JPS643546B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an automatic sorting device for paper sheets, such as mail, which reads sorting information given to paper sheets and sorts them into a plurality of stacking sections.

In recent years, with the effort to save labor in postal services, various automatic mail processing devices have been put into practical use. Also, part 1
One example is an automatic postal code reading and sorting device that automatically reads postal codes and automatically sorts them by destination.

Conventionally, in this type of sorting device, the collected mail is manually taken out from each pocket (accumulating section) by an attendant. Then, a destination card is placed on the collected mail and the collected mail is bundled together.

That is, when mail is sorted and accumulated in each pocket configured in multiple stages and multiple rows, and when the pocket becomes full of mail, or when a forced extrusion switch is turned on, the It is designed so that it is pushed out to the transfer section. In this transfer section, a tray transport path through which trays are moved is provided for each stage of the sorting device, and the trays from the tray transport path are transported to a subsequent stage using an elevator mechanism. At the subsequent stage, bundle processing is performed.

Therefore, in order to complete the bundle processing in time for the delivery time, it is necessary to be able to take out the mail items from each pocket at once, regardless of whether it is full or less than full. This means that the mail is not sorted all at once into many pockets every day, but rather randomly, and when the pockets are full, they are taken out and sorted. This is because if the items are left unpacked, they will remain uncollected and undeliverable over time.

Therefore, smooth sorting can be achieved by taking all the accumulated mail from full pockets and less than full pockets at once according to the take-out time determined by the delivery time (considering the bundle processing time). ,
There was a demand for something that could take things out.

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances,
The purpose of this is to specify the removal of paper sheets from multiple stacking sections in a system that sorts and stacks paper sheets in multiple stacking sections according to the sorting information assigned to the paper sheets. The apparatus comprises a take-out designation means and a fullness detector for detecting fullness of paper sheets, and takes out the paper sheets accumulated in the stacking section according to the detection result of the fullness detector or a signal from the take-out designation means. To provide an automatic paper sorting device capable of taking out paper sheets when each stacking section is full of paper sheets, and also capable of taking out stacked mail even when the stacking section is less than full. It is in.

In other words, smooth sorting and retrieval can be achieved by retrieving accumulated mail from full and less than full pockets at the same time as the retrieval time determined by the delivery time (considering the bundle processing time). It is designed so that it can be done.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an automatic mail processing apparatus which employs the automatic paper sorting apparatus of the present invention, and has the following configuration. That is, a group A of postcards, envelopes, etc., which is loaded into the supply section 1 in a standing position, is taken out one by one by the take-out section 2, starting with the foremost mail A, and transported to the take-in conveyance path. The reading unit 4 placed in the middle of the postal item A
The postal code assigned to is read.

Next, the mail A is transported by the gate mechanism section 5 into divided transport paths 6a and 6 which are provided in multiple stages in the vertical 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. Further, the operation panel 70 includes a forced extrusion (take-out) switch 71 as a take-out specifying means. This forced extrusion switch 71 specifies the extrusion of the mail group A . . . accumulated in all the accumulation sections 10 .

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

Then, an appropriate amount of mail A is placed in the stacking section 10.
When the mail items are accumulated or the forced extrusion switch is pressed, the take-out mechanism of the accumulation section 10, for example, the extrusion mechanism (described later) moves, and the mail group A in the accumulation section 10 is moved.
... is extruded to the back side of the automatic extraction function-equipped division section 7.

On the back side of the sorting section 7 with an automatic ejecting function, there are tray horizontal transport paths 13a, 13b, 13c corresponding to the stacking section groups 10..., 10......, 10......
A tray circulation section 14 is provided in which three stages are arranged in the vertical direction, and the mail groups A, A, etc. pushed out from each stacking section 10 are transferred to tray horizontal conveyance paths 13a, 13b, The tray 15 is sequentially and intermittently transferred within the tray 13c.

The tray horizontal conveyance path 13a, 13b, 13c
At the terminal end of the tray horizontal conveyance path 13a, 13b,
3c is provided with an elevator mechanism section 17 that faces sequentially from top to bottom, and accommodates the mail group A sent out from the tray horizontal transport paths 13a, 13b, 13c (in the case of an empty tray). The tray 15...... is received and transported to the next step, the separation section of the tray separation mechanism section 18. Then, the mail and tray separation mechanism section 1
At step 8, the mail pushing plate 19 and the tray pull-out plate 20 reciprocate, and during the forward movement, they push out the mail groups A, A, A, in the tray 15 toward the front side. Collection end converting section 23 of the collection end converting device 22 that constitutes the starting end of the common conveyance line 21
. . ., and during the return movement, the empty tray 15 .

Further, the mail groups A, A,..., sent into the conveyance line 21 are conveyed by the assortment conveyance device 25 forming the conveyance line 21, and during the conveyance, they are transported in the opposite direction of conveyance. The side ends and one end perpendicular to the transport direction are aligned. Next, mail group A that has been sorted......,A...
. . . are transferred to another conveyance line 27 by a transfer mechanism section 26 orthogonal to the conveyance line 21, and a destination card issuance and provision 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 tray 15 sent into the tray return path 24 by the mail/tray separation mechanism section 18...
are transported to the elevator mechanism section 31 provided at the starting ends of the tray horizontal transport paths 8a, 8b, and 8c, and are transported to the tray transfer mechanism section (not shown) provided opposite the terminal end of the tray return path 24. ) is transferred to the tray mounting table 32 of the elevator mechanism section 31. The elevator mechanism section 31 has a tray mounting table 32
......... intermittently circulated to the tray horizontal conveyance path 13.
It is made to face the starting end portions of a, 13b, and 13c sequentially from bottom to top. Then, the trays 15 facing the starting ends of the tray horizontal transport paths 13a, 13b, 13c are pushed one by one by a pushing mechanism (not shown).
3c, and along with this, the trays 15 in the tray horizontal transport paths 13a, 13b, 13c...
. . , 15 . . . , 15 .

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

The accumulation section 10 will be explained using FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. That is, the extrusion part 40 includes an extrusion plate 40a that also serves as a front cover, a side plate 40b, and a bottom plate 40.
The bottom plate 40c is supported by guide rails 41, 41, so that it can move reciprocally. A belt 43 is connected to the bottom plate 40c of the extrusion section 40 and runs using the extrusion section drive pulse motor 42 as a drive source, and when the drive pulse motor 42 is driven in the forward or reverse direction, The extrusion section 40 is adapted to move forward or backward along the longitudinal direction of the mounting table 44. Further, a stop position detector 46 is provided near one of the plates 45 supporting the guide rails 41, 41 to detect whether the push-out section 40 is at the stop position (postal A accumulation position). A return position detector 48 is provided near the other plate 47 to detect whether the extrusion section 40 is at the return position (extrusion completion position). The detectors 46 and 48 are located at the bottom 40 of the extrusion section 40.
The moving position of the extrusion part 40 is detected by turning on and off by a protrusion (not shown) provided at c. On the side opposite to the guide rails 41, 41 of the plate body 47 is an accumulation section 10.
An empty detector 49 is provided to detect whether or not the tray 15 corresponding to the tray 15 contains mail A.
This empty detector 49 is composed of, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element.

The mounting table 44 has the tilt maintaining member 4 approximately in the center.
A plate body 50 provided with guide grooves 50a, 50a for guiding 0d, and a guide groove 50 of this plate body 50.
a, 50a and the extrusion plate 40a
It is constituted by an inclined member 51 provided on the side. On the mounting table 44, the mail items A conveyed from the horizontal divided conveyance paths 8a, 8b, and 8c are placed. The above-mentioned mounting table 44 has horizontal plates 54, 5 fixed to a carriage 53 which is supported by guide rails 52, 52 so as to be movable up and down.
It is installed in 4. A belt 56 is connected to the carriage 53 and runs using a carriage drive pulse motor 55 as a drive source, and when the drive pulse motor 55 is driven in the forward or reverse direction, the mounting table 44 is lowered or lowered. It's starting to rise. Furthermore, a control circuit 57 for controlling the entire stacking section 10 is provided below the extrusion section 40 .

A side plate 58 is provided on the control circuit 57 and faces the side portion 40b of the extrusion section 40.
A mail detector 59 for detecting the mail A placed on the mounting table 44 is provided at the center of the upper part of the side plate 58, and the detector 59 is composed of, for example, a light emitting element and a light receiving element. This is a limit reflection type detection element. The side plate 58 has the carriage 53
An upper limit detector 60, a full detector 61, and a lower limit detector 6 that detect the position of the mounting table 44 according to the movement of the mounting table 44.
2 is provided. The upper limit detector 60 detects whether the mounting table 44 is at the upper limit (initial state), and the full detector 61 detects whether the mounting table 44 is at the full position of mail items. The detector 62 detects whether the mounting table 44 is at the lower limit (extrusion possible position). Incidentally, the detectors 46, 48, 60, 61, and 62 are composed of, for example, microswitches.

FIG. 4 shows the main part of the electric circuit of this invention. That is, the control section 33 outputs a forced extrusion signal in response to a signal from the forced extrusion switch 71, for example, and outputs a single extraction signal in response to a signal from a selection switch (not shown) for selecting whether or not to perform single extraction. Control circuit 5 of each integrated unit 10...
An extrusion command signal is output in response to an extrusion preparation completion signal or an empty detection signal supplied from 7. Control circuit 5 in each integrated unit 10...
Reference numeral 7 outputs an extrusion drive signal in response to detection signals from various detectors and signals from the control section 33. That is, the detection signal of the full detector 61 and the forced push signal of the control section 33 are supplied via an OR circuit 80 to a set input terminal of a flip-flop circuit (hereinafter referred to as an FF circuit) 81. this
The detection signal of the upper limit detector 60 is supplied to the reset input terminal of the FF circuit 81, the set output is supplied to one input terminal of the AND circuit 82, and the lower limit detector is supplied to the other input terminal of the AND circuit 82. 62 sensing signals are provided. The output of the AND circuit 82, that is, the extrusion preparation completion signal is output to the control section 33 and is also supplied to the first input terminals of the AND circuits 83 and 84. The second and third input terminals of the AND circuit 83 are supplied with a push-out signal and a push-out command signal from the control section 33. A second input terminal of the AND circuit 84 is supplied with a first output signal from the control section 33 via an inverter circuit 85, and a third input terminal thereof is supplied with a detection signal of the empty detector 49. The outputs of the AND circuits 83 and 84 are outputted via an OR circuit 86, and this output serves as an extrusion drive signal. Further, the control circuit 57 causes the extrusion section 40 to move forward by driving the motor 42 in the forward direction in accordance with the extrusion drive signal,
By driving the motor 42 in the reverse direction after the detection signal from the return position detector 48 is supplied until the detection signal from the detector 46 is supplied, the extrusion unit 4
0 back to the home position. Further, the control circuit 57 drives the motor 55 in the forward direction in response to the detection signal from the mail detector 59.
The mounting table 44 is lowered by a predetermined number of mail items, and the motor 55 is driven in the forward direction after the detection signal from the full detector 61 is supplied until the detection signal from the lower limit detector 62 is supplied. It is something that causes the to descend. Furthermore, the control circuit 57 drives the motor 55 in the reverse direction after the detection signal from the stop position detector 46 is supplied until the detection signal from the upper limit detector 60 is supplied, thereby causing the mounting table 44 to
is raised to its initial position.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be explained. For example, now, the horizontal division conveyance paths 8a, 8
It is assumed that the mail items A from b and 8c are supplied to a predetermined stacking section 10, and the mail items A are placed on the mounting table 44. First, the first piece of mail A is placed on mounting table 4.
4, the detector 59 detects the uppermost surface of the mail A, and in response to this detection signal, the control circuit 57 drives the motor 55 in the forward direction to move the mail A to the mounting table 44. It descends by a distance corresponding to a predetermined number of mail pieces. Then, each time mail A is supplied, the same operation as described above is performed. In this way, when the mounting table 44 is lowered to the full position due to the supply of a plurality of mail items A, the fullness detector 61 detects this. Thereby, the control circuit 57 lowers the mounting table 44 by driving the motor 55 in the forward direction. At this time, FF
The circuit 81 sets, and its set output is supplied to the AND circuit 82. Thereafter, when the mounting table 44 reaches the push-out position, the lower limit detector 62 detects this, and the control circuit 57 stops the motor 55. Further, an AND circuit 82 is established by the detection signal of the lower limit detector 62, and outputs an output of this AND circuit 82, that is, an extrusion preparation completion signal. Then, when the empty detector 49 detects that the tray 15 corresponds to the stacking section 10 and there is no mail A in the tray 15, the first takeout signal is not supplied from the control section 33. , AND circuit 84 is established, and an extrusion drive signal is output. Then, the control circuit 57 drives the motor 42 in the forward direction to move the extrusion section 40 forward along the longitudinal direction of the mounting table 44. As a result, the mail group A is pushed out to the back side of the automatic pick-up function-equipped sorting section 7 by the push-out plate 40a, and thereby transferred to the tray 15. When this transfer is completed, the bottom 40c of the extrusion section 40
A detection signal is output from the detector 48 by the protrusion provided on the detector 48 . Then, the control circuit 57 drives the motor 42 in the opposite direction, thereby causing the extrusion section 40 to move backward along the longitudinal direction of the mounting table 44. Thereafter, when the extrusion section 40 is in the normal position, a detection signal is output from the detector 46 by the protrusion on the bottom 40c of the extrusion section 40, and the control circuit 57 stops the motor 42 to move the extrusion section 40 to stop. After this stop, the control circuit 57 raises the mounting table 44 by driving the motor 55 in the opposite direction. After that, the mounting table 44
When the upper limit detector 60 detects when the motor 55 reaches its initial position, the control circuit 57 controls the motor 55.
stop.

Also, multiple pieces of mail A that are not full...
is accumulated in each accumulation section 10......
Select one-shot extraction with the selection switch on the operation panel 70, and press the forced extrusion switch 7.
1, the control section 33 outputs a single takeout signal and a forced extrusion signal. Thereby, the control circuit 57 lowers the mounting table 44 by driving the motor 55 in the forward direction. At this time, the FF circuit 81 is set, and its set output is supplied to the AND circuit 82. Thereafter, when the mounting table 44 reaches the extrusion possible position, the lower limit detector 62 detects this, and the control circuit 57
stops the motor 55. In addition, the lower limit detector 62
The detection signal establishes the AND circuit 82, and the AND circuit 82 outputs an extrusion preparation completion signal. Then, when the detection signal of the empty detector 49 is output from each stacking section 10, the control section 33 outputs a push-out command signal. As a result, the AND circuit 83 is established by the extrusion command signal, the first takeout signal, and the extrusion preparation completion signal, and the extrusion drive signal is output. Thereafter, each stacking section 10 operates in the same manner as when it is full.
. . . less than a cup of mail A . . . is pushed out and transferred to the corresponding tray 15 .

Moreover, when the forced extrusion switch 71 is turned on, the stacking section to be extruded is specified without selecting the one-shot extraction, so that the operation is similar to the one-shot extraction described above.

Note that the signal waveform of the main part in the above operation is the fifth
The structure is as shown in figures a to g.

In this way, when the mail A is full or when the forced ejection switch is turned on, the stacking section 1
The mail group A in 0 is automatically pushed out by the extrusion section 40 and transferred to the empty tray 15 in the tray circulation section 14. This results in
By conveying the mail transferred to the tray 15, it is possible to automatically place a destination card and bundle the mail.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in a device that sorts and stacks paper sheets in a plurality of stacking sections according to sorting information given to the paper sheets, and a full detector that detects whether the paper sheets are full. Since the paper sheets can be taken out when each stacking section is full of paper sheets, it is also possible to take out the accumulated mail even when the stack is less than full. Can provide automatic sorting equipment.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the invention.
The figure is a perspective view showing an automatic mail processing device employing the device of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are perspective views showing the stacking section, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the electrical circuit of the stacking section, and FIG. Figures a to g are signal waveform diagrams of the main parts to explain the operation, where figure a shows the detection signal of the full detector, figure b shows the forced push signal of the control section, figure c is a diagram showing the detection signal of the lower limit detector,
Figure d shows the extrusion preparation completion signal, Figure e shows the extrusion command signal, Figure f shows the extrusion drive signal, and Figure G shows the detection signal of the upper limit detector. A... Mail (paper sheets), 10... Accumulation section, 4
1... Extrusion section, 44... Mounting table, 46, 48...
...Detector, 49...Empty detector, 57...Control circuit, 59...Mail detector, 60...Upper limit detector, 61...Full detector, 62...Lower limit detector,
71... Forced extrusion switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a paper sheet sorting device that sorts and stacks paper sheets in a plurality of stacking sections according to sorting information given to the paper sheets, the removal of the paper sheets is specified for the plurality of stacking sections. A stacker comprising a take-out specifying means for specifying a paper sheet, a full detector for detecting whether the paper sheets are full, and a take-out mechanism for taking out the accumulated paper sheets in response to a detection result of the full detector or a signal from the take-out specifying means. An automatic sorting device for paper sheets, characterized by comprising a section.