JPS59158763A - Sheet sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to sort sheets in many kinds regardless of the number of trays of each sorter and convey them to the outside of sorters for next process by arranging several sorters vertically in succession for providing a sheet material conveying device. CONSTITUTION:A discharged sheet P from a duplicating machine C comes to a take-in port of a sorter S and is introduced to discharge rollers 3 and 31 by take-in guides 2 and 2. Then, it is received in a sheet receiving inlet 4' of a group of trays 4 provided in steps, and stored on a tray 44, A support board 5 is raised according to a storing detection signal, and the take-in port of a lower step tray 45 is raised up to an oppositely facing position of the discharge rollers 3 and 31 to wait for the delivery of sheet materials. By repeating this process, the sheets P are stored up to the lowest tray. After finishing the distribution of the trays, the receiving ports of guides 20 and 211 of a conveying device to the outside are faced to the rollers 3 and 31, and belts 21 and 19 are driven to project the guides 20 and 201 up to the front side of the support board 5, and the sheets P discharged from the duplicating machine C are conveyed to the outside of the sorter S.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the distribution and accumulation of sheet materials (hereinafter also simply referred to as sheets) called copy paper, transfer paper, and recording paper carried out from image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, printing machines, and other recording devices. Related to la sheet sorting devices (sorters) etc.

In general, a sorter has about 10 to 20 or more sheet material stacking tables (hereinafter referred to as trays), and sheets that are continuously delivered from a device such as a copying machine at regular intervals are placed in each tray. This is to sequentially classify and accumulate one sheet at a time. Therefore, there is a drawback that the sorter can only classify fewer trays than the number of trays that the sorter has.

An object of the present invention is to obtain a sorter that enables multiple sorting without being restricted by the number of trays that a single sorter has by arranging a plurality of sorters in series. In addition, by making it possible to transport sheet materials from the sorter to the outside of the sorter, they can be stored outside the sorter or sent to lower-level processes such as binding hole punching, binding gluing, etc. It is characterized by being able to be transported.

The illustrated example will be specifically explained. In FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheets P discharged by the discharge rollers l and l of the copying machine C reach the loading inlet of the sorter S arranged opposite to each other, and are transferred to the conveying rollers 3 and 31 by the loading guides 2 and 2. be guided. Opposed to the nip between the transport rollers 3 and 3.1 is a sheet receiving opening 4' for one of the four groups of trays arranged in stages, for example 44, and the sheets are stored and placed on the tray 44. be done. still,
Of course, the ejection roller 1 of the copying machine C may also be used as the conveyance rollers 3 and 31.

For example, a group of 15 trays 4+-206, Is each has its sides (the front side and the opposite side in the figure) supported by the tray support plate 5 so as to be tiltable up and down.6 The means for opening the above-mentioned receiving port 4 is as follows: Known methods may be used as appropriate;
As shown in the figure.

The rear part of the tray is supported by a long hole 41 of the tray slidably engaged with a support shaft 40 provided on the support plate 5. A lever 43 having a fulcrum shaft 42 on the support plate 5 is provided for each tray between the tray and the support plate 5 on the entrance side of the tray,
Attach one end of the lever to the tray with pin 47, and then
A roller 44 is provided at the free end of. 45 is a cam plate that forms the receiving opening 4' when the tray group is raised, and 46 is a cam plate that returns the tray when the tray group is lowered, and is divided into upper and lower cams at the positions of the guide rollers 3 and 31. .

When the tray is raised by the support plate 5, the tray 4 in the illustrated example
The roller 44 attached to 2 hits the cam plate 45 and the lever 43
rotates clockwise about the fulcrum 42 to push up the entrance side of the tray 42 in addition to the lifting amount of the support plate 5. Therefore, the upper part of the entrance side of the tray 43 is expanded, and sheets can be received into the tray 43.

