JP4549238B2 - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper feeding device, and relates to a technology for feeding the lowermost paper of a stacked paper bundle for each paper sheet.

  Conventionally, this type of paper feeder has been used as a printing machine, copier, bill counter, election ballot paper counter, and other air supply devices. There is a demand for paper feeding that can be accurately separated for each paper sheet and is free of jamming by skew feeding.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a paper feeding device. This is a paper feeding device that presses the front edge of stacked paper from above with pressure means, drives the conveyance means to feed out the paper, and feeds the paper in order from the bottom while being regulated by the regulating member. When the paper is fed out, the regulating member is appropriately bent according to the paper quality such as the stiffness of the fed paper to regulate the feeding amount.

  In addition, in Patent Document 2, a sheet is stacked on the sheet stacking unit, and the lowermost sheet among the stacked sheets is sucked and transported by the suction unit of the suction transport unit, and is stacked on the sheet stacking unit. The lowermost sheet loaded on the sheet stacking unit is separated from the other sheets on the sheet stacking unit by blowing air from the front to the lower part of the sheet group. A stacking surface component having a sheet stacking surface for stacking a sheet and an inclined surface whose position with respect to the sheet stacking surface increases as it goes downstream in the sheet conveying direction, and a rear end seal member is arranged on the sheet stacking surface. is there.

  This rear end seal member keeps the rear part of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking surface higher than the sheet stacking surface, thereby improving the sealing performance between the sheets at the rear end of the sheet and blowing air to the maximum. There is an effect of spreading uniformly between the lower sheet and the upper sheet.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228688 discloses a stacking unit that stacks a plurality of sheets, a side regulating unit that regulates the sheet feeding direction, and a jet of air to a sheet side surface that intersects the sheet feeding direction. And a sheet feeding means for vacuum-sucking and transporting the lowermost sheet stacked on the stacking means, and supplying air in at least two directions toward the sheet side surface. One or more jetting means having jetting means, the directions of the airflows jetted by these jetting means do not intersect each other, and the sheet bundle loaded on the stacking means is one side portion along the conveying direction. The sheet is floated by blowing air with an injection means for injecting in two directions, and the lowermost sheet is vacuum-sucked by the sheet stacking means and separated and fed.

In addition, what is described in Patent Document 4 is a suction vacuum chamber in which a preceding vacuum sheet is separated from a subsequent paper sheet among a large number of paper sheets whose holding vacuum chambers are arranged side by side on the mounting surface. The feeding belt feeds paper sheets in a direction perpendicular to the suction direction by the holding vacuum chamber. Between the loading surface and the feeding belt, the feeding belt is in the same direction as the suction direction by the holding vacuum chamber. Two holding auxiliary vacuum chambers for sucking paper sheets are arranged in parallel in the paper sheet feeding direction, while the preceding paper sheets are sucked and held in the holding vacuum chamber and fed, Paper sheets are sucked and held in either one of the holding auxiliary vacuum chambers.
JP-A-7-117882 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-167482 JP-A-9-315605 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-11712

  By the way, in the conventional configuration described above, a regulating member and an air blowing means are arranged as means for preventing double feeding. However, as described in Patent Document 1, the strength of the feeding paper is low. In the configuration in which the regulating member is appropriately bent in accordance with the paper quality and the feeding amount is regulated, the edge of the regulating member is in sliding contact with the paper surface when the conveying means is driven to feed the paper, so that the paper surface may be scratched. .

  Further, in Patent Documents 2 and 3, a device for blowing air that separates the lowermost sheet stacked on the sheet stacking unit from other sheets on the sheet is necessary. Since two auxiliary vacuum chambers for holding paper sheets alternately are required, there is a problem that the apparatus becomes large and that separation adjustment takes time.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems, and does not require a regulating member or an air blowing device that slides on the paper surface.In a compact configuration, the occurrence of a jam caused by skew feeding or the like does not occur. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feeding device that can reliably separate each paper sheet and prevent double feeding without scratching the paper surface.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a paper feeding device according to a first aspect of the present invention is configured to adsorb and separate a paper stacking unit for stacking sheets and a lowermost sheet of a stack of sheets stacked on the sheet stacking unit. And a suction member that locks the paper in the paper transport direction. The suction transport means has a recess that is lower than the lower end of the web member in a portion corresponding to the web member.

  With the configuration described above, the sheet that is attracted and separated from the sheet bundle by the suction conveyance means and moves in the conveyance direction is bent along the shape of the concave portion of the suction conveyance means while being attracted to the conveyance surface of the adsorption conveyance means, Passing through the scooping member without diving the bottom of the paper and scratching the paper.

When the suction conveyance unit conveys the lowermost sheet, the sheet overlapped on the lowermost sheet is held by the winding member in the sheet conveyance direction by maintaining a flat shape without bending.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the paper feeding device of the present invention is provided with concave portions formed in the conveying means at a plurality of locations in a direction perpendicular to the paper conveying direction, and provided with a separating member corresponding to each concave portion.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet feeding device including a sheet stacking unit configured to stack sheets, and a suction transport unit configured to suck and separate the lowermost sheet of the stack of sheets stacked on the sheet stacking unit and transport the sheet to the next stage. The suction conveyance means is for delivering the paper after the suction separation over the predetermined distance from the suction conveyance means and then reaching the next stage.

  With the above-described configuration, the suction conveyance unit conveys the sheet at a predetermined conveyance speed while performing adsorption separation from the sheet bundle during adsorption separation, and causes the sheet to reach the next stage while performing synchronous conveyance at the same speed as during adsorption separation. At this time, the paper is sent over a predetermined distance to an area outside the suction conveyance means where the suction force of the suction conveyance means does not reach until reaching the next stage, or the suction force acting on the paper is not applied. The next stage is reached in a state where the suction force of the conveying means is reduced. For this reason, when the transport device of the next stage starts transporting the paper, the paper is transported in synchronization with the transport speed of the transport device of the next stage while sliding on the suction transport device. Therefore, it is possible to smoothly transfer the sheet between the suction conveyance unit and the next-stage conveyance unit having different conveyance speeds.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet feeding device having a suction area corresponding to a bundle of sheets stacked on the paper stacking means by the suction conveyance means and a non-adsorption area corresponding to a terminal side in the paper conveyance direction. Is provided with a driven roller for urging the sheet toward the suction conveyance means.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet feeding device including a sheet stacking unit configured to stack sheets, and a suction transport unit configured to suck and separate the lowermost sheet of the sheet bundle stacked on the sheet stacking unit and transport the sheet to the next stage. The sheet stacking means holds the rear part in the sheet conveying direction on the suction conveyance means in a non-contact state with the suction conveyance means.

  With the above configuration, the lowermost sheet of the stack of sheets stacked on the sheet stacking unit is held flat on the transport surface of the suction transport unit, except for the rear part in the transport direction held by the sheet stacking unit, The rear part in the sheet conveyance direction changes from the non-adsorption state to the adsorption state when moving from the sheet stacking unit onto the conveyance surface.

  For this reason, separation of the lowermost sheet of the sheet bundle from the upper sheet is prevented to prevent double feeding, and even folded sheets are adsorbed on the conveyance surface of the adsorption conveyance means as a whole. Then, the conveyance force by the suction conveyance means is applied to the entire sheet to prevent the sheet from skewing and jamming.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the sheet stacking means holds the sheets in a state where the sheet stacking unit is inclined at an angle of 20 ° or more so that the front part in the sheet conveying direction is higher than the rear part in the conveying direction.
With the above configuration, when the paper is held horizontally and stacked, the weight of the paper acts as a force that presses the paper sheets together. Dispersing toward the rear in the paper transport direction reduces the frictional force between the sheets of the stacked paper and prevents double feeding.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the separation member that locks the sheet in the sheet conveyance direction is provided, and the suction conveyance unit has a concave portion lower than the lower end of the separation member at the portion corresponding to the separation member, or the adsorption conveyance unit Transports the separated and separated paper at a predetermined distance until it reaches the next stage, or the paper stacking means holds the rear part in the paper conveyance direction on the suction conveying means in a non-contact state with the suction conveying means. By holding the paper in a state inclined at 20 ° or more so that the front part in the transport direction is higher than the rear part in the transport direction, a compact structure can be achieved without the need for a regulating member or an air blowing device that slides on the paper surface. In addition, it is possible to prevent jamming due to skew feeding and the like, reliably separating each paper sheet and preventing double feeding without causing scratches on the paper surface.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 7, the sheet feeding device 1 has a suction conveyance device 2 that constitutes a suction conveyance means. In this suction conveyance device 2, a suction paper feed belt 3 is arranged over a drive roll 4 and a support roll 5, and a suction fan 6 and a suction chamber 7 are arranged inside the suction paper feed belt 3.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the suction chamber 7 forms a raceway surface 8 of the suction paper feed belt 3 and has an opening 9 in the raceway surface 8, and the opening 9 corresponds to the suction fan 6. The track surface 8 is formed with a recess 10 that is one step lower than the track surface 8 on the front side in the paper transport direction following the opening 9, and the suction paper feed belt 3 has a recess following the shape of the recess 10 during suction transport. It slides on the track surface 8 while forming.

  The suction paper feeding belt 3 has a plurality of holes 11, and the suction force of the suction fan 6 acts on the paper 12 on the transport surface through the holes 11. The holes 11 form a group for each sheet of the paper 12, and a plurality of groups of holes 11 are provided in the suction paper feeding belt 3.

  Above the suction chamber 7 via the suction paper feeding belt 3, there is provided a paper placement table 13 that serves as a paper stacking means for placing the paper 12. The paper placement table 13 is provided on the conveyance surface of the suction conveyance device 2. The rear part in the transport direction is separated from the suction paper feeding belt 3 and is held in a non-contact state.

  A bar-shaped separating member 14 hangs down on the conveying surface of the suction paper feeding belt 3 so as to be adjustable in height, in front of the paper mounting table 13 in the paper conveying direction. The separating member 14 locks the paper 12 in the paper transport direction, and the position is adjusted so that the lower end is lower than the lowermost paper 12 in the paper stack of the paper placing table 13.

  The spreading member 14 corresponds to the recess 10 of the suction conveyance device 2, and the recess 10 has a shape lower than the lower end of the spreading member 14. One or a plurality of the recesses 10 and the rolling members 14 are arranged, and in the present embodiment, a pair is arranged. Further, the suction conveyance device 2 and the paper mounting table 13 hold the paper 12 in a state of being inclined at 20 ° or more so that the front part of the paper 12 in the conveyance direction is higher than the rear part in the conveyance direction.

  A driven roller 15a is disposed on the terminal end side of the suction conveyance device 2 in the paper conveyance direction, and the driven roller 15a faces the support roll 5 arranged in front of the suction chamber 7 via the suction paper feeding belt 3, and the paper 12 is urged to the suction paper feeding belt 3. In the suction conveyance device 2, a portion corresponding to the sheet bundle in the suction chamber 7 forms a suction region, and a position away from the suction chamber 7, that is, a portion corresponding to the driven roller 15a forms a non-suction region.

  A transfer device 20 which is a transport device of the next stage is provided at the end position of the suction conveyance device 2, that is, a position away from the driven roller 15a by a predetermined distance in the paper conveyance direction, and between the driven roller 15a and the transfer device 20 is provided. A sensor device 21 is disposed on the transport track. The sensor device 21 is composed of an optical sensor or the like, and has a function of detecting passage of paper sheets 12 and a function of detecting double feeding. The control device (not shown) receives the signal output from the sensor device 21 and counts the number of sheets 12 that have passed. If the sensor device 21 detects double feeding, the controller 21 does not count the number of passing sheets and performs a reject operation described later. .

  The transfer device 20 includes a cylindrical transfer roller 22 and a guide 23 that forms a transport track between the outer peripheral surface of the transfer roller 22, and the guide 23 has a suction feed belt 3 at the start end side in the paper transport direction. Located on the top. Driven rollers 15 a, 15 b, 15 c are arranged at a plurality of appropriate positions of the guide 23, and the driven rollers 15 a, 15 b, 15 c are in sliding contact with the suction paper feeding belt 3 or the transfer roller 22 through openings formed in the guide 23. ing.

  A reject branching member 24 is disposed on the terminal end side of the guide 23 in the sheet conveyance direction, and a reject paper receiving member 25 and an impeller 26 are provided in front of the reject branching member 24. The reject branching member 24 rotates between a position where the paper 12 is guided toward the reject paper receiving member 25 and a position where the paper 12 is guided toward the impeller 26. Normally, the paper 12 is directed toward the impeller 26. The sheet 12 is shifted to a position for guiding the sheet 12 toward the reject sheet receiving member 25 when the control device instructs a reject operation.

  The impeller 26 has a plurality of blades 28 arranged at equal intervals around the hub 27. The paper 12 conveyed by the transfer device 20 is received between the blades 28, inverted on the counting paper receiving member 29, and discharged. To do.

  The counting paper receiving member 29 includes a receiving base 30 for receiving the paper 12, side plates 31 disposed on both sides of the receiving base 30, and a vibration motor 32. The counting paper receiving member 29 vibrates the paper 12 held on the receiving base 30 while vibrating the paper 12. Are aligned so that one side is along the side plate 31.

  A blower duct 33 is disposed above the counting paper receiving member 29, and the blower duct 33 has a blower opening 34 that opens toward the cradle 30, and a base end side that communicates with the exhaust side of the suction fan 6. Exhaust air from the suction fan 6 is ejected through the air duct 33 toward the paper 12 on the receiving table 30, and the ejected air separates the paper 12 and the paper 12 to promote alignment by vibration.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the above-described configuration will be described. The suction conveyance device 2 adsorbs the lowermost sheet 12 of the sheet bundle loaded on the sheet loading table 13 to the conveyance surface of the suction sheet feeding belt 3 by the suction force of the suction fan 6 acting through the hole 11 of the suction sheet feeding belt 3. Then, the sheet 12 is separated from the sheet bundle and conveyed along with the movement of the suction sheet feeding belt 3.

  At this time, the lowermost sheet 12 of the sheet bundle is sucked and held flat on the conveying surface of the suction conveying means, except for the rear part in the conveying direction held by the sheet placing table 13. The rear part in the conveyance direction changes from the non-adsorption state to the adsorption state when moving from the sheet mounting table 13 onto the conveyance surface.

  For this reason, separation between the lowermost sheet 12 of the sheet bundle and the adjacent sheet 12 on the sheet stack can be promoted to prevent double feed. In particular, by adsorbing onto the conveyance surface of the suction paper feeding belt 3 of the suction conveyance device 2 and causing the conveyance force of the adsorption conveyance device 2 to act on the entire paper 12, it is possible to prevent the skew of the paper and the occurrence of jamming.

  In addition, since the paper mounting table 13 and the suction conveyance device 2 hold the paper 12 in a state of being inclined at 20 ° or more so that the front part of the paper 12 in the conveyance direction is higher than the rear part in the conveyance direction, The parts are dispersed toward the rear in the sheet conveying direction, and the frictional force between the sheets of the stacked sheets 12 is reduced, thereby preventing double feeding.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the sheet 12 that is attracted and separated from the sheet bundle by the suction conveyance device 2 and moves in the sheet conveyance direction together with the suction sheet feeding belt 3 is conveyed by the suction sheet feeding belt 3 at a position corresponding to the recess 10. It bends along the shape of the recess 10 in the state of being attracted to the surface, and passes through the rolling member 14 while diving at the lower end of the rolling member 14. Therefore, the scooping member 14 does not slidably contact the paper surface of the paper 12, and the paper surface is not scratched.

  When the suction conveyance device 2 conveys the lowermost sheet 12, the sheet overlapped on the lowermost sheet 12 is kept in a flat shape without being bent, and thus is related to the winding member 14 in the sheet conveyance direction. Stopped and double feed is prevented.

  The sheet 12 passing through the separating member 14 in the recess 10 is sent out of the suction chamber 7 and is synchronously transported by the suction paper feed belt 3 at a predetermined transport speed during suction separation while being urged by the driven roller 15a. 21 counts the number of passing sheets.

  The paper 12 transported by the suction paper feeding belt 3 reaches the transfer device 20 at the next stage at a position where the paper 12 is fed over a predetermined distance to an area where the suction force of the suction transport device 2 does not reach. For this reason, the sheet 12 is in a state where the suction force by the suction conveyance device 2 does not act, that is, the rear part in the conveyance direction of the sheet 12 is sent out by the driven roller 15a and the suction paper feeding belt 3, or the suction conveyance device that acts on the sheet 12 2 arrives at the transfer device 20 at the next stage in a state where the suction force of 2 is small, that is, in a state where the area of the paper 12 located above the suction chamber 7 is small.

  For this reason, when the transfer device 20 starts to be transported by the transfer roller 22 and the driven roller 15b, the paper 12 is transported in synchronization with the transport speed of the transfer device 20 while sliding on the suction paper feed belt 3, and jamming occurs. In order to prevent this, the paper 12 can be smoothly transferred between the transfer device 20 that transports at a higher speed than the suction transport device 2 and the suction transport device 2 having a different transport speed. The increase in the degree can be suppressed.

  The sheet 12 passing between the driven roller 15 c and the transfer roller 22 is guided by the reject branching member 24 and discharged between the blades 28 of the impeller 26. The impeller 26 rotates and rotates the paper 12 on the counting paper receiving member 29 and discharges it.

  By the way, when a sticky substance is interposed between the sheets 12 for some reason, or depending on environmental conditions such as humidity, the suction conveyance device 2 may simultaneously suck and double-feed a plurality of sheets 12. For this reason, the control device detects the time required for the passage of one sheet 12 when the sensor device 21 detects that the sheet 12 has been double-fed due to the difference in light transmittance, or when the passage of the sheet 12 is detected. When continuing beyond this, the reject branch member 24 is displaced toward the reject paper receiving member 25.

  A plurality of sheets of paper 12 that have been double fed are guided by the reject branching member 24 from between the driven roller 15 c and the transfer roller 22 and discharged onto the reject paper receiving member 25. The control device detects that the rear end of the paper 12 that has been double-fed by the sensor device 21 has passed, and returns the reject branch member 24 in the direction toward the impeller 26 when a predetermined time has elapsed.

  The control device does not add the multiple sheets 12 that have been multi-fed to the count number, and the sheets 12 discharged onto the reject paper receiving member 25 are returned to the sheet placement table 13 and conveyed again to be counted. Therefore, it is not necessary to stop the apparatus even if double feeding occurs, and it is not necessary to return all the sheets to the sheet placing table 13 and recount, and only the double fed sheets 12 need be counted again. .

  The sheet 12 discharged onto the receiving tray 30 of the counting sheet receiving member 29 is subjected to vibration by the vibration motor 32 while being urged so as to be separated from the sheet 12 by the air blown from the air blowing port 34. Are aligned along the side plate 31.

1 is a front view showing a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The perspective view which shows the paper feeder in the embodiment The perspective view which shows the paper feeder in the embodiment The perspective view which shows the paper feeder in the embodiment FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a paper feeding device from which the suction paper feeding belt in FIG. The perspective view which shows the suction chamber of the paper feeder in the embodiment Rear view showing the paper feeding device in the embodiment The principal part enlarged view which shows the paper feeder in the embodiment

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feeder 2 Adsorption conveyance apparatus 3 Suction paper feed belt 4 Drive roll 5 Support roll 6 Suction fan 7 Suction chamber 8 Track surface 9 Opening part 10 Recess 11 Hole 12 Paper 13 Paper mounting table 14 Rolling member 15a, b, c Follow Roller 20 Transfer device 21 Sensor device 22 Transfer roller 23 Guide 24 Reject branch member 25 Reject paper receiving member 26 Impeller 27 Hub 28 Blade 29 Count paper receiving member 30 Receptacle 31 Side plate 32 Vibration motor 33 Blower duct 34 Blower port

Claims (7)

A sheet loading means for loading sheets and a suction conveying means for sucking and separating the lowermost sheet of the sheet bundle loaded on the sheet loading means and conveying to the next stage by a suction sheet feeding belt sliding on the track surface The paper stacking means is provided in front of the paper stacking means with a lower end lower than the lowermost paper in the paper bundle and locking the paper in the paper conveyance direction, and the suction conveyance means is lower than the lower end of the separation member at a portion corresponding to the separation member. A paper feeding device having a recess. A sheet loading means for loading sheets and a suction conveying means for sucking and separating the lowermost sheet of the sheet bundle loaded on the sheet loading means and conveying them to the next stage by a suction sheet feeding belt sliding on the track surface A separating member for locking the sheet in the sheet conveying direction is provided in front of the sheet stacking unit , the suction conveying unit has a recess lower than the lower end of the separating member at a portion corresponding to the separating member , A sheet feeding device that bends along the shape of the recess while adhering the sheet to the conveyance surface at a position corresponding to the sheet .   The paper feeding device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein concave portions formed in the conveying means are provided at a plurality of locations in a direction perpendicular to the paper conveying direction, and a separating member is provided corresponding to each concave portion. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the suction conveyance unit causes the paper after the suction separation to be delivered from the suction conveyance unit over a predetermined distance and then reaches the next stage . The suction conveyance means has a suction area corresponding to the sheet bundle loaded on the paper stacking means and a non-adsorption area corresponding to the end side in the paper conveyance direction, and biases the paper to the suction conveyance means at a position corresponding to the non-adsorption area The paper feeding device according to claim 1 , further comprising a driven roller that performs the following operation . 3. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet stacking unit holds the rear part in the sheet conveyance direction on the suction conveyance unit in a non-contact state with the adsorption conveyance unit . The sheet feeding device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sheet stacking unit holds the sheet in a state where the sheet stacking unit is inclined at an angle of 20 ° or more so that a front part in the sheet conveyance direction is higher than a rear part in the conveyance direction .

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