JPS63101269A - Paper storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make sheets of paper matchable to a staple position without fail, by making an opposed interval in a part, where a base part of a tray and a guide plate are opposed in the staple position lower than a matching device, narrower than that of other parts. CONSTITUTION:A lower part of a guide plate 93 is lower than a paddle wheel 120, while an opposed interval in a parts 93a to be opposed to a base 91 is made narrower than that of other parts. That is to say, an interval between the opposed part 93a and the base is set to be larger in infinitesinal than a portion of thickness of the number of sheets of copying paper stowable in a staple tray 90, and a part 93b getting out of the paddle wheel 120 is also overhung outward. The reason why an interval in the thickness diretion of the staple tray 90 is made narrower in and around the paddle wheel 120, and the others are set to be wider like this is that contact resistance between the composite paper housed and matched and the copying paper during housing and matching processes is lessened to the utmost and that sheets of the copying paper are surely matched in matching reference lines A' and A'.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper storage device that stores and aligns sheets of paper discharged from an image forming device in a tray and performs stapling processing on the sheets.

Advanced technology and its four issues 4゜ Conventionally, this type of paper storage device was developed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-4
Those described in JP-A No. 3765, JP-A-60-183461, and JP-A-60-248563 are known.

These devices are usually called finishers, and are configured to stack copied sheets on a tray or the like, align them, staple them, and then transfer them to a stacking section for stacking and storage. In order to staple the sheets accommodated and aligned on the tray, for example,
The method described in Japanese Patent No. 563 uses a manual stapler that is commonly available on the market. However, the manual stapler has a problem in that the driving mechanism is complicated and the stroke of the head is large, requiring a large driving force.

On the other hand, it is possible to use an electric stapler,
This has the advantage of being compact and easy to assemble, and requires a small head stroke and low driving force. However, since the stroke of the head is small, the thickness of the staple tray itself, that is, the distance between the base plate and the guide plate facing it, must be narrowed because it is necessary to push the paper between them and align it. This poses a problem in that paper passing resistance increases and it is difficult to reliably align the paper with the staple position.

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, the paper storage device according to the present invention includes a tray for stapling processing that includes at least a substrate portion and a guide plate facing the substrate portion, and the substrate portion and the guide plate are aligned with each other by the aligning means. It is characterized in that the spacing between the opposing portions at the lower stapling position is narrower than the spacing between the opposing portions of the other portions.

In the New Year's and above configurations, the corners of the paper fed into the staple tray will be aligned with the staple position where the facing distance between the base plate of the tray and the guide plate is narrow, but the other parts will be aligned with the staple position that is narrower than the staple position. The facing distance is wide and the paper can be accommodated with low resistance to paper passing.

Once the alignment is complete, the paper will be reliably aligned at the staple position.

Back Cover Side Hereinafter, one embodiment of a paper storage device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Overall Configuration of Finisher Unit] As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment is configured as a finisher unit (50) capable of stapling.
It is connected to the paper discharge section of the copying machine main body (1) placed on the desk (45).

The copying machine main body (1) is conventionally well known, and the explanation of the configuration of its image forming section and copying operation will be omitted. Note that FIG. 1 shows a pair of discharge rollers (17) and a static elimination brush (18) as members of the copying machine main body (1).

The finisher unit (50) generally includes a switching claw (70) for switching paths as described below, a paper output tray (80), and a copying machine to the paper output tray (80).
□Paper ejection rollers (85), (86), staple tray (90), and this staple tray (90)
a paddle wheel (120) for aligning the copy paper stored in the staple tray (90) with the corner portion (A) (see FIG. 2); It consists of a stapler (130).

