CA1179384A - Sheet feed apparatus for collating apparatus - Google Patents
Sheet feed apparatus for collating apparatusInfo
- Publication number
- CA1179384A CA1179384A CA000361141A CA361141A CA1179384A CA 1179384 A CA1179384 A CA 1179384A CA 000361141 A CA000361141 A CA 000361141A CA 361141 A CA361141 A CA 361141A CA 1179384 A CA1179384 A CA 1179384A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- sheet
- manual
- inlet
- sheets
- manual sheet
- 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
Links
Abstract
Abstract of the Disclosure Copy sheets are automatically fed from a copying machine (122) through a feed unit (129)into a collator (121).
In response to a jam condition or an end of copying operation, a manual sheet inlet (163) is unblocked so that usuable copies may be manually inserted into the feed unit (129) and fed therefrom to the collator (121).
In response to a jam condition or an end of copying operation, a manual sheet inlet (163) is unblocked so that usuable copies may be manually inserted into the feed unit (129) and fed therefrom to the collator (121).
Description
1,I'f'~
Background of the Invention I
The present invention relates to a manual sheet in-sertion and feed apparatus for use with a sheet distribut-ing or collating apparatus or the like.
A conventional device Eor manual insertion of sheets is designed such that a sheet inserted manually is detected by a sensor and then conveyed by feed rollers.
This type of device, however, fails to properly feed a sheet to a predetermined position because the pc,sition the sheet is inserted is not constant. There are known collators and like apparatus which are equipped with a sheet adjusting mechanism. Sheet adjustment in such an apparatus fails from time to time.
In a conventional manual sheet insertion device, a solenoid is energized when the leading edge of a manually inserted sheet is sensed to slightly lower a stop. Then, the sheet is inserted deeper into the device to be con-veyed by rollers. Before the trailing edge of the in-serted sheet moves fully past the stop, the solenoid is de-energized so that the stop engages the ~heet with a small magnitude of pressure.
With such device, however, the contact of the stop with the sheet tends to damage the sheet and creates an unstable factor in the conveyance of the sheet.
Summary of -the Invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feed apparatus comprising a manual insertion means which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and l ~Lt7~3L~
ensures efficient and reliable sheet feed, insertion and collation..
A sheet feed apparatus embodying the present invention comprises sheet feed means having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet.
In accordance with.the present invention, copy sheets are automatically fed from a copying machine through a sheet f:eed unit into a collator. In response to a jam condition or an.end of copying operation, a manual sheet inlet is unblocked so that ,usable copies may be manually inserted.into the feed unit and fed therefrom to the collator.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a generally improved sheet feed apparatus.
More specifically and in accordance wi-th one aspect of the presen.t invention, there is provided and broadly claimed herein a sheet feed apparatus fo.r use with a collating apparatus comprising: sheet :Eeed rneans hav:ing an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet; sensor 20 means disposed adjacent to the manual sheet inle-t for sensing a leading edge and a trailing edge of a sheet inserted into the manual sheet inlet; stop means for blocking the manual sheet inlet; and control means res-ponsive to the sensor means for controlling the stop means.to unblock the manual sheet inlet in response to sensing the leading edge of the sheet and to unconditionally block the manual sheet inlet for a predetermined length of time in response to sensing the trailing edge of the sheet.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is also provided and broadly claimed herein a sheet feed apparatus for use with a collating apparatus comprising: sheet feed mea~s having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet; guide means for blocking and unblocking the manual sheet inlet;
~7y~
reproduction means for feeding sheets into the automatic sheet inleti and control mean.s for sensing an end of operation of the reproduction means,'the control means controlling the guide means to block the manual inlet during operation of the reproduction.means and to unblock the manual sheet inlet upon.te~mination of operation of the reproduction mea~s~
Other objects, to~ether with the foregoing, are attained in the embodiments described in the fol-lowing descriptio~. and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing. .. . .. .. ..
Brief Descr_ption of th.e D~awing Figure 1 is a plan ~iew of a part of a prior art manual sheet insertion device;
, Figure 2 shows in fragmentary front elevation ' a sheet distributing apparatus to which the present invention is applied;
Fig. 3 shows in perspecti~e the mechanism of a manual insertion. section o the apparatus depicted ' in Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the mechanism of Figure 3, Figure 5 is explanatory of the same mechanism;
' Figure 6 is a diagram showin.g an electric circuit associated with the manual insertion section;
~ Eigure 7 shows in perspective a part of an embodiment o the presen.t invention;
E'igure 8 is an electric circuit diagram of the same embodiment;
__ .
~. ~Lr ~J~
Figure 9 schematically shows the overall constructiOn of a collator to which the present invention is applica-ble;
Figure 10 is an enlarged view of an upper part of the collator;
Figure 11 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 12 illustrates a collator accoridng to the present invention;
Figure 13 shows in fragmentary enlarged view a collator according to the present invention;
Figures 14 and 15 are schematic diagrams illustrating another embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of another collating device embodying the present invention.
Description of the Preferred Embodiments While the sheet feed apparatus of the present inven-tion is susceptible of numerous physical embodiments, depending upon the environment and requirements of use, substantial numbers of the herein shown and described embodiments have been made, tested and used, and all have performed in an eminently satisfactory manner.
A prior art sheet feed apparatus is shown in Figure 1 and comprises feed rollers 21 for feeding a sheet 22 which is manually inserted into -the apparatus. The leading edge of the sheet 22 is sensed by means of a sensor 23 comprising a photodetector or the like. The problemf7wfith B this prior art arrangement is that the sheet 22 is ~e~
fed in an erroneous manner even if it is properly sensed ` by the sensor 23 when it is not inserted perfectly straight into the apparatus and aligned perfectly with a reference edge.
Referring to Figures 2 to 6, there is illustrated a sheet inlet section of an e~emplary sheet distributing apparatus to which the present invention applies. In the arrangement shown, copy sheets conveyed from a copying machine to an inlet 31 of the apparatus by a bel-t are usually advanced by inlet roller pairs consisting of conveyor rollers 32 and driven rollers 33 and then dis--5 tributed into individual bins through a deflecting portion. In the event of jamming or the like, sheets will be manually inserted into the apparatus, conveyed by a manual insertion section 34 and distributed through the deflecting portion into the bins.
The manual insertion section 34 includes a manual insertion guide 36 which is movable between opened and closed positions and will be opened during use of this section 34. The manual insertion guide 36 and a reference guide 37, guide 38 and curved plate 39 in combination define a path through which a manually inserted sheet 41 travels. A stop 42 is so located as to be movable into and out of the sheet conveyance path. The reference guide 37 is adapted to give the sheet 41 a proper alignment. The proper position of the sheet 41 is obtained by inserting it in the manual insertion section 34 with its left edge 41a engaged with the reference guide 37 until it abuts against an end portion 42a of the stop 42. The reference numeral 43 denotes a photosensor made up of a light emitting diode 43a and a phototransis-tor 43b. As shown in Figure 5, the photosensor 43 is located such that it detects a left margin area of a leading edge portion of the sheet 41 only when the sheet 41 is in a proper position Pl determined by the reference guide 37 and stop 42. The sheet 41 will not be detected when in improper ~ositions such as P2 and P3. An output signal of the photosensor 43 energizes a solenoid 81 included in the circuitry of Figure 6 to move the stop 42 out of the sheet insertion path. Then the sheet 41 is inserted deeper into the section 34 along the reference guide 37 until the rollers 32 and driven rollers 44 nip 7~
and drive the sheet 41 along the curved plate 39. There-after, the rollers 32 in cooperation with the driven rollers 33 feed the sheet 41 and the deflecting section distributes the sheet into a desired bin.
An electric circuit associated with -the manual inser-ticn mechanism 34 is shown in Figure 6. This circuit comprises an operational amplifier 46, resistors 51 to 65, capacitors 66 and 67, diodes 68 and 69, inverters 71 and 72, a 3-input AND gate 73, open collector buffers 74 and 76, a transistor 77, a monostable multivibrator 78, a NOR gate 79, the solenoid 81 for driving the stop 42 and a manual insertion switch 82.
When in operation the operator opens the manual insertion guide 36, the switch 82 i.s closed. Then as the operator inserts the copy sheet 41 along -the reference guide 37, the photosensor 43 detects the sheet 41 and the phototransistor 43b is rendered non~conductive. This causes the inverting input of the operational amplifier 46 from the phototransistor 43b to become lower in level than the non-inverting input so that the operational amplifier 46 feeds a high level output to the NOR gate 79, ,;
open collector buffer 74 and AND gate 73. The output level of the inverter 71 is low when the guide 36 remains closed with the switch 82 open, but becomes high when the guide 36 is opened and the switch 82 is closed. Accord-ingly, in this situation, the output level of the AND
gate 73 goes high and the open collector buffer 76 feeds a current through the transistor 77 which in turn energizes the solenoid 81. Then the stop 42 operated by the solenoid 81 is lowered out of the inser-tion path.
When the sheet ~1 is inserted deeper into the now cleared path, the rollers 32 and 44 advance the sheet 41 in a predetermined direction.
As the trailing edge of the sheet 41 moves clear of the position of the photosensor 43, the phototransistor 1:~'7'3;~8~ ~
43b is made conductive and in turn makes the output level of the operational amplifier 46 low. The output signal of the open collector buffer 74 is transformed into a slightly delayed signal by a delay circuit made up -5 of the.resistors 58 and 59 and capacitor 66. This delayed signal output is inverted by the inverter 72 and fed to the NOR gate 79. Therefore, the NOR gate 79 supplies the monostable multivibrator 78 with an end-of-sheet signal as a pulse whereupon the monostable multivibrator 78 supplies the AND gate 73 with a pulse whose duration is determined by the resistor ~0 and capacitor 67. Low level inputs of the AND gate 73 from the operational amplifier 46 and monostable multivibrato.r 78 make the output level of the AND gate 73 low so that the solenoid 81 is de-energiæed to bring the stop 42 back to its opera-tive position in the sheet insertion path. Since the AND gate 73 receives the given duration of low level output of the monostable multivibrator 78, it does not produce a high level signal for a predetermined period of time even though the photosensor 43 may detect the next copy sheet. That is, the stop 42 keeps on inhibiting or preventing insertion of the next copy sheet beyond it .for that predetermined period of time. This time period is open to choice and will be determined accoring to the application of the manual insertion section. In the illustrated embodiment, the time period concerned may be the one after which the deflecting portion reaches the - next bin.
Another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 7. As shown, the manual insertion device includes a second photosensor 91 in addition to the photosensor 43 and employs the electric circuit shown in Figure ~. The position of the second photosensor 91 is such that it detects the left end of the sheet 41 inserted along the reference guide 37 until it abuts against the t 42. Detecting two different left marginal portions of the sheet 41, these photosensors 43 and 91 more positively sense the insertion of the sheet 41 along the reference guide 37.
The circuitry of Figure 8 has in addition to the components of Figure 6 circuitry a light emitting diode 91a, phototransistor 91b serving as the photosensor together with the light emitting diode 91a and a 4-input AND gate 92 which replaces the 3-input AND gate 73. The output level of an operational amplifier 93 remains low as long as the photosensor 91 does not detect the sheet 41 but becomes high when the photosensor 91 detects the sheet 41. When both of the photosensors 43 and 91 detect the sheet 41, the output level of the AND gate 92 goes high to lower the stop 42 to its inoperative position.
The procedure after the detection of the trailing edge of the sheet is common to that discussed in connection with the first embodiment. Further illustrated are resistors 94 to 101.
In summary, a manual sheet insertion control system according to the present invention allows its associated manual insertion device to prevent acceptance of a sheet for a given period of time after the detection of the trailing edge of the preceding sheet. Thus, the present invention promotes stable and damage-free conveyance of sheets without causing a stop to pressingly engage a sheet being fed.
Various types of collators are known which are con-nected with copying machines and operate to automatically collate (arrange the pages of) copy sheets provided by successive copying of original documents in the order of pages.
Prior art collators are, however, designed to be operable only in operative connection with copying ma-chines and cannot meet a demand concerning manual insertion of sheets.~ characteristic feature of the present invention resides in that insertion of sheets through a manual inlet is disabled during a copying machine mode which, in response to an end-of-copying-machine-mode signal, sheet insertion through the manual inlet is enabled and the operating mode is switched from the copying machine mode to a manual insertion mode at the moment of manual insertion of a sheet through the manual inlet and manually inserted sheets are collated with the copying machine mode disabled.
Manual insertion of sheets is necessary in the cases outlined below.
1. Jam Condition In the event jamming has occured in the collator, copy sheets from the associated copying machine are temporarily stored in a discharge tray located ahead of the jammed position and, there-after, the sheets in the tray are manually inserted in the colla-tor and fed to predetermined bins of the collator which will then be operating for assortment or collation.
Background of the Invention I
The present invention relates to a manual sheet in-sertion and feed apparatus for use with a sheet distribut-ing or collating apparatus or the like.
A conventional device Eor manual insertion of sheets is designed such that a sheet inserted manually is detected by a sensor and then conveyed by feed rollers.
This type of device, however, fails to properly feed a sheet to a predetermined position because the pc,sition the sheet is inserted is not constant. There are known collators and like apparatus which are equipped with a sheet adjusting mechanism. Sheet adjustment in such an apparatus fails from time to time.
In a conventional manual sheet insertion device, a solenoid is energized when the leading edge of a manually inserted sheet is sensed to slightly lower a stop. Then, the sheet is inserted deeper into the device to be con-veyed by rollers. Before the trailing edge of the in-serted sheet moves fully past the stop, the solenoid is de-energized so that the stop engages the ~heet with a small magnitude of pressure.
With such device, however, the contact of the stop with the sheet tends to damage the sheet and creates an unstable factor in the conveyance of the sheet.
Summary of -the Invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feed apparatus comprising a manual insertion means which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and l ~Lt7~3L~
ensures efficient and reliable sheet feed, insertion and collation..
A sheet feed apparatus embodying the present invention comprises sheet feed means having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet.
In accordance with.the present invention, copy sheets are automatically fed from a copying machine through a sheet f:eed unit into a collator. In response to a jam condition or an.end of copying operation, a manual sheet inlet is unblocked so that ,usable copies may be manually inserted.into the feed unit and fed therefrom to the collator.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a generally improved sheet feed apparatus.
More specifically and in accordance wi-th one aspect of the presen.t invention, there is provided and broadly claimed herein a sheet feed apparatus fo.r use with a collating apparatus comprising: sheet :Eeed rneans hav:ing an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet; sensor 20 means disposed adjacent to the manual sheet inle-t for sensing a leading edge and a trailing edge of a sheet inserted into the manual sheet inlet; stop means for blocking the manual sheet inlet; and control means res-ponsive to the sensor means for controlling the stop means.to unblock the manual sheet inlet in response to sensing the leading edge of the sheet and to unconditionally block the manual sheet inlet for a predetermined length of time in response to sensing the trailing edge of the sheet.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is also provided and broadly claimed herein a sheet feed apparatus for use with a collating apparatus comprising: sheet feed mea~s having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet; guide means for blocking and unblocking the manual sheet inlet;
~7y~
reproduction means for feeding sheets into the automatic sheet inleti and control mean.s for sensing an end of operation of the reproduction means,'the control means controlling the guide means to block the manual inlet during operation of the reproduction.means and to unblock the manual sheet inlet upon.te~mination of operation of the reproduction mea~s~
Other objects, to~ether with the foregoing, are attained in the embodiments described in the fol-lowing descriptio~. and illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing. .. . .. .. ..
Brief Descr_ption of th.e D~awing Figure 1 is a plan ~iew of a part of a prior art manual sheet insertion device;
, Figure 2 shows in fragmentary front elevation ' a sheet distributing apparatus to which the present invention is applied;
Fig. 3 shows in perspecti~e the mechanism of a manual insertion. section o the apparatus depicted ' in Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the mechanism of Figure 3, Figure 5 is explanatory of the same mechanism;
' Figure 6 is a diagram showin.g an electric circuit associated with the manual insertion section;
~ Eigure 7 shows in perspective a part of an embodiment o the presen.t invention;
E'igure 8 is an electric circuit diagram of the same embodiment;
__ .
~. ~Lr ~J~
Figure 9 schematically shows the overall constructiOn of a collator to which the present invention is applica-ble;
Figure 10 is an enlarged view of an upper part of the collator;
Figure 11 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 12 illustrates a collator accoridng to the present invention;
Figure 13 shows in fragmentary enlarged view a collator according to the present invention;
Figures 14 and 15 are schematic diagrams illustrating another embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of another collating device embodying the present invention.
Description of the Preferred Embodiments While the sheet feed apparatus of the present inven-tion is susceptible of numerous physical embodiments, depending upon the environment and requirements of use, substantial numbers of the herein shown and described embodiments have been made, tested and used, and all have performed in an eminently satisfactory manner.
A prior art sheet feed apparatus is shown in Figure 1 and comprises feed rollers 21 for feeding a sheet 22 which is manually inserted into -the apparatus. The leading edge of the sheet 22 is sensed by means of a sensor 23 comprising a photodetector or the like. The problemf7wfith B this prior art arrangement is that the sheet 22 is ~e~
fed in an erroneous manner even if it is properly sensed ` by the sensor 23 when it is not inserted perfectly straight into the apparatus and aligned perfectly with a reference edge.
Referring to Figures 2 to 6, there is illustrated a sheet inlet section of an e~emplary sheet distributing apparatus to which the present invention applies. In the arrangement shown, copy sheets conveyed from a copying machine to an inlet 31 of the apparatus by a bel-t are usually advanced by inlet roller pairs consisting of conveyor rollers 32 and driven rollers 33 and then dis--5 tributed into individual bins through a deflecting portion. In the event of jamming or the like, sheets will be manually inserted into the apparatus, conveyed by a manual insertion section 34 and distributed through the deflecting portion into the bins.
