DESCRIPTION

BINDING APPARATUS AND PAPER STAPLE

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a binding apparatus for binding a stack of papers, such as a document, with a paper staple having an adhesive agent layer, and also relates to a paper staple. More specifically, thepresent inventionrelates to a binding apparatus having an improved operability.

Background Art

Conventionally, a stapler is used when simply binding a stack of papers. However, when reutilizing papers that are bound with staples made of metal lines, the staples that are mixed with the papers need to be removed. In view of environmental protection, it is also preferable to separate the staples from the papers when abandoning such bound papers. Nevertheless, extra time and labor is required for such a separating work.

As a proposal for dispensing with such time and labor, there are binding apparatuses by which a stack of papers is bound with a paper made adhesive tape in stead of a metal staple

(see, e.g., JP-A-8-039959 and JP-A-10-000871) . Such a binding apparatus uses a paper made adhesive tape roll attached with

a release paper, and includes a slider having a clamp plate for clamping a stack of papers, and a lift type cutter portion, both disposed above a table that is similar to the one provided on a general desktop stapler. The paper made adhesive tape roll is formed such that paper made adhesive tapes, each having a predetermined length

(length used in a single binding operation) , are continuously stuck onto a release paper. The paper made adhesive tape roll is set to a state in which a front end thereof is erected from a lower side to an upper side of the table, and an adhesive face thereof faces an end face of the stack of papers on the table.

When an edge portion of the stack of papers is clamped by the clamp plate of the slider, and the slider and the stack of papers are slid forward, the end face of the stack of papers is brought into contact with the adhesive face of the adhesive tape.

Next, when the. cutter portion is moved down, a holding member that is integral with the cutter portion presses a front end portion of the adhesive tape onto an upper face of an edge portion of the stack of papers, and a blade of the cutter portion penetrates through the stack of papers from an upper side to a lower side in the vicinity of the edge portion thereof.

Then, when a front end of the blade presses the adhesive tape, a rear portion of a fist single amount of the adhesive

tape is released from the release paper. A rectangular hole is formed in the vicinity of the front end of the blade, and the released rear portion of the adhesive tape is inserted through the rectangular hole by an elastic recovery force, thereby being brought into a state of penetrating the blade in a front and rear direction.

Subsequently, when the cutter portion is released from being pressed manually, the cutter portion moves up by a spring, and the rear portion of the adhesive tape that is caught by the blade is pulled up to the upper side of the stack of papers along with the blade through a cut hole formed on the stack of papers. When the blade further moves up, the rear portion of the adhesive tape is drawn from the rectangular hole of the blade, and the rear portion of the adhesive tape stands up. When the slider and the stack of papers are then moved backward, the rear portion of the adhesive tape is squeezed by a roller arranged above the table, and the rear portion of the adhesive tape is overlappingly adhered to the front portion of the adhesive tape that is already pressed onto the stack of papers, whereby a binding operation finishes.

According to such a binding apparatus that uses a paper made adhesive tape, one binding operation is carried out by clamping and sliding the stack of papers forward by the clamp plate of the slider, moving down the cutter portion, and thereafter, sliding the slider and the stack of papers backward.

Thus, a number of operating steps are required. Accordingly, operability and swiftness should be improved.

In addition, there is another problem in that a plate thickness of theblade is obligedtobe thickened from a necessity of ensuring a strength of the blade, since a rectangular hole for catching a front end of the adhesive tape is formed in the vicinity of the front end of the blade. This leads to a deterioration of an appearance of bound papers due to a large drawing hole formed by the blade.

Disclosure of the Invention

One or more embodiments of the present invention provides a binding apparatus and a paper staple, in which operating steps are simplified, and swiftness of a binding operation and an appearance of bound papers are improved.

According to one or more embodiments of the invention, a binding apparatus binds a stack of sheets with a U-shaped paper staple. The binding apparatus includes a cutter portion having a pair of downwardly directed cutter blades, a table formed with a drawing hole through which the cutter portion is operable to be inserted from above, and a lower pressing member disposed below the drawing hole. Each of the cutter blades includes a thin-walled portion formed at an upper part of an inner side face thereof, a thick-walled portion formed below the thin-walled portion, and an inclined face formed

between the thin-walled portion and the thick-walled portion. The cutter portion is operable to hold the paper staple between the thin-walled portions, and operable to penetrate through the stack of sheets that is placed on the table when the cutter portion is moved down. The inclined faces are operable,to push and fold respective leg portions of the paper staple in a direction in which the leg portions becomes close to each other when the cutter portion is moved up. The lower pressing member is operable to fold and press the leg portions of the paper staple by relatively moving up with respect to the table.

According to one or more embodiments of the invention, positions of lower ends of the thin-walled portions may differ inanup anddown direction, andthe inclined facesmaybe operable to push and fold respective leg portions of the paper staple in a different timings.

According to one or more embodiments of the invention, the binding apparatus may further include an upper pressing member disposed between the pair of cutter blades. The upper pressing member is operable to press a crown portion of the paper staple when the cutter portion is moved up.

According to one or more embodiments of the invention, the thin-walled portion may include a recess groove.

According to one or more embodiments of the invention, an upper part of the thin-walled portion may be formed along an entire width of the cutter blade, and a lower part of the

thin-walled portion may be formed narrower than the upper part of the thin-walled portion.

According to one or more embodiments of the invention, a paper staple includes a crown portion, a pair of leg portions, each extending from respective ends of the crown portion, and an adhesive agent. A lower portion of the pair of leg portions may be formed narrower ^' than an upper portion of the pair of leg portions, and the adhesive agent may be provided at an inner side face of the lower portion of one of the leg portions.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 is an explanatory view of a binding mechanism of a binding apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention. Figs. 2A to 2E are explanatory views showing respective binding steps according to the first embodiment'.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory view of a binding mechanism of a binding apparatus according to a second embodiment of the invention. Figs. 4A to 4F are explanatory views showing respective binding steps according to the second embodiment.

Fig. 5 is an explanatory view of a binding mechanism of a binding apparatus according to a third embodiment of the invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be explained with reference to the drawings, the following embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention.

Embodiment 1

Fig. 1 shows a binding mechanism of a binding apparatus. Reference numeral 101 designates a paper made binding member that is bent in a U shape in advance, and in the following description, the paper made binding member is referred to as a paper staple. The paper staple 101 includes a horizontal crown portion 102 and a pair of leg portions 103, 104, each extending downward from respective ends of the horizontal crown portion 102. An inner face of the leg portion 103 on one side (left side in the drawing) is coated with an adhesive agent

105, and the left leg portion 103 is adhered to the right leg portion 104 by folding the left leg portion 103 to an inner side after folding the right leg portion 104 to the inner side.

Reference numeral 11 designates a table for placing a stack of papers, and a center of the table 11 is formed with a rectangular drawing hole 12 through which a cutter portion 21 penetrates from above. The cutter portion 21 is disposed above the rectangular drawing hole 12. The cutter portion 21 is formed in a U shape, and includes a horizontally long bar 22 and cutter blades 23, 24, each attached to respective ends

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of the bar 22. Lower end tips of the cutter blades 23, 24 are formed in a V shape, and an interval between inner faces of the cutter blades 23, 24 is more or less narrower than a lateral width of the paper staple 101. A width in a front and rear direction of the cutter blades 23, 24 is formed to be more or less wider than a width in a front and rear direction of the paper staple 101.

On each of opposing faces of the left and right cutter blades 23, 24, rectangular recess grooves 25, 26 are respectively formed. Eachdimension of the recess grooves 25, 26 corresponds to each dimension of side faces of the paper staple 101, and when the paper staple 101 is inserted to an inner side of the cutter portion 21, the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 are fitted and held by the left and right recess grooves 25, 26.

Lower end positions of the left and right recess grooves 25, 26 are not the same. More specifically, a length in an up and down direction-of the recess groove 26 of the right side cutter blade is substantially equal to a length of the right leg portion 104 of the paper staple 101, but the recess groove 25 of the left side cutter blade 23 is longer than the recess groove 26 on the right side, and the lower end position of the left groove 26 is lower than that of the right recess groove 25. Further, eachof the lower endportions of the recess grooves 25, 26 is formedtohave an inclinedface inwhichaplate thickness

gradually increases toward the lower end tips of the cutter blades 23, 24. Such recess grooves 25, 26 are formed in order to push the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 to the inner sides when moving up the cutter portion 21 that is penetrated through a stack of papers, and to cause a delay in a timing of pushing the left leg portion 103 relative to a timing of pushing the right leg portion 104.

