JP2003063508A - Sealed letter manufacturing apparatus and image foming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sealed letter manufacturing apparatus and an image forming system in which a webbed seal material is transferred accurately in a constant speed to manufacture a high-quality sealed letter. SOLUTION: The sealed letter manufacturing apparatus has a seal material feed section for sealing a folded sheet by the seal material. The sealed letter manufacturing apparatus further comprises an original wound roll consisting of rollers seal materials, rotatable feed rollers supporting the outer peripheral face of the original wound roll, transfer rollers for stretching and transferring the seal material drawn out from the original wound roll, drive means for rotating the feed rollers and the transfer rollers, detecting means for detecting the extent of sag of the seal material drawn out from the original wound roll, and a controlling means for controlling the drive means so as to make the extent of sag of the seal material constant.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sealed letter producing apparatus that automatically seals a document to produce a sealed letter, and an image forming system that automatically performs from image formation to sealed letter production.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Envelopes that are widely distributed by delivery means such as mail are manufactured by mass production. That is, the envelope represented by direct mail is produced by a mass production method within a short time from a distribution form in which daily mass distribution is performed.

For this reason, a sealed letter is produced in a division of labor in which a printing process of a document as a content and a sealing process of sealing a printed document are separated.

In a letter-sealing device for sealing a folded sheet with a web-shaped sealing material, the sealing material pulled out by a supply driving means from an original winding roll in which the sealing material is wound into a roll is folded at a sealing part. It is wrapped between two sheets of sealing material on the front and back sides of the paper, and is stacked and sealed.

[0005]

The web-shaped sealing material is
It is stretched and conveyed to the sealing section by the supply drive means of the original winding roll and the conveyance roller drive means. It is desirable that the sealing material conveying linear velocity V1 by the supply driving means and the linear velocity V2 of the conveying roller driving means are substantially equal.

The upper original winding roll on the upper side, the upper sealing material wound on the conveying roller, and the lower original winding roll, the lower sealing material wound on the conveying roller are not conveyed to the sealing section at the same speed. Then, the sealed letter will be wrinkled.

When the mutual linear velocities become V1> V2, slack occurs between the original winding roll and the conveying roller, the sealing material wound around the conveying roller idles, and uneven conveying linear velocity occurs, resulting in the sealing material. May cause wrinkles. Further, when the mutual linear velocities become V2> V1, the original winding roll impedes the rotation of the transport roller, the sealing material that winds around the transport roller slips, and the transport linear velocity becomes uneven, and at the same time, the thin film-shaped sealing is performed. Material may be damaged by strong tensile tension.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and provide a letter-sealing apparatus and an image forming system for accurately conveying two sets of web-shaped sealing materials to produce a high-quality letter. It is what

[0009]

The objects of the present invention can be achieved by the following inventions.

(1) In a sealed letter producing apparatus having a sealing material supply section for sealing a folded sheet with a sealing material,
An original winding roll in which the sealing material is wound in a roll shape, a supply roller that supports the outer peripheral surface of the original winding roll and is rotatable, and the sealing material pulled out from the original winding roll is stretched and moved. A conveying roller for driving, a driving means for driving and rotating the supply roller and the conveying roller, a detecting means for detecting a slack amount of the sealing material pulled out from the original winding roll, and a slack amount of the sealing material becomes constant. And a control unit that controls the driving unit as described above.

(2) An original winding roll in which a sealing material is wound in a roll shape, a supply roller rotatable while supporting an outer peripheral surface of the original winding roll, and the sealing material pulled out from the original winding roll are stretched. The moving roller, the driving means for driving and rotating the supply roller and the feeding roller, the detecting means for detecting the amount of slack of the sealing material pulled out from the original winding roll, and the amount of slack of the sealing material becomes constant. As described above, a sealing material supply unit consisting of a control means for controlling the driving means, a sealing unit for wrapping and folding a folded sheet with the sealing material, and a cutting unit for cutting the sealing material to produce a sealed letter. An envelope producing apparatus characterized by having.

(3) Two original winding rolls in which the sealing material is wound in a roll shape, two supply rollers rotatable while supporting the outer peripheral surface of the original winding roll, and drawn from the original winding roll Two sets of a sealing material supply unit including two conveying rollers that stretch and move the sealing material, two supply rollers, and a drive unit that drives and rotate the conveying roller, and the front and back sides of the folded sheet. A sealing unit that wraps and seals between the two sealing materials, a cutting unit that cuts the sealing material to produce a sealed letter, a transport unit that transports the fabricated sealed letters, and a stacking unit that accumulates the sealed letters. An envelope producing apparatus, comprising:

(4) An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet, a sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus is conveyed and positioned at a predetermined position, and a fold portion orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction is formed to perform folding processing. The post-processing apparatus for performing the above, and the letter-sealing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which seals the folded sheet formed and discharged by the post-processing apparatus with a sealing material. An image forming system characterized by being formed.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An envelope producing apparatus and an image forming system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[One Embodiment of the Image Forming System] FIG.
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an image forming apparatus A, an image reading apparatus B, a post-processing apparatus C, and an envelope producing apparatus D.

The image forming apparatus A forms an image by an electrophotographic method and sends the sheet S on which the image is formed to the post-processing apparatus C. The post-processing device C ejects the paper S on which the image is formed to the upper paper ejection tray 71 in the paper ejection order, ejects the paper S subjected to the shift processing or the binding processing to the elevating paper ejection tray 72, or Folding processing unit 60 performs a folding process to perform a sealed letter making device D.
Send to. The letter-sealing apparatus D seals the folded and fed sheet S with two sheet-sealing materials H1 and H2, produces a letter-F, and discharges it.

[Image Forming Apparatus] The image forming apparatus A includes an image forming section 2 composed of a charging means, a developing means, a transfer means, a separating means, a cleaning means and the like arranged around the image carrier 1, and an image writing section. 3, image processing unit 4, cassette paper feeding unit 5
A, a large-capacity sheet feeding section 5B, a fixing section 6, a sheet discharging section 7, and a back side image forming sheet feeding section 8 are provided.

Further, the image forming apparatus A has an image reading apparatus B mounted thereon. The post-processing device C is connected to the sheet discharge unit 7 side of the left side surface of the image forming apparatus A illustrated.

The document d placed on the document table of the automatic document feeder above the image reading device B is conveyed in the direction of the arrow, and the document image is read by the optical system and the image sensor CCD. The analog signal photoelectrically converted by the image sensor CCD is subjected to analog processing, A / D conversion, shading correction, image compression processing, etc. in the image processing section 4, and then sent to the image writing section 3.

In the image writing unit 3, the output from the semiconductor laser is applied to the image carrier 1 of the image forming unit 2 to form a latent image. In the image forming unit 2, processes such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, separation and cleaning are performed, and the image is transferred to the paper S conveyed from the cassette paper feeding unit 5A or the large capacity paper feeding unit 5B. The sheet S carrying the image is fixed by the fixing unit 6 and is sent to the post-processing device C from the paper discharge unit 7. Alternatively, the single-sided image-processed sheet S fed into the back-side image forming sheet feeding section 8 by the transport path switching plate 7A.
Is again subjected to the back side image processing in the image forming section 2, and then the paper discharge section 7
From the sheet to the post-processing apparatus C.

In the single-sided mode, the transport path switching plate 7A reverses the front and back sides of the sheet S on which the image is formed and when the sheet S on which the image is formed is discharged to the post-processing apparatus C as it is. After that, the case of discharging the sheet to the post-processing apparatus C and the case of feeding the sheet S having an image formed on one side thereof to the back side image forming sheet feeding section 8 in the double-sided mode are switched. In the double-sided image forming mode, the paper S on which images have been formed on both the front and back sides is ejected with the back side image facing upward, and is fed from the image forming apparatus A to the post-processing apparatus C.

[Post-Processing Device] In the post-processing device C, from the upper part of the drawing, the upper paper ejection tray 71, the paper feeding unit 40 on which the paper K is placed, the shift processing conveying unit 20, the binding processing unit 30, and the binding. The means 50 and the folding processing unit 60 (described in detail in FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5) are vertically arranged in a vertical direction.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the flow of the paper S in the post-processing apparatus C according to the embodiment of the present invention.

At the upper right side of the post-processing apparatus C in the figure, an inlet conveying section 10 is arranged. Further, on the left side surface of the post-processing apparatus C in the figure, an elevating and lowering paper tray 72 for stacking the sheets S that have undergone edge binding and shift processing, and the processed sheets S that have been folded into three or two folds are discharged. A paper discharge belt 73 is arranged.

The post-processing device C is installed with its position and height adjusted so that the receiving part 11 for the paper S carried out from the image forming device A coincides with the paper discharging part 7 of the image forming device A.

The receiving section 11 is provided with a carrying roller 12, and an upper first carrying path, an intermediate second carrying path, a lower third carrying path and a fourth carrying path are disposed downstream of the carrying roller 12 in the carrying direction. To be done.

The transportation of the paper S in the first to fourth transportation paths will be described below. (Simple paper discharge) The first transport path is a paper discharge path for stacking and discharging the paper S on which the image is formed in the paper discharge order. In the discharge mode using the first transport path, the branch plate G1 opens the first transport path and closes the path to the transport roller 18. The image-formed sheet S discharged from the image forming apparatus A is introduced into the receiving unit 11, is conveyed by the conveying roller 12, and the conveyance direction length of the sheet S is detected by the entrance passage detection sensor PS1. To be done. The sheet S is guided by the branch plate G1 and enters the first conveying path, and the conveying rollers 14 and 15 and the discharge roller 1
The sheet is conveyed at 6, and is discharged to the upper sheet discharge table 71.

(Shifted Paper Ejection) The second conveyance path performs a sorting process for shifting the paper S on which an image has been formed, for example, every predetermined number of sheets in the conveyance width direction (direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, the same applies hereinafter). Elevating and discharging tray 7
It is a conveyance path for discharging the sheet to the sheet 2. In the mode using this transport path, the branch plate G1 closes the first transport path,
The passage 13 to 8 is opened, the conveyance path switching plate G2 opens the second conveyance path, and closes the third conveyance path. Transport roller 12
The sheet S conveyed by means of passes through the passage 13 below the conveyance path switching plate G1, is conveyed by the conveyance rollers 18, is conveyed to the second conveyance path, and passes the conveyance path 17,
It is conveyed to the shift processing conveyance section 20 by the conveyance rollers 22. The transport roller 24 in the shift processing transport unit 20 is a sheet S.
When the leading edge of the sheet is received, it has a shift conveyance function of displacing in the conveyance width direction and conveying the sheet. The sheet S that has passed through the shift processing transport unit 20 is discharged onto the up-and-down discharge tray 72 by the discharge roller 26.

(Binding Process) The third carrying path is a carrying path for carrying out the binding process for every predetermined number of sheets S. In the mode using this transport path, the branch plate G1 closes the first transport path and opens the path to the transport rollers 18, while the branch plate G2 closes the second transport path and the third transport path.
Open the transport path. The paper S is composed of the transport rollers 18, 32, 3
4 is conveyed to the intermediate mounting table 35. When the trailing edge of the sheet S leaves the transport roller 34, the sheet S slides down the intermediate mounting table 35 and strikes the movable butting member 51 to stop. The intermediate mounting table 35 is a stacking unit that stacks the sheets S and is a reversing unit that reverses the front and back of the sheets S in the transport direction.

When a predetermined number of sheets, for example, sheets S corresponding to the number of originals are stacked on the intermediate mounting table 35, the binding unit 50 operates to perform the binding process.

In the binding processing mode, a front cover, a back cover or a partition can be attached to the bundle of sheets S. Cover,
The back cover sheet or the partition sheet K is fed from the sheet feeding section 40, and is fed to the intermediate mounting table 35 through the same conveyance path as the sheet S. In the mode in which the sheet K is attached, the binding unit 50 operates when the sheet K is attached to the predetermined number of sheets S, and the binding process of the sheet bundle is performed.

The bound sheet bundle is ejected to the elevating and ejecting tray 72 by the conveyor belt of the intermediate placing table 35 and the ejecting roller 26.

(Tri-Fold Processing) The fourth transport path is a transport path for folding the paper S on which an image is formed into three or two and discharging the paper S to the paper discharge belt 73. The paper S is the third transport path. Through the movable butting member 51 at the retracted position, and is conveyed to the fourth conveying path.

First, the tri-folding process of the sheet S in the fourth transport path will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the folding processing unit 60, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation of the main part of the folding processing unit 60 in the case of tri-folding processing.

The folding processing section 60 includes a first folding processing section 67,
The second folding processing unit 68 and the discharge belt 73 are included.

The first folding processing section 67 includes the first folding roller 6
The first folding roller pair 670 including 71 and 672, and the knife-shaped folding plate member 661. Second folding processing unit 6
Reference numeral 8 includes a second folding roller pair 680 including second folding rollers 681 and 682, and a third folding roller 683.

In the mode in which the tri-folding process is performed, as shown in FIG. 2, the sheet S is conveyed to the intermediate mounting table 35 by the above-mentioned conveying path. In this mode, the movable butting member 51 is at the retracted position, and the sheet S passes through the intermediate loading table 35 and drops to the movable butting member 52. When a predetermined number (for example, a maximum of 3 sheets) of sheets S are accumulated at the position of the movable abutting member 52, the movable abutting member 52 retracts and the conveying roller 61 causes the sheets S to pass through the fourth conveying path. Then, it is conveyed to the conveyor belt 62.

The intermediate mounting table 35 is constituted by the conveyor belt 62 arranged obliquely, the first guide plate 63 facing the conveyor belt 62, and the second guide plate 64 forming a pair.
A passage is formed which is inclined in the opposite direction. The second guide plate 64 is provided with a movable butting member 65 whose position can be adjusted in the sheet S feeding direction.

