishide.

(6) Stapler mechanism 10 (Figs. 1 to 10) The stapler mechanism 1O is composed of a stapler main body 23 provided above the wide shelf section 2f of the chassis and a drive mechanism section assembled below the shelf section 2f. Become.

The stapler main body 23 has a longitudinal axis on the upper surface of the chassis wide shelf section 2f and the opening 22 between the first and second ruler plates 7 and 8.
It is connected to the rear end of the channel type guide member 24, which is positioned and fixed in the direction facing toward the direction of the arrow, so as to be freely swingable up and down about a shaft 25, and is fitted onto the shaft 25 so as to be stretched between the guide member 24 and the stubble main body 23. The guide member 24 is always urged to open and rotate upwardly by a torsion spring 26 which is attached to the guide member 24.

The stapler main body 23 includes a box-shaped head portion 27 with an open upper surface provided at the tip, a staple button loading guide groove portion 28, and a series of staple needles 2 loaded in the groove portion 28.
A staple pushing member 3° that constantly presses the rear end side of the stapler 29 to press the tip side of the stapler 29 against the outer surface of the opposite side wall 27a of the head portion 27, and one end that biases the staple pushing member 30 is attached to the stapler body. a spiral spring 31 that is engaged with a spiral spring 31; a downward substantially U-shaped stipple needle dot member 32 that is placed over the head portion 27 and can freely slide vertically relative to the head portion 27; and a space between the head portion 27 and the dot member 32; It consists of a coil spring 33 contracted to.

The dot member 32 is made by bending a band plate into a substantially U-shape, and when it is turned upside down, the stipple needle receiving side wall 27a of the head portion 27 and the head front wall 27b on the opposite side are placed between the downward leg plates 32aφ32b. head part 2 so as to sandwich the
It is a cover on 7.

8(a) to (C) on the head front wall 27b.
As shown in the enlarged view in FIG. An upwardly cut and raised claw side 32c is formed and inserted into the slit hole 27.C of the head portion 27. Further, since the side walls 32d and 32e are restricted to 27e and 27f, there is no lateral displacement. Head part 2
It is free to slide up and down with respect to 7, and the claw side 32c is normally pushed up by the compressed coil spring 33 so that the claw side 32c is connected to the slit hole 27.
It is held in a state in which it is pushed up against the head part 27 until it is stopped in a state in which it is pushed up against the head part 27 until it hits the upper edge of c and is received.

In the above, the spring pressure F26 of the torsion spring 26 which urges the Stibler main body 23 to open and rotate relative to the guide member 24 about the shaft 25, and the coil spring 33 compressed between the head portion 27 and the hitting point member 32 are applied. Spring pressure F33 is F26<<F
The relationship is set to 33.

Reference numeral 34 denotes an L-shaped stapler main body push-down lever that has a horizontally facing arm 34a and a horizontally facing arm 34b, and is freely swingable about a shaft 35, and the tip of the horizontally facing arm 34a has a horizontally facing point of impact on the stapler main body. A lug 34c is formed that comes into contact with the two surfaces of the member 32, and the lower side of the arm 34b facing toward the direction extends from the slit hole 2j (Fig. 2) made in the zf surface of the chassis wide shelf section toward the F direction of the shelf section 2f. It's a rush.

M3 is a forward/reverse motor for driving a stabilizer which is mounted and held on the chassis vertical back plate 2a, and 37 is a rotating shaft 3 of the motor.
6 is a rotating arm whose base is fixedly supported, and 38 is a cam plate which is also fixed to the shaft 36.

MSI/MS2 are first and second microswitches that are turned on and off as the cam plate 38 rotates. The rotary arm 37 has a long hole 37a formed along its length on the arm surface, and the above-mentioned shape is formed with respect to the long hole 37a.
A bottle planted at the end of the downward arm 34b of -34! 1
d134 d'ltl Rotating arm 37 and L
The shape bars 34 are interconnected.

The rotating arm 37 is normally tilted to the left as shown by the solid line in Figure 7.
It is held in standby in two rotation angle positions. In this state, the first microswitch MSI is held off and the second microswitch MS2 is held on by the cam plate 38.
The dowel-shaped lever 34 is rotated clockwise about the shaft 35, and the horizontal arm portion 34a is held in a rotation angle position diagonally upward to the left. The stapler main body 23 is opened by the torsion spring 26 and the upper surface of the striking member 32 is turned sideways by the arm portion 34.
The guide member 24 is held open and rotated about the shaft 25 until it comes into contact with and is received by the lower surface of the lug 34c. The above state is called a stapler standby state.

