JPH04251070A - Disk stacker with butting mechanism capable of making offset in direction of crossing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To deliver a stack of sheets improved in by providing such a tamping mechanism that a damper tamps entering sheets against an opposed positioning wall at an operative position, and it retracts from a zone between first and second positioning walls at an inoperative position. CONSTITUTION: A tamping mechanism 79 has a first and a second damper 83, 84 having tamping fingers 76, 78. These dampers 83, 84 are independently moved between an operative position and an non-operative position, through openings formed respectively in first and second side surface positioning walls 81, 82. Further, at the operative position, the dampers 83, 84 are extended through the openings in the respective positioning walls 81, 82, and are located above a stack 14 of sheets, for tamping sheets entering with respect to the opposed positioning walls, and at the non-operative position, the dampers 83, 84 are retracted from the zone between the first and second side surface positioning wall 81, 82 into the rears of the respective positioning walls 81, 82.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to paper stacking apparatus and, more particularly, to paper fed from a copying or printing machine.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In many automatic copying machines, the paper path uses a geometric arrangement of mechanical components to provide an image on the top surface of the copied paper. Thus, the copied sheets enter the collection tray successively with the copy or image side facing up. This is not a problem if you want one copy of one image, or if you want multiple copies of one image. In either case, there is no need to differentiate between successive copies, and all copies can be easily assembled with the image side up. This would also be satisfactory if the original documents were run in the copier in reverse order, with the last or bottom document first and the first or top document last. be. In this example, the assembled set of copies is such that the top original is at the top of the set, printed side up;
The bottom original is also at the bottom of the set of copies, print side up. However, in many instances of a batch of manuscripts being copied, this batch will have the top manuscript facing up, and if copied using the normal procedure, the first manuscript at the top would be The original is copied, with the print side facing up, and a set of copies printed this way will have the first original copy at the bottom with the print side facing up, and the last original copy with the print side facing up. Turn it up so it's on top. Therefore, the batch printed by the copier is such that the copy of the last original is at the bottom of this stack, the copy of the first original is at the top of this stack, and both It can be seen that it is desirable to obtain a copy in the same order as the original, with the printed side facing up. Furthermore, in electronic printing, it is also advantageous to be able to print sequentially from the first page to the last page; This is because the printed content must be stored in the memory of the printing press until the end of the printing process, which increases the size and cost of the memory.

[0003] This means that when copying a set of sheets, the top original, that is, the first original, must be copied first, and the copy with the printed side facing up is turned over so that the printed side is on the bottom. This can be achieved by By copying a series of successive sheets and turning each copy over, the final set of copies is assembled with the printed side down, the first sheet last, and the last sheet first.

It would also be desirable to provide a system that is capable of flipping and stacking sheets fed at high speeds and/or having a variety of different sizes and weights. This type of system must be able to align and stack sheets so that the front and sides of each copy are accurately aligned. The paper stacking device must also retain the ability to offset batches of documents in such a way that individual batches are distinguished from one another, yet the alignment of the sheets in each stack is maintained with a high degree of accuracy. .

US Pat. No. 3,9 to Fedor et al.
No. 68,960 discloses a paper inverting and stacking device. The apparatus comprises a transport means, a rotation means for deflecting the leading edge of the sheet from the transport means to a stacking platform, a control means for varying the operation of the displacement means according to the length of the copy, and located on the displacement device. , by a second transport means for moving the trailing edge of the copy past its leading edge and assisting in turning the sheets inside the stacking platform. An overhead support belt is provided which moves at the speed of the main paper feed path and assists in turning the paper over. For long sheets, the rotation of the disk can be paused. Using a continuously rotating roll with a friction surface around the periphery,
Push the leading edge of the stacked paper onto the stack.

US Pat. No. 4,4 to Kokubo et al.
No. 31,178 discloses a banknote accumulator assembly for receiving banknotes. The assembly is comprised of a plurality of paddle wheels, a transport device, and a guide belt assembly that restricts the free movement of the trailing edge of the paper to prevent it from sliding off the paddle wheels. The guide belt is attached to the transport plate at an angle and moves at substantially the same speed as the circumferential speed of the paddle wheel. A sprayer plate is mounted below the paddle wheel and scrapes banknotes from the paddle wheel into the carrier plate.

US Patent No. 4 to Burkhart,
No. 575,069 discloses a paper advance mechanism that deflects the leading edge of the paper against the front face of a receiving tray to form a buckle in the paper; a pivotable displacement arm that then moves away, and a plurality of paper transport belts that frictionally transport the remaining portion of the paper and drop it into the tray. See FIGS. 2-8. If flipping is not desired, the displacement arm is rotated away.

US Pat. No. 3,1 to Poland et al.
No. 62,439 discloses a document stacking device;
This device has a rotating grooved disk that receives, turns over, and stacks documents. A series of rollers located on the disk assist in feeding documents into the disk as it rotates from an initial input position.

