JPH01256457A - Paper splicing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make sure of registration for a succeeding sheet of paper as well as to lock it so as not to be pulled back at all by lowering the succeeding paper with a lifter, and setting a topmost surface of the succeeding continuous paper to be almost equal to an alignment surface. CONSTITUTION:When a succeeding sheet of paper 2a is fed a top surface of a splicing table 21 in a state of alignment, a topmost surface of the succeeding continuous paper is set to be almost equal to an alignment surface, so that an air flow will not get into space between the succeeding paper 2a and the splicing table 21, and thus a suction action by a suction nozzle 32 of the splicing table 21 is made so surely. In addition, since a sheet of paper 2b following the succeeding paper 2a is sufficiently bent and set to such a state as making restoring force in the pull-back direction almost not act thereon, the succeeding paper 2a is not pulled back on the splicing table 21, keeping it in the specified position. Consequently, even at the time of accurate alignment afterward and connection of both sheets of paper, an accurate alignment state is maintainable.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for abuttingly connecting a preceding sheet edge to a succeeding sheet edge of a continuous sheet of paper folded in a zigzag manner.

The prior art patent applicant has proposed an invention in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-88765, in which the edge of a succeeding sheet of a plurality of continuous sheets is brought into alignment with the edge of a preceding sheet, and a connecting tape is pasted at the position of the butt. It has already been proposed to connect a preceding sheet with a following sheet by adding a .

When connecting a preceding sheet and a following sheet, they are placed on a connecting table or the like. At this time, the preceding paper is pulled out from the bottom of the preceding continuous paper, so it is almost horizontal to the top surface of the connection table, but the following paper is pulled out from the top surface of the continuous paper, so it is diagonal. It is pulled out downward and supplied to the top of the connection table. At the connecting table, the ends of the sheets are fixed by suction using the suction nozzle, but since the following sheets are fed diagonally from above, a gap is formed between the connecting table and the following sheets. Since the air flow easily enters from that part, the suction nozzle does not sufficiently restrain the paper on the connection table. Also, when a sheet of paper is pulled diagonally from above to below, the paper that follows the paper that follows it curves into an arched shape due to its own stiffness, exerting a force in the direction of pulling back the paper at the leading edge. , the positioning of subsequent sheets will be insufficient.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to ensure the positioning of subsequent sheets when connecting continuous sheets folded in a zigzag pattern and to restrain them from being pulled back.

Solution to the Invention In view of the above object, the present invention provides a method for lowering the subsequent sheet by a lifter and setting the top surface of the subsequent continuous sheet approximately equal to the alignment surface, thereby increasing the connection between the subsequent sheet and the connection table. The restoring force is set to be as small as possible by preventing airflow from entering between the paper sheets and by sufficiently curving the paper following the paper.

In this manner, when the upper surface of the subsequent continuous paper is set substantially equal to the connection position, that is, the alignment surface, the positioning by the suction nozzle becomes accurate, and the subsequent continuous paper can be reliably prevented from being pulled back.

Outline of Automatic Connection and Supply Apparatus FIG. 1 shows an overview of the automatic connection and supply apparatus I that is the premise of the present invention.

The continuous paper 2 is folded in a zigzag shape, and with only the lowest paper 2c pulled out, it is placed on the carry-in conveyor 3 and sent in the direction of the hopper conveyor 4. The hopper conveyor 4 is attached to a lifter 6 inside the machine frame 5, and is attached so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the sheet placement surface by a vertical feed unit 7.

The automatic connection and supply device 1 includes a first conveyor 8, a second conveyor 9, a third conveyor 10, and a fourth conveyor 11, each of which is an Everbelt type, in order to sequentially feed a plurality of continuous sheets 2 inside the machine frame 5. In this feeding process, the first conveyor 8 and the second conveyor 9 are connected in order to connect the lowest sheet 2c of the preceding continuous sheet 2 and the succeeding highest sheet 2a in an aligned state. A connection unit 12 is provided nearby.

