Sheet folding device, image forming apparatus, and sheet folding method
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorMasanobu Kimata
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sheet folding device for performing single-sheet folding and multi-sheet folding with a single feed path, the device including: a conveying unit that conveys a sheet; a restraining unit that stops a leading edge of the sheet; a pair of folding rollers that fold the sheet; and a guiding member that guides a bend of the sheet to a nip between the pair of folding rollers, wherein the guiding member is positioned at different sheet-guiding positions for single-sheet folding and multi-sheet folding.
Claims10
A sheet folding device for performing single-sheet folding and multi-sheet folding with a single feed path, the device comprising:
- a conveying unit that conveys a sheet;
- a restraining unit that stops a leading edge of the sheet;
- a pair of folding rollers that fold the sheet;
- a guiding member that guides a bend of the sheet to a nip between the pair of folding rollers, wherein the guiding member is positioned at different sheet-guiding positions for single-sheet folding and multi-sheet folding;
- a driving unit that makes the guiding member advance and retreat with respect to the pair of folding rollers;
- and
- a control unit that controls the driving unit,
- wherein the control unit is configured to,
- acquire information indicating whether the single-sheet folding or the multi-sheet folding is performed,
- control the position of the guiding member so that a gap between the pair of folding rollers and the guiding member during the multi-sheet folding becomes larger than the gap during the single-sheet folding, prior to the sheet passing through the gap, and
- pass the sheet through the gap, after controlling the position of the guiding member.
A sheet folding method for performing single-sheet folding and multi-sheet folding with a single feed path, the method comprising:
- conveying a sheet by a conveying unit;
- restraining a leading edge of the conveyed sheet by a restraining unit;
- guiding by a guiding member a bend of the sheet in the restrained state into a nip between a pair of folding rollers for sheet folding, thereby folding the sheet, wherein in the guiding, the guiding member is positioned at different sheet-guiding positions for single-sheet folding and multi-sheet folding;
- driving, by a driving unit, the guiding member to advance and retreat with respect to the pair of folding rollers;
- and
- acquiring, by a control unit, information indicating whether the single-sheet folding or the multi-sheet folding is performed,
- controlling, by the control unit, the position of the guiding member so that a gap between the pair of folding rollers and the guiding member during the multi-sheet folding becomes larger than the gap during the single-sheet folding, prior to the sheet passing through the gap, and
- passing, by the control unit, the sheet through the gap, after controlling the position of the guiding member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.