With Edge Aligner Patents (Class 270/58.27)
  • Patent number: 7762541
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus of the present invention includes a post-processing unit provided inside a housing and configured to perform post-processing on sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus, a sheet discharge unit configured to guide sheets having undergone post-processing to a discharge port, a paper discharge tray configured to accommodate sheets discharged from the discharge port and allowed to ascend and descend within a specific height range lower than the discharge port, and a sheet member disposed directly below the discharge port and configured to move along a wall surface of the housing in association with ascending and descending of the paper discharge tray and receive rear ends of the sheets accommodated in the paper discharge tray, a width of a receiving portion thereof in a height direction varying with a quantity of the sheets accommodated in the paper discharge tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiromasa Harashina
  • Patent number: 7762542
    Abstract: Tray means for stacking sheets, pickup means for separating and for conveying sheets into a single sheet on the tray means, and sheet conveyance means for conveying a sheet separated by the pickup means to a predetermined processing position are provided. Projecting guide means project from a sheet support surface of the tray means into a notched opening of the sheet is provided; and an oblique surface is formed to prevent a trailing side edge of the opening from catching on a leading side edge of the opening of a lower sheet when feeding an uppermost sheet to the projecting guide means. This makes it possible to feed only the uppermost sheet downstream without an opening edge formed in the uppermost sheet from interfering with an opening edge of a lower sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2010
    Assignees: Canon Finetech Inc., Nisca Corporation
    Inventors: Yoichi Tagawa, Takuya Sakamoto, Toshiya Sato
  • Patent number: 7753354
    Abstract: There is provided a sensor 48 for detecting penetration of a sheet by a punch hole aligning pin 42, and there is provided controlling means for retrying a penetrating operation by returning the punch hole aligning pin to an initial position when a time period from starting to move the pin to penetrating the sheet exceeds a reference time period. Even when a degree of unalignment of the punch hole of the sheet P is considerable and the punch hole aligning pin cannot penetrate through the sheet by once, the punch hole aligning pin is penetrated therethrough frequently by repeating the penetrating operation and therefore, an error in aligning the sheet can be reduced. In a case in which the pin is not penetrated through the sheet even when the penetrating operation is carried out by a predetermined number of times, the pin is returned to the initial position and an error is displayed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Max Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuaki Baba, Atsushi Kurabayashi, Toru Yoshie
  • Patent number: 7748704
    Abstract: A post-processing apparatus has a standby tray to receive a paper sheet to be supplied from a digital copier, a processing tray to receive a paper sheet dropped from a standby tray, a feed member which guides the rear end of a paper sheet received in a standby tray in the feeding direction to a processing tray, and scrapes and sends the rear end of a paper sheet dropped onto a processing tray to a stopper, a press member which clamps the rear end of a paper sheet received in a standby tray by cooperating with two feed members, and a stapler to staple the aligned rear ends of paper sheets. When a first paper sheet is supplied to the standby tray, the press member presses the rear end of the first paper sheet, to receive a second paper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasunobu Terao, Mikio Yamamoto, Yoshiaki Sugizaki, Hajime Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Taki
  • Patent number: 7740239
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus of the invention includes a standby tray on which a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus is placed, a processing tray on which the sheet dropped from the standby tray is received and placed, and a post-processing mechanism to perform a post-processing on the sheet placed on the processing tray, and further, an electricity removing brush is attached integrally to a rotation shaft disposed in a direction orthogonal to a transport direction of the sheet at a height position between the standby tray and the processing tray. The electricity removing brush comes in contact with a lowermost surface of the sheet placed on the standby tray or an uppermost surface of the sheet placed on the processing tray by rotation of the rotation shaft, and removes the electricity of the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Tsuchihashi
  • Patent number: 7726639
