JPS6246862A - Sorting/stacking device for sheet material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To clarify the sorting boundary for each job by releasing a member restricting the width of sheet materials so that sheet materials can be aligned at each shift position and stacked without being disturbed when a tray is shifted to the right or left. CONSTITUTION:When discharged sheets are to be stacked toward the arrow A direction of a tray 13, a motor 35 is activated, a cam plate 40 is rotated in the arrow B direction via a rotary gear, the tray 13 is moved in the arrow C direction by an arm member 42. When sheets II of the predetermined job unit have been stacked on the tray 13, the motor 35 is again operated and continues its rotation until a cam section 40b activates a microswitch 41, the tray 13 is moved in the arrow A direction and is positioned when the motor 35 is stopped. After sheets I of the predetermined job unit have been stacked and before the tray 13 is moved, a solenoid 43 is energized, a shaft 46 is rotated in the arrow D direction, and a lever 48 is pushed up in the arrow D direction and removed from the stacked sheets I.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a stacking device for sorting sheet materials, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a stacking device for sorting sheet materials. The present invention relates to a device that sorts and stacks materials by job.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, image forming devices such as copiers and printers have become more multi-functional, and in response, post-processing devices for paper with images formed on it that are carried out from image forming devices are also becoming more and more functional. Improvement is required. Under these circumstances, a device has been proposed that improves the tray, which previously had the function of simply stacking unloaded paper with images formed on it, and sorts the paper for each job and stacks it on the tray. There is.

That is, as shown in FIG. 7, when the paper 2 on which an image has been formed is conveyed by the paper ejection roller pair 3 and ejected onto the tray 5, the paper 2 falls due to its own weight. While moving along the inclination of tray 5,
They abut against a back plate 6 erected at the end, and are stacked one after another on the tray 5 as shown at 7.

At that time, the tray 5 is set as shown in Fig. 8 so that the paper stacking position is changed for each job, i.e., for each set of many identical pages when making multiple copies from an original document consisting of multiple pages. The sheets 7 are shifted in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, so that the sheets 7 stacked on the tray 5 at the end of image formation are sorted left and right for each job and stacked.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, in the stacking device f, the paper 2 after being released from the restraint of the paper ejection roller pair 3 simply moves by its own weight, collides with the back plate 6, and is accumulated on the tray 5. Therefore, the ejection status from the paper ejection roller pair 3,
Depending on how the sheets move after being ejected and how they collide with the back plate 6, there is a tendency for the sheets to be stacked sideways from the normal stacking position, as shown by arrows A and A in Figure 8. There is. Especially when the paper 2 moves in the convex direction of the arrow and collides with the back plate 6.

The leading edge of the paper 2 and the back plate 6 are not necessarily in a parallel state, and either the left or right corner of the leading edge of the paper 2 collides with the back plate 6, causing the paper 2 to shift in the A direction or the opening. Since the direction of misalignment is determined probabilistically, the stacking position varies greatly, and the degree of alignment becomes extremely poor even for the same job.As a result, in order to sort the paper for each job,
Even if the tray 5 is moved in the E direction, as shown in FIG.
This method has the disadvantage that the boundaries 9.10 between job units 1, II, and III are not clear.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, that is, the inconvenience that the boundaries between sheet materials are not clearly defined, and to provide a sorting and stacking device that improves the alignment of sheet materials.

[Means for solving problems]

A member for regulating the width of the sheet material is provided in a direction perpendicular to the discharge direction of the sheet material discharged from the image forming apparatus, and a tray for accumulating the sheet material is moved left and right in the direction perpendicular to the discharge direction of the sheet material. When sorting and stacking the sheet materials on the right and left sides of the tray, the member regulating the sheet materials 111 is actuated while the tray is positioned to the left or right. The present invention is characterized in that the restricting member can be released while the device is moving from left to right or from right to left.

[For production]

For example, when the tray is shifted to the left and positioned by employing the two-legged means, the sheet material position regulating means aligns and stacks the tray at the position shifted to the left. Also, when the tray tries to shift to the right side,
First, the position regulating means is released, and the tray can be shifted without the regulating means restraining the stacked sheet materials. Therefore, even if the tray shifts to the left or right, the position regulating means does not disturb the stacked sheets and aligns them at their respective shifted positions, making it possible to achieve an angle of 2141 degrees, and the separation boundaries for each job are clear. be converted into

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention.

