JP2021008347A - Paper folding device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a paper sheet folding device capable of performing a folding work by making a tip edge in a conveying direction of a paper sheet parallel to a folding line of a folding position even when a skew of the paper sheet is caused.SOLUTION: A paper sheet folding device comprises inclination angle adjustment means capable of adjusting so that the angle of a paper tip contact surface of a stopper is inclined according to the direction where a skew of a paper sheet is caused.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

The present invention relates to a paper folding device, more particularly to a paper folding device for folding paper, and to a paper folding device suitable for a mail sealer device.

The mail sealer device (for example, Patent Document 1) conventionally used for creating crimping postcards, sealed letters, etc. is provided with a paper folding device for folding paper, and the paper folded by the paper folding device is a sealer roller. It is passed between and crimped.

The paper folding device conveys the paper and inserts the front end side of the paper into the paper insertion space, and even after the front end of the paper comes into contact with the abutting plate provided in the paper insertion space to prevent the progress of the paper, the rear end of the paper By continuing the transport on the side, the paper is bent outside the paper insertion space to form a curved portion, and this curved portion is sandwiched between the roller pairs and pulled in, and the paper is folded.

In such a paper folding device, when the tip of the paper comes into contact with the paper abutting plate (stopper),
When the skew (skew) of the paper occurs, it causes the creases to not be made in parallel with the front edge in the moving direction of the paper, which causes a defective folding process.

JP-A-2009-298490 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2012-66884

As described above, when the conveyed paper is skewed, if the skewed paper hits the stopper as it is, slack occurs first on the side that first hits the stopper in the paper width direction. If the order of hitting the stoppers is different in the paper width direction, the folding process is performed at the folding position in order from the slack portion of the hit portion first, and the folding line is not parallel to the paper tip.

Patent Document 2 discloses a paper folding device that automatically variably controls the angle of the tip stopper based on the measurement result of the folding length measuring means. However, it is necessary to add a special structure to the conventional paper folding device, and the cost becomes high due to the complicated structure.

An object of the present invention is that, in view of the above-mentioned problems in the conventional paper folding apparatus, it can be constructed simply and inexpensively without adding a special structure or becoming complicated, and is influenced by the thickness of the paper and the strength of the paper. Provided is a paper folding device having a configuration capable of preventing deterioration of folding accuracy and occurrence of wrinkles by parallelizing the leading edge of the paper in the transport direction and the folding line at the folding position even when skewing occurs. There is.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is based on a paper feeding means for feeding and feeding paper one by one, a paper transporting means for transporting the fed paper, and the paper transporting means. A paper insertion space in which the front end side of the conveyed paper is inserted, a stopper in which the front end of the paper abuts in the paper insertion space, and a paper transport means on the rear end side of the paper whose tip abuts on the stopper. In a paper folding device including a folding roller pair that sandwiches a curved portion formed during transportation and folds the paper, and a control means for controlling the operation of the entire device, the control means is It is provided with an adjustment mode for adjusting the inclination angle of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper and a processing mode for processing the paper fed from the paper feeding device in the paper folding device main body. In the mode, the control means starts test paper feeding to test-feed one sheet of paper, and the paper is designed at a position where the tip of the paper is expected to come into contact with the stopper according to the folding specifications of the paper. It is characterized by being provided with an inclination angle adjusting means capable of adjusting the inclination angle of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper so as to follow the inclination of the paper tip portion at the paper stop position after the transport is stopped. Is what you do.

The invention according to claim 2 comprises the tip detecting means for detecting the tip of the conveyed paper, which is located on the upstream side of the stopper in the paper conveying direction in the paper folding apparatus according to claim 1. Is characterized in that the paper stop position is set based on the detection output of the tip detecting means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the paper folding apparatus according to the first or second aspect, in the adjustment mode, the stopper is retracted to a retracted position before the control means starts the test paper feeding. It is characterized in that it is provided with a guiding means for guiding the operator so as to make the operator.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that, in the paper folding device according to claim 3, the paper folding apparatus includes a retracted position detecting means for detecting that the stopper has been retracted to the retracted position.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in the paper folding apparatus according to the fourth aspect, in the adjustment mode, the retracting position detecting means retracts the stopper to the retracting position at the start of the test paper feeding. It is characterized in that it is provided with an evacuation position warning means for issuing a warning to the operator when it cannot be detected.

