JPS6238263B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a sorter that distributes sheets fed by a conveying means to a number of storage bins using a movable deflection unit, and then collates or sorts the sheets. Regarding the paper alignment mechanism.

The paper that is ejected from the ejection roller of the deflection unit into the storage bin is ejected at a considerable speed, so even after it leaves the ejection roller, it continues to move forward due to inertia, making it difficult to take out the stacked papers because they are not neatly aligned. There are disadvantages in that it takes time and effort to align the parts after they are taken out. Conventionally, as a means of aligning the sheets in the storage bin, the storage bin is tilted upwards in the front, and the paper that is ejected at a fairly high speed and falls to the front is moved onto the bottom plate of the storage bin, which is tilted by its own weight. A common method has been to slide it back and bring the rear end into contact with the rear end of the storage bin. However, with this method, when electrostatic charge occurs, which is often seen when copying using an electrophotographic copying device, the paper and the storage bin or the paper stick to each other electrostatically and do not slide properly. There were many cases where it was not possible to arrange them. In addition, regardless of the characteristics of the paper, such as its coefficient of friction and weight, it is necessary to create a considerable slope in order to slide and align the paper, which increases the space between the top and bottom of the storage bin, making the machine large. In addition, if the paper is aligned by changing the front, back, left, or right inclination of the storage bin using a mechanical device, the structure becomes complicated and costs inevitably increase.

In view of the above-mentioned problems of conventional devices, this invention enables paper to be stacked and neatly aligned regardless of characteristics such as paper size and paper quality, or whether or not it is charged, and is also applicable to high-speed paper ejection. To provide a paper alignment mechanism in storage bins of a sorter, which can reduce the inclination of the storage bins, narrow the bin interval, and help miniaturize the device.

The present invention will be explained based on the drawings showing the embodiments. In the first embodiment shown in _FIGS . 2 storage bin 1 ₂ ...... 20th storage bin 1
They are arranged vertically in the order of ₂₀ with an appropriate upward slope. A conveyor belt 2 is provided which is driven vertically along the paper inlet side of the storage bins 1 ₁ , 1 ₂₀ , and a deflection unit 3 is provided which moves vertically along the belt and distributes the paper to each storage bin. ing. The deflection unit 3 is provided with a deflection plate 4 and a pair of ejection rollers 5, which deflect the paper 6 conveyed by the conveyor belt to the storage bin 1 at that position.
It is now being discharged.

A stepped screw 7 is attached near one side wall of the bottom plate 1a of each storage bin 1, and a lever 8 is attached to this so as to be swingable in a plane parallel to the bottom plate 1a. An end plate (paper aligning member) 9 is attached to the top surface of the tip of the lever 8, and extends above the top surface of the bottom plate 1a through an escape hole 1b provided in the bottom plate 1a. The position of the rear end of the escape hole 1b is set slightly behind the position of the leading edge of the paper when the smallest size paper is placed in the storage bin 1 in front of the storage bin, and the front edge of the escape hole 1b is The end plate 9 is provided near the front end wall of the storage bin so that the end plate 9 can freely swing therebetween. Further, on the opposite side of the stepped screw 7, a notch 1c for taking out the paper is provided in the bottom plate 1a.

This device is configured as described above, so
The end plate 9 rests stably under its own weight at a position in contact with the rear edge of the escape hole 1b, centering on the stepped screw 7, because the storage bin bottom plate 1a is inclined backwardly. When the paper 6 is ejected from the ejection roller pair 5 into the storage bin 1 in this state, the leading edge of the paper abuts the end plate 9, and the inertia of the paper pushes the end plate 9 forward to a certain extent until it stops. As shown, the end plate 9 is connected to the bottom plate 1b.
Since a backward force is constantly acting due to the inclination of the storage bin 1 and its own weight, the paper 6 is immediately pushed back until the rear end of the paper 6 comes into contact with the rear end wall 1d of the storage bin 1, and then stopped. In this way, each time the paper is ejected from next time onwards, it is pushed back by the end plate 9 so that its rear end comes into contact with the rear end of the storage bin.
You can align the stacks of paper in the storage bin.

According to this method, compared to the conventional method of aligning the sheets by sliding them using the slope of the bottom plate of the storage bin, by appropriately selecting the weight of the end plate, it is possible to prevent adhesion caused by static electricity, etc. This provides a push-back force that counteracts friction, and it is also possible to select the inclination of the storage bin with considerable freedom. Furthermore, even if the paper is ejected at high speed and has advanced quite far forward, it has the advantage of being able to reliably push it back to the rear position and align the paper.

In addition, if sufficient push-back force cannot be obtained only by the weight of the end plate and lever due to the electrical charge of the paper, frictional force, etc., a spring 10 is provided on the lever 8a as shown in FIG. It is also possible to always bias the paper in the direction of pushing it back. In that case, the slope of the bottom plate 1a of the storage bin can be further reduced, and in some cases it can be made horizontal, so that the interval between the storage bins can be reduced and the machine can be made smaller.