    Abstract: When a new paper sheet is supplied onto a compiling tray, a sub-paddle holds down paper sheets having already been stacked on the compiling tray until a leading edge of the new paper sheet S touches the stacked paper sheets. Thereafter, the sub-paddle gets apart from the sheets stacked on the compiling tray with timing, with which the rear edge of the new paper sheet falls on the compiling tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ryuichi Sato
  • Patent number: 7726641
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus which enables the user to easily remove a sheet bundle left in the apparatus after a bookbinding-mode job is stopped in the middle of execution thereof. In a bookbinding mode of the apparatus, in a sheet stacking section, a plurality of sheets having images formed thereon are stacked as a sheet bundle; in a gluing section, glue is applied to an end face of the sheet bundle; and in a bonding section, a cover sheet is bonded to the sheet bundle to wrap the sheet bundle in the cover sheet. When a bookbinding-mode job is canceled during execution thereof, in the gluing section, glue is applied to the sheet bundle stacked in the stacking section before the job is stopped, and a discharge section discharges the glue-applied sheet bundle which is neither wrapped nor trimmed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Miyake, Manabu Yamauchi, Naoto Watanabe, Takayuki Fujii, Shunsuke Nishimura, Yushi Oka, Takashi Yokoya
  • Patent number: 7717414
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus according to the invention includes a sheet feeding tray capable of aligning and storing plural sheets, a discharging member that discharges a sheet at the top of a bundle of the sheets aligned from the sheet feeding tray, and a retracting member that moves the sheet at the top of the sheet bundle in a direction opposite to a direction of the discharge. When plural pieces of plural types of sheets are stored in the sheet feeding tray, the sheet processing apparatus controls the operations of the discharging member and the retracting member, discharges, for each of the types, a sheet located at the top of the sheet feeding tray and retracts the remaining sheets, performs alignment again at a point when the discharge and the retraction are finished for all the types, and repeats the operations to sequentially discharge the sheets of the respective types.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2010
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toshiaki Ooshiro
  • Publication number: 20100109225
    Abstract: A device to supply flat products to produce print matter that includes a machine frame, a guide arrangement coupled to the machine frame, and a conveyor with a conveying direction arranged on the machine frame. The device additionally includes at least one sheet feeder arranged along the conveyor to supply a respective flat product to the conveyor in a clocked operation. The sheet feeder includes a stacking device to accommodate a plurality of flat products and a charging device coupled to the stacking device to remove a respective flat product from the stacking device. At least one of the stacking device or the charging device is operatively arranged with the guide arrangement to be displaceable to a non-operating position on a side of the conveyor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 3, 2009
    Publication date: May 6, 2010
    Applicant: Mueller Martini Holding AG
    Inventor: Theo Cognome Hug
  • Patent number: 7703757
    Abstract: A conveying apparatus includes a regulating portion which regulates the opening of the folded sheet bundle, and a conveying portion which pushes the sheet bundle from an upstream side in a conveying direction in a state that the regulating portion regulates the opening of folded sheet bundle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Watanabe, Kenichi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 7699302
    Abstract: A sheet handling apparatus comprises: a stacking mechanism to stack sheets of one or more printable media as a sheaf; a sheet conveyance mechanism to transport the sheaf to a respective position; a stapling mechanism to perform a stapling operation with respect to the sheaf; and a plurality of sheet regulating mechanisms disposed at positions spaced from each other along a sheet conveyance path, each sheet regulating mechanism being operable to align ends of the sheets in the sheaf according to a sheet conveyance direction. An image forming apparatus comprises such a sheet handling apparatus and an image forming device to form respective images upon the sheets and to provide the sheets to the sheet handling apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Mitsuru Ichikawa
  • Patent number: 7690633
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus may include a conveyance path and a tray. The conveyance path may convey sheets. The tray may receive the sheets conveyed from the conveyance path. The tray may include a stapler and a folding member. The stapler may staple the sheets. The folding member may fold the stapled sheets and may be provided upstream from the stapler relative to a sheet conveyance direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Tamura, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Shuuya Nagasako, Shohichi Satoh, Akira Kunieda, Tomoichi Nomura, Hiroshi Maeda, Kazuhiro Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7690632
