JPH0139103B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a sheet sorting device that sorts a plurality of sheets discharged from a copying machine or the like.

With the recent increase in the volume of copying work and the spread of light printing presses, there is an increasing need to automate sheet alignment.

For this purpose, devices have been proposed that automatically distribute documents at the same time they are copied or printed, but what is desired in this case is the ability to align a large number of sheets, and also to , the sheet sorting device does not become large.

For this reason, conventional methods have been to set the regular intervals between the bins narrowly so that the equipment does not become larger even when the number of bins increases, and then when receiving sheets, the bins corresponding to the sheet introduction section are A configuration has been proposed in which the spacing between bins is wider than the spacing between other bins so that sheets can be easily received.

For example, as a device having such a configuration,
There is a sorting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 49-99038.

This prior art sorting device, as a means of establishing the normally narrow spacing of the tray sections and widening the spacing of the tray sections when receiving sheets,
A cam member is used. The cam member has a helical shape with a high pitch surface and a low pitch surface, and under normal conditions, the tray portion engages with the spiral portion of the low pitch surface to determine the tray spacing.
When receiving a sheet, rotation of the cam member causes the tray portion to engage the spiral portion of the high pitch surface to increase the tray spacing.

However, the configuration of the conventional example described above requires a cam member that is complicated and difficult to manufacture, which tends to make the device complicated and expensive.
Also, when assembling the bottle part, make sure that the tip of the bottle part
Assembling the tip of the bottle part is also difficult because it has to be engaged with the spiral part one by one.

On the other hand, in order to improve the drawbacks of the conventional example, a plurality of stoppers are provided separately from the bins at positions corresponding to each bin, and the tips of each bottle are engaged with the stoppers to determine the interval between the bins. Although another configuration is conceivable, such a configuration would require means such as retracting the stopper when moving the bottle, making the configuration complicated. Furthermore, the stopper gets in the way when assembling the tip of the bottle, making assembly difficult.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional example, and it is possible to easily and reliably determine the distance between the tips of the bottles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet sorting device with a simple configuration.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet sorting device in which the distance between the tip ends of the bins is increased, and in which the distance between the bins is maintained substantially constant during this expansion.

The present invention will be described below based on an illustrated embodiment.

In FIG. 1, a paper ejection section of a small electrophotographic copying machine 1 has a paper ejection tray 2 for storing processed copy materials.
A sorter 3 according to the present invention is removably installed.

In FIG. 2, guides 301 and 302 are installed close to a pair of ejection rollers 101 and 102 of an electrophotographic copying machine for guiding copy materials into either a sorter or a paper ejection tray. Guide 3
02 rotates and guides the copy material to the paper discharge tray at the position 303 and into the sorter at the position 302.The paper discharge tray is used when alignment is unnecessary or when copying only one sheet. Copy materials are stored and stacked with the copy side facing up.

The guides 301 and 302 are adjacent to each other with a roller pair 3.
04, 305 are arranged, and the sheet conveying belt 30
9,310 are stretched on each, and the guide 30
1,302 to convey the copying material upward. The other ends of the conveyor belts 309, 310 are stretched around a pair of belt drive rollers 306, 307 or a direction change roller 308, and the conveyor belts 309, 3
The copy material released from the guide 311, 3
12 into a bin 321 and stored with the copy side facing down.

The bin 317 is rotatably supported at one end by a shaft 318, and the other end is supported by a roller 3 as a distance maintaining means that is vertically movable along a roller guide 315.
16, and is supported by a bottle holding means 322 as a means for enlarging the distance between the bins. In other words, the rollers 316 determine the interval P between adjacent bins, and at the same time support the bins located above in sequence. The gear 339 is coaxially fixed to the bottle holding means 322.

On the other hand, the lowermost bin 321 is connected to the booley 319 via a wire 320 serving as a support moving means, and is reciprocated in the vertical direction as the booley 319 rotates. A gear 338 fixed coaxially with the booley 319 meshes with the gear 339 via a gear 340 as a linking means.