Here, the sheets sequentially discharged from the copying machine 200 to the tray 6 of the automatic sheet processing device 1 individually pass through the copying machine output port 10t on the rear end side, or the sheet discharge ports 4 and 5 on the side of the automatic sheet processing device. The passage is detected by the sheet sensor S (FIG. 3), and based on the detection signal, control is performed after a predetermined delay time T required for the copy sheet discharged to the tray 6 to be completely aligned in the tray has elapsed. The circuit starts driving the motor M3 in normal rotation. The rotation arm 37 and the cam plate 38 are rotated clockwise in FIG. 7 by the forward rotation of the motor M3. Along with this, the L-shaped bar 34 is also rotated counterclockwise about the shaft 35 while pushing away the stabler main body 23 against the torsion spring 26. The first microswitch MSI is the cam plate 38
It is kept on when the rotation starts. The microswitch MS2 of i2 remains on for a while after that, and turns off when the rotating arm reaches a substantially vertical rotating angle position 37 shown by a dashed line. At this time, the stapler main body 23 is pushed down and rotated by the L-shaped bar 34 until the lower surface of the head portion 27 of the stapler body 23 comes into contact with the seat 39 of the stable nail receiver fixedly arranged on the upper surface of the chassis wide shelf 2f ( 7th
Figure 1 (dotted chain line) 23). In this state, the point member 32 is still
is pushed down against the coil spring 33 and does not reach the point where it acts on the leading edge of the loaded stable staples 29 within the stapler body 23. This push-down state of the stabilizer is called the first step push-down.

Then, when the second microswitch MS2 is turned off, the motor M3 is reversed, and the rotating arm 37 is rotated counterclockwise until the first microswitch MSI is turned off again, and the stapler is initially Returns to standby state. This pressing down of the stapler to the first stage and return to the standby state is carried out in reverse every time a copy sheet is discharged from the copying machine 1OO side to the tray 6 during output.

By repeatedly pressing down and returning to the first stage of the stapler, a copy sheet is ejected from the copying machine lOO side to the tray 6, and each time the copy sheet reaches the alignment position, the opening 22 between the first and second ruler plates 7 and 8 is opened. The stipple needle holder protrudes toward the wide shelf board 2f side of the chassis, and the needle holder is located at the right corner of the rear side of the sheet located above the seat 29. This improves the alignment of the sheets with each other.

40 (Fig. 1 @ 9 @ 10) is an elastic member 5 whose base is attached to and held on the side surface of the head portion 27 of the stapler main body 23, and which is arranged approximately parallel to the inner longitudinal direction of the first sheet alignment ruler plate 7.
(This is a forest-like member for holding paper made of bar material (n). This paper holding member 40 moves up and down as the head section 27 is driven upward during the first stage push-down Φ return cycle of the stapler. This device presses down the upper surface of the rear side of the alignment sheet.The existence of this paper pressing member 40 expands the paper pressing range, and even if the sheet has curls, the curls are suppressed and corrected, thereby preventing the mutual separation of the sheets. Consistency is better.

When the sheet is pressed by lowering the paper presser member 40, first the tip side of the paper presser member 40 comes into contact with the sheet surface, and as the member 40 continues to descend, the base side surface sequentially comes into contact with the sheet surface, and finally the member 40 is pressed down. The alignment of the sheet with respect to the second ruler plate 8 is further improved by arranging the sheet in such an angular position that the entire lower surface contacts the sheet surface and presses the sheet.

When the copy sheets are sequentially discharged from the copying machine 100 into the tray 6 and the last copy sheet is output, a condition signal indicating that the copy sheet is the final sheet is sent to the copying machine 100. The signal is input from a circuit (not shown) to a control circuit (not shown) on the sheet automatic processing device l side.