The invention according to claim 6 is the paper folding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a pair of tip detecting means is provided on the upstream side of the stopper in the paper transport direction in the width direction of the paper. The control means detects the amount of skew at the tip of the paper based on the detection output of the means for detecting skew, and when the detected amount of skew is equal to or greater than a predetermined amount, It is characterized in that it is provided with an oblique amount warning means for issuing a warning to the operator.

In the invention according to claim 7, in the paper folding device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, a folding tray provided with the paper insertion space and the stopper in the paper insertion space is the main body of the device. In the folding tray, the stopper is configured to be adjustable in position, and the position adjusting means for adjusting the position of the stopper in the paper transport direction and the paper tip contact of the stopper in the direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction are provided. A tilt angle adjusting means for adjusting the tilt of the contact surface is provided.
It is characterized by that.

According to the invention of claim 1, since the stopper is tilted in accordance with the direction in which the skewing of the paper occurs, the tip of the skewed paper abuts on the stopper substantially simultaneously and uniformly in the width direction. The slack that occurs when the paper hits is also introduced into the folding position in a state where it is uniformly generated in the width direction of the paper. As a result, the slack portion is uniformly formed in a state parallel to the tip edge in the width direction of the paper, so that the fold line is formed in a state parallel to the tip edge of the paper.
Moreover, since the stopper, which is an existing configuration, is only used as a configuration for parallelizing the paper tip and the fold line, the configuration is simple and inexpensive without adding a special structure or complication. it can.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the paper stop position can be set accurately based on the detection output of the tip detecting means.

According to the invention of claim 3, in the adjustment mode, before starting the test paper feeding, the operator is guided to retract the stopper to the retracted position, and the operator retracts the stopper to the retracted position. As a result, it is possible to prevent the test-fed paper from coming into contact with the paper tip contact surface of the stopper at the paper stop position and being damaged.

According to the invention of claim 4, since the evacuation position detecting means for detecting that the stopper has been retracted to the evacuation position is provided, the operator actually retracts the stopper to the evacuation position based on the guidance. Can be detected.

According to the invention of claim 5, if the evacuation position detecting means cannot detect that the stopper has been retracted to the evacuation position, the evacuation position warning means for issuing a warning to the operator is provided, so that the operator can be sure. The stopper can be retracted to the retracted position.

According to the invention of claim 6, the skew amount warning means for detecting the skew amount at the tip of the paper and issuing a warning to the operator when the detected skew amount is equal to or more than a predetermined amount is provided. When there is a possibility that a problem due to paper skew actually occurs, the operator can be urged to adjust the tilt angle of the paper tip contact surface in the stopper.

According to the invention of claim 7, the stopper in the folding tray is configured to be adjustable in position, the position adjusting means for adjusting the position of the stopper in the paper transport direction, and the paper stopper in the direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction. Since the tilt angle adjusting means for adjusting the tilt of the tip contact surface is provided, the tilt angle of the stopper can be accurately adjusted so as to follow the tilt of the paper tip.

It is a schematic overall block diagram of the mail sealer device. It is a top view of the paper. It is explanatory drawing of the paper folding operation. It is explanatory drawing of the paper folding operation. It is explanatory drawing of the paper folding operation. It is a perspective view of the 1st folding tray. It is a figure explaining the adjustment of the inclination angle of a stopper. It is a figure explaining the adjustment of the inclination angle of a stopper.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

[Overall configuration of mail sealer device]
First, the overall configuration of the mail sealer device 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the mail sealer device 10, the paper feeding unit 20 and the paper cradle 52 are provided on both sides of the device main body 12, and the paper (cut paper) supplied from the paper feeding unit 20 is folded. After being folded into two or three in the portion 30, the paper is pressed when passing between the sealer rollers 42 and 44 of the crimping portion 40, and the crimped paper is discharged to the paper cradle 52.