The manual insertion section 34 includes a manual insertion guide 36 which is movable between opened and closed positions and will be opened during use of this section 34. The manual insertion guide 36 and a reference guide 37, guide 38 and curved plate 39 in combination define a path through which a manually inserted sheet 41 travels. A stop 42 is so located as to be movable into and out of the sheet conveyance path. The reference guide 37 is adapted to give the sheet 41 a proper alignment. The proper position of the sheet 41 is obtained by inserting it in the manual insertion section 34 with its left edge 41a engaged with the reference guide 37 until it abuts against an end portion 42a of the stop 42. The reference numeral 43 denotes a photosensor made up of a light emitting diode 43a and a phototransis-tor 43b. As shown in Figure 5, the photosensor 43 is located such that it detects a left margin area of a leading edge portion of the sheet 41 only when the sheet 41 is in a proper position Pl determined by the reference guide 37 and stop 42. The sheet 41 will not be detected when in improper ~ositions such as P2 and P3. An output signal of the photosensor 43 energizes a solenoid 81 included in the circuitry of Figure 6 to move the stop 42 out of the sheet insertion path. Then the sheet 41 is inserted deeper into the section 34 along the reference guide 37 until the rollers 32 and driven rollers 44 nip 7~
and drive the sheet 41 along the curved plate 39. There-after, the rollers 32 in cooperation with the driven rollers 33 feed the sheet 41 and the deflecting section distributes the sheet into a desired bin.
An electric circuit associated with -the manual inser-ticn mechanism 34 is shown in Figure 6. This circuit comprises an operational amplifier 46, resistors 51 to 65, capacitors 66 and 67, diodes 68 and 69, inverters 71 and 72, a 3-input AND gate 73, open collector buffers 74 and 76, a transistor 77, a monostable multivibrator 78, a NOR gate 79, the solenoid 81 for driving the stop 42 and a manual insertion switch 82.
When in operation the operator opens the manual insertion guide 36, the switch 82 i.s closed. Then as the operator inserts the copy sheet 41 along -the reference guide 37, the photosensor 43 detects the sheet 41 and the phototransistor 43b is rendered non~conductive. This causes the inverting input of the operational amplifier 46 from the phototransistor 43b to become lower in level than the non-inverting input so that the operational amplifier 46 feeds a high level output to the NOR gate 79, ,;
open collector buffer 74 and AND gate 73. The output level of the inverter 71 is low when the guide 36 remains closed with the switch 82 open, but becomes high when the guide 36 is opened and the switch 82 is closed. Accord-ingly, in this situation, the output level of the AND
gate 73 goes high and the open collector buffer 76 feeds a current through the transistor 77 which in turn energizes the solenoid 81. Then the stop 42 operated by the solenoid 81 is lowered out of the inser-tion path.
When the sheet ~1 is inserted deeper into the now cleared path, the rollers 32 and 44 advance the sheet 41 in a predetermined direction.
As the trailing edge of the sheet 41 moves clear of the position of the photosensor 43, the phototransistor 1:~'7'3;~8~ ~
43b is made conductive and in turn makes the output level of the operational amplifier 46 low. The output signal of the open collector buffer 74 is transformed into a slightly delayed signal by a delay circuit made up -5 of the.resistors 58 and 59 and capacitor 66. This delayed signal output is inverted by the inverter 72 and fed to the NOR gate 79. Therefore, the NOR gate 79 supplies the monostable multivibrator 78 with an end-of-sheet signal as a pulse whereupon the monostable multivibrator 78 supplies the AND gate 73 with a pulse whose duration is determined by the resistor ~0 and capacitor 67. Low level inputs of the AND gate 73 from the operational amplifier 46 and monostable multivibrato.r 78 make the output level of the AND gate 73 low so that the solenoid 81 is de-energiæed to bring the stop 42 back to its opera-tive position in the sheet insertion path. Since the AND gate 73 receives the given duration of low level output of the monostable multivibrator 78, it does not produce a high level signal for a predetermined period of time even though the photosensor 43 may detect the next copy sheet. That is, the stop 42 keeps on inhibiting or preventing insertion of the next copy sheet beyond it .for that predetermined period of time. This time period is open to choice and will be determined accoring to the application of the manual insertion section. In the illustrated embodiment, the time period concerned may be the one after which the deflecting portion reaches the - next bin.
Another embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in Figure 7. As shown, the manual insertion device includes a second photosensor 91 in addition to the photosensor 43 and employs the electric circuit shown in Figure ~. The position of the second photosensor 91 is such that it detects the left end of the sheet 41 inserted along the reference guide 37 until it abuts against the t 42. Detecting two different left marginal portions of the sheet 41, these photosensors 43 and 91 more positively sense the insertion of the sheet 41 along the reference guide 37.
The circuitry of Figure 8 has in addition to the components of Figure 6 circuitry a light emitting diode 91a, phototransistor 91b serving as the photosensor together with the light emitting diode 91a and a 4-input AND gate 92 which replaces the 3-input AND gate 73. The output level of an operational amplifier 93 remains low as long as the photosensor 91 does not detect the sheet 41 but becomes high when the photosensor 91 detects the sheet 41. When both of the photosensors 43 and 91 detect the sheet 41, the output level of the AND gate 92 goes high to lower the stop 42 to its inoperative position.
The procedure after the detection of the trailing edge of the sheet is common to that discussed in connection with the first embodiment. Further illustrated are resistors 94 to 101.
In summary, a manual sheet insertion control system according to the present invention allows its associated manual insertion device to prevent acceptance of a sheet for a given period of time after the detection of the trailing edge of the preceding sheet. Thus, the present invention promotes stable and damage-free conveyance of sheets without causing a stop to pressingly engage a sheet being fed.
Various types of collators are known which are con-nected with copying machines and operate to automatically collate (arrange the pages of) copy sheets provided by successive copying of original documents in the order of pages.
Prior art collators are, however, designed to be operable only in operative connection with copying ma-chines and cannot meet a demand concerning manual insertion of sheets.~ characteristic feature of the present invention resides in that insertion of sheets through a manual inlet is disabled during a copying machine mode which, in response to an end-of-copying-machine-mode signal, sheet insertion through the manual inlet is enabled and the operating mode is switched from the copying machine mode to a manual insertion mode at the moment of manual insertion of a sheet through the manual inlet and manually inserted sheets are collated with the copying machine mode disabled.
Manual insertion of sheets is necessary in the cases outlined below.
1. Jam Condition In the event jamming has occured in the collator, copy sheets from the associated copying machine are temporarily stored in a discharge tray located ahead of the jammed position and, there-after, the sheets in the tray are manually inserted in the colla-tor and fed to predetermined bins of the collator which will then be operating for assortment or collation.
2. Insertion of Divider Sheets Sheets other than copy sheets which do not come out of a copying machine, such as colored divider sheets for pages, are manually inserted into the collator to be sorted or collated and stored in predetermined bins.
Hereinafter will be described the construction and operation of a collator having a manual insertion function which meets the above-mentioned demands.
Suppose that a collator 121 and a copying machine 122 are operatively connected as illustrated in Figure 9.
When as shown in Figure 11 the entire arrangement of the collator 121 and copying machine 122 (referred to simply 11~793~
g as "entire arrangement" hereinafter) is supplied with power by a power turn-on process 200, a control mechanism not shown is activated to condition the entire arrangement for a usual stand-by mode 300 through a flow line 200a. In this usual stand-by mode, the collator 121 has its collating actions interrupted and the copying machine 122 has`its copying cycles interrupted. When a print switch on the control panel of the copying machine is turned on in the usual stand-by mode, the operating mode changes from the usual stand-by mode 300 into a copy-ing machine mode 400 along a flow line 300a. In this mode of operation, the coIlator 121 accepts copy sheets fed thereto from the copying machine 122 and sorts or collates them.
Reference wil1 be made to Figures 9 and 10 for describing collating operati.on in the copying machine mode together With the construction of the collator.
The copying machine 122 has a sheet outlet 123 while the collator 121 has an~automatic sheet inlet 12~. A
copy sheet 126 coming out of the copying machine 122 through the outlet 123 as indicated by an arrow 127 is introduced in the collator 121 through the inlet 124.
Inside the collator 121, the sheet 126 advances to the right on and along~a guide plate 128 and, by the action of inlet roller pair~s 129 and l31 rotating in the direc-tion of an arrow, moves posi~tively to an aligning section 132. Interposed between the`roller pairs 131 and aligning section 132 is a~sheet path selecting guide plate 133 which is integral~with a shaft 134 rotatable as indicated by an arrow and extends perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Usually, the sheet path selector 133 remains in the position indicated by a phantom line so as to permit passage of sheets toward the aligning section 132.
The aligning section 132 has skew rollers 136 and 137 and horizontal rolls 138 which in combination move the sheet 126 askew toward a reference plate (not shown). This reference plate functions to align the marginal edges of sheets 126 arriving at the section 132 one by one in succession. Then the sheet 126 moves past intermediate roller pairs 139 and 141 and ls re-directed downward by a guide plate 142. A conveyor belt i43 in the form of an endless belt is passed over upper and lower rollers 144 and 146 which form a pair. The conveyor belt 143 sucks the sheet 126 guided downward by the plate 142 onto its outer surface and feeds the sheet 126 downward in accordance with its rota-~ion. The suction force acting on the sheet 126 comes from vacuum in a tank 147 which is located inside ~nd between the opposite runs of the belt c~V ~
143. ~ir ~Y~hr the belt 143 flows into the va~uum tank lS 147 through apertures formed through the en~ire circum-ference of the belt 143 and thereby causes the sheet 126 to intimately adhere to the belt surEace. The reference numerals 148 and 149 denote ans for the suction of air.
