JP2862937B2 - Automatic sealing machine - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically sealing a predetermined number of printed materials and the like in an envelope.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a large amount of mail is created, such as when sending direct mail, a device that automatically seals a predetermined number of printed matter in an envelope is used. In such an apparatus, a printed matter is folded into a predetermined size using a horizontally long envelope having a large opening and a pre-glued closing margin, and this is inserted into the envelope from the opening to perform sealing.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such a conventional automatic sealing machine, it is necessary to punch out on a dedicated label such as a tack seal of an address and affix it to the envelope after sealing. Therefore, there is a problem that the sealing and the addressing must be performed separately, which is troublesome. In addition, when a label with an address is put on the tack seal, the impression on the side receiving the sealed letter is bad, and there is also a problem that the contents cannot be thoroughly read.

Furthermore, in order to facilitate the insertion of the folded paper into the envelope, a horizontally long envelope with a glue is used, so that the format is limited and the price of the envelope is high. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to print an address directly on an ordinary vertically long envelope and to seal it appropriately.

Configuration of the Invention The configuration of the present invention that achieves the above object will be described below.

[Means for Solving the Problems] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the automatic sealing machine of the present invention is an automatic sealing machine for sealing a predetermined number of printed materials DM in a vertically long envelope EM. Sheet pull-out means M1 for pulling out and aligning the paper dm, folding means M2 for folding the drawn-out paper dm to a size smaller than the envelope EM, and pressing the folded paper dm by opposing rollers RR. Pressing and conveying means M3 for conveying in the folding line direction, a printing means M4 for sequentially reading one address from a list of addresses stored in advance, and printing at least the addresses on the envelope EM, The envelope opening means M5 for sucking the printed envelope EM from the front and back sides and opening the opening OP of the envelope EM, and holding the paper dm conveyed by the pressure conveying means M3 in a substantially `` U '' shape. Through the opening OP of the envelope EM Inserting into the encapsulating cylinder EM Te and sheet insertion means M6, the binding margin CL of the envelope opening OP, with folded along its fold line, the adhesive application means being exposed to the adhesive
M7, while conveying the folded envelope EM of the closing margin CL in the direction of the closing margin CL, and passing between the opposed rollers rr,
And sealing means M8 for sealing the closing allowance CL.

[Operation] The automatic sealing machine of the present invention, which has the above-described configuration and seals a predetermined number of printed matter DM in a vertically long envelope EM, is capable of extracting at least one or more sheets of paper dm drawn and aligned by the sheet drawing means M1.
The folding means M2 folds the envelope EM into a smaller size. The sheet dm folded in this way is pressed by the opposing rollers RR of the pressing and conveying means M3 and is conveyed in the direction of the fold line to bring the sheet dm into a completely folded state.

On the other hand, in the envelope EM into which the paper dm is inserted, one address read from the list of addresses stored in advance by the printing unit M4 is printed, and is further sucked from the front and back sides. The opening OP of the envelope EM is opened. Here, the paper dm held in a substantially “U” shape is inserted by the paper insertion means M6. After inserting paper dm, apply adhesive
With the closing margin CL of the envelope opening OP bent by M7,
Let the adhesive touch, this envelope EM, by the sealing means M8,
The sheet is conveyed in the direction of the closing margin CL and is passed between the rollers rr facing each other to seal the closing margin CL.

Therefore, the automatic sealing machine of the present invention seals the address directly on the envelope EM, and realizes insertion and sealing into a vertically long ordinary envelope.

[Example] In order to further clarify the configuration and operation of the present invention described above, a preferred embodiment of the automatic sealing machine of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing the appearance of the automatic sealing machine of the present embodiment.

As shown in the figure, this automatic sealing machine includes an operation panel 3 on the front side of the upper surface of a housing 1, and a stack 7 of envelopes 5 for sealing paper is provided on the front of the housing 1. On the side of the housing 1, three paper cassettes 11, 12, and 13 for supplying paper are mounted. On the opposite side of the housing 1, data such as an address book for reading data from the flexible disk FD is provided. A flexible disk drive 15 is provided. Inside the housing 1, an electronic control unit 18, a paper feeding / folding unit 20, an envelope handling unit 22, a paper transport insertion unit 25, and the like, which will be described later, are housed.

