GB2287456A - Jam clearance in sheet transport apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

In an apparatus which permits the ready clearing of paper jams from the sheet transport paths of, e.g., folder/inserter machines, photocopiers and the like, a pair 17, 18 of rollers respectively protrudes through apertures in the walls 14, 16 defining the transport path and one of the walls 14 is hingeable relative to the transport path by means of a hinge 19. A catch or detent 21 allows the hingeable wall to be secured in position defining the transport path. One 17 of the rollers may be rotatably secured to the hingeable wall (14). <IMAGE>

Description

A TransPort Path This invention relates to a transport path for laminar items in e.g.

a mail piece handling apparatus such as a folder inserter.

One problem commonly encountered in machines such as folder/inserter machines is the occurrence of paper jams and mis-feeds in inaccessible parts of a paper path passing through the machine.

In mail piece handling machinery, it has previously been proposed to provide access to portions of the transport path where the jams and misfeeds are expected to occur by constructing the apparatus according to a "clam shell" design. In such a design, the apparatus is constructed in two portions with an upper portion hingeable relative to the lower portion.

The operative parts of the apparatus are disposed in the upper and lower portions, such that the upper surface of the lower portion and the lower surface of the upper portion respectively define the upper and lower walls of the transport path. One example of such a machine is shown in EP-A0485797.

The clam shell design apparatus suffers from the disadvantage that the hingeable, upper portion thereof is usually heavy and it is therefore necessary to provide components such as gas struts and support springs to minimise the physical load that is lifted by an operator on hinging of the two parts of the apparatus. A subsidiary disadvantage is that if any of the aforesaid support components fails while the two parts of the apparatus are separated from one another, the upper portion of the apparatus could fall onto the lower portion potentially causing serious injury to an operator. Another disadvantage is that such a machine tends to have a large "footprint".

According to the invention, there is provided a transport path for laminar items in e.g. a mail piece handling apparatus, comprising: first and second walls spaced from one another generally to define the transport path; first and second drive members, e.g. rollers respectively protruding through the walls to define a nip, whereby laminar items may be transported along or halted in the transport path; hinge means interconnecting the first wall and a member fixed relative to the second wall, whereby the first wall may selectively be hinged relative to the second wall; and releasable wall retention means, whereby the first wall may selectively be retained in a position relative to the second wall so as to define the transport path, the arrangement being such that on releasing of the retention means the first wall may be hinged to permit access to the region of the transport path.

An advantage of this arrangement is that access provided by the separation of the two opposite walls of the transport path is localised to the area where paper jams and mis-feeds are most likely to occur, thereby simplifying the apparatus and minimising the number of components needed for its manufacture.

A second advantage of a transport path according to the invention is that separation of inclined or vertical transport path portions is possible.

In preferred embodiments of the invention, the first drive member is releasably fixed relative to the second member, thereby permitting selective opening of the nip.

This feature allows the clearing of paper jams that have occurred in the nip itself.

Conveniently, the first drive member is secured to and carried by the first wall, whereby on hinging of the first wall to permit access to the region of the transport path the nip is automatically opened.

This feature also makes access to the transport path convenient for operators.

Preferably, the first wall is hingeable about a point at or adjacent one end thereof. This feature allows virtually the entire length of the first wall to be hinged clear of the transport path in preferred embodiments of the invention.

Conveniently, the first drive member is secured on the first wall and protruding therethrough in a region between the hinging point and the free end of the first wall.

This feature allows the first drive member conveniently to be hinged away from the transport path with the first wall.

It is also preferred that the wall retention means is operable between the free end of the first wall and a member fixed relative to the second wall. If this feature is employed in conjunction with the hinging of the first wall at its opposite end, the first wall is firmly securable at both ends for operation of the mail piece handling apparatus.

In preferred embodiments, the wall retention means comprises releasable detent means and it is also preferable that the first wall is opposably biassed to hinge away from a position permitting engagement of such a detent means. These features in combination permit the securing of the first wall on hinging thereof to its operative position by means of a positive action, requiring conscious effort on the part of an operator.

The invention also relates to a mail piece handling apparatus including a transport path according to any preceding claim.

Paper jams and mis-feeds also frequently arise in apparatus such as photocopiers. Whilst throughout this specification reference is made to mail piece handling apparatus, it will be understood that the invention may be applied in related fields such as photocopiers, document sorting machines etc.

There now follows a description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, by way of example, with reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic representation of the basic components of the invention; and Figure 2 shows the embodiment of Figure 1 in more detail, and shows the components in their two extreme positions.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a transport path indicated generally by the reference numeral 10. The transport path 10 is located at the confluence of two further transport paths 11 and 12 that are separated from one another by a deflector plate 13. Arrangements of this general kind are commonly found in folder/inserter machines. An example of the use of such an arrangement is when it is required to collate, e.g., two inserts together at a collation station prior to their insertion into an envelope. The inserts travel respectively down the paper paths 11 and 12, and are halted in the transport path 10 until they are mutually aligned. Thereafter, they are transported along a transport path 10 towards an envelope.

The transport path 10, which communicates with the mouths of the transport paths 11 and 12, includes a first wall 14 that is spaced from and disposed opposite a second wall 16. The walls 14 and 16 between them essentially define the transport path. Side walls of the transport path may be present but are not shown in Figure 1.

A first roller 17 is rotatably mounted to protrude through an aperture formed in wall 14 into the transport path.

A second roller 18 is rotatably mounted to protrude through a similar aperture formed in second wall 16 to lie opposite roller 17. The two rollers define a nip in the transport path 10.

At least one of the rollers, preferably second roller 18, is controllably driveable in the embodiments shown. Thus, the rollers 17, 18 may be used either to transport laminar items such as mail pieces, inserts etc. along the transport path; or the rollers 17, 18 may be used as a temporary collation station by virtue of the drive to the second roller 18 being temporarily switched off and the roller 18 thereby locked so that the mail pieces, inserts etc. may not pass through the nip.

The wall 14 is hingeable relative to the wall I. In the embodiment shown, a hinge 19 is provided adjacent the upper end of the wall 14. Hinge 19 is constituted by a boss 19a having passing therethrough a hinge pin 19b. Boss 19a is rotatable relative to hinge pin 19b. Hinge pin 19b is secured to a further component (not shown) of the mail piece handling apparatus such that boss l9a is rotatable relative to second wall 16.

The free end of first wall 14 is secured to a further component of the apparatus by means of a wall retention means which may be a catch or detent 21. It will thus be appreciated that if catch 21 is released, the free end of wall 14 can be grasped by hand and wall 14 can be hinged about pin 19b away from wall 16, to provide an aperture giving access to the transport path 10. Thus, paper jams and mis-feeds can readily be manually cleared. A feature of the embodiment shown in Figure 1 is that the roller 17 is rotatably mounted by means of a mounting 22 on the wall 14.

Thus, on hinging of the wall 14 to provide access to the transport path 10 the roller 17 automatically moves away from roller 18 to open the nip.

As an alternative to this arrangement, the wall 14 can be provided with an aperture sufficiently large to allow wall 14 to pass on hinging thereof to either side of roller 17. Roller 17 can then be moveable away from roller 18 to open the nip by an alternative mechanism (not shown).

Yet a further possibility is for roller 17 to be retained permanently in position relative to roller 18. However, this last mentioned option is the least preferred because there may be some forms of paper jam that cannot be cleared without separating or opening the nip.

Since in the embodiment shown there is a considerable length of wall 14 between the roller 17 and the free end of wall 14, wall 14 can be biassed by its own resilience away from its closed position. Such biassing may be achieved, for example, by judicious choice of the size and position of the rollers 17 and 18 so that the rollers contact one another before the free end of wall 14 reaches its fully closed position on hinging of wall 14 towards wall 16. In this arrangement, it would then be necessary for an operator to apply additional pressure to the free end of wall 14 to cause it to reach its fully closed position and to allow securing of wall 14 by means of the catch or detent 21. Thus, inadvertent closing of wall 14 towards wall 16 and re-establishment of the nip is discouraged or prevented.

Other features, not shown in Figure 1, may optionally be provided.

For example, it is possible to provide a mechanical or electrical interlock which automatically disconnects drive to the roller 18 (or roller 17 if driven) on releasing of the catch or detent 21.

The resilient biassing of wall 14 may be a particularly advantageous feature in embodiments where an interlock of this kind is employed. It would be undesirable for the re-establishment of drive to roller 18 (or roller 17 if driven) to be easily accomplished as a result of accidental hinging of wall 14 to its fully closed position.

Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a more detailed representation of the embodiment of Figure 1, together with some additional components of a typical transport path in a mail piece folder inserter machine.

In Figure 2, the reference numeral 14' shows wall 14 in its closed position, such that the transport path 10 and the nip are fully established. Reference numeral 14" shows wall 14 (and hence roller 17) hinged away from wall 16 so that access to the transport path 10 can readily be gained.

It will be appreciated that, instead of rollers 17, 18, other drive members could be employed such as conveyors.

Moreover, the transport path of the invention may be used in a great variety of different types of apparatus in addition to the folder/inserters and photocopiers already mentioned. The apparatus could be employed in mail handling apparatus used by postal authorities; ticket printing machinery; and even paper manufacturing machinery. In other words, the transport path of this invention is usable in virtually any apparatus in which it is commonly required to transport laminar items within a machine.

Claims (10)

1. A transport path for laminar items in e.g. a mail piece handling apparatus comprising: first and second walls spaced from one another generally to define the transport path; first and second drive members, e.g., rollers respectively protruding through the walls to define a nip, whereby laminar items may be transported along or halted in the transport path; hinge means interconnecting the first wall and a member fixed relative to the second wall, whereby the first wall may selectively be hinged relative to the second wall; and releasable wall retention means, whereby the first wall may selectively be retained in position relative to the second wall defining the transport path, the arrangement being such that on releasing of the retention means the first wall may be hinged to permit access to the transport path.

2. A transport path according to Claim 1 wherein the first drive member is releasably fixed relative to the second drive member, thereby permitting selective opening of the nip.

3. A transport path according to Claim 2, wherein the first drive member is secured on the first wall, whereby on hinging of the first wall to permit access to the region of the transport path the nip is automatically opened.

4. A transport path according to any preceding claim, wherein the first wall is hingeable about a point at or adjacent one end thereof.

5. A transport path according to Claim 4 wherein the first drive member is secured on the first wall protruding therethrough in a region between said hinging point and the free end of the first wall.

6. A transport path according to Claim 4 or Claim 5 wherein the wall retention means is operable between the free end of the first wall and a member fixed relative to the second wall.

7. A transport path according to any preceding claim, wherein the wall retention means comprises a releasable detent means operable to secure the first wall to a member fixed relative to the second wall.

8. A transport path according to Claim 7, wherein the first wall is opposably biassed to hinge away from a position permitting engagement of the detent means.

9. A mail piece handling apparatus including a transport path according to any preceding claim.

10. A transport path generally as herein described, with reference to or as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.