JPS6156035B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention The present invention distinguishes the size of multiple types of thin plate-shaped members with different shapes, such as pieces of paper, pieces of metal, coins, etc., according to their shapes, and separates and selects members with a specific shape. The present invention relates to a sorting device that can efficiently collect specific sorted members and further separate those members individually to facilitate subsequent processing operations.

Conventionally, an automated parts feeder has generally been used to select only parts with a specific shape from a mixture of parts of a plurality of different shapes. Among these, for relatively small and thin parts, for example, there is a bowl-shaped parts feeder in which a fixed gate is installed in the upper bowl and the irregularly shaped parts are removed from the bowl depending on whether or not they can pass, or parts are transported on a straight track. It is conveyed by a belt, or by swinging a horizontal plate provided with a drop port, and a mechanism that determines the size of the drop depending on the size of the shape. A feeder or the like has been devised in which a specific member is discharged by centrifugal force by being placed in the same direction and rotating at high speed. However, if a used ticket is a light, flexible, bendable, and slightly deformed member, forcing it to be ejected from the exit would easily cause damage or breakage. This caused a large change, rather than the small local deformation that is common in tickets after use. For this reason, it has been difficult for conventional component sorting and supply devices to efficiently sort relatively narrow boarding tickets and wider tickets such as coupon tickets based on their differences in shape. .

For this purpose, a plurality of holes with a specific shape are opened on the outer periphery of the drum body, which has a hollow cylindrical shape, and a plurality of ticket pieces of different shapes are stored inside the drum body. A sorting device has been proposed that rotates and allows ticket pieces to be sorted by discharging only ticket pieces of a specific shape from an opening (for example, Patent Application No. 61308 of 1982). In this new sorting device, ticket pieces with a specific shape are ejected from the opening to the outside of the drum body, and it is not possible to align them, flow them in a certain direction, or collect them, but simply sort and separate the pieces. All I could hope for was that it would work. Furthermore, after separation, two or more parts of a particular member are often folded over each other, but it is often inconvenient if multiple members are folded over each other during post-sorting processing, for example. In cases where specific information is recorded on each member and the information is read out in a later process, it is often not possible to read all the information from overlapping members. For this reason, after selecting specific members, sorting and alignment must be done manually, which is cumbersome.

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention is capable of sorting lightweight and thin-walled members according to their shape, and furthermore, after sorting, specific members can be flowed in one direction to align them, thereby facilitating subsequent processing. In addition, the present invention provides a sorting mechanism that can individually separate the folded members while they are flowing to facilitate other processing after sorting.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, a device for sorting rectangular pieces of paper, that is, tickets, according to their size will be described.

FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of the sorting device of this embodiment, in which a pair of legs 2 are vertically connected at a distance at the bottom of a rectangular main body 1. A collection box 3, which is hollow inside and open at the top, is housed between the boxes and can be freely moved forward and backward. A rectangular separator 4 is closely fixed to the rear surface of this leg 2, and the collection box 3 is attached to the lower part of this separator 4.
A collection box 5, which is open at the top and whose pull-out direction is opposite to that of the box 5, is inserted so as to be freely movable forward and backward. A slightly trapezoidal control box 6 protrudes from the upper surface of the main body 1, and the slanted front surface of the control box 6 has a control panel 7 equipped with switches, lamps, etc., and a floppy disk for storing read information. A device 8 is provided. Further, an input body 9 is connected to the short side of the upper end of the main body 1 by a hinge 10.
The input body 9 has a trapezoidal opening at the top and a triangular shape narrowing downward, and the input port 11 has a large opening on the side closer to the main body 1. A chute 12 that protrudes from the inlet 11 into the main body 1 is provided in an inclined manner at the lower part of the inside of the main body 1 . Further, FIG. 2 shows a state in which the collection boxes 3 and 5 in FIG. 1 are pulled out forward and backward, and the input body 9 is rotated onto the upper surface of the main body 1 by the hinge 10. A circular opening 13 is formed on the side surface of the main body 1 on which the input body 9 is provided, and the inside and outside of the main body 1 communicate with each other through this opening 13. The side opening ends of the sorting drum 14 are brought close to each other.