Each of these units, as shown in FIG.
It is connected to an electronic control unit 18 configured as an arithmetic and logic operation circuit, and cooperates under the control of the electronic control unit 18.
The electronic control unit 18 is mainly composed of a well-known CPU 31, a ROM 32, a RAM 34, and a common bus 35. In addition, a panel interface 36 for controlling an interface with the operation panel 3 and a flexible disk controller (for controlling the flexible disk drive 15) Hereinafter, referred to as FDC) 37, and input / output interfaces 38 and 39 for controlling an interface with the sheet feeding / folding unit 20 and the like. The sheet feeding / folding unit 20 and the like sequentially operate according to the processing of the CPU 31, and these processing and operations will be described later.

Next, the structure and operation of the sheet feeding / folding unit 20 will be described. The configuration for feeding paper from the paper cassettes 11 to 13 in the paper feeding / folding unit 20 is well known as the configuration of a paper feed cassette for a copying machine, a printer, or the like, and thus the description thereof is omitted. FIG. 3 shows that the sheet feeding folding unit 20 includes:
FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of an apparatus for folding a sheet. As shown in the figure, this device comprises a box 40, and carry-in rollers 41, 42 and carry-out rollers 45, 46 provided before and after the box 40,
A fold forming machine 48 mounted obliquely inside 40, feed rollers 50 and 51 for transporting the paper DC in the directions indicated by arrows X and Y in the drawing, and a pressing plate 52 for folding the paper DC from below are not shown. And a folding mechanism.

The carry-in rollers 41 and 42 are for taking the paper DC fed from the paper feed cassettes 11 to 13 into the apparatus,
Sheets of up to four rows in A row are conveyed in the widthwise direction. When the paper DC is carried into the paper feeding / folding unit 20, the fold forming machine 48 is held in a state of being stored upward, and the feed rollers 50 and 51 are maintained in a state of being flipped upward. Have been. These feed rollers 50 and 51 are connected to the electronic control unit 1
8 controls the position of the upper part, which is flipped up, and the position where it is swung and lowered to come into contact with the bottom plate 40a of the box body 40, and in the latter position, the amount of rotation is controlled to be involved in the feeding of the paper DC. I do.

The fold forming machine 48 includes a guide plate 55 fixed diagonally to both side plates 40b and 40c of the box body 40, a movable plate 57 slidably held on the guide 55, and a movable plate (not shown) rotated by a motor (not shown). And a drive roller 60 for driving the plate 57. The fold forming machine 48 is also controlled by the electronic control unit 18. As shown in FIG. 4, the folded paper DC is a feed roller that is lowered as schematically shown in FIG.
The paper is discharged to the paper transport insertion unit 25 by the rotation of the discharge rollers 51 and the discharge rollers 45 and 46.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the envelope handling unit 22 provided below the paper feeding folding unit 20
It consists of an envelope printing / conveying unit 22a, a suction unit 22b, and a gluing / sealing unit 22c. The process of printing on the envelope 5, the process of opening the opening, and the closing margin 5b of the envelope 5 after the paper DC is inserted.
And gluing.

Envelope printing and conveying unit 22a, as shown in FIG.
A transport mechanism 62 positioned below the stack 7 on which the envelopes 5 are stacked and pulling out the envelopes 5 one by one; and a printing mechanism 65 provided in the middle of the transport mechanism 62 and performing printing on the envelope 5. At the top of the envelope 5 in the stack 7,
A weight 68 for pressing the envelope 5 downward is placed.

