JP3273465B2 - Sheet processing apparatus and image forming apparatus having the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet processing apparatus which performs a process such as binding after forming an image on a plurality of sheets, and an image forming apparatus having the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional sheet processing apparatus, for example, a sheet, which is an image formed by an image forming apparatus, can be temporarily wound around a buffer roller without being directly sent to a processing tray and conveyed to the processing tray together with the next sheet. There is one configured.

[0003]

However, the recent image forming apparatuses tend to form images at a high speed. In this case, the paper is wound around the buffer roller to secure the processing time in the processing tray. However, if the number of sheets that can be wound around the buffer roller is one, the processing time is insufficient.

At this time, a knurl belt for forcibly returning the sheet to the stopper of the processing tray such as a staple tray may be used even if three sheets are simply stacked and discharged to the processing tray.
Since the uppermost sheet is pulled in by the knurl belt prior to the middle sheet, there is a problem that a misalignment occurs in the processing tray.

[0005] Further, if the offset amount is increased so as to be able to be pulled in one by one to prevent misalignment, the diameter of the buffer roller required for winding is greatly increased, and the inertial mass is accordingly increased. As the motor becomes larger and the offset increases, the paper size becomes apparently longer, and it takes time to settle the three stacked papers in the processing tray. There is a problem that the alignment is not completed before the sheet is discharged to the processing tray.

Further, as the sheet conveying speed increases, there is another problem that a transfer failure occurs when the sheet is transferred to the knurl belt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and does not increase the offset amount of sheets, and ensures alignment even when sheets are offset and stacked. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet processing apparatus having a higher degree of freedom and an image forming apparatus having the same.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is as follows.
Provided are a sheet processing apparatus capable of easily transferring a sheet to a drawing-in member and an image forming apparatus including the sheet processing apparatus.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet processing apparatus, comprising: a drawing member provided in an apparatus main body for processing a plurality of sheets; A conveying unit for conveying a plurality of sheets supplied one by one in a stacked manner, and a forward / reverse rotatable rotating member for receiving a plurality of sheets discharged from the conveying unit near a discharge port formed in a side wall surface of the apparatus main body. And a movable discharge member that conveys the plurality of sheets to the upstream and downstream sides in the discharge direction in contact with and separated from the rotating member, and a rotatable opening / closing member that opens and closes the discharge port, While conveying the plurality of sheets to the downstream side in the discharge direction by forward rotation of the rotating member, and by transporting the plurality of sheets to the upstream end regulating member via the drawing member by reverse rotation, A driving source for driving the serial closing member,
Detecting means for detecting that the rear end of the sheet has exited the conveying means, and rotating the rotating member in reverse after detecting that the rear end of the sheet has exited the conveying means by the detecting means; The sheet is conveyed toward the drawing member, and the lower sheet contacts the drawing member, and the conveying force of the rotating member and the moving discharge member increases before the upper sheet contacts the drawing member. Transport control means for controlling the drive source for rotating the opening / closing member so as not to act on the sheet.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the transport control means controls the rotating member and the retracting member so that the sheet transport speed of the retracting member is faster than the sheet transport speed of the rotating member.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the rotating member is a forward / reverse rotatable discharge roller, and the moving discharge member is a moving discharge roller rotated by the discharge roller.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the pull-in member is an alignment belt constituted by an endless belt member.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the retracting member is constituted by a paddle having a plurality of blades.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the transport control means determines the position of the sheet immediately above the lowermost sheet and the sheet immediately above the lowermost sheet based on the offset amount between the sheet immediately above the lowermost sheet. The driving of the conveying means for controlling the sheet conveying speed is controlled so that the offset amount with respect to the sheet above the sheet becomes large.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the coefficient of friction between the sheets is formed higher than the coefficient of friction between the tray and the sheets.

The invention according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit; and a sheet processing device for processing a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming unit. Is constituted by the sheet processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

[Operation] Based on the above configuration, when the detection means detects that the trailing end of the sheet has exited the conveyance means, the conveyance control means reverses the rotation of the rotating member for conveying a plurality of sheets. It is guided in the direction of the retracting member. Then, after the lower sheet arrives at the retracting member and before the sheet higher than the lower sheet arrives at the retracting member, the driving source is operated by the transport control means to rotate the opening and closing member. In addition, the rotating member and the moving discharge member are separated from each other so that the conveying force of the rotating member and the moving discharge member that convey the plurality of sheets does not act on the upper sheet.

Further, the sheet conveying speed of the pull-in member is made faster than the sheet conveying speed of the rotating member, and is controlled by the conveying control means.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. <First Embodiment> FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a copying apparatus as an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a sheet processing apparatus main body (hereinafter, referred to as "apparatus main body"), 100 denotes a copying apparatus main body (hereinafter, referred to as "machine main body"), and 200 denotes a transfer sheet as a plurality of recording materials having different sizes. (Hereinafter referred to as "sheet")
Is a document feeder (hereinafter referred to as "ADF") for automatically feeding a document.

First, in the apparatus main body 100, 101 is a platen glass on which a document is placed, 103 and 104 are scanning reflection mirrors (scanning mirrors) for changing the optical path of the reflected light of the document, and 105 is a focusing and changing mirror. A first scanning mirror having an illumination lamp and a mirror for reading a document sent from the ADF 300; 107, a registration roller; 108, a photosensitive drum;
Reference numeral 10 denotes a transfer roller, 111 denotes a conveyance belt that conveys a sheet on which an image has been recorded to the fixing side, and 112 denotes a fixing device that thermocompresses the conveyed sheet.

