JPS6341358A - Sheet arranging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arrange the sheets whose lower part is curled, by installing an arranging stopper for determining the feeding limit length of the sheet by the collision of the top edge part of the sheet supplied onto a loading tray, onto the loading tray. CONSTITUTION:At the moment when the rear edge part of a copy sheet is separated from a paper arranging belt 8, the top edge part collides with an arranging stopper 16, and the springing-out over this degree of the copy sheet is regulated.The rear edge part of the copy sheet is dropped along the surface of the belt 8. and the copy sheet is compulsorily return-transferred along the tilt of a tray 7 by the turn of the belt 8, contact between the belt 8 and the loading tray 7, or the contact between the belt 8 and the loaded sheet, and when the rear edge contacts with a collision plate 12, the copy sheets can be arranged. Thus, the superior arrangement of the copy sheet whose lower part is curled can be carried out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Application of the Invention) The present invention is used for stacking and aligning sheet-like members (hereinafter simply referred to as sheets) discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a printing machine or a copier. The present invention relates to a sheet aligning device.

(Background of the Invention) Conventionally, in the vicinity of the position where the sheet is conveyed and sent out onto the stacking tray, a sheet is brought into contact with the lower surface of the conveying rear end of the sheet sent out onto the stacking tray, and the rear end is rotated downward. A sheet aligning and conveying means consisting of an endless belt or the like that presses against the upper surface is arranged, and rotation of the sheet aligning and conveying means applies a force to the front side in the conveying direction to the sheet, so that the trailing edge of the sheet is A sheet aligning device is known in which a large number of sheets are stacked one after another on a stacking tray by aligning a plurality of sheets sequentially on a stacking tray.

Such sheet aligning devices are used in various image forming apparatuses, but generally, as mentioned above, "warping" called curl occurs in the sheets ejected from the image forming apparatus. In particular, when a large number of sheets exhibiting downward curl (upward warp) are stacked, they may remain stuck out of the paper ejection roller due to friction between the stack tray and the sheets, or between the sheets or between the sheets, or static electricity, causing them to fall out of the normal stacking position. There was a problem that the product could not be returned to normal, resulting in a defective return.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above, and its object is to provide a sheet aligning device that eliminates the drawbacks of the above-mentioned conventional example and prevents sheets from falling from the stacking tray. It's there.

(Summary of the Invention) The sheet aligning device according to the present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, is characterized by a stacking tray and a sheet aligning device disposed near a position where sheets are conveyed and sent onto the stacking tray. The rear end of the conveyed sheet fed onto the stacking tray is brought into contact with the lower surface of the sheet, and rotated so that the rear end goes around the lower side, and is pressed against the upper surface to cause the sheet to move toward the front side in the conveyance direction. a sheet aligning and conveying means that applies a straightening force; an abutment plate that determines the return position of the sheet by abutting the rear end of the sheet returned by the rotation of the sheet aligning and conveying means; an alignment stopper which is disposed vertically on the leading end side of the sheet feeding direction on the stacking tray, and determines the feeding limit length of the sheet when the leading edge of the sheet fed onto the stacking tray comes into contact with the alignment stopper; sets the sending-out limit length to a length that roughly matches the length at which the leading edge of the sheet hits the alignment stopper when the trailing edge of the sheet separates from the sheet aligning and conveying means when feeding the sheet; It is in a place where it is structured as follows.

The position of the alignment stopper is such that, when the sheet is fed out as described above, the leading edge of the sheet hits the alignment stopper and the trailing edge of the sheet is removed from the paper aligning means at substantially the same time. It is particularly preferable that the
In short, it is sufficient that the condition is satisfied to the extent that the sheets are not separated from the paper alignment means and the paper alignment operation is not hindered.

In the above configuration, the sheet aligning and conveying means is configured as, for example, a roller, a roller, an endless belt, etc., but in practice, an endless belt type that is driven and rotated in a pair with a sheet ejection roller is preferably used. It will be done.

The alignment stopper is often installed so that it can be attached to and removed from the stacking tray, or can be tilted with the stopper function released. Also, when there are multiple sizes of sheets to be aligned, the alignment stopper is installed to match the sheet size. It is preferable to provide a plurality of positions for setting the paper on the stacking tray.

Further, it is preferable that the alignment stopper is inclined so that the limit length of the sheet to be fed out gradually increases toward the top, but this point will be explained in detail in Examples below.

Furthermore, when the amount of sheets to be loaded is large, it is desirable in practical terms to configure the stacking tray so that it can be moved gradually downward as needed.

(Example of the invention) The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the configuration of a tray discharge section of a sheet aligning device according to the present invention.

In this figure, a recorded sheet (hereinafter referred to as a copy sheet) ejected from a predetermined image forming device (not shown)
is conveyed via a conveyance roller from an entrance (not shown) of the sheet aligning device, and is carried into the illustrated vertical conveyance bus 1.

Reference numerals 2 and 3 denote a conveyance roller and a presser roller, respectively, which convey copy sheets in the intermediate portion of the vertical conveyance bus 1.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a paper discharge sensor, which has a built-in photointerrupter and is adapted to count the number of copy sheets being conveyed.

Reference numeral 5.6 denotes a paper ejecting roller and a presser roller, which ejects the copy sheet onto the stacking tray 7.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a paper alignment belt, which is installed between the paper ejection roller 5 and the tension roller 9, and the copy sheet is placed on the stacking tray 7.
When the copy sheet is ejected upward, the rear end of the copy sheet is forcibly conveyed back and rotated so as to abut against the abutment plate 12 and position the rear end.

The alignment stopper 16 is supported by an alignment stopper support 17 shown in FIG. 2 attached to the stacking tray.

FIG. 2 shows this alignment stopper 16 and alignment stopper support 17.
As is clear from this, the alignment stopper supports 17 are provided with a pair of alignment stopper supports 17 spaced apart from each other on the loading tray and spaced apart from each other. In this example, a semicircular notch 18 is provided on the opposing surfaces of the pair of alignment stopper supports 17, into which an alignment stopper 16 made of a bent line material (wire) to be described later is fitted. Two pairs (multiple locations depending on the number of target sheet sizes) are formed.

The alignment stopper 16 is bent by being compressed in the X--X direction in FIG. 2, so that it can be attached to and removed from the alignment stopper support 17 at the lower part thereof, or can be tilted in the H direction in FIG. 2.

In this example, the alignment stopper 16 is connected to the alignment stopper support 17.
The reason for making it removable or tiltable is to make it easy to take out a large number of copy sheets when stacking is completed, as shown in Figure 3, and also when a stopper function is not required. It is conveniently used to keep the alignment stopper 16 tilted as shown in FIG. The stacking tray 7 is arranged so that the alignment stopper does not interfere with stacking copy sheets when the alignment stopper is tilted.
It goes without saying that it should not protrude upward from the top surface.

The alignment stopper 16 in this example is set in the following positional relationship with the paper alignment belt 8.

That is, the copy sheet discharged onto the stacking tray 7 from the paper discharge roller 5 has its leading end aligned with the alignment stopper 1.
6, the alignment stopper 16 and the paper alignment belt 8 are set so that the rear end part is just separated from the top of the paper alignment belt 8, or at such an interval that the rear end is not separated from the top of the paper alignment belt 8. .

Therefore, the distance corresponds to the limit length of copy sheet feeding.

The stacking tray 7 shown in FIG. 1 is provided so as to be movable in the direction of arrow Y in the figure by a vertical movement drive mechanism (not shown), and the vertical movement drive mechanism is connected to the upper limit microswitch 1.
4 and a lower limit microswitch 15, the upper and lower excitation range is limited to a certain range.

Further, the stacking tray 7 in this example performs the following paper thickness detection, and when the stacked copy sheets gradually become thicker, the stacking tray 7 is moved downward by the increased paper thickness by operating the vertical movement drive mechanism (not shown). I'm trying to move it down.

That is, the paper ejection roller 6, the tension roller 9, and the paper thickness level detection photointerrupter 11 are connected, and the level detection arm 10 is configured to be rotatable in the direction of arrow Z in the figure around the glaze of the paper ejection roller 6, As the copy sheets are continuously stacked on the stacking tray 7 and the paper thickness increases, the level detection arm 10 is thereby rotated, and when the amount of rotation exceeds a certain value, the level is detected. The arm 10 is brought into operation, and in conjunction with the operation state of the level detection arm 10, the stacking tray 7 is moved downward by a certain length.

Next, the operation of the sheet aligning device having the above configuration will be explained below.

In FIG. 5, the copy sheet held by the paper discharge roller 5 and the presser roller 6 is conveyed along the rotation of the paper alignment belt 8, which rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and is conveyed to the stacking tray 7.
It is discharged into the space above.

