JP2582930B2 - Continuous Form Paper Folding Stacker - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a folding stacker that folds continuous form paper (hereinafter simply referred to as paper) sent from a printer or the like and loads the folded paper on a mounting table.

[Prior art]

In the conventional folding stacker, paper sent at high speed from a printer or the like is securely folded at the perforation,
And, in order to stack on the mounting table so as not to cause swelling, a mounting table is provided below the rotating belt or the impeller arranged in an octagon on both sides of the sheet falling surface, and as the mounting amount increases. The mounting table is configured to be lowered by an elevating mechanism. In the folding stacker, the mounting table is connected to the elevating mechanism and cannot be moved in the horizontal direction. A rotating belt or an impeller is arranged above the stacked sheets. Therefore, in order to take out the folded and stacked paper after printing, it is necessary to insert a hand into the stacker through an opening provided on the side surface of the housing of the stacker, hold the paper with both hands, and take out the paper. There has been an inconvenience that the leading edge of the sheet in the take-out direction is deformed by contacting the stacker, or the sheet is easily deformed by contacting the rotating belt or the impeller. In addition, there is a limitation on the surface of the stacker on which the sheet take-out port is provided, so that there is a disadvantage that the degree of freedom of the installation location of the printer or the like is small. In order to solve such inconveniences, there has been proposed a paper folding apparatus in which a table for loading paper is provided so as to be able to be pulled out in a direction parallel to a perforation of the paper (for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-72557, JP-A-56-75343 and JP-A-Showa
No. 62-211272).

[Technical problem to be solved]

By the way, such a paper folding device includes a mounting table for loading paper, a support frame for supporting the mounting table so as to be able to be pulled out in a direction parallel to a perforation of the paper, and an elevating mechanism for raising and lowering the support frame. When the lifting mechanism is a wire type including a wire for suspending the support frame and a motor for winding or rewinding the wire on a winding shaft via a pulley, the wire corresponds to a mounting table from the support frame. When the portion is pulled out of the apparatus, the center of gravity of the sheets stacked on the mounting table moves, and there is a risk that the mounting table and the support frame supporting the mounting table may be inclined. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and there is a danger that the support frame supporting the mounting table is inclined due to the movement of the center of gravity when the mounting table on which the paper is stacked is pulled out to the handling side of the printer or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a continuous form paper folding device capable of preventing the occurrence of a problem and ensuring safety.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

The present invention provides a mounting table on which continuous form paper sent from a printer or the like is folded and stacked at a perforation, and a support frame that supports the mounting table so that it can be pulled out in a direction parallel to the perforation of the continuous form paper. An elevating mechanism for elevating and lowering the support frame, wherein the elevating mechanism comprises a wire for suspending the support frame, and a motor for winding or rewinding the wire around a winding shaft via a pulley. In the continuous form paper folding stacker of the formula, a guide column extending in a direction parallel to the support frame elevating direction is provided so as to be inserted into each of the guide holes provided at the four corners of the support frame, and A rack is formed on the guide posts located on both sides of the rear portion, and the mounting table is located at a position other than the storage position on the support frame. A latch that is locked by the guide column when the mounting table is in the storage position and is unlocked from the rack by the guide column when the mounting table is in the storage position. A lock means comprising a biasing member for returning and rotating the latch in a direction in which the latch is locked to the rack of the guide column is provided. Further, according to the present invention, in the above configuration, a sensor for detecting that the mounting table is at a position other than the storage position is provided, and control means for inhibiting operation of the elevating mechanism when the sensor is in the detection state is provided. It is characterized by.

[Action]

When the mounting table is in the storage position on the support frame,
Since the latch of the locking means is rotated by the mounting table and the locking of the guide columns located on the rear sides of the support frame with the rack is released, the support frame supporting the mounting table can be moved up and down. . When the mounting table is pulled out of the storage position on the support frame, the latch of the locking means is locked and locked to the rack of the guide column by the urging force of the urging member. This prevents the rear portion of the support frame from rising due to the movement of the center of gravity caused by being pulled out of the support frame, thereby preventing the support frame and the mounting table from being inclined. Further, a sensor for detecting that the mounting table is at a position other than the storage position is provided, and when the sensor is in a detection state, a control means for inhibiting operation of the elevating mechanism is provided. Lifting and lowering of the support frame while being locked to the rack of the guide column is prohibited.

