JPH07205925A - Automatic sealer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an improved automatic sealer wherein a margin is provided between a front end of a document to be covered by a sealing film and a tip of the sealing film so that a good appearance of an envelope is maintained even when a number of documents is large while the film causes no deformation of the front end of the document. CONSTITUTION:Recesses 6c and protrusions 6b are provided at a front end of a tray 6 at positions respectively corresponding to respective rollers constituting a transfer roller and their intervals for forming the front end of the tray into a comb shape, while a small recess 6d is further formed at the front end of at least two protrusions. At a gate 10 to be a stop face of the front end of a document to be loaded on the tray, protrusions 10a, 10 which stand upward through intermediate positions of the respective recesses 6c and the bottom of the small recesses 6c when the gate is standing are provided, wherein the most front end of the tray 6 is extended from the protrusion of the gate 10 toward downstream by a required length.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention covers a document (recording paper or printed matter) discharged from an upstream device with a sealing film formed by joining the rewinding front ends of a biaxial roll film,
The present invention relates to an automatic sealing machine which seals a document with a film and discharges the film by welding both side edges of the film and welding and cutting the film at one end side of the document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Documents discharged from an image recording apparatus such as a facsimile transceiver or a printer connected to a computer have conventionally been merely stacked on a discharge tray. In other words, for each fax destination,
Or, because the printer does not have a mechanism to classify the documents into groups according to the print command input person, if multiple documents are sent or printed, received documents for multiple destinations or multiple printed documents will be stacked on the tray. Therefore, when you take out a document from the tray, visually check if there is a mixture of documents addressed to another person or printed by another person, and if there is a mixture, separate it by hand and clip it with a clip etc. Or, it was necessary to perform work such as binding with a stapler. Therefore, not only is it time-consuming and time-consuming, but the document is often dropped while the orientation of the document is being aligned during the work, and when the recipient receives it, the page is often skipped. In addition, there is a problem that the secret is leaked when another person sees the information that the person wants to keep the document secret while another person is sorting the documents.

In view of the above circumstances, the documents discharged from the image recording apparatus are sealed together and the documents are taken out.
For convenience of handling, delivery, storage, etc., documents discharged from an upstream device such as the image recording device are stacked on a tray, and the side wall of the tray and the front end of the tray stand up and down freely. Of the document and the front end of the film are fed out by feeding the film forwarded by the aligning means by advancing the tray by the aligning means to move the document forward and feeding the document. Between the two sides of the film, the portions of the film extending from the document to the outside are welded while being conveyed by the conveying rollers, and the film is welded and cut immediately after the rear end of the document to seal the document. Japanese Patent Application No. 5-61103 proposes an automatic sealing machine that creates an object and discharges the object.

[0004]

In the automatic sealing machine according to the above-mentioned proposal, as shown in FIG.
Tray moving mechanism 7, aligning roller 8a, and gate 10
And a transport roller 18. The tray 6 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, one end has a side wall 6a which serves as a reference surface in the width direction of the document, and the front end has a convex portion 6b and the conveyance roller 1.
8 has a concave portion 6c formed at a position corresponding to each roller, and the convex portion 6b and the concave portion 6c form the front end portion of the tray in a comb tooth shape. In the concave portion 6c, when the tray 6 is advanced and the front end portion thereof enters between the transport rollers 18, and when the nip of the transport rollers is closed, the tray is not held by the transport rollers and the document on the tray is Only the front end of the tray is clamped so that the tray can be easily retracted to the initial position after closing the nip of the transport roller.

The gate 10 is rotatably supported by the main body of the sealing machine, and is biased by a biasing member 102 such as a spring so as to always stand up on the moving surface of the tray 6. Then, the gate 10 is provided with the respective concave portions 6c of the tray 6.
At the position corresponding to, the protrusion 10a that penetrates and rises upward from the concave portion 6c of the tray 6 in the upright state is provided. When the tray 6 is in the initial position, the gate 10 stands up and each protrusion is placed on the tray 6. Stand the recess 6c upward,
It intersects with tray 6.

As a result, the gate 10 serves as a longitudinal alignment reference surface of the document, and the document ejected from the upstream device and taken in on the tray comes into contact with the upper surface of the tray and is rotated in a predetermined direction by the alignment roller 8a. Side wall 6 of tray 6
The documents are aligned by being fed obliquely toward a and the gate 10.