The transport mechanism 62 includes pulleys 71, 72, 73 rotated by a motor (not shown), a wide belt 75 stretched between these pulleys 71 to 73, and a feed roller 77 rotating to face the pulley 73. That is, under the control of the electronic control unit 18, the envelopes 5 are pulled out one by one from the stack 7 and transported to the printing mechanism 65 and the suction unit 22b.
The printing mechanism 65 includes a flat platen 81 provided on the lower surface of the wide belt 75, a print head 83 that prints characters and the like on the surface of the envelope 5 located between the flat platen 81, and a flat platen 81. And a moving mechanism 85 that moves in parallel with the platen 81. The moving mechanism 85 includes a guide rail 87 that slidably holds the print head 83, a motor 88 as a drive source,
It comprises a gear mechanism (not shown) for converting the rotation of the motor 88 into the horizontal movement of the print head 83. The print head 83 and the moving mechanism 85 are controlled by the electronic control unit 18, and the extracted envelope 5 is provided with the FDC 37 from the flexible disk FD.
The addresses and addresses read via the printer are sequentially printed.

The printed envelope 5 is conveyed to the suction unit 22b by the movement of the wide belt 75 and the rotation of the feed roller 77. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the suction unit 22b includes a mounting table 90 on which the envelope 5 is mounted, a discharge roller 91 slightly protruding from the upper surface of the mounting table 90, and a mounting table.
Suction funnels 92R, L and 93R, L provided at four locations 90
A suction funnel 95 provided above the mounting table 90, and a moving mechanism (not shown) for moving the suction funnel 95 up and down,
A suction pump 98 is connected to these suction funnels 92R to 95 by a pipe 96. The moving mechanism and the suction pump 98 are driven by the electronic control unit 18. That is, by pulling the suction funnels 92R through 95 to a negative pressure through the suction port 98, the envelope 5 is moved to these suction funnels 92R.
Then, if the suction funnel 95 is moved upward by the moving mechanism after being adsorbed by the transfer mechanism 95, the opening 5a of the envelope 5 can be greatly opened. FIG. 4 shows a state in which the envelope 5 is thus opened.

Next, the configuration of the sheet transport insertion unit 25 will be described. This unit 25 is, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG.
A lower U-shaped member 100 on which the folded paper DC sent by the discharge rollers 45 and 46 is placed, and an upper U-shaped member 102 having a shape slightly smaller than the lower U-shaped member 100
Lowering the upper U-shaped member 102 from above and lowering the lower U-shaped member 1
A transport mechanism 104 that transports the paper DC narrowed between the two members 100 and 102 in the direction of the envelope 5;
A drive mechanism 106 drives the transfer member 104 in the longitudinal direction of the U-shaped members 100 and 102. As shown in FIG. 6, both U-shaped members 100 and 102 are cut along the longitudinal direction so that the tops of the lower ends thereof can pass through the leading end 104a of the transfer member 104. The lifting mechanism 103 and the driving mechanism 106
It is controlled by the electronic control unit 18.

After the paper DC is placed on the lower U-shaped member 100 by the discharge rollers 45 and 46 of the paper feeding / folding unit 20, the lifting mechanism 103
By lowering the upper U-shaped member 102, the paper DC can be narrowed between the two U-shaped members 100 and 102.In this state, if the transfer member 104 is driven by the drive mechanism 106, the paper DC is drawn by the suction unit 22b. It can be inserted into the open envelope 5 with the opening 5a.

After the insertion of the paper DC is completed, the suction funnel 95 of the suction unit 22b is lowered, and the suction pump 98 is stopped to stop the suction. Then, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. It is placed horizontally on top. In this state, the closing margin 5b of the envelope 5 is sealed to the main body of the envelope 5 by the operation of the glue adhesive unit 22c. As shown in FIG. 4, the sealing unit 22c includes a folding member 112, a glue supply mechanism 114, and a sealing roller. The folding member 112 descends from above the closing margin 5b of the envelope 5 and abuts on the closing margin 5b.
Rotated in the direction. A glue supply mechanism 114 provided below the closing margin 5b is provided with a glue container 118, a heater 120 for heating to keep the glue constant, and a glue in a molten state attached to the surface and rotated. And a gluing roller 122. As the folding member 112 rotates, the gluing roller 122 also rotates, and an appropriate amount of glue is applied to the inner surface of the closing margin 5b. The sealing roller 116, together with the discharge roller 91, seals the envelope 5 glued to the closing margin 5b.
Is discharged in the direction of arrow E in FIG.

