Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – With means to align sheet
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-15
2001-02-13
Walsh, Donald P. (Department: 3653)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
With means to align sheet
C270S058120, C271S221000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06186498
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet registration apparatus in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer or an ordinary paper facsimile, for stacking a plurality of imaged sheets and registering the stacked sheets.
2. Description of the Related Art
In copying machines, printers, ordinary paper facsimile apparatuses or the like, desired images are formed on the sheets, and the imaged sheets are discharged to the outside of the apparatus. Some of such apparatuses are equipped with an apparatus for post-treating or stapling a plurality of imaged sheets into a bundle.
Such image forming apparatus equipped with the sheet post-treating apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication JP-B2 7-25469 (1995), for example.
FIG. 38
is a perspective view showing the sheet post-treating apparatus
200
such as a sorter, which is arranged to have its receiving mouth at such a portion of the image forming apparatus as to discharge the imaged sheets. The sorter
200
is equipped with a number of sort bins
201
which are provided for sorting the sheets discharged.
In the sorter
200
, the numerous sorting sort bins
201
are arranged in a vertically stacked state for stacking the discharged sheets sequentially on their upper faces. The individual sort bins
201
are arranged so as to vertically move to the position corresponding to the sorting exit of the image forming apparatus, for example, to receive the sheets, as discharged from the exit. The sort bins
201
are guided at their leading end portions in the sheet discharge direction, when moved up and down, by a support member for uniting the sort bins and are connected at their opposite end portions on the side of the exit to a lift mechanism
203
so that the sort bins
201
are moved up and down according to the turning direction of the lift mechanism
203
.
When the sheets to be sorted are discharged, the sort bins
201
are ascended or descended by the lift mechanism
203
thereby to position each sort bin
201
at the sorting exit, and the sheets are discharged to the sort bins
201
, as sequentially assigned. In order that the one-side end edges, as perpendicular to the discharge direction, of the sheets discharged to the individual sort bins
201
, may be registered to a regulation member
204
, the sorter
200
is equipped with a registration apparatus
205
having a registration rod
206
which is made movable to the opposite side of the registration member
204
.
In the registration apparatus
205
, the vertical registration rod
206
is provided arcuate openings
201
a
which are so formed in advance in the individual sort bins
201
as to extend through all the sort bins
201
. The registration rod
206
is connected at its two end portions to the individual oneend portions of arms
207
to be turned. The other end portions of the individual arms
207
are individually fixed on not-shown pins, which are connected to a rotary drive motor or the like so that they are turned.
As a result, the registration rod
206
is turned through the arms
207
so that the individual sheets, as discharged to and stacked on the sort bins
201
, are moved toward and registered by the regulation member
204
. The sheets thus registered are stapled, if necessary. For this stapling operation, a stapling unit
209
is arranged at one-corner portions of the individual sort bins
201
of the sorter
200
. The stapling unit
209
is relieved from a predetermined stapling position, when the sort bins
201
are vertically moved, and is moved to the stapling position when in the stapling process.
In the sorter
200
provided with the sheet post-treating apparatus device such as the stapling function, as shown in
FIG. 38
, the imaged sheets, as delivered from the image forming apparatus, can be registered, when discharged to the sort bins
201
designated to the sorting destinations, by the registration apparatus
205
to have their one-side end edges arranged with the regulation member
204
on the sort bins
201
. After completion of this registration, the sheets are stapled by the stapling unit
209
, if necessary.
For the stapling operation or the like, according to the prior art thus far described, the bundles of sheets discharged and stacked on the individual sort bins
201
by the registration apparatus
205
or the discharge trays have to be arranged and registered by the registration member
204
. Without satisfactory registration, the stapling operation, if done, cannot fix the stapling position. As a result, some sheets are left non-stapled and may fall down or may be left as they are, when the sheet bundles are removed from the sort bins
201
. The unfixed stapling position gives an unsatisfactory appearance.
According to the registration apparatus
205
of the prior art, moreover, the sheets are registered such that they are pushed by the registration rod
206
to the regulation member
204
, as opposed to the registration rod
206
. As a result, the sheets may often fail to be arranged at their one-side end edges (e.g., their trailing ends) at the end portions to be stapled, especially on the side to confront the exit. Thus, there arises a trouble that the stapling state is not satisfactory.
The other end edges perpendicular to the one-side end edges could also be arranged if a second registration rod for pushing the sheets from the side opposed to the sheet trailing end portions were added to the registration rod
206
. With this construction, however, it is necessary to additionally provide a registration apparatus for moving the second registration rod, so that the entire registration apparatus is large-sized to enlarge the post-treatment device as a whole and to raise the cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to provide a sheet registration apparatus capable of registering sheets satisfactorily and to provide a sheet registration apparatus which has a simple registration mechanism and accordingly is of small size and low production cost.
In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a sheet registration apparatus comprising: a first regulation member for regulating and registering one-side edges of sheets; and a second regulation member for regulating and registering another-side edges of the sheets substantially perpendicular to the one-side edges, the second regulation member being perpendicular to the first regulation member, the sheets being moved to the first and second regulation members to be registered, the registration apparatus further comprising:
a registration member which carries out a first motion of transporting the sheets to the first regulation member to regulate and registrate the one-side edges of the sheets with the first regulation member, and a second motion of transporting the sheets to the second regulation member in association with the first motion to regulate and registrate the another-side edges of the sheets with the second regulation member.
With the construction according to the invention, when the registration member moves to the first regulation member and comes into contact with the sheets to be registered, the sheets are transported in the direction perpendicular to the moving direction, so that the sheets come at their individual end edges into abutment against the first and second regulation members, as arranged at a right angle with respect to each other, and are registered. As a result, the sheets are registered not only at their one-end edges but also at their another-end edges perpendicular to the one-end edges so that they can be registered to a satisfactory extent. Therefore, the post-treatment after the registration can be made accurately at the predetermined position. On the other hand, since the registration member is constructed to move in only one direction, the registration mechanism is not large-sized to contribute to size reduction of the sheet registration apparatus while preventing any rise in cost.
Preferably the registration member is adapted to move in a state o
Katamoto Koji
Masuda Junya
Matsuo Toshihisa
Suzuki Kaoru
Martin Brett C.
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
Walsh Donald P.
LandOfFree
Sheet registration apparatus 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 registration apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Sheet registration apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2558640