A small recess 6d is formed at the front end of at least two projections 6b of the tray 6, and the gate 10 is also provided with a small projection 10b corresponding to the small recess 6d. By fitting the small projection 10b of the standing gate to the small recess 6d of the tray at the initial position, there is no such fitting between the small recess and the small projection, and the tip end surface of the tray is simply the stop surface of the gate. Prevents the down-curled leading edge of the document, which is skew-fed for alignment by the alignment rollers, from entering the gap between the tray edge and the gate edge when only in contact with the .

Then, as shown in FIG. 101, the biaxial roll films 11a, 1 provided in the film supply section.
The tray 6 is advanced toward the sealing film 11 formed by joining the rewinding front ends of the film 1b, and the film is fed out, and the front end of the document is transferred to a position between the transport rollers 18, and the tray is retracted. After that, the transport roller 18 holds the film and the document and transports them to a sealing unit (not shown) provided on the downstream side and having a welding unit, a welding cutting unit, and a discharging unit.

However, in the automatic sealing machine according to the above proposal, the front end of the tray 6 located at the initial position is shown in FIG.
As shown in 03, the protrusion 1 of the gate in the upright state
From the document stop surface of 0a and 10b, only the thickness of the protrusion is separated to the downstream side. In other words, in a state where the front end of the tray and the front end of the document are substantially on the same plane, the front end of the tray 6 hits the film 11 stretched in the film supply section and is fed out, and is held by the transport roller 18 as it is. Then, the tray is returned to the initial position.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 104, the document P
The front end portion of the film that wraps around the front end portion of the document P, that is, the joint portion 11c of the biaxial roll film comes into close contact with the front end surface of the document P, and the number of documents is, for example, 30.
In the case of about 50 sheets, the leading edge of the film is tightly adhered to the front edge of the document, so the appearance of the sealed article discharged from the automatic sealing machine can be seen, especially at the front and rear edges. Gives the impression that documents are forcibly packed in a narrow film bag. Furthermore, the film may cause a defect such as deformation of the paper existing at the top and bottom of the document.

The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and the number of documents is reduced by allowing a space between the front end face of the document covered with the sealing film and the leading end of the sealing film. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic sealing machine in which the appearance of a sealed product is maintained in a good condition even when the number of seals is large and the film is not deformed at the front end of the document.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic sealing machine according to the present invention has a front end portion of a tray which is provided at a position corresponding to each roller constituting a conveying roller and a gap therebetween. A concave portion and a convex portion are formed to form the front end portion of the tray in a comb-like shape, and a small concave portion is further formed at the front end portions of at least two of the convex portions. In the upright state, the tray is provided with a protrusion penetrating upward at an intermediate position of each recess of the tray and at the bottom of the small recess, and the tip of the tray is extended from the protrusion of the gate with a required length in the downstream direction. It is characterized by that.

[0013]

With the above structure, the document discharged from the upstream device is stacked on the tray and aligned at a predetermined position by the aligning roller, and the leading end of the document is gated on the upstream side by a predetermined distance from the front end of the tray. Has been stopped by. When the tray on which documents are stacked and aligned is moved to between the transport rollers whose nip is opened by the tray moving mechanism, the film is drawn out by the tray, but between the leading edge of the film and the leading edge of the document. Has a margin distance equal to the distance between the document stop surface of the projection of the gate and the tip of the tray. Therefore, both widthwise edges of the film are welded with a margin between the leading edge of the film and the leading edge of the document that are subsequently transported by the transport rollers, and the film is welded immediately after the trailing edge of the document. Since it is cut, there is a space between the periphery of the film and the document, and the periphery of the film is not tightly strained or curved, so that the appearance of the sealed product is good and the document is not deformed.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an automatic sealing machine to which the present invention is applied, mainly focusing on a drive system, and FIG. 2 is a vertical section showing an example of a specific configuration of the automatic sealing machine. It is a side view. 3 is a plan view in which a part of the aligning portion is omitted, FIG. 4 is a plan view of the aligning portion mainly showing the clamper, and FIG. 5 is a plan view in which the clamper and the tray of the aligning portion are removed. The same reference numerals are used for the same or corresponding members as those shown in FIGS.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral A denotes an upstream device, which is an image recording device such as a facsimile transceiver or a printer connected to a computer, or a document ejecting device for ejecting printed documents one by one up to a predetermined number. And so on. The upstream device A discharges the documents P (recording paper or printed matter) one by one from the discharge port. 2B is an automatic sealing machine according to the present invention. As shown in FIG.
It has an upper discharge part B2, a matching part B3, a film supply part B4, a sealing part B5, a lower discharge part B6 and a control part B7.

