JP2000024598A - Paper processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] When a paper sheet is transported over a long distance, the interval between the paper sheets may fluctuate to a certain reference value or less. In this case, the gate provided in the sorting box cannot be operated, and the sheets are rejected, so that the sorting efficiency is reduced. A conveyance interval adjusting means is provided at each stage of the sorting / stacking means comprising a plurality of sorting boxes, so that the interval can be adjusted also for paper sheets transported through the sorting / stacking means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a letter (paper sheet).
Pertains to a sheet sorting device that processes one sheet at a time,
For example, it is applied to a postal letter sorter.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A paper sheet sorting apparatus is used to sort paper sheets such as postcards and envelopes based on postal codes, bar codes, or destination symbols. I have.

[0003] This paper sheet sorting apparatus comprises a supply means for collectively supplying paper sheets, and a separation means for taking out the paper sheets one by one from the supply means so that the interval between the front and rear sheets or the feeding pitch is constant. Transport means for transporting the separated paper sheet, reading means for reading a division symbol displayed for each paper sheet, and a transport path for the paper sheet which is connected to the transport means and which is opened and closed by a gate to divide the paper transport path. A plurality of sorting transport means for transporting the paper at a constant speed, and a plurality of sorting boxes arranged along each of the sorting transport means and accommodating paper sheets for each displayed classification by opening and closing the gate.

[0004] While the sheet taken out from the supply device is being conveyed by the conveying device, the sorting symbol displayed on the sheet is read, and the gates are opened and closed, so that the conveying means sorts the sheet. Through the box to sort and store.

[0005] In such a sheet sorting apparatus, depending on the thickness and material of each sheet conveyed by the conveying device, friction between the sheet and a belt con- verter constituting the conveying device and easiness of flow in a con- verting section of the conveying direction. Therefore, the interval between the front and rear sheets may fluctuate before reaching the sorting conveyance means or the sorting and stacking means. Then, when the gates are opened and closed, the interval between the sheets becomes too small, so that a problem occurs that the sheets cannot be introduced into the sorting shelf.

[0006] To solve such a problem,
For example, a paper sheet conveying device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-18728 has been proposed. The conveying device includes a fixed speed conveying unit that conveys the sheet at a constant speed, a variable speed conveying unit that conveys the sheet at an arbitrary speed, and an interval for detecting an interval between the sheets conveyed by the fixed speed conveying unit. A detection unit, a position detection unit that detects a position of a sheet conveyed by the variable speed conveyance unit, and a control unit that controls a conveyance speed of the variable speed conveyance unit based on an output of each of the detection units. is there.

[0007] The interval detecting means detects the interval of the paper sheets sequentially conveyed by the fixed speed conveying means, and corrects the interval of the closely conveyed paper sheets to an interval necessary for sorting. I have.

[0008]

The operation of correcting the interval between sequentially conveyed sheets is performed before the sheet reaches the entrance of the sorting and conveying means for first separating the sheets, that is, before reaching the stepped pass gate. . This is because by providing only one set of interval adjusting means on the upstream side of the stepped pass gate, the interval can be adjusted for all the sheets, so that the configuration can be made inexpensively.

On the other hand, even if this mechanism is provided before the step pass gate, for example, when the sheet is once sorted to each step of the sorting / stacking means, the sheets are continuously transported to the same step and the friction coefficient is increased. In some cases, depending on the relationship between the thickness and the thickness, the distance between them gradually decreases as the sheet is transported. In such a case, the interval is less than the interval that can be sorted in the middle of the transporting means (sorting transporting means) of the sorting box portion,
In some cases, both paper sheets must be eliminated.