The stop car 341 and the gear 340 are the motor shaft 3
42, and the stop car 341 has a bin 34.
A stopper 344 rotatable about 3 is disposed so as to be intermittently in contact with the stopper 344. Stopper 344 is connected to solenoid SL1 via plate 345.

The configuration of the bottle will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. The bin body 333 has a side plate 3 for storing copy materials.
31, a front plate 330 for aligning the tips of the stored copy materials, a notch 324 for taking out the stored copy materials, and bins 325, 334 for rotatably holding rollers 326, 335.
and protrusions 327 and 336 for holding bottles by bottle holding means 329 and 337, respectively. one or more bottle holding means 32
9,337 is fixed to the shaft 328, and the shaft 32
Each time 8 rotates 1/4, the bottles it is holding can be dropped downward one by one.

(Explanation of operation) After starting the electrophotographic copying machine main body 1, when the sorter switch SS is turned on, the guide 303 moves to the position 302, and at the same time the belt drive roller 30 moves to the position 302.
6,307 starts rotating, belts 309,31
0 rotates.

Furthermore, the lowest bin located at position 321-a moves to 321, and preparations for storing the first copy material are completed. The first copy material of the first original (as shown in FIG. 4) is moved between the sheet conveyor belts 309 and 310,
Bin 321 passes between guides 311 and 312
(Figure 4). At this time, the detection elements 313 and 314 detect the passing of the copy material, and by rotating the pulley 319 and the bottle holding means 322 by a certain amount, the first bin 321 is
The second bottle is moved to the position 1-b by a distance P equal to the bin interval, and the second bottle is moved to the bottle holding means 322.
It is released and falls to the position 321 (in Fig. 4). That is, the pulley 319 and the bottle holding means 322 are connected by gears 338, 339, and 340, and each rotates a certain amount synchronously by a stepping motor or the like, or by a solenoid SL.
1, the stop wheel 341, and the stopper 344 in combination to transmit power intermittently, a similar operation can be performed.

Since the third and subsequent bins are supported by the bin holding means 322, the second copy material is stored between the widely spaced bins (the fourth copy material) in the same way as the first copy material. ).

When the copying materials are sequentially stored in the bin one by one in this manner, and the process is repeated a necessary number of times (as shown in FIG. 4), the pulley 319 and the bin holding means 322 are rotated in opposite directions by a signal from the main body of the electrophotographic copying machine. As a result, the first bottle 321 moves upward, and the bottles return to their original positions as one body (as shown in FIG. 4).
Above the roller guide 315 is a limit switch 3.
23 is provided, and when the uppermost bin 317 returns to its original position, this operates and stops the rotation of the pulley 319 and the bin holding means 322.

Similarly, copy materials for the second original are sequentially stored and stacked starting from the lowest bin (first bin) with the copy side facing down, and this operation is repeated.

Generally, copy materials are discharged from an electrophotographic copying machine with the copy side facing up, so when sorting with the sorter according to the present invention, the copy material is sequentially ejected with the copy side facing down.
The second and third sheets are then stored and loaded. Therefore, the procedure for copying a manuscript is natural as it progresses from page 1 to page 2, page 3, and so on.

In addition, all the bins at positions where copy materials are to be stored form slopes that rise in the direction in which the copy materials advance, so that copy materials of different sizes can be stored continuously.

Furthermore, the sorter of the present invention has a simple structure, thus making it possible to reduce the size and weight. Also,
Since the operation is simple, there are few moving parts and the failure rate is low.

(Description of circuit operation) After starting the copying machine main body 1, when the sorter switch SS is turned on, the power supply for the control circuit of the sorter is connected.

The maximum number of continuous copies that can be set at this time is determined by the number of bins on the sorter side. If the number is set to be greater than the number of bins, a control circuit (not shown) on the main body side automatically stops copying.

When the copy button is pressed, the main unit sends a copy signal CPS that is synchronized with the main unit's operation.
Since the bin is normally at the top, the limit switch 323 is pressed "on" and the BHP signal is 1.
It's getting old.

