JPH0536331B2 - - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for continuously feeding continuous paper into a high speed printer.

Prior Art The patent applicant proposed an invention in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-88765, in which a preceding continuous sheet of paper and a following continuous sheet of paper are connected and then sequentially fed to a supply position to a high-speed printer by a conveyor for conveying the sheets. has already been proposed.

In this case, since the continuous paper at the supply position is folded in a zigzag shape, the continuous paper in the stack is pulled out from the front end and the back end while changing the inclination sequentially during the process of being supplied to the high-speed printer. In this feeding process, when the stacked amount of continuous paper decreases, the weight of the continuous paper itself becomes smaller, and the frictional resistance between it and the belt conveyor decreases, so that the continuous paper is stacked from the leading edge or from the trailing edge. In the process of being pulled out diagonally, the remaining continuous paper receives a component force in the feeding direction, the opposite direction, and the backward direction, and when this component force becomes larger than the frictional resistance, the stacked continuous paper will move back and forth on the belt conveyor. move to. When the continuous paper moves in the return direction, the paper presence/absence detection means detects the absence of continuous paper and forcibly feeds the following continuous paper to the predetermined supply position, so that the remaining continuous paper can be fed into the machine. It gets caught between the frame, etc. and the following continuous paper, making it unusable.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to check whether or not there is a continuous paper remaining and to accurately feed the following paper to a predetermined position when the continuous paper runs out completely. be.

Solution to the Invention In view of the above object, the present invention detects the presence or absence of paper by a detection means at the trailing end during the process of supplying continuous paper to a high-speed printer from the end of the last stage conveyor for transporting paper. When the detection means detects that there is no paper, the conveyor for transporting the paper is once driven in the forward direction, and when the presence of continuous paper is confirmed, the paper is then transferred to the printer. However, if no paper is detected even after driving the conveyor for a predetermined period of time, the conveyor on the previous stage of this conveyor is rotated in the feeding direction to feed the continuous paper on top of it to the end. I try to feed it onto the top of the tiered conveyor. Therefore, when such control is performed, it is possible to reliably prevent the above-mentioned inconveniences, such as the accidental pinching of paper with little remaining paper.

Configuration of Automatic Connection and Supply Apparatus FIG. 1 shows an outline of an automatic connection and supply apparatus 1 that is the premise of the present invention.

The continuous paper 2 is folded in a zigzag shape, and with only the lowest paper 2c pulled out, it is placed on the carry-in conveyor 3 and sent in the direction of the hopper conveyor 4. The hopper conveyor 4 is attached to a lifter 6 inside the machine frame 5, and is attached so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the sheet placement surface by a vertical feed unit 7.

The automatic connection and supply device 1 includes, for example, a belt-type first conveyor 8, a second conveyor 9, a former conveyor 10 for conveying sheets, and a conveyor 10 for conveying sheets in order to sequentially feed a plurality of continuous sheets 2 inside the machine frame 5. It is equipped with a conveyor 11 at the last stage for conveyance, and in order to connect the lowest paper 2c of the preceding continuous paper 2 and the succeeding highest paper 2a in an aligned state,
A connecting unit 12 is provided near the first conveyor 8 and the second conveyor 9.

Here, the conveyors 10 and 11 are driven by motors 33 and 34, respectively, as shown in FIG. 7, and both are controlled by a control circuit 35. This control circuit 35 is constituted by a microcomputer or the like, and controls the conveyors 10 and 11 based on the program of the present invention. Note that this control circuit 35 is also connected to a detection means 36 provided at the terminal end of the conveyor 11 on the input side.

This connection unit 12 has a gate-shaped frame 13.
and a vertical feed screw unit 17 so as to be movable in the vertical direction, and on both sides of the first conveyor 8 and the second conveyor 9, a horizontal guide rod 14 on the machine frame 5 side, this guide rod It is built in such a manner that it can reciprocate in the feeding direction of the continuous paper 2 by means of a slider 15 that can slide relative to the paper 14 and a driving cylinder 16. This connection unit 12 is connected to the subsequent continuous paper 2.
A plurality of suction pads 18 are provided in the width direction of the continuous paper 2 in order to attract the uppermost paper 2a, and positioning pins 30 are moved downward in correspondence with the edges of the paper 2a and 2c to position the paper 2a and 2c. Furthermore, a pasting unit 20 for the connecting tape 19 is provided so as to be movable in the width direction of the continuous paper 2. Of the two positioning pins 30, the one on the upstream side in the feeding direction corresponds to the sprocket hole 31 of the succeeding paper 2a at the position of the connection table 21, and the one on the downstream side corresponds to the sprocket hole 31 of the preceding paper 2c. It corresponds to 31.

Furthermore, the automatic connection feeding device 1 is equipped with a guide roller 22 and a feed roller 23 in the feeding position to the high speed printer. These guide rollers 22 and feed rollers 23 are attached to a bracket 24 fixed to the machine frame 5, and the feed roller 23 is forcibly driven by a feed motor 25. Further, a presser roller 26 is in contact with the feed roller 23 in a direction in which the connected continuous paper 2 is sandwiched therebetween. This presser roller 26 is attached to the machine frame 5
The operation of the automatic connection feeding device is rotatably supported at its upper end by a movable bracket 27, and is movable in a direction away from the feed roller 23 by an air cylinder 28. As shown in FIG. 1, the paper 2 is transferred from the carry-in conveyor 3 to the hopper conveyor 4 with the lowest paper 2c pulled out backwards.
is fed above and stopped there.

Thereafter, the lifter 6 is lowered by the vertical feed unit 7, as shown in FIG. During this time, the suction pad 18 moves to above the uppermost sheet 2a of the continuous sheets 2 on the hopper conveyor 4, descends, comes into pressure contact with the upper surface of the sheet 2a, and is caused by the air flow in the suction direction. Then, the upper surface of the paper 2a is sucked, and then the paper 2a is moved in a direction parallel to the surface of the paper 2a, for example, in the feeding direction while keeping the paper 2a sucked. At this time, separation air is blown onto the cut end side of the continuous paper 2 by an air nozzle 29 as required.

When the suction pad 18 moves in a parallel direction while holding the paper 2a, the continuous paper 2 moves to the uppermost paper 2a, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
Since the paper 2b and the following paper 2b are shifted in the parallel direction, the second paper 2b is curved and exerts a force in the direction of returning to its original position by its own stiffness. As a result, even if the suction pad 18 were to simultaneously suction not only the uppermost sheet 2a but also the sheet 2b below it, there would be a shift in the parallel direction between the sheets 2a and 2b, and when there was only one sheet, the two The separation is ensured by the difference in the restoring force of the paper itself compared to when it is a sheet. After this, the suction pad 18 sends the cut side of the paper 2a to the center of the connection table 21, stops there while pressing it, and at an appropriate point in the later connection operation, lifts up without suctioning and returns to the initial position. Return to position.

During this time, the suction nozzle 32 performs a suction operation to suction the lower surface side of the succeeding sheet 2a, and restrains it together with the sheet 2c on the upper surface of the connection table 21. At this time, as shown in FIG.
Air flow does not enter through the gap between the paper 2a and the paper 2a, and therefore the suction nozzle 32 is not affected by the leakage air flow, reliably attracts the paper 2a, and securely restrains the paper 2a by suction force and frictional force. . Moreover, in this state, the following continuous paper 2b is not bent in an arch-like shape as shown in FIG. The subsequent paper 2a is hardly affected by the restoring force of the paper 2b and is held in a predetermined position on the upper surface of the connection table 21.

On the other hand, the preceding continuous paper 2 is transferred to the third conveyor 10.
, and is stopped with the end of the lowest paper 2c placed on the connection table 21. During this time, as shown in FIG.
By suctioning the lower surfaces of the sheets 2a and 2c, the sheets 2a and 2c are restrained on the upper surface of the connection table 21 by negative pressure suction force and frictional force.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the connection unit 12 descends from above, inserts the tapered portions of the two positioning pins 30 into the sprocket holes 31 of the sheets 2a and 2c, and returns to the positioning state. do.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 6, the pasting unit 20 applies the connecting tape 19 to one edge of the connecting position of the sheets 2a and 2c by heat welding or the like, and moves the connecting tape 19 along the direction in which they are brought together. As a result, the front and rear sheets 2a and 2c are connected via the connecting tape 19, making them continuous.

