Patent Publication Number: US-2020282537-A1

Title: Electric stapler

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates generally to the technical field of office stationery. More particularly, it relates to an electric stapler. 
     STATE OF THE PRIOR ART 
     The staplers commonly used on the market generally require manual paper-punching, which are not convenient in use. Therefore, in order to eliminate the inconvenience of manual stapler in use, electric stapler is introduced to the market. The current electric staplers do not allow the adjustment of the binding distance of the paper edge while the existing electric staplers are mostly of the complicated spur gear structure, which generates much noise and are instable in functioning. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object the present invention is to provide an electric stapler as a solution to the deficiencies in the prior art, which adjusts the binding distance of the paper edge with a distance adjusting block and adopts planetary gear and sliding stapling structures, enabling the electric stapler to enjoy large transmission torque, stable functioning, steady stapling, low noise, and good strength. 
     In order to accomplish this, the invention comprises the following solutions: 
     An electric stapler, comprising a left cover and a right cover, wherein an accommodation space is formed when said left and right covers buckle together, and it further comprises: 
     A binding mechanism, wherein said binding mechanism comprises a base and a binding frame and the back ends of the base and the binding frame are rotatably connected by a pivot; 
     A pressing mechanism, wherein said pressing mechanism is disposed above the front end of the binding frame for driving the binding mechanism to complete the binding; 
     A driving mechanism, wherein said driving mechanism is disposed above the binding mechanism, said driving mechanism is connected to said pressing mechanism through a transmission shaft, and said driving mechanism is used to drive the pressing mechanism to move up and down; 
     A distance adjusting block, wherein said distance adjusting block is of a U-shaped structure, comprising an integrally-formed left shell, right shell and front plate, wherein said left shell and right shell are respectively snapped into the left and right side walls of the base, and the distance adjusting block is able to slide relative to the side wall of the base; 
     A control mechanism, wherein said control mechanism comprises a paper feeding switch and a pressing switch, with pressing switch disposed at the buckling portion of the back ends of the left cover and the right cover, and said paper feeding switch disposed on the front plate of the distance adjustment block; 
     A circuit board, wherein said driving mechanism and the control mechanism are electrically connected to the circuit board; and 
     Said binding mechanism, pressing mechanism, driving mechanism, distance adjusting block, control mechanism and circuit board are all disposed in the accommodation space. 
     Further, said driving mechanism comprises a motor and a gear box disposed in front of the motor, wherein said gear box comprises an internal gear and an internal gear cover, said internal gear in driving connection to the motor. In said gear box, there disposes a first planetary gear set, a first sun gear, a second planetary gear set, a second sun gear, a third planetary gear set and two planet carriers, wherein said first sun gear are integrally formed with one planet carrier and said first planetary gear set is disposed on the other side of the planet carrier, while the second planetary gear set is integrally formed with the other planet carrier and the second sun gear is disposed on the other side of the other planet carrier. The third planetary gear set is disposed on the internal gear cover. Said first planetary gear set meshes with the internal gear, the second planetary gear set meshes with the internal gear and the first sun gear respectively, and the third planetary gear set meshes with the internal gear and the second sun gear respectively. 
     Preferably, said gear box further comprises a spacer inside, wherein said spacer is disposed at the front end of the first planetary gear set. 
     Preferably, the numbers of planetary gears in said first planetary gear set, second planetary gear set and third planetary gear set are all three. 
     Further, a bracket supporting the driving mechanism and the pressing mechanism is comprised, wherein the bracket is connected to said binding mechanism. 
     Preferably, the bracket comprises a stop switch, wherein when said binding mechanism completes one binding, said pressing mechanism touches said stop switch, thus activating the stop switch. 
     Further, said pressing mechanism comprises a sliding frame, a cam disposed inside the sliding frame, and a pressing piece disposed at the bottom of the sliding frame, wherein said cam is sleeved on the transmission shaft. 
     Preferably, said sliding frame comprises a hard rubber block and a damping rubber inside, wherein said damping rubber is disposed under the hard rubber block, and said hard rubber block is disposed under the cam. 
     Further, said binding frame comprises a core groove, a core for accommodating staples, a thruster for conveying staples, a spring for driving the thruster to slide, a hook, a buffer block, and a hook spring, wherein said core is disposed in the core groove, said buffer block is disposed at the back end of the core, said hook is fixed at the back end of the core groove, and said spring is connected to the back end of the core groove at one end while the other end of the spring is connected to the thruster bypassing the front end of the core groove. After the back ends of said base and said binding frame are connected by the pivot, the hook spring is sleeved on the pivot to abut the hook. 
