JPH0524064B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a collating device with a variable paper feed section height;
Specifically, the present invention relates to a collation device that automatically sorts and stores printed sheets discharged from a copying machine, printing machine, printer, etc. into a tray.

[Prior art]

In conventional collating devices of this type, a plurality of trays for sorting and storing printed paper are arranged vertically along a fixed paper ejection section facing these trays. On the other hand, the paper feed section that receives paper from a host device such as a copying machine is also fixed, and the paper received from the paper ejection section of the host device is transported to the ejection section by a conveyance device and then ejected. They are led to the trays one after another.

Therefore, in order to align the entrance part of the tray into which the paper is guided with the position of the fixed ejection part each time the paper is fed, it is necessary to sequentially move the multiple trays in the vertical direction. A plurality of trays is configured to be moved one tray at a time from top to bottom or from bottom to top via a moving device in response to paper feeding.

However, in such conventional collating devices, as mentioned above, the paper feed section, the ejection section, and the transport path arranged between them are fixed, so it is difficult to move multiple trays up and down. Moreover, a space is required both above and below the position of the ejecting section to accommodate a predetermined number of trays, which increases the height and size of the collating device as a whole.

Furthermore, since the position of the paper feed unit that receives paper sent out from the host device is not variable, it is not only difficult to share the paper with different types of host devices, but also makes it difficult to use conventional systems with fixed or semi-fixed trays. In order to convey paper from a paper feeding section to a desired tray, it is necessary to link the conveying means and the paper distributing means, which inevitably makes the feeding mechanism complicated.

〔the purpose〕

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to easily adjust the height of a paper feed section for host devices such as copying machines having different heights of paper ejection sections. An object of the present invention is to provide a collating device having a variable paper feed section height, in which the installation height of a plurality of trays is reduced by approximately half compared to the conventional one.

〔composition〕

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention includes a paper feed section that receives paper sent out from a printing device, a plurality of trays that are held in a vertically arranged state,
A discharging means for delivering the paper to an inlet of a tray held between upper and lower adjacent trays among the plurality of trays, and a means for transporting the paper from the paper feed section to the discharging means are housed in a case. In the collating device, the paper feeding unit includes a rotationally driven paper feeding roller and a guide roller in contact with the paper feeding roller, and a shaft of the paper feeding roller is pivotally supported to be able to swing freely, and a paper ejection section having a paper ejection roller and a guide roller in contact with the paper ejection roller; a paper ejection section that pivotally supports the shaft of the paper ejection roller; a discharging means having a tray entrance holding member that is vertically displaceable; the paper feeding section; the paper discharging section; a mechanism for transmitting the rotation of the paper feeding roller to the paper discharging roller; and the paper feeding section and the paper discharging section. including a guide member provided between the
a conveying means that is movable according to the vertical positions of the adjusting member and the ejecting means, and that maintains an interaxial distance between the paper feeding roller and the ejecting roller; The present invention is characterized in that the height setting of the paper feeding section can be freely changed even after assembly.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained in detail below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention, where 1
is a paper feeding unit that receives printed paper 2 from a printing device (not shown), such as a copying machine, and in this example, the vertical position, that is, the height, of this paper feeding unit 1 can be adjusted as described later. shall be. In addition, 1
A and 1B are guide plates provided in the paper feed section 1.

3 is a paper feed roller driven by a motor 4;
5 is a guide roller that feeds the paper by contacting the paper feed roller 3 by its own weight, and 6 is a guide roller that feeds the paper through a belt 7.
A paper discharge roller 8 is interlocked with the paper discharge roller 6 by its own weight, and a guide roller 8 is in contact with the paper discharge roller 6 to discharge the paper 2. Therefore, the paper ejection roller 6 and the guide roller 8
is held by frame 9, and this holding frame 9
is slidable along the guide rod 10. 11A and 11B are upper and lower guide plates provided between the guide rollers 5 and 8 and between the paper feed roller 3 and the paper discharge roller 6, respectively, and the transport path 11 is guided by these guide plates 11A and 11B. Configure.