Reference numerals 113 and 117 denote transport rollers for transporting the sheet, reference numeral 114 denotes a flapper for switching the transport direction of the image-formed and transported sheet, and reference numeral 115 denotes a transport roller for transporting the sheet in the direction of the apparatus main body 1. , 116
Is a reversing path for reversing the front and back of the sheet, 118 is a conveying roller for conveying the sheet from the paper feed cassette 200 to the photosensitive drum unit, 119 is a roller, 120 is a manual tray, 121 is a separation pad, these rollers 119 and a manual tray A manual feed unit is constituted by the separation pad 120 and the separation pad 121. 122, a laser unit for forming an image on the photosensitive drum 108; 123, a polygon mirror for irradiating the photosensitive drum 108 with laser light; 124, a motor for driving the polygon mirror 123; 125, the optical path of the laser light is changed It is a mirror.

Reference numeral 200 denotes a sheet cassette in which sheets of each size are stacked by type and size, and the sheets are supplied to the apparatus main body 1 by size according to a signal from the apparatus main body 100; A pull-out conveying roller 202 is an intermediate roller that transfers the sheet pulled out from the sheet cassette 200 upward.

The surface of the photosensitive drum 108 is composed of a photoconductive layer and a seamless photosensitive layer using a conductor. The photosensitive drum 108 is rotatably supported and operates in response to pressing of a copy start key. The main motor (not shown) starts rotating clockwise in FIG. When the predetermined rotation control and potential control processing (pre-processing) of the photosensitive drum 108 is completed, the original placed on the original table glass 101 is illuminated by an illumination lamp integrated with the first scanning mirror 106, and The reflected light of the original passes through the scanning mirrors 103 and 104 and passes through the lens 10.
5, an image is formed by a light receiving element inside the lens unit.

Here, the reflected light image from the original is converted into an electric signal by a light receiving element and sent to an image processing section (not shown), while a predetermined image received by the apparatus main body 1 from a user in the image processing section. After the data processing is performed, the data is sent to the laser unit 122. Then, after being converted into laser light by the laser unit 122, the laser light is reflected by the polygon mirror 123 and the mirror 125, irradiated so as to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 108, and visualized by toner, as described later. Is transferred onto a sheet.

Sheets set in the paper feed cassette 200 or the manual feed tray 120 include paper feed rollers 118 and 119, a transport roller 201, and an intermediate roller 202.
To the registration roller 107
Thus, the sheet is sent toward the photosensitive drum 108 at a more accurate timing, so that the leading edge of the electrostatic latent image and the leading edge of the sheet coincide. Thereafter, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 108 is transferred onto the sheet by passing the sheet between the photosensitive drum 108 and the roller 110.

After that, the sheet is separated from the photosensitive drum 108, guided to the fixing device 112 by the conveyor belt 111, and fixed by pressure and heat.

The sheet on which an image has been formed in this manner is
The paper is advanced by the flapper 114 in the direction of the paper discharge roller 115, and is discharged to the apparatus main body 1 with the print surface facing upward.

On the other hand, in the ADF 300, reference numeral 301 denotes a stacking tray on which a bundle of originals 302 is set. For example, in the case of a single-sided original, the originals are separated one by one from the bottom of the original bundle 302 by a half-moon roller 304 and a separation roller 303. After being conveyed to the exposure position of the original table glass 101 via the paths I to II by the 305 and the full-surface belt 306, the carriage is stopped and prepared for the start of the copying operation.

After the copying is completed, the original is sent to the path VI by the conveying table roller 307 via the path IV, and is returned to the upper surface of the original bundle 302 by the paper discharge roller 308 again. Reference numeral 309 denotes a recycle lever for detecting one cycle of the original. The recycle lever is placed on the upper portion of the original bundle 302 at the start of the original feeding, and the originals are sequentially fed. When the document falls, one cycle of the document is detected.

On the other hand, in the case of a double-sided document, the document is first guided from paths I and II to III, and the tip of the document is guided to path IV by switching the rotatable switching flapper 310 there.
The entire belt 30 is passed through the path II by the transport roller 305.
After being conveyed onto the platen glass 101 in step 6, it is stopped.
In other words, the paths III to IV to II
The document is reversed in the route of.

Incidentally, a stopper member 2 is provided on the upper part of the apparatus main body 1, and the apparatus main body 1 is
When the connection is made, the stopper member 2 is positioned and attached to a holding portion 133 formed on the side surface of the machine main body 100. Further, a folding unit or a mounting base 70 is formed at a lower portion of the apparatus main body 1, and the mounting base 70 includes the apparatus main body 1 and the machine main body 100.
Is mounted on the caster 80, which makes it possible to move.

Therefore, when performing a jam clearance near the paper discharge portion of the machine main body 100 or a jam clearance at a transfer portion between the apparatus main body 1 and the machine main body 100, the stopper member 2 is moved in the X direction shown in FIG. To release the engagement with the hold portion 133, and then move the apparatus main body 1 in the horizontal direction to separate the machine main body 100 so that the operation can be easily performed.

