JPS6115018B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention allows continuous processing of continuous forms using a line printer or decorator, etc., and when the forms are folded again, the tip of the form at each start of folding is folded into a "valley" when viewed from one side. Automatic folding that can properly eliminate defects such as the rise of the leading edge of the form when aligning the forms at the folding position (on the stacker) or the protrusion of form pieces during folding (see Figure 1), regardless of whether it starts with a "mountain" fold or a "mountain" fold. This invention relates to a continuous form folding device with an alignment function.

In general, in the process of folding continuous forms, it is difficult to guide the folding direction for each division, and for this reason, some folding machines unify the number of folded forms to either an even number or a odd number to prevent the folding direction from becoming unstable at the beginning of each fold. They tried to resolve the problem or, as shown in Figure 2, relied on human resources to prevent the problem from occurring.

For this reason, the current situation is that conventional folding methods do not provide a sufficient solution due to constraints on processing speed and use of forms.Next, an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention shown in the drawings will be described.

In Fig. 3, 1 is an optical detector that detects the passage of continuous forms A, 1a is a light source, and 1b is a light receiving element. 2,
At 2', the paper can be lowered via the transfer guide 3 along the paper feed belt 4, which is provided in a downwardly inclined manner.

In the above, the paper feed belt 4 is connected to one roll 2'.
The rotation of the pull roll 2' can be detected by an encoder 5 connected to the pull roll 2', and a nipping roll 6 is attached to the front side of the belt 4. Arms 7 are arranged opposite to each other.The upper end of the arm 7 is pivotally connected to a fulcrum 7', and as the nipping roll 6 moves, the lower part of the arm 7 can approach the belt 4 side in a undulating manner.

On the other hand, the nipping roll 6 can be driven by a solenoid type drive mechanism 8 attached in interlocking relationship with the nipping roll 6, and a transfer guide 9 is attached to the back surface of the belt 4.

A movable guide 10 is further disposed at a lower position of the belt 4 and is configured to rotate in an opening and closing manner about a fulcrum 10' at the upper end as a pivot. The movable guide 10 can be tilted and rotated, and the movable guide 10 has a blade configuration in order to further feed the form that has descended through the belt 4 and the nipping roll 6 to the stacker 12 side. As will be described later, the structure may be other than a plate, for example, a bar mechanism.

The stacker 12 is provided at a lower position corresponding to the movable plate 10, and is configured to be able to move vertically along the spride guide 13. The stacker 12, which sequentially receives the stackers when folding the form, can freely fold the form. It engages with the chain 14a of the stacker feed mechanism 14 to keep the falling distance constant. This chain 14a can be moved by a stacker driving motor 14b, and the motor 14b is automatically driven and controlled by an output signal from a control circuit 15 obtained in synchronization with the amount of paper A to be fed.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a folding direction instruction signal generation source for the continuous form supplied to the folding position, and the signal from this signal generation source is generated at a predetermined position for each fold of the leading edge of the continuous form, for each continuous form piece, or for each divided number of forms. The purpose is to instruct the movable guide drive side to perform a valley fold or a mountain fold at the leading edge fold each time the continuous form is fed out in correspondence with a fold detection mark or the like formed at a position.

Next, to explain the operation of the above device, the desired number of folded sheets are separated and the pull roll 2,
The form A sent downward from the paper feed belt 2' falls down along the transfer guide 3, paper feed belt 4, and inclined guide 9, which are arranged in an inclined manner, while being fed by the paper feed belt 4. , and reach the lower movable guide 10 side in a falling manner. In this case, when the leading edge of the form A descends, the movable guide 10 is opened at an appropriate angle, and in order to assist the folding function of the form A by the movable guide 10, the nipping roll 6 is moved to the inclined guide 9 and the movable guide 10. When the folding sheets are placed facing each other and the first fold of the form A (the folds of the first and second pages) is in the order of valley folding when viewed from the right side of the figure, the operating order is as shown in FIG.

That is, in FIG. 4, form A is on pull roll 2,
2' to the movable guide 10 side, the nipping roll 6 is drawn toward the inclined guide 9 side by the output signal from the control circuit 15 which amplifies and controls the signal from the detector 1 in synchronization with this. The form descending on the paper belt 4 is sandwiched between the nipping roll 6 and the inclined guide 9 (4-a).