The series of operations described above are repeated each time the continuous paper 2 is fed by sequence control while confirming the completion of each operation. As a result, all the continuous sheets 2 are connected on the conveyors 10 and 11, and are sequentially placed in a continuous state.

In addition to the preceding continuous paper 2 shown in Fig. 1,
As seen in FIG.
The sheet is folded back at a portion shown in FIG. 2, is sandwiched between a feed roller 23 and a presser roller 26, and is sent out in the feeding direction, and is automatically fed to a high-speed printer or the like via a lower guide roller 22. Of course, such continuous paper 2 supply and connection operations are set to follow the consumption speed of a high-speed printer.

Method of the Invention The method of the invention is executed during the feeding process of the continuous paper 2. During this time, the control circuit 35 executes the program of the present invention as shown in FIG.

While the continuous paper 2 on the conveyor 11 at the last stage is being supplied to the high-speed printer, the control circuit 35 uses the detection means 36 to detect the presence or absence of the continuous paper 2. The remaining amount of this continuous paper 2 is decreasing,
And when the continuous paper 2 is pulled out from the front end side,
As shown in FIG. 8, the stacked continuous sheets 2 receive a force in the backward direction, slide on the conveyor 11, and move in the backward direction. At this time, the detection means 3
6 detects the absence of paper and sends a signal indicating no paper to the control circuit 35. Note that when the continuous paper 2 is pulled out from the front end side, the remaining continuous paper 2 only slides on the conveyor 11 and moves in the feeding direction, so the detection means 36 does not detect the state of no continuous paper.

Therefore, after setting a timer for a predetermined time, the control circuit 35 rotates the motor 34 in the forward rotation direction to move the conveyor 11 by a predetermined amount in the feeding direction as shown in FIG. After this movement, if the detection means 36 detects a paper present state, the program resets the paper out state and returns to the first step. However, when the time set by the timer has elapsed and the presence of paper cannot be detected even if the conveyor 11 rotates in the feeding direction, the control circuit 35 determines that there is no paper, and turns the motor 33 on. The conveyor 10 is activated and rotates the conveyor 10 in the forward stage in the feeding direction.
The continuous paper 2 is moved onto the conveyor 11 at the last stage, and then this conveyor 11 is rotated by a predetermined amount in the feeding direction.
We are completing the replenishment of the

Note that this detection means 36 may be configured by a contact type sensor, a weight sensor, or the like in addition to an optical sensor.

Effects of the Invention In the present invention, when a state in which there is no continuous paper on the conveyor at the last stage is detected, the conveyor at the last stage is driven once in the feeding direction, and only when there is no continuous paper at that point, the conveyor at the previous stage is Since a new continuous sheet is fed onto the last stage conveyor by the conveyor, the disadvantage of the prior art, that is, the erroneous replenishment operation of the subsequent continuous sheet can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an automatic connection and supply device for continuous paper, FIGS. 2 to 6 are illustrations of the connection operation, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are illustrations of the operation of the conveyor driving method according to the present invention. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the driving method. 1... Automatic connection supply device, 2... Continuous paper, 3
... Loading conveyor, 4 ... Hopper conveyor, 6
...Lifter, 8...1st conveyor, 9...2nd
Conveyor, 10... Conveyor for conveying paper, 11
... Conveyor for conveying paper, 12 ... Connection unit, 18 ... Suction pad, 20 ... Pasting unit, 21 ... Connection table, 30 ... Positioning pin, 31 ... Sprocket hole, 32 ... Suction nozzle , 33, 34...Motor, 35...Control circuit, 36...Detection means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. The last stage of a conveyor for transporting multiple sheets of paper that connects the lowest sheet of continuous paper folded in a zigzag shape with the highest sheet of the following continuous sheet and continuously supplies paper to a high-speed printer. The detection means detects whether there is continuous paper placed on the conveyor, and when the detection means detects that there is no paper, the last stage conveyor is driven in the normal rotation direction, and the last stage conveyor is driven for a predetermined period of time. If the paper is not detected by the detection means, the conveyor at the previous stage of the conveyor at the last stage is driven, and the subsequent paper is sent onto the conveyor at the last stage. Method.