Collating machines
OwnerChristopher Robin Watkissinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A collating machine comprises a plurality of bins for flexible sheets of material arranged in series on an arc of a circle, a sheet pick-up device above the bins, and a drive system to cause relative rotary movement between the bins and the pick-up device to cause single sheets from individual bins to be collected progressively at the pick-up device to form a collated set as the relative rotary movement occurs. Preferably, the bins are moved in a circle relative to the pick-up device. Detector means may also be provided to indicate when a bin becomes empty or when there is a mis-feed of the sheets.
Claims15
A collating machine comprising:
- a plurality of bins located in series on an arc of a circle and each arranged to hold a stack of sheets;
- a sheet collecting device adjacent to said bins;
- drive means arranged to effect relative rotary movement between said plurality of bins and said collecting device;
- frictional sheet feeding means co-acting with the sheets of said bins for causing single sheets of individual ones of said bins to be collected progressively in a stack at said collecting device to form a collated set as said relative rotary movement occurs;
- and
- receiver means positioned along said arc in between two successive bins, said receiver means for receiving collated sets of sheets from said sheet collecting device.
A collating machine comprising:
- a plurality of bins located in series on an arc of a circle, each of said plurality of bins arranged to hold a stack of sheets;
- a sheet collecting device adjacent to said bins;
- drive means arranged to effect relative rotary movement between said plurality of bins and said collecting device;
- frictional means for causing single sheets of individual ones of said bins to be collected progressively in a stack at said collecting device to form a collated set as said relative rotary movement occurs, said frictional means comprising:
- a plurality of friction means, a different said friction means associated with each of said plurality of bins, each said friction means feeding the uppermost sheet of a stack of sheets in its associated bin to a position wherein said sheet collecting device entrains said displaced sheet;
- and
- a plurality of rollers, each said bin having a different one of said rollers associated therewith towards which and over which the sheets displaced by said plurality of friction means are fed, each said roller being rotatable about a different axis lying on a radius of said arc and cooperating with said sheet collecting device to entrain the displaced sheets between said rollers and said sheet collecting device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.