The collator 121 also includes a vertical guide post 151 on which a deflecting unit 152 is slidably mounted. The deflecting unit 152 has therewith a curved plate 153 which has an upper end located inwardly of the outer belt surface and the other end extending substantially horizontally. Due to such a configuration of the curved plate 153, the sheet 126 on the belt 143 progressively rides on the plate 153 and is deflected by the curved upper surface of the plate 153. A pair of discharge rollers 154 also integral with the deflector 152 delivers the sheet 126 undergone the deflection into a selected one of bins 156. These bins 156 are positioned vertically one upon another in the vicinity of the discharge roller pair 154. The deflector 152 is driven for vertical reciprocation by a mechanism not shown. During downward travel in particular, it will be indexed or moved inter-mittently to stop at each position corresponding to a ~;~`7~
bin 156 and thus deliver sheets 126 one by one into the bins 156.
A sensor 157 is loca-ted in the sheet path on the deflector 152 immediately ahead of the discharge roller pair 154. An output signal of the sensor 157 is employed for various purposes as will be discussed below. One purpose is to move the deflector 152 bodily upward in response to an output signal of the sensor 157 which indicates the passage of the last sheet 126 of a given number of sheets preset through a dial on the control panel. The deflector 152 thus elevated is stopped at the upper end of its stroke and again lowered intermittently to deliver sheets into the individual bins 156. This is the outline of the collating operation in the copying machine mode.
As shown in Figure 10, a discharge tray 158 is positioned substantially above the aligning section 132.
It is when jamming has occurred in the collator 121 for example that copy sheets 126 are fed into the discharge tray 158. The sheet path selector 133 is moved to the solid line position in response to a jam detection signal B whereby sheets 126 fed ~ the roller pairs 129 and 131 advance along the sheet path selector 133 and a guide 159 and into the discharge tray 158 via a roller 161.
The sheets thus stacked in the discharge tray 158 are taken out by the operator through an opening 162 above the tray 158 after the jamming has been cleared by adequate processing. The sheets 126 are then manually inserted in the collator 121 through a manual inlet 163 and advanced toward the individual bins 156 by way of the route already discussed. The manual inlet 163 is defined above the inlet roller pairs 129 and 131 and by upper and lower guide plates 164 and 166. A part of the upper guide plate 164 intermediate the opposite ends is laterally slotted and feed rollers 167 are held in pressing~
~ ~'7~
i engagement with the roller 129 through the slots. A stop member 168 is positioned beneath -the lower guide plate 166 with its one end rigidly mounted on a pivotable shaft 169.
The other end of the stop member 168 is forked and bent S to form multiple stop gates 171 which correspond in position to multiple rectangular openings 172 formed through the lower guide plate 166. Driven for angular movement by a power source not shown, the shaft 169 has a first position in which the stop gates 171 project upward beyond the stop member 168 through the openings 172 (referred to as "closed stop gate position" herein-after) and a second position in which the stop gates 171 are located beiow the openings 172 (referred to as "opened stop gate position" hereinafter).
I5 ~ lid 173 is pivotable about a pivot shaft 17~ to open and close the upper end oE the manual inlet 163.
When manual insertion of sheets is necessary, the lid 173 will be opened to the position indicated by a phantom line and locked thereat by means not shown. In this instance, a sheet 126 to be inserted manually may be loaded on the lid 173 to utilize the lid 173 as a guide.
~ second sensor 176 is positioned deeper in the manual inlet 163 and at least ahead of the stop gates 171.
According to the present invention, the shaft 169 in the copying machine mode is maintained in the closed stop gate position and prevents accidental insertion of sheets through the manual inlet 163 with the stop gates 171.
The condition of the collator 121 permitting sheet insertion through the manual inlet 163 and collating or sorting the thus inserted sheets will hereinafter be called a manual insertion mode and represented by a process 500 in Figure 11. In order that this process 500 may hold, the following two conditions must be satisfied at the same time:
(1) The copying machine 122 is in the process 300.
(2) A sheet 126 is inserted in the manual inlet 163 and the sensor 176 senses the incoming sheet.
'1j~3 s~ ti~
To ~ffr~rs~r~ the condition (1), the process ~00 must have been practiced, the process 400 must have been completed, the process SOO must have been completed, a process 600 must have been dealt with, or the like state must have been established. Practicing of the process 200 has already been described. The end of the process 400 corresponds to the instant the last one of a given number of sheets pre-selected through the dial on the control panel has been detected by the sensor 157 (delivered into a bin 156).
An output signal appearing then from the sensor 157 is the end-o-f-copyincJ-machine-mode signal and this siynal I5 conditions the entire arranyement for the process 300 as indicated by the flow line 400a. The end o~ the-~seee-500 corresponds to the instant the last one of a stack of manually inserted sheets has been detected by the sensor 157 (delivered into a bin 156). A signal then appearing from the sensor 157 is the end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal. In response to this signal, the entire arrange-ment is conditioned for the process 300 as indicated by a flow line 500a. The process 600 is for a failure mode attributable to jamming and other conditions which make the collator 121 inoperable. Naturally, the collator 121 cannot be operated unless such a failure is repaired.
When the failure is repaired by a suitable process, the entire arrangement will be conditioned for the process 300 as indicated by a flow line 600a.
It should be born in mind in connection with the process 600 that, whatever the process the entire arrange-ment is in, such as the process 300, the process 400 or the process 500, it is necessarily caused to undergo the process 600 upon detection of a failure, and that after the removal of the failure it does not go back to the 7~
1, process just before the failure has occurred but always reverts to the process 300 except for the case wherein a failure occurred when the entire arrangement was in the process 300. The entire arrangement will shift to the process 600 along a flow line ~OOb when a failure occurs in the process 400, to the process 600 along a flow line 500b when a failure occurs in the process 500, and to the process 600 along a flow line 300b when a failure occurs in the process 300.
Now, when the conditions (1) and (2) are satisfied, the entire arrangement shifts to the process 500 along a flow line 300c. In this process, the following actions take place during a manual insertion mode. A drive line only for a part of the collator 121 is activated. After a sheet has been introduced manually through the inlet 163, the shaft 169 is rotated by a sheet detection signal when the condition (2) is satisfied and establishes the closed stop gate state. The sheet is thus caught and driven by the rollers 129 and 167 into a selected 20 bin 156.
During the manual insextion mode, the copying machine 122 is inhibited. Stated another way, the entire arrange-ment gives priority to the manual insertion mode of the collator 121. During the manual insertion mode, the sheets introduced manually into the collator 121 are delivered inte individual bins 156 by a preset number.
As the sensor 157 detects the last one of the preset number of sheets, it produces an end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal and the entire arrangement goes back to the 30 process 300 along the flow line 500a.
In the illustrated embodiment, the end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal has appeared at the instant the sensor 157 has detected the last sheet. Instead, a third sensor 181 may be located in the opening and closing 35 portion of the lid 173 such that the sensor 181 produces ~,~Lt~
-the end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal when detecting closing of the lid 173. A change o~ mode in this case is indicated by a flow line 500c.
With the control me-thod clescribed above, a collator having the function of manual insertion can be controlled.
A collator of the type described is known and ¦
designed to perform collation or assortment by delivering copy sheets fed thereto successively into desired ones of a number of storage bins. Conventionally, an operator of such a collator copes with jamming within the collator by taking out the jammed sheet and manually storing it directly in a selected bin. However, this manual work is troublesome and liable to make the sheet stacks irregular and this affects various kinds of wor~
which follow the collation. Another expedient consists of wasting all o the jammed shee-ts and producin~ new copies. This constitutes waste of sheets carrying adequately reproduced images.
Referring to Figure 12, a collator 201 according to the present invention has a sheet inlet 202 for receiving copy sheets supplied thereto from a copying machine not shown. Guide plates 203, 204 and 206 are interposed between the inlet 202 and a collating section 207 made up of a deflector unit ~not shown), numerous storage bins 208 and the like, defining a sheet conveyance path denoted by the numeral 209. In the vicinity of the inlet 202, the sheet conveyance path 209 has conveyor roller pairs consisting of drive rollers 211 and driven rollers 212 held in pressing contact with the drive rollers 211. The sheet conveyance path 209 also has skew rollers ~ at its intermediate portion and intermediate roller pairs 21~ at its portion adjacent to the end.
As shown in Figu~res 12 and 13, the collator according to the present-invlletion-includes a sheet discharge path 216 which branches off the sheet conveyance path 209 in a position immediately past the conveyor roller pairs 211 and 212 with respect to an intended sheet feed direction 217 along the path 209. A sheet path selector guide 218 is located at the junction of the two different paths 216 and 209 and rotatable about its associated shaft 219. A solenoid or like drive means (not shown) actuates the sheet path selector 218 to unblock one of the paths 209 and 216 and block the other. That is, the sheet path selector 218 is movable between a first position whereat it unblocks the path 209 and blocks the path 216 as indicated by solid line in Figure 13 and second position whereat it blocks the pa-th 209 and unblocks the path 216 as indicated by phantom line in Figure 13. When jam detectincJ means described hereinafter detect jamming in the collator 201, the path selector 218 will shift from the first position to the second~
After the removal of the jamming, it will regain the first position~ Discharge rollers 221 are positioned in~the discharge path 216 adjacent to the end while a sheetl~ 222 is located in a position past the discharge rollers 221 with respect to an intended direction of sheet feed 223.
