JPH05169786A - Mail processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately detect the position of a sealing member and to prevent the damage of mail and the damage of a mechanism part. CONSTITUTION:A mail processing apparatus 1 is constituted by connecting a supply means supplying a large amount of mails having various thicknesses and widths, a sorting means 5 excluding thick mail, wide mail and hard mail and a sealing stamping means 7 sealing the mails sorted by the sorting means 5 using a rotationally driven sealing member. Further, a detection means detecting whether the initial position of the sealing member of the sealing means 7 is normal and a control means performing the stop control of respective means when the detection means detects that the initial position of the sealing member is abnormal are provided. By this constitution, the mail processing apparatus 1 is not operated when the initial position of the sealing member is abnormal and the damage of mails and mechanism parts is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mail processing device for automatically sorting, arranging, imprinting, and sorting mail.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional mail processing apparatus, a semi-disc shaped stamp hub 30 as shown in FIG.
If the apparatus is operated as it is in a state where it is displaced from the predetermined initial position, the stamp hub 30 often interferes with the conveyance of the postal matter P, causing a jam and damaging the postal matter P in many cases.

Of course, the conventional device does not have a function of detecting whether or not the stop position of the stamp hub 30 is correct.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional apparatus, a large amount of mail P is damaged without noticing the improper position of the stamp hub 30.

Then, the operator notices the damage of the postal matter P only when the jam is detected by the sensor provided in the vicinity of the stamp hub 30 and the machine is stopped. In this case, if the jam detection takes a long time, a large amount of postal matter P may be locked by the stamp hub 30 and the mechanical portion may be damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mail processing apparatus capable of appropriately detecting the position of a stamp member and preventing damage to mail and damage to mechanical parts.

[0007]

The present invention provides a variety of thicknesses,
A supply means for supplying a large amount of mail having a width, a sorting means for eliminating thick mail, a width mail, a hard mail, etc., and a rotational drive for the mail after sorting by this sorting means In the mail processing apparatus connected with the stamping means for stamping using the stamping member, the detecting means for detecting whether the initial position of the stamping member of the stamping means is normal or abnormal, and this detecting means And a control means for performing stop control of each means when it is detected that the initial position is abnormal.

The imprinting member of the imprinting means is provided with a notch in a part of its outer periphery, and the detecting means is composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element forming an optical path penetrating the notch.

[0009]

The detecting means in this mail processing apparatus detects whether the initial position of the stamping member of the stamping means is normal or abnormal, and sends the detection result to the control means. Based on the detection result from the detection means, the control means controls the supply means, the sorting means, and the imprinting means to stop when the initial position of the imprinting member is abnormal.

As a result, when the initial position of the stamping member is abnormal, the mail processing device does not operate, and it is possible to prevent damage to the mail and to prevent damage to the mechanical portion.

The detecting means detects whether the initial position of the imprinting member is normal or abnormal by using a light emitting element and a light receiving element which form an optical path penetrating the cutout portion.

[0012]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below.

The mail processing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a hopper section 2 as a supply means for receiving a large amount of mail having various thicknesses and widths and supplying it to the next stage, and the mail from the hopper section 2. And a sorting means 5 comprising a thickness sorting part 3 for rejecting thick mail and rejecting thick mail and a width sorting part 4 for rejecting mail wider than a predetermined width, and this sorting means 5. A buffer unit 6 that receives the selected fixed size mail items and sends them one by one to the next stage, and a detection / imprinting unit 7 as a stamping means for reading the stamps and stamping the mail items sent from the buffer unit 6, The stacker unit 8 has a stacker unit 8 for classifying and stacking postal matter after the detection / seal processing.

Further, the mail processing apparatus 1 is provided with an operating means 12 comprising a main operating section 10 provided near the buffer section 6 and a sub operating section 11 provided near the stacker section 8. ing.

Further, the postal matter processing apparatus 1 includes a first display portion 13 arranged at an end of the width object sorting portion 4 of the sorting means 5, the width object sorting portion 4, and the detection / imprinting portion 7. The display means 15 is composed of the second display portion 14 arranged at the boundary portion of the.

As shown in FIG. 2, the first display unit 13 is provided with a box-shaped display screen 13a having a 5-digit column, and displays the processing rate of the mail of the sorting means 5 every 10 seconds. It is supposed to do.

As shown in FIG. 3, the second display unit 14 is a box-shaped display screen 14a, 1 having five columns of one column and two columns.
4b, and the processing rate based on the amount of postal matter conveyed to the detection / imprinting unit 7 on the display screen 14a is 10
In addition to displaying every second, the average processing rate for each counter clear is displayed on the lower display screen 14b.