An upper pressing member 27A is arranged on a lower face of the horizontal bar 22 of the cutter portion 21, and a guide shaft 27a provided at a center of an upper face of the upper pressing member 27 is projected to an upper side of the bar 22 through a hole formed at a center of the bar 22, whereby the upper pressing member 27 can separately be moved up and moved down with respect to the cutter blades 23, 24 as well as the bar 22.

A lower pressing member 31 which brings the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 into press contact with each other is arranged right below the drawing hole 12 of the table 11. The lowerpressingmember 31 moves up froiαa standbyposition shown in Fig. 1 after the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 penetrate through a stack of papers, and the lower pressing member 31 folds and presses the leg portions 103, 104.

Next, an operation of the binding mechanism will be explained. Fig. 2A shows an initial stage of the binding operation, in which the paper staple 101 is set to the inner

side of the cutter portion 21. The leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 are fitted and held by the recess grooves 25, 26 of the left and right cutter blades 23, 24, and a stack of papers P to be bound is placed on the table 11. Fig. 2B shows a state in which the cutter portion 21 and the upper pressing member 27 are integrally moved down, and the cutter blades 23, 24 are projected to the lower side of the drawing hole 12 of the table 11, penetrating through the stack of papers P. Since the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 are fitted inside the recess grooves 25, 26 of the cutter blades 23, the leg portions 103, 104 penetrate through straight cuts with the cutterblades 23, 24 without beingbuckled. When the cutter portion 21 is moved down to a lower moving end, the upper pressing member 27 presses the crown portion 102 of the paper staple 101 toward a surface of the stack of papers P.

Then, as shown in Fig.2C, while the upper pressing member 27 is kept at a move-down position, the cutter blades 23, 24 start to move up. Accordingly, first, the right leg portion 104 of the paper staple 101 is bent to the inner side by being pushed by the inclined face of the lower end of the recess groove 26 of the right cutter blade 24. Subsequently, as described above, the left leg portion 103 is bent to the inner side by being pushed by the inclined face of the lower end of the recess groove 25 of the left cutter blade 23 after the right leg portion

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104 due to a difference between the positions of the lower ends of the left and right recess grooves 25, 26. In this way, as shown in Fig. 2D, the left leg portion 103 is folded to overlap a surface of the right leg portion 104. As shown in Fig. 2E, the cutter blades 23, 24 are then pulled anddrawn fromthe stackofpapers P, andthe lowerpressing member 31 is moved up to press the left and right leg portions 103, 104 that are folded to overlap each other toward a lower face of the stack of papers P from the lower side . Accordingly, the adhesive agent 105 on the inner side face of the left leg portion 103 is stuck to the right leg portion 104, and the paper staple 101 forms a loop in a shape of being pressed and flattened, whereby the stack of papers P is bound.

Thereafter, the upper pressing member 27 is moved up to release the stack of papers P, and the lower pressing member

31 is moved down to the standby position to return to its initial position, thereby finishing one cycle of the binding operation.

The paper staple 101 is adhered by overlapping the front ends of the both leg portions 103, 104 each other, and is not stuck to the stack of papers P. Therefore, the stack of bound papers P can be disassembled only by tearing the paper staple 101. Thus, there is no fear of breaking or tearing the stack of papers P.

According to the first embodiment, an explanation has been given such that the table 11 is fixed and the lower pressing

member 31 moves up. However, the binding apparatus may be constructed such that the lower pressing member 31 is fixed and the table 11 moves up and down within a certain range . More specifically, a moving down limit of the cutter blades 23, 24 may be set at a position where the cutter blades 23, 24 and the upper pressing member 27 are stopped to move down as shown in Fig. 2B, and the upper pressing member 27 may be able to move down further. In such a configuration, when the upper pressing member 27 is further pressed down from a state of shown in Fig. 2B, the table 11 is pressed and moved down by the upper pressing member 27. Therefore, similar to the state shown in Fig.2C, the upper pressing member 27 and the table 11 are moved down while the cutter blades 23, 24 are stopped to move down, and similar to the state shown in Fig. 2D, the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 are pushed toward the inner side so that the lower pressing member 31 folds and presses the leg portions 103, 104.

