JPS606856B2 - Arrangement device for flexible sheet materials - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for aligning flexible sheet material being conveyed, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for aligning the leading edge of a sheet of material. orienting a flexible sheet of material, such as paper, that is oriented along a desired location by and positively forced towards a releasably latched device member, such that the sheet of material contacts the alignment member. a latch device is sensed when the leading edge of the sheet material is moved into a transport device adapted to positively retain the sheet material in the desired alignment by releasing a latch device. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for making the introduction possible.

B. Prior Art There has been a long-recognized need to properly orient flexible sheet materials, such as paper, conveyed in loaves or other transport devices for purposes such as copying, printing, reading, etc. ing.

Of course, it is desirable for the leading edge of the sheet material to be positioned perpendicular to the axis of travel, but unequal feeds will cause the sheet material to occupy an oblique position. A number of proposals have been made regarding devices and methods for properly orienting such flexible sheet materials. U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,752 discloses a mechanism in which a plurality of pivoted fingers shade the front of a moving document, thereby forcing the document to follow a desired orientation determined by the fingers. There is.

The fingers are pivoted such that the force of the transported document displaces the fingers and the documents are engaged by the introduction pins of the transport device adjacent to the fingers. While the arrangement of this patent is certainly a valuable and useful mechanism, it is readily apparent that documents of differing weights and thicknesses as well as requiring adjustments in finger drag. Particularly stiff documents have a tendency to dislodge the fingers and release the document into the transport device before alignment has been achieved. Lighter documents, on the other hand, have a tendency to become stuck in the mechanism. On the other hand, a slightly more complex array is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,187, but the problem with that patent is This U.S. patent uses a device for sensing the leading edge of a sheet of paper being transported, a timing device responsive to the sensing device to provide a desired time interval. A technique is disclosed in which the feeder stops feeding the sheet of paper when the interval expires. Other arrangements for eliminating offset of the sheet of material being transported are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,295. has been disclosed.

In this device, a mechanism drives spaced feed rollers to advance the sheet of paper through the rollers only when the leading edge of the sheet properly reaches the rollers, ensuring proper reorientation of the leading edge. The curvature of the sheet material is used to make this possible. Mechanisms for driving rollers with clutches provide a relatively complex but perhaps useful answer to the above problem. GB 114953 discloses another arrangement for aligning sheet material.

In this patent, when the lever is removed, a notched plate rotates to advance sheet material between rollers. C. PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION From previous attempts to address the problem of aligning sheet materials described above, it will be apparent that relatively complex and elaborate mechanisms have been proposed in the past.

D. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an improvement not heretofore available over conventional sheet material pupillary alignment mechanisms and methods. It consists of a method and apparatus for latching.

Accordingly, the sheet material is positively or forcibly propelled toward the layering member by a feeding device such as a feed roller, and a mechanical triggering member or a position sensing device, which may be a photoelectric sensing device, moves the sheet material toward the layering member. Sensing proper alignment of the leading edge of the material. Based on the appropriate device, the latching device is released;
The alignment member rotates to release the aligned sheet front green towards the transport device, which positively engages the sheet material and thus firmly maintains the alignment of the sheet material. do.
The apparatus and method of the present invention provides a simple and therefore less failure-prone mechanism for achieving alignment of flexible sheet materials.

The method and apparatus of the present invention similarly provides a mechanism for accepting a number of pliable materials of varying hardness.

E. EXAMPLE Referring now to the drawings, like components are designated by like numbers.

In FIG. 1, a device for organizing flexible sheet material is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10. Device 1
0 includes a driven feed roller 2 positioned to engage and force the flexible sheet-like material introduced between the upper inlet guide member 14 and the lower inlet guide member 15 in a forward direction. The upper center guide member 16 and the lower center guide member 17 loosely open the sheet-like material sent between the feed roller turtles 2 to be packed, and the inlet guide members 14 and j5, the upper outlet guide member 18, and the lower outlet guide member It is aligned with 19.
Transport rollers 22 are similar to feed rollers 12 and are interposed between central guide members 16 and 17 and outlet guide members 18 and 19. Immediately adjacent the transport rollers 22 and extending between the central guide member 16 and the IT there is a layering member 24 "
It is typically oriented perpendicular to the path of travel,
The desired orientation of the front green of the flexible sheet-like material propelled forward by the feed roller 2 is established. Tekobe Village 25
extends from the alignment member 24, and both the alignment member 24 and the lever member 25 are attached to a pivot shaft 26 which is pivoted on a bearing 27. A stop pillow 29 engages the lever member 25 and a spring 30 forces the lever member 25 against the stop pillow 29. As shown in detail in FIGS. 1 and 3, position sensing module 32 is oriented adjacent and slightly forwardly of alignment member 24. As shown in detail in FIGS.

