With Edge Aligner Patents (Class 270/58.17)
  • Patent number: 7753368
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus comprises: an first stack portion which temporarily stacks a sheet thereon; a first stack portion which is disposed under the first stack portion and stacks thereon a sheet discharged from the first stack portion; a second stack portion which is disposed above the first stack portion and stacks a sheet thereon; a stack reference wall which serves as an abutment reference at an end of the sheet on the second stack portion; and an alignment reference wall which is disposed more upstream in the sheet conveyance direction than the stack reference wall and serves as an abutment reference at an end of the sheet on the first stack portion; wherein the second stack portion has such a length that an end of the sheet stacked on the first stack portion cannot project from the second stack portion, as viewed from above in a vertical direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Junichi Sekiyama, Masayoshi Fukatsu, Atsushi Ogata, Hiroharu Tsuji
  • Patent number: 7753353
    Abstract: A vertical sheet compiling apparatus and method compile sheets in a slot that accumulates a plurality of sheets. The slot includes a first baffle and a second baffle that each define generally vertical sides of a sheet path of the slot. The first and second baffles are separated from each other by a space therebetween. An actuator is coupled to at least one of the first and second baffles to move one of the baffles toward or away from the other one of the baffles, thereby adjusting a width of the sheet path as the sheets compile in the slot. A binding mechanism fastens the plurality of sheets together. The apparatus and method may also include a sensing device for determining an amount of available space in the slot during compilation of the sheets in the slot. The determined amount of space can be used to control movement of the baffle(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2010
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Joseph Michael McNamara
  • 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: 7744076
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus for an image forming apparatus is configured so as to be capable of preventing the misalignment of the end edge of sheets to be scooped and transported from an intermediate tray, and reliably preventing the so-called displacement of end edges in the post-processing steps of sheets as a recording medium with an image formed thereon, and thereby preventing the inferior appearance during binding. A sheet folding apparatus enables a user to easily adjust the misalignment of the fold line of sheets that occurs during actual use, in the middle folding processing steps of sheets as a recording medium with an image formed thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Kenji Yamada, Hiromoto Saitoh, Naohiro Kikkawa, Junichi Iida, Junichi Tokita, Shingo Matsushita, Masahiro Tamura, Shuuya Nagasako
  • 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: 7740237
    Abstract: A post-processing apparatus that is set beside an image forming apparatus and applies staple processing to sheets subjected to image formation and folds the sheets to manufacture a booklet includes a hooking control mechanism that is provided on the opposite side of center folding rollers across a sheet bundle and pushes the sheet bundle in a stapler direction to prevent a bent staple from hooking on an edge of an anvil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shinichiro Mano
  • Patent number: 7731169
    Abstract: Sheet finishing apparatus constructed to prevent sheet skewing during stacking conveyance, and stack-disarranging sheet slippage. A sheet-stacking tray is disposed forming a break in a discharge path below a discharge outlet. A first discharge roller unit is disposed at the discharge outlet, and a second discharge roller unit is arranged to convey, in cooperation with the first discharge roller unit, sheets downstream to the stacking tray. The second discharge roller unit is supported allowing it to rise and lower between an engage position where it catches sheet(s) on the storage tray, and a retracted position. A registering wall is provided in the stacking tray, for positionally registering the leading/trailing edge of the sheets. A gripper pressingly holds the uppermost sheet stacked on the storage tray, and a controller controls the movement of the gripper between an operational position where it engages the uppermost sheet, and a non-operational retract position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2010
    Assignee: Nisca Corporation
    Inventor: Takashi Saito
  • Patent number: 7731168
    Abstract: An aligning unit is provided with a tray having a placing surface on which sheet-like transfer materials discharged with printing applied thereto are held stacked, a first restricting member movable back and forth along an advancing direction of the transfer material being discharged onto the tray while facing the front end of the transfer material with respect to the advancing direction, and a second restricting member for defining the rear end position of the transfer material with respect to the advancing direction. The transfer materials stacked on the tray are aligned by the first restricting member being moved back and forth along the advancing direction. The first restricting member includes a contact surface extending substantially vertically above the placing surface of the tray, and an inclined surface extending from the contact surface toward the placing surface and inclined downward along a direction opposite to the advancing direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2010
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Yamaguchi
  • 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
  • Patent number: 7703758
    Abstract: A bundle discharge roller pair is made to rotate backward in a holding state in which the sheets are held between the bundle discharge roller pair, and, at the same time, the upper bundle discharge roller of the pair is separated from the lower bundle discharge roller of the pair. The released sheets slide down on the inclined processing tray at a return velocity Vb; and are made to run into the rear end stopper for aligning. The return velocity Vb may be controlled according to the reverse-rotational speed of the bundle discharge roller pair and is set at a low velocity, when it is found that, for example, the size of the sheet is large, and the return velocity Vb is increased in the case of coated paper with a large coefficient of friction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Daisaku Kamiya, Hideki Kushida
  • 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: 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: 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: 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: 7690636
    Abstract: A finishing apparatus in a copying machine is disclosed, which can finish large sized papers without enlarging the size of a tray base. The finishing apparatus includes a jogging assembly 170 aligning papers in left and right directions, a paper contact plate 166 provided with a stapler 196, a paper roller 200 pushing the papers to a paper stacker 134, ends of the papers being positioned in the stapler, a tray base 10 moving in a direction opposite to the paper roller to guide alignment of a set of the papers, and an angle adjusting unit guiding the papers by adjusting a tilt angle of the papers in accordance with the size of the papers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2010
    Assignees: KRDC Co., Ltd., Gradco Ltd.
    Inventor: Seung-Kyoon Noh
  • Publication number: 20100078868
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus capable of reliably superposing a sheet to be buffered and a following sheet in a manner displaced by an allowable displacement amount, thereby making it possible to suppress generation of misalignment. A sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus is temporarily held back, and a following sheet is superposed on the held-back sheet in a state displaced in a conveying direction. A length in the conveying direction of the sheet to be held back and a length in the conveying direction of a sheet bundle of the superposed sheets are measured. A displacement amount provided between the superposed sheets, computed as a difference between the measured length of the sheet and the measured length of the sheet bundle, is adjusted such that the displacement amount becomes a target displacement amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2009
    Publication date: April 1, 2010
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hitoshi Kato, Tsuyoshi Moriyama, Yasuo Fukatsu, Naoki Ishikawa
  • 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: 7654511
    Abstract: An apparatus is provided with a processing tray 42 to mount sheets ejected from an image formation section, aligning means (aligning plates 61, etc.) for aligning end portions of a sheet ejected on the processing tray 42, a post-processing apparatus 43 that performs binding processing on the sheets aligned by the aligning means, and moving means (unit moving motor 60, etc.) for moving the post-processing apparatus 43 to a plurality of post-processing positions set to perform the binding processing at different binding processing target position on the sheets, and moves the sheets to a post-processing undergoing position corresponding to the post-processing position substantially in parallel with a travel direction of the post-processing apparatus 43. It is thereby possible to perform the binding processing on the ejected sheets appropriately while implementing the apparatus compact in size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2010
    Assignees: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Nisca Corporation
    Inventors: Jinichi Nagata, Kozo Yamaguchi, Hideo Yoshikawa, Shin Tsugane, Makoto Shimura
  • Publication number: 20100007074
