EP0378630B1 - Device for turning over sheets one by one at an automatic sheet output - Google Patents

Abstract

PCT No. PCT/FR89/00264 Sec. 371 Date Mar. 30, 1990 Sec. 102(e) Date Mar. 30, 1990 PCT Filed May 31, 1989 PCT Pub. No. WO89/12015 PCT Pub. Date Dec. 14, 1989.The invention relates to an oscillating device to be mounted at an automatic sheet output in order to turn over sheets one by one. The device includes a wire designed with two mounting end tabs pivoting on the output, two approximately "S"-shaped lateral sections and an approximately "U"-shaped medial section wherein the extremities of the "U"-shaped section are connected to the respective extremities of the lower loops of the "S"-shaped sections.

Description

The present invention relates to a device to be mounted at an output of a sheet processing machine such as a printer or the like, to ensure automatic turning of the sheets one by one.

Most of the current word processing software on microcomputers does not allow the transfer of a document to a printer starting with the last page. In addition, at the output of the printer, the printed sheet of paper is presented with the printed side above. We must therefore, when printing a text of several pages, sort the pile of sheets once printing is finished, in order to obtain a text in the correct order.

We therefore tried to turn the sheets out of the printer before placing them in a heap so that they were placed in a heap, unprinted side above. Then, once printing is complete, turn the entire sheet package over to get the text sorted in the correct order.

One solution, adopted in particular by a manufacturer of laser printer under the trade name AGFA, consists in making a tray for receiving, or outputting, sheets comprising three sides. A first panel being vertical, a second forming an obtuse angle with said vertical panel and a third panel also forming an obtuse angle with said second panel. The tray is placed under the printer's paper outlet so that a sheet emerging from the latter comes to abut by its edge against the second inclined face and pivots until its printed face comes against the vertical face. The sheet then slides to the third inclined pan which serves as a receiving tray.

Such a system has the disadvantage of being unreliable, not adaptable to different kinds of paper and printers and of conditioning the reception capacity of the printer output bin.

DE-B-1 069 078 describes a turning device used for products of a different nature, such as floor covering tiles, where a first tile comes to rest in a fixed receptacle with an orientation such as the tile which follows it, when it meets it causes it to tilt around its base while the second slab continues to progress without turning around, the two slabs of which only the first is found upside down eventually falling together in a receiving bin .

The present invention relates to a device for reversing sheets at the outlet of a printer, which is independent of the reception tray, or outlet of the printer's paper, adaptable to different types of paper and / or printers, and of which the cost is lower.

To this end, it proposes a device according to claim 1.

According to an advantageous characteristic, the device consists of a wire, preferably metallic.

The use of a metal wire, the shape of which makes it possible to guide and turn over a sheet, considerably reduces the cost of such a device and also makes it possible to limit the frictional forces between the sheet and the device due to the low contact surface.

A preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, consisting of preferably metallic wire, is characterized in claim 3.

Advantageous features of the invention are contained in claims 4 to 10.

A device for turning a sheet of paper is thus obtained, the manufacture of which is particularly simple and which can be adapted to different types of paper and / or printers.

• la figure 1 représente en vue de côté la partie d'une imprimante comportant la sortie des feuilles imprimées, munie d'un dispositif selon l'invention et d'un bac récupérateur des feuilles ;
• la figure 2 représente schématiquement quatre étapes du retournement d'une feuille au moyen du dispositif selon l'invention ;
• la figure 3 représente en perspective une variante du dispositif selon l'invention comportant un bac récupérateur de feuilles ;
• la figure 4 représente en vue latérale, une variante réglable du dispositif selon l'invention ; et
• la figure 5 représente une vue de dessus du dispositif représenté à la figure 4 ;
• la figure 6 représente en perspective une variante du dispositif selon l'invention comportant une boucle supérieure et représenté au repos monté sur un dispositif support;
• les figures 7 et 8 représentent en vue de côté la partie d'une imprimante comportant la sortie des feuilles imprimées équipée d'un dispositif support recevant le dispositif selon l'invention en position repos (figure 7), en position fin de course (figure 8).

A particular embodiment of the invention will now be described in more detail which will make it better understand the essential characteristics and the advantages, it being understood however that this embodiment is chosen by way of example and that it is in no way limiting. Its description is illustrated by the appended drawings, in which:

• FIG. 1 represents in side view the part of a printer comprising the output of the printed sheets, provided with a device according to the invention and with a tray for collecting the sheets;
• FIG. 2 schematically represents four stages of turning over a sheet by means of the device according to the invention;
• FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a variant of the device according to the invention, comprising a leaf collecting tray;
• Figure 4 shows in side view, an adjustable variant of the device according to the invention; and
• Figure 5 shows a top view of the device shown in Figure 4;
• Figure 6 shows in perspective a variant of the device according to the invention comprising an upper loop and shown at rest mounted on a support device;
• Figures 7 and 8 show in side view the part of a printer comprising the output of the printed sheets equipped with a support device receiving the device according to the invention in the rest position (FIG. 7), in the end-of-travel position (FIG. 8).

Figure 1 shows in partial side view, the rear part 1 of a printer known under the non-commercial AGFA model P 400. This comprises a conveyor belt 2 used to take the sheets out of the printer. A turning device 3 according to the invention, consisting of a metal wire, is held below the belt 2 by means of two rings 4, in which the two ends 5 of the wire constituting the device 3 engage. The metal wire has approximately an "S" shaped section laterally. A sheet collecting tray 6 is placed at a distance from the printer 1 which is fixed by the length of the parts 7 serving to maintain the distance between the protective sides 8 of the sheet outlet. This tray 6 does not serve to turn the sheets, can be of greater capacity.

The operation of the turning device 3 will be explained using FIG. 2 and its shape will be better understood in FIG. 3.

A sheet 9 leaving the printer 1 (FIG. 1) slides towards the device 3 with its printed side 10 above. This sheet 9 comes into abutment by its lower edge 13 against the inside of the lower loop 11 of the "S" shaped section, by sliding on the outside of the upper loop 12 of the "S" shaped section (FIG. 2-A).

The sheet continues to slide on its edge 13 towards the bottom of the loop 11 (figure 2-B) by driving the piece 3 slightly towards the printer (arrow 14) by pivoting the ends 5 of the wire in the rings 4 (figure 1 ). The sheet 9 is then almost vertical and curves in the same direction as the upper loop 12 of the "S" shaped section (FIG. 2-C) until it is unfolds outwards due to the fact that its lower edge 13 abuts against the bottom of the lower loop 11 of the "S" shaped section and that the part 3 restores towards the rear (arrow 15) the movement which the sheet 9 when it came into abutment (figure 2-A).

The sheet 9 then unfolds and ejects from the device 3, being almost horizontal and having its printed face below (FIG. 2-D). The sheet 9 then falls into the collecting tank 6 (Figure 1). The latter has an inclined face 28 so as to ensure good deposition of the sheet 9 in the tray.

FIG. 3 represents a variant of the device according to the invention in which the device 3, consisting of a metal wire, is suspended from a mobile collecting tank 16 thus making it possible to place the turning device under the paper outlet of any which printer, by fixing the tray 16 to the support 17 of the printer 18. This support can for example consist of a simple table. The device 3 is maintained in the same way as above, that is to say by means of two rings 19 formed in the tank 16 and in which engage the two ends 5 of the metal wire.

The wire is given a shape such that it has two lateral sections in the form of an "S" 20 and a middle section 21 which follows the curve of the lower loop 11 of each section in the form of an "S" 20 and which has the shaped like a "U". The latter is extended in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, beyond the bottom 22 of the loop 11 of the "S" shaped sections 20, while the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , stops at the bottom 22 of the loops 11.

This extension of the "U" section 21 makes it possible to balance the device 3 by counterbalancing the lower loops 11 of the "S" shaped sections 20.

Figures 4 and 5 show another form of embodiment of the device in which it is adjustable according to the type of paper and / or printer. To this end, a mobile counterweight 23 is added to the "U" section 21, this being maintained in the position chosen by a screw 24 which has the effect of tightening the "U" section 21 in the manner of a vice. This counterweight 23 makes it possible to adjust the counterweight of the lower loops 11 and thus the inclination of the device.

In order to be able to adapt the device to different types of paper according to their weight and / or size, the "S" shaped sections 20 are modified so as to present an additional "V" shaped loop 25 between the two loops of the "S" shaped sections. This loop 25 has notches 26 on one of its sections and a ring 27 surrounds each loop in a "V" shaped section 25 and is retained by one of said notches 26.

It is thus possible to modify the spacing between the loops 11 and 12 to adapt the device to the different types of paper and / or printers.

This adjustment of counterweight and spacing must be made according to the type of paper and the type of printer so that the sheet does not escape from in front of the device, which is the case if it is too inclined towards the printer and that the sheet can eject from the device once turned over, which is not the case if the device is too inclined towards the collecting tray.

FIG. 6 represents a variant of the device according to the invention mounted on a support device. The device according to the invention is here equipped with an upper loop 28 consisting of a wire, preferably metallic. This loop consists of a "U" shaped section with at each end 29 a "V" shaped section in a perpendicular plane. Each end 29 is brazed to the upper part of the "S" shaped sections 20. The elastic deformation of the device according to the invention equipped with its upper loop 28 allows its mounting on the support device. Said loop serves as a balancing counterweight, bringing the device's center of gravity closer to its tilting axis, giving it great sensitivity. Said loop determines the position at rest and the maximum stroke position of the device according to the invention. The means for adjusting said positions is to create a permanent deformation of the loop 28 by bending up or down. The device is balanced during construction. It may be advantageous to modify it by adding a counterweight 35 to the upper loop 28.

The support device consists of a wire, preferably of metal, shaped so that it has a "U" shaped section 30. Each end of this section is symmetrically continued by an "S" shaped section 31 followed by 'a section in the form of "U" 32 then of a section 33 in the form of "L". The "U" shaped sections 32 serve as bearings at the ends 5 of the device according to the invention.

A connecting bar 34 in the shape of a "U" symmetrically connects the branches of each section 32, then connects the two sections 32 together.

It serves as reinforcement and stop for the device according to the invention in its rest position.

The ends of the sections 33 are introduced into the bearings 4 located under the paper outlet 2 and the section 30 comes to bear against the vertical wall of the printer (FIGS. 7 and 8).

Figures 7 and 8 show the device according to the invention in its location on the printer known under the trade name of AGFA P400.

This implantation is carried out by means of a device, consisting of a metal wire, fixedly mounted under the paper outlet, supporting the device according to the invention.

FIG. 7 represents the device according to the invention in the rest position ready to receive a sheet of the paper output. The device according to the invention is balanced in such a way that in this position, the upper loop 28 comes to bear on the connecting bar 34 of the support device acting as a stop.

FIG. 8 shows the device according to the invention in the sheet ejection position. Indeed, under the mass of the sheet, the turner leaves its position at rest to find a balance, and describes an arc of a circle towards the rear until the upper loop 28 comes to bear against a stop. In this case, the upper stop is the paper outlet 2 of the printer.

Naturally, the invention is in no way limited by the features which have been specified in the foregoing or by the details of the particular embodiments chosen to illustrate the invention. All kinds of variants can be made to the particular embodiments which have been described by way of example and to their constituent elements without thereby departing from the scope of the invention. The latter thus includes all the means constituting technical equivalents of the means described as well as their combinations.

Claims (10)

1. A device to mount on the output slot of a sheet-printing machine to turn the sheets of paper (9) over one by one, it being characterized by consisting mainly of wire, or equivalent material, shaped so as to yield to the weight of a sheet of paper, hanging on at least one oscillating supporting arm mounted on said output slot, and shaped to guide the sheet and to serve as a stop (11) to trip the lower edge (13) of the sheet of paper (9), and to help it tip over by swinging on said supporting arm (5).
2. A device similar to that of claim No. 1, but having the particularity of consisting of a metal wire.
3. A device of the type covered by claim No. 2, but characterized by having said wire bent to have two side sections (20) shaped approximately like an "S", and a "U"-shaped section (21), the extremities of which are linked to the lower bends (11) of the "S"-shaped side sections (20), each of which has one of the said oscillating supporting arms (5).
4. A device of the type covered by claim No. 1, but characterized by having a counter-weight (23, 35) as a means to adjust the device's inclination from the vertical position, and to adjust the device's balance.
5. A device like any of those covered by claims 1 to 4, it being characterized by having an upper bend (28) of wire, preferably of metal, located above the swinging supporting arms when the device is in balanced position, said bend acting as a balancing counter-weight that raises the device's center of gravity to the axis of its swinging motion, and acting as a stop to halt the device in resting position, and a stop to limit the maximum swing when in operation.
6. A device like that covered by claim No. 5, it being characterized by being mounted to oscillate on a supporting device, the latter consisting mainly of wire, preferably of metal, attached to the automatic sheet output slot.
7. A device derived from either of those covered by claims 5 and 6, it being characterized by a reinforcement (34) of the supporing device, said reinforcement being shaped to work with the upper bend to stop the contraption in resting position.
8. A device like any of those covered by claims 5 to 7, it being characterized by a system to flex said upper bend (28) to adjust the said stops.
9. A device like those covered by any of the preceding claims, it being characterized by being mounted on a sheet-reception bin (16) that is attached to the printer or to a printer-support stand (17).
10. A device like any of those covered by the preceding claims, it being characterized by the said support arms (5) being both in the same plane.

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