JPH01187150A - Paper sheet handling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely affix a seal to a stamp in the after-process by providing lengthwise-crosswise reversing means for reversing the lengthwise and crosswise of a paper sheet having a designated height or more among paper sheets transported by re-transport means. CONSTITUTION:A distributing portion 11 is adapted to detect the height of a main transported from a transport belt 5a by an optical sensor 17a and output a detection signal through a center interface to CPU. CPU outputs a driving signal to a distributing mechanism driving circuit to change-over a gate 16b to a re-transport path 13. The main 3 transported to the re-transport path 13 is conveyed from the transport belt 5 to a lower belt 19 and brought into contact with a push-down bar 23 fixed to a guide member 21, whereby the lengthwise and crosswise of the transported main 3 are reversed. The reversed main 3 is carried from the re-transport path 13 to the transport path 5 to be again carried to the next process, a sealing portion through a take-out portion 7, a branch portion 9 and the distributing portion 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Field of Application) This invention relates to a paper sheet processing method that adjusts the length and width of paper sheets conveyed by a conveyance path and supplies the paper sheets to a subsequent process. Regarding equipment.

(Prior Art) FIG. 7 shows a schematic plan view of a conventional paper sheet processing device applied to, for example, mail supply.

In the same figure, mail collected from a mailbox is conveyed in a conveying direction F by a conveying path 41, and is transferred to a take-out section 43.
transported to. The take-out section 43 takes out the conveyed mail pieces one by one and conveys the sorted pieces to a section 45. As shown in FIG. 8, the structure of the portion 45 is as follows:
47b are provided on members at positions corresponding to the middle and upper stages of the conveyor belts 41a and 41b in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction F of the conveyor belts 41a and 41b. The sorting section 45 detects the passage of the end of the mail, which is conveyed one by one from the take-out section 43, using optical sensors 47a and 47b. This optical sensor-47a, 4
7b detects the passage of the mail, the distribution section 45 outputs a detection signal to a control section (not shown). The control unit controls the optical sensor at the edge of the mail piece based on the input detection signal.
The inclination of the mail is calculated from the difference in the transit time between the optical sensors 47a and 47b, or if the mail does not pass through the optical sensors 47a and 47b for a predetermined period of time, it is determined that a paper jam has occurred. The branching section 51 sends a mail to the reject warehouse 49 if the mail to be transported is larger than a standard size or a mail that is transported with a large inclination. If it is a regular-sized mail item, it is transported in the transport direction F. The regular-sized mail items conveyed from the branching section 51 are conveyed in the conveying direction F to a post-process such as a stamping section (not shown) for postmarking, for example. Conventional equipment could not detect the height of regular-sized mail.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) For example, when the mail piece is the smallest size among regular-sized mail items taken out from the take-out unit 43, the conventional device takes out the mail item with its length and width reversed. If there is no abnormality in the inclination of the mail detected by the optical sensors 47a and 47b of the section 45, the sorted mail is conveyed from the branching section to a post-process stamping section (not shown). When the postal item is conveyed to the stamping section, the postmark is stamped at the correct position, that is, at the top end of the postage, which is shifted from the bottom end of the stamp. For this reason, there is a possibility that some mail items may not be stamped in a post-process such as a stamping section, and a countermeasure for this problem has been desperately needed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and its purpose is to provide a paper sheet processing method that allows stamps to be reliably affixed to stamps in the post-process where the paper sheets are supplied, thereby improving the processing capacity of the post-process. The goal is to provide equipment.

[Structure 1 of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a conveyance path for conveying paper sheets in an upright position, and a conveyance path for conveying paper sheets in an upright position. a detection means for detecting height and inclination; a re-conveying means for conveying paper sheets whose height or inclination exceeds a predetermined value according to the detection means; The gist of the present invention is to include a vertical/horizontal reversing means for reversing the vertical/horizontal orientation of paper sheets of a predetermined size or more among the paper sheets conveyed by the means.

(Function) In the paper sheet processing apparatus having the above configuration, the height and inclination of the paper sheet in an upright state conveyed by the conveyance path are detected. Paper sheets whose height or inclination exceeds a predetermined value as determined by the detection are conveyed again to the re-conveying means, and among the conveyed paper sheets, the paper sheets having a predetermined height or more are reversed vertically and horizontally to perform a post-process. Since the stamps are supplied to the stamps, the stamps can be reliably stamped in the subsequent process.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing one embodiment of the paper sheet processing apparatus of the present invention, which is applied to, for example, a mail conveying apparatus.

In the supply unit 1, which is the main body of the above-mentioned device, a conveyance path 5 for conveying mail items 3 (not shown) collected from mailboxes has a semicircular shape from the upper part to the right side in the figure, and further to the lower part in the figure. Take-out portion 79 Branch portion 9. The distributed portion is connected to a section 11, and this distributed portion passes through the portion 11 and is connected to a stamping section (not shown) which is a subsequent process. Further, the supplying section 1 is configured to have a re-conveying path 13 (re-conveying means) installed in order to convey the mail 3 that has been conveyed to the sorting section 11 to the take-out section 7 again.

When the mail 3 (not shown) collected from the mailboxes is conveyed to the supply section 1 by the conveyance path 5, the take-out section 7 takes out the mail 3 conveyed from the conveyance path 5 one by one and transfers it to the branching section. 9.

The branching section 9 has a detector 14 installed directly in the extraction section 7.
It has a extract storage 15 for storing non-standard mail items 3 and foreign objects among the mail items 3 conveyed by the extractor 7, and the mail items 3 taken out one by one from the take-out section 7 are stored in the non-standard size mail items 3 and foreign objects. If it is a foreign object, it is stored in the reject storage 15. Further, if the mail 3 taken out from the take-out section 7 is a regular-sized mail 3, the branching section 9 conveys the divided mail to the section 11.

A detector 14 shown in FIG. 5 is provided on the extraction section 7 side of the branch section 9. In the figure, the detector 14 is
It includes a fixed roller 26 and a movable roller 27 that are cylindrical in shape and stand upright.

The lower end of the fixed roller 26 is fixed, and the movable roller 27 moves in the direction of arrow M by an amount equal to the thickness of the regular size or more when a mail piece of thickness greater than the regular size is conveyed from the take-out section 7. A connecting rod 28 is connected to the lower end of the movable roller 27, and when a regular-sized or larger mail piece 3 is conveyed, the connecting rod 28 comes into contact with a microswitch 39, which turns on.

When the microswitch 39 is turned on, the mail 3 is stored in the reject warehouse 15 by the gate 16a, and if the mail 3 is within the standard size, the sorted mail 3 is transported to the section 11. The sorting section 11 includes an optical sensor 17 (detection means) that detects the height, inclination, etc. of the regular mail piece 3 conveyed from the branching section 9.
are provided on both sides of the conveyance path 5. When the optical sensor 17 detects a regular-sized mail piece 3, the division unit 11 distributes the regular-sized mail piece 3 according to a drive signal from the CPU 25, which will be described later.
are sorted by the gate 16b and transported to the transport path 5 or the re-transport path 13. The re-conveying path 13 connects the distribution section 11 to the conveyance path 5 at the top in the figure, and uses the distribution section 11 to reverse the length and width of the regular-sized mail 3 whose height exceeds a value described later. Then, it is transported to the take-out section 7 again.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the optical sensor 17 of the photographing section 11. In the same figure, a pair of vertically installed conveyor belts 5a are held in the conveying direction F while holding the mail piece 3 in an upright position.
Transport to. Optical sensors 1 are mounted on the upper, middle and lower stages of members arranged upright adjacent to the conveyor belt 5a.
7a, 17b.

170 is attached. This optical sensor 17a is installed at a value larger than the standard maximum value when the long side of the mail 3 conveyed from the conveyor belt 5a matches the conveyance direction, and detects the height limit. . Also, the optical sensor υ−1
7a outputs a detection signal to the CPLJ 25, which will be described later, when it detects the mail 3 being conveyed from the conveyor belt 5a. When the detection signal is input, the CPU 25 causes the detected mail 3 to be conveyed to the re-conveyance path 13. On the other hand, optical sensor-17bJ
! 3 and 17c detect the inclination of the mail 3 being conveyed from the conveyor belt 5a. When detection signals are input from optical sensors 17b and 17c, the CPU
25 is an input optical sensor 17b and an optical sensor
The inclination of the mail 3 is detected by calculating the difference in transit time from the detection signal 17c. Here, the reference value for the inclination of the mail piece 3 is the angle between the long side of the mail piece and the transport direction, for example, about 10 degrees, and the mail piece 3 exceeding this value is
3. Optical sensors 17a, 17b.

The mail 3 that has passed through 17c is conveyed while being held between a pair of conveyor belts 5b that are erected in the same manner as the conveyor belt 5a.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the re-conveyance path 13. In the figure, the mail 3 held in an upright position by a pair of conveyor belts 61 and 62 standing upright on the reconvey path 13a is
It is conveyed while being held between the conveyor belts 61 and 62. Then, the mail 3 is transferred from the re-conveying path 13a to the re-conveying path 13.
Sent to 11.

In this re-conveying path 13b, the lower belt 1 is
Guide members 21 are arranged to stand on both sides of the guide member 9 .

One end of a cylindrical tilting rod 23 (vertical/horizontal reversing means) is fixed to the upper end of the guide member 21 in the drawing at a position at the height of a regular mail item. In the re-conveying path 13 having the above-mentioned configuration, the portion to be conveyed is distributed to the optical sensor 1 of the section 11.
Postal items 3 exceeding the height or inclination detected by 7a to 17C are brought into contact with the tipping rod 23. Mail 3 due to contact
When the vertical and horizontal directions are reversed, the re-conveying path 13 conveys the mail 3 from the upper part of the figure to the semicircular tangential conveying path 5.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing control of the paper sheet processing apparatus of the present invention. The paper sheet processing device has a detector 14. Optical sensor-17, CPU25. It has a sensor interface 29 and a timer circuit 31. Detector 1
Reference numeral 4 detects non-standard mail items 3. CPU2
Reference numeral 5 is for controlling the entire device and performing calculations.

The sensor interface 29 is for transmitting data between the detector 14 and the optical sensor 17 and the CPU 25 via a data bus. The timer circuit 31 counts the passage time of the mail piece 3 detected by the optical sensors 17b and 17c, and outputs the counted time to the CPU 25.

The paper sheet processing device also includes a transport motor drive circuit 33, a motor 35. The allocation is made by the mechanism drive circuit 37. It has a gate 16a and a gate 16b. The conveyor motor drive circuit 33 drives a motor 35 when a drive signal is input from the CPLI 25, and the motor 35 rotates the lower belt 19 of the conveyor belts 5a to 5C. The mechanism drive circuit 37 controls the switching of the gates 16a and 16b when a drive signal is input from the CPU 25. The gate 16a is provided at a branch point between the transport path 5 of the branch section 9 and the reject warehouse 15.
b is provided at the branch point of the conveying path 5 and the re-conveying path 13 of the distribution section 11. The above allocation is the mechanism drive circuit 37. Gate 16a and gate 16b are CPU2
The distribution of mail items 3 to each transport path is controlled by the drive signal from 5.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained using the processing flowchart shown in FIG.

