Patent Application
20060128543
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, printer, facsimile machine, and digital multifunctional device, and more particularly to improvement of a paper folding apparatus which is used as a finisher and the like of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been conventionally known a paper folding apparatus which has a function of forming any fold line at any position on a sheet of paper such as a copier paper, recording paper, and printing paper ejected from an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system such as a copying machine, printer, and facsimile machine. For example, in an electrophotographic copying machine for copying a large-size draft such as a draft of a drawing, the draft is usually copied on large-sized coping paper such as A0 or A1 paper. Keeping or handling these large-sized copier papers as they are takes up a lot of storage space, or causes inconvenience in handling, thus the papers are usually folded and stored. However, folding these copying papers by hand generally requires a considerable amount of time, and sometimes folding the papers takes several times longer than copying. For this reason, there has been developed a paper folding apparatus which is disposed at a ejection path of a copying machine, and there has been known a paper folding apparatus for folding an A0 sized drawing into an A4 size.
In the case of folding large-size paper into small-size paper using such a paper folding apparatus, when filing the folded paper in a file or the like, the edge of the paper is also filed. Also, it may be necessary to change a starting position for folding the edge due to limitations of the image information on the paper. In order to prevent such folding of edges or to form a most appropriate fold line corresponding to the image on the paper, it is necessary for an operator to fold the edges of the folded paper again by hand, and then file the paper by means of a staple or paper punch to create a file. However, the burden on the operator is increased if folding of the edges is manually performed on every single piece of paper. Therefore, there is proposed an edge folding device which can automatically fold in the edges of paper and reduce the burden placed on the operator.
For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2849914 discloses a technology in a paper folding apparatus in which at least a pair of rotating members which are driven in mutual synchronization are provided along a paper conveying path, and a groove and a protrusion for forming a fold line on paper are provided in the rotating members respectively. In this conventional technology, however, since each of the rotating members rotates, slips a sheet of paper therebetween, and thereby form a fold line, and papers are stacked along the fold lines thereof into a paper storage portion provided below each of the rotating members, the problem is that it is difficult form a fold line nicely.
Further, Japanese Patent Application No. 3173121, for example, discloses an edge folding device which comprises paper conveying means for conveying paper, edge fold-in means having an edge folding member capable of vertical movement between a first position in which an edge of the paper is scooped up and a second position in which the edge of the scooped paper is folded in, paper detecting means for detecting an arrival of the paper in the vicinity of the edge folding member, edge fold controlling means for controlling so as to set the edge folding member at a constant timing after arrival the paper is detected by the paper detecting means, set the edge folding member in the second position at a constant timing after an edge of the paper is loaded on edge folding member, and fold in the edge of the paper under the second position, and edge fold-up means having a pair of fold rollers for nipping the paper whose edge is folded in and folding the edge upward. However, as described above, the position for starting to fold the edge is determined according to the shape of the edge folding member which is capable of vertical movement of scooping up the fold line formed on the folded edge, thus a user cannot change the position for starting to fold the edge at the leading edge of the paper, even if he wants to for the reason of filing or of the image information on the paper. There was no way but to replace the folding member with the one having a different shape in order to change the position for starting to fold the edge.
Furthermore, Japan Registration of Utility Model No. 2524155 discloses a technology for using and end section folding member to fold upward an end section of paper conveyed by paper conveying means, and forming a fold line on the end section of the paper by inserting a curved part of the folded-up paper into a nip portion of a pair of rollers. In this conventional technology, however, although the end portion of the is folded up by the end section folding member which is capable of vertical movement of scooping up an end section of paper, the curved part of the folded up paper is inserted in the nip portion of the pair of rollers, thus inserting into the nip portion was difficult, the angle of the fold line fluctuates, and the paper is bent due to wrinkles generated on the paper.
An object of the present invention is to provide a paper folding apparatus which can securely fold paper, and an image forming apparatus which uses the paper folding apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a paper folding apparatus which can optionally change a position for starting to fold an edge of a leading edge of a paper, and an image forming apparatus which uses the paper folding apparatus.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a paper folding apparatus which does not cause fluctuation on the shape of a folded end section even in the case of a sheet of hard paper such as heavy paper, and can produce a thin sheaf of papers even when stacking the folded parts of the papers.
A paper folding apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper conveying device for conveying papers; a first folding device for forming a fold line on the paper; and a second folding device for folding the paper on which a fold line is formed by the first folding device.
An image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper folding apparatus. The paper folding apparatus comprises a paper conveying device for conveying papers; a first folding device for forming a fold line on the paper; and a second folding device for folding the paper on which a fold line is formed by the first folding device.
A paper folding apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper conveying device for conveying papers; a paper folding device for forming a fold line on the paper conveyed by the paper conveying device; a fold starting position changing device for changing a fold starting position in which folding of paper is started by the paper folding device according to the difference in the size of the paper; and a control device.
An image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper folding apparatus. The paper folding apparatus comprises a paper conveying device for conveying papers, a paper folding device for forming a fold line on the paper conveyed by the paper conveying devices, a fold starting position changing device for changing a fold starting position in which folding of paper is started by the paper folding device according to the difference in the size of the paper, and a control device. Changing the fold starting position by means of the fold starting position changing means can be implemented by operation from an operation portion provided in the image forming apparatus.
An image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper forming apparatus. The paper forming apparatus comprises a paper conveying device for conveying papers, a paper folding device for forming a fold line on the paper conveyed by the paper conveying device, a fold starting position changing device for changing a fold starting position in which folding of paper is started by the paper folding device according to the difference in the size of the paper, and a control device.
A paper folding apparatus of the present invention comprises a folding device having two pairs of fold rollers for forming a fold line on a paper which is conveyed, and a convex member for forming a fold line on the paper. A nip of the two pairs of fold rollers is disposed at an angle of the fold line, and the convex member pushes the paper into the nip of the pairs of fold rollers at a position of the fold line of the paper, according to the timing at which the paper is conveyed to the nip of the two pairs of fold rollers.
A paper conveying apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper folding apparatus. The paper folding apparatus comprises a folding device having two pairs of fold rollers for forming a fold line on a sheet of paper which is conveyed, and a convex member for forming a fold line on the paper. A nip of the two pairs of fold rollers is disposed at an angle of the fold line, and the convex member pushes the paper into the nip of the pairs of fold rollers at a position of the fold line of the paper, according to the timing at which the paper is conveyed to the nip of the two pairs of fold rollers.
A paper processing apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper folding apparatus. The paper folding apparatus comprises a folding device having two pairs of fold rollers for forming a fold line on a sheet of paper which is conveyed, and a convex member for forming a fold line on the paper. A nip of the two pairs of fold rollers is disposed at an angle of the fold line, and the convex member pushes the paper into the nip of the pairs of fold rollers at a position of the fold line of the paper, according to the timing at which the paper is conveyed to the nip of the two pairs of fold rollers.
An image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper folding apparatus. The paper folding apparatus comprises a folding device having two pairs of fold rollers for forming a fold line on a sheet of paper which is conveyed, and a convex member for forming a fold line on the paper. A nip of the two pairs of fold rollers is disposed at an angle of the fold line, and the convex member pushes the paper into the nip of the pairs of fold rollers at a position of the fold line of the paper, according to the timing at which the paper is conveyed to the nip of the two pairs of fold rollers.
