Output station for reproducing machine

A finishing station for a reproducing machine provides for the collecting, sorting, corner registration of collated sets, finishing as by stapling or other means and the collection of collated sets. In particular, the sorter comprises a plurality of copy sheet collating trays arranged in a vertical array, means to transport copy sheets from the reproducing machine to the sorter, corner registration means for the collated sets within the tray, means to maintain the corner registration of the collated copy sheets as they are transported while in the tray to a finishing station, a finishing station and a finished collated set collection station.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a finishing station for a reproducing machine and 
in particular to a station which includes a collating sorter for 
individual copy sheets, a device for finishing or securing in a finished 
set the individual sheets of a collated set and a means of collecting the 
individual finished collated sets. 
This invention is particularly adapted for use with an automatic copying 
machine wherein reproduction of multipage original documents or sets are 
made by sequentially making the desired number of copies of the first page 
in the set, collecting the copies in individual trays or bins and 
thereafter sequentially making the desired number of copies of the second 
and subsequent pages of the set. 
With the continued development of the xerographic reproduction apparatus 
including those capable of operating at higher speeds it has become 
desirable to automatically process or handle the copies produced from the 
machine. The desire has been particularly felt for obtaining fully 
collated and finished sets of copies from a collated original set of 
several pages. Traditionally there have been two ways of achieving this 
result. 
The finished collated sets may be made as a set one at a time by copying 
each page of the original only once and collecting the copies produced 
from the reproducing machine. For each copy of a collated set desired the 
original pages of the set are sequentially copied and the individual 
copies collected. If performed manually this is a very laborious and time 
consuming procedure. To facilitate this type of copying, automatic or semi 
automatic devices for handling or transporting the individual sheets of 
the original set onto and back off of the imaging platen have been used. 
While these document handlers may minimize the need for operator 
involvement they are typically rather costly and complex to maintain for 
efficient operation. They also suffer the disadvantage in that each time 
an original document is physically handled by some mechanical device the 
possibility of damage to the original document exists. Furthermore with 
some devices the cumulative effect of repeated handling of a document for 
each copy that is desired may result in the increased probability of 
damage to the original for each successive handling. 
The second way of obtaining collated sets of multipage original documents 
is to make the total desired number of copies of each page at the same 
time and collect them in individual collecting bins. Thus if ten copies of 
a five page original set are desired, the first page of the original set 
is placed on the platen and ten copies of it are made, each copy being 
delivered to a collecting device which typically comprises an array of 
bins connected to the output end of a reproducing machine. Thereafter ten 
copies each of pages two thru five are made and the copies collected in 
the bins. 
The next step in the development of the use of the xerographic process was 
the desire to finish the collated sets by stapling, stitching, binding, 
etc. the individual sheets. For this process the collated sets have 
typically been physically removed from the bins and transported to the 
finishing device. Initially the collated sets were manually removed from 
the collecting bins by the operator. Subsequently mechanical devices were 
devised to physically move the collated sets from the bins. With both of 
these techniques the possibility of the collated sets being presented to 
the finishing station with the individual sheets in the set not in perfect 
registration exists. Indeed, it is almost inevitable that some jogging of 
the collated set to obtain registration along at least one edge is 
necessary. In addition, with multisheet sets the probability of one of 
more sheets being out of registration is increased with the number of 
sheets in the set. In view of these difficulties there continues to be a 
desire to collect the individual sheets in the collecting bins, register 
the sheets in the bins and finish the sheets in the bins without human 
interference. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,083,550 to Pal describes a sorting and finishing apparatus 
for use with a copying machine. The sorter includes a plurality of bins or 
trays for stacking individual sheets as they are delivered from the 
copying machine. The trays are attached to a rack which moves up and down 
in a fixed guide member to facilitate insertion of the sheets in the 
trays. Each of the trays are attached to the rack such that they make an 
angle of about 15.degree. to the horizontal. At the completion of sorting 
sheets for the first individual tray in the sorter a yoke mechanism is 
moved into engagement with the tray and causes the tray to move forward 
out of the tray guide to be placed on a smooth surface platform where the 
sheets in the tray are punched and stapled following which the sheets, 
which cling to the punch device, are disengaged from the punch and pushed 
downward onto the smooth platform and into a collecting bin. After the 
first tray has been emptied in this way it is returned to its original 
position and the second tray receives its final copy and is moved by the 
yoke mechanism in the same manner as the first tray. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In accordance with this invention a novel finishing station for a 
reproducing machine is provided. In particular this apparatus provides for 
the collecting and sorting of the individual sheets of a multipage 
original set, the corner registration of the sets, the finishing of the 
collected and registered set while in the sheet collecting tray and the 
collection of the finished set. 