The paper folding portion 30 is provided with two insertion portions (not shown) so that the folding trays 80a and 80b can be inserted and removed in the direction indicated by the arrow 80x. When crimping the paper folded in three, the folding trays 80a and 80b are inserted into the front and rear insertion portions, respectively. When crimping the folded paper in two, the folding tray 80a is inserted into the front insertion portion and the turn tray 80c is inserted into the rear insertion portion. As shown in FIG. 5, the turn tray 80c is a tray for simply passing the paper folded by the pretreatment as it is without performing the folding process.

When crimping the folded paper in two, it is also possible to insert the turn tray into the front insertion portion and the folding tray into the rear insertion portion.

A front transfer unit 16 and a rear transfer unit 18 are arranged before and after the sealer rollers 42 and 44. The front transport unit 16 and the rear transport unit 18 can be taken out from the inside of the device main body 12 by opening the upper cover of the device main body 12.

The center slitters 75 and 76 are rotary blades that cut and divide the center of the crimped paper in the transport direction, and are provided as necessary.

Next, the configuration of each part will be further described.

The paper feed unit 20 includes a paper feed table 22, a paper feed roller unit 26, a handling plate 27, paper passage sensors 60a and 60b, and double feed detection rollers 28 and 29.

The paper feed tray 22 is rotatably supported around the fulcrum 22a and can be brought into contact with and detached from the paper feed roller unit 26. The paper feed tray 22 is elastically urged toward the paper feed roller unit 26 by a spring (not shown), that is, upward in the drawing, and the paper placed on the paper feed tray 22 is attached to the paper feed roller unit 26. It is designed to be pressed.

The paper feed roller unit 26 includes a front roller 26a that comes into contact with the paper 2 placed on the paper feed table 22, and a pair of rear rollers arranged on both sides and behind the front roller 26a (inside the apparatus main body 12). It includes 26b.

The front roller 26a and the rear roller 26b of the paper feed roller unit come into contact with the paper placed on the paper feed table 22 and feed out one sheet at a time from the top.

The handling plate 27 comes into contact with the lower paper when the paper is fed from the paper feed tray 22 in a stacked state so that the lower paper is not fed.

The paper passage sensors 60a and 60b are, for example, transmissive sensors, the upper side 60a is a light receiving part and the lower side 60b is a light emitting part, and the paper flow is detected.

The double feed detection rollers 28 and 29 detect the thickness of the paper passing between them. Specifically, when the paper passes between the double feed detection rollers 28 and 29, the upper double feed detection roller 28 moves according to the thickness of the paper, and the thickness of the paper passing between the double feed detection rollers 28 and 29. The change in the size (for example, double feeding in which two or more sheets of paper are overlapped and conveyed) can be discriminated based on the output of the photo sensor 66.

The paper folding portion 30 is provided with folding rollers 32 to 36 alternately arranged above and below the paper transport path, and a turn guide 31.

In the folding trays 80a and 80b, paper insertion spaces 83a and 83b into which paper is inserted are formed between a pair of plate-shaped members 81a and 82a; 81b and 82b, and the folding trays 80a and 80b cross the paper insertion spaces 83a and 83b. The stoppers 84a and 84b are provided.

As shown in FIG. 5, the turn tray 80c is provided with a turn guide 85 at the lower end. The turn guide 85 closes the space 30t surrounded by the folding rollers 34, 35, 36 when the turn tray 80c is inserted into the rear insertion portion. Further, the turn tray 80c is provided with a detection plate, and when the turn tray 80c is inserted into the rear insertion portion, it can be detected by the detection switch provided on the apparatus main body 12.

The crimping portion 40 includes paper passing sensors 62, 64 for detecting the flow of paper, transport rollers 71, 72, 73, 74, and a pair of sealer rollers 42, 44. The paper passage sensors 62 and 64 are, for example, reflective sensors.

The transfer rollers 71 and 72 on the paper feed section 20 side of the sealer rollers 42 and 44 are incorporated in the front transfer unit 16 as shown by the chain line.