Next, FIG. 3 explains this sorting drum 14 in detail. The sorting drum 14 is formed by winding a thin metal material into a pipe shape, and is hollow inside. ) is wide open, but the other end (right side in the figure) is closed. A drive shaft 15 is connected to the center of the other end, and the drive shaft 15 is connected to a motor 16. The sorting drum 14 is installed so that its axis is horizontal,
Rollers 17, 18, and 19 are pivotally supported on the upper and lower left and right sides of both ends of the sorting drum 10, respectively.
Each roller 17, 18, 19 is brought into contact with the outer periphery of the sorting drum 14 and holds the sorting drum 14 rotatably. On the outer periphery of the sorting drum 14, two types of shape sorting mechanisms 20 and 21 are provided annularly at intervals in the circumferential direction, and in this embodiment, the shape sorting mechanisms 20 are provided in two annular rows. The shape sorting mechanisms 21 are arranged in three annular rows with the shape sorting mechanisms 20 sandwiched therebetween. This sorting drum 14
A somewhat Q-shaped recovery mechanism 22 is provided on the outer periphery of the holder, and this recovery mechanism 22 is composed of an annular guide part 23 and a transfer part 24 connected horizontally to the lower part of the guide part 23. ing. The guide portion 23 is hollow and has a U-shaped cross section, and has an inner circumferential diameter close to the outer circumference of the sorting drum 14 with a slight interval so as to cover the sorting mechanism 20 of the sorting drum 14. The transfer section 24 connected to the lower part of the guide section 23 is hollow inside and has a rectangular cross section, and rollers 25 and 26 are supported at both ends of the transfer section 24, respectively. A belt 27 is stretched so as to be located below the mechanism 20. A separation mechanism 51 and a reading mechanism 28 are connected in series at the open end of the transfer section 24, and the separation mechanism 51 has a rectangular shape with both ends open.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a part of the aforementioned shape sorting mechanisms 20 and 21, and each shape sorting mechanism 2
0 and 21 are formed by punching out the outer periphery of the sorting drum 14 and gluing thin, elongated strips to the punched out portion, and the shape sorting mechanisms 20 and 21 are arranged symmetrically. It has been done. The sorting drum 14 has tongues punched into a slightly trapezoidal shape at one location for each shape sorting mechanism 20, 21, and Mt. Fuji-shaped sliding portions 29,
30 are each gently bent toward the outer circumferential direction of the sorting drum 14. This sliding part 29,
30, both sides thereof are curved in a parabolic shape so as to approach each other as they get closer to the tip, and in the sliding portion 29, the tip ends are parallel to each other. Further, elongated band-shaped guide plates 31 and 32 are fixed to the parabolic cut portions on both sides of each sliding portion 29 and 30 over the entire length thereof. The part 30 and the guide plate 32 form a slightly hyperbolic ticket shooter. That is, one end of each of the guide plates 31 and 32 has sliding parts 29 and 30 shaped like Mt.
The other ends of the guide plates 31, 32 are located at the largest openings cut out of the sliding parts 29, 30, so that one end of the guide plates 31, 32 and the sliding part Discharge ports 33 and 34, which are rectangular holes, are formed at the tops of the guide plates 29 and 30, and the lower portions of the other ends of the guide plates 31 and 32 are erected on the inner periphery of the sorting drum 14. The aforementioned discharge ports 33 and 34 have respective widths V and W set to predetermined lengths,
The width V is set to be larger than the width X of the small ticket A and slightly smaller than the width Y of the large ticket B. The openings of the discharge ports 33 and 34 are perpendicular to the tangent to the sorting drum 14, and the discharge ports 33 and 34 are arranged alternately with their opening directions facing each other.

Next, FIG. 6 shows in detail the internal configuration of the above-mentioned separation mechanism 51 and reading mechanism 28. Between the roller 26 and the separation mechanism 51, there is a pair of rollers 52,
53 are pivotally supported at intervals, and rollers 52,
A pair of rollers 54, 5 are also provided above each of the rollers 53.
5 is pivoted. The distance between the rollers 52 and 54 is wide, and the rollers 53 and 55 are placed very close to each other. Wide belts 56 and 57 are wound between the rollers 52 and 53 and between the rollers 52 and 55, respectively. Both belts 56 and 57 are rollers 26
It has a large V-shaped opening facing the direction. Next, in the separation mechanism 51, a pair of rollers 58, 59 are positioned vertically and pivotally supported close to the rollers 53, 55, and a rubber tube 66 is placed over the outer periphery of the roller 59. 59 and tube 66
are in contact. This pair of rollers 58, 59
A pair of rollers 60 and 61 are supported vertically at a predetermined distance in the horizontal direction, and a rubber tube 62 is placed over the outer periphery of the roller 61. are in contact. Motors 63 and 64 having different rotation speeds are connected to the rollers 59 and 61, respectively, and a horizontal sliding plate 65 is provided in the space between the rollers 58 and 66. The height is approximately the same as the contact position of rollers 58 and 59. Next, support shafts 35 to 38 are supported in parallel at intervals above and below both ends of the reading mechanism 28, and pulleys 39 to 42 are fixed to both sides of each support shaft 35 to 38 at intervals. Thin belts 43 and 44 are wound between the pulleys 39 and 40 and between the pulleys 41 and 42, respectively, and a motor 45 is connected to the support shaft 36. In addition, the reading mechanism 28
There are U-shaped pedestals 4 on the top and bottom of the inner wall of the
6 and 47 are fixed at shifted positions, and magnetic heads 48 and 49 are fixed on each mount 46 and 47 with a distance between them in the horizontal direction, and the contact surface of each magnetic head 48 and 49 is is set at approximately the same position as the contact position of the belts 43 and 44.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 7, a case will be explained in which tickets A and B of different sizes are sorted, and the widths of the short sides of tickets A and B are set to X and Y, respectively. Moreover, a magnetic stripe 50 is coated on the central length of the ticket A, and information such as the name of the issuing company, the amount of money, and the date of issue is magnetically recorded on the magnetic stripe 50.

Next, FIG. 8 shows the roller 5 of the aforementioned separation mechanism 51.
8, 59, 60, and 61. The distance L between the axes of the rollers 58 and 60 is set in advance to a predetermined interval, and in this embodiment, it is set to a length slightly longer than the length Z of the long side of the small ticket A (L=Z+α). . In addition, rollers 59, 6
1 is driven by motors 63 and 64, and the ratio of the rotation speed n of the roller 59 and the rotation speed N of the roller 61 is extremely large, and the rotation speed N is 100 times the rotation speed n. It is rotated at higher speeds (N>100n).

First, to select a small ticket A, set the sorting mechanism to the state shown in FIG. and stored inside the sorting drum 14 in the main body 1. Once a predetermined amount of tickets A and B have been stored in the sorting drum 14, when the switch on the control panel 7 is turned on, the motor 16 starts and rotates the drive shaft 15 to remove the tickets from the sorting drum 14.
Rotate in the direction of arrow F in Fig. 3. Therefore, the sorting drum 14 rotates with the end of the enlarged guide plate 31 of the shape sorting mechanism 20 as the forward end of rotation, and the discharge port 33 as the rear end, and the mixed tickets A,
B is slid and stirred on the inner peripheral surface of the sorting drum 14. Therefore, tickets A and B are stored in the sorting drum 1.
Due to its weight, it is always positioned below the sorting drum 14, and when it comes into contact with the guide plate 31, it is scraped in the direction of the discharge port 33. That is, the tickets A and B slide on the inner circumferential surface of the sorting drum 14 regardless of their shape, and the flow direction is regulated by the guide plate 31 that has large openings on the left and right, and the flow is directed through the narrow center of the guide plate 31. Directed in direction. In this way, the tickets A and B flow toward the center of each shape sorting mechanism 20, and the tickets A and B are always collected between the pair of guide plates 31. Tickets A and B collected between the guide plates 31 flow through the sliding part 29 to the discharge port 33, which is pre-formed to a predetermined length V and has a shape. Only small tickets A pass through the discharge port 33 and are sent to the sorting drum 1.
It is discharged to the outside of 4. However, since the ticket B, which is larger in shape than the ticket A, is larger than the cross-sectional shape of the outlet 33, the guide plates 31 on both sides
Since the waste is caught in the discharge port 33 or flows and is thrown up above the discharge port 33, it remains in the sorting drum 14 without passing through the discharge port 33. The tickets A discharged from the discharge port 33 onto the outer periphery of the sorting drum 14 enter the U-shaped cross-sectional space of the guide section 23, slide down the inner circumferential surface of the guide section 23, and fall onto the belt 27 of the transfer section 24. It will be placed. This belt 27 is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4 by pulleys 25 and 26, and the ticket A placed on the belt 27 is conveyed toward the separation mechanism 51. Next, the separation mechanism 51
As shown in FIG. 6, the ticket A conveyed in the direction shown in FIG. It is sent to the next separation mechanism 51. In the separation mechanism 51, the rollers 59 and 61 are rotated by the motors 63 and 64, so that
Ticket A is conveyed while being held between rollers 58 and 59, and is then transferred to roller 6 while sliding on sliding plate 65.
0 and 61 and transferred to the subsequent reading mechanism 28. At this time, if there is only one ticket A, it passes through the rollers 58 to 61 and is transported, but if two or more tickets A are stacked vertically and sent out from the belts 56 and 57. Then, each ticket A is separated into individual tickets by the separating mechanism 51 and sent one by one to the reading mechanism 28. This separation operation will be explained with reference to FIG. 9. Two tickets A-1 and A-2 are overlapped and placed between rollers 58 and 59 (rollers 58 and 59 are spaced apart in the figure). Once inserted, they are held and transferred as they are (FIG. 9(a)), and moved in the direction of the rollers 60, 61 while being folded (FIG. 9(b)). When the upper ticket A-1 is fed out and comes into contact between the rollers 60 and 61, the terminal end of the ticket A-1 is placed between the rollers 58 and 59.
Since the rollers 60 and 61 rotate at a high speed, the ticket A-1 is separated from the ticket A-2 by being pulled between the rollers 60 and 61.
The chisel is discharged behind the rollers 60, 61 (FIG. 9c). At this time, the ticket A-2 is also transferred to the roller 5.
Ticket A-1 because it is held between 8 and 59.
The tickets A-1 and A-2 are then released from the rollers 60 and 61 after a further delay, and the tickets A-1 and A-2 are separated separately.

