JPH0557185B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a processing device for a mail sorting device useful for, for example, sorting and delivering mail by destination.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

2. Description of the Related Art A mail sorting device that reads a postal code attached to a mail item, recognizes the code, classifies the mail into destination areas, and bundles the mail according to these classifications for delivery is attracting attention. This device is basically constructed as shown in FIG. That is, mail items within a standard size, which are sorted by size, thickness, etc., are guided to the reading/discriminating section 1, where their postal codes are read and recognized. Then, according to the recognition result, the mail is divided into destinations and stacked in each sorting area (sorting box) of the sorting shelf 2. Thus, the mail items that have reached a predetermined stacking amount are taken out section by section via the reading device 3, guided to the conveyance line 4, and bundled by the bundler 5. In this way, the mail items sorted into categories are delivered to their destinations. Further, the mail items sorted on the sorting shelves 2 are taken out at a predetermined time or every time and sent for delivery. In this case as well, mail strips are grouped into their respective categories, but if the amount of sorted mail is small, that is, if the amount of stacked mail is small, it is difficult to group the mail as it is. Therefore, it is desirable to combine mail items with other categories that have roughly the same destination area and bundle them all at once. The merging device 6 is used for merging the mail. In addition, the mail items in the category that can be merged are, for example, sent to the same local station with the same first two digits of the postal code, and in this case, the mail items are sent to the above local station, and in this case, the mail items are sent to the same local station with the same first two digits of the postal code. Destination classification will be carried out at a detailed level.

Therefore, the combining device 6 is required to evacuate mail items with a small amount of stacks until mail items of a category that can be combined are conveyed. If the sorted letters and mails were to be taken out at random from the sorting shelf 2, a large number of letter and mail evacuation ports would be required for the above-mentioned merging, which would increase the device configuration and reduce the functional efficiency of the sorting device. An inconvenience occurred that caused Therefore, a system relating to a merging device (for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 56-40106) has been invented to solve this inconvenience.

By the way, conventionally, the amount of mail sorted on the sorting shelf 2 is determined by the number of pieces, and if the number of pieces is less than 9, it is assumed that the stacked amount is small and all are combined and bundled together. I was doing it.

However, the mail items to be processed usually have a wide range of width of 90 to 120 mm, length of 140 to 235 mm, and thickness of 0.5 to 6 mm. This causes variations in the amount of separation, and even items for which there is a sufficient amount of separation in the bundle, that is, items that can be transported as they are to the bundle unit, are unnecessarily merged. For this reason, there are disadvantages in that time is wasted, work efficiency is reduced, and the merging device also has to be enlarged with some margin.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made focusing on the above circumstances,
The purpose of this is to transport paper sheets without merging them into the merging section, even if the number of separated paper sheets is small, if the thickness dimension is more than a predetermined size. The purpose of this project is to provide a processing device for processing.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention uses a detector to detect the thickness of paper sheets conveyed in a stacked state along a conveyance path, and only when the paper sheets are less than a predetermined thickness dimension, the paper sheets are ejected from the conveyance path by a discharging means. This is for merging into the merging section. Further, when the paper sheets merged at the merging section exceed a predetermined size, the paper sheets are returned to the conveyance path on top of the paper sheets of a predetermined size or smaller that are allowed to merge.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 to 28. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the main parts of the mail sorting device, and the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals corresponding to the block diagram shown in FIG. 1. That is, the postal items 7 in the form of standard-sized paper sheets sent into the reading/discriminating unit 1 are taken out one by one or one bag at a time, their postal codes are read and recognized, and they are sorted into preset destination areas on the sorting shelf 2. They are divided into different areas. Then, each sorted mail piece 7 is sequentially stacked in each sorting area. The mail items sorted into destinations in this manner are pushed out onto the pallet 3a in the take-out device 3 and guided onto the conveyance line 4 each time a certain predetermined stack amount is reached. The mail 7 is conveyed to the bundler 5 by this conveyance line 4. Therefore, the mail 7 sorted and stacked on the sorting shelf 2 at a certain time,
For example, each time a day's collection and delivery is completed, the items are taken out and placed in each row on the pallet 3a of the takeout device 3. Then, by moving the pallet 3a, the conveyor line 4
The mail pieces 7 that are sent upward and whose stacking amount is less than the predetermined amount are stacked and merged with the mail items 7 of other categories that are allowed to be merged in the merge device 6. The bundler 5 bundles these stacked letters and mail items 7 for delivery.

By the way, the take-out device 3 is configured as shown in FIG. 3, for example. That is, the pallets 3a are arranged at the rear of each sorting area of the sorting shelf 2, and after placing the letters and mail items 7 pushed out from the sorting shelf 2, the pallets 3a are controlled in movement and moved to the four sides of the conveyance line. Driven.

For example, the sorting shelf 2 has four stages and three rows of sorting areas arranged in a grid pattern, and the rear pallets 3a of these sorting areas are arranged respectively.

Therefore, at the time of take-out, the letters and mail 7 that have been sorted and stacked in each area are loaded onto the pallets 3a. These pallets 3a are laterally shifted one row at a time as shown by arrow A in the figure, and are delivered to the lift mechanism 8 from their ends. The lift mechanism 8 is for lowering the pallet 3a sent there, and the mail 7 placed on the pallet 3a located at the lowest stage is sent out to the conveyance line 4. Then, the pallet 3a that has been sent to the next process (bundling process) is placed on the return route and moved to the rear position of the sorting shelf 2 again, where it is used for taking out the next letter and postal item 7.

By the way, the merging device 6 according to the present invention is configured as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, for example.

The merging device 6 provided at a side position of the conveyance line 4 has a collecting table 11 that can be raised and lowered. This stacking table 11 is driven up and down along the side plates, and is lowered to the bottom plate position and then raised to a position above the surface of the transport line 4. A first push plate 15 serving as a discharge means is provided on the conveyance line 4 and is movable in the lateral direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. 7 is pushed out onto the stacking table 11. Also, on the stacking table 11 is the first push plate 1.
A second push plate 16 is provided opposite to 5,
The pushing plate 16 pushes the mail pieces 7 on the stacking table 11 onto the mail pieces 7 stacked on the conveyance line 4. The push plate 16 pushes out the mail 7 so that the surface of the stacking table 11 is on the transport line 4.
This is done at a level higher than the top surface of the mail items 7 stacked above.

In addition, a second guide mechanism 21 is provided at the bottom of the stacking table 11 that operates in the same direction as the second push plate 16 and almost simultaneously, and is housed at the bottom of the original stacking table 11 when the pushing operation is completed. It is provided.

Further, a first guide mechanism 20 is provided at the lower part of the conveyor line 4, which operates in the same direction as the moving direction of the first pusher plate 15 and almost simultaneously, and is housed at the lower part of the original conveyor line 4 when the extrusion operation is completed. ing. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, this first guide mechanism 20 is provided with a rack 25 that is vertically movable.
and a flexible guide plate 27 connected to the upper end of the rack 25 via a connecting member 26.

A gear 28 is meshed with the rack 25, and the gear 28 is rotated forward and backward by a drive motor 29 which rotates forward and backward.

By the forward and reverse rotation of the gear 29, the rack 2
5 moves up and down, the guide plate 27 is moved forward and backward relative to the merging device 6.

Note that 30 is a guide portion that guides the vertical movement of the guide plate 25.

Further, a groove (not shown) is provided on the upper surface of the stacking table 11 along the moving direction of the push plate 16, and a lower protrusion (not shown) of the push plate 16 that fits into this groove 11a allows The mail items 7 on the stacking table 11 are pushed out without any remaining items. Further, a position detector 17 is provided on the inner wall surface of the side plate as shown in FIG. There is. Based on this detection result, the stacking table 11
The stacking table 11 is controlled to descend so that the upper surface of the small amount of mail 7 pushed out and evacuated by the push plate 15 is slightly lower than the surface of the conveyance line 4.

On the other hand, on the upstream side of the merging device 6, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, there is a detector for detecting the thickness dimension of the mail 7 placed on the pallet 3a and transported by the transport line 4. 22a and 22b are arranged. When the thickness of the mail items 7 detected by the detectors 22a, 22b is less than a predetermined thickness, that is, the amount is not suitable for a bundle, the detectors 22a, 22b send the first push button. An operation command is given to the plate 15 to cause the first push plate 15 to operate. In addition, the detector 2
When the thickness of the mail pieces 7 detected by the detectors 2a and 22b is equal to or larger than a predetermined thickness, that is, when the amount of mail can be bundled, the detectors 22a and 22b issue an operation command to the first push plate 15. is not given and the first
The push plate 15 is made inoperative.