As shown in FIG. 4, the detection / imprinting section 7 is provided with a stamping hub 17 as a stamping member which is rotationally driven by a stamping drive section 16. This stamp hub 17
Is a semi-circular disk-shaped shaft mounting portion 17 having a semi-circular shape at its center
a, the cutout portion 1 is provided in a part of the outer periphery of the shaft mounting portion 17a
7b is provided.

Then, an initial position sensor 19 as a detecting means using a light emitting element and a light receiving element forming an optical path penetrating the notch 17b is adapted to detect whether the initial position of the stamp hub 17 is normal or abnormal. There is.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the initial position sensor 1
The initial position of the stamp hub 17 is normal when the optical path of 9 penetrates the cutout portion 17b, and when the optical path of the initial position sensor 19 is blocked by the shaft mounting portion 17a when the stamp hub 17 rotates, the initial position of the stamp hub 17 is reduced. The position is abnormal.

Next, the control system of the mail processing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

The mail processing apparatus 1 is provided with a control means 22 including a program memory 21 storing an operation program and a control section 20 for controlling the whole, and the control section 20.
The hopper unit 2, the selection unit 5, the buffer unit 6, the detection / imprinting unit 7, the stacker unit 8, and the operation unit 12 are connected to each other.

The detection / imprinting portion 7 is composed of the imprinting hub 17
The stamp drive unit 16 for driving the stamp and the reading unit 18 for reading the stamp of the postal matter P are provided.

Further, the control unit 20 is provided with the first display unit 13
The first display drive section 23 for performing the display drive of No. 2 and the second display drive section 24 for performing the display drive of the second display section 14 are connected to each other.

Next, the operation of the mail processing device 1 will be described.

This mail processing apparatus 1 is set to be used by four people. Two of the operators throw the postal matter into the hopper unit 2. At this time, the input amount to the mail is determined by looking at the display value of the first display unit 13.

The postal matter put in is subjected to thickness selection in the thickness selection section 3, and the width item is excluded in the width item selection section 4.

Next, only fixed-size mail pieces are collected in the buffer section 6, picked up one by one, and sent to the detection / imprint section 7. The operator is in the vicinity of the main operation unit 10 and monitors the whole.

The postal items taken out one by one are stamped by the stamping hub 17 after the stamps are read by the detection / stamping unit 7, and then sorted and accumulated in the stacker unit 8.

The fourth operator moves the accumulated mail items to another box at the stacker section 8.

The above is the normal operation, but when the mail processing apparatus 1 is operated, the stamp hub 1 of the detection / stamp unit 7 is operated.
7 is displaced from the initial position, the initial position sensor 19
When the optical path is blocked by the shaft mounting portion 17a, the initial position sensor 19 sends a signal indicating that the initial position is abnormal to the control unit 20. The control unit 20 controls the stop of each of the hopper unit 2, the sorting unit 5, and the stamping unit 7 based on a signal indicating that the initial position sensor 19 has an abnormal initial position.

As a result, even when the initial position of the stamp hub 17 is abnormal, the postal matter processing apparatus 1 does not operate, and it is possible to prevent damage to the postal matter P and mechanical parts.

Further, if necessary, the control unit 20 is
An abnormal message is sent to the main operating means 10. This allows
An error message is displayed on the display unit (not shown) of the main operating means 10.

The first and second display units 13 and 13 may display that there is an abnormality.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

[0036]

According to the present invention described above, the operation of the detection means and the control means causes the apparatus to stop operating when the stamping member of the stamping means is displaced for some reason. It is possible to provide a mail processing device capable of preventing damage to a part.

Further, since the detecting means detects the initial position of the imprinting member by using the light emitting element and the light receiving element which form the optical path penetrating the cutout portion, a reliable operation is exhibited.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a mail processing apparatus according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a first display section of the apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a second display section of the embodiment apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an imprint hub of the embodiment apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system of the embodiment apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a stamp hub of a conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mail processing device 2 Hopper section 5 Sorting means 7 Detection / imprinting section 15 Display means 17 Imprinting hub 19 Initial position sensor 22 Control means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A supply means for supplying a large amount of postal matter having various thicknesses and widths, a sorting means for excluding thick postal matter, a wide postal matter, a hard postal matter, and the like. In a mail processing device connected with a stamping means for stamping using a stamping member that is rotationally driven for sorted mail,
Detection means for detecting whether the initial position of the imprinting member of the imprinting means is normal or abnormal; and control means for performing stop control of the respective means when the detecting means detects that the initial position of the imprinting member is abnormal. A mail processing device characterized by having. 2. The imprinting member of the imprinting means is provided with a notch in a part of its outer periphery, and the detecting means is configured by using a light emitting element and a light receiving element forming an optical path penetrating the notch. The mail processing apparatus according to claim 1.