JPH0834408A - Automatic sealing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an automatic sealing machine for certainly fusing both the sides of film to seal documents. CONSTITUTION:A first guide piece 252 and a second guide piece 254 are provided in such a manner as to operate in conjunction with the opening and closing of a nip. The first guide 252 guides to the nip both the sides of films 13a and 13b being transferred along the transfer surface. The second guide piece 254 supports the lower surface of the side edge part of a document P via the film. The positional relationship between the lower surface of the side edge part of the document and the film side in the thickness direction of the document is maintained regardless of the opening and closing of the nip and the widthwise shift of the side edge part of the film is prevented. Therefore, the film can be accurately fused.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic sealing machine, and more specifically, while a film and a document are conveyed by a conveying mechanism, the document is covered with a film from the front and back and both sides of the film are welded by a welding mechanism. Also, the present invention relates to an automatic sealing machine in which a film is welded and cut at a predetermined length by a welding cutting mechanism to form an envelope with the film and at the same time a document is sealed in the envelope and discharged outside the machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Documents discharged from an upstream device are piled up until a predetermined number of sheets have been discharged,
While transporting the roll film of the shaft by the transport mechanism, the document is covered from the front and back with the film, and both sides of the film are welded by the welding mechanism, and the film is welded and cut by the welding cutting mechanism at predetermined intervals. An automatic sealing machine has been proposed in which an envelope is created from the film and at the same time the document is sealed in the envelope and discharged outside the machine.

In general, such an automatic sealing machine stacks the documents P discharged from the upstream apparatus A and aligns the tray 6 of the aligning section on the downstream side as illustrated in FIG. When moving, the tray 6 and the roll films 13a and 13b are arranged so as to feed the film from the biaxial roll films 13a and 13b loaded in the film supply section, and the upper and lower fed films are , A transport mechanism 18 for covering the document with the film while transporting the document P, a welding mechanism 20 for welding both sides of the transported film, and a welding cutting mechanism 19 for welding and cutting the transported film at a predetermined length. And are used.

The transport mechanism 18 includes a feed roller 18a and a pressing roller 1 which are disposed on opposite sides of the transport surface.
8b, a nip opening / closing means TAM for opening and closing the nip by moving the pressing roller relative to the feed roller, and a power source MM such as a motor for rotating the feed roller.

Further, the welding and cutting mechanism 19 includes a cutting blade 19a having a heat generation source such as a heater HC, and a pedestal 19b installed so as to face the cutting blade 19a with the conveying surface interposed therebetween.
And a contacting / separating means HCM composed of a cam, a cam follower and the like, and a motor for moving the cutting blade far and near to the pedestal to press and separate the edge of the cutting blade from the pedestal.

Further, the fusing mechanism 20 includes a heating roller 20a and a pressure roller 20b, which are disposed on both sides of the conveyance path so as to face the lower side and the upper side of the conveyance surface, and the pressure roller is moved closer to the heating roller. It is composed of a nip opening / closing means HRM for moving and opening / closing the nip, and a power source MM for rotating the heating roller 20a. Reference numeral 21 is a discharge roller for discharging the sealed material to the outside of the machine, and the feed roller 21a also shares the power source MM.

The document discharged from the upstream device is
The sheets are stacked and aligned on the tray 6 until the discharge of a predetermined number of sheets is completed, and after the discharge is completed, the tray 6 is moved toward the film 13 waiting in the state where the transport path is blocked in the film supply unit, Along with feeding the film, the leading ends of the film and the document are advanced to a position between the feed roller 18a and the pressing roller 18b which are in a standby state with the nip open. At the end of the advance, the nip between the feed roller and the pressing roller is closed and the tray 6 is retracted. After that, the conveyance motor MM is rotated to cover the document with the film, and the film and the document are separated from each other by the cutting blade 19a and the base 1.
9b (heat cutter), and both sides of the superposed film are nipped and welded between the heating roller 20a and the pressure roller 20b (heat roller) whose nip is closed and rotated. When the cutting position detection mark (registration mark) provided for each predetermined length of the film is detected by the sensor provided in front of the welding cutting position, the conveyance motor MM is stopped and the film is prevented from being thermally deformed. With the nip of the heat rollers (20a, 20b) open, the heat cutters (19a, 19b) are operated to weld the film immediately after the trailing edge of the document and simultaneously cut the film to create an envelope and simultaneously The sealed product obtained by enclosing the sealed product is then discharged again outside the machine by the discharge roller 21 by rotating the transport motor MM again. By opening the nip of a and the pressing roller 18b, and is adapted to return to the initial state by the tension mechanism that is provided with a film in the film supply unit (not shown).

In FIG. 26, UG and LG are an upper guide and a lower guide, which are attached to the upper side and the lower side of the conveying surface and which form a conveying path.

By the way, in the above construction, the feed roller 18b and the pedestal 19 which form the document and film conveying surface.
b, the heating roller 20a, and the discharge roller feed roller 21
b is attached at a fixed position where the upper surface thereof is on a substantially common plane, and only the pressing roller 18a, the cutting blade 19a, the pressure roller 20b and the pressing roller 21b existing above the conveying surface are moved up and down. Since the nip opening / closing means TAM, HRM and the contact / separation means HCM are configured, the following problems occur.

That is, FIG. 27 shows the films 13a, 13
b is the heating roller 20a and the pressure roller 20 of the welding mechanism 20.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view in the width direction of a sealed article in which a document P is enclosed in an envelope ENV formed by welding on both sides by b and by welding and cutting at a predetermined length by a welding cutting mechanism 19.
This is when the number of documents is particularly large.

The number of documents P to be sealed has a sealing ability of 1
Assuming that the number of sheets is 50 from the maximum, in the width direction of the sealed product, as the number of documents increases on both sides of the film, as shown in FIG.
Since the widthwise end portion of the heat roller 2 is shifted to the center in the widthwise direction, the overlapping width with the backside film 13b becomes small, and the heat roller 2
The welding width by 0a and 20b becomes thin. In order to improve the heat transfer efficiency of the welded portion and ensure the sealing property, it is preferable that two convex ridges are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the heating roller 20a. However, a heating roller provided with such a ridge is used. In this case, the deviation of the film may have a decisive effect on the sealing property. Therefore, a slight external force may peel off the welded portion, impair the sealability, or open the film envelope to drop the internal document.