Next, the movable guide 10 is also opened forward about the fulcrum 10' by the extrusion mechanism of the drive mechanism 11, and the nipping roll 6 and the movable guide 10 concentrate bending stress at the fold perforation to create a valley at the so-called first fold. Forcibly adds warp to the fold,
Assist folding at this crease position (4-b
~c).

In the above, the movable guide 10 is driven by supplying an output signal from the control circuit 15 to the drive mechanism 11, and after the first fold of the tip is folded in half (valley fold), the movable guide 10 is again flush with the inclined guide 9. (4-d), and the nipping roll 6 prevents sagging in the descending form until the first valley fold reaches the top of the stacker 12 and is stacked horizontally (4-e), and this nipping The roll is separated from the inclined guide 9 when the folding of the form becomes stable after reaching the stacker 12 (4-f).

Therefore, the form A that descends onto the stacker 12 has one fold at the tip that is aligned with the nipping roll 6.
A presser mechanism at the fold position by the presser mechanism, a document folding mechanism for the first fold by a rotary movable guide 10 that faces the presser mechanism and bends the first fold of the document in the folding direction, and a nipping roll 6 to prevent sagging in the document at the initial stage of folding. Due to the prevention mechanism, even when the folding sheets are stacked downwardly on the stacker 12 and folded, irregular rises of the folding surfaces and sagging defects during falling do not occur. In addition, the above-mentioned folding from the second fold is performed by lowering the form A by the pull rolls 2, 2' which are sequentially sent down onto the stacker 12 and the paper feed belt 4, thereby reproducing the folding at the perforation position along the old fold position. Folding after the second fold can be performed relatively easily with the horizontal stacking stability of the first fold on the stacker 12.

FIG. 5 explains the case where the document folding order starts with a mountain fold. In this case, the nipping roll 6 comes into contact with the inclined guide 9 side and first assists in lowering the document A, so that the leading edge of the document A is placed in the stacker. 1
2, the movable guide 10 can move forward, press the first fold with the tip of the movable guide 10, and apply a mountain folding action to the first cut.
Make sure that the folding is done properly (5)
-a to d), when the folding of the form on the stacker 12 is stabilized, the nipping roll 6 separates from the inclined guide 9 side (5-e), and from then on, folding from the second fold onward is performed on the stacker 12 in the same way as above.
This is done by lowering the form upwards (5-f).

Note that the operation detection of valley fold or mountain fold described above is made corresponding to the folding direction instruction signal generation source 16 by providing an odd number or an even number of pulse signals for each number of sheets passing through the folding surface of the form, and the configuration of the control circuit 15 is as follows. The relationship is shown in FIG.

In Figure 6, the document feeding speed is determined by an encoder 5 that detects the rotation of the pull rolls 2, 2' shown in Figure 3.
It is necessary to monitor this and drive the etching roll 6 and the movable guide 10 in synchronization in correspondence with the folding width size of the folding perforation.

The fold direction instruction signal generation source 16 is located before the detector 1, and when the leading edge of the form A passes the detector 1, the differentiating circuit 17 operates first to obtain a leading edge passage signal due to the leading edge of the form passing.

At this time, the turning instruction signal generation source 16 prepares information for determining the "trough" and "mountain" at the tip, and a flip-flop circuit is provided for each.
Set one of FF ₁ and FF ₂ . In the above case, if the signal is “mountain”, flip-flop circuit FF ₁
At the same time, the flip-flop circuit _FF3 connected to the output side of this is set and supplies power to the drive mechanism 11 to drive the movable guide 10 (4-
a).

After the form A has been sent a certain distance (4-d), the power supply is stopped and the movable guide 10 is restored, and this control continues until a specific value (number of pulses generated by the encoder) according to the distance to the counter 18. This is done by resetting the flip-flop circuit _FF3 with the output produced by the counter 18 when the pulse is sent. In this case, at the same time, the flip-flop circuit FF ₁ and the counter 18
will also be reset.

On the other hand, when the fold direction instruction signal is "trough", the movable guide 10 operates only after the flip-flop circuit _FF2 is set and the form A is sent a certain distance by the pull rolls 2, 2' (5-c). ,
Subsequently, the movable guide 10 is returned (5-
d). This control is performed using the counters 19 and 20 as described above.
When a specific pulse is sent to the counter 19, 20
This is done by respectively setting and resetting the flip-flop circuit _FF3 with the signals generated from the
The difference between the numbers of operating pulses of counters 19 and 20 becomes the output of flip-flop circuit _FF3 .

On the other hand, the drive of the nipping roll 6 is “trough”.
In any of the "mountains", the outputs from the flip-flop circuits _FF4 and _FF5 , which operate when the leading edge of the form A is detected, can supply power to the drive mechanism 8 (4-a, 5-5).
-a) When the passing form has been processed for a certain length, the output of the counter 21 causes a flip-flop circuit.
FF ₄ and FF ₅ are reset to restore the nipping roll 6 (4-f, 5-f).

FIG. 7 shows this timing chart. In the above, the operation count values of the counters 18 to 21 are changed according to the position of the folding perforation, that is, the folding width (form size) of the continuous form and the rotation speed of the pull roll. You can set the appropriate folding position. Further, the operation and return speed of the movable guide 10 can be adjusted by adjusting the solenoid valve exhaust port of the drive mechanism, and the guide amplitude of this can be adjusted by adjusting the operating time.

It should be noted that the movable guide 10 may have an arm or a bar mechanism, an air blowing mechanism, etc. other than the above-mentioned plate configuration, as long as the movable guide 10 can bend the descending form by this guide mechanism that opens and closes. Further, when the rotational speed of the pull rolls 2, 2' is constant, the operation can be controlled using a timer, and in this case, the control circuit can be made very simple and the encoder 5 can be omitted.

In addition, when the continuous form A is set in advance on a feed mechanism such as a tractor, the folding direction instruction signal generation source 16 is used to generate a flip-flop circuit FF by switching the "trough" or "mountain" instruction signal at the time of setting using a manual switch. It may be configured to input to either _FF1 or _FF2 . FIG. 8 shows this relationship. Since the differentiating circuit 17 operates only when the leading edge of the continuous form passes, it is a flip-flop circuit.
FF ₃ and FF ₄ only operate at these times.

Therefore, the folding processing speed after this operation is determined by the folding perforation position regardless of the control circuit configuration, and the stacker 12 can be lowered in proportion to the amount of folding that increases as the form is folded. There is a relationship in which the so-called stack level can always be kept constant.

Since the apparatus of the present invention is as described above, in the process of folding continuous forms into sections of a desired number of sheets, the leading edge of the continuous form that descends to the folding position is guided at the stacker position, regardless of whether the first fold starts with a valley fold or a mountain fold. To provide a form folding device which can be folded reliably without folding failures, can automatically sort continuous forms smoothly without any folding defects, and is reliable as an optional mechanism for a datatcher or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of defects when folding a form in the conventional example, starting from a valley fold and starting from a mountain fold, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of preventing the above-mentioned defects manually, and Fig. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention. 4 and 5 are explanatory diagrams of the main parts of document folding showing an example, FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams for explaining the operation of FIG.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the fold direction instruction signal input to the control circuit. A... Continuous form, 1... Detector, 1a... Light source, 1b... Light receiving element, 2, 2'... Pull roll, 2''... Roll, 3... Transfer guide, 4...
Paper feed belt, 5... Encoder, 6... Nipping roll, 7... Arm, 7', 10'... Fulcrum,
8, 11... Drive mechanism, 9... Inclined guide, 10
...Movable guide, 12...Statsker, 13...
Slide guide, 14... Statzker feed mechanism,
14a...Chain, 14b...Motor, 15
...Control circuit, 16...Fold direction instruction signal generation source, 17...Differentiation circuit, 18, 19, 20, 21
...Counter, FF ₁ , FF ₂ , FF ₃ , FF ₄ , FF ₅ ...
...flip-flop circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An inclined guide that guides a continuous form having folding perforations in the downward form folding direction, a movable guide whose guide tip can enter or leave the form moving path, and a valley of the leading edge crease each time the continuous form is fed out. a fold direction instruction signal generation source for instructing folding or mountain folding; a detector for detecting when the continuous form has reached a predetermined position before the form folding by the movable guide; and a detector disposed oppositely below the movable guide. a stacker, and the first fold at the leading end of the continuous form leading to the stacker is placed on the stacker by the collision of the first fold of the form by the movable guide, which can be driven by signals from the fold direction instruction signal generation source and the detector. A continuous form folding device configured to assist folding in a predetermined direction, either valley fold or mountain fold, when descending.