JP3257849B2 - Collating device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a collating apparatus for superposing and sending a plurality of documents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a collating apparatus for superimposing and sending a plurality of documents has been used in an automatic enclosing apparatus for creating a direct mail or the like. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, this collating device is provided at a constant pitch on a support plate 1 for supporting documents to be superimposed (hereinafter simply referred to as sheet pieces) on an upper surface and an endless chain 2. A plurality of transport claws 3 are provided, and the rear ends of the sheet pieces 4A, 4B, 4C and the like placed on the support plate 1 are pushed by the transport claws 3 to transport the sheet pieces intermittently one pitch at a time. Means 5 and sheet pieces 4A, 4B, 4
A plurality of supply devices 6 provided in parallel to supply C and the like
A, 6B, 6C, etc., and while each of the transport claws 3 intermittently passes in front of a plurality of supply devices 6A, 6B, 6C, etc., each supply device 6A , 6B, 6C
Supplies sheet pieces 4A, 4B, 4C, etc., whereby the sheet pieces are stacked and sent out.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional apparatus, since the transport claw 3 intermittently moves, the transport claw 3 is located before a certain supply device, for example, before the second supply device 6B.
8, the sheet piece 4A conveyed by the conveying claw 3 may be skipped forward due to inertia, as shown in FIG. Sends out the sheet piece 4B, the sheet piece 4B does not ride on the previously conveyed sheet piece 4A,
It will be in a loose state. In this state, even if the transport claw 3 starts to move and pushes the sheet piece 4B, the sheet piece 4B does not ride on the previous sheet piece 4A, so that good collation cannot be achieved,
There has been a problem that breakage or jam occurs during conveyance by the conveyance claw 3 or when the paper is inserted into an envelope downstream.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a conventional problem, and it is possible to satisfactorily overlap a sheet piece supplied in front of an intermittently moving conveying claw while pushing the sheet piece with the conveying claw. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple collating device.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a collating device configured to intermittently feed a sheet piece supplied from a plurality of supply devices onto a support plate by a conveying claw. A flexible strip, one end of which is held upward away from the support plate, mounted on the support plate downstream and across at least one supply device, and transported from upstream. The sheet piece that has been fed is passed under the strip, and the sheet piece supplied from the feeding device is placed on the strip.

[0006]

According to the present invention, when the conveying claw stops in front of the feeding device at the position where the belt-like material is provided, the sheet piece conveyed by the conveying claw jumps forward due to inertia, and the feeding is stopped. Even when the sheet piece supplied by the apparatus does not overlap with the preceding sheet piece, since the preceding sheet piece and the succeeding sheet piece are vertically separated by the band-shaped material, the conveying claw is at the rear end of the sheet piece. When they are pushed and moved, they are automatically overlapped, so that the sheet pieces can be aligned and sent to the next step, thereby preventing breakage of the sheet pieces and occurrence of jam.
In addition, the strip-shaped material excludes the held one end and its vicinity.
The rest is simply resting on the support plate
So, depending on the thickness of the sheet piece passing under it, its thickness
Can move in the direction of
In other words, it is possible to easily cope with a variety change. Furthermore, sea
When strip jam occurs, lift the strip
Easily removes the jammed sheet pieces from the transport space.
Can be put out. In addition, the strip passes underneath it.
The transport claw stopped intermittently because it was holding the
It is also possible to prevent the sheet piece from jumping out.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a collating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front side, FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the embodiment, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. The same parts as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals. 1 to 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a support plate for supporting the sheet pieces 4A to 4D to be collated on the upper surface thereof, and 2 denotes an endless chain arranged at the center of the support plate, and has a constant pitch. Hold a plurality of transport claws 3. This endless chain 2
, So that the transport claw 3 moves intermittently by one pitch,
A drive mechanism (not shown) is connected. The endless chain 2, the conveying claw 3, the driving mechanism, and the like are configured to transfer the sheet piece intermittently by one pitch by pushing the rear end of the sheet piece placed on the support plate by the conveying claw. 5 is constituted.

[0008] 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D are supply devices which are arranged in parallel with each other along the support plate 1 and supply the sheet pieces 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D onto the support plate 1, respectively. These feeding devices 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D operate in synchronization with the conveying means 5, and feed the sheet pieces before the conveying claw 3 stops. Here, the sheet pieces 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D sent out by the respective supply devices are not necessarily limited to one sheet, and may be a plurality of sheets.
Alternatively, it may be folded. In this embodiment, four supply devices 6A to 6D are provided, but the number of the supply devices can be appropriately increased or decreased.

[0009] Except for the supply device 6A arranged at the uppermost stream, the other supply devices 6B, 6C and 11D are provided.
It is a band-shaped material provided corresponding to C and 6D. The upstream end of each of these strips 11B, 11C, 11D is attached to the support shaft 12, and is held at a position separated from the support plate 1 upward and upstream of the corresponding supply device 6B, 6C, 6D. The downstream part is mounted on the support plate 1 (or on the strip provided from the upstream side) and at least crosses in front of the corresponding supply devices 6B, 6C and 6D. Thereby, each band material 1
1B, 11C, and 11D can pass the sheet piece conveyed from the upstream under the strip, and put the sheet piece supplied from the supply device on the strip. In the present embodiment, the strips 11B, 11C, and 11D are
Each of them extends a little to the downstream side from the most downstream supply device 6D, but is not limited to this configuration, and the upstream strip material 11
B and 11C may have the same length as the downstream strip 11D.

The strips 11B, 11C, 1
1D has flexibility such that one end is held on the support shaft 12 and then the remaining portion is simply placed on the support plate 1 to be flat along the support plate 1. Specifically, specifically, it is preferable to use a resin sheet material having a thickness of about 0.3 to 1.0 mm, which is usually used as a flat belt. Strips 11B, 11C, 11D
Excludes one end held by the support shaft 12 and its vicinity.
The rest is merely resting on the support plate 1.
Therefore, when a sheet piece passes under the strip,
Can be moved in the thickness direction according to the thickness of the
It can handle only sheet pieces, in other words, it is easy to change the product type
Can respond to. Also, when sheet jam occurs
Is a sheet that has been jammed by lifting the strip
The pieces can be easily removed from the transport space.

Next, the operation of the above-structured collating apparatus will be described. Each transport claw 3 is intermittently provided with a plurality of supply devices 6A, 6B,
While passing in front of 6C and 6D, before the transport claw 3,
Each feeding device 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D is a sheet piece 4A, 4
B, 4C, and 4D, whereby the sheet pieces are stacked and delivered.

Now, for example, in front of the second feeding device 6B, the sheet piece 4 conveyed by the conveying claw 3
A passes under the strip 11B and is pressed by the strip 11B.
Drive in the condition obtained. For this reason, the transport claw 3 stops and
When the sheet piece 4A jumps forward,
However, in some cases, when the transport claw 3 stops, the sheet piece 4A transported by the transport claw 3 may jump forward as shown in FIG. In this case, the sheet piece 4B supplied by the supply device 6B is
Will be supplied behind. However, the preceding sheet piece 4A is below the strip 11B, and the sheet piece 4B supplied later is above the strip 11B. Next, when the transport claw 3 starts moving, first, the rear end of the sheet piece 4B is pushed. In this case, as shown in FIG.
B is guided by the belt-shaped material 11B and rides on the sheet material 4A. Then, as shown in FIG. 4C, when the rear end of the lower sheet piece 4A comes into contact with the transport claw 3A. The sheet piece 4A is also pushed by the transport claw 3. Thus, the sheet pieces 4A and 4B are automatically aligned and sent to the next position.

The other strips 11C and 11D operate similarly. Thus, the plurality of supply devices 6A, 6B, 6C,
Sheet pieces 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D supplied from 6D
, Even when once separated, are overlapped and aligned with the strips interposed therebetween while moving while being pushed by the transport claws 3 and have come off the rear ends of the strips 11B, 11C and 11D. At this point, they are directly superimposed and discharged to the next process.

In the above embodiment, each of the strips 11B,
11C, 11D, etc., each extend slightly downstream from the most downstream supply device. However, the present invention is not limited to this configuration. Any length is sufficient as long as it can substantially cover the sheet piece 4A protruding forward of the transport claw 3. However, if the length is set as in the illustrated embodiment, the most downstream supply device 6D
As shown in FIG. 5, when the transport claws 3 stop in front of the sheet, the sheet pieces 4A, 4B, and 4C sent in a stacked state are located between them even if they are loose as shown in FIG. An advantage that the strips 11B and 11C can be aligned again without any trouble is obtained.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the strip-shaped material is provided in front of all the feeding devices except for the most upstream feeding device. Some are not. In such a case, if necessary, a band-shaped material may be provided before a predetermined supply device, and it is not necessary to provide a band-shaped material before all supply devices.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, a flexible strip having one end held upward at a position away from the support plate is provided on the support plate in a downstream and at least one position. It was provided so as to be placed across the front of the feeding device, the sheet piece conveyed from the upstream was passed under the strip, and the sheet piece supplied from the feeding device was placed on the strip. By this, when the conveying claw stops before the feeding device, the sheet material in front of the conveying claw jumps out, and even if the sheet piece supplied by the feeding device does not overlap with the previous sheet piece, The sheet piece and the subsequent sheet piece can be automatically overlapped, so that a predetermined type of sheet piece can be stacked and sent out if it is aligned, and the effect of preventing breakage of the sheet piece and occurrence of jam can be prevented. Have. Also, the band-shaped material is held at one end and in the vicinity thereof.
The rest except for is simply put on the support plate
Depending on the thickness of the sheet piece passing under it.
Can move in the thickness direction of the
And in other words, it can easily respond to the change of varieties.
Or if a sheet piece jams, lift the strip
The jammed sheet pieces from the transport space.
It can be easily taken out, or the strip passes under it
Transport claw stops intermittently because
The sheet piece can be prevented from jumping out when stopped.
It also has the effect of doing so.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a collating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the embodiment.

3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating an operation of aligning loose sheet pieces on a support plate in front of a supply device 6B.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the sheet pieces once aligned are separated in front of a supply device 6D.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional collating device as viewed from the front side.

FIG. 7 is a schematic plan view of the conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which a sheet piece is separated on a support plate in front of a supply device 6B in the conventional example.

[Description of Signs] 1 support plate 2 endless chain 3 transport claw 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D sheet piece 5 transport means 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D feeding device 11B, 11C, 11D strip material 12 support shaft

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-57-170348 (JP, A) JP-A-3-108463 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 39 / 043

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A supporting plate for supporting a sheet piece to travel on an upper surface, and a plurality of conveying claws provided at a constant pitch, wherein a rear end of the sheet piece placed on the supporting plate is moved by the conveying claw. In a collating device having a conveying means for intermittently conveying the sheet pieces by one pitch by pushing, and a plurality of supply devices provided in parallel so as to supply the sheet pieces on the support plate, one end is provided. A flexible strip, which is held at a position upwardly distant from the support plate, is mounted on the support plate in a downstream direction and in front of at least one supply device, and is transported from upstream. A sheet piece fed from the feeding device is passed under the band-shaped material, and the sheet piece supplied from the feeding device is placed on the band-shaped material.