BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
[0001] This invention relates to a booklet printer for use in a terminal device of a bank,
a booklet issuing machine used, for example, by a clerk of a bank, or the like, and
also relates to a booklet handling apparatus in such a printer.
Description of the Related Art
[0002] In a passbook printer mounted on an automated teller machine, a passbook printer
used, for example, by a bank clerk, and the like, the machine automatically turns
over the pages, and prints characters on a necessary portion of the passbook. Passbooks
handled by such a passbook printer are broadly classified into two kinds, that is,
a vertical stitch one having a binding portion (at which the pages are fastened together)
disposed perpendicular to the direction of printing, and a horizontal stitch one having
a binding portion disposed parallel to the direction of printing.
[0003] Among the above passbook printers, there is the type which can turn over the pages
of either of the two kinds of passbooks.
[0004] For example, transfer means for transferring a passbook in its opened condition,
as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 63-9564, includes a page
turning member which is inclined 45 degrees with respect to the direction of transfer
of the passbook transferred by this transfer means. This page turning member is rotated
and brought into contact with the page of the passbook so as to raise the page, and
then is moved generally in the above 45° direction so as to turn over the page. At
this time, a push-up plate, provided on the side of the passbook opposite to the page
turning member, slightly bends the page of the passbook into a convex configuration,
thereby preventing two pages from being turned over at a time.
[0005] In the above prior art, the page turning roller (member) for turning over the pages
of the passbook is designed to perform the two motions, that is, the rotational motion
and the translational motion in the direction of generally 45 degrees with respect
to the direction of transfer of the passbook. Therefore, the mechanism is complicated,
and besides no consideration is given to the handling time. Thus, there have been
encountered two problems, that is, the increased cost and the slow handling.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is an object of this invention to provide a booklet printer which takes a short
time for handling a vertical stitch booklet, and is reduced in cost.
[0007] Another object of the invention is to provide a booklet handling apparatus for handling
a vertical stitch booklet, which is simple and reliable in mechanism.
[0008] A booklet handling apparatus according to the present invention comprises a page
turning roller disposed obliquely relative to a direction of travel of a booklet,
and a guide which is provided near the page turning roller and has a twistingly-curved
portion, a flat portion and a projected portion.
[0009] A booklet printer according to the present invention comprises the above booklet
handling apparatus, and serves to print characters on a required portion of the booklet
in accordance with optical information and magnetic information, provided on the booklet,
and external electronic information from outside.
[0010] In the present invention, for turning pages of the booklet, the hollow page turning
roller, disposed obliquely relative to the direction of transfer of the booklet, is
rotated, and is contacted with the uppermost page of the booklet to thereby turn over
this page. At this time, since this page is restrained by the guide provided in the
page turning direction, and transfer rollers, only this page can be turned over in
a reliable manner. When this page is turned over, the booklet is transferred, and
is caused to strike against the guide provided obliquely relative to the direction
of transfer of the booklet. As a result, the page obliquely strikes against this guide,
and receives a reaction force. If the angle between the transfer direction and the
guide surface is represented by ϑ, that component of the reaction force serving to
turn over the page has a magnitude obtained by multiplying the transfer force by sinϑ·cosϑ.
This force enables the page to be turned over.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011]
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a page turning portion in the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a side-elevational view of the page turning portion of Fig. 1;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a passbook used in the present invention;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a page turning roller of the page turning portion
of Fig. 1;
Figs. 5 to 8 are plan views showing the page turning operation;
Figs. 9 to 13 are side-elevational views showing the page turning operation; and
Fig. 14 is a schematic view showing a passbook printer of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0012] One preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with respect
to the drawings.
[0013] Fig. 1 is a partly cross-sectional, plan view of a page turning portion (main portion)
of a passbook handling apparatus (booklet handling apparatus) of the present invention
used in a financial company or the like. Fig. 2 is a side-elevational view of the
page turning portion.
[0014] A passbook transfer passage comprises a first side frame 1, a second side frame 2,
a first guide (paper pan) 4, a second guide (paper guide) 5 and a third guide (paper
guide) 6. The paper guide 5 is disposed in obliquely intersecting relation to a direction
A of transfer of a passbook. Each of the paper guides 5 and 6 is spaced a predetermined
distance from the paper pan 4, and is disposed in opposed relation to the paper pan
4.
[0015] A page turning roller 7 is driven by a motor 8. The page turning roller 7 is provided
between the paper guides 5 and 6 in opposed relation to the paper pan 4, and is disposed
obliquely relative to the passbook transfer direction A.
[0016] Transfer rollers 9, 10 and 11 are rotatably provided at the paper guide 6, and are
supported by leaf springs 17, 18 and 19, respectively, to be held in contact with
a transfer roller 27. Transfer rollers 12, 13, 14 and 15 are rotatably provided at
the paper guide 5, and are supported by leaf springs 20, 21, 22 and 23, respectively,
to be held in contact with a transfer roller (not shown). A transfer roller 16 is
supported by a leaf spring 24 at the paper guide 5, and is rotatable, and is held
in contact with a transfer roller 32.
