EP1894868B1 - Sheet separation method, sheet separation mechanism and sheet feeder - Google Patents
Sheet separation method, sheet separation mechanism and sheet feeder Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP1894868B1 EP1894868B1 EP07114755A EP07114755A EP1894868B1 EP 1894868 B1 EP1894868 B1 EP 1894868B1 EP 07114755 A EP07114755 A EP 07114755A EP 07114755 A EP07114755 A EP 07114755A EP 1894868 B1 EP1894868 B1 EP 1894868B1
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- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- sheet
- bundle
- conveying
- separation
- separated
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired - Fee Related
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Classifications
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/08—Separating articles from piles using pneumatic force
- B65H3/0808—Suction grippers
- B65H3/0816—Suction grippers separating from the top of pile
- B65H3/0825—Suction grippers separating from the top of pile and acting on the rear part of the articles relatively to the final separating direction
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/32—Separating articles from piles by elements, e.g. fingers, plates, rollers, inserted or traversed between articles to be separated and remainder of the pile
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/46—Supplementary devices or measures to assist separation or prevent double feed
- B65H3/50—Elements, e.g. fingers, plates, rollers, inserted or traversed between articles to be separated and remainder of the pile
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
- B65H2301/40—Type of handling process
- B65H2301/42—Piling, depiling, handling piles
- B65H2301/423—Depiling; Separating articles from a pile
- B65H2301/4233—Depiling; Separating articles from a pile by peeling, i.e. involving elongated elements traversing pile
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a sheet separation method which separates a sheet one by one from a bundle of sheets and a sheet separation mechanism and moreover, relates to a sheet feeder having such sheet separation mechanism.
- a sheet separation mechanism which separates a sheet one by one from a bundle of sheets is known. These sheets are for example, postal matters such as postcards, letters and envelopes. Such sheet separation mechanism feeds a separated sheet to a processing step or a processing apparatus in a succeeding stage (i.e. next stage).
- a sheet feeder shown in Fig. 18 includes a mounting table 101, a feeding conveyor 102 and a sheet separation mechanism 103.
- the mounting table 101 is a table on which a bundle 10 of sheets 11 is placed in an upright position.
- the feeding conveyor 102 conveys the bundle 10 of sheets 11 placed on the mounting table 101 toward a next stage.
- the sheet separation mechanism 103 separates the sheet 11 one by one from the bundle 10 that has been conveyed to an end part of the feeding conveyor 102 and feeds the separated sheet 11 to a processing apparatus in the stage.
- a posture of the bundle 10 of sheets 11 placed on the mounting table 101 is maintained in an upright position by a compartment 104 provided for the feeding conveyor 102.
- the bundle 10 is conveyed toward the sheet separation mechanism 103 by the compartment 104 and a bottom belt 105 (i.e. in a direction of an arrow D11 in Fig.18 ) while keeping the upright posture.
- the sheets 11 are suctioned in order, from a top sheet, by a vacuum suction chamber 107 via a suction belt 106 having a plurality of through-holes therein.
- the suctioned sheet 11 is fed one by one in a predetermined conveying direction (in a direction of an arrow D12 in Fig. 18 ) according to a revolution of the suction belt 106.
- the sheet separation mechanism 103 employing such suction belt, if the bundle 10 includes the sheets 11 which are attached firmly to each other, it is quite likely that the sheets 11 cannot be separated one by one. In such case, a bundle including two or more sheets 11 is fed to a processing apparatus in a next stage. For example, when the sheets 11 whose surface is vinyl-coated are stacked, the sheets 11 are firmly adhered to each other. In the above mentioned related art, since sheets cannot be properly separated through a suction/conveying operation of the suction belt 106, a plurality of sheets are simultaneously fed to a next stage.
- the sheet separation mechanism includes a suction/pulling unit (i.e. capture unit), a separation unit (i.e. detachment unit) and a conveying unit.
- the suction/pulling unit sucks and pulls an edge part of a sheet apart from a bundle of sheets using a movable suction head (i.e. sucker).
- the separation unit separates a sheet whose edge part has been palled apart from the bundle.
- the conveying unit conveys the sheet separated from the bundle toward a processing unit in a next stage. Since such sheet separation mechanism suctions an edge part of a sheet to pull the sheet apart from the bundle, the sheet, separation mechanism has a good performance for separating for a sheet compared with a sheet separation mechanism employing a suction belt.
- EP-A-0 368 166 discloses an automatic strip and sheet loader system.
- the system is used for successively feeding the topmost sheet of plural stacked sheets on command.
- the system comprises magazine means for supporting plural stacked sheets, pickup head means mounted on said magazine means for lifting one end of said topmost sheet, separator means mounted on said magazine means to complete the separation of said topmost sheet from the remaining stacked sheets, drive roll means contacting said raised forward end of said topmost sheet and control system means for sequentially effecting their operation in response to demand and start control signals in accord with predetermined instructions and conditions.
- a suction head of a sheet separation mechanism of such related art only moves linearly in a vertical direction to a surface of a sheet. Therefore, even when such suction head is used, a sheet is not separated from a bundle of sheets if edge parts of the sheets are strongly attached to each other.
- An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet separation method, a sheet separation mechanism, and a sheet feeder in which a sheet can be certainly separated one by one even when stacked sheets are firmly contacted each other. This object is achieved with the features of the claims.
- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sheet feeder in an exemplary embodiment according to the present invention.
- Fig. 2 is a front view of the sheet feeder in the exemplary embodiment according to the present invention.
- a sheet feeder in the exemplary embodiment according to the present invention includes a sheet conveying mechanism 20 and a sheet separation mechanism 30.
- the sheet conveying mechanism 20 conveys a bundle 10 of sheets 11, placed in an upright position, toward the sheet separation mechanism 30 (in a direction of an arrow D1 in Fig. 1 ).
- the sheet separation mechanism 30 separates a sheet 11 one by one from the bundle 10 that is conveyed to an end part of the sheet conveying mechanism 20 and feeds the separated sheet 11 to a processing step or a processing apparatus (not shown) in a next stage (in a sheet feeding direction of an arrow D2 in Fig.1 ).
- Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the sheet conveying mechanism 20 for conveying a bundle 10 of sheets 11 in an upright position in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
- Fig. 4 is a front view showing the sheet conveying mechanism 20 for conveying the bundle 10 in an upright position in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the sheet conveying mechanism 20 in a conveying state with a posture control in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 6 is a front view showing the sheet conveying mechanism 20 in a conveying state with a posture control in the exemplary embodiment.
- the sheet conveying mechanism 20 includes a mounting table 21, an end plate 22, an upright position maintaining/conveying unit 23 and a posture controlling/conveying unit 24.
- the mounting table 21 is a table on which the bundle 10 of sheets 11 is placed in an upright position.
- the end plate 22 moves in a direction of an arrow D1 and applies a pressure to the bundle 10 of sheets 11 to convey it, while keeping a posture of the bundle 10.
- the upright position maintaining/conveying unit 23 conveys the bundle 10 in the direction of the arrow D1 while keeping the bundle 10 in an upright position.
- the upright position maintaining/conveying unit 23 includes conveying belts 25 having teeth engaged with a bottom end of the sheet 11. Two conveying belts 25 are arranged side by side along the mounting table 21, and the belts 25 are driven at almost the same speed as that of the end plate 22. By the driving operation, the bundle 10 of sheets 11 is conveyed to the posture controlling/conveying unit 24 while maintaining an upright position.
- the posture controlling/conveying unit 24 controls a posture of the bundle 10 which is conveyed to an end part of the upright position maintaining/conveying unit 23 while conveying the bundle 10 toward the sheet separation mechanism 30.
- the posture controlling/conveying unit 24 includes two conveying belts 26 having teeth engaged with a bottom end of the sheet 11 and angle detection sensors 27 which detect a posture of the bundle 10 of the sheets 11-
- the conveying belts 26 are arranged side by side so that the bundle 10 of the sheet 11 can be smoothly caught from the conveying belts 25.
- the angle detection sensors 27 are arranged at both sides of a conveying path of the posture controlling/conveying unit 24 to detect an angle of the sheets 11.
- a target angle in a posture control of the sheets 11 is 30 degrees
- three angle detection sensors 27 are arranged on a straight line at an angle of 30 degrees with respect to a conveying direction (i.e. arrow direction D1) of the sheets 11 in Fig. 4 .
- An angle detection of the sheets 11 is performed based on a detection timing of the angle detection sensors 27.
- the bundle 10 of sheets 11 is placed on the conveying belts 25 of the mounting table 21 in an upright position as shown in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 . Then, the end plate 22 and the conveying belts 25 convey the bundle 10 of sheets 11 toward a next stage (direction D1) while maintaining an upright position.
- a conveyance of the bundle 10 of sheets 11 is taken over from the conveying belts 25 to the conveying belts 26 as shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 .
- the conveying belts 26 drive at a higher speed than the conveying belts 25 and the end plate 22, the bundle 10 is further conveyed while changing an angle of an upright position.
- the angle of the bundle 10 is detected by the angle detection sensors 27 and a driving speed of the conveying belt 25 (or 26) is controlled by feedback-control.
- the angle of the bundle 10 can be adjusted to an arbitrary value.
- a driving speed of the conveying belt 25 (or 26) is feedback-controlled so that the target angle of the bundle 10 at an end part of the conveying belt 26 becomes 30 degrees.
- Fig. 7A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism 30 at the beginning of a suction/pulling step in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 7B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line VIIB - VIIB viewing from an arrow direction in Fig. 7A .
- Fig. 8A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism 30 at the beginning of a separation step in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 8B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line VIIIB - VIIIB viewing from an arrow direction in Fig. 8A .
- Fig. 7A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism 30 at the beginning of a suction/pulling step in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 7B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line VIIB - VIIB viewing from an arrow direction in Fig. 7A .
- Fig. 8A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism 30 at the
- FIG. 9A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism 30 during the separation step in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 9B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line IXB - IXB viewing from an arrow direction in Fig. 9A .
- Fig. 10A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism 30 at the beginning of a conveying step in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 10B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line XB - XB viewing from an arrow direction in Fig. 10A .
- Fig. 11 is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism during an original position returning step in the exemplary embodiment.
- the sheet separation mechanism 30 includes a suction/pulling unit 31, a separation unit 32 and a conveying unit 33.
- the suction/pulling unit 31 suctions an edge part of the sheet 11 to pull the edge part apart from the bundle 10.
- the separation unit 32 completely separates the sheet 11 whose edge part is pulled from the bundle 10.
- the conveying unit 33 conveys the sheet 11 separated from the bundle 10 to a processing step or a processing apparatus (not shown) in a next stage.
- the suction/pulling unit 31 includes a suction head 34, an arm 35 and a suction head operation mechanism 40 (not shown in Fig. 7A to Fig. 11 ).
- the suction head 34 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown) to suction an edge part of the sheet 11.
- the arm 35 moves the suction head 34 in a predetermined direction.
- the suction head operation mechanism 40 drives the suction head 34 via the arm 35 to perform a necessary operation.
- the suction head operation mechanism 40 is described in detail below.
- the arm 35 not only move the suction head 34 in a vertical direction to a surface of the bundle 10 but also move the suction head 34 along a curved line to tilt the suction head 34 with respect to the surface of the bundle 10 as if to turn over the suctioned edge part of the sheet to be separated. Because of such movements of the suction head 34, an only suctioned edge part of the sheet 11 is bent, curled or curved. That is, the suctioned edge part of the sheet is pulled apart from the bundle 10 to generate a gap between the (first positioned) sheet 11 and the bundle 10 (i.e., the remaining sheets). For example, the arm 35 moves the suction head 34 in a direction of an arrow D4 shown in Fig. 7B . Such operation can be enabled by the suction head operation mechanism 40 explained in detail, below.
- the separation unit 32 includes a separation roller 36.
- the separation roller 36 is inserted into a gap between the sheet 11 that is partially separated by the suction/pulling unit 31 and a remaining part of the bundle 10 by revolution of the separation roller 36. Accordingly, the only one sheet 11 is completely separated from the bundle 10.
- three separation rollers 36a to 36c are arranged so as to protrude radially from a rotatable pulley 37.
- the separation rollers 36a to 36c are arranged side by side at a predetermined interval in a rotation direction of the pulley 37 (direction of an arrow D3 in the drawings).
- the separation rollers 36a to 36c revolve around the pulley 37 and may also rotate about each rotation axis.
- a plate-like conveyance guide 38 for preventing sagging (i.e. drooping) of the separated sheet 11 is provided for the separation roller 36c that is the last separation roller.
- the conveying unit 33 includes a conveying roller 39. As mentioned below, the conveying roller 39 rotates on its axis while the sheet 11 is located between the conveying roller 39 and the separation, roller 36c. Thereby, a rotation force of the conveying roller 39 is transmitted to the sheet 11 separated from the bundle 10 and the separated sheet 11 is conveyed toward a processing step or a processing apparatus in a next stage.
- the sheet separation mechanism 30 described above can be applied to a bundle of sheets with various angle postures including a horizontal posture and a vertical posture by adjusting an angle of a revolution plane of the separation rollers 36a to 36c and a movement mode or direction of the suction head 34.
- an angle detection of the sheet 11 in the sheet conveying mechanism 20 an angle of a revolution plane of the separation rollers 36a to 36c and a movement mode or direction of the suction head 34 may be adjusted automatically. Because of such adjustments, separating performance of the sheet separation mechanism 30 is further improved.
- a sheet separation method will be described with reference to Fig. 7A to Fig. 11 .
- the suction head 34 moves the suctioned edge part of the sheet 11 so as to bend the edge part in a direction shown as arrow D4 in Fig.7B , while lifting the edge part up in a vertical direction to a surface of the bundle 10.
- a movement in which the suction head 34 moves along a curved line indicated as the arrow D4 in Fig. 7B is called as "twist movement" here.
- the pulley 37 rotates in a direction illustrated as an arrow D3.
- the separation rollers 36a to 36c are inserted in turn into a gap between the sheet 11 that is partially pulled and the bundle 10 and accordingly, the sheet 11 is gradually separated from the bundle 10.
- a rotation of the pulley 37 stops (a separation step).
- Fig. 12 is a plan view showing an example of the suction head operation mechanism 40 in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 13 is a figure viewing from an arrow direction at a position of the line XIII - XIII in Fig. 12 .
- Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line XIV - XIV viewing from an arrow direction in Fig. 13 .
- Fig. 15 is a partial side view showing the suction head operation mechanism 40 in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 16 is a partial front view showing the suction head operation mechanism 40 in normal state in the exemplary embodiment.
- Fig. 17 is a partial front view showing the suction head operation mechanism 40 in twist movement state in the exemplary embodiment.
- the suction head operation mechanism 40 shown in above drawings includes a twist movement unit which controls the suction head 34 to perform the above-mentioned twist movement and an up-and-down movement unit which controls the suction head 34 to perform an up-and-down movement.
- the twist movement unit includes a swinging link 41, a spindle 42, a slider 43 and an air cylinder 44.
- One end of the swinging link 41 supports the suction head 34 via the arm 35.
- the other end of the swinging link 41 is connected to the air cylinder 44.
- the slider 43 swingably supports the swinging link 41 via the spindle 42 parallel to the arm 35.
- the air cylinder 44 is provided between the slider 43 and the swinging link 41.
- force of the expanding movement transmits to the other end of the swinging link 41.
- the swinging link 41 swings about the spindle 42 that serves as a supporting point (in a direction of an arrow D7 in Fig. 16 ), and the twist movement of the suction head 34 is performed.
- the up-and-down movement unit includes a guide rail 45, a base 46, a servo motor 47, a pulley 48 and a connection rod 49.
- the guide rail 45 is provided on the base 46 to guide an up-and-down slide operation of the slider 43.
- the base 46 supports up-and-down slidably the slider 43 via the guide rail 45.
- the servo motor 47 is provided below the base 46.
- the pulley 48 is connected to a drive shaft of the servo motor 47 and is rotated within a predetermined angle range according to a rotation of the drive shaft.
- the connection rod 49 connects the pulley 48 and one end of the slider 43.
- the suction/pulling unit 31 includes the suction head 34 which suctions an edge part of the sheet 11 and the edge part of the sheet 11 is partly separated from the bundle 10 by the twist movement of the suction head 34.
- the separation unit 32 includes the plurality of separation rollers 36a to 36c which revolve around the pulley 37.
- the separation rollers 36a to 36c are inserted in turn into a gap between the sheet 11 that is partly pulled by the suction/pulling unit 31 and the bundle 10. Accordingly, the only one sheet 11 is separated from the bundle 10.
- the separation unit 32 of the exemplary embodiment can separate the sheet 11 that is partly pulled by the suction/pulling unit 31 from the bundle 10 quickly and certainly.
- the conveying unit 33 includes the conveying roller 39.
- the sheet 11 is sandwiched between the separation roller 36c and the conveying roller 39.
- the rotation force of the conveying roller 39 conveys and feeds the sheet 11 separated from the bundle 10 toward a next stage (i.e. a processing apparatus in a next step) .
- the separated sheet 11 can be certainly conveyed and also a structure of the conveying unit 33 can be simplified by utilizing the separation roller 36c for a part of the conveying unit 33.
- a sheet separation mechanism of the exemplary embodiment is suitable for a supply feeder of a large scale mail sorting apparatus, but also it can be applied to a supply feeder which separates and supplies a mail such as an ordinary postcard and a letter or a supply feeder which separates and supplies other sheets.
- an edge part of a sheet is suctioned by a suction head and the edge part of the sheet is partly separated from a bundle of the sheets by the twist movement of the suction head. Therefore, the sheet can be certainly separated one by one from the bundle in which the sheets strongly adhere to each other and the separated sheet is stably fed to a next step.