More particularly the present invention is directed to a finishing station 
for a reproducing machine comprising a sorter which includes a plurality 
of copy sheet collecting trays arranged in a vertical array, means to 
transport copy sheets from the reproducing machine to the sorter, corner 
registration means for the collated copy sheets within the tray, means to 
maintain the corner registration of the collated copy sheets as they are 
transported while in the tray to a finishing station, a collated set 
finishing station and a finished collated set collection station. 
In a specific aspect of the invention the trays are pivotly mounted and 
moved from the copy sheet sorting position to the finishing station 
through an arc while maintaining the corner registration of the sheets, 
the corner registration being maintained by a sheet aligner mechanism. 
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to corner register 
individual sheets of a collated set of sheets in a sheet collection tray 
of a sorter. 
It is a further object of the present invention to maintain the corner 
registration of the collated sets in the sheet collecting tray as the tray 
is moved from a sorting position to a finishing position. 
It is an additional object of the present invention to automatically 
collate into sets copy sheets of a multipage document, register these copy 
sheets, finish the collated sets and collect the finished sets. 
For a better understanding of the invention as well as other objects and 
further features thereof reference is had to the following drawings and 
description:

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
The invention will now be described by reference to a preferred embodiment 
of the finishing station. Referring now to FIG. 1 there is shown by way of 
example an automatic xerographic reproduction apparatus 10 which includes 
the finishing station of the present invention. Although the apparatus of 
the present invention is particularly well adapted for use in an automatic 
xerographic reproducing machine 10, it should become evident from the 
following description that it is equally well suited for use in a wide 
variety of processing systems including other electrostatographic systems 
and it is not necessarily limited in the application to the particular 
embodiment or embodiments shown herein. 
The reproduction apparatus 10, includes an electrically photosensitive 
member in the form of an endless belt or web 11, which is supported by 
three belt supporting rollers 12, 13, and 14. One of the belt supporting 
rollers is drivingly coupled to a suitable motor to move the belt in the 
direction shown by the solid line. 
The surface of the moving belt 11 is uniformly charged by a suitable 
charging device such as corotron 17 in preparation for imaging. The 
charged surface of the belt moves through an exposure station 18 where the 
belt is exposed to a light image of the original 21 being copied, whereby 
the charge is selectively disipated in the light exposed regions to record 
the original input scene in the form of an electrostatic latent image. 
The belt 11 with the electrostatic latent image is then carried past 
developing station 19 where a conventional developer mix is applied to the 
photoconductor belt 11 rendering the latent image visible. Typically the 
developer apparatus includes a plurality of developer rolls 20 which serve 
to bring the developer into proximity with the belt. The belt 11 bearing 
the developed image thereafter passes through transfer station 23 where 
the developed image is electrostatically transferred to transfer material 
such as copy sheet 24. To facilitate transfer of the developer in image 
configuration a biased transfer roll 25 is provided. 
Copy sheets 24 which are stored in supply tray 26 are brought forward to 
transfer station 23 by conveyors 29, 30. An auxiliary supply of copy 
sheets 24 in the form of supply tray 26' may be provided. In that case 
additional conveyors 29', 30' are provided to advance sheets from the 
auxiliary supply tray 26'. 
Following transfer the copy sheet 24, bearing the toner image is carried by 
a conveyor 31 to a suitable image fixing device such as fusing mechanism 
32 where the toner image is permanently fixed to copy sheet 24. The 
finished copy sheet is thereafter transported by conveyor 33 to the 
finishing station 40. 
Following transfer of the developed image therefrom belt 11 is 
reconditioned in preparation for re-imaging. In accordance therewith 
residual charges on belt 11 may be neutralized or reduced by means of 
preclean corotron 34 and thereafter the belt surface may be cleaned by a 
brush 36 which is preferably housed in an evacuated chamber which serves 
to draw off particulate material, normally toner, removed from the surface 
of belt 11 by brush 36. 
The finishing station 40 includes edge registration transport 41 which 
transports sheets from the output area of the processor section of the 
reproduction apparatus to the sorting station 42 of the finishing station. 
Typically the individual copy sheets will be collated at the sorting 
station in a vertical array of bins 43. Following collation of the sheets 
in the bins 43 the individual bins 43 are pivoted about bin pivot 44 to 
stapler station 46 to enable the finishing of the collated sets. After the 
collated sets have been stapled and with additional reference to FIG. 2 
the bins 43 pivot about bin pivot 44 further to unloading station 47 where 
the finished collated sets are gripped by a gripper mechanism 48 which 
raises the finished collated sets above the level of the bin 43 thereby 
permitting the bin to be pivoted back to the collating position. Once the 
bin has been withdrawn from the unloading station 47 the gripper mechanism 
releases its hold on the finished collated set which then falls into 
collecting bin 51. 
With continued reference to FIG. 2 and additional reference to FIG. 3 the 
finishing station according to the present invention will now be described 
in somewhat greater detail. When the first sheet is delivered from the 
processor of the reproduction machine it activates sensing switch 52 
within the platform 54 of the edge registration transport 41 which 
activates the sequence of events in the entire finishing station. Mounted 
within the platform 54 of the edge registration transport 41 are three 
driven edge registration rolls 55 backed on the top by three idler rolls 
56 mounted in plate 57 which is fixed to one of two side transport pivot 
arms 58. The edge registration rolls are driven by drive shaft 60 which is 
driven in turn off the transport motor 61 through the driver mechanism 62 
at the side of the edge registration transport. Forward drive rolls 63 
also mounted in the bottom of edge registration transport platform 54 are 
also driven by the transport platform motor 61 through driver mechanism 62 
and together with idler roll 64 serve to drive the copy sheets into the 
bins 43. The edge registration rolls 55 serve to drive incoming copy 
sheets at an angle into side registration guide member 67 and subsequently 
against the bin side registration edge 68. The edge registration transport 
41 is pivoted about pivot shaft 69 which engages with end plate 70 to 
enable the whole edge registration transport to toggle up and down for 
copy sheet insertion into the individual bins. The edge registration 
transport 41 moves up and down in toggling fashion for each sheet of copy 
paper through arms 71 on opposite sides of the transport which are mounted 
on cams 74 to thereby impart a vertical oscillatory motion. The arms 71 
through cam 74 and drive belt 75 and gears 76 and 77 are driven by 
elevator screws 78 and in phase therewith to facilitate copy sheet 
insertion in each of the bins 43. 
The individual bins 43 comprise a bin platform 81 with a bin side 
registration edge 68 and a front registration edge 82 which has two cut 
out portions 83 to enable the gripper mechanism to grip the collated sets 
in the bin when in the unloading station 47 as will be described later. 
The front registration edge 82 and side registration edge 68 form a corner 
up against which the individual copy sheets may be corner registered upon 
insertion in the bin. Furthermore, as the bins are pivoted to the 
finishing position the centrifugal force generated continues to urge the 
individual copy sheets into the corner. At the rear of the bin platform 81 
there is another cut out portion 84 to enable the collated set in the bin 
to be stapled at stapling station 46 when the bins are pivoted counter 
clockwise to finish the sets contained within them. 
The bins 43 are moved vertically as an array by bin elevator screws 78. 
Typically the sorting operation is commenced with the bins in the up or 
home position such that the bottom bin is adjacent to the exit portion of 
the edge registration transport. In this position as the first sheet of 
copy paper enters the edge registration transport it activates switch 52 
which activates the elevator drive motor 87 which in turn through belts 
88, 89 and pulleys 90, 91 and 92 drives elevator screws 78 to continuously 
lower the array of bins past the copy sheet entrance part of the edge 
registration transport. Once activated the bins continue to move down 
vertically while the registration transport 41 periodically toggles up and 
down. For each bin the registration transport 41 is raised up to its 
highest level by arms 71 to meet the bin in its downward path. Thereafter 
the registration transport 41 stops and slowly moves down along with the 
bin. The registration transport continues to toggle for each successive 
bin to provide a maximum time when the bin entrance and the registration 
transport exit are adjacent to each other to facilitate copy sheet 
insertion in the bin. The bins continue sorting until a copy sheet has 
been inserted in the last bin in the array. Bidirectional sorting may be 
achieved with a bidirectional motor so that copies of the next sheet in 
the set to be reproduced are inserted as the bins are driven upward by the 
motor 87. In this mode of operation the edge registration transport 
functions in the same manner by starting at the lowpoint of its cycle and 
moving up in unison with the bin for copy sheet insertion followed by the 
edge registration transport dropping down to its low position for copy 
sheet insertion in the next bin. After the sorting operation has been 
completed, the array of bins is returned to the home position from which 
the bins may then be sequentially moved to the finishing position. 
