JP3488448B2 - Roll paper winding and cutting machine - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roll paper winding and cutting machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is no machine for winding a predetermined length of paper from roll paper (such as toilet paper) and cutting the paper, and these operations are performed manually. That is, pull the paper out of the roll paper set in the holder with one hand in an appropriate amount, press the top cover of the holder with the other hand, cut the drawn paper while pulling, and cut the cut paper to an appropriate width.・ I was folding and using it.

[0003]

However, in the conventional manual work, the roll paper has perforations, but the distance is about 23 cm and the roll paper is not always cut at the perforations. Since it is difficult, the amount of pulling out varies, and the folding width and the number of sheets are not constant, which is troublesome.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a roll paper winding and cutting machine capable of winding and cutting a paper of a predetermined length from a roll paper so that a predetermined folding width and number of sheets can be obtained.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a roll paper winding and cutting machine according to the present invention has a shaft rod for holding roll paper from the inside, and a roll arranged below the shaft rod. <br /> Feed-out roller / feed-out auxiliary roller that draws out the paper from the paper by pinching the paper, and a rotation roller that is arranged below the fed-out roller.
A take-up roller that rolls and winds the paper drawn from the feed-out roller and the feed-out auxiliary roller, and the take-up roller
The above-mentioned paper, which is placed on the roller in an externally fitted state and pulled out, is rotated.
The take-up roll is rubbed by friction with the rolling take-up roller.
Side to advance between the la and take up the take-up roller
A winding guide having a substantially C-shaped cross section, which is arranged between the feeding roller and the winding roller, and is wound around the winding roller.
A cutting blade to disconnect the paper between the paper and the roll paper taken come, and a driving source for driving the said feed roller and said take-up roller, the feed roller feed auxiliary roller, Paper is taken up by the take-up roller
Every time the paper to be molded obtained by cutting with the cutting blade is separated, the paper is once separated to release the paper, and the lateral deviation of the roll paper is caused.
It is configured to normalize and initialize .

[0006] Further, a shaft rod that holds the roll paper from the inside, a delivery roller and a delivery assist roller that are arranged below the shaft rod to draw out the paper by pinching the paper from the roll paper, and the delivery roller.
A take-up roller which is arranged below the take-out roller and is rotationally driven to take up the paper drawn out from the feed-out roller and the feed-out auxiliary roller , and is arranged opposite to the take-up roller.
Winding the paper that has been pulled out by the winding roller.
Disposal auxiliary roller and external fitting on the winding roller
The winding roll that rotates the paper that has been drawn and pulled out
The friction between the roller and the take-up roller
Winding with a cross section of approximately C-shape to be taken up by a take-up roller
The guide, the paper that is disposed between the feed roller and the take-up roller, and is wound around the take-up roller, and the roll.
A cutting blade to disconnect the paper between Lumpur paper, said the feed roller and a driving source for driving the said winding roller, Bei <br/> give a, the take-up assisting rollers, the width of the paper 30% to 40 of size
% In the axial direction and the center of the length is substantially aligned with the center in the width direction of the paper. It has a stretched portion disposed on one side.

Further, the peripheral speed of the take-up roller is set higher than the peripheral speed of the feed roller. Further, the diameter of the take-up roller is set to 40 mm to 65 mm. Further, the cutting blade and the feed-out auxiliary roller are driven by an actuator of a motor with a speed reducer.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings showing the embodiments.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the roll paper take-up and cutting machine according to the present invention clamps the roll paper 1 from the shaft rod 2 which holds the roll paper 1 from the inside. The feeding roller 3 for pulling out and the auxiliary feeding roller 12; the winding roller 4 for winding the paper 1a pulled out from the feeding roller 3 and the auxiliary feeding roller 12; and the feeding roller 3 and the winding roller 4 Set on paper 1
a cutting blade 5 for cutting a at a predetermined length, a drive source 6 for driving the feed roller 3 and the take-up roller 4,
Is equipped with. Then, the paper M to be formed, which is wound and cut by a predetermined length as shown in FIG. 8A, is used by being folded flat as shown in FIG. 8B. The folded paper M has a width H of 70 mm to 100 mm, which is convenient.

