JPS62196676A - Post-processor for recordig paper - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily execute paper stapling by forming a means for collating recording sheets sent from a recording device and stapling them and a means for detecting the number of recording sheets sent to the paper binding means. CONSTITUTION:In a stapling mode, recording sheets carried from a pair of inlet rollers 30, 31 are led to another paper path 36 by the operation of a deflector 32 and temporarily discharged to an intermediate tray 39 by a pair of rollers 37, 38. The recording sheets 2 are collated by a belt 40 laid over the roller 37. The recording sheets collated on the tray 39 are stapled at their end part and then dropped and stored in a loower tray 43 by the rotating operation of a stopper 42. Then, the number of recording sheets discharged to the tray 39 is counted up by a detecting signal outputted from an intermediate tray outlet sensor S3 for detecting the sheets sent from the tray 39. Thus, the paper stapling can be easily executed at the time of recording.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recording paper post-processing device, and particularly to a paper sheet (hereinafter simply referred to as a sheet) such as paper sent out from a recording device such as a copying machine or a printing machine. The present invention relates to a recording paper post-processing device that is capable of accumulating and aligning a plurality of sheets (hereinafter referred to as a "stapler") and also capable of stapling (hereinafter referred to as a "stapler").

[Prior Art] Conventionally, recording paper post-processing devices such as copying machines equipped with this type of stapler use RDF (automatic document circulation feeder, RDH).
When the RDF sheet document goes through one cycle, a paper binding operation is generally performed every time the end of the RDF sheet document is detected.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the recording paper post-processing device as described above, the stapler operation is performed when performing normal book mode copying without using RDF or ADF (automatic document feeder). This is either impossible or requires cumbersome operations despite the relatively high frequency of use. Furthermore, if the stable mode is erroneously specified in the case of single-sheet copying, there is the inconvenience that the stable mode is normally set.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a recording paper post-processing device that can easily obtain stable operation in book mode, which is the problem described above, and furthermore, provides an operation that prohibits stable operation during single-sheet copying. To provide a recording paper post-processing device that is easy for users to use.

[Means for Solving the Problems] That is, the present invention provides means for aligning and binding recording sheets sent out from a recording device, and means for detecting the number of recording sheets sent to the binding means. , means for instructing the paper binding means to perform paper binding when the number of recording paper sheets detected by the number detection means reaches a plurality of predetermined numbers, and when the number of recording paper sheets detected by the number detection means is one. [Function] The recording paper post-processing device configured as described above is provided with a switch means for performing stable binding when in the book mode. Book via switch means
Stable operation can be performed even when the
In addition, since the number of recording sheets is counted at this time, stabilization can be prohibited if there is only one recording sheet.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an overview of a copying machine as an example of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 indicates a copying machine, and recording paper 2 ejected from the copying machine 1 passes through a folding device 3 to a stacker 5 of a finisher device 4. Or it is carried out to the stable section 6.

Here, the folding device 3 can operate according to the following five modes.

The first through-bus mode is a mode in which the paper passes through without requiring a folding operation. In this mode, as shown in FIG. , is guided to the paper path 10, and the finisher device 4 is guided by the paper ejection roller pair 11 and 1z.
sent to.

The second folding mode is carried out when a half-size paper of A4 or 85 or less is carried in. Similarly, in FIG. 2, the recording paper 2 guided to the entrance deflector 9 by the entrance roller pair 7 and Here it is guided into the paper path 13 and, by the operation of the deflectors 14, 15 and 16, passes between the folding rollers 17 and 18, between the rollers 18 and 19 and between the rollers 19 and 20, and then passes through the paper path 21. The paper is then sent out by a pair of paper ejection rollers 11 and 12.

The third two-fold mode allows you to fold A3 or 84 or larger recording paper into two folds.
In this mode, the recording paper is guided from the pair of entrance rollers 7 and 8 to the paper bus 13 by the entrance deflector 9, and is introduced into the folding bus 22 by operating the deflector 14. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the leading edge of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 23, the loop 24 formed at the center of the recording paper is caught in the nip between the folding rollers 17 and 18, and the paper is folded. 3B and 4 in the center of 2.
As shown in Figure (A), creases 2A are formed, resulting in a two-fold sheet. The recording paper 2 thus folded in half is then guided between folding rollers 18 and 19 by deflectors 15 and 16, and then passes between rollers 19 and 20 via a paper path 21. The paper is delivered by a pair of paper delivery rollers 11 and 12.

The fourth two-fold mode is a mode in which the paper is folded in half and then one of the folds is folded back to the opposite side.
The recording paper guided to is first introduced into the folding bus 22 by operating the deflector 14. When the leading edge of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 25 that is protruded by operating the solenoid 25, a loop is formed approximately 1/4 from the leading edge of the paper 2, and the loop is folded. By being caught in the nip between rollers 17 and 18, the first fold 2 is formed as shown in Fig. 4 ([1)].
B is formed.

Next, the recording paper 2 folded in this way is passed through the deflector 15.
is introduced into the folding path 26 by the operation. When the fold line 2B of the recording paper 2 folded in half is brought into contact with the stopper 27, the fold line 2B of the recording paper 2 folded in two is pressed against the stopper 27.
A loop is further formed in the vicinity of the second half of the quarter from B in the same manner as described above, and this loop is connected to the folding roller 1.
The second fold 2C is formed by being held in the nip between 8 and 19. The Z-folded sheet that has been folded back to the front side in this way is further guided between the pair of folding rollers 19 and 20 by the operation of the deflector 16, and then further passed through the paper bus 21 to the pair of discharge rollers 11 and 20. 12 to the finisher device 4.

In the case of the fifth back two-fold mode, in the same manner as described above, the recording paper 2 guided from the entrance roller pair 7 and 8 to the paper path 13 by the operation of the population deflector 9 is folded by the operation of the deflector 14. It is guided to a pair of rollers 17 and 18, from which a folding path 2 is formed by operating a deflector 15.
6 will be introduced. However, when the leading edge of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 27, approximately l from the leading edge of the recording paper 2
The loop formed at the /4 portion is the folding roller 18 and 19.
The first fold 2D is formed as shown in FIG. 4(C).

Note that after this, the folding path 2 is changed by operating the deflector 16.
When the fold line 2D of the recording paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 29, a loop is formed in the vicinity of the melon part about 1/4 further from the fold line 2D of the recording paper 2, and the folding rollers 19 and 20 The second fold 2E is formed as shown in FIG. 4(C).

The two-fold sheet folded back to the back side is paper pass 2.
1, and is sent out by a pair of paper ejection rollers 11 and 12.

In FIG. 2, SO is a population sensor for the recording paper 2 in the folding device 3, and S5 is a fold detection sensor that is provided on the paper bus 21 to which the folded sheet is finally guided and measures the length of the folded sheet. It is.

Next, the finisher device 4 will be explained with reference to FIG. The finisher device 4 can be roughly divided into two routes: a stacker 5 side where the recording sheets 2 are fed one after another and accumulated, and a stapling section 6 side where the sheets are bound by a stapler.

First, in the stacker mode, the recording paper carried in by the pair of entrance rollers 30 and 31 is guided to the paper path 33 by the operation of the deflector 32, and from there is discharged onto the stacker 5 by the pair of paper discharge rollers 34 and 35. . Note that when the cumulative height of the recording sheets 2 on the stacker 5 increases, a large amount of recording sheets 2 can be accommodated by lowering the stacker 5 accordingly.

Next, in the case of the stable mode, the recording paper carried in by the pair of entrance rollers 30 and 31 is guided to the other paper bus 36 by the operation of the deflector 32, and then onto the intermediate tray 39 by the pair of rollers 37 and 38. be discharged. Note that 40 is a belt suspended on the roller 37,
The recording paper 2 is once aligned by this belt 40.

The ends of the recording sheets 2 thus aligned on the intermediate tray 39 are stably fixed by the stapler 41 as will be described later, and then, by the rotating operation of the stopper 42, this stably fixed stack of recording sheets is transferred to the lower tray. 43 and store it.