In particular, in the case of a particularly large sorting machine having, for example, 400 or 500 sorting boxes, only the sorting and conveying means becomes very long at about 15 m. As a result, the number of rejected sheets increases. Since such paper sheets are manually sorted, this is a factor that hinders the mechanization of the sorting work.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the present invention, there is provided a separating means for separating supplied paper sheets one by one, and a destination described in the above-mentioned paper sheets. Sorting information reading means for reading the sorting information, stacking means comprising a plurality of stages for sorting and storing the paper sheets according to the sorting information, transport means for connecting the separating means and the stacking means, Branching means for branching the paper sheet conveyed by the means into the plurality of stages, and an interval adjusting means for adjusting an interval between the paper sheets in a plurality of stages of the stacking means.

[0012] Alternatively, separating means for separating supplied paper sheets one by one, sorting information reading means for reading sorting information such as a destination written on the paper sheets, and the paper sheet according to the sorting information. Stacking means comprising a plurality of stages for storing and storing leaves, conveying means for connecting the separating means and the accumulating means, and a second means for branching the paper sheets conveyed by the conveying means into the plurality of stages. One branching means and a second branching means are provided, and an interval adjusting means for adjusting an interval between sheets is provided upstream of each branching means.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic views of a sorter for sorting sheets such as postcards and sealed letters, which is one embodiment of the sheet processing apparatus of the present invention.

The letter sorter shown in FIG. 1 has a supply means 11 for holding the paper sheets 2 in an upright position, and separates the paper sheets 2 supplied from the supply means 11 one by one and upwards. Separating means 12 for sending out, reading means 17 for reading address information such as a bar code representing the address or postal code or address of a sheet, and reading means 1 for separating sheet 2 from reading means 1
7 and a sorting unit 18 for sorting the paper sheets 2 based on the address information read by the reading unit 17.

The sorting means 18 includes a conveying means 22 for conveying the paper sheets 2 read by the reading means 17 and a divided conveying means provided for each of a plurality of stages (A to G stages) provided in the vertical direction. Roads 23a to 23g and letter conveying means 22
A stepped pass gate 24 for connecting the section conveying paths 23a to 23g to each other and a sorting box 21 provided along each section conveying path. In the middle of each sectioned conveyance path in the conveyance direction, for example, a conveyance interval adjustment unit 26 including a pair of rollers provided with a variable speed unit is provided. Although the details thereof will be described later, the interval between the paper sheets 2 fluctuates while being transported through the sectioned transport paths 23a to 23g of each stage because the transport interval adjusting means 26 is provided at the above-described position. However, since the interval can be adjusted, the interval between the paper sheets does not become too small to be inseparable.

Reference numeral 25 denotes an operation panel. Reference numeral 45 denotes a printing unit that prints sorting information such as a barcode on the conveyed paper sheet 2, and 46 denotes a printing module including the printing unit 45.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the paper sheet processing apparatus shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the separation means 12 is controlled by a separation control means 41, and the supply means 11 is controlled by a supply control means. Step pass gate 24
Is controlled by the gate control means 70. The transport interval adjusting means 26 provided at each stage is controlled by the interval control means 44.

The separation control means 41 and the supply control means 4
2. The interval control means 44, the print control means 43, and the gate control means 70 are controlled by the control means 20.

With such a configuration, the paper sheets 2 supplied from the supply unit 11 are separated one by one by the separation unit 12, conveyed to the reading unit 17 by the conveyance unit 15, and the address information is read. After being recognized by the recognizing means 19, it passes through the conveying means 22 based on the address information, and is passed by the stepped pass gate 24 to the corresponding divided conveying path 2
3a to 23g, and are accumulated in any of the predetermined sorting boxes 21.

At this time, if there is no transport interval adjusting means 26, for example, a plurality of sheets 2 of the paper sheets 2 transported in any one of the divided transport paths 23a to 23g are in the same sort. In the case of being transported along the transport path, the interval between the sheets 2 also decreases in the sectional transport path, and the interval becomes smaller than the minimum interval corresponding to the operation time of the gate means in each section box. May be. The non-sortable paper sheets 2 are sorted and collected in the final sorting box of each stage, that is, the reject sorting box. Since the paper sheets 2 accumulated in such a reject sorting box must be sorted manually, there is a problem that sorting efficiency is reduced.

