Patent Application
20220002110
The present invention relates to a sheet binding apparatus for pressure bonding and binding sheets fed from an image forming apparatus or the like.
Conventionally, a stapleless binding apparatus has been used in which a plurality of sheets are stacked and pressure bonded between a pair of concavo-convex pressure-bonding teeth, whereby sheets are pressure bonded to each other to bind a sheet bundle without using a metal staple. However, in such a stapleless binding apparatus, there is a problem that the sheet bundle sticks to the pressure-bonding teeth when the pressure-bonding teeth are to be separated.
Patent Document 1 discloses a sheet bundle binding processing apparatus in which a side aligning member for aligning a sheet bundle on a processing tray in a direction orthogonal to a discharging direction is used to feed out a sheet bundle subjected to binding processing from a side, thereby peeling off the sheet bundle from a pressing surface of a stapleless binding means.
Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus in which a configuration for peeling off sheets stuck to pressure-bonding teeth having a concavo-convex shape is provided.
In Patent Document 1 described above, since a sheet bundle is fed out in a certain linear direction, there is a fear that it is difficult to peel off the sheet bundle from the concavo-convex pressing surface of the pressure-bonding teeth of the stapleless binding means.
In Patent Document 2 described above, since a peeling means is provided only on either the inside or the outside of the binding teeth, there is a fear that sufficient peeling force cannot be exhibited depending on deflection of the sheets and the bound position (such as a corner part), and large force is required for peeling.
Accordingly, in view of the above problems in the prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide a sheet binding apparatus and an image forming system including the same, in which a sheet bundle subjected to pressure-bonding binding processing can be easily peeled off from pressure-bonding teeth.
In order to achieve the above objects, the sheet binding apparatus of the present invention is configured to pressure bond and bind sheets by a first binding portion and a second binding portion each having surfaces to be engaged with each other, each of the surface being provided with a plurality of tops and bottoms, and includes a moving means configured to move one of the first binding portion and the second binding portion to bring the first binding portion and the second binding portion into pressure contact with each other, and a plurality of peeling members configured to apply peeling force in a direction opposite to a pressure-bonding direction to peel off a bound portion of the sheets stuck to the surface when the first binding portion and the second binding portion are separated by the moving means after pressure-bonding binding processing is performed. Here, the peeling force is applied by the plurality of peeling members at different timings.
The peeling mechanism applies peeling force to the sheets in a stepwise manner in a direction opposite to the direction in which the sheets are pressure bonded by the binding teeth, so that the sheets can be stably peeled off from the binding teeth.
According to the present invention, after pressure-bonding binding is performed, the sheets can be peeled off from the binding teeth with small force.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings.
Next, the post processing apparatus B shown in
The post processing apparatus B in
The processing tray 14 is provided with a sheet carry-in means 24 for carrying in a sheet S, and a position regulating means (a sheet end regulating member 16 and a side edge aligning member 17 described later) for positioning the carried-in sheet S to a predetermined post processing position P (binding position). The processing tray 14 is provided with the sheet processing apparatus (the binding processing unit C; the pressure-bonding binding means 27) which performs binding processing on the sheet bundle S. Although the configuration of the pressure-bonding binding means 27 will be described later, the pressure-bonding binding means 27 is provided on the rear side (the back side of the apparatus) of the processing tray 14, and is arranged at a position where a corner part of the sheets are bound.
The processing tray 14 is provided with a staple binding means 21 which performs binding processing on the sheets S as well as the pressure-bonding binding means 27, and the sheets S stacked on the processing tray 14 are subjected to pressure-bonding binding or staple binding by the means designated.
The apparatus frame 10 is provided with the sheet conveyance path 12 including a carry-in port 11 and a path discharging port 13 as shown in
The conveyance mechanism is configured of conveyance roller pairs having a predetermined interval in accordance with a path length, and a carry-in roller pair 18 is arranged in the vicinity of the carry-in port 11, and a discharging roller pair 19 is arranged in the vicinity of the path discharging port 13. The carry-in roller pair 18 and the discharging roller pair 19 are connected to the same driving motor (not shown) and convey the sheet S at the same circumferential speed. Further, a sheet sensor Se1 which detects at least one of the front end and the rear end of the sheet S is arranged at the sheet conveyance path 12.