    Abstract: A sheet bending apparatus and a sheet postprocessing apparatus are provided for improved alignment of recording sheets during center-folding. A center-folding unit mounted in a sheet postprocessing apparatus performs a center-folding processing to a stack of recording sheets aligned on their sides and placed in a sheet holding member. Side aligning is performed near a central portion in a sheet conveyance direction of the sheet holding member. The center-folding unit includes: two upper end aligning members positioned upstream in the sheet conveyance direction on the sheet holding member and movable equally in opposite width directions of the sheet holding member; and a pair of lower side end aligning members positioned on downstream in the sheet conveyance direction on the sheet holding member and are movable equally in opposite width directions of the sheet holding member and independently from the upper end aligning members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2010
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventors: Sachio Izumichi, Mitsutoshi Takemoto, Takashi Kotani, Terumitsu Noso
  • Patent number: 7690638
    Abstract: A printing system is configured to be able to use a plurality of types of stacking units. The printing system comprises a first controller configured to execute operations to stack printed material which is printed by a printing unit to a stacking unit such that the printed material is stacked in a state shifted a defined amount as to other printed material stacked on the stacking unit. The printing system further includes a second controller configured to inhibit the operations based on information relating to a specified type of the stacking unit in the plurality of types of stacking units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroshi Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 7673867
    Abstract: A flexible strip of low coefficient of friction material is attached to a paddle wheel hub and placed over a predetermined length of the drive side of the paddle wheel blades in order to reduce the drive force of the paddle wheel blades on the top sheet in a stack to thereby allow the accurate compiling of a greater range of curled sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Chetan Keny, Henry T Bober, Peter Knausdorf
  • Patent number: 7669847
    Abstract: There provided is a post-processing apparatus which has a simple structure and makes more than one sheet of recording paper easily slide down a slope of a post-processing tray, has no irregularity in the alignment of the sheets of recording paper in the discharging direction, and makes the alignment of sheets of recording paper easier after that. A finisher unit is provided with conveyance rollers for discharging sheets to a processing tray, aligning plates for guiding both sides of the sheets discharged by the conveyance rollers, and a control CPU for controlling an operation of the aligning plates. When the sheets guided by the pair of aligning plates slide down a slope of the processing tray, the control CPU causes the pair of aligning plates to vibrate in the cross direction of the sheet and in the same direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kouzou Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 7661666
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus having a sheet post-processing unit for performing a post process such as aligning or binding sheets. The sheet processing apparatus is composed of a tray for supporting a sheet bundle, an auxiliary conveying unit including a first arm for hooking an end of the sheet bundle on the tray for moving the first arm, thereby conveying the sheet bundle to a predetermined position on the tray, and returning the first arm from the predetermined position to a home position, and a main conveying unit having a second arm for taking over the sheet bundle from the first arm at the predetermined position on the tray and hooking an end of the sheet bundle for moving the second arm, conveying the sheet bundle taken over, and discharging it from the tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasunobu Terao, Hajime Yamamoto, Yoshiaki Sugizaki, Takahiro Kawaguchi, Hiroyuki Taki
  • Patent number: 7658372
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus including: a stapler; a conveying path, which conveys a sheet to the stapler; a bundle forming device to form a sheet bundle in the conveying path, the bundle forming device having a pinch device, which successively pinches an upstream end portion of the sheet to pinch plural sheets integrally; a control portion, which controls the stapler and the bundle forming device to staple the sheet bundle selectively between at one end of the sheet bundle for the side stitching and on the fold line of the sheet bundle for the saddle stitching; a discharging device, which discharges the sheet bundle stapled at the one end onto a stacking portion, a two-fold device, which folds the sheet bundle stapled on the fold line in two along the fold line, and a joining device, which joins the sheet bundle folded by the two-fold device into the discharging device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Finetech Inc.