【Example】

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a folding stacker according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a use state of the folding stacker. As shown in FIG. 2, the folding stacker A according to the present invention is installed on the paper exit side of the printer B or the like, and the unused paper P folded at the perforation portion is used for the printer B or the like.
When the print is completed and sent out,
The sheet is used to fold the sheet again at the perforation and load the sheet on the mounting table. The folding stacker A according to the present embodiment has a housing 1. The housing 1 has a receiving port 2 on an upper surface for receiving paper sent from a printer or the like, and a front side, that is, a handling side of the printer or the like, for pulling out paper loaded on a mounting table as described later. Is provided. Support arms 4 and 5 are attached to both left and right sides inside the reception port 2, and a paper folding mechanism is attached to each support arm. The paper folding mechanism includes an impeller 6 rotatably supported by bearings (not shown) protruding from the lower surfaces of the support arms 4 and 5, and a guide member 7 fixed to an opposing surface of each support arm. And a stop member 8 attached to the guide member. Since the impeller 6, the guide member 7, and the stopping member 8 are arranged symmetrically in the left-right direction, FIG. The impeller 6 is configured by fixing a plurality of blades 62 at equal intervals on a single rotating shaft 61 and sequentially shifting the blades by a predetermined angle around the axis. It is formed of one or both of an elastic synthetic resin and rubber having appropriate elasticity and a coefficient of friction so that a pressing force and a pull-in force can be applied. The rotating shaft 61 of each impeller 6 is connected to a motor 64 via a transmission shaft 63 rotatably supported by the housing 1 as shown in FIG.
Is driven in a certain direction, that is, the blades of the respective impellers are rotated in a direction of pressing down a sheet sent from a printer or the like. 65, 66; 67, 68 are transmission gears meshing with each other. The guide member 7 is suspended between the blades 62 of the impeller 6 to a position slightly lower than the height of the rotation shaft 61, and as shown in FIG. It has a surface 71 and a hole 72 provided in the lower half thereof, and has a bearing 73 on the back surface near the upper end of the hole. A stop member 8 on the back side of each guide member 7 rotatably supports a pin 81 fixed to the stop member on the bearing portion 73, and is formed to bend into a slanting L-shape at the lower half of the stop member. The stop portion 82 is fitted into the hole 72 and provided by a spring 9 mounted between the upper end portion of the stop member and the shaft 51 fixed to the support arm 5 so that the stop portion 82 extends outward from the hole 72. It is biased in the protruding direction. The stopper 82 contacts the upper side of the hole 72 and maintains a predetermined protruding state. When the inclined portion 83 protruding from the guide member 7 of the stopping portion 82 is pushed downward by the sheet P pushed by the impeller 6, the stopping portion becomes the hole 72.
Retreat inside. As shown in FIG. 5, the support arm 5 is provided with a means for detecting a state in which the stopping portion 82 of the stopping member 8 has entered the inside of the hole 72 of the guide member 7. A microswitch 10 is provided which is activated by the switch. Below the left and right impellers 6 and the stop members 8, there is provided a mounting table 11 that receives the paper P sent from a printer or the like in a folded state via the impellers 6. The mounting table 11 is placed on the upper surface of the support frame 13 by a pair of left and right slide rails 12 in a direction parallel to the direction of the perforation line of the paper P stacked on the mounting table 11 (in FIG. 5, a direction perpendicular to the paper surface). Is slidably mounted on the The support frame 13 is supported by a lifting mechanism 14 so as to be raised and lowered while maintaining a horizontal state. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the lifting mechanism 14 has a reversible motor 141 as a power source, and has known conversion means for converting the rotational force of this motor into the lifting force of the support frame 13. In the illustrated example, a wire drive system is used, and pulleys p ₁₁ , p ₁₂ , p ₁₃ ; p ₂₁ , p ₂₂ , p ₂₃ are provided on one of the upper, left, right and lower sides of the inner space of the housing 1. At the same time, the winding shafts p ₁₄ and p ₂₄ are provided on the other lower side, and wires w ₁₁ , w ₁₂ , w
₂₁ and w ₂₂ are respectively turned half way around the upper pulleys p ₁₁ and p ₁₂ ; p ₂₁ and p ₂₂ , then half way around the lower pulleys p ₁₃ and p ₂₃ , and finally,
The other end of each wire is connected to the winding shafts p ₁₄ and p ₂₄ , and the winding shafts p ₁₄ and p ₂₄ are rotated by the reversible motor 141. The winding shafts p ₁₄ and p ₂₄ are connected by a transmission shaft 142. The lifting mechanism 14 is, instead of the above-mentioned wire-driven type, fixing a sleeve having female threads at the four corners of the mounting table, and screwing a vertically threaded bar vertically rotatably mounted on the housing to the sleeve. The rod may be configured to rotate synchronously with the reversible motor 141. The pulleys p ₁₄ and p ₂₄ are used as winding shafts,
These pulleys p ₁₄ and p ₂₄ may be used in the same manner as p ₁₃ and p _23, and a separate winding shaft may be provided. A control unit 15 is provided for the elevating mechanism 14 so as not to further raise the mounting table 11 when it reaches the upper limit position and not to lower it below the lower limit position when it reaches the lower limit position. The control unit, as illustrated in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the actuator 151 attached to the wire w _21, when the mounting table 11 is raised to the upper limit position, the upper limit to be operated by the operating element A switch 152 and a lower limit switch operated by the actuator when the mounting table 11 is raised to the lower limit position.
153 and a motor 141 based on signals from the switches 152 and 153.
Gate circuit 154 for inhibiting one-way rotation or other-direction rotation
It is composed of Upper switch 152 and lower switch 1
53 may be installed at a position that is operated by the mounting 11 that has reached the upper limit position or the lower limit position. In the control unit 15, the paper folded by the impeller 6 and loaded on the mounting table 11 is positioned above the stop surface of the stop member 8 as shown in FIG. When the stopping portion 82 of the member is retracted inside the hole 72 and the paper sent from the printer or the like is not stopped, the mounting table 11 is lowered once by the lifting mechanism 14, and then raised,
Control circuits 155 and 156 for lowering again are provided. Reference numeral 155 denotes a monitoring circuit which monitors whether the state in which the microswitch 10 has been turned off has continued for a certain period of time or more due to the retreat of the stopping member 8, and outputs the output to the sequence circuit 156 at the next stage when the state has continued. give. Scenes Circuit 156
Rotates the motor 141 forward for a certain time (T ₁ ) based on the output from the monitoring circuit 155. It is to be noted that a raised member 16 is provided on the upper surface of the mounting table 11 so that the central portion of the stacked paper is highest and the perforated side does not bulge. In this way, when the paper sent from the printer or the like at a high speed falls from the receiving port 2 of the folding stacker, it is guided by the guide surface of the guide plate 7 and descends as shown in FIG. The mounting table is retracted under the stopping portion 82 of the stopping member 8 and folded at the perforation.
11 Loaded on top. When the stacking amount increases, the paper is not smoothly drawn by the impeller below the stopping portion 82, and the paper is located above the stopping surface of the stopping portion. And retract it from the guide member so that it cannot return. Accordingly, when the OFF state of the microswitch 10 continues for a certain period of time, the monitoring circuit outputs the signal, so that the sequence circuit 156 operates and the motor 141
Then, the mounting table 11 is lowered via the support frame 13 by a distance that allows the sheet held by the stopping member to be sufficiently taken in. Thereafter, each time the load increases, the load is lowered by a predetermined amount. At four corners of the inner space of the housing, guide pillars 17 and 18 penetrating vertically are provided in through holes provided at front, rear, left and right corners of the support frame 13, and upper and lower ends thereof are fixed to the housing 1. Have been. Further, locking means is provided for the left and right guide columns 18 located on both sides of the rear portion of the support frame 13, as shown in the right side of FIG. The guide post 18 is formed by a rack bar,
