Recording material processing apparatus and image forming system

Abstract

To suppress damage of a bearing part of alignment means and deformation of an alignment part of alignment means in comparison to a case where the bearing part and the alignment part contact the device body when the alignment means exposed to the outside is located close to a surface of a device body intersecting a guide shaft direction.SOLUTION: A recording material processing device comprises: a guide shaft whose axial direction extends in a recording material width direction intersecting a discharge direction of a recording material; and alignment means which moves along the guide shaft. The alignment means comprises: a bearing part which is fit to the guide shaft in a movable manner; an alignment part which is provided so as to be exposed to the outer side in the discharge direction and aligns the position of the end surface by contacting the end surface in parallel with a discharge direction of the recording material from the outside of the recording material; an arm part which connects the bearing part with the alignment part; and a protrusion part which protrudes toward the outer side of the recording material in the axial direction of the guide shaft from the surface of the arm part and contacts the surface of the device body when the external force is applied to the alignment means at a position where the alignment means gets close to the surface of the device body in parallel with the discharge direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a recording material processing apparatus and an image forming system. [Background technology]

[0002] A sheet media processing device is known that includes a discharge means for discharging sheet media that is transported thereto, a tray for loading the sheet media discharged by the discharge means, and a tray moving means for moving the tray a predetermined amount in a shift direction perpendicular to the sheet media discharge direction of the discharge means to sort the sheet media loaded on the tray.The device is equipped with an alignment means for aligning the sheet media loaded on the tray, and the alignment means has a pair of alignment members that perform an alignment operation of aligning the end faces of the sheet media discharged from the discharge means and loaded on the tray by bringing alignment portions into contact so as to sandwich two end faces of the sheet media that are parallel to the discharge direction, and performs an alignment operation to align the sheet media loaded after the sorting operation in a position different from the sheet media loaded before the sorting operation (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2001-240295 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The present invention aims to suppress damage to the bearing portion of the aligning means and deformation of the aligning portion of the aligning means when the aligning means exposed to the outside is positioned near a surface of the device main body that intersects with the guide axis direction, compared to when the bearing portion or the aligning portion comes into contact with the device main body. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problem, the recording material processing apparatus according to claim 1 comprises: A recording material processing apparatus including a guide shaft extending in a recording material width direction, the axial direction of the guide shaft intersecting with a recording material discharge direction, and an alignment means moving along the guide shaft, The alignment means is a bearing portion movably fitted to the guide shaft; The recording material is discharged from the discharge port. The above an alignment section that contacts an edge surface of the recording material parallel to a discharge direction from an outside of the recording material to align the position of the edge surface; an arm portion connecting the bearing portion and the alignment portion; From the surface of the arm portion toward the outside of the recording material in the axial direction of the guide shaft The top part that contacts the surface of the device body is located outside the alignment part in the axial direction. The alignment means is parallel to the discharge direction. The above a protrusion that comes into contact with the surface of the device body when an external force is applied to the alignment means at a position close to the surface of the device body; It is characterized by:

[0006] The present invention relates to a recording material processing apparatus comprising: The alignment portion is supported by the arm portion from the outer side in the guide axial direction relative to the bearing portion, the arm portion is bent in the axial direction, and the protrusion portion is formed to protrude from a surface of the arm portion that is on the outer side in the axial direction. It is characterized by:

[0008] Claim 3 The invention described is as follows: 1 or 2 In the recording material processing apparatus according to the present invention, The top portion is composed of a plurality of surfaces that intersect with each other and contact one surface of the device body. It is characterized by:

[0009] Claim 4 The invention described is as follows: 3 In the recording material processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, the alignment unit is rotatable about the axis, and a standby position is a position where the alignment unit approaches a surface of the device body parallel to the discharge direction, and the alignment unit has a support unit that supports the alignment unit so as not to rotate by contacting a portion between a top of the protrusion that contacts the surface of the device body and a surface of the arm unit at the standby position. It is characterized by:

