Stacking apparatus and stacking method

A stacking apparatus comprising:

• N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms each conveying one or more sheets, the N being an integer equal to or more than three;
• a merging mechanism that guides, to a merge point, the sheets output from each of the N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms;
• a subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism that
• sequentially receives, at the merge point, each of the sheets conveyed by the N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms, and
• conveys each of the sheets in order of the reception while lining up in a conveying direction;
• a stacking mechanism that
• sequentially catches each of the sheets conveyed by the subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism, and
• stacks, at a predetermined position, each of the caught sheets in order of the catch;
• and
• N supplying mechanisms that are provided correspondingly to the N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms, each of the N supplying mechanisms sequentially outputting the sheets one by one to a corresponding precedent-stage conveyor mechanism,
• wherein each of the N supplying mechanisms outputs sheets belonging to a predetermined type, and is adjusted to output the sheets at timings that allow the sheets to arrive at the merge point in predetermined order.

A stacking method of stacking one or more first sheets and one or more second sheets by using a stacking apparatus, the stacking apparatus including:

• a first precedent-stage conveyor mechanism that conveys the first sheets;
• a second precedent-stage conveyor mechanism that conveys the second sheets;
• a subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism that sequentially receives each of the first sheets and each of the second sheets conveyed by the first precedent-stage conveyor mechanism and the second precedent-stage conveyor mechanism, respectively, and conveys each of the first sheets and each of the second sheets in order of the reception while lining up in a conveying direction;
• a stacking mechanism that sequentially catches each of the first sheets and each of the second sheets conveyed by the subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism, and stacks each of the first sheets and each of the second sheets at a predetermined position in order of the catch;
• a detecting mechanism that detects a condition of the first sheets and the second sheets which are being conveyed by the first precedent-stage conveyor mechanism, the second precedent-stage conveyor mechanism, and the subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism;
• a rejection control mechanism that detects a defective first sheet and a defective second sheet from among the first sheets and the second sheets based on the condition of the first sheets and the second sheets;
• and
• a rejecting mechanism that removes the defective first sheet and the defective second sheet at a downstream of the detecting mechanism in a conveyance path,
• the stacking method comprising
• feeding the first sheets and the second sheets from the first precedent-stage conveyor mechanism and the second precedent-stage conveyor mechanism to the subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism by a merging mechanism that guides, to a merge point, each of the first sheets output from the first precedent-stage conveyor mechanism and guides, to the merge point, each of the second sheets output from the second precedent-stage conveyor mechanism;
• and
• causing the rejecting mechanism to remove, in addition to the defective first sheet and the defective second sheet, another first sheet and another second sheet that are conveyed in a predetermined positional relation with the defective first sheet and the defective second sheet.

A stacking method of stacking one or more sheets by using a stacking apparatus, the stacking apparatus including:

• N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms each conveying the sheets, the N being an integer equal to or more than three;
• a subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism that sequentially receives each of the sheets conveyed by the N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms, and conveys each of the sheets in order of the reception while lining up in a conveying direction;
• and
• a stacking mechanism that sequentially catches each of the sheets conveyed by the subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism, and stacks each of the caught sheets at a predetermined position in order of the catch, the stacking method comprising:
• feeding the sheets from the N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms to the subsequent-stage conveyor mechanism by a merging mechanism that guides, to a merge point, each of the sheets output from each the N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms,
• wherein the stacking apparatus further incudes N supplying mechanisms that are provided correspondingly to the N precedent-stage conveyor mechanisms, each of the N supplying mechanisms sequentially outputting the sheets one by one to a corresponding precedent-stage conveyor mechanism, and
• the stacking method further comprises:
• by each of the N supplying mechanisms, outputting sheets belonging to a predetermined type, wherein outputting the sheets is adjusted to be timings that allow the sheets to arrive at the merge point in predetermined order.