JPS59230962A - Sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the number of sheets of Z-form folded paper to be accommodated per bin by moving a bin with its paper-inlet side end part as the axis, in a direction parting from a bin in which sheets of paper are contained. CONSTITUTION:When sheets of paper which entered a sorter inlet 1 are to be accommodated in a bin 20a2 in the second step, the delivering piece 9 is positioned as shown in the figure. On the other hand, a nut 25 is positioned so as to depress one end of a lever 23a1. The end part of a bin 20a1 on the stopper 22a1 side is pushed up by means of the other end of the lever 23a1, bringing the bin 20a1 to the position of the solid line in the figure. Thereby the interval between the bin 20a1 and the bin 20a2 is increased on the side where their stoppers 22a1, 22a2 exist. When sheets of paper are accommodated in a bin 20a3 in the third step, the delivering piece 9 is brought to a position opposite to the bin 21a3 while the nut 25 is positioned so as to depress one end of a lever 23a2. Thereby the interval between the bin 20a2 and the bin 20a3 on the side where their stoppers exist is increased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Application) The present invention relates to a sorter, and particularly to a sorter suitable for storing folded sheets.

(Prior Art) FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional sorter. Further, FIG. 2 shows a front view of the paper sorting mechanism.

The sheets that have been copied are sent to the sorter entrance 1. The paper that has passed through the entrance 1 is attracted to the conveyor belt 2,
As the conveyor belt 2 rotates clockwise, it is conveyed from the top to the bottom in the figure. Note that the paper is attracted to the conveyor belt 2 because a suction tank 3 is provided inside the conveyor belt 2 and communicates with a hole drilled in the conveyor belt 2.
This is because the suction tank 3 is being suctioned by the suction pump 4.

Reference numerals 5 and 5' denote a pair of feed screw rods arranged in parallel along the paper conveyance direction on both sides of the conveyor belt 2, and the multi-feed screw rod 5
, 5' are screwed with nuts 6.6'. Also,
The ends of a movable plate 7 are fixed between these nuts 6.6', and the movable plate 7 is suspended horizontally between the nuts 6.6'.

A plurality of feeding pieces 9 are fixed to the moving plate 7 at equal intervals, for peeling off the paper adsorbed on the conveyor belt 2 and feeding it into the bin 8.

The feed screw rod 5 is connected to a drive source 11 such as a reversible motor via a clutch mechanism 10. Further, the feed screw rods 5 and 5' are connected via a timing belt 13 stretched between pulleys 12 and 12' so that they rotate in the same direction and at the same speed. A solenoid 14 controls the clutch mechanism 10 on and off. The solenoid 14 is actuated by a pulse signal from a sensor (not shown) provided near the entrance 1 that detects the leading edge of the paper, and turns on the clutch mechanism 10 for a short time. That is, the power of the drive source 11 is transmitted to the feed screw rod 5 for a short time.

Therefore, every time paper enters 1, the feed screw rod 5
rotates at a predetermined angle and in a predetermined direction, and the nut 6 screwed onto the feed screw rod 5 moves downward. The rotation of the feed screw rod 5 is also transmitted to the feed screw rod 5' by the timing belt 13, so the nut 6' also works in conjunction with the nut 6.
Move downward. Therefore, the movable plate 7 suspended horizontally between the nuts 6.6' and the plurality of feeding pieces 9 fixed to the movable plate also move downward together with the nuts 6.6'.

Now, by appropriately selecting the amount of rotation of the feed screw rods 5, 5' each time the solenoid 14 and the clutch mechanism 10 are turned on once, and the pitch of the screws, the nut can be rotated while the clutch mechanism 10 is activated once. 6.6' is the same amount as the spacing between the bins 8. If the paper is moved downward, the paper entering the entrance 1 can be sorted from the upper bin to the lower bin.

When the feeding piece moves downward from the position facing the lowest bin, the moving plate 7 holding the feeding piece 9 moves downward.
Step on a lower limit switch (not shown). Then, the drive source 11 is reversed by the signal output from the lower limit switch, and the movable plate 7 is moved to a position where an upper limit switch (not shown) is pressed. As a result, the feeding piece 9 comes to face the top bin.

In addition, without using all the bins 8, move the feeding piece 9 from the middle of the plurality of bins to the position facing the topmost bin again.
When returning the bin 8, that is, when sorting paper using a part of the bin 8, when a copy button (not shown) is pressed, the drive source 11 is reversed and the feeding piece 9 faces the top of the bin. It is made to come into position.

The description of the above conventional device can be found in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 53-6063.
This is explained in detail in Japanese Patent Application No. 0, and the explanation will be limited to the above-mentioned level here.

Now, in the conventional sorter, as is clear from FIGS. 1 and 3, the bins 8 are arranged parallel to each other, so that the intervals between the bins are constant. For this reason, when the Z-folded sheets 15 are sorted by the sorter, as shown in FIG. 3, the folding section 15a is bulky, so there is a drawback that the number of sheets per bin cannot be increased. .

(Objective) The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and its object is to provide a sorter that can store a large number of seven-folded sheets per bin. .

(Summary) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, when storing paper, removes the bin located above the bin in which the paper is about to be stored or is being stored, from the paper entrance side end thereof. It is characterized by moving the paper in a direction away from the bin in which it is stored, with the paper as an axis, thereby increasing the distance between the bins.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a side view of one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 represent the same or equivalent parts.

In the figure, 20a+ to 20a5 are bottles, and the ends of the bottles on the conveyor belt 2 side are connected to pivots 21a1 to 21a.
5, it is rotatably supported. Also, bottle 2
The ends of 0a1 to 20a5 on the stopper 22a1 to 22a5 side are arranged so that the bins 2081 to 20ar cannot go down below the dotted line position of the bin 20at and the solid line position of the bins 2'Oaz to 20a5, but can go up. It is supported on a support not shown in the figure.

Stoppers 22al to 22a4 for bottles 20a1 to 20a4
Lever 23a1 to 23a4 rotatably supported by a pivot are provided on the bottom back side of the side. Lever 23
A1 to 23a4 have different weights on the left and right sides of the pivot, with the right side of the pivot being heavier than the left side. Therefore, the levers 23a2 to 23a4 try to rotate clockwise around the pivot, but the rotation is limited to the bin 20a.
It is blocked by the bottom surface of 2 to 20 ai and is stopped in a horizontal position.

24 is a screw rod, and a nut 25 is screwed into this screw rod 24. This nut 25 has a guide rod 26
is inserted through the nut 25 to prevent the nut 25 from rotating.

A pulley 27 is provided on the screw rod 24, and a belt 29 is stretched between the pulley 27 and a pulley 28 provided on the feed screw rod 5.

Therefore, the screw rod 24 rotates in conjunction with the feed screw rod 5, and the feed piece 9 and the nut 25 move while maintaining a fixed positional relationship.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. When the sheets entering the sorter entrance 1 are stored in the second stage bin 20a2, the feeding piece 9 is in the position shown in FIG. 4. On the other hand, the nut 25 is in a position to push down one end of the lever 23a1. Therefore, the end of the bottle 20at on the stopper 2281 side is pushed up by the other end of the lever 23a+, and the bottle 20at comes to the solid line position in the figure. For this reason, bin 20
The distance between a1 and 20a2 is determined by their stopper 22a.
l, 22a The side with 2 becomes larger.

When sheets are stored in the third bin 20a3, the feeding piece 9 is in a position facing the bin 21a3, while the nut 25 is in a position to push down one end of the lever 23a2. For this reason, the distance between the bins 20a2 and 20a3 on the side where the stopper is located becomes large.

Similarly, when sheets are stored in the fourth and fifth bins, the distance between the corresponding bins increases.

When sorting of copy sheets for one document is completed and the next copy sheet is to be sorted, the feeding piece 9 is carried to a position facing the topmost bin 20at, as in the conventional apparatus. At this time, the nut 25 is also carried above the screw rod 24 in conjunction with the movement of the feeding piece 9. On the way up, the nut 25 contacts one end of the arms 23a1 to 23a4 and rotates the arms 23a1 to 23a4 counterclockwise, but the arms 23a1 to 23a4 support them as described above. Since the weight is uneven on the left and right sides of the pivot, if the nut 25 loses contact with either side, it will rotate clockwise again, returning to a nearly horizontal state and remaining stationary.

As is clear from the above description, according to this embodiment, Z
When folded sheets are overflowing into the sorter, the bulky Z-fold section fits into the widely spaced bin positions as described above, increasing the number of sheets that can be stored per bin. .

(Effects) According to the present invention, when Z-folded paper enters the sorter, the bin interval on the side where the stopper part of the bin in which the paper is stored is increased, and the bulky part of the 7-fold part is can be stored, so the number of sheets stored per bin can be increased.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side view of a conventional sorter, Fig. 2 is a front view of the sorting mechanism, Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional bin containing seven-folded paper, and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional sorter. FIG. 3 shows a side view of one embodiment. 2... Conveyor belt, 20ax~20a5... Bin,
23a1-23a4...Lever, 24...Screw rod,
25...Nut, 26...Guide rod, 27゜2
8...Pulley, 29...Belt agent Patent attorney Michito Hiraki and 1 other person Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a sorter having a plurality of sorter bins and a feeding piece for sorting sheets into the sorter bins, a means for rotatably supporting the paper feeding side end of the bin, and a bottom part on the stopper side of the bin. 1. A sorter comprising: a lever rotatably supported so as to be substantially in contact with the feed piece; and means for rotating the lever by moving in conjunction with the feed piece. (2) A patent motor characterized in that the stopper side of the bottle is lifted by rotation of the lever.