JPH0764469B2 - Sheet sorter - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention is connected to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing machine, and a printer, and distributes sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus to a bin. The present invention relates to a sheet sorting device that can store and stack sheets in a bin and bind sheets that are stored in a bin.

(B) Conventional technology Recently, sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine are distributed to a plurality of bins for alignment, and a bundle of sheets distributed and stored in these bins is sequentially bound for each bin. There is a device. As shown in FIG. 9, the sheet classification device is
The aligning rod 43 is provided with a bin unit 9 having a plurality of bins each capable of accommodating the distributed sheets, and is arranged so as to vertically pass through these bins and is repeatedly moved so as to press the sheets accommodated in the bin. Is equipped with. Then, the sheets accommodated in the bins are pressed by the aligning rod 43 at their end portions, and are abutted and aligned with the aligning reference plate 41 standing upright in parallel with the aligning rod 43. The binding means is used for binding.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, the alignment rod 43 is supported by the upper and lower arms 62, 61, and the upper and lower arms 62, 61 are fixed to the movement center shaft 42. For this reason, maintaining the parallelism of the alignment rod 43 with respect to the alignment reference plate 41 vertically, that is, keeping the parallelism of the alignment rod 43 equal for all the bins arranged above and below is necessary for processing and assembling parts. It is very difficult to consider the accuracy of. Also, if the parallelism of the alignment rods 43 is not maintained equally for all bins, the alignment rods 43 do not push the sheets accommodated in the bins in the upper bin or the lower bin, or vice versa. If it passes, the sheet cannot be pressed evenly and the sheet alignment is disturbed.

Then, this invention provides the structure which adjusts the parallelism of an alignment member, and an object of this invention is to eliminate the said problem.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and, for example, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of bins (B) for accommodating sheets are provided. An alignment reference body (41) that regulates the end of the sheet when aligning the sheets stored in these bins (B), and a plurality of bins (parallel to the alignment reference body (41) that are supported in parallel to the alignment reference body (41). In a sheet sorting device (1), comprising: an aligning member (43) that moves the sheets accommodated in B) so as to press the aligning reference body (41), the aligning member (43) includes a plurality of bins. An adjustment means (90) for adjusting the parallelism of the alignment member (43) with respect to the alignment reference body (41) is provided so that the sheet accommodated in (B) can be pressed uniformly. is there.

Further, in order to properly press the stretched sheet, the alignment member (43) may be supported via the elastic members (93, 95).

(E) Action Based on the above configuration, the sheets accommodated in the plurality of bins (B) are pressed by the aligning member (43) and aligned on the bin (B) with the alignment reference body (41) as a reference. It At this time, the parallelism of the alignment member (43) with respect to the alignment reference body (41) is adjusted so that the sheets contained in the upper bin (B) and the sheets contained in the lower bin (B) are properly pressed. It is properly adjusted by the adjusting means (90).

Further, in the case of supporting the alignment member (43) via the elastic members (93, 95), even if the sheets accommodated in the respective bins (B) are, for example, stretched and have irregular sizes. It is absorbed by the elastic members (93, 95) that can be handled and pressed appropriately.

The reference numerals in parentheses above are for reference and do not limit the configuration in any way.

(F) Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the sorter 1 includes a body 6 having a pair of front and rear side plates 2, a base 3, a cover 5 and a number of bins B ... Become.

The machine body 6 is equipped with a carry-in roller pair 11 near a carry-in entrance 10 for carrying in a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, and a non-sort path 12 and the non-sort path are provided downstream of the carry-in roller pair 11. A sort path 13 branching from 12 is arranged. The non-sorted path 12 extends almost horizontally,
A non-sort sheet discharge roller pair 15 that serves as a non-sort sheet discharge port is disposed downstream thereof, and the sort path 13 extends downward, and a sort sheet discharge roller pair 16 that serves as a sort sheet discharge port is provided downstream thereof. An electric stapler 17 is arranged so as to face the sort discharge roller pair 16.

In the vicinity of the carry-in roller pair 11, a flapper 19 that is displaced to switch the sheet conveying direction and the flapper 19 are provided.
There is a flapper solenoid 20 that drives the sheet.When the flapper solenoid 20 is turned on, the flapper 19 is displaced so that the sheet conveyance direction is toward the non-sorted sheet ejection port 15 side, and when the flapper solenoid 20 is off, the sheet conveyance direction is changed. It is selected on the side of the sort discharge port 16.

Further, a transport motor 21 is disposed near the carry-in roller pair 11, and drives the carry-in roller pair 11, the non-sort discharge roller pair 15 and the sort discharge roller pair 16 when the sheet P is distributed to the bin B. .

Note that the non-sort path sensor 12 is a non-sort path sensor.
S1 and sort path sensor S2 are provided in sort path 13.

Further, the bin unit 9 is arranged downstream of the non-sort paper discharge roller pair 15 and the sort paper discharge roller pair 16, and the bin unit 9 has one end fixed to the machine body 6 and the other end hooked to the bin unit 9. The weight is carried by a spring 23 hooked on 22 and is supported so as to be able to move up and down. And
The upper end of the bottle unit 9 is provided with an upper guide roller 2 on the upper end thereof.
5, a lower guide roller 26 is rotatably supported at the bottom, and these upper and lower guide rollers 25, 26 are fitted to a guide plate 27 provided on the machine body 6 so as to extend in the vertical direction,
When the bin unit 9 moves up and down, it rolls in the guide plate 27 to guide the bin unit 9.
A bin unit drive motor 29 is arranged in the machine body 6, and a cam shaft holder 30 is arranged in the vicinity of the sort discharge roller pair 16 of the machine body 6.
A lead cam shaft 31 is rotatably supported between 30 and a thrust bearing 34 arranged on the base 3. And
A lead cam 32 is arranged above the lead cam shaft 31, and a sprocket 33 is fixed below the lead cam shaft 31. The sprocket 33 and the bin unit drive motor
The chain 35 is stretched between 29 and the lead cam 32.
Can be rotated in both forward and reverse directions by a bin unit drive motor 29 that rotates in both forward and reverse directions depending on selection.

Further, as shown in detail in FIG. 1, the bin unit 9 is provided with a frame 36 composed of an inclined portion, a vertical portion and a horizontal portion, and vertically provided on the front side and the rear side of the tip of the inclined portion of the frame 36. Bottle unit body composed of vertical frames 37, 37 and a bin cover 39 supported by the vertical frames 37, 37
An alignment reference plate 41 for abutting a sheet is provided upright on the front side of the bin unit body 40. Furthermore,
The bin unit 9 has a large number of bins B ... And an alignment rod 43 that moves around the center axis of movement 42. The bin B has, as shown in detail in FIG. An engaging plate 46 is formed on each side, and the engaging plate 46 engages with a supporting plate (not shown) provided inside the vertical frame 37 to support the front end side of the bin B. It is like this. Roller support pins 47 are fixed to the front and rear sides of the base end of the bin B, and a bin roller 49 is rotatably supported on the pin 47. Further, the bin B is provided with a long hole 50 which is longer than the rotation distance of the alignment rod 43 and is sufficiently wider than the width of the alignment rod 43 at a predetermined distance from the center axis 42 of movement. The base end B1 of the bin B rises perpendicularly to the sheet storage surface B2, and the bin B is inclined with respect to the machine body 6 by a predetermined angle upward (see FIG. 4). Thus, the seat is slid on the seat storage surface B2 and the rear end thereof is brought into contact with the base end portion B1 to be aligned in the front-rear direction.

Then, the bin B is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4,
Bin roll 49 bin unit protruding from the long groove 52 provided on the proximal end of the body 40 are fitted into the guide plate 27 of the body 6, bin roll 49 _n is the lower guide roller 26 of the lowermost bin B _n The bin roller 49 of the bin B placed on the uppermost bin B _n one step higher than the bin B _n of the lowermost bin B _n is the bin roller 49 _n of the lowest bin B _n.
The bin roller 49 of the upper bin B is supported by the bin roller 49 of the lower bin B such that the bin B is supported on the bin unit main body 40. As shown in detail in FIGS. 6 and 7, the lead cam 32 is provided with a cam groove 32a which is slightly wider than the bin roller 49 and is spirally formed. At this time, the bin roller 49 of the bin B located at the position opposed to the sort discharge roller pair 16 is placed on the cam groove 32a, and as shown in FIG.
The a bin roll 49c of the bottle B _c in one rotation direction the lead cam 32
Move to the intermediate position (position 49b in the figure), and further 1
It moves to the position (49a position in the figure) which passes the lead cam 32 by one rotation. Then, when the lead cam 32 further rotates once, the bin roller 49a located at the position passing through the lead cam 32 pushes up the upper bin roller 49, the upper bin roller 49 pushes up the upper bin roller 49, and the upper bin roller 49 is moved. The upper guide roller 25 is pushed up to raise the bin unit 9 step by step (see FIG. 4). Then, as the bin rollers 49 move, the bins B ... Are sequentially moved, and at that time, as shown in FIG. 4, for example, as shown in FIG. Between the bin B _b for receiving and the bins B _a and B _c located on the upper and lower sides of the bin B _b are formed with openings X, X wider than the intervals of the other bins B. Thus, the rotation of the lead cam 32 causes the bin unit 9 to move up or down. A bin home position sensor S5 is arranged on the machine body 6 so as to face the hook 22 of the bin unit 9 lowered to the lowest position, and the home position set to the lowest position by the bin home position sensor S5. The bin unit 9 moved to is detected.

A flag 55 is arranged on the lead cam shaft 31, and a lead cam sensor S4 is arranged so as to face the flag 55. One of the lead cams 32 is detected by detecting the flag 55 of the lead cam sensor S4. The rotation is detected and the stop position of the lead cam 32 is detected.

In addition, the reference numeral 53 in FIG.
The O-ring press-fitted inside absorbs the vibration when the bin B is moved up and down.

Further, transmissive in-paper detection sensors S3 and S3 are arranged above and below the base end of the bin unit 9 (see FIG. 4), and when all the sheets P are taken out from the bin unit 9. The absence of sheets is detected by the in-bin paper detection sensors S3, S3, and the end of one operation is determined.

Further, as described above, the bin unit 9 is provided with the alignment rod 43, and hereinafter, the alignment rod 43 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
The alignment of the sheet P by means of is explained.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bin unit 9 is provided with a support plate 60 on the inner side of the base end of the frame 36, and a lower arm 61 is arranged on the support plate 60. The arm 61 has one side thereof rotatably supported by a lower rotary shaft (not shown) protruding upward from the support plate 60. Further, on one side of the lower arm 61, the moving center shaft 42 whose lower end is fixed coaxially with the lower rotating shaft is erected, and the moving center shaft 42 extends downward from the bin cover 39. Upper rotating shaft protruding
It is rotatably supported by 63. Further, the alignment rod 43 is erected on the other side of the lower arm 61, and the upper end of the alignment rod 43 and the upper end of the moving center shaft 42 are connected by an upper arm 62, and the alignment rod 43 is Bar 43 is upper arm 62 and lower arm
It is supported by a moving center shaft 42 via 61 so as to be movable around the shaft 42.

On the other hand, the joint between the moving center shaft 42 and the upper arm 62 is L
A letter-shaped upper arm fixing plate 90 is arranged (upper arm 62
Is rotatably supported by the movement center shaft 42), and the upper arm fixing plate 90 has one end 90a thereof as shown in detail in FIG.
Is fixed to the moving center shaft 42 with screws 91, etc.
90b is screwed to the upper arm 62 at the parallelism adjusting position of the alignment rod 43.
Fixed by 2 etc. A throttle 62a for adjusting parallelism is formed on the upper arm 62.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, leaf springs 93 and 95 are respectively arranged at the connecting portions of the upper arm 62 and the lower arm 61 with the alignment rod 43, and the leaf springs 93 arranged on the upper arm 62 are arranged. Is contained in the upper arm 62 as shown in detail in FIG.
The alignment rod 43 is always biased in the direction of the arrow.
The same applies to the leaf spring 95 arranged on the lower arm 61.

By providing the above-mentioned upper arm fixing plate 90, the parallelism of the alignment rod 43 with respect to the alignment reference plate 41 can be easily adjusted, and the sheets P on the bins B can be spread over all the bins B. It can be pressed evenly toward 41.

In addition, leaf springs 63 and 6 are attached to the upper arm 62 and the lower arm 61, respectively.
By arranging 5, even if the sheet expands and contracts under each environment, the consistency of the sheet P on the bin B can be improved. For example, for a standard size sheet,
A configuration in which the position of the alignment rod 43 from the alignment reference plate 41 is set in advance to cope with the contraction of the sheet, and the extension of the sheet causes the alignment rod 43 to escape via the leaf springs 93 and 95. Therefore, it is preferable that only a weak spring force is applied to the seat.

Further, a fan gear 65 whose center of rotation coincides with the center of movement of the lower arm 61 is fixed to the lower arm 61, and the support plate
A matching rod drive motor 66 is arranged below the 60, and an output gear 67 of the matching rod drive motor 66 and a fan gear 65 mesh with each other.
Move 43.

Then, when aligning the sheet P, the aligning rod 43 moves from the home position 43a to the width-shifting position 43b that is determined corresponding to the size of the sheet P, abuts on the end of the sheet P, and is aligned with the alignment reference. The sheet P is aligned in cooperation with the plate 41, and further moved to the standby position 43c to wait for the alignment of the next sheet P.

The matching rod drive motor 66 is a stepping motor, and the amount of movement of the matching rod 43 is determined by the given number of pulses.

Further, a light shielding plate 69 is fixed to the lower arm 61,
By moving the light shielding plate 69 integrally with the lower arm 61,
The alignment rod position sensor S9 fixed to the frame 36 is turned on / off.

Further, as described above, the electric stapler 17 is arranged in the vicinity of the pair of sort paper discharge rollers 16, and the electric stapler 17 is provided with the solenoid 71 and the stapler spring 72 as shown in FIG. . A link pin 73 is fixedly attached to the link 71a of the solenoid 71.
A solenoid spring 76 is stretched between the electric stapler 17 and the stapler pin 75 provided on the electric stapler 17.
71a is engaged with the stapler pin 75 via a long hole 77 provided at the tip thereof. Further, a binding position stopper 79 is fixedly provided on the electric stapler 17, and the electric stapler 17 is normally stopped by the action of a stapler spring 72.
When the sheet P is in contact with 80 and is retracted to the retreat position 17b (the solid line position in the figure) outside the sheet path, and the sheet P on the bin B is bound by the action of the solenoid 71, the binding position 17a (the chain line position in the figure). ), The binding position stopper 79 is brought into contact with the reference plate 81 and positioned, and the sheets P stored in the bin B at the position facing the sort discharge roller pair 16 are bound by the stapler needle 82.

A reference numeral S6 in FIG. 8 denotes a binding position sensor, which detects the electric stapler 17 positioned at the binding position 17a and issues a detection signal. Then, when the binding stop mode is selected, the binding start is started. The signal turns the solenoid 71 on and the electric stapler
The solenoid 17 moves about the fulcrum 85 by the action of the solenoid 71, moves to the binding position 17a, and positions the binding position stopper 79 in contact with the reference plate 81.

In this case, the head portion 17c of the electric stapler 17, as shown in FIG. 6, upper opening X formed between the bin B _b and the upper bin B _a for accommodating the stapling to be sheet
To the binding position 17a, and the anvil portion 17d moves from the lower opening X to the binding position 17a.

When the electric stapler 17 is positioned at the binding position 17a, the binding position sensor S6 is turned on, the electric stapler 17 is driven, and the stapler needle 82 is driven into the sheet P.

When the stapler needle 82 has been driven in, the solenoid
71 is turned off, the electric stapler 17 is returned by the action of the stapler spring 72 until it comes into contact with the stopper 80, and the binding for one bin is completed.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

The sheet P stored in each bin B is aligned along the alignment reference plate 41 by being pressed at its end by the alignment rod 43 that moves to the width-shifting position 43b every time it is stored in the bin B. At this time, when the pressing of the sheet P of the aligning rod 43 is not uniform between the upper bin B and the lower bin B, the upper arm fixing plate 90
The fixing position of the upper arm 62 is adjusted (the screw 92 is loosened to shift the arm 62), and the parallelism of the alignment rod 43 with respect to the alignment reference plate 41 is appropriately adjusted. Then, the screw 92 is tightened to fix the arm 62. Then, the sheets accommodated in any of the upper bin B and the lower bin B are uniformly pressed by the aligning rod 43 and aligned on the bin B.

Further, at this time, even if the sizes of the sheets P are somewhat uneven, the sheets P can be freely aligned by the plate springs 93 and 95.
Is properly matched by.

In the present embodiment, the upper arm 62 and the lower arm 61
Although the leaf springs 93 and 95 are arranged at the connecting portions with the aligning rod 43, they are not limited to these, and other elastic members such as sponge may be used.

Further, the upper arm fixing plate 90 is attached to the driven side above the moving center shaft 42.
However, the present invention is not limited to this and may be arranged on the lower drive side.

Further, the alignment reference plate 41 may be formed at the end of each bin.

(G) Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the adjustment of adjusting the parallelism of the aligning member with respect to the aligning reference so that the aligning member can uniformly press the sheets accommodated in the plurality of bins. Since the means is provided, the parallelism of the aligning member with respect to the alignment reference can be adjusted by the adjusting means to obtain uniform sheet alignment in all the bins.

Further, in the case where the aligning member is supported via the elastic member, it is possible to obtain uniform aligning property of the sheet even when the sheet is expanded and contracted due to the environment.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 3 are views showing respective parts of a bin unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the bin unit,
FIG. 2 is a detailed view showing the upper arm, (a) is a plan view,
(B) is a side view. 3 is a plan view of a bottle, FIG. 4 is a side view of a sorter according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a perspective view thereof, FIG. 6 is a side view of a lead cam, and FIG. 7 is a plan view thereof. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the electric stapler, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a conventional bin unit. 1 …… Sheet sorter (sorter), 41 …… Alignment reference body (alignment reference plate), 43 …… Alignment member (alignment rod), 90 …… Adjustment means (upper arm fixing plate), 93,95 …… Elasticity Material (leaf spring), B ... bottle.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-63-154576 (JP, A) JP-A-62-153062 (JP, A) JP-A-59-177251 (JP, A)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of bins for accommodating sheets, an alignment reference body for regulating the end portions of the sheets when aligning the sheets contained in these bins, and a support supported in parallel to the alignment reference body and A sheet sorting apparatus comprising: an aligning member that moves the sheets contained in a plurality of bins so as to press the aligning reference body, wherein the aligning member can evenly press the sheets contained in the plurality of bins. As described above, the sheet sorting apparatus is provided with adjusting means for adjusting the parallelism of the aligning member with respect to the aligning reference body. 2. The sheet sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the matching member is supported via an elastic member.