Sheet-material associating – Associating or disassociating – Sheet associating
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-13
2004-02-03
Mackey, Patrick (Department: 3651)
Sheet-material associating
Associating or disassociating
Sheet associating
C270S058120, C399S410000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06685180
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a post-processing device and an image forming apparatus provided with the post-processing device.
As a conventional sheet post-processing device, a sheet post-processing device shown in
FIG. 11
, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. H1-313261, is known. A sheet post-processing device
100
in
FIG. 11
is disposed outside an image forming apparatus main body
101
, and a placement tray
102
is disposed outside the sheet post-processing device
100
.
In
FIG. 11
, a sheet S copied in the image forming apparatus main body
101
and fed out by a paper ejection roller
105
is transferred to the sheet post-processing device
100
attached to an outside of the image forming apparatus main body
101
. The sheets S transferred to the sheet post-processing device
100
are stapled by a staple unit
103
provided in the sheet post-processing device
100
.
The sheets S in which stapling is finished are pushed by an abutting member
104
to be placed on the placement tray
102
. The abutting member
104
supports rear ends of the sheets S in a transferring direction to thereby align the rear ends, and when the stapling is finished, the abutting member
104
pushes the rear ends of the sheets S toward the placement tray
102
.
The sheet post-processing device
100
is attached to an outside of a side surface of the image forming apparatus main device
101
shown in
FIG. 11
, and the placement tray
102
is attached to an outside of the sheet post-processing device
100
. Therefore, when the sheet post-processing device
100
is installed in the image forming apparatus main body
101
, an installation area for the image forming apparatus main body
101
becomes large.
In order to solve the aforementioned problem, there is an image forming apparatus
106
shown in
FIG. 12
, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2000-86076. In this structure, a sheet post-processing device
107
is installed between an image forming apparatus
106
and an image reading device
108
. In the image forming apparatus
106
structured as described above, an installation area for the image forming apparatus
106
is reduced by a portion of the sheet post-processing device
107
assembled inside the image forming apparatus main body
106
.
However, a placement tray
109
on which the post-processed sheets S are placed remains to be projected outside from a side surface of the image forming apparatus
106
. Usually, a size of the placement tray
109
is extremely larger than that of the sheet post-processing device
107
, so that if the placement tray
109
remains to be projected, the installation area is not reduced.
Thus, as in a structure shown in
FIG. 13
which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. H8-277059, there has been known a structure in which a sheet post-processing device
110
is attached above a placement tray
111
. The sheet post-processing device
110
includes an internal tray
112
. The internal tray
112
is formed of two trays, that is, a first tray
112
a
and a second tray
112
b.
The internal tray
112
structured as described above opens like a door from a connecting portion between the two trays toward the placement tray
111
.
The sheets S are stapled on the internal tray
112
, and when the stapling is finished, the internal tray
112
comes to an open condition. When the internal tray
112
is in the open condition, a set of the sheets S falls onto the placement tray
111
by its own weight to be placed on the placement tray
111
.
Therefore, since the internal tray
112
for supporting an entire surface of the sheet to which the stapling is applied and the placement tray for placing the stapled sheets are disposed vertically in parallel, the installation area for the post-processing device
110
can be reduced.
However, since the internal tray
112
is opened and closed like a door, the sheet post-processing device
110
is required to have a height sufficient for allowing the internal tray
112
to open. Thus, it is extremely difficult to assemble the sheet post-processing device
110
inside the image forming apparatus. Supposing that the sheet post-processing device
110
is assembled inside the image forming apparatus, when the sheet post-processing device
110
which is considerably high in order to open the internal tray is assembled inside the image forming apparatus, the height of the image forming apparatus is increased.
When the height of the image forming apparatus is increased, in case a document subjected to the image forming is set on the image forming apparatus, a position of setting the document becomes high. If the position of setting the document is high, it becomes difficult to confirm the position of setting. Therefore, there is a problem that this tall image forming apparatus is difficult to use.
Moreover, in order to install the tall sheet post-processing device
110
described above inside the image forming apparatus, a large space is required inside the image forming apparatus. However, in the known image forming apparatuses, since it has been tried to minimize a size thereof as small as possible, the large space described above is normally not formed in the known image forming apparatuses. Therefore, in the known image forming apparatus, especially, there has been a problem that the sheet post-processing device
110
can not be installed inside the image forming apparatus.
Also, as shown in
FIG. 14
, there has been known a structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 8-143211, in which an auxiliary guide
150
for supporting only a rear end portion of a sheet is disposed above a displacement tray
140
at the highest portion of a plurality of trays to be freely capable of projecting and retracting, such that the sheet is supported by the auxiliary guide
150
and a stapler
155
is moved forward and backward with respect to the sheet in a direction orthogonal to a sheet transferring direction to carry out the stapling process.
However, in this device, it is necessary to move the stapler
155
, which is relatively large and heavy, with respect to the sheet, and a motor for moving the stapler
155
also becomes bigger, so that the sheet post-processing device can not be made small. In addition, since the apparatus includes a plurality of trays, as in the aforementioned apparatus of
FIG. 11
, the sheet post-processing device is attached to the outside of the side surface of the image forming apparatus main body, so that an installation area for the image forming apparatus main body becomes large.
Accordingly, a first object of the invention is to provide an extremely compact sheet post-processing device.
A second object of the invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, in which an installation area for an entire image forming apparatus is not increased even if the sheet post-processing device is attached by selecting the installation site for the compact sheet post-processing device.
Further, a third object of the invention is to provide an image forming apparatus assembled with the sheet post-processing device, which can be easily assembled inside the known image forming apparatus and can be used easily without increasing an installation area of the image forming apparatus.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the aforementioned objects, the present invention provides a sheet post-processing device for carrying out post-processing, such as a binding process or punching process, with respect to sheets ejected from an image forming apparatus main body. The sheet post-processing device comprises: a placing tray for placing sheets thereon; supporting means capable of moving between a support position for supporting upstream sides, in the transferring direction, of the sheets ejected above the placing tray, and a retreat position for allowing the supported sheets to dro
Asao Yusuke
Saegusa Hiroshi
Mackey Patrick
Nisca Corporation
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