JPH0769457A - Book aligner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To read each bar code of respective volumes after disjecting a stack of magazines or the like, returned unsold, to the wholesale distributing agent one by one. CONSTITUTION:In this aligner, a feeding conveyor 1, a collapsing drum 2 and a conveyor part 4 are all set up in series and finally a bar code reader 9 is installed therein. The conveyor part consists of a lot of rollers and it is divided into four zones A, B, C and D, and they are separately driven at each zone. A stack of magazines and suchlike is mounted on the feeding conveyor 1. After the stack collides with the collapsing drum 2 and has come down rearwards, these magazines or the like are carried to the conveyor part 4. When these magazines or books advanced up to the zone B, a roller group of this zone B is selected to a high speed rotation, a roller group in the zone A turns to a low speed rotation the other way. Even in each interval between zones B and C as well as C and D, the same operation takes place, and the book in a lowermost position is drawn out one by one in bulk as one volume. Thus, the bar coder reads each bar code of respective books.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a book aligning device arranged on an automated line for sorting books such as magazines returned to a book agency.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Up to now, human beings sort the books, such as magazines, which have been returned to book agents, while looking at each one.

[0003]

There are many types of magazines and the like that are returned to book agents, and the number is enormous. The task of sorting each book while visually observing them is a simple task that requires a great deal of patience, and is a heavy labor. Therefore, nobody wants to do it, and recently it has become difficult to secure personnel. The problem to be solved by the present invention is, as a preparatory step for sorting work, a book aligning device that can align the books on an automated line with almost no manual labor and read necessary information for each book as needed. It is in the point of providing.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has solved such a problem, but the book aligning device according to the present invention is as follows. That is, the book aligning device according to the present invention is a supply conveyor 1 that supplies a stack of books.
The breaking drum 2 is arranged in front of the supply conveyor 1 in the traveling direction, and the conveying section 4 is arranged in front of the breaking drum 2 in the traveling direction. The collapsing drum 2 has its conveying surface slightly higher than the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 1. It is desirable that the breaking drum 2 has a surface made of a material having a large friction coefficient, or ribs or grooves are formed on the surface so that the friction coefficient becomes large. It is also possible to provide a spiral ridge on the surface so that a book moving above can be shifted to one side. It is also possible to provide a guide on the side of one side and press the book against the guide to correct the posture of the book. The posture of the book is adjusted so that the bar code reader 9 provided at the front position in the traveling direction increases the reading rate for reading the bar code of the book. If a book passes through the bar code reader 9 with a bad posture, reading failures will increase.

The transport unit 4 is composed of a large number of rollers 5. The rollers 5 are divided into two or more zones, and a motor is separately attached to each zone. It is driven independently. Also, each zone is provided with a sensor. These sensors can detect the presence of a book, and when the sensor detects a book, the rotation of the motor in the zone to which the sensor belongs is switched to high speed, and the rollers 5 in that zone are changed to high speed rotation. .
Alternatively, the rotation of the motor in the zone to which the sensor belongs is switched to high speed to make the group of rollers 5 in that zone rotate at high speed, and at the same time, the motor in the adjacent zone behind the zone in the traveling direction is switched to low speed and the roller 5 in the rear zone is rotated. The group can be rotated at a low speed. Instead of the group of rollers 5 for each zone, another belt conveyor may be used for each zone. It is desirable to devise to increase the friction coefficient of the surface of each roller 5 or the belt conveyor. A photoelectric tube is generally used as the sensor, but any other sensor may be used.

It is also possible to tilt all or part of the large number of rollers 5 or the belt conveyor of the transport section 4 in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction so that the book moving above is shifted to one side. The reason why it is better to provide a guide on the side of one side and the reason for adjusting the posture by making the side one side are as described above. It is also possible to suspend the goodwill 3 from above at a position rearward of the breaking drum 2 in the traveling direction. The goodwill 3 is made of flexible rubber, synthetic resin or the like, but it is preferable that it is slightly heavy and transparent. It is for breaking the pile of books backwards. The bar code reader 9 may be provided at the front position in the traveling direction of the above. The bar code reader 9 reads data such as a publisher, a book code, and a price from a bar code attached to a book. The read information can also be used as sorting information for a sorting device installed thereafter.