In this example, at the moment when the trailing edge of the copy sheet separates from the paper alignment belt 8, the leading edge hits the alignment stopper 16, which prevents the copy sheet from flying out any further, and the copy sheet is moved backwards. The end falls along the surface of the paper alignment belt 80, and the rotation of the paper alignment belt 8 causes
Due to the contact between the patterned paper alignment belt 8 and the stacking tray 7 or the contact between the paper alignment belt 8 and the stacked sheets, the stacking tray 7 is forcibly conveyed back along the slope, and its rear end touches the abutting plate 12. This will cause the copy sheet to be aligned.

According to the sheet aligning device having such a configuration, it is possible to achieve the effect that alignment is performed without any inconvenience even for the copy sheet with the above-mentioned downward curl. That is, as shown in the figure of this example, the -112 stacking tray is normally inclined diagonally upward toward the leading edge side in the sheet ejecting direction, so that the leading edge of the ejected copy sheet is discharged in a posture that slides diagonally upward along the slope of this loading tray.
In the case of lower curl copy sheets, as shown in FIG. 6, when a plurality of curled sheets are stacked, as the number of stacked sheets increases, the upper stacked copy sheets gradually become more horizontal as shown in the figure. Therefore, when the leading edge of the copy sheet discharged into the space above the stacking tray 7 hits the alignment stopper 16, the trailing edge of the copy sheet is still far away from the position above the alignment belt 8. on the front side (in other words, the limit length for paper ejection is
(The length should be gradually increased as the posture of the copy sheet becomes horizontal.) If you leave this situation,
There is a possibility that the ejected copy sheet may accumulate with its trailing end resting on the paper alignment belt without going under the patterned paper alignment belt.

Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 6, in order to conveniently align the lower curled sheet, the alignment stopper 16 is set so that the ejection limit length of the copy sheet is gradually increased toward the top. The company adopted a structure in which it is tilted toward the front for ejection.

According to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the installation of the alignment stopper eliminates the conventional problems such as poor alignment and falling sheets, and allows convenient alignment of a large number of sheets. There are benefits that can be achieved.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned one example, and for example, the members constituting the alignment stopper may be replaced with other materials and shapes instead of the wire shown in the embodiment. Needless to say, the above embodiment has been described as an open-type, relatively large-capacity type sheet aligning device;
This is not intended to exclude the possibility of configuring the sheet aligning device as a sheet aligning device applied to a relatively small capacity sorter or the like.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the sheet aligning device according to the present invention has the following features:
The configuration in which the alignment stopper is mounted on the stacking tray has the effect of conveniently and accurately aligning the curled sheets, especially the lower curled sheets, and is extremely useful.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a front view including a partial cross section for explaining the general configuration of the sheet aligning device according to the present invention - an example, Figure 2 is a relational diagram showing the installation of the alignment stopper and the alignment stopper support, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between the alignment stopper and the alignment stopper support.
The figure shows a state in which a stacked sheet is being taken out with the alignment stopper tilted, Figure 4 shows a state in which a small amount of sheets is loaded with the alignment stopper in a tilted state, and Figure 5 FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the state during sheet discharge, and FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the function of the alignment stopper when lower curled sheets are stacked. 1: Vertical conveyance path 2: Conveyance roller 3: Presser roller 4: Paper ejection sensor 5: Paper ejection roller 6: Presser roller 7: Loading tray 8: Paper alignment belt 9: Tension roller 1o Double level detection arm 11 - Paper thickness level detection Photointerrupter 12: Abutment plate 13: 14: Upper limit microswitch 15: Lower limit microswitch 16: Alignment stopper 17: Alignment stopper support 18:
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Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A stacking tray, which is arranged near the position where the sheet is conveyed and sent out onto the stacking tray, contacts the lower surface of the conveying rear end of the sheet sent out onto the stacking tray, and rotates to rotate the rear end. a sheet aligning and conveying means that wraps around the lower side and applies pressure to the upper surface of the sheet to apply a moving force to the front side in the conveying direction; and the rear of the sheet that is moved back by rotation of the sheet aligning and conveying means. An abutment plate that determines the return position of the sheet by abutting the ends thereof, and an abutment plate that is vertically disposed on the leading end side of the sheet feeding direction on the stacking tray, and the leading edge of the sheet fed onto the stacking tray. and an alignment stopper that determines the feeding limit length of the sheet by abutting against each other, and the alignment stopper is configured to adjust the feeding limit so that the rear end of the sheet does not separate from the sheet aligning and conveying means when the sheet is fed out. A sheet aligning device that determines the length of the sheet. (2) The sheet alignment device according to claim (1), wherein the alignment stopper is inclined so as to gradually increase the feeding limit length toward the top. (3) The sheet aligning device according to claim (1) or (2), wherein the aligning stopper is removably attached to the stacking tray.