First, after the power is turned on to the device, the mail 3 collected from the mailbox is conveyed from the upper part of the figure to the take-out section 7 through the semicircular conveyance path 5, and the take-out section 7 sends the mail one by one to the branch section 9.
transported to. A branching section 9 provided immediately after the take-out section 7 detects foreign matter with a detector 14, and sends non-standard-sized and foreign mail 3 out of the transported mail 3 to a gate 16.
A is controlled to store the regular mail items 3 in the reject warehouse 15, and convey the sorted mail items 3 to the department 11 (steps 100 to 1).
10).

The distribution unit 11 outputs a detection signal to the CPU 25 via the sensor interface 29 when the optical sensor 17a detects the height of the mail 3 conveyed from the conveyor belt 5a. When the detection signal is input, the CPU 25 outputs a drive signal to the mechanism drive circuit 37 for the distribution, and outputs a drive signal to the gate 16b.
is switched to the re-conveying path 13. By switching the gate 16tl, the mail 3 is conveyed from the distribution section 11 to the re-conveying path 13. The mail 3 conveyed to the re-conveyance path 13 is conveyed from the conveyance belt 5C to the lower belt 19, and is then conveyed to the guide member 21.
The vertical and horizontal directions of the mail 3 being conveyed are reversed by contacting the tilting rod 23 fixed to the post. The reversed mail piece 3 is conveyed from the re-conveying path 13 to the conveying path 5 and again to the take-out section 71 branching section 9. The allocation is from part 11 to the stamp part for the next process (not shown)
transported to. On the other hand, the allocation is the optical sensor-17 of section 11.
b.

When each end of the mail piece 3 is detected at 17c, a detection signal is output to the CPU 25 via the sensor interface 29. The CPU 25 calculates the slope based on the difference in time detected when the input signals of the optical sensors 17b and 17c are input, and determines that the slope is a predetermined value (for example, about 10 degrees).
When the amount exceeds the amount, a drive signal is output to the mechanism circuit 37 to convey the mail 3 from the distribution section 11 to the re-conveying path 13. The mail 3 conveyed to the re-conveying path 13 is reversed by the tipping rod 23 as described above, and the distributed portion is again conveyed from the section 11 to the stamping section (not shown) in the subsequent process (steps 120 to 13). 130).

The postal item 3 conveyed to the stamping section is postmarked at a predetermined position, for example, at the lower end of the stamp.

As a result, the vertical and horizontal directions of the regular mail piece 3 are reversed onto the re-conveying path 13, so that it is postmarked at a predetermined position in a stamping section which is a post-process.

This embodiment can be applied not only to mail but also to devices that transport paper sheets such as mail.

[Effect of the invention 1 As explained above, according to the present invention, the height and inclination of paper sheets of a predetermined size removed by the removal unit are detected, and the height or inclination is determined to be a predetermined value by the detection. Since paper sheets exceeding the value are conveyed again to the removal section and the paper sheets are reversed vertically and horizontally, stamping can be performed reliably in the post-process where the paper sheets are supplied, and the processing capacity of the post-process can be improved. Can be done.

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of the paper sheet processing apparatus of the present invention, FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control of the invention; FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the detector; FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the invention; FIG. 8 is a schematic plan view showing a conventional paper sheet processing apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional distribution section. 1... Supply section 3... Mail 5... Conveying path 9... Branching section 11... Assigned portion 13... Re-conveying path 14... Detector 16a, 16b...・Gates 17.17a, 17b, 17c... Optical sensor-2
1... Guide member 23... Knocking down bar 25...
CPLJ 31...Timer circuit 37...
・The allocation is the mechanism drive circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] A conveyance path for conveying paper sheets in an upright position, a detection means for detecting the height and inclination of the paper sheets conveyed by this conveyance path, and a detection means for detecting the height or inclination of the paper sheets at a predetermined level. re-conveying means for conveying paper sheets exceeding the value of , to the front of the detection means, and vertical/horizontal reversing for reversing the length and width of sheets of a predetermined height or higher among the paper sheets conveyed to the re-conveying means. A paper sheet processing device comprising: means.