A manual insertion mechanism 224 is disposed above the drive rollers 211 in order to introduce copy sheets discharged out of the collator 201 back into the collator 25 201.
In the mechanism 22~, a manual insertion path is defined by a gate 226 for opening and closing a manual sheet inlet 227, the drive rollers 211 and a guide plate 228 extending along the general periphery of the drive .rollers 211. Feed rollers 229 abut against and are driven by the drive rollers 211. The manual insertion path con-nects to the sheet conveyance path 209 in a position adjacent to the sheet inlet 202 of the collator 201. The gate 226 is pivotable about a shaft 231 in response to a command delivered from a collation control device (not shown).
The collator 201 additionally houses therein means for detecting jamming of copy sheets. ~ control output of this detector means activates the aforementioned drive me~ns to move the sheet path selector 218. As the jamming is cleared, the drive means again moves the sheet path selector 218.
A collator having the above-described construction will be operated as follows.
A copy sheet transferred from a copying machine not shown to the collator 201 is introduced through the inlet 202 as indicated by the arrow 217. The roller pairs 211 and 212 catch the sheet and advance it along the shee-t conveyance path 209 and khen the skew rollers 213 and intermediate roller pairs 214 move it in-to -the collating section 207. This collating section 207 delivers the sheet into a selected one of the storage bins 20~ in a known manner~ Suppose that a copy sheet has jammed in the sheet conveyance path 209 adjacent to the intermediate roller pairs 214. Jam detection means (not shown) i~mediately locate the jam and produce a control signal whi.ch activates the drive means such that the sheet path selector 218 usually unblocking the path 209 shifts to the position ~or unblocking the sheet discharge path 216 as indicated by phantom line. The sheet path selector 218 in this position routes copy sheets following the jammed sheet to t'ne sheet discharge path 216 and the discharge rollers 221 feeds them into the stacker 222.
Upon removal of the jammed sheet, the jam detector means produces a signal indicative of the jam removal and there-by causes the sheet path selector 218 to regain its previous position unblocking the sheet conveyance path 209. Meanwhile, a command from the collation control moves the usually closed manual insertion gate 226 to the phantom line position so as to unblock the manual inlet
Hereinafter will be described the construction and operation of a collator having a manual insertion function which meets the above-mentioned demands.
Suppose that a collator 121 and a copying machine 122 are operatively connected as illustrated in Figure 9.
When as shown in Figure 11 the entire arrangement of the collator 121 and copying machine 122 (referred to simply 11~793~
g as "entire arrangement" hereinafter) is supplied with power by a power turn-on process 200, a control mechanism not shown is activated to condition the entire arrangement for a usual stand-by mode 300 through a flow line 200a. In this usual stand-by mode, the collator 121 has its collating actions interrupted and the copying machine 122 has`its copying cycles interrupted. When a print switch on the control panel of the copying machine is turned on in the usual stand-by mode, the operating mode changes from the usual stand-by mode 300 into a copy-ing machine mode 400 along a flow line 300a. In this mode of operation, the coIlator 121 accepts copy sheets fed thereto from the copying machine 122 and sorts or collates them.
Reference wil1 be made to Figures 9 and 10 for describing collating operati.on in the copying machine mode together With the construction of the collator.
The copying machine 122 has a sheet outlet 123 while the collator 121 has an~automatic sheet inlet 12~. A
copy sheet 126 coming out of the copying machine 122 through the outlet 123 as indicated by an arrow 127 is introduced in the collator 121 through the inlet 124.
Inside the collator 121, the sheet 126 advances to the right on and along~a guide plate 128 and, by the action of inlet roller pair~s 129 and l31 rotating in the direc-tion of an arrow, moves posi~tively to an aligning section 132. Interposed between the`roller pairs 131 and aligning section 132 is a~sheet path selecting guide plate 133 which is integral~with a shaft 134 rotatable as indicated by an arrow and extends perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Usually, the sheet path selector 133 remains in the position indicated by a phantom line so as to permit passage of sheets toward the aligning section 132.
The aligning section 132 has skew rollers 136 and 137 and horizontal rolls 138 which in combination move the sheet 126 askew toward a reference plate (not shown). This reference plate functions to align the marginal edges of sheets 126 arriving at the section 132 one by one in succession. Then the sheet 126 moves past intermediate roller pairs 139 and 141 and ls re-directed downward by a guide plate 142. A conveyor belt i43 in the form of an endless belt is passed over upper and lower rollers 144 and 146 which form a pair. The conveyor belt 143 sucks the sheet 126 guided downward by the plate 142 onto its outer surface and feeds the sheet 126 downward in accordance with its rota-~ion. The suction force acting on the sheet 126 comes from vacuum in a tank 147 which is located inside ~nd between the opposite runs of the belt c~V ~
143. ~ir ~Y~hr the belt 143 flows into the va~uum tank lS 147 through apertures formed through the en~ire circum-ference of the belt 143 and thereby causes the sheet 126 to intimately adhere to the belt surEace. The reference numerals 148 and 149 denote ans for the suction of air.
The collator 121 also includes a vertical guide post 151 on which a deflecting unit 152 is slidably mounted. The deflecting unit 152 has therewith a curved plate 153 which has an upper end located inwardly of the outer belt surface and the other end extending substantially horizontally. Due to such a configuration of the curved plate 153, the sheet 126 on the belt 143 progressively rides on the plate 153 and is deflected by the curved upper surface of the plate 153. A pair of discharge rollers 154 also integral with the deflector 152 delivers the sheet 126 undergone the deflection into a selected one of bins 156. These bins 156 are positioned vertically one upon another in the vicinity of the discharge roller pair 154. The deflector 152 is driven for vertical reciprocation by a mechanism not shown. During downward travel in particular, it will be indexed or moved inter-mittently to stop at each position corresponding to a ~;~`7~
bin 156 and thus deliver sheets 126 one by one into the bins 156.
A sensor 157 is loca-ted in the sheet path on the deflector 152 immediately ahead of the discharge roller pair 154. An output signal of the sensor 157 is employed for various purposes as will be discussed below. One purpose is to move the deflector 152 bodily upward in response to an output signal of the sensor 157 which indicates the passage of the last sheet 126 of a given number of sheets preset through a dial on the control panel. The deflector 152 thus elevated is stopped at the upper end of its stroke and again lowered intermittently to deliver sheets into the individual bins 156. This is the outline of the collating operation in the copying machine mode.
As shown in Figure 10, a discharge tray 158 is positioned substantially above the aligning section 132.
It is when jamming has occurred in the collator 121 for example that copy sheets 126 are fed into the discharge tray 158. The sheet path selector 133 is moved to the solid line position in response to a jam detection signal B whereby sheets 126 fed ~ the roller pairs 129 and 131 advance along the sheet path selector 133 and a guide 159 and into the discharge tray 158 via a roller 161.
The sheets thus stacked in the discharge tray 158 are taken out by the operator through an opening 162 above the tray 158 after the jamming has been cleared by adequate processing. The sheets 126 are then manually inserted in the collator 121 through a manual inlet 163 and advanced toward the individual bins 156 by way of the route already discussed. The manual inlet 163 is defined above the inlet roller pairs 129 and 131 and by upper and lower guide plates 164 and 166. A part of the upper guide plate 164 intermediate the opposite ends is laterally slotted and feed rollers 167 are held in pressing~
~ ~'7~
i engagement with the roller 129 through the slots. A stop member 168 is positioned beneath -the lower guide plate 166 with its one end rigidly mounted on a pivotable shaft 169.
The other end of the stop member 168 is forked and bent S to form multiple stop gates 171 which correspond in position to multiple rectangular openings 172 formed through the lower guide plate 166. Driven for angular movement by a power source not shown, the shaft 169 has a first position in which the stop gates 171 project upward beyond the stop member 168 through the openings 172 (referred to as "closed stop gate position" herein-after) and a second position in which the stop gates 171 are located beiow the openings 172 (referred to as "opened stop gate position" hereinafter).
I5 ~ lid 173 is pivotable about a pivot shaft 17~ to open and close the upper end oE the manual inlet 163.
When manual insertion of sheets is necessary, the lid 173 will be opened to the position indicated by a phantom line and locked thereat by means not shown. In this instance, a sheet 126 to be inserted manually may be loaded on the lid 173 to utilize the lid 173 as a guide.
~ second sensor 176 is positioned deeper in the manual inlet 163 and at least ahead of the stop gates 171.
According to the present invention, the shaft 169 in the copying machine mode is maintained in the closed stop gate position and prevents accidental insertion of sheets through the manual inlet 163 with the stop gates 171.