Next, in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, an eccentric cam 11 that engages with one end of a lever 8b provided on each storage bin 1 ₁ , . . . 1 ₂₀ is supported by a bearing 12 provided on the machine frame. It is fixedly attached to the vertical axis 13. A bracket 14 fixed near the lower end of the shaft 13 has a spring 15 at one end that works to constantly rotate the shaft 13 clockwise, and a spring 15 at the other end that rotates the shaft 13 counterclockwise against the force of the spring 15. An armature for a solenoid 16 is attached to move the solenoid 16. When the solenoid 16 is in a de-energized state, the largest protruding portion of the eccentric cam 1 engages with the lever 8b, and the end plate 9 is pushed forward against its own weight or the rotational force of the spring 10, and is pushed backward. Rocking is restricted. When the solenoid 16 is energized and becomes energized, the shaft 13 rotates counterclockwise against the force of the spring 15, and the least protruding portion of the eccentric cam 11 engages the lever 8b, causing the end plate to move. 9 can now swing freely back and forth.

Therefore, in the process of discharging the paper 6 into the storage bin 1, the solenoid 16 is de-energized.
The end plate 9 is restrained so as not to move backward from the front position, and when the sheets 6 are aligned, the solenoid 16 is energized and energized to control the end plate 9 to freely swing back and forth. For example, the force with which the end plate pushes back the paper for paper alignment can be made larger than the force pushing the end plate 9 during the paper ejection process, making the process more reliable regardless of the paper ejection speed or charge level. You can arrange the paper accordingly.

In the case of this embodiment, it is not necessary to energize the solenoid and align the sheets every time one sheet of paper is ejected into one storage bin; if the sorting mode by the sorter is collation mode, collation mode is If this is done while the deflection unit is returning from the lowest position to the highest position, the sheets discharged into all the storage bins will be aligned at the same time by energizing the solenoid 16 once.

Also, if the classification mode is sorting mode, the first
Since the sheets are not distributed one by one from the storage bin to the lower storage bins and then returned to the top, the deflection unit is moved to another storage bin after one or more sheets have been ejected into one storage bin. It is appropriate to align the sheets when they are moved to the bin.

Therefore, when the sorting mode is collation mode, it detects that the collation mode is completed and the deflection unit has reached the lowest position, sends an energizing signal to the solenoid, and detects that it has returned to the highest position. When in the sorting mode, the solenoid is energized by a command to move the deflection unit from a position corresponding to one storage bin to another, and the solenoid is energized when the deflection unit is moved from a position corresponding to a storage bin to a position corresponding to the next storage bin. If a control means is provided that instructs the solenoid to stop and at the same time cut off the current to the solenoid, the above operation can be performed automatically.

In the second embodiment described above, the operation of releasing the restraint at the front position of the end plate was performed by energizing the solenoid, but if the engagement position of the cam is reversed, the power to the solenoid can be turned off. It is also possible to make the end plate free, and this can be selected as appropriate depending on the design of the control means.

Furthermore, it is also possible to provide means for regulating the rotation angle of the eccentric cam in several steps, so that the swing range of the end plate can be adjusted to an optimum range for each paper size. In this case, even if the swing range of the end plate does not have to be changed for each size of paper, the stackability of the paper can be sufficiently improved even if the range of swing of the end plate is appropriately adjusted to, for example, three levels.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the stackability of sheets and to neatly align the sheets, regardless of the size of the sheets or whether or not they are charged. Furthermore, since it can handle high-speed paper ejection, it can also be used to increase the paper ejection speed and improve efficiency.
Furthermore, since the inclination of the storage bins can be reduced, significant effects can be obtained, such as making it possible to reduce the size of the machine by reducing the distance between the storage bins.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view showing the first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the paper alignment mechanism for one storage bin, and Fig. 3 is a main part of the first embodiment when a part thereof is modified. A perspective view, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the second embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Storage bin, 2...Transport belt, 3...Deflection unit, 6...Paper, 9...Paper aligning member (end plate), 10...Spring, 11...
Eccentric cam, 15... spring, 16... solenoid.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a sorter that uses a deflection unit to distribute sheets sent by a conveying means to a number of storage bins tilted upward in the front for collation or sorting, the sheets discharged into the storage bins are directed backwards. A paper alignment mechanism characterized in that a paper alignment member is provided on a storage bin bottom plate and is swingable in a paper discharge direction and is always biased in a direction to push back the paper with a force that does not buckle the paper. 2. Claims characterized in that the above-mentioned paper aligning member is provided with a means for restraining it at a forward position in the storage bin during the process of discharging the paper into the storage bin, and releasing this by a signal after the completion of paper discharging. The paper alignment mechanism described in paragraph 1. 3. When the sorting mode by the sorter is collation mode, when the collation mode ends and the deflection unit returns from the position corresponding to the lowest storage bin to the position corresponding to the uppermost storage bin, the paper alignment provided in all the storage bins is The restraint at the front position of the member is released, and if the sorting mode is the sorting mode, each time the ejection of paper into at least one storage bin is completed, the front position of the paper aligning member provided in that storage bin is released. 3. The sheet alignment mechanism according to claim 2, further comprising a control means for controlling the sheets in the storage bin to be aligned so as to release the positional restraint.