JPH0364417B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a tray device for stacking sheets ejected from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing machine, and a recording machine. This invention relates to a tray device that can move a bin tray up and down depending on its height.

(B) Prior Art Conventionally, in a tray device, a bin tray is lowered according to the stacking height of the sheets stacked on the tray, and a large number of sheets are stacked in a stable state.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, a folding device is disposed upstream of the tray device, and for example, Z-folded sheets are discharged from the folding device to the tray device, and a large number of Z-folded sheets are placed on the bin tray.
When folded sheets are stacked, 3 of the Z-folded sheets
Only the stacked sheet portion swells, and a newly ejected sheet comes into contact with the swollen portion, disturbing the sheets that have already been stacked and aligned, or causing the ejected sheet to be significantly skewed. It was often loaded.

(d) Means for solving the problem The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tray device main body 39 has an outer The bin tray 5a is arranged so as to form an upward slope toward the
A sheet placement plate, for example, an auxiliary sheet placement plate 44 is disposed on a part of the bin tray 5a so as to cover the upper surface of the bin tray 5a from the center to the lower end, and the lower end can be latched to the tray device main body 39. , and the auxiliary sheet mounting plate 44 is characterized in that as the bin tray 5a descends, the auxiliary sheet mounting plate 44 is inclined in the opposite direction to the upwardly inclined surface of the bin tray.

(E) Effect Based on the above-mentioned configuration, for example, Z-fold sheet S
When the sheets are discharged onto the bin tray 5a, the lower end of the auxiliary sheet placement plate 44 is locked to the tray device main body 39, and the auxiliary sheet is placed on the bin tray 5a by lowering the bin tray 5a according to the stacking height of the Z-fold sheets S'. Place plate 4
4 is tilted in the opposite direction to the upward slope of the bin tray 5a, and a large number of Z-folded sheets S' are stacked on the bin tray 5.
a and the auxiliary sheet mounting plate 44 in a stable state.

(F) Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment in which a tray device according to the present invention is provided in the stacker section 5 of the finisher device 7 will be described with reference to the drawings.

When using the copying machine 10 by connecting the folding device 1 and the finisher device 7, the finisher device 7
As shown in FIG. 3, a folding device 1 is installed. The sheet outlet 3 of the folding device 1 is aligned with the sheet inlet 9 of the finisher 7, and the sheet outlet 11 of the copying machine 10 is aligned with the sheet inlet 2 of the folding device 1.

As shown in FIG. 4, the finisher device 7 has a stacker section 5 located above the rear of the fuselage main body 39 so as to be able to reciprocate vertically and horizontally.
A sheet accumulating tray 5a constituting the stapler section 6 is arranged so as to form an upwardly sloped surface toward the outside, and an intermediate tray 6a constituting the stapling section 6 is arranged in the main body 39 below the stacker section 5. ,
A stopper 40 for supporting one end of the sheet S on the tray 6a is rotatably disposed at the front end of the intermediate tray 6a. Further, a lower tray 41 is arranged in the main body 39 below the stapling section 6, and the sheet S on the intermediate tray 6a is dropped and stored on the lower tray 41 by rotation of the stopper 40. Further, a sheet inlet 9 is provided at the upper front of the finisher body 39, and the sheet inlet 9 is disposed at the same height as the sheet outlet 11 of the copying machine 10. There is. A carry-in roller 42 is disposed at the sheet carry-in port 9, and an inlet deflector 43 is arranged downstream of the sheet carry-in roller 42 so as to be switchable in two directions. The sheet S is conveyed to the stacker section conveyance path 45 or to the staple section conveyance path 46.