The processing tray 14 is arranged at the downstream side of the path discharging port 13 of the sheet conveyance path 12 with a step t formed therebetween. The processing tray 14 includes a sheet placement surface 14a for supporting at least a part of the sheets S in order to stack the sheets S, fed from the path discharging port 13, upward in a bundle form. The processing tray 14 is configured to stack the sheets S fed from the path discharging port 13 in a bundle form, to perform binding processing after aligning the sheets S to a predetermined posture, and to discharge the processed sheet bundle to the stack tray 25 on the downstream side.
The sheet carry-in means 24 (a paddle rotating body) is arranged at the path discharging port 13, and conveys the sheet S to a predetermined position of the processing tray 14. Further, the processing tray 14 is provided with a raking conveyance means 22 for guiding the sheet rear end to the sheet end regulating member 16.
The raking conveyance means 22 is arranged on the upstream side of the sheet end regulating member 16, and in
The sheet end regulating member 16 for positioning the sheet S is arranged at a front end part (a rear end portion in the sheet discharging direction in
Further, the processing tray 14 is provided with a side edge aligning member 17 for positioning, in the width direction, the sheets S positioned by the sheet end regulating member 16 on a reference line. The illustrated side edge aligning member 17 aligns the sheets S in width fed from the path discharging port 13 and positioned by the sheet end regulating member 16 in the direction perpendicular to the sheet discharging direction. The side edge aligning member 17 is configured of a pair of right and left aligning plates, and positions the sheets S on the predetermined reference line (center reference or side reference).
The processing tray 14 is provided with the pressure-bonding binding means 27 and the staple binding means 21 which perform binding processing on the sheets S abutted and regulated by the sheet end regulating member 16 and positioned in the width direction by the side edge aligning member 17.
Since a sheet binding processing mechanism and the binding processing operation of the staple binding means 21 are already well known, description thereof will be omitted. The processing tray 14 is provided with the pressure-bonding binding means 27 which performs binding processing on the stacked sheet bundle as well as the staple binding means 21. The illustrated pressure-bonding binding means 27 shows a binding processing unit (the sheet processing apparatus C) which performs pressure-bonding binding processing on a plurality of sheets (bundle).
The pressure-bonding binding means 27 (the sheet processing apparatus C, the same hereinafter) according to the present invention will be described with reference to
The pressure-bonding binding means 27 is configured of a pair of first binding teeth 27b and second binding teeth 27c for pressure bonding the sheet bundle S, a first frame 27d which supports the first binding teeth 27b, and a second frame 27a which supports the second binding teeth 27c.
The first frame 27d and the second frame 27a are mounted to be positionally movable so that the first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c are shifted between a standby posture (non-pressurizing posture;
The first binding teeth 27b are attached to a distal end portion of the first frame 27d swingably connected by the swing rotation shaft 27x, and a second block member 42 is attached to a distal end part of the second frame 27a. Owing to the swing motion of the first frame 27d and the second frame 27a, the first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c are shifted from the standby posture (non-pressurizing posture;
The first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c are provided with a plurality of concavo-convex surfaces. In the first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c, teeth having concavo-convex tooth patterns which are engaged with each other are arranged in rows with predetermined lengths at predetermined intervals (see
The first frame 27d and the second frame 27a are provided with a driving means as a moving means for moving the first binding teeth 27b to an operating position in which the first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c are in pressure contact with each other from a standby position in which they are separated from each other. The driving means is configured of a cam mechanism and a driving motor M9.
The first frame 27d and the second frame 27a described above are axially supported so as to be swingable about the rotation axis line of the swing rotation shaft 27x, and perform swing motion. The illustrated second frame 27a is fixed to the apparatus frame 10, and the first frame 27d is swingably attached by the swing rotation shaft 27x as described above to the second frame 27a fixed to the apparatus frame 10.
Therefore, the first frame 27d is supported swingably with respect to the second frame 27a. In the present embodiment, one of the first frame 27d and the second frame 27a is fixed to the apparatus frame 10 and the other is movably supported with respect to the apparatus frame 10, but both the first frame 27d and the second frame 27a may be movably supported with respect to the apparatus frame 10.
The driving means will be described. The first frame 27d is provided with the first binding teeth 27b at the distal end part thereof via the swing rotation shaft 27x and a cam follower 27f at a base end part thereof. The first binding teeth 27b arranged at the distal end part and the cam follower 27f are formed to have lever lengths with which leverage (a booster mechanism) acts via the swing rotation shaft 27x.