When the tray descends, the rollers 4 of the tray 43, for example, which have been kept in the raised state by the cam plate '45 as described above,
4 comes into contact with the return cam 46 that has separated from the cam plate 45, and the tray 43 rotates counterclockwise to remove the tray 43.
The entrance side of the machine is pulled down and returns to its original position.

M is a motor placed at the bottom of the support plate 7, and a chain (or wire) 8 is suspended between a transmission wheel 9 on its shaft and a transmission wheel 10 provided at the top of the support plate, and one end of the chain is connected to the top of the support plate 5. The other end is connected to the lower end of the support plate 5 via the coil spring 11. Therefore, if the motor M is rotated clockwise in the drawing, the sheet conveying device provided under the tray groups 4□, 290.15 and the bottom tray 415, which will be described later,
and rise in unison.

The support plate 5 moves up and down along the support column 7 at least by a distance corresponding to the distance from the uppermost tray 41 to the sheet material conveying device provided at the bottom of the tray group.

The sheet material P discharged from the copying machine C is stored and placed on a tray 44 corresponding to the guides 2, 2 and carry-in rollers 3, 31 of the sorter S. In response to the storage detection signal, the support plate 5 supporting the tray group rises, and the lower tray 4
5 is the paper ejection roller 3, 3. The machine rises to a position opposite the machine and waits for the sheet material to be delivered. By repeating this operation, the sheets P are stored in the 11th order up to the lowest tray 4□5.

The present invention provides sheet classification in which sheets are distributed by moving a group of trays as illustrated in one unit by a moving means, and sequentially making one of the trays in the group correspond to a sheet conveying means of an image forming apparatus. The apparatus is provided with a device for conveying the sheet outside the apparatus.

The conveying means is installed under the lowest tray of the tray group 4, and includes sheet conveying bells 19 and 21, pulleys 14Φ16, 14 and 15 that suspend the belts, rollers 17018 that press the belts, and rollers 17018 that press the belts. Vertical loading guides 20 and 20 installed directly above the belts (belts) 19 and 21 and approximately parallel to the belts.
Consists of 1. However, the belts 19 and 21 can be replaced with rollers or the like.

As described above, the tray group is raised one stage at a time, and when the sheet distribution to the lowest tray 4n is completed, the guides 20, 21, . The receiving port faces the conveying roller 3 (3). The gear G (omitted in the diagram) on the shaft of the pulley 15 is the idle gear G.
A bell) 21-19 is driven in conjunction with a gear G2 (not shown in the figure) on the shaft of the guide roller 3 through a gear G2 (not shown). Note that the drive source is not limited to the gear-linked drive described above, and a dedicated drive source for the belts 19 and 2 may be provided.

By protruding the conveyance guides 20 and 20+ to the front of the support plate 5, the sheets P discharged from the copying machine C are conveyed out of the sorter S one after another by the conveyance device of the present invention.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, another sorter S1 is arranged in tandem with the sorter S, and each tray 4 of the sorter S1. Even if the number of trays for one sorter is small, it is easy to sort a large number of trays. In addition, loading the copying machine C to the next sorter SL is carried out in the same manner as loading the copying machine C to the first sorter S, and there is no need for special sheet guiding means between the sorters SS and S, so the apparatus is simple. It is.

It is also possible to use a stapler, punching device, or other finisher in place of the second and subsequent sorters.

Figure 3, Figure 4, is another embodiment.

The sheet P discharged by the discharge roller l-1 of the copying machine C is
It reaches the loading port of the sorter S3 arranged opposite to it, and is stored and placed on the tray 221 as it is. It goes without saying that the sorter SA may be configured with conveying means as shown in 2 and 3 in FIG.

Each tray 22. - The bases 39 at the outer ends of the bases 22n are stacked on top of each other, and are supported on the support member 231 so as to be able to swing and slide in the longitudinal direction. 24 is copying machine C
A guide plate 25 is located on both sides of the trays 221 to 228 (on the front side and opposite side in the figure) on the side of the guide plate 24. Pins 26, 26 are protruded from both sides of 228, and the pins are slidably inserted into the slot 25 one after the other.

