Sheet-material associating – Associating and folding
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-29
2004-06-29
Mackey, Patrick (Department: 3651)
Sheet-material associating
Associating and folding
C270S037000, C270S058080, C270S052180, C493S436000, C493S416000, C493S405000, C493S384000, C493S445000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06755410
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a binding apparatus, and in particular relates to a binding apparatus that is connected with a sheet discharging part of an image forming apparatus, such as a printer and a copier, and that folds a sheet received from the image forming apparatus and binds stacked folded sheets at the folded side parts of the folded sheets.
2. Discussion of the Background
A binding technology used in producing weekly magazines is well known. After printed sheets are stacked and jogged, the stacked printed sheets are stapled at their center portions by a stapling device. The stapled sheets are then folded at their stapled portions. Because the stapled sheets are folded at their stapled portions, the side edges of the folded sheets, opposite the stapled and folded side of the folded sheets, are not uniform. Therefore, the side edges of the folded sheets, opposite the stapled and folded side, are cut off by a cutting apparatus so as to be uniform.
A binding apparatus is known to be connected with a copying machine, downstream of a sheet discharging part of the copying machine in the sheet discharging direction. The binding apparatus sorts or collates sheets carrying an image on one or both sides of the sheets, which have been discharged from the copying machine, and then jogs and binds the sheets into a stack of sheets.
In the binding technology used in producing a weekly magazine, as described above, the side edges of the folded sheets, opposite the stapled and folded side of the folded sheets, must be cut off by a cutting apparatus so as to be uniform. Noise is produced when the side edges of the folded sheets are cut off by the cutting apparatus. The cutting apparatus is relatively large, heavy and expensive. The life of a knife used in the cutting apparatus is relatively short. Further, the consumption of electric power is relatively large. When the number of printed sheets, which must be folded, is large, the folding apparatus may not sufficiently fold the sheets.
A binding apparatus used in conjunction with a copying machine generally stacks sheets, which have been received from the copying machine, without folding each of the sheets, into a stack of sheets, and then staples the stacked sheets. The stacked sheets are stapled at edge portions of the sheets at one side. Therefore, when a sheet of the stack of stapled sheets is pulled, the stapled part of the pulled sheet is easily torn, so that the pulled sheet is taken apart from the stack of stapled sheets. For avoiding this problem, the stapling position for a stack of sheets must be located well inside of the stack of sheets toward the center portion thereof. This may result in stapling the sheets at a part of the image area of each sheet, so that the inconvenience may be caused such that a part of the image at the stapled part of each sheet cannot be seen. For avoiding the inconvenience, the image must be formed on each sheet with a relatively large margin for stapling, which then reduces the area in each sheet where an image can be formed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above-discussed and other problems and addresses the above-discussed and other problems.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a novel binding apparatus of a relatively small size, that folds a sheet, and binds stacked folded sheets so that side edges of the bound folded sheets are uniform. The preferred embodiments of the present invention further provide a novel binding apparatus and method that folds a sheet, carrying images of two pages on one side of the sheet and another images of another two pages on the other side of the sheet, at a center portion of the sheet, and that binds folded sheets, which are stacked, at the folded side parts of the folded sheets. The preferred embodiments of the present invention further provide a novel binding apparatus that reliably binds stacked folded sheets without loosening the stack. The preferred embodiments of the present invention further provide a novel binding apparatus that binds folded sheets into a stack of folded sheets so that each of the bound folded sheets is hard to be torn so as not to be easily pulled out of the stack of folded sheets. The preferred embodiments of the present invention further provide a novel binding apparatus and method that binds sheets with a relatively small binding margin so that a relatively large area of each sheet can be used for forming an image thereupon. The preferred embodiments of the present invention further provide a novel sheet folding apparatus that reliably folds a sheet. The preferred embodiments of the present invention further provide a novel jogging apparatus that reliably jog sheets which have been folded at their center portions. The preferred embodiments of the present invention further provide a novel image forming and binding system that allows to form images of image or document data of two pages on one side of a sheet and another images of another two pages on the other side of the sheet, fold the sheet at a center portion thereof, and bind the folded sheets, which are stacked, at the folded side parts of the folded sheets.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a binding apparatus includes a receiving device configured to receive a sheet from outside and convey the sheet, and a sheet folding device configured to fold the sheet, conveyed by the receiving device, in two at a center portion thereof in a direction the sheet is conveyed, so as to be a folded sheet, and convey the folded sheet with the folded portion thereof being a leading edge of the folded sheet. A jogging device includes a jogging table and is configured to receive and jog the folded sheet, conveyed by the sheet folding device, one after another, so as to be stacked into a stack of folded sheets on the jogging table. A binding device is configured to bind the stack of folded sheets stacked on the jogging table at an edge portion of the stack of folded sheets at the side where the folded portion of each folded sheet of the stack of folded sheets is located. A discharging device is configured to discharge the bound stack of folded sheets.
The binding apparatus may further include a controller to control an operation of the apparatus. The controller receives information on a size of the sheet conveyed from outside. Further, the sheet folding device includes a guiding device configured to guide the sheet conveyed by the receiving device, and a sheet folding/pressing device configured to fold the sheet conveyed by the receiving device and press the folded sheet. The guiding device includes a stopping device configured to stop the sheet being conveyed by the receiving device to be conveyed, and a position the stopping device stops the sheet to be conveyed is set by the controller according to the information on the size of the sheet so that the sheet is folded at the center portion of the sheet by the sheet folding/pressing device. The sheet being conveyed by the receiving device is stopped to be conveyed by the stopping device, so that the center portion of the sheet is downwardly slackened, the slackened centered portion of the sheet is pinched into the sheet folding/pressing device, and thereby the sheet is folded in two at the center portion thereof by the sheet folding/pressing device.
The sheet folding device may further include a detect device configured to detect a leading edge of the sheet guided by the guiding device, a pushing device configured to push the slackened center portion of the sheet toward the sheet folding/pressing device, and a pushing device moving device configured to move the pushing device downwardly toward the sheet folding/pressing device so as to push the slackened center portion of the sheet toward the folding/pressing device and upwardly so as to separate from the sheet folding/pressing device. The pushing device moving device moves the pushing device downwardly to push the slackened center portion of the she
Cooper & Dunham LLP
Kaneko Co., Ltd.
Mackey Patrick
LandOfFree
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