Sheet post-process apparatus

• US 7,336,922 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Issued: 02/26/2008
• 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, Yamamoto, Mikio, Iijima, Tomomi, Murakami, Reiji, Terao, Yasunobu
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Anthony H.
• Application Number:
  US11/008,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20060067772A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• Field of Search: 399/407, 399/408, 399/410, 270/37, 270/58.08, 270/52.18
• US Class Current: 399/407
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/6541 Binding sets of sheets, e.g. by stapling, glueing
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/6573 Feeding path after the fixing point and up to the discharge tray or the finisher, e.g. special treatment of copy material to compensate for effects from the fixing
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00421 Discharging tray, e.g. devices stabilising the quality of the copy medium, postfixing-treatment, inverting, sorting

Abstract

A sheet post-process apparatus includes a waiting tray and a processing tray. The waiting tray is provided in the middle of a conveying path and makes standby sheets in the case where a post-process is required. The processing tray has a function which causes the sheets made standby on the waiting sheet to be dropped by self-weight. With this function, the processing tray receives the sheets moved to be dropped and the sheets conveyed from the conveying path without intervening the waiting tray, before carrying out the post-process. Sheet bundles formed on the processing tray are stacked on a storage tray by a sheet conveying mechanism after they have been post-processed.

Claims

1. A sheet post-process apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of rollers which receive and convey sheets conveyed from an MFP main body;

a waiting tray which is provided in the course of a conveying path, and makes standby the sheets conveyed from the rollers in the case where a post-process is required;

a conveying mechanism which causes the sheets made standby on the waiting tray to be dropped and moved by self-weight;

a processing tray which receives the sheets dropped and moved from the waiting tray and the sheets conveyed from the conveying path without intervening with the waiting tray, before carrying out a post-process;

a post-process mechanism which carries out a post-process on a bundle of sheets aligned on the processing tray;

a sheet-conveying mechanism which conveys the post-processed bundle of sheets from the processing tray; and

a storage tray which stacks the bundle of sheets conveyed,

wherein a size relevant to a widthwise direction of the sheets on each of the waiting tray and the processing is smaller than a width of the sheets, and

wherein the waiting tray is composed of at least a pair of waiting tray parts for supporting both sides of the sheets and the waiting tray parts slide and move to drop the sheets onto the processing tray.

2. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing tray is positioned vertically downwardly of the waiting tray.

3. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the waiting tray holds sheets from the rollers without being post-processed when in a closed position.

4. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing tray includes a sheet-aligning mechanism.

5. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sheet-aligning mechanism has a longitudinal-alignment unit and a transverse-alignment unit.

6. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage tray receives sheets directly from the waiting tray when no post-processing is required.

7. A sheet post-process apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of rollers which receive sheets continuously from a multi-function peripheral and convey the sheets forward;

a processing tray which holds a bundle of sheets to be post-processed;

a waiting tray provided above the processing tray that receives sheets from the rollers, the waiting tray holding sheets conveyed without being post-processed and holding some of the sheets of the bundle of sheets before being post-processed when in a closed position;

a sheet-conveying mechanism that conveys the bundle of sheets from the processing tray; and

a storage tray which holds the bundle of sheets conveyed from the processing tray after being post-processed,

wherein a leading edge of the bundle of sheets overlaps with the storage tray and a remaining portion of the bundle of sheets lies in a non-overlapping manner with the storage tray, when the processing tray holds the bundle of sheets to be post-processed,

wherein a size relevant to a widthwise direction of the sheets on each of the waiting tray and the processing is smaller than a width of the sheets, and

wherein the waiting tray is composed of at least a pair of waiting tray parts for supporting both sides of the sheets and the waiting tray parts slide and move to drop the sheets onto the processing tray.

8. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processing tray holds the some of the sheets of the bundle of sheets from the waiting tray conveyed when the waiting tray is in an open position and other sheets forming the bundle of sheets before the bundle of sheets is post-processed.

9. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the processing tray holds the other sheets forming the bundle of sheets that are conveyed via a conveying path without being conveyed to the waiting tray before the bundle of sheets is post-processed.

10. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a post-process mechanism that performs a post-process on the bundle of sheets on the processing tray.

11. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processing tray includes a sheet-aligning mechanism.

12. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the sheet-aligning mechanism has a longitudinal-alignment unit and a transverse-alignment unit.

13. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the storage tray receives sheets directly from the waiting tray when no post-processing is required.

14. A sheet post-process apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of rollers which receive sheets continuously from a multi-function peripheral and convey the sheets forward;

a processing tray which holds a bundle of sheets to be post-processed;

a waiting tray provided above the processing tray that receives sheets from the rollers, the waiting tray holding sheets conveyed without being post-processed and holding some of the sheets of the bundle of sheets before being post-processed when in a closed position;

a sheet-conveying mechanism that conveys the bundle of sheets from the processing tray;

a storage tray which holds the bundle of sheets conveyed from the processing tray after being post-processed; and

an alignment mechanism, provided above the waiting tray and moving in a vertical direction to align the sheets of the waiting tray,

wherein a size relevant to a widthwise direction of the sheets on each of the waiting tray and the processing is smaller than a width of the sheets, and

wherein the waiting tray is composed of at least a pair of waiting tray parts for supporting both sides of the sheets and the waiting tray parts slide and move to drop the sheets onto the processing tray.

15. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the processing tray holds the some of the sheets of the bundle of sheets from the waiting tray conveyed when the waiting tray is in an open position and other sheets forming the bundle of sheets before the bundle of sheets is post-processed.

16. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the processing tray holds the other sheets forming the bundle of sheets that are conveyed via a conveying path without being conveyed to the waiting tray before the bundle of sheets is post-processed.

17. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a post-process mechanism that performs a post-process on the bundle of sheets on the processing tray.

18. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the processing tray includes a sheet-aligning mechanism.

19. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the sheet-aligning mechanism has a longitudinal-alignment unit and a transverse-alignment unit.

20. The sheet post-process apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the storage tray receives sheets directly from the waiting tray when no post-processing is required.