Here, Sl is an entrance sensor provided at the recording paper entrance of the finisher section 4, s2 is a stacker exit sensor that detects sheets sent to the stacker, and S3 is a sensor that detects sheets sent to the intermediate tray. The number of recording sheets discharged to the intermediate tray 39 can be counted by the MC, which will be described later, based on the detection signals from the sensors S:1 and the like. Furthermore, S4 is a sensor that detects the sheet sent to the intermediate tray 39, and S6 is a level detection sensor provided along the stacker 5.

FIG. 6 shows the operating parts of the finisher device 4 and the folding device 3, where 5OA is the finisher device and 50A of the finisher device.
B is the operating section of the folding device. In the operation section 50A, 52 is a finisher mode selection switch, which can select either stack mode or stable mode. 55 and 53 are switches 52
Light emitting diode LED indicating the mode selected by
Alternatively, the indicator light 55 indicates the stack mode by simultaneously displaying the picture display 56 indicating the stack mode. Further, the indicator light 53 indicates the stable mode by simultaneously displaying the pictorial display 54 indicating the stable mode.

On the other hand, 58 is a mode selection switch of the folding device provided in the operation section 50B, and it is possible to select either the two-fold mode or the two-fold mode. 61 and 59 are indicator lights such as LEDs or lamps that indicate the mode selected by the switch 58, and the indicator light 61 indicates the bifold mode by a pictorial display 62 indicating the bifold mode,
The indicator light 59 indicates the two-fold mode by means of a pictorial display 60 indicating the two-fold mode. A jam indicator 57 indicates a jam in the folding device 3 and finisher device 4. In the case of selecting back-folding, a selection switch (not shown) between two-folding and back-folding provided inside the folding device 3 is used to select either one according to the user's preference.

Furthermore, in this example, the finisher device 4 can implement a books stable mode in addition to the two modes, namely the stack mode and the stable mode.

Now, to explain the procedure for selecting the books stable mode with reference to FIG.
3, but it can be indicated by turning off both indicator lights 55 and 53 as a means of indicating the bookstable mode without increasing the number of indicator lights.

Although not shown in the drawings, it goes without saying that one additional indicator light or a special switch may be provided.

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

Partially overlapping asynchronous serial communication is carried out between the copying machine 1 and a microcomputer MC provided in the finisher part 4, and a communication request signal RE from the copying machine 1 is sent.
A communication enable signal ACK is output from the finisher side for Q, and then DI is output for each data signal DO.
Communication progresses sequentially by sending the . Note that the data signal DO sent from the copying machine 1 mainly contains intermediate status signals such as copy start, end, copy size, number of copies, JAM, etc., and the data signal DI sent from the finisher side indicates the number of completed copies and speed. There is no table, or there is an intermediate state 1 such as JAN. 50 is the operating section shown in FIG. 6; 51. S2, 53, and 54 are the finisher population sensor, stacker output sensor, intermediate tray output sensor, and intermediate tray paper detection sensor, respectively, which were mentioned earlier. Further, an up/down signal U/D and an 0N10FF signal for controlling the raising, lowering, and on/off of the stacker section 5 are input to the control circuit 68 via buffers 66 and 67, respectively.
Stacker motor M1 is controlled. Note that the stacker section 5
An upper limit sensor, a lower limit sensor 70, and a stacker level sensor S6 are provided, and these sensor groups also contribute to the control of the stacker motor M1.

Reference numeral 72 is a signal for operating and controlling the deflector 32 (hereinafter, see FIG. 5) provided at the entrance of the finisher device 4. This signal 72 drives the solenoid 32A via the buffer 74, and the recording paper 2 It controls whether to send it to the stacker section 5 or to the intermediate tray 39.

73 is a signal that controls the rotation of the stopper 42, and this signal 73 causes the solenoid 42A to be activated via the buffer 75.
can be driven to drop the stable sheet bundle onto the lower tray 43.

76 is a conveyance motor M2 for the recording paper 2 via a buffer 77.
A signal 79 drives a stable plunger 81, which will be described later, via a buffer 80. 7
8 is an interrupter that outputs a pulse proportional to the rotation speed of the conveyance motor M2, and 82 is the staple unit 6 as described later.
For example, it is a reflective sensor that detects the presence or absence of a stabilizing needle.

Furthermore, 83 is a manual switch for stable mode, which is used in book mode, stable mode, etc.