This winding and cutting machine is provided with an outer box 7 (in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped), and a lower door 8 is provided on the front surface of the outer box 7 with upper and lower hinge portions 9,
It is attached via 9 so as to be swingable around the vertical axis and is opened forward. Further, an upper cover 10 is attached to the upper surface of the outer box 7 so as to be swingable around (horizontal) horizontal axes, and is opened upward. The rear surface of the outer box 7 is (not shown).
It can be attached to the wall of a toilet booth. Also, the outer box 7
The spare roll paper 1 can be stored inside the lower part of the.

The shaft rod 2 includes left and right side plates 11, 11 inside the outer box 7.
The roll paper 1, which is detachably attached to the upper part of the roll paper and is held in the shaft bar 2 so as to be inserted thereinto, can rotate around the horizontal axis of the left and right.

The roll paper 1 is, for example, toilet paper, and the upper cover 10 of the outer box 7 is raised to take out the shaft rod 2,
By passing the shaft rod 2 inside the roll paper 1 and attaching the shaft rod 2 to the left and right side plates 11, 11 of the outer box 7 again, the roll paper 1 can be mounted inside the outer box 7. This mounting method is the same as the conventional method, and the present take-up / cutting machine can be used in the same manner as the conventional case when the take-up / cutting machine fails or has a power failure. The upper cover 10 is in contact with the roll paper 1 and can be used (cut) in the same manner as the conventional one.

The delivery roller 3 is disposed below the shaft rod 2 and is attached to the left and right side plates 11, 11 inside the outer box 7 so as to be rotatable about the left and right horizontal axes. Also,
A delivery auxiliary roller 12 is disposed in front of the delivery roller 3 so as to face the delivery roller 3 and can be moved toward and away from the delivery roller 3.

The delivery roller 3 (the shaft portion thereof) and the delivery auxiliary roller 12 (the shaft portion thereof) are connected by a tension spring 34 and elastically urged so as to approach each other. And roll-out auxiliary roller 12
It is configured to draw out the paper 1a by pressing it. The axial lengths of the shaft rod 2 and the rollers 3 and 12 are set to be slightly larger than the axial length of the roll paper 1.

It is easy to control the outer peripheral length of the feed roller 3 to be the same as the width H (see FIG. 8) of the molding paper M. The diameter D ₁ of the roller 3 is 25 mm to 35 mm, and the rotation of the roller 3 is possible. It is preferable that the speed is 2 to 3 revolutions / second, and the drawing speed (paper feeding speed) of the paper 1a is 15 cm to 25 cm / second.

A control dowel 31 is provided in a protruding manner on the outer collar portion on the right side of the feed roller 3, and the control dowel 31 can come into contact with a control switch 32 arranged at the rear of the feed roller 3 and the paper 1a. After pulling out a predetermined amount, the feed roller 3
The drawing amount of the paper 1a can be made accurate. Further, the control switch 32 is provided with a counter (timer) control and is connected to a plurality of designated amount buttons 33 ... Provided on the lower door 8 shown in FIG. The rotation speed of the roller 3 is determined. The designated amount button 33 is for determining the amount (predetermined length) of the paper 1a taken up by the take-up roller 4.

The outer peripheral surfaces of the rollers 3 and 12 (which are in contact with the paper 1a) are roughened so that the paper 1a can be reliably pulled out. Also, on their outer peripheral surface,
A plurality of circumferential grooves 14 ...
The (vertical) insertion rods 15a of the feed-out guides 15 respectively arranged below the paper are inserted into the grooves 14 and the paper 1a pulled out by the rollers 3 and 12 can be reliably guided downward. it can.

The take-up roller 4 is arranged below the feed-out roller 3 and is attached to the left side plate 11b inside the outer box 7 so as to be rotatable around the horizontal horizontal axis. In addition, in front of the winding roller 4, a winding auxiliary roller 13
Are arranged so as to face each other, and are configured such that the winding roller 4 and the winding auxiliary roller 13 wind the paper 1a of the roll paper 1 while sandwiching it.

