JPS6327254B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention is applicable to printers, facsimile machines, copying machines,
The present invention relates to an output sheet sorting device that sorts a series of sheets output from an image or other forming device such as a printing machine into a predetermined number of sheets or pages.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, when a series of sheets that are continuously delivered by this type of apparatus are easily sorted, the sheets are stacked and stored in different postures on a sheet discharge stacker for each number of sheets to be sorted.

That is, for example, a series of sheets with a predetermined number of pages and a series of sheets with the next number of copies are stacked in different postures to make it easier for the user to pick up the sheets one by one.
Conventionally, such an apparatus shifts the paper stacker between the right side position and the left side position for each copy number division, or rotates the paper delivery stacker for each copy number division.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Therefore, since the paper output stacker shifts with paper stacked on it, the stack of paper that is already stacked on it may become dislodged, the divisions between copies become unclear, and the stacker no longer fulfills its original role. Occurs frequently.

At the same time, in order to move or rotate the paper stacker left and right when a large number of sheets are loaded,
The shift mechanism becomes larger and must be constructed more robustly, causing problems in inertia during shifting and equipment cost. Furthermore, moving the paper stacker that is touched by the user may lead to an unexpected accident.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention is based on the idea that paper is ejected and stored in different orientations on the paper ejection path before reaching the paper ejection stacker, and it is possible to neatly distinguish and store each copy by number of copies, and the device configuration is simple. To obtain an ejected paper sorting device that does not give a user a sense of anxiety.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a tray member for temporarily holding paper on a paper discharge path leading to a paper discharge stacker, and in the process of paper passing through this tray member, at least one tray member is moved by a shifting means. The paper is moved between a first position and a second position so that the paper is stored on the paper stacker in different postures.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS.
This will be explained with reference to FIG.

<Configuration> As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus of this embodiment includes a printing/image forming apparatus 1, a document circulating device 2 provided on the forming apparatus 1, and a paper ejected from the forming apparatus 1. and a discharge paper sorting device 30 for accommodating the paper.

The forming device 1 includes, for example, an electrostatic copying mechanism that forms an image on paper, and transfers the image formed on the drum 1A to the paper P via the platen 1C.
It is designed to be fixed by printing device 1B. In addition,
A paper detection sensor S is provided at the discharge port of the forming apparatus 1.

The document circulation device 2 stores a series of document (original) documents.
The documents are circulated between the document table 2A and the platen 1C a number of times depending on the number of copies to be made, and are fed and discharged.
Note that a conveyor belt 2B is provided to convey the original along the platen 1C.

The ejected sheet sorting device 30 is configured to store the sheets P processed by the forming device 1 into the ejected sheet stacker 4 via the ejected sheet path 3 .

By the way, since the document circulation device 2 feeds the document from the beginning of the document, that is, the first page, to the platen 1C, the copy of the first page is ejected from the forming device 1 in an upward position, and is directly transferred to the paper ejection stacker 4. If you store them in , the page order will be messed up.

Therefore, the paper discharge path 3 includes a reversing section 5 that reverses the traveling direction of the paper P, and a reversing path that reverses the paper P whose traveling direction has been reversed in the reversing section 5 and discharges it to the paper discharge stacker 4. 3A is provided.

Note that it is not necessarily necessary to provide a paper reversing section 5 in the paper ejection path 3 from the forming device 1 to the paper ejection stacker 4, and depending on the image forming state of the forming device 1 and its order, the paper can be turned upside down. This may be used when it is better to invert the paper and store it in the discharge stacker 4.

Therefore, the paper discharge path 3 may simply be a conveying means such as a roller or a belt that carries the paper straight from the forming device 1 to the paper discharge stacker 4, and a guide that constitutes the paper discharge path 3.

The reversing unit 5 is provided with a pair of rollers 6 and 7 for transporting the paper P from the forming device 1, and a tray member 8 for storing the paper P transported by the rollers 6 and 7.

Further, the reversing path 3A is provided with a roller 9 that is pressed against the roller 7 and conveys the paper P on the tray member 8, and a pair of paper discharge rollers 11 that discharges the paper P to the paper discharge stacker 4.

Furthermore, a path switching piece 10 is provided at the tip of the tray member 8 to guide the paper P from the rollers 6 and 7 to the tray member 8 side and to guide the paper P from the tray member 8 to the rollers 7 and 9 side. .

An electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) is connected to the path switching piece 10, and the paper is moved into the tray member 8 by a signal from the sensor S, and the estimated time when the tray member 8 is shifted from the first position to the second position is determined. After that, it moves to the roller 9 side.

The tray member 8 is attached to the casing 1 as shown in FIG.
It is attached to a stay 13 provided at 2 so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction (left and right in FIG. 1).

Then, the groove 14 formed in the stay 13 and the pin 8A provided in the tray member 8 are fitted in the tray member 8, and the tray member 8 can be moved between two positions, a first position and a second position, within the groove 14. be. In addition, the tray member 8
Shifting means 15 for selectively moving the motor to the first and second positions is constructed as shown in FIG.

That is, when the tray member 8 is always held in the first position by the biasing spring 17 shown in FIG. It is configured to move from the position to the second position, that is, from the solid line position in FIG. 4 to the chain line position.