US Pat. No. 4,4 to Doery et al.
No. 36,301 discloses an overhead transport system for transporting documents into position on a document stack tray in a recirculating document handler. Various other disk stacking devices have been proposed. Stemm
U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,785 to le discloses an upstream deflector gate that selectively deflects documents through a bypass into an inversion disk for stacking without inversion on the same tray. 1 shows a disc stacker having a disc stacker. Xer for Stemmle
ox Disclosure Journal No. 12
Volume, No. 3 (May/June 1987) shows the same structure as above. U.S. Pat. No. 3,90 to Pfeifer et al.
No. 4,192 is a disc placed in the output slot of a copying machine.
Showing the stacker. JP-A-63-1 for Asano
Publication No. 23754 shows a stacker for reversing and stacking banknotes. JP 62-153051 to Uchiumi shows a paper stacking device that employs a conveyor belt to ensure complete entrapment of stacked papers within the impeller blades. European Patent Application No. 59,101 to Ariga et al. and European Patent Application No. 121,499 to Nakamura.
The No. 2003 patent discloses an apparatus for stacking paper, in which a predetermined number of banknotes are collected and stacked.

US Pat. No. 4,38 to Beery
No. 5,756 and British Patent Application Publication No. 2,08
No. 2,550 discloses a disk stacker;
It has a fixed paper guide that helps guide the paper into the grooves of the disc. Philli
US Pat. No. 4,088,314 to PS discloses a synchronous stack device having a rotating pocketed carrier. FIG. 2 shows a stacking device with a carrier constituted by a grooved disc. A guide track constituted by a wire is provided which can be moved by a solenoid to a position displaced from its normal position to displace documents that are not aligned with the groove.

US Patent No. 4 to Garrison et al.
, 252,309 discloses a spring-biased locking member that locks the sheet within the slotted groove of the reversing wheel during rotation of the wheel to flip the sheet. The end lock member toggles along the pin between two positions to secure the leading edge of the copy sheet within the tapered groove of the rotating reversing roller. An angled leaf spring is crimped against the surface of the cam and locked into engagement (position B) and then release (position C) to retain and then release the paper during the stacking process. .

US Pat. No. 4 to Von Hein et al.
, 600,186 discloses a mechanism for reducing the impingement velocity of a sheet as it enters the pocket of a rotary transport flywheel. The speed reduction mechanism includes a cam plate mounted adjacent to the periphery of a rotary paper transport flywheel. This cam plate rotates in the opposite direction to the flywheel. A plurality of cams mounted on the cam plate rotate in proximate relation to a rotatable fixed support ring to grip the trailing edge of a sheet of paper as it is inserted into the flywheel groove.

British Patent No. 1,46 to Brooke
No. 4,177 discloses an interlocking mechanism that grips the leading edge of the outer periphery as the drum rotates through a series of electrostatic regeneration stations. U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,177 to Beery et al. discloses a disk stacker having a pivotally mounted arm for selectively biasing sheets within a rotating disk. Move the positioning member.

[0014] US Pat. No. 4,568,172 to Acquaviva discloses a copier that outputs a stack of sheets, where the individual sheets in the stack are aligned in the process direction. Move to one side. Many devices are known that abut one or more edges of a stack of paper to improve stack positioning. Examples of matching devices include U.S. Pat. 3,982
, 751, 4,556,211, and 4,844,440.

US Pat. No. 4,56 to Lynch
No. 8,172 discloses an apparatus for stacking sheets of plate stock in registration within a collection tray. An elongated trailing edge piece made of a resilient polymeric material is coaxially aligned by one of a pair of cooperative pinch rollers configured to transport the paper into the collection tray. This trailing edge part is deformed under load as it is drawn into the roll nip formed between the coordinating rollers, and at the point when it passes through this roll nip, it is The trailing edge component releases the energy stored in this trailing edge component to the paper which affects the alignment of the paper within the tray.

US Pat. No. 4,228,997 to Schoonmaker et al. discloses a stacking machine for stacking sheets of irregular size. Paper is received by this pocket formed by adjacent flexible webs, each web being secured at one end to the disk. U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,493 to Devito discloses an ejection roller reversal gate for a copier printer. This gate is constituted by fingers, which are mounted on a pivot near the rollers. These fingers are typically spring-secured in an upper position that does not engage the paper. As the roller rotates in reverse, these fingers move to a lower position and extend substantially beyond the radius of the roller to remove and retain sheets already in the output tray from engagement with the roller.

The disclosed device can be easily operated and controlled by conventional control systems. Some other examples of various prior art copier control systems having document handling devices including paper detection switches, cm, etc. are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,380; Specification No. 061, Specification No. 4,076,408, Specification No. 4,078,787, Specification No. 4,099
, 860 specification, 4,125,325 specification, 4,132,401 specification, 4,144,550 specification, 4,158,500 specification, 4,176
, 945 specification, 4,179,215 specification, 4,229,101 specification, 4,278,344 specification, 4,284,270 specification, and 4,
No. 475,156. It is generally well known and preferred to program and execute such control functions and logic by conventional software instructions for conventional microprocessors. This is taught by the above-mentioned and other patents as well as various commercially available copiers. Of course, this type of software is determined by the specific functionality and specific software as well as the specific microprocessor system or microcomputer system used, but in addition to a general knowledge of software and computer technology, are available to, or readily programmed by, those skilled in the art without undue experimentation either by theoretical functional descriptions such as those provided herein or by prior knowledge of such functionality; You can also do that.

[0018] All references cited herein and references thereto are hereby incorporated by reference and herein also include other or alternative details, features, and/or background information. Also included. therefore,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rotating disk stacker capable of outputting stacks of sheets with improved lateral positioning.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotating disk stacker for storing a plurality of sets of sheets that are offset from each other in a direction perpendicular to the process direction.