The operation of the automatic sealing machine having the above configuration will be described focusing on the processing in the electronic control unit 18. After turning on the power, the CPU 31 of the electronic control unit 18 first performs a process of inputting the number of sheets SS, the size of sheets, and the like from the panel 3 as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7 (step S1). For example, the number of sheets supplied from the same cassette is set to one or a plurality, or three sheets, one for each of the cassettes 11 to 13, are sealed. Therefore, the automatic sealing machine of the present embodiment can seal a plurality of sheets (fliers, guides, materials, etc.) of the same content, or can seal a plurality of different sheets. It is also possible to combine these.

After the setting of the sheets DC is completed, the sheet feeding / folding unit 20 is driven to align and fold a predetermined number SS of sheets DC (step S2). This operation will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 shows a sheet feeding folding unit.
FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating the operation of a fold forming machine 48 of FIG. When one or a plurality of sheets of paper DC are carried into the sheet feeding / folding unit 20, in the case of B5 size paper DC, the feed roller 50 swings and descends as shown in FIG. Then, the paper DC is transported in the arrow X direction. The transport amount of this paper DC is
The paper DC is detected by an optical sensor (not shown) and positioned at a predetermined position. When the paper DC is the A4 size, the positioning is completed when the paper DC is fed into the folding unit 20.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG.
The movable plate 58 slides and descends, and further, as shown in FIG. 8 (C), the pressing plate 52 is rotated by the folding mechanism to start forming a fold on the paper DC placed thereon. At the time when the fold is formed to some extent, the movable plate 57 escapes upward, the feed roller 50 that has pressed the paper DC also retracts upward, and the pressing plate 52 is completely retracted as shown in FIG. 8 (D). Paper DC
Fold 1/3.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8 (E), the feed roller 50 descends again and the pressing plate 52 returns to the original position, and the feed roller 50 rotates to move the paper DC in the arrow X direction to a predetermined position. Transport. At this time, since the soft plastic pressing plate 54 that does not hinder the movement of the pressing plate 52 is located above the pressing plate 52, the folded portion of the paper DC may return due to the elasticity of the paper DC itself. There is no. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 8 (F), the movable plate 57 descends, the pressing plate 52 rotates,
Further, the movable plate 57 is retracted, and the sheet DC is folded into three as shown in FIG. 8 (G).

In this state, the electronic control unit 18 lowers the feed roller 51 and sends out the folded sheet DC to the sheet conveying / inserting unit 25 in the direction Y perpendicular to the sheet surface (step S3). As a result, the sheet DC folded in three folds is placed on the lower U-shaped member 100 as shown in FIGS.

On the other hand, in parallel with these processes, as shown in FIG. 5, the electronic control unit 18 drives the envelope printing / conveying unit 22a in the envelope handling unit 22, pulls out the envelope 5 in the stack 7, and The address information read from the disk FD is printed on the front side of the envelope 5 (step S4). Further, the transport unit 22a is driven to transport the envelope 5, the envelope 5 is placed on the loading table 90, and the suction unit 22b is
Is driven to open the opening of the envelope 5 (step S5). That is, the suction pump 98 is driven to
After the envelope 5 is adsorbed by R, L, 93R, L, and 95, the suction funnel 95 is moved upward, and the opening 5a of the envelope 5 is greatly opened as shown in FIG.

Subsequently, the electronic control unit 18 controls the paper transport insertion unit 25
Is driven to insert the folded paper DC into the envelope 5 (step S6). That is, by driving the drive mechanism 106 of the paper transport insertion unit 25, the transfer member 104 is moved in the direction of arrow l in FIG. 4, and the paper DC narrowed between the lower and upper U-shaped members 100 and 102 is transferred to the envelope 5 Insert it inside. Thereafter, the gluing adhesive unit 22c is driven to glue the closing margin 5b of the envelope 5 (step S7), and the sealed envelope 5 is discharged to the outside (step S8).

According to the automatic sealing machine of the present embodiment described above, up to three types of paper DC can be folded in three, inserted in the envelope 5 and sealed, and the address can be printed directly on the envelope 5. . Therefore, as in the case of direct mail, the labor of folding and envelope packing when sending a large amount of documents can be significantly reduced, and the labor of stamping out the address and sticking it on the tack sticker like normal direct mail is also necessary Absent. Moreover, since the address is directly printed on the envelope and the envelope is sealed in a vertically long envelope, the impression of the side receiving the envelope 5 as a mail or the like is extremely good.

Further, the combination of sheets to be sealed can be freely selected, and the size of the sheets can be freely selected up to A4 size by replacing the cassette. Further, it is easy to fold three or more folds. In addition, when the paper DC is inserted, the paper DC is transferred while being narrowly pressed in a U-shape, so that the paper DC can be reliably inserted into the envelope 5.

Further, the automatic sealing machine of this embodiment has an advantage that the address created can be efficiently printed because the data created by another personal computer or word processor can be directly taken in by the flexible disk FD. Furthermore, it is extremely small as a whole and can be easily used in offices and the like.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments at all. For example, the gist of the present invention includes a configuration including a keyboard and a display and a device for creating address data. Of course, the present invention can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Effect of the Invention As described in detail above, according to the automatic sealing machine of the present invention,
The present invention has an excellent effect that an address can be printed on a vertically long envelope, and at least one sheet of paper can be folded and inserted into the envelope and then sealed. Therefore, the labor required for a large amount of shipping work can be remarkably reduced. Moreover, the address is printed directly on a vertical envelope,
The effect that the impression on the side received as mail or the like is extremely good is also obtained. In addition, since the paper is held in a U-shape and inserted into the envelope, the paper can be reliably inserted, and the reliability of the operation is improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of the present invention, FIG. 2 (A) is a perspective view showing a configuration of an automatic sealing machine as one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. (B) is a block diagram mainly showing the electronic control unit 18, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a main part of the sheet feeding / folding unit 20, and FIG. 4 is a sheet feeding folding unit 20, an envelope. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram showing main parts of a handling unit 22 and a paper transport insertion unit 25. FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of an envelope print transport unit 22a and a suction unit 22b.
FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrows AA in FIG. 4, FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the electronic control unit 18, and FIGS. 8 (A) to (G) are schematic views showing the operation of the fold forming machine 48. . 3 Panel, 5 Envelope, 7 Stack 11, 12, 13 Paper cassette 15 Flexible disk drive 18 Electronic control unit 20 Paper feeding folding unit 22 Envelope handling Unit 25: paper transport insertion unit 31: CPU, 48: fold forming machine 53: folding mechanism 22a: envelope print transport unit 22b: suction unit 22c: glue sealing unit 83: print head 92R, L, 93R, L95 Suction funnel 100, 102 Lower, upper U-shaped member 104 Transfer member 114 Adhesive supply mechanism DC Paper FD Flexible disk

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-49-21286 (JP, A) JP-A-54-71700 (JP, A) JP-A-56-10499 (JP, A) JP-A Sho 60- 162698 (JP, A) JP-A-63-125399 (JP, A) JP-A-48-18697 (JP, Y1) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B43M 3 / 00-3 / 04 B43M 5/00 B43M 5/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An automatic sealing machine for sealing a predetermined number of printed matter in a vertically long envelope, comprising: a paper extracting means for extracting and aligning at least one or more sheets of paper; Folding means for pressing the folded sheet by an opposing roller and conveying the sheet in the folding line direction, and sequentially reading one address from a list of addresses stored in advance. Printing means for printing at least the address on the envelope, envelope opening means for sucking the envelope on which the address is printed from the front and back, and opening the opening of the envelope; and A sheet insertion means for holding the sheet in a substantially “U” shape and inserting the sheet into the envelope through the opening of the envelope, and folding the margin of the opening of the envelope along the folding line thereof; An adhesive application means for bringing the contact agent into contact with the contact agent; and a seal for conveying the folded envelope of the closing margin in the closing margin direction, and passing between the opposed rollers to seal the closing margin. An automatic sealing machine comprising: