JPH08231115A - Gathering device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve the processing speed as well as to facilitate control in gathering work by performing the operation of a gathering conveyor and the operation of a cutting part without correlating them with each other. CONSTITUTION: In a plurality of document supplying terminals 2a provided along a gathering conveyor 1, a bar code of a continuous document 201 is read by a bar code reader 24, unit documents 202a cut for the same sorting part by a cutter device 25 on the basis of the read content are supplied to a buffer conveyor 27c, supplied to sorting pockets of the gathering conveyor 1 moved to the specified position, and sequentially overlapped and gathered for the sorting parts. The operation of the cutter device 25 in respective document supplying terminals 2a is performed without being correlated with the operation of the gathering conveyor 1, the unit documents 202a are stocked on the buffer conveyor 27c, and the unit documents are supplied from the buffer conveyor 27c to the gathering conveyor 1 and gathered regardless of the cutting number of the unit documents 202a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collating device, and more particularly, to a form supply terminal for supplying a predetermined number of forms in which predetermined information is printed in advance for each unit of the same division.
A plurality of sorting pockets are provided along the collating conveyor, and a plurality of sorting pockets are provided on the collating conveyor, and each of the form feeding terminals is provided for each sorting pocket located corresponding to each of the form feeding terminals as the collating conveyor moves. The present invention relates to a collating device for feeding and collating a prescribed number of forms of the same classification destination from a prescribed item.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a collating apparatus for collating and stacking a unit form obtained by cutting a continuous form from a plurality of supply units to a collating conveyor by a predetermined number of sheets for each of the same sorting destinations. , It is necessary to supply a specified number of forms to the collation conveyor from each supply unit so as not to impair the matching of the same division when collating, but conventionally, the forms were cut and supplied one by one. Therefore, by controlling the timing and speed of cutting the continuous form into unit forms in each supply unit of the collating device, and the drive time and speed of the collating conveyor, a predetermined number of forms from each supply unit is transferred to the collating conveyor. The timing of supply is planned.

[0003]

Therefore, in the prior art, the control becomes complicated, and precise control means is required to perform this accurately, which is inevitably expensive. was there. Also, if the number of unit forms supplied from multiple supply units to the collating conveyor at the same time is different, it is necessary to control according to the supply unit with the largest number of supply units, so cutting at all supply units ends. If this is not done, the collation conveyor cannot be driven for the next collation, and there is also the inconvenience that the processing speed becomes slow. An object of the present invention is to provide a collating device that solves such inconvenience.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the collating apparatus of the present invention has a plurality of form supply terminals along a collating conveyor for supplying a predetermined number of forms for each unit of the same sorting destination. The plurality of sorting pockets are provided on the collating conveyor, and the sorting pockets located at positions corresponding to the respective sheet feeding terminals by the movement of the collating conveyor are the same from the predetermined ones of the respective sheet feeding terminals. A collating device for supplying and collating a predetermined number of forms of sorting destinations, wherein each form supply terminal reads a sorting mark previously attached to a continuous form in order to sort each unit of the same sorting destination. Departments, a cutting unit that cuts continuous forms into individual unit forms, and the cut unit forms that are stocked for each unit of the same division Controls the supply operation of supplying the form stock part to be supplied to the predetermined dividing pocket and the unit form of each unit of the same division stocked in the form stock portion to the corresponding predetermined dividing pocket and reading the mark. After the supply operation of the unit form from the form stock unit to the predetermined dividing pocket, the cutting unit cuts the continuous form into a predetermined number of unit forms for each unit of the same division according to the read signal of the unit. Regardless of the movement of the gathering conveyor, a terminal control unit is provided for controlling the continuous form to be cut into unit forms for each unit of the same next division and stocked in the form stock.

[0005]

[Operation] Since the form stock section is provided in each form supply terminal, regardless of the number of cut sheets in each form supply terminal, it is not related to the movement operation of the collating conveyor,
By cutting a predetermined number of unit forms and stocking them in each form stock section, and supplying these unit forms to the sorting pocket of the collating conveyor at the same time, the timing control of the cutting operation and the supply operation becomes easy, The processing speed is also improved.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a form enclosed with goods for mail order will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the whole of the collating device, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of the collating device, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system, and FIG. 5 is a timing chart of the combining operation, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the collecting operation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the collating apparatus is provided with five form supply terminals 2a, 2b, 2c, along the collating conveyor 1, for supplying a predetermined number of forms for each unit of the same division.
2d and 2e and two stitcher terminals 3a and 3b
And a stacker table 4 is provided at the end of the collating conveyor 1. Next to the stacker table 4, a control unit 51 (see FIG. 3) that also functions as a terminal control unit including a CPU that controls each operation of the collating apparatus.
A control box 5 with a built-in is provided.

As can be seen in FIG. 2, the collating conveyor 1
Is a form supply terminal 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e
Each of the document supply terminals 2a, 2b, 2c has a mounting table 11 which is composed of four mounting plates extending in parallel with each other and extending in parallel with each other, and a corresponding feed pin 12 protruding between the mounting plates. , 2d, 2e, and between the form supply terminal 2e and the stacker table 4 in synchronism with each other, the chain conveyor 13 is cyclically moved. Then, the intervals in the transfer direction, which are partitioned and formed by the respective feed pins 12, form partition pockets, and the unit forms supplied thereto are intermittently directed from the form supply terminal 2a toward the form supply terminal 2e at a predetermined timing. It is cyclically moved, and is transported by the feed pin 12 to a supply position of the next unit form for a predetermined distance. Reference numeral 14 is a drive motor for driving the chain conveyor 13.

Next, each form supply terminal 2a, 2b, 2
c, 2d, and 2e will be described. The form supply terminal 2a has an invoice 202a, the form supply terminal 2b has a transfer paper 202b, the form supply terminal 2c has an order postcard 202c, and the form supply terminal 2d has a delivery note 202d.
The form supply terminal 2e has a delivery product list 202e.
Are supplied respectively (see FIG. 5). Since each form supply terminal 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e has the same configuration, only the configuration of the form supply terminal 2a will be described and the other form supply terminals 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e will be described.
Will be omitted, and only the corresponding components will be given the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 2, the form supply terminal 2
The reference character a has a movable mounting table 21 on which a continuous form 201 in which a plurality of invoices 202a are connected via folding and cutting perforations is placed. Further, the continuous form 201 drawn upward from the mounting table 21 is guided to the tractor device 23 via the guide plate 22, transferred by this tractor device 23, and is a bar code 203 (a division mark attached to each unit form). (See FIG. 5) is read by the bar code reader 24, and the unit device to which the same bar code 203 is attached is cut as a set to form the invoice 202a by the cutter device 25 in which the upper blade and the lower blade move toward and away from each other. The form stock unit 27 is configured to be supplied by a supply roller group 26 including an opened gate and a plurality of rotating rollers. In addition,
A drive motor 29 drives the tractor device 23 and the supply roller group 26.

The form stock section 27 is provided in parallel with the collating conveyor 1 and is provided with a stopper 27a for positioning the invoice 202a which has been made into a single piece, and a buffer conveyor 27c having a feeding claw 27b. Is covered. The stopper 27a and the buffer conveyor 27c are configured to be displaceable in the virtual line state of FIG. 2 according to the size of the invoice 202a in the vertical direction. The invoice 202a is supplied to the form stock unit 27 for each predetermined number of sheets with the same bar code 203 attached thereto, and is sent to the placement table 11 of the collating conveyor 1 in correspondence with the divided pockets by driving the buffer conveyor 27c. Is configured to.