    Inventor: Masayoshi Kubo
  • Patent number: 7607652
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus has: a plurality of conveying paths which convey sheets; and front and back aligning members which perform width alignment in the direction which crosses the sheet conveying direction of the sheets conveyed from the conveying paths. Standby positions when the front and back aligning members approach side edges of the sheets from the standby positions and perform the width alignment of the sheets at the width aligning position are made different every sheet on the basis of discharge position information of the sheets to the plurality of conveying paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hideki Kushida
  • Patent number: 7597312
    Abstract: A stapling unit 5 includes a stapler 10 for stapling an edge part of a stack of sheets of paper P and a carriage 11 on which the stapler 10 is mounted, and the carriage 11 is formed in such a way that it can move along a guide axis 13 that is fitted in a frame 12 in a direction (X-X? direction) perpendicular to the paper transport direction. On the carriage 11, a pair of first stoppers 16a and 16b that abut and thereby align the edge of the stack of sheets of paper P are fixed one at each side of the stapler 10 so as to be capable of shuttling in the directions indicated by arrows X and X? together with the stapler 10. Outward of the first stoppers 16a and 16b, a pair of second stoppers 17a and 17b are further provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Nobuhiro Nishioka
  • Publication number: 20090224457
    Abstract: A plurality of conveying elements is arranged on a traction device of a conveying arrangement in spaced apart succession in a conveying direction. Each conveying element includes a support surface and an end stop coupled to a front of the support surface, positioned perpendicular to the support surface and transverse to the conveying direction. The conveying elements are guided at least while in a feed region of respective feed devices that feed printed sheets to the conveying elements. The support surfaces of the conveying elements are aligned parallel to the conveying direction on the feed section. A holding down device located at a downstream end in the conveying direction of the feed region of each of the feed devices holds down and guides the book block from above while conveyed on the conveying element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2008
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Applicant: Mueller Martini Holding AG
    Inventor: Daniel Langenegger
  • Patent number: 7581725
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes an aligning member and a shift conveying unit. The aligning member is movable in a width direction perpendicular to a sheet conveying direction and presses a sheet stack loaded on a sheet processing tray so as to align the sheet stack in the width direction. The unit is provided on the upstream side of the tray and conveys a sheet, shifting the sheet in the width direction. Being shifted by the unit, sheets are loaded at first and second loading positions on the tray. When sheets are loaded at the first loading position, the aligning member is moved to a first standby position corresponding to the first loading position in advance. When sheets are loaded at the second loading position, the aligning member is moved in advance to a second standby position corresponding to the second loading position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keiko Fujita, Daisaku Kamiya, Hideki Kushida, Yasuo Fukatsu, Takako Hanada, Takayuki Fujii, Toshiyuki Miyake, Kenichi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 7575230
    Abstract: Provided is a shift transport device for transporting a sheet to a sheet transport direction upstream side of a sheet process tray and for shifting the sheet. The shift transport device offsets the sheet and the sheets are stacked on a sheet process tray. Then, the sheets stacked on the sheet process tray in a state of being offset are aligned by an aligning member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Daisaku Kamiya, Hideki Kushida
  • Patent number: 7571904
    Abstract: A finishing-compiling station or structure is disclosed where marked copies of paper or other media are transported into a compiling tray for paper registration by paddle wheels or other such deflection loaded compiler drive elements. These sheets of paper after registration are then processed and finished as desired. The pressure applied by the paddle wheels is substantially constant where as prior art pressures varied depending upon the height of the paper stack. A sensor and appropriate software controller gauges the speed of the paddle wheel drive shaft and controls the height of the drive shaft from the stack and thereby equalizes the resulting pressure to a continuous fixed pressure throughout this stacking operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2009
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Henry T. Bober
  • Patent number: 7566051
    Abstract: A sheet post-processing unit usable in an image forming apparatus includes a sheet stacking device; a sheet conveying device including at least one roller rotatably supported by an arm movably and vertically rockingly supported, an actuator for moving the arm capable of selectively conveying each sheet to be discharged and of separating from the sheet by moving in a vertical direction; a control section for setting a moving distance of the intersectional moving device corresponding to a size of each sheet to be discharged; and a sheet clamping device. The roller abuts an uppermost sheet among sheets stacked on the sheet stacking device and an intersectional moving device moves the roller in the intersecting direction by a moving distance corresponding to the sheet size set by the control section to hit against and align the uppermost sheet with an upstream side regulating member and an intersectional regulating member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Finetech Inc.
