EP0839747A2 - Method and device for depositing sheets in separable piles - Google Patents

Abstract

The sheet stack separation method uses separation foils (24) supplied from a separation foil magazine (22) and inserted in the sheet stack. The foils indicate the separation points between the successive sheet sets delivered by an office machine. The separation foils are supplied from the magazine in response to control signals provided at the end of each sheet set. There are at least two different types of separation foil being used. They have recognition marks and/or are of different colours to be recognised by a sensor in the foil magazine which provides control signals for the foil type selection.

Description

The invention relates to a method and a device for separably stacked storage of sheets that are output by an office machine.

Methods and devices are known with which the sheets provided with recordings, which are output by an office machine, such as a printer, facsimile machine, copier, etc., can be stacked one on top of the other and thus space-savingly, the sheets belonging to different processes, for example to different print jobs, being deposited Separating foils are separated from each other. The separating foils are placed on the stack after the respective process has been completed. The separating foils allow the stack to be easily separated into related sheet groups. Any group of sheets can be removed from the stack in order to process them individually. In order to find the group of sheets assigned to a particular process from the stored stack, it is necessary to search through the entire storage stack. With a large stack and a large number of stored sheet groups belonging to different processes, this can be annoying and time-consuming.

The object of the present additional application is to make it easier to find the leaf groups belonging to a specific process in a method and a device of the type mentioned at the outset.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a method with the features of claim 1 and by a device with the features of claim 6.

Advantageous embodiments and developments of the invention are specified in the subclaims.

The essential idea of the invention is to use different types of separating films which are assigned to the different processes. The different types of separating foils can be easily recognized and distinguished by the user in the stored stack based on their distinguishing features, so that the sheet group assigned to a specific process can be quickly recognized in the stack and removed from the stack based on the different types of separating foils. The simplest and most easily recognizable distinguishing feature of the different types is to use separating foils of different colors. In addition to the striking distinguishability due to the different color, there is the advantage that the different types of separating foils are otherwise completely identical in shape and material, so that the handling of the different types of separating foils is not influenced by the distinguishability. In order, for example, to assign the individual print jobs or printed documents to the different users or different workstations in a central printer, each user or workstation is assigned a specific color of the separating films. With the help of these colored separating foils, the respective user can easily recognize his sheet groups and remove them from the stack.

So that each sheet group that is stored, which can also consist of a single sheet, is assigned a release film of the type that corresponds to the user responsible for this sheet group, the control signal which triggers the storage of a release film contains information as to which type of release film is to be stored. If, for example, the invention is used in connection with the sheet deposit of a printer, a command is added to the print command for the respective print job, which type of release film is to be placed on the stack. By means of this control signal, a separating film of the selected type is then placed on the sheet stack from the magazine, preferably before the start of the print job and output of the printed sheets.

In order to pull the selected type of separating film from the magazine and place it on the stack, the different types of separating films can be stacked and kept separate in the magazine. The control signal then selects the stack from which the release film is removed. However, this solution requires that the magazine has a number of stacks corresponding to the number of different types of separating films and that the magazine has a selection device in order to be able to select a stack in a controlled manner. This leads to a considerable construction effort and space requirement, especially if a larger number of different types of separating films are to be used. In addition, in this case, the separating foils must be put back into the magazine sorted according to their different types, which requires the corresponding care by the users.

It is therefore preferred to provide the different types of separating films with an identification identifying their type, which is automatically recognizable. The separating foils can then be put back into the magazine in an unordered order and the automatic detection searches for the selected type of separating foil from the magazine in accordance with the control signal. To this search and In particular to facilitate the removal of the separating foils from the magazine, the separating foils held in the magazine in any order are expediently removed from the magazine in succession, their identification being automatically checked and compared with the selection command of the control signal. If the identified type of release film does not match the selection command of the control signal, the release film is returned to the magazine. This continues until a separating film corresponding to the selection command of the control signal is found. This is then placed on the stack of deposited sheets and the process is ended until the next control signal.

The automatically recognizable identification identifying the type of release film can be implemented in various ways. For example, it is possible to determine the color of the release film using a color sensor. In particular, the color used to distinguish the different types of separating films by the user can also be used at the same time for identifying identification for the output of the separating films from the magazine. However, such color sensors are complex if a large number of different colors are to be reliably identified. Digital coding is therefore preferably used as identification. This digital coding can be applied in the form of a perforation or in the form of an imprint, which are optically scanned by a corresponding sensor. This digital coding is expediently applied in concentric rings on the separating foils. This makes it possible to use circular-shaped separating foils which can be replaced in the magazine without a preferred orientation. The arrangement of the coding in concentric rings enables the coding to be scanned in any angular range, so that the scanning is not dependent on the orientation of the separating foils. The simplest form of such a coding is the application of a bar code in the form of concentric rings, which is then in the radial direction is sensed by a sensor.