The trailing edge of the last copy sheet passes through the sensor S.
After a predetermined delay time T has elapsed after the detection (FIG. 3), normal rotation of the motor M3 is started and the stapler main body 23 is pushed down in the same way as in the case of sheets up to that point. However, in this case, even after the stabler is pushed down to the first stage based on the input of the above condition signal and the second microswitch MS2 is turned off, the switch MS2 remains
Regardless of the OFF state, the rotating arm 37 is rotated a little more clockwise than when it was pressed down in the first stage, and reaches the approximately vertical vertical rotating angle position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 7, and the first microswitch MSI The forward rotation of the motor M3 continues until the motor M3 is turned off. During the counterclockwise rotation process of the L-shaped bar 34 due to the forward rotation of the motor M3, which continues from the time when the stapler is pressed down in the first stage, the striking member 32 of the stapler body 23 is rotated.
is sufficiently pushed against the head portion 27 against the coil spring 33 (FIG. 8(C)). By pressing down the dotting point member 32, one of the leading ends of the loaded stapling needles 29 in the stapler main body 23 is inserted into the F-direction leg plate 32 of the dotting point member 32.
The 4th receiver is the seat 39 from the needle extrusion gap opening 27d at the lower edge of a.
As a result, the lower surface of the head portion 27 and the needle receiver 39 collectively stipple the portion of the sheet bundle that is sandwiched between the seat 39. The above-mentioned pressing down state of the dot point member is referred to as fB two-stage pressing down of the stapler.

Then, when the second step of the stapler is pressed down and the first microswitch MSI is turned off, the motor M3
is reversed, and the stabler returns to the initial standby state (solid line state in FIG. 7).

(7) Loading the automatic sheet processing device 1 into the copying machine 100, /
(FIG. 1) The automatic sheet processing device 1 is attached to the copying machine 100, which is a sheet output device, in the same manner as in the case of the device of this embodiment.

First, the sheet output port lO1 on the left end face plate side of the copying machine 100
Remove the normal output sheet tray that is mounted and protrudes outward. Then, once remove the set screws 202 at the four corners fixing the left end face plate 201 of the pedestal 200 on which the copying machine 100 is placed,
Insert the set screws 202 into each of the vertical holes 2h at the four corners of the lower half of the pedestal left end face plate 201 and the chassis back plate 2 of the device l.
This is done by aligning the lower half of a with the pedestal body. In this case, the vertically elongated hole 2h is used to adjust the vertical position of the apparatus l relative to the copy@100 so that the opening 2g formed in the chassis vertical back plate 2a on the apparatus l side faces the sheet output port 101 on the copying machine lOO side. Then, adjust the position so that the sheet receiving opening sides of the pair of upper and lower sheet kite plates 3 and 3 on the apparatus 1 side directly face the sheet discharge pinch roller 103 on the copying machine 100 side, and tighten each screw 202.

Although not shown in the diagram, there is a cable (signal line) in device 1 that connects the electric circuit on the device side and the electric circuit on the copier lOO side, and the plug at the end of the cable must be inserted into the outlet on the copier side. This also connects both devices 1-100 electrically. This completes the attachment of the device l to the copying machine 100.

(8) Operation a: Set the number of copies per copy N and the number of safe copies M to the copying machine 100 and start copying.

When the copying machine is operated, first copy sheets are output one after another from the copying machine 100 and from the cartridge 101.

The output sheet P passes through the gap passage between the upper and lower guide plates 3 and 3 on the device I side, and is pinched into the nip portion of the sheet discharge pinch rollers 4 and 5, and is held in the first posture state by the pinch rollers. The paper is sent out to the tray 6 which is located inside the tray 6, and is discharged into the tray 6.

In this example, sheets of various sizes are ejected from the copier lOO side to the tray 6 at the tear &
! It is assumed that one side reference conveyance (sheet right side reference conveyance) is performed using aR-R (FIG. 11) as the reference line.

b. When the sheet 1-P, which has started to be fed out to the tray 6 side by the pinch roller 4115, is fed out a certain length, the fed-out sheet part resists the strength of the body due to its own weight and reaches the position shown by the solid line in Figure 1. Since the tray 6 is tilted downward to the right, the left corner P1 of the leading edge of the downwardly curved sheet portion first touches the tray 6 surface (
Alternatively, the second and subsequent sheets come into contact with the upper surface of the sheet that has already been discharged into the tray. At this time, the sheet approach angle to the 4th side of the tray is 0
is an acute angle.

C1 Next, as the sheet P is sent out to the tray 6 side by the pinch rollers 4 and 5, the leading edge side of the sheet smoothly moves along the front upward slope of the tray 6 toward the leading edge of the tray due to the sheet feeding force. The sheet P moves upward and slides, and the feeding of the sheet P into the tray progresses.

d, and the rear end of the sheet P is pinch rollers 4 and 5.
When the sheet P passes through the nip portion and is cut, the entire sheet P falls into the tray 6 and is in a discharged state (solid line in FIG. 11).

e. The sheet P discharged into the tray 6 then heads toward the rear right corner of the tray 6 along the front upward slope of the tray 6, or conversely, the combined slope of the rear downward slope and the right downward slope. It naturally slides down in direction A (tiSl1 diagram) under its own weight.

f. In the process of sliding down the sheet P' in the direction A, in this example, the right side PR of the sheet P first hits the inner surface of the second sheet alignment ruler plate 8 and is restricted in position (at 2 points in the same figure). P state shown by the dashed line).

g, then the sheet P rests on the second ruler plate 8 and slides down in the direction B toward the first ruler plate 7 until the rear side PB of the sheet hits the inner surface of the first ruler plate 7. (P-shape 111 shown by the three-dot chain line in the figure).

h, that is, the sheet P discharged into the tray 6 is finally slid down the right side PR and rear side PB, which are two right-angled sides, are aligned with the first and second ruler plates 7 and 8, which are perpendicular to each other and serve as alignment rulers.
Tray 6 is in the positioning state where it is received by the inner surface of the tray 6.
fits inside. At this point, as explained in the above section (6), the stapler mechanism performs the first stage pushing down and returning operation once, and as a result, the stapler head section 27 is pushed down and the paper presser member 40 is pushed down and returned to the tray 6. Paper holding is executed for the sheet that appears and is aligned for the first time.

In this way, the output sheets after the second sheet 11 are sequentially discharged, aligned, and pressed into the tray 6 in the same process as described in items 5 and 6 above, and are aligned and stacked one after another. The right corner of the rear side of the seed bundles aligned in the tray 6 protrudes from the opening 22 between the first and second alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 toward the chassis wide shelf plate 2f, and serves as a staple receiver. is positioned above the seat 39.

j, Then, the last copy sheet of the first set is output and ejected into the tray 6, and when it is aligned, the stapler mechanism pushes down the second stage as explained in item (6) above. - The returning operation is performed, and as a result, all the sheet bundles in the L-lay are stapled into the right corner of the trailing side, and are stippled (bookbinding) at once (FIG. 8(C)).

k. When the stapler mechanism returns to the standby state, the motor M2 of the tray swing mechanism 9 is driven approximately 90' in the normal rotation based on the signal, and the cam 18 assumes an upward rotational position. As a result, the tray 6 is converted from the first posture shown by the solid line in the tjS5 figure to the second posture shown by the two-dot chain line, which has a greater rightward inclination than the first posture, and the right side of the tray 6 and the second ruler plate A gap opening is created between the edges of the tray 6, and a part of the bound cobby sheet bundle in the tray 6 slides down to the right along the right slope of the tray, and a storage container ( The stacker) 43 automatically discharges and stores the stabilized side first. By discharging the stapled sheet stack from the tray 6 to the stacker 43 side with the stapled side at the beginning, it is possible to prevent the sheets from coming loose.

After the tray 6 is changed to the second posture state, the bundle of bound sheets in the tray is completely removed from the tray. After a sensor (not shown) disposed at the input section of the stacker 43 detects that the sheet bundle has been discharged and stored on the stacker side, the motor M2 is driven approximately 90 degrees in the reverse direction, and the tray 6 is moved to the first position. transformed into a state.

m1, then the copy seed for the second copy is sent to the copier lO
The copies are sequentially output from the O side to the loading side, and the second copy sheet is automatically aligned, automatically bound, and automatically ejected in the same manner as above. In this way, by repeating the above b w m term, each bundle of bound copy sheets of M portions is finally automatically adjusted and stored in the stacker 43 .

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of the above sequence control.

(8) Other configurations, functions, modifications, etc. a. As mentioned above, the tray 6 is inclined upward in the front with respect to the sheet ejection port 4φ5, and is also inclined downward to the right. The relationship is such that the head distance iR between the sheet exit right end side on the opposite side and the right side of the tray is larger than the head distance ILc between the left end side of the sheet exit in the longitudinal direction and the left side of the tray (Fig. 4). . Therefore, the sheet P fed from the sheet discharge port 4 to the tray 4 may have weakened stiffness due to high temperature and high humidity environments, or the sheet P may have weak stiffness to begin with. In this case, the sheet P is at the sheet discharge port 2φ
When the sheet is fed a certain length from tray 3 to the tray 4 side, the degree of downward curvature of the sheet portion is large, and the sheet leading edge left corner P1 side has a relatively small drop distance JIL from the tray. Even if the sheet enters at an acute angle to the surface, the right corner P2 side of the leading edge of the sheet has a large drop distance R from the tray, so it forms an obtuse angle θ or an obtuse angle to the tray 6 surface, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. tends to cause a state in which it approaches at an angle close to 90°.