[0010] Claim 5 The invention described is as follows: 4 In the recording material processing apparatus according to the present invention, the support portion is provided upstream of a front surface of the main body of the apparatus in a discharge direction of the recording material, It is characterized by:

[0011] Claim 6 The invention described is as follows: 4 or 5 In the recording material processing apparatus according to the present invention, The cross section of the shaft is substantially L-shaped. It is characterized by:

[0013] In order to solve the above problem, the following claims are provided: 7 The image forming system according to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material; a post-processing device for performing post-processing on the recording material on which the image has been formed by the image forming device; The position of the end surface parallel to the discharge direction of the recording material that has been post-processed by the post-processing device is aligned. 6 and a recording material processing device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, It is characterized by: Effect of the Invention

[0014] Claim 1, 7 According to the invention described in the above, damage to the bearings of the aligning means and deformation of the aligning portions of the aligning means can be suppressed compared to the case where the bearings or the aligning portions come into contact with the device main body.

[0015] According to the invention as set forth in claim 2, it is possible to reduce the impact transmitted to the aligning portion while widening the width of the recording material to be processed.

[0017] Claim 3 According to the invention described in the above, it is possible to improve the strength of the protruding portion when it comes into contact with one surface of the device body.

[0018] Claim 4 According to the invention described in the above, it is possible to make it difficult for an external force to be applied to the alignment portion at the standby position.

[0019] Claim 5 According to the invention described above, the appearance of the device can be improved and it can be made difficult to touch from the outside.

[0020] Claim 6 According to the invention described in the above, it is possible to make the material less likely to break even when a load is applied. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the post-processing device and the recording material processing device as viewed from above. [Diagram 3] 1 is a schematic plan view showing an overall configuration of a recording material processing apparatus in a developed plan view; [Figure 4] FIG. 4A is a perspective view showing an aligning device, and FIG. 4B is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an aligning portion of the aligning device. [Diagram 5] 4A is a side view showing a state in which the aligning device has rotated toward the apparatus main body, and FIG. 4B is a side view showing a state in which the aligning device has rotated from the apparatus main body in the recording material discharge direction so as to perform an aligning operation. [Figure 6] 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating alignment of edge surfaces of paper by an aligning device. [Figure 7] 1A is a plan view of the aligning device when it is positioned at a standby position, and FIG. [Figure 8]13A is a plan view of a support according to a modified example, and FIG. 13B is a side view of the support according to the modified example. [Figure 9] 1A is a side view showing a state in which the aligning device moves to an aligning position, and FIG. [Figure 10] 1A is a plan view showing the alignment operation at the alignment position, and FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] The present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the drawings, showing embodiments and specific examples, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and specific examples. In addition, in the following explanation using the drawings, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic and the ratios of the dimensions, etc. may differ from the actual ones, and in order to make it easier to understand, illustrations other than those of parts necessary for the explanation have been omitted as appropriate. For ease of understanding in the following description, in the drawings, the left-right direction is defined as the X direction, the front-rear direction is defined as the Y direction, and the up-down direction is defined as the Z direction.

[0024] (1) Overall Configuration and Operation of Image Forming System FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an image forming system 1 according to this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a post-processing device 3 and a recording material processing device 5 viewed from above. The image forming system 1 shown in Figure 1 includes an image forming device 2 that forms an image on paper P as a recording material, a post-processing device 3 that performs post-processing on the paper P on which the image has been formed by the image forming device 2, a relay device 4 that is disposed on top of the image forming device 2 and transports the paper P discharged from the image forming device 2 to the post-processing device 3, and a recording material processing device 5 that aligns the edge surfaces of the paper P that has been post-processed by the post-processing device 3. The overall configuration and operation of the image forming system 1 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0025] (1.1) Configuration and operation of image forming device As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 2 is configured to include an image forming unit 10, a paper feeding device 20 mounted below the image forming unit 10, a reading device 30 mounted above the image forming unit 10, an operation display unit 40, a control device 50, and a manual paper feeding device 70 mounted on the left side of the image forming unit 10.