The switching claw (70) is connected to the ejection roller pair (
It has a beak shape facing the support shaft (71) and is rotatably attached to the support shaft (71). SLI). Therefore, when the solenoid (S'LI) is off, the switching pawl (70) is set to the solid line position in FIG.
By turning on, it rotates from the solid line position to the dashed-dotted line position. When the copy paper is at the dot-dashed line position, place the copy paper on the top side (70
a) toward the paper output tray (80), and when it is at the solid line position, the staple tray (90) is guided at the bottom surface (70b).
) side.

That is, the paper ejection path that conveys the copy paper to the paper ejection tray (80) consists of the upper surface (70a) of the switching claw (70), the guide plate (67) provided directly above it, the ejection roller (ss), (86)
). The discharge roller (86) can be rotated in forward and reverse directions, and the other roller (85)
6) and can be rotated as a result of contact. A guide plate (68) is installed at the discharge rollers (85) and (86), and the upper part (93c) of the guide plate (93) of the staple tray (90) is extended to serve as a guide plate. It is functioning. Also, store the copy paper in the staple tray (9
The finisher passage for conveying to 0) is a switching claw (70)
, the upper part (92a) of the guide plate (92) of the staple tray (90), the upper part (93c) of the guide plate (93), and conveyance rollers (100) and (101). Furthermore, a transmission type photo sensor (SE5) is provided at the copy paper loading section and the copy paper discharging section for detecting the copy paper being conveyed.

(SE6) is installed.

On the other hand, the rear end surface of the switching claw (70) is notched in a concave shape, and a flexible guide thin piece (72) made of Mylar or the like is pasted thereon. One end (72a) and the other end (72b) of the guide thin piece (72) protrude outward from the switching claw (70),
When the switching claw (70) is at the solid line position, the other end (72b
) is in contact with the upper part (92a) of the guide plate (92) and is located at the dashed-dotted line position, one end (72a) is in contact with the upper part (92a) of the guide plate (92).
).

The paper ejection tray (80) is fixed to the outside of the unit (50) via a support plate <81), and the lower end is connected to the ejection roller (85).
.

(86) and a step, and a copy paper trailing edge regulating piece (81a)
intersects with

The staple tray (90) consists of a substrate (91) and a guide plate (
92), this base plate (91), a guide plate (93) facing the guide plate (92), and a stopper (95), and is installed in an upright state with a slight inclination to the left.

In the lower part of the guide plate (93), a portion (93a) facing the substrate (91) below the paddle wheel (120), which will be described below, has a smaller opposing distance than other portions. Specifically, the distance between the facing portion (93a) and the substrate is set to be slightly larger than the thickness of the number of copy sheets that can be accommodated in the staple tray (90), and the distance between the facing portion (93a) and the substrate is set to be slightly larger than the thickness of the copy sheets that can be stored in the staple tray (90), and ta・part (93b
) also protrudes outward. In this way, the distance in the thickness direction of the staple tray (90) is adjusted using the paddle wheel (120).
The purpose of narrowing the area near the alignment reference line (A') and widening the other areas is to reduce as much as possible the contact resistance between the copy paper that has been accommodated and aligned and the copy paper that is being accommodated and aligned, and to ensure that the copy paper is aligned with the alignment reference line (A'), ( A'
) to ensure consistency.

The stopper (95) constitutes the bottom plate of the staple tray (90), and is attached to the support shaft (97) via the side piece (95a).
The side piece (95a) is rotatably held in the arm (96).
) and is urged upward by a torsion spring (98) wound around a support shaft (97). Therefore, the stopper (95) closes the bottom of the staple tray (90) when the solenoid (SL2) is turned off. On the other hand, when the solenoid (SL2) is turned on, the staple tray (90
) open the bottom.

The conveyance rollers (100) and (101) are the guide plate (92).

(93), and is for feeding the copy paper guided downward by the lower surface (70b) of the switching claw (70) into the tray 90). The conveyance roller (101) can be rotated in forward and reverse directions,
“The other roller (100) is in contact with the roller (101) and can be driven to rotate.

A strip-shaped mylar sheet (105) is attached to the upper part (93c) of the guide plate (93). This mylar sheet (105) is conveyed by conveying rollers (100), (101)
The staple tray (9) overlaps the nip of the
0) It hangs inside. This mileage) (105
) functions to ensure that the copy paper is fed into the staple tray (90) with a "height" depending on the thickness of the copy paper while it is being fed into the staple tray (90). , comes into contact with the upper end of the stored copy paper together with the weight removal brush <106) attached to the guide plate (93) to prevent the copy paper from falling toward the guide plate (93) or buckling. Function.

Further, the nip portions of the conveyance rollers (100) and (101) are set so that the sandwiched copy paper faces toward the guide plate (93). This is to reduce the contact resistance between the copy paper fed into the staple tray (90) and the copy paper already stored.

The paddle wheel (120) has a shaft (
A plurality of blade members are attached radially to the tip of the copy paper, and the angle (θ) with respect to the conveyance direction is
The shaft (121) is rotatably attached to a bracket (122) fixed to the outside of the guide plate (93), and a part of the paddle wheel (120) is attached to the guide plate (93).
It protrudes into the staple tray (90) from a long hole (93c) formed in the staple tray (93). A motor (M2) fixed to a bracket (122) and capable of rotating in forward and reverse directions is connected to a gear (123) via a deceleration means (not shown).
3) meshes with a gear <124) fixed to the shaft (121). Therefore, the paddle wheel (120) can be rotated in forward and reverse directions by the motor (M2).

That is, the paddle wheel (120) rotates in the direction of the arrow (C) to move the copy paper conveyed into the staple tray (90) to the corner (A) where the alignment reference lines (A') and (A') intersect. ) direction. In this case, the peripheral speed (V) of the paddle wheel (120) has a vertical component (
Vy) is set to be faster than the circumferential speed of the conveying roller (100);
), (101) is set to be weaker than the conveying force. Therefore, the paddle wheel (12
The conveyance force due to the rotation in the direction of arrow (c) of 0) is applied after the trailing edge of the copy sheet passes through the nip portion of the conveyance rollers (100) and (101). Conveyance roller (100).

The position of the copy paper when it passes through (Lot) is A in Figure 2.
4, the position indicated by BS. Note that the copy paper is conveyed with a central reference centering on the center line (CL).

The inclination angle (θ) of the paddle wheel (120) is determined by the angle of inclination of the copy paper when the trailing edge of the copy paper passes through the conveyance rollers (100), (101') and the conveyance force of the paddle wheel (120) begins to act. It is set to be substantially parallel to a straight line connecting the matching corner part (A) and the matching corner part (A). This is to improve alignment by directly moving the copy paper over the shortest distance to the alignment corner (A>) by rotating the paddle wheel (120). is preferably located on the extension line (C) of the angle (θ) from the corner of the copy paper, but when the angle (θ) is 45° or less, the position is moved below the extension line (C), Angle (θ) is 45
° or more, the position may be moved upwards from the extension line (C).Also, the vertical positional relationship between the paddle wheel (120) and the conveyance rollers (100) and (101) must be copied. It is necessary that the paper be set so as to receive the conveying force from at least one of them.

The stapler (130) is a well-known electric type, and as shown in FIG.
The corner portions of the copy sheets stored and aligned in the staple tray (90) are stapled.

[Operation of Finisher Unit] Next, the operation of the finisher unit (50) will be explained.

(Non-stapling mode) The copy paper ejected from the ejection roller pair (18) of the copying machine main body (1) is transferred to the ejection tray (80) without being stapled.
This is an operation mode in which the cargo is loaded and accommodated on top, and there are two modes: face-up and face-down.

Face-up is a mode in which the copy paper ejected from the copying machine body (1) is conveyed straight with the image side facing up.Normally, many originals are transferred to the last page in the copying machine body (1). Selected when copying from.

In this case, by turning on the solenoid (SLI), the switching pawl (70) is set to the dashed-dotted line position.

The copy paper is guided by the upper surface (70a) of the switching claw (70) and the guide plate (67), and is conveyed by forcibly pushing open one end (72a) of the guide thin piece (72).
e) discharge rollers (85), (8) which are rotationally driven in the direction;
6), the paper can be completely ejected onto the paper ejection tray (80) with the image side facing upward.

On the other hand, face-down is a mode in which a copy sheet discharged from the copying machine main body (1) with the image side facing up is reversed and conveyed with the image side facing down.

In this case, the solenoid (SLI) remains off,
The switching claw (70) is held at the solid line position. Therefore, the copy paper is attached to the lower surface (70b) of the switching claw (70) and the guide plate (
92), and is conveyed by forcibly pushing open the other end (72b) of the guide thin piece (72), and is rotated in the direction of arrow (e).
100), (101) to staple tray (90)
It can be transported once inside. Then, the rear edge of the copy paper is connected to the sensor (
After a predetermined time has elapsed since the signal passed through SE5), that is, at the timing when the trailing edge of the copy paper passes the other end (72b) of the guide thin piece (72), the transport rollers (100), (101
) is rotated in the direction opposite to the arrow (e). With this,
The copy paper is switched back with the trailing edge first, guided from the other end (72b) to the one end (72a) of the guide thin strip (72), turned face down, fed into the paper ejection path, and then moved in the direction of the arrow. The paper is discharged from the discharge rollers (85), (8f>) which are rotationally driven in the direction (U) onto the paper discharge tray (80) with the image surface facing downward.

Here, processing is performed when the leading edge of the copy paper reaches the transport rollers (100), (101) before the trailing edge of the copy paper that has been switched back reaches the transport rollers (100), (101). I will explain about it.

In the first processing method, the copy paper is transferred to a transport roller (100).
, (101).

That is, in the process of conveying the previous copy paper toward the ejection rollers (85) and (86), the leading edge of the next copy paper is detected by the sensor (S).
From the timing detected by E5), the transport roller (100
), (101), and then predict the timing at which the leading edge of the next copy sheet will reach the nip portion of the conveyance roller (100).
), (101), the direction of rotation of the conveyor rollers (100), (101) is indicated by the arrow (e).
Switch direction. With this, the next sheet of paper will be conveyed downward, but at this time, the previous copy sheet has already been caught by the ejection rollers (85) and (86), and this conveyance force will be used to transfer the next copy. It overcomes the downward sliding resistance caused by contact with the paper, is transported upward, and is completely discharged onto the paper discharge tray (80).

The second processing method uses transport rollers (100), (101
) are brought into contact and separated at the right time. In this case, the conveyance rollers (100) and (101) are biased apart by a spring (not shown), and are installed so that they can be pressed into contact by turning on a solenoid. Then, based on the timing when the leading edge of the copy paper is detected by the sensor (SE5), the conveyance speed, and the length of the copy paper, the timing when the trailing edge of the copy paper passes the pair of ejection rollers (18) of the copying machine main body (1) is determined. calculate. On the other hand, the copy paper is in the press unit (
50), the solenoid is turned off and the transport roller (100) is fed.

Just before the trailing edge of the copy paper passes through the pair of ejection rollers (18) of the copying machine main body (1), move the transport rollers (100) and (1ot) in the direction of arrow (e). While rotating, the solenoid is turned on to make pressure contact.

When the trailing edge of the copy paper has been detected by the sensor (SE5) and passes the other end (72b) of the guide thin piece (72), move the conveyance roller (100) <101) in the opposite direction to the arrow (e). I can rotate it. As a result, the copy paper is reversely conveyed upward through the switchback, but the leading edge of the copy paper that has been switched back is caught between the discharge rollers (85) and (86) and sent to the sensor (SE6"). When the detection is complete, the solenoid is turned off and the transport rollers (100) and (10
Release the pressure contact in step 1) and prepare for the next copy sheet to enter.

