JPH03293261A - Sheet sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the impact force of a spiral cam means to be imposed on a support roller down to the specified value as well as to improve the extent of durability in the spiral cam means and the support roller by setting rotational speed in the spiral cam means to a lower speed than a steady state rate at a time when a detecting means has detected an engagement starting part at time of the engagement starting part of the spiral cam means getting into the support roller. CONSTITUTION:A support roller 30 for bins B is guided by a vertical guide 7 and transferred by a spiral cam means 40 while it adjoins a sheet discharge means 15, expanding an interval between bins B wide, and a sheet is discharged to the bin B from the sheet discharge means 15, then the sheet is matched in the bin B. Next, when an engagement starting part gets into the support roller 30 through the spiral cam means 40, rotational speed of at least the spiral cam means 40 is more decreased than a steady state rotational speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to so-called sheets called copy paper, transfer paper, and recording paper that are carried out from image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, printing machines, and other recording equipment. The present invention relates to a sheet sorting device W (hereinafter referred to as a sorter) used for distributing and stacking shaped members (hereinafter simply referred to as sheets), and more specifically relates to a shock absorbing mechanism applied to sheets to be sorted.

([1) Prior Art In general, a sorter is provided with about 10 to 20 or more sheet stacking stands (hereinafter referred to as bins) spaced apart from each other, and from an image forming apparatus to... The sheets are continuously conveyed at regular intervals and are sequentially conveyed and sent to each predetermined bin by a conveying means using a belt, a plurality of roller means, or a conveying means combining these.

When classifying these sorters, for a certain discharge path,
A bin moving type sorter has a structure in which a group of bins for accumulating sheets moves, and a group of bins is arranged in a fixed manner, and the discharge unit 1 is made to correspond to each bin, and a flapper (direction changing means) is used to move the bins from a fixed mainstream bus. It can be classified as a fixed-bin type sorter that feeds Sea 1 into each bin.

Next, to explain the configuration of the bin moving type sorter, there is a conventionally known method of moving the bins so that when the bins are moved to Sea 1- or the position where they are to be carried, the population interval between the bins becomes wider. There is. For example, patent publication number Sho 56-78
770, 1986-78769, 1984-4855, 1984
7-4856, No. 141357 of 1982 is known. This involves engaging a pair of protruding members individually attached to both sides of the ends of each bin with an expanding mechanism using a rotating Geneva or a lead cam to gradually widen the interval between each bin in the Sea I-input section. The structure is such that the entire bin group can be raised and lowered by stacking them on top of each other.

Then, it engages with the groove surface of the lead cam to locally increase the upward or downward movement, making it easier to receive the sheet. At this time, the support position of the entire bin group (bin unit) is determined on the upper surface of the saw 1 to the cam, and the bin units 1 to 111 are raised and lowered.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, the above-mentioned conventional bin moving type sorter, specifically, the sorter that is raised and lowered by the grooved side surfaces of the round lead cam that supports both sides of the base end of the bin, The knife at the end of the side of the groove cuts between the roller groups to scoop up and lower the rollers, but this knife is sharp,
Katsukoroniri.

It would be fine if the surface had a curved surface that would not absorb the acceleration that occurs, but such a groove side surface is difficult to build in terms of strength, is difficult to work with, and gives a shock to the roller. As a result, there are disadvantages in that the operating noise is increased and the vibrations caused by the impact disturb the alignment of the sheets already aligned in the bin.

Therefore, the present invention reduces the rotational speed of the lead cam when the helical cam means and the bottle roller begin to engage, thereby reducing noise and improving sheet alignment when the bottle roller enters the helical cam means. Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet sorting device that can improve the durability of bottle rollers and spiral cam means.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 9, both sides of the proximal end are is equipped with a support roller (30), and the support roller (30) is provided with a support roller (30).
) are guided by vertical guides (7) to move, a sheet discharging means (15) for discharging sheets (P) to the bins (B), and the sheet discharging means (
15) spiral cam means (
40), a detection means (5) for detecting the position of the spiral cam means (40);
3, 54), and engagement starting portions (40b, 40c) of the helical cam means (40) with respect to the support roller (30).
) is characterized in that the speed at which the roller (30) enters the support roller (30) is set at least below the steady rotational speed of the helical cam means (40) based on the signal from the detection means (53, 54).

