JPS60232372A - Paper folding apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a paper folding operation without giving and receiving a signal from a recording apparatus by detecting the size of a recording sheet sent from the recording apparatus side, automatically judging whether a sheet is folded or not according to the detection signal to fold a sheet according to the judgement. CONSTITUTION:A paper path 43 extending from an upper guide 41 and a lower guide 42 to a paper path switch portion 21 is set longer than the length in the transport direction of a laterally or longitudinally transported sheet of a small size and shorter than the length in the transport direction of a longitudinally transported sheet of a large size to be folded. A4 size stopper is disposed at the most end portion of a paper folding reversing path 29 and the position of the stopper is adjusted to a leisure size. A solenoid SL1 drives a paper path switch member 21, and SL2 drives a B4 size stopper 30 for varying the length of the paper folding reversing path 29. In this arrangement, sensors S1, S2 are disposed on the upstream side of the paper path switch member 21 for selecting whether paper is folded or not, and according to the output, the paper path is switched.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a method for printing recorded paper on paper by attaching it to a recording device that prints characters, symbols, etc., and images and video patterns such as graphs and drawings on paper. The present invention relates to a paper folding device for folding, and particularly relates to a paper folding device suitable for use when size information of recording paper cannot be obtained from a recording device, for example, when used offline without a connection between the recording device and a signal cord.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, in recording devices such as copying machines, A3
A3 size indicated by Y, B4 size indicated by B4Y, LGY
Large-sized paper, such as ledger size (11' x 17'), shown in , is fed vertically with its long side facing the paper feeding direction Y. Letter size shown (8'A' x 11'
) is generally fed horizontally with its short side facing in the paper feeding direction Y. This is because when paper of all sizes is fed horizontally, the length of the photosensitive drum becomes large, and the paper feed section, developer, cleaner, paper transport section, fixing device, etc. all become large, which significantly increases manufacturing costs. This is because

Therefore, in the conventional paper folding device combined with a copying device, the large size paper is fed vertically and the small size paper is fed horizontally. The paper is folded, and small-sized paper is ejected without folding, so that the final paper size is the same.

FIG. 2 shows an example of such a conventional device. This device is a built-in copying machine in which a copying section 10 and a paper folding section 20 are integrated.0 This copying section 10 is irradiated by an optical system 11 that scans a document and forms a latent image. A photosensitive drum 12, a developing device 13 that applies toner to the latent image on the drum 12 and develops it, and a transfer device 1 that transfers the toner image onto paper.
4th prize.

The paper 16 in the paper cassette 15 has a feeding image transferred to the photosensitive drum 12 by the paper feed roller 15, is conveyed by the paper transport section 18 to the fixing roller 19, is fixed thereon, and enters the paper folding section 20. , and reaches the paper path switching section 21. The paper path switching unit 21 switches the paper path through which the paper passes depending on the paper size information.

That is, when paper folding is not performed, the paper path switching member 21
rotates clockwise to open the paper path (passage 22).As a result, the paper passes through the paper paths 22 and 23, and is ejected directly to the paper ejection tray 25 via the paper ejection roller 24.

On the other hand, when folding paper, the paper path switching member 21 rotates counterclockwise to close the paper path 22 and open the paper bus 26. As a result, the paper is passed through the paper path 26 and folded by the paper folding roller 2.
7 and 28, up to the paper folding pass 29
When the paper is inserted, the center part of the paper approaches the paper folding roller 31 and is sandwiched between the paper folding rollers 27 and 31, which folds the paper in half and guides it to the paper path 23, and then outputs the paper in the folded state. The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 25 by the rollers 24. When folding B4 size paper, the movable stopper 30 moves to the paper folding reversing path 29 to adjust the paper folding position.