[0007]

[Operation] A stack of books is placed on the supply conveyor 1. The pile of books breaks down from the supply conveyor 1 to the drum 2. Since the conveying surface of the breaking drum 2 is slightly higher than the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 1, the mountain collapses backward when riding on the breaking drum 2. The breaking drum 2
In the case where the goodwill 3 is provided in the rear of the, the upper part of the mountain is first collapsed rearward by the goodwill 3 and then the crushing drum 2 is mounted. After being broken by the breaking drum 2, the book is sent to the transport unit 4. In the transport section 4, it is sent to the first zone,
Proceed to the second zone. When the sensor in the second zone detects a book, the group of rollers 5 or the belt conveyor in the second zone is switched to high speed rotation. Or, in the case where the second switch is switched to the high speed and the first switch is switched to the low speed, it operates as such. Then, the frictional force between the roller 5 and the like in the second zone and the book becomes larger than the frictional force between the book and the book above it, and only the book below is pulled out. In the case where three or more zones are provided, such work is repeated at the boundary of each zone, and finally one book is completely separated. In the above, the collapsing drum 2 and the roller 5 may be used in the collapsing drum 2 provided with a spiral ridge on the surface thereof, or in the roller 5 of the conveying unit 4 or the belt conveyor in which all or a part thereof is slightly inclined. The books are placed side by side at the same position and the posture is adjusted. The books, which are separated one by one and are in a good posture, are then advanced to the position of the bar code reader 9, and the publisher, the book code, the price, etc. are read from the bar code of the book.

[0008]

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a front view showing Embodiment 1 and FIG. 2 is a plan view of that of FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a supply conveyor for supplying a stack of books such as magazines. The supply conveyor 1 normally operates at a low speed. Ahead of the supply conveyor 1 in the direction of travel,
The breaking drum 2 is arranged adjacent to each other. Breaking drum 2
The transport surface of is slightly higher than the transport surface of the supply conveyor 1. The surface of the breaking drum 2 is formed in a grooved shape or the like or is formed of rubber or the like to increase the friction coefficient. The supply conveyor 1 and the breaking drum 2 are driven by one motor M1. Further, at the upper position between the supply conveyor 1 and the breaking drum 2, the goodwill 3 is suspended from above. The goodwill 3 is made of plastic, rubber or the like, and its lower end is slightly higher than the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 1 so as to be substantially equal to the conveying surface of the collapsing drum 2.

A conveying section 4 is located forward of the breaking drum 2 in the traveling direction.
Is provided. The transport unit 4 is composed of a large number of rollers 5 arranged in parallel and in a state where the whole is slightly raised. Then, as is clear from FIG. 2, each roller 5 is attached while being slightly inclined in the horizontal direction. A guide 6 is provided on one side in the longitudinal direction of the transport unit 4. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the transport section 4 is divided into an A zone, a B zone, a C zone, and a D zone.
Each roller 5 group in the zone / D zone has a motor M2.
-The motor M3, the motor M4, and the motor M5 are separately driven. Further, reflection type photocells PH1, PH2, and PH3 are provided upward at the lower central position of each group of rollers 5 in the A zone, B zone, and C zone. Similarly, in the D zone, the photocells PH4 and PH5 are located at the lower positions near the rear and the front.
Are provided respectively. In addition, photocells PH1, PH2,
The rays of PH3, PH4, and PH5 are designed to escape upward through a slight gap between the adjacent rollers 5.

A delivery conveyor 7 is provided in front of the transport unit 4 in the traveling direction. The delivery surface of the delivery conveyor 7 is also formed slightly upward, and the delivery surface of the delivery conveyor 7 is an extension of the delivery surface of the delivery unit 4. The delivery conveyor 7 is driven by the motor M6. Two horizontal conveyors 8 are provided in front of the delivery conveyor 7 in the traveling direction with a slight gap in the front and rear. A bar code reader 9 is provided below the gap. In addition, the bar code reader 9
Is provided. In addition, the motors M1 to M6 shown above,
The photoelectric tubes PH1 to PH5, the bar code reader 9 and the like are controlled by the control panel 10.

The operation of the one described above will be described. The motors M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6 are driven, and the photocells PH1, PH2, PH3, PH4, PH5 and the bar code reader 9 are also switched on. And
As shown in FIG. 1, a pile of returned magazines and the like is placed on the supply conveyor 1. When a pile of magazines travels on the supply conveyor 1 and the upper part of the mountain hits the goodwill 3, the upper part of the mountain collapses backward and only the lower part collapses and rides on the drum 2 as shown in FIG. Since the conveying surface of the collapsing drum 2 is slightly higher than the conveying surface of the supply conveyor 1, at this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the ridges collapse substantially evenly backward. Then, one by one, breaking down from the bottom, it rides on the drum 2. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the collapsing drum 2 is pulled out by the surface of the collapsing drum 2 having a strong frictional force, and is sent to the transport unit 4 one by one.