    Inventors: Takehiko Kodama, Naoto Saeki, Akihiko Sugiyama, Naoyasu Funada, Masato Nonaka
  • Patent number: 7559543
    Abstract: An image forming system which is capable of preventing paper jam from occurring in a sheet processing apparatus to thereby maintain the stability of the system. An alignment plates of an alignment unit movable in a lateral direction each sheet are brought into abutment with opposite side edges of sheets stacked on the sheet stack unit to laterally align the sheets. A lateral registration sensor unit detects a lateral position of the sheet being conveyed. When the detected lateral position of the sheet is beyond a predetermined position, the CPU of the apparatus changes the standby positions of the alignment plates such that spacing therebetween in the lateral direction the sheet is widened by a predetermined amount, and extends the conveying interval of sheets in the image forming apparatus by a predetermined time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Moriyama, Hitoshi Kato, Yasuo Fukatsu, Naoki Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 7556252
    Abstract: A sheet post-processing apparatus includes a processing tray and a stapler. The processing tray has a mounting area, a flexible portion, and an edge holding part. A sheaf of sheets is made on the processing tray. A sheet P to be stapled is stacked on the mounting area. The flexible portion is formed integrally with the mounting area and at the same level as the upper surface of the mounting area, along the edge of the mounting area of the side to staple the sheaf of sheets, and is bent easier than the mounting area in the direction of the thickness of the sheaf of sheets toward the mounting area. The stapler has a fixed part and an arm, and staples a sheaf of sheets. The fixed part is provided deviated from the upper surface of the mounting area to the mounting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasunobu Terao, Hajime Yamamoto, Yoshiaki Sugizaki, Takahiro Kawaguchi, Hiroyuki Taki
  • Patent number: 7552917
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes: a buffer unit which stores plural supplied sheets with upstream edges in a conveying direction thereof aligned; a processing tray on which sheets discharged from the buffer unit are stacked; and an oscillation roller pair and a return roller which convey the sheet stacked on the processing tray to bring the sheet into abutment against a stopper for receiving the upstream edge of the sheet. The buffer unit is adapted to align the upstream edges of only sheets to be stored before a sheet to be supplied last among the sheets to be stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2009
    Assignees: Canon Finetech Inc., Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Naoto Watanabe, Yusuke Obuchi, Hitoshi Kato, Shunsuke Nishimura, Tetsuya Terada, Yasutaka Iwasa, Daisuke Matsukura, Norio Motoi, Masayoshi Kubo
  • Patent number: 7527255
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus which enables the user to easily remove a sheet bundle left in the apparatus after a bookbinding-mode job is stopped in the middle of execution thereof. In a bookbinding mode of the apparatus, in a sheet stacking section, a plurality of sheets having images formed thereon are stacked as a sheet bundle; in a gluing section, glue is applied to an end face of the sheet bundle; and in a bonding section, a cover sheet is bonded to the sheet bundle to wrap the sheet bundle in the cover sheet. When a bookbinding-mode job is canceled during execution thereof, in the gluing section, glue is applied to the sheet bundle stacked in the stacking section before the job is stopped, and a discharge section discharges the glue-applied sheet bundle which is neither wrapped nor trimmed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Miyake, Manabu Yamauchi, Naoto Watanabe, Takayuki Fujii, Shunsuke Nishimura, Yushi Oka, Takashi Yokoya
  • Publication number: 20090057974
    Abstract: A page buffer for receiving and holding, in queue, pages prepared by a printer and subsequently processed by mailpiece inserter. The page buffer includes pairs of vertically-aligned rollers defining a plurality of page stations therebetween. Each pair of rollers is spaced-apart and defines a nip for driving printed pages along a feed path. Furthermore, each page station is defined by and between a first pair of rollers disposed downstream of an adjacent second pair of rollers. A drive means is also provided for independently driving the pairs of vertically-aligned rollers. The drive means is controlled such that, in a first operating mode, the pairs cooperate to drive printed pages along the feed path. In a second operating mode, the drive means is controlled such that at least one of the page stations causes its respective first pair of rollers to retain and hold a leading edge portion of a printed page while the adjacent second pair drives and releases a trailing edge portion of the printed page.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2007
    Publication date: March 5, 2009
    Applicant: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventors: James A. Fairweather, Thomas M. Lyga
  • Patent number: 7490822
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus has: a plurality of conveying paths which convey sheets; and front and back aligning members which perform width alignment in the direction which crosses the sheet conveying direction of the sheets conveyed from the conveying paths. Standby positions when the front and back aligning members approach side edges of the sheets from the standby positions and perform the width alignment of the sheets at the width aligning position are made different every sheet on the basis of discharge position information of the sheets to the plurality of conveying paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hideki Kushida
  • Publication number: 20090039584
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a casing; a printing medium supply unit, which is coupled to the casing, and supplies a printing medium; an image forming unit, which forms an image on the printing medium supplied from the printing medium supply unit; and a discharge unit. The discharge unit includes: a discharging part, which discharges the printing medium fed from the image forming unit out of the casing; a feeding guide, which is provided along in a feeding path of the printing medium, and moves between a discharging position, in which the printing medium is discharged out of the casing, and a back feeding position, in which the printing medium is back fed to the image forming unit; and a pressing lever, which presses and releases the feeding guide, according to a movement of the discharging part, so that the feeding guide can move between the discharging position and the back feeding position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2008
    Publication date: February 12, 2009
    Applicant: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: SEUNG-SIK JEONG
  • Patent number: 7487959
    Abstract: An eject mechanism with a grip in a finisher is disclosed, in which papers ejected from a digital output device are temporarily stacked on a paper eject tray and exactly aligned so that the papers are gripped to move to a stacker tray without scattering. The eject mechanism with a grip in a finisher includes a paper eject tray that temporarily receives papers ejected from a digital output device, a paper moving means gripping the papers received in the paper eject tray to move them, and a stacker tray stacking the papers moved from the paper moving means, wherein the paper moving means includes a guide side plate provided with a rail groove circulating along the papers and a curved cam disposed near the rail groove, a paper grip means driven to grip the papers received in the paper eject tray when it is in contact with the curved cam while moving along the rail groove of the guide side plate, and a driving means that drives the paper grip means to circulate it along the rail groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2002
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2009
    Assignees: KRDC Co., Ltd., Gradco Ltd.