In such a case, the leading edge of the sheet in contact with the surface of the tray 6 continues to move up the front upward slope of the tray 6 toward the leading edge of the tray and does not slide, and as a result, the sheet P is reversed and placed in the tray 4. It is something that is expelled inside.

Such sheet reversal and ejection troubles also occur in tray apparatuses in which the tray 4 is tilted forward.

Therefore, in this example device, in order to eliminate the sheet reversal discharge trouble caused by the above-mentioned causes, a tray for sheets to be sent out from the sheet outlet toward the tray is placed at the sheet exit portion of the sheet discharge port for the tray. A member is provided to warp upward the seat side portion on the side corresponding to the lower side of the lateral inclination.

In FIGS. 1-4 and 12, 50 is a roller provided as the sheet warping member. This roller 50 is attached to the sheet conveyance reference line R-R (FIG. 11) and the pinch roller drive shaft 11 of the sheet discharge pinch rollers 4 and 511JI closest to the reference line by means of snap rings 51 and 51, which are attached to the sheet conveyance reference line R-R (FIG. 11). It is fitted so that its movement is restricted and it can rotate freely around the shaft 11, and its outer diameter is the same as that of the drive roller 4 of the pinch rollers 4 and 5.
It should be suitably larger than the outer diameter of. The roller 50 may be rotatably mounted on the shaft 11 via a bearing.

The side of the sheet corresponding to the lower side of the tray lateral direction inclination of the sheet (P) which is fed out from the sheet outlet of the sheet discharge port to the tray 6 while facing the sheet, the right side of the sheet in this example is the roller 50.
It passes over the roller 50 correspondingly. As mentioned above, the roller 50 has a diameter that is appropriately larger than the diameter of the drive roller 4 of the sheet discharge pinch roller, so due to the difference in diameter, the right side of the sheet P changes the elastic range of the sheet in the process of passing over the roller 50. It passes through the roller 50 part while resisting the elasticity inside and bending upward as shown by Pc in Figs. 4 and 12. Based on the upward warping effect of the PC at the roller 50 portion of the sheet, even if the sheet P has weakened due to moisture absorption, or is originally weak, the sheet P can be moved from the sheet exit to the tray. The large downward curvature of the sheet portion when it is fed out a certain length to the 6 side is alleviated, and the sheet approach angle 0 with respect to the tray 6 surface is maintained at an acute angle over the entire length of the sheet leading edge. This can solve the problem of sheet reversal and ejection.

FIG. 13 shows another embodiment. In this example, the right corner of the leading end side of the sheet guide plates 3, 3 is turned upward. Due to the warpage of the guide plates 3, 3, the sheet is warped in the same way as in the case of the rollers 50. Pc can be given.

b. To ensure sheet alignment by preventing the sheet from bouncing due to contact shock when the sheet discharged into the inclined tray slides down the slope of the tray and hits the alignment ruler side plate; At least one of the sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 has a slow impact material pasted on its inner surface, or
It is preferable that the side plate is made of a slow-impact member.

In this example, as described above, the sheet P that is discharged into the tray 6 and then slides down the slope of the tray dies.The right side PR of the sheet P hits the second alignment ruler plate 8 and is regulated in position (factor 11, factor 2). The sheet is moved along the ruler plate 8 to the first alignment ruler plate 7.
This is a sheet movement mode in which the rear side Ps of the sheet slides down in the direction B toward Therefore, the second ruler plate 8 is made of a material with a small coefficient of friction such as a metal surface or a resin surface, and the first ruler plate 7 is made of a urethane foam sheet or seagull suede (
A shock absorbing material 7b (Fig. 6, 8a)) such as product name) can be pasted to reduce the shock at the final impact.

