JP2016179886A - Mail separation mechanism and separation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a separation mechanism that is improved in reliability of separating thin mails where a variety of thin mails are mixed and can inhibit a decline in processing efficiency.SOLUTION: The separation mechanism includes: separation means that receives thin mails and transports the thin mails by separating one by one; and multistage separation means provided in a transportation passage.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a mail separation mechanism and a separation method.

  There is an automatic sorting device that has a recognition function for reading a barcode attached to a mail piece or a recognition function for reading destination information such as a postal code, and automatically sorts mail pieces from the destination information. As preprocessing of the automatic sorting apparatus, processing for taking out mail pieces one by one is performed. Mail size variations range from business card size to A3 size, and thickness variations range from one sheet of paper to one phone book. It is assumed that such mail (hereinafter referred to as “thin mail”) is mixed and put into the pick-up process. The automatic sorting device is required to process such various thin mail items.

  Therefore, as for the state of thin mail items, the direction of various thin mail items such as three or more overlapping or slanted states can be taken out without any order, and can be taken out into the pick-up process. . Realizing such a balance between usability and separation accuracy at a high level is required as a function of the extraction process.

  Here, the separation is to reliably take out one by one from a thin mail piece that has been randomly inserted. The separation of thin mail pieces one by one is necessary to ensure stable sorting operation and automatic sorting accuracy with an automatic sorting apparatus for thin mail pieces.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an automatic sorting device for postal items. FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1 shows the overall configuration of the automatic sorting device. In FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1, the one-feed unit 200 includes a mechanism that individually separates a plurality of thin mail items moving from upstream while overlapping. Although the shape of the one-feed unit 200 is not shown, a plurality of thin mail pieces move continuously from the one-feed unit 200 to the detection unit 300.

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the basic structure of the transport mechanism 40 upstream and downstream of the one-feed section following the basic structure of the detection section 300 shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a cross-sectional position of the separation mechanism 50 of the one-feed unit following the basic structure of the detection unit 300 shown in FIG. The illustrated direction of FIG. 5 is the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4 and shows a cross section taken along the broken line BB ′. In addition, thin mail items are conveyed in the direction of arrow C, and for the sake of convenience, the right side in the figure is called upstream and the left side is called downstream.

  The prior art will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The thin mail is transported by the transport mechanism 40 that is tilted about 30 degrees from the standing position. The transport mechanism 40 includes a transport belt 402 attached to a roller 401 driven by a motor (not shown). The thin mail item 403 is conveyed along the belt while the lower side of the thin mail item 403 is aligned while tilting along the inclination of the conveying belt 402.

  The separation mechanism 50 includes a suction belt 501 provided with an air suction hole on the surface, and each reverse belt 502 that can rotate or stop at a slightly lower peripheral speed than the suction belt 501 is provided. The belt surfaces are provided at opposite positions. Inside the suction belt 501, a negative pressure air suction port 503 is provided by a pump (not shown), and air is sucked through the air suction hole of the suction belt 501. Further, a pickup roller 504 and a pickup roller 505 are provided as a pair on the downstream side of the reverse belt 502. The suction belt 501, the reverse belt 502, and the pickup roller 505 are driven by an arbitrary shaft with which the belt contacts, and are provided with a tensioner as necessary. The pickup roller 504 is separated from the drive shaft of the suction belt 501, and conveys a thin mail piece downstream at the same peripheral speed in synchronization with the pickup roller 505 by an independent drive source (not shown).

  Here, the driving directions of the respective belts and rollers are unified and indicated by an arrow D. Further, the reverse belt 502 is inclined in accordance with the thickness of the thin mail piece being conveyed in the direction of arrow E around the drive shaft, thereby preventing the damage to the thick thin mail piece, and the thin belt with a slight pressure. Equipped with a retractable structure that maintains contact with the mail. Similarly, the pick-up roller 505 is also tilted following the thickness of the thin mail piece being conveyed in the direction of arrow E around the drive shaft, thereby preventing damage to the thick thin mail piece, together with the pick-up roller 504. Grasp the mail with a constant pressure and transport it downstream.

  The amount of air sucked from the drive and suction holes of the belt and rollers of the separation mechanism 50 is determined based on the signals of the separation mechanism 50 and sensors (not shown) that detect the state of thin mail items upstream and downstream of the software. Is appropriately managed and adjusted.

