Sheet bundle binding processing apparatus and image forming system having the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9586783-B2
Application number	US-201414325882-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 8, 2014
Priority date	Jul 11, 2013
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a sheet bundle binding processing apparatus capable of performing a binding process rapidly and efficiently while the binding process can be selected by an operator. The present invention comprises a sheet bundle binding processing apparatus including a processing tray on which sheets are stacked, an insertion portion to which a sheet bundle is inserted, a first binding device which performs a predetermined binding process on a sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray and the predetermined binding process on a sheet bundle inserted to the insertion portion, and a second binding device which performs a binding process being different from the predetermined binding process on a sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sheet bundle binding processing apparatus, comprising:
a stack portion on which sheets are stacked;
an insertion portion to which a sheet bundle is inserted;
a first binding device which performs a first binding process on a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion and the first binding process on a sheet bundle inserted to the insertion portion;
a second binding device which performs a second binding process being different from the first binding process on a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion; and
a controller which controls at least one of the first binding device and the second binding device to bind a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion,
wherein the controller causes the first binding device to perform the first binding process on a sheet bundle inserted to the insertion portion and the second binding device not to perform the second binding process on the sheet bundle inserted to the insertion portion.

2. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first binding device is structured with a staple binding device, and
the second binding device is structured with a non-staple binding device.

3. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the insertion portion is arranged at a position being adjacent to the stack portion.

4. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein a first binding position where sheets are bound staple bound by the first binding device is arranged in an introducing area of a sheet to be fed from a sheet discharging port to the stack portion,
the insertion portion is arranged outside the introducing area, and
a second binding position for the second binding device is arranged at an opposite side to the insertion port as sandwiching the introducing area.

5. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the second binding device is arranged at a position being apart from the introducing area by a predetermined distance.

6. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the first binding device is a stapling unit which staple-binds a sheet bundle, and
a staple replenishment position of the stapling unit is set at an opposite side to the second binding device as sandwiching the introducing area.

7. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the stack portion is structured so that sheets having different sizes are discharged in center reference from the sheet discharging port, and
the second binding position is set closer to the sheet center than a third binding position where the first binding device binds sheets inserted to the insertion portion.

8. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein a home position of the first binding device is set at the insertion portion side outside the introducing area, and
the controller causes the first binding device to be positioned at the home position at a time of apparatus activation or post-processing completion.

9. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first binding device is arranged to be movable between a position where the first binding device binds a sheet bundle which has been stacked on the stack portion and a position where the first binding device binds a sheet bundle which has been inserted to the insertion portion.

10. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a sheet regulating device in which an end in a discharging direction of a sheet discharged to the stack portion is regulated as being abutted thereto; and
an aligning device which performs biasing and aligning on the sheets discharged to the stack portion in a direction crossing to the sheet discharging direction,
wherein the sheet regulating device is structured with an end regulating member by which an end edge of a sheet discharged onto the stack portion is regulated as being abutted thereto,
the aligning device is structured with a pair of aligning members which aligns side edges of a sheet discharged to the stack portion to a predetermined reference position, and
the second binding device is arranged between the end regulating member and the aligning members in the discharging direction.

11. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 10 ,
wherein the controller causes the aligning device to align a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion to a reference position, and then, to move the sheet bundle toward a binding position for the second binding device.

12. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein a sheet supporting face of the insertion portion and a sheet supporting face of the stack portion are arranged approximately on a same plane.

13. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a rotor which conveys a sheet discharged to the stack portion in a direction opposite to a sheet discharging direction; and
an aligning device which performs biasing and aligning on a sheet introduced by the rotor in a direction perpendicular to the sheet discharging direction,
wherein the second binding device is arranged between the rotor and the aligning device in the sheet discharging direction.

14. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first binding device is structured with a stapling unit which staple-binds a sheet bundle, and
the stapling unit is supported to be movable by a guide portion along an end edge of a sheet discharged onto the stack portion, so that the stapling unit is movable along the guide portion among a first binding position where the first binding process is performed on an end portion of a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion, a staple replenishment position where staples are replenished, and a second binding position where a sheet bundle inserted to the insertion portion is bound.

15. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 14 , further comprising a slide cam which regulates angular posture of the stapling unit to be in parallel to the guide portion,
wherein a corner binding position where the first binding process is performed on a corner of sheets stacked on the stack portion is set between the staple replenishment position and the first binding position where the first binding process is performed on a plurality of positions of an end portion of a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion, and
the slide cam varies posture of the stapling unit to be inclined by a predetermined angle against a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion at the corner binding position.

16. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 15 ,
wherein the slide cam causes the stapling unit at the second binding position to be maintained at the angle against a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion to have a same posture as at the first binding position.

17. An image forming system, comprising:
an image forming unit which sequentially forms an image on a sheet, and
a sheet bundle binding processing unit in which sheets fed from the image forming unit are stacked and a binding process is performed thereon,
wherein the sheet bundle binding processing unit is the sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 .

18. The sheet bundle binding processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second binding device is

Assignees

• Obuchi Yusuke
• Abe Hideto
• Takahashi Masaya
• Nishizawa Seiji
• Canon Finetech Inc
• Nisca Corp

Inventors

• Obuchi Yusuke
• Abe Hideto
• Takahashi Masaya
• Nishizawa Seiji

Classifications

• G03G21/1633

  using doors or covers (G03G21/1638 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B27F7/17

  Stapling machines (manually operated portable stapling tools, hand- held power-operated stapling tools B25C5/00) · CPC title

• B65H2301/51616

  involving simultaneous deformation of parts of the material to be bound · CPC title

• B42C1/12

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

• G03G2221/1672

  Paper handling · CPC title