Sorting of the paper sheets av! , the device 11 is a paper sheet (
It is provided with a paper sheet discharge section 12 for discharging sheet materials) and a tray 13 for collecting the discharged paper sheets. The sheet discharge section 12 has upper and lower guide members 15, 16 (shown in FIG. 2) for guiding the sheet to be discharged, and a pair of sheet discharge rollers 17. The paper sheets conveyed through the tray 16 are discharged onto the tray 13 by the discharge action of a pair of paper discharge rollers 17.

The paper ejection roller pair 17 includes a paper ejection roller 19 driven by a drive source (not shown) and a driven roller 20 that is pressed by the paper ejection roller. (not shown) is rotatably supported.

Further, the tray 13 has a front overhang section 22, a sheet discharge section 23 tilted from the front toward the rear, a back plate 25 that stands approximately vertically, and a rear overhang section 26. A guide rail member 27 fixed to the lower part of the front extension part 22 and roller members 30, 31, 32 provided on a base part 29 which can be fixed to a main body part of the image forming apparatus (not shown) By being guided by the tray 13, the tray 13 can be moved by the tray moving device 33 in the direction shown by the arrow 2 in FIG. 1 and in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tray moving device 33 includes motors 35. Gears 36 and 37.

38.39 A cam plate 40 that rotates together with the gear 39, a micro switch 41. And the cam plate 40 and the tray 1
3, for example, an arm member 42 that communicates with the guide rail member 27.

Furthermore, a unit 14 for regulating the position of the paper after being ejected is arranged above the paper ejecting section 12. unit 14
To explain the structure, first, there are levers 48a and 48b that regulate the positions of both ends of the paper in the direction perpendicular to the paper ejection direction, a rotating shaft 46 of the lever, and a U-shaped lever whose both ends are fixed to the rotating shaft 46. There are members 47a and 47b, a lever 48a,
48b is supported to be rotatable and movable in the axial direction with respect to the rotating shaft 46. Further, an arm member 45 is fixed to one end of the one-rotation shaft 46.
5 is engaged with a link 44 whose one end is rotatably fixed to the thread nod 43. Naturally, both ends of the rotating shaft 46 are rotatably supported (
On the other hand, arms 54 and 55 for lever movement are arranged at the center of rotation of the levers 48a, 48b without interfering with the rotational movement of the levers 48a, 48b within the necessary range around the shaft 46. Arm 54.55
The other ends are each fixed to a rack 52,51.

The racks 52, 51 are fitted into the grooves 50a of the base 50, and can move linearly only in the direction of sea urchin 0 in FIG. Further, a pinion 53 that engages with both racks 51 and 52 is provided in the center of the base 50, and the pinion 53 is fixed to the shaft of a drive motor 49 having one end supported in a hole in the base 50. There is.

Since the first embodiment has the above-described configuration, when the paper sheets discharged from the paper discharge roller pair 17 are accumulated in the direction of the arrow H on the tray, the motor 35 is started by an appropriate activation signal. , the rotation is transmitted to gear 39 via gears 36, 37, and 38, and cam plate 40 is rotated in the direction of arrow H in FIG. Then, the tray 13 is moved by the arm member 42 in the two directions of the arrows, that is, in the left direction, and the cam part 40a of the cam plate 40 operates the microswitch 41, and when the motor 35 is stopped, the tray 13 is moved in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. It is positioned most closely in the direction of 2 of 20 (Figure 1).

As shown in FIG. 1, when the stacking of paper sheets 11 in a predetermined job unit on the tray 13 is completed, a start signal is issued to the motor 35 again, the motor 35 is activated, and this time the cam of the cam plate 40 is activated. The rotation continues until the section 40b operates the microswitch 41, and the tray 13 is moved in the direction of arrow H in FIG. 1, and is positioned when the motor 35 stops.

Next, based on FIGS. 2 and 3, the operation of the shifter 48 when moving the tray 13 will be explained.

FIG. 2 shows the state immediately before the tray 13 is moved after a predetermined job has been loaded with sheets I. When the solenoid 43 is energized before the tray 13 moves from this state, the link 44 and the member 45 rotate the lever 46 in the direction of the arrow LE in FIG. It is pushed 14 in the direction indicated by the two-dot chain line, and is completely separated from the bs jt1 paper I. In this state, the tray moving motor 35 is operated to move the tray. After the tray movement is completed, the solenoid 43 is de-energized and the lever 48 attempts to return to its original position. However, since there is stacked paper ■, the lever 48a on the front side is on the surface of the stacked paper, and the lever 48b on the back side is bent on the surface 23 of the tray 13.