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Sheets, Magazines, And Separation Thereof (AREA)
Description
- The present invention relates to a sheet separation method which separates a sheet one by one from a bundle of sheets and a sheet separation mechanism and moreover, relates to a sheet feeder having such sheet separation mechanism.
- A sheet separation mechanism which separates a sheet one by one from a bundle of sheets is known. These sheets are for example, postal matters such as postcards, letters and envelopes. Such sheet separation mechanism feeds a separated sheet to a processing step or a processing apparatus in a succeeding stage (i.e. next stage). For example, a sheet feeder shown in
Fig. 18 includes a mounting table 101, afeeding conveyor 102 and asheet separation mechanism 103. - The mounting table 101 is a table on which a
bundle 10 ofsheets 11 is placed in an upright position. Thefeeding conveyor 102 conveys thebundle 10 ofsheets 11 placed on the mounting table 101 toward a next stage. Thesheet separation mechanism 103 separates thesheet 11 one by one from thebundle 10 that has been conveyed to an end part of thefeeding conveyor 102 and feeds theseparated sheet 11 to a processing apparatus in the stage. - In such sheet feeder, a posture of the
bundle 10 ofsheets 11 placed on the mounting table 101 is maintained in an upright position by acompartment 104 provided for thefeeding conveyor 102. Thebundle 10 is conveyed toward thesheet separation mechanism 103 by thecompartment 104 and a bottom belt 105 (i.e. in a direction of an arrow D11 inFig.18 ) while keeping the upright posture. When thebundle 10 reaches thesheet separation mechanism 103, thesheets 11 are suctioned in order, from a top sheet, by avacuum suction chamber 107 via asuction belt 106 having a plurality of through-holes therein. The suctionedsheet 11 is fed one by one in a predetermined conveying direction (in a direction of an arrow D12 inFig. 18 ) according to a revolution of thesuction belt 106. - However, in the
sheet separation mechanism 103 employing such suction belt, if thebundle 10 includes thesheets 11 which are attached firmly to each other, it is quite likely that thesheets 11 cannot be separated one by one. In such case, a bundle including two ormore sheets 11 is fed to a processing apparatus in a next stage. For example, when thesheets 11 whose surface is vinyl-coated are stacked, thesheets 11 are firmly adhered to each other. In the above mentioned related art, since sheets cannot be properly separated through a suction/conveying operation of thesuction belt 106, a plurality of sheets are simultaneously fed to a next stage. - Accordingly, as a further related art, for example, another sheet separation mechanism is disclosed in
JP-A-63 (1988) -1.06245 US-A-4,815,723 ). The sheet separation mechanism includes a suction/pulling unit (i.e. capture unit), a separation unit (i.e. detachment unit) and a conveying unit. The suction/pulling unit sucks and pulls an edge part of a sheet apart from a bundle of sheets using a movable suction head (i.e. sucker). The separation unit separates a sheet whose edge part has been palled apart from the bundle. The conveying unit conveys the sheet separated from the bundle toward a processing unit in a next stage. Since such sheet separation mechanism suctions an edge part of a sheet to pull the sheet apart from the bundle, the sheet, separation mechanism has a good performance for separating for a sheet compared with a sheet separation mechanism employing a suction belt. -
EP-A-0 368 166 discloses an automatic strip and sheet loader system. The system is used for successively feeding the topmost sheet of plural stacked sheets on command. The system comprises magazine means for supporting plural stacked sheets, pickup head means mounted on said magazine means for lifting one end of said topmost sheet, separator means mounted on said magazine means to complete the separation of said topmost sheet from the remaining stacked sheets, drive roll means contacting said raised forward end of said topmost sheet and control system means for sequentially effecting their operation in response to demand and start control signals in accord with predetermined instructions and conditions. - However, a suction head of a sheet separation mechanism of such related art only moves linearly in a vertical direction to a surface of a sheet. Therefore, even when such suction head is used, a sheet is not separated from a bundle of sheets if edge parts of the sheets are strongly attached to each other.
- The present invention was made to solve such technical problem. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet separation method, a sheet separation mechanism, and a sheet feeder in which a sheet can be certainly separated one by one even when stacked sheets are firmly contacted each other. This object is achieved with the features of the claims.
- Exemplary features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when taken with the accompanying drawings in which:
-
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sheet feeder according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 2 is a front view of the sheet feeder according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 3 is a plan view showing a sheet conveying mechanism in a conveying state with maintaining an upright position in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 4 is a front view showing the sheet conveying mechanism in a conveying state with maintaining an upright position in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the sheet conveying mechanism in a conveying state with a posture control in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 6 is a front view showing the sheet conveying mechanism in a conveying state with a posture control in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 7A is a plan view showing a sheet separation mechanism (at the beginning of a suction/pulling step) in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 7B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line VIIB - VIIB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 7A . -
Fig. 8A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism (at the beginning of a separation step) in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 8B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line VIIIB - VIIIB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 8A . -
Fig. 9A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism (during the separation step) in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 9B is a. cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line IXB - IXB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 9A . -
Fig. 10A is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism (at the beginning of a conveying step) in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 10B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line XB - XB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 10A . -
Fig. 11 is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism (during an original position returning step) in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 12 is a plan view showing an example of a suction head operation mechanism in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 13 is a figure viewing from an arrow direction at a position of the line XIII - XIII inFig. 12 . -
Fig. 14 is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line XIV - XIV viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 13 . -
Fig. 15 is a partial side view showing the suction head operation mechanism in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 16 is a partial front view showing the suction head operation mechanism in normal state in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 17 is a partial front view showing the suction head operation mechanism in twist movement state in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. -
Fig. 18 is a front view showing a related art of a sheet feeder. -
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sheet feeder in an exemplary embodiment according to the present invention.Fig. 2 is a front view of the sheet feeder in the exemplary embodiment according to the present invention. - As shown in
Fig.1 andFig. 2 , a sheet feeder in the exemplary embodiment according to the present invention includes asheet conveying mechanism 20 and asheet separation mechanism 30. Thesheet conveying mechanism 20 conveys abundle 10 ofsheets 11, placed in an upright position, toward the sheet separation mechanism 30 (in a direction of an arrow D1 inFig. 1 ). Thesheet separation mechanism 30 separates asheet 11 one by one from thebundle 10 that is conveyed to an end part of thesheet conveying mechanism 20 and feeds the separatedsheet 11 to a processing step or a processing apparatus (not shown) in a next stage (in a sheet feeding direction of an arrow D2 inFig.1 ). - First, the
sheet conveying mechanism 20 will be described with reference toFig. 3 to Fig. 6 .Fig. 3 is a plan view showing thesheet conveying mechanism 20 for conveying abundle 10 ofsheets 11 in an upright position in the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 4 is a front view showing thesheet conveying mechanism 20 for conveying thebundle 10 in an upright position in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 5 is a plan view showing thesheet conveying mechanism 20 in a conveying state with a posture control in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 6 is a front view showing thesheet conveying mechanism 20 in a conveying state with a posture control in the exemplary embodiment. - As shown in
Fig. 3 to Fig. 6 , thesheet conveying mechanism 20 includes a mounting table 21, anend plate 22, an upright position maintaining/conveyingunit 23 and a posture controlling/conveyingunit 24. The mounting table 21 is a table on which thebundle 10 ofsheets 11 is placed in an upright position. Theend plate 22 moves in a direction of an arrow D1 and applies a pressure to thebundle 10 ofsheets 11 to convey it, while keeping a posture of thebundle 10. - The upright position maintaining/conveying
unit 23 conveys thebundle 10 in the direction of the arrow D1 while keeping thebundle 10 in an upright position. The upright position maintaining/conveyingunit 23 includes conveyingbelts 25 having teeth engaged with a bottom end of thesheet 11. Two conveyingbelts 25 are arranged side by side along the mounting table 21, and thebelts 25 are driven at almost the same speed as that of theend plate 22. By the driving operation, thebundle 10 ofsheets 11 is conveyed to the posture controlling/conveyingunit 24 while maintaining an upright position. - The posture controlling/conveying
unit 24 controls a posture of thebundle 10 which is conveyed to an end part of the upright position maintaining/conveyingunit 23 while conveying thebundle 10 toward thesheet separation mechanism 30. The posture controlling/conveyingunit 24 includes two conveyingbelts 26 having teeth engaged with a bottom end of thesheet 11 andangle detection sensors 27 which detect a posture of thebundle 10 of the sheets 11- The conveyingbelts 26 are arranged side by side so that thebundle 10 of thesheet 11 can be smoothly caught from the conveyingbelts 25. Theangle detection sensors 27 are arranged at both sides of a conveying path of the posture controlling/conveyingunit 24 to detect an angle of thesheets 11. For example, in case that a target angle in a posture control of thesheets 11 is 30 degrees, threeangle detection sensors 27 are arranged on a straight line at an angle of 30 degrees with respect to a conveying direction (i.e. arrow direction D1) of thesheets 11 inFig. 4 . An angle detection of thesheets 11 is performed based on a detection timing of theangle detection sensors 27. - In the
sheet conveying mechanism 20 mentioned above, thebundle 10 ofsheets 11 is placed on the conveyingbelts 25 of the mounting table 21 in an upright position as shown inFig. 3 andFig. 4 . Then, theend plate 22 and the conveyingbelts 25 convey thebundle 10 ofsheets 11 toward a next stage (direction D1) while maintaining an upright position. - Next, a conveyance of the
bundle 10 ofsheets 11 is taken over from the conveyingbelts 25 to the conveyingbelts 26 as shown inFig. 5 andFig. 6 . Because the conveyingbelts 26 drive at a higher speed than the conveyingbelts 25 and theend plate 22, thebundle 10 is further conveyed while changing an angle of an upright position. At the time, the angle of thebundle 10 is detected by theangle detection sensors 27 and a driving speed of the conveying belt 25 (or 26) is controlled by feedback-control. By performing such control , the angle of thebundle 10 can be adjusted to an arbitrary value. For example, in the exemplary embodiment, a driving speed of the conveying belt 25 (or 26) is feedback-controlled so that the target angle of thebundle 10 at an end part of the conveyingbelt 26 becomes 30 degrees. - Next, the
sheet separation mechanism 30 will be described with reference toFig. 7A to Fig. 11 .Fig. 7A is a plan view showing thesheet separation mechanism 30 at the beginning of a suction/pulling step in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 7B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line VIIB - VIIB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 7A .Fig. 8A is a plan view showing thesheet separation mechanism 30 at the beginning of a separation step in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 8B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line VIIIB - VIIIB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 8A .Fig. 9A is a plan view showing thesheet separation mechanism 30 during the separation step in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 9B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line IXB - IXB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 9A .Fig. 10A is a plan view showing thesheet separation mechanism 30 at the beginning of a conveying step in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 10B is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line XB - XB viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 10A .Fig. 11 is a plan view showing the sheet separation mechanism during an original position returning step in the exemplary embodiment. - As shown in those drawings, the