The take-in portion B1 is a motor for rotating the take-in roller 2 in a predetermined direction at the same time when the power of the automatic encloser is turned on and the take-in roller 2 provided in the take-in port 1 of the housing H of the automatic encloser. 2a, a gate 3 as a means for switching the document take-in direction by the take-in roller between the upper ejecting direction and the aligning part direction, and the gate in response to the upper ejecting mode designating signal or the sealing mode designating signal given from the control unit B7. It has a solenoid 3a as a means for moving 3 to a predetermined position corresponding to the designated reading direction of the document. When the upper discharge mode is designated, the solenoid 3a is turned off. When the sealing mode is designated, the solenoid 3a is turned off after a predetermined time from the time when the sensor S1 detects the document captured by the capture roller.
The document being fetched is corrugated in a corrugated manner while being taken in, and the flight property of the document to the upper surface of the tray is improved.

The upper discharge portion B2 is an upper discharge tray 4 which is open and attached to a top cover C which is openably and closably attached to the upper part of the casing of the automatic sealing machine. And a roller 5 that conveys the document guided in the discharge direction toward the upper discharge tray surface.

The aligning portion B3 has a tray 6, a tray moving mechanism 7, an aligning mechanism 8, a binding mechanism 9 and a gate 10.

The tray 6 has a side wall 6a at one end which serves as a widthwise alignment reference surface for the document P discharged from the upstream apparatus A. The tray 6 is formed in a comb-like shape with the front end portion alternately having a plurality of convex portions 6b and concave portions 6c. The convex portions 6b are stacked and aligned on the upper surface of the tray as described later. The front end of the document held by the clamp mechanism is transferred to between the transport rollers as described later, and the recess 6c is provided.
Is formed at a position corresponding to each roller constituting the transport roller 18 of the sealing portion B5 described later, and when the tray 6 is advanced to a predetermined position and the transport roller closes the nip, the recess 6c is formed. The transport rollers allow the front edge of documents stacked and aligned on the tray to be clamped. Further, among the protrusions 6b of the tray, at least two protrusions 6b which are separated in the left-right direction are provided with small recesses 6d.

The tray moving mechanism 7 stacks the tray 6 on the upper surface of the tray with documents taken in in the direction of the aligning portion via the take-in roller 2 and the gate 3, and a retracted position where the document can be aligned through the aligning mechanism, and its retracted position. The front end portion of the tray 6 and the front end portion of the documents P stacked on the tray 6 are attached to the transport roller 1 of the closing portion B5.
The reciprocating motor 7a is reciprocatingly moved to and from the forward position, and is composed of a reversing motor 7a and a motion converting means for converting a rotational force of the motor into a longitudinal motion of the tray. The motion converting means is, as an example, a belt 7c hung between the pulley 7b supported by the main body of the automatic sealing machine and the pulley 7b of the motor 7a, a connecting member 7d for connecting the belt and the tray 6, and a tray 6. A guide shaft 7e for movably supporting in the front-rear direction, and a bearing 7f coupled to the tray 6 and slidably fitted to the guide shaft.

3 to 5, reference numeral 31 is a movable substrate on which the tray 6 is mounted and fixed. 32, 33
Is a frame which fixes the guide shafts 7e in parallel between them, and the tray 6 is guided in the front-rear direction by the guide shafts 7e via the movable substrate 31. In this way, the motor 7a is controlled and driven by a controller (not shown) to reciprocate the tray 6 between a retracted position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 and an advanced position shown by a chain line.

The alignment mechanism 8 has an alignment roller 8a, a solenoid 8b, a motor 8c, and a clamper 8d.
The aligning roller 8a is moved by a solenoid 8b between a position close to and a position separated from the stacking surface of the tray 6, and is rotated in a fixed direction by a motor 8c.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 61 is an alignment portion holder which is arranged above the tray 6 and which can be rotated around a fulcrum portion 62 provided on the side to open and close the upper surface of the tray. Holder 61
Has a notch hole 63 at approximately the center thereof. As shown in FIG.
The aligning roller driving motor 8c is attached to the holder 61, and the driving force of the motor is transmitted to the pair of left and right aligning rollers 8a via the gears 81, 82, and 83. Reference numeral 84 is a lever that supports the alignment roller 8a. When the solenoid 8b is turned on, the lever 84 is pushed down to lower the aligning roller 8a to the upper surface of the tray, and when the solenoid 8b is off, it is lifted by the urging force of the spring 85 to separate the aligning roller 8a from the upper surface of the tray. It has become. The notch hole 63 at the center of the holder 61 is provided to allow the alignment roller 8a and the gears 81 to 83 to escape.

In this way, the aligning roller 8a which is lowered to the stacking surface of the tray 6 and which is in proximity to the aligning roller 8a directs the document flying from the take-in roller 2 to the upper surface of the tray 6 by the rotation of the motor 8c toward the side wall 6a of the tray 6. The documents are aligned diagonally by feeding them in the width direction.

The clamper 8d holds the document P aligned on the upper surface of the tray 6 on the tray 6, and prevents the document alignment state from being disturbed while the tray is moved forward as described later. .

The clamper 8d is a paper pressing means for holding the document on the side wall 6a side of the tray 6 every time when one document is aligned on the tray, and holding the document back and forth on the tray. The reference numeral 8d includes a pressing piece 8d1 which comes into contact with and separates from the upper surface of the tray, and a solenoid 8d2 which makes the pressing piece come into contact with and separate from the upper surface.

As shown in FIG. 4, the clamper 8d interposes two pressing pieces 8d1 provided in front of and behind the shaft 35 and a link mechanism described later so as to press the front end and the rear end of the recording paper, respectively. And a solenoid 8d2 for simultaneously activating the pressing piece 8d1.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4 showing the unclamping state of the clamper operating mechanism, FIG. 7 is a similar sectional view showing the clamped state of the clamper operating mechanism, and FIG. 8 is B- of the FIG.
It is a B line sectional view.

Reference numeral 36 in FIG. 6 is a link having an elongated hole 36a at its upper end, and its lower end is pivotally supported by one end of an arm 37 which rotates about a central arm fulcrum 37a. The other end of the arm 37 is pivotally supported by a plunger of a solenoid 8d2. A locking pin 38 integrally provided with the pressing piece 8d1 is fitted in the elongated hole 36a of the link 36, and between the locking pin 38 and the projection 39 provided on the side wall of the link 36. A tension spring 40 is provided in the.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the unclamped state, the torenoid 8d2 is turned off and the pressing piece 8d1 is raised from the stacking surface of the tray 6, but as shown in FIG. When the solenoid 8d2 is turned on in a state in which the roller is abutted against the side wall 6a of the tray 6, the arm 37 rotates clockwise around the arm fulcrum 37a, and as a result, the link 36 moves downward.

Accordingly, when the tension spring 40 is pulled and the locking pin 38 is pushed down, the pressing piece 8d1 rotates counterclockwise around the shaft 35 and the bundle of the recording paper P at the tip thereof. Clamp. At this time, if the bundle of recording sheets P is thick, the tip of the pressing piece 8d1 does not move even if the link 36 moves downward. That is, the slot 36a and the spring 40 can absorb the variation in the thickness of the bundle of the recording paper P and can always clamp the recording paper P with an appropriate pressure.

The binding mechanism 9 is provided on the side opposite to the side wall of the tray 6, is loaded on the tray, and is aligned with the aligning roller 8a.
And the document P aligned by the gate 10 and pressed by the pressing piece 8d1 of the clamper 8d when the binding instruction is input. The binding mechanism 9 includes an electric stapler 9a and a guide shaft 9 that movably supports the electric stapler parallel to the side of the tray 6.
b, and drive means 9c for moving this stapler to the binding position. Reference numeral 91 in FIG. 5 denotes a movable substrate on which the electric stapler 9a is fixed.
Has been penetrated.

The driving means 9c comprises a motor 9c1, front and rear pulleys 9c2, a belt 9c3 and a connecting piece 9c4, and the stapler 9a is moved forward and backward by the rotation of the motor 9c1. The stapler 9a has a home position at the front part of the tray 6 in the retracted position (moved rearward for convenience in FIG. 1), and one of the documents aligned on the tray. When binding the front side, stapler 9a
Is moved slightly forward to perform the binding operation, and when binding is performed at the central portion and / or the rear portion of one side of the document, the binding operation is performed after moving backward to a predetermined position by the motor 9c1.
In this case, the tray moving means 7 also moves the tray forward at the same time and moves relative to the stapler, thereby achieving alignment on the tray, shortening the time required for binding as much as possible, and downsizing the apparatus. ing.

Further, the aligning section B3 may be provided with a punching mechanism (not shown) for providing a punch hole on one side for a set of documents discharged from the upstream device. This punching mechanism is a known one, and is moved along one side of the tray 6 by the moving means similarly to the stapler 9a and is operated at a predetermined position to form a punch hole.

Since the front end portion of the tray 6 is formed in a comb-teeth shape as described above, and the rollers constituting the conveying roller are provided correspondingly to the concave portions 6c of the tray 6, the tray 6 is provided. When the nip of the transport roller is closed, the front end of the tray is not pinched by the transport roller, only the front edge of the document loaded on the tray is pinched, and the tray is retracted to the initial position at the same time. It has an advantage that the document can be smoothly transported to the downstream side by rotating the transport roller.

As described above, in the aligning portion B3, it is possible to select either just aligning, binding after aligning, or punching holes after aligning. Then, the document conveyed to the downstream side by the conveying roller 18 is discharged as it is, is sealed in the envelope by the sealing unit provided on the downstream side of the conveying roller, or is covered with upper and lower films, and It may be sealed by welding the periphery.

A gate 10 is provided in front of the front end of the tray 6. As shown in FIG. 9, the gate 10 has a projecting piece 10a and a small projecting piece 10b corresponding to the recessed portion 6c and the small recessed portion 6d of the tray 6 in the upper half portion thereof. It is attached to rotate up and down freely,
A spring 102 wound around the support shaft always urges the support shaft in the standing direction. When the tray 6 is at the home position (retracted position), the gate 10 stands up and the projecting pieces 10b and the small projecting pieces 10b serve as the reference planes for aligning the document in the longitudinal direction, and the upper surface of the tray is obliquely fed by the aligning roller 8a. The leading edge of the document to be stopped is stopped so that all the loaded documents are aligned in the width and length directions. As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, small recesses 6d are formed at the front ends of the plurality of protrusions 6b of the tray 6, and the projections 10b of the gate 10 are fitted into the small recesses 6d to connect the tray 6 and the gate 10. The tolerance prevents the leading edge of the document fed obliquely on the tray from sneaking between the tray leading edge and the gate.

Here, in the present invention, as clearly shown in FIG. 9, the protrusions 6b forming the recesses 6c and the small recesses 6d are further extended in the downstream direction, and the protrusions of the gate 10 standing upright. The small concave portion 6d is erected upward at the bottom of the small concave portion 6d. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, each convex portion 6a of the tray 6 is extended to the downstream side of the gate 10 with a required length. There is.

Returning to FIG. 1, on the downstream side of the matching section B3,
A film supply section B4 is provided. The film supply section B4 has a film cartridge 12 loaded with a sealing film 11. The sealing film 11 includes roll films 11a and 11b wound on a winding core.
The ends are joined together.

The cartridge 12 has an opening 12a at the center thereof and semi-cylindrical roll film accommodating portions 12b and 12c opening downstream in the upper and lower sides of the opening, respectively. Is loaded from the opening face side of the roll film, and the joining portion 1 at the tip of the roll film is
Bearings 12d, 12 formed at both ends of the accommodating portions 12b, 12c with the 1c positioned at the center of the opening 12a.
The shaft inserted into the core of the roll film is supported by e and is rotatably held.

In the cartridge 12, the engaging portion 12f formed at the lower end portion thereof is engaged with the locked portion 13a formed at the lower end portion of the mounter 13 attached to the sealing machine, and The engaging portion 12g formed at the upper end portion of the cartridge 12 is engaged with the engaged portion 13b formed at the upper end portion of the mounter 13 to be detachably attached.

The cartridge 12 includes a plurality of fixed rollers 14 corresponding to the upper and lower film accommodating portions 12b and 12c.
a are arranged at appropriate intervals, and the mounter 13
Has a fixed roller 14b close to both sides of a central opening 13c corresponding to the opening 12a of the film cartridge, and a plurality of movable rollers biased in the upstream direction by springs (not shown) on both sides thereof. 14c is arranged between the fixed rollers 14a so as to be movable in the distance. The fixed roller 14a, 14b and the movable roller 14c constitute a tension mechanism 14 that gives a buffering action and a tensioning action to the film in the cartridge. As a result, when the cartridge 12 loaded with the film 11 is attached to the mounter 13, the sealing film 11
Is stretched so as to orthogonally cut off the transfer path of the document transferred by the forward movement of the tray 6.

