US 4,616,815 AGranted

Automatic stacking and folding apparatus

AssigneeVijuk Bindery Equipment, Inc.

InventorMichael Vijuk

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Abstract

The in-line web printing press 15 will be discharging shingled sheets at a rate set the press operator and operator of the stacking and folding machine 10 will set its speed of operation to match that of the web printing press. To this end, it is preferred to have an electric counter device 260 (FIG. 1) connected to a photocell 262 with the photocell actually counting each sheet passing underneath it on the alignment conveyor 22. A digital counter 264 on the electric counter device displays the operating speed so that the operator can match the speed precisely to that of the in-line web printing press. An electric motor control 266 has an adjustable knob 268 which changes the speed of the motor 270 which has its motor drive shaft 126 (FIG. 10) driving the side joggers 30 and the rear joggers 26. A motor 272 (FIG. 1) drives the alignment conveyor 22 and its speed may be adjusted by the operator at motor control device 274 having a control adjustment knob 276. The speed of the operation of the vacuum cylinder 40, the alignment conveyor 22 and the joggers 30 and 26 may be correlated and adjusted to the speed of the web printing press. The press speed is also varied for different types of paper to achieve the best performance and the speed control knobs 268 and 276 may be operated to vary the speeds in fine increments by the stacking and folding machine operator as well as the count on the digital counter 264.

Claims16

Dependent claims

An apparatus for stacking thin, non-folded, flexible sheets, feeding sheets from the stack and for folding the sheets comprising the combination of:

a conveyor for continuously feeding a stream of shingled sheets at a predetermined speed into a stacking station and for dropping the sheets while still shingled one by one on top of the other to form a stack of sheets at the stacking station,
a front stop in the stacking station abutted by the imcoming sheets to limit their forward travel and to define the forward location of the stack of sheets,
a back jogger means located at the back of the stack for jogging the rearward edges of the incoming sheets and the sheets in the stack toward and against the front stop,
side jogger means for jogging the incoming lateral sides of the sheets to align the sheets with their lateral edges aligned within the stack,
air levitating means for providing a layer of air between sheets in the stacking station for separating the lowermost sheets in the stack by air while the sheets are being jogged,
bottom suction feed means including a continuously rotating suction roller for gripping the leading end of the bottom sheet of the stack while incoming sheets are being stacked on top of the stack in the stacking station,
means defining a gap at the lower front end of the stacking station to allow passage of only the lowermost sheet through the gap,
a continuously operating conveyor means for conveying each sheet from the stacking station to a folding station,
adjustable speed conrol means to adjust the speed of the vacuum cylinder and conveyor means relative to that of said conveyor continuously feeding shingled sheets to said stacking station to prevent an over or under accumulation of sheets in the stacking station, and
folding means at the folding station for folding a continuous stream of sheets being fed from the stack hy the conveyor means.

7 more elements

An apparatus for stacking thin, unfolded, flexible sheets, feeding sheets from the stack and for folding the sheets into signatures and for forming stacks of signatures, said apparatus comprising the combination of:

a conveyor for continuously feeding a stream of shingled sheets into a stacking station and for dropping the sheets one by one on top of the other to form a stack of sheets at the stacking station,
a front stop in the stacking station abutted by the incoming sheets to limit their forward travel and to define the forward location of the stack of sheets,
a back jogger means located at the back of the stack for jogging the rearward edges of the incoming sheets and the sheets in the stack toward and against the front stop,
side jogger means for jogging the incoming lateral sides of the sheets to align the sheets with their lateral edges aligned within the stack,
air levitating means for providing a layer of air between sheets in the stacking station for separating the sheets by air at the bottom of the stack while the sheets are being jogged,
caliper means adjusted with a caliper precision adjustment for precisely sizing a gap at the bottom of the front stop through which a single sheet may pass with the sheet thereabove being held against removal,
bottom suction feed means including a rotating suction roller for gripping the bottom sheet of the stack and for feeding each bottom sheet from the stack while incoming sheets are being stacked on top of the stack in the stacking station,
a continuously moving conveyer means for removing the sheets from the stack after being started from the stack by the suction roller for conveying each sheets from the stacking station to a folding station, and
folding means at the folding station for folding a continuous stream of sheets being fed from the stack by the conveyor means into signatures,
signature conveyor means for conveying the signatures to a signature stacking station, and
stacking means in the signature stacking station for stacking the incoming signatures into a stack.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.