JP3105800B2 - Paper sheet sorting device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper sheet sorting apparatus, and more particularly, to a paper sheet sorting apparatus that sorts paper sheets whose information has been read by reading means based on the information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 13, a paper sheet sorting apparatus includes a paper supply tray 11 on which a plurality of paper sheets 17 such as slips are placed, and a paper sheet A feed roller 12 for sequentially feeding paper 17, a pair of transport rollers 18 for transporting the sheet 17 taken in by the feed roller 12,
19a, 19b, 19c, 19d, and 19e, and the sheet 1
An optical reading unit 21 that reads information such as characters described in 7 at a reading position 13, a first tray 15 on which information is satisfactorily read and sheet sheets 17 that are appropriately classified are stacked;
Paper sheet 1 whose information is not read well and is not properly classified
And a second tray 16 for stacking the same. 2nd tray 1
The paper sheets 17 accumulated in 6 are sorted again by a reading operation manually. The sheet sorting device further includes a switching valve (selector) 20 that switches the path of the sheet 17 to the first tray 15 side or the second tray 16 side by rotating in the forward and reverse directions about the shaft 20a. The sheet 17 whose path has been changed by the switching valve 20 is
A discharge roller pair 22 for discharging to the tray 16 and a driving motor 24 are provided.

In the above-described conventional sheet sorting apparatus, the optical reading section 21 reads information from the sheet 17 taken in by the feeding roller 12, and a control section (not shown) performs the processing based on the information. By categorizing, the course of the paper sheet 17 is determined. After all the sorted sheet bodies 17 are similarly conveyed by the conveying roller pairs 18, 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d, and 19e, they are switched to the solid line position or the two-dot chain line position in FIG. 13 by a signal from the control unit. The first tray 1 corresponding to the written information by the switching valve 20
5 or the second tray 16.

[0004]

The paper sorting apparatus requires an actuator such as a solenoid for operating the switching valve 20 and a dedicated control circuit for controlling the actuator. Is increased, and the transport path length of the sheet 17 is changed by the switching valve 20.
Therefore, the size and weight of the device are impaired. In addition, since power is required to operate the actuator and the control circuit, reduction in power consumption is hindered.
Further, the contact sound generated becomes noise due to the structure in which the stop position is determined by applying the rotating switching valve 20 to a stopper (not shown).

[0005] In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper sheet sorting apparatus capable of realizing low power consumption and low noise while contributing to reduction in size and weight of the apparatus.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a sheet sorting apparatus according to the present invention comprises a reading means for reading information from sequentially sent sheets, and a reading means for reading information from the read information. The first to accumulate classified paper sheets individually
And a second stacking unit, comprising:
A common path that conveys the sheet passing through the reading unit, a sorting path that is disposed subsequent to the common path,
The sheet sent to the sorting path is conveyed to the first stacking unit by forward rotation or conveyed by a predetermined amount to the first stacking unit by normal rotation based on the result of reading by the reading unit. A transport rotator that reversely rotates and transports the paper in the reverse direction, and a paper path body that is transported in the reverse direction by the transport rotator and changes the course toward the second stacking unit without entering the common path. And a changing member.

[0007] According to the paper sheet sorting apparatus having the above structure, the path of the paper sheet conveyed to the sorting path can be reliably switched only by rotating the rotating body forward or backward. There is no need for a switching valve, an actuator for driving the switching valve, or a control circuit dedicated to the actuator. Thereby, the increase in the number of parts can be suppressed, and the length of the conveying path of the sheet having no switching valve can be shortened, so that the apparatus can be reduced in size and weight. In addition, low power consumption can be realized because the power consumed by the actuator and the control circuit is not required, and further, low noise can be realized since no contact sound is generated when the switching valve is operated.

[0008] Preferably, the first and second accumulation units are:
They are arranged at positions facing each other across the sorting path. Further, the course changing member includes a plate member disposed at a boundary between the common path and the sorting path,
The plate member opens the course by being pressed by a sheet body that advances from the common path toward the sorting path side, and opens the course when the rear end of the sheet body enters the sorting path. Is preferable.

The transport rotating body comprises a pair of rollers whose rotating shafts extend in parallel with each other, and each of the pair of rollers has a plurality of flanges or projections formed at different positions in the direction of the rotating shaft. Is desirable. It is preferable that a one-way rotating pulley that transmits drive when transporting to each of the stacking units and that idles when transporting to the stacking unit in the reverse direction is attached to the transport rotator before the stacking unit.

