JP2008037598A - Sheet stacker - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a sheet stacking apparatus that can deal with sheet feeding at short intervals without causing damage to the surface of the sheet.
At least a pair of sheet holders 60 that horizontally receive a pair of side edges along the loading direction a of the loaded lithographic printing original plate P above the stacking table 2, and the lithographic printing original plate P A sheet stacking apparatus including a sheet feeding apparatus 6 having a holder feeding conveyor 62 that moves the received sheet holder 60 downward toward the stacking table 2.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet stacking apparatus, and more particularly to a sheet stacking apparatus capable of stacking sheets without rubbing the surface of previously loaded and stacked sheets.

  As a stacking device for positioning the planographic printing plates sequentially fed from the conveying means at a predetermined stacking position and stacking them in layers, the stacking surface on which the planographic printing plates are stacked, and the outer peripheral side of the planographic printing plate on the stacking surface A frame member that restricts movement along the surface direction of the lithographic printing plate and is positioned at the accumulation position; and is interposed between the frame member and the lithographic printing plate on the accumulation surface, A cushioning material that is elastically deformed by a load from the plate, and a metal protective sheet that is interposed between the cushioning material and the planographic printing plate on the stacking surface, and that is deformed together with the cushioning material when the planographic printing plate abuts. Have been proposed (Patent Document 1).

  The stacking device, as the frame member, a back stopper for receiving a planographic printing plate thrown from a conveying means such as a belt conveyor, a front stopper provided to face the back stopper across the stacking surface, A pair of side stoppers provided along both side edges of the integration surface.

  The front stopper is provided with a horizontal slit-shaped nozzle hole that blows air toward a planographic printing plate fed from a belt conveyor.

  Therefore, by controlling the strength and direction of the air blown from the nozzle hole, the flying height of the loaded lithographic printing plate is controlled, and the lithographic printing plate accumulated on the collecting surface and the lithographic printing plate charged It is considered possible to reduce contact with

As an accumulating apparatus for accumulating sheets such as a lithographic printing plate, an accumulating apparatus having means for temporarily holding and releasing the holding of sheets continuously conveyed has also been proposed. (Patent Document 2).
JP 2002-046924 A JP-A-4-333461

  However, in the stacking apparatus described in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that the edge portion of the newly input sheet flutters with air and damages the surface of the already input sheet. Further, when the sheet feeding speed is increased, the fluttering of the sheet due to the collision with the back stopper is increased, which may damage the surface of the already accumulated sheets.

  Further, since the newly loaded sheet falls with the central portion swollen upward, the edge of the already loaded sheet may be damaged at the corner.

  In the stacking device described in Patent Document 2, it is considered that there is no possibility that such a problem occurs because the sheets are dropped and stacked without receiving air, but the sheets are temporarily held. Since it takes time to put in and out the holding member for this purpose, there is a problem that it is not possible to cope with the case where the sheet feeding interval is short.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and even when a sheet is loaded at a high speed, the newly loaded sheet does not damage the surface of the already loaded sheet. An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet stacking apparatus that can handle sheet feeding at short intervals.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a sheet stacking apparatus that stacks sheets sequentially loaded by the loading unit in a layered manner at a predetermined stacking position, and is along the loading direction of the loaded sheet above the stacking position. A sheet feeding apparatus having at least one pair of sheet holders that horizontally receive a pair of side edge portions, and sheet holder feeding means for moving the sheet holders that have received the sheets downward toward the stacking position. It is related with the sheet stacking apparatus characterized by comprising.

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, the sheet input by the input unit is horizontally received by the sheet holder in the sheet feeding apparatus. The sheet holder that has received the sheet is moved downward toward the stacking position by the sheet holder feeding means.

