The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 21, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 10, 1997
Shinobu Seki, Toyohashi, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A finisher is provide with a folding device which includes paired folding rollers which nip a loop of a sheet formed by a first folding stopper and give a first folding to the sheet, and paired folding rollers, which are disposed in a conveying path between a conveying path, which is located on an upstream side in a conveying direction of the sheet toward the paired folding rollers at the first folding, and a conveying path, in which a second folding stopper is disposed, and nip a loop of the sheet formed by the second folding stopper and give a second folding to the sheet, and sets a distance between the paired folding rollers and the first folding stopper at approximately three quarters of a length of the sheet in the conveying direction when the sheet is folded in three or in a cross section like a letter Z. The finisher temporarily stores the sheet in a state that one side for folding as an image formed surface faces downward and the other side for stapling approximates closely to the stapler. In addition, the finisher stores sheets including the Z-folding sheets in the order of page numbers and staples a sheaf of the sheets easily and accurately, and also utilizes a space efficiently and prevent the size from enlarging.