JP5007151B2 - Book alignment device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a book aligning apparatus for aligning books that have been conveyed one by one in a stacked state.

  In bookstores, used bookstores, libraries, etc., in general, the work of sorting the received books or returned books in the order of the author's name, for example, in the order of the author's name and arranging them on the bookshelf. Conventionally, various automatic book sorting equipment has been used in order to improve the efficiency of this arrangement work.

  For example, the sorting facility disclosed in the following Patent Document 1 is provided with a plurality of sorting sections along the transport path, and sorts each book that has been transported one by one in accordance with a predetermined arrangement. Branching at the part. Each sorting unit is provided with a chute extending laterally from the conveyance path, and a receiving base for receiving the book is disposed at the tip of the chute.

  In such a sorting facility, the sorted books are sent out almost horizontally from the chute, and are sequentially stacked in a flat state on the cradle. The operator carries the bundle of the stacked books to a predetermined place on the bookshelf, and performs secondary sorting such as arranging them for each author if necessary.

  However, in the conventional sorting equipment as described above, the sorted books are stacked and collected, and there is a risk of falling if the height is high. In addition, there is a limit to increasing the distance in the height direction between the chute and the cradle. For this reason, the number of books placed on the cradle is limited. If any of the cradle reaches this limit, the entire sorting facility must be stopped. Or it is necessary to take out a book frequently from a receiving stand, and there exists a possibility that workability | operativity may deteriorate.

  In addition, when books of different sizes are mixed, there is a problem that it is easy to fall over and stacking itself is difficult.

  Furthermore, since it is difficult to perform secondary sorting on the receiving table in the stacked state, work on the periphery of a narrow bookcase is unavoidable.

  For such a problem, it is conceivable to use an alignment apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 below. This aligning device is a device for aligning flat articles such as CDs and video tapes, and changes the posture of the flat articles sent from the chute to an upright state and arranges them on a belt conveyor extending in the lateral direction. It is. The endless belt of the belt conveyor moves as much as the thickness of the flat article each time the flat article is placed, and can receive subsequent flat articles.

When such an alignment apparatus is used for books, the books are arranged in the horizontal direction in an upright state, so there is no risk of falling, and there is no limit to the number of books to be arranged as long as a horizontal space can be secured. It is also possible to perform secondary sorting of books on a belt conveyor.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-255770 JP-A-11-100118

  The conventional alignment apparatus as described above is originally used for a CD or video tape of a certain thickness. For this reason, it is difficult to apply to books whose thickness is not constant.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an alignment apparatus that can be used for books.

  In order to achieve the above object, a book aligning apparatus according to the present invention is capable of placing a book and capable of circulating driving, and an endless belt that accepts one book. A book loading portion having a space for placing the book in an upright state, a book placed on the endless belt in a standing state, and movable integrally with the endless belt. A supporting plate, detection means for detecting whether or not there is a book in the space of the book mounting portion, and air is blown onto the book placed in the space of the book mounting portion, and the book is supported on the supporting plate. Air spraying means for moving to the side, and control means for controlling the endless belt and the air spraying means. The control means detects that there is a book in the space of the book loading portion by the detecting means. When the book is moved to the support plate side by driving the air blowing means, and the endless belt is driven to circulate, and the detection means detects that the book has moved from the space of the book loading portion. Further, the driving of the air blowing means and the endless belt is stopped.

  In such a configuration, regardless of the thickness, the books are pushed toward the support plate by the air from the air blowing means, and the books are sequentially pressed against the support plate and aligned in an upright state. Further, since the endless belt is driven until the space for placing the book is vacant, the subsequent book does not interfere with the preceding book.

  In addition, it is preferable that the number of support plates is two, and each of them can be moved along the endless belt separately. This is because, when a book is supported by one support plate, the other support plate can be moved to an initial position, and subsequent books can be newly aligned and supported.

  As described above, according to the book alignment apparatus of the present invention, books having different thicknesses can be aligned in an upright state. In addition, since books are arranged in a horizontal direction on an endless belt, books of different sizes can be arranged. Furthermore, the number of books to be aligned can be increased, the frequency of carrying out books from the endless belt can be reduced, and secondary sorting on the endless belt is also possible.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an automatic book sorting facility 12 to which a book alignment apparatus 10 according to the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 14 denotes a sorting device. The sorter 14 may be of any type as long as it can transport the books B one by one, and the sorter 16 can branch the books B according to a predetermined arrangement, for example, a slide shoe extrusion type or a paddle type. A known sorting device such as the above can be used. The sorter 14 shown in FIG. 1 is a paddle type sorter, and is composed of a conveyor 18 such as a belt conveyor and a paddle unit 20 installed in each of a plurality of sorters 16 arranged along the transport direction. ing. As can be understood from FIG. 2, the paddle unit 20 includes a paddle 22 disposed above the conveying surface of the conveyor 18, and a drive belt 24 that drives the paddle 22 in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor 18. The book B can be pushed out in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction by moving the paddle 22. Further, the end of the uppermost stream side of the conveyor 18 is a portion on which the operator places the book B first, and the barcode attached to the book B is read at this portion or an adjacent position on the downstream side thereof. The barcode reader 26 is provided. The barcode reader 26 is used for reading the book information of the book B conveyed by the conveyor 18 and determining which sorter 16 is to branch. The barcode reader 26 is connected to a control device (not shown) that controls the entire automatic book sorting equipment 12.

  In such a sorting apparatus 14, it is necessary to drive the conveyor 18 so that the book B placed thereon is laid down and to branch the book B at a predetermined sorting unit 16. In this case, the paddle unit 20 in the sorting unit 16 is controlled to sort the book B by pushing it out to the side.

  As can be seen from FIG. 2, on the side of each sorting unit 16, a chute 28 is installed to flow the book B sent out from the sorting unit 16 to the book aligning apparatus 10. The chute 28 in the illustrated embodiment is composed of a plurality of free rollers 30.

  The book alignment apparatus 10 according to the illustrated embodiment includes a belt conveyor 32 extending in the lateral direction. The upper surface on the tension side of the endless belt 34 in the belt conveyor 32 is a surface on which the book B is placed (hereinafter referred to as “mounting surface”). This placement surface extends in substantially the same direction as the conveyance direction of the chute 28. The mounting surface is preferably inclined slightly downward toward a direction away from the chute 28 (hereinafter, this direction is referred to as a “downstream direction”). The books B are arranged in a standing state on the placement surface, but by tilting the placement surface, the most upstream book B is prevented from falling. The endless belt 34 is circulated and driven in the direction of arrow A by a drive motor 36. The drive motor 36 is controlled by a control device (control means) (not shown).

  The book B placed on the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32 is supported by the support plate 38 so that the book B on the opposite side (downstream side) from the chute 28 does not fall down. In the present embodiment, there are two support plates 38 (in the following description, the suffix a is attached to the upstream side and the suffix b is appropriately attached to the downstream side). These support plates 38 are supported above the belt conveyor 32 by support rods 40 arranged parallel to the longitudinal direction of the placement surface. As shown in FIG. 3, the support rod 40 is a round bar, and a boss 42 provided on the upper portion of the support plate 38 is slidably and rotatably fitted therein. Note that both ends of the support rod 40 are fixed by fixtures 46 on the side wall plate 44 installed at one side edge of the belt conveyor 32.

  The endless belt 34 of the belt conveyor 32 is formed with a plurality of teeth 48 like a timing belt on at least one of its side edges, and the lower edge of the support plate 38 between a pair of teeth 48 at any position. The department can be accepted. Therefore, when the belt conveyor 32 is driven in a state where the support plate 38 is inserted between the teeth 48, the support plate 38 moves while being guided by the support rod 40 together with the endless belt 34. Further, as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 3, when the support plate 38 is rotated around the support rod 40, the support plate 38 is separated from the teeth 48, and the support rod 40 is independent of the endless belt 34. It becomes possible to move along.

  A book loading unit (book loading) for receiving the book B sent from the chute 28 at the upstream end of the belt conveyor 32 and changing the posture from the lateral direction to the standing state and loading it onto the mounting surface of the belt conveyor 32. Part) 50 is provided. As clearly shown in FIG. 4, the book placement unit 50 has a first guide plate 52 whose one end side is continuous with the conveyance surface of the chute 28 and is curved downward immediately thereafter. The surface of the first guide plate 52 is smooth, and the book B fed from the chute 28 is guided and slid down with its tip turned downward.

  Further, a second guide plate 54 is provided at the position facing the first guide plate 52 to assist the change of the direction of the book B by the front end of the book B sent from the chute 28. The lower end of the second guide plate 52 is a book B (see the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4A) placed in a standing state in the space in the lower front surface of the first guide plate 52. From the placement surface, it terminates at a position higher than the maximum length of all the books to be handled so that it can slip out to the downstream side of the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32 in the posture.

  The book placement unit 50 further includes a sensor 56 for detecting that the book B has slipped down to the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32 on the first guide plate 52. The sensor 56 is preferably an optical sensor that emits a signal when the book B blocks the light beam emitted from the sensor 56. The sensor 56 is connected to the above-described control device that controls the entire automatic book sorting equipment 12.

  Further, a through hole 58 is formed in the first guide plate 52, and an air nozzle (air blowing means) 60 is attached so that the compressed air is jetted to the support plate 38 side of the belt conveyor 32 through the through hole 58. It has been. The compressed air ejected from the air nozzle 60 hits the cover of the book B that has slid down on the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32 along the first guide plate 52, and the book B is aligned on the support plate 38 or the belt conveyor 32. It works to press against the book B.

  Next, the operation of the automatic book sorting equipment 12 provided with the book aligning apparatus 10 having the above-described configuration will be described.

  First, the book B is placed on the upstream end of the conveyor 18 in the sorting device 14. In this embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that the books to be handled are only those that are opened right and whose barcode is attached to the front cover. When the book B is placed on the conveyor 18, in order to read the barcode of the book B, the book B is placed with the back cover facing upward. Further, in the equipment layout shown in FIG. 1, the back cover of each book B is directed toward the downstream side of the conveyor 18 so that the back cover of the books is finally arranged on the belt conveyor 32 of the book aligning apparatus 10 in the direction in which the book can be seen. It is preferable to place it.

  When the book B is placed on the conveyor 18, the barcode reader 26 reads the barcode of the book B, and the control device determines the branch position of the book B based on the read information. When the book B advances on the conveyor 18 and reaches the sorting unit 16 to be branched, the control device drives the paddle unit 20 in the sorting unit 16 and pushes the book B onto the adjacent chute 28.

  The book B transferred to the chute 28 proceeds on the chute 28 as it is, and enters the book loading unit 50 of the book aligning apparatus 10 as shown in FIG.

  The book B that has entered the book placement unit 50 slides on the first guide plate 52, changes its posture to an upright state where the ruled line of the book B is down, and reaches the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32. At this time, in the case of the book B having a large vertical dimension, the tip of the book B comes into contact with the second guide plate 54, and the posture of the book B is quickly changed.

  When the book B reaches the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32, the control device recognizes the state by a signal from the sensor 56. Subsequently, the control device controls the air nozzle 60 to blow the compressed air onto the book B, and forcibly moves the book B to the support plate 38 side. As a result, when there is the book B already arranged as shown in FIG. 4, the book B is in a state of being in close contact with the cover of the book B ′ on the most upstream side. Of course, if there is no book aligned on the belt conveyor 32, the book B will be in direct contact with the support plate 38.

  Further, the control device drives the belt conveyor 32 simultaneously with or after the compressed air is blown to move the book B and the support plate 38 in the direction of arrow A. If the book B passes through the front of the sensor 56, the control device determines that a space capable of receiving the next book is formed in the book loading unit 50 by the signal from the sensor 56, and the belt conveyor. The drive of 32 is stopped. As described above, in this embodiment, the amount of movement of the placement surface is not constant, and a space for receiving subsequent books can be formed at all times. Can be aligned.

  The above steps are repeated, and the books B are aligned on the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32. As described above, the belt conveyor 32 is inclined downward toward the downstream side, so that it is supported by the support plate 38. The bundle of books B is kept in a stable alignment state without collapsing. Further, by making the way of placing the books B on the conveyor 18 of the sorting device 14 constant, the aligned books B are in a state in which the vertical orientation and the spine are aligned. Furthermore, since the placement surface is almost horizontal, the entire length can be extended, and the number of books B that can be aligned can be increased considerably.

  By the way, the aligned books B can be carried to a predetermined bookshelf in a timely manner. However, when the book B is carried out from the state shown in FIG. B cannot be supported. For this reason, it may be necessary to stop the operation of the automatic book sorting equipment 12. However, since two support plates 38 are prepared in this embodiment, the operation can be continued without stopping the operation of the automatic book sorting equipment 12.

  That is, when a certain number of books B are arranged on the placement surface of the belt conveyor 32, the upstream support plate 38 a is removed from the teeth 48 of the endless belt 34, and the arrow A is opposite along the support rod 40. Then, the end of the support rod 40 on the most upstream side (initial position) is engaged with the tooth 48 again. This state is the state in the book aligning device 10 on the right side of FIG. 1, and even if the next book B is sent to the book aligning device 10, the book B is supported by the support plate 38a. It is possible to freely carry out the book B between the support plate 38a. This also facilitates secondary sorting of books B on the belt conveyor 32.

  The support plate 38b may be returned to the position adjacent to the support plate 38a at an appropriate time after the carrying out of the book B between the support plate 38a and the support plate 38b is completed.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described in detail, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment. For example, when the book B sent from the chute 28 is already standing, the book placement unit 50 does not need to have a means for changing the posture, such as the first guide plate 52.

  Further, the sensor 56 for detecting the presence or absence of the book B is not limited to the optical sensor, and a limit switch or the like can be used.

  Further, the support plate 38 does not need to be supported by the support rod 40, and may be attached to the endless belt 34 by a snap type or a plug-in type.

1 is a schematic perspective view showing an automatic book sorting facility to which a book alignment apparatus according to the present invention is applied. It is a side view which shows one Embodiment of the book alignment apparatus by this invention. It is a front view which shows the detailed part of the support plate in the book alignment apparatus of FIG. (A) And (b) is an expansion explanatory drawing which shows the effect | action of the book alignment apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Book aligning device, 12 ... Automatic book sorting equipment, 14 ... Sorting device, 16 ... Sorting unit, 18 ... Conveyor, 20 ... Paddle unit, 26 ... Bar code reader, 28 ... Chute, 32 ... Belt conveyor, 34 ... Endless Belt 38 (38a, 38b) ... support plate, 40 ... support rod, 50 ... book placement unit (book placement part), 52 ... first guide plate, 54 ... second guide plate, 56 ... sensor (Detecting means), 60... Air nozzle (air blowing means).

Claims (2)

An endless belt (34) on which a book (B) can be placed and which can be circulated;
A book placement section (50) having a space for receiving one book (B) and placing the book (B) in an upright state on the endless belt (34);
The support plate (B) which can support the book (B) placed on the endless belt (34) in an upright state and is movable integrally with the endless belt (34). 38)
Detection means (56) for detecting whether or not there is a book (B) in the space of the book placement section (50);
Air blowing means (60) for blowing air to the book (B) arranged in the space of the book placement section (50) and moving the book (B) to the support plate (38) side;
Control means for controlling the endless belt (34) and the air blowing means (60),
When the control means detects that there is a book (B) in the space of the book placement section (50) by the detection means (56), the air blowing means (60) is driven to The book (B) is moved to the support plate (38) side, and the endless belt (34) is circulated and driven from the space of the book placement section (50) by the detection means (56). The book aligning apparatus is characterized in that, when it is detected that the book (B) has moved, the driving of the air blowing means (60) and the endless belt (34) is stopped.   The book aligning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there are two support plates (38a, 38b), and each of the support plates can be moved along the endless belt (34) separately.

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