The rack surfaces of the left and right guide posts face each other. Latches 19 are rotatably mounted on the right and left corners of the rear portion of the support frame 13 by pins 20, and one end is fixed to the support frame 13 and the other end is latched by a spring 21 fixed to the latch 19. The locking portion 191 of 19 is urged in the rack surface direction of the guide column 18 which is a rack bar. Protrusions 22 are provided on the left and right sides of the rear part of the mounting table 11, and when the mounting table 11 is stored in the housing to a predetermined loading position, the protrusions 22 move the front end curved surface 192 of the latch 19 into the spring 21. As shown in FIG. 11, the locking portion 191 of the latch 19 is disengaged from the rack bar 18 so that the support frame 13 can be moved up and down. On the other hand, when the mounting table 11 is pulled out along the slide rail 12, the latch 19 is released, so that the rotation
191 engages with the rack bar and is locked. Therefore, when pulling out the mounting table 11 on which the sheets are loaded, the center of gravity moves to the drawer opening side or outside of the housing, but even if the support frame 13 is moved up and down by a wire drive system, The rear end is prevented from being lifted, and safety is ensured. Further, a sensor 23 for detecting when the mounting table 11 is pulled out is attached to the upper surface of the support frame 13. The detection output of this sensor is provided to the control unit 15. The control unit is configured to inhibit the motor 141 from rotating in the reverse direction and the normal direction, that is, from raising and lowering the support frame 13 while the detection output is being input from the drawer detection sensor 23. As a result, the support frame 13 is lifted while the mounting table 11 is being pulled out, so that the mounting table 11 does not collide with the upper side of the drawer opening 3 and is damaged, or is lowered so as not to damage nearby people and objects. It has become. In the state where the mounting table 11 is pulled out, the mounting table
11 is pulled out and the latch 19 is locked to the rack of the guide post 18, but at this time, since the raising and lowering of the support frame 13 is prohibited, the latch 19 remains locked to the rack of the guide post 18. When the support frame 13 is raised and lowered, an excessive force is applied to the lifting mechanism, the guide column 18 and the lock means to prevent the support frame 13 from being damaged or broken. Push buttons 24 and 25 for giving commands to raise and lower the mounting table are provided on the front upper surface of the housing 1, and switches 157 and 158 operated by these push buttons are, as shown in FIG.
It is inserted in the circuit of the motor control unit 15. When the downward push button 25 is pressed, the drawer detection sensor 23 is turned off.
Unless the lower limit switch 153 is turned off,
141 is rotated forward, and the support frame 13 is lowered to the lower limit. When the ascending push button 24 is pressed, the upper limit switch 152 is turned off unless the drawer detection sensor 23 is turned off.
The motor 141 is rotated in the reverse direction until F occurs, and the support frame 13 is raised to the upper limit. The support arms 4 and 5 are pressed by the guide surface 71 of the guide member 7 and the inclined portion 83 of the stop member 8 when the paper stacked on the mounting table 11 is lowered together with the support frame and the mounting table. To prevent it from remaining or deforming,
By rotating the dial knob 26 provided on the upper surface of the front part of the housing, the support arms 4, 5 can be separated (open) or approached (closed) from each other. That is, as shown in FIG. 12, the support arms 4 and 5
Guide rods 27 and 28 provided before and after the entrance 2 of the housing are movably supported in the horizontal direction, and pulleys p ₃₁ , p ₃₂ u and p ₃₃
u, p ₃₄ , p ₃₂ l are provided, and between those pulleys, one wire w ₃₀ is wound around through a predetermined order and path, and the fixed point of the wire is set to each support arm 4, at both ends of the 5 are coupled by the coupler 29, further, a portion of the wire is also wound sieved spiral to the knob 26, the wire w ₃₀ with the rotation of the left or right direction of the knob in one direction or When the knob 26 is turned in the “open” direction marked on the upper surface of the front part of the housing, the wire in FIG. 12 moves in the direction of the arrow open, and the left and right When the support arms 4 and 5 move in the direction (a) and rotate the knob in the "closed" direction, the wire moves in the opposite direction, and the support arms 4 and 5 move.
5 moves in the opposite direction to (a). Reference numeral 30 in FIG. 1 denotes a paper guide, which is attached to the tip of a connecting rod 33 extending from the slider 32 slidably provided in the long hole 31 provided on the upper surface of the housing side to the receiving port 2 side. And
By setting the pointer of the slider 32 to the scale number (unit: inch) of the paper size set along the long hole 31, the paper of the size can be guided smoothly.

【The invention's effect】

As described above, according to the continuous form paper folding stacker of the present invention, when the mounting table is pulled out of the storage position on the support frame, the latch of the locking means is moved to the guide support rack by the urging force of the urging member. Locking and locking prevent the danger of the support frame supporting the mounting table from tilting due to the movement of the center of gravity when pulling out the mounting table with the stacked paper to the handling side of the printer, etc. Can be secured. A sensor for detecting that the mounting table is at a position other than the storage position is provided.When the sensor is in the detection state, a control means for inhibiting operation of the elevating mechanism is provided. Not only prevents the mounting table from damaging the device and people, but also raises and lowers the support frame with the locking means locked, and applies excessive force to raise and lower the mechanism, guide posts Further, it is possible to prevent the locking means from being damaged.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a folding stacker according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a used state, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a part of a folding mechanism, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of the folding mechanism, FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state in a process of the folding operation, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a main part showing a schematic configuration of the lifting mechanism. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the detecting means, FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram showing an example of the restricting means of the lifting mechanism, FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an example of the locking means, and FIG. FIG. 12 is a plan view showing another state, and FIG. 12 is a plan view showing an example of a support arm opening / closing means. A: folding stacker, 1: housing, 2 ... receiving port, 3 ... draw-out port, 4,5 ... support arm, 6 ... impeller, 7 ... guide member, 8 ... stopping member, 11 mounting table, 12 slide rail, 13 support frame, 14 elevating mechanism, 15 control unit, 18 support rod, 19-22 locking means, 19 latch, 20 …… Pin, 21 …… Spring, 22 …… Protrusion, 23 …… Drawer sensor, 24 …… Up push button, 25 …… Down push button, 26 …… Open / close knob, 27,28 …… Guide rod .

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-56-75343 (JP, A) JP-A-62-111272 (JP, A) Fully open Showa 61-72557 (JP, U) Really open 10357 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 59-112856 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 60-100360 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Showa 61-43802 (JP, Y2)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A mounting table for folding and loading continuous form paper sent from a printer or the like at a perforation, and a support frame for supporting the mounting table so that it can be pulled out in a direction parallel to the perforation of the continuous form paper. An elevating mechanism for elevating and lowering the support frame, the elevating mechanism comprising a wire for suspending the support frame, and a motor for winding or rewinding the wire on a winding shaft via a pulley. In a wire type continuous form sheet folding stacker, a guide column extending in a direction parallel to the support frame elevating direction is provided so as to be inserted into each of guide holes provided at four corners of the support frame, and the support frame is provided. A rack is formed on the guide posts located on both sides of the rear part of the support frame. A latch that is locked by the rack of the guide column when it is at a position, and is rotated by the storage table to release the lock of the guide column when the mounting table is at the storage position; Locking means comprising an urging member for returning and rotating the latch in a direction in which the latch is locked to the rack of the guide column, the continuous form paper folding stacker being provided. 2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising: a sensor for detecting that the mounting table is at a position other than the storage position, and control means for inhibiting operation of the elevating mechanism when the sensor is in a detecting state. Item 2. A continuous form paper folding stacker according to Item 1.