Apparatus for stacking printed products continuously arriving from conveyor means, especially products arriving in an imbricated formation

An apparatus for stacking products, such as printed products or the like continuously arriving from conveyor means, especially printed products arriving in an imbricated product formation, comprising conveyor means for the infeed of the products along a predetermined path of travel, a plurality of clamping elements structured to be elastically pre-biased towards one another, driven spreader means, said clamping elements being movable from a product clamping position into a spread position, means for movably guiding said clamping elements along a path of movement and through an operable zone of said driven spreader means for coaction therewith in order that said clamping elements are temporarily brought out of their clamping position into their spread position, the path of movement of the clamping elements at the region of the spreader means passing through the path of travel of the conveyor means for the infeed of said products, and the clamping elements are constituted by part of the elements of a lengthwise extending, multi-element spring element which is elastically expansible in the lengthwise direction thereof.

An apparatus for stacking products, such as printed products or the like continuously arriving from conveyor means, especially printed products arriving in an imbricated product formation, comprising conveyor means for the infeed of the products along a predetermined path of travel, a plurality of clamping elements structured to be elastically pre-biased towards one another, driven spreader means, said clamping elements being movable from a product clamping position into a spead position, means for movably guiding said clamping elements along a path of movement and through an operable zone of said driven spreader means for coaction therewith in order that said clamping elements are temporarily brought out of their clamping position into their spread position, the path of movement of the clamping elements at the region of the spreader means passing through the path of travel of the conveyor means for the infeed of said products, said spreader means comprising at least one driven worm having threads engaging into the path of movement of the clamping elements, said driven worm having a lengthwise axis extending substantially parallel to the path of movement of the clamping elements.

An apparatus for stacking products, such as printed products or the like continuously arriving from conveyor means, especially printed products arriving in an imbricated product formation, comprising conveyor means for the infeed of the products along a predetermined path of travel, a plurality of clamping elements structured to be elastically pre-biased towards one another, driven spreader means, said clamping elements being movable from a product clamping position into a spread position, means for movably guiding said clamping elements along a path of movement and through an operable zone of said driven spreader means for coaction therewith in order that said clamping elements are temporarily brought out of their clamping position into their spread position, the path of movement of the clamping elements at the region of the spreader means passing through the path of travel of the conveyor means for the infeed of said products, the means for guiding the clamping elements along said path of movement comprises guide rails positioned in alignment with one another, at least one of the guide rails being arranged upstream of the spreader means with respect to the direction of movement of the products and the remaining guide rails being arranged downstream of the spreader means with respect to the direction of movement of the products.

An apparatus for stacking products, such as printed products or the like continuously arriving from conveyor means, especially printed products arriving in an imbricated product formation, comprising conveyor means for the infeed of the products along a predetermined path of travel, a plurality of clamping elements structured to be elastically pre-biased towards one another, driven spreader means, said clamping elements being movable from a product clamping position into a spread position, means for movably guiding said clamping elements along a path of movement and through an operable zone of said driven spreader means for coaction therewith in order that said clamping elements are temporarily brought out of their clamping position into their spread position, the path of movement of the clamping elements at the region of the spreader means passing through the path of travel of the conveyor means for the infeed of said products, the path of movement of the clamping elements is essentially horizontally directed at the region of the spreader means, and the conveyor means defining said path of travel for the products possesses a terminal section extending substantially vertically upwards.