JPH075211B2 - Sheet aftertreatment device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a direction of a stapler for a plurality of sheets sent from a recording apparatus such as a copying machine or a printing machine. The present invention relates to a sheet post-processing apparatus that can relatively change the sheet.

(B) Conventional technology In a conventional sheet post-processing apparatus such as a copying machine or a printing machine equipped with a stapler, the stapler is usually fixedly arranged, and a plurality of sheets sequentially sent from the recording apparatus are It was always stapled in only one direction.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above-described conventional sheet post-processing apparatus, since the stapler is fixedly arranged, there is only one type of direction relative to the sheet bundle, and There is a problem that the relative direction of the stapler cannot be changed according to the purpose of using the bundle.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and is a sheet post-processing having a stapler for stapling a plurality of sheets sequentially sent from a recording apparatus. In the apparatus, there is provided changing means for making the operating position direction of the stapler relatively variable with respect to the stapled sheet, and the changing means can change the staple direction of the stapled sheet. To do.

(E) Operation When a plurality of sheets sequentially sent from the recording apparatus are once stacked on the intermediate tray and the ends of the sheets to be stapled are aligned and accumulated, the changing unit uses the sheets. The orientation of the stapler is determined according to the purpose, and the sheets are stapled.

(F) Example An example in which the present invention is applied to a sheet post-processing apparatus such as a copying machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

For example, a copying machine 1 to which the sheet post-processing apparatus of the present invention can be applied
As shown in FIG. 1, the copying machine main body 2, the folding device 3,
The finisher device 6 has a stacker unit 7 and a staple unit 9 from which the sheet 5 is discharged.

As shown in FIG. 2, the finisher device 6 is roughly divided into a route of the stacker unit 7 side on which the sheets 5 are sequentially delivered and a side of the staple unit 9 stapled by a stapler. Have

First, in the stacker mode, the sheet 5 carried in by the pair of entrance rollers 10 and 11 is guided to the sheet conveying path 13 by the operation of the deflector 12, and from here, the pair of conveying rollers is conveyed.
It is discharged onto the stacker unit 7 by 14 and 15. When the cumulative height of the sheets 5 of the stacker unit 7 increases, a large amount of sheets 5 can be accommodated by lowering the stacker unit 7 accordingly.

Next, in the staple mode, the pair of entrance rollers 10 and
The sheet carried in by 11 is guided to the other sheet conveying path 16 by the operation of the deflector 12, and is temporarily discharged onto the intermediate tray 20 by the pair of rollers 17 and 19. Intermediate tray 20
Since the intermediate tray 20 is slanted, the sheet 5 discharged to the first stage falls in the slanting direction by its own weight.
A belt 21 is suspended around the lower roller 19 of the roller pair 17 and 19, and the belt 21 receives a counterclockwise acting force due to the rotation of the roller 19. Further, at the base of the intermediate tray 20, a stapler 23 having a stapler rotation motor 22 installed at the bottom and a stopper 24 are provided. The stopper 24 is rotatably provided so as to drop the stapled sheet bundle onto the lower tray 20 '. Therefore, the sheet 5 discharged to the intermediate tray 20 falls in the inclination direction due to its own weight and enters the lower portion of the belt 21. Here, the belt 19 has rollers 19
Since the counterclockwise acting force is exerted by the rotation of the sheet, the end of the sheet 5 contacts the stopper 24 by the action of the belt 21, and the ends of the sheet 5 are stacked so as to be aligned.

Here, S1 is an inlet sensor provided at the sheet inlet of the finisher device 6, S2 is a stacker outlet sensor detecting a sheet delivered to the stacker, and S3 is a sheet outlet sensor detecting a sheet delivered to the intermediate tray 20. The intermediate tray outlet sensor is present, S4 is a sensor for detecting the sheet sent to the intermediate tray 20, and S6 is a level detection sensor provided along the stacker unit 7.

