JP3440624B2 - Sheet material supply method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used in a sheet material feeding device for feeding a sheet material such as an exposed printing plate material to a sheet material processing device such as an automatic developing machine for a photosensitive material. The present invention relates to a sheet material supply method and apparatus for separating only the uppermost sheet material of various sizes stacked on a mounting table and supplying the separated sheet material to an automatic processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a photosensitive sheet material such as a lithographic printing plate having a surface of a support such as a thin metal plate coated with a photosensitive material is continuously processed by a developing device, the unprocessed developing device is not processed. An unprocessed sheet supply unit as shown in FIG. 9 is provided on the sheet supply side.

In the unprocessed sheet supply section shown in FIG. 9, the sheet material P after exposure and before development is stacked in the unprocessed sheet material storage section 100 with the photosensitive material surface facing downward. A chain 101 driven by a sprocket 102 is arranged near the unprocessed sheet material storage unit 100, and a rotatable front roller 103 and an intermediate roller 104 are arranged in this chain.

The uppermost sheet material P of the sheet material group accommodated in the unprocessed sheet material accommodating section 100 is captured by the suction pad 105 at its lower portion and lifted up, and the leading roller 103 from below the sheet material P. , Intermediate roller 1
As 04 moves upward, the uppermost sheet material P that is adsorbed and held is separated from the lower sheet material group and sent to the developing machine.

[0005]

When the lower end portion of the sheet material as shown in FIG. 9 is sucked and delivered, the upper end of the sheet material may drop due to the weight of the sheet material itself when the lower portion of the sheet material is lifted, or the sheet material may be dropped. Since multiple rollers come into contact with the processing surface of the sheet material when separating the sheets, there is a problem that the processing surface is scratched, or the sheet material is aligned with the guide surface and pressed by the rollers to bend it forcibly. There is also a problem that the sheet material is deformed.

Further, since there is a step of delivering the sheet material to a separately prepared sliding member after the sheet material is captured, there is a problem that the sheet falls during delivery.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a sheet material supply method capable of reliably supplying sheet materials of various sizes one by one by holding both upper and lower ends thereof. And its device.

[0008]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve the above object. That is, in the method according to the first aspect of the present invention, only one of the uppermost layers of the untreated sheet materials stacked and placed with the processing surface facing down on the mounting table is supplied to the sheet material processing unit along the guide plate. And a step of detecting the upper end of one of the uppermost layers of the stacked sheet materials, and the holder for holding the sheet material up to the vicinity of the upper end detection position of the sheet material. A step of moving, a step of holding the upper end of the sheet material and a lower end of the sheet material, a step of displacing the lower end of the sheet material to the guide plate side, and a shaking of the held sheet material to the guide plate side. The step of dynamically displacing the sheet, the step of releasing the holding of the upper end portion of the sheet material swing-displaced to a predetermined position, and the sheet material having the lower end portion being displaced along the guide plate are supplied to the sheet material processing unit. And a step of .

The invention method according to claim 2 is the method according to claim 1, wherein from the step of holding the upper end portion of the sheet material and the lower end portion of the sheet material, the sheet material is guided to the guide plate. It is characterized in that a step of blowing compressed air toward the lower end portion of the held sheet material is performed in the step of swinging and displacing to the side.

The invention device according to claim 3 is a sheet material supply device for supplying an unprocessed sheet material to a sheet material processing unit, wherein the unprocessed sheet material is not treated with its treated surface facing down. An unprocessed sheet material storage unit that leans and stacks a processed sheet material on a mounting table, and is disposed opposite to the unprocessed sheet material storage unit, and is curved and inclined in a direction opposite to the inclined arrangement of the sheet material. A sheet material supply guide plate having a sliding guide surface for guiding the sheet material to the sheet material processing unit; a retracted position to be retracted into the sheet material supply guide plate; A swing arm that is swingable about the lower end over a position parallel to the processed sheet material, a position close to the sheet material supply guide plate, and the unprocessed sheet in the unprocessed sheet material storage unit. And the position parallel to And a retractable projecting member, a swinging member driving section that drives the swinging arm, an upper end holder that is displaceably attached along the swinging arm, and a lower end that is attached to the tip end of the projecting member. A holder, a sheet material upper end detection sensor that is displaceable integrally with the upper end holder and that detects the upper end of the uppermost unprocessed sheet material in the unprocessed sheet material storage unit, and the upper end holder. An upper end holder driving section that drives the sheet material upper end detection sensor to be displaced along the swing arm, and a protruding member drive section that moves the protruding member along a sliding guide surface of the sheet material supply guide plate. And are provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the invention device according to the third aspect, wherein the upper end holder and the lower end holder are advanced so that the upper end portion of the sheet material and the lower end portion of the sheet material. And the upper end holder swings to the guide plate side and separates the sheet material, the compressed air blowing mechanism that blows compressed air toward the lower end portion of the untreated sheet material is used. It is characterized by being provided in the material storage section.