[0026] The image forming section 10 is configured with an exposure device 12, a photosensitive unit 13, a developing device 14, a transfer device 15, and a fixing device 16, and forms image information as a toner image on paper P fed from a paper feed device 20 or a manual paper feed device 70.

[0027] The reader 30 reads an image on the sheet with an image sensor (not shown) such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) line sensor, and converts the image into image data, which is an electrical signal.

[0028] An operation display unit 40, which is a user interface, is disposed on the front side of the reading device 30. The operation display unit 40 is configured by combining a liquid crystal display panel, various operation buttons, a touch panel, etc., and a user of the image forming device 2 inputs various settings and instructions via the operation display unit 40. In addition, various information is displayed to the user of the image forming device 2 via the liquid crystal display panel.

[0029] The control device 50 includes an image formation control unit 501 that controls the operation of the image forming device 2, an image processing unit 502 that prepares image data according to a print processing request, a power supply unit 503, etc. The image processing unit 502 converts print information input from an external information transmitting device (such as a personal computer) into image information for forming a latent image, and outputs a drive signal to the exposure device 12 at a preset timing. The exposure device 12 in this embodiment is configured with an LED head in which LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are arranged in a line. The power supply device 503 applies a predetermined high voltage for image formation to the photoconductor unit 13, the developing device 14, the transfer device 15, etc., and also supplies power to the exposure device 12, the fixing device 16, etc.

[0030] The paper feeding device 20 stores a large number of sheets of paper P, and the sheets of paper P, which are positioned in the width direction by a regulating plate (not shown), are pulled out one sheet at a time from the top toward the front (-X direction) by the paper pull-out section 22 and transported to the nip portion of the registration roller pair 23.

[0031] The manual paper feed device 70 is foldable with respect to an opening / closing member 90, and feeds recording materials that are difficult to feed by the paper feed device 20, such as non-standard size paper, specific thick paper, postcards, long sheets longer than normal size, and plastic films, to the nip part of the registration roller pair 23.

[0032] The paper P sent out from the paper feeder 20 or the manual paper feeder 70 is transported to the pair of registration rollers 23, and is transported to the secondary transfer nip portion with its leading edge aligned by the pair of registration rollers 23.

[0033] The photoconductor units 13 are provided in parallel above the paper feed device 20 and include photoconductor drums 31 that are driven to rotate. On each of the photoconductor drums 31 on which an electrostatic latent image has been formed by the exposure device 12, a toner image of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) or black (K) is formed by each of the developing devices 14.

[0034] The color toner images formed on the photoconductor drums 31 of the photoconductor units 13 are sequentially electrostatically transferred (primary transfer) onto an intermediate transfer belt 51 of a transfer device 15, and a superimposed toner image is formed in which the color toners are superimposed. The superimposed toner images on the intermediate transfer belt 51 are collectively transferred by a secondary transfer roller 52 onto a sheet of paper P sent out from a pair of registration rollers 23 and guided by a conveyance guide.

[0035] The fixing device 16 has a pair of a heating module 61 and a pressure module 62, and a fixing nip portion NP (fixing area) is formed in the pressure contact area between the heating module 61 and the pressure module 62. The paper P onto which the toner image has been collectively transferred in the transfer device 15 is transported to the fixing nip portion NP of the fixing device 16 in a state in which the toner image is not yet fixed, and the toner image is fixed by the action of heat and pressure.

[0036] The paper P on which the fixed toner image has been formed is guided by the switching gates G1 and G2, and is discharged from the lower first discharge roller pair 63 of the vertically arranged discharge roller pairs to the relay device 4 arranged inside the body S of the image forming device 2. In addition, the position of the switching gate G1 is switched, and the paper P is discharged from the upper second discharge roller pair 64 onto the upper surface 4a of the relay device 4.

[0037] (1.2) Configurations and operations of the post-processing device, relay device, and recording material processing device The relay device 4 has an entrance roller 41 that receives the paper P output through the first discharge roller pair 63 of the image forming device 2, first conveying rollers 42, 42 that convey the paper P received by the entrance roller 41 downstream, and a second conveying roller 43 that conveys the paper P toward the post-processing device 3.

[0038] The post-processing device 3 includes a receiving roller 301 that receives the paper P output from the image forming device 2 via the relay device 4, a compile tray 310 that collects and stores multiple sheets of paper P, a pair of discharge rollers 302 that discharge the paper P toward the compile tray 310, a paddle 303 that rotates to push the paper P toward the end guide 310b of the compile tray 310, and a tamper 305 for aligning the edges of the paper P on the compile tray 310.

[0039] Furthermore, the post-processing device 3 has a binding mechanism 320 that binds the ends of a paper stack made up of a plurality of sheets accumulated on the compile tray 310. The bundle of sheets bound on the compile tray 310 and the bundle of sheets bound by the binding mechanism 320 are transported and ejected by the eject rollers 304 .

[0040] A stacker tray TR is provided on the side of the post-processing device 3, which can be raised and lowered (in the Z direction: see the arrow in FIG. 1) to stack the paper stacks discharged by the eject roller 304 so that the user can easily pick them up.

[0041] Above the eject roller 304, within the housing of the post-processing device 3, a recording material processing device 5 that aligns the end faces of the paper stack discharged onto the stacker tray TR by the eject roller 304 is disposed as an integrated unit. The recording material processing device 5 comprises a guide shaft 510 that extends in the width direction of the paper P that intersects with the discharge direction of the paper P, and an aligning device 520 as an aligning means that is movably held on the guide shaft 510, and as shown in Fig. 2, an aligning portion 523 of the aligning device 520 contacts the end face Pa of the paper P from the outside thereof discharged onto the stacker tray TR to align the end face Pa of the paper P (Y direction: see arrow R in Fig. 2).

[0042] (2) Recording material processing device Figure 3 is a schematic plan view showing the overall configuration of the recording material processing device 5 in a plan view, Figure 4(a) is an oblique view showing the alignment device 520, (b) is a partial cross-sectional view explaining the configuration of the alignment section 523 of the alignment device 520, Figure 5(a) is a side view showing the alignment device 520 rotated toward the device main body, (b) is a side view showing the alignment device 520 rotated in the recording material discharge direction from the device main body to perform an alignment operation, and Figure 6 is a diagram explaining the alignment of the edge surface Pa of the paper P by the alignment device 520. The configuration and operation of the recording material processing device 5 will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0043] (2.1) Overall configuration of recording material processing device As shown in Figure 3, the recording material processing device 5 comprises a guide shaft 510 extending in the paper width direction (Y, -Y direction) whose axial direction intersects (is perpendicular to) the discharge direction of the paper P, and an alignment device 520 as an alignment means that moves along the guide shaft 510.

[0044] Guide shaft 510 is composed of first guide shaft 511 and second guide shaft 512 made of a metal shaft, and both ends are fixed to the device body. Support base 513 is slidably fitted to first guide shaft 511, and one end 513a of support base 513 is fixed to timing belt 515 stretched by pulley 514 in the axial direction of first guide shaft 511. One of pulleys 514 is connected to the rotating shaft of motor M1, and when motor M1 rotates, timing belt 515 rotates, and support base 513 moves along first guide shaft 511.

[0045] The second guide shaft 512 is disposed parallel to the first guide shaft 511, and the alignment devices 520 are supported by the support base 513 in a pair on the left and right sides so that they face each other, and are slidably fitted together. As a result, when the support base 513 moves in the axial direction of the first guide shaft 511 with the rotation of the motor M1, the alignment devices 520 move along the second guide shaft 512 so as to narrow or widen the gap therebetween.