  Therefore, since the sheet is transported to the stacking position while being held at least by the sheet holder, the sheet does not flutter even when the input speed is high. Even if the sheet flutters, the fluttering converges during the transfer. Further, since the both side edges of the sheet are lowered while being held horizontally, the sheet is kept horizontal, or the center portion is bent downward by weight. Therefore, the sheet does not deform into a form in which the central portion swells upward while the sheet is lowered toward the stacking position, so that the already stacked sheet is not damaged by the newly loaded sheet.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding device, a plurality of pairs are provided along a sheet feeding path along which the sheet loaded with the sheet holder is transported downward toward the stacking position. The present invention relates to the sheet stacking apparatus according to item 1.

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, after one sheet holder receives a sheet, the next sheet holder positioned above the one sheet holder descends to receive the next sheet. The next sheet can be loaded without waiting for the holder to return to the initial position. Therefore, it is possible to respond to the loading of sheets at shorter intervals.

  A third aspect of the present invention relates to the sheet stacking apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the sheet holder feeding device intermittently feeds the sheet holder.

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, since the sheet is loaded toward the stationary sheet holder, it is received in a more stable state.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there are provided a plurality of pairs along the sheet feeding path, a first position for receiving both side edges of the sheet in the sheet feeding path, and a second position away from the sheet feeding path. A sheet feeding device comprising: a sheet holding device that takes one of the positions; and a sheet holding device driving unit that moves the sheet holding device between the first position and the second position. In the apparatus, the sheet holder is held in the first position when receiving a loaded sheet, and the sheet holder driving means receives a sheet when a pair of sheet holders receive the sheet. The present invention relates to a sheet stacking apparatus, wherein the pair of sheet holders are moved from a first position to a second position to drop a sheet onto a lower sheet holder.

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, when a pair of sheet holders receives a sheet, the sheet holder is moved from a first position to a second position by the sheet holder driving means. As a result, the sheet received by the sheet holder drops toward the sheet holder located one step below. When the sheet holder lower than the first stage receives the sheet, the sheet holder is moved from the first position to the second position by the sheet holder driving means, so that the sheet further falls to the sheet holder lower by one stage. In this manner, the sheet holder is sequentially moved from the first position to the second position from the top to the bottom, so that the sheets are sent downward toward the stacking position.

  As described above, in the sheet stacking apparatus, since the sheet is once received by the sheet holder of each stage and then dropped toward the sheet holder one stage below, the sheet dropping speed can be suppressed.

  Further, since the sheet stacking apparatus does not require a mechanism for moving the sheet holder from the upper side to the lower side, it can be configured more compactly than that of the first aspect.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet stacking apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the sheet holder driving means simultaneously moves the pair of sheet holders that have received the sheet from the first position to the second position. About.

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, since the loaded sheets are sent downward while maintaining a horizontal state, it is particularly effectively prevented that the stacked sheets are damaged at the stacking position.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the sheet holder is provided outside the sheet feeding path, and is provided to be rotatable around a rotation axis along the sheet feeding direction. 6. The sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sheet stacking device is held horizontally when taking the second position and is rotated downward around the rotation shaft when taking the second position.

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, the sheet holder shifts from the first position to the second position by rotating downward around the rotation shaft. Gravity can be used to move to a position. Therefore, the mechanism around the sheet holder can be simplified. However, when the operation is not high speed, the operation due to its own weight is sufficient, but when high speed operation is required, it is preferable to use an actuator.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the sheet holder is formed so as to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the sheet feeding path, protrudes toward the sheet feeding path at the first position, and 6. The sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sheet stacking apparatus is retracted from the sheet feeding path.

  In a sheet feeding device comprising a plurality of pairs of sheet holders arranged in the vertical direction and a sheet holder driving means for driving these sheet holders, a pair of sheet holders are provided for a loaded sheet. When the sheet holder is received, the sheet holder is moved from the first position to the second position. After the sheet falls from the sheet holder, the sheet holder is moved to the second position until the next sheet is loaded. Return from the position to the first position and receive the newly loaded sheet. Accordingly, not only when the sheet holder is moved from the first position to the second position, but also when the sheet holder is returned from the second position to the first position, it is necessary to quickly change the position of the sheet holder. .