In order to return the separating films which do not correspond to the control signal in the magazine when the separating films held in any order in the magazine are pulled back, a switch is arranged in a structurally simple manner at the output of the magazine, which is switched in accordance with the checking of the marking, so that it either directs the release film into a return channel to put the release film back in the magazine, or directs it onto the deposited stack of sheets.

• Fig. 1
  einen Vertikalschnitt durch die auf einen Drucker aufgebaute Vorrichtung,
• Fig. 2
  einen vergrößerten Ausschnitt der Fig. 1, wobei sich die Weiche in der Ausgabe-Stellung befindet und
• Fig. 3
  eine Fig. 2 entsprechende Darstellung, wobei sich die Weiche in der Rückführ-Stellung befindet.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawing. Show it

• Fig. 1
  a vertical section through the device built on a printer,
• Fig. 2
  an enlarged section of Fig. 1, wherein the switch is in the output position and
• Fig. 3
  a representation corresponding to Fig. 2, wherein the switch is in the return position.

In Fig. 1 the output area of a printer 10, e.g. a laser printer shown with the exit rollers 12, which eject the printed sheets 14 and place them in a stack 16 in a stack. The printer 10 is commercially available and is not the subject of the invention.

The device according to the invention is placed above the exit rollers 12 on the upper cover plate of the printer 10. The device has a housing 18, which is seated on the cover plate of the printer 10 and which is fastened to the printer 10, for example, with brackets 20 encompassing the cover plate. At the top of the housing 18 is a magazine 22 is formed, in which separating foils 24 are inserted in stacks. The separating foils 24 are circular disks which are made of a suitable plastic and have a strength such that they have a certain inherent rigidity, but can be flexibly bent under slight pressure. The diameter of the separating foils 24 is larger than the width of the sheets 14.

The magazine 22 is formed from a support surface 26, which is formed on the top of the housing 18 and extends from the housing 18 to the rear at an incline. Guide cheeks 28 projecting vertically upward are formed on the two side edges of the support surface 26. The width of the support surface 26, i.e. the clear distance between the guide cheeks 28 corresponds to the diameter of the separating films 24, while the length of the support surface 26 is at least greater than the radius, preferably equal to the diameter of the separating films 24. The separating foils 24 can thus be placed loosely stacked on top of one another in the magazine 22, wherein they are supported by the support surface 26 and guided laterally by the guide cheeks 28. A vertical stop wall 30 of the housing 18 is arranged on the front lower transverse edge of the magazine 22, which supports the stack of the separating foils 24 sliding forward on the inclined support surface 26.

Below the lower front edge of the support surface 26, a horizontal shaft 32 running parallel to the stop wall 30 is rotatably mounted in the housing 18. Two separating rollers 34 are seated on the shaft 32 in a rotationally fixed manner, and their adhesive circumference engages through openings 36 of the front edge of the support surface 26 adjoining the stop wall 30. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the circumference of the singling rollers 34 protrudes slightly above the surface of the support surface 26. The shaft 32 with the separating rollers 34 can be driven by a lower one of the bearing surface 26 in the housing 18, an electric motor 38 via a worm gear 40. The drive of the singling rollers 34 takes place in the representation of Figure 1 counterclockwise. At the lower transverse edge of the stop wall 30, a passage channel 42 opens, which extends over the entire width of the support surface 26, the height of which is greater than the single thickness and less than twice the thickness of the separating films and which is flush with the top of the support surface 26 connects. The passage channel 42 begins at the angle of inclination of the support surface 26 and extends, with a slight curvature into the horizontal, essentially horizontally through the housing 18. The outlet end of the passage channel 42 opens at the vertical front side of the housing 18, which extends over the edge of the roller covering the outlet rollers 12 top cover plate of the printer 10 is located. On the underside of the outlet end of the passage channel 42, two lower ejection rollers 44 are arranged in the center on a shaft 46. The shaft 46, and thus the lower ejection rollers 44, are driven by the shaft 32, and thus by the electric motor 38, via a gear transmission 48. The direction of rotation of the drive of the lower ejection rollers 44 is the same as the direction of rotation of the singling rollers 34, ie in the illustration of FIG. 1 the counterclockwise direction. Above the outlet end of the passage channel 42, upper ejection rollers 50 are freely rotatably mounted in the housing 18 and are seated on the lower ejection rollers 44 from above.