, FIG. 3 shows that the series of operations described above has been completed and the paper sheet II for the next job ri is being loaded. The appearance of FIG. 3 viewed diagonally from above corresponds to the perspective view of FIG. 1.

Next, a mechanism for moving the lever 48 according to the paper size will be explained.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, the vicinity of the rotation axis 46 of the lever 48 is positioned as shown by movable arms 54 and 55, so that the lever 48a follows the movement of the arms 54 and 55.

48b is movable along axis 46. For example, a stepping motor is used as the drive motor 49, and the stepping motor 49 is driven according to a paper size signal (for example, from a paper cassette), and the distance between the first flange 48a and 48b is determined by the paper [↑J]. It can be made compatible. Of course, L needs to be set larger than the inside of the paper, and empirically it is 2 to 3
It is better to make it larger by mm (taking into account skew in the conveyance system, etc.).

Also, while moving the lever according to the paper size.

In order not to disturb the already loaded paper sheets, it is necessary to energize the solenoid 43 and pull the lever 48 up to the position where it is completely away from the paper. However, when changing the paper size from large to small, Although it is absolutely necessary, it is not always necessary to pull up the lever 48 when changing from small to large.

A modification of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG.

In the first embodiment, a stepping motor is used to automatically move the paper size according to the paper size.
6 and placed outside the cover 58, the spacing between the levers 48 can be adjusted to match the paper size with one manual operation, and costs can be reduced. In addition, in the case of manual operation,
To prevent jams and poor loading due to incorrect paper size settings and rain, position detection is performed using a micro switch (not shown), etc. to determine whether the paper size is set correctly, and if the paper size is incorrect, a simple LED It is necessary to provide some kind of warning, such as flashing, or to prohibit discharge.

In this embodiment, an example is shown in which the paper size changes due to center sorting, but it goes without saying that this can also be applied when the paper size changes based on one side. In that case, the lever on the reference side should not be moved. All that is required is a structure.

As explained above, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the tray 13 for collecting paper sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus is positioned by moving left and right in a direction perpendicular to the discharge direction of the L distributed sheets. , when sorting and stacking the L distributed paper sheets on the right and left sides of the tray 131-, regulating the position of both ends of the ejected paper sheets in the direction perpendicular to the discharge direction,
By releasing the restriction on the position of paper sheets while the tray is moving, not only the paper sheets are stacked on the surface 23-L of the receiver of the tray 13, but the boundaries are clearly sorted for each job. It is now possible to perform fAH for each job in an orderly and undisturbed manner.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the stacking device for sorting sheet materials according to the present invention has the configuration as described above, there is an effect that the boundaries for sorting sheet materials are clear.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the loading device of this embodiment. Figures 2 to 4 are cross-sectional views of the loading device of this embodiment, Figure 5 is a top view of the lever moving part, Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of another modification, and Figure 7 is the main structure of the conventional loading device. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the conventional example, and FIG. 9 is a diagram of the paper leaf planting state according to the conventional example. 13---One tray, 43---Lever drive solenoid, 48---One sheet position regulating lever, 49---Lever movement motor.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Position the tray that collects the sheet materials discharged from the image forming apparatus by moving it left and right in a direction substantially perpendicular to the discharge direction of the sheet materials, and sort the sheet materials to the right and left sides of the tray. In a sorting and loading device that loads while moving, while the tray is positioned to the left or right, the position in the horizontal direction after discharging the sheet material is controlled, and while the tray is moving to the left or right, the position is controlled in the horizontal direction. A sheet material sorting and stacking device characterized by having a means for releasing the restriction. (2) The sheet material sorting and stacking device according to claim (1), wherein the sheet material position regulating member has a position regulating means that is movable according to the paper size. (3) While the position regulating means moves according to the paper size, the position regulation is released, and after the movement is completed, the position regulation is performed again. Sheet material sorting and loading device. (4) When the above-mentioned position regulating means moves according to the paper size, when changing from a large size to a small size, the position regulation is released, and after the movement is completed, the position regulation is performed again, and from a small size to a large size. The sheet material sorting and stacking device according to claim 3, characterized in that the position restriction is not released when changing the size.