The present invention relates to a paper processing device, and more particularly to a paper processing device with a paper pressing mechanism.
Printing devices are essential information apparatuses in modern offices. For example, the printing devices include copiers, printers, scanners and office machines. Among these printing devices, printers are the most popular. Generally, when a printer is connected with a computer, the electronic file in the computer may be printed on a blank paper. In a case that the electronic file contains numerous data, the electronic file needs to be printed on at least two blank papers. For facilitating managing and filing the printed papers, the stack of printed papers are removed from the paper outlet tray of the printing device, and then aligned and stapled. Due to the stapling operation, these papers are combined together without being disorderly spread everywhere.
For most users, the printing operation of the printer has to be finished before the stapling operation is manually done. Since different electronic files to be printed have different data amounts, the time periods of waiting for the implementation of the printing operation are usually different. Under this circumstance, the user usually fails to efficiently manage the printed papers. For solving this problem, a paper processing device with a stapling function has been disclosed.
Generally, the conventional processing device comprises a paper placement platform. The multi-page document outputted from the printer or the scanner can be placed on the paper placement platform.
After the multi-page document is placed on the paper placement platform, a paper-aligning action, a stapling action, a punching action or an associated action is performed to process the multi-page document. Then, the processed multi-page document is ejected out of the office machine. Consequently, the processed multi-page document can be taken by the user.
However, the conventional paper processing device still has some drawbacks. For example, while the multi-page document drops to the paper placement platform, the multi-page document is possibly uplifted or bent. While the plural pages of the multi-page document drop to the paper placement platform sequentially, the papers dropping to the paper placement platform at the later stage are influenced by the papers on the paper placement platform. Under this circumstance, the plural multi-page document cannot be well ordered. For solving this drawback, the paper processing device is equipped with a paper pressing mechanism. While the multi-page document drops to the paper placement platform, the multi-page document is flattened by the paper pressing mechanism. Consequently, the multi-page document on the paper placement platform can be stacked orderly.
The conventional paper processing device comprises a driving mechanism and a linking mechanism. The linking mechanism is connected with the driving mechanism. During the operation of the paper pressing mechanism, the linking mechanism is driven by the driving mechanism to rotate the paper pressing mechanism. Since the paper pressing mechanism is operated through rotation, a large layout space is required. Moreover, while the paper pressing mechanism is operated through rotation, the uplifted papers are readily kicked out by the paper pressing mechanism. Consequently, the purpose of flattening the papers cannot be achieved.
Therefore, there is a need of providing an improved paper processing device in order to overcome the above drawbacks.
An object of the present invention provides a paper processing device. By a driving mechanism and a linking mechanism, a pressing bar is moved in a linear direction. Consequently, the uplifted papers are not kicked out by the pressing bar during the linear movement. Due to the linear movement of the pressing bar, the occupied space of the pressing bar in the paper processing device is largely reduced.
The other objects and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the disclosed technical features.
In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a paper processing device is provided for processing plural papers from a printing device. The paper processing device includes a casing, a transfer roller assembly and a paper pressing mechanism. The casing includes a paper placement platform. The paper placement platform is extended externally from the casing. The transfer roller assembly is installed on the casing. The plural papers from the printing device are transferred to the paper placement platform by the transfer roller assembly. The paper pressing mechanism is located under the casing. The paper pressing mechanism includes a support frame, a pressing bar, a driving mechanism and a linking mechanism. The pressing bar is installed on the support frame, and includes a protrusion block. The protrusion block is penetrated through an opening of the casing. The protrusion block and the paper placement platform face each other. The driving mechanism is installed on the support frame. The linking mechanism is installed on the support frame, and connected between the driving mechanism and the pressing bar. While the linking mechanism is driven by the driving mechanism, the pressing bar is moved with the linking mechanism and moved linearly relative to the support frame, and the protrusion block is moved from an initial position to a target position so as to be in contact with the plural papers.
In an embodiment, the pressing bar further includes a light-shielding structure, the paper pressing mechanism further includes a sensor, and the sensor is installed on the support frame and located beside the pressing bar. If a stack height of the plural papers is lower than a threshold height when the protrusion block is moved from the initial position to the target position and contacted with the plural papers, the light-shielding structure of the pressing bar is within a sensitive range of the sensor. If the stack height of the plural papers is higher than the threshold height when the protrusion block is moved from the initial position to the target position and contacted with the plural papers, the light-shielding structure of the pressing bar is not within the sensitive range of the sensor.
In an embodiment, the sensor is an infrared sensor, and the infrared sensor includes a signal emitter and a signal receiver. The signal emitter and the signal receiver are opposed to each other. The sensitive range of the sensor is defined by the signal emitter and the signal receiver collaboratively.
In an embodiment, the driving mechanism includes a solenoid valve body, an electromagnetic push rod and a spring. The electromagnetic push rod is installed in the solenoid valve body, and includes a connecting part and a contacting part. The connecting part and the contacting part are exposed outside the solenoid valve body. The contacting part is arranged between the connecting part and the solenoid valve body. The spring is sheathed around the electromagnetic push rod. Moreover, two ends of the spring are contacted with the solenoid valve body and the contacting part, respectively.
In an embodiment, the support frame includes a positioning shaft, the linking mechanism includes a linking structure and an elastic linkage, and the linking structure includes a first linking part, a second linking part and a pivotal hole. The first linking part is pivotally coupled to the connecting part of the electromagnetic push rod. The second linking part is connected with the elastic linkage. The pivotal hole is arranged between the first linking part and the second linking part. The positioning shaft of the support frame is pivotally coupled to the pivotal hole. The elastic linkage is connected between the pressing bar and the second linking part.
