US 4,121,818 A · Signature collating and binding system

Abstract

Each signature feeder along a collating conveyor is selectively actuated under control of coded signals containing mailing information. A dot matrix printer, located between the feeders, is responsive to the coded signals to selectively print custom information within books of signatures. A second dot matrix printer, located after the stitcher and trimmer, prints mailing labels under control of the coded signals. Optical scanners located downstream of the dot matrix printers scan each line of possible printing to detect printing errors. A replacement book feeder, which inserts standard replacement books to fill empty spaces left by rejected books, has a hopper which is automatically refilled by diverting books of signatures from the conveyor. The entire collating line is controlled by a programmable controller and a computer which also reorders or replaces defective books of signatures, compensates for variations in calipered signature thicknesses, and controls other special handling procedures.

Claims31

Dependent claims

A collating system for gathering groups of signatures with internal signatures of the groups having customized printing, comprising:

a collating conveyor having spaced stations which sequentially receive signatures to progressively build the groups of signatures,
a plurality of feeder means spaced along the collating conveyor for delivering signatures to adjacent stations of the collating conveyor,
signature printer means located intermediate of the plurality of feeder means and having a printer head adjacent the collating conveyor for printing information on the signature fed from a preceeding feeder means, the printed information being covered by the signature fed by a subsequent feeder means, and
source means synchronized with operation of the collating conveyor for sequentially coupling to the signature printer means information which is to be printed on the signatures fed from said preceeding feeder means.

1 more element

A collating system comprising:

a conveyor having a direction of movement adjacent a plurality of feeder means which deliver signatures to adjacent stations spaced along the conveyor to progressively build groups of signatures,
processing means adjacent the conveyor for processing the groups of signatures to provide output groups of signatures,
source means for generating characters which are to be printed on the groups of signatures, and
a dot matrix printer head adjacent the conveyor for printing on an adjacent signature a plurality of dots along a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the conveyor, a matrix of dots being formed as the conveyor moves the adjacent signature past the dot printer head, the printer head being coupled to the source means and operated in synchronism with the conveyor for selectively printing dots in a matrix which forms the characters to be printed.

1 more element

A signature handling system comprising:

a conveyor for moving groups of spaced signature adjacent a plurality of feeder means and processing means for feeding signatures to progressively build the groups of signatures and for processing the groups of signatures,
source means for generating characters which are to be printed in different combinations on the groups of signatures,
printer means adjacent the conveyor and responsive to the source means for printing the different combinations of characters on the groups of signatures carried by the conveyor,
scanner means adjacent the conveyor downstream of the printer means for scanning the printed characters to generate a signal related to the presence or absence of characters, and
comparison means coupled to the scanner means and the source means for generating a control signal indicating the actual presence or absence of scanned characters when characters were to be printed.

2 more elements

A collating system comprising:

a plurality of feeder means for delivering signatures to adjacent stations spaced along a conveyor,
one of the plurality of feeder means including a hopper for storing a plurality of signatures and delivery means selectively actuable to feed signatures from the hopper to the conveyor,
diverter means selectively actuable to divert signatures from the conveyor into the hopper, and
control means for selectively actuating the diverter means to automatically refill the hopper with signatures from the conveyor.

1 more element

In a collating system having a plurality of feeder means each actuable to deliver signatures to a collating conveyor to progressively build groups of signatures, source means for establishing different coded data representing different groups of signatures which are to be progressively built, control means for selectively actuating the plurality of feeder means in response to the different coded data to progressively build the different groups of signatures, the different groups having different thicknesses depending on the different combinations of signatures therein, caliper means for measuring the thickness of each group of signatures on the collating conveyor, calculation means for calculating a thickness for each group of signatures which were to be built in reponse to the coded data, and comparing means for comparing the calculated thickness with the caliper thickness to generate a difference, the improvement comprising:

compensation means responsive to the caliper means and the calculation means for generating a thickness correction,
tolerance means for establishing a tolerance level for the caliper thickness, and
error means for indicating an error when the difference is more than the tolerance level adjusted by the thickness correction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Signature collating and binding system

Life of this patent

Signature collating and binding system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims31