JPH0551150A - Image-formed sheet processor - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To make the unused surface of the image-formed sheet usable in the image forming apparatus by an easy operation. [Configuration] When a sheet bundle PA on which an image has been formed is inserted into the insertion port 3, the sheet bundle PA slides on the inclined surface 6 into the storage chamber 9, and the side joggers 7 and the trailing edge joggers 8 form the sheet bundle PA. Align the ends, then feed roller 13 and reverse roller 14
Paper is separated and conveyed one by one to the reflection type photosensors 15 and 16. The reflective photosensors 15 and 16 detect the unused surface of the paper, and the conveyance roller 22 conveys the paper having the unused surface to the image forming apparatus 26 according to the detection result.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention utilizes an unused side of a sheet that has been used once and has an image formed (printed) on one side. Therefore, the image formed sheet to be installed in a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer or the like. Regarding a processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, reuse of OA paper has become a problem from the standpoint of environmental destruction and resource protection, and various methods and means have been proposed and implemented.

For example, recycled paper is most commonly used, and after the paper on which an image has been formed with toner is subjected to a chemical treatment to remove the toner and determine whether or not the paper can be reused. , A paper recycling device that stocks usable paper has been proposed, and when an operator notices that a miscopy has been made, the specified switch is turned on to transport the miscopy paper from the discharge tray to the reuse tray. There is also proposed an image forming apparatus which is stocked so that the side opposite to the miscopy side of the sheet can be used.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the paper recycling apparatus for performing chemical processing requires equipment for chemical processing, which increases the manufacturing cost of the apparatus and eliminates miscopy paper. In the image forming apparatus that conveys the paper from the paper tray to the reuse tray, it takes a long time to convey the miscopy paper, and the image forming operation cannot be performed during that time.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image-formed sheet processing apparatus which enables an unused surface of an image-formed sheet to be used in an image forming apparatus by a simple operation.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an insertion opening for inserting a sheet bundle on which an image has been formed into the apparatus main body, and an end of the sheet bundle inserted from the insertion slot. An inclined surface that feeds the bundle of sheets to the apparatus body while gradually aligning the parts, a sheet edge aligning unit that aligns the ends of the bundle of sheets, a separating and conveying unit that separates and conveys the sheets one by one from the bundle of sheets, and the conveyed sheets. On the other hand, it is characterized in that it is provided with a discriminating means for discriminating between the image formed surface and the unused surface and a conveying means for conveying the sheet having the unused surface to the image forming apparatus.

Further, the insertion opening is provided for each predetermined paper size, and the width of the insertion opening is larger than the widthwise direction of the corresponding paper size and smaller than the longitudinal direction.

Further, the coefficient of static friction between the inclined surface and the paper is
It is characterized in that it is configured to be smaller than the coefficient of static friction between sheets.

Further, receiving means for receiving the end portion of the sheet is provided on the extension line of the inclined surface, and a space having a distance slightly shorter than the sheet size is provided between the receiving means and the end of the inclined surface. And

Further, it is characterized in that a sheet surface aligning means for unifying the direction of the unused surface of the sheet based on the result of the discrimination by the discriminating means is provided.

Further, the present invention is characterized by further comprising a discharging means for discharging the paper, of which both sides have been image-formed by the judging means, to a discharging section other than the image forming apparatus.

[0012]

According to the above means, when the sheet bundle on which the image has been formed is inserted into the insertion port for each size, the sheet bundle is aligned by the inclined surface, the sheet edge aligning means, and the receiving means, and one sheet is separated by the separating / conveying means. They are conveyed one by one to the discriminating means to discriminate the unused surface. Since only the sheet having the unused surface is conveyed to the image forming apparatus by the conveying means, the sheet on which the image has been formed can be reused easily and reliably.

Further, by unifying the orientation of the unused surface of the sheet by the sheet surface aligning means, the operator does not need to check the unused surface.

Further, the ejecting means discriminates the sheets on both sides of which images have been formed and ejects them to the ejecting section, thereby preventing double image formation.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the construction of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the whole of this embodiment. In this embodiment, an A4 size sheet processing section 1 and an A3 size sheet processing section 1 are shown. The paper processing unit 2 is installed vertically (the paper processing unit corresponding to the size of paper used is installed). The sheet processing units 1 and 2 have the same configuration except that the dimensions are different. Therefore, the A4 size sheet processing unit 1 will be described below, and the same reference numerals will be given to the corresponding members of the A3 size sheet processing unit 2. The detailed description is omitted.