The mounter 13 is supported by a cartridge holding member 16 fixed to a drawer 15 which is mounted in the housing 1 so as to be able to be taken in and out, and is vertically movable. The cartridge holding member 16 is provided between the position where the film loaded in the film cartridge 12 blocks the document transfer path, that is, the sealed position, and the position where the cartridge is retracted downward from the document transfer path, that is, the unsealed position. It has a length that allows it to move up and down, extending from the top to the bottom inside the sealing machine,
The mounter 13 has a closing position where the center of the opening 12a of the cartridge is aligned with the document conveyance path by the tray 6, as shown by the solid line in FIG. As indicated by a chain line 3 in FIG. 3, the cartridge 12 is moved up and down between the cartridge 12 and a non-sealing position retracted to the lower side of the document transport path.

A sealing section B5 is provided on the downstream side of the film supply section B4. This sealing section holds a film 11 covering the front and back of a document and conveys it by a conveying roller 1.
8 and a heat cutter 19 for welding and cutting (heat cutting) the film 11 before and after the document, and for welding (heat-sealing) the portion of the film 11 covering the document from the front and back and extending outside the document. The heat roller 20 of FIG.

The lower discharge part B6 having a lower discharge part B6 on the downstream side of the sealing part discharges the sealed material SM formed by heat cutting by the heat cutter 19 and heat sealing by the heat roller 20 to the outside of the housing 1. Discharge roller 21 and lower discharge tray 22 for accumulating sealed materials to be discharged
It consists of

Then, the transport roller 18 and the heat roller 2
The common transport motor 23 for rotating them in a predetermined direction is connected to the 0 and the discharge roller 21, and the transport roller 18 composed of a driving roller and a driven roller is configured to open and close them with respect to the transport surface. A nip drive means, for example, a motor 24, a cam and a follower (none of which are shown) are connected to each other, and the heat cutter 19 is provided with a drive unit for pressing the cutting blade 19a and the pedestal 19b constituting the heat cutter 19 toward each other. The motor 25 is connected to a cam and a follower (both not shown), and further, a drive unit for bringing the heat roller 20 into and out of contact with the conveying surface, for example, the motor 26 and the cam and a cam follower (both not shown). Are connected. A heater 2 which generates heat at a temperature capable of melting the film 11 is provided in the cutting blade 19a of the heat cutter.
7, the heating roller 2 of the heating roller 20
A heater 28 that heats up to a temperature at which the film can be welded is also incorporated in the inside 0a.

In the automatic sealing machine B, in addition to the sensor S1 of the intake section B1, at least two sensors S2 and S3 are provided.
Is provided. The sensor S2 detects the leading edge of the film,
It also serves to detect a cutting position detection mark, which will be described later, provided on the film, and is provided between the transport roller 18 and the heat cutter 19, and the film 11 is started to be fed by the transport roller 18 from the film supply section B4. Can be detected. Further, the sensor S3 is for detecting that the conveyed film and document have passed through the sealing portion B5, and is provided in the vicinity of the discharge roller 21.

Next, referring to FIG. 13, the operation according to the above-mentioned configuration will be described with respect to the operation when the sealing machine inputs the sealing command signal.
It will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 13 shows the initial state. Tray 6 is in the retracted position and transport roller 1
8. Blade 19a and pedestal 19b constituting the heat cutter 19
The heat roller 20 and the heat roller 20 are both open. In addition, since it is normally in the sealing mode, the cartridge 14 is held at the sealing position. When started, first, the document P from the upstream device A is fetched, the fetched document is aligned,
The heat cutter 19 and the heat roller 20 are preheated.

In the process of fetching a document, the fetch motor 2
Gate 3 for documents that are rotated from a and ejected from the upstream device
To take in toward the matching portion B3. When the sensor S1 detects the leading edge of the document, the solenoid 3a is excited for a predetermined time to rotate the gate 3 to the lower side, so that the document flies and is stacked on the tray 6 while forming a corrugate.

Then, the alignment motor 8a is rotated a predetermined time after the sensor S1 detects the leading edge of the document to prepare for alignment, and the alignment roller 8a is moved to the upper surface of the tray after the sensor S1 detects the trailing edge of the document. Direction,
The documents stacked on the tray are fed at an angle to align them.
The clamper 8d is lowered before the aligning roller is returned to the ascending position, and the aligned document is pressed in the tray. This document acquisition / alignment is performed each time each document is ejected, until the prescribed number of documents have been ejected from the upstream device A.