[0012]

The operation of the present invention is as follows. That is, according to the method of the invention described in claim 1, the upper end of the uppermost one of the stacked sheet materials is detected and the upper end of the sheet material is held. At the same time, the lower end of the sheet material is held, and the lower end of the held sheet material is displaced toward the guide plate. Next, after swinging and displacing the held sheet material to a predetermined position, the holding of the upper end portion of the sheet material is released. Subsequently, the holder holding the lower end of the sheet material is slidably displaced along the guide plate so that the sheet material is not touched at all on the sheet material processing surface and is never delivered. Carry it into the processing section.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the holding is carried out from the step of holding the upper end of the sheet material and the lower end of the sheet material to the step of swinging and displacing the sheet material toward the guide plate. By blowing compressed air toward the lower end portion of the sheet material being held, it is possible to easily separate the extra sheet material attached to the held sheet material.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the upper end holder driving unit displaces and drives the sheet upper end detection sensor and the upper end holder on the swing member, thereby storing the unprocessed sheet material. The upper end of the uppermost sheet material placed on the section is detected.

Then, the upper end holder protruding mechanism causes the upper end holder to protrude, and the upper end portion of the uppermost sheet material is held by the upper end holder. At the same time, the lower end holder protruding mechanism causes the lower end holder to protrude, and the lower end portion of the uppermost sheet material is held by the upper end holder. After holding the upper and lower ends of the sheet material, the lower end holder protruding mechanism is displaced to the sheet material supply guide plate side. After that, the swinging member is driven to be displaced by the swinging member driving section,
By retracting the sheet material to a position where it abuts against the sheet material supply guide plate and releasing the holding of the upper end holder, only the lower end holder holds the sheet material. Next, the projecting member driving unit moves the projecting member along the sheet material supply guide plate to transfer the sheet material to the sheet material processing unit.

Further, according to the invention device of claim 4, the upper end holder and the lower end holder are advanced to hold the upper end portion of the sheet material and the lower end portion of the sheet material, and then the lower end holder is The compressed air is blown toward the lower end of the untreated sheet material by the compressed air blowing mechanism until the sheet material is separated by being drawn and displaced toward the guide plate side to assist the separation of the sheet material. Therefore, even if a plurality of sheet materials are held, the excess sheet material is removed by the compressed air, so that only one sheet can be easily held.

[0017]

EXAMPLES The method and apparatus of the present invention can be applied to various apparatuses as long as the apparatus has a mechanism for conveying a sheet material, but in the present embodiment, it is used for manufacturing a printing plate material.
An automatic development processing device that develops a photosensitive plate material that has undergone image exposure will be described as an example. Therefore, in the following description, a process of carrying in a sheet material for developing the sheet material having the photosensitive surface on which the desired print pattern has already been exposed will be described.

The sheet material to be conveyed here is
A photosensitive material is applied to one surface of a base material made of metal such as aluminum to have a thickness of 0.2 to 0.5 mm and a length of 300 to 1300 mm. Of the surfaces of the sheet material, one surface coated with the photosensitive material is referred to as a treated surface, and the other surface is referred to as a non-treated surface.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the structure of the automatic developing apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 in the drawing is an automatic developing device, and a sheet material supply device 2 is arranged on the upper side of the sheet material processing section 3. The sheet material supply unit 2 includes an unprocessed sheet material storage unit 10 for stacking and storing the exposed and undeveloped sheet material P in a state in which the non-processed surface of the sheet material P is obliquely leaned against the mounting table 10a. Processing sheet material storage unit 1
A sheet material supply guide plate 40 having a sliding guide surface that is disposed so as to face 0, is curved and inclined in a direction opposite to the sheet material leaning inclination direction and guides the sheet material P to the sheet material processing unit 3.
A sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20 arranged below the sheet material supply guide plate 40 and swingably displaceable around a lower end, and the sheet material supply mechanism similar to the sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20. Sheet material lower end holding mechanism 30 arranged below the guide plate 40 for use, and the unprocessed sheet material storage unit 1
The air pressure blowing mechanism 5 that is placed on the mounting surface 11 of 0 and blows air toward the lower end of the sheet materials P that are stacked and stored.
It consists of zero.

Next, the respective parts of the sheet material supplying section 2 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. First, the configuration of the sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20 will be described. The sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20 includes a swing arm 21 supported so as to swing back and forth around a fulcrum a at the lower end thereof, and is swing driven by an air cylinder 25 corresponding to a swing arm drive unit. . Further, a pad / sensor support 24 including a sheet material upper end suction pad 22 corresponding to an upper end holder and a sheet material upper end detection mechanism 23 corresponding to a sheet material upper end detection sensor rocks on the swing arm 21. The movable arm 21 is provided so as to be displaceable along the longitudinal direction.

The pad / sensor support 24 is slidably attached along the longitudinal direction of the swing arm 21 and is screwed to the screw shaft 21a.
The pad / sensor support 24 is reciprocally moved in the longitudinal direction of the swing arm 21 by driving a and a in reverse rotation by a motor 21b connected to one end thereof.

As shown in FIG. 4, the pad / sensor support 24 is provided with a sheet material upper end suction pad 22 (upper end holder) for adsorbing the sheet material P and a sheet material upper end detection mechanism 23. Each is an air cylinder 24a, 24
It is driven forwards and backwards at a right angle to the longitudinal direction of the swing arm by b. The sheet material upper end suction pad 22 and the sheet material upper end detection mechanism 23 are spring-biased so as to advance forward. This sheet material upper end detection mechanism 23 is used for the proximity switch 2
3a, an actuator 23b that is urged by a spring in the thickness direction of the sheet material to be suspended, and a sensor support 23c that supports them, and the actuator 23b.
Also, idle rollers 23d and 23e are provided on the sheet support contact side of the sensor support 23c to prevent contact damage to the sheet support P.

The thickness of the sheet material P is 0.2 to 0.5.
Since the sheet materials P having various sizes are stacked and placed, for example, when the size of the lower layer sheet material P in the longitudinal direction is smaller than the longitudinal size of the uppermost sheet material P, the uppermost layer When the upper end of the sheet material P is warped in the direction of the lower sheet material P and the sheet material upper edge detection mechanism 23 moves on the uppermost sheet material P, the uppermost sheet material P
It becomes difficult to detect the displacement due to the step between the sheet material P and the lower sheet material P. Therefore, it is preferable that the distance L1 between the roller 23d of the actuator 23b and the front roller 23e of the sensor support 23c and the distance L2 between the front and rear rollers 23e attached to the sensor support 23c are as small as possible.

Next, the structure of the sheet material lower end holding mechanism 30 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. A guide rail 35a is arranged along the lower side of the sheet material supply guide plate 40, and sliding bases 31 slidably attached to the guide rail 35a are arranged above and below the sheet material supply device 2. Is connected to the chain 35b wound around the sprocket 35c
Is driven by a motor 35d to rotate the chain 35b, so that the sliding base 31 moves along the guide rail 35a. That is, the guide rail 3
5a, chain 35b, sprocket 35c, motor 3
The sliding base drive unit 35 is configured by 5d and the like.

The sliding base 31 has a rotary cylinder 3 attached thereto.
2, a rotary arm 32a driven and rotated by the rotary cylinder 32 is provided with a sheet material lower end suction pad 33 corresponding to a lower end holder, and the sheet material lower end suction pad 33 is By the rotational driving of the rotary cylinder 32, the rotary cylinder 32 is rotationally displaced from a position close to the sheet material supply guide plate 40 to a position parallel to the unprocessed sheet material storage unit 10. Further, the lower end suction pad 33 of the sheet material is displaced and driven by an air cylinder 34 corresponding to a projecting member in a direction orthogonal to the unprocessed sheet material storage portion 10.

The compressed air blowing mechanism 50 comprises a blowing nozzle 51 arranged along the lower end of the unprocessed sheet accommodating portion 10, and a compressor 52 for sending compressed air to the blowing nozzle 51.
Composed of. The blowing nozzle 51 has a plurality of outlets 51a arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction at appropriate intervals, from which compressed air is blown toward the lower end of the sheet material P stacked in the unprocessed sheet storage unit 10. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the sheet material supply guide plate 40 has a swing displacement of the above-described sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20 and the sheet material lower end suction pad 33 provided in the sheet material lower end holding mechanism 30. Is provided with a pair of left and right openings 40a that are long in the vertical direction and allow the displacement of Also, the case of weak material against rubbing untreated surface of the sheet material P may be arranged a plurality of rollers on the surface of the sheet material supply guide plate 40. The curvature of the sheet material carrying-in guide plate 40 is 200 to 800 mm, and when the base plate forming the sheet material P is aluminum, the curvature radius is 300 to 300 mm.
500 mm is preferable.

Next, the sheet material supply operation of the sheet material supply device 2 will be described. First, the transfer operation of the sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20 will be described. Air cylinder 2 for swing arm drive
When 5 is driven to extend, the swing arm 21 in the retracted position (the position where the guide plate 40 is retracted) shown in FIG. 1 swings toward the unprocessed sheet material storage unit 10. The sheet P is displaced to the suction position. Then, the air cylinder 24b is driven so that the sensor support 23c advances and comes into contact with the sheet material P. Then, the motor 21c of the sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20 is driven to rotate normally,
The pad / sensor support 24 is driven upward from the lower position. As shown in FIG. 4, when the actuator 23b reaches the upper end of the uppermost sheet material P of the stacked sheet material group, the actuator 23b is displaced downward due to the step at the upper end. When this displacement is detected by the proximity switch 23a, the motor 21c stops, and the sheet material upper end suction pad 22 stops at the upper position of the uppermost sheet material P. As described above, since the upper end of the sheet material P is detected by the sheet material upper end detection mechanism 23, even the sheet materials P of various sizes can be accurately suction-held at their upper ends.

Then, the air cylinder 24b is driven to lower the sheet material upper end suction pad 22 to suck and hold the upper portion of the sheet material P. At the same time, the air cylinder 24a contracts and the sensor support 23c returns to the initial position.

Simultaneously with the suction holding operation of the upper end of the sheet material P, the rotary cylinder 32 is driven toward the lower end of the sheet material P, and the rotary arm 32a rotates. Then, the sheet material lower end suction pad 33 attached to the tip of the rotating arm 32a sucks and holds the lower end portion of the sheet material P by the advancing displacement of the air cylinder 34.

After the sheet material upper end suction pad 22 and the sheet material lower end suction pad 33 suck and hold the sheet material P, the compressed air blowing mechanism 50 operates and compressed air is blown from the blowout port 51a of the blowing nozzle 51 to the sheet. Spray toward the lower end of the material P. Then, the air cylinder 34 is retracted to move the suction pad 33 at the lower end of the sheet material to the sheet material supply guide plate 40 side. By this operation, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the lower end portion of the sheet material P is displaced toward the sheet material supply guide plate 40 side to facilitate the separation of the sheet material P sucked and held and the sheet material P of the next layer, and shorten the time required for the separating operation. can do. Further, it is also effective to separate the sheets that a friction member such as a rubber sheet is attached to the mounting surface 11 of the sheet material supply unit 10 to improve the friction when the lower end surface of the sheet material P moves.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7, the air cylinder 25 of the swing arm drive unit contracts to swing the upper end of the sucked and held sheet material P to the sheet material supply guide plate 40 side. . At the same time, the rotary cylinder 32 is driven to reversely drive the sheet material lower end suction pad 33 to a position where the lower end portion of the sheet material P abuts the sheet material supply guide plate 40. Then, the sheet material upper end suction pad 22 releases the suction of the sheet material P, and the sheet material P is suctioned and held only by the sheet material lower end suction pad 33. After that, the sheet material upper end holding mechanism 20 returns to the retracted position below the sheet material supply guide plate 40.

Next, the transfer operation of the sheet material lower end holding mechanism 30 will be described with reference to FIG. The sheet material lower end suction pad 33 in the state where the sheet material P is sucked and held is guided by the sheet material supply guide plate 40 by slidingly displacing the sliding base 31.
Displace along. Therefore, when the sliding base drive unit 35 moves the sliding base 31 toward the sheet processing unit 3 along the guide rail 35a, the sheet material P slides on the surface of the sheet material supply guide plate 40.

When the leading edge of the sheet material P is detected by the proximity sensor 3c disposed immediately behind the pair of upper and lower nip rollers 3a provided at the sheet material supply port of the sheet processing section 3, the sliding base drive is performed. The operation of the unit 35 stops. Subsequently, after the nip roller 3a is closed and it is confirmed that the upper and lower nip rollers 3a hold the sheet material P, the suction holding of the sheet material lower end suction pad 33 is released. As a result, the sheet material P is taken into the sheet material processing unit 3 by the driving of the conveying motor 3d provided in the automatic developing device 1 and subjected to appropriate processing.

The present invention can also be implemented in the following modes. When the sheet material P is thick to some extent, a suction pad may be used as the upper end holding tool 22 and the lower end holding tool 33, or one that locks the lateral edge of the sheet material P may be used.

When the base plate of the sheet material P is a magnetic metal such as a thin iron plate, an electromagnet that can be turned on and off can be used as the upper end holder 22 and the lower end holder 33.

[0037]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the method of the first aspect of the present invention, since the non-treated surface of the sheet material is held and transferred and conveyed,
It does not touch the treated surface of the sheet material and does not scratch the treated surface. Further, since the transfer operation is performed while holding both the upper end portion and the lower end portion of the sheet material, the sheet material is not bent and deformed or dropped due to its own weight. In addition, since the lower end portion of the held sheet material is continuously held until it is supplied to the next process, the sheet material can be supplied safely and reliably.

According to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to more reliably separate the sheet materials by blowing the compressed air, and the sheet materials can be supplied to the sheet material processing section one by one.

According to the invention device described in claim 3, the invention method described in claim 1 can be suitably implemented.

According to the invention device described in claim 4, the invention method described in claim 2 can be suitably implemented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an automatic developing device that carries out a method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a sheet material supply unit.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a sheet material upper end detection operation state of the sheet material upper end holding mechanism.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a sheet material upper end detection mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a holding operation state of upper and lower ends of a sheet material.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a displacement operation state of a sheet material lower end holding mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a swing displacement operation state of upper and lower ends of a sheet material.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram of a sheet material supply state.

FIG. 9 is a schematic explanatory view showing a conventional example of a sheet material feeding device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Sheet material supply device 3 ... Sheet material processing section 10 ... Untreated sheet material storage 10a ... Mounting table 20 ... Sheet material upper end holding mechanism 21 ... Swing arm 22 ... Top holder 23 ... Sheet material upper end detection mechanism 25 ... Swing arm drive unit 30 ... Sheet material lower end holding mechanism 31 ... Lower end holder 40 ... Guide plate for supplying sheet material 50 ... Pneumatic blowing mechanism P ... Sheet material

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A sheet material supply method for supplying only one uppermost layer of unprocessed sheet materials stacked and placed with a processing surface facing down on a mounting table along a guide plate to a sheet material processing section. And a step of detecting the upper end of one of the uppermost layers of the stacked sheet materials, a step of moving the holder for the sheet material to near the upper end detection position of the sheet material, Holding the upper end of the sheet material and the lower end of the sheet material, displacing the lower end portion of the sheet material to the guide plate side, swinging the held sheet material to the guide plate side, and A step of releasing the holding of the upper end portion of the sheet material that has been oscillated to the position, and a step of displacing the sheet material holding the lower end portion along the guide plate to the sheet material processing unit. A sheet material supply method characterized by the above. 2. From the step of holding the upper end of the sheet material and the lower end of the sheet material to the step of oscillating and displacing the sheet material toward the guide plate, facing the lower end of the held sheet material. The method for supplying a sheet material according to claim 1, wherein a step of blowing compressed air is performed. 3. A sheet material supply device for supplying an untreated sheet material to a sheet material processing unit, wherein the untreated sheet material is leaned diagonally against a mounting table with the treated surface of the untreated sheet material facing down. The unprocessed sheet material storage part to be stacked and laminated, and the sheet material is guided to the sheet material processing part by being arranged so as to face the unprocessed sheet material storage part and curved in a direction opposite to the inclined arrangement of the sheet material. A sheet material supply guide plate having a sliding guide surface, a retracted position retracted into the sheet material supply guide plate, and a position parallel to the unprocessed sheet material in the unprocessed sheet material storage portion. A swinging arm that is swingable about the lower end, and protrudes and retracts between a position close to the sheet material supply guide plate and a position parallel to the unprocessed sheet in the unprocessed sheet material storage unit. Flexible protrusion Member, a swinging member driving unit that drives the swinging arm, an upper end holder that is displaceably attached along the swinging arm, a lower end holder that is attached to the tip of the protruding member, and the upper end holder A sheet material upper end detection sensor that is displaceable integrally with a tool and that detects the upper end of the uppermost unprocessed sheet material in the unprocessed sheet material storage portion; the upper end holder and the sheet material upper end detection sensor; An upper end holder driving unit for driving the displacement of the projecting member along the swinging arm, and a projecting member driving unit for moving the projecting member along the sliding guide surface of the sheet material supply guide plate. Characteristic sheet material supply device. 4. The upper end holder and the lower end holder are advanced to hold the upper end portion of the sheet material and the lower end portion of the sheet material, and then the upper end holder is pivotally displaced toward the guide plate. 4. The sheet material according to claim 3, further comprising a compressed air blowing mechanism for blowing compressed air toward a lower end portion of the untreated sheet material until the sheet material is separated from the untreated sheet material storage portion. Supply device.