JPH03186563A - Sheet material sorting device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention is a method for distributing and storing sheet materials discharged from the discharge port of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing machine, or a printer into a plurality of bins. -Regarding improvements to the collecting device (hereinafter referred to as a sorter).

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, when sorting and sorting sheet materials discharged from the discharge port of an image forming apparatus, the method of sorting is to increase the number of copies by connecting two or more sorters (hereinafter referred to as multiple sorters). ) was used, but in a sorter that distributes sheet materials by sequentially moving a group of bins to a sheet material discharge section,
A configuration is adopted in which two or more sorters are connected by providing a connecting sheet material conveying means in the bin group.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the connected sheet material sorting devices (
Because it is located in the sheet material feeding section of the second sorter (referred to as the second sorter), it is difficult to clear paper jams in the double mortar sorter. If a special connecting means is provided, there is a drawback that the serial sorter and the double-port sorter cannot be used as a common product.

Therefore, the present invention provides a transport cover that can be opened and closed on the second sorter (sheet material sorting device installed adjacent to it), and a sheet material transport means that can swing in conjunction with the opening and closing operations of the second sorter (sheet material sorting device installed adjacently). By doing so, the object is to provide a sheet material sorting device that facilitates jam processing in the second sorter and makes the first and second sorters almost common as products. .

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances. For example, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 6, the sheet material discharged from the image forming apparatus (2) ( A moving means (1) for sequentially moving a plurality of bottles (3) to a position facing the discharge port (2a) of S).
0), a dispensing means (5) for distributing sheet materials into bins, and the moving means (10) to transport the image forming apparatus (2).
It communicates with the outlet (2a)! (41) in a sheet material sorting device (100) having a movable sheet material conveying means (6);
A cam member (89) is provided on the openable/closeable conveyance cover (7) of the sheet material sorting device (200) adjacent to the sheet material sorting device (200), and when the conveyance cover (7) is opened/closed, the sheet is moved in conjunction with the cam member (89). It is characterized in that the material conveying means (6) is swingable.

(e) Function Based on the above-described configuration, when a jam occurs in the second connected second sheet material sorting device (200), the conveyance cover (
When the cover (7) is rotated to the open position, the double transport bus unit (6) swings in conjunction with the cover (7). As a result, the jammed sheet material (S) in the second sheet material sorting device (200) is easily removed, and the jammed sheet material (S) in the second sheet material sorting device (100) and the second sheet material sorting device (200) are easily removed.
0) can be configured almost universally as a product.

(f) Example Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a partially longitudinal side view showing the overall configuration of this embodiment.

In the figure, the sheet material sorting device 1 includes an image forming device W2.
A first sheet material sorting device 100 (first sorter) adjacent to (second sorter), and both sheet material sorting devices 100 and 200 are composed of the main parts of a body 31 and a bin unit 32 that is vertically movable relative to the body 31. The image forming apparatus 2 has a sheet material discharge port 2a for discharging the sheet material S on which an image has been formed within the image forming apparatus 2.

The first sheet material sorting device 100 includes an image forming device 2
The second sheet material sorting device 200 has a similar loading port 33 facing the sheet material discharge port 2a. A flapper 36 is provided on the downstream side of the carry-in roller 35 provided close to the carry-in port 33.
The transport paths 37 and 39 are branched by the transport paths 37 and 39, respectively.

One conveyance path 37 extends substantially horizontally, and a pair of paper discharge rollers 40 is disposed downstream thereof, and the other conveyance path 39 extends downward and discharges paper downstream thereof. A roller pair 41 is provided. Further, a bin unit 32 including a large number of bins 3 disposed downstream of the paper ejection roller pair 40 and 41 has one end connected to the unit 32.
The weight is supported by a pair of tension springs 42, each of which is fixed to the body 31, so that it can move up and down.

Guide rollers 45 are rotatably provided at the upper and lower portions of the base end side (body 31 side) of the bin unit 32, respectively. 46, the bin unit 32 is guided so as to be vertically movable.

A drive motor 47 is fixedly installed at the bottom of the fuselage 31, and a sprocket provided on its output shaft is connected to a chain 49.
The sprocket 51 is connected to a sprocket 51 fixed to the rotating shaft 50 via the sprocket 51 . The rotating shaft 50 is rotatably supported by a support plate 52 (see FIG. 2) provided with the body 31 and a bearing 53.
(distribution means) is permanently installed. Thereby, the lead cam 5 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions by the rotation of the drive motor 47 in the forward and reverse directions. A moving means 10 for vertically moving the bin unit 32 is constituted by the drive motor 47, rotating shaft 50, and the like.

Further, the frame body of the bin unit 32 includes a bottom frame 56 consisting of an inclined part and a vertical part, and a bottom frame 56 that includes an inclined part and a vertical part.
It is composed of a pair of frames 57 vertically provided on the front side and the back side of the distal end thereof, and a cover 59 supported by the frames 57.

A roller 62 is rotatably supported on the front and rear sides of the base end of the bottle 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the lead cam 5 has a spiral cam groove 5a that is slightly wider than the upper roller 62 and is engaged with the roller 62. The rotation causes the roller 62 to rise along the wide cam groove 5a.

Note that the configuration of the first sorter 100 described above is the same as that of the second sorter 200, and parts having the same functions are indicated by the same reference numerals.

Further, the bodies 31 of both sheet material sorting devices 100 and 200 are connected by a connecting member 9.

In this embodiment, a double stay 63 is provided at the lowest position of the bin 3, and a roller 62 is rotatably provided on this double stay 63 as well as in the bin 3. This double stay 63 is connected to the double conveyance bus unit 6.
It is attached to the base end of the (sheet material conveying means) and supports the unit 6. When the second sorter 200 is not used, this double conveyance bus unit 6
It is in the state shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 shows a plan view of the double transport bus unit 6. As shown in FIG.

In the figure, a pair of side plates 66.
A shaft 70 integrated with a plurality of rollers 69 and a shaft 72 integrated with a plurality of rollers 71 are rotatably attached to both ends of the roller 67, and a belt 73 is attached to the rollers 69, 71.
Each is stretched. A motor 76 is fixed to a support plate 75 fixed to the side plate 67.
A timing pulley 77 fixed to the output shaft of No. 6 is connected to a timing pulley 79 fixed to the shaft 70 by a timing belt 80.

The bases of an entrance weight 82 with a free end facing upstream and an intermediate weight 83 with a free end facing downstream are pivotally connected to a shaft 81 provided in the middle of the substrate 65. . Furthermore, the base of a leaf spring 85 is fixed to the inner surface of the free end of the entrance weight 82. This leaf spring 85
Normally, as shown in FIG. 3, the bin 3e is in pressure contact with the upper bin 3e, and when the dual conveyance bus unit 6 is used, it is opened as shown in FIG. 4 to guide the sheet material S. It has become.

An entry guide 86 is provided above the double stay 63 provided at the free end of the board 65. In addition, discharge rollers 87 are disposed above the rollers 70 of the belt 73, and serve to guide the sheet material S conveyed by the belt 73 to the second sorter 200.

In FIG. 6, the base of a vertically arranged transport cover 7 is rotatably mounted on the front side of the body 31 of the second sorter 200, and the upper part of the transport cover 7 A cam 89 is provided. Further, at the lower part of the side plates 66, 67 of the dual conveyance bus unit 6, a slide shoe 90 is provided which has an inclined portion 90a such that the upstream side is higher. The base of an elastic plate 91 made of a leaf spring is fixed to the back surface of the conveyance cover 7,
Its free end presses against the outer surface of the conveyance plate 92 that constitutes the conveyance path 39 . Note that the conveyance plate 92 is
It is configured to be rotatable around its lower end.

In this embodiment, since the configuration is as described above, an image is formed by the image forming device 2 and the sheet material discharge port 2a is
The sheet material S discharged from the sorter 100 is carried into the machine body 31 by the carry-in roller 35 from the carry-in port 33 of the sorter 100 for one consecutive day, and is conveyed to the flapper 36.

At this time, if the non-sort mode in which the sheet material S is not sorted or the instruction is given from the operation section (not shown), the flapper 36
is switched to a position where the sheet material S is guided to the belt 73 by a solenoid (not shown), and the sheet material S carried in is sequentially discharged onto the bin 3 by a pair of paper discharge rollers 40 through a conveyance bus 37 and stacked. be done.

In addition, when the sort mode for sorting the sheet material S is instructed, the flapper 36 or the sheet material S is moved to the conveyance path 3.
9 to guide the sheet material S to the conveyance path 39. The bin unit 32 is lowered to a position where the uppermost bin 3a faces the pair of paper discharge rollers 41. The sheet materials S discharged from the pair of paper discharge rollers 41 are stacked on the bins 3a, and as the lead cam 5 rotates, the upper bins 3 are successively raised, and the bin unit 32 is also raised to a position facing the pair of paper discharge rollers 41. As a result, the sheet material S discharged from the pair of paper discharge rollers 41 is distributed and stored in each of the bins 3a to 3e.

Then, the sheet material S on which the image is formed by the second original
are stored in each bin 3 by the same operation as described above. In this way, each time the image forming operation on the sheet materials S is started, the bins 3 are raised one stage at a time to store and classify the sheet materials S.

If the number of sheet materials S to be sorted (sorting is the number of copies),
If the number of sheets is larger than the number of bins of the first sorter 100 is instructed from the operation unit (not shown), the number of bins of the first sorter 100 is
00 is sorted as described above and is placed in the bottom bin 3e.
After discharging the sheet material S, the lead cam 5 rotates one more time to instruct the double stay 63 to move the left member double conveyance path unit 6 to a position facing the pair of paper discharge rollers 41 as shown in FIG. move it.

The sheet material S on which images have been formed after the number of bins of the first sorter 100 is discharged from the pair of paper discharge rollers 41 to the double conveyance path unit 6, and further conveyed by the double conveyance path unit 6 to the discharge roller 87 and the belt. 73 and is discharged to the inlet 33 of the second sorter 200. Then, in the second sorter 200 as well, the sheet materials S are stored and sorted into each bin 3 in the same manner as in the first sorter 100.

If a paper jam occurs in the second sorter 200, the user opens the transport cover 7 (see FIG. 6) by rotating it in the direction of the arrow. When the transport cover 7 is opened, the cam 89 slides and lifts the slide shoe 90 of the dual transport path unit 6, so that the discharge roller 87 of the double transport bus unit 6 is transported into the second sorter 2o○. A carry-in port 33 is opened at a distance from the port 33. Further, since the pressing action from the elastic plate 91 is released, the conveyance plate 92 forming the conveyance path 39
It can be opened as shown in FIG. Thereby, the sheet material S jammed in the carry-in roller 35 section or the conveyance bus 39 section can be easily removed by the user.

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, the second sheet material classification system? ! ! When the transport cover of the (second sorter) is moved to the open position, the end of the dual transport path unit on the side of the second sheet material sorting device is made swingable in conjunction with this movement. The first sheet material sorting device (first sorter) and the second sheet material sorting device (second sorter) can be almost commonly used as products, and the delivery of the second sheet material sorting device The guide plate that constitutes the opening and the conveyance path is opened, which has the effect of allowing jammed sheet material to be easily removed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinally sectional side view of a part of a sheet material sorting device showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a side view of the 5 beam-docking cams, and Fig. 3 is a state in which the dual conveyance path unit is not in use. 4 is a side view of the double conveyance path unit when it is in use, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the double conveyance path unit, and FIG. 6 is the entrance of the first sheet material sorting device in the second conveyance path. and 2
FIG. 7 is a side view of the continuous conveyance path unit and the discharge section, and FIG. 7 is an operational view of FIG. 6 when a paper jam occurs. S... Sheet material 1... Sheet material sorting device 2.
...Image forming device 2a... Sheet material discharge port, 3.
...Bin, 5...Lead cam (distribution means), 6
...Double conveyance bus unit (sheet material conveyance means)
7...Transportation cover 10...Transportation means
3■...Airframe, 32...Bin unit, 33...
- Carrying inlet 41...Paper discharge roller pair 87...Discharge roller 92...Transport plate 100...1st sorter (first sheet material sorting device) 200...2
Continuous sorter (second sheet material sorting device)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A moving means for sequentially moving a plurality of bins to a position facing a discharge port for sheet materials discharged from an image forming apparatus;
A sheet material sorting device comprising: a distributing means for distributing sheet materials into bins; and a sheet material conveying means movable by the moving means to a position communicating with a discharge port of the image forming apparatus. A cam member is provided on an openable and closable conveyance cover of a sheet material sorting device adjacent to the sheet material sorting device, and the sheet material conveyance means is made swingable in conjunction with the cam member when the conveyance cover is opened and closed. Material classification device.