Belts 19 and 21 in the same manner as in the previous embodiment are placed under the bottom tray 22. A sheet material carrying means consisting of pulleys 14, 15, 14, 16, belt holding rollers 17, and carrying guides 20, 201 is attached to and arranged on the support member 231. 2
3 is an arm that supports the support member 23 from below.

A pin 269 inserted into the slot 25 is provided in the carry-in guide 201 or its support member 23, and the lower end of the wire 28 is connected thereto. The wire 28 passes through direction change rollers 29 provided on the guide plate 24 and is wound around a winding drum 27 having a built-in winding spring. The overlapping pin 26□
The lowermost pin 268 of ~268 rests on the loading guide 20.

In the sorter S3 on the left side of FIG. 3, when it is confirmed that the sheet material P is stored in the tray 221, the winding drum 27 is activated to wind up the wire 28 and pull up the pin 269. When the pin is pulled up, the support member 23□
The unloading means 14 to 19, 20, and 201 assembled thereto rotate clockwise about the fulcrum 232 with the support arm 23, and push up the sheet receiving side of the tray groups 22 to 228. The trays 221 to 22B and the unloading means 14 to 2''01 move in the direction in which their respective pins 26. to 269 move along the slots 25.

The pin (Example 261) of the tray that is receiving sheets (Example 22.)
) stops at the boundary between the upward slope section 25a and the vertical section 25b of the slot 25. When the above-mentioned lifting action is performed in this state, the pin 261 is pushed up into the vertical slot portion 25b.

At that time, it was supported by the guide plate 24. The Geneva wheel 38 is rotated by a driving means not shown in the figure, and its concave groove 381 is connected to the pin 26.
By synchronizing to match □, pin 261
- The tray 221 is pulled up along the vertical thrower (25b), the next lower pin 262 is pressed by the circumferential surface 382 of the Geneva wheel 38, and the lifting action by the winding drum 27 is stopped.

When the pin 261 reaches the upper end of the vertical thrower 25b, it disengages from the groove 381 of the Geneva wheel and is received by its circumferential surface with continued rotation of the wheel, holding the tray 22 in the chain line 221.

With the above operation, the second tray 222 becomes ready to receive sheets, and the above cycle is repeated until the final tray 22, when the loading is completed on the last tray 22. The winding drum 28 is activated by the completion signal, and the support member 23 is moved to the conveyance guide 20.・20. is located on the ejecting direction line of the ejecting roller l of the copying machine C, as shown in FIG. At that time, pins 26□~26 of the tray
8 is housed in the upper inclined thrower) 25C as shown in FIG.

When the sheet material conveying device is in the state shown in Fig. 4, pulley 1
The belts 21 and 19 are driven by the shaft 5 interlocking with the shaft of the guide roller l via a gear (not shown), an idle gear G3. G4 connects the shaft of belt pulley 16 to the next sorter S.
This is an idle gear for interlocking with the shaft of the belt pulley 15 of No. 4.

In this embodiment, the next sorter S4 is installed oppositely as shown in the figure.
In addition to being classified and stored, it has the same effects as the previous example.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a sheet sorting device equipped with the conveying device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is the same view of the conveying device in use, and FIG. 3 and FIG. FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the implemented example, and FIG. 5 is a front view of the side opposite to the sheet receiving port forming mechanism of the tray. C is a copying machine, S is a sheet sorting device, and 19φ21 is a conveyor belt.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a sheet sorting device that distributes sheets by moving a group of trays integrally by a moving means and sequentially corresponding one of the trays in the group to the sheet conveying means of an image forming apparatus, the sheet conveying means 1. A sheet sorting device comprising a sheet material conveying device that conveys sheet materials out of the device in accordance with the sheet sorting device.