[0046] The alignment device 520 is integrally configured with a bearing portion 521 which is movably fitted onto the second guide shaft 512 while sliding thereon, an alignment portion 523 which is exposed to the outside in the discharge direction (X direction) and contacts the end face Pa parallel to the discharge direction of the paper P from the outside (-Y direction) to align the position of the end face Pa, an arm portion 522 which connects the bearing portion 521 and the alignment portion 523, and a protrusion 524 which protrudes from a surface 522c of the arm portion 522 (shown in Figure 4(a)) towards the outside of the paper P in the axial direction of the second guide shaft 512. In this embodiment, when an external force is applied to the alignment device 520 at a position where the alignment device 520 approaches the surface 5a (shown by a dashed line in Figure 3) of the device main body parallel to the discharge direction, the top 524a of the protrusion 524 protruding from the surface 522c of the arm 522 comes into contact with the surface 5a of the device main body first, thereby suppressing damage to the bearing portion 521 and deformation of the alignment portion 523.

[0047] As shown in Figure 4(a), arm portion 522 consists of a first arm portion 522A bent so as to be positioned in a direction (-Y direction) axially away from end surface Pa of paper P than bearing portion 521, and a second arm portion 522B that is integrally and continuously connected to first arm portion 522A and supports alignment portion 523, and bearing portion 521, first arm portion 522A, second arm portion 522B, receiving portion 523A of alignment portion 523, and protrusion 524 are formed as a single unit from a synthetic resin such as POM (polyacetal).

[0048] As shown in FIG. 4(b), the alignment portion 523 is attached to a receiving portion 523A formed integrally with one end of the second arm portion 522B, with a contact portion 523a having a flat surface that contacts the end surface Pa of the paper P being movably inserted into an insertion hole 523Aa of the receiving portion 523A by an axis portion 523b and being biased toward the end surface Pa of the paper P by a spring 523c, with the contact portion 523a being attached by a screw 523d.

[0049] In this way, the aligning portion 523 has a double structure in which the contact portion 523a is movably biased against the receiving portion 523A by the spring 523c and is thick in the axial direction of the second guide shaft 512, but since the second arm portion 522B supporting the receiving portion 523A is curved in the axial direction of the second guide shaft 512 by the first arm portion 522A, it can make contact from further outside to align the end surface Pa of the paper P. Also, if the aligning portion 523 does not have a double structure, the aligning portion 523 becomes thinner and can make contact from even further outside to align the end surface Pa of the paper P.

[0050] In addition, the alignment portion 523 is located outward in the axial direction of the second guide shaft 512 with respect to the bearing portion 521. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the recording material processing device 5 in the width direction while increasing the paper width of the paper to be processed.

[0051] A rotating plate 516 is fixed to the second guide shaft 512. As shown in Fig. 3, a pulley 517 is fixed to one end of the second guide shaft 512 and is connected to a motor M2 by a timing belt 518. As a result, when the motor M2 rotates a predetermined number of pulses, the second guide shaft 512 rotates, and at the same time, the rotating plate 516 rotates. As shown in Fig. 5(a) , when the rotating plate 516 rotates (indicated by an arrow R2 in Fig. 5(a) ), the bent portion 516a of the rotating plate 516 contacts the first arm portion 522A from below (in the -Z direction) and lifts the first arm portion 522A, causing the alignment portion 523 to rotate toward the device body (indicated by an arrow R3 in Fig. 5(a) ).

[0052] When the aligning device 520 aligns the discharged paper P, the aligning section 523 rotates toward the device body and moves a predetermined distance in the axial direction (-Y direction, Y direction), and then the motor M2 rotates in the reverse direction for a predetermined number of pulses, thereby rotating the second guide shaft 512 in the reverse direction and simultaneously rotating the rotating plate 516 in the reverse direction. When the rotating plate 516 rotates in the reverse direction (indicated by the arrow R4 in FIG. 5(b)), as shown in FIG. 5(b), the bent section 516a of the rotating plate 516 moves away from the first arm section 522A, and the aligning section 523 rotates downward (in the -Z direction) under its own weight and faces the end surface Pa of the paper P (indicated by the arrow R5 in FIG. 5(b)).

[0053] When a pair of alignment devices 520 having alignment portions 523 configured in this manner move toward the end surface Pa of the paper P along the second guide shaft 512 as shown in FIG. 6 and the contact portion 523a comes into contact with the end surface Pa of the paper P so as to bite into it (indicated by s in FIG. 5), the contact portion 523a acts to align the end surface Pa of the paper P while pressing the spring 523c toward the receiving portion 523A.

[0054] (2.2) Alignment Operation Figure 7(a) is a plan view of the alignment device 520 in the standby position, and (b) is a side view. Figure 8(a) is a plan view of a modified support 526A, and (b) is a side view. Figure 9(a) is a side view of the alignment device 520 moving to the alignment position, and (b) is a plan view. Figure 10(a) is a plan view of the alignment operation at the alignment position, and (b) is a side view.

[0055] (2.2.1) Standby position When the recording material processing device 5 receives the paper P discharged from the post-processing device 3 onto the stacker tray TR, the recording material processing device 5 waits at the waiting position. As shown in Fig. 7(a) , the waiting position is a position where the aligning portion 523 of the aligning device 520 is furthest away from the end Pa of the paper P to be discharged in the axial direction of the second guide shaft 512 so as to leave a predetermined opposing distance W that allows the aligning device 520 to receive the paper P.

[0056] The alignment device 520 is the shaft of the second guide shaft 512. Turn It can rotate via rotating plate 516, and when the alignment operation is completed, it moves to the standby position with alignment section 523 rotated toward the device body. Then, at the standby position, as shown in Fig. 7(b), alignment section 523 rotates to a position nearly perpendicular to the device body so that alignment section 523 does not protrude significantly toward the discharge direction of paper P. This makes alignment section 523 difficult to touch from the outside and gives it a compact appearance.

[0057] The alignment section 523 maintains a state in which the first arm section 522A is pushed up from below and rotated toward the main body of the device as the rotating plate 516 fixed to the second guide shaft 512 rotates, but if an external force is applied to the alignment section 523, a load is applied to the rotating plate 516, and therefore also to the motor M2 that rotates it. Furthermore, when an external force is applied to the alignment unit 523 and the rotation plate 516 rotates in the -R2 direction from the position shown in Fig. 5(a), for example, when the movement from Fig. 5(a) to Fig. 5(b) controls only the amount of rotation of the rotation plate 516, the position shown in Fig. 5(b) may also change. If this occurs, the positional relationship between the alignment unit 523 and the side of the paper may change, making it difficult to align the paper.

[0058] In this embodiment, a support portion 526 that protrudes in the axial direction (Y direction) is provided on the upstream side of the surface 5a of the device body parallel to the discharge direction of the paper P in the discharge direction, as shown in Fig. 7. As shown in Fig. 7(b), the support portion 526 is substantially L-shaped in cross section, and contacts a portion 524b between an apex 524a of the protruding portion 524 and a surface 522c of the second arm portion 522B from below at the standby position (as shown by an arrow A in Fig. 7(b)), thereby supporting the alignment device 520 so that it does not rotate to the alignment position under its own weight.

[0059] 8, the support portion 526 may be formed so as to protrude long in the axial direction (Y direction) from the surface 5a of the device body and receive the lower surface 522Ba of the second arm portion 522B. By directly supporting the second arm portion 522B instead of the protruding portion 524, deformation of the protruding portion 524 can be prevented.

[0060] Support portion 526 is provided on the upstream side of surface 5a of the device body parallel to the discharge direction of paper P in the discharge direction, improving the appearance of the device and making it difficult to touch from the outside. In addition, support 526 is formed in a substantially L-shape in cross section, so it is difficult to break even if a load is applied that causes alignment device 520 to rotate under its own weight.