When the solenoid valve body is in an electrically-conducted state, the solenoid valve body drives a movement of the electromagnetic push rod in a first direction to compress the spring, and the movement of the electromagnetic push rod allows the linking structure to be swung relative to the positioning shaft, so that the first linking part is moved in the first direction and the second linking part is moved in a second direction opposite to the first direction. While the second linking part is moved in the second direction, the elastic linkage is stretched by the second linking part, so that the elastic linkage generates an elastic restoring force. In response to the elastic restoring force of the elastic linkage, the pressing bar is moved in the second direction, and the protrusion block is moved to the target position and contacted with the plural papers.
When the solenoid valve body is switched from the electrically-conducted state to a shut-off state, the compressed spring is released, wherein in response to an elastic restoring force of the spring, the electromagnetic push rod is moved in the second direction and the movement of the electromagnetic push rod allows the linking structure to be swung relative to the positioning shaft, so that the first linking part is moved in the second direction and the second linking part is moved in the first direction. While the second linking part is moved in the first direction, the elastic linkage is moved with the second linking part in the first direction, and the pressing bar is moved with the elastic linkage in the first direction, so that the protrusion block is returned from the target position to the initial position.
In an embodiment, the transfer roller assembly includes plural rollers, and the plural rollers are spaced apart. When the protrusion block of the pressing bar is in the initial position, the protrusion block is arranged between two adjacent rollers of the plural rollers.
In an embodiment, the paper pressing mechanism further includes a fastening element, and the pressing bar further includes a linear guiding slot. The fastening element is penetrated through the linear guiding slot and fixed on the support frame. The linear guiding slot includes a first stopping end and a second stopping end. The first stopping end and the second stopping end are opposed to each other. While the pressing bar is moved with the linking mechanism and moved linearly relative to the support frame and the protrusion block is moved to the target position, the first stopping end of the linear guiding slot is moved in a direction toward the fastening element. When the protrusion block of the pressing bar is in the initial position, the second stopping end of the linear guiding slot is contacted with the fastening element.
In an embodiment, the paper processing device further includes a stapling mechanism. The stapling mechanism is installed on the casing and located beside the paper placement platform. The plural papers on the paper placement platform are stapled by the stapling mechanism.
From the above descriptions, the present invention provides a paper processing device with a paper pressing mechanism. By the paper pressing mechanism, the papers on a paper placement platform is flattened and the stack height of the papers is sensed. The paper pressing mechanism comprises a pressing bar, a driving mechanism and a linking mechanism. By the driving mechanism and the linking mechanism, the pressing bar is moved upwardly or downwardly in the linear direction. Due to this design, the uplifted papers are not kicked out by the pressing bar during the linear movement. Consequently, the subsequent processes of flattening the papers and sensing the stack height of the papers can be performed more successfully. Moreover, the process of stacking the papers is not influenced by the linear movement of the pressing bar. Due to the linear movement of the pressing bar, the occupied space of the pressing bar in the paper processing device is largely reduced.
The above objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
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While the linking mechanism 124 is driven by the driving mechanism 123, the pressing bar 122 is moved with the linking mechanism 124. Consequently, the pressing bar 122 is moved linearly relative to the support frame 121. In such way, the protrusion block 1220 is moved from an initial position P1 to a target position P2. When the protrusion block 1220 is in the target position P2, the protrusion block 1220 is contacted with the papers P. The operations of the paper pressing mechanism 12 will be described in more details later.
The structure of the paper processing device 1 will be illustrated in more details as follows.
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The operations of the paper processing device 1 will be illustrated in more details as follows.
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For clearly describing the linking relationships between the associated components of the paper pressing mechanism 12, the papers on the paper placement platform 100 are not shown in
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In this embodiment, the transfer roller assembly 11 comprises plural rollers 110. These rollers 110 are spaced apart. When the protrusion block 1220 of the pressing bar 122 is in the initial position P1, the protrusion block 1220 is arranged between two adjacent rollers 110 of the plural rollers 110 (see
Consequently, when the protrusion block 1220 of the pressing bar 122 is in the initial position P1, the protrusion block 1220 is hidden in the space between the two adjacent rollers 110. Under this circumstance, the action of transferring the papers to the paper placement platform 100 by the transfer roller assembly 11 is not adversely affected.
In the above embodiment, the driving mechanism 123 comprises the solenoid valve body 1231, the electromagnetic push rod 1232 and the spring 1233. It is noted that the example of the driving mechanism 123 is not restricted. For example, in another embodiment, the driving mechanism 123 is a motor for driving the linking mechanism 124.
From the above descriptions, the present invention provides a paper processing device with a paper pressing mechanism. By the paper pressing mechanism, the papers on a paper placement platform is flattened and the stack height of the papers is sensed. The paper pressing mechanism comprises a pressing bar, a driving mechanism and a linking mechanism. By the driving mechanism and the linking mechanism, the pressing bar is moved upwardly or downwardly in the linear direction. Due to this design, the uplifted papers are not kicked out by the pressing bar during the linear movement. Consequently, the subsequent processes of flattening the papers and sensing the stack height of the papers can be performed more successfully. Moreover, the process of stacking the papers is not influenced by the linear movement of the pressing bar. Due to the linear movement of the pressing bar, the occupied space of the pressing bar in the paper processing device is largely reduced.
While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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108138668 | Oct 2019 | TW | national |
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