JPH0676143B2 - Separate paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a separating and feeding apparatus that feeds a large number of stacked envelopes, sheets, etc. from the lowest or the highest one with a feeding roller, separates them with a separating roller, and feeds one sheet (or one sheet) at a time. Regarding

[Prior art]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of sheet feeding device, for example, a separation pad is pressed against a separation roller, and the feeding roller is continuously rotated at a constant speed to send an envelope or a sheet between the separation roller and the separation pad, and one sheet is fed by these. They were separated and sent separately.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, since the feeding roller is continuously rotated, the envelope or the paper is often fed between the separation roller and the separation pad with two or more sheets in an orderly manner without being displaced back and forth, and jams or these separation rollers may occur. There is a problem that the separation from the separation pad is incomplete, and the sheets are repeatedly fed. An object of the present invention is to provide a separating / feeding device which has a simple structure but can accurately separate and feed even thick envelopes and thick paper.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In the separating / feeding device according to the present invention, the feeding rollers 8 and 9 before and after feeding the stacked envelopes or papers from the lowest order are arranged at a predetermined distance in front and back so as to rotate simultaneously. To the front side of the feed roller 8 by disposing a separate roller 27 and pressing the separation pad 33 against the separation roller 27. One input side pulley 20 and the first pulley 20 A first switching state in which the rotation of the input side pulley 20 is simultaneously transmitted to both the first and second output side pulleys 22 and 30; The electromagnetic clutch 19 that can be switched to the second switching state in which it is transmitted only to the output side pulley 30 of the electromagnetic clutch 19 is provided. The input side pulley 20 of the electromagnetic clutch 19 is the pulley 17 and the belt 18 on the side of the feeding motor 16. That the first output side of the electromagnetic clutch 19 is connected. While connecting the 22 through the pulley 24 and the belt 23 of the front feed roller 8, the pulley 32 of the separation roller 27 and the second output-side pulley 30
When the first and second output side pulleys 22 and 30 are simultaneously rotated, the separation roller 27 rotates at a rotation speed faster than those of the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9. It is designed to rotate simultaneously with the feeding rollers 8 and 9, and the electromagnetic clutch 19 is set to the first switching state for the set time T1 and the separation roller 27 and the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 are set to the set time.
A control circuit is provided to alternately switch between a state in which the electromagnetic clutch 19 is simultaneously rotated for a set time T2 and a state in which only the separation roller 27 is rotated for a set time T2 by setting the electromagnetic clutch 19 to a second switching state. To do.

[Work]

When the electromagnetic clutch 19 is alternately turned on and off for a set time, the separation roller 27 continues to rotate, but the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 are intermittently rotated, that is, rotation for T1 time and stop for T2 time are repeated. Therefore, the stacked envelopes, sheets, and the like are shifted to the front and back and fed to the separation roller 27. In this case, the feeding is reliably performed because the feeding rollers 8 and 9 at the front and the rear push the same forward from two front and rear positions. The stacked envelopes or papers are fed to the front and rear feeding rollers 8
Although several sheets are shifted forward and backward by 9 and the rotation speed of the separating roller 27 is faster than that of the front and rear feeding rollers 8.9, only the first sheet is sandwiched between the separating roller 27 and the separating pad 33. Precisely separated and conveyed. The above-described rotational relationship between the separation roller 27 and the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 may be transmitted simply by switching the rotation of one feeding motor 16 by turning on and off the electromagnetic clutch 19. Moreover, its control is easy.

