Sheet feeding or delivering – Delivering – To receiver for pack of sheets
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-01
2004-12-21
Mackey, Patrick (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Delivering
To receiver for pack of sheets
C271S221000, C271S220000, C271S223000, C399S404000, C414S791200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06832759
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and a sheet-shaped medium after-treatment apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that there exists a sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus for aligning a sheet-shaped medium, which is image-formed and is conveyed sequentially at regular intervals, and is aligned onto a tray as piling means in a piled state, and for sorting them.
As an example of the sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus, an unknown highly efficient sheet-shaped aligning apparatus exists. The outline of the apparatus is that it includes discharging means for discharging a sheet-shaped medium conveyed therein, sheet piling means (hereinafter referred to as tray) for piling the sheet-shaped medium discharged by the discharging means, arranging means such as arranging members disposed adjacently each other so that the ends, which are in parallel with sheet-shaped medium discharge direction by said discharging means, of sheet-shaped medium piled on the tray are interposed therebetween, and sorting means for sorting the sheet-shaped medium by moving said tray or said arranging means by certain amount in shift direction which is perpendicular to the sheet-shaped medium discharge direction by said discharging means.
Said sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus constitutes a part of image forming apparatus, or a part of sheet-shaped medium after-treatment apparatus, so that it aligns the next sheet-shaped medium conveyed sequentially, and executes sorting treatment as necessary.
For said alignment, arranging operation by said arranging means is implemented, and sorting action by said sorting means is implemented for said sorting, with respective actions for the alignment or the sorting being executed at regular intervals which is the same as intervals at which sheet-shaped medium are conveyed sequentially.
For instance, within the time interval during which a sheet-shaped medium is discharged and the next sheet-shaped medium is discharged, (1) returning operation (which is out of the scope of the present invention) for executing arrangement in the direction of discharge by using inclination of tray or by returning sheet-shaped medium until it rests upon end fence by means of returning means to arrange just-discharged sheet-shaped medium with edges, which are in the direction of discharge, of already discharged sheet-shaped medium, (2) arranging operation for interposing edges, which are in the direction of shift, of sheet-shaped medium between arranging means together with the same bundle of sheet-shaped medium already discharged to arrange edges of sheet-shaped medium in the direction of shift, and (3) sorting means for shifting the tray (or arranging member) by certain amount after the last sheet-shaped medium of the same bundle is discharged and before the first sheet-shaped medium of the next bundle arrives, are required.
One example of the sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus equipped with arranging means which are capable of executing the above sorting action is described in reference to FIG.
163
.
In FIGS.
163
(
a
) and (
b
), a tray
12
which is movable up and down is arranged on the left of a pair of discharging rollers
3
as discharging means. The tray
12
is controlled through control function which is not shown so that it is at a distance, which is appropriate for discharging, from a nip portion of the discharging rollers
3
.
A sheet-shaped medium discharged from the discharging rollers
3
is got contacted with an end fence
131
along with inclination of the tray
12
due to its weight or returning a claw which is not shown, and finally, so-called longitudinal alignment is achieved.
A pair of arranging members, which are shaped as panels, are arranged opposed to each other in the direction of piercing the plane of the drawing above the tray
12
. A front arranging member is designated by reference numeral
102
a
, however, one arranging member
102
b
which is located inside through the plane of the drawing farther than the arranging member
102
a
is not shown.
An upper portion (base portion) of the arranging member
102
a
is pivotally connected with a shaft
108
having its length in the direction of piercing the plane of drawing (hereinafter, shift direction). An upper end of the arranging member
102
a
is sliding fitted into a recess defined as a pedestal
105
a
. A pedestal
105
a
is formed so that the shaft
108
and a guide shaft
109
which is parallel with the shaft
108
are capable of sliding by, and its upper portion is affixed to a belt which is mounted on and between a pair of pulleys in the direction of shift. One of pulleys supporting the belt is denoted by reference number
120
a
. In addition, a motor for driving the pulley
120
a
(stepping motor) is denoted by reference number
104
a.
By driving the motor
104
a
, the pulley
120
a
, and therefore the belt, are rotated. In this manner, the pedestal
105
a
is displaced, and the arranging member
102
a
is displaced in the direction of shift.
A shaft
110
is arranged in parallel with the shaft
108
, and is in contact with the shoulder
102
a
4
defined on the arranging member
102
a
. The contact point is located spaced apart and diagonally from the shaft
108
in the right side thereof. The shaft
110
is in contact with free end side of a L-shaped lever
113
which is rotatable about a supporting shaft
112
. The other side of the lever
113
is connected to a plunger of a solenoid
115
via a spring
114
.
When the solenoid
116
is off, the free end side of the arranging member
102
a
is pivoted about the shaft
108
due to its own weight so that the free end side of the arranging member
102
a
is positioned into the recess
80
a
which is defined in the tray
12
, for example, as shown in FIG.
163
(
a
). This position is the extremely pivoted position of the arranging member
102
a
, and the position is sustained by contact of a part of the arranging member
102
a
and a recessed portion of the pedestal
105
a.
When the solenoid
115
is turned off, if there is a sheet-shaped medium during pivoting movement, the arranging member
102
a
rests upon the sheet-shaped medium during pivoting movement and stops pivoting, and otherwise, pivots until it contacts inside the recess
80
a
of the tray
12
(rotating position for arrangement). Rotating position for arrangement is a position in the direction of rotation of the arranging member, and in this rotating position for arrangement, arrangement position in the direction of shift can be taken.
If the solenoid
115
is turned on, as shown in FIG.
163
(
b
), shaft
110
is pressed down by lever
113
, being guided through a long hole
90
a
, and the arranging member
102
a
pivots about the shaft
108
and is evacuated above the tray
12
(rotating position for evacuation).
As described above, since the same structure as the structure for driving the arranging member
102
a
is applied for the arranging member
102
b
, by operating the stepping motor
104
a
for driving the arranging member
102
a
and stepping motor
104
b
for driving the arranging member
102
b
which is not shown, respectively, the arranging members
102
a
and
102
b
can be approached or separated each other. In addition, by this operation, so-called transverse arrangement which means arrangement of the sheet-shaped medium discharged onto the tray
12
in the direction of shift can be executed.
When discharge for a bundle of sheets having a certain number of sheets are finished by executing the transverse arrangement by action of the arranging member
102
a
and
102
b
upon each sheet-shaped medium being discharged onto the tray
12
, the tray
12
is displaced in the direction of shift to sort the next bundle from the previous one before the next bundle of the sheet-shaped medium start to be discharged.
Regarding the first invention, if the arranging members
102
a
,
102
b
remain in the same position as during arranging op
Andoh Akihito
Nagasako Shuuya
Tamura Masahiro
Tsutsui Kazuya
Mackey Patrick
Ricoh & Company, Ltd.
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