JP3060029B2 - Automatic 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 automatic envelope sealing apparatus for sealing an envelope using a roll adhesive tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an envelope is manually closed by using a roll adhesive tape, not only the operation is troublesome, but also it takes a long time for shipping, and therefore, there has been proposed an apparatus for automatically attaching the envelope. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-025197 discloses an adhesive tape in which an envelope inserted with a flap at the top is transferred to a mounting table by a feed roller, the flap of the envelope is folded and held by a bender, and the tape is nipped and pulled out by a moving clip. Is pressed against a flap by a pressure plate, and a tape is cut and adhered at one end side of the flap and sealed by a pressure roller.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, in order to bend the flap of the envelope at the correct bending position, when the leading end of the flap reaches a predetermined position, it is detected by a sensor to stop the envelope. I have. At this time, if the user inserts the envelope correctly from the side with the flap, it can be sealed without any problem.However, if the envelope is inserted incorrectly, that is, the envelope is inserted in the opposite direction, or the envelope is different from the predetermined shape or size. When the envelope is inserted, the tape cannot be stuck in the correct state, and the tape cannot be cut properly because the tape is cut off the envelope, preventing the device from operating properly. There was a problem that it could cause a failure.

[0004]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a first sensor for detecting that an envelope has reached a folded position and a second sensor for detecting erroneous insertion of an envelope. Is controlled so that when an envelope is erroneously inserted, the envelope is ejected without executing a predetermined sequence of bending, sticking, and closing the envelope. As a result, the user can be notified of the erroneous insertion.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An automatic envelope sealing apparatus according to the present invention includes insertion / ejection means for feeding and ejecting an envelope into and from the apparatus with its flap at the top, folding means for folding the envelope flap at a folding position, and folding means. A sticking means for sticking an adhesive tape to the flap, a sealing means for further folding the flap to which the adhesive tape is stuck, and gluing the adhesive tape to the main body side of the envelope, and that the envelope has reached the bending position. A first sensor for detecting, and a second sensor for detecting whether the envelope has been correctly inserted or erroneously inserted when the envelope has reached the folding position, and the first sensor has sent the envelope to the folding position. Is detected and when the second sensor detects that the envelope has been correctly inserted, the subsequent predetermined sequence is continued,
When the first sensor detects that the envelope has been sent to the bent position and the second sensor detects that the envelope has been erroneously inserted, control is performed such that the envelope is discharged without performing the subsequent predetermined sequence. Things.

Preferably, the first sensor is located at a position overlapping the flap when the envelope reaches the folding position, and the second sensor is located at a position not overlapping the flap when the envelope reaches the folding position. When the user inserts the envelope by mistake in the envelope automatic closing device configured as described above, that is, when the envelope is inserted from the bottom, when the already folded envelope is inserted from the bent portion, or in a predetermined shape or In the case where an envelope of a different size is inserted, the erroneous insertion is detected by the second sensor, and the envelope is ejected without performing the subsequent sequence to notify the user of the erroneous insertion.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the automatic envelope sealing device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This automatic envelope sealing device is a device for automatically closing an envelope using an adhesive tape. In FIGS. 1 and 3, a side plate 1 and a side plate 2 are provided in parallel with each other in the automatic envelope sealing apparatus at intervals so that envelopes of various sizes can be inserted. The side plate 1 and the side plate 2 are connected and fixed by bosses 1a and 2a protruding in opposite directions. A guide plate 3 is detachably attached to the front ends of the side plates 1 and 2. The guide plate 3 serves as a guide when the envelope 4 is inserted into or ejected from the automatic envelope sealing device. When the envelope 4 is inserted from the guide plate 3, the envelope 4 is inserted with the flap 4a at the leading end thereof opened and the flap 4a at the top.

[0008] Between the side plate 1 and the side plate 2, the side plate 1 and the side plate 2
On the supporting portion 2b protruding inward of each (see FIG. 2)
Is provided with a guide 5. The guide 5 is provided with a detection lever 5a for detecting the insertion of the envelope 4 so as to swing up and down. At the end of the guide 5, a feed roller 6 for inserting / ejecting an envelope and a driven roller 7 pressed against the feed roller 6 are provided vertically facing each other. Downstream of the feed roller 6 and the driven roller 7, a bender lever 8, which constitutes a part of a bending means for bending the flap 4 a of the envelope 4, is swingably provided. The bender lever 8 is driven by a flap bending motor 9 via a wheel train (not shown). A guide 10 is provided further downstream of the bender lever 8, and a drive roller 11 and a drive roller 12, which are sealing means, are provided vertically below the guide 10. A guide 13 is provided downstream of the driving roller 11 and the driving roller 12. The guide 13 is provided with a detection lever 13 a similar to the detection lever 5 a of the guide 5. The upstream feed roller 6, the downstream drive roller 11, and the drive roller 12 are driven by an envelope feed motor 14 via a not-shown train so as to rotate at a constant speed.

A receiving table 15 is provided above the bender lever 8. As shown in FIG. 1, the receiving table 15 is disposed between the side plates 1 and 2. The receiving table 15 has a receiving surface 15a (see FIG. 2). Small protrusions are formed on the receiving surface 15a so that the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape described later can be easily peeled off. Further, an edge portion 15b for holding the envelope 4 between the lower end portion of the receiving table 15 and the groove portion 8a of the bender lever 8 is formed. A movable guide 16 is swingably supported on the receiving table 15 with its one end 16a as a fulcrum. The tip of the movable guide 16 is urged downward by a spring 17. The movable guide 16 guides the inserted envelope 4 so that the leading end of the envelope 4 does not hit the edge 15b. Guide 10 includes
A sensor 18a and a sensor 18b, which will be described in detail later, are provided. The guide 10 is a receiving part 2 formed integrally with the side plate 2.
c.

The means for holding, stretching and sticking the adhesive tape will now be described. In FIG. 1, a boss 20 and a boss 21 are formed on the side plate 1, and a similar boss is also formed on the side plate 2. It is formed. A guide shaft 22 is fixed to the bosses 20 and 21 of the side plate 1, and a similar guide shaft 23 is fixed to the boss of the side plate 2. These two guide shafts 22, 23
A slide plate 24 is slidably supported on the slide. As shown in FIG. 2, a slide plate feed motor 25 is provided inside the side plate 2.
The rotation axis of the slide plate feed motor 25 is connected to the slide plate 24 via a wheel train (not shown) and a crank mechanism.
It is connected to. Therefore, by driving the slide plate feed motor 25, the slide plate 24
1 (vertical direction in FIG. 1; horizontal direction in FIG. 2).

As shown in FIG. 1, the slide plate 24 includes
A carrier 26 that can reciprocate on the slide plate 24 in a direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 1) orthogonal to the feeding direction of the envelope 4 is provided. The carrier 26 constitutes means for pulling out and stretching the tape. Explaining the driving mechanism of the carrier 26, a carrier feed motor (not shown) is provided on the back side of the slide plate 24,
Reference numeral 7 penetrates through the slide plate 24 and projects to the front side. A pinion 28 is formed on the shaft 27, and a gear 30 rotates via a gear 29. A gear 31 is formed integrally with the gear 30. A gear 32 interlocking with the gear 31 is provided at the center of the slide plate 24, and the gear 31 and the gear 32 have a toothed timing belt 3.
Three is hung. Further, a tension lever 34 is provided near the timing belt 33 to apply tension thereto. The tension lever 34 can swing about a shaft 35 as a fulcrum.
6 is rotatably supported. Tension lever 34
Is biased upward in FIG. 1 by a spring 37. on the other hand,
A guide shaft 38 is provided on the slide plate 24, and both ends of the guide shaft 38 are supported by support portions 24 a and 24 b of the slide plate 24. The carrier 26 is slidably supported by a guide shaft 38. In FIG. 2, the carrier 26 is formed with an engaging portion 26a that engages with the tooth shape of the timing belt 33.
3 is linked to the movement. The carrier 26 has an engaging portion 26b which engages with a part of the slide plate 24.
Are formed, and are moved in parallel by the engagement portion 26b and the guide shaft 38.

A solenoid 39 is provided on the carrier 26. A connecting portion 41 is swingably connected to the solenoid shaft 40 via a shaft 42. A clamper 43 is connected to the connecting portion 41 and is swingably supported by a shaft 44. The clamper 43 is urged by a spring 45 in the opening direction. Clamps 46 are formed on the clamper 43. The carrier 26 has a nail 46.
A clamp claw receiver 26c is provided so as to face.

Next, the means for holding the tape will be described.
7a is provided detachably. Tape cassette 47
Is provided with a central shaft 47b integrally therewith.
8 is provided rotatably. The tape holder 48 is detachable from the center shaft 47b. A commercially available tape roll 49 is mounted on the tape holder 48, and the rib 48 a of the tape holder 48 is pressed into the roll core 50 at the time of mounting. The tape T is pulled out by a pair of guide plates 52 and 53 via guide pins 51.
Is pinched by The guide plate 52 is urged counterclockwise by a spring (not shown), and the guide plate 53 is urged clockwise by a spring (not shown). The leading end of the tape T protrudes toward the clamper 43 of the guide plates 52 and 53 by a predetermined length.

Next, the means for cutting the tape will be described. A cutter motor 54 is provided on the slide plate 24, and a worm 55 is fixed to the motor shaft. The rotation of the worm 55 is transmitted to the gear 56 and the gear 57.
An eccentric pin 57a is formed on the gear 57, and is fitted to a U-shaped arm 58a of the cutter holder 58. When the eccentric pin 57a rotates, the cutter holder 58 advances and retreats in a direction perpendicular to the protruding end of the tape T with the rotation of the eccentric pin 57a. The cutter 59 is attached to the cutter holder 58.

Further, as shown in FIG.
A pressing plate 60 for pressing the tape T against the flap 4 a of the envelope 4 and attaching the tape T to the flap 4 a is provided at a position facing the receiving table 15. The holding plate 60 is made of rubber, and
Is attached to a holding plate holder 61 fixed to the back side of the holder.

Next, returning to the sensor mechanism, the guide 10 is provided with the sensors 18a and 18b as described above. The sensor 18a is a sensor for detecting that the tip of the flap 4a of the inserted envelope 4 has reached, and is disposed in a recess formed in the guide 10 via the circuit board 19 as shown in FIGS. And is connected to a control circuit (not shown). The position of the sensor 18a is set so that when the tip of the flap 4a reaches the position of the sensor 18, the bent portion of the envelope 4 is located directly below the edge 15b facing the bender lever 8. The sensor 18b is a sensor for detecting whether the envelope 4 has been correctly inserted or erroneously inserted when the envelope 4 reaches the bending position. In FIG. 1, the clamp claw 46 of the clamper 43, which is a tape holding means, is used. And is disposed in a recess formed in the guide 10 via a circuit board like the sensor 18a, and is connected to a control circuit (not shown).

FIG. 4 schematically shows the positional relationship between the sensors 18a and 18b and the state where the envelope 4 has reached the bent position. The normal shape of the flap 4a of the envelope 4 is such that both sides of the flap 4a are cut off in a tapered shape as shown in the figure, and the tape-attached portion at the leading end is formed narrower than the width of the envelope body. In this apparatus, when the tape is cut by the tape cutting means, the cutter 59 moves forward near the tapered notch 4b of the flap 4a to cut the tape. The sensor 18a is connected to the flap 4a
Is provided at a position where the tip of the flap 4a overlaps (line A in the figure) when the bent portion of the flap 4 reaches the bending position (line B in the figure). The sensor 18b is provided so that when the tip of the flap 4a overlaps the sensor 18a, the sensor 18b does not overlap the flap 4a, that is, is located outside the tapered notch 4b on the left side in the drawing of the flap 4a. That is, when the envelope 4 is inserted correctly, the sensor 18a
Detects the envelope 4 when the envelope 4 reaches a predetermined bending position, but the sensor 18b does not detect the envelope 4. Therefore, the control circuit (not shown) receives only the signal from the sensor 18a, controls the swinging of the bender lever 8 as the bending means, and folds the envelope 4, and then sticks the tape, seals the tape, and discharges the envelope. Is performed in a predetermined sequence.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), when the envelope 4 is inserted incorrectly, for example, when the envelope 4 is inserted from the bottom in the opposite direction, when the already folded envelope is inserted from the bent portion. Since the tip of the envelope 4 overlaps the sensor 18b, the sensor 18b detects the envelope 4. When a control circuit (not shown) receives signals from both the sensor 18a and the sensor 18b, the control unit drives the feed roller 6, which is a tape insertion / ejection means, to rotate in the reverse direction to eject the envelope 4 as shown in FIG. To control. This allows the user to know that the insertion is incorrect. In addition, if the flap of the inserted envelope is not the correct shape or is not the correct size and the flap of the envelope hangs on the cutting position of the tape, it will hinder the cutting of the tape. In the case of such erroneous insertion, the sensor 18b
Detects the envelope 4, the envelope 4 is discharged under the same control as described above.

Next, a series of operations when the envelope is normally inserted into the automatic envelope sealing device will be described.

The envelope 4 is inserted from the guide plate 3, and the envelope 4
Is detected that the leading end of the flap 4a has reached the detection lever 5a of the guide 5, the envelope feed motor 14 is driven, whereby the feed roller 6 rotates clockwise, and the driven roller 7 Is rotated counterclockwise, whereby the envelope 4 is sent downstream. When the leading end of the envelope 4 reaches the position of the sensor 18a of the guide 10, the envelope feed motor 14 is stopped by the signal from the sensor 18a as described above, and the envelope 4 also stops moving. The stop position corresponds to a position where a portion corresponding to the fold of the envelope 4 comes directly below the edge 15 a of the receiving table 15.

Next, when the flap bending motor 9 is driven, the tip of the bender lever 8 swings upward, and the fold of the envelope 4 is sandwiched between the groove 8a and the edge 15b of the bender lever 8. And the flap 4a is
Is bent about 90 degrees to a position in contact with the receiving surface 15a. In this state, the envelope 4 is held.