An image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises a paper processing apparatus integrally or separately. The paper processing apparatus comprises a paper folding apparatus which comprises a folding device having two pairs of fold rollers for forming a fold line on a sheet of paper which is conveyed, and a convex member for forming a fold line on the paper. A nip of the two pairs of fold rollers is disposed at an angle of the fold line, and the convex member pushes the paper into the nip of the pairs of fold rollers at a position of the fold line of the paper, according to the timing at which the paper is conveyed to the nip of the two pairs of fold rollers.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings in which:
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter. It is to be noted the reference numerals used in each embodiment are independent of the reference numerals of the other embodiments, i.e., the same reference numerals do not always designate the same structural elements.
First embodiment is described in detail with reference to
First, the entire configuration of a copying machine and paper folding apparatus as an example of an image forming apparatus of the present embodiment is explained with reference to
As shown in
In the copying machine device main body 200, an image reading device 205 is disposed, below which a manual paper feeding tray 208 is disposed. Paper which is set on the manual paper feeding tray 208 is suspended by a resist roller 207, and is fed to an imaging unit 206 according to the timing. The imaging unit 206 is designed such that a latent image corresponding to the image data is formed on a photoreceptor, the obtained latent image is developed by toner, and the toner is transferred onto the paper and fixed by a fixing device 210. The paper P on which the toner is fixed by the fixing device 210 is then ejected to a paper insertion slot A of the paper folding apparatus 1 by a paper ejection roller 211. Thereafter, the paper P is conveyed to the first bellows fold portion 3 by the paper conveying portion 2, a fold line is formed in the vertical direction with respect to the conveyance direction of the paper P, and then the paper is folded in bellows along the fold line by the second bellows fold portion 4. Further, the paper P which is folded in bellows is conveyed in the vertical direction with respect to the conveyance direction at the time of folding in bellows, folded into A4 sized paper by the cross fold portion 5, and ejected and stacked by the stacker portion 6.
Next, configurations of the bellows fold portions are explained with reference to
The first bellows fold portion 3 comprises a first pair of first rollers (first pair of rotating members), a second pair of fold rollers (second pair of rotating members) which are provided downstream of the paper conveyance direction of the first pair of fold rollers, wherein the first pair of fold rollers have a rotating roller (rotating member) 16 with a protrusion 16c, and another rotating roller (rotating member) 17 with a groove 17c, while the second pair of fold rollers have a rotating roller (rotating member) 19 with a protrusion 19c and another rotating roller (rotating member) 18 with a groove 18c. Moreover, a pair of conveying rollers 20, 21 are provided downstream of the second pair of fold rollers so that paper on which a fold line is formed is conveyed to the second bellows fold portion 4.
The second bellows fold portion 4 is provided with a paper switching port 22 provided movably in a lateral direction, and a second pair of right fold rollers 23, 24 and as second pair of left fold rollers 25, 26 are provided downstream o the paper switching port 22. In this second bellows fold portion 4 the paper on which the fold line is formed is folded.
Next, a configuration of a control system of the present embodiment is explained.
As shown in
Next, the function and effect of the paper folding apparatus in the present embodiment are described using
As shown in
In addition, the first fold motor (1) 31 is stopped by a first fold roller HP detection plate 35, which is located at an end portion of the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 as shown in
After the fold line D is formed by the first bellows fold portion 3, the paper P is folded by the second bellows fold portion 4 along the fold line D. The second bellows fold portion 4 is configured such that a pair of rollers are arranged farther apart from each other, in which the paper P travels back and forth between these rollers and thereby is folded in bellows. After t2 seconds after the leading edge of the paper P reaches on the first fold detection sensor 15, the ON operation of the right switching guide solenoid 52 which is not shown and the normal rotation operation of the second fold motor 54 are started simultaneously (S1). The, paper P is then guided to the paper switching port 22 as shown in
After t3 seconds after the leading edge of the paper P reaches the second right fold detection sensor 27, the OFF operation of the right switching guide solenoid 52 is started, the paper switching port 22 is directed to the left by the ON operation of the left switching guide solenoid 53, the reverse operation of the second fold motor 54 is started, and, as shown in
Accordingly, as shown in
When folding is performed repeatedly, the rotation operation of the first fold motor (2) 37 is started before the paper is applied to the second pair of left fold rollers 25, 26 as shown in
Thereafter, the fold line D is applied to the second pair of left fold rollers 25, 26 in the same manner as above, the paper is conveyed while being folded, the paper switching port 22 is directed to the right by the OFF operation of the left switching guide solenoid 53 and the ON operation of the right switching guide solenoid 52 after t3 seconds after the second left fold detection sensor 28 is reached, the normal rotation operation of the second fold motor 54 is started, and the paper P is conveyed by the conveying force from the pair of conveying rollers 14 and the conveying force from the second pair of left fold rollers 25, 26 while forming a loop where the fold line E as the leading edge, the fold line E being formed by the first bellows fold portion 3, and is then applied to the second pair of right fold rollers 23, 24, starting from the fold line E.
Then, When folding is not performed repeatedly, the paper is conveyed from an ejection port C to the cross fold portion 5 by the pair of paper conveying rollers 29, and after the rear edge of the paper P passes over the second right fold detection sensor 27, folding in bellows is ended by the OFF operation of the right switching guide solenoid 52 and discontinuation of the operation of the second fold motor 54 (S24 through S19). Further, when folding of A0 large-sized paper or the like is performed repeatedly, the directions of the fold lines of the papers P are formed alternately by repeatedly performing the above operations, thus the papers can be folded in bellows.
As described above, since the paper folding apparatus according to the present embodiment is characterized in having the first bellows fold portion 3 which forms a fold line on paper, and the second bellows fold portion 4 which further folds the paper along the fold line formed by the first bellows fold portion 3, even in the case of a large-sized paper, a fold line with a desired size can be formed securely, and a thin sheaf of folded papers can be produced.
Furthermore, the first bellows fold portion 3 comprises the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 and the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19, and is characterized in forming two kinds of fold lines, i.e. angled fold line and valley fold line, by inserting a sheet of paper between the rollers, thus it takes only one of the pairs of the fold rollers to fold the paper in bellows, whereby the configuration can be made small and inexpensively.
Various modifications of the first embodiment are described next; however in the description, like reference numerals are used to indicate the portions that achieve the same functional effects as in the abovementioned portions of the present embodiment, thus the detailed explanations for those portions are omitted accordingly.
First of all,
For the first bellows fold portion 3, the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 and the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19 have the same configurations as in first embodiment described above. The pair of paper conveying rollers 14 used in the above-described first embodiment are omitted, and instead the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 and the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19 play the role of paper conveyance.
As shown in
Also, a one-rotation clutch which is stopped after one rotation by one ON signal is attached to an end portion of the rotating roller 16 in the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17, and the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 are driven via a gear pulley 34 attached to the rotating roller 17, and the drive belt 32. The rotation operation and stoppage of the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 are conducted by the ON/OFF operation of the first fold motor (1) 31 in the above-described first embodiment, but, in this modification, the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 are used as the paper conveying rollers even when not forming a fold line, thus formation of a fold line is performed by the ON/OFF operation of the one-rotation clutch described previously. It should be noted that the same configuration and method of operation as in the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 are applied to the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19.
In this modification, the rotating rollers 16 in the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 is constituted by the roller 16a having a protrusion, and the plurality of wheels 16b (the other rotating roller 18 in the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19 is also constituted by the roller 18a having a protrusion, and the plurality of wheels 18b), thus it can be used as the roller for conveying paper other than for forming a fold line, which means that a roller for conveying paper is not necessary. Therefore, the configuration can be made small and inexpensively.