On the other hand, when the transport interval adjusting means 26 is provided at each stage of the divided transport paths 23a to 23g, even if the interval between the paper sheets 2 becomes gradually smaller,
Transport interval adjusting means 26 provided at each stage of 23a to 23g
Therefore, the interval between the paper sheets 2 is adjusted to an appropriate value equal to or more than the necessary minimum interval, so that the paper sheets 2 are not inseparable, and any of the paper sheets 2 is placed in a predetermined sorting box. Are classified.

1 and FIG. 2, the separating means 18 is provided on the right side of the separating means 12, and the printing module 46 is provided on the right side. However, the present invention is not limited to such a structure. Instead, as shown in FIG. 3, the configuration may be such that the separating unit 18 is provided on the left side of the separating unit 12 and the print module 46 is further provided on the left side of the separating unit 18. In such a configuration, the separating means 12
The paper sheet 2 separated by the above is once conveyed to the printing module on the leftmost side, and again the step pass gate 2 on the right side.
In this case, the transport distance from the separation means 12 to the stepped bus gate 24 becomes longer because the paper is transported to the transport path 4.

Alternatively, the printing module 46 may be provided on the left side of the separating unit 12, the step pass gate 24 may be provided on the left side of the printing module 46, and the dividing unit 18 may be provided on the left side of the step pass gate 24.

Another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The difference between FIG. 4 and FIG.
-23g is divided into a first half part and a second half part, and a first stage pass gate 24 and a second stage pass gate 24 'are separately provided in each of the divided conveyance paths, and conveyance interval adjusting means are provided near the upstream of each stage pass gate. 26 and 26 '. The selection of the stage pass gates 24 and 24 'is made by switching another gate means 27. With this configuration, for example, even if the total number of the sorting boxes 21 is 400, the sorting and conveying means 23 from each pass gate 24 or 24 ′ to the lowest sorting box 21.
Since the length of a to 23g or 23a 'to 23g' is only as long as the sorting box 21 is equivalent to 200 sorting conveyance paths, the variation in the interval between sheets in the sorting conveyance path is small. In addition, it is possible to reduce a phenomenon that the conveyance interval becomes too small and the sorting cannot be performed.

In the case of such a configuration, especially for the paper sheet 2 passing through the second-stage pass gate, both the first and second gap adjusting means 26 'and 26' are used. Since the interval is adjusted, it is possible to provide a sorting device with less variation in the interval, even when transporting over a long distance.

Alternatively, the configuration may be such that only the second interval adjusting means 26 'is provided without providing the first interval adjusting means 26. That is, the transport distance of the paper sheet 2 transported through the first pass gate 24 is short, and the transport distance of the paper sheet 2 passing through the second pass gate 24 'is long. This is a case where the interval adjusting means can be omitted for the paper sheet 2 passing through.

FIG. 5 shows still another embodiment. The difference from FIG. 1 is that the feeding direction of the paper sheet 2 from the separating means 12 is downward, and the transport means 22 to the print module passes above the stacking means 18. It is.

