JP2551434Y2 - Paper folding machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to paper suitable for operatively connecting to a printer or a copying machine (generally referred to as a printer) for forming a copy image such as a drawing. Related to folding machines.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when copying a large-sized drawing or the like, a copy sheet on which a copy image is formed is folded and filed into an appropriate size (for example, A4 size) and stored for use. In order to mechanically perform this folding operation and save labor, several types of paper folding machines have been proposed and are operatively connected to a printer or the like. By the way, conventionally, regardless of whether the sheet is folded or not, the copy paper fed into the folding machine is subjected to an appropriate folding operation and then discharged only from the sole outlet of the folding machine.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] On the other hand, with the improvement of systematization of the printing apparatus, such a folding machine is used by being connected to a sorting device such as a collator in order to further sort the paper discharged therefrom in a predetermined manner. Is done. In such a case, regardless of whether or not the paper is subjected to the folding operation, the paper is uniformly discharged from a single discharge port through a predetermined department (for example, a cross folding unit) and sent to the sorting device. Even if the user does not wish to perform subsequent processing such as folding and sorting, extra time is required to pass through those departments.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has a folding section for selectively folding a sheet to be fed into a predetermined size, and a sheet paper passing through the folding section. A conveying section having a U-shaped U-turn section for conveying to the next section; and a sheet portion to be sent to the conveying section is not sent to the next section, and the outer wall portion of the U-turn section is an inner wall. Bypass switching means for selectively forming a bypass that moves toward the portion and closes the conveyance path and discharges out of the apparatus from a discharge port different from the discharge port of the department, wherein the sheet is disposed on the upper surface. A copy image is formed and sent from a printer. When the bypass is switched, the copy sheets are stacked outside the machine in the order of conveyance with the image side down.

[Operation] According to such means, when the next processing such as cross-folding or sorting is not required, the bypass switching means is operated so that the paper sent to the transport path is processed in the next-desired processing section. It is bypassed outside of the aircraft before passing.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of an image forming system to which the present invention is applied. The image forming system forms a set number of copied images from an inserted document and discharges the images from the printer 1. Conveyor paper 2 which receives and transports the copied paper in the next order, a folding machine 3 which folds the copying paper fed by the conveyor apparatus 2 to a predetermined size according to a predetermined format, and a copy paper discharged from the folding machine 3. It has a collator 4 for sorting by a sorting method.

As shown in FIG. 2, the copy paper sent from the printer 1 by the conveyor device 2 includes a drive roller 5a and a driven roller 5b provided below the folder 3 in a direction in which the copy image is positioned on the upper surface side. To be inserted into the nip. The driven roller 5b is provided in pressure contact with the drive roller 5a, and another driven roller 5c is provided at a position substantially perpendicular to the circumferential direction of the driven roller in pressure contact with the drive roller 5c.
Reference numeral 6 denotes a guide for guiding the copy paper to a nip between the driving roller 5a and the driven roller 5c. The copy paper fed by the drive roller 5a and the driven roller 5c is guided between a pair of guide plates 7 extending in the vertical direction, and is sent to a roller-type zigzag folding section 10 provided at an outlet thereof. The zigzag folded portion 10 has a relatively large reversible receiving roller 11 made of an elastic material such as rubber, and a receiving roller 11 provided in pressure contact with the receiving rotor 11. Folding rollers 12 and 13 having a small diameter and capable of reversing forward and backward. The folding rollers 12 and 13 are separated from each other, and the rollers 5a and 5c guide the copy paper fed along the guide plates 7 and 7 therebetween.

The receiving roller 11 and the folding rollers 12 and 13 are linked by a gear mechanism (not shown), and rotate forward and backward at substantially the same peripheral speed. As shown in FIG. 3, the receiving roller 11 and the folding rollers 12 and 13 rotate in the directions indicated by arrows A and a, respectively, so that the leading end of the copy paper is moved to the receiving roller 11 and the folding roller 12 in the normal state. Is fed into the transport path 14 through the gap. When the copy paper does not need to be zigzag folded as in the case of the A4 size, the receiving roller 11 and the folding roller 12 continue to rotate in the rotation directions A and a based on a command from the control unit. Thus, the copy paper is transported to the next department by a series of transport rollers 15 provided along the transport path 14. As is clear from the figure, the copy paper passes through the receiving roller 11 and the folding roller 12, is turned up and down, and is sent to the transport path 14 with its image surface facing down.

When the copy sheet is a large plate and a command to perform folding is received from the control unit, the zigzag folding unit 10 performs a folding operation. The control unit previously stores the folding style (the number of times of folding, the presence or absence of cross-folding, etc.) corresponding to each size of the copy paper, and calls out the data of the style corresponding to the size of the copy paper to be sent. The folding unit 10 operates.
Normally, copy paper is folded into A4 size.

The operation of the folding unit 10 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, a detector 16 for detecting the leading edge of the copy paper is disposed at the entrance of the transport path 14, and when the leading edge of the copy paper is detected by the leading edge detector 16, the arrow A, a direction The receiving roller 11 and the folding rollers 12 and 13 which have been rotated in the reverse direction rotate in the directions indicated by arrows B and b. At this time, since the copy paper is fed in continuously by the rollers 5a and 5c and regulated by the guide plates 7 and 7, the reverse rotation causes the copy paper to come into contact with the folding rollers 12 at the exits of the guide plates 7 and 7.
13 and a U-shaped slack facing the roller 13 side,
This slack is sandwiched and crushed by the receiving roller 11 and the folding roller 13 rotating in the directions of the arrows B and b, and the first fold 21 is formed. For this reason, the leading edge detector 16 is provided at a position corresponding to the folding width from the leading edge of the paper to the first fold 21. After a lapse of a predetermined time from the detection of the leading end by the leading end detector 16, the receiving roller 11 and the folding rollers 12, 13 are again rotated in the directions indicated by arrows A and a, and the folding rollers 12, 13 , The U-shaped slack facing the roller 12 side is pinched and crushed by the receiving roller 11 and the folding roller 12 rotating in the directions of the arrows A and a, and the second fold 22 is formed. . The reverse rotation operation of the rollers is repeated according to the size of the copy sheet, and the copy sheet is zigzag folded to a predetermined size width, for example, an A4 size width.
Next, the folded copy paper is transferred to the receiving roller 11 and the folding roller 12.
And is conveyed to the next section by the series of conveying rollers 15.

In addition to the above-mentioned configuration, a bypass switching means is provided for discharging a copy sheet first without passing through the next section when it is not necessary to provide the copy sheet to the operation of the next section.
30 is provided in the middle of the transport path 14. As shown in FIG. 2, the transport path 14 makes a U-turn clockwise in the middle thereof, and the outer wall portion of the U-turn portion is a bypass wall 31.
Is configured. The bypass wall 31 is provided so as to be movable at positions indicated by solid lines and broken lines in the drawing, and is normally located at the solid line position so that the copy paper is guided along the transport path 14 to the next department. When a bypass command is received from the control unit, a driving unit (not shown) moves the bypass wall 31 to a position indicated by a broken line, whereby a copy sheet to be sent is bypassed without being sent to the next unit. From the opening exit formed by the movement of the wall 31, it is discharged to the bypass stacker 32 outside the machine. Such a bypass is used particularly effectively, for example, when the copy paper is discharged without folding, or when it is not necessary to sort the copy paper. In this way, the copy paper discharged to the bypass stacker is stacked in the transporting order with the image side facing down, that is, in the order copied by the printer 1, so that the image side faces up as in the related art. Unlike the case of stacking, there is no need to rearrange the order of the copy paper upside down.