<Operation> In such a configuration, this device operates as follows.

When the sensor S detects a sheet of paper on which an image has been formed by the forming device 1, the path switching piece 10 is set at a position where the sheet is guided toward the tray member 8 side. Then, the paper P is moved to the tray member 8 by the pair of rollers 6 and 7.
sent to the top.

Then, when the leading edge of the paper has completely entered the tray member 8, this is detected by the sensor or the electromagnetic solenoid 16 is energized by the timer means from the sensor S, and the tray member 8 is moved by the operation of the solenoid 16. Move from the first position to the second position.
In this state, the path switching piece 10 is pressed against the roller 9 as shown in FIG.

When the roller 9 rotates, the paper between the roller 9 and the path switching piece 10 is sent between the rollers 9 and 7, passes through the reversing path 3A, is ejected by the ejection roller 11, and is placed in the ejection stacker. It is stored on 4.

Therefore, when the paper sent to the tray member 8 is taken over to the reversing path 3A, there is a positional deviation of the paper in the direction perpendicular to the feeding direction between when the tray member 8 is in the first position and when it is in the second position. Since the paper is stored in the discharge stacker 4 as it is, it is possible to selectively change the storage orientation of the paper.

For example, in order to distinguish a series of sheets by number of copies, in the first round, the sheets are fed into the reversing path 3A from the first position of the tray member 8, and in the next round, the sheets are fed into the reversing path 3A from the second position. 3A, and by repeating this process alternately, the sheets are stacked in the discharge stacker 4, sorted into P1, P2, P3, and P4 for each number of copies, as shown in FIG.

In this process, the tray member 8 is shifted from the first position to the second position when the number of sheets is 1.
This can be done every other time, but this can be done even if the last sheet is received from the forming device 1, that is, a repeat signal is received, or the interval of paper feeding from the forming device 1 for each part (the interval between the last sheet and the next first sheet) It is also possible to make them different and detect this.

[Modified example]

The tray member shown in FIG. 6 moves and shifts the tray member 8 from the first position to the second position each time the paper is sent to the tray member 8 in the one shown in FIG. 8 is shifted only when changing the number of copies.

That is, the tray member 8 is placed in a horizontal or inclined first position in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction;
It is arranged to be movable between this first position and a second position inclined in a different direction.

The one shown is the casing 1 of the paper discharge stacker 4.
The shaft 18 of the tray member 8 is rotatably supported on the shaft 18 of the tray member 8, and is swingable between a horizontal first position and a second tilted position. 19 against the tray member 8
from the first position to the second position, the solenoid 20
It is designed to move with. Therefore, the solenoid 20 and the spring 19 move the tray member 8 to the first position.
and a second position.

The operation is roughly the same as that shown in FIG. wait for it to happen.

Then, in the first position, the paper is sent out to the reversing path 3A in the same posture as it entered, and in the second position, the paper moves by its own weight along the inclined surface of the tray member 8 to the flange 8B. After, reversal route 3A
The sheets are sent out, sorted by number of copies, and stored in the sheet discharge stacker 4, as in the case of FIG.

In the tray member 8 shown in FIG. 7, the tray member 8 is rotatable between the first and second positions in a direction perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction.

In addition, when sorting paper into a predetermined number of sheets, or when copying a series of originals by a copying machine, etc., when sorting into each number of copies, different Although the illustrated case is shown in which the pages are stored in a posture, for example, only the first page or the last page may be stored in a posture different from the others.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In summary, the present invention provides a tray member that temporarily holds paper in a paper ejection path from an image forming apparatus to a paper ejection stacker, which is movably disposed in at least two different positions. Since the tray member is moved between at least the first and second positions by the shifting means,
Compared to a conventional paper stacker that moves itself between the first and second positions, the mass of the moving parts is extremely small, which simplifies the shifting means such as the drive mechanism and support mechanism. It is possible to obtain an ejected sheet sorting device that neatly sorts sheets by number of copies without fear of the stored sheets collapsing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 shows a discharge paper sorting device together with a forming device and a document circulation device, and FIGS. 2 to 4 show a tray. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the members and the shifting means, and is an explanatory diagram of the paper storage state. FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing modified examples of the shift means. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Forming device, 3... Paper discharge path, 3A... Reversing path, 4... Paper discharge stacker, 5... Reversing section, 8... Tray member, 15... Shifting means, 30... Discharged paper sorting device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a discharge paper sorting device that stacks and stores a series of sheets discharged from a printing, image, etc. forming device in a paper discharge stacker via a paper discharge path, the paper is placed in the paper discharge path. A tray member that is temporarily held and is movably arranged to at least two different positions, a first and a second, and a shifter that moves the tray member to at least two different positions, the first and the second. A discharged paper sorting device characterized by comprising: means for discharging the sheets on the tray member toward the discharged paper stacker. 2. The tray member is placed in a horizontal or inclined first position in a direction perpendicular to the paper ejection direction;
Claim 1: The first position is movable between the first position and a second position inclined in a different direction.
The ejected paper sorting device described in Section 1. 3. The ejected sheet sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the tray member is swingable between first and second positions having different angles on the same plane as the ejecting direction of the sheets. 4. The ejected paper sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the tray member is rotatable between first and second positions in a direction perpendicular to the ejection direction of the paper.