  The operation of the separation mechanism 50 when a plurality of thin mail pieces are overlapped and received simultaneously will be described. Thin mail pieces are overlapped and conveyed to the separation mechanism 50 by the conveyance belt 511. For convenience, the thin mail piece in contact with the transport belt 511 is referred to as a transport side thin mail article 521a, and the other is referred to as a residual side thin mail article 522a. After transfer from the conveyance belt 511 to the suction belt 501, the thin mail item 521b on the conveyance side is sucked by the negative pressure of the air suction hole of the suction belt 501 and adheres to the suction belt 501 and goes downstream according to the rotation of the suction belt. Be transported.

  On the other hand, the remaining-side thin mail item 522b is conveyed downstream by overlapping with the frictional force with the conveying-side thin mail item 521b until it contacts the reverse belt 502. However, the residual thin mail 522b is decelerated due to the difference in the peripheral speed between the reverse belt 502 and the suction belt 501 at the moment when it comes into contact with the reverse belt 502. Therefore, a speed difference occurs between the two thin mail pieces, the two thin mail pieces are separated from each other by the conveying force exceeding the frictional force between the two thin mail pieces, and only the transport side thin mail piece 521b is conveyed downstream. The Further, by stopping the rotation of the reverse belt 502, the residual thin mail 522b is prevented from being conveyed downstream, and the effect of completely separating the thin mail is enhanced. At this time, the reverse belt 502 is inclined in the direction of arrow E by the inertial force of the residual thin mail item 522b, thereby corresponding to various thicknesses of the thin mail item.

  The transport-side thin mail 521c that has reached the rear end of the suction belt 501 is held by a pair of pickup rollers 504 and a pickup roller 505. At this time, the pick-up roller 505 is inclined in the direction of arrow E by the inertial force of the transport-side thin mail item 521c to cope with various thicknesses of the thin mail item.

  If the downstream conveyance belt 512 is acceptable, the conveyance-side thin mail item 521c is continuously conveyed downstream. When the downstream conveyance belt cannot be received, the pair of pickup rollers 504 and 505 stops while holding the conveyance-side thin mail item 521c. Further, the suction belt 501 temporarily stops rotating. Although the air suction hole maintains a negative pressure state, the negative pressure of the air suction hole is released at a timing when the pair of pickup rollers 504 and 505 push the thin mail piece further downstream, and the conveyance side thin mail article 521c is moved to the suction belt. Release from 501.

  After the transport-side thin mail item 521c is completely transported downstream, the function of the suction belt 501 is restored. The remaining thin mail piece 522b remaining due to the recovered negative pressure of the air suction hole is sucked, brought into close contact with the suction belt 501 and conveyed downstream, and reaches a pair of pickup rollers 504 and 505. The pair of pickup rollers 504 and 505 repeats the same drive as described in the conveyance of the conveyance-side thin mail item 521c, and continues the operation state.

  As described above, the thin mail is separated in the process of passing through the separation mechanism 50. However, there may be cases where two thin mail pieces that are not completely separated and are transported downstream.

  There are various factors that cannot be separated, but it is largely due to the influence of external factors such as the shape and condition of the thin mail that is put into the sorting device. For example, if three or more thin mail pieces overlap each other, the thin mail pieces are separated from each other with relatively small frictional resistance. That is, there is often no separation between thin mail pieces having relatively large frictional resistance between the thin mail pieces. Further, when the transport-side thin mail is relatively heavy, and the friction resistance more than the friction resistance with the reverse belt 502 is generated between the thin mail, the reliability of separation is lowered.

  In addition, there may be a case where the transport-side thin mail is extremely small, or only a part of the corner of the thin mail is applied to the suction belt 501 in an inclined state. In such a case, the negative pressure of the suction belt 501 sucks the residual thin mail piece, or the suction belt 501 and the residual thin mail piece are in direct contact with each other so that the residual thin mail piece is conveyed simultaneously. And the reliability of separation decreases.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an apparatus for individualizing a shipment from a flat stack of shipments. In the technique of Patent Document 2, a shipment is sequentially pulled out in the horizontal direction from the front of a stack of upright flat shipments to be individualized. In the technique of Patent Document 2, the shipment is pulled out from the front surface of the stack by the pulling moving body and the first pulling belt, and the pulled-out shipment is being gripped by the plate-like holding element and the second pulling belt facing it. Further, it is conveyed in the lateral direction. The conveyed shipment is gripped by the third pulling belt facing the holding element and further conveyed.

