JPS63310450A - Sheet sorter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To sort and stack sheet well by providing a section for discharging sheet to a facing bin, a bin opening means movable together with the bin and a sheet discharging section moving means resettable to bin opening. CONSTITUTION:A sorter 1 is provided with a bin unit 9 movable up and down along a guide rail 7, and a lead cam 26 is arranged to face with a lower sheet discharging section 32 located approximately in the center of a sorter body 6. The sheet discharge section 32 is provided with a moving/carrying section 45 having a pair of carrying rollers 47, and an eccentric cam unit 55 constituting a sheet discharge section moving means is arranged below the moving/carrying section 45. Sheet is discharged from carry-in port 33 of the sorter 1 through a sheet carrying path 35 during non-sort mode while through a second sheet carrying path 36 during sort mode and through the lower sheet discharge port 32 to respective bins and contained therein.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention P) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a sheet sorting device that distributes and collects sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer, and particularly relates to a sheet sorting device for distributing and accumulating sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer. The present invention relates to a bin moving type sheet sorting device suitable for.

(b) Prior Art Recently, as image forming apparatuses such as copying machines have become faster, there has been a need for sheet sorting apparatuses that process sheets at high speed.

Conventionally, there are two types of sheet sorting devices (hereinafter simply referred to as sorters) used in image forming apparatuses: bin moving type sorters and bin fixed type sorters. As paper speeds have become faster, the distance between the trailing edge of the first sheet being ejected from the image forming device and the leading edge of the following sheet has become very small, making it difficult to eject the sheets into the bin. After that, moving a group of bins in a short time between small sheets requires a very large power motor, and moving the bins at high speeds degrades the integrity of the sheets in the bin and generates noise. There were many disadvantages.

Therefore, in order to improve the above-mentioned disadvantages, the present applicant moved the bin group while discharging sheets from the conveyance member of the sorter to the bins, and furthermore, the conveyance member while discharging the sheets was moved along with the bins until the sheets were discharged. A high-speed bin moving type sorter has been devised that enables high-speed processing of sheets by moving the conveying member and returning the conveying member to a position corresponding to the next bin after discharging the sheet.

→ Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, in the above-mentioned high-speed bin moving type sorter, in order to store the bins in a compact manner, the bins that are arranged close to each other are sequentially opened and opened when discharging the sheets. form,
Although some structures are designed to facilitate the discharge of sheets into a bin, depending on how the bin opening is formed, the rear end of the sheet may be caught between the bins, or the bin may not be fully expanded. This may cause inconveniences such as bumping into objects.

For example, as shown in FIG.
2.72' and upper and lower discharge rollers 75 and 75' connected by upper and lower belts 73 and 73', respectively, to discharge the sheets Pc from the opening X' to the third bin 71c. In this case, each bin 71 is moved upward while the sheet Pc is being discharged by the discharge roller 75.75', and in conjunction with this, the upper and lower discharge rollers 75.75' each pivot on the center axis of the relay roller 72.72'. is moved upward as

Then, when the sheet Pc is discharged to the third bin 71c, the upper and lower discharge rollers 75,75' move to the fourth bin 7, which is the next highest.
1d, a new bin opening X' is formed between the third bin 71c and the fourth bin 71d.
Return to the position facing the front (see Figure 11 (bl, (C1)).

By the way, in this sorter, as shown in FIG.
Discharge must be completed before contacting the sheet 1b, and when the sheet is discharged onto the bin, there is a slight difference in timing between the timing of the sheet and the bin movement, and the trailing edge of the sheet may be caught between the bins. There is.

In addition, in this sorter, during sequential sorting in which each bin 71... moves in the direction of arrow A, as shown in FIG. 71... and the upper and lower discharge rollers 75, 75' move in conjunction with each other to easily discharge the sheet Pc onto the pin, but as shown in FIG. 11(d) and te+, , during reverse sorting in which each bin 71 moves in the direction of arrow A', the sheet Pc is pushed through the gap between the third bin 71c, which is not fully opened, and the upper second bin 71b, at the start of discharge. It is difficult to insert the sheet into the gap, especially when the bins are close to each other. Furthermore,
Because the sheet ejection angle when ejecting sheets from the upper and lower ejection rollers 75, 75' to the bin 7 is different between similar sorting and reverse sorting (see Fig. 11 (al and (dl)), Taking people out, seat buckling,
On the other hand, there are drawbacks such as excessive protrusion, which impairs the stacking performance and consistency of sheets on the pins in forward and reverse sorting.

(B) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and for example, as shown in FIG. Stay in a circle.

Further, there is a sheet discharging section 47 which is disposed opposite to the pin width and is movably supported in the moving direction of the bin and discharges sheets to the opposing pin B, and a sheet discharging section 47 which is disposed opposite to the pin width and is movably supported in the movement direction of the bin, and which discharges sheets to the opposing pin B; In between, three successive bottle openings X, , X2, .
the bin opening means 26 forming the pin openings x, and the sheet ejecting section 47, the sheet ejecting section forming the three pin openings x.

X2. Start discharging the sheet from the central opening x2 of X3, move in the same direction as the moving direction of the bin B, and return to the central opening of the three new bin openings after discharging the sheet. Sheet discharge section moving means 5 that moves to
5.

(e) Operation Based on the above-mentioned means, a large number of bins B are placed at the sheet discharge position 32.
When the pin is moved along the sheet discharging position 32, the pins are sequentially generated between the bins B facing the sheet discharge position 32 from the upstream side in the pin movement direction,
Three consecutive bottle openings X, , X, , X, which move with the movement of the bottle and disappear from the downstream side in the direction of bottle movement are formed. Then, when the sheets are conveyed to the sheet discharge section 47 to be discharged during both forward sorting and reverse sorting, the sheet discharge section 47 opens the three bin openings X, .
X2.degree. Therefore, the sheet discharging section 47 starts discharging sheets from the central opening X2, which is kept open and wide from the start to the end of sheet discharging, and discharges the sheets onto the bin B while moving in the same direction as the pin movement direction. , after discharging the sheet, returns to face the central opening, which is now located at the center of the three bin openings, in order to discharge the next sheet.

(F) Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a sorter attached to a copying machine will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view showing a sorter 1 attached to a paper discharge section 2 of a copying machine.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sorter 1 has a sorter main body 6 consisting of a pair of front and rear side plates 3 and a base 5, and stores a large number of bins B. It is equipped with a bin unit 9 that can be moved up and down along the line. The pin unit 9 has a pin support plate 10 configured with a pair of front and rear frame structures, and a bottle slider 1 is provided at the tip of each pin support plate 10.
1 is attached, and a bottle support plate 10 and a pin slider 11 are fixed with a bottle cover 12.

Each bin B stored in the bin unit 9 is
One end thereof is movably mounted on the comb-shaped groove of the bottle slider 11, and a bottle 13 is fitted to the front and rear ends of the other end, respectively, as shown in detail in FIG. . Note that each bin B...C is constructed symmetrically from front to back. Furthermore, the bin 13 is attached to the front and rear bin support plates 10.
A roller 17 is rotatably inserted into the bottle 13 passing through the slit 15 via a cushioning O-ring 16, and the roller 17 is further inserted into a guide. It is fitted into the rail 7. Then, the bin unit 9 determines the rI of each bin B... While keeping the J distance constant equal to the diameter of the rollers 17, the rollers 17...
- Guide rods 19 and 19 arranged at the top and bottom of the bottle support plate 10 are guided by the guide rail 7 and are movable up and down. In addition, the side plate 3 and the bottle support plate 1
A spring 21 is stretched between the bin unit 9 and a metal fitting 20 fixed to the bin unit 9, and urges the bin unit 9 to be pulled upward. The spring 21 has a small spring constant to reduce the change in the load on the deflector, and is designed so that when the bin unit 9 is at the upper end position, the load is almost balanced with the load of the bin unit 9, and when it is at the upper end position, it is slightly stronger. is set to .

Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, camshaft holders 22 are fixed to the front and rear side plates 3, respectively, and bearings 23, 2 are provided between the camshaft holders 22 and the base 5.
3, lead cam shafts 25 are rotatably disposed in the front and rear, respectively.

A lead cam 26 having a spiral cam surface is fixed to the lead cam shaft 25, and a sprocket 27 is fixed thereto, and a chain is connected between the sprocket 27 and a shift motor 29 that can rotate forward and backward. 30 is suspended, and the lead cam 26 can be rotated in both forward and reverse directions by a shift motor 29, so that continuous rotation in forward and reverse directions, stopping, one rotation in forward and reverse directions, and stopping can be performed as appropriate. Furthermore, the lead cam 26 is disposed facing a lower sheet discharge section 32 provided approximately at the center of the sorter main body 6 (see FIG. 1), and the bins B and B moving to the lower sheet discharge section 32 are disposed in front of the lower sheet discharge section 32 provided approximately at the center of the sorter main body 6 (see FIG. 1). Place the rollers 17 on the spiral cam surface (see Figure 3), move them upward or downward along the cam surface, and sequentially move the bin to a position facing the lower sheet discharge section 32. A bin opening X in which the interval between B is wider than the interval between other bins B by the lead width,
, X2. Form three X3s in a row. And these bottle openings x1°X2. X3 is generated sequentially from the upstream side in the direction of movement of the bins due to the movement of the bins B, moves along with the movement of the bottles, and disappears from the downstream side in the direction of movement.

Further, the sorter main body 6 is provided with a filtering inlet 33 for carrying in the number of discharged sheets from the copying machine, and the carrying inlet 33
A first sheet conveyance path 35 is formed from the first sheet conveyance path 35 toward the bin unit 9, and further, a second sheet conveyance path 36 branches off from the first sheet conveyance path 35. A pair of carry-in conveyance rollers 37 and a deflector 39 to be displaced are arranged at the branching part of the first and second sheet conveyance paths 35 and 36. A pair of upper discharge rollers 4 facing the upper sheet discharge section 31
0 is placed, and the second sheet transport l! On the downstream side of 7536, there is a relay roller pair 41 driven from the sorter main body 6.
and a pair of swing guides 43 each swingably mounted around the shafts 42 and 42 of the pair of relay rollers 41.
is located.

The lower sheet discharging section 32 has a transfer unit configured as one unit. A llb transport section 45 is arranged, and the transport section 45 is arranged so that the transport section 45 is As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the ib conveyance section 45 has a pair of conveyance section side plates 46 at the front and rear, and a pair of conveyance rollers 47 rotatably supported by the side plates 46.
It is equipped with The movable conveyance section 45 is provided with an independent drive system consisting of a conveyance motor M and a gear train, and the conveyance roller pair 47 is rotationally driven by the drive system.

Further, an upper guide 51 and a lower guide 52 are fixedly installed on the conveyor side plate 46, and these upper and lower guides 5
1 and 52, and when the movable conveyance section 45 moves, the lower guide 52
The tip of the swing guide 43 slides on the top. Furthermore, transmission type sensors S are arranged on these upper and lower guides 51 and 52 to detect the leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the pair of conveyance rollers 47. In addition, the front side plate 46 has upper and lower parts.
A pair of conveyor rollers 49 are arranged so as to fit into rail members 50 fixed to the front and rear side plates 3 of the sorter main body 6, respectively, and furthermore, at the lower part of the side plates 46, there are push-up rollers 53 for forward sorting and reverse sorting rollers 53. Sorting push-up rollers 53' are arranged rotatably.

