Nisca Corporation

Mizuho Shirakura

Shinichi Ito

Hiroki Imazu

Toshiaki Kagami

Yutaka Tanaka

Atsumi Kobayashi

Akiharu Higaki

Kunihide Suzuki

Akihiko Tsukui

Eiji Fukasawa

Osamu Jinza

Koji Kanda

Mitsunori Tomono

Yuichi Kubota

Makoto Iino

Kenichi Sano

Akihiko Tukui

Naoki Suzuki

To enable a sheet to be folded in an accurate position with a simplified folding mechanism in performing folding processing on the sheet with a pair of folding rollers, a second transport path is disposed in a direction for crossing a first transport path for guiding a sheet from a carry-in portion to a carrying-out portion, and in the cross portion are disposed a folding roller pair for performing folding processing on a sheet, and a folding deflecting member for inserting a fold of the sheet in the nip portion. Then, the folding deflecting member is comprised of a driven roller that comes into press-contact with a roller periphery of the folding roller pair, and a shift member for shifting the driven roller from a waiting position to an actuation position, and by the operation of shifting the driven roller from the waiting position outside the path to the actuation position, the sheet front end portion is fed to the nip portion from an upstream-side guide path formed in the second transport path. At this point, the shift velocity of the driven roller is made higher than the velocity of the sheet sent from the first transport path.

Sheet folding apparatus

A sheet folding apparatus for forming first folding and second folding in a sheet enables the sheet to be folded in an accurate fold position in second folding, when the front end of the sheet which is first folded in a nip position of a first folding roller pair and transported strikes a stopper member, a guide member guides a fold to undergo second folding of the first-folded sheet to a nip position of a second folding roller pair, and second folding is formed.

Sheet folding apparatus and image formation system provided with the apparatus

A sheet folding apparatus for folding a sheet, includes a first transport path for guiding the sheet from a carry-in portion to a carrying-out portion without folding; a second transport path branching off from the first transport path for folding the sheet; folding rollers to fold the sheet; a driving motor; and a control device for controlling the driving motor. The folding rollers are disposed in between the carry-in roller and the carrying-out roller. The first transport path has a pinch roller and a guide cover for covering the folding. The guide cover shifts between an actuation position in which the sheet does not contact the folding rollers and a non-actuation position in which the sheet engages with the folding rollers. The control device controls the guide cover to shift to the actuation position with the pinch roller separated from a periphery of the one of the rollers.

According to the present invention, a stacking face () is inclined such that a downstream side in a sheet discharging direction is lower, and is composed of a first supporting face () supporting a sheet to be stacked at its front end part in a sheet discharging direction and a second supporting face () supporting the sheet to be stacked at its rear end part in the sheet discharging direction. The first supporting face () is structured to be shorter than &#xbd; of a minimum size length of the sheet to be stacked, and this is provided rotatably upward around a rotating shaft () furnished to a registration part () of regulating the front ends of the sheets. The first supporting face () raises the front ends of the sheets to be discharged by rotation of the registration part ().

Sheet stacking device and sheet folding device

To provide a folding mechanism for folding a sheet with a simplified structure having no fear of causing a deviation from the fold position, wrinkle and the like, provided are a transport pathfor transporting a sheet, and folding processing meansdisposed in the transport path to fold the sheet. Then, the folding processing means is comprised of folding roll pairs () coming into press-contact with one another to rotate in the opposite directions, and folding deflecting members () for guiding the fold of the sheet to the nip portions (Np, Np) of the folding roll pairs. Then, the folding deflecting members are provided with driven rollers () in contact press-contact with the roll periphery of one of the folding roll pair, and curved guides () along the roll periphery of the other one. The driven roller provides the sheet with transport force to guide to the nip portion, and the curved guide brings the sheet along the roll periphery of the other one to guide to the nip portion.

A sheet folding apparatus for performing folding processing, has a first transport path for guiding a sheet from a carry-in entrance to a carrying-out exit without performing the folding processing; a second transport path for performing the folding processing on the sheet from the carry-in entrance; and a folding processing device disposed in a folding position in the second transport path to fold the sheet from the carry-in entrance. The second transport path is disposed to cross the first transport path, and includes a path end portion for guiding the sheet to the folding position, and another path end portion for guiding the folded sheet from the folding position to a downstream side. The path end portion and the another path end portion are disposed opposite to each other relative to the first transport path.