(Staple mode) After storing and aligning the copy sheets in the staple tray (90) and binding them with the stapler (130), the stack unit (1
60) (see FIG. 3), etc. Similar to the non-staple mode described above,
There are two modes: face-up and face-down.

In the case of face-up, the solenoid (SLI) remains off, and the switching claw (70) is held at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. Therefore, the copy paper is guided by the lower surface (70b) of the switching claw (70) and the upper part (92a) of the guide plate (92), and the other end (72) of the guide thin piece (72)
b) is forcibly pushed open and conveyed, and fed into the staple tray (90) by conveying rollers (100) and (101) that are rotationally driven in the direction of arrow (e). Simultaneously with the rotation of the conveyance rollers (100) and (101), the paddle wheel (120) is also driven to rotate forward in the direction of arrow (c), and the copy paper whose rear end is separated from the conveyance rollers (100) and (101) is rotated by the paddle wheel. (120) receives the conveyance force caused by the rotation, and moves toward the corner portion (A) and is aligned. At this time, the copy paper is subjected to a conveying force by the conveying rollers (100) and (101) so as to face the guide plate (93) based on the set direction of the nip portion, and the Mylar sheet (105)
) to prevent copy paper with a curled tip from curling up, and to minimize contact resistance with stored copy paper. The staple tray (90) can be filled with the staple tray (90) in sequence. At the same time, it also comes into sliding contact with the static elimination brush (106), and the static electricity is eliminated. In addition, a mylar sheet (105
) and the tip of the static elimination brush (106) come into contact with each other to prevent the copy paper from falling over and buckling. In this case, the copy paper is stored in the staple tray (90) in a face-up state with the image side facing the guide plate (93).

Then, if a circulation-type automatic document feeder is used, the stapling processing is performed based on a copying operation end signal when the document has completed one cycle, or based on a stapling processing signal from the operator if an automatic document feeder is not used. Based on this, the stapler (130) operates and staples the copy sheets at the stapling position (D).

On the other hand, in the case of face-down, the switching pawl (70) is set to the dashed-dotted line position by turning on the solenoid (SLI). The copy paper is placed on the top surface (70) of the switching claw (70).
a) and the guide plate (67), and is conveyed by forcibly pushing open one end (72a) of the guide thin piece (72), and is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow (e).
85), once protrudes from (86). Then, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from the signal indicating that the trailing edge of the copy paper has passed the sensor (SE5), that is, at the timing when the trailing edge of the copy paper has passed one end (72a) of the guide thin piece (72), the discharge port-ra ( 85)
, (86) is rotated in the direction opposite to the arrow (e).

In this way, the copy paper is swung, reversed, and indexed with the trailing edge first, from one end (72a) of the guide thin piece (72) to the other end (
72b), are reversed face-down and sent into the finisher passage, and are driven to rotate in the direction of arrow (e).
from there to the staple tray (90). In this case, the image side of the copy paper is placed between the substrate (91) and the guide plate (92).
Place the staple tray (9) face down with the
0).

Further, the rotation of the paddle wheel (120) in the direction of the arrow (C) to align it with the corner part (A) is the same as in the case of face-up storage, and the stapler (130) works and is bound.

In addition, when the leading edge of the next copy paper reaches the ejection rollers (85) and (86) before the trailing edge of the copy paper that has been switched back reaches the ejection rollers (85) and (86), Regarding the processing, there are two methods similar to those explained in the above-mentioned non-staple mode bus-down conveyance, a method of forcibly pulling out the previous copy paper from the ejection rollers (85) and (86), and a method of forcibly extracting the previous copy paper from the ejection rollers (85) and (86). 86) is brought into contact and separated at the appropriate timing.

