Apparatus and method for sheet folding and sheet bending

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9944490-B2
Application number	US-201514644502-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2015
Priority date	Mar 18, 2014
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A sheet is nipped and held by first and second bend forming rollers of which rotation axes are in a direction perpendicular to a sheet conveying direction, the conveying speed of the held portion is made lower than a sheet conveying speed on the upstream side so that a bend is formed on the sheet, the sheet is conveyed toward the bend forming rollers such that the sheet conveying direction to the bend forming rollers passes through a line segment from the rotation axis of the first bend forming roller to a predetermined position on a surface of the first bend forming roller, and the bend formed on the conveyed sheet is pressed from the surface of the sheet in a position on the opposite side of the second bend forming roller with respect to the position where the sheet is in contact with the first bend forming roller.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sheet processing apparatus that forms a folding line on a conveyed sheet, the sheet processing apparatus comprising:
a bend forming unit, configured to use a first bend forming roller and a second bend forming roller, that rotate around rotation axes in a direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the sheet and parallel to a surface of the sheet, to nip and hold both surfaces of the conveyed sheet and form a bend on the sheet by making a conveying speed of a held portion lower than a conveying speed of the sheet on an upstream side;
a conveying unit to convey the sheet toward the bend forming unit such that, when a vector in a conveying direction of the sheet conveyed to the bend forming unit is decomposed into vectors in a direction of a tangent line at a contact point between a conveyance path of the sheet and a surface of the first bend forming roller and in a direction perpendicular to the tangent line, the vector in the direction of the tangent line includes a component in a direction from the contact point toward the second bend forming roller; and
a folding line forming unit, located on an opposite side of the second bend forming roller with respect to the contact point, to press the bend formed on the conveyed sheet from the surface of the sheet so as to form a folding line on the sheet.

2. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the conveying unit and the bend forming unit are arranged such that a conveying direction of the sheet by the conveying unit intersects with a conveying direction of the sheet by the bend forming unit and, in an interval between the conveying unit and the bend forming unit, the conveying direction of the sheet by the bend forming unit is located relatively closer to the bend forming unit than to the conveying direction of the sheet by the conveying unit or such that the conveying direction of the sheet by the conveying unit intersects with the first bend forming roller.

3. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the conveying unit is configured to convey the sheet toward the bend forming unit such that, out of a straight line passing through the rotation axes of the first bend forming roller and the second bend forming roller and parallel to a conveying direction of the sheet, a straight line toward the second bend forming roller and the conveyance path form an acute angle.

4. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the bend forming unit is configured to nip both surfaces of the sheet conveyed by the conveying unit while rotating the first bend forming roller and the second bend forming roller on a downstream side of the conveying unit in the conveying direction so as to convey the sheet for a distance while maintaining a position of the formed bend and, after conveying the sheet for the distance, to reverse rotation directions of the first bend forming roller and the second bend forming roller to move the formed bend toward the folding line forming unit.

5. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the folding line forming unit is configured to form a folding line on the sheet by nipping the bend moved by the bend forming unit on both surfaces of the sheet while rotating a first folding line forming roller and a second folding line forming roller that rotate around rotation axes in a direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the sheet and parallel to a surface of the sheet.

6. The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first bend forming roller is one of the first folding line forming roller and the second folding line forming roller.

7. An image forming system comprising:
an image forming apparatus to conduct an image formation output on the sheet; and
the sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1 to form a folding line on the sheet on which the image forming apparatus forms an image.

8. The sheet processing apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the bend forming unit is further configured to form the bend on the sheet without using a stopper in the conveyance path between the first pair of rollers and the second pair of rollers.

9. A sheet processing method for forming a folding line on a conveyed sheet, the sheet processing method comprising:
nipping and holding both surfaces of the conveyed sheet by using a first bend forming roller and a second bend forming roller that rotate around rotation axes that is in a direction that is perpendicular to a conveying direction of the sheet and parallel to a surface of the sheet and forming a bend on the sheet by making a conveying speed of a held portion relatively lower than a conveying speed of the sheet on an upstream side;
conveying the sheet toward the bend forming unit such that a conveying direction of the sheet conveyed to a bend forming unit that forms the bend passes through a line segment from the rotation axis of the first bend forming roller to a position on a surface of the first bend forming roller; and
forming a folding line on the sheet by pressing the bend formed on the conveyed sheet from a surface of the sheet in a position on an opposite side of the second bend forming roller with respect to a position where the sheet is in contact with the first bend forming roller after the sheet is conveyed toward the bend forming unit; wherein
the position on the surface of the first bend forming roller is, out of a tangent line from a delivery position for delivering the sheet in a conveying unit that conveys the sheet toward the bend forming unit to a surface of the first bend forming roller, a contact point between a tangent line on a side of the second bend forming roller and a surface of the first bend forming roller.

10. The sheet processing method as recited in claim 9 further comprising:
forming the bend on the sheet without using a stopper in the conveyance path between the first pair of rollers and the second pair of rollers.

Assignees

• Saito Satoshi
• Furuhashi Tomohiro
• Suzuki Michitaka
• Hoshino Tomomichi
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Saito Satoshi
• Furuhashi Tomohiro
• Suzuki Michitaka
• Hoshino Tomomichi

Classifications

• B65H29/125

  between two sets of rollers · CPC title

• B65H45/147 Primary

  folding rollers therefor · CPC title

• B65H45/14 Primary

  Buckling folders · CPC title

• B65H2801/27

  Devices located downstream of office-type machines · CPC title

• B65H2404/1521

  rotating, pivoting or oscillating around an axis, e.g. parallel to the roller axis · CPC title