  At this time, each of the first, second, and third pull-out belts is controlled so as to repeatedly stop and operate in order to secure an interval between the preceding shipment and the next shipment. Further, the speeds of the first, second and third drawing belts are set to be larger on the downstream side than on the upstream side. Therefore, the interval between the shipment items that are sequentially individualized is ensured. The bottom of the shipment is provided with an underfloor band that supports heavy shipments and operates at a slower speed than other pull-out belts, so that a relatively small frictional force is applied to the underline of the shipment being conveyed. give.

  Patent Document 3 discloses a single sheet take-out device. In the technique of Patent Document 3, the paper sheets that are conveyed in a standing position are stacked, and the first take-out means that picks up and conveys the paper sheets one by one or several times, and the leading end of the taken-out paper sheets contacts the stopper to align them. A tip aligning means and a second take-out means for taking out and transporting the aligned paper sheets one by one are provided. The technique of Patent Document 3 is a technique for suppressing the double-feeding and improving the certainty of separation by aligning the leading ends of the paper sheets as preprocessing for taking out one by one.

Japanese Patent No. 5403719 (page 5-8, FIGS. 1-4) JP-T-2007-533569 (5th, 6th page, FIG. 1) Japanese Patent No. 4382644 (3rd, 7-8, 11th page, FIG. 1)

  In the technique of Patent Document 1, as described above, there is a problem in the reliability of separation in a state where various thin mail pieces are mixed.

  The technology of Patent Document 2 is for individualizing flat shipments. The technique of Patent Document 2 is not provided with a buffer mechanism or the like corresponding to variations in the thickness of the shipment. For this reason, the technique of Patent Document 2 is not an individualization technique that can cope with variations in the thicknesses of the various thin mail items described above.

  The technique of Patent Document 3 includes a process of stopping the paper sheet at one end by the front end aligning means in order to align the front end of the paper sheet conveyed from the first taking out means, and a process of contacting the suction belt of the second taking out means, Two processes are required. In the technique of Patent Document 3, the above-described two processes are performed regardless of whether or not there is a vacancy due to downstream processes, for example, a detection process, so that the processing efficiency of paper sheets is reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems. An object of the present invention is to provide a separation mechanism and a separation method capable of improving the certainty of separation of thin mail pieces in which various thin mail pieces are mixed and suppressing reduction in processing efficiency.

  The separation mechanism according to the present invention includes a separation unit that receives a thin mail piece, separates the thin mail piece one by one, and conveys it, and includes a plurality of separation means in a conveyance path.

  The separation method according to the present invention includes a plurality of steps of receiving thin mail pieces, separating the thin mail pieces one by one, and transporting the separated thin mail pieces based on an empty state of the subsequent processing. Features.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the reliability of separation of thin mail items in which various thin mail items are mixed, and to suppress a decrease in processing efficiency.

It is sectional drawing which showed the structural example of the separation mechanism of the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which showed the structural example of the separation mechanism of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which showed the structural example of the separation mechanism of the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing which showed the structural example of the conveyance mechanism of a prior art. It is sectional drawing which showed the structural example of the separation mechanism of a prior art.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration example of the separation function of the first embodiment of the present invention. With reference to FIG. 1, the structure and operation | movement of the separation mechanism 10 of this embodiment are demonstrated.

  The separation mechanism 10 includes a separation mechanism 11 and a separation mechanism 12. The separation mechanism 11 includes a suction belt 101, a reverse belt 102, a pair of pickup rollers 104, a pickup roller 105, and an air suction port 103. The separation mechanism 12 includes a suction belt 106, a reverse belt 107 and an air suction port 108, a suction belt 109, a reverse belt 110 and an air suction port 111.

  The separation mechanism 11 has the same configuration as the separation mechanism 50 described with reference to FIG. Similarly to FIG. 5, thin mail items are conveyed in the direction of arrow C. For convenience, the right side in the drawing is referred to as upstream and the left side as downstream. As in FIG. 5, the driving direction of each belt is unified and shown as an arrow D. Further, in order to cope with various thicknesses of thin mail, the direction in which the rollers and belts are inclined is unified. , Indicated by arrow E. Further, similarly to FIG. 4, the thin mail is conveyed in a state where it is tilted at a predetermined angle such as 30 degrees from the standing position. Since the thin mail is tilted and conveyed by the belt, the stability of the thin mail can be ensured. That is, a thin mail piece with a low waist is applied to the conveyance surface such as a suction belt, thereby suppressing flapping during conveyance and ensuring stability.