As shown in FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B), the stapler 23 is arranged so as to surround the aligned sheets 5, and the sheets 5 can be operated by operating a plunger (not shown).
The end portion of the sheet is clamped, and the staple is penetrated through the sheet bundle to be stapled. The stapler rotation motor 22 installed below the stapler 23 is
The stapler 23 is rotated by a drive signal for designating a staple direction from an operation unit described later, and the rotation is transmitted to the stapler 23, so that the stapler 23 has an upper side corner portion lateral direction shown at 23A (stapler direction 1) and a corner portion 23B. The operating position direction can be changed in several steps such as the oblique direction (stapler direction 2) and the side corner vertical direction (stapler direction 3) shown at 23C.

FIG. 4 shows the operation portion 25 of the finisher device 6. In the operation unit 25, 25I is a finisher mode selection switch, which can select either the stacker mode or the staple mode. 25B and 25C
Is a light emitting diode LED or lamp indicating the mode selected by the switch 25I, and the indicator 25B indicates the stacker mode by simultaneous display with the pictorial display 25D indicating the stacker mode. Further, the indicator lamp 25C indicates the staple mode by being simultaneously displayed with the pictorial display 25E indicating the staple mode. 25J is a staple direction selection switch that can select the staple direction.
25H shows the staple direction as a pictorial display, but pictorial display 2
5F, 25G, and 25H correspond to staple direction 1 (23A), staple direction 2 (23B), and staple direction 3 (23C), respectively. 25A is a jam indicator light.

Next, an example of the control circuit of the sheet post-processing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Asynchronous serial communication partially overlapping is performed between the copying machine main body 2 and the microcomputer MC provided in the finisher device 6, and the finisher side responds to the communication request signal REQ from the copying machine main body 2. Communication enable signal ACK
Is output, and then DI for each data signal DO
The communication proceeds sequentially by the transmission of. The data signal DO transmitted from the copying machine main body 2 is mainly an intermediate state signal such as copy start, end, copy size, number of copies, JAM, etc., and the data signal DI transmitted from the finisher side is the number of completed sheets. No staples or intermediate states such as JAM. Reference numeral 25 denotes the operation unit shown in FIG. 4, and S1, S2, S3, and S4 are the finisher inlet sensor, the stacker outlet sensor, the intermediate tray outlet sensor, and the intermediate tray sheet detection sensor, respectively, described above. In addition, the stacker unit 7 is controlled to move up / down and to be turned on / off.
The lower signal U / D and ON / OFF signal are buffered 26 and 27, respectively.
Is input to the control circuit 29 via the control circuit and the stacker motor M1 is controlled. The stacker unit 7 is provided with an upper limit sensor 30, a lower limit sensor 31, and a stacker level sensor S6,
These sensor groups also contribute to the control of the stacker motor M1. 33 is a signal for operating and controlling the deflector 12 provided at the entrance of the finisher device 6.
The solenoid 33 drives the solenoid 35 via the buffer 34 to control whether the sheet 5 is sent to the stacker unit 7 or the intermediate tray 20.

36 is a signal for controlling the rotation of the stopper 24.
The solenoid 38 is driven by the buffer 36 via the buffer 37 so that the stapled sheet bundle can be dropped onto the lower tray 20 '.

Reference numeral 39 is a signal for driving the conveyance motor M2 for the sheet 5 via the buffer 40, and 42 is a signal for driving the staple plunger 44 via the buffer 43. Reference numeral 46 is an interrupter that outputs a pulse proportional to the number of rotations of the carry motor M2, and 45 is, for example, a reflection sensor that detects the presence or absence of staples in the staple unit 9.

Further, 54 is a manual switch for stapling, which is used in the book mode and stapling. Further, S5 is a home position sensor of the stapler 23, and in this embodiment, the home position is the stapler direction 1 (23A). Reference numeral 51 is a signal for driving the rotary motor 22 via the buffer 52.