The first bellows form portion 3 is constituted by the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 only, and fold lines in the form of both mountain and valley can be formed on one sheet of paper P by means of only one pair of rollers. The both rotating rollers 16, 17 are in the shape of a rough square, wherein the rotating roller 16 has a protrusion as in the first embodiment described above, and also has a groove at 180 degrees opposite to the protrusion.
Moreover, the shape of the roller surface located 90 degrees from the face on which the protrusion and groove are formed has a flat shape so as to be parallel with respect to the paper conveyance direction when an indented axis line is located in a position at right angles, in other words, in a position where an operation for forming a fold line is not performed. The other rotating roller 17 has the same shape as the rotating roller 16, but the position for forming the protrusion and groove is different from that of the rotating roller 16 by 180 degrees in terms of an attachment direction. Further, the driving method is also the same as in the first embodiment described above, but the shape of the first fold roller HP detection plate 35 is different. In the above-described first embodiment, one rotation of the roller is equivalent to one operation when forming a fold line on paper, thus, in order to form fold lines in the form of both mountain and valley on the paper P, two pairs of the rollers are required. However, in the present modification, a half turn of the roller is equivalent to one operation, thus, by extending the first fold roller HP detection plate 35 to the opposite side by 180 degrees, the first fold roller HP sensor 36 can perform detection for each half turn of the roller, and further the ON/OFF operation of the first fold motor (1) 31 can be controlled for each half turn of the roller.
Next, the third modification is described.
As shown in
In this manner, rotation shafts are decentered from the center of the rotating rollers, and the rotating rollers 16, 19 and the other rotating rollers 17, 18 are rotated eccentrically, thus formation of a fold line is performed while securely holding the paper at the nip portion of the pair of rollers, whereby a highly precise fold line can be formed.
The fourth modification is described next with reference to
As shown in
The fifth modification is described next using
In the pair of conveying rollers 20, 21 provided downstream of the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19, the shape of one of the rollers has a form of a skewer such that a plurality of rollers are disposed along the axial direction. As described above, since the shape of at least one of the pair of rollers conveying the paper from the first bellows fold portion 3 to the second bellows fold portion 4 is in the shape a skewer, the fold line formed by the first bellows fold portion 3 can be conveyed to the second bellows fold portion 4 without breaking the fold line. Therefore, the paper can be folded along the fold line formed by the first bellows fold portion 3, and a thin sheaf of folded papers can be produced.
The sixth modification is described next using
In the sixth modification, in the first bellows fold portion 3 the rotating roller 16 of the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 has the same configuration as in the first embodiment described above, the configuration being such that a cylindrical rubber having a protrusion at its shaft which is made of SUS is press-fitted. The other rotating roller 17 has a configuration in which a cylindrical rubber having a groove at its shaft which is made of SUS is press-fitted, but the cylindrical rubber used in the rotating roller 17 is softer than the cylindrical rubber used in the rotating roller 16. Therefore, by using the cylindrical rubber for the rotating roller 17, the cylindrical rubber being softer than that of the rotating roller 16, in the case where the protrusion and groove are fitted to each other to form a fold line on the paper, when the protrusion fits into the groove, it can be further pressed so that the protrusion and groove are attached firmly to each other, whereby a fold line can be formed securely and with high accuracy. It should be noted that the configuration of the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19 is the same as that of the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17.
Next, the seventh modification is described using
In the seventh modification, in the first bellows fold portion 3 the rotating roller 16 of the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 has the same configuration as in the first embodiment described above, the configuration being such that a cylindrical rubber having a protrusion at its shaft which is made of SUS is press-fitted. The other rotating roller 17 has a configuration in which a commonly used cylindrical rubber having no groove at its shaft which is made of SUS is press-fitted, but the cylindrical rubber used in the rotating roller 17 is softer than the cylindrical rubber used in the rotating roller 16. Therefore, the roller with no groove, which is usually used, is used instead of the rotating roller with a groove, thus, when forming a fold line the protrusion is buried in the surface of the counter roller (other rotating roller 17), whereby a fold line can be formed securely and with high accuracy. Also, since a commonly used roller is used instead of a special roller with a groove, the protrusion may be buried in any place on the counter roller, and even when a gap in rotation is generated between rotating roller 16 and the other rotating roller 17, a fold line can be formed always with high accuracy. It should be noted that the configuration of the second pair of fold rollers 18, 19 is the same as that of the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17.
The eighth modification is described next using
In the eighth modification, in the first bellows fold portion 3 the shape of the groove formed in the other rotating roller 17 in the first pair of fold rollers 16, 17 is different from the one used in the first embodiment. As shown in
The ninth modification is described next using
In the ninth modification, the paper folding apparatus 1 is provided with an end section fold portion (first folding means) 70 for folding the end section at a leading edge of the paper, wherein a fold line is formed at the leading edge of the paper by the end section fold portion 70, and thereafter a fold line is formed in bellows in the conveyance direction of the paper in a bellows fold portion 80. Further, the paper folded in bellows is then folded into A4 sized paper in the cross fold portion 5, and thereafter the obtained paper is stacked in the stacker 6. When folding the paper at the end section fold portion 70, the paper is sent to the paper folding apparatus 1 by the paper ejection roller 211, passes through a coupling portion 60 and is sent by a pair of entrance conveying rollers 71 of the end section fold portion 70. When folding the end section of the paper the end section fold portion 70 folds the end section of the paper. At this moment, there is a case in which the end section of the paper is folded while conveying the paper, and a case in which conveyance of the paper is stopped once and then the end section of the paper is folded. In the later case where the end section of the paper is folded after stopping conveyance, when the rear edge of the paper is caught at the copying machine main body 200, the copying machine main body 200 continues to convey the paper as shown in
The end section fold portion 70 is described next.
As shown in
As shown in
Furthermore, as shown in
As shown in
Next,
The operation portion 201 configuring the copying machine device main body 200 performs selection on whether the user folds paper or not, and, when the user folds paper, an input operation for folding or not folding the end section. The input signal sent through the input operation is transmitted to the main body control base 202, and the signal is further transmitted to the paper fold controller 100 configuring the paper folding apparatus 1, whereby a paper fold operation is controlled. Moreover, folding of the end section is controlled by the paper fold controller 100, and control of stopping and rotating the edge fold motor (end section fold motor) 93 and conveyance motor 110 is carried out based on the input signal of the leading edge detection sensor 72 and the HP sensor 97.
First, when an end section fold signal is input to the operation portion 201 on the main body side (S0), the signal is input to the paper fold controller 100 via the main body control base 202. Then, the paper fold controller 100 confirms the signal of the HP sensor to check whether or not the end section fold rollers 73, 74 are in the waiting position (S1). If the HP sensor 97 is not ON, the end section fold motor 93 is rotated (S2), and the end section fold rollers 73, 74 come to the waiting position, whereby the HP sensor 97 is switched ON (S3), and the end section fold motor 93 is stopped (S4). In this state the conveyance motor 110 starts to rate (5S), the fold rollers 75 and the entrance conveying rollers 71 rotate in the directions of arrows as shown in
When the paper reaches the entrance conveying rollers 71 as shown in
The operation at the moment of folding the end section as described above is shown in
Further, in the groove 74a of the end section fold roller 74, an open edge portion 74d is formed into a curved surface. After a fold line is formed on the end section of the paper by the end section fold rollers 73, 74, the conveyance motor 110 and end section fold motor 93 continues to rotate, the paper gradually enters between the fold rollers 75 from the part of the fold line on the end section which is folded, and the part of the fold line part of the end section passes through the nip between the fold rollers 75 as shown in
As described above, according to the ninth modification, a fold line is formed on the paper by the end section fold rollers 73, 74, and the end section of the paper in which the fold line is formed is further folded by the fold rollers 75, whereby the paper is folded back along the fold line. Thus, even in the case of strong paper such as heavy paper, not only the fold line of the paper is not broken, but also the angle of the fold line on the folded end section does not fluctuate, the paper is not bent, and wrinkles are not generated, so a paper jam rarely happens.