[0061] In this way, the waiting position is the position where the alignment section 523 of the alignment device 520 is farthest in the axial direction of the second guide shaft 512 from the end surface Pa of the paper P being discharged, and since the alignment section 523 rotates toward the device main body and is in a position where it does not protrude significantly toward the discharge direction of the paper P, it is a position that is difficult to touch from the outside.

[0062] In addition, in the standby position, as shown in FIG. 7(b), even when the alignment portion 523 is rotated toward the device main body, it does not face the surface 5a of the device main body, and the top of the screw 523d ​​that attaches the contact portion 523a of the alignment portion 523 to the receiving portion 523A does not interfere with the surface 5a of the device main body.

[0063] 7(b), an elastic member 525 is provided near the tip of the alignment portion 523. The elastic member 525 is formed of, for example, a foam material, and comes into contact with the surface 5b of the device body when the alignment device 520 rotates toward the device body, thereby suppressing damage to the device body.

[0064] In the standby position, when an external force is applied to the alignment device 520, the top 524a of the protrusion 524 comes into contact with the surface 5a of the device body parallel to the discharge direction of the paper P. The top 524a is U-shaped with multiple surfaces as shown in FIG. 4(a), improving the strength of the protrusion 524 when it comes into contact with the surface 5a. The protrusion 524 may be a rectangular column with the center cut out, and the top 524a may be a square with four surfaces. The protrusion 524 may also be cylindrical. In this case, it is preferable that the cylinder is hollow so that the rigidity is not increased more than necessary.

[0065] In the above embodiment, the apex 524a has a certain surface area that contacts the surface 5a, but the apex 524a may contact the surface 5a at a point. As a specific example of the apex 524 contacting the surface 5a at a point, the protruding portion 524 may be semicircular. If the protruding portion 524 is semicircular, the amount of protrusion from 522c is reduced, so that the rotation stopper in this case may be provided by another portion.

[0066] The protruding portion 524 protrudes outwardly most out of the portions of the aligning device 520 that face the surface 5a of the device body, and as shown in Fig. 7(a), when an external force (indicated by arrow F in Fig. 7(a)) is applied to the aligning portion 523, the top portion 524a of the protruding portion 524 comes into contact with the surface 5a of the device body first (indicated by arrow f in Fig. 7(a)). Therefore, the bearing portion 521 and the receiving portion 523A of the aligning portion 523 do not come into contact with the surface 5a of the device body, and damage to the bearing portion 521 and deformation of the aligning portion 523 can be suppressed.

[0067] In this embodiment, the protruding portion 524 does not protrude from the receiving portion 523A of the alignment portion 523, but protrudes from the surface 522c of the second arm portion 522B which has lower rigidity than the receiving portion 523A, so that the sound generated when the top 524a of the protruding portion 524 contacts the surface 5a of the device body is small, and the second arm portion 522B is easily flexible with one end of the first arm portion 522A as a base end, and is easily able to absorb deformation. Also, impact is less likely to be transmitted to the alignment portion 523.

[0068] (2.2.2) Movement to Alignment Position When moving from the waiting position to the alignment position where it contacts from the outside the end surface Pa of the paper P discharged onto the stacker tray TR and aligns the end surface Pa of the paper P, as shown in FIG. 9(a), first the rotating plate 516 rotates (indicated by arrow R6 in FIG. 9(a)) to rotate the alignment portion 523 toward the device main body (indicated by arrow R7 in FIG. 9(a)), thereby separating the support portion 524b of the protrusion 524 from the support 526 provided on the surface 5a of the device main body (indicated by r in FIG. 9(a)).

[0069] Then, as shown in FIG. 9(b), after the alignment portion 523 has rotated toward the device main body and moved axially (-Y direction, Y direction) to a predetermined position, when the rotating plate 516 rotates in the reverse direction, the bent portion 516a of the rotating plate 516 moves away from the first arm portion 522A, and the alignment portion 523 rotates downward (-Z direction) under its own weight until it faces the end surface Pa of the paper P.