On the other hand, the copy paper that has passed without being bypassed
Along with the zigzag folded portion 10, and the tip thereof presses against the stopper 33. Next, the copy paper is conveyed toward the front of the paper surface as viewed in FIG. 2 for cross folding (folding in a direction perpendicular to the zigzag folding). For this conveyance, a driving roller 34 and a driven roller 35 which are directed in a direction crossing the conveyance path 14 are provided.
The roller 35 is normally separated from the drive roller 34, but moves and contacts only at the time of this feeding, and conveys the copy paper in cooperation therewith.

FIG. 4 shows the cross-folding section 40, in which the zigzag-folded copy paper conveyed as described above is continued in a direction perpendicular to the fold by a driving roller 41 and a sphere 42 such as a glass ball cooperating therewith. (Front side with respect to the paper surface), and the leading end (front side with respect to the paper surface) abuts on a suitable stopper (not shown). At the same time, the driven roller 44 which is normally separated from the drive roller 43 rotating in the direction parallel to the fold descends to bring the copy paper into pressure contact with the drive roller 43, and moves the copy paper in the fold direction (fourth direction). (Left side in the figure) and send it to the cross folding section 40.

The cross folding section 40 has a common normal rotation drive roller 50, and elastic driven rollers 51 and folding rollers 52, which are pressed against the drive roller 50, respectively. Driven roller 51
Butting guide extending downward between the folding roller 52 and
An entrance 53a of 53 is provided so that copying paper can be inserted. A1 or A2 where copy paper requires cross folding
In the case of the size, the driving roller 50 and the driven roller 51 cooperating with the driving roller 50
Insert from 53a downward into the gap. The bottom surface 54 of the abutting guide 53 has a length for cross-folding the A1 size copy paper, and is provided so as to be able to protrude and retract so as to cross the middle of the guide 53 (a protruding state is shown in FIG. 4). The provided stopper 55 defines a length for cross-folding A2 size copy paper. When the leading edge of the copy paper continuously fed by the drive roller 50 abuts against the bottom surface 54 of the guide 53 (or the stopper 55 protruding into the guide for A2 size copy paper), the copy paper is further driven and driven by the driven roller. As a result, a U-shaped slack is formed on the copy paper at the entrance 53a of the guide 53 toward the driven roller 52, and the slack portion is in contact with the driving roller 50 and the folding roller. It is crushed by being sandwiched between 52, forming a cross fold. The copy paper folded in this manner is transported along the transport path 56 to the next collator 4.

When the conveyed copy paper is of A3 or A4 size that does not require cross folding, a stopper 57 that can be protruded and retracted protrudes so as to close the entrance 53a of the butting guide 53 (the position indicated by the broken line in FIG. 4). ) And the entrance of the butting guide 53
Block 53a. As a result, the copy sheet is conveyed to the conveyance path 56 by the drive roller 50 and the folding roller 52 without entering the abutment guide 53.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the designated copy paper is selectively switched by the bypass switching means, so that the unnecessary copy is not passed through unnecessary departments, and the copy paper is discharged out of the machine. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic external view of an example of an image forming system incorporating a folding machine according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view for explaining the folding machine according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view, and FIG. 4 is a side sectional view showing another part of the folding machine different from FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer, 2 ... Conveyor apparatus, 3 ... Folding machine, 4 ... Collator, 10 ... Zigzag folding part, 30 ...
Bypass switching means, 31 Bypass wall, 32 Bypass stacker, 40 Cross-fold part.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-280165 (JP, A) JP-A-61-2669 (JP, A) JP-A-57-17956 (JP, A) 111662 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A conveying section having a folding section for selectively folding a sheet to be sent to a predetermined size, and a U-shaped U-turn section for conveying sheet paper passing through the folding section to a next section. And, without sending the sheet paper sent to this transport unit to the next department, the outer wall portion of the U-turn portion moves toward the inner wall portion to block the transport path and the discharge port of the department. Has a bypass switching means for selectively forming a bypass for discharging to the outside of the machine from another discharge port, wherein the sheet is
A paper folding machine comprising a copy paper which forms a copy image on an upper surface and is sent from a printer, and wherein the copy paper is stacked outside the machine in the order of conveyance with the image side down when the bypass is switched.