JP2009298564A - Sheet post-treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the precision of stitching treatment by securing the favorable precision of the registration of a sheet bundle of a stitching object loaded on a registration tray. <P>SOLUTION: This sheet post-treatment device has a staple tray 22 to receive and temporarily place a sheet of the stitching object, a jogger part 70 to carry out registration in the cross direction of the sheet placed on the staple tray 22 and a saddle stitching stapler 30 to stitch the sheet registered by the jogger part 70. The jogger part 70 is provided with small joggers 72a, 72b variable in height in the thickness direction of the sheet placed on the staple tray 22. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus that is provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer and performs sheet alignment and binding processing.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a paper post-processing apparatus that is mounted on a paper discharge side of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and performs paper output after sorting, stacking, binding, and saddle stitching is known (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). ). When performing the binding process or the saddle stitching process, the paper to be processed is transported to a staple tray (alignment tray) and is temporarily stacked in contact with the reference fence in the transport direction. After performing the horizontal alignment by moving the jogger fence, the binding process is executed by the stapler. In particular, when the saddle stitching process is performed, sheets are stacked on the staple tray and laterally aligned, and then the sheets are bound and moved to a center position where saddle stitching is to be performed.

JP 2005-324932 A Japanese Patent No. 3466376

  However, in the conventional technology as described above, the space for the paper to bend becomes wide due to the weight of the paper having a wide jogger, and as a result, good alignment accuracy is not ensured. High binding accuracy cannot be obtained. Further, when the saddle stitching process is performed, there is a problem that when the sheet is moved to the center position, the vicinity of the center of the sheet swells and good alignment cannot be secured.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to improve binding processing accuracy by ensuring good alignment accuracy of a bundle of sheets to be bound stacked on an alignment tray. .

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to an alignment tray for receiving and temporarily stacking sheets to be bound, and alignment in the width direction of the sheets stacked on the alignment tray. A sheet post-processing apparatus having a width direction aligning unit that performs the alignment and a sheet binding unit that binds the sheets aligned by the width direction aligning unit, wherein the width direction aligning unit includes the sheets stacked on the alignment tray. Jogger height varying means for varying the height in the thickness direction is provided.

  The invention according to claim 2 further includes an image forming apparatus that forms an image, a main body control unit that controls the main body of the image forming apparatus, and a main body control unit that are communicably connected to the main body control unit. Post-processing control means for controlling paper post-processing in accordance with signals relating to post-processing transmitted from the post-processing control means, wherein the post-processing control means is configured to adjust the jogger height according to the number of sheets transmitted from the main body control means. The predetermined height is set by the variable means.

  The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the post-processing control means sets the height of the jogger height varying means after the sheets are stacked on the alignment tray.

  Further, the invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the post-processing control means widens the height of the jogger height varying means after the paper is bound by the paper binding means.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that a part of the jogger height varying means includes a member that moves in a height direction with respect to the paper surface.

  The sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention includes means for changing the height in the thickness direction of the sheets stacked on the alignment tray to a height corresponding to the number of aligned sheets, thereby moving the sheets on the alignment tray. Since the sheet is prevented from being bent and swollen, good alignment accuracy can be obtained, and the binding processing accuracy can be improved.

