Method and an apparatus for addressing and stacking individual pieces of printed matter for mailing, especially magazine copies, booklets and other bindery articles

A method for addressing and stacking individual pieces of printed matter for mailing, such as sheets of paper, magazine copies, booklets and other bindery articles wherein each mailing piece has a back, comprising the steps of:

• a. applying address labels to each mailing piece from computer-printed continuous stationary, the addresses being printed in a given number of columns on said stationary which is guillotined into strips comprising one address from each column, and which strips are separated into individual address labels before being applied to each mailing piece;
• b. conveying such labelled mailing pieces one by one to at least one stacking machine, said pieces entering said stacking machine with the back and address label of each mailing piece oriented in the same way, changing the orientation of said mailing pieces with a shift member so as to stack the mailing pieces in batches of a selected number of pieces, stacking the copies of each batch having their backs and address labels oriented the same way, but oppositely of the address labels and the backs of the pieces in an underlying batch, and said stacking machine also comprising a selector means for initiating removal of a full pile composed of a plurality of batches;
• and
• c. initiating operation of said shift member and initiating the operation of said selector means in response to signals generated by detector means which detects given symbols located on said computer-printed stationary and which upon detection of a first set of said symbol combinations generates signals for initiating operation of said shift member to form said batches of pieces and which upon detection of a second set of said symbol combinations generates operation of said selector means for initiating removal of said full pile of pieces.

Apparatus for stacking individual pieces of printed matter for mailing, such as sheets of paper, magazine copies, booklets and other bindery articles wherein each mailing piece has a back edge, said articles entering the stacking machine one by one oriented the same way and having an address label attached thereto at approximately the same location on each article, said apparatus comprising

• a stacking chamber for receiving said articles,
• first and second conveying means each having an inlet and an outlet, said first and second outlets each associated with a respective opposite side of said stacking chamber,
• a shift member adapted for diverting predetermined number of articles to either said inlet of said first conveying means or said inlet of said second conveying means,
• and a selector means for initiating removal of a pile of articles collected in said stacking chamber,
• the improvement comprising:
• means for driving said first and second conveying means at the same conveying speed, said conveying means including uninverted conveying parts for the articles conveyed there along, so that each article conveyed along the first conveying means will be delivered to the stacking chamber with its address label turned downwards and have its back edge facing away from said first outlet, and so that each article conveyed along the second conveying means will be delivered to the stacking chamber with its address label turned upwards and have its back edge facing away from the second opposite outlet,
• and the improvement further comprising:
• a detector means and a control unit, the shift member and the selector means being connected to the control unit for the operation of said shift member and said selector means in response to signals which are generated by the detector means, said detector means being positioned to detect pertinent code data associated with a data bank containing all the address data of the address labels, so as to operate said shift member in response to a first set of code data combinations for thereby stacking articles in batches comprising a selected number of articles all oriented the same way, and so as to operate said selector means in response to a second set of code data combinations for thereby removing a pile composed of a plurality of batches.

An apparatus for stacking individual pieces for printed matter for mailing such as sheets of paper, magazine copies, booklets and other bindery articles wherein each mailing piece has a back, said apparatus comprising:

• a. a data-processing means for processing address indentification data and storing same on a record medium, said data-processing means being programmed so as to collect addresses belonging to the same postal code or zip code in batches, the batches being identified by means of code symbols determined by the number of addresses belonging to the same batch,
• b. an addressing machine positioned to apply said address indentification data onto individual mailing pieces which pass said addressing machine in a row wherein each piece has its front page and the back edge oriented in the same way,
• c. a stacking machine comprising an infeed conveyor adapted for transporting said row of addressed mailing pieces from said addressing machine, said stacking machine further comprising means for changing the orientation of said mailing pieces so as to stack the mailing pieces in batches comprising a selected number of pieces, wherein the copies of each batch have their address label and back oriented the same way, but oppositely of the address labels and the backs of the pieces in an underlying batch, and said stacking machine also comprising a selector means for initiating removal of a full pile composed of a plurality of batches,
• d. detector means positioned to detect main symbols on said record medium, said detector means upon detection of a first set of combinations of said symbols generating signals for initiating operation of said shift member to form said batches of pieces, and said detector means upon detection of a second set of combinations of said symbols initiating operation of said selector means for removal of said full pile of pieces.

An apparatus for addressing and stacking individual pieces of printed matter for mailing, such as sheets of paper, magazine copies, booklets and other bindery articles wherein each mailing piece has a back, said apparatus comprising:

• a. a data-processing means with a printer for printing the addresses on continuous stationary, said data-processing means being programmed so as to print the addresses in columns, addresses belonging to the same postal code or zip code being collected in batches, and so as to print symbols on said address stationary, the position of said symbols being dependent upon the number of addresses belonging to the same batch,
• b. an addressing machine, said machine continually guillotining said printed stationary into strips comprising one address from each column, and separating each said strip into individual address labels for thereafter applying the labels one by one on individual mailing pieces which pass said label addressing machine in a row wherein each piece has the address label and the back oriented in the same way,
• c. a stacking machine comprising an infeed conveyor adapted for transporting said row of addressed mailing copies from said addressing machine, said stacking machine further comprising means for changing the orientation of said mailing pieces so as to stack the mailing pieces in batches comprising a selected number of pieces, so that copies of each batch have their backs and their address labels oriented the same way, but oppositely of the backs and the address labels of the pieces in an underlying batch, and said stacking machine also comprising a selector means for initiating removal of a full pile composed of a plurality of batches,
• d. detector means provided in the vicinity of said label addressing machine and operable to detect said symbols on said address stationary, said detector means upon detection of a first combination of said symbols generating signals for initiating operation of said shift member to form said batches of pieces, and which upon detection of a second combination of said symbols initiating operation of said selector means.