JP2008290879A - Stacker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a stacker capable of stacking pieces of paper neatly in a state of well-ordered row. <P>SOLUTION: This stacker is provided with a bottom surface section 27 for stacking the pieces of paper, a side surface section 28 for guiding the pieces of paper 64 by making one side end of the paper contacted therewith, a conveyance section 22 for conveying the pieces of paper 64 to the bottom surface section 27, and a pull-in roller 36 for pulling in the pieces of paper 64 toward the bottom surface section 27, by holding the pieces of paper 64 between the conveyance section 22 and itself, which consists at least of a first roller body 41 and a second roller body 42. The first roller body 41 is located at a position further apart from the side surface section 28 compare to the second roller body 42, and it is made of a material with friction force higher than that of the second roller body 42. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a stacker that draws paper pieces discharged from a printer or the like and sequentially stacks them.

The stacker is connected to a printer, and is used for the purpose of facilitating the handling of the paper by sequentially stacking a plurality of paper pieces printed and cut by the printer, and collecting the paper pieces as a bundle.
For example, in Patent Document 1, a roll paper obtained by winding a long continuous paper in a roll shape is rotatably held, and connected to a printer that cuts a unit of paper after printing predetermined information on the continuous paper. The stacker mainly includes a bottom plate on which paper pieces are stacked, a side wall plate disposed on one side of the bottom plate, and a feed roller and a nip roller for drawing the paper pieces on the bottom plate.

JP-A-10-157908

The printer of Patent Document 1 is loaded with roll paper, and the paper piece cut into a predetermined length by the cutter unit is curled in the roll paper winding direction and sandwiched between the feed roller and the nip roller, and the paper piece becomes a side wall. There is a possibility that the pieces of paper cannot be stacked in a state where they are conveyed obliquely in a direction away from the plate and are neatly aligned.
In particular, when the speed of discharging from the printer is high, the sheet is conveyed obliquely in a direction away from the side wall plate, causing a paper jam.
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a stacker capable of neatly stacking paper pieces in an orderly manner.

The stacker according to the present invention is disposed on one side of the bottom surface portion, a bottom surface portion on which the paper pieces are stacked, a transport portion that conveys the paper pieces to the bottom surface portion, and guides the paper pieces by contacting one end in the width direction. A stacker having a side surface portion and a drawing roller that draws a piece of paper toward the bottom surface portion in cooperation with the conveying portion, wherein the drawing roller is composed of a plurality of roller bodies, and from the side surface portion of the stacker The frictional force of the roller body located at a distant position is large, and the frictional force of the roller body located on the side surface side is large.
Further, the roller body located at a position away from the side surface portion of the stacker is made of a rubber material, and the roller body located on the side surface side is made of a plastic material.
In addition, a front end of a piece of paper conveyed on the bottom surface by the conveying unit is brought into contact with and guided, and a paper stopper that can be attached to and detached from the bottom surface is further provided.

  Since the frictional force of the roller body located at a position away from the side surface portion of the pull-in roller stacker composed of a plurality of roller bodies is greater than the friction force of the other roller body located on the side surface side, The transport distance by the roller body located at a position farther from the side surface portion is longer than the other roller bodies located, and the paper pieces are transported in the order of the side surface portion serving as the stacking reference surface of the paper pieces in an orderly aligned state. Paper pieces can be loaded.

  The best mode for carrying out the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional side view of a stacker and a printer connected to the stacker according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the stacker.
As shown in FIG. 1, the stacker 20 is connected to the printer 1 and configured to sequentially stack single-sheet papers discharged from the printer 1 from below.

  First, the printer 1 includes a supply unit 2 that rotatably supports a roll paper 60 in which a long continuous paper 61 is wound in a roll shape, and a sensor that detects the position of the continuous paper 61 drawn from the roll paper 60. 3, the printing unit 4 that prints and conveys the continuous paper 61, the ink ribbon 66 that supplies and winds the ink ribbon 66 to the printing unit 4, and the paper strip 64 of a predetermined length (see FIG. 2). As a reference, it has the cutting part 6 cut.

  The supply unit 2 includes a paper supply shaft (not shown) that holds the roll paper 60, and rotatably supports the roll paper 60 on the paper supply shaft.