FIG. 6 shows still another embodiment. The difference from FIG. 5 is that the separating means 12 is provided at the right end,
The printing module 46 is provided at the left end. In the present embodiment, there are a transporting unit 22 that reaches the printing module 46 at the left end after passing through the reading unit 17 and a transporting unit 22 that extends from the printing module 46 to the step pass gate 24. The transporting distance is the same as in FIG. Therefore, it is effective to provide the conveyance interval adjusting means 26 in the middle of the conveyance path 22.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the transport interval adjusting means 26 in the present invention. In FIG. 7, 50a,
50b is a division gate provided in each of the division boxes 21a and 21b. For example, if the sorting gate 50b is rotated to the position shown by the broken line, the conveyed paper sheets 2 are turned in the direction of arrow B, and are accumulated inside the sorting box 21b. 51a to 51i are pulleys,
Up to 52d is a belt. These belts 52a-
The sheet 2 is sandwiched between 52d and transported in the direction of arrow A.
A driving roller 53 rotates in the direction of arrow C and is controlled at a variable speed by a servo motor (not shown). 54
Is a driven roller, which is provided on an arm 55 and is rotatably provided around a rotation center 56. The driven roller 54 is
Have been urged against. 58a and 58b are guides, and the paper sheet 2 is, for example, a pulley 51f and a driving roller 53.
This is to prevent a problem such as jumping out from between. Reference numerals 59a and 59b denote elements such as photoelectric switches, for example, which can detect the passage of the leading end or the trailing end of the paper sheet 2 conveyed on the section conveying path.

Next, the operation will be described. The sheet 2 conveyed in the direction a while being held between the belts by any of the sectioned conveying paths 23a to 23g is guided by guides 58a and 58b.
The leading ends of the photoelectric rollers 59a and 59b are changed from the transparent state to the light-shielded state. When the output of the photoelectric switch changes from the light blocking state to the transmission state, it can be considered that the rear end of the paper sheet 2 has passed. Therefore, the photoelectric switches 59a, 5
The time when 9b indicates the transmission state can be regarded as the interval between the rear end of the paper sheet 2 and the following paper sheet 2.

That is, if the transport speed of the paper sheet 2 is predetermined, the interval between the paper sheets 2 can be measured using the photoelectric switches 59a and 59b. If the measured interval is less than the determined interval, that is, the minimum interval at which the gates 50a and 50b provided in the sorting box 21 can be switched, the following sheet 2 is driven by the driving roller 53. , The driving roller 53 is temporarily decelerated after being bitten by the driven roller 54, and the interval between the preceding paper sheet 2 can be widened.

With the configuration as described above, the divided transport path 23
The accuracy of the paper sheets conveyed from a to 23e can be appropriately corrected. Therefore, even when the section conveyance path 23 becomes very long, the interval between the paper sheets 2 is kept at an appropriate value, so that the amount of the rejected paper sheets 2 is reduced, and the highly reliable paper sheets A processing device can be provided.

[0034]

According to the present invention, for example, 400 or 500
Even in a large-sized sheet sorting machine with a long sorting conveyance path, such as a mouth, the spacing between the sheets in the sorting conveyance path can be properly maintained, and the sheets are eliminated due to insufficient spacing. Therefore, a highly efficient sorting device can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a sheet sorting machine as one embodiment of a sheet processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a block configuration of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a sheet sorting machine as another embodiment of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a sheet sorting machine as still another embodiment of the sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing a paper sheet sorting machine as another embodiment of the paper sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a paper sheet sorting machine as still another embodiment of the paper sheet processing apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a conveyance interval adjusting unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... paper sheets, 11 ... supply means, 12 ... separation means, 15,
22: conveying means, 17: reading means, 18: sorting means, 1
9: recognition means, 20: control means, 21: sorting box, 23a
~ 23g ... sectioned conveyance path, 24 ... step pass gate, 26 ... interval adjustment means, 43 ... print control means, 44 ... interval control means, 45 ... printing means, 46 ... printing module, 50a,
50b ... Separation gate, 51a-51i ... Pulley, 52a
52d: belt, 53: drive roller, 54: driven roller, 55: arm, 56: center of rotation, 57: spring, 58
a, 58b: guide, 59a, 59b: photoelectric switch,
70 gate control means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A separating unit configured to separate supplied sheets into individual sheets; a section information reading unit configured to read section information such as a destination written on the sheet; Stacking means comprising a plurality of stages for separately storing leaves, conveying means for connecting the separating means and the accumulating means, and branching for branching the paper sheets conveyed by the conveying means into the plurality of stages And a space adjusting means for adjusting the space between the sheets at a plurality of stages of the stacking means.