[0020]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above and other objects, and to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages, a disc stacker is provided having a butting mechanism placed on a paper cradle, in which the paper is stacked. If it falls on top of
Match the sides of the paper. First and second vertical positioning walls are provided and spaced apart above a different one of the sides of the paper cradle so that paper can be received therebetween. The first tamper
located adjacent to a side locating wall and movable between an operative position and a non-operative position via an opening in the wall, wherein in the operative position the first tamper is movable through the opening; the first tamper extends through the first and second side positioning walls and abuts the incoming paper toward the second side positioning wall; The first side is drawn behind the positioning wall outside the area between the positioning wall and the positioning wall. A second tamper may be provided, which operates in a similar manner with respect to the second side locating wall, and when the first and second tampers operate alternately between operative and non-operative positions, the stack The separate sets of sheets can be offset relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to the process direction. A scatter guard may also be provided to prevent already stacked sheets from compromising positioning. The abutment fingers of the abutment mechanism can be driven with high amplitude and low frequency, or with low amplitude and high frequency.

[0021]

1 and 2 illustrate a feeder/stacker 10 having two disk stackers 20 according to the present invention. For example, feeder section 12 can be a high speed copier or printer. One form of system that can be used as the feeder section 12 can include an optical reader (scanner) that digitizes the data contained in the original document, and can be used with a high-speed, high-performance printer, such as a laser printer. The printer outputs the document to the disk stacker 20. Each disk stacker 20 has a rotating disk 30 having one or more grooves therein for receiving sheets. The rotating disk 30 rotates to turn over the paper, and the leading edge of the paper is positioned against a positioning means, ie a positioning wall 32, which removes the paper from the rotating disk 30. This paper falls face down onto the top of the stack of papers, which are held on an elevator 70 that raises and lowers vertically. An overhead trailing edge support belt 40, described in more detail below, is located above the elevator 70 adjacent to the rotating disk 30 and assists in turning over the paper. Elevator platform 70 moves vertically by moving a screw drive mechanism (not shown). This screw drive mechanism has independent vertical rotation axes at each corner of the elevator platform that are externally threaded and extend through internally threaded holes (a total of four vertical axis). As this vertical axis rotates, platform 70 moves up and down. As explained below,
A stack height sensor is used to control the vertical movement of platform 70 so that the top of the stack remains at substantially the same height. A vibrating trailing edge guide 50 is provided to improve the positioning of stacked sheets relative to the positioning wall 32. Each disk stacker 20 also has a butting mechanism (described in more detail below) that
A set of sheets can be shifted on top of the stack 14 of sheets in a direction perpendicular to the processing direction indicated by the arrow.

By providing two or more disk stackers, sheets can be output in a continuous manner at high speed. A particular requirement of the high speed computer printer market is to provide the ability to run for extended periods of time with minimal downtime due to system failures, paper outs, and wasted time at no load. By providing two or more stackers, if one of the stackers becomes saturated,
There is no need to interrupt document output, but the reason for this is
While removing the load from this saturated stacker,
This is because documents can simply be fed to another stacker. Therefore, even if one stacker becomes saturated or fails, document output is not interrupted. Furthermore, the bypass capability of each stacker makes it possible to bypass both stackers so that another stacker or a downstream device, such as a document finishing device, e.g. a folding device or a rotary device, Documents can be supplied.

3, 4 and 5 show the basic components of a disk stacker. Disk stacker 2
0 has a disk assembly 29 having a rotating disk 30 therein. The disk stacker 20 also has a bypass transport idler.
An assembly 60 includes a plurality of pairs of bypass idler rollers 62 that engage bypass drive rollers (described below) and extend over the paper stack area and in the process direction of the disk stacker 20. conveying the paper to a device located downstream from the paper, such as another disk stacker or document finishing device. The disk stacker 20 also includes a trail edge transport and a forward bypass transport assembly.
d forward bypass transport
assembly) 39, the upper surface of which includes pairs of bypass drive rollers 64 that engage several pairs of bypass idler rollers 62 to create a plurality of rollers between them. A gap between the rolls is formed and the paper is conveyed through this gap. The lower portion of trailing end transport and forward bypass transport assembly 39 includes two or more trailing end transport belts 40 . The rear end guide and secondary bypass transport assembly 49 has two pairs of bypass drive rollers 64 on its upper surface, which are connected to two pairs of bypass idler rollers.
It engages rollers 62 to form a plurality of roll gaps therebetween for transporting the paper. The lower portion of the trailing edge guide and secondary bypass transport assembly 49 includes a trailing edge guide 50 . The rear end guide 50 includes a vibrating member 52
, which has a stack 1 against the front positioning wall 32.
4. Position the paper on top. Trailing edge guide 50 is movably connected to trailing edge guide and secondary bypass transport assembly 49.
As a result, sheets of different lengths can be accommodated in the disk stacker 20. Figure 3 shows
FIG. 4 shows the position of the trailing edge guide 50 when feeding large sheets of paper, such as 11×17 inches, into the stacking device 20, while FIG. The position of the end guide 50 is shown. The rear end guide 50 has a vibration generator. This causes the vibrating member or plate 52 to vibrate in a direction parallel to the paper processing direction so that the front edge of the top stack of sheets abuts against the front positioning wall 32. The plate 52 is the rear end guide 5
0, so that the plate is vertically displaced slightly, and includes one or more fingers;
These fingers extend downwardly from the lower surface of this plate into grooves formed in the upper surface of the elevator platform 70. By configuring the parts in this manner, it is ensured that the vibrating member 52 engages even the first sheet placed on the elevator platform 70.

