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US 6,308,948 B1Granted
Stapling apparatus
AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorShinichi Azumi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A stapling apparatus for forming a plurality of sheet bundles on a sheet tray comprises a sheet tray, a stapler, moving means, and movement controlling means. The stapler is moved upward by the moving means and the movement controlling means to the position where plural sheets placed on the sheet tray are to be stapled. Consequently, the stapling apparatus can staple the sheets in the position where the sheets are to be bound which changes upward each time the sheet bundle is formed by the stapler and form a plurality of sheet bundles on the sheet tray.
Claims19
A stapling apparatus for stapling a plurality of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for binding the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray;
- moving means for moving the stapler in a sheet stacking direction;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the moving means to move the stapler in the sheet stacking direction to a position where the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray are to be bound, the movement controlling means moving the stapler in a manner which takes into account variations in height of sheet bundles previously formed and placed on the sheet tray upon which the plurality of sheets are stacked.
2 more elements
A stapling apparatus for stapling a plurality of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for binding the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray;
- moving means for moving the stapler in a sheet stacking direction;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the moving means so that the stapler is disposed in a position in the sheet stacking direction where the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray are to be bound,
- wherein the sheet tray comprises:
- a sheet bundle contacting member which is disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray so as to face the stapler and with which a peripheral part of the sheet bundle can partly come into contact;
- inclining means for inclining the sheet tray;
- and
- inclination controlling means for controlling an inclining operation of the inclining means so as to incline the sheet tray in the direction such that the sheet bundle approaches the sheet bundle contacting member after formation of the sheet bundle;
- wherein the sheet tray including a sheet contacting member which is disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray and on the side where the stapler is disposed and with which a peripheral part of a stack of sheets to be bound can partly come into contact, comprises:
- an auxiliary tray disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, on which sheets and a sheet bundle protruded from the sheet tray are placed;
- and
- auxiliary tray moving means for moving the auxiliary tray in the sheet stacking direction,
- wherein the sheet tray and the auxiliary tray are arranged in a same position in the sheet stacking direction by the movement controlling means and the inclination controlling means, before stacking sheets on the sheet tray the auxiliary tray is moved to a same level in the sheet stacking direction as that of the uppermost sheet of the previous stack of sheets placed on the sheet tray, and when the sheets are placed on the sheet tray, operations of the auxiliary tray moving means and the inclining means are controlled so as to incline the sheet tray in a direction that the sheets approach the sheet contacting member.
12 more elements
A stapling apparatus for stapling a plurality of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for binding the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray;
- moving means for moving the stapler in a sheet stacking direction;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the moving means so that the stapler is disposed in a position in the sheet stacking direction where the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray are to be bound,
- wherein the sheet tray including a side plate which is disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray so as to face the stapler and with which a side face opposite to the stapler side of the sheet bundle can come into contact, and an end plate which is disposed in a peripheral part adjacent to the side plate of the sheet tray and with which an end face of the sheet bundle can come into contact, comprises:
- first inclining means for inclining the sheet tray in one direction that the sheet bundle is moved toward the side plate;
- second inclining means for inclining the sheet tray in the other direction that the sheet bundle is moved toward the end plate;
- and
- inclination controlling means for controlling inclining operations of the first and second inclining means so that the operation of inclining the sheet tray in one direction and the operation of inclining the sheet tray in the other direction are alternately executed.
7 more elements
A stapling apparatus for stapling a plurality of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for binding the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray;
- moving means for moving the stapler in a sheet stacking direction;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the moving means so that the stapler is disposed in a position in the sheet stacking direction where the plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray are to be bound,
- wherein the sheet tray comprises:
- a bottom plate on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a first side plate which is integrally formed with the bottom plate and can come into contact with a side face of the formed sheet bundle;
- a second side plate which faces the first side plate and is provided fixedly with respect to the first side plate;
- and
- bottom plate driving means for reciprocating the bottom plate so that the first side plate is moved toward or apart from the second side plate, and
- wherein when the sheet bundle is formed, the movement controlling means controls an operation of the bottom plate driving means so that the first side plate is moved together with the bottom plate toward the second side plate so as to dispose the first side plate in a position where an interval between the first and second side plates is almost equal to the length in the width direction of the sheet, and the first side plate is moved together with the bottom plate in the direction away from the second side plate so that the first side plate is disposed in the original position.