At this time, the signal CPS is inverted by gate 4,
A trigger pulse is generated by the CR's differentiator circuit. This trigger pulse sets the flip-flop 5 and the Q output becomes 1, which is connected to the amplifier through the gate 6. By turning on relay K1 by the amplifier, the drive motor starts rotating. At this time, relay K2 is connected to the normal rotation terminal of the motor.

When both CPS and BHP are 1, the output of gate 1 becomes 1, passes through gate 10, and passes through gate 11.
, and a trigger pulse is generated by a differentiating circuit. This trigger pulse is applied to the negative trigger terminal of timer 1, and timer 1 is activated. The Q output of timer 1 is applied to the amplifier through gate 14, and SL1 is activated.

Further, the output of gate 1 which has passed through gate 10 comes to gate 12. If this signal is the first signal, flip-flop 16 is in the reset state and the Q output is 1. Therefore, both inputs to the gate 12 become 1, and 1 is output. This output is applied to the plus trigger terminal of timer 2 and timer 2 is activated. The Q output becomes 1, and the solenoid SL2 (for example, installed at a position (near the outer periphery of the gear 339) that cuts off and on the rotation of the gear 339 to the bottle holding means 322) is activated (SL1 and SL2 are connected to each other). When actuated, pulley 319 rotates). The output becomes "0" and a trigger pulse is generated by the differentiating circuit, which sets the flip-flop 16. Therefore, the output becomes 0 and the input of gate 12 is closed. Thus, when flip-flop 16 is in the set state, gate 12 inhibits the signal to timer 2. Also, the Q output of timer 2 is connected through a resistor to the base of a transistor that changes the timer time of timer 1, and if the Q output is 1, the transistor is turned off and the timer time of timer 1 becomes longer (321- The lowest bin at position a is 321
(to turn on SL1 only for the time required to move to). (The above action is shown in Fig. 4).

After the operation of Timmerl, 2 is completed, the copy paper is detected by the lamp 313 and the detector 314,
A signal CPOS2 is generated (in FIG. 4). When copy paper passes through the detection unit and is stored in the bin,
CPOS2 becomes 0 (as shown in Figure 4). At this time CR
A trigger pulse is generated by the differentiating circuit, and is inverted by the gate 17 to become a positive trigger pulse. This pulse passes through OR gates 10 and 11 and is applied to timer 1 as before. Since this is the second trigger pulse, the timer 2 does not operate (because the flip-flop 16 is already in the set state due to the first trigger pulse).
Since the Q output of timer 2 is 0, the transistor is in an on state, reducing the charging resistance of timer 1. Therefore, the timer time of timer 1 is shorter than the first activation time. This time corresponds to the time it takes for SL1 to lower the bin by one step (see Figure 4).

Each time a paper passes, the signal CPO2 is generated as described above, SL1 is activated, and the bin is lowered one step at a time. (See FIG. 4) The timer 4 (18) is activated by a trigger pulse of the output of the gate 17, which is issued every time the trailing edge of copy paper passes, and Q becomes 0 after the timer is activated.
During continuous copying, the next
Since the CPOS2 signal comes, both the CPOS2 signal and the Q output of timer 4 will not become 0. Therefore, the output of AND gate 19 is always 1.
However, in the case of the last paper, when the Q output of the timer 4 becomes 0, the inputs of the gate 19 both become 0 and the output becomes 0 (as shown in FIG. 4).

This output signal generates a negative trigger pulse by a differentiating circuit. This trigger pulse is gate 2
0 and resets the flip-flop 22 to make the output 1. This output is passed through the amplifier to K2
Turn on (connect to the motor's reverse terminal) and the motor will rotate in the reverse direction. This output is also amplified through an OR gate to activate SL1. Since the Q output becomes 0, a negative pulse is generated from the differentiating circuit,
Reset flip-flop 16. Therefore, the output becomes 0.

When the motor starts rotating in reverse, all the bins return to their original positions. At this time, the limit switch is pressed and BHP becomes 1.

The signal BHP is inverted by the gate 21 and becomes 0.
CR generates a negative pulse. This pulse is applied to the set terminal of flip-flop 22, causing the Q output to become 0 and turning off K2 and SL1.