The sensor 3 is a light reflection type sensor, and includes a light emitting unit that emits light toward the continuous paper 61 and a light receiving unit that receives the light emitted from the light emitting unit. The continuous paper 61 is provided with position detection marks (not shown) printed at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction, and the position of the continuous paper 61 can be recognized by detecting the position detection marks with the sensor 3. It is configured.
Alternatively, a light transmission type sensor may be used in which holes are formed in the continuous paper 61 and a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit are respectively disposed at opposing positions across the hole.

  The printing unit 4 is arranged so as to face the thermal head 7 by applying heat to the ink ribbon 66 and transferring the ink to the continuous paper 61, and is rotated by being connected to a motor (not shown). Accordingly, the platen roller 8 that conveys the continuous paper 61 toward the stacker 20 is provided.

  The ink ribbon unit 5 includes a ribbon supply unit 9 and a ribbon take-up unit 10, and holds the ink ribbon 66 wound in a roll shape from the ribbon supply unit 9 to the ribbon take-up unit 10 via the thermal head 7. Then, the ribbon take-up unit 10 connected to a motor (not shown) is driven to rotate, whereby the ink ribbon 66 after ink transfer is taken up on the ribbon take-up unit 10.

  The cutting unit 6 is a guillotine cutter having a fixed blade and a movable blade that can move forward and backward with respect to the fixed blade, and cuts the continuous paper 61 into a paper piece 64 of a predetermined length. The cutting unit 6 may be a known cutter such as a circle cutter or a rotary cutter having a movable blade that rotates and moves along the edge of the fixed blade.

The printer 1 includes a control unit (not shown). The control unit operates according to a ROM that stores a predetermined control program, a control program stored in the ROM, and a CPU that controls each unit. A RAM for storing various necessary data, a conveyance control unit for controlling the conveyance of the continuous paper 61 by the platen roller 8 by supplying a pulse signal to the motor, and printing of characters and figures to be printed supplied from the CPU A control signal corresponding to the data is generated and supplied to the thermal head 7 to perform a printing operation, and the light emitting unit of the sensor 3 is controlled under the control of the CPU to emit light toward the continuous paper 61. A detection unit that receives an electrical signal output from the light receiving unit, converts it into digital data and supplies it to the CPU, and a calendar IC that measures the current date and time , A flash ROM that stores various setting information of the printer 1, connected to such a stacker 20 and the host computer has an interface for receiving print data from the communication or host computer with the stacker 20.
Each of these units is connected to the CPU via a data bus. Under the control of the CPU, printing is performed on the continuous paper 61 by the thermal head 7 according to the print data received from the interface, and the continuous continuous paper 61 is formed by the cutting unit 6. Cut as a piece of paper 64 of a predetermined length.

The paper pieces 64 cut by the cutting unit 6 of the printer 1 are sequentially stacked on the stacker 20 disposed on the downstream side in the transport direction of the continuous paper 61 of the printer 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the stacker, and the configuration of the stacker will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
The stacker 20 mainly includes a stacker body 21, a transport unit 22, a drive unit 23, a sheet pressing unit 24, a full stack detection unit 25, and a sheet stopper 26.
The stacker main body 21 has a bottom surface portion 27 on which the paper pieces 64 are stacked, and a side surface portion 28 that is disposed on one side of the bottom surface portion 27 and guides the paper pieces 64 by contacting one end in the width direction.
A plurality of long holes 29 are formed in the bottom surface portion 27 along the conveyance direction of the paper piece 64 so that a plurality of conveyance belts 34 of the conveyance unit 22 to be described later are exposed above the bottom surface portion 27. Further, the stacking surface on which the paper pieces 64 of the bottom surface portion 27 are stacked is made of a metal material, and the downstream side in the transport direction of the paper pieces 64 is inclined lower than the upstream side. Note that the drive unit 23 is disposed inside the bottom surface portion 27.
The side surface portion 28 is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the bottom surface portion 27, and is disposed in parallel with the guide hole 30, and the end (upstream side) in the longitudinal direction of the paper pieces 64 placed on the bottom surface portion 27. A guide plate 31 for guiding the part is provided so as to protrude from the side part 28. In addition, the full stack detection unit 25 is disposed at an end (uppermost end) position that is disposed inside the side surface portion 28 and separated from the bottom surface portion 27 of the guide hole 30.