On the other hand, the sheet on which an image has been formed is conveyed to either the apparatus main body 1 or a folding device (not shown) provided inside the mounting base 70 in accordance with the subsequent processing.

That is, when the sheet is processed by the apparatus main body 1, the upstream end of the first flapper 3 near the machine main body 100 shown in FIG. With the upstream end of the second flapper 4 positioned upward, the sheet is sent to the first transport path 6 through the roller pair 5 and further downstream from the first transport path 6. When the sheet is transported to the folding device, the upstream end of the first flapper 3 is positioned upward as shown in FIG. It is sent to the folding device located at the end of the direction.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 8 denotes a buffer path as a second transport path, 9 denotes a buffer roller,
Reference numerals 15 and 16 denote buffer rollers, and reference numerals 10, 11, 12 and 13 denote sheet detection sensors as detection means, which detect a passing sheet and a staying sheet. 17 is the first
A discharge roller, 18 is a press roller, and 19 is an alignment belt (knurl belt) as a pull-in member. The knurl belt 19 includes a first discharge roller 17 and a press roller 18.
And an endless rib (not shown) is provided in the vicinity of a central portion inside the belt as a measure for preventing the belt from coming off, and is engaged with the first discharge roller 17 to rotate. The transfer means is formed by the buffer path 8, the buffer roller 9, and the buffer rollers 14, 15, and 16. When the number of sheets supplied from the machine main body 1 is n, the conveying unit calculates the (n-1) th sheet based on the offset amount between the nth sheet and the (n-1) th sheet. The sheet conveying speed is controlled by an offset amount control unit (not shown) so that the offset amount between the sheet and the (n-2) th sheet is increased. The first discharge roller 17, the pressing roller 18, and the knurl belt 19 form a discharge unit.

Reference numeral 21 denotes a width shift plate, which is used for aligning the sheet in the width direction as described later. Reference numeral 20 denotes an abutment plate which is configured to be able to take a home position when sheets are sequentially stacked and a retract position when the stapler 22 moves back and forth. When the position of the stapler 22 is changed, The abutment plate 20, which is in the same phase as the stapler 22, can rotate to the position shown by the broken line and retract.

By the way, in this embodiment, the alignment of the sheet in the width direction is performed by the width shifting guide 21 shown in FIGS.
Done by The stapler 22 performs stapling by moving in a range indicated by an arrow in FIG. 3 so as to perform binding at two places, binding at one place at the front side, and binding at one place at the back side of the sheet. Although the description of the operation of the stapler 22 is omitted here, the stapler 22 itself has almost the same configuration as that of a commercially available electric (solenoid) or motor-driven automatic stapling apparatus. To bind the sheets. In FIGS. 3 and 4,
21a is an alignment reference plate.

On the other hand, in FIG. 2, reference numerals 23, 24, and 25 denote first and second sheets as first sheet stacking members for stacking sheets discharged from the discharge port 50 formed in the side wall surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1. The second and third trays 26 are tray units attached to the first, second, and third trays 23, 24, and 25 such that the apparatus body 1 side is inclined downward. Is mounted on the side wall surface 1a of the apparatus main body 1 so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and is moved in the vertical direction by a driving force of a driving source (not shown) built in a lower portion thereof.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 31 denotes a rotation guide as an opening / closing member. The rotation guide 31 rotatably holds a movable discharge roller 33 as a movable discharge member. When the cam 35 shown in FIG. 6 is rotated in the direction of the arrow R35 by the driving source M, the cam 35 is rotated upward with the rotation shaft 31a as a fulcrum and the movable discharge roller 33 is discharged as a rotating member so as to discharge the sheet. The cam 35 is moved to a position where it is separated from the roller 32, and the cam 35 rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of the arrow R35 in the drawing, whereby the rotation guide 31 rotates downward with the rotation shaft 31a as a fulcrum,
The movable discharge roller 33 is brought into pressure contact with the discharge roller 32. Note that the discharge roller 32 is supported so as to be able to rotate forward and backward.

In the staple mode, which will be described later, the rotation guide 31 is used to retract the movable discharge roller 33 from the sheet discharge path R as shown in FIG.
By rotating the discharge roller 32 upward to the position, the discharge roller 32 is changed from the sheet dischargeable state to the sheet discharge disabled state.

Further, the rotation guide 31 is provided on the sliding surface 3.
1b, which rotates downward during normal sheet ejection or tray movement, and an upper regulating member (hereinafter referred to as an “upper snow guide”) which is an upper space of the ejection port 50 on the sliding surface 31b.
27) to prevent the sheet from flowing backward.

As shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of ribs 31 are vertically arranged on the front surface of the sliding surface 31b which comes into contact with the sheet S.
1 is formed. By having such a rib 311, when the tray on which the sheet is loaded moves up and down, the sheet becomes slippery and does not get caught.

By the way, the upper snowboard guide 27 and the lower regulating member (hereinafter referred to as "lower snowboard guide") 27a.
A similar rib is formed on the front surface of the sliding surface 31b.
And the ribs of the saw guides 27 and 27a are formed on the same plane.

With this configuration, the sliding surface 31b of the rotation guide 31 can be used as an extension surface of the upper snowboard guide 27, and the upper snowboard guide 27 can be expanded and contracted, or another snowboard guide can be used as the upper part. Snowboard guide 27
There is no need to make them appear on the extension surface of the vehicle, and the structure can be simplified.

Further, as shown in FIG.
By using the sliding surface 31b as a part of the sheet placing surface, the space between the first tray 23 and the second tray 24 can be narrowed.

In the staple mode, which will be described later, the rotation guide 31 is configured to rotate in the direction of arrow R31 in the drawing. Second tray 24 on which S is loaded
If the sheet S is not located above the lower end 27b of the upper snowboard guide 27, the staple tray 38
Will fall in the direction of.

Therefore, in order to perform stapling without dropping the sheet S, the interval between the trays 23 and 24 is determined based on the maximum loading height of the first tray 23 and the upper snow guide 27.
It is necessary to set the distance to the lower end 27b or more, but in the present embodiment, the operation mode is limited, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the sheet S is being discharged to the first tray 23, if there is a sheet S in the second tray 24 above the first tray 23, only the non-staple mode is performed.

With such a configuration, the sliding surface 31b of the rotation guide 31 can be used as a part of the upper snowboard guide 27, whereby the second tray 24 on which the sheets S are stacked can be used as the upper snowboard guide. 27 lower end 27b
The distance between the trays 23 and 24 can be reduced, and the size of the tray unit 26 can be reduced.

On the other hand, in FIG. 5, reference numeral 30 denotes a stopper which is a discharge port opening / closing member or a fixing member and a fixing / stopping member.
8a, and the shutter 30b formed at the upper end as shown by the solid line in FIG.
To move to a first position for closing the first position. And
By closing the discharge port 50, when the second tray 24 passes through the discharge port 50, it is possible to prevent the sheets S stacked on the second tray 24 from flowing back to the discharge port 50. .

When the sheet is discharged, the stopper 30 rotates in the Y direction as shown in FIG. 5 and moves to the second position where the discharge port 50 is released. In the staple mode, which will be described later, the stopper 30 rotates in a direction to release the discharge port 50, as shown in FIG.

Incidentally, this stopper 30 is provided
As shown in FIG. 7, the contact portion 30c is formed in a direction orthogonal to the shutter portion 30b. When the stopper 30 is in the first position (the shutter 50 b is connected to the discharge port 50).
When the tray is moved, the stopper 30 is brought into contact with the rotation guide 31 in such a manner that the stopper 30 comes into contact with the rotation guide 31 from above (see FIG. 8). Due to the frictional force between the sheets stacked on the trays 23, 24, and 25 and the sliding surface 31b, the rotation guide 31 rotates upward in the opening direction of the upper space, and the notch 271 of the upper snow guide 27. Is prevented from opening.
Thus, by preventing the rotation guide 31 from rotating upward, the backflow of the sheet can be reliably prevented.

On the other hand, when the trays 23, 24, and 25 move up and down, the shutter 30b of the stopper 30
A frictional force is generated between the sheets stacked on the sheets 3, 24, and 25, and the frictional force prevents the stopper 30 from rotating upward in the discharge port release direction and opening the discharge port 50. The contact portion 3 of the stopper 30 moved to the first position so that the rotation guide 31 can be prevented from rotating upward.
As shown in FIG. 10, the upper surface of Oc is brought into contact with the movement preventing member 39.

The movement preventing member 39 is rotatably supported at its upper end by a bearing 40 provided on the back surface of the upper saw guide 27 and rotates with the stopper 30 while abutting against the stopper 30 by a driving source (not shown). When the movement preventing member 39 rotates in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 10, the stopper 30 rotates in the direction of arrow B in the drawing and moves to the first position.

By the way, as described above, the stopper 30 is
When it is moved to the position shown in FIG.
As shown at 0, the stopper 30 is moved to a discharge port opening prevention position where it comes into contact with the upper surface of the contact portion 30c to prevent the stopper 30 from rotating upward. By preventing the stopper 30 from rotating upward by the movement inhibiting member 39 in this way, it is possible to prevent the discharge port 50 from being opened even when the stopper 30 rotates upward due to frictional force generated between the stopper 30 and the sheet. Thus, the backflow of the sheet can be reliably prevented.

The stopper 30 is urged upward by a spring 41. When the stopper 30 moves to the first position, the stopper 30 rotates while stretching the spring 41.
Further, at the time of discharging a sheet, the movement preventing member 39 is rotated upward by a driving source. Therefore,
When the movement preventing member 39 rotates upward at the time of discharging a sheet or the like, the stopper 30 rotates to the second position in a state in which the stopper 30 abuts on the movement preventing member 39 due to the restoring force of the spring 41 which has been extended. (See FIG. 10).
reference).

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 34 denotes a roller guide for guiding the discharged sheet S to the first tray 23.
7a and a discharge port 50, a lower end portion of which is rotatably supported by a shaft.
and a vertical arm 34b that stands substantially perpendicular to the vertical arm 34a.

The roller guide 34 includes a horizontal arm 34
a by the spring 37 attached to the arrow R in FIG.
34 in the staple mode.
As shown in the figure, the lower side guide 27a is held at a third position forming the same plane.

The roller guide 34 is connected to the lower snow guide 27.
In the staple mode, even if the inclined end of the sheet Sa stacked on the first tray 23 is curved upward, the inclined end is formed by the lower snow guide 27a and the discharge roller 32 in the staple mode. I try not to get caught in between.

In this embodiment, a locking claw 34d is provided at the upper end of the vertical arm 34b so as to protrude outward. When the roller guide 34 is held at the third position, The locking claw 34d is configured to protrude above the first tray 23. And like this, the locking claw 3
By projecting 5d above the first tray 23,
Even when the inclined end of the sheet Sa is curved upward, the upper end of the sheet Sa can be prevented from exceeding the point G. When the next sheet comes out, it is caught and jammed, or the width shifting guide 21 operates. It is possible to prevent a load at the time of matching from deteriorating the matching.

The roller guide 34 swings in conjunction with the rotation guide 31 via a link 36.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the rotation guide 31 swings downward, the link 36 rotates downward about the rotation shaft 36b as a fulcrum, and pushes down the upper arm 36a of the link 36. 36c is a roller guide 34
Is pressed down.

When the horizontal arm 34a is pushed down in this way, the roller guide 34 swings while extending the spring 37, and the leading end of the locking claw 34d is
2 is retracted to a fourth position which has entered the inside of the apparatus main body 1 from the front end.

By retreating the roller guide 34 in this way, the sheet S can be transferred to the roller guide 34 when the sheet is discharged.
And the discharge roller 32 can be prevented from being caught, and the sheet S can be reliably discharged. Also, as shown in FIG. 11, a flank indicated by oblique lines I can be formed between the roller guide 34 and the lower snowboard guide 27a, so that the discharged sheet S can be smoothly moved to the first side.
It can be guided to the tray 23.

On the other hand, the roller guide 34 is
When 1 rotates upward, the link 36 returns to the third position while rotating the link 36 upward by the restoring force of the spring 37. When the roller guide 34 returns to the third position in this manner, the flank I is not formed, so that the sheet S can be prevented from being caught in the staple mode.

Next, the operation of the sheet processing apparatus thus configured will be described.

For example, when discharging sheets without performing stapling, the first, second, and third trays 23, 24, 2
5 directly. FIG. 12 shows a case where sheets are discharged to the second tray 24.

When the non-staple mode is selected by the user, the cam 35 (see FIG. 6)
As shown in FIG.
Is pressed against the discharge roller 32, and the sliding surface 31 d is rotated to a position where the notch 271 of the upper snowboard guide 27 is closed. At this time, the stopper 30 rotates in the y direction and stops at the second position. Roller guide 3
4 is a spring 3 via a rotation guide 31 and a link 36.
7, and is retracted inward of the apparatus main body 1 so that the locking claw 34d does not protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the discharge roller 32.

In this state, the sheet discharged from the main body 100 is conveyed from the roller pair 5 shown in FIG. 2 through the conveying path 6 to between the first discharge roller 17 and the pressing roller 18. After being further discharged to the downstream side by the discharge roller 17 and the press roller 18, it is directed to the second tray 24 by the rotation guide 31, discharged through the discharge roller 32 and the movable discharge roller 33, and discharged from the discharge port 50. 2
The sheets are sequentially stacked on the tray 24.

At the time of discharging the sheet, the sheet S may be charged or the coefficient of friction between the sheets S may be high and the sweeping may be poor. However, since the roller guide 34 is at the third position, The paper is discharged by the discharge roller 32 without being caught by the hooking claw 34d, and is guided by the relief portion I formed between the discharge roller 32 and the lower snow guide 27a as shown in FIG. Will be loaded on

On the other hand, when a large number of ordinary sheets S are to be taken, first, there are paper sensors 23a, 24a, 25a installed in the first, second, and third trays 23, 24, 25 (FIG. 2).
After confirming that no sheets remain on the trays 23, 24, and 25, the tray unit 26 is moved to a predetermined position where the first tray 23 receives the first sheet.

When the number of sheets stacked on the first tray 23 reaches a certain number, the tray unit 26 is lowered to a position where the upper surface of the stacked sheets is substantially the same as the surface receiving the first sheet. I do. When the above operation is repeated and it is detected that the maximum amount of sheets has been stacked in the tray, a stop signal is issued to the main body 100, and the discharge of the sheets is temporarily stopped.

Next, the tray unit 26 is the second tray 2
In order to stack the sheets on the sheet No. 4, the sheet is lowered to a position where the first sheet on the second tray 24 is set to be stacked. Thereafter, the copying operation of the main body 100 is restarted, and sheets are stacked on the second tray 24. Thereafter, the same operation as described above is repeated until the second tray 24 is fully loaded. Note that when sheets are stacked on the third tray 25, the first tray 2
This is the same as when moving from 3 to the second tray 24.

In the present embodiment, the main body 100 is of a digital type, and such a main body 100 is composed of a scanner section for reading an image of a document and a printer section for reproducing the image. And they can be operated independently. In other words, the scanner unit irradiates the original with a lamp and decomposes the reflected light into small points (pixels) using a light receiving element and simultaneously converts it into an electric signal (photoelectric conversion) according to the density of the original. Irradiates the photosensitive drum 108 with a laser beam based on the electric signal sent from the unit, forms an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 108, and forms a copy image through development, transfer and fixing. I have.