Sheet ejecting means 66 is arranged between the first guide plate 63 and the second guide plate 64. The sheet ejecting means 66 is composed of a knife-shaped folding plate member 661 having a bending tip portion 661A and a drive mechanism for reciprocating the folding plate member 661.

The folding plate member 661 is a U-shaped connecting member 66.
It is fixed at 2. The connecting member 662 is guided straight by a guide rod 663 fitted therein. The gear Z2 is connected to the worm gear Z1 driven by the motor M1, and the link member 664 changes the rotational movement of the gear Z2 into a linear movement. With such a drive mechanism, the folding plate member 66
The motor 1 is driven by a motor M1 and reciprocates as shown by broken line arrows and solid line arrows in FIG.

In the forward direction of the front end portion 661A of the folding plate member 661, first folding rollers 671 and 672, whose surfaces are made of a high friction resistance material such as rubber, are arranged so as to face each other. Both ends of the first folding roller 671 are pivotally supported by a pair of support plates 674 that are swingably supported by a support shaft 673 provided in the main body of the post-processing apparatus C.

Both ends of the first folding roller 672 are pivotally supported by a pair of support plates 676 which are pivotally supported by a support shaft 675 pivotally supported by the post-processing apparatus C. First folding roller 67
1,672 are springs 67 provided on the support plates 674,676.
7,678 are pressed against each other.

A second folding processing section 68 is arranged downstream of the pressure contact position of the first folding roller pair 670 in the sheet conveying direction. The second folding processing section 68 includes a first folding roller pair 67.
The second folding rollers 681 and 682 and the third folding roller 683, whose surfaces are made of a high friction resistance material such as rubber, are arranged to receive the sheet S folded by 0 and to fold the sheet S.

Of these rollers, the second folding roller 6
Reference numeral 82 is directly supported by the main body of the post-processing apparatus C. Second
The folding roller 682 is a driving roller that is driven by a driving source (not shown) to convey the sheet S. The second folding roller 681 arranged so as to face the second folding roller 682 has a support shaft 68 planted in the main body of the post-processing apparatus C at both ends thereof.
4 is pivotally supported by a pair of support plates 685 that are swingably supported by 4, and is pressed against the second folding roller 682 by a spring 686. The second folding roller pair 680 regulates and conveys the sheet S in a certain direction and firmly folds the fold line of the sheet S.

The third folding roller 683 is pivotally supported at its both ends by a pair of support plates 688 that are swingably supported by a support shaft 687 planted in contact with the main body of the post-processing apparatus C, and a spring 68 is provided.
It is provided so as to come into pressure contact with the second folding roller 682 by means of 9.

The second folding roller 682 and the third folding roller 6
And 83 form a tri-fold.

Reference numerals 651 and 652 are detection members for detecting that the sheet S has passed through the first guide plate 63 and the second guide plate 64. A paper discharge guide plate 690 guides the paper S folded and discharged by the second folding roller 682 and the third folding roller 683 to the outside of the machine.

Above the second folding processing section 68, a tri-fold paper guide means 69 consisting of a guide member 691, a support shaft 692, a paper front end stop member 693, and a guide plate 694 is arranged.

The folding process will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B show the first folding process in which the first folding processing unit 67 folds. FIG. 4C shows a second folding process in which the second folding processing unit 68 performs the folding process.

When performing the tri-folding process, first, as shown in FIG.
In S, the paper S is transported on the transport path between the first guide plate 63 and the transport belt 62, and is further transported into the second guide plate 64. The conveyed sheet S is stopped by the front end of the sheet S hitting the movable butting member 65 whose position is adjusted according to the sheet size.

Next, the motor M1 shown in FIG. 3 is driven and rotated to rotationally drive the gear Z2, and the folding plate member 661 is moved as shown in FIG.
The tip portion 661A is moved in the direction of the solid line arrow in FIG.
Thus, the fold portion a is attached to the predetermined position of the sheet S.

As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the sheet S is folded at the front end portion 661A to form a fold line a,
The first folding rollers 671 and 672 are rotating in the direction of the solid line arrow, and the fold portion a is conveyed to the holding position between the first folding rollers 671 and 672 as shown in FIG. The member 661 is moved by the motor M1 as shown by a dotted arrow to return to the initial position.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, the fold portion a is conveyed by the second folding roller pair 680 rotating in the direction of the solid line arrow until the fold portion a is blocked by the sheet leading end stop member 693. Be transported. The second folding roller 682 further rotates in the direction indicated by the solid line in a state where the fold portion a is prevented from advancing by the sheet leading end stop member 693, whereby the unfolded portion of the sheet S is conveyed by the second folding roller 682. The third folding roller 683 and the second folding roller 68.
2 and the sheet S is folded to form a fold line b.

In this way, the first folding rollers 671, 67
The fold line a is formed by the second folding roller 682.
The fold line “b” is formed by the third folding roller 683, and the sheet S that has been subjected to the tri-fold processing is discharged to the discharge belt 73 (see FIG. 2) via the discharge guide plate 690.

As described above, the sheet S is folded into three in the folding processing section 60, and the sheet discharge belt 73 is folded.
Is ejected. The tri-fold process is generally performed on a sealed document. In the above-described embodiment, folding processing can be performed by a small post-processing device that can be attached to the image forming apparatus A. Therefore, in the case of a postal letter, different information such as an address is required for each individual document. It becomes possible to prepare a document in a form suitable for an envelope while recording the document in the document.

FIG. 5A shows a sheet S to be folded in three.
5B is a perspective view of the sheet S that has been tri-folded.

The folds a and b, which divide the length of the sheet S in the longitudinal direction into three equal parts, fold the sheet S into three planes A, B and C. The sheet S to be folded in three is first folded by the fold portion a, and then folded inward by the fold portion b.

The tri-folding process is performed by the folding processing unit 6
In 0, a small number of sheets S, for example, about 3 sheets S can be folded at the same time. The tri-folded A4 size sheet S can be accommodated in an envelope of ordinary mail.

(Folding Processing) Next, the operation of the folding processing unit 60 when performing the folding processing will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6 shows the folding processing unit 6 in the case of the folding process in two.
It is a figure which shows operation | movement of the principal part of 0. In the folding process, the guide member 691 rotates from the state shown in FIG. 4C in the illustrated counterclockwise direction (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 6B) around the support shaft 692 to receive the sheet. The lower end, which is a section, is switched to the state of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the leading end portion 66 of the folding plate member 661 is applied to the sheet S conveyed to the folding processing unit 60.
1A bends to form a crease c on the paper S,
The fold line c is fed to the holding position of the first folding roller pair 670.

The first folding roller pair 670 conveys the sheet S on which the fold line portion c is formed. The sheet S having the fold portion c is guided by the guide plate 694 as shown in FIG. 6B, and is discharged onto the discharge belt 73.

Although the folding process of one sheet S has been described above, a plurality of sheets S are stacked by the movable abutting member 52, and the stacked sheets S are folded into three or two as described above. It is also possible to do

FIG. 7A shows a sheet S to be folded in half.
And FIG. 7B is a perspective view of the sheet bundle Sa that has been folded in half. In the figure, c is a fold portion formed in the central portion of the paper S.

[Envelope Production Apparatus] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the envelope production apparatus D.

The sealed letter producing apparatus D comprises a sealing material supply section 80, a sealing section 86, a cutting section 90, a transport section 91, a stacking section 92 and the like.

The letter-sealing apparatus D is an apparatus for sealing the sheet S, on which an image is formed by the image forming apparatus A and folded by the post-processing apparatus C, with web-shaped sealing materials H1 and H2.

As the sealing materials H1 and H2, a heat-fusible plastic film, for example, a polyethylene film, or a laminated paper obtained by laminating a polyethylene film on paper is used. As will be described later, necessary items are printed in advance. What has been done is used.

(Sealing Material Supply Section) FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the sealing material supply section 80 and the sealing section 86. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing control of the sealing material supply unit 80.

The encapsulating material supply section 80 is a sealing material H above the conveying path.
1. A sealing material supply unit 80A for supplying 1 and a sealing material supply unit 80B for supplying the sealing material H2 below the transport path.

The sealing material H1 installed in the upper sealing material supply section 80A is the original winding roll 81 wound around the tubular body H1A.
It is formed in A. The original winding roll 81A is mounted on two supply rollers 82A which are rotatably supported by the main body of the letter-sealing apparatus D.

The two supply rollers 82A are rotated by drive rotation of the motor M1 via drive transmission means such as a pulley and a belt. By the rotation of the two supply rollers 82A,
The original winding roll 81A circumscribing the supply roller 82A is driven to rotate so that the sealing material H1 can be pulled out.

The sealing material H1 is pulled out from the original winding roll 81A, and the outer diameter of the original winding roll 81A gradually decreases.
Although the pipe H1A is guided and descends by a guide means (not shown), the former winding roll 81 circumscribing the supply roller 82A.
A always pulls out the sealing material H1 at a constant linear velocity. That is, the sealing material H1 of the former winding roll 81A is pulled out,
Even if the outer diameter is reduced, the peripheral speed of the outer peripheral surface of the former winding roll 81A is kept constant, and the sealing material H1 is pulled out at a constant linear velocity.

The enclosing material H2 installed in the enclosing material supplying section 80B below is the original winding roll 81 wound around the tube body H2B.
B is formed. The former winding roll 81B is mounted on two supply rollers 82B rotatably supported by the main body of the letter-sealing apparatus D.

The two supply rollers 82B are rotated by drive rotation of the motor M2 via drive transmission means such as a pulley and a belt. By the rotation of the two supply rollers 82B,
The original winding roll 81B circumscribing the supply roller 82B is driven to rotate so that the sealing material H2 can be pulled out.

The sealing material H2 is pulled out from the original winding roll 81B, and the outer diameter of the original winding roll 81B is gradually reduced.
The tube body H2B is guided and lowered by a guide means (not shown), but the original winding roll 81 circumscribes the supply roller 82B.
B always pulls out the sealing material H2 at a constant linear velocity. That is, the sealing material H2 of the original winding roll 81B is pulled out,
Even if the outer diameter decreases, the peripheral speed of the outer peripheral surface of the former winding roll 81B is kept constant, and the sealing material H2 is drawn out at a constant linear velocity.

The motor M3 includes a worm gear Z3 and a gear Z.
Transport roller 84 on the lower side of the transport path via the drive transmission means 4
B is driven and rotated, and further, the conveyance roller 83B is driven and rotated via drive transmission means such as a pulley and a belt.

At the same time, the motor M3 drives and rotates the conveying roller 84A on the upper side of the conveying path via the drive transmitting means of the gear Z5 meshing with the gear Z4, and further conveys the conveying roller 83A via the drive transmitting means such as a pulley and a belt. Drive to rotate.

The upper conveying rollers 83A and 84A and the lower conveying rollers 83B and 84B are both provided with a single motor M3.
Is driven and rotated by the same to rotate at the same linear velocity, and the sealing material H
1 and H2 are conveyed.

The two supply rollers 82A are rotated by the driving rotation of the motor M1, and the sealing material H1 pulled out by the driven rotation of the original winding roll 81A is wound around the driving and rotating conveying rollers 83A and 84A to seal. The sheet passes through the section 86, is sandwiched by the transport rollers 85, and is transported to the cutting section 90 (see FIG. 8).

The motor M2 rotates the two supply rollers 82B to rotate the original winding roll 81B. The sealing material H2 pulled out from the original winding roll 81B is wound around the transporting rollers 83B and 84B which are driven to rotate, and the sealing portion 8 is wound.
6 and is clamped by the conveyance roller 85 and cut by the cutting unit 90.
(See FIG. 8).

A pair of conveying rollers 84A, 84B facing each other
While the sealing materials H1 and H2 are supplied to the clamping position of
The sheet S folded and fed from the post-processing apparatus C is supplied and nipped between the sealing material H1 and the sealing material H2.

Linear velocity V1 of the outer peripheral surface of the former winding roll 81A
However, when it is higher than the linear velocity V2 of the outer peripheral surfaces of the transport rollers 83A and 84A (V1> V2), the sealing material H1 is pulled toward the original winding roll 81A, and the transportation speed of the sealing material H1 decreases. Linear velocity peripheral speed V1 of the outer peripheral surface of the former winding roll 81A
However, when the linear velocity is lower than the linear velocity V2 of the outer peripheral surfaces of the transport rollers 83A and 84A (V1 <V2), the slack of the sealing material H1 is gradually increased between the original winding roll 81A and the transport roller 83A, and the sealing is performed. The conveyance of the material H1 becomes unstable. Therefore, the sealing material H1 stretched between the original winding roll 81A and the transport roller 83A needs to have an appropriate amount of slack amount δ1.

The sensor PS2 is provided in the middle of the sealing material H1 stretched between the original winding roll 81A and the conveying roller 83A.
Is provided. The sensor PS2 is a former winding roll 81.
The slack amount δ1 of the sealing material H1 pulled out from A and wound around the transport roller 83A is detected. When the sensor PS2 detects that the slack amount δ1 has exceeded the set value, the control means 1
00 reduces the rotation speed of the motor M1 and causes the supply roller 8
By decreasing the linear velocity V1 of the former winding roll 81A through 2A, the slack amount δ1 of the sealing material H1 is reduced. When the sensor PS2 detects that the slack amount δ1 has become an appropriate amount equal to or less than the set value, the rotational speed of the motor M1 is returned to the initial set value and the sealing material H1 is conveyed.

A sensor PS3 is provided in the middle of the sealing material H2 stretched between the original winding roll 81B and the conveying roller 83B.
Is provided. The sensor PS3 is a former winding roll 81.
The slack amount δ2 of the sealing material H2 pulled out from B and wound around the transport roller 83B is detected. When the sensor PS3 detects that the slack amount δ2 has exceeded the set value, the control means 1
00 reduces the rotation speed of the motor M2, and the supply roller 8
By decreasing the linear velocity V1 of the former winding roll 81B through 2B, the slack amount δ2 of the sealing material H2 is reduced. When the sensor PS3 detects that the slack amount δ2 has become an appropriate amount equal to or less than the set value, the rotation speed of the motor M2 is returned to the initial set value and the sealing material H2 is conveyed.

In this way, the sealing material H1 supplied from the original winding roll 81A and the sealing material H2 supplied from the original winding roll 81B are conveyed at the same linear velocity, and the nipping position of the conveying rollers 84A, 84B is obtained. Sent to.

(Sealing Section) The sealing materials H1 and H2 that wrap the paper S and sandwich it at the sandwiching positions of the transport rollers 84A and 84B are the transport rollers 84.
In the process of being sandwiched between A and 84B and the conveying roller 85 and moving to the left in the drawing, the welding means 86 of the sealing portion 86.
The sheet S is heated and welded by A and 86B, and the sheet S is sealed with the sealing materials H1 and H2.

(Cutting section) From the pair of conveying rollers 85, the roller 91A and the belt 91
In the process of being transported by the transport unit composed of B, first, the sealing materials H1 and H2 are parallel to the transport direction by the first cutting means composed of the rotary blade 90A at the upper portion of the transport path and the fixed blade 90B at the lower portion of the transport path. Both side edges of the sealing materials H1 and H2 are cut.

Next, the movable blade 90 at the upper part of the transport path which can be raised and lowered.
By the second cutting means composed of C and the fixed blade 90D at the lower part of the transport path, the width direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the sealing materials H1 and H2 is cut and trimmed to form the envelope F. The remaining sealing materials H1 and H2 that have been cut are the waste container box 90 below.
It is housed in E.

(Conveyance Unit) The formed letter F is a conveyance unit composed of a roller 91A and a belt 91B, and discharge rollers 91C, 91D, 91.
The sheet is discharged in the transport unit 91 composed of E, 91F, and 91G and sent to the stacking unit 92.

(Collection Section) The sealed letter F discharged from the discharge roller 91G is stored in the collection section 92.
It is placed on the elevating table 921.

(Sealing Processing and Cutting Processing) Next, the sealing processing for enclosing and sealing the paper S with the sealing materials H1 and H2, and the cutting processing for cutting the sealing materials H1 and H2 to produce the sealed letter F will be described. To do.

The sheets S, which are sequentially folded in three or two in the post-processing apparatus C, are sent to the letter-sealing apparatus D at a constant interval by a pair of discharge belts 73. A pair of conveying rollers 8
4A and 84B surround the paper S with a sealing material H1 and a sealing material H2. Next, the fusing means 86A and 86B move up and down as indicated by the arrows to fuse and seal the sealing materials H1 and H2 around the paper S (see FIG. 8).

FIG. 11A is a plan view of the sealing material H1, the sealing material H2 and the paper S to be subjected to the sealing processing and the cutting processing, and FIG.
(B) is a plan view of the sealed letter F after the cutting process.

As shown in FIG. 11A, the welding means 86A and 86B heat and weld the welding portion W of the sealing materials H1 and H2 surrounding the sheet S.

Next, both side edges of the sealing materials H1 and H2 conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers 85 are cut by the rotary blade 90A and the fixed blade 90B along the two cutting lines L1a and L1b. Further, the movable blade 90C and the fixed blade 90D cut along the cutting line L2 to produce the sealed letter F.

Welding means 86A, 8 in the sealing process
The operation of 6B and the operations of the rotary blade 90A and the movable blade 90C in the cutting process are timing-controlled by the leading edge detection signal of the sheet S by the sensor PS4 provided at the sheet receiving port of the letter-making apparatus D.

[0099]

According to the invention of claim 1, in the sealing material supply section, the sealing material pulled out from the sealing material original winding roll is conveyed to the sealing section at a constant constant speed by the driving means and the control means, and is subjected to the sealing treatment. High quality envelope production is achieved.

According to the invention of claim 2, in the sealing material supply section, the sealing material pulled out from the sealing material original winding roll is
The driving unit and the control unit convey the sealing unit and the cutting unit at a constant constant speed to carry out the sealing process and the cutting process, thereby making it possible to produce a high quality sealed letter.

According to the invention of claim 3, in the sealing material supply section, the sealing material pulled out from the sealing material original winding roll is
The driving means and the control means convey the sealing material to the sealing section at a constant speed, and the sealing processing, the cutting processing and the accumulating processing are continuously carried out, so that the highly efficient and high quality sealed letter can be produced.

According to the invention of claim 4, the processing from image formation to folding processing and sealing processing is reasonably combined. Therefore, an image is formed on a sheet, the sheet is folded into a standard mail size, and the sheet is sealed with a sealing material. Since it is possible to automate the steps of producing and collecting the sealed letters and significantly reducing the time and labor for producing the sealed letters, the cost of producing the sealed letters is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a sheet flow in the post-processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of a folding processing unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation of a main part of a folding processing unit in the case of three-fold processing.

FIG. 5 is a developed plan view of a sheet to be tri-folded, and a perspective view of the sheet to be tri-folded.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operation of a main part of a folding processing unit in the case of a double folding process.

FIG. 7 is a developed plan view of sheets to be folded in half and a perspective view of a bundle of sheets folded in half.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a letter producing device.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a sealing material supply unit and a sealing unit.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing control of a sealing material supply unit.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a sealing material and a sheet that are subjected to a sealing process and a cutting process, and a plan view of a sealed letter after the cutting process.

[Explanation of symbols]

60 Folding section 67 First Folding Unit 68 Second Folding Unit 80, 80A, 80B Sealing material supply unit 81A, 81B Original roll 82A, 82B supply roller 83A, 83B, 84A, 84B, 85 Conveying rollers 86 sealed part 86A, 86B Welding means 90 cutting section 91 transport section 92 Stacking unit 100 control means A image forming apparatus C post-processing device D envelope production device H1, H2 sealing material M1, M2, M3 motor PS2, PS3, PS4 sensor S paper δ1, δ2 amount of slack

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B65H 43/04 B65H 43/04 45/16 45/16 45/18 45/18 F term (reference) 3E075 AA03 AA05 BA55 CA02 DA14 DB03 DB14 DC26 DC29 DC44 DE23 GA03 3E094 AA12 BA14 CA06 DA07 DA08 EA04 FA02 FA05 GA05 3F048 AA00 AB01 AC02 AC04 AC05 BA14 CB03 CC01 DA06 EB09 EB17 BA02 BA01 BA02 CA02 BA01 CA02 CA02 CA03 CA13 CA03 CA13 BB02 CA02 CC02 CD01

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sealed letter producing apparatus having a sealing material supply unit for sealing a folded sheet with a sealing material, wherein an original winding roll in which the sealing material is wound in a roll shape and an outer peripheral surface of the original winding roll are supported. A rotatable supply roller, a transport roller for stretching and moving the sealing material pulled out from the original roll, a drive unit for driving and rotating the supply roller and the transport roller, and A sealed letter producing apparatus comprising: a detection unit that detects the amount of slack of the pulled sealing material, and a control unit that controls the driving unit so that the amount of slack of the sealing material is constant. 2. An original winding roll in which a sealing material is wound in a roll shape, a supply roller rotatable while supporting an outer peripheral surface of the original winding roll, and the sealing material pulled out from the original winding roll is stretched. Transporting roller to be moved, driving means for driving and rotating the supply roller and the transporting roller, detecting means for detecting the slack amount of the sealing material pulled out from the original winding roll, so that the slacking amount of the sealing material becomes constant. And a sealing material supply section comprising a control means for controlling the drive means,
A letter-sealing device, comprising: a sealing unit that wraps and seals a folded sheet with the sealing material, and a cutting unit that cuts the sealing material to produce a sealed letter. 3. An original winding roll having a sealing material wound in a roll shape, two supply rollers rotatable while supporting an outer peripheral surface of the original winding roll, and the drawing roller pulled out from the original winding roll. Two sets of a sealing material supply unit including two transport rollers for stretching and moving the sealing material, two supply rollers, and a drive unit for driving and rotating the transport roller, and two front and back sides of the folded sheet. A sealing unit that wraps and seals the sheet between the sealing materials, a cutting unit that cuts the sealing material to produce a sealed letter, a transport unit that transports the produced sealed letter, and a stacking unit that accumulates the sealed letters. An envelope producing apparatus, comprising: 4. An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet,
A post-processing device that conveys the sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus, positions it at a predetermined position, forms a fold portion orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction to perform a folding process, and a sheet formed and discharged by the post-processing apparatus. An envelope forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which seals a folded sheet with a sealing material. 5. The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the post-processing device forms two folds in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction and performs three-fold processing. 6. The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the post-processing device forms one fold line in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction and performs a two-fold process. 7. The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the image forming apparatus has means for forming an image on both sides of a sheet.