# US 8,770,582 B2 · Sheet processing apparatus and image forming apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,770,582 B2 - Document ID: US8770582B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/953,958 - Filed: 2013-07-30 - Published: 2014-02-27 - Granted: 2014-07-08 - Earliest claimed: 2012-08-27 - Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Hideki Kushida - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8770582B2 ## CPC - B65H 29/22: and introducing into a pile - B65H 29/125: {between two sets of rollers} - B65H 29/14: and introducing into a pile - B65H 31/10: and applied at the top of the pile - B65H 31/26: Auxiliary devices for retaining articles in the pile - B65H 31/3027: {by the nip between moving belts or rollers (pile being formed between belts or rollers B65H29/145)} - B65H 31/34: Apparatus for squaring-up piled articles - B65H 31/36: Auxiliary devices for contacting each article with a front stop as it is piled - B65H 31/38: Apparatus for vibrating or knocking the pile during piling - B65H 39/10: Associating articles from a single source, to form, e.g. a writing-pad {(laminating B32B37/00, B32B38/00)} - B65H 2301/4213: of a limited number of articles, e.g. buffering, forming bundles - B65H 2301/42194: forming a pile in which articles are offset from each other in the delivery direction - B65H 2403/532: Crank-and-rocker mechanism - B65H 2403/533: Slotted link mechanism - B65H 2403/942: Bidirectional powered handling device - B65H 2404/1521: rotating, pivoting or oscillating around an axis, e.g. parallel to the roller axis - B65H 2404/23: with auxiliary handling means - B65H 2404/7412: retractable - B65H 2405/113: Front, i.e. portion adjacent to the feeding / delivering side - B65H 2701/1313: trailing edge - B65H 2801/27: Devices located downstream of office-type machines - B65H: HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES ## Abstract In a conveying belt that is entrained about a pair of bundle discharge rollers along a stacking wall, on which an end part of a sheet stacked on a stack tray abuts, between the stack tray and an intermediate processing tray, a position of an outer peripheral surface is displaced such that a projection amount of the conveying belt from the stacking wall is large when the pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet to the stacking portion, and such that the projection amount is small when the pair of discharge rollers moves the sheet toward a stopper of the intermediate stacking portion. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A sheet processing apparatus comprising: a conveying portion that conveys a sheet; an intermediate stacking portion that temporarily stacks the sheet conveyed by the conveying portion; a stopper that regulates an upstream end in a conveyance direction of the sheet stacked on the intermediate stacking portion; a stacking portion on which the sheet discharged from the intermediate stacking portion is stacked; a pair of discharge rollers that is provided in the intermediate stacking portion to move the sheet conveyed to the intermediate stacking portion toward the stopper or to discharge the sheet regulated by the stopper to the stacking portion according to a rotation direction; a wall that is provided between the stacking portion and the pair of discharge rollers, the upstream end in the conveyance direction of the sheet discharged to the stacking portion abutting on the wall; and an endless belt that includes an outer peripheral surface along the wall, the outer peripheral surface moving in conjunction with rotation of the pair of discharge rollers, wherein the outer peripheral surface along the wall of the endless belt is projected from the wall by deformation of the outer peripheral surface when the pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet to the stacking portion, and wherein the deformation of the outer peripheral surface along the wall when the pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet to the stacking portion is larger than that when the pair of discharge rollers moves the sheet toward the stopper of the intermediate stacking portion. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the endless belt is entrained such that driving of a lower roller in the pair of discharge rollers is transmitted to a rotating member provided below the lower roller, looseness is generated in the outer peripheral surface when the pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet to the stacking portion, and a tension is generated when the pair of discharge rollers moves the sheet toward the stopper of the intermediate stacking portion. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an interval between the lower roller and the rotating member is set such that the endless belt rotates while maintaining a curved shape in which at least part of the outer peripheral surface projects from the wall when the sheet is discharged to the stacking portion. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the outer peripheral surface projects from the wall at a position that is higher than an intersection point of the stacking portion or the uppermost sheet stacked on the stacking portion and the wall by a predetermined amount. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a relationship of Vb>Ve holds in the pair of discharge rollers, where Vb is a conveying speed when the sheet is moved toward the stopper of the intermediate stacking portion and Ve is a discharge speed when the sheet is discharged to the stacking portion. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The sheet processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein, in the pair of discharge rollers, an acceleration during start-up to the discharge speed Ve is larger than an acceleration during start-up to the conveying speed Vb. ### Claim 7 An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming portion that forms an image in a sheet; and a sheet processing apparatus that processes the sheet in which the image is formed by the image forming portion, the sheet processing apparatus including: a conveying portion that conveys a sheet; an intermediate stacking portion that temporarily stacks the sheet conveyed by the conveying portion; a stopper that regulates an upstream end in a conveyance direction of the sheet stacked on the intermediate stacking portion; a stacking portion on which the sheet discharged from the intermediate stacking portion is stacked; a pair of discharge rollers that is provided in the intermediate stacking portion to move the sheet conveyed to the intermediate stacking portion toward the stopper or to discharge the sheet regulated by the stopper to the stacking portion according to a rotation direction; a wall that is provided between the stacking portion and the pair of discharge rollers, the upstream end, in the conveyance direction, of the sheet discharged to the stacking portion abutting on the wall; and an endless belt that includes an outer peripheral surface along the wall, the outer peripheral surface moving in conjunction with rotation of the pair of discharge rollers, wherein the outer peripheral surface along the wall of the endless belt is projected from the wall by deformation of the outer peripheral surface when the pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet to the stacking portion, and wherein the deformation of the outer peripheral surface along the wall when the pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet to the stacking portion is larger than that when the pair of discharge rollers moves the sheet toward the stopper of the intermediate stacking portion. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the endless belt is entrained such that driving of a lower roller in the pair of discharge rollers is transmitted to a rotating member provided below the lower roller, looseness is generated in the outer peripheral surface when the pair of discharge rollers discharges the sheet to the stacking portion, and a tension is generated when the pair of discharge rollers moves the sheet toward the stopper of the intermediate stacking portion. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein an interval between the lower roller and the rotating member is set such that the endless belt rotates while maintaining a curved shape in which at least part of the outer peripheral surface projects from the wall when the sheet is discharged to the stacking portion. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the outer peripheral surface of the endless belt projects from the wall at a position that is higher than an intersection point of the stacking portion or the uppermost sheet stacked on the stacking portion and the wall by a predetermined amount. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a relationship of Vb>Ve holds in the pair of discharge rollers, where Vb is a conveying speed when the sheet is moved toward the stopper of the intermediate stacking portion and Ve is a discharge speed when the sheet is discharged to the stacking portion. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein, in the pair of discharge rollers, an acceleration during start-up to the discharge speed Ve is larger than an acceleration during start-up to the conveying speed Vb.