US 4,397,229 AGranted

Stacker-tyer

AssigneeHarris Corporation

InventorsRichard J. Merwarth, Joseph P. McGinnis

Life of this patent

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Abstract

The disclosure relates to a stacker tyer for stacking newspapers received in a shingled stream from a printing press. A single centrally located stacker mechanism is flanked by a pair of compensators and outside of the compensators is a pair of tyers. Stacks are built in the stacker and moved laterally first to a compensator and then to a tying mechanism. A shuttle mechanism is used to move the completed stacks from the stacker to one or the other of the compensators and from there to the adjacent tyer. The shuttle mechanism supports the leading and trailing edges of each stack as it is moved, and the back side and bottom of each stack is supported by fixed bottom supports and back supports.

Claims15

Dependent claims

An apparatus for receiving a stream of sheet-like articles, forming the articles into stacks and tying the stacks, said apparatus comprising stacking means for receiving an incoming stream of sheet-like articles and for building a series of stacks of said articles from said stream, first and second tying mechanisms disposed on opposite sides of said stacking means, transfer means for moving each succeeding stack of said series of stacks laterally and alternately to one or the other of said tying mechanisms, skid plate means connected with said stacking means and said first and second tying mechanisms for supporting a first side surface of each of said stacks during lateral movement thereof, bottom support means connected with said stacking means and said first and second tyers for supporting the bottom of each of said stacks during lateral movement thereof, said transfer means including first pusher means for engaging a second side surface of each of said stacks and second pusher means for engaging a third surface of each of said stacks, drive means for moving said first and second pusher means together in a first direction to move a first one of said stacks away from said stacking means and toward said first tying mechanism and for moving said first and second pusher means together in a second direction to move a second one of said stacks away from said stacking means and toward said second tying mechanism, and control means for moving said first and second pusher means from an extended position in which said first and second pusher means engage said second and third side surfaces, respectively, of said each of said stacks to a retracted position in which said first and second pusher means are free of contact with said second and third side surfaces of said stacks.

An apparatus for pushing stacks of publications from a stacker selectively to either one of two tyers located on opposite sides of the stacker, said apparatus comprising a frame, a carriage reciprocatable in said frame laterally to either side of a central position centered about the stacker, said carriage having pushers operable to engage two sides of a stack of publications as the carriage reciprocates, drive means for selectively driving said carriage to one side or the other of its central position, said drive means including, a rotatably driven crank having first and second diametrically opposed crank arms, a first connecting rod having an inner end portion journalled to said first crank arm and an outer end portion adapted to be connected with said carriage, a second connecting rod having an inner end portion journalled to said second crank arm and an outer end portion adapted to be connected with said carriage, and control means for selectively connecting one of said outer end portions of said first and second connecting rods with said carriage to cause reciprocating movement thereof to one side or the other of the central position of said carriage.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.