【Example】

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a state in which an automatic envelope feeder 1 to which the present invention is applied is attached to the outside of a sealing machine 2. Automatic envelope feeder 1
The whole is a separate unit independent of the sealing machine 2, and the front plate 4 of the frame 3 is joined to the outer surface of the housing 5 of the sealing machine 2 and is detachably attached to the sealing machine 2. When attached in this way, the connection detection switch 6 is turned on, and this is detected. In the upper part of the frame 3, an envelope mounting table 7 for mounting a large number of envelopes E is installed so as to incline to the front lower side, and front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 are provided on the lower side thereof by roller shafts 10 and 11. Further, front and rear free rollers 12 and 13 are rotatably supported by roller shafts 14 and 15, and these rollers are projected on the upper surface of the envelope mounting table 7. The feeding roller 8 on the front side rotates the rotation of the envelope feeding motor 16 installed in the lower portion of the frame 3 by the motor 16
Side pulley 17, belt 18, input side pulley 20 of electromagnetic clutch 19, first output side pulley 22 having the same pulley shaft 21 as this, belt 23, pulley 24 fixed to the roller shaft 10
Is transmitted through. The rotation of the rear feeding roller 9 is further transmitted from a pulley 24 via a belt 25 and a pulley 26 fixed to the roller shaft 11. The separating roller 27 is mounted by a roller shaft 29 'in front of the front feeding roller 9 and near the envelope insertion port 28 between the front plate 4 and the housing 5 of the sealing machine 2. The separating roller 27 prevents the rotation from the motor 16 from being generated by the electromagnetic clutch 19.
Second output pulley 30, belt 31, roller shaft 29 '
It is transmitted via a pulley 32 fixed to. Separation roller
A separation pad 33 made of rubber or the like is pressed against the 27 from above. When the electromagnetic clutch 19 is on, it connects between the input side pulley 20 and the first and second output side pulleys 22 and 30,
The rotation from the motor 16 is simultaneously transmitted to the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 and the separating roller 27. When off, the input pulley
20 and the second pulley 30 are connected, the input side pulley 20 and the first pulley 22 are cut off, and the rotation from the motor 16 is transmitted only to the separation roller 27. The rotation speed of the separation roller 27 is set to be higher (for example, three times) than that of the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9. On the other hand, in the housing 5 of the enclosing machine 2, a conveying roller 34 and a pressing roller 35, which sandwich the envelope E inserted from the envelope insertion port 29 and convey it to the enclosing portion, are mounted by roller shafts 36 and 37, respectively. There is. The transport roller 34 is the housing 5
The rotation of the conveyance motor 38 installed in the pulley 39,
It is transmitted via the belt 40 and the pulley 41. Although not shown, the pressing roller 35 rotates at the same time as the conveying roller 34 because the gear fixed to the roller shaft 37 of the pressing roller 35 meshes with the gear fixed to the roller shaft 36 of the conveying roller 34. . An envelope detection sensor (a micro switch in the figure) 42 for detecting the presence or absence of the envelope E on the envelope placement table 7 on the side of the automatic envelope feeder 1 is arranged, and also a separation roller 27 and a separation pad 33. A jam detection sensor for detecting whether or not the envelope E is jammed (a light sensor in which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are opposed to each other in the figure) is provided at a position where and are pressed against each other.
43 are arranged. On the other hand, on the enclosing machine 2 side, an envelope insertion detection sensor (optical sensor in the figure) 44 is arranged in the envelope insertion port 29, and a conveyance detection sensor (microsensor in the figure Switch) 45 is arranged. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the electrical configuration, and the feeding motor 16,
The electromagnetic clutch 19 and the conveyance motor 38 are controlled by the one-chip microcomputer 46 according to signals from the connection detection switch 6, the envelope detection sensor 42, the jam detection sensor 43, the insertion detection sensor 44, and the conveyance detection sensor 45. The microcomputer 46 includes a CPU 47, a ROM 48, a RAM 49, a first
It includes a timer 50, a second timer 51, and an I / O port 52. The electromagnetic clutch 19, the feeding motor 16, and the carrying motor 38 are driven by respective drivers 53, 54, 55. Next, the operation of feeding the envelope E will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to the flowchart in the figure. In FIG. 3, when a start switch (not shown) is turned on in step 100, various devices are initialized in step 101, and in step 102, whether the connection detection switch 6 is turned on, That is, it is determined whether the automatic envelope feeder 1 is attached to the sealing machine 2. Here, if Y (YES), it is determined in step 103 whether or not the envelope detection sensor 42 is on, that is, whether or not the envelope E is on the envelope placement table 7, and if Y, the next step is 104
It is determined whether the insertion detection sensor 44 is on, that is, whether the envelope E is inserted in the envelope insertion port 29, and N
If it is (NO), it is next determined whether or not the jam detection sensor 105 is on. If N here, step 106
The electromagnetic clutch 19 is turned on and the step 107
Transport motor 38 turns on at step 108, and feed motor 1 at step 108
6 turns on. When the electromagnetic clutch 19 and the feeding motor 16 are thus turned on, the rotation of the feeding motor 16 causes the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 to rotate.