In the past, most copying machines had a built-in type as shown in FIG. 2, and were limited to high-speed, large-sized copying machines. In order to improve this drawback, a general-purpose paper folding device as shown in FIG. 3 has been proposed which can be used by being attached externally to existing popular machines. However, since such a paper folding device 20' is almost the same in structure and operation as the built-in copying machine type shown in FIG. If this information cannot be received, it will be difficult to perform paper folding operations in conjunction with each other, and at least a signal of paper size information is required. For this reason, it has been practically impossible to attach it to most existing recording devices in which it is difficult to take out the signal cable to the outside.

〔the purpose〕

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technology, detect the dimensions of the recording paper fed from the recording apparatus side, and automatically determine whether or not to fold the paper according to this detection. It is an object of the present invention to provide a general-purpose external paper folding device that can perform paper folding operations without transmitting/receiving signals to/from a recording device by folding paper based on this judgment. .

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 4(A) shows an example of the internal configuration of the paper folding device of the present invention, and FIG. 4(B) shows an enlarged view of the main parts thereof. Here, the third
Components similar to those of the conventional device shown in the figure are given the same numbers, and detailed explanation thereof will be omitted. In Figure 4 (4) and (B), 4
Reference numeral 1 indicates an upper guide for guiding paper provided in the paper receiving opening, and 42 indicates a ball guide paired with the upper guide 41.

43 is the paper path switching unit 2 from the upper guide 41 and the lower guide 42.
The length of the paper path up to 1 is longer than the length in the conveyance direction of small-sized horizontally or vertically conveyed paper, and shorter than the length in the conveying direction of the large-size vertically conveyed paper to be folded. However, it does not necessarily have to be short.

44, 45 and 46 are paper feed rollers that feed the paper toward the paper discharge tray 25, and 47 is an A4 size stopper provided at the end of the paper folding and reversing bus 29 and whose position can be adjusted to a leisure size. SL is a solenoid that drives the paper path switching member 21, and SL2 is a solenoid that drives a movable stopper 30 for B4 size that makes the length of the paper folding reversing path 29 variable.

S and S2 are paper sensors provided at both ends of the entrance side paper path 43, S5 is a paper sensor provided in front of the stopper 30 when located in the paper folding reversing path 29,
The path distance l between the paper sensors S1 and S2 is set to be longer than the length in the feeding direction of A4 size paper or letter size paper to be fed vertically, and shorter than the length in the feeding direction of B44 size paper to be fed vertically. The passage distance 12 between the paper sensor S1 and the paper sensor S3 is set longer than the length in the feeding direction of vertically feeding B44 size paper and shorter than the length in the feeding direction of vertically feeding A3 size paper or leisure size paper.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the configuration of the drive control circuit of the present device shown in FIG. Here, the CPU is a control unit that performs drive control according to the present invention according to a control procedure as shown in FIG. 6, which will be described later.
Microprocessor, ROM.

Consists of RAM etc. Further, Ml is a drive motor that rotates nine paper folding rollers 28, 27, and 31 in response to a drive signal from the control unit CPU. The input port of the control unit CPU includes an input switch SW that selects and instructs whether or not to perform the paper folding function for large-sized paper, and a paper sensor S1 such as a micro switch or photocoupler that detects the passage of paper. ~S3 are connected, and the output port of the control unit CPU is connected to the controlled solenoid SL1. Connect SL2 and motor M.

Further, R1 to R4 are power supply resistors, IV1 to IV4 are inverters that invert the ON/OFF signals of the switch SW1 and paper sensors S1 to S3, and V5 to IV are inverters that invert the output of the output port.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a control procedure stored in advance in the internal program memory of the control unit CPU shown in FIG. Next, with reference to FIG.
An example of the control operation of the device of the present invention shown in the figure will be explained.

After turning on the power, first set the solenoid SL during initial setting.

Turn SL2 and M off (step TI)
.

Next, when the detection output of the paper sensor S1 at the entrance detects that the recording paper has been discharged from the copying apparatus 10 (step T2), the paper folding roller drive motor M is activated.