     Further, said base comprises a battery rack at the back end for accommodating the batteries and a battery cover at the bottom of said base, wherein the upper end of the battery rack is provided with a protection switch. When said core is closed, the protection switch is in contact with the buffer block and the protection switch is on. When the core is opened, the protection switch is separated from the buffer block and the protection switch is off. 
     Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects: 
     1. The electric stapler of the present invention comprises a driving mechanism, a pressing mechanism, a binding mechanism and a control mechanism. In addition, it also comprises a distance adjusting block, which can change the distance from the staple outlet to the paper feeding switch, thereby adjusting the binding distance of the paper edge to meet different requirements on binding margin; 
     2. The electric stapler of the present invention comprises multiple sets of planetary gears, enjoying the advantages of large transmission torque, stable transmission, good strength and low noise; 
     3. The pressing mechanism in the electric stapler of the present invention comprises a sliding frame and a cam which are driven by the driving mechanism to move up and down, thereby completing the stapling, which is simple in mechanism. Damping rubbers are disposed inside the sliding frame and at the lower part of the cam, which play the buffering and protection role, thus ensuring a stable, reliable and firm stapling. 
     4. The binding mechanism in electric stapler of the present invention adopts the design of power-off protection by ejecting the core, which, under the effect of the protection switch and the buffer block, avoids personnel injury or damage to the machine caused by accidentally touching the paper feeding switch, thus playing the role of safety protection. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view illustrating the structure of the electric stapler of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view illustrating the structure of the driving mechanism of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic view illustrating the assembling of the driving mechanism and the pressing mechanism of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic view illustrating the assembling of the distance adjusting block and the paper feeding switch of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic view illustrating the core opening in the binding frame of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic view illustrating the core closing in the binding frame of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The invention will be described in details below with reference to the drawings and a specific embodiment. 
     Embodiment 1 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 to 6 , the embodiment provides an electric stapler, comprising a left cover  1  and a right cover  31 , wherein an accommodation space is formed when said left cover  1  and the right cover  31  buckle together, and it further comprises: 
     A binding mechanism, wherein said binding mechanism comprises a base  3  and a binding frame  2  and the back ends of said base  3  and the binding frame  2  are rotatably connected by a pivot  18 ; 
     A pressing mechanism, wherein said pressing mechanism is disposed above the front end of the binding frame  2  for driving the binding mechanism to complete the binding; 
     A driving mechanism, wherein said driving mechanism is disposed above the binding mechanism, said driving mechanism is connected to said pressing mechanism through a transmission shaft  13 , and said driving mechanism is used to drive the pressing mechanism to move up and down; 
     A distance adjusting block  30 , wherein said distance adjusting block  30  is of a U-shaped structure, comprising an integrally-formed left shell  301 , right shell  302  and front plate  303 , wherein said left shell  301  and right shell  302  are respectively snapped into the left and right side walls of the base  3 , and the distance adjusting block  30  is able to slide relative to the side wall of the base  3 ; 
     A control mechanism, wherein said control mechanism comprises a paper feeding switch  20  and a pressing switch  19 , with pressing switch  19  disposed at the buckling portion of the back ends of the left cover  1  and the right cover  31 , and said paper feeding switch  20  disposed on the front plate  303  of the distance adjustment block  30 ; 
     A circuit board  33 , wherein said driving mechanism and the control mechanism are electrically connected to the circuit board  33 ; and 
     Said binding mechanism, pressing mechanism, driving mechanism, distance adjusting block  30 , control mechanism and circuit board  33  are all disposed in the accommodation space. 