Further, below the movable conveyance section 45, a broken cam unit 55 constituting a sheet discharge section moving means is arranged.
The defective cam unit 55 is provided with an eccentric cam 56 for forward sorting and an eccentric cam 56' for reverse sorting, which abut on the push-up rollers 53, 53' for forward or reverse sorting, respectively. Further, the eccentric cam unit 55 is provided with a broken cam drive motor M2 that drives the forward sorting and reverse sorting eccentric cams 56 and 56' through a gear train, respectively. A gear train connected to the eccentric cam 56 is supported by a cam support plate 57.
The cam support plate 57 is arranged so that it can rotate about the rotating shaft 59 as a fulcrum by a link or a solenoid, etc. At the time of forward sorting, the cam support plate 57 is in the forward sorting position shown in FIG. The eccentric cam 56 for forward sorting is brought into contact with the push-up roller 53 for forward sorting, and the eccentric cam 56 is rotated to move!1!
The IWi sending section 45 is moved up and down along the rail member 50. Further, during reverse sorting, the cam support plate 57 rotates to the reverse sorting position shown by the solid line in FIG. 5, and separates the forward sorting eccentric cam 56 from the forward sorting push-up roller 53. Therefore,
The movable conveying section 45 is moved up and down by the rotation of the eccentric cam 56' for reverse sorting which is in contact with the push-up roller 53' for reverse sorting.

In addition, when changing from reverse sorting to forward sorting, the cam support plate is moved to the forward sorting position by the urging force of the cam spring.
Also, in order to prevent movement during driving, the position is fixed by means of fixing means such as latch fitting by turning on and off a solenoid.

Further, below the forward sorting eccentric cam 56 and the reverse sorting eccentric cam 56', an initial position sensor 60 for forward sorting and an initial position sensor 60' for reverse sorting, each consisting of a microswitch, are arranged. 60,
When one rotation of each eccentric cam 56, 56' is detected by 60', the driving of these eccentric cams 56, 56' is stopped.

Since this embodiment has an imaginary configuration, the sheets discharged from the paper discharge section 2 of the copying machine have a prefecture population of 33
A first sheet conveyance path 35 is guided by a deflector 39 that is displaced depending on the non-sort or sort mode.
Alternatively, it is introduced into the second sheet conveyance path 36. In the non-sort mode, the sheets are transferred to the first sheet conveyance path 35.
and is discharged and stored into the first pin B1 of the pin unit 9. Further, in the sort mode, the sheets pass through the second sheet conveyance path 36 and are sequentially discharged and stored from the lower sheet discharge port 32 to each pin.

Here, in accordance with FIGS. 6 and 7, when sheets are sequentially ejected and stored from the upper pin B to the lower pin B during sequential sheeting, the lower sheet ejector is used to eject the sheets. Pin (sheet ejection pin) B moved to exit 32
This will be explained using c as an example.

When the sheet ejection bin Bc is moved to a position facing the lower sheet ejection port 32, a central opening facing the sheet ejection port 32 and formed between the pin Bc and the upper pin Bb is opened. Three bin openings X, , X2. X3 is formed (Figs. 1 and 6)
Figure (see al.).

Further, in the movable conveyance section 45, the conveyance roller pair 47 is at a position (initial position) corresponding to the central opening x2. Further, the cam support plate 57 of the eccentric cam unit 55 that moves up and down the am feeding section 45 is in the forward sorting position, and its forward sorting flawed cam 56 abuts against the forward sorting push-up roller 53 (Fig. 6). (See dl).Then, the sheet Pc is
When the leading edge of the sheet P0 is detected by the transmission type sensor S, the shift motor 29 and the eccentric cam drive motor M are activated after a time value T0 from the detection.
2 are activated in synchronization, and each pin B... and the transport section 45 start moving upward at the same time by the sequential rotation of the lead cam 26 and the rotation of the sequential sorting cam 56 (point A in Fig. 7). reference).

Note that the above-mentioned timer value T. In this embodiment, is the time from when the leading edge of the sheet is detected until the leading edge of the sheet reaches the rear end stopper 61 of the pin B.

Then, during the time (sheet ejection time) T2 until the sheet Pe is ejected to the sheet ejection bin Bc, each pin B...
・is shifted by one bin, thus sheet output bin B. is also shifted by 1 bin, and the movable conveyance section 45 moves the pair of conveying rollers 4 again.
7, sheet P from central opening X2. While discharging the sheet, the central opening X2 is sufficiently opened and expanded while maintaining a relative relationship with the sheet discharging bin B so as to maintain a constant sheet discharging distance I of the pair of transport rollers 47 to the sheet discharging bin BC. While maintaining the state shown in Figure 6 (b), the state shown in Figure 6 (C
), please move the sheet P to the state shown in Figure 7 (see point B in Figure 7).
- Sheet ejection bin B - The sheet is ejected and stored.