  In the separation mechanism 10, a separation mechanism 12 is added on the upstream side of the same separation mechanism 11 as the separation mechanism 50 described in FIG. The added separation mechanism 12 includes a suction belt 106 and a reverse belt 107 at the front stage, and a suction belt 109 and a reverse belt 110 at the rear stage. Further, a suction belt and a reverse belt provided as a pair at the front stage and the rear stage respectively have a separation function described later.

  The suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 at the front stage of the separation mechanism 12 separate the thin mail pieces similarly to the suction belt 501 and the reverse belt 502 of FIG. The suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 are driven by independent servo motors, and if the suction belt 109 and the reverse belt 110 at the subsequent stage can be received, the transport-side thin mail is continuously transported downstream. However, when the suction belt 109 and the reverse belt 110 in the subsequent stage cannot be received, the suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 are stopped while holding the transport-side thin mail. Further, the suction belt 106 temporarily stops rotating, but the air suction port 108 maintains a negative pressure state. The suction belt 109 and the reverse belt 110 can be received, and the suction belt 106 starts operation. The suction belt 106 releases the negative mail from the suction belt 106 when the negative pressure of the air suction port 108 is released at the timing when the conveyance-side thin mail 121b is carried downstream.

  The transport-side thin mail 121 b transported downstream by the suction belt 106 is held by the suction bell 109 and the reverse belt 110. The suction belt 109 and the reverse belt 110 are driven by independent servo motors, and if the downstream separation mechanism 11 can accept, the transport side thin mail is continuously transported downstream. However, when the downstream separation mechanism 11 cannot accept, the suction belt 109 and the reverse belt 110 are stopped while holding the transport-side thin mail 121b. Further, the suction belt 109 temporarily stops rotating, but the air suction port 111 maintains a negative pressure state. The downstream separation mechanism 11 can be received, and the suction belt 109 starts operation. The suction belt 109 releases the negative pressure of the air suction port 111 at the timing when the conveyance-side thin mail 121b is carried further downstream, and opens the conveyance-side thin mail 121b from the suction belt 109.

  If there is another thin mail piece together with the transport side thin mail piece 121b, the other thin mail piece is decelerated by the reverse belt 110 and separated from the transport side thin mail piece 121b and remains. That is, the suction belt 109 and the reverse belt 110 operate as separating means for the next stage following the suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 of the preceding stage. In the downstream separation mechanism 11, the separation process described with reference to FIG. 5 is further performed on the transported thin mail.

  Thus, in this embodiment, the reliability of separating thin mail items can be improved by providing a plurality of separation means. That is, the certainty of separation can be improved by passing the separation means using a plurality of stages of suction belts and reverse belts from upstream to downstream. Furthermore, when a thin mail piece passes through the separating means, the downstream conveying speed is compared with the upstream conveying speed, and the downstream speed is always increased, so that the thin article is separated and conveyed downstream. It is also possible to obtain the effect of completely pulling out the mail from the thin mail remaining upstream. In addition, since each separation unit repeatedly stops and operates based on the availability of processing on the downstream side, it is possible to continue processing while suppressing a decrease in processing efficiency of separating and transporting thin mail items.

  As described above, the separation mechanism of the present embodiment includes a plurality of separation means, can improve the reliability of separation of thin mail items in which various thin mail items are mixed, and can suppress a decrease in processing efficiency.

The separation mechanism of the present embodiment has been described as including three stages of separation means including a suction belt and a reverse belt. However, the number of separation means is not limited to three. The number of separation means may be two, or four or more.
(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration example of a separation mechanism according to a second embodiment of the present invention. With reference to FIG. 2, the structure and operation | movement of the separation mechanism 20 of this embodiment are demonstrated.

  The separation mechanism 20 is different in that the reverse belt 110 of the separation mechanism 10 described in FIG. Hereinafter, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same names and the same reference numerals, the description thereof will be omitted, and changes will be described.