(step T). Next, the output of the paper folding selection switch SW1 is checked, and when the switch SW1 is on the paper folding side (step T4), the output of the paper sensor S2 is checked, and when the output is ON, the previous paper remains.
When the output is turned OFF, wait until the previous paper passes through the paper path switching member 21 (step T5), then turn off both solenoid SL and SL2, and move the paper path switching member 21 to the opening side of the path 22. The stopper 30 is removed from the paper bus 29 (step T6). Next, it is checked by logical product operation whether the outputs of paper sensors S1 and 82 are both "1" (steps T7, T8 and T8).
9), when both are 1'', the path distance 11 between the paper sensor S and 82 is 297 mm (vertical length of A4 size) <11≦364 mm (vertical length of B4 size) as described above. )
Since it is set in advance, the paper size is A3. Since it is B4 or leisure size, solenoid SL,
Then, SL2 is turned ON, the paper bus switching member 21 is switched to the solid line position on the opening side of the paper bus 26, and the B4 size stopper 3° is lowered to the paper path 29 (step T10).

As a result, the paper is guided to the paper path 26, and the paper feed sheet roller 2
7 and 28 and enters the paper folding reversing path 29 to reach the position of the paper sensor S3.

Here, the path distance 12 from paper sensor S1 to paper sensor S3 is 364 m, w (vertical length of B4 size) <12≦420+m (vertical length of A3 size) as described above. Since it is set in advance, when the outputs of both paper sensors S1 and B3 both become 1'', it means that the paper is A size or leisure size, so solenoid SL2 is turned off.
Then, the B size stopper 30 is removed from the paper folding reversing path 29 (steps Tll to T14). Toreyoshi,
The leading edge of the paper hits the stopper 47, and the center of the paper is sandwiched between the paper folding rollers 28 and 31 and folded into two.
The paper passes through the paper path 23 and is discharged onto the tray 25.

On the other hand, when the paper is B4 size, the paper sensors S1 and 83
Since the paper sensor S1 is turned OFF while the output of the paper sensor flood reaches 1Ttl+ without both outputs becoming 1'' (step T13), the control is performed from steps T13 to T16.
The leading edge of the paper hits the stopper 30, the center of the paper is sandwiched between the paper folding rollers 28 and 31, folded in half, and is discharged to the tray 25 through the paper path 23.

When folding a paper like this, the trailing edge of the paper is detected by the paper sensor S1.
(step T15 or T13), tray 25
After the elapse of time until the paper is ejected, the motor M1 is stopped and the solenoid SL and Sb2 are turned off (steps T16 to T20). However, if the paper sensor S1 is turned ON even during the timer operation (step T 17 ), the process returns to step T2 and the above-described operation is repeated. Also, stop the motor M1 and turn off the solenoids SLi and Sb2.
After setting it to F, return to step T2 again and set the paper sensor S.
Wait until 1 turns ON.

Also, when the paper reaches the paper sensor S2, the paper sensor S1
When is turned off, the paper is A4 size, B5 size, or letter size paper that does not need to be folded, so the control then passes through steps T7, T8, and T9 and jumps to step T16. At this time, step T6 has already started.
Solenoid SL1 is set to QFF, and analysis path switching member 2
1 is located on the side that opens the paper path 22, so the paper passes through the paper paths 22 and 23 and is ejected to the paper ejection tray 25.

On the other hand, when the paper folding selection switch SW2 is on the side where paper folding is not performed, the process moves from step T4 to T21.
The output of the paper sensor S2 is checked, and when the output is ON, the previous paper remains, so the output is turned OFF and the process waits until the previous paper passes the paper bus switching member 21.Step T21) Once passed, solenoid SL and Sb
2 to OFF, and set the paper path switching member 21 to paper path 2.
2, and the stopper 30 is removed from the paper path 29 (step T22). Next, when the paper sensor S1 is turned off (step T23), that is, when the trailing edge of the paper passes the paper sensor S1, the process moves to step T16 described above. As a result, regardless of the size of the paper, paper of all sizes passes through the bypass paper path 22 and is ejected as is to the upper paper ejection tray 25.