Note that since the sheet ejection distance 91 of the pair of transport rollers 47 to the sheet ejection bin Be is kept constant, the sheets Pe ejected onto the bin Bc are stored with good consistency. Also,
Since the center opening x2 is kept sufficiently wide, the sheet P
. is not caught between the pins.

Then, during the time T1 from conveying the sheet PC to conveying the next sheet Pd (intersheet time), the transfer roller pair 47 of the transfer wh conveying section 45 newly opens the three pin openings X.
,,X2. (Refer to point C in Figure 7) to return to the initial position corresponding to the central opening
, waits until the next sheet Pd arrives. And each pin B...and move! l! The synchronous movement of the bWI feeding unit 45 is repeated, and the sheet is moved through the three pin openings X, , X2 . The sheets are sequentially discharged and stored from the central opening x2, which is located in the center of X3, is sufficiently opened and expanded, and is kept sufficiently opened and expanded until the end of sheet discharge.

Note that the lead cam 26 rotates once during the sheet ejection time T2 shown in FIG.

Further, the initial sorting position of the sequential sorting cam 56 is as follows:
At the minimum displacement position, point A and zero point in FIG.
The rotation reaches point A from point B, and the sheet ejection time T2
It is displaced in the same displacement shape as the beam dome 26 between sheets, and is displaced so that the displacement amount becomes zero during the sheet interval time T1.

Next, as shown in Figures 8 and 9, the sheets are sequentially ejected and stored from the lower bin B to the higher bin B.The operation during reverse sorting is similar to the above-mentioned sequential sorting. The sheet discharge bin Bc that has been moved to the lower sheet discharge port 32 to be discharged will be described as an example.

When the sheet ejection bin BC is moved to the lower sheet ejection port 32, a sheet is formed between the bin Bc and the upper bin B6 facing the lower sheet ejection port 32, as in the case of the order sorting described above. 3 consecutively up and down centering on the central opening X2
Bin openings X, , X2°X, are formed (see FIGS. 1 and 8 fat).

Further, the movable conveyance unit 45 is located at a position (initial position) corresponding to the center opening x2 where the pair of conveyance rollers 47 is fully expanded, as in the case of the above-mentioned order sorting, and the cam support of the eccentric cam unit 55 is When the plate 57 is in the reverse sorting position, the forward sorting eccentric cam 56 is separated from the similar sorting push-up roller 53, and only the reverse sorting eccentric cam 56' comes into contact with the reverse sorting push-up roller 53' (the eighth Figure (see dl).And,
When the sheet 1-Pe is introduced into the second sheet conveyance path 36 and the tip of the sheet 1-Pe is detected by the transmission type sensor S, a time value T is set from the detection. Afterwards, shift motor 29
and the eccentric cam drive motor M2 are started in synchronization, and each bin B and the am transport section 45 start moving downward at the same time by the reverse rotation of the lead cam 26 and the rotation of the reverse sorting eccentric cam 55 in the direction of the arrow. (See point A' in Figure 9),
While each bin B is shifted by one bin, the rate P- is fully expanded and maintained until the end of sheet ejection, as shown in fal to tc+ in FIG. The sheet ejection bin B moves downward from the central opening X2. is discharged and stored.

Note that the ejection angle at which the sheet PC is ejected from the central bin opening X2 to the sheet ejection pin Bc is the same as the temporary ejection angle in the forward saw.

Then, the ejection sheet PC is ejected from the sheet ejection bin B.
When stored, the movable conveyance unit 45 moves its conveyance roller pair 4
7 returns to the initial position corresponding to the central opening X2, which is fully expanded, and waits until the next sheet Pb arrives. The initial position of the eccentric cam 56' for the reverse saw 1 at this time is point A', point 61 in FIG.