  In the separation mechanism 20, a separation mechanism 21 is added on the upstream side of the same separation mechanism 11 as the separation mechanism 50 described in FIG. The added separation mechanism 21 includes a suction belt 106 and a reverse belt 107 at the front stage, and a suction belt 109 and a cushion roller 201 at the rear stage. Further, the suction belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 at the rear stage have a separation function described later. The cushion roller 201 is inclined in the direction of arrow E by the inertial force of the transport-side thin mail piece 121b to cope with various thicknesses of the thin mail piece, and is held by a soft material and is physically received by the thin mail piece. Reduce damage.

  The suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 at the front stage of the separation mechanism 21 separate the thin mail pieces similarly to the suction belt 501 and the reverse belt 502 of FIG. The suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 are driven by independent servo motors. If the suction belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 at the subsequent stage can be received, the transport-side thin mail is continuously transported downstream. However, when the rear-stage suction belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 cannot be received, the suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 are stopped while holding the transport-side thin mail. Further, the suction belt 106 temporarily stops rotating, but the air suction port 108 maintains a negative pressure state. The suction belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 can be received, and the suction belt 106 starts operation. The suction belt 106 releases the negative mail from the suction belt 106 when the negative pressure of the air suction port 108 is released at the timing when the conveyance-side thin mail 121b is carried downstream.

  The transport-side thin mail 121 b transported downstream by the suction belt 106 is held by the suction bell 109 and the cushion roller 201. The suction belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 are driven by independent servo motors, and if the downstream separation mechanism 11 can accept, the transport side thin mail is continuously transported downstream. However, when the downstream separation mechanism 11 cannot accept, the suction belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 are stopped while holding the transport-side thin mail 121b. Further, the suction belt 109 temporarily stops rotating, but the air suction port 111 maintains a negative pressure state. The downstream separation mechanism 11 can be received, and the suction belt 109 starts operation. The suction belt 109 releases the negative pressure of the air suction port 111 at the timing when the conveyance-side thin mail 121b is carried further downstream, and opens the conveyance-side thin mail 121b from the suction belt 109.

  If there is another thin mail piece together with the conveyance-side thin mail piece 121b, the other thin mail piece is decelerated by the cushion roller 201 and separated from the conveyance-side thin mail piece 121b and remains. Here, the cushion roller 201 rotates at a speed slower than the speed of the suction belt 109 and obtains the same effect as the reverse belt 110 due to the speed difference. In other words, the suction belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 operate as a next-stage separating unit following the preceding-stage suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107. In the downstream separation mechanism 11, the separation process described with reference to FIG. 5 is further performed on the transported thin mail.

  Thus, the separation mechanism 20 can improve the certainty of separating a thin mail piece by providing a plurality of separation means in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Furthermore, when a thin mail piece passes through the separating means, the downstream conveying speed is compared with the upstream conveying speed, and the downstream speed is always increased, so that the thin article is separated and conveyed downstream. It is also possible to obtain the effect of completely pulling out the mail from the thin mail remaining upstream. In addition, since each separation unit repeatedly stops and operates based on the availability of processing on the downstream side, it is possible to continue processing while suppressing a decrease in processing efficiency of separating and transporting thin mail items. Further, in the separation mechanism 20, since the pair of suction belt and reverse belt described in the first embodiment is changed to a cushion roller and a suction belt made of a soft material, the physical mail received by the thin mail is received. Damage can be reduced.

  As described above, the separation mechanism according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of stages of separation means as in the first embodiment, and improves the reliability of separation of thin mail pieces in which various thin mail pieces are mixed, thereby reducing the processing efficiency. Can be suppressed. Furthermore, the separation mechanism of the present embodiment can reduce physical damage to the thin mail piece by the separation process.

  The separation mechanism of the present embodiment has been described as including one stage of separation means including a suction belt and a cushion roller. However, the number of steps of separating means by the suction belt and the cushion roller is not limited to one. For example, the number of stages of separating means by the suction belt and the cushion roller may be two or more.

  Further, the separation function of the present embodiment has been described as a separation means including a suction belt and a cushion roller. However, the suction belt and the cushion roller need not be separating means. That is, the cushion roller paired with the suction belt may be rotated at the same speed as the suction belt. At this time, the suction belt and the cushion roller may be operated as pickup means for adjusting the timing of the subsequent processing.