[0070] (2.2.3) Alignment behavior When the aligning section 523 moves to the aligning position, as shown in FIG. 10, the contact section 523a of the aligning section 523 contacts and taps the edge Pa of the paper P from the outside, thereby aligning the paper P.

[0071] (2.2.4) Movement to standby position When the alignment operation is completed, the rotary plate 516 rotates, causing the alignment section 523 to rotate toward the main body of the apparatus and move to the standby position. When the alignment section 523 moves to the standby position, the rotating plate 516 rotates in the reverse direction, and the alignment section 523 rotates downward (-Z direction) under its own weight, so that the portion 524b between the top 524a of the protrusion 524 and the surface 522a of the second arm section 522B comes into contact with the support section 526, supporting the alignment device 520 so that it does not rotate to the alignment position under its own weight.

[0072] When an external force is applied to alignment portion 523 in the standby position, top portion 524a of protrusion 524 comes into contact with surface 5a of the device body first, preventing bearing portion 521 and receiving portion 523A of alignment portion 523 from coming into contact with surface 5a of the device body, thereby preventing damage to bearing portion 521 and deformation of alignment portion 523.

[0073] In the above embodiment, the arm 522 is composed of the first arm 522A and the second arm 522B. However, the arm 522 may be in a straight line. [Explanation of symbols]

[0074] 1. Image forming system 2. Image forming device 3. After-treatment device 4. Relay device 5. Recording material processing device 510···Guide shaft 511···First guide shaft 512 Second guide shaft 516 Rotating plate 520 Alignment device 521... Bearing part 522...Arm 522A...1st arm 522B...Second arm 523 Alignment section 523A···Receiving part 523a...Contact part 523b...Shaft part 524...Protrusion 524a...Top 525 Elastic body 526... Support part TR···Stacker Tray

Claims

1. A recording material processing apparatus including a guide shaft extending in a recording material width direction, the axial direction of the guide shaft intersecting with a recording material discharge direction, and an alignment means moving along the guide shaft, The alignment means is a bearing portion movably fitted to the guide shaft; an alignment portion that is exposed to the outside in the discharge direction and contacts an end surface of the recording material parallel to the discharge direction from the outside of the recording material to align the position of the end surface; an arm portion connecting the bearing portion and the alignment portion; a protrusion that protrudes from a surface of the arm portion toward an outer side of the recording material in the axial direction of the guide shaft so that a top portion that contacts a surface of the device main body is located outside the alignment portion in the axial direction, and that contacts the surface of the device main body when an external force is applied to the alignment means at a position where the alignment means approaches the surface of the device main body parallel to the discharge direction, 13. A recording material processing apparatus comprising:

2. The alignment portion is supported by the arm portion from the outer side in the guide axial direction relative to the bearing portion, the arm portion is bent in the axial direction, and the protrusion portion is formed to protrude from a surface of the arm portion that is on the outer side in the axial direction.

2. The recording material processing apparatus according to claim 1,

3. The top portion has a surface that contacts the surface of the device body and is composed of a plurality of surfaces.

3. The recording material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording material processing apparatus is a recording material processing apparatus.

4. the alignment unit is rotatable about the axis, and has a standby position at a position approaching a surface of the device body parallel to the discharge direction, and has a support unit that contacts a portion between the top of the protrusion that contacts the surface of the device body and the surface of the arm unit at the standby position to support the alignment means so as not to rotate; 4. The recording material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording material processing apparatus is a recording material processing apparatus.

5. the support portion is provided upstream of a front surface of the device main body in a discharge direction of the recording material, 5. The recording material processing apparatus according to claim 4,

6. The support portion is substantially L-shaped when viewed in cross section in the axial direction.

6. The recording material processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the recording material processing apparatus is a recording material processing apparatus.

7. an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material; a post-processing device for performing post-processing on the recording material on which the image has been formed by the image forming device; a recording material processing apparatus according to claim 1 , which aligns an end surface of the recording material that has been post-processed by the post-processing apparatus in a direction parallel to a discharge direction of the recording material, 1. An image forming system comprising:

Images