The end section fold rollers 73, 74 can optionally set the angle where the paper is disposed in the conveyance direction, the end section fold rollers can also optionally change the angle of a fold line of the folded end section.
When folding of the end section is not performed, the end section fold rollers 73, 74 can be shifted to the position where conveyance of the paper is not interrupted. Thus the paper gradually enters between the fold rollers 75 from the part of the fold line on the end section which is folded, and the fold line is applied with a weight locally so that the thickness of the paper when folded can be made thin. Further, since the end section fold rollers are shifted to the position where the conveyance is not interrupted, when folding of the end section is not performed the paper does not contact the end section fold rollers 73, 74, thus a paper jam rarely happens. Also, by folding the end section conveying the paper, the paper can be folded without causing the copy speed to be reduced.
Folding of the end section is performed by means of the protrusion 73a. formed on the end section fold roller 73 and the groove 74a formed on the end section fold roller 74, thus formation of a fold line for folding the end section is possible with a simple configuration, and folding of the end section can be performed without causing fluctuation of fold accuracy regardless of the strength of the paper.
The elastic body 74b is provided on the groove 74a on the end section fold roller 74 so that the paper is not decentered easily due to friction of the elastic member 74b, thus folding of the end section can be performed without causing fluctuation of fold accuracy regardless of the strength of the paper.
The roller surface located downstream of the conveyance direction of the end section fold roller 73 is cut to a flat face, thus when the end section of the paper is bent by the end section fold rollers 73, 74, the end section of the paper which is bent and raised does not contact the roller surface of the end section fold roller 73 easily, and the paper with a folded line enters the fold rollers 75 while being bent in a form of a curvature or valley so as not to cause poor folding.
The open edge portion 74d of the groove 74a is formed into a curved face in the end section fold roller 74, thus the protrusion 73a of the end section fold roller 73 can enter and leave the groove smoothly, and a curl is prevented from being formed around the fold line, whereby generation of a paper jam at the time of conveyance can be prevented.
Next,
In the flow chart shown in
During this time, the paper fold controller 100 monitors whether or not the end section fold rollers 73, 74 reach the waiting position and the HP sensor 97 is switched ON (S30). When the HP sensor 97 is switched ON the end section fold motor 93 is stopped (S31), and the end section fold rollers 73, 74 remain in the waiting position. At that moment, the leading edge of the paper does not move since the conveyance motor 110 is stopped, but if the rear end side of the paper still remains on the copying machine device main body 200 side as shown in
Next, when the end section fold rollers 73, 74 return to the waiting position, the conveyance motor 110 rotates to convey the paper, the paper gradually enters the fold rollers 75 from the fold line part at the leading edge, and when the fold line part of the end section passes through the nip portion of the fold rollers 75 as shown in
In this manner, in the tenth modification, folding of the end section is performed in the state where the paper is stopped, thus even in the case of a low coefficient of friction on the paper surface when the toner is applied to the whole area of the paper such that a color is output, wrinkles or bending does not occur, and a paper jam or the like rarely happens.
Next, the eleventh modification is described.
In the eleventh modification, the two pairs of rollers 23 through 26 in the second bellows fold portion 4 shown in
In this manner, in the respective pairs of the rollers, since the coefficients of friction of the roller surfaces of the second fold rollers 23, 25 provided on the upper part are set to be lower than those on the second fold rollers 24, 26 provided in the lower part of same, when the fold line D formed by the first bellows fold portion 3 is held between the second fold rollers, the upper face side of the paper P, with the fold line D as a boundary, contacts the left side of the second fold roller 25 on the upper side, but the paper is held by the second pair of fold rollers 25, 26, with the fold line D as the leading edge of the paper, without being pulled by the gripping power of the second fold roller 25 on the upper side. Therefore, double folding can be minimized, and, even in the case of large-sized paper, a desired size of a fold line can be formed securely by means of a small and simple apparatus, and the thin sheaf of folded papers can be produced.
The roller hardness of one of the roller pair configuring the second folding means is made softer than the other roller hardness (upper side: metallic roller, lower side: rubber roller), thus multiple nip parts can be formed with an applied pressure smaller than general conveying rollers. Therefore, a roller load is reduced, miniaturization of a roller drive unit leads to miniaturization and low cost of the paper folding apparatus, and a thin sheaf of folded papers can be produced.
The twelfth modification is described next.
In this twelfth modification in the two pairs of rollers 23 through 26 in the second bellows fold portion 4, the rollers configuring the second bellows fold portion 4 are metallic rollers, and the coefficients of friction on all of the roller surfaces (second fold rollers 23 through 26) are set to be low. When the fold line D formed by the first bellows fold portion 3 is held between the second fold rollers of the second bellows fold portion 4, the upper face side of the paper P, with the fold line D as a boundary, contacts the left side of the second fold roller 25 on the upper side, but since the left side of the second fold rollers 25 is a metallic roller, and the coefficient of friction of its surface is set low, the paper is held by the second pair of fold rollers 25, 26, with the fold line D as the leading edge of the paper, without being pulled by the gripping power of the left side of the second fold roller 25 on the upper side.
The left side of the second fold roller 26 on the lower side configuring the second bellows fold portion 4 is a metallic roller, and the coefficient of friction of the roller surface thereof is set low. Therefore, the lower section of the paper P with the fold line D as a boundary is not held between the second pair of left rollers 25, 26 while being pulled by the gripping power of the left second fold roller 26 on the lower side, but the paper with the fold line D as the leading edge of the paper is held between the second pair of left rollers 25, 26 by the conveying force from the pair of conveying rollers 14 and the conveying force from the second pair of right fold rollers 23, 24.
All of the rollers 23 through 26 of the second fold pair of rollers are metallic rollers, and the surfaces of the rollers are made such that the paper can slide easily when contacting the rollers. Therefore, when holding the fold line formed by the first bellows fold portion 3, and when the upper section of the paper with the fold line as the boundary contacts the upper side of the second fold rollers, the paper is held between the second pair of rollers, with the fold line as the leading edge of the paper, without being pulled by the gripping force of the second fold rollers 25 on the upper side. Further, the left side of the second fold roller 26 on the lower side is a metallic roller, and the coefficient of friction of its surface is set low, thus the lower section of the paper with the fold line as a boundary is not held between the second pair of left rollers 25, 26 while being pulled by the gripping power of the left second fold roller 26 on the lower side, but the loop formed having the fold line D as the leading edge is held between the second pair of rollers by the conveying force from the pair of conveying rollers and the conveying force from the second pair of right fold rollers 23, 24 on the opposite side, thus the papers can be produced without double folding them, and, even in the case of large-sized paper, a desired size of a fold line can be formed securely by means of a small and simple apparatus, and the thin sheaf of folded papers can be produced.
It should be noted in the above-described first embodiment and each of the modifications thereof that a fold line is formed on paper after completion of image formation by providing the copying machine main body 200 next to the paper folding apparatus 1, but the limitations are not made to this, thus the paper folding apparatus 1 may be used independently.
According to the first embodiment and each of the modifications thereof, the first folding means for forming a fold line on paper, and the second fold portion for further folding the paper along the fold line formed by the first folding means are provided. Therefore, even in the case of large-sized paper, for example, the paper can be folded securely by using the two folding means.
