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US 4,901,996 AGranted
Apparatus and method for feeding sheet material from a stack for a collating conveyor
AssigneeAM International, Inc.
InventorJames R. Schlough
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for removing signatures from a hopper includes a rotatable drum. A first feeder mounted within the drum removes a first signature from the hopper during rotation of the drum through a predetermined acruate distance. A second feeder mounted within the drum partially removes a second signature from the hopper during rotation of the drum through the predetermined arcuate distance before the feeding of the first signature from the hopper is completed. The second feeder engages the second signature and starts removal of the second signature from the hopper while the first feeder is finishing removal of the first signature from the hopper.
Claims22
An apparatus for feeding signatures from a hopper, said apparatus comprising:
- a rotatable drum;
- first feed means mounted on said drum for feeding a first signature from the hopper during rotation of said drum through a predetermined arcuate distance;
- and
- second feed means mounted on said drum for partially feeding a second signature from the hopper during rotation of said drum through a second arcuate distance during the feeding of the first signature from the hopper;
- said second feed means including means for engaging the second signature and initiating feeding of the second signature from the hopper while said first feed means is feeding the first signature from the hopper;
- said first feed means including first belt means for feeding the first signature from the hopper to said drum;
- said second feed means including second belt means for feeding the second signature from the hopper to said drum;
- and
- means driven with said first belt means for feeding the first signature from the drum.
6 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a hopper for receiving a stack of signatures disposed in abutting relationship, said stack including a bottom signature, a signature next to the bottom signature and additional signatures;
- a drum rotatable about its axis and located adjacent said hopper;
- first feed means mounted on said drum for rotation therewith about the axis of said drum for removing the bottom signature from the stack of signatures in said hopper during rotation of said drum through a predetermined arcuate distance;
- and
- second feed means mounted on said drum for rotation therewith about the axis of said drum for partially removing the signature next to the bottom signature from the stack of signatures in said hopper during rotation of said drum through said predetermined arcuate distance during the removal of the bottom signature from the hopper;
- said second feed means including means for engaging the signature next to the bottom signature and initiating movement of the signature next to the bottom signature relative to the additional signatures and from the stack of signatures in said hopper while said first feed means is removing the bottom signature from the stack of signatures in said hopper;
- said drum including first storage means disposed inwardly of the periphery of said drum for holding the bottom signature completely inwardly of the periphery of said drum during rotation of said drum after the bottom signature has been fed from said hopper and released by said first feed means into said first storage means, said first feed means including means for initiating movement of the bottom signature into said first storage means during rotation of said drum through the predetermined arcuate distance.
4 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a hopper for receiving a stack of signatures disposed in abutting relationship, said stack including a bottom signature and a signature next to the bottom signature;
- a drum rotatable about its axis, located adjacent said hopper and having first and second storage locations for holding the bottom signature and the signature next to the bottom signature;
- first and second belts on said drum for rotation therewith about the axis of said drum, said first and second belts simultaneously engaging the bottom signature in said hopper and the signature next to the bottom signature in said hopper espectively;
- and
- means for simultaneously driving said first and second belts relative to said drum in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of said rum at a surface speed substantially equal to the surface speed of said drum due to rotation of said first and second belts with said drum about the axis of said drum to simultaneously remove the bottom signature and the signature next to the bottom signature from said hopper and to advance the bottom signature and the signature next to the bottom signature into said first and second locations, respectively.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a hopper for receiving a stack of signatures disposed in abutting relationship, said stack including a bottom signature, a signature next to the bottom signature and additional signatures;
- a drum rotatable about its axis and located adjacent said hopper;
- first feed means mounted on said drum for rotation therewith about the axis of said drum for removing the bottom signature from the stack of signatures in said hopper during rotation of said drum through a predetermined arcuate distance;
- and
- second feed means mounted on said drum for rotation therewith about the axis of said drum for partially removing the signature next to the bottom signature from the stack of signatures in said hopper during rotation of said drum through said predetermined arcuate distance during the removal of the bottom signature from the hopper;
- said second feed means including means for engaging the signature next to the bottom signature and initiating movement of the signature next to the bottom signature relative to the additional signatures and from the stack of signatures in said hopper while said first feed means is removing the bottom signature from the stack of signatures in said hopper;
- said drum including surface means for defining a plurality of locations for receiving signatures, said first feed means including means for initiating movement of the bottom signature from the hopper to a first one of the locations during rotation of said drum through the predetermined arcuate distance and said second feed means including means for initiating movement of the bottom signature from the first location during rotation of said drum after said drum has rotated through the predetermined arcuate distance.
4 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a hopper for receiving a stack of signatures disposed in abutting relationship;
- a drum rotatable about its axis and located adjacent said hopper;
- a plurality of feed means mounted on said drum for rotation therewith about the axis of said drum for removing the signatures from the stack of signatures in said hopper during rotation of said drum, each of said plurality of feed means removing one signature at a time from the stack of signatures;
- said drum including surface means for defining a plurality of storage locations for receiving signatures, the number of said storage locations corresponding to the number of said feed means;
- each of said plurality of storage locations having adjustable stop means for accommodating various lengths of signatures to be received in each of the storage locations;
- and
- a plurality of infeeding means on said drum equal in number to the number of said feed means, each of said plurality of infeeding means cooperating with a respective feed means for feeding a respective signature into a respective storage location against the adjustable stop means therein.
4 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a hopper for receiving a stack of signatures disposed in abutting relationship, said stack including a bottom signature, a signature next to the bottom signature and additional signatures, each of said bottom ,ext to the bottom, and additional signatures having a folded edge portion and an open edge portion opposite the folded edge portion;
- a collating conveyor for receiving signature from said hopper and for conveying the signatures away from said hopper;
- feeder means located intermediate said hopper and said collating conveyor for removing signatures from said hopper and depositing the signatures on said collating conveyor, said feeder means comprising:
- a rotatable drum,
- first feed means mounted on said drum for removing the bottom signature from the hopper during rotation of said drum through a first arcuate distance,
- second feed means mounted on said drum for removing the signature next to the bottom signature from the hopper during rotation of said drum through a second arcuate distance,
- said first feed means including gripper means for gripping the folded edge portion of the bottom signature during at least a portion of the feeding of the bottom signature from the hopper and means for feeding the bottom signature from the drum to said collating conveyor with the open edge portion of the bottom signature leading;
- and
- means on said drum for opening the open edge portion of the bottom signature before depositing the bottom signature onto said collating conveyor, said opening means comprising an opener arm for engaging one of the sheet sections of the bottom signature to initiate opening of the open end of the bottom signature and a support bracket on said second feed means for supporting said opener arm.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.