JPH0218252A - Automatic feeding apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To accurately regulate a forward fall state or a backward fall state, to reliably register the topmost sheet of a sheet with the lowermost sheet of a preceding sheet, and to prevent the occurrence of a miss in connection of continuous sheets to each other by providing a first contact part positioned facing the front side in a conveyance direction of the continuous sheet and a second contact part positioned facing the rear surface in the conveyance direction thereof. CONSTITUTION:A folded continuous sheet 10 is conveyed by a conveyor 4, and the topmost sheet 10a of the continuous sheet is pulled out and is brought into abutment with a lowermost sheet 10b of a preceding continuous sheet for connection. In this case, a first contact part 11 situated so as to be positioned facing the front in a conveyance direction of the continuous sheet is brought into contact with the front of the continuous sheet 10, and this contact causes correction of the forward fall on the conveyance direction of the continuous sheet. A second contact part 12 is brought into contact with the rear of the continuous sheet 10 to correct the backward fall in the conveyance direction of the continuous sheet. As a result, the topmost sheet of the continuous sheet in a piled up state can be accurately registered with the lowermost sheet of a preceding continuous sheet.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically feeding continuous paper sheets folded in a zigzag pattern while connecting them.

The applicant of the prior art patent has already proposed the basic structure of an automatic paper feeder by an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-88765. The automatic sheet feeding device described above includes a reference surface in order to align the upper end portions of subsequent continuous sheets during the process of connecting the continuous sheets. That is, the reference surface is provided near the vacuum bat for moving the leading edge of the continuous paper to the trailing edge of the preceding continuous paper, and the reference surface is located near the vacuum bat for moving the leading edge of the continuous paper to the trailing edge of the preceding continuous paper. By aligning the front upper edge of the continuous paper before pulling out the topmost sheet, any irregularities are corrected and the continuous paper is regulated in a predetermined position.

However, if the continuous paper falls significantly forward or backward in the transport direction due to the inertial force of the upper part during the transport process, it becomes impossible to accurately regulate the position using the reference plane, and the suction position by the vacuum bat shifts. ,
Accurate position regulation using the reference plane becomes impossible. In particular, if the continuous paper falls backward in the transport direction, positional regulation using the reference plane becomes completely impossible.

Purpose of the Invention Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to:
The purpose is to correct forward and backward tilting in the transport direction and ensure positioning of continuous paper during the connection process.

Solution to the Invention In view of the above object, the present invention provides an automatic paper feeder with a first contact portion that can face the front side in the conveyance direction of continuous paper, and a second contact portion that can face the rear side in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper. The first contact portion and the second contact portion are brought into contact with the front or rear surface of the continuous paper during the conveyance process of the continuous paper by the conveyor, thereby causing the front or rear surface of the continuous paper to I am trying to correct the backward tilt. The first contact portion and the second contact portion are located on the sides of the conveyor in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper, and when the continuous paper is moved forward or backward by the conveyor, It is guided to a predetermined position, where it comes into contact with the front end surface or rear end surface of the continuous paper. This type of control is carried out by the control device,
You can proceed sequentially while checking each step.

Structure of the Invention FIGS. 1 and 2 show the mechanical structure of an automatic paper feeder 1 according to the invention.

This automatic paper feeder 1 is provided with, for example, a belt-type conveyor 4 between a pair of left and right guide plates 2.3, and a parallel guide shaft 5 with a rack extending between the guide plates 2.3. The side guide 6 is provided in a movable state in the direction of the guide shaft 5. Furthermore, this conveyor 4
can be moved not only in the conveying direction but also in the opposite direction, that is, in the backward direction, by a conveyor motor 17 attached to the side surface of the guide plate 2.

The side guide 6 is screwed into a feed screw 8 parallel to the guide shaft 5 by a feed nut 7, and can be moved in the width direction of the continuous paper 10 by rotation of a feed motor 9 attached to one guide plate 2. It is supported as such.

One of the guide plates 3 is provided with a first abutting portion 11 on the front end side in the conveying direction of the continuous paper lO, so as to be able to move forward and backward in the width direction, and the side guide 6 is provided with a vertical width shifting plate. A part of the rear end side of the second contact portion 12 is integrally formed with the second contact portion 12 . The first contact portion 11 is, for example, L-shaped, and is supported by a piston rod 15 of a cylinder 14 attached to the outer surface of the guide plate 3.
It is located within the slit 16 of the guide plate 3.

The automatic paper feeder 1 includes sensors A, B, C, D, E, and F in order to execute a series of sequential controls. The sensor A is provided to confirm the presence and position of the continuous paper 10 by detecting the rear end portion of the continuous paper 10. Further, the sensor B is, for example, a light emitting/receiving type,
It is provided to detect the leading edge of the continuous paper 10 during the process of taking in the continuous paper 10 by the conveyor 4, and to stop the conveyor 4. Furthermore, the sensor C is, for example, a light emitting/receiving type. The backward inclination of the continuous paper 10 and the sensor B
When the conveyor 4 malfunctions, the front end of the continuous paper 10 is detected and the conveyor 4
It is provided to stop the

The sensor D is provided to regulate the starting positions of the side guide 6 and the deflection plate 13.

The sensor E corresponds to the first abutting part 11 and is provided to confirm the forward movement state when approaching the first abutting part 11.

Further, the sensor F is provided to check the height of the conveyor 4, that is, the height of the taking-in position of the continuous paper 10, between the conveyor 4 and a preceding conveyor or a following conveyor (not shown).

Next, FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the control section.

The automatic paper feeder l is controlled by the control device 20 based on a predetermined sequence. This control device 20 is
It is composed of a microcomputer, etc., and is connected to sensors A, B, C, D, E, and F on the input side, and the driver 21 of the feed motor 9, the driver 22 of the conveyor motor 17, and the cylinder 14 on the output side. and a control valve 19 between the pressure source 18 and the pressure source 18 .

The action control device 20 of the invention stores a series of sequential actions in advance,
During the automatic feeding process of continuous paper lO, as shown in Fig. 4,
A paper taking-in operation, a backward-tilting shaping operation, and a forward-tilting shaping operation are sequentially performed.

The paper loading operation is shown in FIG.

When a command to start paper loading is given, this loading operation is started and sensor C is turned on? Based on the judgment, the intake height of the conveyor 4 is confirmed, and then the sensor C is on?
Based on the judgment, it is determined whether the side guide 6 is at the start position, and when it is not at the start position,
The rotation of the feed motor 9 causes the side guide 6 to move backward to the start position. Error after this move? According to the judgment, if there is no sensor C on? Based on the judgment, it is determined whether the first contact portion 11 is in the start (reverse) position. If it is in the start position, two steps are skipped, but if it is not in the start position, the control valve of the cylinder 14 is 19, the first contact portion 11
to retreat. Error next? After the determination, the control device 2
0, the conveyor motor 17 is rotated in the forward rotation direction, and the continuous paper 10 is moved by the conveyor 4 in the take-in direction as shown in FIG. In addition, during this import process,
Only one lowest sheet 10b of the continuous paper 10 is pulled out in advance. During this movement process, is sensor C on? Detects the stop position and turns on sensor C? to detect the overrun position and timer 0? A determination as to whether a certain period of time has passed is made sequentially. Eventually, when the sensor B detects the front end of the continuous paper 10 and turns on, the conveyor 4 receives a stop command from the control device 20 and automatically stops.

Next, is sensor A on? After confirming that it is not on, a flag indicating that the paper has been taken in is set, and then the feed motor 9 is driven to move the side guide 6.
moves forward to the side of the continuous paper 10 after being taken in as shown in Fig. 9, and there is an error? After the determination, the paper loading operation is completed.

In addition, in the process of each of these judgments, error processing is performed as necessary.

Next, the control device 20 starts the rearward rectification operation based on FIG. At the beginning of this operation, first conveyor 4
is moved backward by the reverse rotation of the conveyor motor 17. During this retreat process, is sensor A turned on? judgment and timer O?
A determination is made as to whether a certain amount of time has passed. After a certain period of time has elapsed after the sensor A is turned on, the conveyor 4 stops moving in the backward direction while keeping the continuous paper 10 pressed against the second contact portion 12 . As a result, the back of the continuous paper 10 is shaped as shown in FIG. 10. In this state, is sensor B on? is determined, and from this it is determined whether there is an abnormality in the paper shaping operation. Next, the 11th
As shown in the figure, the side guide 6 repeatedly moves forward and backward, thereby coming into contact with the side surface of the continuous paper 10 and performing a width-aligning operation. Error in width alignment operation? After determining that there is no error, the next forward tilting operation is started.

This operation is performed based on FIG.

First, the first contact part 11 moves in the forward direction by driving the control valve 19, and after confirming that there is no error in this movement, the conveyor 4 moves in the feeding direction as shown in FIG. Then, the continuous paper 10 is advanced. During this forward movement, is sensor B on? , is sensor C on? The position of continuous paper 10 is detected and timer O? When it is determined that a certain period of time has elapsed and sensor B is turned on, timer 0? Depending on whether a certain period of time has elapsed and sensor C is turned on? After the determination is made and it is confirmed that a certain period of time has elapsed, the conveyor 4 is stopped. During this time,
The forward tilt of the continuous paper lO is shaped as shown in FIG.

Is sensor C on here? The state of the paper is judged, and it is determined whether there is an abnormality in paper formatting. After determining that there is no abnormality, the feed motor 9 is repeatedly rotated in the forward and reverse directions to move the width adjustment plate 13 forward and backward, and after performing width adjustment, it is confirmed that there are no errors, and the series of operations is continued. finish.

After this, the continuous paper 10 is sent out as shown in FIG.
Based on the device of the invention of JP-A-62-88765,
It is pulled out by a vacuum bat and connected to the lowest sheet tab of the preceding continuous paper 10 in abutting state.

Other embodiments of the invention In the above embodiment, the first contact portion 11 is integrally formed with a part of the width shifting plate 13, but this second contact portion 12 is formed integrally with the first contact portion 11. Similar to the section 11, the guide plate 3 may be provided so as to be movable forward and backward. Furthermore, the width adjusting plate 13 can also be driven by forward/backward driving means such as an air cylinder without using a feed mechanism or a feed motor.

Effects of the Invention In the present invention, in the process of conveying folded continuous sheets by a conveyor, the first abutting portion and the second abutting portion accurately regulate the forward falling state or the backward falling state, and prevent stacking. - Since the upper end portion of the stacked continuous sheets, that is, the uppermost sheet, is accurately regulated, the uppermost sheet and the preceding lowest sheet can be reliably aligned.

Therefore, connection errors can be prevented in the process of connecting continuous paper.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the mechanical configuration of the automatic paper feeding device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a front view of the same device, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the control section, and Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the operating sequence. , Figures 5 to 7
The figure is a flowchart of the operation, and FIGS. 8 to 15 are schematic illustrations of a series of operations. ■...Automatic paper feeder, 2.3...Guide plate, 4...Conveyor, 6...Side guide, 9...Feed motor, lO
... Continuous paper, 11.. First abutting section, 12.. Second abutting section, 13.. Width shifting board, 17.. Conveyor motor,
19...Control valve, 20...Control device, A, B, C, D,
E, F...sensor. Patent applicant Sankyo Seiki Seisakusho Co., Ltd.
Patent Attorney Kuni Nakagawa Figure 7 Figure 3 Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure Figure Amateur Figure 70 Figure 77 Figure 72 Figure 73 Figure 75

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an automatic paper feeder that transports folded continuous paper on a conveyor, pulls out the top sheet of the continuous paper, and connects it by matching it with the lowest sheet of the preceding continuous paper, it can face the front in the transport direction of the continuous paper. a first contact portion provided on the front surface of the continuous sheet of paper to correct the inclination of the continuous sheet of paper in the conveyance direction; An automatic paper feeder comprising: a second contact portion that corrects the backward inclination of the continuous paper in the conveyance direction by contacting the rear surface of the paper.