As mentioned above, when the stapling process is completed in either face-up or face-down, the solenoid (S)
L2) is turned on, the stopper (95) is retracted to the position indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 1, and the bottom of the staple tray <90) is opened. At the same time, the motor (M2) is switched to reverse rotation, and the paddle wheel (120) rotates in the opposite direction to the arrow (c). With the rotational urging force, the staple tray (90) can be completely discharged downward from the staple tray (90) while turning in the lower right direction in FIG.

That is, the copy paper is turned to the right by the biasing force generated by the reverse rotation of the paddle wheel (120), so that the stapled portion avoids the staple position (D) and is ejected.

As described above, copy sheets discharged from the staple tray (90) are stored in the stack unit (1) shown in FIG. 3, for example.
60) can be loaded and stored in the stack box (162).

[Configuration and operation of stack unit] The stack unit (160) will now be described with reference to FIG. 3.

This stack unit (160) connects a stack box (162) via a metal fitting (164) to a belt (163) that is driven to rotate in forward and reverse directions by a motor (113), making it capable of vertical movement. . In addition, a photo sensor (SE4) for detecting copy paper faces the windows (162a) formed on both sides of the stack box (162), and detects the height of the copy paper stacked in the stack box (162). It looks like it will.

That is, the stack of copy sheets that have been stapled is completely discharged from the staple tray (90) and is placed in the stack box (
162), and the upper part is the sensor (SE4).
), the motor (M3) is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow (d), and the stack box (162) is lowered as the belt (163) rotates. Due to this lowering, the upper part of the fully loaded copy paper leaves the optical axis of the sensor (SE4), and when the sensor (SE4> is turned off, the motor <H3> is turned off. With this, the copy paper is always kept at the same height. It will be discharged and loaded at the location.

[Other Embodiments] In the above embodiments, the paddle wheel (120) is reversed when the stapled copy paper is discharged from the staple tray (90). but,
If the stapler (130) has a deep pocket and the stapling position (D) is out of the area where the copy paper falls, it is not necessary to reverse the paddle wheel (120), and the paddle wheel (120) can be moved outward [ It may be retracted in the direction of arrow (g), see FIG. 1, or it may be rotated forward in the direction of arrow (c).

Furthermore, when the stopper (95) constituting the bottom of the staple tray (90) is to switch back and reverse the long paper, the bottom part is opened by turning on the solenoid (SL2), and the transport of the long paper is stopped. It may be operated in such a way that it does not interfere.

Alternatively, the paper output tray (80) can be used as a stack box (1
62), it may be possible to have a configuration that can be nilevated,
Both of them may be shifted to the left or right at a certain timing to sort the copy sheets.

Further, the staple tray (90) may be installed in a substantially horizontal direction.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the tray for stapling processing is composed of at least a substrate portion and a guide plate facing the substrate portion, and the substrate portion and the guide plate are aligned. Since the facing interval of the opposing parts at the stapling position below the means is narrower than the facing interval of the other parts, an electric stapler that is compact and has a small head stroke and requires low driving force is used, and By increasing the thickness of the tray in areas other than the stapling position, it is possible to reduce paper passing resistance and ensure reliability of alignment to the stapling position.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the paper storage device according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the internal structure, FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow E in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a state in which a stack unit is attached. FIG. (1) Copier main body, (50) Finisher unit, (90) Staple tray, (91)
... Board, (92), (93) ... Guide plate, (9
3a) Opposing part, (100). (101)... Conveyance roller, (120)... Paddle wheel, (130)... Stapler, (A)...
Alignment corner part, (D)... Staple position.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A paper storage device that sequentially feeds sheets of paper ejected from an image forming device into a tray, collects and aligns the sheets at a corner portion by an aligning means, and performs stapling processing, wherein the tray is connected to at least a substrate portion and a portion thereof. and opposing guide plates, wherein the substrate portion and the guide plate are arranged so that the facing distance of the portion facing each other at the stapling position below the alignment means is narrower than the facing distance of the other portions. Device.