JPS6236586B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a form handling device, and more particularly, to a form handling device that is configured to have a movable plate that partitions a form storage chamber such as a stacker or hopper, thereby reducing the space occupied by the form storage chamber and reducing the size of the form. Regarding handling equipment.

Take out the form from the hopper section and read it,
Next, there is a so-called form handling device that reads the documents and distributes and stores them in a stacker section according to the contents. In this device, the stacker section consists of a plurality of form storage chambers separated by partition plates, the partition plates are fixed, and each form storage chamber is designed for the case where all the forms in the hopper section are stored in one room. It is the same space as the hopper section. For this reason, the stacker section occupies a large space, making the device considerably large, and it is desired that the device be made more compact.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to reduce the space occupied by the stacker section and downsize it by making the table of the stacker part movable and moving the table according to the storage status of the forms in each form storage room. An object of the present invention is to provide a form handling device that can be used effectively.

Embodiments of the form handling device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the device of the present invention. First, an outline of form processing in this device will be explained. A large number of unread forms 1 are loaded into a hopper part 2. The unread documents 1 are sequentially fed out from the hopper section 2, separated one by one by the separator section 3, set on a reading reference surface by the aligner section 4, and conveyed to the next stage reading section 5. Reading section 5
It consists of a light source 6, a light guide 7, a reflecting mirror 8, and a reading body 9. The information on the form is read by the reading section 5, and then, if necessary, the serial numbering mechanism section 10 numbers the surface of the form.

The documents that have been read and numbered are further conveyed, the conveyance direction is switched by the rotating switching valve 11, and conveyed by the belt conveyance mechanism 12 or 13 to the upper stacker 15 or lower stacker 16 of the stacker section 14. Stored in piles. 1
a is a read form in the upper stacker 15, and 1b is a read form in the lower stacker 16.

Next, the configuration and operation of the main parts of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 2.

The stacker section 14 is divided into upper and lower sections by a table 20. The table 20 has a pair of pulleys 1
It is fixed to a belt 21 stretched vertically between 7a and 17b, and the belt 2 is driven by a motor 22.
It moves in the vertical direction (in the direction of the thickness of the form in the stacker section) in accordance with the running of the sheet. The transport mechanism 13 is connected to the table 20 through a long hole and a shaft, and rotates about the shaft 13a following the vertical movement of the table 20.

A photo sensor 24 is installed on the fixed ceiling 23 of the upper stacker 15, and another photo sensor 25 is installed on the underside of the table 20.
is provided. Each photosensor 24 , 25 has a lamp 26 , as shown for photosensor 24 .
, light guide 27, and photodiode 28
It has a function of detecting the top surface position of the form stored in the lower stacker in cooperation with the circuit section shown in FIG. Note that since the photosensor 25 is provided on the table 20 itself, the number of photosensors required to perform the above function is small, and reliability is improved accordingly.

The voltage of the first reference voltage source 30 is V ₁ , the voltage of the second reference voltage source 31 is V ₂ , and the relationship between the two voltages is V ₁ <V ₂ . The movable partition plate 20 is arranged such that the output of the photosensor 25 (which increases as the distance to the detection surface becomes shorter) is set to the reference voltage as described below.
The vertical movement is controlled so that the value is between V ₁ and V ₂ , and the distance g between the topmost form of the lower stacker 16 and the photo sensor 25 is always within a predetermined range (the thickness of one form). above).

The output V ₂₄ of the photosensor 24 is amplified by an amplifier 32 and shaped by a waveform shaping circuit 33.
It is applied to a first comparator circuit 34, where it is compared with a first reference voltage _V1 . At first, the movable partition plate 20
is at a lowered position, V ₁ >V ₂₄ , and the output from the comparator circuit 34 becomes H.

On the other hand, the output V ₂₅ of the photosensor 25 is amplified and shaped by the waveform shaping circuit 35, and then applied to the second and third comparison circuits 36 and 37. The second comparison circuit 36 compares the first reference voltage V ₁ and the third comparison circuit 37 compares the second reference voltage V ₂ . When V ₂₅ >V ₁ , the output of the circuit 36 becomes H. When V ₂₅ >V ₂ , the output of the circuit 37 becomes H.

When the form is stored in the lower stacker 16 through the conveyance unit 13 and the distance between the top form and the table 20 exceeds the minimum allowable value, V ₂₅ >V ₂ and the output of the comparison circuit 37 becomes H. As a result, the output of the AND gate 38 becomes H, and the motor control circuit 39
As a result, the motor 22 is rotated counterclockwise, and the table 20 is raised. Moreover, when the table 20 rises and the above-mentioned interval widens and exceeds the maximum allowable value,
V ₂₅ <V ₁ , and the output from the comparator circuit 36 becomes H. As a result, the output of the AND gate 39 becomes H, the motor 22 is now rotated clockwise by the motor control circuit 39, and the table 20 is lowered. Therefore, the table 20 is configured such that the interval between the photosensor 25 and the top form in the lower stacker 16 is maintained between the maximum allowable value and the minimum allowable value, and the table 20 changes depending on the storage of forms in the lower stacker 16. Move upward.
Note that before the start of the form processing, the table 20 is at the maximum lowered position, and the photosensor 25 is detecting the fixed table 29.

As the processing of the form progresses, the top surface of the form 1a in the upper stacker 15 approaches the photosensor 24, and V ₂₄ >
When V ₁ , the output of the comparator circuit 34 becomes L,
Alarm device 40 operates. At this time, both the upper and lower stackers 15 and 16 are occupied by the forms 1a and 1b, that is, they are all stacked full. The alarm device 40 displays that the upper and lower stackers 15 and 16 are all full, and also stops the motor 22 to stop feeding out forms from the hopper section 2.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, documents are stored in the stacker section 14 using the lower stacker 16.
For this purpose, the gap between the table 20, which is the ceiling plate, is kept small, and the upper stacker 15 is stacked on the table 20, which rises as the documents are stored in the lower stacker 16. It will be carried out with great care. In a special case, when all the forms are fed into the upper stacker 15 through the transport section 12, the table 20 is kept in the lowered position and all the forms are fed into the upper stacker 15.
On the other hand, when all the forms are sent to the lower stacker 16 through the conveyance section 13, the table 20 rises to expand the space in the lower stacker 16, and all the forms are stored in the lower stacker 16. Ru. As a result, the space occupied by the stacker section 14 is
The space required is approximately the same as that of the hopper section 2, the stacker section 14 can be made smaller, and the optical character reading device can be made smaller accordingly.

In addition, in the above embodiment, an apparatus having a structure in which one table is arranged in the stacker section has been described, but in the case of a structure in which a plurality of tables are arranged,
Each table rises while maintaining a gap with the top surface of the form stored in the space below it, and operates in the same manner as a whole. Note that a drive mechanism is provided for each table.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the upper stacker 15 has an extra space to store the forms, which is the so-called bottom stacking method, but contrary to this, the lower stacker 16 has an extra space to store the forms. The control method of the present invention can also be applied to the so-called top-loading method.

FIG. 3 shows the second form handling device according to the present invention.
The main part of the example is shown. In this embodiment, in addition to movably controlling the stacker table as described above, the hopper table is also movably controlled. In FIG. 3, the same components as those shown in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

50 is the table of the hopper section 1 (the stacker 1
5) and can move up and down. A photosensor 51 is provided on this table 50. The transport section 52 rotates in accordance with the elevation of the table 50.

The table 50 rises as the form processing progresses so that the top of the form 1 in the hopper section 2 is at the feeding height position. Stadka club table 20
is controlled to move up and down by the output from the photosensor 51 so that the distance from the top surface of the form 1a in the upper stacker 15 is constant. this table 2
0 and the top surface of the form 1b in the lower stacker 16 becomes smaller than a predetermined value, the photo sensor 2
The output from 5 activates the alarm device 40 and stops the operation of the optical reading device. In addition,
It is also possible to support the table 50 on an eccentric cam so that the table 50 is lowered by its own weight.

In the case of this embodiment, since the space below the movable table 50 of the hopper section 2 is used as the stacker section, the space below the movable table 50 of the hopper section 2 is used as the stacker section. is formed, the space occupied by the stacker section can be reduced by that much compared to the case of the above embodiment, and the optical character reading device can be effectively miniaturized.

Note that the present invention is not limited to devices in which the stacker portions are arranged in the vertical direction, but can be similarly applied to devices in which the stacker portions are arranged in the horizontal direction.

As described above, according to the form handling device of the present invention, the partition plate that partitions the form storage chamber is driven and controlled by the output of the sensor provided thereon, and moves according to the state of storage of forms in the form storage chamber. Therefore, the space occupied by the form storage room can be reduced,
Therefore, it is possible to downsize the form handling device, and since the sensors are provided on the partition plate, the number of sensors can be reduced, which improves reliability accordingly.Furthermore, the table in the hopper section can be moved. By utilizing the lower space as a stacker section, there is an effect that the device can be further downsized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of a form handling device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a stacker section and a control circuit section together in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing main parts of a second embodiment of the device. 1, 1a, 1b...Form, 2...Hopper section, 5
...Reading section, 12, 13, 51...Transportation section, 1
4... Stacker part, 15... Upper stacker, 16
...lower stacker, 20,50...table, 2
1... Belt, 22... Motor, 24, 25, 5
1... Photo sensor, 30, 31... Reference voltage source,
34, 36, 37...comparison circuit, 39...motor control circuit, 40...alarm circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A form handling device that reads, processes, and transports and distributes forms, comprising a movable partition plate that partitions a chamber that accommodates forms and moves in the thickness direction of the form, and a movable partition plate that is provided on the movable partition plate itself. A form handling device comprising means for detecting the accommodation state of the form in the form storage chamber, and drive control means for moving the movable partition plate in accordance with the output of the detection means. 2. The form handling device according to claim 1, wherein the movable partition plate is a table of a stacker section. 3. The form handling device according to claim 1, wherein the movable partition plate is a table of a hopper section.