Also, a control means (67) for controlling the speed of the helical cam means (40) based on the signal from the detection means (53, 54).
It is characterized by having the following.

(e) Function Based on the above configuration, the supporting roller (30) of the bin (B) is guided by the vertical guide l-' (7), is transported by the spiral cam means (40), and the sheet discharging means (1
5) Expand the gap between the bins (B) and insert the sheet ejection means (
15), discharge the sheet (P) into the bin (B), and place the sheet (P) into the bin (B).
Align C1-(P) within B). In the above, the engagement starting portion (
40b, 40c), the detection means (53, 54)
) causes at least the rotational speed of the helical cam means (40) to be reduced below a steady rotational speed.

Further, the rotation speed of the helical cam means (40) is controlled by the control means (67) based on the signals from the detection means (53, 54).

Note that the symbols in parentheses are shown as examples and do not limit the structure in any way.

(f) Example Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5, the sorter 1 has 1
It has a sorter main body 6 consisting of a pair of left and right side plates 3, a base 5 and a cover 4, and stores a large number of bins B... along kite rails 7 provided on the front and rear side plates 3, respectively. It is equipped with a bin unit 9 that can be moved up and down.

The sorter main body 6 is provided with a carry-in port 10 for carrying in discharged sheets from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine. A conveyance path 11 is configured, and a second sheet conveyance path 12 is configured by branching from the first sheet conveyance path 11. On the downstream side of the first sheet conveyance path 11, an upper discharge roller pair 13 is configured. However, the transport path 1 also goes to the second sea 1.
A pair of lower discharge rollers 15 is arranged downstream of the rollers 2 and 2, respectively. In addition, a pair of carry-in rollers] 6 and a flapper 17 are arranged at the branching portions of the first and second sheet conveyance paths 11 and 12, and the flapper 17 is selectively displaced so that the pair of F-section discharge rollers 13 Sheets to be discharged to the bin B are guided to the first sheet 1 - conveyance path 11, and sheets to be discharged from the lower discharge roller pair 15 to the bins B... are guided to the second sheet conveyance path 12.

[Second Sheet Conveyance Path] A paper sensor 50 for detecting sheets is disposed near the second sheet discharge section. In this embodiment, the paper sensor 50 is a saw 1 to
It consists of a switch, but you can get very similar effects using a transmission type sensor. The paper ejection sensor of the image forming apparatus (not shown) can also measure the passage time of the sheet and the interval between the sheets being fed (paper distance), using an arithmetic circuit built into the main body of the image forming apparatus (not shown). , a sheet discharge signal, and a paper interval signal, and transmit the signals to a microcomputer in the sorter.

The bin unit 9 has a pair of frame-structured bin support plates 19 at the front and rear.
A pin lighter 20 is attached to the tip of the bottle support plate 19, and the bottle support plate 19 and the pin lighter 20 are further fixed with a bottle cover 21.

Further, from the bin cover 21 to the bin support plate 19, as shown in detail in FIGS. An alignment rod 25 that passes through the notches 23 over all the bins is swingably arranged, and by movement of the alignment rod 25, the alignment reference member 22 is moved to the seat 1 stored in the bin B... It is pressed and aligned.

Then, the bin ■3 stored in the bin unit 9...
are movably mounted on one end thereof or in the comb-shaped groove of the hinge lighter 2o, and a bin 26 is fixedly installed at the front and rear of the base end, as shown in detail in FIG. . The bottle 26 passes through slits 27 provided in the front and rear bottle support plates 19, respectively, and the bottle 26 that has passed through the slit 27 is fitted with a cushioning material O-ring.
A roller 30 is rotatably inserted through the roller 9, and the roller 30 of each bottle B is fitted into the kite rail 7 so as to be stacked, and the lowest roller 30 is rotatably inserted into the bottle support plate]9. Each bin B... is attached to the bin unit 9 by contacting the supported lower kite roller 31 and also abutting the two-part kite roller 32 rotatably supported by the highest roller 30 or the bin support plate 19. The bins are supported so as to be kept constant and equal to the diameter of the rollers 30 at intervals.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bin unit 9 has the upper guy 1 heel 32 and the lower kite roller 31 fitted into the guide rail 7 so that it can move up and down along the kite rail 7. Note that a spring 35 is stretched between the metal fitting 33 fixed to the bin support plate 19 of the bin unit 9 and the side plate 3 of the sorter body 6, so that the bin unit 9 can be pulled out. It is designed to be biased so that the

Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7, camshaft holders 36 and 36 are arranged at positions facing the lower discharge roller pair 15 on the front and rear side plates 3, 3, respectively. 36. Between 36 and the base 5, there is a bearing 37,
Lead cam shafts 39 and 39 are rotatably disposed through 37, respectively. Front and rear lead cams 40 and 40 each having a helical cam surface are fixed above the lead cam shafts 39 arranged in the front and rear, and the side plates 3
A pulley 41 is fixedly installed below the pulley 41, and a timing belt 43 is suspended between the pulley 41 and a shift motor 42.These lead cams 40 and 40 are driven by the shift motor 42, which rotates in both forward and reverse directions depending on selection. It is designed to be able to rotate in forward and reverse directions. Also, the shift motor 42
The drive is transmitted from the motor output pulley 4 to the lead cam 40.
Drive is transmitted through a through shaft 48 that penetrates the front and rear side plates 3, 3 by a kasahakya 47 that meshes with a kasaha gear integrally molded on the upper part of the 6. The lead cam shaft 39 and the front left lead cam 40 can be rotated through the belt 43 and pulley 41.

Further, a clock disk 38 is fixed to the shaft on the opposite side to the output side of the shift motor 42, and an interrupter 44 held on the side plate 3 via a sensor holder 45 controls the rotation speed of the shift motor 42. It becomes possible to read the number of revolutions of the lead cam 40, and the number of revolutions of the lead cam 40 can be freely controlled by the control unit 67 of the sorter 1 (see FIG. 2).

In addition, flags 51 and 52 for recognizing the position of the lead cam 40 are fixed on the axis of the lead cam shaft 39 below the cam 40 (FIG. 8 glue-1).
Interrupters 53 and 54 for reading 52 are held in the position detector holder 55 of the lead cam 4o, and are mounted on the rear plate 3.
is supported by The flags 51 and 52 have either the same flag angle or a predetermined phase shift, and depending on this shift, it is possible to determine whether Bin B is at the home position in the upward direction or in the home position in the downward direction. Interrupter 53.5
Judgment is made based on the on/off combination of 4. In this embodiment, the angle of the flags 51 and 52 is determined together with the parallel portion of the lead cam 40 (approximately 180 degrees, see FIG. 9). By the way, the phase is shifted by a predetermined angle (approximately 30 degrees), and this angular shift and the turning on of interrupters 53 and 54,
The position of the lead cam 40 is determined based on whether the lead cam 40 is off or not.

Next, the movement of the bin B determined by the shape of the lead cam 40 and the rollers 30 of the bin B that engage with the lead cam 40 will be explained. FIG. 10(a) shows the front lead cam 40 and the 10th
Figure (b) is a diagram showing the relationship between the rear lead cam 40, the rollers 30, and the bin B. FIG. 10(c) is a plan view of the front and rear lead cams 40. As can be seen from FIG. 10, the left and right lead cams 40 rotate in opposite directions.

That is, the front and rear glues 1 to cam 40 are mirror symmetrical.

3. In addition, the bins Ba and Bb opening section X, and the bin Bb and BC opening section Y are configured to be able to be expanded at two locations. If the binding means 49 is not provided, only the expanded portion X for carrying in the sheet P may be provided. When the lead cam 40 rotates, it moves up and down along the guide rail 7 due to the groove 40a of the lead cam 40. Figure 10(a),
As shown in (b), the reason why the guide rail 7 has a partially bent portion is to provide the sheet binding means 49 in this embodiment, and is not intended to limit this configuration.