In a sheet folding apparatus, to enable a jammed sheet to be removed with ease when a jam occurs, a casing having a carry-in entrance and a carrying-out exit is divided into an upper unit and a lower unit via a first transport path for carrying a sheet from the carry-in entrance to the carrying-out exit, a second transport path for performing folding processing on a sheet is disposed in the direction for crossing the first transport path, and in the upper unit are disposed a sheet front end switchback path for reversing and carrying the sheet toward a folding roller pair and sheet deflecting means for guiding the sheet to the folding roller pair. Then, the upper unit is coupled to the lower unit to be openable and closable by a hinge shaft rotating around one side end portion orthogonal to the sheet transport direction of the first transport path.

Sheet folding and image formation apparatus

A sheet folding apparatus for performing folding processing on a sheet from a carry-in entrance to carry out to a carrying-out exit has a sheet feeding apparatus, a first transport path, a second transport path, and a folding processing device. The sheet feeding apparatus includes a transport roller pair in press-contact with each other, a gate stopper device having a stopper member, a register area to curve and deform the sheet with the front end regulated, and a stopper driving device for shifting the gate stopper device. The stopper member is formed so that a shift trajectory of the regulation surface is to guide the front end of the sheet to the press-contact portion of the transport roller pair. The first transport path is provided with the sheet feeding apparatus for aligning a front end of the sheet fed from the carry-in entrance to feed to a predetermined processing position.

Sheet folding apparatus with skew correction mechanism and image formation system provided with the sheet folding apparatus

A sheet supply apparatus includes a sheet supply tray for stacking a sheet, and an auxiliary tray movable between a support position where the auxiliary tray supports a portion of the sheet stacked on the sheet supply tray and a storage position where the auxiliary tray overlaps the sheet supply tray. A sheet supply device supplies the sheet stacked on the sheet supply tray. A sheet detection device is mounted on the auxiliary tray for detecting the sheet stacked on the sheet supply tray, and a tray position detection device detects a position of the auxiliary tray between the support position and the storage position. An identifying device identifies a length of the sheet in a sheet supply direction based on detection results of the sheet detection device and the tray detection device.

Sheet feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus

The document feeder apparatus is equipped with a sheet supply unit including a sheet supply member for supplying an original to a reading position; a transport unit including a transport member for receiving the original from the sheet supply member and transporting the original to the reading position; a discharge unit including a discharge member for discharging the original read at the reading position; and a flat plate shape support frame for supporting the respective units. The sheet supply unit and discharge unit are mounted on one of front and rear sides of the support frame, and the transport unit is mounted on the other of the front and rear sides of the support frame, so that each unit is unitized. Further, a sheet supply opening for guiding the original from the sheet supply unit to the transport unit is established on one side of the support frame, and an opening for guiding the original from the transport unit to the discharge unit is established on the other side of the support frame.

Document feeding apparatus and document reading apparatus

A sheet transfer apparatus transfers a sheet to a predetermined position. The apparatus includes a discharge tray; a support device for rotationally supporting the discharge tray; an interconnecting device that activates according to a rotation of the discharge tray; and a sheet regulating device engaging the interconnecting means to be movable between a regulating position for regulating a movement of the sheet and a retracted position for allowing the sheets on the discharge tray to move. A control device prevents the sheet regulating device from moving to the regulating position from the retracted position even though the discharge tray is rotated when a load greater than a predetermined value is applied to the sheet regulating device.

Sheet transfer apparatus and image reading apparatus

A separation unit is formed of a feed roller that touches the uppermost surface of sheets stacked on a sheet supply tray to feed the sheet, a supply roller to supply the drawn out sheet, and a separating member pressing against the supply roller to allow only the uppermost sheet to pass. A guide member is disposed between the sheet supply tray and the separating member with an angle with respect to the sheet supply tray to guide the sheet to the supply roller and abut against leading edges of the sheets drawn out from the feed roller to separate them. The separating member of the separating mechanism and the guide member are attached and detached as a single body to the guide member for guiding the sheets. Therefore, while high separation performance for the sheets can be maintained, workability in replacing the separating member becomes easy.

Sheet feeding apparatus and automatic document using the same

A sheet transfer apparatus for an image reading apparatus includes a sheet supply tray for storing a sheet; a sheet supply device for drawing out the sheet on the sheet supply tray; a transfer device for receiving the sheet from the sheet supply means and placing the sheet at a predetermined position on a platen of an image reading apparatus for reading the image thereon; a discharge device for discharging the sheet on the platen after reading the image thereon; and a discharge tray for receiving the sheet discharged by the discharge device. A switchback device is disposed above the platen for reversing the sheet when necessary, and includes a switchback path for receiving the sheet to reverse the same. The switchback path includes a first opening portion for opening a first area near an inlet side, and a second opening portion for opening a second area away from the inlet side of the switchback path. The switchback path is easily accessible when the sheet is jammed.

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Fuefuki, Japan

Mizuho Shirakura