Further, a cam member 27e is arranged at the base end part of the second frame 27a. The cam member 27e is axially supported by the second frame 27a in a rotatable manner, and the cam member 27e and the cam follower 27f are arranged in a positional relationship in which they are engaged with each other. Further, the rotation of the driving motor M9 is transmitted to the cam member 27e via a transmission means, and the cam member 27e is connected so as to be rotated forwardly and reversely by forward and reverse rotation of the driving motor M9.
The driving motor M9 shown in
As shown in
By the way, when the pressure-bonding binding processing as described above is performed, sheets may stick to the binding teeth after the binding processing, which may cause conveyance failure or sheet damage. Further, since the pressure-bonding binding processing generates large pressing force, it is also necessary to enhance safety. The pressure-bonding binding means 27 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of configurations for preventing the sheets and the binding teeth from being fixed to each other, and also serves as a mechanism for ensuring safety. These will be described in detail.
As shown in
The movable binding teeth cover member 161 further prevents sticking between the sheets and the first binding teeth 27b. First, the first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c are provided with a peeling spring member 162 in order to prevent the bound sheets from sticking to the pressure-bonding teeth. The peeling spring member 162 is arranged inside the pressure-bonding range of the first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c as shown in
However, since the peeling spring member 162 always exerts force opposite to the pressure-bonding direction, if a strong line spring is used, not only the binding operation is interfered but also there is a fear that sheets are damaged in some cases. Therefore, the strength of the spring has to be limited. Therefore, it is difficult to ensure reliable peeling operation only by the peeling spring member 162. Accordingly, in the present embodiment, reliable peeling operation can be performed in cooperation with the movable binding teeth cover member 161.
The configuration of the movable binding teeth cover member 161 will be described in detail. The movable binding teeth cover member 161 is fixed to the first frame 27d as described above, and as shown in
In
The inclined guide surface 161a arranged on the movable binding teeth cover member 161 will be described with reference to
Since the movable binding teeth cover member 161 performs peeling from one end in the longitudinal direction toward the other end after peeling force of the peeling spring member 162 is applied to the sheets instead of peeling off the stuck part between the sheets and the binding teeth at once, damage such as tearing due to sudden application of force to the sheets and binding failure such as bundle separation can be prevented, and binding processing with high quality can be performed. In addition, since the change in the application of force becomes gradual and the load on the apparatus is small, it is unnecessary to provide excessive rigidity, and it is possible to reduce the cost and size of the apparatus.
Further, since the movable binding teeth cover member 161 is arranged so as to reach the outside of both end parts of the first binding teeth 27b in the longitudinal direction, when the corner part of the sheets are bound, the sheets are peeled off mainly using the inclined part of the guide surface 161a as described above, and when the sheets are bound along the side (so-called two-position binding or the like), the sheets are peeled off with both end parts of the binding teeth in the longitudinal direction also simultaneously acting. Thus, even if the binding teeth and the sheets are strongly fixed (stuck) to each other, reliable peeling operation can be performed. Further, in addition to the peeling mechanism described above, it is also possible to perform rotating peeling operation as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2016-199396 and the like.
The processing tray 14 is provided with a paper guide mechanism 80, for guiding sheets, between the first binding teeth 27b and the second binding teeth 27c of the pressure-bonding binding means 27 when the sheet bundle is moved to the binding position.
When the sheets are conveyed onto the processing tray 14, the paper guide member 81 is retracted above the processing tray 14 so as not to interfere the conveyance, and when moving the sheets to the binding position after placement of the sheets, the guide surface 81a is swingable about a shaft 81x provided at the apparatus frame 10 so as to guide the upper surface of the sheets. Thus, the paper guide member 81 is arranged to be capable of changing the height position.
The paper guide member 81 can be moved by a driving means (not shown) between an operating position (as in the state of
As shown in
In the above, the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it is obvious that various changes or modifications can be made within the technical scope of the present invention. For example, the problem of sticking between the pressure bonded and bound sheets and the pressure-bonding member is not limited to that with the binding teeth having the concavo-convex shape described in the present embodiment, and the same problem may occur in the case of binding by applying a binding substance such as an adhesive or adhesive toner to the surface of the sheets, or in the case of binding by applying moisture to the sheets. Even in such a case, the effects of the present invention can be obtained.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-116156 which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-116156 | Jul 2020 | JP | national |