[0017] As shown in Fig. 2, the paper guide 5 comprises a parallel portion 5c disposed parallel
to the paper pan 4, a twistingly-curved portion 5b defining a twistingly-curved surface,
a flat portion 5a generally upstanding in a direction intersecting the paper pan 4,
and a projected portion 5d. The paper guide 6 comprises a parallel portion 6b disposed
parallel to the paper pan 4, and a non-parallel portion 6a disposed in non-parallel
relation to the paper pan 4.
[0018] Fig. 3 shows a passbook 41 to be handled. This passbook 41 is commonly referred to
as a vertical stitch passbook, and its binding portion 42 is disposed parallel to
a transfer direction A during the transfer of the passbook 41. A direction B of turn-over
of the pages is perpendicular to the transfer direction A. A direction, along which
rows of printed characters 43 are aligned is parallel to the transfer direction A.
[0019] Fig. 4 shows a specific example of page turning roller 7 of the invention. The page
turning roller 7 comprises a metal base portion 111, and a frictional contact portion
112. The frictional contact portion 112 comprises a hollow elastic body made of a
high-friction material such as chloroprene and natural rubber to enable accommodating
a change in the thickness of the passbook by elastic deformation. The shape of the
frictional contact portion 112 is defined mainly by a first curved surface portion
114 having a first profile curve, and a second curved surface portion 115 having a
second profile curve. The first and second curved surface portions 114 and 115 may
be replaced by flat portions, respectively. The metal base portion 111 is made of
a sintered alloy of iron having a low coefficient of friction relative to a medium
such as paper.
[0020] Next, the page turning operation for the vertical stitch passbook 41 will now be
described with reference to Figs. 5 to 13. Figs. 5 to 8 are plan views showing the
page turning operation, and Figs. 9 to 13 are side-elevational views. First, the passbook
41 is held between the transfer rollers 11 and 27, and is transferred to enter the
page turning section. At this time, in accordance with an instruction from a sensor
56, the passbook 41 is caused to stop at a predetermined position in the page turning
portion. In this condition, a page 41a of the passbook 41 to be turned over is kept
in a restrained condition by the transfer rollers 11 and 27 and the paper guide 6
(Figs. 5 and 9).
[0021] Then, the motor 8 is driven to rotate the page turning roller 7 in a page-turning
direction, so that the page 41a is subjected to buckle to perform a large amount of
deformation, and is turned or curled (Figs. 6 and 10). Then, when the page turning
roller 7 further rotates, the page 41a is further turned. Then, the page turning roller
7, after making about one rotation, stops at a stop position (Fig. 11). The transfer
rollers are rotated to move the passbook 41 in an eject direction C. At this time,
a reverse side (page) 41b of the page 41a is raised by the flat portion 5a of the
paper guide 5, and subsequently is rotated in a twisted manner in the page-turning
direction B by the twistingly-curved portion 5b (Figs. 7 and 12). In Fig. 7, dynamically,
it is thought that a striking phenomenon develops between the page 41b and the twistingly-curved
portion 5b of the paper guide 5. At this striking point X, a moment M tending to turn
over the page 41a, a force Fb tending to buckle the page 41a in the direction of the
plane thereof, and a moment m acting in a direction perpendicular to the moment M
are exerted. The buckling force Fb is influenced by a distance between the above contact
point X and the binding portion 42 and also by an angle ϑ of striking between the
twistingly-curved portion 5b of the paper guide 5 and the page 41a. Therefore, the
larger the striking angle ϑ (0° ≦ ϑ ≦ 90°) is, the larger the buckling force Fb is.
Therefore, the configuration of the twistingly-curved portion 5b of the paper guide
5 should be so determined as to make the striking angle ϑ as small as possible; however,
it is also necessary to make a space, occupied by the apparatus, as small as possible.
To meet these requirements, the twistingly-curved portion 5b of the paper guide 5
has such a curved configuration as to progressively increase the striking angle ϑ.
And besides, in order to shorten the time required for turning over the page 41a,
the twistingly-curved portion 5b of the paper guide 5 also has a twisted configuration.
Further, since a dislocation angle α develops due to the moment m, the projected portion
5d of the page guide 5 is needed. When this dislocation occurs, a bulge develops in
that portion of the passbook 41 near the binding portion 42. When this bulge is restrained
and pressed in a crushing manner by the projected portion 5d, the dislocation angle
α results in reducing to substantially 0°. The dislocation angle α not only adversely
affects the printing precision, but also may cause a jamming during the transfer of
the passbook. The projected portion 5d of the paper guide 5 may be replaced by a restraint
member which is provided between the twistingly-curved portion 5b of the paper guide
5 and the transfer rollers 12, 13, 14 and 15 in the vicinity of the binding portion
42 of the passbook, in which case the above dislocation angle α can be reduced to
substantially 0°.