When the acquisition matching of a predetermined number of documents is completed,
When the binding instruction is input, as shown in FIG. 7, after pressing by the clamper 8d, the motor 9c1 of the binding portion moves the electric stapler 9a to a predetermined position, and only the front portion of one side of the document is pressed. The binding is performed only on the rear side or on both sides.
To explain one example, when binding the front part, the motor 9c1
Thus, the stapler 9a is moved slightly rearward and stopped, and the stapler 9a is driven to bind. When binding also to the rear side, the motors 7a and 9c1 are rotated to move the tray 6 forward, and when the stapler 9a and the tray 6 reach a predetermined position due to the relative movement, both are stopped.
Drive to bind the rear part. After finishing the predetermined binding, the motor 9c1 is rotated in the reverse direction to staple the stapler 9a.
To return to the front position, which is the home position.

When the predetermined binding is completed, the tray motor 7a is rotated in the forward direction to move the tray 6 forward to start the conveyance of the document in the sealing portion direction. The tray 6 holds the document P on the tray 6 in an aligned state by the clamper 8d,
As shown in FIG. 14, while moving the gate 10 forward,
The document is conveyed to the film supply section B4 on the downstream side. When the binding instruction is not input, the binding unit 9 is not driven and the tray 6 is moved forward to start the conveyance of the document in the direction of the closing unit.

The front end of the tray 6 is advanced to the center of the opening 12a of the film cartridge 12 so that the joint between the front side film 11a and the back side film 11b of the film 11 is aligned with the center of the opening. The film 11 that is lightly draped by the tension mechanism 14 and is standing by in a tensioned state is pushed in the downstream direction, and the film 11 is fed out as shown in FIG. 14 to cover the front and back surfaces of the front part of the document. In this state, the film and the front part of the document are transferred to between the conveyance rollers 18 in the separated state, and stopped at the forward position. In this case, the tip of the tray 6 is
As shown in FIGS. 10, 13 and 14, since the film P extends slightly downstream from the front end of the document P, the unwound film 11 is also downstream from the front end of the document as shown in FIGS. Ahead of the side.

In this state, the transport roller 18 which has been opened is closed via the nip drive means 24 as shown in FIG. 15 to hold the film and the document, and at the same time, the clamper 8d is opened, and then the tray is again opened. 6 is returned to an intermediate position where the gate 10 does not stand. Then, at almost the same time as the tray starts to move backward, the transport motor 23 is rotated, the transport roller 18 is rotated, and the film and the document are transported. Following this, the pressure roller 20a and the heating roller 20b of the heat roller 20 warmed up previously are closed, and both sides of the conveyed film are continuously heat-sealed.

When the trailing edge of the conveyed document P passes through the gate 10, the tray 6 is completely returned to the retracted position as shown in FIG. At that time, the gate 10 is restored by the action of a return spring (not shown) and returns to the standing state. As a result, the next document P is placed on the tray 6.
Is ready for import.

Then, based on the fact that the sensor S2 detects the cutting position detection mark formed on the film,
The rotation of the transport motor 23 is stopped, and the heat roller 20 is opened to prevent overheating shrinkage due to continuous contact of the stopped film with the heat roller.
As shown in FIG. 7, the cutting blade 19a and the pedestal 19b of the heat cutter 19 are closed, and the film 11 is heat cut at the position of the cutting position detection mark.

After the heat cutting, the conveying roller 18 which has been closed until then is opened by the nip driving means 24, the conveying motor 23 is rotated again, and the heat roller 20 is closed again at the time of heat cutting. The unsealed parts on both sides of the film between the heat cutter and the heat roller are sealed.

As a result, both sides are heat-sealed (11) on the downstream side of the heat cutter 19 as shown in FIG.
1), the front and back are heat-cut (112) at the cutting position detection mark, and the sealed article SM in which the document P is sealed in the film bag having the address window 113 on the surface is obtained. A portion of the address window 113 is transparent, but a portion beyond that is opaque so that the printed contents of the document cannot be seen from the outside. The front portion of the document-covered surface of the film may be transparent.

The sealed material SM discharged from the heat roller is
The lower discharge tray 2 by the discharge roller 21 of the lower discharge section B6
It is discharged to 2. The film 1 in the sealed object SM formed by the heat cutting and the sealing of the unsealed portion
Based on the fact that an appropriate distance is provided between the front end of the tray and the front end of the document between the front end of the document and the front end of the document enclosed in the film bag. 12
As shown in, even when the number of documents is particularly large, there is an adequate extra space, so the edge of the film has a flat shape, so the appearance of the sealed product is good and the edges of the document are It is not curled, buckled or deformed.

