Stapling stacker

Details Stapling stacker Stapling stacker

1999-03-29

2001-07-17

Skaggs, H. Grant (Department: 3651)

Sheet-material associating

Associating or disassociating

Sheet associating

C270S058080, C270S058270, C271S218000, C399S404000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06260838

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In the prior art there exist examples of paper receiving apparatus which assemble and finish a stapled set of sheets by means which in a preliminary stage assembles the trailing ends of sheets on a shelf, while the leading ends of the sheets are otherwise supported.
Examples of such prior art are seen in Canon U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,340, granted Jan. 31, 1995 and Lawrence U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,695, granted Jul. 22, 1997.
In the Canon structure, the set of sheets is supported at its trailing end on a fixed shelf from which the assembled set is pushed to a receiver.
In the Lawrence structure, the assembled set of sheets is gripped and moved to a finishing station after accumulation of the trailing ends of the sets on a movable shelf.
The pending application, Ser. No. 09/078,202, filed May 14, 1998 is co-owned herewith and discloses a stacker with which are associated a binding station and a stapling station. In that application there is also disclosed a shelf which receives the trailing ends of sheets being accumulated for processing at either of the binding or stapling stations, wherein the shelf is allowed to pivot downwardly to drop the trailing ends of the accumulated set of sheets.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet post processing apparatus in which the sheets are formed in a set on a shelf which is automatically moved or dropped from beneath the trailing end of a set, and wherein, prior to dropping the shelf, the sheets are side edge aligned, registered and stapled.
More specifically, it is an object of the invention to perform the side edge alignment, registration and stapling, as well as offsetting the stapled sets prior to dropping the shelf from beneath the finished set.
In accomplishing the above objectives, the apparatus includes a sheet infeed which receives printed sheets exiting from a copier or printer, a receiving tray for the sheets, a shelf located between the sheet infeed and the tray onto which shelf the trailing ends of sheets are fed, with the leading ends of the sheets supported on the receiving tray or previous set of sheets, thereby assembling a set of sheets for stapling.
The assembled sheets are jogged with side edge alignment between a side edge aligner and a registration member, and may be stapled and offset, following which the shelf drops to release the trailing ends of the set onto the receiving tray or previous set.
In the form shown herein, the receiving tray is a simple stacker spring balanced to support the increasing weight of successive height of finished sets.
A better understanding of the invention will be had by reference to the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4905979 (1990-03-01), Limbach et al.
patent: 5002456 (1991-03-01), Gosslinghoff
patent: 5544583 (1996-08-01), Banike
patent: 5639078 (1997-06-01), Mandel et al.
patent: 5857670 (1999-01-01), Jung
patent: 5918871 (1999-07-01), Saito et al.

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