Sheet feeding or delivering – Delivering – Multiple discharge
Reexamination Certificate
1997-03-28
2001-03-27
Walsh, Donald P. (Department: 3653)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Delivering
Multiple discharge
C271S297000, C271S305000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06206369
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART
The present invention relates to a switching apparatus for switching the direction in which a sheet is conveyed, and a sheet sorting apparatus comprising such a switching apparatus. More specifically, it relates to a sheet processing apparatus (sorter) which is employed in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and the like, and allows the user to optionally sort sheets and deliver them into a plurality of delivery trays.
Recently, a typical image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile machine is equipped with a sheet processing apparatus which allows the user to optionally sort printed sheets and deliver them into a plurality of delivery trays.
This is for the following reason. In the case of an image forming apparatus such as a network printer or the like which is used by more than one person, it is feared that when a large number of printed sheets are delivered into a single tray, it is may become impossible to identify sets of sheets outputted for each user from among a large number of sheet sets accumulated on the delivery tray. Therefore, the sorter is enabled to allow the users to optionally sort the printed sheets into a plurality of delivery trays so that each set of printed sheets remains separated from the others.
In the case of a conventional sorter, it receives a printed sheet delivered from the main assembly of an image forming apparatus, and sorts it into a designated tray among a plurality of delivery trays, through a common sheet path. As it is well known, this type of sorter is employed in a medium to high speed copying machine which is normally used to make more than one copy, or in a large printer which is used to produce a large number of copies.
In some of the sheet processing apparatuses of the above described type, the delivery trays are fixedly disposed. More specifically, those sorters comprise a plurality of delivery trays, and a plurality of discharging roller pairs for discharging a sheet into the plurality of discharge trays, wherein the delivery trays and the discharging roller pairs are fixed to the main assembly of the sheet processing apparatus. Each delivery tray is mated with a sheet conveyance guide, a flapper, and a solenoid switch. The sheet conveyance guide forms a branch path for guiding a sheet from the aforementioned common sheet path to a delivery roller pair. The flapper allows the user to optionally switch the sheet delivery direction at the branching point. The solenoid switch drives the flapper.
However, in the case of a conventional sorter such as the one described above, the solenoid for driving the flapper which leads a sheet into a predetermined delivery tray is provided for each delivery tray, which increases cost. This is one of the problems of a conventional sorter.
Further, in recent years, the sorter market has been demanding a small and inexpensive apparatus which allows the user to randomly select the delivery trays during a continuous printing operation, and has a larger number of delivery trays than conventionally. However, it has been difficult for a conventional sorter to satisfy the demand for such a sorter, in terms of cost and size, since a conventional sorter must be provided with a flapper, a solenoid, or the like, for each delivery tray.
Further, as the number of the delivery trays is increased, the number of the solenoids must be increased to match the number of the delivery trays, which requires an increase in the number of electrical components for driving the solenoids, adding to the cost increase. In particular, in the case of a sheet processing apparatus, the cost of the actual sorting section greatly contributes to the overall (cost of a sheet processing apparatus. Therefore, the need for providing a solenoid switch for each delivery tray gives a conventional sorter a great disadvantage in terms of apparatus cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to suppress the cost or size increase which results from the increase in the number of delivery trays, so that it becomes possible to provide a highly reliable sheet processing apparatus capable of stably conveying a sheet.
According to a representative structure of the present invention which accomplishes the above object, a sheet processing apparatus capable of allowing the user to optionally sort a sheet into a plurality of delivery trays comprises: means for conveying a sheet; a common sheet path for conveying a sheet substantially in parallel to the direction in which the delivery trays are arranged; a member selectively pivotable between a position at which it guides a sheet to one of the delivery trays from the common sheet path and a position at which it does not block the common sheet path so that a sheet is guided along the common sheet path; means for conveying a sheet to the delivery trays after the direction in which the sheet is conveyed is switched by the pivotable member; a single means for pivoting a plurality of the pivotable members; means for linking the plurality of pivotable members to the single pivoting means; and a plurality of elastic members, each of which is disposed between the linking means and each of the plurality of pivotable members, wherein the single means for pivoting the plurality of pivotable members is structured so that when a sheet is in the sweeping area of one of the pivotable members, the pivotable member is held at a position at which it does not block the common sheet path.
According to the above structure, a sheet which is conveyed through the common sheet path is guided toward (sorted into) an optionally selected delivery tray by one of the plurality of pivotable members which are pivoted together by the single pivotable member pivoting means, through the linking means and the elastic members. When a pivotable member that is to sort a sheet is the one on the downstream side, of the two pivotable members that pivot together, the pivotable member on the upstream side remains at a position at which it does not block the common sheet path (more specifically, it does nothing to a sheet although it comes in contact with a sheet). Therefore, it does not interfere with sheet conveyance. In other words, even though the pivotable member on the upstream side is pivoted together with the pivotable member on the downstream side, a sheet is smoothly sorted by the pivotable member on the downstream side.
As described above, according to the present invention, when a sheet, which is being conveyed through a common sheet path to be sorted into a predetermined sorting path by a predetermined pivotable member among a plurality of pivotable members which are pivoted together by a single driving means, is in the sweeping area of one of the plurality of pivotable members, the pivotable members are held at positions at which they do not block the common sheet path. Therefore, a plurality of pivotable members can be driven by a single driving means, making it possible to reduce the number of the pivotable member driving means, and thereby making it possible to realize an inexpensive sorting apparatus which has a larger number of delivery trays into which a sheet can be randomly sorted.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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M.A. Bartholet, et al., Sheet Distributors for Multibin Collators,IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin,vol. 24, No. 7B, pp. 3768-3770, Dec. 1981.
Araki Tomoyuki
Hayakawa Yasuyoshi
Hoshii Osamu
Komatsu Teruo
Waragai Tsuyoshi
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Martin Brett C
Walsh Donald P.
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