The length of the take-up roller 4 in the axial direction is set to about 70% (about 80 mm to 90 mm) of the length of the roll paper 1 in the axial direction, and one end of the take-up roller 4 is set. Since the (left end) side is arranged so as to be aligned with one end (left end) side of the shaft rod 2, the paper 1 wound by the winding roller 4
Grasping the right side of a, the notch 18 provided on the right side of the lower door 8
It can be taken out from the opening 20 formed by the notch 19 provided on the front side of the right side plate 11a.

The outer peripheral length of the take-up roller 4 is preferably a little less than twice the width H (see FIG. 8) of the paper M to be molded (in consideration of the thickness of the paper), and the diameter D _{2 of the} roller 4 is small. Is 40 mm to 65 mm (45
mm to 60 mm), and the rotation speed of the roller 3 is preferably 0.7 to 0.8 times the rotation speed of the roller 4.

The take-up auxiliary roller 13 has a length (40 mm to 50 mm) in the axial direction that is 30% to 40% of the width of the paper 1a, and the center of the length is the center of the paper 1a in the width direction. It is arranged so as to substantially match.

The holding pressure of the rollers 4 and 13 on the paper 1a is set small, and / or the outer peripheral surfaces of the rollers 4 and 13 are formed smoothly so that the paper 1a is against the outer peripheral surfaces of the rollers 4 and 13. Becomes slippery. The outer peripheral surface of the take-up roller 4 (which contacts the paper 1a) is preferably made of a material (such as vinyl chloride) that strongly generates static electricity due to friction with the paper 1a.

The winding assisting roller 13 is held from the inside by the shaft 38, and the clamping pressure of the rollers 4, 13 is (for example, the inner diameter of the winding assisting roller 13 is the outer diameter of the shaft 38). After the paper 1a is wound around the take-up roller 4 by one rotation (for example, 3 to 5 mm larger than the take-up roller 4), it is preferable that the take-up auxiliary roller 13 is separated from the take-up roller 4 by the tensile force of the paper 1a. The tightening (winding force) of the paper 1a on the take-up roller 4 after (one rotation) becomes weak,
After the fact, the paper 1a (paper M to be molded) can be easily taken out from the winding roller 4.

Then, by setting the peripheral speed of the take-up roller 4 higher than the peripheral speed (feeding speed) of the feed roller 3, the friction between the paper 1a and the take-up roller 4 (due to the difference in peripheral speed). Static electricity is generated by this, and the paper 1a adheres to the outer peripheral surface of the take-up roller 4 (by static electricity) and forms a take-up guide 16 having a substantially C-shaped cross section which is disposed on the take-up roller 4 in an externally fitted shape. It travels between the take-up roller 4 and the take-up roller 4.

The winding guide 16 is a winding auxiliary roller.
Extending portions 16 disposed outside both ends of the axial direction (left and right) of 13
The extending portion 16a has an arcuate shape on the base end side along the take-up roller 4, and a distal end side is formed in an upright shape radially outward of the take-up roller 4 and has a generally V-shape. Therefore, the paper 1a can be reliably guided to the take-up roller 4, and the paper 1a can be reliably taken up by the take-up roller 4 due to the synergistic effect with the electrostatic effect.
Further, the winding speed of the winding roller 4 can be reduced to about 1.2 times the delivery speed of the delivery roller 3.

It should be noted that it is preferable to appropriately provide a winding auxiliary wheel 17 that comes into contact with the winding roller 4 so that the paper 1a can be more reliably wound up. Further, among the members that come into contact with the paper 1a (or around the paper 1a), only the take-up roller 4 may strongly generate static electricity, and the other members (the rollers 3, 12, 13, the auxiliary wheel 17, Guides 15, 16 etc.) are good to avoid the generation of static electricity as much as possible, especially rollers 13,
The guides 15, 16 and the like are preferably made of metal or the contact surfaces are covered with metal.

The cutting blade 5 is formed in a band shape slightly larger than the width of the paper 1a, and is provided inside a cutting box 26 having a U-shaped vertical section attached to the tip of a connecting arm 36 whose base end is connected to the actuator 25. It is mounted so that the front end side is exposed, and is disposed between the delivery roller 3 and the winding roller 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, the connecting arm 36 has a vertically elongated hole 36a into which the distal end of the crank arm 35, whose base end is attached to the output shaft of the actuator 25, is attached. The movement can be a reciprocating (back and forth) linear movement of the connecting arm 36 (cutting box 26).

Inside the cutting box 26, pressing plates 27 are attached above and below the cutting blade 5 via compression springs 28, respectively.
In the free state of the compression spring 28, the tips of the pressing plates 27, 27 project more than the tips of the cutting blade 5. Further, an abutting member 29 is arranged so as to sandwich the paper 1a so as to face the pressing plates 27, 27, and the abutting member 29 has a groove portion 30 into which the cutting blade 5 can be inserted.

The base end of the interlocking arm 37 is fixed to the upper surface of the cutting box 26, and the front end of the interlocking arm 37 has a long hole 37a in the front-rear direction to which the shaft portion of the feed assisting roller 12 is attached. The delivery auxiliary roller 12 is moved in the front-back direction by following the movement of the front-back direction 26 (that is, the delivery roller 3
Can be moved closer to or farther away).

In short, the cutting blade 5 and the feeding auxiliary roller 12 are integrally driven by the actuator 25. Actuator 25 (for example, 42mm square, output 1W
Motors with speed reducers are preferred.

The drive source 6 is, for example, a motor with a reducer, and is arranged inside the outer box 7 behind the take-up roller 4. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the drive gear of the drive source 6
21 meshes with the winding gear 24 of the winding roller 4,
The take-up gear 24 meshes with the transmission gear 22, the transmission gear 22 meshes with the delivery gear 23 of the delivery roller 3, and when the drive gear 21 is rotated in the arrow direction, the delivery roller 3 and the winding roller 4 are driven in the arrow direction. Can be made. Since the transmission gear 22 is only for adjusting the rotation direction by filling the distance between the shaft centers of the sending gear 23 and the winding gear 24, the transmission gear 22 is omitted and the driving gear 21 and the sending gear 23 are omitted. The winding gear 24 may be reduced in diameter with the same gear ratio, and may be transmitted by a gear (chain) belt or the like.

Next, the operation (function) of the winding and cutting machine will be described. First, the lower door 8 shown in FIG. 1 is opened, the paper 1a is pulled out from the roll paper 1, and the leading end of the paper 1a is fed by the sending roller 3 and the sending auxiliary roller 12 as shown in FIG. It passes through between the guides 15 and 15 and is pulled out until it reaches between the cutting box 26 and the contact member 29, and the lower door 8 is closed. The winding auxiliary roller 13 is the winding roller 4
Is slightly separated from or abutted on.

After that, when the designated amount button 33 of the lower door 8 shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the feeding roller 3 and the feeding auxiliary roller 12 start pulling out the paper 1a, and the leading end of the paper 1a is
When reaching the take-up roller 4 and the take-up auxiliary roller 13,
It is taken up by the take-up roller 4. At this time, the winding assist roller 13 presses the paper 1a (by its own weight) (while separating from the winding roller 4).

When the feed roller 3 rotates the number of times determined by the designated amount button 33, the drive source 6
Stops, and the feed roller 3 and the take-up roller 4 stop rotating. At this time, a predetermined amount (predetermined length) of the paper 1a determined by the designated amount button 33 is wound around the take-up roller 4.

Then, actuating the actuator 25,
When the cutting box 26 is brought closer to the contact member 29, first, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the pressing plates 27, 27 pinch and fix the paper 1a together with the contact member 29, and thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6B, the pressing plates 27, 27 are compressed springs 28, 28. Against this, the tip of the cutting blade 5 is exposed while being stored inside the cutting box 26,
The cutting blade 5 is inserted into the groove 30 to surely cut the paper 1a.
The delivery assisting roller 12 follows the forward movement of the cutting box 26 and begins to separate from the delivery roller 3 shortly before the pressing plates 27, 27 contact the contact member 29.

After the cutting, as shown in FIG. 6C, the cutting box 26 is moved backward by the actuator 25.
Is separated from the contact member 29. When the pressing plates 27, 27 are separated from the contact member 29, the feeding assist roller 12
Are separated from the delivery roller 3.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, the paper M to be molded is wound around the take-up roller 4.
The user puts his / her hand through the opening 20 (see FIG. 1) of the outer box 7, and as shown in FIG.
And pulling it out in the axial direction of the take-up roller 4, and as shown in FIG.
Fold it into a flat shape as shown in (b) for use. Since the narrow pressure of the rollers 4 and 13 on the molding paper M is small, the molding paper M can be easily pulled out.

A take-out sensor is provided at the opening 20 (see FIG. 1) of the outer box 7, and after taking out the molding paper M,
The drive source 6 may be immediately restarted to form a new paper M to be molded.

As described above, since the feeding roller 3 and the feeding auxiliary roller 12 are configured to release the paper 1a once each time the paper 1a is pulled out by a predetermined length, the paper 1a is released for each operation (forming The misalignment in the left-right direction of the paper 1a can be normalized / initialized for each molding of the paper M), and the normal operation can be performed.

That is, when the feed roller 3 and the feed auxiliary roller 12 constantly press the paper 1a, the parallel accuracy of the shaft rod 2 and the feed roller 3 is an error of one thousandth (for example, the roller 3 Even if both ends have an error of a little over 0.1 mm), when the paper 1a is fed 5 m, the error (deviation) in the left-right direction of the paper 1a becomes 5 mm, reaching the limit of normal operation (the paper 1a moves from the end of the roller 3). This is because it is impossible to drive any further.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and when the gear ratio between the drive gear 21 and the delivery gear 23 is, for example, 2: 1, the control dowel 31 for the delivery roller 3 is formed.
Alternatively, the drive gear 21 may be provided with two control dowels 31 symmetrically with respect to the axis thereof. Of course, even when the gear ratio between the drive gear 21 and the feed gear 23 is 1: 1 or an integer ratio, the control dowels 31 may be provided in a number corresponding to the gear ratio. Further, the actuator 25 may be a solenoid or the like, and the design of the mechanism for moving the cutting blade 5 can be changed without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0043]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

(According to claim 1) When installed in a toilet or the like, it is possible to wind and cut a predetermined length of paper 1a from roll paper (toilet paper) 1 so as to have a predetermined folding width and number. It can be done without much effort, and is especially convenient for infants and handicapped people. In addition,
The molded paper M is wrapped around the roller 4,
The user grips the molding target paper M and removes it from the take-up roller 4.
Pull out in the axial direction and fold the cylindrical molded paper M into a flat shape.
Can be folded and used. Further, the paper 1a can be prevented from protruding from the end of the feed roller 3 regardless of the accuracy of the parallelism between the shaft rod 2 and the feed roller 3, and normal operation can be maintained. That is, the feeding roller 3 and the feeding auxiliary roll
The roller 12 separates the paper 1a for each molding of the paper M to be molded.
Since it is configured to release the
Normalize misalignment of the paper 1a in the left-right direction for each molding of the paper M.
It can be initialized and normal operation can be maintained.

(According to claim 2) When installed in a toilet or the like, it is possible to wind and cut a predetermined length of paper 1a from roll paper (toilet paper) 1 so as to have a predetermined folding width and number. It can be done without much effort, and is especially convenient for infants and handicapped people. In addition, the winding assist roller 13 and the winding guide 16 can reliably guide the paper 1a to the winding roller 4 and wind it. Furthermore, the winding assist roller 13 can be minimized, and the number of failures is reduced. Also take up
The paper M to be molded is wound around the roller 4.
Then, the user grips the paper M to be molded and takes up the take-up roller 4
From the shaft in the axial direction, and flatten the cylindrical molded paper M.
Can be folded and used.

Due to the difference in peripheral speed (according to claim 3),
The friction between the paper 1a and the take-up roller 4 can generate static electricity in the take-up roller 4, and the static electricity can surely cause the take-up roller 4 to take up the paper 1a. (According to the fourth aspect) The paper 1a (formation paper M) wound by the winding roller 4 can have an optimum folding width. (According to claim 5) Actuator for motor with reduction gear
Since 25 is used, the cutting blade 5 and the feeding auxiliary roller
12 can be driven reliably.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view.

FIG. 3 is a right side view operation explanatory diagram.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the operation of main parts.

FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the operation of the main part.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a molding paper.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Roll Paper 1a Paper 2 Shaft Bar 3 Feeding Roller 4 Winding Roller 5 Cutting Blade 6 Drive Source 12 Feeding Aid Roller 13 Winding Aid Roller 16 Winding Guide 16a Stretching Part 25 Actuator D ₂ Diameter

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A shaft rod 2 for holding a roll paper 1 from the inside.
And a feed roller 3 and a feed auxiliary roller 12 arranged below the shaft rod 2 for pinching and drawing the paper 1a from the roll paper 1, and a rotary drive arranged below the feed roller 3
A take-up roller 4 and winding the paper 1a drawn from the feed roller 3, feeding the auxiliary roller 12,-out the winding
The above-mentioned externally-fitted arrangement on the take-off roller 4 and pulled out
Due to the friction with the winding roller 4 that rotates the paper 1a,
The winding roller 4 is advanced by advancing between the winding roller 4 and the winding roller 4.
A winding guide 16 having a substantially C-shaped cross section for winding the paper 1a, the paper 1a wound between the winding roller 4 and the winding roller 4 and the roll 1 disposed between the feeding roller 3 and the winding roller 4.
And the cutting blade 5 to disconnect the paper 1a between the roll paper 1, a drive source 6 for driving the said feed roller 3 and the take-up roller 4, provided with, the feed roller 3, feeding the auxiliary roller 12 is , The paper 1a is taken up by the take-up roller 4 and
For each molding of the molding paper M obtained by cutting with the cutting blade 5 ,
Once separated, the paper 1a is released and the paper 1a of the roll paper 1 is
A roll paper winding and cutting machine characterized by being configured so as to normalize and initialize the deviation in the left-right direction . 2. A shaft rod 2 for holding a roll paper 1 from the inside.
And the roll paper 1 to the paper 1a, which is arranged below the shaft rod 2.
Feeding roller 3 for pinching and pulling out , feeding auxiliary low
La 12 and rotation drive provided below the delivery roller 3
A take-up roller 4 and winding the paper 1a drawn from the feed roller 3, feeding the auxiliary roller 12,-out the winding
The above-mentioned paper 1 which is arranged facing the take-up roller 4 and pulled out.
A winding auxiliary roller 13 for sandwiching a with the winding roller 4
And is arranged on the winding roller 4 in an externally fitted shape and pulled out.
Of the rolled paper 1a with the take-up roller 4 that rotates.
Advancing between the take-up roller 4 and the take-up roller 4 by rubbing
A winding guy with a substantially C-shaped cross section to be wound around the roller 4.
And de 16, the feed roller 3 and arranged to paper 1a wound up on the take-up roller 4 between the winding roller 4
And disconnecting the paper 1a between the roll paper 1 cutting blade 5
When a drive source 6 for driving the said feed roller 3 and the take-up roller 4, provided with said take-up assisting rollers 13
Has a length in the axial direction that is 30% to 40% of the width dimension of the paper 1a, and is arranged such that the center of the length thereof substantially coincides with the center of the paper 1a in the width direction. A roll paper take-up and cutting machine, characterized in that 16 has extending portions 16a, 16a which are arranged outside both ends in the axial direction of the take-up auxiliary roller 13. 3. The roll paper winding and cutting machine according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral speed of the winding roller 4 is set to be higher than the peripheral speed of the feeding roller 3. 4. The diameter D ₂ of the winding roller 4 is 40 mm to 6 mm.
The roll paper winding and cutting machine according to claim 1, 2 or 3, which is set to 5 mm. 5. The cutting blade 5 and the feeding auxiliary roller 12 are
The roll paper take-up and cutting machine according to claim 1, which is driven by an actuator 25 of a motor with a speed reducer.