JP2896014B2 - Envelope sealing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an envelope enclosing apparatus for folding a sheet such as a document, inserting the sheet into an envelope, and sealing the envelope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the conventional configuration of this type of envelope enclosing apparatus, when enclosing a sheet, a user manually sets a folding size of the sheet before enclosing the sheet. That is, the user folds the sheet to be enclosed into an appropriate fold shape such as three-fold or four-fold according to the size of the envelope, and measures and determines the fold size with a ruler or the like,
The fold size was set manually.

On the other hand, when enclosing a sheet on which a mailing address and address are recorded in a window-lighted envelope having a window formed thereon, the address and address recording portion of the sheet faces the window of the envelope. Depending on the folded shape, the front and back sides of the sheet feeding section of the envelope enclosing apparatus (if a cutter for cutting a continuous sheet is provided, if the cutter is provided), and the forward and reverse (front and rear) directions must be changed. This setting direction is left to the user in the conventional enclosing device.

[0004]

In the conventional enclosing apparatus as described above, the user has to determine the folding size of the sheet by himself and set it manually, and furthermore, the setting direction of the sheet is also each time. It has to be determined by reading the instruction manual and the like, which is very troublesome, and it takes a long time to set up before operating the enclosing apparatus, so that there is a problem that the enclosing cannot be performed efficiently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a configuration in which a folding size of a sheet can be automatically set in an envelope enclosing apparatus and a configuration in which a sheet can be easily set.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an envelope enclosing apparatus according to the present invention.
Folding means for folding a sheet such as a document, insertion means for inserting the folded sheet into an envelope, sealing means for sealing the envelope in which the sheet is inserted, control means for controlling each of the means, and control Means for inputting information to the means, wherein the control means folds the sheet by the folding means in accordance with information on the dimensions of the sheet and the envelope and the shape of the sheet input by the operation input means. Dimensions are set.

[0007] According to the second configuration, in addition to the above-described units, there is provided a display unit for variably displaying information, and the control unit is configured to fold the sheet by the operation input unit. The appropriate sheet setting direction for the sheet supply unit that supplies the sheet to the folding means is determined in accordance with the information, and the display means notifies the user of the setting direction.

[0008]

According to the first configuration, when the user inputs the dimensions of the sheet and the envelope and the information on the folded shape of the sheet with the operation input means, the folded size of the sheet is automatically set.
Further, according to the second configuration, if information on the folded shape of the sheet is input, an appropriate sheet setting direction according to the folded shape is displayed.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Here, an envelope enclosing device for cutting and folding a continuous sheet and enclosing the same in an envelope is shown.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of an envelope enclosing apparatus. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a sheet of a document to be enclosed in an envelope. Here, a continuous fan-hold sheet as shown in FIG. 3 is used. It is assumed that the name, address and postal code have been recorded. The sheet 1 is set on the cutter unit 2 by a user of the apparatus.

The cutter unit 2 cuts the sheet 1 by driving the blade 3, and cuts the sheet 1 into a length L and a width B shown in FIG. 3 according to a sheet size input by a user as described later. .

The cut sheets 1 are conveyed to a pool unit 6 by driving a pair of conveying rollers 4 and 5, and are blocked by a stopper (not shown) and stacked in the unit 6 to be pooled. The pooled sheets 1 are conveyed to the folding unit 8 by driving the belt conveyor 7 provided in the pool unit 6.

The folding unit 8 folds the sheet 1 according to a folding shape and a folding dimension determined as described later, and is provided with a folding machine 10. The folding machine 10 folds the sheet 1 inserted by the pair of conveying rollers 9. Details of the folder 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, a folding machine 10 includes rollers 11
14, guides 15 and 17, first and second stoppers 16 and 18 provided on both guides, and a movable guide piece 19. Each of the rollers 11 to 14 rotates in the direction of an arrow by driving a motor (not shown). Guide 1
Reference numerals 5 and 17 each consist of two plates facing each other at a narrow interval, between which the sheet 1 is inserted. The stoppers 16 and 18 prevent the sheet 1 inserted into the guides 15 and 17, and are moved in both directions along the guides 15 and 17 as indicated by arrows by driving an actuator such as a stepping motor (not shown). , The position can be changed. The movable guide piece 19 can be displaced to a position shown by a solid line and a position shown by a broken line by driving an actuator (not shown).

Next, the folding operation of the sheet 1 by the folding machine 10 will be described. At the time of folding, the transport roller 9 of FIG.
The sheet 1 is supplied from above to the gap between the rollers 11 and 12 by the drive of, and the sheet 1 is inserted into the guide 15 by the rotation of the rollers 11 and 12. The tip of sheet 1 is stopper 1
6, the trailing portion of the sheet 1 does not enter the guide 15 and is pressed between the rollers 12 and 13. Rollers 12, 13 on which the pressed sheet 1 rotates
It is folded by being pulled in between. Here, the length between the rollers 12 and 13 to the stopper 16 is the sheet 1.
(Hereinafter referred to as “first folding size”).

The sheet 1 thus folded once is sent to the left side in the figure by rollers 12 and 13, and a movable guide piece 19 is provided.
Is located at the position indicated by the solid line,
7 is inserted. When the leading end (first folded portion) of the sheet 1 comes into contact with the stopper 18, the subsequent portion of the sheet 1 does not enter the guide 17 and is pressed between the rollers 12 and 14. The part is folded by being drawn between the rotating rollers 12 and 14. Here roller 1
The length from between 2 and 14 to the stopper 16 is 2 of the sheet 1.
The second fold size (hereinafter referred to as “second fold size”). The sheet 1 that has been folded twice in this manner is applied to the rollers 12, 1
It is sent upward by 4.

The folded shape of the sheet 1 in this case is as follows.
As will be described later, the length L of the sheet 1, the first folded dimension, and the second
Depending on the size of the fold, it is folded in three or four.

On the other hand, when the movable guide piece 19 is at the position indicated by the broken line, the sheet
Is guided between the rollers 12 and 13 from the rollers 12 and 13 and is sent upward. That is, in this case, the second folding is not performed, and the folded shape of the sheet 1 is folded in two.

The sheet 1 folded by the folding machine 10 in this manner is conveyed to an enclosing unit (insertion and sealing unit) 21 by driving a conveying roller 20 in FIG.

Although not shown in detail, the enclosing unit 21 includes a sheet insertion portion 25 for inserting a sheet into an envelope,
A sealing section 29 for sealing the envelope is provided.

In the enclosing unit 21, the sheet 1 is sent to the sheet insertion section 25 by the conveying rollers 22 to 24. An envelope supply unit 26 is provided on the sheet insertion unit 25, and envelopes 27 are stacked and set there. Here, the envelope 27 has a vertical dimension a and a horizontal dimension b as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the window 27a has been formed. Reference numeral 27b denotes a folded portion having a paste applied to the back. The envelopes 27 are sequentially sent one by one from the envelope supply unit 26 to the sheet insertion unit 25 by the transport roller 28.

The envelope 27 is opened by a mechanism (not shown) in the sheet insertion section 25, and the folded sheet 1 is inserted there.
Is inserted. Further, the envelope 28 is sent to the sealing section 29, where the folded portion 2 of the envelope 27 is moved by a mechanism (not shown).
After the glued portion 7b is moistened, the folded portion 27b is pressed against the back portion of the envelope and adhered. The envelope 27 thus sealed is discharged onto a stacker (not shown) by a transport mechanism (not shown).

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the so-called three-folded sheet 1 is inserted and sealed. As shown in FIG. 5A, the portion of the sheet 1 on which the postal code, address, and address are recorded faces the window 27 a of the envelope 27. The fold size of the sheet 1 is determined by the envelope size, the sheet size, and the fold shape. The larger fold size (the second fold size shown in FIG. 5B) is smaller than the vertical size a of the envelope 27. For example, the length is set to a-6 mm with a margin of 6 mm.

Each unit of the apparatus described above is controlled by the control unit 30. The control unit 30 includes a CPU including a microprocessor or the like as a main control unit.
31, a memory 32 used for storing control programs and necessary data, a display 33 including a liquid crystal display device for displaying variable information, etc., for allowing a user to operate the device and input necessary data, etc. An operation unit 34 including a keyboard and the like, and an RS 23 for transmitting a control signal generated by the CPU 31 to each of the units described above.
Communication means 35 such as a 2C port is provided. Each of the units 2, 6, 8, 21 is provided with a sub CPU (not shown), which controls the driving of each mechanism of the units 2, 6, 8, 21 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 31 of the control unit 30. Under such a configuration, the CPU 31 of the control unit 30 controls the driving of each of the units 2, 6, 8, and 21 through the above-described sub CPUs in accordance with an input from the operation unit 34, and cuts a sheet. Fold, insert and seal.

Next, the folding size of the sheet 1 and the setting of the sheet setting direction with respect to the cutter unit 2 in the present apparatus will be described.

First, as described above, the length of the sheet 1 is L,
Assuming that the width is B, the vertical dimension of the envelope 27 is a, and the horizontal dimension is b, FIG.
Assuming that there is a margin of 6 mm in the fold size as in the above, an appropriate fold size in the present embodiment can be obtained by each calculation formula shown in the table of FIG. 6 in relation to the size of the envelope and the sheet and the fold shape. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the folding size is automatically set according to the size and the folding shape of the envelope and the sheet.
The PU 31 selects an appropriate calculation formula in the table of FIG. 6 according to the size and folding shape of the envelope and the sheet, and stores a program for calculating the folding size in the memory 32.

Next, FIG. 7 shows the relationship between the folded shape of the sheet and the setting direction, the direction of the recording characters of the sheet after enclosing, and the shape of the sheet after enclosing in the present apparatus. Here, the “folded shape” refers to a folded shape of the sheet, and A to D in the drawings indicate characters written on the sheet. The “sheet setting direction” refers to the direction and state of the sheet to be set in the cutter unit 2, and “front / back” indicates when the character surface (front) is directed upward as “front”, and “ “Normal / reverse” is defined as “normal” when the sheet is set in the normal direction with respect to the feeding direction. "Character orientation after enclosing" indicates the orientation of the character that comes to the top in the folded state among the characters A to D. Here, the letters A to D are indicated by broken lines when the above-mentioned first letter is not positioned on the front side when enclosing in an envelope. In this case, the setting direction is changed as shown by "NG". It is impossible. When the first character is positioned on the front side in the forward direction when enclosing in an envelope, a double circle mark is attached outside the margin of FIG. In the “shape at the time of enclosing”, the mark ⊥ indicates the position (address, address) of the head of the sheet, and the direction of the intermediate protrusion indicates the front side.

For example, the proper setting direction in the case of three-fold is the front and the reverse as indicated by the double circle mark.
As shown in FIG. Also, in the case of the outer three-folding, the back and the front are oriented as shown in FIG.

If the envelope has a window, an appropriate sheet setting direction is set in consideration of data on the position of the window.

From this relationship, in this apparatus, the CPU 31 determines the proper setting direction according to the folding shape and notifies the user of the setting direction. Therefore, the data of the proper setting direction according to the folding shape is stored in the memory 32. Keep it.

With the above configuration, the present apparatus performs automatic setting of the sheet folding size and notification of an appropriate setting direction before the execution of the enclosing operation. The control operation of the CPU 31 for that will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the flowchart of FIG. 10, the user first operates the operation unit 34 before executing the enclosing operation, whereby the size of the envelope (a, b) and the size of the sheet (L,
Each condition of the enclosing process such as B) and the folded shape is determined by the CPU 31.
(Step S1).

The CPU 31 displays the input processing conditions on the display 33 for the user to confirm (step S2).

Next, the CPU 31 determines, based on the data in the memory 32, the proper sheet setting direction according to the fold shape input in step S1, for example, if the sheet is folded in three, the information on the table and the reverse direction. Is displayed on the display 33 (step S).
3).

Next, the CPU 31 selects a formula for calculating the fold size in FIG. 6 according to the size and fold shape of the envelope and the sheet input in step S1, and calculates the fold size by calculating the formula (step S1). S4) The information of the fold size and the fold shape is transmitted to the sub CPU of the fold unit 8 (step S5). The sub CPU of the folding unit 8 displaces the stoppers 16 to 18 or the movable guide piece 19 according to the transmitted information, and sets the folding size and the folding shape.

Next, the CPU 31 responds to the input of step S1 by using the other units 2,
The operation conditions 6, 8, 21 such as the length L and width B of the sheet to be cut in the cutter unit are set (step S6), and the information is transmitted to the sub CPU of each unit (step S7). The sub CPU of each unit sets each operation condition according to the transmitted information.

Thus, the preparation process before the execution of the enclosing operation is completed, and thereafter, the enclosing operation is executed by the user inputting an instruction to execute the enclosing operation on the operation section 34.

According to the present embodiment as described above, the folding size of the sheet is automatically calculated and set according to the input of the size and the folding shape of the envelope and the sheet, so that the user sets the folding size. No need to work. In addition, since the proper sheet setting direction according to the folded shape is displayed, the user does not need to check the setting direction with a manual or the like, and there is no mistake. In this way, the user's labor can be reduced and the envelope can be efficiently enclosed.

[0039]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first configuration of the envelope enclosing apparatus of the present invention, a folding means for folding a sheet such as a document, and an insertion for inserting the folded sheet into the envelope. Means, sealing means for sealing the envelope in which the sheet is inserted, control means for controlling each of the means, and operation input means for inputting information to the control means, wherein the control means comprises: The size of the sheet and the envelope, and the folding size of the sheet by the folding means are set in accordance with the information on the folding shape of the sheet and the information of the folding shape of the sheet. The fold size of the sheet can be automatically set according to the user, so that the user does not have to set the fold size of the sheet by himself.

Further, according to the second configuration, in addition to the above-described units, there is provided a display unit for variably displaying information, and the control unit is configured to control the folding shape of the sheet input by the operation input unit. The appropriate sheet setting direction for the sheet supply unit that supplies the sheet to the folding unit is determined in accordance with the information of the folding unit, and the display unit notifies the user of the setting direction. The user can be notified of an appropriate sheet setting direction according to the folded shape of the user, and an excellent effect that the user can easily and definitely set the sheet can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing an overall configuration of an envelope enclosing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the structure and operation of the folding machine in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing a sheet sealed in an envelope by the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the envelope.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where a sheet is sealed in an envelope.

FIG. 6 is a table showing a formula for calculating a folding size according to the sizes of an envelope and a sheet and a folding shape of the sheet.

FIG. 7 is a table showing the relationship between the folded shape of the sheet, the setting direction, and the direction of the characters on the sheet after being enclosed.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a set state when the sheet is folded in three as viewed from above the sheet.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a setting state of a sheet in the case of folding outside three.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a preparation process by a CPU 31 in FIG. 1 before execution of an enclosing operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sheet 2 Cutter unit 6 Pool unit 8 Folding unit 10 Folding machine 21 Enclosure unit 25 Sheet insertion part 26 Envelope supply part 27 Envelope 29 Enclosure part 30 Control unit 31 CPU 32 Memory 33 Display 34 Operation part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B43M 5/00-5/04 B43M 3/00-3/04

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A folding means for folding a sheet such as a document, an insertion means for inserting the folded sheet into an envelope, a sealing means for sealing the envelope in which the sheet is inserted, and a control for controlling each of the means And an operation input means for inputting information to the control means, wherein the control means performs the folding according to the dimensions of the sheet and the envelope and the folded shape of the sheet input by the operation input means. An envelope enclosing device characterized in that a folding size of a sheet by means is set. 2. Folding means for folding a sheet such as a document, insertion means for inserting the folded sheet into an envelope, sealing means for sealing the envelope in which the sheet is inserted, and control for controlling each of the means Means, operation input means for inputting information to the control means, and display means for variably displaying information, wherein the control means responds to information on the folded shape of the sheet input by the operation input means. An envelope that determines an appropriate sheet setting direction with respect to a sheet supply unit that supplies the sheet to the folding unit, and causes the display unit to perform a display for notifying a user of the setting direction. Enclosure device. 3. The sheet supply section is provided with cutter means for cutting the sheet.
3. The envelope enclosing device according to claim 1.