    Inventor: Seung Kyoon Noh
  • Patent number: 7472901
    Abstract: The present invention provides a sheet processing apparatus comprising a sheet holding device capable of storing supplied sheets, a first sheet stacking tray on which sheets are stacked at a downstream side of the sheet holding device in a sheet conveying direction and on which the sheets are subjected to processing, a sheet discharging device for discharging the sheets stacked on the first sheet stacking tray, a second sheet stacking tray on which the sheets discharged by the sheet discharging device are stacked, and a controller for controlling the sheet discharging device and the sheet holding device if sheet jam occurs at an upstream side of the sheet holding device, in such a manner that, after the sheets on the first sheet stacking tray are discharged onto the second sheet stacking tray, the sheets stored in the sheet holding device are discharged onto the first sheet stacking tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shunsuke Nishimura, Yoshinori Isobe, Masatoshi Yaginuma, Naoto Watanabe, Masahiro Yonenuma
  • Publication number: 20080315494
    Abstract: In a sheet post-processing apparatus, a sheet guide is arranged above a processing tray that aligns stacked one or plural sheets. The sheet guide is moved by racks to be spaced apart from or brought close to the processing tray. The racks are controlled to be driven on the basis of the number of sheets stacked on the processing tray or the thickness of a stack of the sheets to adjust a space between the processing tray and the sheet guide.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2008
    Publication date: December 25, 2008
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yasunobu Terao, Mikio Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 7467789
    Abstract: When the rear end of a sheet bundle S is brought to reach the clamping portion between a rocking roller and a rear end aligning wall by conveyance means, the individual timings, at which the rocking roller and the rear end aligning wall move to the escape position, are controlled to drop said sheet bundle S onto a stack tray, and then the rear end aligning wall is moved from the escape position to the support position thereby to register the rear end of the sheet bundle S dropped on the stack tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Mitsushige Murata, Hiromichi Tsujino, Yuzo Matsumoto, Takako Hanada
  • Patent number: 7461837
    Abstract: A sheet discharging device has a conveying weight for pressing a conveyed sheet to a caterpillar belt. The pressing force of the weight is increased both when the sheet is discharged from the caterpillar belt to a placement tray, and when the sheet is switched back and conveyed to the bottom of the caterpillar belt. The pressing force of the weight is increased concurrently with the driving of a paddle provided at an outlet of the placement tray. The pressing force is increased by a rubber piece provided on a paddle driving shaft that rotates out of phase with the paddle, so as to engage and press the conveying weight at a predetermined time. The device is capable of reliably conveying a wide variety of sheets onto a tray and transferring the conveyed sheets to a predetermined tray position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2008
    Inventors: Takashi Saito, Makoto Shimura, Masaya Takahashi, Yuji Hanawa
  • Patent number: 7455284
    Abstract: A device which aligns bundles of paper Q with a predetermined number of A4 paper PA4 as small size paper and A3 paper PA3 as large size papers formed by successively receiving paper P fed from image forming device 19, comprising a stacking unit 30 as a main retaining device which aligns and retains in a stacked condition paper P successively received from the image forming device 19, a paper detour retaining device 20 as a preliminary retaining device located directly upstream of the main retaining device stacking unit 30, which temporarily retains the paper P destined to the stacking unit 30, and a controller which controls feeding to the stacking unit 30 by temporarily retaining the A4 paper PA4 paper, and combining the retained A4 paper PA4 with the large size paper A3 paper PA3 before sending to the stacking unit 30 in an overlaid condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2008
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Takashi Kotani
  • Patent number: 7445203
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes a receiver, an aligner, a stapler, a loading table, and a pusher. The receiver is configured to receive sheets. The aligner is configured to align the sheets. The stapler is configured to staple the aligned sheets. The loading table is configured to load the stapled sheets. The pusher is configured to push the stapled sheets from the stapler toward the loading table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2008
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tamaki Kaneko
  • Publication number: 20080237964
    Abstract: A post-processing apparatus, including a stacker which stacks sheets, including a sheet stopping member which aligns the sheet and an urging member which urges the sheet to move toward the sheet stopping member, an accumulating section which is positioned upstream of the stacker in a sheet conveyance direction, a first sheet detection section which is positioned upstream of the accumulating section, and a control section which controls the accumulating section, based on a sheet detection signal, to superimpose a secondary sheet on a primary sheet in the accumulating section, wherein a leading section of the primary sheet is positioned toward an upstream side for a first predetermined length from a leading section of the secondary sheet, and controls the urging member to rub a leading section of the primary sheet which protrudes from the secondary sheet toward the sheet stopping member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2008
    Publication date: October 2, 2008
    Applicant: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Tomohiro Kiriyama
  • Patent number: 7419150
    Abstract: A sheet stacking apparatus includes an intermediate process tray stacked with sheets, a trailing end lever movable upward from a pressing position in which to press the sheets on the intermediate process tray, a lever stopper regulating the upward movement of the trailing end lever, and an adjusting mechanism changing the regulating position of the trailing end lever by the lever stopper in accordance with a sheet stacking height of the sheets stacked on the intermediate process tray, wherein the adjusting mechanism keeps substantially constant a distance to the regulating position from the pressing position of the trailing end lever irrespective of the sheet stacking height of the sheets stacked on the intermediate process tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Kushida, Daisaku Kamiya
  • Patent number: 7392983
    Abstract: There is provided a sheet post-processing unit and image forming unit, which is capable of stably conveying sheets discharged one after another to a tray to form a bundle of sheets and to staple the bundle. A sheet conveying means is provided for selectively conveying the sheet to be discharged in the downstream and upstream directions of the sheet discharging direction, as well as moving the sheet in a direction intersecting the sheet conveying direction, and which is capable of moving up and down to be contactable with, and detachable from, the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Finetech Inc.
    Inventors: Takehiko Kodama, Naoto Saeki, Akihiko Sugiyama, Naoyasu Funada, Masato Nonaka
  • Patent number: 7389980
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus has: a plurality of conveying paths which convey sheets; and front and back aligning members which perform width alignment in the direction which crosses the sheet conveying direction of the sheets conveyed from the conveying paths. Standby positions when the front and back aligning members approach side edges of the sheets from the standby positions and perform the width alignment of the sheets at the width aligning position are made different every sheet on the basis of discharge position information of the sheets to the plurality of conveying paths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2008
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hideki Kushida
  • Publication number: 20080099972
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus has a sheet stacking apparatus including a tray on which sheets are stacked, and an aligning member aligning the sheets stacked on the tray. The aligning member aligns sheets stacked, on a sheet previously stacked on the tray, with a displacement in an aligning direction of the aligning member with respect to the sheet previously stacked. An aligning operation of the aligning member is changed on the basis of whether or not the number of the sheets stacked on the sheets previously stacked is a predetermined number or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2007
    Publication date: May 1, 2008
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kenichi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 7354036
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes: a buffer unit which stores plural supplied sheets with upstream edges in a conveying direction thereof aligned; a processing tray on which sheets discharged from the buffer unit are stacked; and an oscillation roller pair and a return roller which convey the sheet stacked on the processing tray to bring the sheet into abutment against a stopper for receiving the upstream edge of the sheet. The buffer unit is adapted to align the upstream edges of only sheets to be stored before a sheet to be supplied last among the sheets to be stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignees: Canon Finetech Inc., Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Naoto Watanabe, Yusuke Obuchi, Hitoshi Kato, Shunsuke Nishimura, Tetsuya Terada, Yasutaka Iwasa, Daisuke Matsukura, Norio Motoi, Masayoshi Kubo
  • Patent number: 7354034
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus is provided with a processing tray on which sheets are to be stacked and subjected to a processing, a stack tray provided in the downstream of the processing tray with respect to the sheet conveying direction on which sheets are to be stacked, an oscillation roller pair for conveying the sheets stacked on the processing tray to the stack tray, and a trailing edge assist for conveying the sheet stacked on the processing tray toward the stack tray. The sheets stacked on the processing tray are discharged to the stack tray by the oscillation roller pair and the trailing edge assist.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignees: Canon Finetech Inc., Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomokazu Nakamura, Yoshinori Isobe, Toshimasa Suzuki, Masatoshi Yaginuma, Masahiro Yonenuma, Atsushi Takada, Norio Motoi
  • Patent number: 7300046
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus including a first sheet stacking portion for stacking sheets thereon, a second sheet stacking portion provided downstream of the first sheet stacking portion with respect to a sheet conveying direction, a sheet holding device for holding the sheets stacked on the first sheet stacking portion, and a holding device moving device for moving the sheet holding device between a holding position for holding the sheets and a discharging position provided downstream of the holding position in the sheet conveying direction, wherein the discharging position has a predetermined distance upstream from a stop position in which the sheet holding device moved to a downstream side with respect to the sheet conveying direction by the holding device moving device is stopped to an upstream side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2007
    Assignee: Canon Finetech Inc.
    Inventors: Akihiko Sugiyama, Naoto Saeki, Takehiko Kodama, Naoyasu Funada, Hiroshi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 7198261
    Abstract: A sheet stacking apparatus which is capable of reliably sandwiching or catching sheets, and also capable of providing control so as to ensure reliable conveyance of succeeding sheets during the catching operation. A stack tray is provided downstream of a processing tray that stacks sheets. A position on the stacking surface of the stack tray at which the leading end of a sheet having its trailing end passing a discharging section, which discharges sheets toward the processing tray, contacts the stacking surface is lower in level than the highest portion of the processing tray. A swinging arm that discharges the sheets stacked on the processing tray to the stack tray is capable of selectively assuming a catching state in which a sheet discharged to the processing tray is caught by the swinging arm, and a non-catching state in which a sheet discharged to the processing tray is not caught by the swinging arm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuzo Matsumoto, Hiromichi Tsujino, Mitsushige Murata, Takako Hanada
  • Patent number: 7192020
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes: a buffer unit which stores plural supplied sheets with upstream edges in a conveying direction thereof aligned; a processing tray on which sheets discharged from the buffer unit are stacked; and an oscillation roller pair and a return roller which convey the sheet stacked on the processing tray to bring the sheet into abutment against a stopper for receiving the upstream edge of the sheet. The buffer unit is adapted to align the upstream edges of only sheets to be stored before a sheet to be supplied last among the sheets to be stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignees: Canon Finetech Inc., Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Naoto Watanabe, Yusuke Obuchi, Hitoshi Kato, Shunsuke Nishimura, Tetsuya Terada, Yasutaka Iwasa, Daisuke Matsukura, Norio Motoi, Masayoshi Kubo
  • Patent number: 7172186
    Abstract: A sheet stacking apparatus includes a sheet transport path for transporting a sheet; a discharge device disposed adjacent to the sheet transport path for sequentially transporting the sheet; a support tray disposed adjacent to the discharge device for temporarily supporting at least a part of the sheet transported by the discharge device; a stacker disposed at a downstream side of the support tray for stacking and storing the sheet transported from the support tray; a sheet pushing member disposed on the support tray for abutting against an edge of the sheet stacked on the support tray; and a drive device capable of rotating in forward and reverse directions. The drive device reciprocally moves the sheet pushing member between a retracted position at an upstream side of a stacking position where the sheet is stacked on the support tray and a transport position at a downstream side of the stacking position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2007
    Assignee: Nisca Corporation
    Inventors: Takashi Saito, Yuji Hanawa, Hiroki Imazu