    Abstract: A sheet finishing apparatus includes: a puncher which moves between a penetrate position and a standby position; a detection unit which detects a lateral edge of a sheet; a standby tray which supports the sheet passed through the puncher, by a pair of tray members; a lateral alignment unit which holds and aligns the sheet falling off the standby tray, by a pair of alignment boards; a moving mechanism which moves the position of the standby tray or the alignment boards in a direction orthogonal to the carrying direction of the sheet; and a control unit which measures a quantity of misalignment of the sheet by using a result of detection of the lateral edge from the detection unit and controls the moving mechanism in accordance with the quantity of misalignment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2009
    Publication date: January 14, 2010
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ken IGUCHI, Hiroyuki TAGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20090315243
    Abstract: A sheet finisher connected to an image forming apparatus, includes: an aligning unit having an aligning plate which aligns in a primary scanning direction a recording sheet that has been conveyed from the apparatus; and a controller which receives any one of correction information of an image forming position and detection information of a recording sheet edge for each sheet feed tray on a side of the apparatus, and determines an alignment position by referring to any one of the information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 9, 2009
    Publication date: December 24, 2009
    Applicant: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Masayuki Watanabe, Eiji Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 7624976
    Abstract: A post-processing apparatus includes a compile tray that contains a recording sheet and has a sheet end position determination portion contacting with and determine a position of an end edge of the contained recording sheet, a first sheet end alignment member that carries the recording sheet to the sheet end position determination portion and aligns the end edge, a second sheet end alignment member that moves between the sheet carrying position and a standby position, wherein the sheet carrying position is where the second sheet end alignment member contacts with the recording sheet to carry the recording sheet to a side of the first sheet end alignment member, and the standby position is separated from the recording sheet, and a second sheet end alignment member control unit that moves the second sheet end alignment member between the sheet carrying position and the standby position and changes a carrying position sustaining time to sustain the second end alignment member at the sheet carrying position accor
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2009
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Masayuki Koie
  • Publication number: 20090267282
    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: Application
    Filed: July 8, 2009
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Daisaku Kamiya, Hideki Kushida
  • Patent number: 7607659
    Abstract: A sheet conveyed to a sheet stacking portion is conveyed in a direction opposite to a sheet conveyance direction by a returning roller to bring a trailing edge of the sheet into abutment against a reference wall and regulate a trailing edge position of the sheet. A pressure portion which presses the sheet to the reference wall is pivotably provided between the returning roller and the reference wall. The pressure portion presses the sheet conveyed by the returning roller to the reference wall while urging the sheet with a first urging force and, after the sheet comes into abutment against the reference wall, is urged by the urging unit to press the sheet, the trailing edge position of which is regulated by the reference wall, with a second urging force larger than the first urging force to hold the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masayoshi Fukatsu, Atsushi Ogata, Junichi Sekiyama, Hironobu Ata
  • 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
  • Publication number: 20090256302
    Abstract: There is provided a sheet post-processing unit having a simple structure, capable of stably conveying sheets on a tray and causing less ruggedness in conveying and aligning the sheets discharged one after another to the tray to form a bundle of sheets and to staple it. The sheet post-processing unit is provided with sheet conveying means for conveying the sheet stacked on the post-processing tray in the same and reverse directions with/from the sheet conveying direction and intersectional moving means for conveying the sheet in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction by moving the sheet conveying means in the direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction. It conveys the sheet while keeping rollers of the sheet conveying means in contact with the sheet and aligns the sheet by hitting the trailing edge thereof against a trailing edge stopper and by hitting the side edge of thereof against a wall by moving the rollers in the intersecting direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2009
    Publication date: October 15, 2009
    Applicant: CANON FINETECH INC.