The front transport unit 16 has an integral structure including transport rollers 71 and 72 and a guide plate, and can be inserted and removed from the apparatus main body 12. When a paper jam occurs on the paper feed unit 20 side of the sealer rollers 42 and 44, the paper jam can be easily cleared by removing the front transport unit 16 from the apparatus main body 12.

Of the transport rollers 73, 74 on the paper cradle 52 side of the sealer rollers 42, 44, the upper transport roller 73 is incorporated in the rear transport unit 18 as shown by a chain line.

The rear transfer unit 18 has an integral structure including a transfer roller 73 and a guide plate, and can be inserted and removed from the apparatus main body 12. When a paper jam occurs on the paper cradle 52 side of the sealer rollers 42 and 44, the paper jam can be easily cleared by removing the rear transfer unit 18 from the apparatus main body 12.

The sealer rollers 42 and 44 can adjust the gap between the sealer rollers 42 and 44.

In the paper cradle 52, the upper portion of the standing plate 52a faces the paper outlet 15 of the apparatus main body 12, the tip of the paper discharged from the paper outlet 15 hits the standing plate 52a, and the paper discharged from the paper outlet 15 is the bottom plate 52b. It is designed to be stacked on top of it.

[Operation of paper folding part]
Next, the operation of the paper folding portion 30 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the paper, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are explanatory views schematically showing the paper folding operation.

The paper folding portion 30 can fold the paper in two or three, for example.

When the paper is folded in three, the paper 2 is formed with folding lines 2x and 2y at the paper folding portion 30, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 2A. The folding lines 2x and 2y are formed at right angles to the paper transport direction indicated by the arrow. In order to make the paper 2 easy to fold, perforations or the like may be formed in advance on the paper 2 at the portions where the folding lines are 2x and 2y.

The first portion 2a, the second portion 2b, and the third portion 2c divided by the folding lines 2x and 2y of the paper 2 are the stoppers 84a and 84b as the paper abutting plates of the first and second folding trays 80a and 80b. Depending on the height setting, they are superposed in a predetermined manner.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the height of the stopper 84a of the first folding tray 80a is roughly two-thirds of the paper length, and the height of the stopper 84b of the second folding tray 80b. When the paper length is set to about 1/3 of the paper length, the paper 2 is folded into a substantially Z shape as shown in FIG. 3 (c). The form in which the paper is folded in this way is referred to as Z-fold here.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3A, the paper 2 sent from the paper feeding unit 20 to the paper folding unit 30 passes between the first folding roller 32 and the second folding roller 33, and its tip 2s The side is fed into the paper insertion space 83a of the first folding tray 80a, and the tip 2s of the paper 2 hits the stopper 84a. Since the rear end 2t side of the paper 2 continues to be conveyed even after that, as shown by the dotted line, the paper 2 is placed in the space 30s surrounded by the first to third folding rollers 32, 33, 34. A curved portion 2p that curves toward the two-fold roller 33 and the third-fold roller 34 is formed.

The curved portion 2p of the paper 2 becomes larger as the paper 2 is conveyed on the rear end 2t side, and is finally sandwiched between the second folding roller 33 and the third folding roller 34, which are the first folding roller pairs. Then, they are folded to form a folding line 2y. After that, the paper 2 is conveyed with the folding line 2y at the head and the second portion 2b at the center of the paper overlapping the third portion 2c on the rear end side of the paper.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the folding line 2y passes between the second folding roller 33 and the third folding roller 34, is sent into the paper insertion space 83b of the second folding tray 80b, and is stopped. It corresponds to 84b. Since the folding rollers 33 and 34 continue to convey the paper 2 thereafter, the paper 2 is placed in the space 30t surrounded by the third to fifth folding rollers 34, 35, 36 as shown by the dotted line. A curved portion 2q that curves toward the four-fold roller 35 and the fifth-fold roller 36 is formed.

The curved portion 2q of the paper 2 becomes larger as the paper is conveyed, and finally, it is sandwiched between the fourth folding roller 35 and the fifth folding roller 36, which are the second folding roller pairs, and is folded and folded. 2x is formed. After that, as shown in FIG. 3C, the paper 2 is in a state where the first part 2a and the second part 2b are overlapped on the third part 2c on the rear end side of the paper with the folding line 2x at the beginning. It is conveyed to the crimping portion 40.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the height of the paper abutting plate 84a of the first folding tray 80a is about 1/3 of the paper length, and the stopper 84b of the second folding tray 80b. When the height of the paper is set to about 1/3 of the paper length, the paper is folded into a substantially C-shaped state as shown in FIG. 4 (c). The form in which the paper is folded in this way is referred to as C-fold here.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, after the tip 2s of the paper 2 comes into contact with the stopper 84a of the first folding tray, the curved portion 2u shown by the dotted line is formed, and the curved portion 2u becomes larger to the second. When sandwiched between the second and third folding rollers 33 and 34, a folding line 2x is formed, and the paper 2 is conveyed in a state where the first portion 2a overlaps the second portion 2b. Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, after the leading folding line 2x comes into contact with the stopper 84b of the second folding tray 80b, the curved portion 2v shown by the dotted line is formed, and the curved portion 2v becomes larger to the second. When sandwiched between the 4th and 5th folding rollers 35 and 36, a folding line 2y is formed, and as shown in FIG. 4C, the paper 2 is placed on the 3rd portion 2c with the 1st portion 2a and the 2nd portion 2a. The portions 2b are conveyed to the crimping portion 40 in a state of being overlapped with each other.

When the paper is folded in two and crimped, as shown in the plan view of FIG. 2B, the paper 2 has a folding line 2r formed at the paper folding portion 30, and is divided by the folding line 2r. The first part 2d and the second part 2e overlap. The folding line 2r is formed at right angles to the paper transport direction indicated by the arrow. A perforation may be formed in advance at the portion of the folding line 2r so that the paper 2 can be easily folded.

For example, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the first folding tray 80a and the turn tray 80c are used to fold the paper in two as shown in FIG. 5C. The form in which the paper is folded in this way is referred to as V-fold here.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 5A, the tip 2s of the paper 2 sent from the paper feeding unit 20 to the paper folding unit 30 passes between the first folding roller 32 and the second folding roller 33. After being sent into the paper insertion space 83a of the first folding tray 80a and abuting on the stopper 84a, a curved portion 2k shown by a dotted line is formed, and the curved portion 2k is the second and third folding rollers 33, When sandwiched between 34, a folding line 2r is formed, and the first portion 2c is conveyed in a state of being overlapped on the second portion 2e. Then, as shown in FIG. 5B, when the leading folding line 2r enters the space 30t between the third to fifth folding rollers 34, 35, 36, the turn guide 85 of the turn tray 80c indicates an arrow. As shown, the crimping portion passes between the 4th folding roller 35 and the 5th folding roller 36, and as shown in FIG. 5C, the first portion 2c is overlapped on the second portion 2e. It is transported to 40.

[Fold tray configuration]
Next, the configuration of the folding tray will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the first folding tray 80a as viewed from below (upstream side in the paper transport direction F). Since the second folding tray 80b has the same basic configuration as the first folding tray 80a, the description thereof will be omitted here.

In the first folding tray 80a shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of rectangular window holes 51d long in the length direction of the plate-shaped members are formed on the front and back plate-shaped members 81a and 82a. Further, a paper insertion space 83a into which the paper 2 is inserted into the folding tray 80a is formed between the plate-shaped members 81a and 82a.

The stopper 84a of the first folding tray 80a is fitted to the guide rod 54a over substantially the entire length of the plate-shaped member 81a on the front side in the vertical direction, and is fixed to the guide rod 54a so as to be movable in the length direction of the guide rod and by a screw 54c. A possible base member 54f, a stopper substrate 54d integrally formed with the base member 54f, and a stop member 54e rotatably supported by the stopper substrate 54d around the base member 54f are provided.