In the transport section 4, as shown in FIG. 1, the zone A is first transported, but when the photocell PH1 is hung over the photocell PH1 and the photocell PH1 is shielded from light, the motor M1 is stopped and the collapsing drum 2 is operated. Delivery to A stops.
When the photocell PH1 becomes transparent, the collapsing roller 2 starts to rotate again. (This operation is performed in order to limit the supply amount to the zone A.) Next, although the sheet is fed into the zone B, as shown in the side view and the plan view of FIG. May be left on top. Therefore, when the book below passes over the phototube PH2 and the phototube PH2 is shielded from light, the motor M3 in the zone B is
Is switched to high speed, and the motor M2 in zone A is switched to low speed. For example, in zone B, the group of rollers 5 has a standard speed of 2
The speed is increased from 4.5 m / min to 44 m / min at high speed, and in zone A, the standard speed is reduced from 24.5 m / min to 11 m / min at low speed. Then, the frictional force between the group of rollers 5 in zone B and the book becomes larger than the frictional force between the book and the book placed on it, and only the lower book is pulled out. If the books are not separated one by one between the zones A and B, the same work is performed by the function of the photocell PH3 or the like between the following zones B and C. Similarly, if there is no disparity between B and C, the same work is performed by the function of PH4 between C and D. In the zone D, they are completely separated and sent out to the conveyor 7. It should be noted that the conveyance unit 4 and the delivery conveyor 7 are slanted forward so that the book on the lowest book can slide down easily due to its own weight, machine vibration, or the like. It is a workmanship.
Further, since the rollers 5 are slightly inclined in the horizontal direction in the transport section 4, the books are gradually biased toward the guide 6 side and are properly aligned.

The delivery conveyor 7 has the correct posture one by one and is delivered to the next conveyor 8. At the position of the conveyor 8, the barcode reader 9 reads the barcode information of each book. The barcode can be read even if the book is tilted to some extent, but if the tilt is too large, it is difficult to read the bar code, and the attitude of the book is corrected.
By reading the barcode, data such as the publisher of the book, the book code, and the price are collected. These pieces of information are also necessary as sorting information of the sorting device installed thereafter.

Second Embodiment A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the second embodiment. In the first embodiment, the rollers 5 of the transport unit 4 are slightly inclined to shift the books, but in the second embodiment, the spiral drum or groove is provided on the surface of the collapsing drum 2. When the breaking drum 2 is rotated, the ribs or grooves are used to perform the one-sided work.

[0015]

According to the book arranging device of the present invention, piles of stacked books can be separated and aligned one by one on an automated line. The barcode information can be read for each book.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an operation of a main part of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an operation of a main part of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing the operation of the main part of the first embodiment.

6A and 6B are a front view and a plan view showing the operation of the main part of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a main part of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Supply Conveyor 2 Breaking Drum 3 Goodwill 4 Conveying Section 5 Roller 9 Bar Code Reader

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A supply conveyor (1) for supplying a stack of books, a collapsing drum (2) arranged in front of the supply conveyor (1) in a traveling direction, and a disposing drum in front of the collapsing drum (2) in a traveling direction. The transport drum (2) has a transport surface slightly higher than the transport surface of the supply conveyor (1), and the transport portion (4) is divided into two or more zones. Each zone is equipped with a motor, and each motor is driven independently by each motor (5). Further, each zone is equipped with a sensor for detecting the presence of a book, and each sensor is a book. When the presence of the sensor is detected, the motor of the zone to which the sensor belongs is switched to high speed, and the roller (5) group in the zone is rotated at high speed. 2. A supply conveyor (1) for supplying a stack of books, a collapsing drum (2) arranged forward of the supply conveyor (1) in a traveling direction, and a disposing drum forward of the collapsing drum (2) in a traveling direction. The transport drum (2) has a transport surface slightly higher than the transport surface of the supply conveyor (1), and the transport portion (4) is divided into two or more zones. Each zone is equipped with a motor, and each motor is driven independently by each motor (5). Further, each zone is equipped with a sensor for detecting the presence of a book, and each sensor is a book. When the presence of the sensor is detected, the motor of the zone to which the sensor belongs is switched to high speed, and the roller (5) group of that zone is rotated at high speed, and at the same time, the motor of the zone adjacent to the rear of the zone in the traveling direction is moved. A book aligning device in which the data is switched to a low speed and the rollers (5) in the rear zone are rotated at a low speed. 3. The book aligning device according to claim 1, wherein a flexible goodwill (3) is hung from above at a position rearward of the collapsing drum (2) in the traveling direction. 4. The collapsing drum (2) is provided with a spiral ridge on the surface thereof.
Book alignment device described. 5. The roller (5) of the conveying section (4) is provided in such a manner that all or part of the roller (5) is provided with a slight inclination.
The book aligning device described in 2, 3, or 4. 6. A belt conveyor for each zone is used instead of the group of rollers (5) for each zone in the transport section (4).
Book alignment device described. 7. A book aligning device, characterized in that a bar code reader (9) is provided in front of the traveling direction of one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.