Furthermore, a pair of discharge rollers 47 is disposed at the downstream end of the stacker section conveyance path 45 to
is discharged onto the sheet accumulation tray 5a. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a sensor arm 48 is rotatably supported on the main body 39 above the discharge roller pair 47, and the sensor arm 48 is mounted on the sheet accumulation tray 5a. tray 5a.
It is rotated as the upper sheets S are accumulated. The fuselage main body 39 near the rear end of the sensor arm 48
A loading height micro switch 48a is disposed at , and the switch 48a is turned on by the rotation of the sensor arm 48.
The sheet accumulation tray 5a is lowered by the ON operation. Further, an upper limit micro switch 52a is arranged above the main body 39, and the switch 52a is activated when the sheet accumulation tray 5a is moved upward.
is turned on by contact with the sheet accumulating tray 5a, thereby restricting the upward movement of the sheet accumulating tray 5a. Similarly,
Below the main body 39 of the aircraft is a lower limit micro switch 5.
2b is arranged to restrict downward movement of the sheet accumulation tray 5a. Further, in the center of the sheet accumulation tray 5a, an auxiliary sheet mounting plate 44 is supported so as to be slidable and rotatable along hinge shafts 44a, 44a so as to cover the upper surface of the tray from the center to the lower end. furthermore, the mounting plate 4
A locking member 44b is disposed at the lower end of 4. Further, a Z-fold operating plunger 53 is disposed above the fuselage main body 39, and the plunger 5
3 is applied when the Z-folded sheet S' is discharged to the sheet accumulation tray 5a, and the arm 53a of the plunger 53 engages the locking member 44b of the auxiliary sheet placement plate 44.
engaged with.

Further, a pair of discharge rollers 49 is disposed at the downstream end of the staple section conveyance path 46, and a lower roller 49a of the pair of discharge rollers 49 includes a portion of the belt 50 whose lower end is in contact with the intermediate tray 6a. The belt 50 rotates together with the lower roller 49a, and the end of the sheet S discharged onto the intermediate tray 6a is aligned along the stopper 40 by the rotation of the discharge roller pair 49. Furthermore, the intermediate tray 6
A staple 51 is installed above the lower end of the tray 6a, and staples the sheet S on the intermediate tray 6a.

Since this embodiment has the above-described configuration, when the folding device 1 is connected to the copying machine 10 and the finisher device 7 is further connected to the folding device 1, the finisher device 7 is connected as shown in FIG. Folding device 1
The finisher device 7 is arranged in parallel with the copying machine 10 along the rail R, and the sheet discharge port 11 of the copying machine 10 and the sheet inlet port 2 of the folding device 1 are aligned.

Then, the sheet S discharged from the sheet discharge port 11 of the copying machine 10 is conveyed into the folding device 1 from the sheet import port 2 of the folding device 1, and a Z-folding mode in which the sheet S is Z-folded is selected. In this case, the sheet S is folded into a Z-fold sheet S' in the folding device 1 and discharged from the sheet discharge port 3.

In this way, the sheet discharge port 3 of the folding device 1
The Z-folded sheet S' discharged from the finisher 7 is conveyed from the sheet inlet 9 of the finisher 7 to the inlet deflector 43 by the rotation of the pair of carry-in rollers 42, and a stacker mode is selected in which the Z-folded sheet S' is accumulated on the sheet accumulating tray 5a. If so, the entrance deflector 43 is switched to the stacker section conveyance path 45 side, and the Z-folded sheet S' is conveyed through the stacker section conveyance path 45 and discharged onto the sheet accumulating tray 5a by the rotation of the discharge roller pair 47. Ru. At this time, when the Z-fold sheet S' is discharged to the sheet accumulation tray 5a, the Z-fold activation plunger 53 is applied, and the arm 53a of the plunger 53 is engaged with the locking member 44b of the auxiliary sheet placement plate 44. Ru. And Z
When the folded sheets S' are stacked on the sheet stacking tray 5a, the sensor arm 4
8 is rotated and the loading height micro switch 48a
is activated. Further, when the loading height micro switch 48a is turned on, the sheet collecting tray 5a is lowered, and when the switch 48a is turned off, it is stopped. At this time, as the sheet accumulating tray 5a descends, the auxiliary sheet placing plate 44 is reshaped in the opposite direction to the upwardly inclined surface of the sheet accumulating tray 5a, as shown in FIG. The inclination of the plate 44 accommodates the bulge due to the stacking of three Z-folded sheets S', and a large number of Z-folded sheets S' are placed on the surface formed by the sheet accumulation tray 5a and the auxiliary sheet placement plate 44. is accumulated in a stable state. Then, when the sheet accumulation tray 5a descends and comes into contact with the lower limit micro switch 52b,
The switch 52b is turned on and the lowering of the sheet collecting tray 5a is stopped. Further, when a series of copying operations is completed and the stacked sheets are removed from the sheet accumulating tray 5a, the sheet accumulating tray 5a rises and comes into contact with the upper limit micro switch 52a, and the switch 52a is turned on. The sheet accumulation tray 5a is stopped at a predetermined position. Further, the sheet accumulating tray 5a is moved in the horizontal direction as necessary, and discharged sheets are sorted and accumulated.

