JP2002068574A - Postprocessor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a postprocessor wide in latitude of time for operating a paper registering means, causing no so-called buckling, changing little nip force by the number of registering paper sheets, capable of accurately registering the paper sheets and capable of coping with even speed up of registering the paper sheets as the paper registering means for registering the paper sheets. SOLUTION: In this postprocessor for applying prescribed postprocessing to a plurality paper sheets by a postprocessing means in a state of registering the plurality of paper sheets S by the paper registering means 96, a means arranged on the tip side on a paper placing member 45 for placing the plurality of paper sheets S in a stacking state and projecting plural flexible blade-like members 99 in the tangent direction on the outer periphery of a rotary shaft member 98, is used as the paper registering means 96 so that the purpose is attained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a post-processing apparatus used for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile apparatus, there is a remarkable enrichment of a post-processing apparatus for performing a punching process, a stapling process, etc., and an image is formed. It is natural to have a function of performing stapling processing for binding sheets. Further, in the post-processing device,
When performing stapling, it is common to perform paper alignment to align the paper on which an image has been formed, and as a paper alignment means in the paper transport direction, several blades are rotated against the paper. By means of this, the sheet is usually slip-conveyed and aligned, a roll-conveying means using a roll instead of a blade, or a slip-conveying means using a belt instead of a blade is usually used for functional reasons. The paper alignment is performed by slip conveyance.

As a post-processing apparatus having such a paper aligning means, there is one disclosed in, for example, JP-A-11-130338. This Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-13033
As shown in FIG. 18, the sheet processing apparatus according to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-200400 includes a staple tray 200 that receives and stacks the sheets S discharged from the image forming apparatus, and a conveying direction of the sheets S stacked on the staple tray 200. Rear end fence 2 that abuts the edge of the sheet to align the sheet
And stapling means 2 for performing stapling processing on the end of the sheet bundle aligned by the rear end fence 201.
02, the sheet staple tray 200 that is movable in the thickness direction of the sheet bundle stacked on the staple tray 200 and guides the sheet S to the rear end fence 201. And a regulating pressing member 203 for pressing the upper surface of the sheet S near the rear end fence 201 every time a predetermined number of sheets S are discharged to the staple tray 200. Is provided.

In the sheet processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-130338, a sponge roll is used as the regulation pressing member 203.
The sheet S is conveyed in a direction opposite to the conveying direction so that the rear end of the sheet S can be aligned, and the sheet S is returned.

[0005]

However, the prior art described above has the following problems. That is, in the case of the sheet processing apparatus according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-130338, the regulating pressing member 203 is
Since a sponge roll is used, the sponge roll 203 always nips and applies a constant conveying force to the sheet S at the time of reverse rotation as shown in FIG. If the length is long, there is a problem that a so-called "buckling" occurs in which the rear end of the sheet S abuts against the rear end fence 201 and curves as shown in FIG. Further, the sponge roll 203 has a problem that if the rotation time in the reverse direction is short, the rear end of the sheet S cannot be returned, and the sponge roll 203 cannot be accurately aligned with the rear end fence 201. There is no latitude, and there is a problem that setting is difficult.

In the case of the sheet processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-130338, one to several tens of sheets S are usually arranged on the staple tray 200. In this case, a sponge roll for the sheets is used. Since the nip position of 203 changes, the nip force changes,
There is a problem that the returning time of the sheet S is not stable.

Further, as the regulating pressing member 103, as shown in FIG. 21, a perpendicular paddle in which a plate-like paddle 205 is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the circumference of the rotating shaft 204 may be used. Has a problem that the amount of deflection θ of the paddle 204 is large and the conveying force is increased, so that "buckling" occurs in the sheet similarly to the sponge roll.

In the case of the sheet processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-130338, the sponge roll 203 is nipped in order to align the trailing edge of the sheet, as shown in FIG. When the leading end of the next sheet S arrives, the leading end of the next sheet S is
Sponge roll 2
It is necessary to set the timing to release the nip of 03 quickly, and at high speed, the sheet S cannot be fully returned,
There is a problem that sheet alignment failure occurs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a paper aligning means for aligning paper, which is a time for operating the paper aligning means. Wide latitude, no so-called "buckling", etc. In addition, the nip force hardly changes depending on the number of papers to be aligned, it is possible to align papers with high accuracy, and it is possible to respond to high speed paper alignment To provide a suitable post-processing device.

[0010]

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in a state where a plurality of sheets are aligned by a sheet aligning unit, a predetermined processing is performed on the plurality of sheets by a post-processing unit. In the post-processing device for performing processing, the paper aligning means is disposed on a leading end side of a paper placing member on which a plurality of papers are placed in a stacked state, and is arranged along a tangential direction on an outer periphery of a rotating shaft member. It is configured to use means in which a plurality of flexible blade-like members are protruded.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a post-processing apparatus for performing a predetermined post-processing by a post-processing means on a plurality of sheets in a state where the plurality of sheets are aligned by a sheet aligning means. A sheet placement member that is arranged in a conveyance path of the sheet conveyed inside the post-processing apparatus main body, and that is placed at a rear end of the sheet placement member on which a plurality of sheets are placed in a stacked state; A reference fence member for aligning the trailing edge of the paper placed on the paper placement member, and a reference fence member disposed on the leading end side on the paper placement member and tangentially extending along the outer periphery of the rotating shaft member. Paper aligning means provided with a plurality of flexible blade-like members protruding, by the paper aligning means,
The paper that is sequentially transported along the paper transport path is transported in a direction opposite to the normal transport direction, and the rear end of the paper is abutted against a reference fence member to perform paper alignment. is there.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 2 shows an image forming apparatus to which a post-processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention can be applied.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an ADF (Auto Document Feed) image of a document (not shown).
r) or an image input unit to which a series of image information is input from a host computer or the like. The image input unit 1 outputs image information to the laser scanning unit 2. The laser scanning unit 2 irradiates a laser beam on the photosensitive drum 3 uniformly charged in advance by the primary charger 4 based on image information at one or two exposure positions according to an image forming mode. Thus, an electrostatic latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 3 is developed by a developing device 5 and / or a developing device 6 with toners of different colors as necessary. Further, the toner image developed on the photosensitive drum 3 is supplied from a paper storage unit 9 of a paper supply unit 10 and transferred onto a recording paper S fed at a predetermined timing by a registration roll 11 onto a transfer roll 7. Is transcribed. The recording paper S to which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 13 by the conveying belt 12 and the fixing device 1
3, the toner image is fixed on the recording paper S by heat and pressure. The recording paper S on which the toner image has been fixed passes through the discharge passage 16 according to the image forming mode, and is discharged from the discharge roll 1.
5 or the sheet is reversed by the sheet reversing mechanism 14 through the feed path 17 or the feed path 18 in a state where the transport direction and the front and back are reversed as necessary.
The sheet is discharged from the discharge roll 15 to the outside of the apparatus, or is again conveyed to the image forming portion of the photosensitive drum 3 via the double-sided / multiple-recording path 26, and double-sided or multiple-recording is performed.

After the image forming process is completed, the surface of the photosensitive drum 3 is cleaned of residual toner and the like by the cleaning device 8 so as to be ready for the next image forming process.

FIG. 3 shows a sheet reversing mechanism of the image forming apparatus.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 14 denotes a sheet reversing mechanism provided at a discharge section of the image forming apparatus. A discharge passage 16 is formed in a straight line obliquely upward, and below the discharge passage 16, a feed passage 17 extending obliquely downward from an upstream side of the discharge passage 16 in the conveyance direction of the recording sheet S. And a delivery passage 18 extending obliquely downward from the downstream side of the discharge passage 16 in the conveyance direction of the recording sheet S, are arranged so as to form a substantially triangular shape. A switching member 27 for switching the recording sheet S discharged from the fixing unit 13 between the discharge passage 16 and the feed passage 17 is provided at the entrance of the discharge passage 16 and the feed passage 17.
Are arranged so as to be tiltable.