[0022] When the transfer rollers are further rotated to transfer the passbook 41 in the
eject direction C, the reverse side (page 41b) of the page 41a of the passbook 41
appears, thus completing the page turning operation (Figs. 9 and 13).
[0023] Fig. 14 shows one preferred embodiment of a passbook printer of the present invention.
The printer of the present invention basically comprises a transfer passage having
an insertion port 58 and a paper pan 4, a transfer system constituted by transfer
rollers 11, 15, 16, 61, 63, 65, 62, 64, 66, 59, 32 and 27 driven by a transfer drive
motor 51, sensors 56, 54 and 55 for detecting the existence of a passbook 41, a printing
section 52, an optical character-detecting sensor 53 for reading information such
as bar codes, an optical character-detecting section 45, a magnetic information-detecting
sensor 57 (e.g., magnetic head) for reading information such as magnetic stripes,
a magnetic information-detecting section 44, a page turning section (which includes
a page turning roller 7 driven by a page turning motor 8, and paper guides 5 and 6),
an interface 46, a computing section 47, an information operating section 48, a power
source section (not shown), and an information input/output control section (not shown)
for inputting and outputting information with respect to an external computer or the
like.
[0024] The passbook 41 is inserted through the insertion port 58, and information, such
as bar codes, provided on the passbook 41 is read by the optical character-detecting
sensor 53 and the optical character-detecting section 45. Also, information, such
as magnetic stripes, provided on the passbook 41 is read by the magnetic information-detecting
sensor 57 and the magnetic information-detecting section 44.
[0025] The sensors 54, 55 and 56 for detecting the position of the passbook 41 are provided
respectively at predetermined positions in the transfer passage. In accordance with
signals from the sensors 54, 55 and 56 and signals from the detecting section 44 and
45, the page of the passbook 41 is turned over by the page turning roller 7, and necessary
information is printed on the passbook 41 at the printing section 52.
[0026] In this embodiment, although explanation has been made with respect to passbooks,
the present invention can, of course, be applied to a booklet having a number of sheets
bound together as in the passbook.
[0027] As described above, in the present invention, the page turning of the vertical stitch
passbook can be carried out in a reliable manner with the simple construction. Therefore,
information, requiring a number of pages for printing, can be automatically printed
on the passbook.
1. In a booklet printer comprising means for reading information provided on a booklet;
a booklet transfer passage means having guide means for guiding the transfer of the
booklet; page turning means for turning pages of the booklet; and a printing section
for printing characters on the booklet;
the improvement wherein said booklet transfer passage means is constructed such
that said guide means in the vicinity of said page change means has a twistingly-curved
portion disposed in obliquely intersecting relation to a direction of transfer of
the booklet.
2. In a booklet printer comprising means for reading information provided on a booklet;
booklet transfer passage means; page turning means for changing pages of the booklet;
and a printing section for printing characters on the booklet;
the improvement wherein said booklet transfer passage means comprises first guide
means extending in a direction of transfer of the booklet, second guide means provided
at a predetermined position of said first guide means in spaced relation thereto,
and third guide means provided with a predetermined distance from said first guide
means in a direction of transfer of the booklet; and said second guide means having
a twistingly-curved portion disposed in obliquely intersecting relation to the direction
of transfer of the booklet.
3. A booklet printer according to claim 2, in which said third guide means is configured
to define a space such that a page of the booklet is permitted to be deformed away
from the plane of said first guide means in the direction of transfer of the booklet.
4. A booklet printer according to claim 2, in which said second guide means comprises
a projected portion disposed adjacent to said first guide means.
5. A booklet printer according to claim 2, in which said booklet transfer passage means
comprises means for restraining a portion of the booklet near a binding portion thereof
in the vicinity of said twistingly-curved portion of said second guide means.
6. A booklet printer according to claim 2, in which said booklet transfer passage means
further comprises a transfer roller, said third guide means and said transfer roller
constituting means for restraining a portion of the booklet near a binding portion
thereof.
7. In a booklet handling apparatus comprising transfer means for transferring a booklet
along transfer passage means in a predetermined direction, and page turning means
for turning pages of the booklet;
the improvement wherein said transfer passage means comprises first guide means
extending in a direction of transfer of the booklet, second guide means spaced from
said first guide means in opposed relation thereto, third guide means spaced from
said first guide means in opposed relation thereto; said second and third guide means
being spaced from each other in the direction of transfer of the booklet; and said
second guide means having a twistingly-curved portion disposed in obliquely intersecting
relation to the direction of transfer of the booklet.
8. A booklet handling apparatus according to claim 7, in which said second guide means
includes a parallel portion disposed in opposed relation to said first guide means,
said twistingly-curved portion extending from said parallel portion, and a flat portion
disposed in generally upstanding relation to said parallel portion.
9. A booklet handling apparatus according to claim 8, in which said page turning means
is provided near said parallel portion of said second guide means, and is disposed
obliquely relative to the direction of transfer of the booklet.