  Exemplary embodiments of a sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a sheet post-processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a paper post-processing apparatus that performs post-processing on paper, which will be described later, and reference numeral 200 denotes an image forming apparatus that forms an image on paper such as a copying machine or a printer. The sheet post-processing apparatus 100 is configured to branch a sheet to the transport paths A, B, C, and D and perform a predetermined process according to a post-processing mode according to an instruction from the image forming apparatus 200. The transport path A is a proof mode, B1 and B2 are binding processing modes, the transport path C is a shift processing mode, and the transport path D is a saddle stitching mode.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 is provided at the upper part of the apparatus, and a proof tray for stacking sheets from the image forming apparatus 200, reference numeral 20 is a staple unit for aligning and binding the sheet bundle in the binding processing mode, and reference numeral 40 is in the sheet bundle. The saddle stitching units 60a and 60b for performing binding are stacking / shifting operations, and are elevating / discharging trays for stacking sheets discharged after processing or through-pass. In this example, the elevating / discharging tray is shown in a two-stage configuration, but the present invention is not limited to this and may be one stage. Reference numerals 80 to 82 are staple discharge sensors, reference numeral 83 is a proof tray discharge sensor, reference numeral 84 is a straight path discharge sensor, and reference numeral 105 is a receiving sensor. In addition, although not shown, each sensor used for conveyance timing and jam detection, a branch claw, a solenoid, and the like are provided. Details of these units in FIG. 1 will be described later.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the paper post-processing apparatus 100 is provided with various processing units such as shift sorting and stapling. Sub-conveyance paths are provided in five directions (A, B1, B2, C, D) downstream of the sheet receiving unit on the main sheet conveyance path. This sub-transport path is divided into directions for processing the proof tray 104, straight (through path), stapling unit 20, and saddle stitching unit 40, and the branching claw is installed in a state in which the branching claw can swing. Yes. The proof branching claw (not shown) is “switching between proof conveyance and straight conveyance”, the staple branching claw (not shown) is “switching between straight conveyance and staple conveyance”, and the branching claw toward the saddle stitching unit 40 (not shown). Is swingable so that The shaft end of the proof branch claw and the staple branch claw is connected to a swing means (not shown) for swinging the branch claw (for example, a drive mechanism using a solenoid as a drive source).

  A processing unit is not provided on the downstream side of the proof tray 104, and only a tray for receiving discharged paper is provided as a discharge destination. Further, a shift unit that shifts the sheet in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction is attached to the downstream side of the sub-transport path “straight”, and on the downstream side, the lifting / lowering sheet discharge tray 60a that receives the discharged sheet is provided. Is attached. Further, a tray for receiving the stapled bundle of sheets is attached to the downstream side of the staple unit 20. The staple unit 20 is configured to selectively perform end face binding and saddle stitching by sliding the unit in accordance with an instruction from the operation unit 202.

  As shown in the figure, the sheet conveying apparatus 100 is attached to the sheet discharge side of the image forming apparatus 200, accepts the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus 200, and inputs an instruction from the operation unit 202 of the image forming apparatus 200. Thus, post-processing such as stapling and sorting is performed.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the control system of the sheet post-processing apparatus of FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 101 denotes a control unit, reference numeral 105 denotes a receiving sensor, reference numeral 106 denotes a transport sensor group, reference numerals 80 and 81.82 denote staple discharge sensors, reference numeral 110 denotes a jogger fence lateral movement unit, and reference numeral 111 denotes a jogger height. Reference numeral 21 denotes a stapler, reference numeral 21 denotes a stapler, and reference numerals 60a and 60b denote elevating / discharging trays.

  In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes an operation panel that displays various settings by the user, their setting states, device states, and the like, and includes an operation unit 202 and a display panel 203. Reference numeral 204 denotes a system controller 101 that performs overall control of the image forming apparatus, and reference numeral 205 denotes an image forming unit. The operation panel 201 set by the user is configured to display a setting button or the like so that “processing” and “discharge destination” can be selected.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the staple unit in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 is a stapler, reference numeral 22 is a staple tray, reference numeral 23 is a reference fence, reference numeral 24 is a jogger fence, reference numeral 25 is a tip stopper, reference numeral 26 is a discharge belt, reference numeral 26a is a discharge claw, and reference numeral 27 is a tap. A roller, 28 is a paper presser.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the front end stopper 25 provided substantially perpendicular to the staple tray 22 is provided on the downstream side of the hitting roller 27. The leading end stopper 25 is configured to be able to reciprocate along the sheet conveying direction. For this reason, the staple tray is controlled by abutting the leading edge of the sheet discharged from the conveying roller 15 and moving upstream so as to bring the sheet closer to the reference fence 23 side and pressing the leading edge of the sheet in the conveying direction. The conveyance direction of the paper discharged to 22 is aligned.