And transmitted to the separation roller 27, and the envelope E on the envelope mounting table 7
Are fed forward by the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 from the lowest one. However, when the result in step 105 is Y, that is, when the envelope E has already reached between the separation roller 27 and the separation pad 33, the process does not go through step 106, that is, the electromagnetic clutch 19 is off, and the process proceeds to steps 107 and 108. . Therefore, in this case, in order to prevent double feed, the rotation of the transportation motor 16 is not transmitted to the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9, but is transmitted only to the separation roller 27, so that the separation roller
The envelope E between the envelope 27 and the separating pad 33 is sent from the envelope insertion port 29 into the sealing machine 2 by the separating roller 27, but the envelope E on the envelope placing table 7 is sent out by the front and rear feed rollers 8 and 9. Not done. Next, from step 108 to step 119, the first timer
After setting, for example, 4.2 seconds to 50, it is determined in step 110 whether or not the set time has passed, and if N, it is determined in step 111 whether or not the jam detection sensor 43 is on, where Y The determinations in steps 110 and 111 are repeated until. The processing in steps 106, 108, 109, 110, and 111 is for feeding the sealing E to a position where the jam detection sensor 43 can detect it in 4.2 seconds. Step
When Y in 111, the electromagnetic clutch 19 is turned off in step 112, the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 are stopped (to prevent double feeding), and the envelope E is fed only by the separating roller 27.
If the answer in step 110 is Y, it is assumed that the envelope E is jammed and the system top is set in step 113. Next, while feeding the envelope E only by the separating roller 27, the process proceeds from step 112 to step 114 in FIG.
After setting 0.2 seconds in the timer 51, it is determined in step 115 whether the insertion detection sensor 44 is turned on, and if N, it is determined in step 116 whether the second timer 51 has elapsed 0.2 seconds,
Here, the determinations in steps 115 and 116 are repeated until Y is obtained. If 0.2 seconds have passed and Y is reached in step 116, the step
After setting the first timer 50 to 4.1 seconds with 117, step 11
At 8, it is determined whether the first timer 50 has passed 4.1 seconds, and if N, at step 119 it is determined whether the insertion detection sensor 44 is on. If N here, the second timer 51 is set to 5 in step 120.
After setting 0 ms, in step 121 the electromagnetic clutch 19
Turn on. Therefore, when the jam detection sensor 43 is turned on in step 111, the envelope E is fed by the separation roller 27 only for 0.2 seconds, during which the first timer 50 is 4.1 seconds and the second timer 51 is 5 seconds.
Set to 0 ms each. In this case, the first timer 50 provides a check period of 4.1 seconds, during which it is checked whether the envelope E has been fed to the position of the insertion detection sensor 44. Next, the routine proceeds from step 121 to step 122, and it is determined whether or not the insertion detection sensor 44 is on. If N, it is determined in step 123 whether or not the second timer 51 has passed 50 milliseconds, and here it is set to Y. The determinations in steps 122 and 123 are repeated until the above condition is reached, and when the result is Y, the process proceeds to step 124 to turn off the electromagnetic clutch 19. Then, in step 125, the second timer 51 is set to 40 milliseconds, and then in step 126 it is determined whether or not the insertion detection sensor 44 is turned on.