Therefore, by connecting the interface 500 to the digital copying machine as shown in FIG.
It is also possible to transfer the signal of the original read by the scanner unit to another facsimile 501, or conversely, send the electric signal received from the other facsimile 501 to the printer unit through the interface 500 and print it as an image on a sheet. .

Similarly, an image signal received from a computer device 502 such as a personal computer is transmitted to the interface 50.
In addition, the image data can be sent to a printer unit through the printer unit 0, copied to a sheet, or an image read by the scanner unit can be taken into a personal computer through the interface 500.

As described above, in the current digital copying machine, the original conveyed from the ADF 300 and the original platen glass 1
In addition to reading and copying a document placed on the document 01, it can be used as a facsimile or a printer for a personal computer by interposing the interface 500.

By the way, in order to use the apparatus main body 100 in this way, sheets are sorted into different trays and stacked, or if desired by the user, each tray is numbered and the user's desired It is necessary to load sheets on the tray.

For this reason, in the present embodiment, for example, the output paper in the facsimile mode on the first tray 23, the output paper in the personal computer mode on the second tray 24,
Output papers in the copy mode are stacked on the third tray 25, respectively. Hereinafter, each operation mode for discharging sheets to each of the trays 23, 24, and 25 will be described.

First, when sheets S in the copy mode are stacked after receiving a certain number of output sheets from the personal computer shown in FIG. 13, switching from using the second tray 24 to using the third tray 25 is performed. The operation will be described.

When switching from the use state of the second tray 24 for receiving a certain number of output sheets from the personal computer to the use state of the third tray 25, the tray unit 26 is lowered to
The third tray 25 is moved to a position where the third sheet is received. Since this operation is an operation of lowering the tray unit 26, the third tray 25 is moved in the copy mode.
Except for the point that the number of stacked sheets in 5 falls even if it does not reach the maximum, it is the same as when receiving output paper from a personal computer.

Next, a case where output paper such as a facsimile is stacked in a state where a certain number of output papers of a personal computer are received on the second tray 24, that is, a case where the first tray 23 is used will be described.

While the sheets are stacked on the second tray 24,
The tray unit 26 moves up to stack sheets on the first tray 23. At this time, the stopper 30 is rotated to the first position as shown in FIG. 8 so as to prevent the sheet S from entering the space F shown by hatching in FIG.
b, the space F (see FIG. 5) is closed.
Can move upward while the sheets S are stacked. The surface of the shutter portion 30b that comes into contact with the sheet has a rib shape so that the sheet S can slide easily, similarly to the sliding surface 31b (see FIG. 6) of the rotation guide 31 and the lower snow guide 27a.

By the way, as described above, the tray unit 26
When the shutter 30 is lifted, the stopper 30 is held down by the movement preventing member 39, so that it is possible to prevent the shutter portion 30b from rotating and opening the discharge port 50 due to frictional force with the sheet. ing.

Further, by preventing the rotation of the stopper 30 in this manner, the upward rotation of the rotation guide 31 can be prevented, whereby the notch 27 of the upper snow guide 27 can be prevented.
1 can be prevented from opening.

With such a configuration, the sheet S can pass through the discharge port 50 without flowing backward, so that the second tray 24 can move upward while the sheets S are stacked. Becomes

The operation described above is an operation in the case of moving from the second tray 24 to the first tray 23, but is the same regardless of which tray is started.

Next, the stapling operation of the sheet processing apparatus will be described.

First, at the time of staple sorting in which copying is performed and stapling is performed, the first, second, and third trays 23,
Instead of directly loading the sheets on the staple tray 38 in FIG.

When the staple sort mode is selected by the user, the rotation guide 31 rotates upward to the second position as shown in FIG. 9, but when the rotation guide 31 rotates in this manner, The roller guide 34 is held by a spring 37 at a position (third position) on the same plane as the lower snowboard guide 27a, and the locking claw 34d of the roller guide 34 projects to the upper end of the tray loading surface.

In this state, the sheet discharged from the machine main body 100 is conveyed to the discharge roller 17 and the pressing roller 18 through the conveying path 6 and then discharged from the discharging roller 17 and the pressing roller 18. But the rotation guide 31
Are rotated upward, the sheets are not discharged, and are stacked on the staple tray 38.

The staple tray 38 is mounted inside the apparatus main body 1 at an angle at which the sheets S can be stacked by their own weight. Further, the second tray 24 is located above the non-staple mode as shown in FIG. 14 so as to support the rear end of the sheet S and assist in returning to the upstream side in the discharge direction.

On the other hand, the sheets S discharged onto the staple tray 38 are discharged one by one by setting the inclination of the staple tray 38 and the sheet drop position of the second tray 24 one by one as shown in FIG. Although it will fall by its own weight to the upstream side, the discharge roller 17 and the pressing roller 18
Are guided in the upstream direction of the staple tray 38 by the knurled belt 19 which rotates in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise) in synchronization with the above. Thus, the sheet S abuts against the abutment plate 20 and is aligned in a direction perpendicular to the discharge direction.

The alignment of the sheet S in the width direction is performed at a predetermined time until the sheet S falls onto the staple tray 38 and hits the abutment plate 20 by the width shifting guide 21 (see FIGS. 3 and 4). By operating, the sheet S is moved from the back side of the apparatus main body 1 to the front side by a predetermined dimension than the width dimension. Thereby, the sheet S is aligned in the front direction.

