Sheet processing device and image forming apparatus provided with the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016154363-A1
Application number	US-201514942269-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 16, 2015
Priority date	Nov 28, 2014
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A sheet pressing device of the present invention includes: a pair of pressing rollers 70 that press, in a fold thickness direction, a fold of a folded sheet bundle BS conveyed in a folded state; and a pressing roller unit 56 that moves the pressing roller pair in a sheet fold direction while supporting the same. The pressing roller pair 70 presses the fold in one of a first region R 1 where rollers of the pressing roller pair 70 are brought into pressure contact with each other and a second region R 2 adjacent to the first region R 1 on an upstream side thereof where rollers of the pressing roller pair 70 are opposed to each other at an interval. With this configuration, it is possible to minimize damage on a sheet end portion and reduce a moving load of the pressing roller pair 70.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A sheet pressing device that presses a fold of a folded sheet bundle comprising:
a pair of pressing members that press, in a fold thickness direction, the fold of the folded sheet bundle conveyed in a folded state; and a moving member that moves the pressing member pair in a sheet fold direction while supporting the same, wherein the pressing member pair presses the fold in one of a first region where members of the pressing member pair are brought into pressure contact with each other and a second region adjacent to the first region on an upstream side thereof where members of the pressing member pair are opposed to each other at an interval.

2 . The sheet pressing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the pressing member pair integrally includes a large-diameter roller pair as the first region and a small-diameter roller pair as the second region, the large-diameter roller pair and the small-diameter roller pair being arranged in a sheet conveying direction and supported on a common axis.

3 . A sheet processing device that presses a fold of a folded sheet bundle comprising:
a conveying member that conveys a folded sheet bundle; a pair of pressing members that presses the sheet bundle in a fold thickness direction of the sheet bundle conveyed by the conveying member; a moving member that moves the pressing member pair in a sheet fold direction; and a controller that controls the moving member and the conveying member, wherein the pressing member pair includes a first region where members of the pressing member pair are brought into pressure contact with each other and a second region adjacent to the first region on an upstream side thereof where members of the pressing member pair are opposed to each other at an interval, and the controller controls the conveying member to set the fold of the folded sheet bundle to the first region for pressing the fold when the number of sheets forming the conveyed folded sheet bundle is equal to or less than a predetermined number and to the second region when the number of sheets forming the conveyed folded sheet bundle is more than a predetermined number.

4 . The sheet processing device according to claim 3 , wherein the pressing member pair integrally includes a large-diameter roller pair as the first region and a small-diameter roller pair as the second region, the large-diameter roller pair and the small-diameter roller pair being arranged in a sheet conveying direction and rotatably supported on a common axis.

5 . The sheet processing device according to claim 4 , wherein the conveying member serves as both a folding roller for folding a sheet bundle and a conveying roller for conveying the folded sheet bundle.

6 . The sheet processing device according to claim 3 , further comprising a discharge member that discharges the folded sheet bundle after completion of the pressing by the pressing member pair,
Wherein the controller controls, depending on the number of sheets forming the folded sheet bundle, whether to discharge the folded sheet bundle using the discharge member after one-way movement or reciprocating movement of the moving member for pressing.

7 . The sheet processing device according to claim 6 , wherein when the number of sheets forming the folded sheet bundle to be pressed by the pressing member pair is equal to or less than a predetermined number, the discharge member discharges after completion of the one-way movement of the moving member, while when the number of sheets forming the folded sheet bundle is more than a predetermined number, the discharge member discharges after completion of the reciprocating movement of the moving member.

8 . The sheet processing device according to claim 7 , wherein the conveying member serves as both a folding roller for folding a sheet bundle and a conveying roller for conveying the folded sheet bundle and operates in conjunction with the discharging member when the folded sheet bundle is discharged.

9 . The sheet processing device according to claim 3 , wherein a moving speed of the moving member that is moved in the fold direction is set lower when the number of sheets forming the folded sheet bundle is more than a predetermined number than when the number of sheets forming the folded sheet bundle is equal to or less than a predetermined number.

10 . A sheet processing device that presses a fold of a folded sheet bundle comprising:
a conveying roller that conveys a folded sheet bundle; a pair of pressing rollers that press the sheet bundle in a fold thickness direction of the sheet bundle; a moving unit that moves the pressing roller pair in a sheet fold direction while supporting the same; and a controller that controls the sheet conveying operation of the conveying member and moving operation of the moving member, wherein the moving unit supports a plurality of rows of the pressing roller pairs with the intervals therebetween in the respective rows reduced stepwise in a moving direction of the moving member, the pressing roller pair of the last stage of the plurality of rows includes a first region formed by rollers of large-diameter roller pair which are brought into pressure contact with each other and a second region adjacent to the large-diameter roller pair on an upstream side in a sheet conveying direction, formed by rollers of small-diameter roller pair which are opposed to each other at an interval, and the controller controls the conveying member to set the fold of the folded sheet bundle to the first region for pressing the fold when the number of sheets forming the conveyed folded sheet bundle is equal to or less than a predetermined number and to the second region when the number of sheets forming the conveyed folded sheet bundle is more than a predetermined number.

11 . The sheet processing device according to claim 10 , wherein the plurality of rows of the pressing roller pairs supported in the moving unit so as to be arranged in the moving direction are configured such that two rollers constituting the sheet pressing member pair of each row are disposed opposite to each other, with a sheet fold position as a center, at positions substantially equally distant from the sheet fold position.

12 . The sheet processing device according to claim 10 , wherein the pressing roller pair integrally includes the large-diameter roller pair as the first region where the rollers are brought into pressure contact and the small-diameter roller pair as the second region disposed on the upstream side of the large-diameter roller pair, the large-diameter roller pair and the small-diameter roller pair being rotatably supported on a common axis.

13 . The sheet processing device according to claim 10 , wherein there are arranged at least three rows of the pressing roller pairs having mutually different intervals among the rows.

14 . An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image forming section that forms an image on a sheet; and a sheet processing device that applies predetermined sheet processing to the image-formed sheet from the image forming section, wherein the sheet processing device is the sheet processing device as claimed in claim 1 .

Assignees

• Osada Hisashi
• Nisca Corp

Inventors

• Osada Hisashi

Classifications

• B65H45/30

  Folding in combination with creasing, smoothing or application of adhesive (folding or adhesive application in article or web delivering B65H37/00) · CPC title

• B65H45/16

  Rotary folders · CPC title

• G03G15/6582 Primary

  Special processing for irreversibly adding or changing the sheet copy material characteristics or its appearance, e.g. stamping, annotation printing, punching · CPC title

• B65H45/18

  Oscillating or reciprocating blade folders (carried on rotary members B65H45/16) · CPC title

• B65H2301/51232

  for flattening · CPC title