JPH0731740U - Envelope carrier - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] An object of the present invention is to provide an envelope transporting device in which an enclosure inserted in an unsealed envelope does not come out from an envelope opening in a transport operation. According to the present invention, in an envelope conveying device in which an unsealed envelope E in which an enclosure L is inserted is conveyed along a conveying path by a predetermined conveying drive means, an envelope pressing means 10 for applying pressure to the envelope. It is equipped with.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an envelope-sealing device for use in an envelope-sealing device or the like for transporting an unsealed envelope in which an inclusion is inserted to a sealing unit or the like.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 When the number of envelopes to be handled is large, it takes a lot of labor and time to insert and seal the inclusions in the envelope. For this reason, at present, a so-called enclosing and sealing device that automatically performs such enclosing and sealing operations is proposed and implemented.

In this device, after the envelope is fed to a predetermined feeding position, as shown in FIG. 5, the opening Ed of the envelope E is opened by a suction pad V or the like, and an encapsulation provided behind the encapsulation location. A mechanism (not shown) pushes the enclosed material into the envelope, sends the envelope E to a sealing mechanism (not shown), and folds the flap Ed formed in the opening of the envelope after performing treatment such as moistening. It is bent and adhered to the back surface Ea of the envelope.

By the way, in such a series of operations, the envelope is transported by gripping the front part of the envelope with an openable / closable gripper as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and moving the gripper G to a predetermined transport path. It is designed to be circulated along it.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 Therefore, in the conventional envelope sealing device, when the size and shape of the enclosed material in the top-bottom direction are significantly smaller than the envelope, the enclosed material inside the envelope will slip out of the envelope during transportation and a proper envelope will be provided. There was a problem that it could not be created.

That is, when the size and shape of the enclosed material in the vertical direction are significantly small, the enclosed material L is often not completely fed into the inner portion (front end portion) of the envelope E, and in such a state. When the gripper G is closed, as shown in FIG. 7A, the gripper G holds only the envelope E and does not hold the enclosed material L at all. Therefore, when the gripper G is moved in this state, the moving force is transmitted only to the envelope E, and the inclusion L inserted into the inner part is moved by the inertial force as shown in FIG. 7B. It was sometimes left in the original sealed position. In particular, in a device of this type that handles a large amount of envelopes, the conveying speed of the envelope E is often set to a considerably high speed. The higher the conveying speed of the envelope E, the more unfilled objects L are left behind. The rate increases.

Therefore, it is necessary to perform an operation such that the enclosed material L is introduced inward from the opening Ec of the envelope E, or a mechanical component holding the enclosed material L is inserted into the envelope E. It has been considered to make various improvements and improvements to the encapsulation mechanism, such as those that can be used, but in all cases, the mechanism is significantly complicated and the types of envelopes and inclusions that can be handled are considerably restricted. However, the current situation is that it has not been put to practical use.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides an envelope transport device in which an enclosed matter inserted in an envelope does not come out from an envelope opening portion during a transport operation. To aim.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 This invention is an envelope transporting device that transports an unsealed envelope in which an enclosed material is inserted along a transport path by a predetermined transport drive means, and includes an envelope pressing means for applying pressure to the envelope. is there.

[0010]

[Action]

 In this invention, pressure is applied to the envelope in which the enclosure is inserted from both front and back sides, and the inner surface of the envelope is pressed against the enclosure, so that a large frictional force is generated between the envelope and the enclosure. . Therefore, even if the transport driving means directly acts only on the envelope to transport the envelope, if the envelope moves, the inclusions inserted in the envelope due to the movement will also be placed between the envelope and the envelope. Since the large frictional force generated causes the envelope to move almost integrally with the envelope, the envelope will not be conveyed and the inclusions will not be left behind, or the inclusions will not slip out of the opening of the envelope, and a proper conveyance condition will be obtained. be able to.

[0011]

【Example】

 An embodiment of this invention will be described below. 1 to 3 are views showing a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, M indicates an enclosing and sealing device, and this enclosing and sealing device M is composed of a front stage portion M1 and a rear stage portion M2. A hopper (not shown) for feeding onto the mounting table 1 and an enclosed material feeding mechanism M11 for sending out the enclosed material fed from the hopper to the mounting table to the rear stage portion M2 are provided.

The enclosed material feeding mechanism M11 includes a movable base 2 which linearly reciprocates along a shaft 4 horizontally provided by a drive means (not shown), and an insert arm 3 fixed to the movable base 2. By moving the insert arm 3 forward and backward together with the moving table 2, the claw portion 3a provided at the front end portion of the insert arm 3 causes the rear end portion of the enclosed material L fed from the hopper to move to the tip of the mounting table 1. It is adapted to be pushed out from the portion to the envelope insertion position P in the front part M2. Reference numeral 5 denotes an insert guide that enters the opening Ec of the envelope E held at the envelope insertion position P and holds the opening Ec of the envelope E in an open state. It swings around.

On the other hand, the rear stage M2 of the enclosing and sealing device has the following configuration. M21 is an envelope conveying device that conveys an envelope. The envelope transporting device M21 includes an endless transport belt (driving means) 6 arranged along an annular envelope transport path, and a plurality of (six in this case) fixed to the transport belt 6 at equal intervals. A movable table 7 and a gripper 8 that is fixed to each movable table 7 and moves along the envelope transport path are provided. Each gripper includes a pair of nipping plates 8a and 8b (see FIG. 2) that can be opened and closed. An urging spring 8c is provided to urge the holding plates 8a and 8b to be in a closed state. Reference numeral 9 is a support base provided along the upper side of the envelope transport path, and the gripper 8 moves along the upper surface of the envelope support base 9.

Further, the envelope transporting device M21 in this embodiment is provided with an envelope pressing means 10 in addition to the above configuration. The envelope pressing means is composed of a pair of nipping rollers 11 and 12 provided in a notch formed in the envelope support base 9 so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from each other. Of these, the lower nipping roller 11 is rotatably supported in a fixed position by a shaft 11a. The upper nipping roller 12 is rotatably supported by a shaft 12a at the tip of a rotary arm 14 which is rotatably supported by a support shaft 13. When it descends, it comes into pressure contact with the lower nipping roller 11. The turning arm 14 is turned by a solenoid (not shown). Further, the installation position of the sandwiching roller 11 is set such that the distance TR (see FIG. 2) from the apex position of the sandwiching roller 11 to the envelope insertion position P is the smallest within the width TL of the various inclusions L in the vertical direction. Is set to be even narrower.

As described above, the envelope conveying device M21 in this embodiment is constituted by 6 to 11. Further, in FIG. 1, reference numerals 18 and 21 denote intake pads for opening the opening of the envelope held on the support base 9, both of which are connected to an intake source (not shown). The upper intake pad 18 is held so as to be able to move up and down by a holder 20 that rotates around a support shaft 19. When the intake pad 18 descends, the opening portion on the envelope back surface Eb supported on the support base 9 is held. It is designed to descend to the vicinity. Further, the lower intake pad 21 is supported by an elevating arm 22 so as to be able to move up and down, and when raised, contacts the vicinity of the opening on the envelope surface Ea supported on the support base 9. The holding body 20 and the lifting arm 22 are moved up and down by a solenoid (not shown).

In addition to the above, although not particularly illustrated here, a sealing portion for performing a moistening or bending process on the flap Ed formed in the opening E c of the envelope E is provided at the rear stage portion M2 of the support base. It is installed below. Reference numeral 23 is a drive cam for periodically controlling the operation timing of each of the above-mentioned parts.

Next, the operation will be described based on the above configuration. The conveyor belt 6 intermittently moves in synchronization with the rotation of the drive cam 23, and accordingly each gripper 8 also intermittently moves in the arrow a direction along the conveying path. During this intermittent movement, each gripper 8 clamps the front end portion of the empty envelope E fed out one by one from the hopper by the opening / closing plates 8a and 8b, and intermittently moves toward the envelope insertion position P. This envelope insertion position P is a stop position in the intermittent operation of the gripper 8, and when it reaches this position, the one opening / closing plate 8a of the gripper 8 moves upward against the spring 8c and holds the sandwiched envelope E. To release. When the gripper 8 reaches the envelope insertion position P, the envelope E held by the gripper 8 is positioned so that the fold line Ed1 of the flap Ed is rearward (rightward in the figure) of the insertion position P as shown in FIG. It is supposed to do.

At the same time, while the gripper 8 is moving, the intake pads 18 and 21 that are vertically separated from the support base 9 are moved to positions where they contact the envelope E located on the support base 9. Then, the suction operation is started, and the front and back surfaces of the envelope are sucked. Thereafter, the intake pads 18 and 21 are slightly moved in the vertical direction so as to be separated from each other to open the envelope opening portion. Then, even after the insert guide 5 enters the envelope opening Ec in the opened state and the suction operation of each of the suction pads 19 and 21 is stopped, the open state of the envelope opening E2 is maintained.

Here, the insert arm 3 pushes out a part of the enclosed material E fed onto the mounting table 1 to the front side (the left side in the figure) to open the opening portion of the envelope E. Insert the inclusion L from the Ec inward. At this time, since the enclosure L is pushed out until the rear end L1 reaches the insertion point P1, the enclosure L is pushed inward from the fold line Ed1 of the flap Ed.

After that, one opening / closing plate 8a of the gripper 8 is closed by the urging force of the spring 8c, and again clamps the front end of the envelope E. At this time, if the width TL1 of the enclosure L inserted in the envelope E in the vertical direction is substantially the same as the width TE of the envelope E, the front end of the enclosure L almost reaches the front end of the envelope E. Therefore, the gripper 8 is in a state of sandwiching the envelope E and the enclosed material L at the same time, as shown in FIG. However, when the width TL of the enclosed material L is significantly shorter than the width TE of the envelope E, as shown in FIG. 3, the gripper 8 holds only the envelope E, that is, the enclosed material L is sandwiched at all. It will not be in a state.

Then, if the gripper 8 makes the next intermittent movement at a high speed in a state in which the inclusions are not sandwiched at all, the envelope E clamped by the gripper 8 is naturally gripper. Although the container L moves with 8, the inclusion L that is not sandwiched by the gripper 8 receives almost no force in the conveying direction, and therefore the insert L hardly moves the position P at the time of insertion due to its inertia, and the envelope opening It came out of Ec and was left behind on the support base 9 (see FIG. 7B).

However, in this embodiment, at the same time when the gripper 8 clamps the envelope E, a solenoid (not shown) is activated to rotate the rotating arm 14 from the raised position to the lowered position, and the upper holding roller 12 is held. Is moved to the vicinity of the middle portion of the envelope E, and the envelope E and the enclosed material L are simultaneously clamped between the lower clamping rollers 11, whereby the envelope E moves. To prevent being left behind.

That is, by sandwiching between the sandwiching rollers 11 and 12, the inner surface of the envelope E and the enclosed material L are brought into a pressure contact state, and a large frictional force is generated between them. Therefore, even if the gripper 8 is moved in the conveying direction at a high speed, the large frictional force causes the envelope E and the enclosed material L to move integrally with each other, and the envelopes E and L are not displaced from each other. There is no inconvenience that the enclosed material L comes out from the portion E2, and it can be sent to the subsequent moistening / sealing processing portion in a proper insertion state. Therefore, according to the enclosing-sealing device having such an envelope transporting device, there is no fear that the enclosed matter in the envelope will be missing, so that the device can be driven at high speed as much as possible and the productivity is greatly improved. be able to. After the nipping rollers 11 and 12 nips the envelope as described above, the insert arm 3 returns to the initial position to prepare for the next enclosing operation.

Next, a second embodiment of the envelope conveying device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, a set of two conveyance driving rollers 31 and 32 connected to a motor (driving means) 33 by a belt 30 and the like are arranged along the envelope conveyance path by a predetermined number and held by an arm 34. The set of two driven follower rollers 35, 36 can be brought into contact with and separated from the drive rollers 31, 32 by the urging force of the solenoid 37 and the spring 38.

In this embodiment, when the enclosed matter is to be inserted into the envelope E, the solenoid 37 is in the operating state, and the transport driven rollers 35 and 36 together with the arm 34 are in the raised position against the spring 38. Held in. Here, when the enclosure L is inserted into the envelope E, the solenoid 37 is deactivated, the transport driven rollers 35 and 36 descend together with the arm 34, and the envelope E moves between the transport drive rollers 31 and 32. Hold it. Then, the transport drive rollers 31 and 32 are operated, and the envelope E is transported to the next step.