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, the sheet holder is moved forward from the first position to the second position by moving forward toward the sheet feeding path, and moved from the second position to the first position by moving backward. Since it is returned, the position of the sheet holder can be quickly changed.

  The invention according to claim 9 is provided with a stopper which is located downstream of the sheet feeding device along the sheet feeding direction and receives a side edge on the downstream side along the loading direction of the loaded sheet. The sheet collecting apparatus according to any one of 1 to 8.

  In the sheet stacking apparatus, even when the sheet feeding speed is high, the loaded sheet is received by the stopper and reliably held by the sheet holder. Therefore, the sheet stacking apparatus is preferably used for stacking sheets in a sheet production line having a high line speed and a high input speed.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even when a sheet is input at a high speed, the surface of the already input sheet is not damaged by the newly input sheet, and the sheet is formed at a short interval. A sheet stacking apparatus capable of handling the loading is provided.

1. Embodiment 1

  The stacking apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment stacks a lithographic printing original plate that is an example of a sheet according to the present invention, and is an example of a sheet stacking apparatus according to the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. Conveying conveyor 4 that is an input means for inputting original P, stacking table 2 that can be moved up and down for stacking lithographic printing original plate P that has been input by transporting conveyor 4, and positioned immediately above stacking table 2 and input by transporting conveyor 4 A sheet feeding device 6 that feeds the lithographic printing original plate P downward toward the stacking table 2 and a stopper 8 provided so as to face the conveyor 4 with the sheet feeding device 6 interposed therebetween.

  A pair of sheet feeding devices 6 are provided so as to sandwich a sheet feeding path through which the lithographic printing original P is fed downward, so that the interval can be changed according to the size of the lithographic printing original P to be stacked. It is supported by a linear guide (not shown) provided along a direction orthogonal to the direction a. The change of the interval of the sheet feeding device 6 may be manual or automatic.

  The sheet feeding device 6 includes a sheet holder 60 that receives the lithographic printing original plate P introduced from the conveyor 4 from below, and a sheet holding device 60 that is provided along the vertical direction and receives the lithographic printing original plate P. As shown in b, a holder feeding conveyor 62 that moves downward is provided. The holder feeding conveyor 62 corresponds to the sheet holder feeding means in the present invention.

  The holder feeding conveyor 62 supports the conveyor belt 62A in which the sheet holders 60 are fixed at regular intervals and the conveyor belt 62A in a tensioned state, and at the same time, as shown by an arrow b, in other words, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the sheet feeding device 6 positioned on the left side in FIG. 2 has a pair of driving rollers 62B that rotate in the clockwise direction, and the sheet feeding device 6 positioned on the right side in FIG.

  The sheet holder 60 is fixed at a right angle to the conveyor belt 62A as shown in FIGS. Therefore, in the holder feeding conveyor 62, the sheet holder 60 is in a horizontal state at a portion between the driving roller 62B located at the upper end and the driving roller 62B located at the lower end. Further, as the conveyor belt 62A rotates in the direction of the arrow b, the sheet holders that are in positions opposite to each other, in other words, the inner side, are lowered toward the stacking table 2 as indicated by the arrow c.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet feeding device 6 is set such that the height of the uppermost sheet holder 60 </ b> A is lower than the height on the outlet side of the conveyor 4.

  The stopper 8 includes a pad portion 80 provided along a vertical surface so as to face the transport conveyor 4, a buffer spring 82 provided on a surface of the pad portion 80 opposite to the side facing the transport conveyor 4, and And a damper 84. A pad is provided on the surface of the pad portion 80 facing the conveyor 4 so that the received lithographic printing original plate P is not damaged.

  On the upper surface of the stacking table 2, a plate-shaped stacking jig 20 on which the planographic printing original plate P is stacked is placed, and four guide plates 10 are erected so as to surround the stacking jig 20. The upper end of each guide plate 10 is bent outward. The stacking table 2 is supported by the lifter 12 so as to be movable up and down as indicated by an arrow d.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the stacking apparatus 100 will be described.