For purposes of explanation, the position sensing member 32 is the alignment member 2.
Although referenced as being aligned with 4, the position sensing module 32 is connected to the conveyed flexible sheet material and the alignment member 24.
It should be understood that it is actually in front of the alignment member 24 to show the nascent contact with the lining member 24. Support shaft 3
4 supports a position sensing member 32, which is itself supported by a pivot shaft 35 mounted on a bearing 36. A latch member 38 extends from the pivot shaft 35 and engages the lever member 25, as shown in FIG. are doing. A spring 40 urges the support shaft 34 against a stop pillow 41 as shown. As shown in FIG. 4, a sheet of paper 45 is placed in an offset position.
A flexible sheet-like material such as ' is fed forward by a feed roller 2, as can be seen in FIG. The paper 45', which is initially offset, engages only one place in the layering section 24, but due to the continuous feeding of the material, it is curved and the front green paper 45'
brought to the alignment position as shown by. Thus, when the paper 45 is in substantially complete contact with the alignment member 24, the centrally located position sensing member 32 is contacted and the latch member 38 releases the lever member 25 as shown in FIG. The alignment member 24 advances the leading edge of the paper 45 toward the transport rollers 22. The paper 45, which has been positively or forcibly positioned in a desired layered state, is sandwiched between the transport rollers 22 to continue the layered transportation. Figures 1 to 4
From the figures and the above description, it can be seen that the feed roller 12 is the layering member 24
It is clear that flexible materials of many weights and stiffness can be equally well aligned in applying sufficient force to bend the leading edge of paper 45 against and align the front green of paper 45. would have been Only upon such proper alignment can the position sensing member 32 cause the alignment member 24 to be unlatched and engaged with the transport roller 22. In order to accommodate both light or heavy paper, it is preferred that the resistance against the forward movement of the paper 45 by the alignment member 32 be minimal. A block diagram of an interchangeable embodiment of the position sensing device shown in FIGS. 1-4 is shown in FIG.

As shown, light source 50 and photodetector 52 are arranged in a position comparable to that occupied by position sensing member 32 in the embodiment of FIG. Light source 50 and photodetector 52
are preferably supplied with low voltage power from a power supply 53 via lines 55 and 56, respectively. Referring again to the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4, therefore, based on the arrangement shown in front of the paper 45, the light source 5 can be cut off from the photodetector 52, thereby providing an output via line 58. applied to relay 60. Relay 60 then energizes switch 64 via line 62. Switch 64 is connected via line 66 to power supply 65, which in the preferred arrangement is a high voltage power source. Thus, switch 64 connects latch motor 69 to power supply 65 according to line 68, and latch motor 69 is operated in much the same way as the mechanical latch disclosed in FIGS. 1-4, for example. Release the lever member 25 in FIG. Although the mechanical position sensing device and latch arrangement of FIGS. 1-4 are preferred from the standpoint of simplicity, reliability, and cost effectiveness, the electro-optical arrangement of FIG. 5 may be used as well. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.
From the foregoing description, it will be clear that the apparatus and method of the present invention provides extremely simple yet all-purpose quality control for transported flexible sheet materials.

Since the alignment member is latched and released only upon proper alignment, the device is not sensitive to significant changes in the properties of the flexible sheet material. No complex clutch arrangements, timers, etc. are required, only a simple latching mechanism. Although the present invention has been discussed for aligning sheet material along the original nominal direction of travel, it is understood that the apparatus and method of the present invention may also be used to align sheet material along different paths of travel. should be obvious.
F Function: If the flexible sheet material is skewed, the first transport roller will catch the sheet material in between and forcibly move it forward, so that one end of the sheet material will move forward. The locating surface of one of the movable roadway members is first encountered.

However, in this condition, the latch member has not yet released the alignment member, so that the advanced end of the sheet material continues to advance and curve. By locating a single sensing device centrally between a pair of movable levelers, it is possible to sense when the lagging leading edge of the sheet material has substantially reached the leveling position.

In response to this detection, the alignment material retreats to a position where it does not impede the advance of the sheet-like material, so that subsequent transportation is taken over by the second transport roller pair. One end of the sheet was rested against the surface of the alignment surface and bent to wait for the delayed arrival of Ikehata, and the latches of the pair of layered materials were simultaneously released only when the front green of the sheet materials were aligned. , the transport by the second transport roller pair is started, so that the skew is corrected.

Because the movable member is in surface contact with the leading edge of the sheet material by the locating surface, there is no risk of damage to the front green if one end of the skewed flexible sheet material is forced to advance and bend.

Therefore, even if various sheet materials having different materials and degrees of flexibility coexist, skew correction can be performed without adjustment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a simplified partial cross-sectional view of a flexible sheet material pupillary device using a mechanical position sensing device and latch arrangement according to the present invention. Vine 0... Flexible sheet member conditioning device 12... Drive roller, 14; 15,169 Kiryo 9 18 and 19...
Guide member, 22... Transport roller t 24... Stratification department village,
25... ... Lever member, 32 ... Position sensing member, 3
4... Support shaft, 38... Latch member. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the alignment member of FIG. 1 released; FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the device of FIG. 3 taken along line 3--3. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 1 taken along line 4--4 showing a typical reorientation of the flexible sheet. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a compatible position sensing array that can be used in FIG. F■G. wealth FIG. 5 FIG. 2 FIG. 3 F! G. 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 a pair of movable alignment members having locating surfaces extending along the length of a leading edge of a flexible sheet material;
a latch member engageable with the alignment member to releasably secure the alignment member so that the locating surface is in the desired alignment position of the leading edge of the flexible sheet material;
a first pair of transport rollers that forcefully advance the flexible sheet-like material by sandwiching the flexible sheet-like material therebetween; a single sensing device for sensing when the central portion has reached a substantially registered position; and responsive to said sensing, disengaging a latch member to cause said positioning member to move forward of said sheet of material; means for retracting the flexible sheet material to an unobstructed position; and a second conveyor located adjacent to and behind the aligned position for advancing the leading edge of the flexible sheet-like material between them in response to the sensing. A flexible sheet-like material arrangement device comprising: a pair of rollers.