Hereinafter, the edge folding device as the paper folding apparatus of this second embodiment is described in detail based on
It should be noted that the second embodiment described an example of the edge folding device for forming a fold line on an edge of paper, but the second embodiment is not limited to the edge of the paper, and can be applied to a device for forming a fold line on any position on the paper.
In the copying device main body 200, an image reading device 206 is disposed, below which a manual paper feeding tray 208 is disposed. When feeding paper which is set on the manual paper feeding tray 208, the paper is suspended by a resist roller 207, and is fed to an imaging unit 206 according to the timing. The imaging unit 206 is designed such that a latent image formed on a photoreceptor 206a so as to correspond to the image data is developed by toner, and the toner is transferred onto the paper and fixed by a fixing device 210. The recorded paper on which the toner is fixed by the fixing device 210 is then ejected to the paper folding apparatus 1 by a recorded paper ejection roller 211 when folding the paper. When folding of the paper is not performed, the paper is led to an upper ejection roller 209 by an unshown switching claw, and ejected into the core of the main body.
When folding the paper next, the paper P is sent to the edge folding device 1 by the recorded paper ejection roller 211, passes the coupling portion 6, and then the paper is sent by a pair of entrance conveying rollers 16 of the edge fold portion 2, and when folding the edge of the paper, the edge at the leading edge of the paper is folded by the edge fold portion 2. As the patterns of folding the edge of the paper, there are two patterns of folding the edge of the paper while conveying the paper, and folding the edge of the paper while temporarily stopping conveyance of the paper. When folding the edge while temporarily stopping conveyance of the paper by means of the edge fold portion 2, the rear end of the paper sometimes touches the copying device main body 200, thus, in such a case, while the copying device main body 200 continues to convey the paper, a movable entrance guide plate 40, which is provided in the coupling portion 6 and moves vertically, opens downward as shown with the dashed lines to let the middle portion and rear portion of the paper withdraw downward. Therefore, ejection of the paper P from the copying device main body 200 can be continued while conveyance of the leading edge of the paper P is stopped.
After the edge at the leading edge of the paper P is folded b the edge fold portion 2, the paper is folded in bellows in the conveyance direction by the bellows fold portion 3, and the paper is further folded into A4 size paper by the cross fold portion 4 and stacked by the stacker 5.
Next, the edge fold portion 2 is described.
As shown in
It should be noted that the paper conveying means is a conveying path inside the edge folding device, which includes the conveying path running from, for example, the pair of rollers 16 to the pair of rollers 11.
In the other axial end portion of the entrance conveying roller 16, a pulley 28 is fixed by the center of axis thereof, and in the other axial end portion of the fold roller 11 a pulley 21 is fixed. The pulleys 21, 28 are coupled to each other by a drive belt 22, and receive transmission of the driving force.
Furthermore, the pulley 28 of the entrance conveying roller 16 is coupled to a pulley 31 fixed by an output shaft of a conveyance motor (paper conveying means) 30 via a drive belt 29, and the fold roller 11 and the entrance conveying roller 16 are rotated and stopped by the conveyance motor 30.
The edge fold rollers 14, 15 are not in the shape of a complete cylinder and have different shapes. The edge fold roller (convex roller) 14 has a convex portion (fold line formation portion) 14a protruding at a sharp angle from a part of the periphery, an inclined-side face 14b in which an inclined face located downstream in the rotation direction of the convex portion 14a is extended, a flat surface portion 14c in which the other edge of the inclined-side face 14b is bent, and a circular arc portion 14d for coupling the flat surface portion 14c to the other inclined-side bottom portion of the convex portion 14a. the portions 14b, 14c other than the convex portion 14a are configured so as to fit in the round periphery in which the circular arc portion 14d is formed in an extended fashion. It should be noted that reference numerals 24, 25, 26 are gears shown in
Also it should be noted that the convex portion 14a is shown as a protrusion having a sharp angle in this example, but this is merely an example, so the entire shape and the shape of the leading edge of the convex portion 14a can be changed variously according to the shape of a fold line to be formed. Therefore, for example, the leading edge may be formed to be even or into a circular arc, or the entire shape may be formed to have a blunt angle or into a rectangle.
In the edge fold roller (concave roller) 15, a part of the periphery is a concave portion (fold line formation portion) 15a configured so as to fit into the convex portion 14a of the edge fold roller 14, in which a flat surface portion 15c is formed in a position (periphery) which faces the convex portion 15a, and a circular arc portion 15b is formed between the concave portion 15a and the flat surface portion 15c. the shape of the concave portion 15a can be changed in accordance with the change of the shape of the convex portion 14a.
It should be noted that the surfaces of the flat surface portions 14c, 15c do not have to be flat and not bother each other in a waiting state, and may be somewhat convex and concave as long as a gap, which is big enough to allow the paper pass through, is formed.
The convex portion 14a and the convex portion 15a fit to each other, as shown in
As further shown in
Moreover, as a configuration of the control system, as shown in
Next, the operation of the second embodiment is described according to the
First, when an edge fold signal is output by operation of the operation portion 201 on the main body side (step So in
Here, when the starting position for forming a fold line is not performed, the paper fold controller 100 checks whether or not the edge fold rollers 14, 15 are in the waiting position, based on the signal of the HP sensor 27 (S2). When the HP sensor 27 is not ON, the edge fold motor is rotated (S3). When the edge fold rollers 14, 15 come to the waiting position, the HP sensor 27 is switched ON (S4), and he edge fold motor is stopped (S5). In this state the conveyance motor 30 starts to rotate (S6), the fold roller 11 and entrance conveying roller 16 rotate in the directions of the arrow as shown in
When adjusting the starting position for folding the edge at the leading edge of the paper, the operation portion 201 of the copying machine main body 200 performs input operation for adjusting the starting position for folding the edge, and a signal for it is input into the paper old controller 100. An operation start timing t2 of the edge fold motor 30 is calculated based on the input value, and this timing is set in the memory of the paper fold controller 100 (S9). Then, the operation is carried out as in the steps S10 through S15 as in the case where the starting position is not adjusted (S2 through S7). Specifically, the paper fold controller 100 checks whether or not the edge fold rollers 14, 15 are in the waiting position, based on the signal of the HP sensor 27 (S10). If the HP sensor 27 is not ON, the edge fold motor is rotated (S11). When the edge fold rollers 14, 15 come to the waiting position, the HP sensor 27 is switched ON (S12), and the edge fold motor is stopped (S13). In this state the conveyance motor 30 starts to rotate (S14), and the fold roller 11 and entrance conveying roller 16 rotate in the directions of the arrow as shown in
Thereafter, the starting position for folding the edge is adjusted, or, regardless of adjusting or not, a fold line is formed on the paper as shown in
In the second embodiment, edge fold starting position changing means (changing means) for determining and changing the edge fold starting position of the leading edge of the paper by means of the edge folding means is realized by collaboration of the paper fold controller 100, leading edge detection sensor 17, edge fold motor 23, and conveyance motor 30. the paper fold starting position, which differs according to the size of the paper, is determined based on the input information on the size of the paper, which is input from the operation portion 201, and control for realizing the determined paper fold starting position is performed. Concretely, when changing the fold starting position, conveyance of the paper is started by the conveyance motor 30, and after a lapse of a predetermined time of t2 seconds since the detection of the leading edge of the paper performed by the leading edge detection sensor 17, drive of the edge fold motor 23 is started, and after ta seconds since the start of the drive of the edge fold motor 23, a predetermined location on the paper is nipped by the fold line formation portion of the edge fold rollers 14, 15 to form a fold line.