Further, when the stapling mode in which the sheets S are stacked and stapled is selected, the entrance deflector 43 is switched to the staple section conveyance path 46 side, and the sheets S are conveyed through the staple section conveyance path 46. Then, the sheet S is discharged by a pair of discharge rollers 49
The sheet S is discharged onto the intermediate tray 6a by the rotation of the belt 50, and the discharged sheet S is further discharged onto the intermediate tray 6a by the rotation of the belt 50.
By rotating the lower end of the sheet S, the rear end of the sheet S is aligned along the stopper 40. Furthermore, when a predetermined number of sheets S are stacked and aligned on the intermediate tray 6a, the ends of the sheets S are stapled by the staples 51, and the stopper 40 is further rotated to move the stapled sheets S onto the lower tray 41. It falls and is stored.

In this embodiment, a case has been described in which a Z-folded sheet S' is discharged to the sheet accumulation tray 5a, but in the case of a back Z-folded sheet that has been Z-folded from the back side of the sheet S, an auxiliary sheet is placed. Board 4
Loading stability can be ensured to a certain extent even without using 4. However, the loading stability is not better than when the auxiliary sheet mounting plate 44 according to the present invention is used, and it is desirable to use the auxiliary sheet mounting plate 44 according to the present invention.

Further, in this embodiment, when the Z-folded sheet S' is discharged to the sheet accumulation tray 5a, the lower end of the auxiliary sheet placement plate 44 is engaged with the finisher main body 39, and the placement plate 44 is Although the sheet stacking tray 5a is tilted as it is lowered, the flatness of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking tray 5a can be further improved by interlocking a mounting plate moving mechanism connected to a servo motor with the auxiliary sheet mounting plate 44. A detection means may be provided to control the inclination of the auxiliary sheet placement plate 44 by driving a servo motor based on the detection of the flatness of the sheet.

(G) Effects of the Invention As explained above, according to the present invention, the bin tray (sheet accumulation tray) is arranged in the tray device body (finisher device body) so as to form an upwardly sloped surface facing outward. Since the auxiliary sheet placing plate is disposed on the bin tray, the auxiliary sheet placing plate tilts in a direction opposite to the upwardly inclined surface of the bin tray in accordance with the stacking height of the sheets discharged onto the bin tray. As a result, even if a large number of sheets are stacked on the bin tray, the sheets can be stacked in a stable state on the surface formed by the tray and the auxiliary sheet placement plate.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side view showing a tray device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view showing a state in which Z-fold sheets are stacked on the tray device, and Fig. 3 is a side view showing a state in which a folding device and a finisher device are connected to a copying machine. FIG. 4 is a side view showing the finisher device, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing the method of connecting the folding device and finisher device to the copying machine. 1...Folding device, 5a...Bin tray (sheet accumulation tray), 39...Tray device main body (finisher device main body), 44...Auxiliary sheet placement plate, 48...Sensor arm, 53...Z-folding operation Plunger, S'...Z-fold sheet.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a tray device configured such that the bin tray can be moved up and down according to the stacking height of sheets discharged and accumulated on the bin tray, the main body of the tray device is provided with an upward slope toward the outside. The bin tray is arranged so as to form a surface, and a part of the bin tray is provided with an auxiliary sheet mounting plate that tilts in a direction opposite to the upwardly inclined surface of the bin tray as the bin tray descends. tray device.