  The lithographic printing original plate P loaded by the conveyor 4 jumps over the sheet feeding device 6 as shown by an arrow a in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lithographic printing original plate P received by the stopper 8 is changed to an arrow a by the sheet holder 60 </ b> A located at the top of the sheet holder 60 of the pair of sheet feeding devices 6. Both side edges parallel to each other are held from below. When the planographic printing original plate P is held by the uppermost sheet holder 60, the conveyor belt 62A rotates in the direction of the arrow b, and the sheet adjacent to the upstream side of the sheet holder 60A with respect to the rotation direction b of the conveyor belt 62A. The holder 60B moves to the position of the sheet holder 60A and stops at this position. As a result, the lithographic printing plate P held by the sheet holder 60A is lowered in the direction of the arrow c by the interval of the sheet holder 60, and the lithographic printing plate P to be loaded next is held by the sheet holder 60B. Is done. As described above, the conveyor belt 62 </ b> A rotates intermittently, so that the planographic printing plate P descends intermittently in the direction of the arrow c toward the stacking table 2. Then, since the sheet holder 60A holding the lithographic printing original plate P changes its direction from horizontal to vertical at the lower end of the sheet feeding device 6, the lithographic printing original plate P falls from between a pair of sheet holders 60A. The guide plate 10 guides the stacking jig 20.

  In the stacking apparatus 100, the lithographic printing plate loaded on the conveyor 4 is intermittently fed toward the stacking table 2 by the sheet feeding apparatus 6. In addition, in the sheet feeding device 6, since both side edges are held from below by the sheet holder 60, the planographic printing original plate P is fed in a state where the horizontal or central portion hangs downward.

  Therefore, the surface of the lithographic printing plate P already accumulated on the accumulation jig 20 is not damaged at the edge portion.

  Further, since the sheet holders 60 are provided on the conveyor belt 62A at regular intervals, the conveyance conveyor 4 can be matched by aligning the interval at which the lithographic printing original P is loaded with the conveyor 4 with the rotational speed of the conveyor belt 62A. 4, even when the interval between feeding the lithographic printing original plates P is short, each lithographic printing original plate P can be received one by one in each sheet holder 60, so that two or more lithographic printing original plates P are loaded in an overlapping state. This prevents the plate making surface from being damaged.

  Furthermore, even if the charging speed of the lithographic printing original plate P is high, the kinetic energy of the lithographic printing original plate P is absorbed by the stopper 8, so that the loaded lithographic printing original plate P is reliably received by the sheet feeding device 6. And sent down.

2. Embodiment 2

  The stacking apparatus according to the second embodiment is a stacking prosecution using the sheet feeding apparatus 16 instead of the sheet feeding apparatus 6 in the stacking apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment.

  Similarly to the sheet feeding device 6 included in the stacking device 100 according to the first embodiment, a pair of sheet feeding devices 16 are provided so as to sandwich a sheet feeding path through which the lithographic printing original plate P is fed downward. It is supported by a linear guide (not shown) provided along a direction orthogonal to the loading direction a so that the interval can be changed according to the size of the lithographic printing original plate P. The change of the interval of the sheet feeding device 6 may be manual or automatic.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the sheet feeding device 16 includes a base 164 provided in the vertical direction, and a sheet holder provided on the base 164 so as to be rotatable via a rotation shaft 162 at regular intervals. 160. The left and right sheet holders 160 are attached at the same height in the example shown in FIG. 3, but are attached alternately in the example shown in FIG. In the first position, the sheet holder 160 is horizontal as shown by a solid line in FIGS. 3 and 4, and in the second position, the sheet holder 160 rotates downward about the rotation shaft 162 as shown by a two-dot chain line. Take the moved position.

  Hereinafter, an operation of the accumulation device according to the second embodiment will be described.

  The planographic printing plate P input by the conveyor 4 jumps over the sheet feeding device 16 and is received by the stopper 8. The planographic printing original plate P received by the stopper 8 is held from the left and right by a sheet holder 160A located at the top of the sheet holder 160 of the pair of sheet feeding devices 16.