Moreover, in this embodiment, it demonstrated that it was manufactured with the soft material as a cushion roller. Specifically, for example, the cushion roller may be made of an elastic material. In other words, the cushion roller only needs to be able to reduce physical damage to the thin mail piece, hold the thin mail piece, and be durable.
(Third embodiment)
A third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration example of a separation mechanism according to a third embodiment of the present invention. With reference to FIG. 3, the structure and operation | movement of the separation mechanism 30 of this embodiment are demonstrated.

  The separation mechanism 30 is different from the separation mechanism 20 described in FIG. 2 in that an air outlet 301 is added. Hereinafter, the same components as those in the second embodiment are denoted by the same names and the same reference numerals, the description thereof will be omitted, and changes will be described.

  The suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 of the separation mechanism 31 separate thin mail items in the same manner as the suction belt 401 and the reverse belt 402 of FIG. The air outlet 301 is provided in the vicinity of the suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 facing each other, and blows air vertically upward from the illustrated surface.

  Air is blown from the air outlet 301 at the timing when the transport-side thin mail 121 a and the residual thin mail 122 a reach the suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107. For this reason, the air flow enters the gap between the two thin mail items from the side surface, thereby reducing the degree of adhesion between the two thin mail items and reducing the frictional force between the two thin mail items. Therefore, the separation mechanism 31 can further improve the reliability of separation from the remaining-side thin mail item 122a by the conveyance of the conveying-side thin mail item 121a by the suction belt 106.

  As described above, the separation mechanism according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of stages of separation means, as in the above-described embodiment, to improve the reliability of separation of thin mail items in which a variety of thin mail items are mixed, and to suppress reduction in processing efficiency. can do. Furthermore, the separation mechanism of the present embodiment reduces the degree of adhesion between the thin mail items by reducing the degree of adhesion between the thin mail items by sending air from the side to the gap between the thin mail items in the separation process, thereby reducing the reliability of the thin mail items. Can be further improved.

  In the present embodiment, it has been described that the air outlet is provided in the vicinity of the suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107 of the separation mechanism 31. However, the location where the air outlet is provided is not limited to the vicinity of the suction belt 106 and the reverse belt 107. For example, the air outlet may be provided in the vicinity of the reverse belt 109 and the cushion roller 201 or in the vicinity of the suction belt 101 and the reverse belt 102. Since the degree of adhesion between the transport side thin mail piece and the remaining side thin mail piece is reduced at each of the locations where the air outlets are provided, the reliability of the separation of the thin mail piece can be further improved.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, the air outlet described in the third embodiment may be added to the separation mechanism of the first embodiment.

10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 30, 31, 50 Separation mechanism 40 Transport mechanism 101, 106, 109, 501 Suction belt 102, 107, 110, 502 Reverse belt 103, 108, 111, 503 Air inlet 104, 105, 504, 505 Pickup rollers 121a, 121b, 521a, 521b, 521c Conveying side thin mail 122a, 522a, 522b Remaining side thin mail 201 Cushion roller 301 Air outlet 401 Roller 402 Conveying belt 403 Mail 511, 512 Conveying belt

Claims (10)

Separating means for receiving thin mail items and separating and transporting the thin mail items one by one,
A separating mechanism comprising a plurality of stages of separating means in the transport path. The separating means includes
A suction belt that sucks and conveys the thin mail;
2. The separator according to claim 1, further comprising a reverse belt that is opposed to the suction belt and includes a reverse belt that holds the thin mail piece with the suction belt at an operation speed slower than the operation speed of the suction belt. The separation mechanism described. The separating means includes
A suction belt that sucks and conveys the thin mail;
The separator includes an elastic material roller facing the suction belt and holding the thin mail piece with the suction belt at an operation speed slower than the operation speed of the suction belt. 3. The separation mechanism according to 1 or 2. The separation mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the roller is a cushion roller. The separation mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the roller includes an elastic material. The separation mechanism according to claim 1, further comprising an air outlet that blows air from a side surface at a timing when the separation unit holds the thin mail item. The separation mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the thin mail is tilted at a predetermined angle from a standing position and conveyed. The separation mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a conveyance speed of the thin mail is higher in the separation means provided in the next stage than the separation means provided upstream of the conveyance path. . An automatic sorting apparatus comprising the separation mechanism according to claim 1. A separation method comprising a plurality of steps of receiving a thin mail piece, separating the thin mail piece one by one, and transporting the separated thin mail piece based on a vacant state of a subsequent process. .

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