sheet separation mechanism 30 includes a suction/pullingunit 31, aseparation unit 32 and a conveyingunit 33. The suction/pullingunit 31 suctions an edge part of thesheet 11 to pull the edge part apart from thebundle 10. Theseparation unit 32 completely separates thesheet 11 whose edge part is pulled from thebundle 10. The conveyingunit 33 conveys thesheet 11 separated from thebundle 10 to a processing step or a processing apparatus (not shown) in a next stage. - The suction/pulling
unit 31 includes asuction head 34, anarm 35 and a suction head operation mechanism 40 (not shown inFig. 7A to Fig. 11 ). Thesuction head 34 is connected to a vacuum source (not shown) to suction an edge part of thesheet 11. Thearm 35 moves thesuction head 34 in a predetermined direction. The suctionhead operation mechanism 40 drives thesuction head 34 via thearm 35 to perform a necessary operation. The suctionhead operation mechanism 40 is described in detail below. Thearm 35 not only move thesuction head 34 in a vertical direction to a surface of thebundle 10 but also move thesuction head 34 along a curved line to tilt thesuction head 34 with respect to the surface of thebundle 10 as if to turn over the suctioned edge part of the sheet to be separated. Because of such movements of thesuction head 34, an only suctioned edge part of thesheet 11 is bent, curled or curved. That is, the suctioned edge part of the sheet is pulled apart from thebundle 10 to generate a gap between the (first positioned)sheet 11 and the bundle 10 (i.e., the remaining sheets). For example, thearm 35 moves thesuction head 34 in a direction of an arrow D4 shown inFig. 7B . Such operation can be enabled by the suctionhead operation mechanism 40 explained in detail, below. - The
separation unit 32 includes aseparation roller 36. Theseparation roller 36 is inserted into a gap between thesheet 11 that is partially separated by the suction/pullingunit 31 and a remaining part of thebundle 10 by revolution of theseparation roller 36. Accordingly, the only onesheet 11 is completely separated from thebundle 10. - In the exemplary embodiment, three
separation rollers 36a to 36c are arranged so as to protrude radially from arotatable pulley 37. Theseparation rollers 36a to 36c are arranged side by side at a predetermined interval in a rotation direction of the pulley 37 (direction of an arrow D3 in the drawings). Theseparation rollers 36a to 36c revolve around thepulley 37 and may also rotate about each rotation axis. When theseparation rollers 36a to 36c are inserted in turn into a gap between thesheet 11 that is partially pulled by thesuction head 34 and thebundle 10, thesheet 11 can be completely separated from thebundle 10. Further, a plate-like conveyance guide 38 for preventing sagging (i.e. drooping) of the separatedsheet 11 is provided for theseparation roller 36c that is the last separation roller. - The conveying
unit 33 includes a conveyingroller 39. As mentioned below, the conveyingroller 39 rotates on its axis while thesheet 11 is located between the conveyingroller 39 and the separation,roller 36c. Thereby, a rotation force of the conveyingroller 39 is transmitted to thesheet 11 separated from thebundle 10 and the separatedsheet 11 is conveyed toward a processing step or a processing apparatus in a next stage. - Further, the
sheet separation mechanism 30 described above can be applied to a bundle of sheets with various angle postures including a horizontal posture and a vertical posture by adjusting an angle of a revolution plane of theseparation rollers 36a to 36c and a movement mode or direction of thesuction head 34. According to an angle detection of thesheet 11 in thesheet conveying mechanism 20, an angle of a revolution plane of theseparation rollers 36a to 36c and a movement mode or direction of thesuction head 34 may be adjusted automatically. Because of such adjustments, separating performance of thesheet separation mechanism 30 is further improved. - Next, a sheet separation method will be described with reference to
Fig. 7A to Fig. 11 . In thesheet separation mechanism 30, first, as shown inFig. 7A and Fig. 7B , an edge part of a top sheet of thesheet 11 of thebundle 10 is suctioned by thesuction head 34. After that, thesuction head 34 moves the suctioned edge part of thesheet 11 so as to bend the edge part in a direction shown as arrow D4 inFig.7B , while lifting the edge part up in a vertical direction to a surface of thebundle 10. Further, a movement in which thesuction head 34 moves along a curved line indicated as the arrow D4 inFig. 7B is called as "twist movement" here. By the twist movement of thesuction head 34, as shown inFig. 8A and Fig. 8B , an edge part of thesheet 11 is pulled apart from the bundle 10 (a suction/pulling step). - Next, as shown in
Fig. 8A to Fig. 9B , thepulley 37 rotates in a direction illustrated as an arrow D3. As a result, theseparation rollers 36a to 36c are inserted in turn into a gap between thesheet 11 that is partially pulled and thebundle 10 and accordingly, thesheet 11 is gradually separated from thebundle 10. When theseparation roller 36c that is the last separation roller reaches a location opposed to the conveyingroller 39 as shown inFig. 10A , a rotation of thepulley 37 stops (a separation step). - Next, as shown in
Fig. 10B , suction by thesuction head 34 stops to release the separatedsheet 11, and also the conveyingroller 39 rotates on its axis (rotation in a direction of an arrow D5). As a result, the separatedsheet 11 which is sandwiched between the conveyingroller 39 and theseparation roller 36c is conveyed toward a next stage (in a direction of an arrow D2). At the time, sagging of the separatedsheet 11 is prevented by the conveyance guide 38 (a conveying step) . - When a conveyance of the separated
sheet 11 is completed, thepulley 37 rotates again as shown inFig. 11 , and theseparation rollers 36a to 36c are returned to an original position (Fig. 7A ) (an original position returning step). - Next, a suction
head operation mechanism 40 which is an actual operation mechanism of thesuction head 34 will be described with reference toFig. 12 to Fig. 17 .Fig. 12 is a plan view showing an example of the suctionhead operation mechanism 40 in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 13 is a figure viewing from an arrow direction at a position of the line XIII - XIII inFig. 12 .Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view showing a schematic cross section taken along the line XIV - XIV viewing from an arrow direction inFig. 13 .Fig. 15 is a partial side view showing the suctionhead operation mechanism 40 in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 16 is a partial front view showing the suctionhead operation mechanism 40 in normal state in the exemplary embodiment.Fig. 17 is a partial front view showing the suctionhead operation mechanism 40 in twist movement state in the exemplary embodiment. - The suction
head operation mechanism 40 shown in above drawings includes a twist movement unit which controls thesuction head 34 to perform the above-mentioned twist movement and an up-and-down movement unit which controls thesuction head 34 to perform an up-and-down movement. - The twist movement unit includes a swinging