In the above-described embodiment, during sheet discharge, the sheet discharge portion Il! of the pair of feeding rollers 47 to the bin B. In order to keep iI constant, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, the lead cam 26 moves the bin B. JJ amount and moving conveyance section 4
Although the amount of movement in Figure 10 is the same movement process in the time field, the present invention is not limited to this, and the configuration may be such that the movement amount is ultimately the same after different movement processes in the time field (Fig. 10). reference).

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, the sheet is disposed opposite to a bin and is movably supported in the moving direction of the bin, and discharges sheets to the opposing bin. Between the discharge section and the bin at the sheet discharge position, three consecutive bin openings are formed sequentially from the upstream side in the bin movement direction, move along with the bottle movement, and disappear from the downstream side in the bin movement direction. an opening means and the sheet discharging section, the sheet discharging section starts discharging the sheet from the center σ opening of the three bin openings, moves in the same direction as the bin movement direction, and discharges the sheet. Since the sheet discharging section moving means is provided to move the sheet discharging section back to the central opening of the three new bin openings, the three bin openings formed in sequence between the moving bins are The sheets are ejected from the central opening, which is always kept open during both forward sorting and reverse sorting, and the bins in which the sheets are to be ejected are In between, sufficient expansion and expansion can be maintained from the start of the sheet to the end of the discharge, and it is possible to handle the high-speed processing of sheets and to classify and process the sheets with good stacking.

Further, it is possible to discharge the sheets from the central opening and discharge the sheets to the bin at the same sheet discharge angle during both forward sorting and reverse sorting during forward sorting or reverse sorting. This makes it possible to improve the stackability of sheets on the bin.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a side view of a sorter according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing its bins and lead cam, Fig. 3 is a detailed side view of the lead cam, and Figs. FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of the eccentric cam unit during forward sorting, and FIG. 5 shows the arrangement of the centrifugal cam unit during reverse sorting. FIG. 6 is a side view showing the movement positions of the bin and the pair of conveyance rollers when discharging sheets into the bin during sequential sorting;
) indicates the position when the sheet reaches the roller pair per hour,
(dl indicates the operating state of the eccentric cam unit. (b
) indicates the position during sheet ejection, and [6] indicates the operating state of the eccentric cam unit. tel indicates the position at the end of sheet ejection, and (f) indicates the operating state of the eccentric cam unit. FIG. 7 is a timing diagram thereof. FIG. 8 is a side view showing the moving positions of the bin and the pair of cross-feeding rollers when discharging sheets into the bin during reverse sorting, (al indicates the position when the sheet reaches the pair of life-feeding rollers, and tdl
indicates the operating state of the eccentric cam unit. (bl indicates the position during sheet discharging, (e) indicates the operating state of the eccentric cam unit. (cl indicates the position at the end of sheet discharging, and (f) indicates the operating state of the eccentric cam unit. FIG. 9 is a timing diagram thereof. FIG. 10 is a timing diagram of another possible movement relationship between the bin and the transport roller pair, and FIG. A side view showing the state, (a) to fcl
indicates the sheet discharging state during forward sorting, (dl and tel indicate the sheet discharging state during reverse sorting. 26 Bin opening means (reading force Al, 32... Sheet discharging position (lower sheet discharging section), 47... Sheet discharge section (transport roller pair), 55 Sheet discharge section moving means (
m core cam unit), +3・bin, p, sea +-, X,
pX2. X. ...Bin opening.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a sheet sorting device that includes a large number of bins that move along a sheet discharge position and sequentially discharges sheets to each of these bins, a sheet sorting device that is arranged opposite to the bin and moves in the direction of movement of the bin. Between a sheet discharging unit that is freely supported and discharges sheets to the opposing bins and the bin at the sheet discharging position, a sheet is generated sequentially from the upstream side in the bin movement direction and moves along with the bin movement, and a bin opening means forming three consecutive bin openings that disappear from the downstream side; and a sheet discharge unit moving means that moves in the same direction as the bin movement direction and returns to the central opening of the three new bin openings after discharging the sheet. A sheet sorting device featuring: