Sheet-material associating – Associating or disassociating – Sheet associating
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-01
2002-04-16
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet-material associating
Associating or disassociating
Sheet associating
C270S058080, C414S791200, C414S789000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06371472
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sheet processing for stacking bundles of sheets which are shifted with respect to each other on a discharge tray.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional sheet processing apparatuses sort sheets or staples sheets. The sheet processing apparatus receives sheets from a copier or a printer one by one and stacks the sheets on a process tray. The sheet processing apparatus jogs the sheets on the process tray and staples the sheets on the process tray. Then, the sheet processing apparatus discharges the stapled sheets onto a discharge tray in a bundle. The sheet processing apparatus shifts the discharge tray after each discharge of a stapled bundle of sheets in order to shift the bundles of the sheets with respect to each other. That is, a bundle of sheets on the discharge tray are shifted with respect to each other, therefore, it is easy to separate the bundle of sheets from other bundles. When the stapled sheets are shifted on the discharge tray, the positions of the staples are deconcentrated, thereby preventing an unbalanced stack.
However, the stack of bundled sheets on the discharge tray becomes unstable because of the discharge tray moving. Furthermore, an extra wall for supporting the sheets on the discharge tray and a powerful motor for moving the discharge tray are needed in order to stack a large number of sheets. Therefore, a large number of sheets can not be stacked on the discharge tray without the extra wall and powerful motor being provided. But, the extra wall and powerful motor rise the manufacturer's cost of the sheet processing apparatus. Furthermore, the powerful motor makes the sheet processing apparatus large.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide sheet processing for stacking sheets in a state the bundles of sheets are shifted with respect to each other on a discharge tray without moving the discharge tray.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides sheet processing apparatus comprising a first tray for stacking sheets received from an image forming apparatus, a jogger for jogging the sheet stacked on said first tray at one of a plurality of jogging positions, a discharger for discharging the sheet stacked on said first tray, and a second tray for stacking the sheets discharged by said discharger.
Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4073391 (1978-02-01), O'Brien et al.
patent: 5390016 (1995-02-01), Hoshi et al.
patent: 5398918 (1995-03-01), Rizzolo et al.
patent: 5455667 (1995-10-01), Hiroi et al.
patent: 5513839 (1996-05-01), Green
patent: 5580039 (1996-12-01), Takehara et al.
patent: 5761600 (1998-06-01), Murata
patent: 5772198 (1998-06-01), Yamamoto
patent: 5909871 (1999-06-01), Takehara
patent: 6021305 (2000-02-01), Sato et al.
Fukazu Yasuo
Miyake Norifumi
Moriyama Tsuyoshi
Murata Mitsushige
Okamoto Kiyoshi
No associations
LandOfFree
Sheet processing for stacking shifted sheet bundles does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Sheet processing for stacking shifted sheet bundles, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Sheet processing for stacking shifted sheet bundles will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2858976