Sheet post-process apparatus and waiting tray

• US 7,215,922 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Issued: 05/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Tec Corporation (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Taki, Hiroyuki, Ise, Tokihiko, Iijima, Tomomi, Sugizaki, Yoshiaki, Terao, Yasunobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Anthony H.
• Application Number:
  US11/008,142
• Publication Number:
  US 20060067763A1
• Time in Patent Office: 879 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 399/405
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/6538 Devices for collating sheet copy material, e.g. sorters, control, copies in staples form

Abstract

A rotary shaft is provided in association with a distal end face in a transport direction of a sheet held on a waiting tray, the sheet being retained in a waiting mode. Then, a distal end lower end support member and a paddle member are mounted coaxially, and the rotary shaft is rotated. In this manner, standby retention, retention release, and alignment processes are carried out in order. During retention in a waiting mode, the distal end lower face support member supports a sheet distal end lower face. During release of the retention, this support member releases the support of the sheet distal end lower face. During the sheet alignment process, the alignment paddle member carries out alignment processing of the distal end in the transport direction of the sheet dropped onto a processing tray.

Claims

1. A sheet post process apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a waiting tray to temporarily retain a transported sheet in a waiting mode and release the support to drop the sheet;

a processing tray to align and hold the sheet dropped from the waiting tray; and

a storage tray to hold the sheet processed by the processing tray,

wherein the waiting tray comprises;

left and right lower face support members which support left and right lower faces in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and release the support of a sheet distal end lower face of the left and right lower faces during release of the retention;

a distal end lower face support member which supports a distal end lower face in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and releases the support on the sheet distal end lower face during release of the retention;

an alignment paddle member which aligns distal ends of the sheets held on the processing sheet during sheet alignment on the processing tray; and

a rotary shaft allocated in association with a distal end face in the transport direction of the sheet retained in a waiting mode, and the rotary shaft moves the distal end lower face support member from a standby retention location to a retention release location by coaxially mounting and rotating the distal end lower face support member and paddle member, and moves the paddle member to a location in which the sheets are aligned.

2. A sheet post process apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waiting tray is allocated to be proximal to an upper stage of the processing tray,

the processing tray and the waiting tray are allocated in an inclined shape which is high at a proximal end side of a sheet to be transported and which is low at a distal end side thereof,

the processing tray and the waiting tray are short in length of a sheet transport direction thereof than a length of a standard sheet to be held, and

a part of the proximal end side in the transport direction of the sheet to be held on the processing tray is held on the storage tray.

3. A waiting tray for use in a sheet post process apparatus, for temporarily retaining a transported sheet in a waiting mode and releasing the support to drop the sheet onto a processing tray, the waiting tray comprising:

left and right lower face support members which support left and right lower faces in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and release the support of a sheet distal end lower face of the left and right lower faces during release of the retention;

a distal end lower face support member which supports a distal end lower face in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and releases the support on the sheet distal end lower face during release of the retention;

an upper face slash member which slashes a sheet distal end upper face in a direction to the processing tray during release of the retention; and

a rotary shaft allocated in association with a distal end face in a transport direction of a sheet retained in a waiting mode, wherein

the rotary shaft moves the distal end lower face support member from a standby retention location to a retention release location by coaxially mounting and rotating the distal end lower face support member and paddle member, and moves the paddle member to a location in which the sheets are aligned.

4. A waiting tray according to claim 3, wherein the paddle member is made of a soft elastic member, and, in the sheet alignment processing location, the paddle member comes into contact with the sheet on the processing tray in an elastically curved state, and aligns a distal end at a side opposite to the sheet transport direction.

5. A waiting tray according to claim 3, wherein the distal end lower face support member and the paddle member are allocated on the same peripheral face of the rotary shaft at an angle of 180 degrees.

6. A sheet post process apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

waiting means for temporarily retaining a transported sheet in a waiting mode and releasing the support to drop the sheet;

processing means for aligning and holding the sheet dropped from the waiting means; and

storage means for holding the sheet processed by the processing means,

wherein the waiting means comprises;

left and right lower face support means for supporting left and right lower faces in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and releasing the support of a sheet distal end lower face of the left and right lower faces during release of the retention;

distal end lower face support means for supporting a distal end lower face in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and releasing the support on the sheet distal end lower face during release of the retention;

alignment means for aligning distal ends of the sheets held on the processing means during sheet alignment on the processing means; and

a rotary shaft allocated in association with a distal end face in the transport direction of the sheet retained in a waiting mode, and

the rotary shaft moves the distal end lower face support member from a standby retention location to a retention release location by coaxially mounting and rotating the distal end lower face support member and paddle member, and moves the paddle member to a location in which the sheets are aligned.