Each of the bins is pivotally mounted on elevator screw 78 and has a gear 
95 which engages segment gear 96 as it is lowered into position. When the 
bin pivot motor 97 is activated it drives cam 98 which through cam 
follower 99, pivots the bin through an arc to the stapling station 46. In 
the finishing operation each of the bins is sequentially pivoted to the 
stapler station where it comes to rest or dwells while the stapler head 
101 is activated. The movement of the bin to the stapler head, its dwell 
there at the stapling position are controlled by cam 98 and the firing of 
the staple is activated by a switch 102 in the cam 98. Thus the cam 98 
serves to pivot the individual tray to the stapling position; hold it 
there for the finishing; activate the stapler and finally to further swing 
the tray about elevator screw 78 to the unloading position. 
When the bin is pivoted to the unloading position unloading cam switch 103 
activates the unloading cam motor 104 which through unloading cam 105 
activates the gripper mechanism 48 to unload the finished set of copy 
sheets. The gripper mechanism includes two toggled gripper members, the 
bottom member 108 being fixed, the top member 109 being movable. When the 
unloading cam raises the gripper bar 110 up it releases the claw of the 
upper gripper member 109 which grips the collated set of finished copy 
sheets and raises it above the front registration edge of the bin 43. 
While the set is held by the gripper mechanism above the bin the bin pivot 
motor 97 through cam 98 swings the bin in a return arc to a home position 
in the vertical array of bins. The unloading cam continues its forward 
cycle and once the bin has been withdrawn the gripper mechanism is 
lowered, the jaws 108, 109 opened and the finished collated set permitted 
to fall into collecting bin 51. 
In this manner once the bin has been returned to the vertical array of bins 
the next bin is lowered down the elevator screw 78, has its associated 
gear 95 engage segment gear 96 and the above described stapling and 
unloading operation is repeated. 
With particular reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 a device for corner registering 
copy sheets is illustrated. The device comprises a single paddlewheel 
assembly 120 which is mounted to the frame of the finishing station, the 
paddlewheel assembly being inserted and retracted into the registration 
corner 83 of a bin having a sheet inserted therein. The paddlewheel 
assembly 120 comprises paddle wheel 121 mounted on arm 122 and driven by 
belts 125, 126 around pulleys 123, 124 and 127 by motor, not shown. With 
particular reference to FIG. 5 the arm 124 is vertically supported by arm 
130 which is urged toward the array of trays by spring 131. The placement 
of the paddlewheel is controlled by cam 132 and cam follower 133, the cam 
132 being driven by the elevator motor 87 in synchronism with the bin. 
Thus as the array of bins is moved up or down the cam 132 is actuated to 
force the paddlewheel 121 out of the tray against the force of the spring 
131. When the next tray arrives at the copy inserting station the cam 132 
is rotated permitting the paddlewheel to be inserted in the tray into the 
corner to corner register the copy being inserted on both sides. In this 
way each copy sheet is simultaneously urged and registered against the bin 
side registration edge 68 and the bin front registration edge 82. 
FIGS. 6 and 7 depict an alternative embodiment of a device for corner 
registering copy sheets. In this embodiment a corner scuffer wheel 136 is 
placed in each bin to corner register the sheets as they enter the bin. 
The scuffer wheel is mounted on arm 137 which is pivotally supported 
through pivot shaft 138, the shaft 138 being pivotally fixed by brackets 
139 to the bottom of the tray on top of the bin upon which it acts. The 
wheel 136 is driven by belt 140 through pulleys 141 and 142. The pivot 
shaft 138 in turn is driven by contact of pulley 144 with drive belt 143. 
The scuffing motion imparted to the wheel 136 continuously urges the copy 
sheets into front registration edge 82 and side registration edge 68. When 
the bin is pivoted in an arc from the sorting position to the stapling 
station the scuffer wheel is first raised off the sheets in the bin so as 
not to disturb registration. This may be accomplished by lifting pin 150 
on rotary solenoid 149 contacting lift pin 148 on arm 137 and raising it 
together with the attached corner scuffer wheel off the copy sheet in the 
bin 43. It should be noted that only a single rotary solenoid is necessary 
since the bins swing from the sorting position to the stapling position 
from only a single position in the bin array. The belt 143 is positioned 
only at the sheet insertion station and thereby drives the pulley 144 and 
thereby the scuffer wheel only when a bin moves past the sheet insertion 
station. 
In accordance with the invention a finishing station for a reproducing 
machine is provided. In particular a finishing station which collates, 
corner registers, and finishes sets of multipage original sheets into 
accurately registered and finished sets is provided. While the invention 
has been described with reference to specific embodiments it will be 
apparent to those skilled in the art that many alternative modifications 
or variations may be made by those skilled in the art. For example, while 
the finishing station has been illustrated as a stapler it should be noted 
that a stitching type of device could alternately be used. Accordingly it 
is intended to embrace all such alternatives and modifications as may fall 
within the scope of the appended claims.