In view of the above points, the present applicant has proposed an automatic sealing machine that ensures that both sides of the film are always welded with a stable and required welding width regardless of the size of the document. , Japanese Patent Application No. 5-354342. FIG. 28: is a side view which shows the principal part of the automatic sealing machine which concerns on the same proposal. As shown in FIG. 28, the nip opening / closing means of the transport mechanism 18 rotatably supports an L-shaped lever 18c by a support shaft 181 provided at its bent portion, and rotatably holds a pressing roller 18b at one end thereof. The lever 182 is supported by a spring 184 so that the roller 182 provided at the other end is made to correspond to the peripheral surface of the press roller opening / closing cam 183 and the press roller 18b presses the feed roller 18a.
It is configured by energizing c. The motor TAM is coupled to the pressing roller opening / closing cam 183.

Further, the contacting / separating means of the heat cutter 19 includes an end portion of the holder 191 to which the cutting blade 19a is fixed and the pedestal 19.
The cutting blade cam 19 in which the end portions of the holder 192 to which b is fixed are brought close to each other, the cam followers 193 and 194 are attached to the respective end portions, and each cam follower is fixed on the common shaft 195.
6 and the peripheral surface of the pedestal cam 197 are constantly urged by an urging member (not shown). Axis 195
Is connected to the motor HCM.

During the rotation of the cutting blade cam 196 and the pedestal cam 197, the edges of the cutting blade 19a and the upper surface of the pedestal 19b are, as shown in FIG. 29, the nip of the conveying rollers 18a and 18b and the discharge rollers 21 and 21. It is designed so that the film is welded and cut by pressing it on a plane connecting the nip, that is, a predetermined distance above the transport surface. The predetermined distance d from the transport surface TL to the cut line CL is approximately equal to one half of the average value of the document thickness.

The nip opening / closing means of the welding mechanism 20 rotatably supports an L-shaped lever 20C similar to the lever 18c in the nip opening / closing means of the transport mechanism on a spindle 201 in the opposite direction, and at one end thereof. The roller 20 that rotatably supports the pressure roller 20b and is attached to the other end
2 is made to correspond to the peripheral surface of the pressure roller opening / closing cam 203, and the lever 20c is biased by a spring 204 so that the pressure roller 20b presses the heating roller 20a.
The motor HRM is coupled to the pressure roller opening / closing cam 203.

Then, the heating roller 20a and the pressure roller 2
0b means that those closed nips have the conveyance rollers 18
It is provided so as to be located slightly above the conveyance surface that connects the closed nip and the nip of the discharge roller 21. The predetermined distance is substantially equal to one half of the average value of the document thickness described above. The transport surface corresponds to the upper surface of the transport guide plate 32 described below.

The lever 20c is provided with a film guide member 205 outside the nip portion of the welding mechanism 20. The film guide member 205 extends from the lower side of the surface connecting the nip of the transport roller 18 and the nip of the discharge roller 18 before and after the welding mechanism 20 to the substantially same surface as the nip of the welding mechanism 20 toward the downstream side. It has a film guide piece 206 that inclines upward. Needless to say, a transport guide plate 32 is provided on a surface that is substantially equal to the surface that connects the nip of the transport roller 18 and the nip of the discharge roller 21 and that guides the document and film transported between them without hanging downward. Has been.

In summary, in the automatic sealing machine, as shown in FIG. 28, the feed mechanism and the feed roller are provided with the feed mechanism on the opposite sides of the feed surface, and the feed roller is located far from the feed roller. A nip opening / closing means for moving and opening / closing the nip and a power source for rotating the feed roller are provided, and a welding mechanism is disposed on both sides of the transport path so as to face the lower side and the upper side of the transport surface. A heating roller and a pressure roller, a nip opening / closing means for moving one of the pressure roller and the heating roller to and from the other to open and close the nip, and a power source for rotating the other roller. The nip between the heating roller and the pressure roller when closed by the nip opening / closing means of the mechanism is the nip between the feeding roller and the pressing roller of the transport mechanism and the discharging roller for discharging the sealed material to the outside of the machine. Set it to a position slightly higher than the transport surface that connects the nip with, and provide a guide that extends along the transport surface between the heating rollers on both sides of the welding mechanism, and place the transport surface near the heating rollers on both sides. A film guide member for guiding both sides of the conveyed film to the closed nip between the heating roller and the pressure roller is provided.

FIG. 30 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 28 seen from the direction of the line I-I with a part omitted. Both sides of the front film 13a and the back film 13b are welded by the welding mechanism 20 at a position which is guided slightly above the conveying surface. Therefore, the overlapping width of both sides of the front film 13a and the back film 13b becomes large, so that the welding of both sides becomes reliable. The distance h from the transport surface to the nip
However, when the thickness of the document P to be sealed is half, the edges of the front and back films 13a and 13b are located at substantially the same position in the width direction, so that the widest seal width can be secured. Therefore, the distance h from the transport surface to the nip is equal to the document P to be sealed.
It is preferable to set the thickness to about half of the average thickness.

[0020]

By the way, as shown in FIG. 29, in the pressure roller 20b, during the welding cutting operation of the welding cutting mechanism, the welding mechanism shrinks or melts both sides of the film by overheating. To prevent
The heating roller 20a is separated upward. Therefore, the film guide member 205 is also separated above the transport guide plate 32. However, in the automatic sealing machine according to the above proposal, the film guide member 205
Since the film guide piece 206 has a length that extends slightly inward of the conveyance path before and after the nip between the heating roller 20a and the pressure roller 20b, the film guide piece 206 is, as shown in FIG. It does not support the document P, but supports only both sides of the film. Considering the case where the sealing ability is from 1 sheet to 50 sheets at maximum, the weight of the entire document increases due to the increase in the number of documents.
As shown in FIG. 31, only the sealed portion of the film is lifted up to a distance h1 which is higher than the distance h with respect to the transport surface. As a result, the edge portion of the film 13b on the back side is displaced in the direction toward the transport path, so that it is not possible to secure a sufficient overlapping width on both sides of the films 13a and 13b on the front and back sides. )
May occur. In view of the above points, the present invention prevents the shift of the film edge portion in the width direction and secures the width of the overlapping portion of the film edge portion even when the number of documents to be sealed is large. , An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic sealing machine that surely seals a film.