Moreover, in the second embodiment, by providing the edge fold starting position changing means, folding of the edge can be performed on paper of all size to perform folding of paper, at a suitable position.
Furthermore, the present invention is configured such that changing the edge fold starting position can be realized by operation from the operation portion, the edge fold starting position can be changed easily by an input from the operation portion.
In addition, the second embodiment is configured such that the changing means for changing the edge fold starting position can be changed according to the amount of paper to be sent (the drive start timing of the edge fold rollers 14, 15 by the edge fold motor 23). Therefore, the edge fold starting position can be changed freely by controlling n edge sending motor, without adding a part.
In the second embodiment, the fold line formation position can be changed automatically according to the operation of the operation portion, or the information on the size of the paper which is input by the operation portion. Particularly, the fold line formation position can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of paper to be fed for the fold line forming means, or adjusting the timing for sending the paper for the drive start timing of the fold line forming means. In the conventional paper folding apparatus, the state of the folded papers sometimes do not correspond to the filing to a file, stapling, or punching. This is due to an wrong position of a fold line formed on the edge of the paper. Especially when the size of the paper is changed, the fold line formation position could not be change without exchanging a part, although the fold line formation position had to be changed.
The third embodiment is described hereinafter with reference to the drawings.
In the copying machine device main body 200, an image reading device 206 is disposed, below which a manual paper feeding tray 208 is disposed. Paper is set on the manual paper feeding tray 208, suspended by a resist roller 207, and fed to the imaging unit 206 according to the timing. The imaging unit 206 is designed such that a latent image corresponding to the image data is formed on an unshown photoreceptor, the obtained latent image is developed by toner, and the toner is transferred onto the paper and fixed by a fixing device 210. The recorded paper on which the toner is fixed by the fixing device 210 is then ejected to the paper folding apparatus 1 by a recorded paper ejection roller 211 when folding the paper. When folding of the paper is not performed, the paper is led to an upper ejection roller 209 by an unshown switching claw, and ejected into the core of the main body.
When folding the paper, the paper is sent to the edge folding device 1 by the recorded paper ejection roller 211, passes the coupling portion 6 and an entrance sensor 7, and then the paper is sent by a pair of entrance conveying rollers 16 of the edge fold portion 2, and when folding the edge of the paper, the end section at the leading edge of the paper is folded by the edge fold portion 2. At this moment the end section of the paper is folded while the paper is conveyed. After the edge at the leading edge of the paper P is folded b the edge fold portion 2, the paper is folded in bellows in the conveyance direction by the bellows fold portion 3, ejected by an ejection roller 9, and stacked on the tray 8.
The end section fold driving roller 15a is coupled coaxially to a driving pulley 25 via a torque limiter 27 fixed coaxially. The driving pulley 25 is rotary driven by the end section fold motor 23 via a pulley 24 coaxially and a drive belt 26.
Furthermore, the convex member 14 for guiding a fold line position of the paper to the pair of end section fold rollers 15, as shown in
The end section fold motor 23 rotary drives the pulley 24 in
Next, as shown in
Moreover, as shown in
In
In the control system configured schematically as above, the operation portion 201 of the copying machine device main body 200 performs selection on whether the operator folds paper or not, and, when the operator folds paper, an input operation for folding or not folding the end section. An input signal from the operation portion 201 is input to the main body control base 202, and further input to paper fold controller 100 of the paper folding machine 1, and paper fold operation is controlled by the paper fold controller 100. Therefore, folding of the end section is controlled by the paper fold controller 100, and rotation and stop control of the end section fold motor 23 and conveyance motor 30, and also ON/OFF control of the one-rotation clutch 28 are performed based on a detection signal from the leading edge detection sensor 17.
The speed of the conveyance motor 30 is controlled by the paper fold controller 100 in the manner described above, so setting of the paper conveying speed of each of the rollers is described hereinafter.
In
The speed of the movement of the convex member 14, V0, fluctuates depending on the rotation operation of the cam 35, but is always set to a speed which is slower than the conveying speed V1 of the entrance conveying roller 16 (V1>V0). Further, between the time when the convex member 14 starts to pull and stops in the waiting position after enter the pair of end section fold rollers 15 and stopping, the rotating speed of the end section fold motor 23 is raised from N0 to N0′ as shown in
The operation of the third embodiment is described with reference to
First, when a paper fold signal is input to the operation portion 201 on the main body side, the signal is then input to the paper fold controller 100 via the main body control base 202. The paper fold controller 100 then starts rotary drive of the conveyance motor 30, the pair of entrance conveying motors 16 and the pair of exit conveying rollers 11 rotate in the directions of arrows as shown in
Folding of the end section is selected by the operation portion 201 on the main body side (step S2), the paper is sent to the paper folding machine 1 by the ejection roller 211 of the copying machine device main body 200 as shown in
On the other hand, as shown in
Due to this paper sag, the guide plate 13d swings in the direction of the arrow, with the rotation supporting shaft 13c of the guide plate 13 configured in parallel with the pair of end section fold rollers 15 as the center. As shown in
Thereafter, as shown in
If there is a next page, the leading edge of the paper passes over the leading edge detection sensor 17 again, and when the leading edge detection sensor 17 is switched ON (step S3), the subsequent operations are repeated (step S9). If there is no next page, the paper fold controller 100 stops the pair of end section fold rollers 15 (step S10), and further stops the conveyance motor 30 to end the process (step S11).
On the other hand, folding of the end section is not selected by the operation portion 201 of the copying machine main body 200, the paper is sent to the paper folding machine 1 by the ejection roller 211 of the copying machine device main body 200 as shown in
It should be noted that, as shown in
It should be noted that the third embodiment is explained by raising an example of a copying machine having an electrophotographic image forming unit, but an image forming apparatus itself with a copying machine may be an apparatus having a known image forming function such as an inkjet image forming apparatus.
According to the third embodiment, the following effects are achieved.
(1) The nip of the two fold rollers 15 is arranged in an angle of the end section fold line, the convex member 14 for forming a fold line pushes the paper into the nip of the two fold rollers 15 to form a fold line at e timing in which the position of the end section fold line of the paper is conveyed to the nip of the two fold rollers 15, whereby fold line of the end portion on the paper can be pressed in the direction of folding the paper, the angle of folding along the fold line can be at least a right angle, and a paper jam can be prevented without forming double fold lines due to a mismatch between the fold line of the second folding means and the fold line of the first folding means. Moreover, the fold line at the end section is folded strongly, thus, in the case where the folded part is stacked, when filing the paper, the papers can be stored as much as possible. Further, fluctuation of a load of drive of the pair of fold rollers 15 can be reduced, the size of the motor can be reduced, the end section can be folded completely by the two fold rollers 15, and the roller 11 located downstream of the pair of fold rollers 15 for forming a fold line can be taken as a normal conveying roller instead of the fold roller 15. Accordingly, the cost can be reduced.
(2) When the convex member 14 enters the fold rollers 15, the fold rollers 15 rotate in the direction of entrance, and when the convex member 14 pulls out from the fold rollers 15, the fold rollers 15 rotate in the direction in which the convex member 14 pulls out, whereby the position of the fold line on the paper can be pushed into the nip of the two fold rollers 15 correctly to form a fold line, and positional accuracy of the position of the end section fold line can be improved.
(3) Since the fold rollers 15 are driven via the torque limiter 27, the directions of rotation of the fold rollers 15 can be changed with a simple configuration, whereby the cost can be reduced.