  Further, the tip stopper 25 is rotated when the sheet bundle is discharged, and is retracted from the conveyance path, thereby enabling the sheet bundle to be discharged. In the staple tray 22, a discharge belt 26 is stretched in the conveyance direction, and a discharge claw 26 a that hooks the stapled sheet and discharges it from the staple tray 22 to the paper discharge tray is attached to the discharge belt 26.

  When the staple mode is selected from the image forming apparatus, the branching claws installed in the transport path are switched. As a result, the sheet conveyed from the conveyance unit is guided to the staple unit and discharged to the staple tray 22 by the entrance roller 15. At this time, the tapping roller 27 is in a raised state, and is retracted to a position where it does not become a load of the paper carried into the staple tray 22. The leading edge stopper 25 stands by at a position where the leading edge of the paper carried into the staple tray 22 abuts, and regulates the position of the leading edge of the paper.

  When the sheet is carried into the staple tray 22, the tapping roller 27 is lowered and presses the sheet against the staple tray 22, and a conveying force is obtained by the frictional force so that the sheet is abutted against the reference fence 23. The tapping roller 27 is rotating, and a vertical motion is driven by a stepping motor.

  Before the paper hits the reference fence 23 by the tapping roller 27, the paper presser 28 is also lowered, and the rear end of the paper is pressed and the rear end of the paper is guided to the opening of the stapler 21. Thereafter, the jogger performs horizontal alignment of the paper. After that, the tapping roller 27, the paper presser 28, the front end stopper 25, and the jogger fence 24 return to a predetermined home position and are ready to receive the next paper. This series of operations is repeated for a specified number of sheets to complete a sheet bundle aligned on the staple tray 22. The aligned sheet bundle is stapled by the stapler 21. The position of the stapler 21 can be moved to a designated position.

  The stapled sheet bundle is discharged by the discharge claw 26a. When a stapling completion signal is sent, the discharge claw 26 a installed around the discharge belt 26 is activated, and the sheet bundle is pushed out of the staple tray 22. The sheet pushed out from the discharge claw 26a is guided by the jogger fence 24 or the like and discharged onto the tray. With this operation, one stapled sheet bundle is completed. This operation is repeated for the designated number of copies, and the designated number of sheet bundles are aligned on the shift tray.

  FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the saddle stitching unit in FIG. 4, reference numeral 41 is a guide member, reference numerals 42 and 43 are joggers in the paper feed direction, reference numerals 44 and 45 are jogger fences for alignment in the paper width direction, reference numeral 46 is a stapler, reference numeral 47 is a folding member, reference numerals 48a, Reference numerals 48b, 49a, 49b, 50a, 50b, 51a, 51b denote conveying rollers.

  When the saddle stitching process is performed, the sheet is composed of joggers 42 and 43 that are alignment members in the sheet feeding direction, joggers 44 and 45 that are alignment members in a direction orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction, a guide member, a stapler 46, and a folding member 47. It is conveyed to the processing unit. The sheets that have been bound or folded here are stacked on a sheet discharge section through a conveyance section including a pair of rollers for conveying the sheet and a guide member.

  Next, with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10, a configuration and an operation example of the jogger unit, which is a feature of the present invention, will be described. Here, an example in which the saddle stitching process is performed by the staple unit will be described. 5 to 9, reference numeral 70 denotes a jogger section, which includes large joggers 71a and 71b, and small joggers 72a and 72b whose height is variable in the sheet thickness direction. As described above, when the sheet is conveyed to the staple tray 22, the jogger unit 70 drives the sheet to the left and right in order to align the sheet. In the case of saddle stitching staples, the specified number of sheets is stacked on the staple tray 22, aligned by the jogger unit 70, stapled by the saddle stitching stapler 30, then folded in the middle, and discharged outside the apparatus. The

  During saddle stitching, it is desirable to staple at approximately the center of the sheet bundle, and the saddle stitch stapler 30 is fixed and positioned by lifting the rear end of the sheet bundle 90a (90b). When the end is bent, the center position of the sheet bundle is shifted, and the saddle stitching staple position 30a is shifted.