C. Sheet Alignment The side edges of the sheet contact the ruler plate to reduce the impact of contact, and to prevent the sheet corners from bending or crushing due to the sheet corners hitting the ruler first. It is desirable that it be received in parallel contact with the inner surface. Then, the trailing edge of the sheet fed into the tray from the sheet ejection port passes through the sheet entry angle of 1", and the entire sheet is inside the tray. Each sheet aligning ruler plate is placed to support and stop each sheet side against the two right-angled sides of the sliding down side of the sheet in the tray in relation to the position of the sheet in the tray at the time of ejection and falling. It is best to arrange them approximately in parallel.

In this example, as shown in Figure 11, the second alignment ruler plate 8 for aligning the right side PR of the sheet discharged in the tray is aligned with the sheet conveyance direction by the sheet discharge pinch rollers 4 and 5, that is, with respect to the sheet one side conveyance reference line R-H. The first alignment ruler plate 7 is disposed at a right angle to the second ruler plate 8.

That is, the sheet (P) sent out from the sheet ejection port into the tray 6 has its rear side PR connected to the sheet ejection pinch rollers 4 and 5.
Until the sheet passes through the sheet, the sheet is conveyed in a state in which its right side PR substantially coincides with the sheet one-side conveyance reference line R-H on a plane (
tiS11 (P state shown by the dashed line in Fig. 1). However, when the trailing edge of the sheet FB passes through the pinch rollers 4 and 5 and falls onto the tray 6, the tray 6 is tilted forward at an angle α and downward to the right at an angle β. Therefore, the sheet is located at the left corner P of the leading edge of the sheet, which is already in contact with the tray surface.
Rotate around the center and drop it onto the tray.

As a result, the position of the sheet P in the tray at the time when it has finished falling into the tray 6 is as shown by the solid line in FIG.
It will be in a tilted state. The angle γ is actually the tray 6
Inclination angle α = 23 to 260, β = 6 to 10°, and the falling distance from the sheet discharge port at the rear right corner of the sheet is 75
When expressed as mm, it was within and outside of 5°. Therefore, in this example, the second alignment ruler plate 8 for aligning the right side PR of the sheet with respect to the angle γ is tilted in advance with respect to the sheet one side conveyance reference line R-H. The entire length of the ruler plate 8 is brought into contact with the ruler plate 8 of No. 2 simultaneously in a parallel state. Also, regarding the rear side PB of the sheet, the right side PR of the sheet
After the position of the sheet is regulated by the second ruler plate 8, the sheet (
P) slides down along the ruler plate 8 in the direction B and comes into contact with the first ruler plate 7 in a parallel state.

d. When sheets of various sizes are discharged to the tray 6 by one-sided standard conveyance with the right or left side of the sheet as a reference, the inclination of the tray 6 in the lateral direction is such that the side of the sheet conveyance reference line is lower. It is best to set the slope to a certain angle. In this example, the inclination of the tray 6 in the lateral direction is such that the side of the sheet conveyance reference line RR is lower.

By doing this, even if the size of the sheets discharged to the tray 6 is different, the two right-angled sides PR and PB on the tray sliding side of the sheet immediately after falling onto the tray 6.
and the first and second seats arranged on the sheet sliding side of the tray.
The distance from the sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 is always approximately constant, and the sliding path φ of the sheet after it is discharged and dropped onto the tray 6 and the alignment completion time are approximately the same for all sheets of various sizes, making it stable. It is possible to perform sheet alignment according to the

e. The angle formed by the first and second sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 is 88 to 89 degrees, which is slightly smaller than setting it to exactly 90'.
It is better to set the rear side P8 of the sheet P to the first ruler plate 7.
It was confirmed that there was no deviation after hitting the surface, and that better consistency was obtained.

f. The sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 form inwardly projecting edges 7a and 8a on the lower sides as explained in item (5) above and FIGS. 6(a) and (b), and the projecting edges 7ae
8a, the rear side 6B and right side 6 of the tray 6 in the first posture.
R are placed in corresponding positions, and the upper surfaces 7a and 8a of each of the overhanging edges 7a*8a are arranged to form a step W so that the upper surfaces 6J and 8a of the tray are on the lower surface of the tray. Before the right side PR or rear side Pa of the sheet (first ejected sheet) that has slid down the tray surface comes into contact with the inner surfaces of the second and first alignment ruler plates 8-7, respectively, the boundary gap d2 between the tray and the ruler plate is reached. This prevents the sheet from becoming stuck in the middle of sliding down the tray, which would be caused by the sheet edge entering the edges or di, thereby ensuring alignment of the sheet.