Two butting mechanisms 79 (one of which is shown in FIG. 5) are also provided to butt the sides of the sheets on the stack 14 against the side registration walls in a manner described below. Each butting mechanism 79 (Fig. 3
and at least one tamper (such as tamper 84 in FIGS. 3 and 5). Each side locating wall has a plurality of fingers 89 extending downwardly therefrom. These fingers 89 are spring biased so that the elevator platform 70
When in the top position, it contacts the elevator platform 70 and is moved upward (against the bias of the spring). The surface of each finger that contacts the stack of sheets 14 is flush with the respective side registration wall and thus forms an extension of the side registration wall. This configuration ensures that a good corner exists between each positioning wall and the elevator platform 70 when the elevator platform 70 is in the top position.

The platform 70 has each finger 8
A recess can be provided to receive the fingers 9 so that the lowest part of each finger 89 is below the top surface of the elevator platform 70. This recess allows the first few sheets of paper placed on the platform 70 to connect to the bottom of each finger 89 and the elevator platform 70.
to prevent it from being caught between the top surface of the It is also possible to extend each side locating wall downwardly and provide an opening in the platform 70 through which the lower end of each lateral locating wall extends when the platform 70 is in the top position. However, since the side positioning walls of the present invention are movable in a direction perpendicular to the paper processing direction in order to accommodate sheets of different sizes, each side positioning wall can be moved at multiple positions where each side positioning wall may be located. A plurality of holes or an oversized hole must be provided in the elevator platform 70 for the locating wall to receive its lower end. These holes tend to reduce the strength and durability of the elevator platform. A plurality of fingers 89 connect elevator platform 70
In the case of the present invention, which is received in a recess formed within the
No holes are required within the elevator platform 70. Instead, a long recess is formed in the top surface of the elevator platform 70 for each finger 89. Each recess extends across at least a portion of the platform 70 in a direction perpendicular to the sheet processing direction and receives its corresponding finger regardless of the position of its locating wall. The recess in the platform 70 actually serves to strengthen the platform 70 by providing reinforcement thereto.

Prior to entering disk stacker 20, the sheet is ejected via output rollers 22 of an upstream device. This upstream device may be a printer, a copier, another disk stacker, or a device that rotates the paper. After the sheets are turned over by the disk 30, it may be necessary to rotate them so that they have a constant orientation. Paper can be inserted into disk stacker 20 from the long side or from the short side. After entering the stacker 20, the sheet enters a pre-disc transport 24 where it is transferred to the input rollers 2 of one or more pairs of disk stackers.
It engages with the gap between the rollers formed between the rollers 3 and 3. If a bypass signal is given, the bypass diverter gate 2
6 moves downward and passes the paper through the bypass transport assembly 60
deflect inward. If the bypass signal is not applied, the paper will be directed to the disc input rollers 28, which are part of the feeding means for supplying the paper to the input position of the disc 30 (shown in FIGS. 3 and 4). Configure.

Movement of disk 30 can be controlled by various means in the prior art. Preferably, a sensor located upstream of disk 30 detects paper approaching disk 30. The disk input roller 28 is
Operating at a constant first speed, the time required for the leading edge of the paper to reach the disc groove is known. When the leading edge of the paper begins to enter the groove, the disk rotates 180 degrees. The disk 30 rotates at approximately 1/2 the peripheral speed of the input roller 28, so that the leading edge of the paper continuously enters the groove of the disk. However, the disk 30 rotates at a suitable speed so that the leading edge of the paper contacts the positioning wall 32 before contacting the end of the groove. This reduces the possibility of damage to the leading edge of the paper. This type of control method is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,431 to Beery et al., discussed above.
No. 177.

Advantageous features of the present invention include the construction and operation of trailing conveyor belt 40. Unlike conventional systems that use a trailing conveyor belt that operates at the same speed as the feed means that inputs the paper into the rotatable disk, the present invention
It has a rear end support belt 40 that rotates at a faster speed than the speed at which the feed means (including feed rollers 23 and 28) operate. Preferably, the conveyor belt 49 rotates at 1.5 times the speed of the supply means. Furthermore, the trailing conveyor belt 40 is configured at an angle to the elevator platform 70, so that the distance between the conveyor belt and the elevator platform increases as the conveyor belt 40 moves away from the rotating disk. , is shortened. At least one of the three pulleys 41, 42 and 43
The conveyor belt 40 is driven by a motor (not shown).
tension is maintained and the conveyor belt 40 is rotated at a speed faster than the speed of the supply means. This conveyor belt 40 is arranged at an angle ranging from 5° to 30° with respect to the flat surface of the elevator. Thus, if the elevator platform 70 is a horizontally configured tray, the surface formed by the conveyor belt 40 that contacts the trailing edge of the sheet will increase as this belt moves away from the rotating disk.
tilt downward. The speed and configuration of the trailing edge support transport belt 40 prevents long, light sheets from being crushed before they are completely turned over, and prevents heavy sheets from being crushed by the overred bypass mechanism 60 of the disk stacker 20 or other Prevents being crushed on red parts. In particular, operating the trailing edge transport belt 40 at a faster speed than the feed rollers 28 and at an angle relative to the elevator platform 70 may prevent long, light sheets from collapsing on themselves before being completely turned over. Do you get it. As the speed of the conveyor belt 40 increases, the energy applied to the trailing edge of the paper increases, and the belt 40 increases until the entire paper is turned over.
Help keep in touch with. By angling the belts 40 so that they move closer to the platform 70 as they move away from the disk 30, the contact between the belts and the paper is also improved because the paper tends to flow. The belt 40 follows the path (
That is, the angle of the belt 40 compensates for the sagging of the paper).

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of a movable gate that is used to assist in inserting paper into rotating disk 30. FIG. When operating at high speeds, it is difficult to ensure that the paper is fed directly from the disc input roller 28 along the disc entrance guide plate 27 into one of the grooves of the rotating disc 30. The leading edge of the paper can be bent or lifted by the air, especially when transported at high speeds, which prevents the paper from being inserted into the disc groove. Fixed position gates have been provided to assist in directing the paper into the grooves of the disks, and these fixed position gates ensure that the trailing edge of the paper reaches the trailing edge transport belt 40 as soon as possible. prevent contact with. More importantly, the fixed-position gate contacts the paper along its entire length, providing friction and deceleration of the trailing edge of the paper after it is released from disk input roller 28. After being released from disk input roller 28, the paper is not actively transported by any drive mechanism, and therefore forward movement is determined by the inertia of the paper. It can therefore be seen how the fixed position gate decelerates the paper after the trailing edge of the paper is ejected from the disk input roller 28. When operating at high speeds, a gate with a fixed position tends to cause paper jams at the location of the rotating disk because the trailing edge of the paper that is decelerated by this gate is fed from the disk input roller 28. This is because it interferes with the leading edge of the subsequent paper.

This disk stacker 20 has a movable gate 3
5, which is adjacent to the input position of the rotating disk 30 and moves between a first position, shown in solid lines, and a second position, shown in dashed lines. The first position is closer to the rotating disk 30 than the second position, so that when in the first position, the movable gate 35
contacts the paper and assists in inserting the paper into the disc groove, while in the second position, the movable gate 35 is located above and outside the paper feed path so as not to contact the trailing edge of the paper. . Furthermore, since it is desirable for the trailing edge conveyor belt 40 to contact the trailing edge of the sheet as soon as possible, the trailing edge conveyor belt 40 is placed on the side of the rotating disk 30 opposite the supply means 28 proximate to the input position of the disk 30. The movable gate 35 is located above the plane formed by the lowest part of the transport belt 40, so that it does not interfere with the contact between the rear part of the sheet and the transport belt 40.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate one possible means of moving the movable gate 35 between the first and second positions. The movable gate 35 has an elongated member that extends across the paper feed path in a direction perpendicular to the process direction. The elongate member has a plurality of fingers 31 extending outwardly from one side thereof, and the opposite side of the elongate member has a pivot point 44.
is rotatably attached to the support. A spring may be provided to bias the date 35 towards the first position. Although the movement of gate 35 can be controlled electronically, a simple and reliable means of moving this gate is to have a cam 37 on shaft 25 that rotates disk 30. The illustrated cam 37 can be used with a rotating disk 30 having two diametrically opposed grooves. Therefore, the cam surface has two identically shaped parts, each of which has one area around the cam circumference.
The movable gate extends by 80 degrees and controls the movement of the movable gate for one paper conveyance period of the rotary disk 30 (a sheet conveyance period includes rotation of the rotary disk by 180 degrees). Each 180° portion of the cam surface of the cam 37 is
and a second sub-portion. The first sub-portion is located closer to the center of the cam than the surface of the second sub-portion, so that
The gate 35 is in its first position when the cam follower 36 contacts the first sub-portion and is in its second position when the cam follower 36 contacts the second sub-portion. Figure 6 shows
The position of the cam 37 and the gate 35 relative to the rotating disk 30 is shown when the rotating disk 30 is in the input position shown by the solid line, and the cam 3 is shown when the gate 35 is in the second position shown by the broken line.
7 and the position of gate 35 are shown.

Follower 36 can have a variety of configurations. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the follower 36 has a body portion 46 which has a cam follower roller 34 at one end thereof, which is in contact with the surface of the cam 37 and whose second It has a gate follower roller 38 at the end, which contacts the movable gate 35. Main body portion 46 of driven body 36
is immersively connected to a support (not shown) by a mounting member 33. It can thus be seen how the movement of the gate 35 can be precisely synchronized with the rotation of the disk 30 because its movement is controlled by the surface of the cam 37 connected to the disk 30.

Disk 30 using a special mode of operation
, and thus the movement of gate 35 when a long sheet of paper is rotating. If an exceptionally long sheet (e.g., 11 x 17 inch sheet) is to be turned over by rotating the rotating disk 30 180 degrees as used for small sheets, the gate 35 will be in the first position, i.e. The trailing edge of the longer paper is still below the gate 35. Gate 35 contacts the back of the paper and decelerates the paper as described above. Before the long paper passes through the gate 35 and is conveyed, the gate 35
The rotation of the disk 30 is paused to prevent the gate 35 from descending, so that the second sub-portion (the raised sub-portion) of the cam 37 continues to engage the follower 46 and the gate 35
is held in the first position. Once the trailing edge of the sheet has passed under gate 35, the cycle of 180° rotation of disk 30 is complete. The total length of the paper approaching the disk 30 can be detected by a sensor, which is well known in the art, and if the detected total length of the paper is greater than a predetermined length, the special mode of operation described above is carried out. Ru.