In the figure, 3 is an insertion opening opened on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 4, 5 and 6 are upper and lower inclined surfaces which are continuously provided from the insertion opening 3, and 7 and 8 are inside the apparatus main body 4. Side joggers and rear edge joggers, which are movably provided in the storage chamber 9 of the storage chamber 9, a sheet detection sensor installed at the bottom of the storage chamber 9, 11 is a semicircular roller, and 12 is the upper and lower sides. A rotatable paper stopper which is a receiving means provided on an extension of the inclined surfaces 5 and 6, and 13 and 14 are feed rollers and reverse rollers which are separating and conveying means for separating and conveying the sheets one by one.
Reference numerals 15 and 16 are reflection type photosensors which are discriminating means, 17 and 18 are rotatable deflecting claws which are sheet reversing means, 19 and 20 are forward and reverse rollers, and 21 is a paper edge detecting sensor.

Further, 22 is a carrying roller, which is provided in the paper carrying path indicated by a chain line. The deflection claw 1
The transport path provided with 7, 18 is branched into a straight transport path 23, a reverse transport path 24, and a switchback transport path 25,
The straight transport path 23 communicates with a paper storage unit (not shown) in the image forming apparatus 26 such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a planter.
Further, the reverse conveyance path 24 communicates with a discharge conveyance path 28 provided with a discharge roller 27, and a discharge tray 29 is provided at the end of the discharge conveyance path 28.

The deflection claws 17 and 18 and the forward and reverse rotation rollers 19 and 20
, Paper edge detection sensor 21, linear transport path 23, reverse transport path
The sheet surface aligning means M is constituted by 24 and the switchback transport path 25.

In the above-described embodiment, the sheet bundle PA made of sheets that have been copied or printed out is inserted into the insertion port 3 according to size with their ends being substantially aligned. The inserted sheet bundle PA slides down on the lower inclined surface 6 by its own weight, and the front end contacts the sheet stopper 12. The relationship between the coefficient of static friction μ _A between the lower inclined surface 6 and the paper and the coefficient of static friction μ _B between the paper is μ _A
The material of the lower sloping surface 6 is selected so as to satisfy <μ _B so that the surface unevenness is eliminated. With the above relationship, the sheet bundle PA can be slidably moved on the lower inclined surface 6 without being greatly displaced.

The angle of the lower inclined surface 6 is preferably about 20 ° to 30 °, and the distance from the end 6a of the lower inclined surface 6 to the paper stopper 12 is 20 to 30 mm shorter than the paper size.
The sheet bundle PA is designed to go straight toward the sheet stopper 12. The upper inclined surface 5 regulates the rear end of the sheet bundle PA so that it does not roll up upward after the front end of the sheet bundle PA contacts the sheet stopper 12.

When viewed from above, the insertion opening 3 is provided with opposed paper side surface guides 30 so that the entrance portion expands and narrows inward as shown in the plan view of FIG.
The size A of the inner edge is set to be about 10 mm wider than the width of the sheet, and even when the edge of the sheet bundle PA is not parallel to the insertion opening 3 at the time of insertion, the sheet bundle PA is guided by the sheet side guide 30.
Is regulated so that it slides down toward the center of the paper stopper 12.

The sheet bundle PA is stored in the storage chamber 9 as shown in FIGS.
Each end is aligned as shown in. That is, the side jogger 7 and the rear end jogger 8 are at the standby position shown in FIG. 4 (a), and when the sheet detection sensor 10 detects the sheet bundle PA, the side jogger 7 and the rear side jogger 7 are moved by the driving means (not shown). The edge jogger 8 moves inward as shown in FIG.
Align the side and front and back of the paper, and press it onto the paper stopper 12.

After that, the sheet stopper 12 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 1 by a solenoid device or a cam mechanism (not shown) to open the front end of the sheet bundle PA and rotate the semicircular roller 11 clockwise once. By this rotation, the lower part of the sheet bundle PA is sent between the feed roller 13 and the reverse roller 14, the sheets are separately conveyed one by one, and further conveyed by the conveying roller 22 further downstream.

The presence of images and characters on both sides of the sheet is detected by the reflection type photosensors 15 and 16, and the sheet has three conveyance paths which will be described later. For this detection, the reflective photosensors 15 and 16 need to be arranged in parallel for the width of the paper.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for determining the conveyance path, where the paper surface detected by the upper reflective photosensor 15 is the A surface and the paper surface detected by the lower reflective photosensor 16 is the B surface. If the side B of the paper is not printed (NO in S1), the paper is sent to the straight conveyance path 23.
(S2), if side B is printed and side A is not printed
(NO in S3), after being sent to the reverse conveyance path 24, it is sent to the switchback conveyance path 25 (S4). If both sides of the paper are printed (YES in S1 and YES in S3), the paper is sent from the reverse conveyance path 24 to the ejection conveyance path 28 and ejected to the ejection tray 29 (S5).

FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (c) are explanatory views of the transport path switching operation, and when it is determined that the B side is not printed as described above, the deflection is performed as shown in FIG. 6 (a). The pawls 17 and 18 do not operate, and the sheet is directly conveyed from the apparatus main body 4 to the image forming apparatus 26 through the linear conveyance path 23.