(4) Drives of the fold rollers 15 and the convex member 14 are taken as the same drive source, and the timing of driving the convex member 14 is controlled by the one-rotation clutch 28, whereby the convex member 14 for forming a fold line can push the paper into the two fold rollers 15 to form a fold line, and the cost can be reduced.
(5) The time for the convex member 14 to push the paper not the nip of the two fold rollers 15 to form a fold line is not lost too much, thus a fold line can be formed while conveying the paper, whereby productivity is increased.
(6) Since the conveyance direction of the nip of the fold rollers 15 is inclined by a right angle or more with respect to the paper conveyance directing of the conveying roller 16 located upstream, or inclined to the direction of the upstream conveying roller 16, the angled part of the folded end section is held by the nip of the downstream rollers 11, thus bad folding of the end section and a paper jam can be prevented.
(7) The driving side fold roller 15a is a roller arranged downstream and having high friction at its surface, and the driven side fold roller 15b is a roller arranged upstream and having low friction at its surface, thus, when the end section is not folded, even if the leading edge of the paper contacts the surface of the driving side fold roller 15a since the leading edge is curled, it is flipped since the roller rotate in the ejection direction. Further, even if the leading edge of the paper contacts the driven side fold roller 15b, the leading edge is pulled in the conveyance direction, but the coefficient of friction is low, thus skew is not generated because of the small conveying power, whereby stable paper conveyance can be performed.
(8) A metallic material with high degree of hardness is used for the driving side end section fold roller 15a to have a two-layered roller having high friction and in which the surface thereof is coated with urethane, and the driven side end section fold roller 15b is formed as a resin roller with high degree of hardness, whereby the width of the nip of the two fold rollers 15 can be set to be narrow, and the pressure for forming a fold line on the paper can be made large, whereby the end section can be folded complete by means of the two fold rollers only.
(9) In the convex member 14, since the convex portion (fold portion 14b) is provided with an inclination so that the paper abutting portion becomes near the downstream conveying roller on the central side, thus the convex member 14 can gradually hold the paper from the central side to the fold roller nip. Accordingly, pressure is applied concentrating on the fold roller nip from the central side to the end portion, and large pressure can be applied to a portion on the paper where a fold line is formed, whereby the end section can be folded by means of the two fold rollers only.
(10) For the portion 15c outside the paper width of the fold rollers 15, by using a material with hardness lower than that of the material of the roller abutting on the paper, when only the portion outside the paper width of the convex member 14 enters the nip of the two fold rollers 15, the material with low hardness sags by the thickness of the convex member. Also in the paper width portion of the two fold rollers 15 the rollers hold the position of the end section fold line of the paper evenly, thus generation of wrinkles due to formation of a fold line, or insufficient formation of the fold line can be prevented.
(11) For the portion 15c outside the paper width of the fold rollers 15, by setting the diameter of the roller abutting on the paper to be small, and setting the diameter difference to be less than or equal to the thickness of the convex member, when only the portion outside the paper width of the convex member 14 enters the nip of the two fold rollers 15, because of the difference in, diameter the material with low hardness sags by the thickness of the convex member. Also in the paper width portion of the two fold rollers 15 the rollers hold the position of the end section fold line of the paper evenly, thus generation of wrinkles due to formation of a fold line, or insufficient formation of the fold line can be prevented.
Next, a first modification of the third embodiment is described.
The first modification differs from the third embodiment in terms of the operation procedure, thus like reference numerals are used to indicate the same portions, and an overlapping explanation is omitted.
First of all, when a paper fold signal is input to the operation portion 201 on the main body side, the signal is then input to the paper fold controller 100 via the main body control base 202. Then, the paper fold controller 100 starts to rotate the conveyance motor 30 at the speed of rotation N1 so that the conveying speed becomes V1. Accordingly, as shown in
Folding of the end section is selected by the operation portion 201 on the main body side (step S23 in
Moreover, as shown in
Next, as shown in
At the same time, the operating pin 36b of the swing lever 36 in the abutting position starts to move from the proximate position 35b to the distant position 35c with respect to the cam rotation center 35a by rotation of the cam 35. The paper fold portion 14b of the convex member 14 moves in the pulling direction (the direction of a dashed arrow), the pair of end section fold rollers 15 also rotate in the directions of dashed arrows in which the end section fold line is ejected. Accordingly, the convex member 14 an the pair of end section fold rollers 15 rotate in the directions of arrows at the conveying speed V0′ as shown in
Thereafter, in other words after td seconds since the leading edge detection sensor 17 is switched ON, rotation of the stopped conveyance motor 30 is started again at the speed of rotation N3 so that the paper conveying speed becomes V3. Here, by stopping the paper conveyance motor 30 (S26), ejection of the papers continues from the coupled copying machine device main body 200 in the upstream of the pair of entrance conveying rollers 16. Therefore, although sag is generated, the conveyance motor 30 is rotated at the speed of rotation N2 such that the rotating speed of the conveyance motor becomes the speed V2 which is faster than the initial paper conveying speed V1, to eliminate the sag formed upstream of the pair of entrance conveying rollers 16. after a lapse of td′ seconds, which is long enough to eliminate the sag, the rotating speed of the conveyance motor 30 is returned to the initial rotating seed N1, and the conveying speed of the paper is made be equal to the original conveying speed of the copying device main body 200 (S29).
If a series of processing from suspending the conveyance motor (S26) to increasing the speed to rotate it again, and to return the speed to the initial speed (S29) is not carried out, as shown in
These are the steps for folding, the end section. However, after these steps, when the leading edge detection sensor 17 is switched OFF (S31), it is judged if there is a next page or not (S32). If there is no next page the end section fold motor 23 and the conveyance motor 30 are turned OFF sequentially (steps S33, S14), and the processing is ended. When it is judged in step S32 that there is a next page, the processing returns to step S21 to repeat the subsequent operations.
On the other hand, if folding of the end section is not selected by the operations portion 201 on the main body side in step S23, the paper is sent to the paper folding machine 1 by the ejection roller 211 of the copying device main body 200 (see
Other parts which are not particularly explained are configured and function in the same way as in the third embodiment.
The following effects are achieved according to the first modification.
(1) When pushing the convex member 14 into the nip of the two fold rollers 15a, 15b, the timing for abutting on the convex member to the paper is set based on the time since the leading edge of the conveying paper switches ON the paper leading edge detection sensor. Immediately before this, the protrusion shape portion 14a for changing the directions of rotation of the pair of fold rollers is provided outside the paper conveyance width, thus the position of folding the end section can be made with high accuracy
(2) The two fold rollers 15a, 15b are rotated in the paper conveyance direction until the leading edge of the paper passes through, and conveyance of the paper is not interrupted. After the leading edge of the paper passes through the pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b, the protrusion shape portion 14a of the convex member 14 pushes the paper into the nip of the pair of rollers to change the directions of rotation of the pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b to a direction for forming a fold line for folding the end section, thus the leading edge of the paper is not held by the nip of the pair of fold rollers by mistake. As a result, a paper jam can be prevented.
(3) By making the speed of movement of the convex member 14 slower than the conveying speed of the paper, the convex member 14 does not pull he paper when abutting on the paper, thus the fold line on the end section is not decentered, or the paper is not damaged.
(4) After pushing the convex member 14 into the nip of the pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b, the speed at which the paper is pulled is set to a speed faster than the conveying speed. Therefore, the fold line on the end section is ejected immediately along the surfaces of the pair of fold rollers, and sag is not generated on the back side from the fold line of the paper end section. Accordingly, a paper jam due to the sag can be prevented.