link 41, aspindle 42, aslider 43 and anair cylinder 44. One end of the swinginglink 41 supports thesuction head 34 via thearm 35. The other end of the swinginglink 41 is connected to theair cylinder 44. Theslider 43 swingably supports the swinginglink 41 via thespindle 42 parallel to thearm 35. Theair cylinder 44 is provided between theslider 43 and the swinginglink 41. As shown inFig. 16 andFig. 17 , when theair cylinder 44 performs expanding movement, force of the expanding movement transmits to the other end of the swinginglink 41. Then, the swinginglink 41 swings about thespindle 42 that serves as a supporting point (in a direction of an arrow D7 inFig. 16 ), and the twist movement of thesuction head 34 is performed. - The up-and-down movement unit includes a
guide rail 45, abase 46, aservo motor 47, apulley 48 and aconnection rod 49. Theguide rail 45 is provided on the base 46 to guide an up-and-down slide operation of theslider 43. Thebase 46 supports up-and-down slidably theslider 43 via theguide rail 45. - The
servo motor 47 is provided below thebase 46. Thepulley 48 is connected to a drive shaft of theservo motor 47 and is rotated within a predetermined angle range according to a rotation of the drive shaft. Theconnection rod 49 connects thepulley 48 and one end of theslider 43. When theservo motor 47 drives, driving force thereof is transmitted to theslider 43 via thepulley 48 and the connection rod 49 (in a direction of an arrow D6 inFig. 13 ). As a result, theslider 43 slides up-and-down along theguide rail 45 and thesuction head 34 provided at an end of thearm 35 moves up-and-down. - In the sheet separation mechanism and the sheet separation method of the exemplary embodiment as mentioned above, the suction/pulling
unit 31 includes thesuction head 34 which suctions an edge part of thesheet 11 and the edge part of thesheet 11 is partly separated from thebundle 10 by the twist movement of thesuction head 34. As a result, even whensheets 11 in thebundle 10 strongly adhere to each other, the sheet 7.1 can be certainly separated one by one and stably fed to a next step. - The
separation unit 32 includes the plurality ofseparation rollers 36a to 36c which revolve around thepulley 37. Theseparation rollers 36a to 36c are inserted in turn into a gap between thesheet 11 that is partly pulled by the suction/pullingunit 31 and thebundle 10. Accordingly, the only onesheet 11 is separated from thebundle 10. Thus, theseparation unit 32 of the exemplary embodiment can separate thesheet 11 that is partly pulled by the suction/pullingunit 31 from thebundle 10 quickly and certainly. - The conveying
unit 33 includes the conveyingroller 39. Thesheet 11 is sandwiched between theseparation roller 36c and the conveyingroller 39. The rotation force of the conveyingroller 39 conveys and feeds thesheet 11 separated from thebundle 10 toward a next stage (i.e. a processing apparatus in a next step) . Thus, in the exemplary embodiment, the separatedsheet 11 can be certainly conveyed and also a structure of the conveyingunit 33 can be simplified by utilizing theseparation roller 36c for a part of the conveyingunit 33. - The exemplary embodiment described above can be applied to a sheet feeder having a sheet separation mechanism. In particular, a sheet separation mechanism of the exemplary embodiment is suitable for a supply feeder of a large scale mail sorting apparatus, but also it can be applied to a supply feeder which separates and supplies a mail such as an ordinary postcard and a letter or a supply feeder which separates and supplies other sheets.
- As mentioned above, by employing the present invention, an edge part of a sheet is suctioned by a suction head and the edge part of the sheet is partly separated from a bundle of the sheets by the twist movement of the suction head. Therefore, the sheet can be certainly separated one by one from the bundle in which the sheets strongly adhere to each other and the separated sheet is stably fed to a next step.
- The previous description of exemplary embodiments is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Moreover, various modifications to these exemplary embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles and specific examples defined herein may be applied to other exemplary embodiments without the use of inventive faculty. Therefore, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope as defined in the claims.
Claims (8)
- A sheet separation method for separating a sheet (11) one by one from a bundle (10) of the sheets (11) and feeding the separated sheet (11) to a next processing step, comprising:suctioning an edge part of the sheet (11) and pulling the suctioned edge part from the bundle (10) by a twist movement;separating the sheet (11) from the bundle (10), the edge part of the sheet (11) being suctioned and pulled; andconveying the sheet (11) separated from the bundle (10) in a predetermined direction,characterized in thatthe separating includes inserting at least one separation roller (36) which moves along a surface of the bundle (10) into a gap between the suctioned edge part of the sheet (11) and the bundle (10),wherein a plate-like guide (38) provided to the separation roller (36c) prevents the sheet (11) separated from sagging.
- The sheet separation method according to claim 1, wherein the pulling includes:an up-and-down movement in which a suction head (34) that suctions the edge part moves in a vertical direction to a surface of the bundle (10): anda twist movement in which the suction head (34) moves along a curved direction to the surface of the bundle (10).
- The sheet separation method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conveying includes rotating a conveying roller (39) which sandwiches the separated sheet (11) with the separation roller (36).
- A sheet separation mechanism (30) for separating a sheet (11) one by one from a bundle (10) of the sheets (11) and feeding the separated sheet (11) to a next processing step, comprising:a suction/pulling unit (31) including a suction head (34) for suctioning an edge part of the sheet (11) and pulling the suctioned edge part, of the sheet (11) apart from the bundle (10) by a twist movement of the suction head (34);a separation unit (32) for separating the sheet (11) from the bundle (10), the edge part of the sheet (11) being suctioned and pulled by the suction head (34); anda conveying unit (33) for conveying the sheet (11) separated from the bundle (10) in a predetermined direction,characterized in thatthe separation unit (32) includes at least one separation roller (36) which moves along a surface of the bundle (10), andthe sheet (11) is separated from the bundle (10) by inserting the separation roller (36) into a gap between the edge part of the sheet (11) suctioned and pulled by the suction/pulling unit (31) and the bundle (10),wherein the separation roller (36c) includes a plate-like guide (38) for preventing the sheet (11) separated from the bundle (10) by the suction/pulling unit (32) from sagging.
- The sheet separation mechanism 30 according to claim 4, wherein the suction/pulling unit (31) comprises:an up-and-down movement unit which moves the suction head (34) to perform an up-and-down movement in a vertical direction to a surface of the bundle (10) anda twist movement unit which moves the suction head (34) to perform a twist movement along a curved direction to the surface of the bundle (10).
- The sheet separation mechanism (30) according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the conveying unit (33) includes a conveying roller (39) which sandwiches the separated sheet (11) with the separation roller (36), and the sheet (11) separated from the bundle (10) is conveyed in a predetermined direction by a rotation of the conveying roller (39) on its axis.
- A sheet feeder comprising a sheet conveying mechanism (20) which conveys a bundle (10) of sheets (11) and a sheet separation mechanism (30) according to claim 4, 5 or 6 which separates the sheet (11) one by one from the bundle (10) that is conveyed to an end part of the sheet conveying mechanism (20).
- The sheet feeder according to claim 7, wherein the sheet conveying mechanism (20) comprises:an upright position maintaining/conveying unit (23) which conveys the bundle (10) placed on a mounting table (21) toward the sheet separation mechanism (30) while maintaining an upright position of the bundle (10); anda posture controlling/conveying unit (24) which controls a posture of the bundle (10) before reaching the sheet separation mechanism (30) while conveying the bundle (10) toward the sheet separation mechanism (30).
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
JP2006231495A JP2008056363A (en) | 2006-08-29 | 2006-08-29 | Paper sheet separation mechanism, paper sheet separation method, and paper sheet feeder |
Publications (3)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP1894868A2 EP1894868A2 (en) | 2008-03-05 |
EP1894868A3 EP1894868A3 (en) | 2008-03-12 |
EP1894868B1 true EP1894868B1 (en) | 2010-10-20 |
Family
ID=38896124
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP07114755A Expired - Fee Related EP1894868B1 (en) | 2006-08-29 | 2007-08-22 | Sheet separation method, sheet separation mechanism and sheet feeder |
Country Status (4)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US20080054547A1 (en) |
EP (1) | EP1894868B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2008056363A (en) |
DE (1) | DE602007009910D1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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KR101750515B1 (en) * | 2009-11-12 | 2017-06-23 | 다우 코닝 코포레이션 | Coated fabric products |
PT2499292E (en) | 2009-11-12 | 2014-06-23 | Dow Corning | Coated fabric products |
JP2014024675A (en) * | 2012-07-30 | 2014-02-06 | Ricoh Co Ltd | Image forming apparatus |
FR3011233B1 (en) | 2013-09-30 | 2015-09-04 | Solystic | STORAGE MODULE WITH STACKING AND DEPILING FUNCTIONS |
JP6983052B2 (en) * | 2017-12-14 | 2021-12-17 | 日本クロージャー株式会社 | Carry-out device |
CN111038980A (en) * | 2019-12-31 | 2020-04-21 | 安徽科大智能物联技术有限公司 | Automatic shaping, separating and conveying device for copper plate |
Family Cites Families (19)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
DE876071C (en) * | 1951-09-05 | 1953-05-07 | Sig Schweiz Industrieges | Method and device for individually removing blanks of paper or the like from a stack and for forwarding them to a processing station of a processing machine |
US4420150A (en) * | 1979-12-19 | 1983-12-13 | Ricoh Company, Ltd. | Apparatus and method for separating a single sheet from a stack and conveying it |
US4815723A (en) * | 1986-10-22 | 1989-03-28 | Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. | Photosensitive plate autofeeder |
US4958824A (en) * | 1988-11-09 | 1990-09-25 | Spartanics, Ltd. | Automatic strip and sheet loader system |
JPH03205235A (en) * | 1989-12-29 | 1991-09-06 | Brother Ind Ltd | Separation of paper sheet in paper feeding device |
US5441249A (en) * | 1992-12-22 | 1995-08-15 | Asterisk, Inc | Method and device for separating lifts from a stack of sheets |
JP3328706B2 (en) * | 1993-02-05 | 2002-09-30 | ニチロ工業株式会社 | Origami printed matter supply device |
US5560596A (en) * | 1993-08-10 | 1996-10-01 | Canon Kabushiki Kaisha | Sheet supplying device and recording or reading apparatus |
US20030017035A1 (en) * | 2000-05-15 | 2003-01-23 | Solomon Yehuda Barnes | Automatic printing plate feeding system |
US6179280B1 (en) * | 1999-06-11 | 2001-01-30 | Andrew F. Coppolo | Envelope processing apparatus |
DK1086914T3 (en) * | 1999-09-24 | 2003-08-25 | Ferag Ag | Device for transporting flexible flat products |
AUPR315301A0 (en) * | 2001-02-19 | 2001-03-15 | Silverbrook Research Pty. Ltd. | An Apparatus (ART102) |
US6688591B2 (en) * | 2002-04-05 | 2004-02-10 | Agfa Corporation | Apparatus and method for removing slip sheets |
US6675712B2 (en) * | 2002-04-05 | 2004-01-13 | Agfa Corporation | Apparatus and method for picking a single printing plate from a stack of printing plates |
US6776097B2 (en) * | 2002-10-02 | 2004-08-17 | Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. | Plate supplying apparatus |
JP3938904B2 (en) * | 2002-12-10 | 2007-06-27 | 富士フイルム株式会社 | Sheet sheet adsorption device |
JP3897256B2 (en) * | 2003-03-25 | 2007-03-22 | 富士フイルム株式会社 | Printing plate feeder |
JP4338611B2 (en) * | 2004-09-17 | 2009-10-07 | 富士フイルム株式会社 | Film sheet single wafer mechanism and heat development recording apparatus provided with the same |
US7461838B2 (en) * | 2005-10-18 | 2008-12-09 | Graphic Packaging International, Inc. | Spaced apart segment wheel assembly for a carton packaging machine |
-
2006
- 2006-08-29 JP JP2006231495A patent/JP2008056363A/en active Pending
-
2007
- 2007-08-22 DE DE602007009910T patent/DE602007009910D1/en active Active
- 2007-08-22 EP EP07114755A patent/EP1894868B1/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 2007-08-28 US US11/846,316 patent/US20080054547A1/en not_active Abandoned
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
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EP1894868A3 (en) | 2008-03-12 |
EP1894868A2 (en) | 2008-03-05 |
US20080054547A1 (en) | 2008-03-06 |
DE602007009910D1 (en) | 2010-12-02 |
JP2008056363A (en) | 2008-03-13 |
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