This connection unit 12 is attached to be movable in the vertical direction by a gate-shaped frame 13 and a vertical feed screw unit 17, and is attached to the machine frame 5 side on both sides of the first conveyor 8 and the second conveyor 9. It is built in such a way that it can reciprocate in the feeding direction of the continuous paper 2 by means of a horizontal guide rod 14, a slider 15 that can slide relative to the guide rod 14, and a driving cylinder 16. This connection unit 12 has a plurality of suction pads 18 in the width direction of the continuous paper 2 in order to attract the uppermost paper 2a of the subsequent continuous paper 2, and the edges of the papers 2a and 2c for positioning. positioning pin 30 corresponding to
The unit 20 for attaching the connecting tape 19 is provided in a downwardly facing state, and a unit 20 is provided in a state movable in the width direction of the continuous paper 2. Of the two positioning pins 3o, the one on the upstream side in the feeding direction corresponds to the sprocket hole 31 of the succeeding sheet 2a at the position of the connection table 21, and the one on the downstream side corresponds to the sprocket hole 31 of the preceding sheet 2c. It corresponds to 31.

Note that this automatic connection supply bag W1 is provided with a guide roller 22 and a feed roller 23 at a supply position to a high-speed printer. These guide rollers 22 and feed rollers 23
is attached to a placket 24 fixed to the machine frame 5, and the feed roller 23 is forcibly driven by a feed motor 25. In addition, this feed roller 23
On the other hand, the presser roller 26 is in contact with the connected continuous paper 2 in a direction to sandwich it therebetween. The presser roller 26 is rotatably supported at its upper end by a movable bracket 27 with respect to the machine frame 5, and the feed roller 26 is supported by an air cylinder 28.
It is now possible to move in the direction away from 3.

Method of the invention The method of the present invention is carried out during the feeding process of continuous paper 2.

As already mentioned, the continuous paper 2 is fed from the carry-in conveyor 3 onto the hopper conveyor 4 with the lowest paper 2c pulled out backwards, as shown in FIG. 1, and is stopped there. .

Thereafter, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG.
Set it at approximately the same height as the top surface of 1. During this time, the suction band 18 moves to above the uppermost sheet 2a of the continuous sheet 2 on the hopper conhair 4, and descends.
The paper 2a is pressed against the upper surface of the paper 2a, and the upper surface of the paper 2a is attracted by the airflow in the suction direction.Then, the paper 2a is moved in a direction parallel to the surface of the paper 2a, for example, in the feeding direction, while the paper 2a is attracted. At this time, separation air is blown onto the cut end side of the continuous paper 2 by an air nozzle 29 as required.

When the suction pad 18 moves in a parallel direction while holding the paper 2a, the continuous paper 2 is separated from the topmost paper 2a and the following paper 2b, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
Since the second paper 2b is shifted in the parallel direction between the second paper 2b and the second paper 2b, the second paper 2b is curved, and a force is applied to the second paper 2b in the direction of returning to its original position using its own stiffness. As a result, if suction pad 1
Even if 8 picks up the top paper 2a and the paper 2b below it at the same time, there will be a shift in the parallel direction of those papers 2a and 2b, and the difference in paper white between when there is only one sheet and when there are two sheets. They are reliably separated by the difference in the restoring power of their bodies. After that, the suction pad 18 connects the cut side of the paper 2a to the connecting table 2.
Send it to the center of 1, stop there while holding it down, and at an appropriate point in the subsequent connection operation, raise it while stopping suction.
Return to initial position.

During this time, the suction nozzle 32 performs a suction operation to suck the lower surface side of the subsequent sheet 2a, and restrains it together with the sheet 2c on the upper surface of the connection table 21. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, since the paper 2a is in a state along the upper surface of the connection table 21, that is, the alignment surface, no air flow enters through the gap between the connection table 21 and the paper 2a, and therefore The suction nozzle 32 is not affected by leakage air flow, reliably attracts the paper 2a, and reliably restrains the paper 2a by suction force and frictional force. Moreover, the continuous paper 2b that continues in this state is not in the bow-like curved state as shown in FIG.
Since the paper 2a is sufficiently curved and bent in such a manner that the restoring force is small, the paper 2a after positioning is hardly affected by the restoring force of the paper 2b and is held in a predetermined position on the upper surface of the connection table 21. be done.

On the other hand, the preceding continuous sheet 2 is placed on the third conveyor 10 and is stopped with the end of the lowest sheet 2c placed on the connection table 21. During this time, connection table 2
1, as shown in FIG. 3, suction nozzles 32 at the front and rear in the feeding direction suck the bottom surfaces of the sheets 2a, 2C, and then the sheets 2a, 2c are sucked under negative pressure on the top surface of the connecting table 21. Constraining by forces and frictional forces.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the connection unit 12 descends from above and connects only the tapered portions of the two positioning pins 30 to the sprocket holes 30 of the sheets 2a and 2c.
into the temporary positioning state. At this time, the positioning pin 30 is not completely inserted into the sprocket hole 3I, and the positioning pin 30 is not completely inserted into the sprocket hole 3I. Since the paper 2c enters at the corner, the paper 2c is in a state where it can move in the opposite direction to the feeding direction on the upper surface of the connection table 21.

After completion of such temporary positioning, as shown in FIG. 6, the third conveyor 10 moves the continuous paper 2 thereon in the opposite direction to the feeding direction, thereby loosening the paper 2C and loosening the paper 2C. Press the edge against the edge of the subsequent paper 2a. Of course, at this time, the suction nozzle 32 relays the suction operation and allows the paper 2C to move. In this way, the front and rear sheets 2a and 2C are brought into a butt state with no gap at the ends, as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the positioning pin 30 further descends, and its large outer diameter portion fits into the sprocket hole 31, completely restraining the butted sheets 2a and 2C after temporary positioning. In addition,
Of the front and rear positioning pins 30, it is sufficient if at least only the one corresponding to the paper 2c has a tapered shape.

Finally, the pasting unit 20 applies the connecting tape 19 to one end of the connecting position of the sheets 2a and 2c by heat welding or the like, as shown in FIG. , the front and rear sheets 2a, 2C are connected via a connecting tape 19 to form a continuous state.

The series of operations described above is repeated each time the continuous paper 2 is fed by sequence control while confirming the completion of each operation. As a result, all the continuous sheets 2 are transferred to the third conveyor 1.
0 and the fourth conveyor 11, and are sequentially in a continuous state.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the preceding continuous paper 2 is folded back at the upper guide roller 22, sandwiched between the feed roller 23 and the presser roller 26, and sent out in the feeding direction. It is automatically supplied to a high-speed printer or the like via a lower guide roller 22. Of course, such continuous paper 2 supply and connection operations are set to follow the consumption speed of a high-speed printer.

Effect of the invention The present invention has the following unique effects.

When a subsequent sheet is fed in registration on the top surface of the connection table, the top surface of the subsequent continuous sheet is set approximately equal to the alignment surface, so there is no air flow between the subsequent sheet and the connection table. Therefore, the suction action by the suction nozzle of the connection table is ensured.

In addition, if the top surface of the subsequent continuous paper is set almost equal to the alignment surface, the paper following the subsequent paper will be sufficiently curved, and the state will be set such that almost no restoring force will be applied in the pullback direction. Subsequent sheets on the connection table are not pulled back and are held in place. Therefore, even during subsequent accurate positioning and connection of both sheets, accurate positioning can be maintained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the automatic connection and supply device for continuous paper, and FIGS. 2 to 8 are explanatory diagrams of the operation. 1. Automatic connection supply device, 2. Continuous paper, 3. Incoming conveyor, 4. Hopper conveyor, 6. Lifter, 8. 1st conveyor, 9. 2nd conveyor, 10.
3rd con hair, 11... 4th con hair, 12... connection unit, 18... suction pad, 20... pasting unit, 21... connection table, 29... air nozzle, 30
・・Positioning pin, 31・・Sprocket hole, 32・・
suction nozzle. Patent applicant Sankyo Seiki Seisakusho Co., Ltd.
Patent Attorney Kunio Nakagawa Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 7 Figure ε Figure I Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a paper connection method in which the lowest sheet of continuous paper folded in a zigzag pattern is connected to the highest sheet of the following continuous paper, a lifter movable in a direction perpendicular to the paper loading surface is used to connect the following continuous paper. When arranging the sheets and adsorbing the lowest sheet of the preceding continuous sheet and the topmost sheet to align them at the connection position, the top surface of the following continuous sheet becomes approximately equal to the alignment surface. A paper connection method characterized by moving the lifter as described above.