Sheet bundle discharging apparatus and bookbinding apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11712915-B2
Application number	US-201916965771-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 25, 2019
Priority date	Jan 30, 2018
Publication date	Aug 1, 2023
Grant date	Aug 1, 2023

Abstract

A sheet bundle discharging apparatus K, including: a conveyance unit 66 configured to convey a sheet bundle; a guide unit 72 configured to guide the sheet bundle conveyed by the conveyance unit; a discharging unit 90 configured to discharge the sheet bundle to an outside of the sheet bundle discharging apparatus; and a receiving unit 81 configured to receive the sheet bundle guided by the guide unit, wherein the receiving unit includes: a contact portion 81 c with which a leading end portion of the sheet bundle, which is guided by the guide unit, in a moving direction of the sheet bundle is to be brought into contact; and a pushing portion 81 b , which is formed integrally with the contact portion, and is configured to push a first surface of the sheet bundle, and wherein the receiving unit is rotatable between a first position and a second position, and is configured to receive the sheet bundle in the first position and rotate from the first position to the second position, thereby allowing the pushing portion to push the first surface of the sheet bundle to place a second surface of the sheet bundle, which is on a side opposite to the first surface, on the discharging unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A booklet discharging apparatus configured to discharge a booklet provided with a spine, the booklet discharging apparatus comprising:
a conveyance unit configured to convey the booklet with the spine of the booklet being a leading edge;
a guide unit configured to guide the booklet conveyed by the conveyance unit, wherein the booklet guided by the guide unit is moved with the spine of the booklet being the leading edge;
a receiving unit configured to receive the booklet guided by the guide unit; and
a discharging unit configured to discharge the booklet to an outside of the booklet discharging apparatus,
wherein the receiving unit includes:
(1) a contact portion with which the spine of the booklet, moved while being guided by the guide unit, is to be brought into contact; and
(2) a pushing portion, which is formed integrally with the contact portion, and which is configured to push a first surface of the booklet, and
wherein the receiving unit is rotatable between a first position and a second position, and is configured to receive the booklet by the contact portion contacting the spine in the first position and then rotate from the first position to the second position, thereby allowing the pushing portion to push the first surface of the booklet and to place the booklet on the discharging unit in a state of a second surface of the booklet being lower than the first surface of the booklet, the second surface being opposite to the first surface.

2. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a direction of a rotation center line around which the receiving unit is rotated from the first position to the second position is substantially parallel to a longitudinal direction of the contact portion.

3. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the receiving unit includes a receiving port configured to receive the booklet when the receiving unit is in the first position, and
wherein the receiving port approaches the discharging unit when the receiving unit is rotated from the first position to the second position.

4. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, while the receiving unit rotates from the first position to the second position, a moving direction of the booklet given when the booklet is seen from above intersects with a moving direction of the booklet being discharged by the discharging unit.

5. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the receiving unit includes a regulating portion configured to regulate a movement of the second surface of the booklet when the receiving unit is in the first position, and
wherein the regulating portion is opposed to the pushing portion and is formed integrally with the contact portion.

6. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the receiving unit includes a first flat surface serving as the contact portion, a second flat surface serving as the pushing portion, and a third flat surface serving as the regulating portion, and
wherein the second flat surface and the third flat surface are adjacent to the first flat surface and are opposed to each other.

7. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the discharging unit includes an endless belt configured to discharge the booklet to an outside of the booklet discharging apparatus.

8. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the endless belt includes an inclined surface inclined with respect to a horizontal direction,
wherein the inclined surface includes a first portion and a second portion located at a position lower than the first portion, and
wherein the second portion is closer to the receiving unit than the first portion in the horizontal direction.

9. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the discharging unit is configured to perform a discharge operation for the booklet after the receiving unit places the booklet on the discharging unit.

10. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a pushing unit configured to push the first surface of the booklet,
wherein a position at which the pushing unit pushes the first surface is upstream of a position at which the pushing portion pushes the first surface with respect to a moving direction of the booklet guided by the guide unit.

11. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the pushing unit is configured to start pushing after the receiving unit starts rotation.

12. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein a timing at which the pushing unit starts pushing is controlled in accordance with a stiffness of the booklet.

13. The booklet discharging apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising an acquiring unit configured to acquire information relating to at least one of a size of the booklet, a basis weight of a sheet of the booklet, and a number of sheets of the booklet,
wherein a timing at which the pushing unit starts operation is controlled based on the information acquired by the acquiring unit.

14. A bookbinding apparatus comprising:
a binding unit configured to bind a sheet bundle into a booklet; and
a booklet discharging apparatus configured to discharge the booklet provided with a spine, wherein the booklet discharging apparatus comprises:
(A) a conveyance unit configured to convey the booklet with the spine of the booklet being a leading edge;
(B) a guide unit configured to guide the booklet conveyed by the conveyance unit, wherein the booklet guided by the guide unit is moved with the spine of the booklet being the leading edge;
(C) a receiving unit configured to receive the booklet guided by the guide unit; and
(D) a discharging unit configured to discharge the booklet to an outside of the booklet discharging apparatus,
wherein the receiving unit includes:
(1) a contact portion with which the spine of the booklet, is moved while being guided by the guide unit, is to be brought into contact; and
(2) a pushing portion, which is formed integrally with the contact portion, and which is configured to push a first surface of the booklet, and
wherein the receiving unit is rotatable between a first position and a second position, and is configured to receive the booklet by the contact portion contacting the spine in the first position and then rotate from the first position to the second position, thereby allowing the pushing portion to push the first surface of the booklet and to place the booklet, on the discharging unit in a state of a second surface of the booklet being lower than the first surface of the booklet, the second surface being opposite to the first surface.

15. A bookbinding apparatus comprising:
a binding unit configured to bind a sheet bundle into a booklet;
an acquiring unit configured to acquire information relating to at least one of a size of the booklet, a basis weight of a sheet of the booklet, and a number of sheets of the booklet;
a booklet discharging apparatus configured to discharge the booklet provided with a spine; and
a control unit configured to control the booklet discharging apparatus based on the information acquired by the acquiring unit,
wherein the booklet discharging apparatus comprises:
(A) a conveyance unit configured to convey the booklet with the spine of the booklet being a leading edge;
(B) a guide unit configured to guide the booklet conveyed by the conveyance unit, wherein the booklet guided by the guide unit is moved with the spine of the booklet being the leading edge;
(C) a receiving unit con

Assignees

• Canon Finetech Nisca Inc

Inventors

• Okamoto Koji
• MATSUBARA Dai
• Nagasawa Keiichi

Classifications

• B42C19/08 Primary

  Conveying between operating stations in machines (conveyors in general B65G) · CPC title

• B42C1/12 Primary

  Machines for both collating or gathering and permanently attaching together the sheets or signatures · CPC title

• B42C3/00

  Making booklets, pads, or form sets from multiple webs · CPC title

• G03G15/6541

  Binding sets of sheets, e.g. by stapling, glueing · CPC title

• B42C9/0006

  by applying adhesive to a stack of sheets · CPC title