The feeding path 1 of the sheet reversing device 14
A tri-roll 19, which constitutes a part of the sheet reversing device 14, is disposed between the sheet 7 and the delivery path 18. The tri-roll 19 is such that the nip between the first driven roll 19A and the driving roll 19B is located in the feed passage 17 and the nip between the driving roll 19B and the driven roll 19C is located in the delivery passage 18. The driven roll 19A, the driving roll 19B, and the driven roll 19C are arranged in a state where they are pressed against each other.

Further, the inlet passage 17 and the outlet passage 18
As shown in FIG. 3, a reversing passage 25 is connected to the lower end of the merging portion located at the lower end of the reversing passage 25 in an inclined state. 25A and a double-sided / multiple-recording path 26 are formed so as to be branched. A switching member 20 for switching the transport direction of the recording paper S is disposed at a branch between the drawing-in portion 25A and the duplex / multi-recording passage 26, and a lower end of the switching member 20 has a mylar sheet or the like. A shield plate 31 made of a synthetic resin film is provided to project downward. The switching member 20 is arranged so that the shield plate 31 comes to a position shown in the drawing in a normal state. A forward / reverse rotation roll 21 and a pinch roll 22 for transporting the recording paper S are disposed at the upper end of the draw-in section 25A so as to be able to press against each other. This pinch roll 22
The pressure contact state with the forward / reverse rotation roll 21 can be released by the solenoid 24 via the link 23.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 23A indicates a fulcrum of the link 23, reference numeral 24A indicates an operating rod of the solenoid 24, and reference numeral 29 indicates a detection unit of the recording paper detection sensor 28.

In the sheet reversing mechanism 14 configured as described above, a sheet reversing operation is performed as follows.

In the single-sided copy normal discharge mode of the image forming apparatus, the drive motor for driving the drive roll 19B of the tri-roll 19 of the sheet reversing mechanism 14 is stopped, and as shown in FIG. In a state where the switching member 27 disposed in the section is lowered, the fixing device 1
The recording paper S, which has been subjected to the fixing process in Step 3, passes above the switching member 27 via the discharge path 16 and is directly discharged to the discharge roll 15.
From the device.

In the one-sided copy reversal discharge mode of the image forming apparatus, the triroll 1 of the paper reversing mechanism 14 is used.
9 is driven, and the driven roll 19A of the tri-roll 19 and the driving roll 1B are driven.
9B and the driven roll 19C are driven to rotate. The switching member 27 disposed in the discharge passage 16 is, as shown in FIG.
It is pulled up by a solenoid (not shown), and is switched from the discharge passage 16 to the inlet passage 17. The transport direction of the recording paper S subjected to the fixing process by the fixing device 13 is switched by the switching member 27, and
7 and is guided to a nip portion composed of a driven roll 19A and a driving roll 19B located in the feed passage 17 and is driven in a normal rotation state via a reversing passage 25 by a driving force of the driving roll 19B. It is guided to the forward / reverse rotation roll 22.
As a result, the recording sheet S is once guided into the reversing passage 25, but the upper end of the recording sheet S is located above the lower end of the shield plate 31 of the switching member 20.

The recording paper S once guided into the reversing passage 25 by the forward / reverse roll 22 has its upper end located above the lower end of the shield plate 31 of the switching member 20, so that it is rotated in the reverse direction. The roll is conveyed again to the reversing passage 25 by the forward / reverse rotation roll 22, and is guided to a nip portion composed of a driving roll 19 </ b> B and a driven roll 19 </ b> C arranged in the delivery passage 18 via the reversing passage 25, and the driving roll 19 </ b> B Is conveyed to the discharge roll 15 by the conveyance force of.

Further, in the two-sided copying mode in the image forming apparatus, a driving motor for driving the driving roll 19B of the tri-roll 19 of the sheet reversing mechanism 14 is driven, and the driven roll 19A and the driving roll 19B of the tri-roll 19 are driven. The switching member 27 disposed in the discharge passage 16 is lifted upward by a solenoid (not shown) as shown in FIG. 3, and is switched from the discharge passage 16 to the inlet passage 17. The operation until the roll is guided to the forward / reverse roll 22 in the forward rotation state is the same as that in the single-sided copy reverse discharge mode. When the reversal timing of the recording paper S is delayed from the one-sided copy reversal discharge mode, the upper end of the recording paper S is at the lower end of the switching member 20 disposed at the branch between the reversing path 25 and the duplex / multiplex recording path 26. The switching member 20 is switched to the double-sided / multiplex recording path 26 by its own weight.
Therefore, the recording sheet S conveyed again by the forward / reverse roll 22 in the reverse rotation state is conveyed via the switching member 20 to the double-sided / multiple recording path 26 with the surface on which the toner image is formed facing up. . The recording sheet S is conveyed again to the image forming section with the surface on which the toner image is formed down, via a double-sided / multiple recording path 26 formed so as to be bent and folded. On the back surface of S, a toner image is formed. Subsequent operations are the same as those in the single-sided copy normal discharge mode.
After passing through the fixing device 13, the paper is discharged to the outside of the apparatus by the discharge roll 15 via the discharge passage 16.

Incidentally, if necessary, in the case of the single-sided multiple recording mode, the recording paper S on which the toner image is formed on one side is used.
However, the surface on which the toner image is formed is transferred to the photosensitive drum 3 via the reversing passage 25 and the duplex / multiplex recording passage 26 without being conveyed to the retracting portion 25A of the reversing passage 25 by switching of the switching member 20. Is conveyed again to the image forming section so that the toner image is transferred on the surface of the recording paper S in a multiplex manner, and is discharged in the same manner as in the single-sided copy normal discharge mode.

In this embodiment, in a post-processing apparatus which performs predetermined post-processing by a post-processing means on a plurality of sheets in a state where the plurality of sheets are aligned by a sheet aligning means, A sheet placement member that is disposed in a conveyance path of the sheet conveyed inside the post-processing device main body, and is disposed at a rear end portion of the sheet placement member for placing a plurality of sheets in a stacked state; A reference fence member for aligning the trailing edge of the paper placed on the paper placing member, and a plurality of sheets arranged along the tangential direction on the outer periphery of the rotating shaft member, disposed on the leading end side on the paper placing member. Paper alignment means protruding a flexible blade-like member, the paper alignment means,
The paper that is sequentially transported along the paper transport path is transported in a direction opposite to the normal transport direction, and the rear end of the paper is abutted against a reference fence member to perform paper alignment. is there.

FIG. 1 shows a post-processing apparatus used in combination with the above-mentioned image forming apparatus.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 40 denotes a main body of the post-processing apparatus, and the post-processing apparatus main body 40 is arranged so as to face a sheet discharge section of the image forming apparatus. At the upper end of the side surface of the post-processing apparatus main body 40, a sheet introduction port 41 for introducing a sheet S such as a recording sheet discharged from a paper discharge section of the image forming apparatus is opened. Is provided with a transport roller 42 for transporting the sheet S into the post-processing apparatus main body 40. A transport roll 46 for sequentially transporting the sheet S transported via the guide members 43 and 44 for guiding the sheet S onto the sheet placing member 45 is disposed inside the sheet introduction port 42. . The guide members 43 and 44 located on the upstream side of the transport roll 46 are provided with a sheet detection sensor 120 for detecting the sheet S.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the sheet placing member 45 on which the sheet S transported by the transport roll 46 is mounted is attached to the inside of the post-processing apparatus main body 40 in an inclined state. As shown in FIG. 5, a reference fence 47 for aligning one edge of the sheet S is rotatably attached to the base end of the sheet placing member 45. The sheet S conveyed by the conveyance rolls 46 is placed on a sheet placement member 45 attached in a tilted state, and the Y direction is changed by a tamper 95 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, a reversing paddle 9 as a paper aligning means described later in detail.
6, the sheet S is moved to the base end side of the sheet placing member 45, and the sheets are aligned with the edge of the sheet S in contact with the reference fence 47. As a result, the sheets S sequentially conveyed by the conveying rolls 46 are sequentially stacked on the sheet placing member 45 with one end edges thereof being aligned by the reference fence 47. The tip 47a of the reference fence 47 is folded forward to reliably prevent the sheets 41 stacked on the sheet placing member 45 from falling off. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, an auxiliary paper alignment paddle 100 is disposed near the end of the sheet placing member 45 on the reference fence 47 side.