The guide rod 54a does not rotate with respect to the support portion 51h formed at the upper and lower ends of the plate-shaped member 81a on the front side, but is supported so as to be movable by a predetermined amount in the vertical direction, and is supported at the upper end of the guide rod 54a. A knob 51k having a male threaded portion is screwed into the threaded portion. By rotating the knob 51k, the vertical position of the guide rod 54a can be finely adjusted, whereby the position of the stop member 54e in the tray length direction can be finely adjusted.

As described above, the stopper substrate 54d (base member 54f) fitted to the guide rod 54a so as to be movable in the vertical direction can be fixed by tightening the screw 54c at a position in the desired tray length direction. That is, the approximate position of the stop member 54e can be set by loosening the screw 54c and moving the stopper substrate 54d up and down by hand, and then fine adjustment can be made using the knob 51k.

The stop member 54e extends so as to extend over substantially the entire width of the left and right widths of the plate-shaped member 81a on the front side, and a plurality of projecting pieces 54k protruding into the first folding tray 80a through the window holes 51d of the plate-shaped member 81a on the front side. The projecting piece 54k locks the conveying tip (upper end) of the paper 2 in the first folding tray 80a at a predetermined position.

As described above, the stop member 54e is rotatably supported by the stopper substrate 54d around the base member 54f at the center of the left and right width, and is separated from the center of the left and right width by a predetermined distance. A female screw portion 54 m is formed at the position. The stopper substrate 54d is formed with a projecting piece 54h having a thread through hole at a position corresponding to the female thread portion 54m, and the screw 54n inserted into the thread through hole of the projecting piece 54h is inserted into the female thread portion of the stop member 54e. It is screwed to 54 m, and the coil spring 54s is reduced between the projecting piece 54h and the threaded portion 54m. That is, by rotating the screw 54n, the stop member 54e is rotated around the support portion (screw portion 54c), whereby the stop member 54e can be adjusted to the posture along the left-right direction accurately. That is, the inclination of the stop member 54e with respect to the direction orthogonal to the tray length direction can be adjusted and corrected so as to follow the inclination angle of the paper.

[Adjustment of stopper tilt angle]
Next, the adjustment of the inclination angle of the stopper when the paper 2 conveyed to the folding tray 80a is skewed will be described step by step with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. 7 and 8 are plan views of the folding tray 80a viewed from the side having the adjusting means (54c) of the stopper 84a, and mainly for explaining the relationship between the stopper 84a and the paper 2, the stopper 84a Components other than are omitted.

(1) Evacuation of the stopper to the retracted position The mail sealer device 10 includes a control means for controlling the operation of the entire device, and the control means adjusts the inclination angle of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper 84a. The "adjustment mode" and the "processing mode" for processing the paper fed from the paper feeding device in the main body of the paper folding device are provided. When adjusting the tilt angle of the stopper, select the "adjustment mode" on the operation panel (not shown). When the adjustment mode is selected, the guide means for guiding the operator to retract (move) the stopper 84a to the retracted position before starting the test paper feed for test-feeding one sheet of paper. To be equipped.

For guidance to the operator, for example, a display such as "Please retract the stopper to the retracted position" is displayed on the liquid crystal screen of the operation panel. The operator may be guided by voice.
The retracted position of the stopper 84a is the position of the stopper 84a in FIG. 7, and is a position where the maximum size of the paper according to the specifications of the mail sealer device 10 is further retracted from the position where the stopper 84a abuts (the maximum size of the paper 2 interferes). It is a position that does not. According to the above configuration, it is possible to prevent the test-fed paper from coming into contact with the paper tip contact surface of the stopper at the paper stop position, causing the paper tip to be folded or damaged.

Further, the evacuation position detecting means 55 for detecting that the stopper 84a has been retracted to the evacuation position is provided. By providing the retracted position detecting means 55, it is possible to detect that the operator has actually retracted the stopper to the retracted position based on the guidance.

Further, in the adjustment mode, if the evacuation position detecting means 55 cannot detect that the stopper has been retracted to the evacuation position at the start of test paper feeding, the evacuation position warning means for issuing a warning to the operator is provided. The retracted position detecting means 55 is, for example, a reflection type sensor, and it can be recognized that the retracted position detecting means 55 has been moved to the retracted position by detecting a predetermined position (stop member 54e) of the stopper 84a.

Further, the evacuation position warning means is activated when the start switch for starting the adjustment mode is pressed on the above operation panel after the adjustment mode is selected (guidance means operation), and the "stopper is retracted to the evacuation position" on the liquid crystal screen. The operator is further alerted by blinking displays such as "Please let me know", voice guidance, and intermittent sounds of the buzzer. If the operator does not retract the stopper 84a to the retracted position despite the warning from the retracted position warning means, the paper may be damaged due to the paper tip interfering with the stopper 84a (54k) due to test paper feeding. Therefore, the test paper feed is not started. With the above configuration, the operator can reliably retract the stopper to the retracted position.

(2) Start of test paper feeding After the operator retracts the stopper 84a to the retracted position, the control means starts the test paper feeding for test-feeding one sheet of paper. The fed test paper feed is conveyed to the folding tray 80a by the conveying means, and the paper is inserted between the pair of plate-shaped members 81a and 82a (paper insertion space 83a) in the folding tray 80a. After that, according to the above-mentioned paper folding specifications, the paper transport is stopped at a position where the tip of the paper is expected to come into contact with the stopper 84a by design. At this time, it is assumed that the tip of the paper is stopped at the inclination angle (θ) as shown in FIG.

Specifically, the stop of the paper transport is located on the upstream side of the stopper in the paper transport direction, and the paper stop position is determined based on the detection output of the tip detecting means (65a, 65b) that detects the tip of the paper being transported. Set. The tip detecting means is, for example, a transmissive sensor, 65a is a light receiving portion and 65b is a light emitting portion, and detects the tip of paper. After detecting the tip of the paper, the tip of the paper is stopped at a stop position according to the folding specifications of the paper by counting the number of pulses of the stepping motor linked with the conveying means. According to the above configuration, the paper stop position can be set accurately based on the detection output of the tip detecting means.
(3) Adjustment of Inclination Angle of Stopper Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the operator moves the stopper 84a from the retracted position indicated by the dotted line to the adjustment position which is the paper tip position during the stop, and stops the paper. The inclination angle of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper 84a is adjusted so as to follow the inclination of the paper tip at the position. In FIG. 8, the position where the stopper 84a is indicated by a solid line is the state after the paper tip contact surface (54k) of the stopper 84a is angle-adjusted (θ) so as to be along the inclination angle (θ) of the paper tip. Represents.

The inclination angle of the paper tip contact surface (54e, 54k) of the stopper 84a is adjusted by adjusting the position of the stopper in the paper transport direction and the paper tip contact surface of the stopper in the direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction. This is performed by using an inclination angle adjusting means for adjusting the inclination of (54e, 54k). The position adjusting means is the adjustment of the approximate position by the screw 54c and the fine adjustment by the knob 51k for adjusting the position of the stopper 84a in the paper transport direction. Further, the inclination angle adjusting means is a fine adjustment by a screw 54n for adjusting the inclination of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper in the direction orthogonal to the above-mentioned paper conveying direction. According to the above configuration, the inclination angle of the stopper can be accurately adjusted so as to follow the inclination of the paper tip portion.

As described above, after adjusting the inclination angle of the stopper in the "adjustment mode", the slack portion is parallel to the tip edge in the width direction of the paper by switching to the "machining mode" again and performing the desired folding process. Since it is formed uniformly in, the fold line is formed in a state parallel to the leading edge of the paper. Moreover, since the stopper, which is an existing configuration, is only used as a configuration for parallelizing the paper tip and the fold line, the configuration is simple and inexpensive without adding a special structure or complication. it can.

Since the adjustment of the inclination angle of the stopper of the second folding tray 80b is basically the same as that of the first folding tray 80a, the description thereof will be omitted here.
[Other Embodiments]
On the upstream side of the stopper 84a in the paper transport direction, a pair of skew detection means (65a, 65b; 66a, 66b) are arranged in the width direction of the paper, and the control means is provided in the machining mode. A skew amount warning means is provided that detects the skew amount of the paper tip based on the detection output of the skew detecting means and issues a warning to the operator when the detected skew amount is equal to or more than a predetermined amount. For example, the time difference between the tip and the back of the paper tip, the difference in the number of pulse counts, etc. detected by the skew detecting means arranged in pairs are detected as the skew amount of the paper tip, and the detected skew amount is equal to or more than a predetermined amount. In the case of, it is configured to issue a warning to the operator.

The skew amount warning means, for example, alerts the operator by displaying "Paper is skewed. Please execute the adjustment mode" or voice guidance on the liquid crystal screen on the above operation panel. According to the above configuration, it is possible to encourage the operator to adjust the inclination angle of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper when there is a possibility that a problem due to the paper skew actually occurs.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be implemented with various modifications.

F Transport direction 2 Paper 10 Mail sealer device 12 Device body 30 Paper folding part 31 Turn guide 32 Folding roller 33 Folding roller 34 Folding roller 35 Folding roller 36 Folding roller 54a Guide rod 54c Screw 54d Stopper board 54e Stop member 54f Base member 54k One piece 54n Screw 55 Retracting position detection sensor 80a Folding tray 80b Folding tray 84a Stopper

Claims (7)

A paper feeding means for feeding and feeding paper one by one, a paper transporting means for transporting the fed paper, a paper insertion space into which the tip end side of the paper conveyed by the paper transporting means is inserted, and the like. The paper is folded by sandwiching a stopper that the tip of the paper abuts in the paper insertion space and a curved portion formed by the paper transporting means on the rear end side of the paper that the tip of the stopper abuts against the stopper. In a paper folding device including a paper folding means including a pair of folding rollers and a control means for controlling the operation of the entire device.
The control means includes an adjustment mode for adjusting the inclination angle of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper, and a processing mode for processing the paper fed from the paper feeding device in the paper folding device main body. And
In the adjustment mode, the control means starts test paper feeding for test feeding a sheet of paper, and the position where the tip of the paper is assumed to come into contact with the stopper by design according to the folding specifications of the paper. After stopping the paper transport at the above, the tilt angle adjusting means capable of adjusting the tilt angle of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper so as to follow the tilt of the paper tip at the paper stop position is provided. A featured paper folding device. The stopper is located on the upstream side in the paper transport direction and includes a tip detecting means for detecting the tip of the paper being transported, and the control means sets the paper stop position based on the detection output of the tip detecting means. The paper folding device according to claim 1, wherein the paper folding device is characterized by the above. Claim 1 or claim, wherein in the adjustment mode, the control means includes a guiding means for guiding the operator to retract the stopper to the retracted position before starting the test paper feeding. Item 2. The paper folding device according to item 2. The paper folding device according to claim 3, further comprising a retracted position detecting means for detecting that the stopper has been retracted to the retracted position. In the adjustment mode, if the retracted position detecting means cannot detect that the stopper has been retracted to the retracted position at the start of the test paper feeding, the retracted position warning means for issuing a warning to the operator is provided. The paper folding apparatus according to claim 4. On the upstream side of the stopper in the paper transport direction, the skew detection means in which the tip detection means are arranged in pairs in the width direction of the paper is provided, and the control means is the paper tip based on the detection output of the skew detection means. Claims 1 to 5 include a skew amount warning means for detecting the skew amount of the unit and issuing a warning to the operator when the detected skew amount is equal to or more than a predetermined amount. The paper folding device according to any one of the above. A folding tray provided with the paper insertion space and the stopper in the paper insertion space is detachably provided on the apparatus main body, and the folding tray is configured such that the stopper can be adjusted in position, and the stopper in the paper transport direction The first to sixth aspects of claim 1 to 6, further comprising a position adjusting means for adjusting the position and an inclination angle adjusting means for adjusting the inclination of the paper tip contact surface of the stopper in a direction orthogonal to the paper conveying direction. The paper folding device according to any one.

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