A switch 52 is arranged at the exit end of the passage channel 42, where the lower ejection rollers 44 and the upper ejection rollers 50 are located. The switch 52 consists of sheet guide members which are pivotably mounted approximately in their center on the axis of the upper ejection rollers 50 and are arranged axially between the upper ejection rollers 50 on their axis. The sheet guide members of the switch 52 have a tongue 54 directed against the magazine 22, which can pivot downward into the passage channel 42 for the blades 14 by pivoting the switch 52, as shown in FIG. 3, or by pivoting the switch 52 can be pivoted upwards out of the passage channel 42, so that the switch 52 clears the passage channel 42, as shown in FIG. 2 is shown.

To pivot the switch 52, an electromagnet 56 is arranged below the support surface 26 of the magazine 22, the plunger 58 of which engages on an arm of an angle lever 60 which is pivotably mounted in the housing 18. The other arm of the angle lever 60 engages the switch 52 from below. An axial movement of the plunger 58 thus causes the angle lever 60 to pivot and, via this, the aforementioned pivoting of the switch 52. The electromagnet 56 is actuated via a control signal in a manner described later.

The gear 38 drives a gearwheel seated on the shaft 46 of the lower ejection rollers 44, which in turn drives a gearwheel located on the axis of the upper ejection rollers 50. In the housing 18 62 transport rollers 64 are mounted on a horizontal shaft. A gear 66 is also mounted on the shaft 62 and is driven by the gear on the axis of the upper ejection rollers 50. The gear 66 drives feedback rollers 70 via a further intermediate gear 68, which are arranged at the top in the housing 18 at an outlet of the housing 18 facing the tray 16 of the magazine 22.

In operation of the printer 10, the printed sheets 14 are ejected via the exit rollers 12 and placed in a stack in the tray 16. If a coherent printing process (printing job) is started in order to place the group of sheets 14 belonging to this process in a stack in the tray 16, the device receives a start signal which sets the electric motor 38 in operation. The electric motor 38 drives the separating rollers 34 and the lower ejection rollers 44. The separating rollers 34 frictionally engage the bottom separating film 24 of the separating films stacked in the magazine 22 from below and push them through the passage channel 42. Since the height of the passing channel 42 is less than twice the thickness of the separating films 24, only one separating film 24 in the passage channel 42 are pushed.

If the switch 52 is in the position shown in FIG. 2, in which its tongue 54 is pivoted upwards out of the passage channel 42 by a spring acting on the switch 52, the separating film 24 passes between the lower ejection rollers 44 and the upper ejection rollers 50 and is grasped by this and transported by the lower ejection rollers 44 frictionally, as indicated by dashed lines in Figure 1. As soon as the separating film 24 has completely passed the ejection rollers 44 and 50, the separating film 24 falls freely down and lies on the stack of sheets 14. The electric motor 38 is then stopped again. Printer 10 can now begin printing.

If the switch 52 is pivoted into the position shown in FIG. 3 against the spring force acting on the switch 52 by actuating the electromagnet 56, the tongues 54 engage in the passage channel 42. One when the motor 38 is driven by the separating rollers 34 from the magazine 22 peeled release film 24 runs in the passage channel 42 on the switch 52 and is guided by this upwards into the housing 18. The release film 24 runs upwards on the transport rollers 64 from the housing 18, where it is gripped by the return rollers 70 and is placed on top of the stack of the release films 24 in the magazine 22.

The separating foils 24 are flexible plastic foils in the form of circular disks, the diameter of which is greater than the dimension of the sheets 14. There are several different types of separating foils 24, each of which differ in their color. The separating films 24 have a marking 72 formed by concentric rings in the vicinity of their peripheral edge. The marking 72 is coded, for example, in the manner of a bar code, with each type of the separating film 24, for. B. each color of the release films 24 is assigned a specific label 72.

A sensor 74 is arranged in the support surface 26 of the magazine 22, the distance from the stop wall 30 corresponding to the distance of the marking 72 from the circumference of the separating film 24. The sensor 74 scans the marking 72 of the bottom separating film 24, which lies on the support surface 26. The sensor 74 and the marking 72 can thus automatically determine the type of the bottom separating film 24.

The device works in the following way:

If the printer 10 receives a print command, a control signal is simultaneously fed to the device. This control signal contains, among other things, a selection command which specifies to which user or which work station the documents to be printed are to be assigned. The sensor 74 now queries the identification 72 of the lowermost separating film 24 in the magazine 22. If the marking 72 does not correspond to the specification of the control signal, the electromagnet 56 receives a signal so that the switch is pivoted into the position shown in FIG. 3. At the same time, the motor 38 is started in order to pull the bottom separating film 24 out of the magazine. This separating film 24 with the incorrect identification is in this way guided upwards via the transport rollers 64 and the return rollers 70 and again placed on top of the stack of separating films 24 in the magazine 22. This process is repeated until the sensor 74 detects a marking 72 which corresponds to the selection command of the control signal. The electromagnet 56 now releases the switch 52 via the angle lever 60, so that it can pivot under spring action upwards into the position shown in FIG. 2. The bottom separating film 24 with the appropriate identification is now ejected via the ejection rollers 44, 50 and placed on the stack of sheets 14 output by the printer 10. The sheets 14 of the print job are then printed and placed on the separating film 24. Since the sheets 14 that belong together lie in the stack on the separating film 24 that characterizes their assignment, they can be particularly convenient can be removed from the stack together with this separating film 24.

The release films 24 which are no longer required after removal from the tray 16 are simply placed back into the magazine 22 at the top of the stack of release films 24 stored there. Due to the lateral guide cheeks 28 and the inclination of the support surface 26, the separating foils 24 inserted into the magazine 22 are inevitably stacked congruently. Because of the circular shape of the separating foils 24, a separate alignment is not necessary.

It is of course also possible to place the separating film 24 assigned to a group of sheets 14 on top of this group of sheets 14. This has the advantage that the search for a desired release film 24 can take place while the associated print job is being processed. This can lead to a certain time saving if a plurality of separating foils 24 have to be returned to the magazine 22 until a separating foil 24 of the selected type is found.

Reference list

10th

printer

12th

Exit rollers

14

leaves

16

Filing

18th

casing

20th

hanger

22

magazine

24th

Release film

26

Contact surface

28

Guide cheeks

30th

Billboard

32

wave

34

Separation rolls

36

Breakthroughs

38

engine

40

Worm gear

42

Passage channel

44

lower ejection rollers

46

wave

48

Gear transmission

50

upper ejection rollers

52

Switch

54

tongue

56

Electromagnet

58

Pestle

60

Angle lever

62

wave

64

Transport rollers

66

gear

69

Idler gear

70

Return roles

72

Labelling

74

sensor

Claims (14)

Method for separating stacked sheets, which are output from an office machine, separating films being held in a magazine arranged on the office machine and for separating groups of sheets consisting of one or more related sheets, in each case signal-separated, one separating film is pulled from the magazine and is placed on top of the stack of deposited sheets, characterized in that the reusable separating films are put back into the magazine after separating the stack, that at least two types of separating films having different selection features are provided and that the type of separating film is selected by means of the control signal that is placed on the stack of discarded sheets. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the separating films have different colors as a selection feature. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the separating films have the same shape. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the separating foils in the magazine are kept separate from one another in accordance with their different types and are put back into the magazine separately according to their type. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the different types of separating films are selected by means of an automatically recognizable identification identifying their type. Method according to Claim 5, characterized in that the separating foils are kept in the magazine in any order, that the separating foils are successively withdrawn from the magazine in response to the control signal, that the identification of the sequentially removed separating foils is automatically compared with the type selected by the control signal that the separating films other than the selected type are returned to the magazine and that the first of the successively peeled separating films corresponding to the selected type is placed on the stack of deposited sheets. Apparatus for separably stacked storage of sheets which are output from an office machine, with separating foils which are placed between the successive groups of sheets to be separated, the separating foils being stored in a stack arranged in a magazine arranged on the office machine and the separating foils being ejected individually from the magazine and placed on the stacked sheets, characterized in that at least two different types of separating foils (24) are provided, that the separating foils (24) have an automatically recognizable identification (72) identifying their type, that in the magazine (22 ) a sensor (74) for recognizing the identification (72) of the separating foils (24) is provided that a switchable switch either places the separating foils (24) issued by the magazine (22) on the stacked sheets (14) or in the Magazine (22) returns and that the switch (52) according to a comparison between egg nem specifiable type of the release film (24) and the type recognized by the sensor (74) is switched. Apparatus according to claim 7, characterized in that the switch (52) engages switchably in the transport path (42) of the separating film (24) from the magazine (22) to the tray (16) of the sheets (14) or from this transport path is moved out. Apparatus according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the identification (72) is digitally coded and is optoelectrically scanned by the sensor (74). Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the separating foils (24) are designed in the form of circular disks and in that the marking (72) is applied to the separating foil (24) in the form of concentric circular rings. Separating film for use in the method or device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the separating film (24) is a circular disc made of a thin flexible plastic film. Release film according to claim 11, characterized in that the different types of release film (24) differ in their color. Separating film according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the separating film (24) has an automatically recognizable identification (72). Separating film according to one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that the separating film (24) is larger than the sheets (14) at least in one dimension of its area dimension.

Images