Generally, in Japan and Europe, A3 or B4 size paper is folded to make A4 or B5 size, but in Canada and the United States, leisure size paper is often folded to make letter size. In this example, when folding paper of leisure size into two, the position of the stopper 47 is moved to match the paper of leisure size. In addition, in this example, two paper sensors S1 and 82 are used to determine whether the paper size is suitable for folding, but only the paper sensor S1 on the entrance side is used and this sensor S1 is turned ON. The paper size can be determined by measuring the time or the number of rotations of the motor M1 while it is turned on. However, in this case, it is desirable to match the paper feeding speed of the recording device of the main body with the paper feeding speed of the paper folding device. This is because if the speed of the fixing roller 19 of the main body differs from the conveyance speed of the paper feed device, the conveyance speed of the paper passing through the paper sensor S1 will change halfway, making it difficult to measure the accurate length of the paper. This is because it becomes difficult.

〔effect〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a sensor for detecting the paper length is provided on the upstream side of the paper path switching member that selects whether or not to perform paper folding υ, and Since the paper path is switched and paper folding is performed, a highly versatile paper folding device that can be used offline with the recording device can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the relationship between paper size and sheet feeding direction, Fig. 2 is an internal configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional built-in paper folding device, and Fig. 3 is a conventional external paper folding device. $1llF! FIG. 4 (4) is an internal configuration diagram showing an example of the configuration of the paper folding device of the present invention; FIG. 4 (B) is an enlarged detailed view of its main parts; FIG. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing an example of the structure of the drive control circuit of the device, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of its control operation. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Recording device, 20'... Paper folding device, 21... Paper path switching member, 22.23, 26.43... Paper bus, 24... Paper ejection roller, 25... Paper output tray, 27.28.31...Paper folding roller, 29...Paper folding reversing bus, 30.47...Stopper, 41.42...Guide, 44.45.46...・Feeding shear roller, CPU...control unit, SL+''2+S5...paper sensor, SLl,
SL2... Solenoid, SWl... Paper folding selection switch, 11... Paper bus distance between paper sensors S1 and S2, 12.
...Paper path distance between S1 and S3, Ml...Motor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A paper folding means for folding the conveyed recording paper, and a first paper folding means for folding the paper and conveying the recording paper to a predetermined portion.
a switching means for switching between a second passage and a second passage for transporting recording paper to the predetermined portion without paper folding; a detection means for detecting the size of the folded recording paper; and a determination as to whether or not to perform paper folding according to the detection by the detection means, and based on the determination, drives the switching means to switch the first
A paper folding device comprising: control means for controlling passage switching between the second passage and the second passage. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the third path is formed longer than the dimension in the sheet feeding direction of the largest size sheet of the group of recording sheets that will not be folded. paper folding device. 3) In the apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, the detection means includes two paper detection sensors provided in the third path, and the distance between the two sensors is determined based on the paper folding distance. Paper folding characterized in that the dimension in the feeding direction of the largest size sheet of the recording paper group that is not folded is longer than the length in the feeding direction of the recording paper group that is not folded, and the length in the feeding direction of the smallest size paper of the recording paper group that is paper folded is also shorter. Device. 4) In the apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the paper detection sensor of the detection means and a paper folding movable stopper provided upstream of the paper folding movable stopper downstream of the switching means are provided. The distance between the path and the detection sensor is made longer than the dimension in the feeding direction of the recording paper that is folded using the movable stopper, and the recording paper is folded without using the movable stopper. The paper folding device is characterized in that the size υ is also made shorter, and the movable stopper is moved from the passage in accordance with the output of the both paper detection sensor.