As described above, the binding operation is carried out by moving the cutter blades 23, 24, the upper pressing member 27 etc. up and down. Therefore, similar to a general stapler, there can be realized a configuration in which a single binding operation can be performed by moving the cutter blades 23, 24 and the upper pressing member 27 up and down by utilizing a moving mechanism such as a link and a cam, thereby providing a binding apparatus having an excellent operability.

Embodiment 2

In the first embodiment, the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 are pushed by utilizing steps between the recess grooves 25, 26 and the inner faces of the cutter blades 23, 24. However, in a second embodiment, an explanation will be given of an example in which the leg portions 103, 104 are pushed more firmly. Fig. 3 shows a binding mechanism in which a clincher portion 41 is arranged on the lower side of the table 11. The clincher portion includes a lower pressing member 42 which is similar to the lower pressing member 31 shown in Fig. 1, and clinchers 43, 44 arranged on left and right sides of the lower pressing member 42.

The left clincher 43 and the right clincher 44 are slidable in an up and down direction along respective side faces of the lower pressing member 42, and are biased upward by compression springs 45, 45, each interposed between respective spring receiving portions 42a, 42a formed at lower portions of the lower pressing member 42 and the left clincher 43 or the right clincher 44.

The left and right clinchers 43, 44 fold the left and right leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101. A height of the left clincher 43 is lower than a height of the right clincher 44. Therefore, when the clincher portion 41 moves up, the right clincher 44 comes into contact with the right

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leg portion 104 of the paper staple 101, and thereafter, the left clincher 43 comes into contact with the left leg portion 103 of the paper staple 101. Namely, similar to the first embodiment, timing of folding the left leg portion 103 of the paper staple 101 is delayed relative to a timing of folding the right leg portions 104 of the paper staple 101 so that the left leg portion 103 to which the adhesive agent 105 is attached is folded after folding the right leg portion 104, thereby pressing the left leg portion 103 to the surface of the right leg portion 104. Accordingly, in the second embodiment, it is not necessary tomake a difference between lower endpositions of respective recess grooves 25, 26 of cutter blades 23, 24, and the lower end positions of the left and right recess grooves 25, 26 are made to be the same. Next, a binding operation of the binding mechanism shown in Fig. 3 will be explained. Fig. 4A shows an initial stage of the binding operation, in which the paper staple 101 is set at an inner side of a- cutter portion 21, and a stack of papers P to be bound is placed on a table 11. Fig. 4B shows a state in which the cutter portion 21 is moved down, and the cutter blades 23, 24 penetrating through the stack of papers P are projected toward the lower side from the drawing hole 12 of the table 11. Since the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 are fitted inside the recess grooves 25, 26 of the cutter blades 23, 24, the leg portions

103, 104 penetrate through cuts along with the cutter blades 23, 24 without being buckled. When the cutter portion 21 is moved down to a lower moving end, the upper pressing member 27 presses the crown portion 102 of the paper staple 101 toward the surface of the stack of papers P.

Then, as shown in Fig. 4C, the cutter portion 21 is moved up, or the upper pressing member 27 and the table 11 start to move down, whereby the left and right leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 are slightly folded toward the inner side by being pushed by the inclined faces at the lower ends of the recess grooves 25, 26 of the cutter blades 23, 24.

Subsequently, as shown in Fig. 4D, the cutter portion 21 is pulled and drawn from the stack of papers P, and the clincher portion 41 is relatively moved up, so that the right clincher 44 having a higher height presses up the right leg portion 104 of the paper staple 101 in advance and folds the right legportion 104 substantially by 90 degrees, thereby pressing the right leg portion 104 to a back face of the stack of papers P . Further, the lower pressing member 42 at the center is moved up while compressing the compression spring 45 on the right side, so that the left clincher 43 presses up the left leg portion 103 of the paper staple 101 with delay with respect to the right clincher 44, thereby folding the left leg portion 103. Accordingly, as shown in Fig. 4E the left leg portion 103 is folded to overlap the surface of the right leg portion 104.

The lower pressing member 42 is further moved up after the left clincher 43 contacts the back face of the stack of papers P interposing the paper staple 101 therebetween and stops moving up. As shown in Fig. 4F, the lower pressing member 42 compresses the right leg portion 104 and the left leg portion 103 which are folded and overlapped, thereby sticking the adhering layer 105 of the inner side face of the left leg portion 103 to the right leg portion 104. Accordingly, the paper staple 101 is formed in a loop having a shape of being pressed and flattened, whereby the stack of papers P is bound.

Finally, the upper pressing member 27 and the table 11 are moved up so as to release the stack of papers P, and all the other movable portions are returned to initial positions, thereby finishing one cycle of the binding operation.

Embodiment 3

In the first and second embodiments, the paper staple 101 is held by fitting the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101 to the recess grooves 25, 26 formed at the inner faces of the cutter blades 23, 24, and the width of each of the cutter blades 23, 24 is wider than the width of each of the leg portions 103, 104 of the paper staple 101. Therefore, a width (a length in a longitudinal direction) of each of the holes formed on the stack of papers P by the cutter blades 23, 24 is wider than the width of each of the leg portions 103,

104 of the paper staple 101. Although a difference between the width of each of the holes and the width of each of the legportions 103, 104 is small, an appearance thereof is improved when the difference is made as small as possible. In a third embodiment, the width of the hole and the width of the paper staple are made to coincide with each other.

As shown in Fig. 5, a width of a lower half portion of each of leg portions 113, 114 of a paper staple 111 is made to be narrower than widths of upper half portion thereof and a crown portion 112. A width of each of cutter blades 53, 54 of a cutter portion 51 is made to be the same as a total width of the paper staple 111, and inner side faces of the cutter blades 53, 54 are formed with recess portions 55, 56 that are substantially in a T-like shape which corresponds to the shapes of side faces of the leg portions 113, 114 of the paper staple 111. When the paper staple 111 is charged between the cutter blades 53, 54 of the cutter portion 51, the leg portions 113, 114 of the paper staple 111 are fitted to the recess portions to be held thereby. Stepped differences between the recess portions 55, 56 and thick-walled portions therebelow are connected by inclined faces. When the cutter portion 51 is moved up while pressing the paper staple 111 penetrating through the stack of papers P by an upper pressing member 57, the leg portions 113, 114 of the paper staple 111 are pushed to an inner side by the inclined

faces .

Since an operation of a binding mechanism in the third embodiment is the same as that shown in Fig. 4A through Fig. 4F (the second embodiment) , an explanation thereof will be omitted. However, according to the third embodiment, since the width of the paper staple 111 and the width of the cutter blades 53, 54 are equal to each other, a width of holes formed on the stack of papers P by the cutter blades 23, 24 and the width of the paper staple 111 coincide with each other, whereby a bound portion is excellent in appearance.

According to the embodiments of the invention, the leg portions of the U-shaped paper staple are made to penetrate through the stack of papers, folded to the inner side, and are pressed from the lower side to be brought into press contact with each other. Therefore, there is no need for an operation of sliding the stack of papers, thereby providing an excellent operability.

Further, operating steps in respective portions are simple. A frame structure that is similar to the one used in a general stapler can easily be applied. Therefore, a binding apparatus that is compact and convenient can be provided, regardless of a type of the binding apparatus such as an electric type or a manual type.

Further, no hole for catching a front end of an adhesive tape is required on a side face of the blade. Therefore, it

is not necessary to thicken a plate thickness of the blade in order to ensure strength of the blade, thereby solving a problem that an appearance becomes deteriorated by the drawing hole formed on the paper being enlarged. Further, the staple itself is not adhered to the stack of papers by using the paper staple provided with the adhesive agent layer partially at the inner side face of the one end. Therefore, the staple can simply be removed when disassembling the stack of bound papers. While there has been described in connection with embodiments of the present invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modification maybemade thereinwithout departing fromthepresent invention.

For example, adhesive agent layers may be provided at the inner side faces of the crown portions 102, 112 of the paper staples 101, 111, so that the crown portions 102, 112 may be stuck onto the stack of papers P by pressing the surface of the stack of papers P with the bars 22, 52 of the cutter portions 21, 51 when the cutter portions 21, 51 are moved down. In this case, the cutter portions 21, 51 having a simple structure in which the upper pressing members 27, 57 are omitted can be provided.

The subject patent application is based on a Japanese patent application No. 2006-004241 filed on January 11, 2006, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Industrial Applicability

The present invention provides a binding apparatus and a paper staple, in which an operation is simple and an appearance is excellent.