Material or article handling – Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into – within,... – Stack forming apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-14
2002-01-29
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Material or article handling
Apparatus for moving intersupporting articles into, within,...
Stack forming apparatus
C270S058230, C270S058250, C271S009110, C271S218000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06341934
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 11-210871 and 11-210904 filed Jul. 26, 1999 and 11-375834 filed Dec. 28, 1999; the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a paper collating apparatus for stacking a plurality of types of paper sheets in a predetermined order and for discharging them as a collated matter. The present invention relates, in particular, to alternately offsetting collated matters sequentially discharged and stacking them on a paper discharge tray.
A collating apparatus which the present inventor assumed as a study target will be described.
FIG. 1
is an overall perspective view of the collating apparatus.
FIG. 2
is a perspective view of the neighborhood of a stacker section of the collating apparatus. The collating apparatus shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
is provided with (1) a plurality of paper feed trays
70
a
to
70
j
which are vertically arranged, (2) a paper feed section
71
conveying many sheets
72
stacked on the respective paper feed trays
70
a
to
70
j
one by one at predetermined timing, (3) a collating and conveying section (not shown) collating the plural sheets
72
conveyed from the respective paper feed trays
70
a
to
70
j
of the paper feed section
71
to provide collated matters
73
(shown in
FIG. 3B
) and conveying the collated matters
73
to a discharge section
74
, (4) the discharge section
74
discharging the collated matters
73
conveyed from the collating and conveying section (not shown), and (5) a stacker section
75
stacking the collated matters
73
discharged from the discharge section
74
.
The stacker section
75
has (1) a paper discharge tray
76
provided at the falling position of the collated matters
73
discharged from the discharge section
74
, and (2) a pair of side fences
77
and
78
positioned on both outer sides of the collated matters
73
discharged onto the paper discharge tray
76
and restricting an orthogonal direction to the discharge direction of the collated matters
73
. The widths of paired side fences
77
and
78
are variable according to the width of the sheets
72
to be collated. Also, the stacker section
75
is provided with sorting means
79
. This sorting means
79
consists of (1) a fixed base tray
76
a
, (2) a movable paper discharge tray
76
b
horizontally movable on the fixed base tray
76
a
, and (3) a driving unit (not shown) applying a driving force to horizontally move the movable paper discharge tray
76
b.
With the above configuration, many sheets
72
sorted according to paper types are stacked on, for example, the uppermost paper feed table
70
a
to the lowermost paper feed table
70
j
, respectively. One unit of a collated matter
73
obtained by stacking sheets in the vertical order of these paper feed trays
70
a
to
70
j
will be described. When a start mode is selected, respective sheets
72
from the uppermost paper feed tray
70
a
to the lowermost paper feed tray
70
j
are sequentially conveyed with predetermined timing delays. The conveyed sheets
72
are collated by a collating and conveying section (not shown) to thereby provide collated matters
73
. The resultant collated matters
73
are discharged to the stacker section
75
through the discharge section
74
. By executing the series of operations continuously, many collated matters of paper sheets
72
are stacked on the stacker section
75
.
In a normal mode, the movable paper discharge tray
76
b
is not moved and, as shown in
FIG. 3A
, the units of collated matters
73
are stacked without being horizontally offset.
In a sort mode, on the other hand, the movable paper discharge tray
76
b
is moved horizontally in synchronization with the discharge timing of the sheets from the discharge section
74
and, as shown in
FIG. 3B
, collated matters
73
are horizontally offset and stacked according to units. The sort mode is convenient for sorting sheets in units of collated matters
73
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
However, the sorting means
79
of the collating apparatus has a disadvantage in that heavy load is applied to a motor (not shown) serving as a driving source due to the movement of the movable paper discharge tray
76
b
itself onto which the sheets
72
are stacked. The moving load particularly increases proportionately with the quantity of sheets
72
to be stacked. In view of this, it is required to prepare a heavy load motor.
Furthermore, it is required to provide the movable paper discharge tray
76
b
with notch holes
80
so as to avoid interference of the side fences
77
with the sheets. It is, therefore, necessary for an operator to take care not to insert his or her fingers or the like into the notch holes
80
.
The present invention has been made after the above-stated consideration and study. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a collating apparatus which can reduce the load on a driving source used in sorting and which can ensure safety in operation.
A collating apparatus according to the present invention comprises (1) a plurality of paper feed trays; (2) a paper feed section for conveying a plurality of sheets stacked on the plurality of paper feed trays one by one at predetermined timing; (3) a collating and conveying section for collating the plurality of sheets conveyed from the respective paper feed trays of the paper feed section to provide collated matters and for conveying the collated matters to a discharge section; (4) the discharge section for discharging the collated matters conveyed from the collating and conveying section to a stacker section; and (5) the stacker section provided with a paper discharge tray for stacking the collated matters conveyed from the discharge section, provided with a pair of side fences positioned at both outer sides of the collated matters discharged onto the paper discharge tray and restricting an orthogonal direction to a discharge direction of the collated matters, and having sorting means for alternately offsetting the collated matters sequentially discharged from the discharge section to the orthogonal direction to the discharge direction and for stacking the collated matters on the paper discharge tray, and the storing means wherein
the sorting means has a paper discharge wing, displaced between a wait position at which the paper discharge wing does not interfere with the collated matters discharged from the discharge section and an interference position at which the paper discharge wing interferes with the collated matters discharged from the discharge section to offset the discharge direction of the collated matters to almost the orthogonal direction to the discharge direction, and moves the paper discharge wing between the wait position and the interference position alternately in accordance with discharge timing at which the collated matters are discharged from the discharge section, thereby sorting the collated matters.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2873966 (1959-02-01), Lambert
patent: 3052466 (1962-09-01), Prince et al.
patent: 4905979 (1990-03-01), Limbach et al.
patent: 5188353 (1993-02-01), Parks
patent: 5810349 (1998-09-01), Bloser et al.
Takahashi Yasuhiro
Takeno Mitsuru
Berkowitz Marvin C.
Ellis Christopher P.
Mackey Patrick
Nath Gary M.
Nath & Associates PLLC
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