[0021]

The automatic sealing machine of the present invention comprises:
The document is conveyed while covering it from the front and back with a film fed from a biaxial roll film, and both sides of the conveyed film are welded by a welding mechanism, and the film is cut by welding at a predetermined length, and the envelope is formed by the film. The document is sealed at the same time as it is created and discharged to the outside of the machine.The fusing mechanism is a pressure roller that is placed vertically above and below the transport surface on both sides of the transported film. And a nip opening / closing means for opening and closing a nip formed between the heating roller and the heating roller by moving the pressure roller up and down. In the vicinity of the heating roller on both sides, a first guide piece and A guide member having a second guide piece is provided so as to interlock with the pressure roller, and the first guide piece nips both sides of the film conveyed on the conveying surface. Is intended to guide, the second guide piece, and characterized in that the supporting through the film the side edge lower surface of the document.

Further, in the automatic sealing machine according to the present invention, the second guide piece is formed of a flexible thin plate member, and when the pressure roller descends, the second guide piece abuts and supports the conveyance guide forming the conveyance surface. When the pressure roller rises, the lower surface of the side edge portion of the document is supported via the film while curving downward as it goes to the center in the width direction due to the load of the document.

[0023]

According to the invention described in claim 1, as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, the guide member 250 interlocked with the pressure roller 20b is the first guide piece 252 and the second guide piece 25.
Four. As shown in FIG. 24, the pressure roller 20
When b is descending, both sides of the films 13a and 13b are pressed by the first guide piece 252.
0b and the heating roller 20a are guided and welded to the nip formed between them. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 25, when the pressure roller 20b is raised, the film 13a,
Both sides of 13b are linked to the pressure roller 20b.
It is separated from the heating roller 20a by being moved upward by the guide piece 252. At this time, the side edge portion of the document P is moved upward by the second guide piece 254 which is interlocked with the pressure roller 20b, like the both sides of the film. Therefore, the lower surface of the side edge of the document P and the film 1
The positional relationship in the thickness direction of the document with the sides of 3a and 13b is maintained regardless of the elevation of the pressure roller 20b. Therefore, the edge portions of the films 13a and 13b are prevented from shifting in the width direction, and the overlapping widths of the films are sufficiently secured, so that the two sides of the films are reliably welded.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the second guide piece is formed of a flexible thin plate member and abuts against and is supported by the transport guide 32 when the pressure roller 20b descends. When the pressure roller 20b rises, the width of the document P is centered by the load of the document P (to the right in the drawing of FIG. 25).
The lower surface of the side edge portion of the document P is supported and guided through the film while curving downward as it goes to. Therefore, since the document P is gently guided in the width direction from both side edge portions toward the central portion, the sealed document P is smoothly conveyed in the conveying direction.

[0025]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, a general structure and operation of an automatic sealing machine will be described, and then an improved structure and operation based on the present invention will be described. To do. In this embodiment,
A heat cutter including a cutting blade with a built-in heater and a pedestal is used for the welding cutting mechanism for welding and cutting the film into predetermined lengths, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a combination of a high frequency irradiation means and a room temperature cutting means can be used for the welding cutting mechanism.

FIG. 1 illustrates moving a registered document in a tray,
The schematic structure of an automatic sealing machine, which is covered with a film fed from upper and lower roll films, welds both sides, and welds and cuts both front and rear ends to seal, mainly showing a driving system, FIG. It is sectional drawing of the specific example of whole structure.

Reference numeral A in FIG. 2 denotes an upstream device for ejecting a document, for example, an image forming apparatus for recording on a sheet at that time and ejecting the sheets one by one, such as a facsimile receiver, a copying machine or a printer, or a stack. It is a document feeding device that continuously discharges up to a specified number of manufactured ready-made documents. The automatic sealing machine B according to the present invention is used by being connected to the upstream device A.

As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic enclosing machine B is generally composed of a take-in section B1, an upper ejecting section B2, an aligning section B3, a film supplying section B4, a sealing section B5, and a lower ejecting section B6. Has become.

The take-in section B1 takes in the document P discharged from the upstream apparatus A into the sealing machine B, and the take-in roller 2 provided in the vicinity of the take-in port of the casing 1. A motor ICM for rotating the take-in roller in a predetermined direction, a gate 3 provided on the downstream side of the take-in roller for switching the advancing direction,
The gate 3 comprises a drive unit for rotating the gate 3 between upper and lower positions, for example, a solenoid FLSOL. The capture section B1 is provided with a sensor S1 for detecting the presence / absence of a document to be captured. The solenoid FLSOL is normally in a demagnetized state and holds the gate 3 on the upper side, and when excited, turns the gate 3 on the lower side. Further, when the non-sealing command input switch of the operation unit (not shown) provided in the sealing machine is pressed, the gate is swung to the lower side by being immediately excited. On the other hand, when the non-sealing command input switch is not pressed, when the document discharged from the upstream device A is detected by the sensor S1, until the front half of the document passes through the take-in roller 2. The gate 3 is excited to rotate the gate 3 to the lower side.

The document P captured by the capture roller 2 is the gate 3
Is on the lower side, it is discharged onto the upper discharge tray 5 via the upper discharge rollers 4 constituting the upper discharge section B2 and stacked, and when it is on the upper side, the tray 6 of the matching section B3 on the downstream side is discharged.
It is designed to fly and be loaded toward the upper surface of.

The aligning section B3 includes a tray 6, aligning rollers 7,
It has a gate 8, a clamper 9, a tray moving means 10, a stapler 11, and a stapler moving means 12.