Next, when it is determined that the B side is printed and the A side is not printed, the paper is inverted to unify the orientation of the unused side. That is, as shown in FIG. 6 (b),
The upper deflecting claw 17 is rotated clockwise to close the linear transport path 23, send the paper to the reverse transport path 24, and when it is detected that the trailing edge of the paper has passed the paper edge detection sensor 21, the forward / reverse rotation is performed. Laura 1
9 and 20 reversely rotate, and the lower deflecting claw 18 rotates clockwise to close the reverse conveying path 24.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the sheet is conveyed from the apparatus main body 4 to the image forming apparatus 26 in a state in which the surface A faces downward from the switchback conveying path 25 through the linear conveying path 23. It

If both sides A and B are printed,
Since the paper cannot be reused, it is sent to the discharge conveyance path 28 and discharged to the paper discharge tray 29 without receiving the switchback from the state of FIG. 6B.

After the sheet has passed, the deflecting claws 17 and 18 are returned to the standby positions in FIG. 6A, and the above-described operation is repeated until the sheet detecting sensor 10 detects the absence of the sheet. Further, the side jogger 7 and the trailing edge jogger 8 are returned to the standby position shown in FIG.

The widths L1 and L2 of the insertion slot 3 shown in FIG.
Is 210 mm <L1 <297 mm, 297 mm <L2 <420 mm because the sheet processing units 1 and 2 are for A4 and A3 sizes.
By setting this size range, both A4 and A3 size sheets can be inserted only from the short side direction, and it is possible to ensure the sheet alignment in the apparatus body 4 (insert the sheets vertically and horizontally without unifying them). If it is done, the paper cannot be aligned.)
When both L1 and L2 are close to the lower limit, it is difficult to insert the paper, and when the L1 and L2 are close to the upper limit, it is possible to insert the paper from the longitudinal direction by bending the paper. Therefore, it is desirable to adopt an intermediate value. ..

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When you put a bundle of sheets on which images have been formed into the insertion slot, only the sheet that has an unused surface will be conveyed to the image forming device, so you can easily and reliably reuse the sheets on which images have been formed.
In addition, since the orientation of the unused surface of the paper can be unified, it is not necessary for the operator to check the unused surface, and it is possible to distinguish the paper on which both sides are image-formed and discharge it to the discharge unit. Since the double image formation is prevented, it is possible to provide the image formed sheet processing apparatus that allows the unused surface of the image formed sheet to be used in the image forming apparatus with a simple operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an image-formed sheet processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the whole of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an insertion opening portion.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of operations of a side jogger and a rear end jogger.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for determining a transport route.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a transport path switching operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 ... insertion port, 5, 6 ... inclined surface, 7 ... side jogger (paper edge aligning means), 8 ... rear edge jogger (paper edge aligning means),
12 ... Paper stopper (receiving means), 13 ... Feed roller
(Separating / conveying means), 14 ... Reverse roller (separating / conveying means), 15, 16 ... Reflective photosensor (discriminating means), 22
... conveying rollers (conveying means), 27 ... discharging rollers (discharging means), 29 ... discharging trays (discharging section), 30 ... sheet side guides, M ... sheet surface aligning means.

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G03G 15/00 109 7369-2H

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An insertion opening for inserting a sheet bundle on which an image has been formed into the apparatus body, and an inclined surface for feeding the sheet bundle to the apparatus body while gradually aligning the ends of the sheet bundle inserted from the insertion opening. A sheet edge aligning unit that aligns the edge of the sheet bundle, a separating and conveying unit that separates and conveys the sheets one by one from the sheet bundle, and determines an image-formed side and an unused side of the conveyed sheet. An image-formed sheet processing apparatus comprising: a determination unit and a conveyance unit that conveys a sheet having an unused surface to an image forming apparatus. 2. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the insertion opening is provided for each predetermined paper size, and the width of the insertion opening is larger than a widthwise direction of the corresponding paper size and smaller than a longitudinal direction thereof. Used paper processing equipment. 3. The image-formed sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coefficient of static friction between the inclined surface and the sheet is smaller than the coefficient of static friction between the sheets. 4. A receiving means for receiving an end portion of a sheet is provided on an extension line of the inclined surface, and a space having a distance slightly shorter than a sheet size is provided between the receiving means and an end of the inclined surface. The image-formed sheet processing device according to claim 1. 5. The image-formed sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a sheet surface aligning unit that unifies the direction of the unused surface of the sheet based on the determination result by the determining unit. 6. The discharging device for discharging the sheet, the both sides of which have been image-formed by the determining unit, to a discharge unit other than the image forming apparatus.
Image forming paper processing device.