  When receiving the planographic printing original plate P, the sheet holder 160A rotates downward about the rotation shaft 162 as shown by an arrow d in FIGS. 3 and 4 and shifts from the first position to the second position. . In the example shown in FIG. 3, the left and right sheet holders 160A (160) simultaneously rotate together, but in the example shown in FIG. 4, the sheet holder 160A (160) located on the left side in the drawing is used. After rotating downward, the right sheet holder 160A (160) rotates downward. Thus, when the sheet holder 160A rotates downward and shifts to the second position, the lithographic printing original plate P falls and is received by the sheet holder 160B positioned one step below the sheet holder 160A.

  When the sheet holder 160B receives the lithographic printing original plate P, the sheet holder 160B rotates downward around the rotation shaft 162 in the same manner as the sheet holder 160A.

  In this way, the lithographic printing original plate P is sent downward toward the stacking table 2 as the sheet holder 160 is sequentially rotated downward from above.

3. Embodiment 3

  The stacking apparatus according to the third embodiment is a stacking prosecution in which the sheet feeding apparatus 26 is used instead of the sheet feeding apparatus 6 in the stacking apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment.

  Similarly to the sheet feeding device 6 included in the stacking device 100 according to the first embodiment, the sheet feeding device 26 is also provided in a pair so as to sandwich a sheet feeding path through which the lithographic printing original P is fed downward. It is supported by a linear guide (not shown) provided along a direction orthogonal to the loading direction a so that the interval can be changed according to the size of the lithographic printing original P to be made. The change of the interval of the sheet feeding device 6 may be manual or automatic.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the sheet feeding device 26 includes a base 264 provided along the vertical direction, an actuator 262 provided on the base 264 at a predetermined interval, and an actuator 262 as indicated by an arrow e. It has a plunger 261 that is pushed in the horizontal direction, and a side guide 260 that is fixed to the tip of the plunger 261. The side guide 260 is formed of a thin metal plate having a wavy cross section, and when the plunger 261 protrudes by the actuator 262, the side guide 260 is deformed so as to protrude inward and receives the planographic printing plate precursor P. Then, when the plunger 261 is pulled into the actuator 262, it is recessed, in other words, protrudes outward, and the received planographic printing plate P falls. Instead of the side guide 260, a receiving member 263 of the form shown in FIG. 6 may be fixed to the tip of the plunger 261. The receiving member 263 is a plate-like member extending along the loading direction a of the planographic printing original plate P, and is fixed to the plunger 261 so that the opposing receiving members 263 are arranged to open upward. ing. At the lower end of the receiving member 263, a claw 263A for receiving the introduced lithographic printing original plate P from below is provided inward.

  Hereinafter, an operation of the accumulation device according to the third embodiment will be described.

  When the lithographic printing original P is fed by the conveyor 4, as shown in FIG. 5A, the odd-numbered stages from the top, that is, the first, third, fifth, seventh, etc. In the actuator 262A, the plunger 261 protrudes, and the plunger 261 is retracted in the even-numbered plate from the top, that is, the first, third, fifth, seventh,... is there. Therefore, the side guide 260 is deformed in the order of convex, concave, convex, concave,... Therefore, the lithographic printing original plate P introduced by the conveyor 4 is received by the convex portion located at the uppermost stage of the side guide 260.

  When the lithographic printing original plate P is received by the side guide 260, as shown in FIG. 5B, the odd-numbered stages from the top, that is, the first, third, fifth, seventh,... The plunger 261 is retracted by the actuator 262A, and the plunger 261 discharges from the even-numbered plate, that is, the first, third, fifth, seventh,... Therefore, the side guide 260 is deformed in the order of concave, convex, concave, convex,. Therefore, the lithographic printing original plate P falls from the side guide 260 toward the convex portion corresponding to the second stage actuator 262.

  When the planographic printing plate P falls from the top of the side guide 260 toward the convex portion corresponding to the second stage actuator 262, the actuator 262 and the side guide 260 return to the state shown in FIG. The planographic printing original plate P to be received is received.

  In the stacking apparatus according to the third embodiment, the lithographic printing original plate P is received by the side guide 260 having a corrugated cross section, and therefore is not damaged by the side guide 260 even if the loading position is slightly shifted.

  In addition to the integration of photosensitive, heat-sensitive, and laser exposure type lithographic printing plates, the present invention includes metal sheets such as aluminum sheets, stainless steel sheets, ordinary steel sheets, and high-tensile steel sheets, painted iron plates, various plastic sheets, And can be used to collect paper.

FIG. 1 is a bird's-eye view showing the overall configuration of the integrated device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating functions of the sheet feeding device included in the stacking apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a front view illustrating the configuration of the sheet feeding device in the stacking apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating a configuration of another example of the sheet feeding device in the stacking apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a front view illustrating a configuration of a sheet feeding device in the stacking apparatus according to the third embodiment. FIG. 6 is a front view illustrating a configuration of a receiving member that can be attached to the sheet feeding device illustrated in FIG. 5 instead of the side guide and an outline of the arrangement.

Explanation of symbols

2 Stacking Table 4 Conveyor 6 Sheet Feeder 8 Stopper 10 Guide Plate 12 Lifter 16 Sheet Feeder 20 Stacking Tool 26 Sheet Feeder 60 Sheet Holder 60A Sheet Holder 60B Sheet Holder 62 Holder Feed Conveyor 62A Conveyor Belt 62B Drive Roller 80 Pad portion 82 Buffer spring 84 Damper 100 Stacking device 160 Sheet holder 160A Sheet holder 160B Sheet holder 162 Rotating shaft 164 Base 260 Side guide 261 Plunger 262 Actuator 262A Actuator 262B Actuator 263 Receiving member 263A Claw 264 Base

Claims (8)

A sheet stacking device for laminating sheets sequentially loaded by the loading means in a predetermined stacking position,
At least one pair of sheet holders horizontally receiving a pair of side edges along the loading direction of the loaded sheets above the stacking position;
A sheet stacking apparatus, comprising: a sheet feeding device having sheet holding tool feeding means for moving the sheet holding tool that has received the sheet downward toward the stacking position.   2. The sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of pairs of the sheet holders are provided along a sheet feeding path along which the loaded sheets are transferred downward toward the stacking position. 3. .   The sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sheet holder feeding device intermittently feeds the sheet holder. A plurality of pairs are provided along a sheet feeding path along which the fed sheets are transferred downward toward the stacking position, and a first position for receiving both side edges of the sheet in the sheet feeding path, and the sheet feeding path A sheet holder that takes any of the second position away from
A sheet feeding device having a sheet holder driving means for moving the sheet holder between the first position and the second position;
In the sheet feeding device, the sheet holder is held in the first position when receiving a loaded sheet,
When a pair of sheet holders receives a sheet, the sheet holder driving means moves the pair of sheet holders from a first position to a second position to hold the sheet one step lower. A sheet stacking apparatus, wherein the sheet stacking apparatus drops onto a tool.   5. The sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sheet holder driving unit simultaneously moves the pair of sheet holders that have received the sheet from the first position to the second position.   The sheet holder is located outside the sheet feeding path, is provided so as to be rotatable around a rotation axis along the sheet feeding direction, and is held horizontally when taking the first position, 6. The sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when the second position is taken, the sheet stacking apparatus rotates downward around the rotation axis.   5. The sheet holding tool is formed to be able to advance and retreat with respect to the sheet feeding path, protrudes toward the sheet feeding path at the first position, and retracts from the sheet feeding path at the second position. Or the sheet stacking device according to 5.   8. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a stopper that is positioned on the downstream side of the sheet feeding device along the sheet feeding direction and receives a downstream side edge along the loading direction of the loaded sheet. The sheet stacking apparatus described.

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