Next, the operation of the sheet post-processing apparatus of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When a switch (not shown) of the copying machine 1 is turned on, it is detected in step 1 that the recording operation is started, and at the same time, the folding device 3 and the finisher device 6 are brought into a driving state. Therefore, in step 2, when the staple mode is selected by the mode selection switch 25I, the indicator lamp 25C and the pictorial display 25E of the operation unit 25 are turned on to indicate the staple mode. When not in the staple mode, the operation is performed in the stacker mode. When in staple mode, signal 33 goes through buffer 34 to solenoid
The deflector 12 is actuated so that the deflector 12 is conveyed to the intermediate tray 20 by transmitting the sheet 5 to the intermediate tray 20. As a result, the sheet 5 carried in by the inlet rotor pair 10 and 11 is guided to the sheet conveying path 16 by the operation of the deflector 12, and is discharged onto the intermediate tray 20 from here by the roller pair 17 and 19. Next, in step 3, when the number of copies is one, the sheets are ejected to the stacker. When a plurality of copies are made, the sheets 5 are sequentially fed and stacked on the intermediate tray 20, and the sheets 5 on the inclined intermediate tray 20 fall in the inclination direction by their own weight and enter the lower part of the belt 21. here,
Since counterclockwise acting force acts on the belt 21 by the rotation of the roller 19, the end portion of the sheet 5 contacts the stopper 24 by the action of the belt 21, and the end portions of the sheet 5 are laminated so as to be aligned. .

Next, when it is confirmed in step 5 that the operation of the recording apparatus has been completed, the staple direction is determined in steps 6, 7, and 8. For example, staple direction selection switch 25
When the staple direction 1 (23A) is selected by J (step 6), the pictorial display 25F of the operation unit 25 is turned on, and the signal 51 is transmitted to the rotary motor (M3) 22 via the buffer 52. Therefore, the rotary motor 22 rotates to set the stapler 23 at the position of the stapler direction 1 (23A) (step 9). Similarly, when the staple direction 2 (23B) is selected (step 7), the pictorial display 25G of the operation unit 25 is turned on, and the signal 51 is transmitted to the rotary motor (M3) 22 via the buffer 52. Therefore, the rotary motor 22 rotates to rotate the stapler.
23 is set to the position of staple direction 2 (23B) (step 10). When the staple direction 3 (23C) is selected (step 8). Picture display 25H
Lights up and the signal 51 is transmitted to the rotary motor 22 via the buffer 52, so that the rotary motor 22 rotates and the stapler
23 is set in the position of staple direction 3 (23C) (step 11).

This determines the stapling direction and buffers the signal 42.
Is transmitted to the staple plunger 44 via the. Then, the plunger 44 is driven, the stapler 23 is operated, and the sheet bundle is stapled (step 12). When the sheet bundle is stapled, the signal 36 is transmitted to the solenoid 38 via the buffer 37. Then, the stopper 24
Rotates in a direction of dropping the sheet bundle downward, so that the sheet bundle falls to the lower tray 20 '.

In the present embodiment, a stepping motor is used as the rotary motor 22, and the forward / reverse rotation operation by the pulse is performed based on the home position (staple direction 1) by the home position sensor S5. It doesn't matter if you use the system. Further, although the stapler 23 is limited to three directions in the present embodiment, it goes without saying that the stapler direction can be arbitrarily set.

(G) Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the operating position direction of the stapler can be changed relative to the sheets to be stapled. The sheet bundle can be stapled in the direction corresponding to the above, and the range of use of the sheet post-processing apparatus can be greatly expanded while having a simple structure.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a copying machine or the like to which the sheet post-processing apparatus of the present invention is applicable, FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the finisher apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 (A) and 3 (B) are FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an enlarged main part of the staple unit, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation unit of the finisher device, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control system of the sheet post-processing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is an example of a flowchart of the control operation of FIG. 5 ... Sheet, 6 ... Finisher device, 9 ... Staple section, 20 ... Intermediate tray, 22 ... Stapler rotation motor, 23 ... Stapler, 23A ... Stapler direction 1, 23B
…… Stapler direction 2, 23C …… Stapler direction 3,24
…… Stopper, 25 …… Operating section.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sheet post-processing apparatus having a stapler for stapling a plurality of sheets sequentially sent from a recording apparatus, wherein an operating position direction of the stapler is relatively variable with respect to a sheet to be stapled. A sheet post-processing apparatus comprising: a changing means for changing the stapling direction of a stapled sheet. 2. The sheet post-processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the changing unit is a rotating unit that sets the staple position of the stapler based on a staple direction selection command.