By the way, in this embodiment, a plurality of flexible wing-like members are provided on the outer periphery of the rotary shaft member, which are disposed on the leading end side of the paper placing member, and project in the tangential direction. Aligning means, wherein the paper aligning means transports the paper sequentially transported in the transport path of the paper in a direction opposite to the normal transport direction, and abuts the rear end of the paper against the reference fence member. Thus, paper alignment is performed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 6A, a reverse rotation paddle 96 as a paper aligning means is disposed on the upper portion on the front end side of the sheet placing member 45. As shown in FIG. 7, the reverse rotation paddle 96 fixes a cylindrical rotating shaft member 98 to the outer periphery of a metal shaft 97.
A plurality of sheets (in the illustrated example, 3
Wing members 99 having flexibility are projected along the tangential direction. The rotation shaft member 98 and the wing-like member 99 of the reverse paddle 96 are integrally formed by an elastic body such as rubber, and the wing-like member 99 comes into contact with the sheet S intermittently. For example,
The material and thickness of the wing-shaped member 99 are appropriately set so that the conveyance force as shown in FIG. 8 acts.

As shown in FIG. 6, a driving force is transmitted to the reverse rotation paddle 96 from a shaft 101 for rotationally driving the transport roll 46 via gears 102, 103 and a belt 104, and a predetermined rotation is performed. The rotation speed is set to be, for example, 600 to 900 mm / sec. Further, the reverse paddle 96 is
By moving up and down at a predetermined timing together with a pinch roll 60 to be described later, the sheet S comes in contact with the sheet S conveyed by the conveying roll 46, and moves the sheet S in a direction opposite to the conveying direction. The sheet is aligned by hitting the fence 47. In the figure, reference numeral 105 denotes a frame to which the reverse paddle 96 and the pinch roll 60 are attached, and reference numeral 106 denotes a shaft to which a pulley for rotating the gear 103 and the belt 104 is attached.

By setting the outer diameter of the reversing paddle 96 appropriately, the reversing paddle 96 does not move up and down together with the pinch roll 60 and is placed on the sheet placing member 45 as shown in FIG. May be configured to come into contact with the sheet S to be processed.

Further, the reference fence 47 can be retracted by rotating downward. The reference fence 47 includes a rotating shaft 48 as shown in FIG.
The rotary shaft 48 is mounted on a support plate 49 erected on the sheet placing member 45 by bearings 5.
It is rotatably supported via a zero. An L-shaped plate 52 having a shaft portion 51 is screwed to one end of the rotating shaft 48 to rotate the reference fence 47. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the shaft portion 51 of the L-shaped plate 52 is provided with a U-shaped groove portion 5 provided on the rotating member 53.
4, and the rotating member 53 includes a gear portion 57 that meshes with a gear 56 that is rotationally driven by a drive motor 55. And the reference fence 47
Rotates the rotating member 53 by rotating the drive motor 55, and for example, moves downward by 10 degrees through the shaft portion 51 loosely inserted into the U-shaped groove portion 54 of the rotating member 53.
It is rotatable over an angle of 0 degrees.

An injection roll 58 for discharging a set of a plurality of sheets 41 stapled and placed on the sheet placing member 45 is not shown in the sheet placing member 45. Two are arranged along the width direction so as to be rotatable by the driving means.