As shown in FIG. 17, the front side film 11a and the back side film 11b of the heat-cut film 11 on the upstream side of the heat cutter 19 are welded to each other by the heat cutter 19, and the film is supplied. Since the back tension is applied by the tension applying mechanism 14 provided in the section, the original position is restored.

A non-sealing command input switch (not shown) provided in the upstream device A or the sealing device B is operated before the discharge of a predetermined number of documents from the upstream device is completed, and the control unit is not sealed. When a command is input, the motor 17 is rotated in the normal direction, and the cartridge 12 is lowered via the mounter 13 to the retracted position shown by the chain line in FIG.

Therefore, the set of documents that are taken in by the take-in section B1 and aligned in the aligning section B3 are the stapler 9
After being bound by a, the tray 6 is moved forward between the conveying rollers 18 and is rotated at the same time as the conveying rollers are closed so that the document is discharged between the heat cutter 19 and the heat roller 20 in the separated state. It is discharged onto the discharge tray 22 by the roller 21. When the non-sealing command is input, the heating of the heat roller is stopped.

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention, the document loaded on the upper surface of the tray is obliquely fed to the side wall of the tray and the stop paper surface of the gate to align the document, and the tray is advanced to seal the document. The film for feeding, hold the front edge of the document and the leading edge of the film between the transport rollers, cover with the film while transporting the transport rollers, weld both side edges of the film, and In an automatic sealing machine that forms a sealed article containing a document by welding and cutting the film immediately after the trailing edge, it is possible to provide a margin between the leading edge of the film and the front edge of the document. Not only can the appearance of the article be improved, but the curl, buckling, and deformation of the front end of the document can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram mainly showing a drive system as a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing an example of a physical configuration of an automatic sealing machine.

FIG. 3 is a plan view in which a part of a matching unit is omitted.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the clamper omitted in FIG. 3 and omitting other parts.

5 is a plan view with the tray, alignment roller and clamper in FIG. 3 removed.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4 showing a non-operating state of the clamper.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 6 showing an operating state of the clamper.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a main part showing a structure of a front end portion of a tray and a gate.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing an engaged state with the gate when the tray is at the retracted position.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing the positional relationship between the film and the document when the tray moves to the forward position.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of a front end portion of the sealed product.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing a state immediately before advancing the tray of the automatic sealing machine.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the tray has advanced.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a transport roller closes a nip.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the tray is retracted and a film and a document are being conveyed.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing the state of the final step of welding and cutting the film.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the produced sealed product.

FIG. 19 is a vertical sectional view showing a main part of the automatic sealing machine before improvement.

FIG. 20 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of essential parts showing the structure of the front end of the tray and the gate.

FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view of the front end portion of the sealed article by the automatic sealing machine before improvement.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A upstream device B automatic sealing machine P document 6 tray 6a side wall 6b convex portion 6c concave portion 6d small concave portion 7 tray moving mechanism 8 aligning portion 8a aligning roller 10 gate 10a, 10b projecting piece 18 transport roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] (A) Documents discharged from an upstream device are stacked on a tray, and the stacked documents are erected upright on a side wall of the tray and a front part of the tray so that the tray advances as the tray advances. The document is aligned by feeding it obliquely toward the gate to be laid down, and the document is transferred by advancing the tray, and the rewinding tip of the biaxial roll film provided in the film supply unit is joined. The sealing film is fed out, the leading end of the film and the leading end of the document are made to enter between the transport rollers whose nip is open, and the tray is set to the initial position with the nip of the transport roller closed. After retreating, the conveying roller is rotated to convey the document while covering the document with the film, and both side edges in the width direction of the film are welded by the welding means, and are melted immediately after the rear end of the document. The film is welded and cut by a cutting means to form a sealed product in which the document is enclosed, discharged by a discharging roller to the outside of the machine, and the upstream film melt-cut by the welding cutting means is supplied to the film. In the automatic sealing machine for returning to the initial position of the section, in the front end portion of the tray, each of the rollers forming the transport roller, and a concave portion and a convex portion are formed at positions corresponding to the gap between the rollers, and The front end of the tray is formed in a comb shape, and at least two front ends of the protrusions are
Further, a small concave portion is formed, and the gate is provided with a protrusion that penetrates and rises upward at an intermediate position of each concave portion of the tray and a bottom portion of the small concave portion in an upright state of the gate. The automatic sealing machine is characterized in that it has a required length extending in the downstream direction from the projection of the.