The ticket A separated by the separating mechanism 51 is then sent to the reading mechanism 28, where both sides of the ticket A are held between belts 43 and 44, and the ticket A is held at a constant speed by the drive of the motor 45. be moved. When this ticket A is moving at a constant speed, the magnetic stripe 50 applied to its surface comes into contact with the tip of the magnetic head 48, and the information already stored on the magnetic stripe 50 is transferred to the magnetic head 48.
read by. If ticket A is turned upside down, the magnetic stripe 50 will be attached to the magnetic head 49.
The information stored in the magnetic head 49
It is read with. When the ticket A conveyed by both belts 43 and 44 reaches the end of the belts 43 and 44, that is, to the open end of the reading mechanism 28, the ticket A is released from the reading mechanism 28 and falls into the collection box 5. It will be stored.

Next, the sorting drum 14 is rotated for a predetermined period of time in the direction of arrow F in FIG. The motor 16 is driven in the reverse direction, the sorting drum 14 is reversely rotated in the direction of arrow G in FIG.
4. Slide and stir. Therefore, the tickets B flow toward the center of the shape sorting mechanism 21 in the same manner as described above, the tickets B are collected between the pair of guide plates 32, and the large tickets B pass through the discharge port 34 to the sorting drum. Ticket B
falls and is stored in the collection box 3. After driving the motor 16 for a predetermined period of time, the drive of the motor 16 is stopped using a timer or the like, and when the rotation of the sorting drum 14 is stopped, the ticket B is stored in the collection box 3, and the paper waste and paper waste are stored in the sorting drum 14. Items that cannot be sorted out, such as bad paper and defective tickets, will remain. In this way, tickets A are sorted into the collection box 5, tickets B are sorted into the collection box 3, and other parts that cannot be sorted are sorted into the sorting drum 14. At the same time as the sorting operation, they are stored in the magnetic stripe 50 of the ticket A. The information contained therein will be read and stored in the floppy disk device 8.

Next, when this series of sorting operations is completed, the equipment must be cleaned in order to perform the next sorting operation. First, pull out the collection box 3 towards you, pull out the collection box 5 towards the back, and collect the stored tickets A and B.
Tickets A, Tickets A, Tickets A, Tickets A,
B is managed separately and disposed of by incineration or cutting at a predetermined time. Then, insert the input body 9 into the second
As shown in the figure, rotate the hinge 10 upward to expose the opening 13, and insert your hand into the sorting drum 14 through the opening 13, or use a vacuum suction machine to remove the unsortable members. It can be taken out from the sorting drum 14 and stored separately from tickets A and B. Then, by inserting the collection boxes 3 and 5 into the device and rotating the input body 9 around the hinge 10 to return to the state shown in FIG. 1, preparations can be made for the next sorting operation. .

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is possible to sort only lightweight and thin members of a specific shape according to their shape characteristics, which could not be sorted by conventional parts sorting and supply devices, and it is possible to sort only parts of a specific shape according to the characteristics of the shape. It is possible to carry out rapid sorting in a short time without any interference. Furthermore, after this sorting work, members of a specific shape are sorted and transported in a certain direction, and each member can be separated into individual members.
It is possible to reliably read information from each member, and it is also possible to directly connect to an information processing device for dual use.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a perspective view showing a state in which the same collection box as above is pulled out and the input body is flipped upwards, Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the sorting drum, Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the center of this embodiment, and Fig. 5 The figure is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of the sorting drum, Figure 6 is a skeleton diagram showing the inside of the reading mechanism, Figure 7 is a plan view showing tickets to be sorted, and Figure 8 shows the positional relationship of the rollers of the separating mechanism. The side view shown in FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing the action of the separation mechanism. 14... Sorting drum, 20, 21... Sorting mechanism, 22... Collection mechanism, 51... Separation mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical drum body that is hollow inside and whose axis is positioned slightly horizontally, a shape sorting mechanism provided in this drum body and having a hole that communicates with the inner peripheral surface of the drum body, and an outer periphery of the drum body. It consists of a gutter-like collection mechanism wound around the drum body, which stores multiple types of members with different shapes, and by rotating the drum body in a specific direction, only the members with a specific shape are collected by the shape sorting mechanism. In a sorting device that can discharge the sorted members into a drum body and collect them in a specific direction by a collection mechanism, a separation mechanism consisting of a plurality of rollers that are connected to the collection mechanism and rotate in close proximity is provided, and The sorting mechanism is characterized in that a plurality of folded members are separated into individual independent states by passing the members between the rollers.