The above operation is repeated until the second and subsequent sheets S are all stacked on the staple tray 38 by the number set by the user.

When the number of sheets set by the user is aligned on the staple tray 38 as shown in FIG. 15, the stapler 22 shown in FIG. 2 operates to perform the stapling operation at the position set by the user. When the stapling operation is completed, the rotation guide 31 descends as shown in FIG. 16, and the discharge roller 32 rotates in the direction of the arrow, as shown in FIG. Is discharged.

During the stapling operation, the sheets are sequentially discharged from the apparatus main body 100. Therefore, the first sheet of the discharged sheet of the next job is retained in the apparatus main body 1 and the second sheet is discharged. The operation of discharging the sheets in a stack is performed.

The operation will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 18 shows a state where the sheet S has begun to enter the apparatus main body 1.

The first sheet S1 discharged from the machine body 100 is conveyed to the buffer path 8 when the upstream ends of the flappers 3 and 4 are positioned downward as shown in FIG.

Sheet S1 conveyed to buffer path 8
Is wound around and transported by a buffer roller 9 rotating in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure. Sheet S wound around buffer roller 9
The sheet 1 is guided by the flapper 39 in the direction of the roller 15 and conveyed. The sensor 11 detects the leading end of the sheet S1 and stops in a state as shown in FIG.

When the second sheet S2 enters as shown in FIG. 20, the buffer roller 9 starts rotating again, and the first sheet S1 and the second sheet S2
And are conveyed. At that time, two sheets S1 and S2
Are slightly offset in the transport direction, and overlap so that the first sheet S1 advances downstream of the second sheet S2.

When the rear end of the first sheet S1 passes the position of the flapper 39, the flapper 39 conveys the two sheets S1 and S2 in the direction of the discharge rollers 17 and 18 as shown in FIG. To rotate. As a result, the sheets S1 and S2 are moved by the movable discharge rollers 3
3 and the discharge roller 32. The conveyance of the sheets S1 and S2 is continued until the trailing edge of the sheets S1 and S2 exits the knurl belt 19. The sensor 13 detects that the rear end of the sheet S2 has slipped out of the knurl belt 19, and in this state, the driving of the discharge roller 32 is temporarily stopped by the conveyance control means 40 shown in FIG. The state is held by the moving discharge roller 33 and the discharge roller 32.

Thereafter, by rotating the discharge roller 32 in the reverse direction, the sheets S1 and S2 are discharged in the direction of the staple tray 38 with the two sheets stacked, and are conveyed in the direction of the stopper 20 (see FIG. 22). At this time, if the sheet S1 is returned until it hits the stopper 20, the sheet S1 will buckle. Therefore, as shown in FIG. When the passage is detected, the rotation guide 31 is raised, so that the conveying force of the discharge roller 32 does not act on the sheet S2. However, the sheet S <b> 1 is pulled toward the stopper 20 by the knurl belt 19. The conveyance of the second sheet S2 is stopped without reaching the nip portion of the knurl belt 19.

The discharge roller 32 is driven on both sides so that the offset sheets S1 and S2 are not broken during conveyance. In addition, by providing the conveyance control means 40 for making the sheet conveyance speed of the knurl belt 19 faster than the sheet conveyance speed of the discharge roller 32, the sheets S1, S
The knurling belt 19 is used to improve the penetration.

As described above, during the time when the stapler 22 is performing the stapling operation, the next sheet S is not discharged from the discharge roller 17 and the pressing roller 18, so that the stapling operation can be performed, and The operation of 100 does not stop.

When the processing capacity of the machine main body 100 is high, it is possible to wind three or more sheets around the buffer roller 9. As shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, the second (middle) sheet S2 is
Before reaching 9. That is, the third sheet S3
Knurled belt 1 overtaking second sheet S2
24, the rotation guide 31 is raised immediately before the second sheet S2 is nipped by the knurl belt 19 as shown in FIG.

Alternatively, the offset amount between the second sheet S2 and the third sheet S3 is larger than the offset amount between the first sheet S1 and the second sheet S2 as shown in FIG. The third sheet S3 may be prevented from reaching the nip of the knurled belt 19 prior to the second sheet S2 by providing the conveyance control means 40 for controlling the sheet conveyance speed so as to perform this operation. With such a configuration in which such an offset amount is obtained, even if the total offset amount shown in FIG. 25 is the same as that in FIG. 24, it becomes more difficult for the third sheet S3 to overtake the second sheet S2.

In the present embodiment, the stopper 2
Although the knurled belt 19 is used as the pull-in member to zero, a similar effect can be obtained by using a pull-in member such as a paddle.

In the present embodiment, the pulling force of the knurled belt 19 is set at 2 even if the second sheet S2 is drawn into the knurled belt 19 before the first sheet S1 comes into contact with the stopper 20. The retraction force is set so that the second sheet S2 does not overtake the first sheet S1 and does not buckle when the sheet S abuts against the stopper 20.

Further, in the present embodiment, the friction coefficient between the sheets is formed higher than the friction coefficient between the staple tray 38 and the sheet.

[0109]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when the detecting means detects that the trailing end of the sheet has exited the conveying means, the rotating member conveys a plurality of sheets by the conveying control means. The rotation of the sheet is reversed to guide in the direction of the retracting member, and after the lower sheet reaches the retracting member, before the sheet higher than the lower sheet reaches the retracting member, the transport control means The driving source is operated to rotate the opening / closing member so that the rotating member for transporting a plurality of sheets and the moving discharge member are separated from each other. Sheet is not drawn in before the sheet, and the occurrence of misalignment can be prevented.

Further, since the sheet conveying speed of the drawing member is made faster than the sheet conveying speed of the rotating member by the conveyance control means, a plurality of sheets can be easily transferred to the drawing member.

Further, since the offset amount between the sheet immediately above and the sheet immediately above the lowermost sheet and the sheet immediately above the lowermost sheet is formed, the upper sheet is drawn in before the lower sheet. It does not reach the member, and the occurrence of defective delivery can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an image forming apparatus including a sheet processing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram extracting and showing the sheet processing apparatus according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a plan view illustrating a staple tray unit of the sheet processing apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the sheet processing apparatus in a state where a rotation guide of the sheet processing apparatus is rotated.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of a state in which a rotation guide of the sheet processing apparatus has a discharge port closed.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation in a state where the rotation guide is rotated upward.

FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing a relationship between a stopper and a moving element member of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 11 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which the sheet processing apparatus roller guide is retracted from a discharge roller.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an operation of the sheet processing apparatus in a state where sheets are discharged to a second tray.

FIG. 13 is an operation explanatory diagram in a state where output paper from a personal computer is stacked on a second tray.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of an operation during staple sorting of a second tray.

FIG. 15 is an operation explanatory view showing a state where the set number of sheets is aligned on the staple tray.

FIG. 16 is an operation explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a stapled sheet is discharged.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of an operation in a state where a stapled sheet is discharged.

FIG. 18 is an operation explanatory diagram showing a state in which a sheet has begun to enter the sheet processing apparatus of the above.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation in a state where the first sheet is wound around a buffer roller.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation of conveying a first sheet and a second sheet in an overlapping manner.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of an operation in which two sheets are discharged in a stacked state.

FIG. 22 is an operation explanatory view showing a state in which two sheets are returned in a superimposed state.

FIG. 23 is an operation explanatory diagram showing the positions of two sheets when the rotation guide moves up.

FIG. 24 is an operation explanatory view showing the positions of three sheets when the rotation guide is raised.

FIG. 25 is an operation explanatory view showing positions of three sheets when the rotation guide is raised.

FIG. 26 is a control block diagram showing a transport control unit of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 sheet processing apparatus main body 8 conveyance means (buffer path) 9 conveyance means (buffer roller) 13 detection means (sensor) 19 retracting member (knurl belt) 20 end regulating member (stopper) 32 rotating member (discharge roller) 40 conveyance Control means

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kenichi Hayashi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-6-24630 (JP, A) JP-A-63 −235259 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model 1-58560 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 39/11 G03G 15/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. A drawing member provided in an apparatus main body for processing a plurality of sheets, a conveying means for conveying a plurality of sheets supplied one by one by image formation, and a sheet discharged from the conveying means. A forward / reverse rotatable rotating member that receives a plurality of sheets near a discharge port formed on a side wall surface of the apparatus main body, and conveys the plurality of sheets to an upstream side and a downstream side in a discharging direction by coming into contact with and separating from the rotating member. A rotatable opening / closing member that opens and closes the discharge port, and conveys the plurality of sheets to the downstream side in the discharging direction by rotating the rotating member forward and reversely. in the sheet processing apparatus so as to convey to the end portion regulating member on the upstream side via the suction member by a drive source for driving the closing member, the trailing end of the sheet the conveying means Detecting means for detecting that output only, by reversing the rotation member after it is detected that the rear end of the sheet has exited the conveyor means by said detecting means, for a plurality of sheets to the suction member So that the lower sheet contacts the drawing member, and the conveying force of the rotating member and the moving discharge member does not act on the upper sheet before the upper sheet contacts the drawing member. A sheet processing apparatus, comprising: conveyance control means for controlling the drive source for rotating an opening / closing member. Wherein said conveyance control means, the control of the rotary member and the suction member so as to increase the sheet conveying speed of the suction member than the sheet conveying speed of the rotating member, it in claim 1, wherein The sheet processing apparatus as described in the above. 3. The sheet processing according to claim 1 , wherein the rotating member is a discharge roller that can be rotated forward and backward, and the moving discharge member is a moving discharge roller that is rotated by the discharge roller. apparatus. 4. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the pull-in member is an alignment belt configured by an endless belt member. 5. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the drawing member is configured by a paddle having a plurality of blades. 6. The transport control means according to claim 1, wherein an offset amount between the lowermost sheet and the sheet immediately above the lowermost sheet is determined between the sheet immediately above and the sheet immediately above the immediately above sheet. 2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein driving of the conveying unit that forms a sheet conveying speed so as to increase the offset amount is controlled. 3. 7. A coefficient of friction of the sheet mutually, the tray and are formed higher than the friction coefficient between sheets, it sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the. 8. An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming section; and a sheet processing apparatus for processing a sheet on which an image has been formed by the image forming section, wherein the sheet processing apparatus is any one of claims 1 to 7. It is constituted by a sheet processing apparatus according to item 1, that the image forming apparatus according to claim.