The tray 6 has a stacking surface for stacking the documents to be taken in and a side wall which stands up on one side of the stacking surface and serves as an alignment reference surface in the width direction of the documents. The alignment roller 7 is moved by a solenoid ALSOL between a position close to the stacking surface of the tray 6 and a position separated from it, and the motor A
It is rotated in a fixed direction by the LM. The alignment roller 7 close to the stacking surface is rotated by the motor ALM to obliquely feed the document flying from the take-in roller 2 to the upper surface of the tray 6 toward the side wall of the tray.

The gate 8 is mounted on the lower side of the front end portion of the tray 6 so as to rotate around a support shaft and can be raised and lowered. A spring (not shown) wound around the support shaft constantly urges the gate 8 in the standing direction. I am doing it. When the tray 6 is at the home position (retracted position), the gate 8 stands up to serve as the alignment reference plane in the longitudinal direction of the document, and the top of the tray is stopped by the alignment roller 7 to stop the leading end of the document. To align the leading edges of all documents.

The side walls of the tray 6 hold the document back and forth in the tray each time a document is aligned on the tray, and also align the document while the tray is advanced. Clamper (paper pressing means) for holding the condition
9 are provided. This clamper is composed of a pressing piece 9a that comes into contact with and separates from the upper surface of the tray, and a solenoid PCSOL that causes the pressing piece to come into contact with and separate from the pressing piece.

The tray moving means 10 reciprocates the tray 6 in the front-back direction (left-right direction in FIGS. 1 and 2), and includes a reversible motor TRM and front and rear pulleys 10a, 1a.
Belt 10c hung around 0b and tray 6 into belt 1
0c, a connecting piece 10d, a guide shaft 10e for guiding the tray in the front-rear direction at a predetermined angle, and an engaging piece 10f for engaging the tray 6 with the guide shaft.
Is controlled and driven by a control unit described later to reciprocate the tray 6 between a retracted position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 and an advanced position shown by a chain line.

The stapler 11 is provided on the side opposite to the side wall of the tray 6, is stacked on the tray, and is aligned with the aligning roller 7
And the document P aligned by the gate 8 and pressed by the clamper 9 when the staple command is received. Since the structure itself is known, detailed illustration is omitted. This stapler 11
Also, the motor STM, the front and rear pulleys 12a, 12
The stapler moving means 12 composed of b, the belt 12c, and the connecting piece 12d is moved back and forth. The stapler 11 has a home position at the front part of the tray 6 in the retracted position (moved backward for convenience in FIG. 1), and one of the documents aligned on the tray. When binding the front side portion, the binding operation is performed at the home position, and when binding at the center portion and / or the rear portion of one side of the document, the binding operation is performed after moving to the predetermined position by the motor STM. In this case, the tray moving means 10 also advances the tray at the same time and moves relative to the stapler, thereby achieving alignment on the tray, shortening the time required for binding as much as possible, and downsizing the apparatus. .

A film supply section B4 is provided on the downstream side of the matching section B2. The film supply section B4 has a film cartridge 14 loaded with a sealing film 13. As shown in FIG. 3, the sealing film 13 includes a first film shaft 15a and a second film shaft 15a.
roll film 13a, 13 respectively wound around b
The tip of b is joined (13c). The cartridge 14 has an opening 14a in the center and semi-cylindrical roll film accommodating parts 14b and 14c opening in the downstream direction on both upper and lower sides of the opening, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 3, the film 13 is loaded from the opening side of the cartridge 14, and the joint portion 1 at the tip of the roll film is loaded.
Bearings 14d, 14 formed at both ends of the accommodating portions 14b, 14c with the 3c positioned in the center of the opening 14a.
The film shafts 15a and 15b are supported by e and are rotatably held.

Further, the cartridge 14 has an engaging projection 14f formed at the lower end thereof at the lower end of a mounter 16 attached to the sealing machine, as clearly shown in FIG. The engaging projection 14g formed on the upper end of the cartridge 14 is engaged with the engaging hole 16a.
Locking protrusion 16 formed on the upper end of the mounter 16
It is detachably attached by engaging with b.

The cartridge 14 includes a plurality of fixed rollers 17 corresponding to the upper and lower film accommodating portions 14b and 14c.
a are arranged at appropriate intervals, and the mounter 16
Has a fixed roller 17b near both sides of a central opening 16c corresponding to the opening 14a of the film cartridge, and a plurality of movable rollers urged in the downstream direction by springs (not shown) on both sides of the fixed roller 17b. 17c is arranged between the fixed rollers 17a so as to be movable in the distance. The fixed roller 17a, 17b and the movable roller 17c constitute a tension mechanism 17 that gives a buffering action and a tensioning action to the film in the cartridge. As a result, when the cartridge 14 loaded with the film 13 is attached to the mounter 16, the sealing film 1
3 is stretched so as to orthogonally block the transfer path of the document transferred by the forward movement of the tray 6.

Further, a fixed roller 17d corresponding to the fixed roller 7a closest to the roll films 13a and 13b of the film cartridge is provided on the side of the mounter 16 opposite to the opening 16a of the movable roller 17c. Thus, as shown in FIG. 6, when the film cartridge 14 loaded with the film is mounted on the mounter,
As shown in (b), when the film 13 is sandwiched between the opposing fixed rollers 17a and 17d and a force in the downstream direction is received from the advancing tray 6 or the conveying roller 18 described later, the film is smoothly moved. , But Fig. 7 (a)
As shown in FIG. 5, the back tension applied to the film 13 from the tension mechanism 17 does not easily pull out when the force from the tray or the conveyance roller is released. It should be noted that FIG. 7A shows the initial state of the film supply, and the tension mechanism 17 absorbs the film slack. Further, (b) shows a state during the sealing operation, in which the film is strained.

The mounter 16 is supported by a cartridge holding member 23 fixed to a drawer (drawer) 31 so as to be vertically movable. The cartridge holding member 23 has a length that allows the film cartridge 14 to move up and down between the film supply position and the retreat position, extends from the upper part to the lower part in the sealing machine, and is a guide opening opposite to each other. Groove 24
The mounter 16 has a guide roller 26 which is fitted into the guide groove 24 and rolls on both side surfaces. Then, the wire 28 is wound around the rotation shaft of the motor FCM provided in the drawer 31 and the pulleys 27 provided at the lower part and the upper part of the cartridge holding member 23, and the mounter 16 is attached to the wire via the connecting piece 29. It is connected.

As a result, by controlling the rotation of the motor FCM, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, the film feed position where the center of the opening 14a of the cartridge coincides with the document conveying path by the tray 6 (also in FIG. 6). 2) and the retracted position where the cartridge 14 has moved to the lower side of the document transport path, as shown by the chain line in FIG.

A sealing section B5 is provided downstream of the film supply section B4. The sealing unit is a conveyance roller 18 that is a conveyance mechanism that nips and conveys a film 13 that covers a document from the upper and lower surfaces thereof, and a welding cut of the film 13 at a predetermined length (a length sufficient to wrap the document) ( It has a heat cutter 19 which is a welding cutting mechanism for heat cutting, and a heat roller 20 which is a welding mechanism for welding (heat sealing) both sides of the film 13 which covers a document from both front and back sides.

A discharge section B6 is provided on the downstream side of the sealing section. The discharging section B6 is a discharging roller 21 for discharging the sealed material SM formed by heat cutting by the heat cutter 19 and heat sealing by the heat roller 20 to the outside of the housing 1.
And a lower discharge tray 22 for accumulating the discharged sealed material.

Then, the transport roller 18 and the heat roller 2
A common transport motor MM for rotating the 0 and the discharge roller 21 in a predetermined direction is connected, and the transport roller 18 including a feed roller and a press roller is provided with a press roller in contact with the transport surface. Nip opening / closing means for moving the feed roller to open / close the nip, for example, a motor TAM, a cam, and a follower (all not shown)
Are connected.

The heat cutter 19 is connected with a contacting / separating means such as a motor HCM, a cam, and a follower (not shown) for pressing the cutting blade 19a and the pedestal 19b constituting the heat cutter 19 toward each other. .

Further, a nip opening / closing means for moving the pressure roller constituting the heat roller 20 with respect to the heating roller to open / close the nip of those rollers, for example, a motor HRM and a cam and a cam follower (neither is shown). Are connected.

A heater HC that heats up at a temperature that can melt the film 13 is built in the cutting blade 19a of the heat cutter, and a heater that heats up to a temperature that can melt the film also inside the heating roller 20a of the heat roller 20. Built-in HR.

In the automatic sealing machine B, in addition to the sensor S1 of the intake section B1, at least two sensors S2 and S3 are provided.
Is provided. The sensor S2 detects the leading edge of the film,
It also serves to detect a cutting position detection mark, which will be described later, provided on the film. It is provided between the transport roller 18 and the heat cutter 19, and the film 13 is started to be fed by the transport roller 18 from the film supply section B4. Can be detected. Further, the sensor S3 is for detecting that the conveyed film and document have passed through the sealing portion B5, and is provided in the vicinity of the discharge roller 21.

In the automatic sealing machine of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the upstream device A and the sensors S1 to S3 are provided in the interface circuit 100, and the motors ICM, ALM, STM which are the driving means, respectively. , TRM, FCM, M
M, TAM, DRM, HCM, HRM, solenoid FL
SOL, ALSOL, PCSOL, heater HC, HR
Is connected to the interface circuit 100 via a driving circuit (not shown) for driving each of them,
The interface circuit is a microcomputer 200 including a central processing control unit CPU, a storage unit ROM, and a RAM.
Connected to As the function realizing means, the CPU has a take-in control means 201 for designating the take-in direction of the gate 3 of the take-in section B1, an aligning control means 202 for controlling the elevating timing of the aligning roller 7, an operation of the stapler 11 and a stapling movement. A stapler control means 203 for controlling the means 12, a tray control means 204 for controlling the tray moving means 10, a transport control means 205 for controlling a transport motor MM common to the transport roller 18, the heat roller 20 and the discharge roller 21;
The film supply control means 206 for controlling the film supply through the nip opening / closing control of the transport roller by the nip opening / closing means TAM, the retracting control means 207 of the film supply section, and the heat cutter control means 208 for controlling the contact / separation means HCM of the heat cutter 19. , Heat roller control means 20 for controlling the nip opening / closing means HRM of the heat roller 20
9, jam detecting means 210 and film remaining amount detecting means 2
Have 11.

The jam detecting means 210 judges that a jam has occurred and outputs a jam detection signal when the sealed object end detection signal is not input from the sensor S3 within a predetermined time after the film leading edge detection signal is input from the sensor S2.

As shown in FIG. 9, the film for sealing 1
Roll film 13 used as the front side film of No. 3
In a, a transparent address window 131 having a predetermined length and a cutting position detection mark (hereinafter simply referred to as a registration mark) 13 composed of a transparent strip-shaped portion extending in the width direction of the film 13 are formed.
2 is provided on the film 13a, except for the address window 131 and the registration mark 132, and a predetermined density (light Printed with transparency d1
At least the side corresponding to the sensor S2 in the predetermined length on the winding start side with respect to the film shaft 15a, in other words, when the remaining length of the front film 13a has become the length of a few more sealed items due to wear. On one side,
Printing is performed with a darker density d2 than the previous density d1. The roll film 13b used as the back side film has a whole surface printed with a density of d1.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 10, depending on the presence / absence of a film, the presence / absence of a registration mark, and the presence / absence of a film remaining between the conveying roller 18 and the heat cutter 19.
Output level L1 clearly different from the light receiving element of sensor S2
~ L4 is obtained. L1 has no film, and L2 has film 13a and film 13b.
When the registration mark of “a” is detected, L3 has the front and back films, and when the registration mark of the film 13a is not detected,
And L4 are the respective output levels when the film is running low.

Therefore, the heat cutter control means 208 is
When the output level of the sensor S2 is L2, the heat cutter opening / closing motor HCM is driven. Also,
The film remaining amount detecting means 211 outputs a remaining amount detecting signal when the output level of the sensor S2 is L4.

Further, the interface circuit 100 is further connected to a door opening detector S4 which outputs an opening detection signal when the door is opened when pulling out the drawer 31, as will be described later, and the display section 300. . The CPU displays the film remaining amount on the display unit 300 based on the film remaining amount detecting signal from the film remaining amount detecting means 211 to notify the operator of the film shortage. Further, the CPU is the jam detecting means 210.
The display unit 300 is made to display that fact based on the jam detection signal from.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
It will be described with reference to FIGS. Now, only the operation when the sealing machine inputs the sealing command signal will be described. Figure 11
Is a time chart from the time when one document is taken from the upstream device A to the sealing machine B to the time when it is aligned, FIG. 12 is a time chart when binding the document by the stapler 11, and FIG. 13 is a time of the sealing operation in the sealing unit. It is a chart. FIG.
4 to 18 are cross-sectional views of essential parts showing the operating state of each stage.

FIG. 14 shows the initial state. Tray 6
Is in the retracted position, and the transport roller 18 and the heat cutter 19
The cutting blade 19a, the pedestal 19b, and the rollers 20a and 20b of the heat roller 20 are all open. When started, first, the document P from the upstream device A is captured, the captured document is aligned, and the heat cutter 19 and the heat roller 20 are warmed up.

In the process of fetching the document, the fetch control means 201 and the matching control means 202 operate to rotate the fetch motor ICM as shown in FIG. 11 to gate the document discharged from the upstream device. Take in toward the matching portion B3 by 3. When the sensor S1 detects the leading edge of the document, the solenoid FLSOL is excited for a predetermined time to rotate the gate 3 to the lower side, so that the document flies and is loaded on the tray 6 while forming a corrugate.

Then, the alignment motor ALM is rotated a predetermined time after the sensor S1 detects the leading edge of the document to prepare for alignment, and the alignment roller 7 is moved to the upper surface of the tray after the sensor S1 detects the trailing edge of the document. Direction,
The documents stacked on the tray are fed at an angle to align them.
The clamper 9a is lowered before the rise of the aligning roller to return the aligned document to the tray. This document acquisition / alignment is performed each time each document is ejected, until the prescribed number of documents have been ejected from the upstream device A.

When the acquisition matching of a predetermined number of documents is completed,
After pressing with the clamper 9a as shown in FIG. 12, the stapler control means 203 is activated. Stapler control means 20
3 binds in only the front portion, the rear portion, or both of the one side of the document in accordance with the designated binding position for the document. After finishing the predetermined binding, the motor STM is rotated in the reverse direction to return the stapler to the front position which is the home shift position.

When the predetermined binding is completed, as shown in FIG. 13, the tray control means 204 causes the tray motor TRM to rotate in the normal direction to advance the tray 6 and start the conveyance of the document in the sealing portion direction. . Tray 6 has document P on it
While the sheet is held in the aligned state by the clamper, as shown in FIG. 15, the gate 8 is pushed forward to advance and the document is conveyed to the film supply section B4 on the downstream side.

The front end of the tray 6 is advanced to the center of the opening 14a of the film cartridge 14, and the joint between the front surface film 13a and the back surface film 13b of the film 13 is aligned with the center of the opening. The film 13 which is lightly draped by the tension mechanism 17 and is standing by in a tensioned state is pushed in the downstream direction, and the film 13 is fed out to cover the front and back surfaces of the front part of the document with the film 13 as shown in FIG. In this state, the film and the front part of the document are transferred to between the conveyance rollers 18 in the separated state, and stopped at the forward position.

In this state, the film supply control means 206
16 operates to close the transport roller 18 that has been opened via the nip drive means TAM as shown in FIG. 16 to hold the film and the document and at the same time open the clamper 9, and then the tray control means 204 The tray 6 is returned to the intermediate position where the gate 8 does not stand up again. After that, the transport control unit 205 rotates the transport motor MM and rotates the transport roller 18 almost at the same time when the tray starts to move backward, and transports the film and the document. Following this, the heat roller control means 209 warmed up previously closes the pressure roller 20b and the heating roller 20a of the heat roller 20 to continuously heat seal both sides of the conveyed film.

Then, when the trailing edge of the conveyed document P passes through the gate 8, the tray 6 is completely returned to the retracted position as shown in FIG. At that time, the gate 8 returns by the action of a return spring (not shown), and returns to the standing state. As a result, the next document P can be loaded on the tray 6.

The sensor S2 detects the light transmittance of one side of the film 13 conveyed to the downstream side by the conveying roller 18 and gives the output voltage to the control section 200 via the interface 100. The department monitors the presence or absence of a film, the presence or absence of a registration mark 132, and the presence or absence of a film shortage.

Then, returning to FIG. 13, based on the fact that the sensor S2 detects the registration mark 132 of the film, first, the transport control means 205 stops the rotation of the transport motor MM, and the heat roller control means 209 is stopped. In order to prevent overheating shrinkage due to the continuous contact of the film with the heat roller, the heat roller 20 is opened, and subsequently,
The heat cut control means 208, as shown in FIG.
The cutting blade 19a and the pedestal 19b of the heat cutter 19 are closed, and the film 13 is heat-cut by the registration mark 132.

After the heat cutting, the film supply control means 206 opens the nip of the conveying roller 18 which has been closed until then through the nip opening / closing means TAM, and then the conveying motor MM is rotated again and the heat roller 20 is turned on again. Close and seal the unsealed parts on both sides of the film between the heat cutter and the heat roller at the time of heat cutting.

As a result, both sides are heat-sealed (133) on the downstream side of the heat cutter as shown in FIG. 19, the front and rear are heat-cut (134) at the registration mark 132, and the address window 131 is formed on the front surface. A sealed article SM in which the document P is sealed in the film bag having is obtained. The sealed material SM is discharged to the lower discharge tray 22 by the discharge roller 21 of the lower discharge portion B6.

As shown in FIG. 18, the front film 13a and the back film 13b, which are located upstream of the heat cutter 19 of the heat-cut film 13, have their tip portions fused by the heat cutter 19, Since the back tension is applied by the tension applying mechanism 17 provided in the supply unit, the original position is restored.

Next, in the above-mentioned automatic sealing machine, a structure improved according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, and then a film welding operation and a film cutting operation will be described. Figure 2
Reference numerals 0 to 23 show the operation states of the respective parts at the timings corresponding to [1] to [4] in the timing chart of FIG. FIG. 24 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 21 showing a state where the nip of the welding mechanism 20 is closed, and FIG. 25 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 22 showing a state where the nip of the welding mechanism 20 is opened. It is a figure. Note that FIG.
4 and 25 are respectively FIGS. 30 and 3 showing a conventional example.
Although only one side of the film and the document is shown in the figure, it is needless to say that the omitted one side has the same configuration.

As shown in FIG. 24, a film guide member (guide member) 250 which is interlocked with the pressure roller 20b includes a film guide piece (first guide piece) 252 for guiding both sides of the films 13a and 13b. A document guide piece (second guide piece) 254 for supporting the lower surface of the side edge portion of the document P sealed in the film via the film. As shown in FIG. 24, when the nip of the fusing mechanism 20 is closed, that is, when the pressure roller 20b is lowered, the film guide piece 252 holds both sides of the film on the fusing mechanism 20 as in the conventional case. Guide to the nip. This film guide piece 2
52, a document guide piece 254 that supports the lower surface of both side edge portions of the document P is provided integrally with the film guide piece 252 toward the center of the width direction of the document P. Thus, when the welding mechanism 20 is closed, the document guide piece 254 is
It is set so as to be in contact with and supported by the conveyance surface of the conveyance guide plate 32, and the upper surface (guide surface) of the document guide piece 254 is substantially level with the conveyance surface. At this time, on both sides of the films 13a and 13b, the film guide pieces 2
The guide 52 guides the document guide piece 254 to a position (nip position) higher than the guide surface by a predetermined distance. That is,
The predetermined distance h between both sides of the film guided by the film guide piece 254 and the lower surface of both side edges of the document guided by the document guide piece 252 is equal to the predetermined distance h.
It corresponds to the step between the guide surface 52 and the guide surface of the document guide piece 254. The predetermined distance h is preferably set to, for example, about half of the average thickness of the document P in order to secure a large overlapping width when welding both sides of the film, as in the conventional case.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 25, the welding mechanism 20
When the nip of the film is open, the film guide piece 252
In the same manner as in the prior art, both sides of the film are separated upward from the heating roller 20a of the welding mechanism 20. At this time, the document guide piece 254 moves upward in conjunction with the film guide piece 252 while supporting the document P. At this time,
The step between the guide surface of the film guide piece 252 and the guide surface of the document guide piece 254 in the vicinity of the base end portion holds the predetermined distance h. Therefore, both sides of the films 13a and 13b guided by the film guide member 252,
The distance between the document P and the lower surface of the side edge of the document P supported by the document guide piece 254 is the predetermined distance h. The document guide piece 254 is preferably formed of a flexible thin plate member for the reason described below. That is,
The document guide piece 254, which receives the load of the document P, bends downward as it goes from the base end portion near the film support piece 252 to the end portion, and supports the lower surface of both side edge portions of the document P via the film. Therefore, both side edges of the document P are supported by the curved document guide pieces 254, and the central portion of the document P is supported by the upper surface of the conveyance guide plate 32. As a result, the document and the film are guided in a large area and smoothly transported. As the flexible thin plate member forming the film support piece 252, for example, a polyester plastic film, stainless steel, or a rubber material having a predetermined hardness is preferable because it has appropriate elasticity.

Next, the film welding operation and the film fusing operation will be described with reference to FIGS. First, in the timing chart of FIG. 13, the nip of the transport roller 18 and the heat roller 20 is open as shown in FIG. Yes, the heat cutter 19 is also in the separated state.

Then, when the tray is moved to the most advanced position, the cams 183 and 203 of the nip opening / closing means of the transport roller 18 and the heat roller 20 are rotated by a predetermined angle, and the nip of the transport roller 18 and the nip of the heat roller 20 are rotated. Is closed and the state [2] shown in FIG. 21 is reached, and the document and film are conveyed. In this case, the transported document and film are guided by the transport guide plate 32 and transported downstream. Both sides of the film are guided to the nip between the heating roller 20a and the pressure roller 20b of the heat roller 20 by the film guide pieces 252 of the film guide member 250, and the front side film and the back side film are separated from each other while passing through the nip. Both sides are welded. On the other hand, both side edges of the document P are guided by the document guide pieces 254 supported by the conveyance guide plate 32, as shown in FIG.

Then, the heating roller 20a and the pressure roller 2
The nip of 0b exists slightly above the transport surface. The distance from the nip of the welding mechanism 20 to the transport surface is equal to the above-mentioned predetermined distance. In this way, both sides of the film overlap each other at a position closer to the center in the thickness direction of the conveyed document P, as shown in FIG. Therefore, the amount of misalignment between the widthwise edges of the front film 13a and the back film 13b is small, so that both sides of the film are reliably welded.

When the registration mark of the conveyed film is detected, the rotation of the motors MM1 to MM3 is stopped and the nip of the heat roller 20 is opened as shown in FIG. 22 in [3] of FIG. The cutting blade 19a and the pedestal 1 are opened by rotating the shaft 195 of the heat cutter 19 in a predetermined direction (clockwise in the drawing) by a predetermined angle.
9b are moved opposite to each other and pressed against each other to weld and cut the film. At this time, as shown in FIG. 25, both sides of the film are separated upward from the heating roller 20a by the film guide pieces 252, and the document P
Both side edges of the film are moved upward by the same distance as both sides of the film by the base end of the document guide piece 254. Therefore, both sides of the films 13a and 13b do not cause edge shift in the width direction, and the width to be sealed is maintained.

After the welding cutting is completed, [4] in FIG.
At this time, the nip opening / closing means of the transport roller 18 returns to the initial state to open the nip, and the upstream side portion of the cut film can be restored. Here, the document and the film that have moved to the downstream side of the heat cutter 19 are discharged to the discharge roller 21.
Is further transported toward the discharge side. At this time, the flexible document guide piece 254 guides the side edges of the document and the film while curving downward as it goes to the center of the document in the width direction (rightward on the paper surface) under the load of the document P. Therefore, the document and the film are smoothly guided in the width direction from both side edge portions toward the central portion, and thus are smoothly transported. Next, heat roller 2
Since the nip opening / closing means of 0 closes the nip again, the heat roller 20 welds the unwelded portions on both sides of the document-coated film. As described above, since there is no edge shift in the width direction on both sides of the film, the overlapping widths are secured, so that welding can be reliably performed.

The second guide piece (document guide piece) 254
May be formed of a member having little bending. However, in this case, the document P is supported by the second guide pieces 254 at both side edge portions thereof, while the central portion of the document P is at the conveyance guide plate 3.
Since it is separated from 2, the area for guiding the document and the film is reduced, so that smooth conveyance is sacrificed to some extent.

[0079]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first guide piece and the second guide piece guide and support both sides of the film and both side edge lower surfaces of the document.
The positional relationship between the two documents in the thickness direction is maintained regardless of the elevation of the pressure roller. Therefore, the edge portion of the film is prevented from shifting in the width direction. Therefore, even when the amount of documents to be sealed is large, sealing can be reliably performed by sufficiently securing the overlapping width of the films and welding both sides of the films. Also,
According to the invention of claim 2, since the second guide piece is formed of a flexible thin plate member, the document is guided by the second guide piece at both side edges in the width direction thereof. Further, since the central portion is guided by the conveyance guide surface, the document and the film are guided in a large area and are smoothly conveyed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of an automatic sealing machine according to an embodiment of the present invention centering on a drive system.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a specific configuration of the same enclosing machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a sealing film and a film cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing a positional relationship and a mounting relationship among a film, a film cartridge, and a mounter.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a film cartridge, a mounter, and a cartridge holding member.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the film cartridge is mounted on the mounter.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing the action of the tension mechanism and the state of the film during the initial state and the sealing operation.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a control system of the enclosed machine.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of a sealing film and a detection position.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram similarly illustrating a detection principle.

FIG. 11 is a time chart illustrating the operation of the capturing unit.

FIG. 12 is a time chart explaining the operation of the stapler.

FIG. 13 is a time chart explaining the operation of the sealing unit.

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of essential parts showing an initial state of the sealing machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a film feeding process of the same.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing a process of holding a film and a document.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing a tray retracting step and a film and document conveying step.

FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view showing a step of heat cutting.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of an example of a completed sealed product.

20 is a side view of essential parts showing an operating state at the timing [1] in FIG.

FIG. 21 is a side view of the essential parts showing the operating state at the timing [2] in FIG.

22 is a side view of the essential parts showing the operating state at the timing [3] in FIG.

FIG. 23 is a side view of the essential parts showing the operating state at the timing [4] in FIG.

FIG. 24 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 21.

25 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 26 is a main-portion cross-sectional view showing a structure of a sealing portion in a conventional automatic sealing machine.

FIG. 27 is a cross-sectional view showing a welded state in a conventional automatic sealing machine.

FIG. 28 is a side view of essential parts showing a configuration of a nip opening / closing means of a transport roller, a contact / separation means of a heat cutter, and a nip opening / closing means of a heat roller, which are essential parts of a sealing part in a conventional automatic sealing machine.

FIG. 29 is a main part extraction side view for explaining the welding cutting position of the heat cutter.

30 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I of FIG. 28 showing a state where the nip is closed.

FIG. 31 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I showing a state where the nip is open in FIG. 28.

[Explanation of symbols]

A upstream device B sealing machine B1 intake section B3 alignment section B4 film supply section 205 film guide member 206 film guide piece 21 discharge roller 32 transport guide plate B5 sealing section 6 tray 7 alignment roller 8 gate 10 tray moving means 18 transport mechanism ( Conveying roller) 18a Feeding roller 18b Holding roller 18c, 183, 184 Conveying roller nip opening / closing means 18c Lever 183 Holding roller opening / closing cam 184 Spring 19 Weld cutting mechanism (heat cutter) 19a Cutting blade 19b Pedestal 191, 192, 193, 194 195,196,1
97 Contact / separation means 191 Cutting blade holder 192 Pedestal holder 193, 194 Cam follower 195 Shaft 196 Cutting blade cam 197 Pedestal cam 20 Welding mechanism (heat roller) 20a Heating roller 20b Pressure roller 20c, 203, 204 Heat roller nip opening / closing means 20c Lever 203 Pressure roller opening / closing cam 204 Spring 250 Film guide member (guide member) 252 Film guide piece (first guide piece) 254 Document guide piece (second guide piece)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A document is conveyed while being covered from the front and back with a film fed from a biaxial roll film, both sides of the conveyed film are welded by a welding mechanism, and the film is cut by welding at a predetermined length. When the envelope is created with the film, the document is sealed in the envelope and discharged to the outside of the machine. A pressure roller and a heating roller opposite to each other,
An automatic sealing machine having a nip opening and closing means for opening and closing a nip formed between the pressure roller and the heating roller by moving the pressure roller up and down, in the vicinity of the heating roller on both sides, a first guide piece and A guide member having a second guide piece is provided so as to interlock with the pressure roller, and the first guide piece guides both sides of the film conveyed on the conveying surface to the nip. The automatic sealing machine is characterized in that the second guide piece supports the lower surface of the side edge portion of the document through a film. 2. The second guide piece is formed of a flexible thin plate member, and when the pressure roller descends, the second guide piece abuts and is supported by a conveyance guide forming a conveyance surface, and the pressure roller rises. The automatic sealing machine according to claim 1, wherein the lower surface of the side edge portion of the document is supported via a film while curving downwardly toward the center in the width direction due to the load of the document.