The condition of the collator 121 permitting sheet insertion through the manual inlet 163 and collating or sorting the thus inserted sheets will hereinafter be called a manual insertion mode and represented by a process 500 in Figure 11. In order that this process 500 may hold, the following two conditions must be satisfied at the same time:
(1) The copying machine 122 is in the process 300.
(2) A sheet 126 is inserted in the manual inlet 163 and the sensor 176 senses the incoming sheet.
'1j~3 s~ ti~
To ~ffr~rs~r~ the condition (1), the process ~00 must have been practiced, the process 400 must have been completed, the process SOO must have been completed, a process 600 must have been dealt with, or the like state must have been established. Practicing of the process 200 has already been described. The end of the process 400 corresponds to the instant the last one of a given number of sheets pre-selected through the dial on the control panel has been detected by the sensor 157 (delivered into a bin 156).
An output signal appearing then from the sensor 157 is the end-o-f-copyincJ-machine-mode signal and this siynal I5 conditions the entire arranyement for the process 300 as indicated by the flow line 400a. The end o~ the-~seee-500 corresponds to the instant the last one of a stack of manually inserted sheets has been detected by the sensor 157 (delivered into a bin 156). A signal then appearing from the sensor 157 is the end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal. In response to this signal, the entire arrange-ment is conditioned for the process 300 as indicated by a flow line 500a. The process 600 is for a failure mode attributable to jamming and other conditions which make the collator 121 inoperable. Naturally, the collator 121 cannot be operated unless such a failure is repaired.
When the failure is repaired by a suitable process, the entire arrangement will be conditioned for the process 300 as indicated by a flow line 600a.
It should be born in mind in connection with the process 600 that, whatever the process the entire arrange-ment is in, such as the process 300, the process 400 or the process 500, it is necessarily caused to undergo the process 600 upon detection of a failure, and that after the removal of the failure it does not go back to the 7~
1, process just before the failure has occurred but always reverts to the process 300 except for the case wherein a failure occurred when the entire arrangement was in the process 300. The entire arrangement will shift to the process 600 along a flow line ~OOb when a failure occurs in the process 400, to the process 600 along a flow line 500b when a failure occurs in the process 500, and to the process 600 along a flow line 300b when a failure occurs in the process 300.
Now, when the conditions (1) and (2) are satisfied, the entire arrangement shifts to the process 500 along a flow line 300c. In this process, the following actions take place during a manual insertion mode. A drive line only for a part of the collator 121 is activated. After a sheet has been introduced manually through the inlet 163, the shaft 169 is rotated by a sheet detection signal when the condition (2) is satisfied and establishes the closed stop gate state. The sheet is thus caught and driven by the rollers 129 and 167 into a selected 20 bin 156.
During the manual insextion mode, the copying machine 122 is inhibited. Stated another way, the entire arrange-ment gives priority to the manual insertion mode of the collator 121. During the manual insertion mode, the sheets introduced manually into the collator 121 are delivered inte individual bins 156 by a preset number.
As the sensor 157 detects the last one of the preset number of sheets, it produces an end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal and the entire arrangement goes back to the 30 process 300 along the flow line 500a.
In the illustrated embodiment, the end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal has appeared at the instant the sensor 157 has detected the last sheet. Instead, a third sensor 181 may be located in the opening and closing 35 portion of the lid 173 such that the sensor 181 produces ~,~Lt~
-the end-of-manual-insertion-mode signal when detecting closing of the lid 173. A change o~ mode in this case is indicated by a flow line 500c.
With the control me-thod clescribed above, a collator having the function of manual insertion can be controlled.
A collator of the type described is known and ¦
designed to perform collation or assortment by delivering copy sheets fed thereto successively into desired ones of a number of storage bins. Conventionally, an operator of such a collator copes with jamming within the collator by taking out the jammed sheet and manually storing it directly in a selected bin. However, this manual work is troublesome and liable to make the sheet stacks irregular and this affects various kinds of wor~
which follow the collation. Another expedient consists of wasting all o the jammed shee-ts and producin~ new copies. This constitutes waste of sheets carrying adequately reproduced images.
Referring to Figure 12, a collator 201 according to the present invention has a sheet inlet 202 for receiving copy sheets supplied thereto from a copying machine not shown. Guide plates 203, 204 and 206 are interposed between the inlet 202 and a collating section 207 made up of a deflector unit ~not shown), numerous storage bins 208 and the like, defining a sheet conveyance path denoted by the numeral 209. In the vicinity of the inlet 202, the sheet conveyance path 209 has conveyor roller pairs consisting of drive rollers 211 and driven rollers 212 held in pressing contact with the drive rollers 211. The sheet conveyance path 209 also has skew rollers ~ at its intermediate portion and intermediate roller pairs 21~ at its portion adjacent to the end.
As shown in Figu~res 12 and 13, the collator according to the present-invlletion-includes a sheet discharge path 216 which branches off the sheet conveyance path 209 in a position immediately past the conveyor roller pairs 211 and 212 with respect to an intended sheet feed direction 217 along the path 209. A sheet path selector guide 218 is located at the junction of the two different paths 216 and 209 and rotatable about its associated shaft 219. A solenoid or like drive means (not shown) actuates the sheet path selector 218 to unblock one of the paths 209 and 216 and block the other. That is, the sheet path selector 218 is movable between a first position whereat it unblocks the path 209 and blocks the path 216 as indicated by solid line in Figure 13 and second position whereat it blocks the pa-th 209 and unblocks the path 216 as indicated by phantom line in Figure 13. When jam detectincJ means described hereinafter detect jamming in the collator 201, the path selector 218 will shift from the first position to the second~
After the removal of the jamming, it will regain the first position~ Discharge rollers 221 are positioned in~the discharge path 216 adjacent to the end while a sheetl~ 222 is located in a position past the discharge rollers 221 with respect to an intended direction of sheet feed 223.
A manual insertion mechanism 224 is disposed above the drive rollers 211 in order to introduce copy sheets discharged out of the collator 201 back into the collator 25 201.
In the mechanism 22~, a manual insertion path is defined by a gate 226 for opening and closing a manual sheet inlet 227, the drive rollers 211 and a guide plate 228 extending along the general periphery of the drive .rollers 211. Feed rollers 229 abut against and are driven by the drive rollers 211. The manual insertion path con-nects to the sheet conveyance path 209 in a position adjacent to the sheet inlet 202 of the collator 201. The gate 226 is pivotable about a shaft 231 in response to a command delivered from a collation control device (not shown).
The collator 201 additionally houses therein means for detecting jamming of copy sheets. ~ control output of this detector means activates the aforementioned drive me~ns to move the sheet path selector 218. As the jamming is cleared, the drive means again moves the sheet path selector 218.
A collator having the above-described construction will be operated as follows.
A copy sheet transferred from a copying machine not shown to the collator 201 is introduced through the inlet 202 as indicated by the arrow 217. The roller pairs 211 and 212 catch the sheet and advance it along the shee-t conveyance path 209 and khen the skew rollers 213 and intermediate roller pairs 214 move it in-to -the collating section 207. This collating section 207 delivers the sheet into a selected one of the storage bins 20~ in a known manner~ Suppose that a copy sheet has jammed in the sheet conveyance path 209 adjacent to the intermediate roller pairs 214. Jam detection means (not shown) i~mediately locate the jam and produce a control signal whi.ch activates the drive means such that the sheet path selector 218 usually unblocking the path 209 shifts to the position ~or unblocking the sheet discharge path 216 as indicated by phantom line. The sheet path selector 218 in this position routes copy sheets following the jammed sheet to t'ne sheet discharge path 216 and the discharge rollers 221 feeds them into the stacker 222.
Upon removal of the jammed sheet, the jam detector means produces a signal indicative of the jam removal and there-by causes the sheet path selector 218 to regain its previous position unblocking the sheet conveyance path 209. Meanwhile, a command from the collation control moves the usually closed manual insertion gate 226 to the phantom line position so as to unblock the manual inlet
3~
227. Then the operator is allowed to introduce the copy sheets stored in the stacker 222 into the collator 201 through the manual inlet 227. The copy sheets manually inserted in the collator 201 are driven by the rollers 211 ancl 229 along the guide plate 228. The sheets travel along the manual insertion path and then the sheet conveyance path so as to be delivered into selected storage bins 208. Since the necessary number of the manually inserted sheets is also counted and displayed automatically by the collation control, the sheets can be fed to selected bins 208 without any trouble in collation control. When all of the manually inserted copy sheets are storecl in the bins 208, the collation control (not shown) produces a signal moving the gate 226 back to its closing position indicated by solid line.
In conventional colla~ors, jamming is cleared by temporarily stacking sheets from a copying machine or the like and, after removal of the jammed sheet or the like, manually placing the sheets in specific bins short of the sheets. This results in irregularity in the stacks of sheets.
This problem may be solved by using a re-feed device which feeds sheets temporarily stacked either manually or automatically. Such a solution, however, needs the additional provision of an anti-skew device and/or ref-erence plate for aligning the marginal edges of sheets in order to achieve neatly arranged stacks within the bins.
The result is intricacy of structure and operation.