Further, above the eject roll 58, the sheet 41 laminated with the eject roll 58 is held in a sandwiched state, and after the stapling process is completed, the sheet 41 is placed on the post-processing apparatus main body 40.
A pinch roll 60 that conveys the sheet to a discharge tray 59 provided outside the printer is provided. This pinch roll 60
Is rotatably attached to a distal end portion of a mounting plate 61 made of a leaf spring, as shown in FIG.
Is mounted so as to be rotatable about a rotating shaft 62. FIG. 10 shows one end of the rotating shaft 62.
As shown in FIG. 5, an arm member 63 for rotating the mounting plate 61 is attached, and the arm member 63 is driven to rotate by a drive motor 64 and is rotated with respect to a rotation shaft 65 of the drive motor 64. The eccentric roller 66 attached to the eccentric position is in contact with the eccentric roller. Further, a slit plate 68 provided with a slit 67 at a predetermined angle is attached to the rotating shaft 65 of the drive motor 64, and the slit 67 of the slit plate 68
Sensors 69 and 70 arranged at positions facing each other
Is to be detected. When the mounting plate 61 rotates the drive motor 64, the eccentric roller 66, which is rotationally driven by the drive motor 64, pushes down the arm member 63 and rotates the rotary shaft 62 to which the arm member 63 is attached. By the pinch roll 60
Are adapted to pinch the sheet 41 together with the injection roll 58. At this time, the movement amount and movement timing of the pinch roll 60 are controlled by the slit plate 68 and the sensors 69 and 70.

A stapler 71 for binding a plurality of sheets 41, which are placed on a sheet placing member 45 and whose edges are aligned by the reference fence 47, is mounted inside the post-processing apparatus main body 40. The stapler section 72 is arranged so as to be movable in parallel along the edge of the sheet 41 by the movement function 73.

The moving mechanism 73 of the stapler 72 is
As shown in FIG. 11, a guide rail 74 for guiding the stapler portion 72 in parallel along the edge of the sheet 41 is provided.
1 and a linear portion 74a corresponding to the length in the longitudinal direction.
And inclined portions 74b and 74c continuously provided at both ends of the linear portion 74a so as to be inclined at 45 degrees. The guide rail 74 includes two guide rollers 7 provided at the upper end of the stapler 72 along the moving direction.
5, 76 run in the fitted state. Therefore, the locus of the movement of the stapler 72 is defined by the shape of the guide rail 74. Also,
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 11, the guide rail 74 is screwed in a state of being fitted into a recess 78 provided in the guide plate 77.
As shown in FIG. 11, two guide rollers 79, 79 are rotatably mounted on the upper end of the stapler 72 in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the stapler 72, two on one side and one on the opposite side. 80 run.
As a result, the position of the stapler section 72 in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction is regulated by the two guide rollers 75 and 76 running on the guide rail 74, and the position in the vertical direction moves on the guide plate 77. The stapler unit 72 is configured to move in a state where it is regulated by the three traveling guide rollers 79, 79, 80, and the plane on which the stapler unit 72 moves is the sheet 41 placed on the sheet placing member 45. To form the same plane as.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the guide plate 77 to which the guide rail 74 is mounted is mounted on the post-processing apparatus main body 40 by a mounting substrate 81 fixedly inclined as shown in FIG. , Screws 83 are fixed at a plurality of places so as to maintain a constant interval via a bush 82. Further, five driven pulleys 85 that rotatably support a drive belt 84 for moving the stapler section 72 are rotatively mounted on the mounting substrate 81. As shown in FIG. 11, the drive belt 84 is wound around five driven pulleys 85 and a part 84 a of the drive belt 84 is fixedly connected to the stapler 72. Of the five driven pulleys 85, a central driven pulley 85a is supported movably in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the stapler 72, and always applies a constant tension to the drive belt 84 by a spring (not shown). It is energized to grant.

Further, among the five driven pulleys 85,
As shown in FIG. 13, the driven pulley 85b at one end has
Driving pulley 87 rotated and driven by driving motor 86
A belt 88 for transmitting the driving force is stretched around. The drive belt 84 can reciprocate by an arbitrary amount in an arbitrary direction by rotating a drive motor 86, and moves the stapler 72 connected to the drive belt 84. is there. The driven pulley 85 and the driving pulley 84 are disposed between the guide plate 77 and the mounting board 81.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 11, the stapler 72 driven by the drive belt 84 has a position detecting member 89 attached to the stapler 72.
Is detected by a reference position sensor 90 provided on the post-processing device main body 40 side, and the movement position is controlled by controlling the rotation amount of a drive motor 86 that drives the drive belt 84 thereafter. It is controlled.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the stapler 71 rotates around a fulcrum so as to abut on the fixing portion 91 fixed to the stapler portion 72 so as to contact the fixing portion 91. The stapler moves the stapler and stapling the stapler by projecting the stapler needles therein, penetrating the plurality of stacked sheets 41, and folding back the tips of the needles by the die of the fixing portion 91 so as to face each other. And a movable section 92. This stapler 71
Of the fixed part 9 around a fulcrum through a plurality of gears 94 that are rotationally driven by a drive motor 93.
1 so that it can rotate. Further, the stapler 71 moves such that the fixed portion 91 and the movable portion 92 face each other via the edge of the sheet 41 after the reference fence 47 is retracted. At this time, the stapler 71 is attached to the guide rail 74 and the guide plate 77 so that the fixing portion 91 of the stapler 71 and the surface of the sheet 41 are parallel to each other, as shown in FIG.