The conveyance unit 22 is connected to a motor 32 that is a driving unit 23 via a timing belt 40, and is connected to a drive roller 33 that is rotationally driven in accordance with the driving of the motor 32 and a drive roller 33 via a conveyance belt 34. Positions where conveyance belts 35 and 35 are rotated by a belt 34 in synchronization with the driving roller 33, and the driving roller 33 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. Transport to.
Further, a drawing roller 36 for pressing the surface of the paper piece 64 is provided near the upper side of the driving roller 33, and the paper piece 64 is sandwiched between the drawing roller 36 and the conveying belt 34 at the position of the driving roller 33 so that the paper piece 64 is placed on the bottom surface portion 27. It is configured to be pulled in. Note that a plurality (three in the present embodiment) of the conveyance unit 22 including the conveyance belt 34, the driving roller 33, and the conveyance rollers 35 and 35 are provided on the bottom surface portion 27 to stabilize the conveyance of the paper piece 64.

  The drawing roller 36 is supported by the side surface 28 and has a shaft 43 as a center of rotation, and a first roller body 41 and a second roller body 42 provided in the longitudinal direction of the shaft 43. The first roller body 41 is located on the side surface portion 28 side, and its outer peripheral surface is formed of a rubber material. The second roller body 42 is located at a position away from the side surface portion 28, and its outer peripheral surface is plastic. It is made of material.

  The paper pressing unit 24 presses the surface of the paper pieces 64 stacked on the bottom surface portion 27, minimizes the influence of curling of the paper pieces 64 curled in the roll direction of the roll paper 60, and stacks the paper pieces 64 in an orderly manner. Playing a role. Further, the sheet pressing portion 24 can move up and down along the guide hole 30 provided in the side surface portion 28, and a weight (not shown) provided inside the side surface portion 28 is fixed. The sheet pressing portion 24 is lifted little by little along the guide holes 30 by the paper pieces 64 sequentially stacked on the bottom surface portion 27, and the paper pieces 64 are always moved to the bottom surface portion 27 side via the paper pressing portion 24 by the weight of the weight. Press to correct the curl as horizontal as possible.

  The full stack detection unit 25 is a micro switch that is located in the vicinity of the uppermost end of the guide hole 30 and generates a detection signal by coming into contact with the paper pressing unit 24. This detection signal is a maximum amount on the bottom surface portion 27 of the stacker 20. Is a detection signal indicating that the paper pieces 64 are stacked (full stack). The operation of the stacker 20 is stopped by this detection signal, and the operation of the printer 1 is stopped by issuing a detection signal to the control unit of the printer 1 connected via the interface.

  The paper stopper 26 has a paper front end stopper 37 that guides the front end of the paper piece 64 conveyed onto the bottom surface portion 27 by the conveying unit 22 and a paper side guide 38 that can be attached to and detached from the paper front end stopper 37. is doing. The sheet front end stopper 37 includes a magnet (not shown) at the bottom position that contacts the bottom surface portion 27, is configured to be detachable from the stacking surface of the bottom surface portion 27 made of a metal material, and is stacked on the bottom surface portion 27. The position of the sheet front end stopper 37 in the sheet conveyance direction can be fixed at an arbitrary position according to the length of the sheet 64 in the longitudinal direction. The paper front end stopper 37 is provided with a positioning groove 39, and a convex portion (not shown) of the paper side guide 38 is engaged with the positioning groove 39, so that the paper side guide 38 can be arbitrarily positioned in the width direction of the paper front end stopper 37. The position of the sheet side guide 38 in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction can be fixed at an arbitrary position according to the length in the width direction of the sheet 64 stacked on the bottom surface portion 27. it can.

