JPS6138098B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a paper sheet conveying device for conveying mail items sorted by a sorting machine, for example.

In recent years, various automatic mail processing machines have been put into practical use in order to save labor in postal operations, one of which is the automatic postal code reading and sorting machine that automatically reads postal codes and automatically sorts them by destination. be.

Conventionally, in this type of device, the collected mail in a group of stacking boxes arranged in multiple stages in the vertical direction is manually taken out by an attendant in each stacking box, and the collected mail is Address cards are now placed on the paper and bundled together. Therefore, dedicated staff must be stationed at all times.
Moreover, there was a problem in that the staff had to move over a wide range, which placed an extremely heavy burden on them.

Therefore, in recent years, automatic take-out devices have been developed that can automatically take out the mail items sorted and accumulated in the collection box group and sequentially transport them to the next process, the destination card adding device section and the bundling device section. A sorting machine has been developed.

By the way, in the case of this sorting machine with an automatic take-out device, due to unavoidable circumstances such as the amount of mail to be processed or strict adherence to the bundling time, the mail is taken out to the conveyance path and conveyed to the bundler section before a predetermined number of mail pieces are accumulated in the collection box. Sometimes it happens. In this case, even if the mail items are bundled, the holding force is weak and the mail items may fall apart.

The present invention has been made focusing on the above circumstances,
The purpose is to provide a paper sheet conveyance device that is capable of conveying only a predetermined amount of paper sheets, which are conveyed by a conveyance path, to a bundle unit. It is something.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an automatic mail processing system that employs the sorting and conveying device of the present invention, and has the following configuration. In other words, a group of postcards, envelopes, etc., set in the supplying section 1 in a standing position, are collected by the take-out section 2 into the foremost mailing section A.
The postal code assigned to the postal item A is read by the reading section 4 disposed midway along the taking-in/transporting path 3.

Next, the mail A is transported by the gate mechanism 5 into the divided transport paths 6a and 6, which are provided in multiple stages in the perpendicular direction.
b, 6c, and 6d are selectively sorted based on the reading result of the reading section 4, and sent to the horizontal division conveyance paths 8a, 8b, and 8c of the automatic extraction function-equipped sorting section 7, or to the exclusion pocket 9. ing.

The sorting section 7 with an automatic take-out function has a plurality of sorting/accumulating box units 10 arranged along the lower surface of the horizontal sorting conveyance paths 8a, 8b, 8c, respectively. The mail A sent into the mailbox 8c is sorted and stacked in the stacking chamber 11 of a predetermined sorting and stacking box unit 10 based on the reading result of the reading section 4.

Then, when an appropriate amount of mail A... is accumulated in the accumulation chamber 11 or a forced extrusion switch (not shown) is pressed, the extrusion mechanism (not shown) of the sorted accumulation box unit 10 moves to serve as a front cover. The pushing plate 12 moves rearward, and the mail group A in the collection chamber 11 is pushed out to the back side of the automatic extraction function-equipped sorting section 7.

On the back side of the sorting section 7 with automatic take-out function, there is a tray circulation system in which three horizontal tray conveyance paths 13a, 13b, 13c are arranged in the acute direction corresponding to the sorting/accumulating box unit groups 10..., 10..., 10... The stacked mail groups A..., A... pushed out from the respective sorting/accumulating box units 10... are sequentially and intermittently transferred within the tray horizontal transport paths 13a, 13b, 13c to the trays 15... It will be transferred within.

The tray horizontal conveyance path 13a, 13b, 13c
On the terminal side of
An elevator mechanism section 17 is provided at the terminal end of the tray, and the elevator mechanism section 17 is arranged to face each other sequentially from top to bottom, and the mail group A sent out from the tray horizontal transport paths 13a, 13b, 13c is accommodated (empty trays may be used in some cases). The trays 15 are received and transported to the next step, the separation section of the tray separation mechanism section 18. Then, in the mail and tray separating mechanism section 10, the mail pushing plate 19 and the tray pull-out plate 20 move forward, and during the forward movement, the mail groups A..., A of the trays 15...
…, A… are pushed out to the front side and shared on the common conveyance line 2.
The empty trays 15 are transferred to the stocking end converting section 23 of the stocking end converting device 22 constituting the starting end of the tray 1, and the empty trays 15 are pulled out rearward during the return movement and placed on the starting end side of the tray return path 24 of the tray circulation section 14. They are starting to be sent there.

Further, the mail groups A..., A...,... sent into the conveyance line 21 are conveyed by the assortment conveyance device 25 which forms the conveyance line 21 as a first conveyance path, and during this conveyance, they are The conveying direction side end and one end perpendicular to the conveying direction are aligned. Then, mail group A that has been sorted
A transfer mechanism 26 orthogonal to the transfer line 21 of ..., A..., ), which are provided in parallel, or are stacked in a stacking section, which will be described later. The above conveyance line 27
The paper sheets A transferred to the destination card issuing/applying device 28 provided opposite to this conveyance line 27
This allows the destination card 29 to be placed on the top surface.

In addition, mail group A to which destination card 29 is attached
. . , A . . . , .

On the other hand, the trays 15 sent into the tray return path 24 by the mail/tray separation mechanism section 18 are conveyed to the elevator mechanism section 31 side provided at the starting end side of the tray horizontal conveyance paths 8a, 8b, 8c.
The tray is transferred to the tray mounting table 32 of the elevator mechanism 31 by a tray transfer mechanism (not shown) provided opposite the terminal end of the tray return path 24 . The elevator mechanism section 31 has a tray mounting table 32...
is intermittently circulated in the tray horizontal conveyance path 13a, 1.
3b and 13c are arranged so as to face the starting ends in sequence from the bottom to the top. Then, the trays 15 facing the starting ends of the horizontal tray conveyance paths 13a, 13b, 13c are pushed into the horizontal tray conveyance paths 13a, 13b, 13c one by one by a pushing mechanism (not shown). Tray horizontal conveyance path 13a,
Trays 15..., 15..., 15 in 13b, 13c
. . are transferred one pitch, and the final end trays 15, . Furthermore, a stacking section 34 is provided on the other side of the transport line 21, facing the transfer mechanism 26.

Note that 33 is a control unit that controls the entire system device.

By the way, the above-mentioned transfer mechanism 26 is configured as shown in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3.
That is, 41 is a drive roller, and 42 is a driven roller provided facing away from the drive roller 41. These driving and driven rollers 41,
42 between the first and second conveyance lines 2.
1, 27 Further, a transfer belt 43 is spanned across the stacking section 34 in a state perpendicularly facing it. A large number of extrusion plates 44 are disposed on the transfer belt 43 at predetermined intervals along its running direction. Further, a belt 45 is attached to the drive roller 41.
A drive motor 46 is connected thereto. This drive motor 46 is controlled by a detection means (not shown) that detects the stacking amount of the mail group A conveyed by the first conveyance line 21.

That is, the drive motor 46 is rotated in the normal direction when the detection means detects that the stacking amount of mail group A is a predetermined amount, and is rotated in the reverse direction when the detection means detects that the stacking amount is less than the predetermined amount. It is becoming more and more common.

However, in the above-described configuration, the mail group A sent to the first conveyance line 21 may be sent to the first conveyance line 21 before the predetermined number of mail pieces are accumulated due to processing volume, strict adherence to bundling time, or other unavoidable circumstances. There is something that is sent to This mail group A is detected by the detection means, and the transfer mechanism 26
, the drive motor 46 is reversed, thereby driving the drive roller 4 through the belt 45.
1 is rotated, the transfer belt 43 runs in the direction of arrow a, and its pushing plate 44 pushes out the mail group A to the stacking section 34 and stacks it.

On the other hand, when a predetermined number of mails A have been accumulated and are detected by the detector and positioned below the transfer mechanism 26, the drive motor 46 is rotated in the normal direction, and the mails are transferred to the drive roller 41 via the belt 45. is rotated, the transfer belt 43 runs in the direction of the arrow b, and the pushing plate 44 pushes out the mail group A to the second transfer line 27 as shown by the dashed line.

As described above, among the mail group A transported by the first transport line 21, those whose loading amount is less than a predetermined amount are transferred to the stacking section 34 by the transfer mechanism 26, and the stacking amount is adjusted to a predetermined amount. Since the items to be fixed are transferred to the second transport line 27, only the mail group A having a predetermined amount of stacked items is transported to the bundling device 30, and the bundling is performed reliably.

Note that a detector (not shown) is installed in the accumulation section 34.
This detector detects the accumulated amount of mail group A, and when the accumulated amount reaches a predetermined amount, it lights up a lamp or the like to notify the worker.
may be collected.

As explained above, the present invention provides the first and second conveyance paths arranged side by side, and furthermore, a transfer mechanism is provided facing the stacking section, and this transfer mechanism causes the first and second conveyance paths to be arranged side by side.
When the stacked amount of paper sheets conveyed by the conveyance path is a predetermined amount, the sheets are transferred to the second conveyance path, and when the stacked amount is less than the predetermined amount, they are transferred to the stacking section. Therefore, all paper sheets transported by the second transport path have a predetermined amount of stacking, and even if they are transported to the binding section and bundled, they will not collapse due to insufficient stacking amount as in the past. This has the effect of being able to reliably grasp the items without any trouble.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an automatic mail sorting machine, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing the main parts, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the main parts. It is. 21...first conveyance path, 27...second conveyance path, 3
4... Accumulating section, 26... Transfer mechanism, 43... Transfer belt, 44... Extrusion plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first conveyance path for conveying stacked paper sheets, a second conveyance path provided along one side of the first conveyance path, and a second conveyance path provided on the other side of the first conveyance path. A stacking section provided in the section, the first and second conveyance paths, a transfer belt provided opposite to the stacking section and running endlessly in forward and reverse directions, and a transfer belt mounted on the transfer belt in the running direction. When the stacked amount of paper sheets conveyed by the first conveyance path is a predetermined amount, the paper sheets are transferred to the second conveyance path. A conveyance device for paper sheets, comprising: a transfer mechanism that transfers the sheets to the stacking section when the amount of stacked sheets is less than a predetermined amount.