Sheet-material associating – Associating or disassociating – Sheet associating
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-31
2001-04-10
Skaggs, H. Grant (Department: 3651)
Sheet-material associating
Associating or disassociating
Sheet associating
C270S058070, C270S058110, C412S004000, C412S019000, C399S408000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213456
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a finisher for performing such additional works as sorting, binding, folding, and punching on recording material such as recording papers (hereinafter referred to briefly as “papers”) outputted from an image forming apparatus such as a printing machine or copying machine. This invention, more particularly, relates to a finisher having the function of binding which comprises inserting papers from the image forming apparatus into a cover with a adhesive layer, which formed by coating a hot-melt adhesive on the inner face near a spine connecting a front board and a back board, and pasting the papers to the cover.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various finishers designed for performing various additional works on papers with an image formed surface, which are outputted from an image forming apparatus such as a printing machine or copying machine, have been proposed recently (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/821,444). The term “additional works” as used herein refers to various works such as sorting papers into sheaves of sheets, binding each of the sheaves with staples, doubling, creasing, or Z-folding and punching holes in the sheaf for filing.
Incidentally, the cover with a adhesive layer, which formed by coating a hot-melt adhesive on the inner face near a spine connecting a front board and a back board, has come onto the market. Further, the bookbinding technique, which produces a bound leaflet by inserting papers into the cover, giving the thermal processing to the adhesive layer of the cover, and pasting the cover and the papers, has been known. The bookbinding of this kind is referred to as “hot-melt binding”.
Heretofore, the bookbinding by the hot-melt binding has been generally performed by manually aligning the edges of papers with a formed image, which have been outputted from an image forming apparatus, inserting the aligned papers into a hot-melt binding cover, and then placing the cover now holding the papers into an off-line heating device, namely a heating device installed separately from the image forming apparatus.
The production of bound leaflets by the hot-melt binding operation using the off-line heating device, however, necessitates manual works in numerous phases. That is to say, this operation has the disadvantage of poor operational efficiency because it calls for constant human attendance.
As stated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,586,640 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,317, a binding device, which makes a book by fixing a hot-melt type adhesive tape on the spine of a document, and which is connected to the image forming apparatus, has been heretofore proposed. A finisher, which is linked to an image forming apparatus, and which makes a book by using the commercially available hot-melt binding cover, has never existed to date.
When a finisher designed to attain automatic bookbinding by the use of the commercially available cover is developed at all, it has the problem that, since the allowable paper binding capacity of the cover is fixed, any attempt to bind in the cover such a number of papers as exceeds the capacity encounters an inconvenience.
In short, the number of papers to be stored in the cover and pasted thereto is limited because of a fixed spine width of the commercially available cover. When papers outputted from a copying machine or a printing machine are automatically conveyed into the cover, there is a possibility that the total of the papers exceeds the allowable paper binding capacity of the cover and infallible adhesion of the papers and the cover is not accomplished.
Further, in the process of bookbinding, the cover now holding the papers must be heated so as to uniformly melt the adhesive on the cover spine. In the conventional manual bookbinding operation, the possibility of this operation suffering from inferior adhesion of papers has been relatively small. Because the operator of the apparatus follows the rule of continuing the operation while making sure that the adhesion has been attained infallibly with due respect to the melting state of the adhesive and the temperature and the heating time of the thermal processing. In the automatic operation, the elaborate work of making sure that the adhesion has been attained infallibly deprives the significance of automation. The automation, therefore, is required to discern automatically whether or not the heating temperature is appropriate and whether or not the adhesive is melted uniformly.
Besides, the problem that the papers fall off the cover after the bookbinding operation is completed will ensue if the papers are not satisfactorily pasted to the spine of the cover. In this case, part of the adhesive adheres to the edges of the fallen papers and possibly renders the papers no longer usable. Further, the adhesive on the cover spine possibly melts partly and deprives itself of usability. In short, the problem of wasting the papers and the cover will inevitably arise.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide a finisher, which is connected to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or printing machine, and which is enabled to make a book by the use of a commercially available hot-melt binding cover. Another object of this invention is to provide a method for producing a bound booklet of papers outputted from the image forming apparatus, which uses a commercially available hot-melt binding cover.
In short, the invention is aimed at facilitating and expediting a series of works ranging from the stage of printing papers or forming documents through the stage of bookbinding.
And further, one object of this invention is to provide a finisher, which has the function of automatic bookbinding capable of preventing such a number of papers as exceeds the allowable paper binding capacity of the cover from being bound, or preventing the adhesive from being heated insufficiently during the process of pasting papers to the cover and put to use in the bookbinding. Another object of this invention is to provide a method of for automatically producing a bound booklet, which is capable of preventing such a number of papers as exceeds the allowable paper binding capacity of the cover from being bound, or preventing the adhesive from being heated insufficiently during the process of pasting papers to the cover and put to use in the bookbinding.
In short, the invention is also aimed at separately setting in detail the heating temperature and the time for manually performing the thermal processing and allowing the number of papers inserted inside the cover to be increased or decreased to suit the occasion when the thermal processing during the process of bookbinding ought not be performed automatically.
One aspect of this invention concerns a finisher connected to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on papers such as recording medium, and performing various additional works on papers with an image formed face outputted from the image forming apparatus, which comprises a binding device, which produces a bound booklet by inserting papers outputted from the image forming apparatus into a cover with an adhesive layer coated on an inner surface near a spine interconnecting a front board and a back board of the cover, and pasting the cover and the papers.
Another aspect of this invention concerns a method for producing a bound booklet, which comprises a step of forming an image on recording medium as a paper, a step of inserting the papers into a cover, and a step of pasting the papers and the cover.
Another aspect of this invention concerns a method for producing a bound booklet, which comprises a step of extracting one of covers stored in a cover storage unit and conveys the cover, a step of holding the conveyed cover in an opened state capable of accepting papers, a step of inserting papers into the held cover, and a step of pasting the papers and the cover.
Another aspect of this invention concerns a finisher connected to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on papers such as recording
Hirano Ryo
Kanou Kunihiko
Kobayashi Tadashi
Nakatsuka Kazuhiko
Nonoyama Masahiro
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Mackey Patrick
Minolta Co. , Ltd.
Skaggs H. Grant
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