    Inventors: Takehiko KODAMA, Naoto SAEKI, Akihiko SUGIYAMA, Naoyasu FUNADA, Masato NONAKA
  • 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
  • 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: 7575229
    Abstract: The sheet processing apparatus has a stapling unit which staples a sheet bundle by clinching the sheet bundle, of which sheets sequentially enters an opening between a first stapling part and a second stapling part and are then stacked, and a controller which controls the stapling parts. When executing a stapling process of the sheet bundle, an opening distance between the stapling parts before starting a stapling operation becomes narrower than an opening distance set till the last sheet of the sheet bundle enters (approaches) between the stapling parts. This contrivance enables reduction of the time required for the stapling process of the sheet bundle and an improvement of the productivity irrespective of the number of points for the stapling process without scaling up the apparatus, causing any complicated configuration of the apparatus and increasing the costs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hideki Kushida
  • 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: 7568686
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus comprises a processing tray for loading a sheet bundle, a first conveying unit having a rotary shaft which is installed at least at the end on the downstream side in the direction for moving the sheet bundle on the processing tray and is driven to rotate via a first drive source and a drive unit and a roller installed on the rotary shaft for loading and conveying the sheet bundle and discharging the sheet bundle from the end on the downstream side and from the processing tray, and a second conveying unit having a pair of pulleys having at least one of them installed rotatably on the rotary shaft on the downstream side driven to rotate via a second drive source and a drive unit, a belt stretched over the pair of pulleys, and an arm installed on the belt for hooking an end of the sheet bundle on the processing tray, conveying it together with the roller, and discharging the sheet bundle from the end on the downstream side and from the processing tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasunobu Terao, Hajime Yamamoto, Yoshiaki Sugizaki, Takahiro Kawaguchi, Hiroyuki Taki
  • 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: 7556251
    Abstract: Provided is a sheet processing apparatus for processing sheets, including: a sheet process tray on which sheets to be processed are stacked; a sheet transport means for transporting processed sheets on the sheet process tray; a pressure member which is provided on an upstream side of the sheet transport means with respect to a sheet transport direction and which moves in the sheet transport direction while pressing the processed sheets, for transporting the processed sheets in cooperation with the sheet transport unit; and a controller for selectively operating the pressure member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Daisaku Kamiya
  • 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
  • Publication number: 20090152788
    Abstract: A sheet stacking apparatus includes a first and a second guide plate having a guide surface inclined to a perpendicular plane to take an open state having a gap of a first interval in a direction crossing the inclination direction and a closed state of a second interval narrower than the first interval, a sheet take-in portion standing by under the first and second guide plates to support sheets dropped from the guide surfaces with the leading edge thereof in a conveying direction directed downward in a standing position, and a controller configured to permit the first and second guide plates to enter the closed state and guide another sheets conveyed following the sheets supported internally by the sheet take-in portion by the guide surfaces and then to enter the open state and drop the another sheets from the gaps onto the preceding sheets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2008
    Publication date: June 18, 2009
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takahiro KAWAGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20090115118
    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: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2009
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Hideki KUSHIDA
  • 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
  • Patent number: 7520505
    Abstract: A print media sheets trailing edge knockdown stacking assistance system, in a compiler or other stacking system with a substantial sheet gravity drop, activated for each ejected sheet to move substantially linearly and perpendicularly downwardly from above, but adjacent to, the sheet ejection position to engage a sheet end area and rapidly push it down towards the underlying stack of sheets and into engagement with any sheet compiling device, then automatically rapidly reciprocally lifting up out of the way above the sheet ejection position before another sheet is ejected, without any significant pause between its up and down movements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: David Thomas, Kenneth C. Smith, Jeffrey W. Ryan, Christopher Pearce
  • Patent number: 7520497
    Abstract: The invention comprises registration roller pairs which detect a skew amount of a sheet being conveyed; registration roller pairs which perform skew correction of the sheet while the sheet is being conveyed; a punch unit which performs punching of the sheet; a punch-unit driving portion which drives the punch unit; a sheet-edge detecting sensor which performs detection of a sheet edge in a direction intersecting with a sheet conveyance direction; a punch-unit moving device which moves the punch unit in the direction intersecting with the sheet conveyance direction; a sheet detecting sensor which performs detection of a sheet position in the sheet conveyance direction; and a controller portion which performs control such that after skew of the sheet is corrected by the registration roller pairs in accordance with detection results of skew amount sensors, and punching is performed on the sheet by the punch-unit moving device and the punch driving portion in accordance with a detection result of the sheet detect
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Moriyama, Takako Hanada, Masayoshi Taira, Akinobu Nishikata, Hiroaki Tomiyasu
  • 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
  • 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: 7484721
    Abstract: A sheet conveyance apparatus conveys a posture corrected sheet bundle to a correct position, and includes a discharge path for conveying out a sheet, a tray device for stacking sheets conveyed from the discharge path in a bundle shape, and a gripping conveyance device for conveying the sheet bundle on the tray device to a predetermined finishing position. A finishing device finishes the sheet bundle gripped by the gripping device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2009
    Assignee: Nisca Corporation
    Inventors: Akihiko Tsukui, Kouichi Kitta
  • 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
  • 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: 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