The guide plate 11A is connected to the guide rollers 5 and 8 as shown in FIG. 3, and the guide roller 5 is kept rotatable around the rotation axis of the rotation shaft 8 of the guide roller 8. The recording material (not shown) supplied onto the supply roller 3 is always pressed from above by its own weight. Further, the guide plate 11B is connected in relation to the paper feed roller 3 and the paper discharge roller 6. That is, the guide roller 8 on the side of the paper ejection roller 6 is provided with blocks 53 as shown at b on both ends of its shaft, whereas on the side of the frame 9 there are blocks 53 as shown on a, b and c. A groove 54 is formed along which the block 53 is kept slidable. Furthermore, the block 53 is prohibited from moving outward from the groove 54 by the holding plate 55 of the frame 9 located outside. In this way, the recording material supplied onto the paper discharge roller 6 is held in a pressed state by the weight of the series of guide rollers 8 and their shafts, and is discharged. Therefore, when the discharge roller 5 and the guide roller 8 move up and down along the guide rod 10 as described later, the guide plates 11A and 11B
Then, the positions of the guide roller 5 and paper feed roller 3 are further moved via the guide plates 11A and 11B,
Therefore, the paper feed roller 3 is maintained in a state where it is rotated around the axis of the fixed motor 4, and the paper feed operation can be performed.

Furthermore, 12 is a cylindrical tray entrance holding member, 13 is a rotating shaft of the holding member 12, and the upper and lower surfaces of the tray entrance holding member 12 are slidably held by the frame 9, so that the holding member described later can be achieved. Part 1
2, the set of paper discharge rollers 6 can be moved up and down at the same time via the frame 9.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the entrance holding member 12 is fitted onto the rotating shaft 13 so that it can slide freely only in the vertical direction, and the vertical groove 12A of the entrance holding member 12 is fitted with the rotating shaft 13. By engaging the rail portions 13A of 13, the inlet holding member 12 rotates together with the rotating shaft 13 only when the rotating shaft 13 rotates, and is moved up and down by the rotating shaft 13 while rotating. The direction is held in a slidable manner.

12B is a spiral groove carved on the outer peripheral surface of the entrance holding member 12, and the upper edge 12C and lower edge 12D of the spiral groove 12B are wedge-shaped. Furthermore, the groove 12B is configured to provide, for example, one lead between the groove 12B and the upper surface of the holding member, and the pin 14A at the entrance side end of the tray 14 can be moved up and down by this spiral groove 12B.

Furthermore, in FIG. 1, 15 is a tray holder fixed to the case 16 so as to maintain a predetermined inclination, and the trays 14 are stacked on this tray holder 15 so as to maintain a predetermined interval. be done.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a tray entrance portion that guides the paper 2 to the tray 14, and the tray entrance portion 17 can be successively formed between the upper and lower trays 14 by the aforementioned entrance holding member 12. Reference numeral 18 denotes a motor capable of rotating the rotating shaft 13 in forward and reverse directions.

Next, a vertical position adjustment mechanism in the paper feed section 1 of this apparatus will be explained. In FIG. 1, 16A is a position adjustment member attachment hole formed in the side surface of the case 16. A paper feed unit position adjustment member (hereinafter simply referred to as adjustment member) 20 can be attached to this hole 16A as shown in FIG.
are its mounting screw holes, and these screw holes 21
Among them, the hole is selected so that the supply section 1 is aligned with the paper ejection position on the printing device side (not shown), and the adjusting member 2 is inserted.
0 with screws 22.

On the other hand, the adjusting member 20 has a hole 1 as shown in this figure.
6A, the guide plates 1A and 1B of the paper feed section 1 are sandwiched between the flange portions 20A, and the motor 4 is pivotally supported on the flange portion 20A. At the same time, in this example, a pivot groove 23 is provided for slidably and rotatably pivoting the drive shaft 3A of the paper feed roller 3 driven by the motor 4. In this example, a friction wheel is used instead of a belt to drive the paper feed roller 3 with the motor 4.

In this way, as described above with reference to FIG. 1, the paper feed roller 3 can be made swingable around the axis of the motor 4.

Next, in the collating device configured in this way, first, assume that the paper feed section 1 is adjusted to an approximately intermediate height as shown in FIG. The paper ejecting section 30 composed of the rollers 6 and the guide rollers 8 is formed approximately in the middle of the tray 14 as shown in FIG. A case in which the layers are formed downward one step at a time will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, when the rotary shaft 13 is rotated clockwise by the motor 18, the tray pin 14A in contact with the lower surface of the holding member 12 is moved from the edge 12 of the member 12.
As the pin 14A is guided from D into the spiral groove 12B and rotates, it is lifted upward as shown in the figure. In this way, when the rotating shaft 13 is rotated once, the pin 14A is supported on the upper surface of the holding member 12, and at the same time, the pin 14A is supported on the upper surface of the holding member 12.
2 descends along the rotating shaft 13 by a height corresponding to the diameter of the pin 14A, and its lower surface touches the pin 14 directly below.
A tray inlet 17 is formed at a position one level lower than the tray A.

In the above explanation, only one of the devices installed on both sides of the tray entrance 17 has been described, but the devices shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are also installed at the target position across the tray entrance 17. , the tray inlet holding member (not shown) provided on the opposite side and the rotating shaft have a symmetrical shape or the same shape as that shown in FIG. Make sure they are supported at opposite positions at the same height.

Therefore, if the holding members 12 have a symmetrical shape, the rotating shafts 13 may be rotated synchronously in opposite directions, and if both have the same shape, the rotating shafts 13 may be rotated synchronously in the same direction. Bye. In the case of this example, the holding member 12 is lowered by rotating the rotating shaft 13 in a clockwise direction, and the tray 14 in contact with the lower surface of the holding member 12 is lowered.
can be lifted up to the upper surface of the holding member 12 to form the tray entrance portion 17 one step below.

In this way, the tray entrances 17 can be moved downward one after another in the same way, but in FIG. During this time, the pair of paper feed roller 3 and guide roller 5 are configured to be rotatable around the shaft of the motor 4, so the frame 9 is rotated along with the guide plates 11A and 11B. Its posture changes as it moves.

FIG. 5 shows a state in which the tray entrance portion 17 is moved upward from the state shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 4, and paper is fed to the tray 14 at the uppermost stage. In this state, the tray 14 supported on the upper surface side of the holding member 12 no longer exists.

Therefore, when trying to move the tray 14 above the holding member 12 from such a state, the force due to its own weight alone is insufficient to drive the holding member 12 downward. 19 is for this purpose guide rod 1
It is a coil spring installed on the upper part of the support frame 9 along the spring 1, and in the state shown in FIG.
9 is kept compressed.

Therefore, the spring force of the spring 19 allows the holding member 12 to be pressed against the tray pin 14A located at the top via the frame 9, thereby guiding the pin 14A into the guide groove. , the holding member 12 itself can be lowered effectively.

Next, with reference to FIG. 6, an explanation will be given of the operation of guiding the paper to a tray at a desired position while the position of the paper feed section 1 is adjusted to various heights. Here, 1
0A indicates the axis of the guide rod 10, and 30U, 30M, and 30L indicate the state in which the paper discharge portions 30 are formed at the top, middle, and bottom tray positions.

Furthermore, 1U, 1M, and 1L indicate the states of the paper feed section 1 when the adjusting member 20 shown in FIG. 3 is fixed at, for example, the highest adjustable position, the middle position, and the lowest adjustable position.

Therefore, if the paper feed section 1 is adjusted to be in the 1L state, the paper ejection section 30 is set to the position 3, for example.
Assuming that the collation operation is performed while moving from the state at 0L to the position 30U, along with this,
The center of the paper feed roller 3 moves from A to B to C along the center line 23L of the arcuate pivot groove 23. Note that here, 11C is a connecting line between the paper feed roller 3 and the paper ejecting roller 6, and in this example, the connecting line 11C is
is kept at a constant length.

Furthermore, if the sheet feeding section 1 is adjusted to the intermediate position 1M and the same collating operation as described above is performed, the center position of the sheet feeding roller 3 is at the center line of the pivot groove.
Move along 3M from D→E→F.

Furthermore, if the paper feed section 1 is adjusted to the highest position 1U and a similar collating operation is performed, the center position of the paper feed roller 3 will change from G to H along the pivot groove center line 23U. →Move with K.

Thus, as described above, even if the position of the paper feed section 1 is freely adjusted between 1U and 1L, paper can be guided to the desired tray 14 from any position of the paper feed section 1.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the invention. In this example, the adjustment member 40 is box-shaped, and the rear surface of the case 16 is
It protrudes rearward from 6B, that is, toward the printing device 50 side. The mounting height of the adjustment member 40 can be freely adjusted, for example with a set screw, etc.
Fixed to. The other configurations are the same as the example shown in FIG.

In this example, the paper discharge section 51 of the printing device 50 is located in the recess 52.
The connection with the host device 50 is made possible even when the host device 50 is formed in the same manner as in FIG.

