JPH021306Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a sheet alignment mechanism in a storage shelf of a sorter.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it is known that a sorter is provided with a sheet alignment mechanism in order to improve the alignment of sheets stored in storage shelves of the sorter.

However, conventional sheet alignment mechanisms have generally been provided in the sheet conveyance path up to the storage shelf.

That is, a width adjustment roller is provided in the sheet conveyance path to change the traveling direction of the sheet, and by abutting the sheet against one side plate of the conveyance path, the storage position in the storage shelf is made appropriate.

However, such conventional mechanisms are not only difficult to cope with the high-speed copying of recent years;
This can easily cause paper jams.

Furthermore, even if the sheet is discharged toward the storage shelf while the storage position of the storage shelf is regulated in advance in this way, it is not necessarily always stored at a fixed position on the storage shelf due to the momentum of the conveyance speed.

Conventionally, a misprint prevention device as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 10458/1983 has been proposed. In this device, notches are formed in each plywood, and a ruler string is stretched so as to pass through the notches. A magnet that magnetically attaches to the upper frame is attached to the upper end of this ruler string, and a weight is attached to the lower end.

Then, the hanging position of the ruler string is manually adjusted according to the size of the collated paper, and the tip of the inserted collated paper is brought into contact with the ruler string, so that the collated paper is aligned on the collated plywood board. It's getting old.

However, with this misprint prevention device, when the collated paper is inserted forcefully as described above, the collated paper is repelled by the tension (elastic force) of the ruler string, which may cause misaligned pages or jams. become. Also,
If the ruler string remains in a position that is smaller than the collated paper you are trying to stock, the ruler string will prevent the collated paper from entering, which will also result in misprinted pages.
It causes jam.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sorter that is sufficiently compatible with a high-speed copying machine and is equipped with a sheet alignment mechanism that ensures the alignment of sheets in a storage shelf.

In order to achieve this objective, the present invention forms a regulating side plate that regulates the vertical and horizontal directions of the seat, respectively, on the seat entry base side and the side adjacent thereto, and has a notch on the side opposite to this regulating side plate. a storage shelf provided with a storage shelf; a linear member, such as a wire, arranged to face the cutout and movable toward the regulating plate; and a linear member such as a wire that moves into the cutout in response to a sheet size signal. It includes a linear member moving means, such as a take-up pulley, whose amount can be adjusted, and a sensor, such as a paper discharge sensor, which detects when a sheet has arrived on the storage shelf.

Before the sheet arrives at the storage shelf, the linear member is waiting near the opening of the notch, and based on the arrival signal from the sensor, the linear member enters the notch by an amount corresponding to the sheet size. The present invention is characterized in that it is configured to position the sheet by pushing it toward the regulating plate.

The present invention will be explained below based on the illustrated embodiments.

FIG. 1 is an overall side sectional view of a sorter according to one embodiment.

In the figure, 1a and 1b are receiving rollers that draw sheets discharged from the copying machine into the sorter, and 2 and 3 are horizontal upper guides and horizontal lower guides. The sheet reaches intermediate rollers 4a, 4b by the horizontal upper guide and horizontal lower guides 2, 3. Then, the paper is conveyed from the intermediate rollers 4a, 4b to the vertical conveyance path via the guide plate 5. The vertical conveyance path consists of an endless belt 6 and a suction device 7.
The sheet is attracted to the endless belt 6 and conveyed. The sheet vertically conveyed by the endless belt 6 is deflected by the deflecting claw 9 toward the slider portion 8, and is discharged to a plurality of storage shelves 12 by discharge rollers 10a and 10b. Reference numeral 11 denotes a sheet holding plate on the top of the slider section 8. In this storage shelf 12, a linear member 13, which will be described later, faces the side opposite to the side from which sheets are discharged. This linear member 13 is composed of a wire, a steel belt, etc., and one end is fixed to the fixed part 15, and the other end is wound around the pulley 1.
It is wound around 6. 14, 14 are provided above the top tier of the storage shelf 12 and below the bottom tier, and the linear members 1
This is a tension pulley that provides elastic support by applying tension to 3. In this way, the linear member 13 is connected to the storage shelf 1.
It is provided so as to vertically pass through the second group.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the main parts centering on this linear member 13.

As shown in the figure, the storage shelf 12 includes side plates 12a for regulating the longitudinal and lateral directions of the seat at the base of the seat entry side (indicated by the thick arrow) and one side adjacent to this.
12b is formed. And this regulation side plate 12a,
Notches 12c and 12d are formed on the side opposite to 12b, respectively. Two linear members 13 are provided as vertical linear members 13a and two horizontal linear members 13b on the side passing through the notch 12c and the side passing through 12d, respectively. Therefore, the tension pulleys 14 are also provided, one for the vertical linear member 13a and one for the horizontal linear member 13b, 14a and 14b, respectively, each with four tension pulleys (one set of two on the upper and lower sides). . The take-up pulley 16 also includes a vertical take-up part 16a and a horizontal take-up part 16b, and rotates counterclockwise to take up the linear member 13. The tension pulley 14a, 14a, 1
4b and 14b are held parallel to each other by support shafts 17 at the top and bottom, and are each elastically supported by coil springs 19 via locking plates 18.

Because of this configuration, when the take-up pulley 16 is rotated in the winding direction, the linear members 13a and 13b are moved to the notch portions 12c and 13b, respectively.
12d, and when the take-up pulley 16 is rotated in the unwinding direction, the linear members 13a, 13b move in a direction away from the notches 12c, 12d.

In other words, the linear members 13a, 13b move toward and away from the regulating plates 12a, 12b. In FIG. 2, the direction of arrow a is the moving direction of the vertical linear member 13a, the direction of arrow c is the direction of withdrawal, while the direction of arrow b is the direction of movement of the horizontal linear member 13b, and the direction of arrow d is the direction of withdrawal.

Next, the operation will be explained based on FIGS. 3A, B, and C and FIG. 4.

FIG. 3 shows that the sheet S discharged onto the storage shelf 12 is regulated by the side plate 12 by the linear members 13a and 13b.
Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing how the parts are pressed against the parts a and 12b and aligned, and Fig. 4 is a flowchart of the operation.

The sheet S discharged to the storage shelf 12 may become slanted as shown in FIG. 3A due to a shift in the skew resist during conveyance or because the discharge speed is too strong. In this case, as shown in FIG. B, a longitudinal linear member 13a that regulates the longitudinal direction of the sheet S,
Similarly, the horizontal linear member 13b, which restricts the horizontal direction, is advanced as described above, and the restricting side plates 12a, 1
2b, the sheets S will be aligned. Thereafter, in preparation for the next sheet S, the linear members 13a and 13b may be withdrawn as shown in FIG. In the same figure A, reference numeral 20 is a known photo-detection type paper discharge sensor, and this paper discharge detection signal is used to detect the linear member 1.
What is necessary is just to drive the take-up pulley 16 in order to advance 3a and 13b.

To further explain the operation based on the flowchart of FIG. 4, first, the rotation angle of the take-up pulley 16 is determined based on the copy size signal. This is to ensure that the linear members 13a, 13b advance to the depths of the notches 12c, 12d in the case of a small size sheet, and to advance only slightly in the case of a large size sheet. Then, as described above, when the paper discharge sensor 20 detects the trailing edge of the sheet, the take-up pulley 16
Rotate the preset angle θ. When this is reached, it is stopped. After the sheets are aligned, the take-up pulley 16 is
is reversed, and the linear members 13a and 13b are withdrawn.

Various known control circuits may be used as the control circuit in this case.

The present invention is as described above, and it is possible to reliably align sheets after they are discharged to a storage shelf. In addition, with this invention, the linear member waits near the opening of the notch before the sheet arrives, so no matter what size the sheet is, or even if it comes in at a slight angle, it will remain on the storage shelf. can be inserted and aligned. Furthermore, since the member for aligning the sheets is a linear member, the contact area with the sheets is extremely small, so there is no fear that the edges of the sheets will be bent during alignment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of a sorter according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the main parts, Figs. 3 A, B, and C are explanatory diagrams showing the alignment state of sheets, and Fig. 4 is an operation. This is a flowchart. 12... Storage shelf, 12a, 12b... Regulation side plate, 12c, 12d... Notch, 13... Linear member, 16... Winding pulley, 20... Paper discharge sensor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) Regulating side plates that regulate the longitudinal and lateral directions of the seat are formed on the seat entry proximal end side and the side adjacent thereto, respectively, and the side opposite to the regulating side plates a storage shelf provided with a notch; a linear member arranged to face the notch and movable toward and away from the regulating side plate; and an amount of the linear member that advances into the notch in accordance with a sheet size signal. a linear member moving means having a take-up pulley with one end of the linear member fixed so as to be adjustable; and a sensor for detecting that the sheet has arrived on the storage shelf; A linear member is waiting near the opening of the notch, and the take-up pulley rotates based on the arrival signal from the sensor, and the linear member enters the notch by an amount corresponding to the sheet size to remove the sheet. A sorter equipped with a sheet alignment mechanism, characterized in that the sheet alignment mechanism is configured to position the sheets by pushing them toward the regulating side plate. (2) The sheet alignment mechanism according to claim (1) of the utility model registration claim, characterized in that the steps from waiting the linear member to positioning the sheet are performed each time a sheet is inserted. Sorter with.