9 more elements
A stapling apparatus for stapling a plurality of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for stapling a plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray, having a driving side unit for driving a staple through the sheets and a bending side unit which is provided separately from the driving side unit and bends tips of the driven staple projected from the sheets;
- driving side unit moving means for moving the driving side unit of the stapler both in a sheet stacking direction and a direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- bending side unit moving means for moving the bending side unit of the stapler both in the sheet stacking direction and in the direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- uppermost sheet-surface sensing means for sensing a position of an uppermost sheet-surface of the stack of sheets placed on the sheet tray by using a predetermined position in an upper part of the stapling apparatus as a reference;
- stack of sheets thickness calculating means for calculating thickness of the plurality of sheets;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the driving side unit moving means and the bending side unit moving means so that either the driving side unit or the bending side unit is disposed in a sensed position of the uppermost sheet-surface of the stack of sheets and the other of the driving side and bending side units is disposed in a position obtained by adding the calculated thickness of the stack of sheets to the position of the uppermost sheet-surface of the stack of sheets.
5 more elements
A stapling apparatus for stapling a stack of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for stapling a stack of sheets placed on the sheet tray, having a driving side unit for driving a staple through the sheets and a bending side unit which is provided separately from the driving side unit and bends tips of the driven staple projected from the sheets;
- driving side unit moving means for moving the driving side unit of the stapler both in the sheet stacking direction and the direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- bending side unit moving means for moving the bending side unit of the stapler both in the sheet stacking direction and the direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- undermost sheet-surface sensing means for sensing the position of the undermost sheet-surface of the stack of sheets placed on the sheet tray by using a predetermined position in the lower part of the stapling apparatus as a reference;
- stack of sheets thickness calculating means for calculating thickness of a stack of sheets;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the driving side unit moving means and the bending side unit moving means so that either the driving side unit or the bending side unit is disposed in the sensed position of the undermost sheet-surface and the other one of the driving side and bending side units is disposed in a position obtained by adding the calculated thickness of the sheets to the position of the undermost sheet-surface.
5 more elements
A stapling apparatus for stapling a plurality of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for binding a plurality of sheets placed on the sheet tray, having a driving side unit for driving a staple through the sheets and a bending side unit which is provided separately from the driving unit and bends tips of the driven staple, projected from the sheets;
- driving side unit moving means for moving the driving side unit of the stapler both in the sheet stacking direction and a direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- bending side unit moving means for moving the bending side unit of the stapler both in the sheet stacking direction and the direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- uppermost sheet-surface sensing means for sensing a position of an uppermost sheet-surface of a stack of sheets placed on the sheet tray by using a predetermined position in the stapling apparatus as a reference;
- undermost sheet-surface sensing means for sensing a position of the undermost sheet-surface of the stack of sheets placed on the sheet tray by using a predetermined position in the stapling apparatus as a reference;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the driving side unit moving means and the bending side unit moving means so that either the driving side unit or the bending side unit is disposed in the sensed position of the uppermost sheet-surface of the stack of sheets and the other one of the driving side and bending side units is disposed in the sensed position of the undermost sheet-surface of the stack of sheets.
5 more elements
A stapling apparatus for stapling a plurality of sheets to form sheet bundles, comprising:
- a sheet tray on which sheets are sequentially stacked and formed sheet bundles are placed;
- a stapler disposed in a peripheral part of the sheet tray, for stapling a plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet tray, having a driving side unit for driving a staple through the sheets and a bending side unit which is provided separately from the driving side unit and bends tips of the driven staple projected from the sheets;
- driving side unit moving means for moving the driving side unit of the stapler both in the sheet stacking direction and a direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- bending side unit moving means for moving the bending side unit of the stapler both in the sheet stacking direction and the direction opposite to the sheet stacking direction;
- and
- movement controlling means for controlling the driving side unit moving means and the bending side unit moving means so that when a plurality of sheets are placed on the sheet tray, one of the driving side and bending side units which is on the sheet tray side is moved to a position in the sheet stacking direction, where the sheets placed on the sheet tray are to be bound,
- wherein either the driving side unit or the bending side unit of the stapler, which is on the sheet tray side of the sheets has a supporting face extending almost across the area of the sheets protruded from the sheet tray.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.