In the above-described configuration, the post-processing apparatus according to this embodiment has a wide latitude for operating the paper aligning means as a paper aligning means for aligning the paper as follows. And the like, and the nip force hardly changes depending on the number of sheets to be aligned, so that the sheets can be aligned with high accuracy, and it is possible to cope with a high-speed sheet alignment.

That is, in an image forming apparatus in which the post-processing apparatus is combined, as shown in FIG.
When a series of image information is read using a document feeder or input from a host computer or the like, a toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 3 based on the image information output from the image input unit 1. The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 3 is supplied to the sheet feeding unit 1
The recording paper S is fed by the transfer roll 7 onto the recording paper S that is fed from the zero paper storage unit 9 and conveyed at a predetermined timing by the registration roll 11. The fixing device 13 fixes the toner image on the recording paper S to which the toner image has been transferred by heat and pressure. Then, the sheet 41 made of the recording sheet S or the like on which the toner image has been transferred and fixed is discharged from the image forming apparatus by the sheet reversing mechanism 14 shown in FIG. The sheet is sent to a post-processing device disposed so as to be continuous with the sheet discharge unit of the image forming apparatus.

The type of post-processing performed by the post-processing apparatus is specified by, for example, a control panel of the image forming apparatus. The control panel includes a stapling process using paper alignment means, a predetermined number of sheets S, A process in which the position of the sheet S is shifted (offset) in a direction orthogonal to the discharge direction for each discharge,
Alternatively, a process of discharging the sheet as it is without post-processing can be designated.

The post-processing apparatus is configured to perform post-processing mainly by stapling. However, a punch processing apparatus is provided upstream of the discharge roll 46 so as to perform stapling. You may comprise so that a punching process etc. may be performed.

In this embodiment, the sheet S introduced into the main body 40 of the post-processing apparatus corresponds to the sheet S shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG.
The sheet is conveyed along 44 and is placed on a sheet placing member 45 by a transport roll 46 disposed at the tip of the guide members 43 and 44. At this time, the sheet S is as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the sheet is detected by the sheet detection sensor 120 and is moved in the direction opposite to the conveying direction by the reversing paddle 96 arranged at the upper part on the leading end side of the sheet placing member 45. The sheet S moves toward the end and is aligned with the rear end of the sheet S in contact with the reference fence 47. At this time, the reversing paddle 96 is
As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet S is moved up and down as necessary, and a predetermined conveying force is applied to the sheet S.
The direction orthogonal to the sheet S transport direction is aligned by the tamper 95.

Thereafter, the sheet S is stapled by the stapler 71.
Is subjected to stapling processing.

FIG. 14 is a timing chart.

After the sheet S has passed through the sheet detection sensor 120, the reverse rotation paddle 96 moves downward, and
Is reliably pulled back, and the tamper 95 aligns the sheet S placed on the sheet placing member 45 after Tms.

Thereafter, the reverse paddle 96 is nipped in the sheet S, and is retracted upward before the tamper 95 returns.

By the way, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a reverse rotation paddle 96 as a paper aligning means is provided as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 6, a cylindrical rotating shaft member 98 is fixed to the outer periphery of a metal shaft 97, and a plurality of (three in the illustrated example) flexible blades are provided on the outer periphery of the rotating shaft member 98. Since the sheet-shaped member 99 is configured to protrude along the tangential direction, the sheet S has
Are intermittently contacted with each other, so that a conveying force as shown in FIG. Therefore, the sheet S is not always subjected to the conveying force, so that it is possible to prevent so-called "buckling" from occurring. The reverse paddle 96 has a plurality of flexible blade-like members 99, and the blade-like members 99 are, as shown in FIG.
8, the deformation θ in the state of contact with the sheet S is small, and no excessive conveying force acts on the sheet S. As shown in FIG. The conveyance force hardly changes depending on the number of sheets S to be aligned, and the sheets can be aligned with high accuracy. Also, as shown in FIG. 8, the reversing paddle 96 can apply an intermittent conveying force.
By appropriately setting the length and the rotation speed of the sheet 9, it is possible to cope with a high-speed sheet alignment.

As described above, since the reversing paddle 96 has the wing-shaped member 99 tangent to the arc, even if the length of the wing-shaped member 99 is set to be long, the amount of deflection is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 16, the conveying force is stable even when the number of sheets increases. Thereby, stable paper alignment can be performed.

Further, even if the next sheet S is discharged by the transport roll 46 and enters the reversing paddle 96, as shown in FIG. 17, the sheet S is given sufficient corrugation (curved bending) so that Since S can enter the reverse rotation paddle 96, even if the return time of the reverse rotation paddle 96 is set to be long, there is no effect on production, and a high-production paper alignment system can be provided.

[0056]

As described above, according to the present invention, as the paper aligning means for aligning the paper, the latitude of operating the paper aligning means is wide, and so-called "buckling" does not occur. The nip force hardly changes depending on the number of sheets to be aligned, the sheets can be aligned with high accuracy, and a post-processing device capable of coping with high-speed sheet alignment can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a post-processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an image forming apparatus to which the post-processing apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram illustrating a sheet reversing mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram showing a post-processing device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a reference fence.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are a plan view and a side view showing a paper alignment mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram illustrating a paper alignment mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a graph showing the conveyance force of the paper alignment mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram showing a drive mechanism of a reference fence.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing a roller up-down mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram showing a stapler moving mechanism.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram showing a stapler moving mechanism.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram illustrating a stapler moving mechanism.

FIG. 14 is a timing chart showing the operation of the post-processing device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a configuration diagram illustrating an operation of a sheet aligning unit.

FIG. 16 is a graph showing the conveyance force of the paper alignment means.

FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram showing a sheet transport roll.

FIG. 18 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional paper alignment unit.

FIG. 19 is a configuration diagram showing a conveying force of a conventional paper alignment unit.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of a conventional paper alignment unit.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of a conventional paper alignment unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

45: sheet mounting member, 96: reverse rotation paddle, 97: metal shaft, 98: cylindrical rotating shaft member, 99: blade-like member, S: sheet.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A post-processing apparatus for performing predetermined post-processing by a post-processing unit on a plurality of sheets in a state where the plurality of sheets are aligned by a sheet aligning unit, wherein the plurality of sheets are aligned by a plurality of sheets. Means in which a plurality of flexible blade-like members are arranged on the outer periphery of the rotary shaft member in a tangential direction and arranged on the leading end side of the paper placing member on which the sheets are placed in a stacked state. A post-processing device characterized by using: 2. A post-processing apparatus for performing predetermined post-processing by a post-processing means on a plurality of sheets in a state where the plurality of sheets are aligned by a sheet aligning means. A paper placing member that is disposed on the transport path of the paper that has been transported, and is placed at the rear end of the paper placing member, and is placed on the paper placing member, A reference fence member for aligning the trailing ends of the sheets to be placed, and a plurality of flexible blades disposed on the leading end side of the sheet placing member and tangentially extending along the outer periphery of the rotating shaft member. Paper alignment means having a projecting member.
By the paper aligning means, the paper sequentially transported along the paper transport path is transported in a direction opposite to the normal transport direction, and the rear end of the paper is abutted against the reference fence member to perform paper alignment. Post-processing device characterized by the above-mentioned.