In FIG. 9, the sheet P is discharged from the lower discharge roller pair 15 to the bin B (at this time, even though the lead cam 40 is rotating, the position of the roller 30e in the height direction does not change,
The bin Be that is discharging the sheets P with respect to the lower discharge roller pair 15 is in a stopped state even though the lead cam 40 is rotating.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 8, the flag 4 51.52 for detecting the position of the lead cam 40 has portions a and b that do not overlap with other flags, which are not shown in FIG. 9 but are shown in the saw 1-cam diagram. The lead cam 40 is synchronized with the vicinity of 180 degrees and 360 (0) degrees, respectively, and when detected by the b part of the flag 51.52 or the interrupter 53.54.
This is the moment when the knife portion 40b collides with the roller 30.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a sort mode signal, a paper size signal, a paper discharge signal, etc. 68 are input from an image forming apparatus (not shown) to the sorter control section 67, and furthermore, a paper sensor 50, an ink cleaner 53, etc. .54, it is designed to input signals from the bin paper sensor 61, the home position sensor 63 of the bin unit 9, the interrupter 44 for the clock disk 38, etc. without knowing whether there is a sheet P in the bin B. The control unit 67 sends signals to the shift 1 motor 42, the conveyance motor 64 that drives the conveyance roller pair 16, the lower discharge roller pair 15, etc., the alignment rod drive motor 65, the flapper solenoid 66, etc. It is designed to control these things.

5 In this embodiment, furthermore, when the flag 52 is detected by the interrupter 54, a signal is sent to the aforementioned control section 67, and this control section 67 issues a deceleration signal to the shift motor 42, causing the cam 40 to move to the Lee 1. The circumferential speed is reduced by a predetermined amount.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the time chart shown in FIG.

First, a signal of sheet discharge data such as 21 to 1, paper size, sheet spacing, paper conveyance speed, etc. of the copy sheet P discharged from the image forming apparatus is transmitted to the control unit 67 (step S,
).

Then, the control unit 67 moves the bin units 1 to 9 from the home position to the home position by the motor 42 (step S
2), turn off the flapper solenoid 66 (step S
3) When the size of the sheet P is determined by the paper size signal (step S4), if the sheet P is the first sheet, the alignment rod drive motor 65 moves the alignment rod 25 to a position that matches the paper size. (Step S5).

6. Then, when a paper discharge signal is received (step SS), the shift motor 42 moves the lead cam 40 to the home position at the start of the saw 1 (step S7), and the alignment rod 2
5 to the standby position by the alignment rod drive motor 65 (
Step SO).

Then, according to the signal from the image forming apparatus, the paper interval is
The control unit 67 controls the rotational speed of the shift motor 42 (rotational speed of the lead cam 40) to move the bin B and control the position at which discharging of the sea 1-P from the roller pair 15 starts and the position at which discharging is completed. do.

That is, in the cam diagram shown in FIG. 9, the 360 degree position is the position where the bin unit 9 starts discharging sheets 1-P when it is lowered, and the position where it finishes discharging the sheets P when the bin unit 9 is rising. The 180 degree position is the position at which the bin unit l-9 starts discharging the sheets P when it is ascending, and the position at which it finishes discharging the sheets P when it is descending. Since the position is between 0 and 180 degrees or between sheets, the rotation 7 of the lead cam 40 is controlled to match these positions.

Furthermore, the alignment rod 25 is moved to the width alignment position (step 89).

Then, when the interrupter 53.54 that detects the position of the lead cam 40 by the flag 51.52 is turned on, the control section 67 that receives this signal instructs the shift motor 42 to reduce the circumferential speed of the lead cam 40 by a predetermined amount. (Step S,.).

The knife portion 40b of this lead cam 40.

When 40c collides with the roller 32 of bottle B, the knife part 4
Since it collides with 0b and 40c at low speed, impact noise and vibration are reduced, which prevents noise and poor alignment.

To explain the misalignment in detail, the knife part 4
0b and 40c actually have a thickness because they have the problem of being weak in terms of strength. Then, the roller 30 collides with the step formed by this thickness and rides on it.

This means that when the lead cam 40 applies an impact to the bin B, it vibrates from side to side between the engagement cams with the guide rail 7, and also vibrates in the vertical direction. As shown in FIG. 11, P is separated from the rear end slot 57 of the bin B. Sea 1-
When a small number of sheets P are loaded, the tilt of the bin B restores it to the lowest position, but when a large number of sheets are loaded, the gravity of the sheet P above causes the gap between the bottom of the bin B and the back surface of the lowest layer of the sheet P. The frictional resistance becomes large and the sheet P is not restored, forming a gap 58 and causing misalignment of the sheet P.

In particular, a high-quality sorter that requires alignment, or a staple sorter that automatically staples (stapling means 49) will not be viable.

Such a phenomenon is prevented by reducing the collision speed of the knife portions 40b, 40c with the rollers 30 so that the impact force is lower than a predetermined value.

In this embodiment, the speed of collision between the roller 30 and the knife parts 40b, 40c is reduced, but just before the knife parts 40b, 40c collide with the roller 30, the lead cam 40 is rotated for a certain period of time. If the lead cam 4 is stopped and the roller 30 is entered when the lead cam starts rotating 400 times, the lead cam 4
The effect will be the same if it collides with the roller 30 at a low speed before reaching zero or a predetermined speed.

Further, immediately before the knife portions 40b and 40c collide with the roller 30, a brake is applied to the shift 1 motor 42 that drives the lead cam 40. Alternatively, the same effect can be expected by lowering the voltage supplied to the shift motor 42 or temporarily stopping the energization.

In order to do these things, if there is a means for detecting the position of the lead cam 40, it is necessary to use complicated control means such as applying a rake to the position of the lead cam 40, lowering the voltage, or stopping energization. I don't.

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, when the engagement starting portion of the helical cam means enters the support roller, when the detection means detects the engagement starting portion, the helical cam means By making the rotation speed of the helical cam lower than the steady rotation, the impact force of the helical cam means applied to the support roller is reduced to a predetermined amount, which improves the durability of the helical cam means and the support roller, and reduces operating noise. can be reduced. In addition, since the impact applied to the bin from the support rollers is reduced, the alignment of the sheets in the bin can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional front view of a sorter embodying the present invention, Fig. 2 is a part of its control block diagram, Fig. 3 is its flowchart 1 to 1, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 The figure is a perspective view of the bin unit, Figure 6 is a detailed cross-sectional view of the rollers that support the bin, Figure 7 is a front view showing the bin drive system, and Figure 8 (a).
is a plan view showing the position detection means of the lead cam, and FIG.
) is its side view, Fig. 8(C) and (d) are Fig. 8(
Figure 9 is an exploded plan view of a), Figure 9 is a beam-to-cam diagram, Figures 10 (a) and (b) are front views showing the relationship between the front and rear beams and the bottle, and Figure 10 (c) is a plan view thereof. , FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional front view showing a state in which misalignment has occurred with respect to the sea 1 in the bottle. 1 1... Sheet sorting device (sorter) 7... Guide (kite rail) 15... Sheet discharge means (lower discharge roller) 30...
・Support roller (roller), 40... Spiral cam means (lead cam), 40a... Groove 40b, 40c...
・Engagement start part (knife joint part) 53.54・
...Detection means (interrupter) 67...Control means (control unit) B...Bin P...To sea 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A large number of bins provided with support rollers on both sides of the base end and in which the support rollers are guided by vertical guides, and a sheet discharge means for discharging sheets into the bins; A sheet sorting device comprising a spiral cam means for transporting support rollers of each bin so as to open the bins facing the sheet discharge means, further comprising a detection means for detecting the position of the spiral cam means, A sheet classification characterized in that the speed at which the engagement start portion of the helical cam means enters the support roller is set to be equal to or lower than the steady rotational speed of the helical cam means based on a signal from the detection means. Device. 2. The sheet sorting device according to claim 1, further comprising control means for controlling the speed of said spiral cam means based on a signal from said detection means.