     The working principle of the electric stapler of the present invention is as follows: When paper touches the paper feeding switch  20  on the distance adjusting block  30 , the circuit is connected. Then the driving mechanism starts to work, driving the pressing mechanism up and down, which drives the binding mechanism to complete the binding. The present invention can change the distance from the staple outlet to the paper feeding switch  20  with the distance adjusting block  30 , thereby adjusting the binding distance of the paper edge to meet different requirements on binding margin; 
     In the embodiment of the present invention, said driving mechanism comprises a motor  4  and a gear box disposed in front of the motor  4 , wherein said gear box comprises an internal gear  5  and an internal gear cover  9 , said internal gear  5  in driving connection to the motor  4 . In said gear box, there disposes a spacer  6 , a first planetary gear set, a first sun gear  81 , a second planetary gear set, a second sun gear  82 , a third planetary gear set and two planet carriers  71 . Said first sun gear are integrally formed with one planet carrier  71  and said first planetary gear set is disposed on the other side of the planet carrier  71 , while the second sun gear is integrally formed with the other planet carrier  71  and the second planetary gear set is disposed on the other side of the other planet carrier  71 . The third planetary gear set is disposed on the internal gear cover  9 . Said first planetary gear set meshes with the internal gear  5 , the second planetary gear set meshes with the internal gear  5  and the first sun gear  81  respectively, and the third planetary gear set meshes with the internal gear  5  and the second sun gear  82  respectively. The numbers of planetary gears  7  in said first planetary gear set, second planetary gear set and third planetary gear set are all three. The electric stapler of the present invention comprises multiple sets of planetary gears, enjoying the advantages of large transmission torque, stable transmission, good strength and low noise. 
     In the embodiment of the present invention, a bracket  14  supporting the driving mechanism and the pressing mechanism is comprised, wherein the bracket  14  is connected to said binding mechanism to stabilize the structure, ensuring the steady running of the driving mechanism and the pressing mechanism. Said bracket  14  comprises a stop switch  15 , wherein when said binding mechanism completes one binding, said pressing mechanism touches said stop switch  15  and activate the stop switch  15 , thereby finishing the binding job and allowing to change the stapling position. 
     In the embodiment of the present invention, said pressing mechanism comprises a sliding frame  10 , a cam  11  disposed inside the sliding frame  10 , and a pressing piece  12  disposed at the bottom of the sliding frame  10 , wherein said cam  11  is sleeved on the transmission shaft  13 . Said sliding frame  10  comprises a hard rubber block  16  and a damping rubber  17  inside, wherein said damping rubber  17  is disposed under the hard rubber block  16 , and said hard rubber block  16  is disposed under the cam  11 . When the cam  11  rotates 0-180°, the sliding frame  10  is driven to move downward to bind the paper while when the cam  11  rotates 180°-360°, the sliding frame  10  starts to return. When the cam  11  rotates to 360°, the sliding frame  10  returns to the original position and the sliding frame  10  activates the stop switch  15 , thus completing the binding. The damping rubber  17  can be compressed to absorb the impact when sheet of paper changes from  1  to  25 , playing the buffering and protection role. The pressing mechanism of the present invention makes the whole stapling process stable, reliable, and firm. 
     In the embodiment of the present invention, said binding frame  2  comprises a core groove  23 , a core  22  for accommodating staples, a thruster  21  for conveying staples, a spring  24  for driving the thruster  21  to slide, a hook  25 , a buffer block  27 , and a hook spring  26 , wherein said core  22  is disposed in the core groove  23 , said buffer block  27  is disposed at the back end of the core  22 , said hook  25  is fixed at the back end of the core groove  23 , and said spring  24  is connected to the back end of the core groove  23  at one end while the other end of the spring  24  is connected to the thruster  21  bypassing the front end of the core groove  23 . After the back ends of said base  3  and said binding frame  2  are connected by the pivot  18 , the hook spring  26  is sleeved on the pivot  18  to the hook  25 . Said base  3  comprises a battery rack  28  at the back end for accommodating the batteries and a battery cover  29  at the bottom of said base  3 , wherein the upper end of the battery rack  28  is provided with a protection switch  32 . When the core  22  is closed, the protection switch  32  is in contact with the buffer block  27  and the protection switch  32  is on. When the core  22  is opened, the protection switch  32  is separated from the buffer block  27  and the protection switch  32  is off. The present invention adopts the design of power-off protection by ejecting the core  22  to avoid personnel injury or damage to the machine caused by accidentally touching the paper feeding switch  20  in the process of staple adding, thus playing the role of safety protection. 
     It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the discussion of any of the above embodiments is merely exemplary, and is not intended to suggest that the scope of the disclosure (including the claims) is limited to these examples; Combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments or different embodiments are also possible, and there are many other variations in the various aspects of the present invention as described above, which are not provided in the details for the sake of brevity. Therefore, any omissions, modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included in the scope of the present invention.