This sending operation is performed according to the intermittent movement of the collating conveyor 1 by each form supply terminal 2a, 2b, 2
c, 2d, 2e at the same time, the same bar code 20
3 invoice 202a, transfer paper 202b, order postcard 202c, delivery note 202d, delivery item list 202
e is sequentially supplied to be superposed and collated. Further, in order to smoothly carry out this, the buffer conveyor 27
Although not shown in the figure, c is provided with a sub-conveyor that is inclined toward the collating conveyor 1 on the transfer direction side.

Each form supply terminal 2a, 2b, 2c,
Invoice 20 supplied to the collating conveyor 1 from 2d and 2e
2a, transfer paper 202b, order postcard 202c, delivery note 2
02d, the number of items in the delivery product list 202e is based on the displayed bar code 203. However, data having the same contents as those of the bar code 203 is previously input to the control unit 51 which also functions as a terminal control unit shown in FIG. There is.

The stitcher terminal 3a is arranged on the rear side of the form supply terminal 2d, and the set of temporary gathered items 204 except the delivery item list 202e on the gathering conveyor 1 is provided.
A and 204b are bound together and provided with a conventionally known general stitcher device 31 (see FIG. 3) which is tilted according to the gathering conveyor 1. On the other hand, the stitcher terminal 3b is arranged on the rear side of the form supply terminal 2e and binds a predetermined set of temporary collation items 204a and 204b together with the delivery commodity list 202e. A stitcher device 31 having the same structure as the stitcher device 31 arranged at an inclination is provided. Although not apparent in the figure, the gathering conveyor 1 portion corresponding to the stitcher terminal 3b is arranged lower than the gathering conveyor 1 portion corresponding to the form supply terminal 2e, and is placed on the temporary gathering article 204a waiting. A plurality of temporary collation products 204b to be subsequently supplied are configured to overlap each other.

Each temporary collation product 204a, 204b is bound for each product field of delivered products, for example, furniture, clothing, and ornaments, and one set of the temporary collation product 20 bound together.
4a is sent to the form supply terminal 2e to be supplied with the delivery product list 202e, and the temporary collation product 204a and the delivery product list 20 are supplied by the stitcher terminal 3b.
2e and 2e are bound together to form a final collated product. In addition, when the delivered product covers a plurality of fields, the delivered product list 202e is supplied on the final binding product 204b, and the stitcher terminal 3b is supplied.
The temporary collation items 204a and 204b and the delivery product list 202e are bound by the final collation item 205
(See FIG. 5).

The stacker table 4 has a gathering conveyor 1
A guide plate 41 is provided to guide the collated product 205 discharged from the vehicle in a predetermined traffic jam. Then, the collation products 205 are sequentially conveyed and stacked by the stacker conveyor 42 whose conveyance direction is set to the right angle direction with respect to the collation conveyor 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the collating conveyor 1, the tractor device 23, the bar code reader 24, the buffer conveyor 27c, and the stitcher device 31 are connected to the control section 51 in the control box 5, respectively. Also,
The control unit 51 includes an input device 5 such as a keyboard.
2 and a display device 53 including a CRT and the like are also connected.
As a result, the collation conveyor 1, the tractor device 23, the buffer conveyor 27c, the buffer conveyor 27c, and the control signal from the control unit 51 based on the bar code 203 read signal from the bar code reader 24 and the previously input data. The stitcher device 31 is configured to be driven and controlled.

Next, the collating operation by the above-mentioned apparatus will be described. All the following operations are performed under the control of the control section 51. Each form supply terminal 2a, 2b, 2
When a predetermined continuous form 201 is placed on each of the mounting tables 21 of c, 2d, and 2e, set in each tractor device 23 in a predetermined state (see FIG. 2), and each drive unit is driven, the continuous form 201 is formed. Each attached bar code 203 is read by the bar code reader 24, and based on the read contents, the continuous form 201 is unitized by the cutter device 25 by a predetermined number, and the form stock unit is formed by the supply roller group 26 with the gate opened. 27. That is, an invoice 202a at the form supply terminal 2a, a transfer sheet 202b at the form supply terminal 2b, an order postcard 202c at the form supply terminal, a delivery note 202d at the form supply terminal 2d, and a delivery product list 202e at the form supply terminal 2e. A predetermined number of sheets are supplied to the form stock unit 27 and placed on each buffer conveyor 27c.

The collating conveyor 1 is driven once so that each sorting pocket has each form supply terminal 2a, 2b, 2c, 2.
It moves to a predetermined position corresponding to d and 2e. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, except for the form supply terminal 2a, if there is a transfer sheet 202b, an order postcard 202c, a delivery note 202d, and a delivery item list 202e to be superposed on each of the moved sorting pockets, it corresponds. The buffer conveyor 27c is driven, and the transfer paper 202b, the order postcard 202c, the delivery note 202d, and the delivery item list 202e.
Are fed to the corresponding sorting pockets of the collating conveyor 1. The delivery item list 202e includes an invoice 202a, a transfer sheet 202b, an order postcard 202c,
The delivery note 202d is placed on the temporary collation product 204a bound by the stitcher terminal 3a.

Therefore, normally, at the start of the operation, only the invoice 202a is supplied from the form supply terminal 2a to the sorting pocket of the collating conveyor 1, and then the form supply terminal 2a and the form supply terminal 2 are supplied.
The document supply terminals 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d and 2e that sequentially perform the supply operation such as b are increased one by one (see FIG. 5). These invoice 202a and transfer paper 202
b, the order postcard 202c, the delivery note 202d, and the delivery commodity list 202e are detected by the operation of the buffer conveyor 27c to supply the divided pockets to the respective cutter devices 25.
As shown in FIG. 4, the invoice 202a, the transfer sheet 202b, and the order postcard 202 which are driven independently of the drive of the collating conveyor 1 and should be the next set in the continuous form 201.
c, the delivery note 202d, and the delivery item list 202e are separated into a predetermined number of pieces and immediately supplied to each form stock section 27.

The collating conveyor 1 is driven once again, and each form supply terminal 2 excluding the form supply terminal 2a.
b, 2c, 2d, 2e at the positions corresponding to b, 2c, 2d, 2e, the invoice 202a to be overlapped placed in each sorting pocket, the transfer paper 202b, the order postcard 202c, and the temporary collation 204a.
Is moved, each transfer sheet 202b of the form supply terminals 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e is moved in the same manner as described above.
Order postcard 202c, delivery note 202d, delivery product list 2
02e is supplied to the sorting pocket of the collating conveyor 1. Then, in the form supply terminal 2d, the delivery note 202d stacked on the invoice 202a, the transfer sheet 202b, and the order postcard 202c is driven by the next collating conveyor 1 and positioned at the position corresponding to the stitcher terminal 3a. Then, the temporary collated product 204a is bound by, and the delivery product list 202e corresponding to the form supply terminal 2e is further driven by the next driving of the collating conveyor 1.

The temporary collation product 204a on which the delivery commodity list 202e is superposed is located at a position corresponding to the stitcher terminal 3b by the drive of the collating conveyor 1 which follows, and the stitcher device 3 thereof.
The temporary collated product 204a and the delivered product list 202e are bound by 1 to form a final collated product, which is sent to the stacker device 4. This collated product is guided to the guide plate 41 of the stacker table 4 and is kept in a predetermined state in the stacker conveyor 4
It is placed on top of 2, and is sequentially transferred and stacked.

Further, the existence of the temporary collation product 204b to be bound together with the temporary collation product 204a indicates that the bar code reader 2 is present.
4 and the data previously input to the control unit 51, the delivery product list 202e is not supplied from the form supply terminal 2e to the temporary collated product 204a bound at the stitcher terminal 3a. The temporary collation product 204a is sent to a position corresponding to the stitcher terminal 3b, and waits until the temporary collation product 204b on which the delivery product list 202e is stacked is transferred.

Then, when the temporary collation product 204b on which the delivery product list 202e is piled up is transferred and the temporary collation product 204b is piled up on the waiting temporary collation product 204a, the stitcher terminal 3b of the stitcher terminal 3b is transferred. The final collation 205 (FIG. 5) is bound together by the stitcher device 31.
Then, the sheet is sent to the stacker table 4, guided by the guide plate 41, placed on the stacker conveyor 42 in a predetermined state, sequentially transferred, and stacked.

As described above, the invoice 202a, the transfer sheet 202b, and the order postcard 202c which are unitized based on the read contents of the bar code 203 and are supplied to the form stock section 27 regardless of the operation of the collating conveyor 1 are supplied. The delivery note 202d is sequentially overlapped for each merchandise field by the same addressee, and is stitched at the stitcher terminal 3a to form the temporary collation products 204a, 204b for each merchandise field. Based on the operation, the delivery goods list 202e unitized regardless of the operation of the gathering conveyor 1 and supplied to the form stock unit 27 by a predetermined number is the single or a plurality of provisional gatherings 20.
4a, 204b and then stitched at the stitcher terminal 3b to form a final collation 205.
It is sent to the stacker table 4 and sequentially stacked.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and, for example, the collating device described above is combined with another collating device to collate the collated product 205 with another collated product such as a leaflet. It may be configured to. In addition, the form supply terminal 2
a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e and stitcher terminal 3
The numbers of a and 3b are not limited to five and two, respectively, and are appropriately set according to the type of the form to be collated and the manner of collation. Further, each stitcher terminal 3a,
It is not always necessary to provide 3b. Furthermore, the form stock unit 27 is not limited to the structure using the stopper 27a and the buffer conveyor 27c. Furthermore, the classification mark may be an identification symbol formed of characters, numbers, figures, etc. read by the OCR device, in addition to the bar code 203. Needless to say, the configuration of the collating conveyor 1 can be variously changed.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description,
According to the present invention, the cutting work for cutting the continuous form into single pieces by the cutter device is performed independently of each other without relating to the transfer operation of the collating conveyor, thereby facilitating control in the collating work. In addition, the processing speed can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the entire collating device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a main part of a collating device.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart of a cutting operation and a collating operation.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a collating operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Collecting conveyor 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, 2e Form supply terminal 3a, 3b Stitcher terminal 4 Stacker table 5 Control box 12 Feed pin 13 Chain conveyor 21 Loading table 24 Bar code reader 25 Cutter device 27 Form stock part 27c Buffer Conveyor 201 Continuous form 202a Invoice 202b Transfer paper 202c Order postcard 202d Delivery note 202e Delivery item list 203 Bar code 204a, 204b Temporary collation 205 Collation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of form supply terminals for supplying a predetermined number of forms for each unit of the same sorting destination are arranged along a gathering conveyor, and the gathering conveyor is provided with a plurality of sorting pockets. A collating device for feeding and collating a predetermined number of forms of the same division destination from a predetermined one of the respective form supply terminals to the respective division pockets positioned corresponding to the respective form supply terminals by movement. ,
Each of the above-mentioned form supply terminals divides into the same division destination unit, a mark reading unit for reading a division mark previously given to the continuous form, a cutting unit for cutting the continuous form into unit forms, and a cut unit form. The stock stock unit that stocks each unit of the same division and supplies the stocked unit form to a predetermined division pocket corresponding to the unit, and the unit form of each unit of the same division stocked in this form stock unit are positioned correspondingly. The cutting operation for controlling the supply operation for supplying to a predetermined division pocket and the cutting drive operation for cutting the continuous form into a predetermined number of unit forms for each unit of the same division by the reading signal of the mark reading unit are performed. After the operation of supplying the unit form from the stock section to the predetermined sorting pocket, it is not related to the movement of the collating conveyor. Without collation apparatus characterized by a continuous business form and a terminal control unit for controlling so that by cutting a unit form for each following the same sorting destination units stocked in the form stock portion.