It is determined whether or not 1 has passed 40 milliseconds, and the determinations in steps 126 and 127 are repeated until Y is reached, and when Y is reached, the process returns to step 118 and the same operation as above is repeated. Therefore, when the electromagnetic clutch 19 is turned on in step 121, the front and rear feed rollers 8 and 9 are rotated in addition to the separation roller 27, and the envelope E is conveyed by these three rollers for 50 milliseconds, and then, continuously. The separation roller 27 alone conveys for 40 milliseconds, and the conveyance of 50 milliseconds by the three rollers and the conveyance for 40 milliseconds by only the separation roller 27 are alternately repeated within the check period of 4.1 seconds. . Therefore, the separation roller 27 continues to rotate, but the front and rear feeding rollers 8 and 9 rotate intermittently at 50 ms intervals for 40 ms intervals. For this reason, the envelopes E are gradually displaced back and forth as shown in FIG. 1, and the displacement is gradually increased and fed to the separation roller 27, so that the separability is improved. By the way, when the insertion detection sensor 44 is already turned on in step 104 of FIG. 3, the envelope E is already in the envelope insertion port.
Since it is contained in 29 and the envelope E does not need to be fed by the front and rear feed rollers 8 and 9, the conveying motor 38 is turned on in step 129, and then step 130 is performed after a delay of 0.3 seconds. At 131, the feeding motor 16 is turned on, and the envelope E is sent only by the separation roller 27. In FIG. 4, if 4.1 seconds elapses before the insertion detection sensor 44 is turned on and the result is Y in step 118, it is assumed that the envelope E is jammed and the system is stopped in step 128. If the insertion detection sensor 44 is turned on in step 115 or 119 or 122 within 4.1 seconds,
While proceeding to step 132 of the figure to turn off the electromagnetic clutch 19, after setting the first timer 50 to 2.1 seconds in step 133, it is determined in step 134 whether the first timer 50 has elapsed 2.1 seconds, When N, that is, during the check period of 2.1 seconds, the processes of the following steps 135 to 145 are executed. That is, after the second timer 51 is set to 300 milliseconds in step 135, it is determined in step 136 whether the conveyance detection sensor 45 is turned on. If N, the second timer 51 is set to 300 milliseconds in step 137. It is determined whether or not the time has elapsed, and the determinations in steps 136 and 137 are repeated until Y is reached, and when Y is reached, the electromagnetic clutch 19 is turned on in step 138. Therefore, the envelope E that has entered the envelope insertion port 29 is first conveyed only by the separation roller 27 for 300 milliseconds. Next, in step 139, the second timer 51 is set to 50 milliseconds, and in step 140 it is determined whether or not the conveyance detection sensor 45 is turned on. If N, then in step 141 the second timer 51 is set to 50 milliseconds. It is determined whether or not the time has elapsed, and the determinations in steps 140 and 141 are repeated until Y is reached. When Y is reached, the electromagnetic clutch 19 is turned off in step 142. Therefore, the envelope E is then conveyed by the separation roller 27 and the front and rear feed rollers 8 and 9 for 50 milliseconds. Subsequently, in step 143, the second timer 51 is set to 40 milliseconds, it is determined in step 144 whether the conveyance detection sensor 45 is turned on, and when it is N, the second timer 51 is set in step 145.
It is determined whether or not 40 milliseconds have elapsed, and the determinations in steps 144 and 145 are repeated until Y is reached, and when Y is reached, the process returns to step 134. Therefore, the envelope E that has entered the envelope inlet 29 is 2. from the position of the insertion detection sensor 44 to the conveyance detection sensor 45.
During the check period of 1 second, it is possible to convey only by the separating roller 27 for 300 milliseconds, conveying by the separating roller 27 for 50 milliseconds and the feeding rollers 8 and 9 before and after, and conveying by only the separating roller 27 for 40 milliseconds. Is repeated. If 2.1 seconds elapse before the conveyance detection sensor 45 is turned on and Y is obtained in step 134, it is assumed that the envelope E is jammed and the system is stopped in step 146.
When the conveyance detection sensor 45 is turned on in step 136 or 140 or 144 within 2.1 seconds, the feeding motor 147 is turned off in step 147, and the electromagnetic clutch 19 is also turned off in step 148. At 149, the sealing section of the sealing machine 2 is operated and the envelope E is sealed. Then, returning to step 102 in FIG. 3, the same operation as described above is repeated. When the envelope detection sensor 42 is off in step 103 of FIG. 3, the conveying motor 38 is turned off in step 150 because there is no envelope E on the envelope placement table 7, and the process ends in step 151. When the connection detection switch 6 is off in step 102, the automatic envelope feeder 1 is not attached to the sealing machine 2, so the manual mode is set in step 152, and the envelope is manually inserted from the envelope insertion port 29 to the sealing machine 2. Insert it in 2. In the above embodiment, the case where the envelope is fed to the sealing machine has been described as an example, but the present invention can be applied to the feeding of ordinary paper other than the envelope.

【The invention's effect】

As described above, the separating and feeding device of the present invention has the following effects. (A) Since the feeding roller is rotated intermittently, the rotation of the feeding roller and the stop of the feeding roller cause the envelopes or the sheets to be displaced from each other back and forth, and the misaligned state is fed to the separation roller.
Separability by the separation roller is improved. (B) Envelopes, paper sheets, and the like are pushed forward by two front and rear feeding rollers at the same time from the front and rear, so that the feeding can be reliably performed while shifting back and forth. (C) A few sheets are fed at the same time with the front and rear shifted, but since the rotation speed of the separating roller is faster than that of the front and rear feeding rollers, only the first sheet can be pinched between the separating roller and the separating pad and accurately separated and conveyed. . (D) Due to the combined effects of (a) to (c) above,
You can accurately separate and feed thick envelopes and thick paper. (E) Since the above-described feeding can be performed only by transmitting the rotation of one feeding motor by switching the electromagnetic clutch on / off, the compulsion is simple and the control thereof is easy.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an automatic envelope feeder, and FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an automatic envelope feeder and a sealing machine,
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the electrical configuration, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are flowcharts. E: Envelope, 8.9 ... Front and rear feeding rollers, 16 ... Feeding motor, 17,18,23,25,31 ... Belt, 19 ... Electromagnetic clutch, 20,22,24,26・ 32 …… Pulley, 27 …… Separating roller, 33 …… Separating pad.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A belt 25 is arranged so that the front and rear feed rollers 8 and 9 for feeding the stacked envelopes or papers from the lowest one are arranged at a predetermined interval in front and rear to rotate simultaneously. That the separation roller 27 is arranged in front of the feeding roller 8 on the front side, and the separation pad 33 is brought into pressure contact with the separation roller 27. One input side pulley 20 and the first and second two A first switching state in which the two output side pulleys 22 and 30 are transmitted and the rotation of the input side pulley 20 is simultaneously transmitted to both the first and second output side pulleys 22 and 30; and the second output side pulley 30 Second to communicate only
Electromagnetic clutch 19 that can be switched to
The input side pulley 20 of this electromagnetic clutch 19 is provided with the feeding motor 16
The pulley 17 on the side is connected via the belt 18, and the first output side pulley 22 of this electromagnetic clutch 19 is connected to the pulley 24 on the front side feeding roller 8 via the belt 23, while the second output is connected. The side pulley 30 is connected to the pulley 32 of the separation roller 27 via the belt 31, and when the first and second output side pulleys 22 and 30 rotate at the same time, the separation roller 27 causes the front and rear feed rollers 8 and 9 to rotate. The front and rear feed rollers 8.9 are rotated simultaneously with the front and rear feed rollers 8.9, and the electromagnetic clutch 19 is set to the first switching state for a set time T1. And the electromagnetic clutch 19 for the set time T1
A separation sheet feeding device characterized in that a control circuit is provided for alternately switching control of a state in which only the separation roller 27 is rotated for a set time T2 as a second switching state only for T2.