〔effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a paper feed section that receives paper sent out from a printing device, a plurality of trays that are held in a vertically arranged state, and an upper and a lower portion of the plurality of trays. A collating device in which a case houses a discharging means for discharging the paper to an entrance portion of a tray held between adjacent trays, and a transporting means for transporting the paper from the paper feed section to the discharging means, a paper feed section having a rotationally driven paper feed roller and a guide roller in contact with the paper feed roller; a shaft of the paper feed roller is swingably supported; and the position of the paper feed roller is vertically adjustable in the case; a paper ejection section having a paper ejection roller and a guide roller in contact with the paper ejection roller; a paper ejection section that pivots the axis of the paper ejection roller and is capable of vertically displacing the entrance portion of the tray; A discharging means having a tray entrance holding member, a mechanism for transmitting rotation of the paper feeding section, the paper discharging section, the paper feeding roller to the paper discharging roller, and a mechanism provided between the paper feeding section and the paper discharging section. a conveyance means that includes a guide member and is movable according to the vertical position of the adjustment member and the ejection means, and that maintains an interaxial distance between the paper feed roller and the paper ejection roller unchanged; Since the height setting of the paper feed section can be freely changed through the adjustment member even after assembly, the paper ejection section can be adapted to host devices with different heights of the paper ejection section. The height of the paper feed section can be adjusted as required, and paper can be fed from this paper feed section to the height-movable tray entrance section at any time for collation. The installation height can be reduced by almost half compared to conventional models.

In the above explanation, the paper feed position adjustment member is made removable and is fixed at one of the positions set in stages using screws, etc. However, instead of this, the adjustment position on the case side A guide path may be provided in the guide path, and the paper feed position adjustment member may be moved up and down along this guide path, and may be adjusted and fixed at a desired position along this guide path using mechanical or human power. can.

Furthermore, in the above explanation, the paper feed roller is driven by a belt by a motor or by a friction wheel, and the paper ejection roller is driven by a belt via the paper feed roller. It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these, and any structure that changes its posture in response to the vertical movement of the paper ejection section and the change in the position of the paper feed position adjustment member may be used.

In addition, if a tension pulley is provided in the middle of the belt, the above-mentioned response operation can be performed even more smoothly. A straight groove aligned with the guiding direction of the paper section 1 can be formed to absorb slack in the belt during a response operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a model diagram showing an example of the configuration of the collating device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view for explaining the operation of the tray entrance holding member, and Fig. 3 is a paper feed of the collating device of the present invention. An exploded perspective view of the part position adjustment mechanism;
4 and 5 are schematic diagrams showing the state in which the tray inlet holding member and the paper ejection section of the collating device of the present invention have been moved to the lowest and highest positions, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the collating device of the present invention. Diagram 7 for explaining the relative movement state of the paper ejection roller, paper feed roller, and conveyance device when the position of the paper feed position adjustment member in the combining device is changed to three stages: upper, middle, and lower. The figure is a model diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1, 1U, 1M, 1L...Paper feed section, 1A, 1B
...Guidance board, 2...Paper, 3...Paper feed roller, 3
A... Drive shaft, 4... Motor, 5, 8... Guide roller, 6... Paper ejection roller, 7... Belt, 9...
Frame, 10... Guide rod, 11... Conveyance path, 11A,
11B... Information board, 11C... Connecting line, 12...
Tray entrance holding member, 12A... Vertical groove, 12B...
...Spiral groove, 12C, 12D... Edge, 13... Rotating shaft, 13A... Rail portion, 14... Tray, 14
A... Pin, 15... Tray holder, 16... Case, 16A... Hole, 16B... Back, 17... Tray entrance, 18... Motor, 19... Coil spring, 20, 40... Adjustment member, 20A...flange part, 21...screw hole, 22...screw, 23...
Pivot groove, 30, 30U, 30M, 30L... Paper discharge section, 50... Host device, 51... Paper discharge section,
52... recess, 53... block, 54... groove,
55... Pressing plate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A paper feed section that receives paper sent out from a printing device, a plurality of trays that are held in a vertically arranged state, and a paper that is held between the upper and lower adjacent trays among the plurality of trays. A collating device in which a case houses a discharging means for discharging the paper to an entrance of a tray in which the paper is fed, and a transporting means for transporting the paper from the paper feed section to the discharging means, the paper supply being rotationally driven. a paper feeding unit having a roller and a guide roller in contact with the paper feeding roller; and an adjustment unit that pivots the shaft of the paper feeding roller so as to be swingable and is attached to the case so that the position can be adjusted in the vertical direction. a paper ejection section having a paper ejection roller and a guide roller in contact with the paper ejection roller; and a tray entrance holding member that pivotally supports the shaft of the paper ejection roller and is capable of vertically displacing the entrance portion of the tray. The paper sheet includes a discharge means, a paper feeding section, a paper discharging section, a transmission mechanism that transmits rotation of the paper feeding roller to the paper discharging roller, and a guide member provided between the paper feeding section and the paper discharging section. , comprising a conveying means that is movable according to the vertical positions of the adjusting member and the ejecting means, and that maintains an interaxial distance between the paper feed roller and the ejecting roller unchanged, A collating device having a variable sheet feeding section height, wherein the setting of the height of the sheet feeding section can be freely changed even after assembly.