(5) For the paper in which the end section thereof is not folded, when, for example, only bellows folding is performed at the bellows fold portion which is disposed after the end section folding apparatus, the pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b are always rotated in the paper ejection direction during conveyance of papers, thus the leading edge of the paper is not held in the nip of the pair fold rollers 15a, 15b by mistake. Therefore, a paper jam can be prevented.
(6) For he paper in which the end section thereof is not folded, by always rotating the pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b at the speed faster than the speed of conveying the paper during conveyance of papers, the pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b do not become load in conveyance of the papers. As a result, a paper jam can be prevented, and cause of delay in conveyance is prevented.
(7) When pushing the paper into the nip of the pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b by means of the convex member 14 to fold the end section of the paper, the conveyance motor is stopped, and conveyance of the paper by means of the pair of entrance conveying rollers 16 is stopped, thus sag is not generated on the paper from the pair of entrance conveying rollers 16 to he pair of fold rollers 15a, 15b. Accordingly, generation of wrinkles on the paper, and a paper jam can be prevented.
(8) Although paper sag is generated above the pair of entrance conveying rollers 16 when the pair of entrance conveying rollers 16 are stopped, the pair of entrance conveying rollers 16 are rotated at high speed for a fixed amount of time after forming a fold line on the end section, thus the paper sag can be eliminated. Accordingly, generation of wrinkles on the paper or paper jam can be prevented.
Next, a second modification of the third embodiment is described.
The second modification differs from the third embodiment in the configuration of the end section fold portion 2, thus like reference numerals are used to indicate the same portions, and an overlapping explanation is omitted.
The end section fold portion 2 of the paper folding machine according to the second modification is described.
In
It should be noted in the second modification that there are the two pairs of end section fold rollers in the third embodiment, and there are two end section fold portions 2, 2′ on the left and right with respect to the paper conveyance direction, in which the direction of paper conveyance on the observer's left in the figure is for longitudinal feed, and the direction of paper conveyance on the observer's left is for lateral feed. Therefore, the angle Q and angle U of the end section folds are different. In this case, the angle from the direction perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction of the axial directions of the pair of rollers 15a, 15b in the end section fold portion 2 for longitudinal conveyance of the paper, in other words, the arrangement angle is Q, and the arrangement angle of the end section fold portion 2′ for lateral conveyance is U, in which U>Q, and (90-Q)>U (degrees). By performing such settings, the angles for the fold line of the end section fold portions can be made equal to each other even when the direction of paper conveyance is the longitudinal direction or lateral direction, the end section fold portion for latent direction can be made smaller, thus the end section fold portion does not stand in the way when viewing the figure.
Moreover, as shown in
In addition, since the edge portion of the height and width is folded, in the left and right end section fold portions 2, 2′ , the lengths and the inclination directions of the pairs of fold rollers 15a, 15b, and 15a′, 15b′, and of the convex members 14, 14′ are different, but the configurations thereof are the same. Therefore, in the figure, an apostrophe “'” as a reference mark is applied to the same part as with the left end section fold portion 2 in the. right end section fold portion 2′, so an overlapping explanation is omitted. It should be noted that in claims the angle Q corresponds to an angle θ1, and the angle U corresponds to an angle θ2.
In the control system which is schematically configured as above, the operation portion 201 of the copying machine device main body 200 performs selection on whether the operator folds paper or not, and, when the operator folds paper, an input operation for folding or not folding the longitudinal or lateral end section. An input signal from the operation portion 201 is input to the main body control base 202, and input to the paper fold controller 100 of the paper folding machine 1, and the paper fold controller 100 performs control of the paper fold operation. Therefore, folding of the end section is controlled by the paper fold controller 100, and rotation and stop control of the end section fold motors 23, 23a and of the conveyance motor 30, and control of switching ON/OFF the one-rotation clutches 28, 28a are performed based on a detection signal from the leading edge detection sensor 17. By configuring in this manner, folding of the end section can be performed when sending the paper longitudinally or laterally.
Other parts which are not particularly described are configured and function in the same way as in the third embodiment.
The following effects are achieved according to the second modification.
(1) The end section fold portions 2, 2′ are provided in the left and right locations with respect to the paper conveyance direction, and further the arrangement angles Q and U of the pairs of fold rollers 15a, 15b, and 15a′, 15b′ are different on the left and right. Therefore, application of pressure in formation of a fold line on the end portion of the paper is possible, and a bend angle by forming a fold line can be bent at least a right angle, whereby a paper jam can be prevented without forming double fold lines due to a mismatch between the fold line of the second folding means and the fold line of the first folding means.
(2) The fold line at the end section is folded strongly, thus, in the case where the folded part is stacked, when filing the paper, the papers can be stored as much as possible.
(3) Fluctuation of a load of drive of the pair of fold rollers can be reduced, the size of the motor can be reduced.
(4) The end section can be folded completely by the two fold rollers, and the roller located downstream of the pair of fold rollers for forming a fold line can be taken as a normal conveying roller instead of the fold roller 15. Accordingly, the cost can be reduced.
(5) The end section can be folded without regard for longitudinal feed or lateral feed of the paper conveyance direction.
(6) By setting the arrangement angle of the end section fold portion, the angle of the fold line of the end section fold portion can be made substantially the same even when the paper conveyance direction is longitudinal feed or lateral feed, and the size of the end section fold portion at the time of lateral feed can be reduced.
(7) End sections of a plurality of types and sizes of papers can be folded while keeping the arrangement angle Q of the end section fold portion for longitudinal conveyance the same angle.
A third modification of the third embodiment is described next.
In the third modification, the configuration of the end section fold portions 2, 2′ is different compared to the second modification, thus like reference numerals are used to indicate the same portions, and an overlapping explanation is omitted.
In the third modification, as is clear by comparing the third modification with
Other portions which are not particularly described are configured and function in the same way as in the third embodiment.
The following effects are achieved according to the third modification.
(1) The relationship between the arrangement angle Q of the end section fold portion 2 for longitudinal paper conveyance, and the arrangement angle U of the end section fold portion for lateral paper conveyance is established as a relationship in which the respective end section folding means are arranged on the same line L perpendicular to the paper conveyance direction, thus the en section folding means can be disposed in a small space, the space with respect to the size of the machine can be saved, and the cost can be reduced because of miniaturization of the size of a part.
(2) The arrangement angles Q and U are set to angles at which the end section is folded at a position in which the end section fold portions 2, 2′ do not overlap with the bellows fold line X when folding the paper in bellows after folding the end section thereof. Therefore, mismatch of the folded part generated by folding the end section fold portion together with the paper when folding the paper in bellows can be avoided, and the finisher of the paper can be finished neatly.
According to the third embodiment and the modifications thereof, the nip of the two fold rollers is arranged in an angle of a fold line, and the paper is pushed into the nip of the pair of fold rollers by the convex member at the timing at which the position of the fold line on the paper is conveyed to the nip of the two fold rollers, thus even in the case of strong paper such as heavy paper, the shape of the fold of the end section does not fluctuate, and a thin sheaf of papers can be produced even when stacking the folded parts of the papers.
Various modifications will become possible for those skilled in the art after receiving the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the scope thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004-246234 | Aug 2004 | JP | national |
| 2005-150466 | May 2005 | JP | national |
| 2005-159957 | May 2005 | JP | national |
| 2004-244491 | Aug 2004 | JP | national |
| 2005-073481 | Mar 2005 | JP | national |