g. In this example, the sheet aligning means mechanism includes an inclined tray 6 and first and second sheet aligning ruler plates 7 and 8 disposed at right angles to each other.
However, other alignment means mechanisms such as alignment by vibrating the tray, alignment by a drive belt, alignment by paddles, etc. may be employed.

h. Instead of the bookbinding mechanism 10 using a stable, glue (-
It is also possible to provide a bookbinding mechanism using J-ke. Any other post-processing mechanism for aligned sheet bundles, such as a punching mechanism, can also be provided.

i, the sheet guide plate 3 on the device 1 side, the sheet first output pinch rollers 4 and 5 to output the sheet above the tray '6, and the force device r
If the sheet discharges 1, 1 on the i100 side can be positioned, it is not necessary to force the arrangement.

In the case of the embodiment apparatus, the first sheet alignment ruler plate 7 may be integrally provided on the rear two sides of the tray 6.

k. The cam 18 for swinging the tray 6 can be rotated by, for example, an electromagnetic solenoid-plunger or other suitable driving means.

The apparatus 1 is self-supporting on the floor or on a table, and is equipped with necessary structural members such as a sheet receiving tray 6, sheet alignment means 7 and 8, bookbinding means 10, etc., with respect to a chassis whose height can be freely adjusted.・The means mechanism is assembled in a predetermined positional relationship to form the device 1, and the sheet receiving portion of the device 1 matches the sheet output port 101 of the sheet output device 100 to be used. It is also possible to suitably adjust the height and arrange them adjacent to the sheet output port side of the sheet output device for use in combination.

(10) Summary and Effects of the Invention In short, the present invention consists of a sheet collection tray 6 that receives the sheet P output from the sheet output device 100, and a tray that receives two right-angled sides of the sheet discharged into the tray. a tray that is perpendicular to the top surface and aligned within the
In an automatic sheet processing device including sheet alignment ruler plates 7 and 8 arranged at right angles to each other, at least one of which is disposed separately from the tray, the sheet alignment ruler plate 7 is separate from the tray.
8, form inward projecting edges 7a and 8a on the lower side thereof, and make the projecting edges face the tray side end surface of the ruler plate side, and the two sides 7a and 8 of the projecting edges.
arranged so that a is a lower surface than the upper surface 6 of the tray,
The gist of the present invention is an automatic sheet processing device characterized by the following features.

That is, with this configuration, as explained in section (9)-f above, the sheets in the tray are aligned with the first and second alignment ruler plates 7 and 8.
11. Prevents sheet stagnation caused by the edge of the sheet entering the boundary gap di or d2 between the tray and the ruler plate before being aligned by shining on the inner surface of the sheet.11. As a result, it is possible to obtain this type of automatic sheet processing device in which alignment of sheets is ensured and reliability is high.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the device of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device installed on the sheet output port side of the sheet output device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the device chassis, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the device. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional front view of the same, FIG. 5 is a front view of the tray swinging mechanism, and FIGS. 6(a) and 6(b) are respectively
and a sectional view of the second sheet alignment ruler plate, FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional side view of the stapler mechanism, and FIGS. 8(a) to 8(C) are a front view and a longitudinal sectional side view of the stapler head portion, respectively. FIG. 9 is a plan view of the paper pressing member portion, FIG. 10 is a front view of the same, FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the sheet alignment process, and FIG. 12 is a sheet warping roller portion. The front view and FIG. 13 are views of an example in which the sheet is warped by giving a warp to the sheet guide plate, and FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the operation of the device. 1 is a sheet automatic processing device, 1OO is a sheet output device such as a copying machine, 200 is a pedestal, 6 is a sheet collecting inclined tray, 7 and 8 are first and second sheet alignment ruler plates, 9 is a tray swinging mechanism, io is a stapler mechanism (bookbinding means). Patent applicant Canon Co., Ltd. Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) a sheet collection tray that receives sheets output from a sheet output device; and a tray perpendicular to the top surface of the tray that receives two right-angled sides of the sheet discharged into the tray, positions it in the tray, and aligns it; In an automatic sheet processing device including sheet alignment ruler plates, at least one of which is arranged at right angles to each other, and at least one of which is arranged separately from the tray, the sheet alignment ruler plate, which is separate from the tray, extends inward from the lower side thereof. An automatic sheet forming a rim, the overhanging edge facing the tray-side end surface of the ruler plate, and arranged so that the upper surface of the overhanging edge is lower than the upper surface of the tray. Processing equipment.