  At this time, when the designated number of staples is large, for example, 50, the jogger height L is increased by 15 mm according to the thickness of the sheet bundle (see A in FIG. 5), and when the designated number is small, for example, In the case of two sheets, the jogger height L is narrowed by 5 mm (see B in FIG. 6). As described above, the jogger height L varies depending on the number of sheets, so that a gap between the sheet bundles 90a and 90b and the inner wall of the jogger is reduced, and a space for bending the sheet bundle is eliminated. By doing so, the accuracy of the binding position 30a of the saddle stitching stapler 30 is improved.

  By the way, the jogger height of the small joggers 72a and 72b in the jogger unit 70 may be partially changed. By doing so, by reducing the jogger height L only at a necessary portion, it is possible to reduce the load applied when the sheet bundle is dropped, and the alignment accuracy is improved. In this embodiment, the change timing of the jogger height is after the sheets are stacked on the staple tray 22, but is not limited thereto. Further, the jogger height may be increased when discharging the sheet after saddle stitching.

  A mechanism for changing the heights of the small joggers 72a and 72b in the jogger section 70 will be described with reference to FIGS. This configuration includes small joggers 72a and 72b for aligning the sheet bundle 90, large joggers 71a and 71b synchronized with the small joggers 72a and 72b, and a staple tray 22 that supports the entire sheet. The drive system is composed of a motor 77 for driving the large joggers 71a and 71b, a timing belt 78 for transmitting the drive, a drive motor 73 for moving the jogger height by moving the small joggers 72a and 72b, and the small joggers 72a and 72b. The cam 74 is configured to move up and down, the rotating shaft 75 of the cam 74, the shaft 76 connecting the cam 74 and the small joggers 72a and 72b, and the like.

  Next, an operation for changing the small jogger heights 72a and 72b will be described. When the information on the jogger height is received, the motor 73 rotates. When the motor 73 rotates in accordance with a specified pulse corresponding to a predetermined height L of the small joggers 72a and 72b, the cam 74 rotates, and the cam 74 rotates to loosely fit into the spiral groove of the cam 74. Since the rotary shaft 75 and the small joggers 72a and 72b are connected, the small joggers 72a and 72b move in the vertical direction when the shaft 76 moves. A connecting portion between the shaft 76 and the large joggers 71a and 71b is a long hole 71c, and is configured not to be interlocked with the vertical movement of the small joggers 72a and 72b. When the jogger height is determined by the above movement, the motor 77 is driven, and the paper is aligned by the large joggers 71a and 71b and the small joggers 72a and 72b.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. This operation is executed by the control unit 101. In FIG. 10, first, it is determined whether or not the number of sheets to be bound is 5 or less from a control signal sent via the system controller 204 of the image forming apparatus 200 (step S11). If it is determined that the number of sheets is 5 or less, it is further determined whether or not the sheet has passed through the staple paper discharge sensor 80 (step S12). If it is determined that the staple paper discharge sensor 80 has been passed, the height of the small joggers 72a, 72b is moved to 3 mm (step S13), the jogger alignment operation is started (step S14), and the jogger alignment operation is continued. (Step S15). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S11 that the number of sheets is not 5 or less, it is further determined whether or not the number of sheets is 10 or less (step S16). If it is determined that the number of sheets is 10 or less, it is further determined whether or not the sheet has passed through the staple paper discharge sensor 80 (step S17). If it is determined that the staple paper discharge sensor 80 has been passed, the height of the small joggers 72a, 72b is moved to 5 mm (step S18), the jogger alignment operation is started, and the jogger alignment operation is continued. If it is determined in step S16 that the number of sheets is not 10 or less, it is further determined whether or not the sheet has passed through the staple discharge sensor 80 (step S19). If it is determined that the staple paper discharge sensor 80 has been passed, the small joggers 72a and 72b are moved to a height of 10 mm (step S20), the jogger alignment operation is started, and the jogger alignment operation is continued. In the above operation, the height of the small joggers 72a and 72b with respect to the number of sheets to be bound is not limited to this, and may be appropriately changed.

  Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the height of the jogger portions (small joggers 72a and 72b) that are horizontally aligned on the staple tray 22 (alignment tray) can be varied, and in particular, the jogger at the time of saddle stitching. The height of the portions (small joggers 72a, 72b) can be reduced, and the space in which the paper bends due to the waist of the paper is reduced, so that the binding position accuracy is improved.

  Also, by determining the jogger height according to the number of aligned sheets, the jogger height can be changed according to the number of aligned sheets. Therefore, when the number of aligned sheets is small, the jogger height is narrowed, and when the number of aligned sheets is large, the jogger section By increasing the height of the (small joggers 72a, 72b), it is possible to suppress variations in the saddle stitching position accuracy due to the number of sheets.

  In addition, after the paper is stacked on the alignment tray, the jogger height can be changed, so that the jogger height is wide when ejecting to the alignment tray and the jogger height is narrow when saddle stitching. The amount of bending is reduced, and the saddle stitching position accuracy is improved.

  In addition, the jogger height is narrowed during alignment and widened during discharge, reducing the load on the paper due to contact with the jogger when paper is discharged to the alignment tray and when a stack of paper is discharged. Will improve.

  Further, by changing the height of a part of the jogger unit 70, the load on the paper due to contact with the jogger when the paper is discharged to the alignment tray and when the paper bundle is discharged is reduced. Binding accuracy is improved.

  As described above, the sheet post-processing apparatus according to the present invention is useful for an apparatus that staples a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and in particular, floats of the sheet before the stapling process. It is suitable for an apparatus that performs the alignment with certainty.

It is explanatory drawing which shows schematic structure of the paper post-processing apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of a control system of the sheet post-processing apparatus of FIG. 1. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the staple unit in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the saddle stitching unit in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure (the 1) of the jogger part concerning embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure (the 2) of the jogger part concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the structure of the jogger part concerning embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the cam part and large jogger part in the jogger part of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the cam part in the jogger part of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the paper post-processing apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

20 Stapling unit 22 Stapling tray 30 Saddle stitching stapler 70 Jogger portion 71a, b Large jogger 72a, b Small jogger 74 Motor 74 Cam 80, 81, 82 Staple discharge sensor 100 Paper post-processing device 101 Control portion 105 Acceptance sensor 106 Conveyance sensor Group 110 jogger phen lateral moving unit 111 jogger height moving unit 200 image forming apparatus 201 operation panel 204 system controller

Claims (5)

An alignment tray for receiving and temporarily stacking sheets to be bound;
A width direction alignment means for performing alignment in the width direction of the sheets stacked on the alignment tray;
Paper binding means for binding the paper aligned by the width direction alignment means;
A sheet post-processing apparatus having
The width direction alignment means includes
A paper post-processing apparatus, comprising: a jogger height varying unit that varies a height in a thickness direction of the paper loaded on the alignment tray. further,
An image forming apparatus for forming an image;
Main body control means for controlling the image forming apparatus main body;
Post-processing control means connected to the main body control means so as to be able to communicate with each other, and controlling paper post-processing in accordance with a signal relating to post-processing transmitted from the main body control means;
Have
The post-processing control means includes
2. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the jogger height changing unit sets the predetermined height according to the number of sheets transmitted from the main body control unit.   3. The paper post-processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the post-processing control unit sets the height of the jogger height changing unit after the paper is stacked on the alignment tray. The post-processing control means includes
The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein after the sheets are bound by the sheet binding means, the height of the jogger height varying means is increased.   5. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a part of the jogger height varying unit includes a member that moves in a height direction with respect to a sheet surface.

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