  A stacking operation of the paper pieces by the stacker configured as described above will be described. The piece of paper 64 discharged from the printer 1 is nipped by the conveyance belt 34 at the position of the drawing roller 36 and the driving roller 33, and is conveyed to the paper stopper 26 (downstream) side by the conveyance belt 34. At this time, it is conveyed to the first roller 41 and the second roller body 42 which are the drawing rollers 36 until the leading end of the paper piece 64 comes into contact with the paper stopper 26, and more rubber than the second roller 42 formed of a plastic material. Since the first roller body 41 made of a material has a higher frictional force, the first roller 41 transports the paper piece 64 longer than the second roller 42. That is, by conveying the paper piece 64 toward the side surface portion 28 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2, the paper piece 64 is conveyed while being guided by the side surface portion 28 until it abuts against the paper stopper 26, and in a state where it is neatly aligned. Paper pieces 64 are stacked on the unit 27. Next, the paper pieces 64 are sequentially drawn by the drawing roller 36 and enter the lower side of the already loaded paper pieces 64 to be stacked, and the paper pressing portion 24 is pushed upward along the guide holes 30 as the load amount increases. When the sheet pressing unit 24 is pushed up to the uppermost position of the guide hole 30, the full stack detecting unit 25 issues a detection signal, stops the operation of the stacker 20 and the printer 1, and stops the stacking operation of the paper pieces 64.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first roller body 41 and the second roller body 42 that draw the paper piece 64 discharged from the printer 1 to the stacker 20 side are formed of materials having different frictional forces,
By configuring the first roller body 41 disposed at a position away from the side surface portion 28 of the stacker 20 with a material having a higher frictional force than the second roller body 42 disposed at a position closer to the side surface portion 28, The transport distance by the first roller body 41 is longer than that of the second roller body 42, the paper strip 64 is transported toward the side surface portion 28, which is the stacking reference surface of the paper strips 64, and the paper strip 64 is arranged in an orderly manner. Can be loaded.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the first roller body 41 is made of a rubber material, and the second roller body 42 is made of a plastic material. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the first roller body 41 is made of the second material. A roller body made of another material may be used as long as the material has a higher frictional force than that of the roller body 42.

  Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the pulling roller 36 has the two roller bodies of the first roller body 41 and the second roller 42, but has a structure having two or more roller bodies. Also good. For example, a first roller body separated from the side surface portion, a third roller body close to the side surface portion, and a second roller located between the first roller body and the third roller body, The second roller body may be configured to have a frictional force greater than that of the third roller body, and the first roller body may be configured to have a frictional force greater than that of the second roller body. By comprising these three roller bodies, even if it is a paper piece whose size in the width direction is smaller than the distance from the side surface portion to the first roller body, the second roller body and the third roller body are used as the bottom surface portion. So that any width-sized piece of paper can be neatly aligned.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the drawing roller 36 is configured to be rotatable about the rotation axis, but may be rotated by a driving mechanism (not shown).

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it is obvious that the embodiments can be appropriately changed within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. In addition, the number, position, shape, and the like of the constituent members are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be set to a suitable number, position, shape, and the like in practicing the present invention.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional side view of a stacker and a printer connected to the stacker according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic perspective view of a stacker.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer 2 Supply part 3 Sensor 4 Printing part 5 Ink ribbon unit 6 Cutting part 7 Thermal head 8 Platen roller 9 Ribbon supply axis 10 Ribbon take-up axis 20 Stacker 21 Stacker main body 22 Conveying part 23 Drive part 24 Paper pressing part 25 Full stack Detection unit 26 Paper stopper 27 Bottom surface 28 Side surface 29 Long hole 30 Guide hole 31 Guide plate 32 Motor 33 Driving roller 34 Conveying belt 35 Conveying roller 36 Pull-in roller 37 Paper front end stopper 38 Paper side guide 39 Positioning groove 40 Timing belt 60 Roll Paper 61 Continuous paper 64 Paper piece 66 Ink ribbon

Claims (3)

A bottom surface for stacking paper pieces;
A transport unit that transports a piece of paper to the bottom surface;
A side surface portion arranged on one side of the bottom surface portion and contacting and guiding one end in the width direction of the paper piece;
A stacker having a drawing roller that draws a piece of paper toward the bottom surface in cooperation with the transport unit;
The pull-in roller is composed of a plurality of roller bodies, and the frictional force of the roller body located at a position away from the side surface portion of the stacker has a large friction force of the roller body located on the side surface portion side. Stacker.   2. The stacker according to claim 1, wherein the roller body positioned at a position away from the side surface portion of the stacker is made of a rubber material, and the roller body positioned on the side surface portion side is formed of a plastic material.   The stacker according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a paper stopper that is guided by contacting a front end of a piece of paper that is conveyed onto the bottom surface by the conveyance unit, and is detachable from the bottom surface.

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