The area of the disk stacker 20 that receives the flipped sheet from the rotating disk 30 has a pair of side locating walls 81, 82 that connect the elevator platform 70, the locating wall 32 that contacts the leading edge of the sheet, and the In addition to the rear end guide 50 that contacts the rear end, this wall 81,
The sides of the paper are positioned relative to 82. The side positioning walls 81 and 82 are connected to the front positioning wall 32 (see FIG.
0) or can be moved laterally (as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5), so that sheets of different widths can be moved to the lateral positioning walls 81, 8.
It can be located between 2. Butting mechanism 79
is provided to abut the paper against one of the side positioning walls 81, 82, so that the sides of the entire paper are properly aligned. The present invention provides a butting mechanism 79 that butts the sides of different sheets against one or the other of the side positioning walls 81, 82, so that a set of sheets is moved against each other in a direction transverse to the process direction. It can be pushed to one side. The abutting mechanism 79 has a first tamper and a second tamper 83, 84, respectively, each of which has an abutment finger 76, 77, respectively, and a first tamper and a second tamper 83, 84, respectively, each having an abutment finger 76, 77, respectively, and a first tamper and a second tamper 83, 84, respectively, each having an abutting finger 76, 77, respectively, and a first tamper and a second tamper 83, 84, respectively. The tamper is moved independently between an operative position and a non-operative position through the opening in which it is located, in the operative position the tamper extends through the opening in its respective locating wall and extends above the stack of sheets 14. position and butt the incoming paper against the opposing locating wall, and in the non-operating position the tamper moves from the area between the first and second locating walls 81, 82 behind its respective lateral locating wall. be retreated. 7 and 8 show the position of the height sensor 45, which detects the top of the stack of paper by rotating disk 30 and tamper 8.
3 and 84, and a predetermined distance apart, so that the sheets contained at the top of the stack are held by the rotating disk 30 or the tamper 83.
and 84. Preferably, the top of the paper stack 14 is spaced from the bottom of the rotating disk 30 so that the paper falls freely before coming to rest on the top of the paper stack 14. The amount of free fall is not important as long as the paper falls a certain distance freely onto the top of the stack and is acted upon by the tamper and trailing edge guide. The amount of free fall can be, for example, 15 millimeters, but this distance is given by way of example and not limitation.

In operation, one tamper, e.g.
The tamper 84 actively butts the sides of the incoming sheet with its abutment fingers 78, while other tampers, such as tamper 83, are inactive and retreat behind the positioning wall 81. The paper is disk 30
After being turned inside out, it reaches the abutting position and is located in the center between the positioning walls 81 and 82. The active tamper pushes the paper against the opposite registration wall by moving its abutment fingers between the positions shown in FIG. Each abutment finger can be provided with its own vibration means for vibrating this finger, or a common vibration means can be provided for all the abutment fingers provided on the respective lateral positioning wall. Preferably, the vibrating means moves each abutting finger between a first position and a second position, in the first position the finger extends perpendicularly to the top surface of the stack of sheets at a substantially 90° angle. in the second position, the fingers extend at an acute angle to the top surface of the stack. However, other operations can also be used. The vibrating means preferably has a shaft having an eccentric portion thereon, which shaft is connected to the abutment finger to cause it to vibrate as described above. However, other mechanisms can also be used as vibration means. One or more tampers may be provided for each side locating wall 81, 82, and the actual number of times the abutment fingers abut the edge of each sheet can vary widely. When stored at the top of a stack of sheets, the sheet remains trapped between the tamper and the opposing positioning wall and is prevented from becoming unpositioned. This shifting and positioning action continues for the duration of a given set of sheets. After the last sheet has been processed, but before the arrival of the next sheet, at the end of this set, the tamper is retracted behind the positioning wall and the opposite tamper is moved into position. Extends. At this point, the next set of sheets is stacked and the process is repeated. The tamper is installed on axis A in such a way that it does not disturb the top paper if it is not yet settled.
It should be noted that it extends into place from the top of the stack by pivoting in the direction of the arrow (see FIG. 10). Mechanism 90 is used to position the tamper (
For example, the tamper 84) may be rotated. The mechanism for pivoting the tamper may, for example, include a linkage which is attached at one end to the butt finger and at the other end to a clutch which rotates 180° to move the tamper to the advanced position (side positioning wall). 81, 82
180° and another 180° to move the tamper to a retracted position behind each side locating wall. However, other types of movement devices and mechanisms can also be provided for retracting and advancing the tampers 83 and 84.

If the speed is faster, the previous sheet may not have completely settled down by the time the next sheet arrives. When replacing the sheets with the next set, if the tamper retreats before the sheets have settled down, the last sheet (or sheets) may not be positioned. A method for maintaining the positioning of the last sheet (or sheets) of a sheet while preparing the first sheet of the next sheet includes a method that correlates to the timing of tamper changes. included. Rather than retracting a working tamper and simultaneously advancing a non-working tamper, leaving the working tamper in place if the non-working tamper is advanced. Therefore, if this advanced tamper is in position and acts on the first sheet of the next batch of sheets, and the previous sheet (sheets) is settling, the previous tamper is still in position. is maintained. When the first sheet of the next batch arrives, it is temporarily held between both advanced tampers. After a predetermined time interval (long enough for the previous sheet to finish settling), the previously operating tamper is retracted and a new sheet can be fully offset and positioned. .

A pivot gate member or dispersion guard 86 is provided to prevent dislocation of previously positioned sheets. 11 and 12 illustrate the functionality of distribution guard 86. Generally, disk 3 of the stack
When detecting the height of a stack in an attempt to control its relationship to zero, the tip of the stack is used. As shown in FIG.
This is why it is preferable to place Such a configuration suggests that the rest of the top of the stack may not be at the same height as the tip. This may be due to curved paper and/or image bulge. This poses potential problems for the butting mechanism as follows. If the stack is too high at the tamper, the tamper may not be able to advance completely into position. If the stack is too low,
The paper can slide out under the tamper and therefore cannot be positioned. A solution to this problem is to position the butt mechanism at a height just above the highest expected stacking condition, indicated by line h2. A pivot member or gate 86 is attached to the tamper 84 to maintain the positioning of the sheets after they are butted and fall under the tamper. This gate, the dispersion gate 86, is free to fall to the top of the stack and is thus completely unobstructed from shifting the sheets. Furthermore, the gate is long enough to fall to the height of the stack, which improves the abnormally low tolerance (indicated by line h1) even when the stack is low. To change the next set of sheets, this gate is first raised by rotating in the opposite direction to the arrow shown in FIG. 11, and then the tamper 84 is retracted. On the opposite side, the advancing tamper is first advanced and then this gate can be pivoted to the top of the stack. A distribution card 86 is attached to its respective butt finger;
As a result, it moves together with its abutting fingers between the lateral positioning walls 81, 82 or behind the corresponding lateral positioning walls. The dispersion gate 86 is coupled, e.g., by a cam, to a mechanism for moving the tamper between a retracted position and an advanced position, such that the tamper moves upwardly away from the stack before moving to the retracted position. After pivoting, the dispersion guard 86 falls onto the top of the stack. As each tamper pivots to its retracted position, the dispersion guard 86 must be raised before rotating the tamper, otherwise this dispersion guard will "kick" the previously stacked paper out of position. That is clear. This problem is prevented by providing a delay mechanism in the linkage that moves the tamper between its forward and retracted positions so that the dispersion card 86 is raised prior to the beginning of tamper rotation. Obviously, if the mechanism for moving the tamper between its forward and retracted positions does this by a linear movement (rather than a pivoting movement), the problem of "kicking" no longer arises.

Another means of improving the performance of the tamper is to provide a plurality of teeth 87 on the paper contacting surface 85 of each abutment finger, as shown in FIG. These teeth capture the edges of the paper more securely when the paper lies with very little contact on the tamper surface 85. Generally, the lower the beam intensity across the paper, the more likely the paper will lie with very little contact on the tamper surface. Without teeth, if the friction or electrostatic attraction between the current paper and the previous paper is too strong, the tamper will try to push the paper and the paper could ride up on this surface. . These teeth 87 ensure that the side edges of the paper do not ride up on the paper contacting surface 85 of the butt finger.

Two other types of butting motion can be applied to the tamper. If a substantially flat tamper is used, the tamper is frequently moved with relatively large amplitudes and at relatively low frequencies, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, a "vibrating" tamper, which moves at a high frequency with a small amplitude, can be provided. This type of abutment finger 88 has a curved paper contacting surface with a plurality of teeth 87 thereon. When the paper is acted upon,
The paper is rapidly and wiggled until it reaches the opposite positioning wall. The advantage of this approach is that it potentially requires significantly fewer parts to achieve the vibrations, since piezoelectric elements are used to achieve the vibrations.

FIG. 15 is a side view of a wiper means that can be used with the present invention. This wiper means is particularly useful when paper is fed at high speeds. Paper fed at high speed tends to jump away from the registration wall 32, resulting in an uneven front end of the stack. It can be seen that even though the trailing edge guide 50 oscillates relative to the trailing edge of each sheet, the leading edge of the stack is still not satisfactorily aligned. The wiper means is used to force the paper against the front positioning wall 32 and to reposition the paper that has sprung away from the front positioning wall 32 after being released by the disc 30. The wiper means may be attached directly to the rotating disc 30 or may be mounted on a shaft 25 that rotates the disc 30.
By being attached to the rotating disk 30, it acts in temporal relation to the rotating disk 30. The wiper means is a wiper member 100 which is preferably attached at one end to the shaft 25 and has a second end which freely engages the paper near the output position of the rotating disk 30. Wiper member 100
is very flexible and is preferably made of a material such as Mylar. The second end of the wiper member 100 that contacts the paper is preferably made of a material with a high coefficient of friction, such as rubber. The wiper member 100 has a length such that its second end extends radially outwardly beyond the groove in the disc, and in a preferred embodiment, the wiper member 100
Contact the top paper of the stack over a diameter of 0. The wiper member 100 is preferably made long enough to contact the top sheet of the stack as long as possible before the next sheet is positioned against the positioning wall 32. The wiper member 100 must exit the output area before the next sheet arrives so as not to interfere with the removal of the next sheet from the disk groove by the locating wall 32.

[0041] The position of the wiper member 100 is controlled by restraint means, which in the preferred embodiment retains the retaining wall 1
04, which is spaced from the shaft 25 and extends partially around the shaft 25 along a plane perpendicular to its axis. Wiper member 10
0 is coplanar with the retaining wall 104 and is thus restrained within the diameter of the disc 30 relative to the rotating part, and the member 1
00 from interfering with paper input into the groove of this disk. The protective wall 104 also functions to wind up the wiper member 100 so that the protective wall 1
04, the energy stored in the wiper member 100 is transferred to the paper resulting in the generation of a force that ensures that the paper is stacked and held in the desired position on the stack 14. The exact amount and time of contact between the wiper member 100 and the top sheet on the stack can be determined by varying the length, thickness or shape of the wiper member 100 and/or the shape of the protective wall 104. can be controlled. The wiper member 100 is
The shape of the protective wall 104 can be such that it releases the wiper member 100 at various positions, although a subsequent sheet must exit this area before reaching the output area. For example, before and after the positioning wall 32 starts removing paper from the disk groove, the wiper member 100
The wiper member 100 can be released from the protective wall 104 such that the wiper member 100 is in contact with a sheet of paper while the sheet of paper is at least partially within the disc groove. Furthermore, the protective wall 10
4 may be shaped so as not to release the wiper member 100 until after the paper has been completely removed from the groove of the disk 30 by the positioning wall 32. The preferred rotating disk 30 has two diametrically opposed grooves therein so that a second wiper member 102 is also provided, which is attached to the shaft at a diametrically opposite location to the mounting location of the wiper member 100. 25 or rotating disk 30.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a perspective view of a document output device having two disc stackers according to the invention, and also shows a stack of documents stacked by one disc stacker, in which individual sets of documents are offset from each other in a direction perpendicular to the processing direction.

FIG. 2 shows the basic parts of a disk stacker.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a disk stacker according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a disk stacker according to one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the disk stacker of FIGS. 2 and 3;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a rotating disk and a movable gate that assists in inserting paper into a groove of the rotating disk.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the movable gate, rotating disk, and trailing end conveyor belt of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a side view of the disk stacker showing the location of a stack height sensor used with the disk stacker.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the disk stacker showing the location of a stack height sensor used with the disk stacker.

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a biasing mechanism that can be used with the present invention.

11 is a front view of a butting finger and a pivot gate that are part of the butting mechanism of FIG. 9; FIG.

12 is a side view of a butting finger and a pivot gate that are part of the butting mechanism of FIG. 9; FIG.

FIG. 13 is a side view of an abutting finger with a plurality of teeth thereon.

FIG. 14 is a side view of a curved abutting fingert having a plurality of teeth thereon and vibrating at high frequency and low amplitude;

FIG. 15 is a side view of a rotating disk having an elongated flexible wiper member that contacts the top sheet in the stack and biases the sheet against the front positioning wall of the disk stacker.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Feeder/Stacker 12 Feeder section 14 Paper stack 20 Disk stacker 22 Output roller 23 Disk stacker input roller 24 Pre-disk transport device 30 Rotating disk 25 Shaft 26 Bypass diverting gate 27 Disk entrance guide plate 28 Disk input roller 29 Disk 31 , 89 finger 32 positioning wall 34 cam follower roller 35 movable gate 36 cam follower 37 cam 38 gate follower roller 45 height sensor 49 secondary bypass transport assembly 50 vibratory trailing end guide 52 vibrating member 60 bypass transport idler assembly 62 Bypass idler roller 64 Detour drive roller 70 Elevator 76, 78 Butt finger 79 Butt mechanism 82 Side positioning wall 83, 84 Tamper 81, 82 Side positioning wall 86 Dispersion guard 100 Wiper member 102 Second wiper member 104 Protection wall

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for cross-biasing sheets on a stack, the device comprising: receiving means for receiving sheets to form a stack of sheets, comprising vertically opposed first and second sheets spaced apart from each other; a positioning wall and a second positioning wall, such that the first positioning wall and the second positioning wall
the above-described receiving means capable of receiving the paper between the positioning walls; and a butting mechanism constituted by a first tamper and a second tamper located adjacent to the first positioning wall and the second positioning wall, respectively; each of said tampers is movable between an operative position and a non-operative position via openings located in said first positioning wall and second positioning wall, respectively; In the operating position, the tamper advances through an opening in its respective locating wall to position itself over the surface of the stack of sheets, abutting an incoming sheet against the opposing locating wall, in the inoperative position, said tamper is constituted by; said abutment mechanism retracting from the area between said first locating wall and said second locating wall behind said respective locating wall; Featured device. 2. In an apparatus for lateral positioning of sheets of paper on a stack, said apparatus comprises: a horizontal surface for receiving a series of individual sheets and forming a stack of sheets thereon, having opposite front and rear surfaces; and has two opposing sides,
said horizontal surfaces perpendicular to said front and rear surfaces and extending between said front and rear surfaces; and feeding means for continuously feeding a series of individual sheets onto said horizontal surfaces; receiving paper from a source spaced apart from said horizontal surface and passing the paper from above said horizontal surface onto said front surface of said horizontal surface;
said feeding means for feeding sheets onto said horizontal surface so that each sheet settles on said horizontal surface by moving downwardly on said horizontal surface;
a side positioning wall and a first side positioning wall, each of the side positioning walls being located above a different one of the two sides of the horizontal plane at a distance from each other;
said first side positioning wall and said first side positioning wall, said first side positioning wall being capable of receiving said sheet therebetween; a first tamper that moves between an operative position and a non-operative position; in the operative position, the first tamper advances through an opening in the first side positioning wall; The first tamper is positioned between the first side positioning wall and the second side positioning wall and abuts the incoming paper against the second side positioning wall, and in the non-operating position, the first tamper is positioned between the first side positioning wall and the second side positioning wall. said first tamper retracted behind said first side positioning wall from a region between said first side positioning wall and said second side positioning wall; and said first tamper in said operative position A device characterized in that it is constituted by: a moving means for moving the device to and from the location.