Next, in the tape stretching means, the solenoid 39 is driven, whereby the clamper 43 swings and the projecting end of the tape T projecting from the guide plates 52, 53 is moved between the pawl 46 and the clamp pawl receiver 26c. Clamp between. Subsequently, the carrier feed motor operates to move the carrier 26 to the right as shown in FIG. As a result, the tape T is pulled out into the air between the receiving table 15 and the holding plate 60. This position is a position where the lower half of the pulled out tape T faces the upper end of the flap 4a of the envelope 4 bent by the bender lever 8. When the tape T is pulled out to a certain length, the carrier feed motor stops and the tape is stretched. At this time, the tape T is located at a position where the upper half thereof projects further upward from the upper end of the flap 4a of the envelope 4.

Next, the slide plate feed motor 25 is driven, and as shown in FIG. 3, the slide plate 24 is advanced to the upstream side in the envelope insertion direction. Therefore, the upper end of the tape T is pressed against the receiving surface 15a of the receiving base 15 by the holding plate 60, and at the same time, the lower half thereof is attached to the upper end of the folded flap 4a. At this time, the cutter motor 54 is operated, the cutter 59 is advanced to the tape cutting position to cut the tape, and at the same time, the clamp of the leading end of the tape T by the solenoid 39 is released.

Next, the slide plate feed motor 25 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, the slide plate 24 retreats, the presser plate 60 separates from the tape T and returns to FIG. 1, and at the same time, the flap bending motor 9 rotates in the reverse direction. The bender lever 8 swings downward and separates from the envelope 4.

Next, the carrier feed motor is reversed to return the carrier 26 to the original position in FIG. 1, and at the same time, the envelope feed motor 14 is driven again, and the feed roller 6 and the driven roller 7 rotate to move the envelope 4. Move it further upstream. The fold of the envelope 4 reaches the drive rollers 11 and 12, and the drive roller 1
After passing between the spaces 1 and 12, the flap 4a of the envelope 4 closes and the upper half of the tape T is stuck to the envelope 4 and sealed. When the passage of the envelope 4 is detected by the detection lever 13 a of the guide 13, the envelope feed motor 14 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction to feed the envelope 4 in the reverse direction. As a result, the flap 4a passes between the drive rollers 11 and 12 again. For this reason, sticking of the tape T becomes reliable. Further, the envelope 4 is fed backward to the upstream side, discharged to the guide plate 3, and the apparatus stops.

[0026]

As described above, in the automatic envelope sealing apparatus of the present invention, the first sensor detects that the envelope has been sent to the bending position, and the second sensor correctly inserts the envelope. Is detected, the ensuing predetermined sequence is continued to seal the envelope, and the first sensor detects that the envelope has been sent to the folding position and the second sensor has detected that the envelope has been erroneously inserted. When detected, the envelope is controlled so as to discharge the envelope without performing the subsequent predetermined sequence. Therefore, the user can easily know the erroneous insertion of the envelope and can smoothly perform the sealing operation. Also, if the first sensor is provided at a position overlapping the flap when the envelope reaches the folding position, and the second sensor is provided at a position not overlapping the flap when the envelope reaches the folding position, the envelope can be provided with a simple configuration. Erroneous insertion can be detected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an automatic envelope sealing device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1 in a state where an adhesive tape is stuck.

FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing a positional relationship between sensors and an inserted state of an envelope.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are plan views schematically showing an erroneously inserted envelope; FIG. 5A shows a state where a sensor detects an erroneously inserted envelope; FIG. 5B shows a state where the envelope is ejected;

[Explanation of symbols]

 T adhesive tape 4 envelope 4a envelope flap 6 feed roller 8 bender lever 18a first sensor 18b second sensor 59 cutter

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An insertion / ejection means for feeding and discharging an envelope into and from an apparatus with its flap at the top, a folding means for folding the envelope flap at a folding position, and sticking an adhesive tape to the folded flap. Affixing means, sealing means for further folding the flap to which the adhesive tape has been attached, and adhering the adhesive tape to the main body of the envelope, and a first sensor for detecting that the envelope has reached the folded position. And a second sensor for detecting whether the envelope has been correctly inserted or erroneously inserted when the envelope has reached the bending position, and wherein the envelope has been sent to the bending position by the first sensor. Is detected, and when the second sensor detects that the envelope is correctly inserted, the subsequent predetermined sequence is continued, When the first sensor detects that the envelope has been sent to the bent position and the second sensor detects that the envelope has been erroneously inserted, the envelope is discharged without performing the subsequent predetermined sequence. An automatic envelope sealing device, characterized in that it is controlled so as to perform the operation. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first sensor comprises:
The envelope is located at a position overlapping with the flap when the envelope reaches the folding position, and the second sensor is located at a position not overlapping with the flap when the envelope reaches the folding position. Sealing device.