[0010]

The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view schematically showing a sheet sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS.
FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a main part of the paper sheet sorting apparatus showing a state in which the paper sheets are conveyed. In FIG. 1, members that are functionally common to FIG. 13 are given the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 1, a paper sheet sorting apparatus 10
A first tray (first stacking unit) 15 and a sheet feeding tray 11 arranged side by side in the vertical direction; a sorting path 14 adjacent to the first tray 15;
A second tray (second stacking unit) 16 disposed opposite to the tray 15. A paper feed roller 12 for conveyance is provided adjacent to the paper feed tray 11, and a common path 23 sandwiched by a plurality of guide members is formed downstream of the paper feed roller 12 in the paper sheet conveyance direction. Have been. In the common path 23, the transport roller pairs 18, 19a, 19b, 1
9 c and 25 are provided, and the sheet body 17 taken in from the sheet feeding tray 11 is read by the optical reading unit 21 and the conveying roller pairs 18 and 19 are read.
a, 19b, 19c, and 25, which are conveyed to the sorting path 14.

The common path 23 conveys (passes) the sheet 17 having passed through the optical reading section 21 toward the sorting path 14. In addition, the sorting path 14 disposed after the common path 23 includes the first tray 15 and the second tray 1.
6 and constitutes a switching unit for sorting the paper sheets 17 conveyed via the common path 23 into the first or second trays 15 and 16. A first discharge roller pair 26 and a second discharge roller pair 27 are provided at both ends of the sorting path 14, respectively. The first discharge roller pair 26 and the second discharge roller pair 27 The downstream end of the common path 23 is located therebetween. On the upstream side of the first discharge roller pair 26, the sheet 1
A paper edge detection sensor 28 that detects the end of the sheet 7 and outputs a detection signal to the control unit 31 is provided.

The first paper discharge roller pair (transport rotating body) 26
It rotates forward or backward at a predetermined timing based on the information read by the optical reading unit 21 and at a predetermined timing based on a command from the control unit 31. The first tray 15 is rotated by rotation.
Or a predetermined amount by forward rotation to the first tray 15 side, and then reverse rotation to reverse (the sorting path 14).
Side). The paper discharge roller 27 is connected to the control unit 31.
At the predetermined timing based on the instruction, the sheet 17 is returned to the second tray 16 while nipping the sheet 17 returned from the first discharge roller pair 26 side. Transport roller pair 18, 19a, 1
9b, 19c, 25 and the distance between adjacent rollers of the first paper discharge roller pair 26, and the paper discharge roller pairs 26 and 27.
Is smaller than the length in the transport direction of the sheet 17 having the smallest size among the sheets fed.

At the downstream end of the common path 23 opening to the sorting path 14, that is, at the boundary between the common path 23 and the sorting path 14, a path changing plate (path changing member) 29 is provided. One end of the course changing plate 29 is locked to the guide surface on the side of the paper discharge roller 27 from the opening of the common path 23, and the other end of the course changing plate 29 falls on the side of the opening by its own weight. 14 and the common path 23 are separated from each other. The course change plate 29 is used for the common route 23.
Is pushed by the front end of the paper sheet body 17 that advances to the sorting path 14 side from the paper sheet body 17 to open its course, and
When the sheet 7 returns from the sorting path 14 to the common path 23, the paper sheet 17 is removed from the second tray 1 while closing the path by itself.
Guide to the 6 side. In other words, the course changing plate 29 prevents the sheet 17 transported in the reverse direction (returned to the sorting path 14 side) by the first discharge roller pair 26 from returning to the common path 23, and 17 is changed to the second tray 16 side. Since the course changing plate 29 needs to slide the sheet 17 in contact with the guide member forming the common path 23 and change its moving direction, the plate 29 may be, for example, thin. A sheet material made of a synthetic resin having an appropriate rigidity and a small friction coefficient is used.