On the other hand, for the folding device 3, the sheet conveying motor IM can be driven by the signal 84 via the buffer 85, and the mode signal 89 can also be driven depending on the type of folding mode.
This drives a plurality of deflectors and stoppers associated with each other, and one selected from the five deflector and stopper solenoids 87 is appropriately driven via a buffer 86. 88 is an interrupter that outputs a pulse proportional to the rotation speed of the transport motor IM.

Next, the control operation in the recording paper post-processing apparatus of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. At the same time as the start of the copying operation is detected in step S1, the folding device 3 and the finisher device 4 are put into a driving state, but in step S2 it is determined whether or not they are in the stable mode.

In step S2, if the mode is not stable, the process branches to step S3, and the sheet is discharged to the stacker section 5. If the mode is stable in step S2, the process proceeds to step S4, and the sheet is discharged to the stable section 6.

Next, in step S5, it is determined based on the data signal from the copying machine 1 whether or not it is a one-sheet copy, and if it is not a one-sheet copy, the process branches to step S6 and operates according to flow (2) which is not directly related to the present invention. be done.

Also, if it is a single copy in step S5, step S
In step S7, it is determined whether or not the copying operation has ended, and in step S8, it is further determined whether or not the stable manual switch 83 is turned on. Thus, in step S8, if the manual switch 83 is not turned on, the process returns to step 51 via step S9, and the steps from step 52 onwards are repeated for the next sheet.

Furthermore, in step S8, if the manual switch is turned on, the process proceeds to step SIO, and if the number of sheets in the stable section 6 is only one and there is no subsequent sheet, the process branches to step Sll, in which the paper is If the sheet is ejected to the lower tray 43 without being stapled and one sheet is continuously copied, that is, if the number of sheets in the stable section 6 is not one, the process advances to step S12 and the stapler 41 is operated to staple the paper. After performing this, it is possible to discharge the paper to the lower tray 43 and perform a paper binding operation as a book mode.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a means for aligning and binding recording sheets sent out from a recording device, and a means for detecting the number of recording sheets sent to the sheet binding means. means for instructing a paper binding means to perform paper binding when the number of recording paper sheets detected by the number detection means reaches a plurality of predetermined numbers; Since a means for prohibiting paper binding when a single sheet is recorded is provided, paper binding can be performed extremely easily when recording is performed in the book mode.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the outline of a recording paper post-processing device to which the present invention can be applied, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the folding device together with a conveyance path, and FIGS. Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the process of forming a fold in the fold forming device in Fig. 1, respectively. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the finisher device along with the conveyance path, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the configuration of the operation section of the finisher device and the folding device, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of the control circuit of the recording paper post-processing device of the present invention, and is a flowchart of its control operation. 1... Copying machine, 2... Recording paper, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2 [1, 2E... Crease, 3...
- Folding device, 4... Finisher device, 5... Stacker section, 6... Stable section, (7, 8), (11, 121, (30, 31),
(34,35), (37,38)...Roller pair, 9.14,15,16.32...Deflector! 0.
13, 21, 22.2B, 33.36... paper bus, 1
7.18, 19.20...Folding roller, 23.27.
...stopper, 24...loop, 26.27...folding path, SO~S6...sensor, 39.43...tray, 40...belt, 41...stapler, 42...・Stopper, 50A, 508.50...Operation unit, 52.58...Mode selection switch, 53.55.5
9.61... Indicator light, 54.56, 61.62...
Pictorial display, 57... Jam indicator light, 86.67.74, 80, 85.86... Buffer, Ml... Stacker motor, 69.70... Sensor, 72.73.76.84. 89...Signal, 32A, 4
2A, 87...Solenoid, 81...Plunger, 78.88...Interrupter, 82...(Reflection) sensor, 83...Manual switch. Figure 1 Figure 3A Figure 3B Figure 2I: Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Means for aligning and binding the recording sheets sent out from the recording device; means for detecting the number of sheets of the recording sheets sent to the sheet binding means; means for instructing the paper binding means to perform paper binding when the number of recording papers reached a plurality of predetermined numbers;
1. A recording paper post-processing device comprising means for inhibiting paper binding when printing sheets.