Also, the CPS signal becomes 0 shortly after the last copy paper leaves the device on the main unit side. When the bottle returns to its original position, BHP becomes 1 and the output of gate 3 becomes 0. This output generates a negative trigger pulse by CR, and this pulse is applied to the reset terminal of flip-flop 5, causing the Q output to become 0.
Turn off K1 (at the same time as turning off K2 and SL1 mentioned above)
The motor will stop (see Figure 4). This way everything will be back to its original state.

When the copy button is pressed again, the same operation as above is performed, and two sheets of copy paper are stored in each bin.

When copying paper is to be taken out from the bin after copying is completed, each time switch 1 is pressed, the bin moves down one level and the copying paper can be taken out.

When switch 1 is pressed, the PSB signal becomes 1. This signal is inverted by gate 7 and CR generates a negative trigger pulse. When copying is not in progress, the output of flip-flop 5 is 1. Therefore, when the trigger pulse is input, the output of the gate 8 becomes 1. This output is applied to the trigger terminal of timer 3 (9) to activate the timer. Further, the signal passes through the gate 10 and the output of the gate 10 becomes 1. As before, timers 1 and 2 operate, and SL1 and SL2 operate (as shown in FIG. 4). From the next operation, only timer 1 will operate (as shown in Figure 4).

Also, since the output Q of the timer 3 is 1, it is output through the gate 6, and the amplifier turns on K1 to rotate the motor (the bottle moves down). After taking out the copy paper from the bin (see FIG. 4), if you want to make copies again, it is necessary to raise the bin back to its original position.

When the copy button is pressed for the next copy
CPS becomes 1, flip-flop 5 is set, and K1 is turned on. However, at the same time, the limit switch is off, so the BHP signal is 0 and is applied to gate 2. At this time, when a negative trigger pulse that sets flip-flop 5 comes, the output of gate 2 becomes 0, and this output
, and is applied to the reset terminal of flip-flop 20, so that flip-flop 22 is reset. The output will be 1. So, K2, SL1
is activated (simultaneously with the above-mentioned turning on of K1), the bottle returns to its original position (the motor rotates in the opposite direction).

Limit switch 323 is turned on and BHP is 1
When the flip-flop 22 is set, the output becomes 0 and K2 and SL1 are turned off.

However, since flip-flop 5 is not reset, K1 remains on. The motor then starts rotating in the normal direction. Further, both the signals CPS and BHP become 1, the output of gate 1 becomes 1, and this output passes through OR gate 10 to activate timers 1 and 2. This lowers the bin to the position 321, allowing it to store copy paper.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet aligning device of the present invention installed in a copying machine, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a detailed enlarged perspective view of the bin, Fig. 4 is a time chart, Figure 5 is an electrical circuit diagram. 101, 102 are a pair of discharge rollers, 309, 3
10 is a sheet conveying belt, 311, 312 are guides, 317, 321 are bottles, 315 is a roller guide, 316 is a roller, 322 is a bottle holding means, 32
0 is a wire, 341 is a stop car, and 344 is a stopper.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Sheet introduction ports 311 and 312 for guiding sheets discharged from a copying machine, etc., and maintaining the distance between the bins when stacked above or below the sheet introduction port. In order to do this, a plurality of movable bins 317 are provided on the sheet inlet side of each of the bins and are provided with spacing means 316 in contact with each other to receive sheets guided from the sheet inlet; By locking the bottom sheet inlet side of the bins stacked above the sheet inlet and releasing the lock by rotation, the sheet inlet side of the bottom bin is a locking rotation means 322 that expands the interval between the bins located at the sheet introduction port by moving the bins downward step by step; The sheet inlet side of the lower bin is supported and moved downward one step at a time in conjunction with the rotation of the locking rotation means, and the sheet inlet side of the bin located below the sheet inlet is moved downward one step at a time in conjunction with the rotation of the locking rotation means. Support moving means 319, 32 that moves upward until it engages with the locking rotation means.
0,338,340,339,341,344,
A sheet sorting device characterized by having SL1.