In the sheet sorting apparatus 10 having the above-described configuration, first, a plurality of sheets 17 on the sheet feeding tray 11 are taken into the common path 23 one by one by the feeding roller 12 and read at the reading position 13. The information is read by the optical reading unit 21 at. The control unit 31 determines the type of the sheet 17 based on the information, and outputs a signal corresponding to the path to the first discharge roller pair 26 while determining the path. As a result, the first paper discharge roller pair 26 becomes the transport roller pair 18, 1
Rotated in the same direction as 9a, 19b, 19c, 25,
The sheet body 17 which is pushed forward by pushing the course changing plate 9 from the state shown in FIG. 2 is protruded toward the discharge roller 15 as shown in FIG. 4 while being pinched as shown in FIG. The information is satisfactorily read on the tray 15 and collected as the properly classified paper sheets 17.

On the other hand, if the control unit 31 determines that the paper sheet 17 cannot be properly classified, the paper sheet 17 is
The sheet is conveyed to the sorting path 14 and protrudes by a predetermined amount toward the first tray 15 as shown in FIG.
Thereafter, when the trailing end of the sheet 17 is detected by the sheet end sensor 28, the first sheet discharging roller pair 26
Immediately by a signal from 1 or after a pause,
It is rotated in reverse. As a result, the sheet 17 returned from the state of FIG. 4 to the sorting path 14 side is moved by the course changing plate 29 that closes the opening of the common path 23.
Is stopped, and is transported toward the discharge roller 27. At this time, the second discharge roller pair 27 is
1 is rotated in the same direction as the first rotating pair of paper discharge rollers 26 rotating in the reverse direction, the sheet 17 is held at its rear end by the pair of second paper discharging rollers 27 in FIG. After being pulled in as shown in FIG.
And is stacked on the second tray 16 as shown in FIG.

As described above, the paper sheet sorting apparatus 10 has a switchback type configuration for switching the discharge direction of the paper sheet 17 when the front end of the paper sheet 17 protrudes toward the first tray 15. Therefore, the path of the paper sheet 17 can be reliably switched only by rotating the first paper discharge roller pair 26 forward or backward. This eliminates the need for a switching valve, an actuator for driving the switching valve, a control circuit dedicated to the actuator, and the like, which are used in the conventional apparatus. Can be shortened by the switching valve. In addition, since an actuator is not required, the size and weight of the device can be reduced, and low power consumption can be realized. Further, since no contact noise is generated during the operation of the switching valve, low noise can be realized. If the control unit 31 takes time to sort, the control unit 31 conveys the sheet 17 to the sorting path 14, temporarily stands by with a predetermined amount protruding toward the first tray 15 side, Then, the next sheet is read, and the efficiency can be improved by waiting for reading.

In this embodiment, the rotator is formed as the first paper discharge roller pair 26. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The rotator may be formed by a pair of endless belts supported in a crawler shape. Can also.

In this embodiment, the first discharge roller pair 26 is of a standard type in which the nip portion is formed by bringing the roll portions into contact with each other, but for example, the configuration shown in FIG. You can also. In other words, the first paper discharge roller pair 26 shown in the figure is constituted by a pair of rollers 30a and 30b whose rotation shafts 26a extend in parallel with each other.
A plurality of flange portions 26c are formed on the 0a and 30b at different positions in the rotation axis direction. Roller 30a,
30b comprises a plurality of roll portions 26b fixed to the rotating shaft 26a at predetermined intervals, and a plurality of flange portions 26c are formed at both ends of each roll portion 26b.

In the first paper discharge roller pair 26 having the above-described structure, the opposed paper sheets 17 sandwiched between the nip portions are corrugated as shown in FIG. The sheet 17 can be made to have rigidity by bending and forming a plurality of stripes along the transport direction. For this reason, the operation of transferring the sheet 17 to the second discharge roller pair 27 side by the reverse rotation of the first discharge roller pair 26 can be performed more stably.

As shown in FIG. 10, the rolls 2 are continuously arranged on a pair of rotating shafts 26a extending in parallel with each other.
A plurality of flange portions 26c may be formed at different positions in the rotation axis direction with respect to the rollers 30a and 30b on which 6d is formed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the flange 26c shown in FIG. 9 can be replaced by a projection 26f formed at a predetermined interval in the circumferential direction of the roll portion 26b.
Also in this case, the same effect as that of the first paper discharge roller pair 26 shown in FIG. 9 can be obtained. Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the flange 26c shown in FIG.
The protrusions 26f formed at predetermined intervals in the rotation axis direction and the circumferential direction of d can be replaced. Also in this case, the same effect as that of the first paper discharge roller pair 26 shown in FIG. 10 can be obtained. The first paper discharge roller pair 26 and the second paper discharge roller pair 27 of the above-described configuration each transmit a drive when the paper is conveyed to the stacking unit side, and idle when the paper is conveyed backward to the stacking unit. By attaching a rotating pulley (not shown), the paper sheet on the stacking unit side is prevented from being entangled when the sheet is conveyed backward to the stacking unit.

As described above, the present invention has been described based on the preferred embodiment. However, the paper sheet sorting apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and is not limited thereto. The paper sheet sorting apparatus in which various modifications and changes are made from the configuration described above is also included in the scope of the present invention.

[0024]

As described above, according to the paper sheet sorting apparatus of the present invention, the switching of the rotation direction of the rotating body and the coordination of the course changing member cooperate with each other, thereby sorting the paper sheets with a simple configuration. Therefore, low power consumption and low noise can be realized while contributing to a reduction in the size and weight of the device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view schematically showing a paper sheet sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a main part of the paper sheet sorting apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a main part of the paper sheet sorting apparatus shown in FIG. 1, showing a paper sheet conveyance state;

FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a main part of the paper sheet sorting apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of a main part of the paper sheet sorting apparatus shown in FIG. 1, showing a paper sheet conveyance state;

6 is a side cross-sectional view of a main part of the paper sheet sorting apparatus of FIG. 1 showing a paper sheet conveyance state.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a main part of the paper sheet sorting apparatus of FIG. 1 showing a paper sheet conveyance state;

8 is a side sectional view of a main part of the sheet sorting apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a front view illustrating another example of the configuration of the paper discharge roller pair.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing still another example of the configuration of the discharge roller pair.

11 is a front view illustrating an example in which a flange portion of the sheet discharge roller pair illustrated in FIG. 9 is replaced with a protrusion.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing an example in which a flange portion of the sheet discharge roller pair shown in FIG. 10 is replaced with a protrusion.

FIG. 13 is a side sectional view schematically showing a conventional paper sheet sorting apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 paper sheet sorting device 11 paper feed tray (paper feed stacking unit) 14 sorting path 15 first tray (first stacking unit) 16 second tray (second stacking unit) 17 paper sheet 21 optical reading unit (Reading means) 23 Common path 26 First discharge roller pair (conveyance rotating body) 26a Rotating shaft 26b, 26d Roll section 26c Flange section 26f Projection section 27 Second discharge roller pair 29 Path change plate (path change member) 30a , 30b roller

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page Judge of the collegiate referee Yukie Sato Judge Michiko Suzuki Judge Susumu Sugihara (56) References JP-A-4-49159 (JP, A) JP-A 64-69452 (JP, A) JP Hei 3-23151 (JP, A)

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A reading device for reading information from a paper sheet sequentially fed, and a first and a second stacking unit for respectively stacking the paper sheets classified based on the read information. In the sheet sorting apparatus, a common path for conveying a sheet sandwiched by a plurality of guide members and passing through the reading unit, a sorting path disposed subsequent to the common path, Based on the result of the reading by the reading unit, the transported sheet is transported to the first stacking unit by forward rotation, or is transported by a predetermined amount to the first stacking unit side by forward rotation, and then reversely rotated. A transport rotator that transports in the reverse direction; and a path changing member that changes the path toward the second stacking unit without causing the sheet transported in the reverse direction by the transport rotator to enter the common path. , The course The changing member includes a plate member disposed at a boundary between the common path and the sorting path, and the plate member has one end downstream of the common path.
One end is locked by one guide member and the other end is under its own weight.
By falling down to the guide member side, the sheet body that pushes the plate member and moves forward moves the other end portion and the other guide portion.
Material is disposed in a direction to project the transport rotary member side for conveying the paper body to the first stacker while sandwiched between, Kamihatai advancing toward the sorting path side from the common path paper when opening the route by being pressed, closing the common path when the trailing end enters the sorting path of the paper sheet body, in the sorting path, said transport rotary member is reversely rotated by paper body sorting apparatus characterized by the body is conveyed towards the second stacking unit. 2. The sheet sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second stacking units are arranged at positions facing each other with the sorting path interposed therebetween. 3. The transport rotating body includes a pair of rollers whose rotation axes extend in parallel with each other.
The sheet sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of flanges or projections are formed at different positions in the rotation axis direction.