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US-12617649-B2 - Paper creasing device and printer

US12617649B2US 12617649 B2US12617649 B2US 12617649B2US-12617649-B2

Abstract

A paper creasing device includes a receiving member including a groove extending in a fixed direction; a rotary blade movable along the groove; and a movement mechanism for moving the rotary blade along the groove at a fixed height in a range between first and second edges of paper in a width direction, the paper being placed on an upper surface of the receiving member. The receiving member is formed to have shearing forces applied to the paper sandwiched between the rotary blade and the groove in an outside range and an inside range in the width direction of the receiving member, the outside range corresponding to at least one of the paper edges located on a side where the rotary blade starts contacting the paper when moving along the groove, and the shearing force in the outside range being smaller than the shearing force in the inside range.

Inventors

  • Yutaka Inokuchi

Assignees

  • CITIZEN WATCH CO., LTD.
  • CITIZEN SYSTEMS JAPAN CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20221125
Priority Date
20211215

Claims (6)

  1. 1 . A paper creasing device comprising: a receiving member that is configured to receive paper thereon, the receiving member comprising a groove extending in a longitudinal direction of the receiving member, wherein the longitudinal direction of the receiving member corresponds to a paper width direction of the paper; a rotary blade that is movable along the groove; and a movement mechanism that is configured to move the rotary blade along the groove at a fixed height in a range between first and second edges of the paper in the paper width direction of the paper, the paper being placed on an upper surface of the receiving member, wherein when the paper is creased, the paper is sandwiched between the rotary blade and the groove, and the receiving member is formed such that a shearing force applied to the paper during the creasing is smaller in an outside range than in an inside range in the longitudinal direction of the receiving member, the outside range corresponding to at least one of the first and second edges of the paper that is located on a side where the rotary blade starts contacting the paper when the rotary blade moves along the groove, wherein the groove comprises a first groove width in the outside range and a second groove width in the inside range in the longitudinal direction of the receiving member, and wherein the first groove width is wider than the second groove width in a groove width direction of the groove, the groove width direction being perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the receiving member.
  2. 2 . The paper creasing device according to claim 1 , further comprising a connection range between the outside range and the inside range, wherein the groove comprises a third groove width along the connection range, the third groove width gradually decreasing from the first groove width in the outside range to the second groove width in the inside range.
  3. 3 . The paper creasing device according to claim 2 , wherein the grooves is formed such that a center of the first groove width is coincident with a center of the second groove width direction in the groove width direction.
  4. 4 . The paper creasing device according to claim 1 , wherein the rotary blade is formed with a radial bearing comprising combined inner and outer rings.
  5. 5 . The paper creasing device according to claim 1 , wherein a height of the upper surface of the receiving member in the outside range is lower than a height of the upper surface of the receiving member in the inside range in the longitudinal direction of the receiving member.
  6. 6 . A printer comprising the paper creasing device according to claim 1 .

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-203273, filed with the Japan Patent Office on Dec. 15, 2021, the entire disclosure of which is completely incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a paper creasing device and a printer. BACKGROUND ART A paper creasing device or a creaser is known as a post-processing device for printing. The creasing device is configured to form creases or folds on paper having stiffness (high rigidity), such as relatively thick paper. When binding a plurality of sheets of the paper having stiffness described above, each of the pages is not sufficiently open if an attempt is made to turn the paper and open each page and the spreadability of the book becomes poor. Further, for example, a resin layer (a receiving layer) that receives dye is formed on each side of the paper which serves as a core, a photograph or the like is printed on each of the resin layers. Then, a plurality of sheets of the printed paper are bound to form a photo book. In such a photo book, the spreadability of the book may become poor similar to the paper described above. Given the above, a crease is formed near the bound portion in advance by using a creasing device. The formed crease serves as a fold so that the sheet of the bounded paper can be sufficiently opened at the time of opening the book. As a result, the spreadability can be improved. Furthermore, some greeting cards are finished such that a person who has received a card opens the card that has been folded in the center. In such a case, a crease is formed in a portion to be folded in the center of the paper, and this prevents a fold from opening due to the stiffness of the paper, and the card with a satisfactory finish can be obtained. The creasing device sandwiches paper between a groove that extends in a predetermined direction and a blade that is fitted into the groove to form a crease. Here, an example of the creasing device is a rotary creasing device that uses a rotary blade that rotates along a groove (see, for example, Patent Literature 1: JP 2014-111496 A). In the rotary creasing device, paper is placed on a receiving member including the groove, and the rotary creasing device presses the rotary blade against a portion that corresponds to the groove of the paper and rotates and moves the rotary blade along the groove to form a crease along the groove. SUMMARY The rotary creasing device creates a shearing force applied to the paper between the rotary blade and the groove of the receiving member. When the rotary blade starts contacting an edge of the paper where a crease is beginning to be formed, the stress is concentrated at a contact point and the paper is likely to be cut. In view of this, it is conceivable that the height of the rotary blade is changed at the edge of the paper such that the rotary blade is slightly moved away from the groove, thereby reducing the shearing applied to the edge of the paper and preventing the paper from being cut. However, changing the height of the rotary blade requires a configuration that changes the shape of a track of the rotary blade or supports the rotary blade with an elastic body, resulting in a complicated structure and an increase in manufacturing cost. The present disclosure has been made in view of the circumstances described above. An object of the present disclosure is to provide a paper creasing device that can prevent paper from being cut with a simple configuration and a printer that includes the paper creasing device. A first aspect of the present disclosure relates to a paper creasing device, the paper creasing device including a receiving member that comprises a groove extending in a fixed direction; a rotary blade that is movable along the groove; and a movement mechanism that is configured to move the rotary blade along the groove at a fixed height in a range between first and second edges of the paper in a width direction. The paper is placed on an upper surface of the receiving member. The receiving member is formed to have shearing forces applied to the paper sandwiched between the rotary blade and the groove in an outside range and an inside range in the width direction of the receiving member. The outside range corresponds to at least one of the first and second edges of the paper that is located on a side where the rotary blade starts contacting the paper when the rotary blade moves along the groove. The shearing force in the outside range is smaller than the shearing force in the inside range. A second aspect of the present disclosure is a printer that includes the paper creasing device according to the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a photo printer that includes a creasing device for paper (or a paper creasing device). FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a crease f