Referring to Figure 14, a collator 301 receives at its inlet 302 sheets processed by and fed thereto from a copying machine 303 for example. ~ ~
B A sheet fed into -the collator 301 isl~h~d~-by inlet roller pairs made up of drive and driven rollers 304 anc'.
306 along a guide pLate 307 and then caught by interme-diate roller pairs 308 rotating in pressing contact with ~1~79~4 each other~
A sheet path selector or gate 309 is pivotably supported by a shaft 311 adjacent to the guide plate 307 so as to select either one of a branch path 312 leading s to an overflow tray 313 and a path leading to the inker-mediate roller pairs 308~
Sheets guided by the gate 309 into the branch path 312 for temporary storage in the overflow tray 313 are moved by feed rollers 314 into the overflow tray 313.
In the other position of the gate 309, the guide 307 guides the sheets while ~he side edges of the sheets are aligned by a sheet biasing device 316 which may comprise rollers 317 rotatably supported on a shaft which extends askew with respect to the intended sheet ~eed direction~
is The sheets advancing with their side edges aligned are further fed by the intermediate rollexs 308. A
discharge gate 318 is positioned past the intermediate rollers 308 and is Pivota}ly mounted on a shat 319 so as to select either one of a discharge path 321 2~0 leadin~ to an ex~ernal tray~(not shown) and a collation guide path 322 leading to a deflecting device 323.
Where the discharge gate 318 has selected the~
discharge path 321, copy~sheets or the like will be discharged by the intermediate roller pairs 308 into the external tray.
;When the discharge gate 318 is in the other position selecting the path 322, the sheets will be guided~downward and conveyed by a conveyor belt 324 with the aid of suc-tion from a suction device (not shown) for example.
A desired number of storage bins 326 are arranged one upon another in the collator 301. The deflecting unit 323 is interposed between the belt 324 and bins 326 and reciprocable vertically along the belt 324. The deflector unit 323 has a deflecting plate 327 adapted to re-direct a sheet conveyed by the belt 324 and a pair of feed rollers 328 for propelling the sheet. Usually, the deflecting unit 323 is moved intermittently in accordance with the positions of the individual bins 326 to successively deliver sheets correspondin~ to a desired number of copies one by one into the bins 326. A sheet fed by the belt 324 is separated therefrom by a deflect-ing plate 329 and driven by the feed rollers 328 into a desired bin 326.
At the end of the delivery of sheets into a predeter-mined number of bins, the deflecting unit 323 is broughtback to the home position and again indexed to deliver the next copy sheets or the like.
The sheets in travel have their lateral edges aligned by the sheet biasing device 316 and, therefore, will be neatly stacked in each bin 326 with their lateral edges aligned.
As jamming occurs in the collator 201, the interme-diate roller pairs 308 and the like are stopped to pro-mote removal of the jam. In the meantime, sheets arriving at the collator 201 are routed to the overflow tray 313 by the gate 309 switched to the other position.
After the jammed sheet has been removed, sheets have to be supplied to those bins 326 which are short of sheets. For this purpose, the collator 201 has a 25 sheet re-feed device 331. The sheet re-feed device 331 is located such that sheets are supplied to the guide plate 307 in a position ahead of the sheet biasing device 316.
As shown in Figure 14, the sheet re-feeder 331 30 includes a manual sheet inlet 332 and feed rollers 333.
While the feed rollers 333 may comprise paired rollers pressingly engaged with each other, they are in the form of rollers pressingly engaged with the drive rollers 304 in the illustrated embodiment.
The sheets temporarily stored in the overflow tray t~
313 are fed one by one from the manual sheet inlet 332 into the collator 301. The feed rollers 333 propel the sheet and a yuide plate 334 directs it toward the inlet roller pairs 304.
The re-fed sheet is biased by the device 316 and supplied through the de1ecting unit 323 into a bin 326 as in a usual case. Accordingly, even though the sheet may have been skewed when inserted, the biasing device 316 removes the skew and feeds the sheet to a bin 326 in a laterally aligned position. This ensures well condi-tioned re-feed of sheets into the bins 326 without resoxt to any particular structure~
The re-feeder 331 may employ an automatic sheet feed structure as viewed in Figure 15 in place of the manual insertion of Fi~ure 14. The automatic sheet re-feeder includes a table 341 and feed rollers 34~ located in correspondence with the manual sheet inlet 332. When the sheet stack in the overflow tray 313 is loaded on the table 341, the feed rollers 342 wi]l feed the sheets one by one into the collator 301 and the feed rollers 333 will advance the sheets successively along through the guide plate 334 to the rollers 304 and 306. Subsequent proce-dures in this automatic sheet feed are common to those in the usual sheet feed and manual sheet feed and, there-fore will not be des~ ibed any further.
~0, i, q B A collator ~7~h~ to this embodiment includes a sheet re-feeding device so located as to permit re-feed of sheets in a stage ahead of a sheet biasing device.
With this collator, any skewed sheet is aligned by the sheet biasing device both in the usùal case and in a case wherein, upon detection of jamming, the collating operation is interrupted and sheets continuously fed from a copying machine still in operation are stacked in an overflow tray and then refed. Thus, the sheets can be supplied to individual storage bins with their lateral ~ ~ 7C~
edges properly aligned, ensuring well conditioned storage of sheets at all times.
Figure 16 illustrates another appara-tus embodying the present invention which comprises a rnanual insertion inlet 351 and rollers 352 for feeding a sheet directly to the belt 324. Further illustrated are feed rollers 353. The operation of this embodiment is similar to that of Figure 14 except for the location of the manual insertion inlet.
In summary, it will be seen that the present inven-tion overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and provides a sheet feed apparatus which ensures reliable manual and automatic sheet feed, collation and sorting. Various modivications will become possible for those skilled ;in the art aEter receiving the teachings of the presen-t disclosure without departing from the scope thereof.
227. Then the operator is allowed to introduce the copy sheets stored in the stacker 222 into the collator 201 through the manual inlet 227. The copy sheets manually inserted in the collator 201 are driven by the rollers 211 ancl 229 along the guide plate 228. The sheets travel along the manual insertion path and then the sheet conveyance path so as to be delivered into selected storage bins 208. Since the necessary number of the manually inserted sheets is also counted and displayed automatically by the collation control, the sheets can be fed to selected bins 208 without any trouble in collation control. When all of the manually inserted copy sheets are storecl in the bins 208, the collation control (not shown) produces a signal moving the gate 226 back to its closing position indicated by solid line.
In conventional colla~ors, jamming is cleared by temporarily stacking sheets from a copying machine or the like and, after removal of the jammed sheet or the like, manually placing the sheets in specific bins short of the sheets. This results in irregularity in the stacks of sheets.
This problem may be solved by using a re-feed device which feeds sheets temporarily stacked either manually or automatically. Such a solution, however, needs the additional provision of an anti-skew device and/or ref-erence plate for aligning the marginal edges of sheets in order to achieve neatly arranged stacks within the bins.
The result is intricacy of structure and operation.
Referring to Figure 14, a collator 301 receives at its inlet 302 sheets processed by and fed thereto from a copying machine 303 for example. ~ ~
B A sheet fed into -the collator 301 isl~h~d~-by inlet roller pairs made up of drive and driven rollers 304 anc'.
306 along a guide pLate 307 and then caught by interme-diate roller pairs 308 rotating in pressing contact with ~1~79~4 each other~
A sheet path selector or gate 309 is pivotably supported by a shaft 311 adjacent to the guide plate 307 so as to select either one of a branch path 312 leading s to an overflow tray 313 and a path leading to the inker-mediate roller pairs 308~
Sheets guided by the gate 309 into the branch path 312 for temporary storage in the overflow tray 313 are moved by feed rollers 314 into the overflow tray 313.
In the other position of the gate 309, the guide 307 guides the sheets while ~he side edges of the sheets are aligned by a sheet biasing device 316 which may comprise rollers 317 rotatably supported on a shaft which extends askew with respect to the intended sheet ~eed direction~
is The sheets advancing with their side edges aligned are further fed by the intermediate rollexs 308. A
discharge gate 318 is positioned past the intermediate rollers 308 and is Pivota}ly mounted on a shat 319 so as to select either one of a discharge path 321 2~0 leadin~ to an ex~ernal tray~(not shown) and a collation guide path 322 leading to a deflecting device 323.
Where the discharge gate 318 has selected the~
discharge path 321, copy~sheets or the like will be discharged by the intermediate roller pairs 308 into the external tray.
;When the discharge gate 318 is in the other position selecting the path 322, the sheets will be guided~downward and conveyed by a conveyor belt 324 with the aid of suc-tion from a suction device (not shown) for example.
A desired number of storage bins 326 are arranged one upon another in the collator 301. The deflecting unit 323 is interposed between the belt 324 and bins 326 and reciprocable vertically along the belt 324. The deflector unit 323 has a deflecting plate 327 adapted to re-direct a sheet conveyed by the belt 324 and a pair of feed rollers 328 for propelling the sheet. Usually, the deflecting unit 323 is moved intermittently in accordance with the positions of the individual bins 326 to successively deliver sheets correspondin~ to a desired number of copies one by one into the bins 326. A sheet fed by the belt 324 is separated therefrom by a deflect-ing plate 329 and driven by the feed rollers 328 into a desired bin 326.