At this time, when the width of the enclosed material L inserted in the envelope E in the top-bottom direction is narrower than the width of the envelope E in the top-bottom direction, the conveyance driven roller 31 and the conveyance driving roller 35 located in front of the envelope E Although there is a possibility that only the envelope E is pinched, the conveyance driven rollers 32 and 36 located rearward also pinch the enclosed material L together with the envelope E, so that the enclosed material L is left behind. There is no danger of it occurring.

That is, in this embodiment, the function as an envelope pressing means for bringing the inner surface of the envelope E and the enclosed material L into pressure contact with each other by the four conveying rollers 31, 32, 35, 36 that sandwich the envelope E is provided. , And also has a function as a transport drive unit for transporting the envelope E. However, in this case, it is necessary to set the distance between the transport driving rollers 35 and 36 arranged in front and rear so as to be narrower than the minimum value of the widths of various inclusions in the vertical direction.

In the second embodiment, the two sets of the conveyance driving rollers 31 and 32 are driven by the single motor 33. However, each conveyance driving roller arranged along the conveyance path. The rollers may be rotated by independent driving means, respectively, and the number of sets of the conveyance driving roller and the conveyance driven roller may be three or more. Further, of the pair of drive rollers 31 and 32, the transport drive roller 32 located at the rear may be a driven roller that rotates as the envelope moves without interlocking with the motor 33. Further, as the rollers 11, 12, 31, 32, 35, 36 in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, it is possible to use spherical rollers as well as cylindrical rollers.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the envelope is pressed by using the roller. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the envelope E is pressed by the leaf spring 40 or the like, and the inner surface of the envelope E and the inclusion L are separated. You may make it press-contact. However, in this case, it is desirable to suppress the frictional force of the contact portion between the envelope E and the leaf spring 40 as small as possible. As means for that, for example, the leaf spring 40 is finished on the casing surface or the leaf spring 40. It is conceivable to attach a low-friction member to the.

[0030]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, in the envelope transport device according to the present invention, when the unsealed envelope in which the enclosure is inserted is transported along the transport path by the predetermined transport driving means, the envelope in the transport path is Since pressure is applied from the side and the back side to press the inner surface of the envelope against the enclosure inserted in the envelope to generate a large frictional force between the enclosure and the enclosure, the size of the enclosure relative to the envelope is reduced. Regardless of this, it is possible to always convey the envelope and the enclosed material integrally, and it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience of the conventional device in which only the envelope is conveyed and only the enclosed material remains. Therefore, if this envelope transporting device is applied to the enclosing and sealing device, the device can be driven at high speed and the productivity is greatly improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory side view showing a schematic configuration of an enclosing and sealing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of a main part of the above embodiment, showing a state in which the gripper holds the envelope when the envelope and the enclosed material have substantially the same length in the vertical direction.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which the gripper holds the envelope when the length of the enclosed material in the vertical direction is significantly shorter than the envelope.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory side view showing a schematic configuration of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory side view showing a schematic configuration of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory perspective view showing a state in which an envelope is inserted into an envelope in a conventional sealing device.

7 (a) is an explanatory side view showing a state in which the gripper sandwiches an enclosed material having a width in the top-bottom direction significantly smaller than that of the envelope in FIG. 6, and FIG. 7 (b) is the same figure. It is explanatory side view which shows the state which moved the gripper from the state in (a).

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Conveyor Belt 8 Gripper 10 Envelope Pressing Unit 11 Clamping Roller 12 Clamping Roller 31 Conveying Drive Roller 32 Conveying Drive Roller 33 Motor (Drive Means) 35 Conveyor Driven Roller 36 Conveyor Driven Roller E Envelope Ea Envelope Front Side Eb Envelope Back Side Ed Envelope Non-wrap L inclusion

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An envelope transporting device for transporting an unsealed envelope in which an enclosure is inserted along a transport path by a predetermined transport drive means, wherein an envelope pressing means for applying pressure to the envelope is provided. Characteristic envelope transport device.