Now, the merging device 6 having such a structure operates as schematically shown in FIGS. 8a to 8d. now,
The thickness dimension of the mail pieces 7 placed on the pallet 3a and conveyed on the conveyance line 4 is detected by the detector 22a,
22b detects that the thickness is below a predetermined thickness dimension and reaches the position of the merging device 6, the first push plate 15 is pressed and moved as shown in FIG. 8a. Also,
The first guide mechanism 20 is also guided onto the stacking table 11 at almost the same time. As a result, the small amount of mail 7 on the pallet 3a is pushed out from above the pallet 3a by the push plate 15 and onto the stacking table 11 and the first guide mechanism 20.
be led upwards. Note that the push plate 15 is also provided with projections as described above, so that the small amount of mail 7 can be
All of them will be moved. Thereafter, the push plate 15 and the first guide mechanism 20 are returned to their original positions, that is, on the conveyance line 4. Thereafter, the stacking table 11 on which the small amount of mail 7 is placed is driven downward as shown in FIG. This position control is performed using the position detector 1 described above.
7. A small amount of mail 7 of another category that is allowed to merge with the small amount of mail 7 that has been evacuated in this way, that is, a small amount of mail that has the same upper two digits, for example, of the postal code of the above-mentioned evacuated mail 7. Postal item 7 (the postal code is read by a reader (not shown) and the information is stored,
This information determines whether or not it is possible to merge).
Then, the first guide mechanism 20 is driven to move again. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8c, the small amount of mail 7 is pushed out from above the pallet 3a and guided into the merging device 6, where it is added to the small amount of mail 7 previously placed on the stacking table 11. stacked on top. As shown in FIG. 8d, when the amount of small amount of mail 7 stacked on the stacking table 11 reaches a predetermined thickness, the stacking table 11 is moved to its original position, that is, at the same position as the surface of the transport line 4. It will be raised to above. In this state, the push plate 16 and the second guide mechanism 21 are driven, and the combined mail pieces 7 on the stacking table 11 are returned to the small amount of mail pieces in other categories where the combined mail pieces are allowed.

On the other hand, mail 7 placed on a pallet 3a on the conveyance line 4 and conveyed as a small amount of mail...
is detected by the detectors 22a, 22b and reaches the position of the merging device 6 when it is detected that the thickness is equal to or greater than the predetermined thickness, the first push plate 15
does not operate, and the mail items 7 are not pushed onto the stacking table 11, but instead are conveyed as they are to the bundle unit by the conveyance line 4, and are bundled.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention uses a detector to detect the thickness of paper sheets conveyed in a stacked state along a conveyance path, and is ejected only when the paper sheets are less than a predetermined thickness. Since the paper sheets are ejected from the conveyance path and merged into the merging section by means of a means, the sorting amount of paper sheets is determined by the number of sheets as in the past, and paper sheets with a predetermined number of sheets or less are judged by their thickness dimension. Unlike the case where all items are merged regardless of the number of items, even if the number of items is small, if the thickness is greater than the specified thickness and can be bundled sufficiently, the items are conveyed as is and sent to the bundler without merging into the merger. be able to. Therefore, there is no time wastage, work efficiency is improved, and there is no need to increase the size of the merging section, resulting in an economical effect. In addition, in order to return the paper sheets that have merged at the merging section in excess of a predetermined amount onto the paper sheets that are smaller than the predetermined size that are allowed to merge on the conveyance path, the number of steps for transferring paper sheets from the conveyance path to the merging section is increased. This has the advantage that only one step can be omitted and processing efficiency can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional example, and FIGS. 2 to 8 show an embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a perspective view showing the mail sorting device, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the take-out device, FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the main parts, FIG. 5 is a perspective view, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are A configuration diagram showing the merging device, and FIGS. 8a to 8d are explanatory diagrams showing the transfer of stacked mail items. 7...,... Paper sheets (mail), 4... Conveyance path (conveyance line), 6... Merging section, 22a, 22b...
...detector, 15... discharge means (first push plate).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A conveyance path for conveying stacked paper sheets; a merging section for transferring paper sheets between the conveyance path; a detector for detecting a laminated thickness dimension; and a detector for ejecting the paper sheets from the conveyance path when the laminated thickness dimension of the paper sheets detected by the detector is less than a predetermined dimension. a discharging means for stacking paper sheets at the merging section; and a detection by the detector when the accumulated amount of paper sheets discharged by the discharging means and stacked at the merging section reaches a predetermined height. a return means for returning the paper sheets at the confluence section onto the paper sheets on the conveyance path where the resulting laminated thickness dimension is less than or equal to a predetermined size; A paper sheet processing apparatus comprising: a mounting table that is lowered when the paper sheets are discharged and raised when the paper sheets are returned by the return means.