At the end of the delivery of sheets into a predeter-mined number of bins, the deflecting unit 323 is broughtback to the home position and again indexed to deliver the next copy sheets or the like.
The sheets in travel have their lateral edges aligned by the sheet biasing device 316 and, therefore, will be neatly stacked in each bin 326 with their lateral edges aligned.
As jamming occurs in the collator 201, the interme-diate roller pairs 308 and the like are stopped to pro-mote removal of the jam. In the meantime, sheets arriving at the collator 201 are routed to the overflow tray 313 by the gate 309 switched to the other position.
After the jammed sheet has been removed, sheets have to be supplied to those bins 326 which are short of sheets. For this purpose, the collator 201 has a 25 sheet re-feed device 331. The sheet re-feed device 331 is located such that sheets are supplied to the guide plate 307 in a position ahead of the sheet biasing device 316.
As shown in Figure 14, the sheet re-feeder 331 30 includes a manual sheet inlet 332 and feed rollers 333.
While the feed rollers 333 may comprise paired rollers pressingly engaged with each other, they are in the form of rollers pressingly engaged with the drive rollers 304 in the illustrated embodiment.
The sheets temporarily stored in the overflow tray t~
313 are fed one by one from the manual sheet inlet 332 into the collator 301. The feed rollers 333 propel the sheet and a yuide plate 334 directs it toward the inlet roller pairs 304.
The re-fed sheet is biased by the device 316 and supplied through the de1ecting unit 323 into a bin 326 as in a usual case. Accordingly, even though the sheet may have been skewed when inserted, the biasing device 316 removes the skew and feeds the sheet to a bin 326 in a laterally aligned position. This ensures well condi-tioned re-feed of sheets into the bins 326 without resoxt to any particular structure~
The re-feeder 331 may employ an automatic sheet feed structure as viewed in Figure 15 in place of the manual insertion of Fi~ure 14. The automatic sheet re-feeder includes a table 341 and feed rollers 34~ located in correspondence with the manual sheet inlet 332. When the sheet stack in the overflow tray 313 is loaded on the table 341, the feed rollers 342 wi]l feed the sheets one by one into the collator 301 and the feed rollers 333 will advance the sheets successively along through the guide plate 334 to the rollers 304 and 306. Subsequent proce-dures in this automatic sheet feed are common to those in the usual sheet feed and manual sheet feed and, there-fore will not be des~ ibed any further.
~0, i, q B A collator ~7~h~ to this embodiment includes a sheet re-feeding device so located as to permit re-feed of sheets in a stage ahead of a sheet biasing device.
With this collator, any skewed sheet is aligned by the sheet biasing device both in the usùal case and in a case wherein, upon detection of jamming, the collating operation is interrupted and sheets continuously fed from a copying machine still in operation are stacked in an overflow tray and then refed. Thus, the sheets can be supplied to individual storage bins with their lateral ~ ~ 7C~
edges properly aligned, ensuring well conditioned storage of sheets at all times.
Figure 16 illustrates another appara-tus embodying the present invention which comprises a rnanual insertion inlet 351 and rollers 352 for feeding a sheet directly to the belt 324. Further illustrated are feed rollers 353. The operation of this embodiment is similar to that of Figure 14 except for the location of the manual insertion inlet.
In summary, it will be seen that the present inven-tion overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art and provides a sheet feed apparatus which ensures reliable manual and automatic sheet feed, collation and sorting. Various modivications will become possible for those skilled ;in the art aEter receiving the teachings of the presen-t disclosure without departing from the scope thereof.
Claims (10)
1. A sheet feed apparatus for use with a collating apparatus comprising:
sheet feed means having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet;
sensor means disposed adjacent to the manual sheet inlet for sensing a leading edge and a trailing edge of a sheet inserted into the manual sheet inlet;
stop means for blocking the manual sheet inlet;
and control means responsive to the sensor means for controlling the stop means to unblock the manual sheet inlet in response to sensing the leading edge of the sheet and to unconditionally block the manual sheet inlet for a predetermined length of time in response to sensing the trailing edge of the sheet.
sheet feed means having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet;
sensor means disposed adjacent to the manual sheet inlet for sensing a leading edge and a trailing edge of a sheet inserted into the manual sheet inlet;
stop means for blocking the manual sheet inlet;
and control means responsive to the sensor means for controlling the stop means to unblock the manual sheet inlet in response to sensing the leading edge of the sheet and to unconditionally block the manual sheet inlet for a predetermined length of time in response to sensing the trailing edge of the sheet.
2. An. apparatus as in claim 1, in which the sheet feed means has an automatic sheet outlet and a manual sheet outlet.
3. An apparatus as in claim 2, further com-prising guide means for unlocking the automatic sheet outlet and blocking the manual sheet outlet and vice-versa, the control means being further constructed to sense a jam condition, the control means controlling the guide means to normally unblock the automatic sheet outlet and block the manual sheet outlet and to block the automatic sheet outlet and unblock the manual sheet outlet in response to sensing the jam condition.
4. An apparatus as in claim 3, further com-prising re-feed means for feeding sheets discharged from the manual sheet outlet into the manual sheet inlet.
5. An apparatus as in claim 1, further com-prising biasing means for aligning lateral edges of sheets moving through the sheet feed means, the automatic sheet inlet and the manual sheet inlet being disposed upstream of the biasing means in a direction of movement of the sheets.
6. A sheet feed apparatus for use with a col-lating apparatus comprising:
sheet feed means having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet;
guide means for blocking and unblocking the manual sheet inlet;
reproduction means for feeding sheets into the automatic sheet inlet; and control means for sensing an end of operation of the reproduction means, the control means controlling the guide means to block the manual inlet during operation of the reproduction means and to unblock the manual sheet inlet upon termination of operation of the reproduction means.
sheet feed means having an automatic sheet inlet and a manual sheet inlet;
guide means for blocking and unblocking the manual sheet inlet;
reproduction means for feeding sheets into the automatic sheet inlet; and control means for sensing an end of operation of the reproduction means, the control means controlling the guide means to block the manual inlet during operation of the reproduction means and to unblock the manual sheet inlet upon termination of operation of the reproduction means.
7. An apparatus as in claim 6, further com-prising lid means for covering the manual sheet inlet, the control means sensing an end of a manual insertion in response to closing of the lid means.
8. An apparatus as in claim 6, further com-prising sensor means for sensing insertion of a sheet in a proper position in the manual sheet inlet.
9. An apparatus as in claim 8, further com-prising a guide means defining a lateral edge of the manual sheet inlet, the sensor means being disposed adjacent to the guide member.
10. An apparatus as in claim 9, in which the sensor means comprises two sensors spaced from each other in a direction of movement of a sheet through the manual sheet inlet.
Applications Claiming Priority (6)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| JP12487679A JPS5648360A (en) | 1979-09-28 | 1979-09-28 | Gathering machine |
| JP13534779U JPS5651737U (en) | 1979-09-28 | 1979-09-28 | |
| JP12555079A JPS5648318A (en) | 1979-09-28 | 1979-09-28 | Inserting apparatus |
| JPP54-125550 | 1979-09-28 | ||
| JPP54-124876 | 1979-09-28 | ||
| JPUM54-135347 | 1979-09-28 |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1179384A true CA1179384A (en) | 1984-12-11 |
Family
ID=27314999
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000361141A Expired CA1179384A (en) | 1979-09-28 | 1980-09-26 | Sheet feed apparatus for collating apparatus |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1179384A (en) |
-
1980
- 1980-09-26 CA CA000361141A patent/CA1179384A/en not_active Expired
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US5810173A (en) | Method and system for processing documents | |
| US5183246A (en) | Diverting apparatus and method for in-line inserting equipment | |
| JPS5934908Y2 (en) | Collector | |
| GB2059396A (en) | Sheet Feed Apparatus | |
| JPS6036248A (en) | Bottom sheet separating feeder | |
| CA1179384A (en) | Sheet feed apparatus for collating apparatus | |
| US4930765A (en) | Sheet collection mechanism for stacking long and short sheets | |
| US5529298A (en) | Infeed apparatus | |
| JPS59102254A (en) | Form detecting device | |
| US5702097A (en) | Insert feed mechanism | |
| JP2001096987A (en) | Automated enclosing-sealing apparatus | |
| JPS597324Y2 (en) | collation device | |
| US20050017438A1 (en) | Apparatus and method for accumulating sheets | |
| JPH075198B2 (en) | Paper feeder such as copier | |
| JP2934249B2 (en) | Sheet alignment device | |
| JPS6361253B2 (en) | ||
| JP2001261225A (en) | Post-treating device of image forming apparatus | |
| JPH0117977B2 (en) | ||
| JPS597668A (en) | Sorter having reversing device | |
| JPH06321402A (en) | Discharged paper stacker for copying machine etc. | |
| WO1989006634A1 (en) | Paper sheet sorting apparatus | |
| JPH0511257Y2 (en) | ||
| JPS62222936A (en) | Paper and the like handling device | |
| JPS5986553A (en) | Device for turning paper in sorter | |
| JP2002128368A (en) | Sheet postprocessing device |
Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| MKEX | Expiry |