Method of, and apparatus for, processing flat products, especially folded printed products, arriving in an imbricated formation

A method of processing essentially flat products, such as printed products and especially folded printed products, comprising the steps of:

• infeeding said products in the form of an imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a preceding one of said products;
• winding up said infed imbricated product formation in underfeed in order to form an intermediate product package;
• unwinding said intermediate product package in order to form an unwound imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a subsequent one of said products;
• inverting said unwound imbricated product formation such that an upper side thereof becomes a lower side thereof;
• and
• winding up into coil layers said inverted unwound imbricated product formation such that leading edges of each product of the inverted unwound imbricated product formation are innermost in each coil layer in order to form a primary product package.

A method for processing essentially flat products, especially folded printed products and the like, comprising the steps of:

• conveying products in an imbricated product formation with each one of said products overlying a preceding one of said products such that leading edges of said products are in an uppermost position in said conveyed imbricated product formation;
• winding up said conveyed imbricated product formation in underfeed in order to form an intermediate product package;
• unwinding said intermediate product package in order to form an unwound imbricated product formation in which the leading edges of said products are in a lowermost position;
• inverting said unwound imbricated product formation by turning said unwound imbricated product formation through an angle of rotation of substantially 180.degree. about an axis essentially parallel to said unwound imbricated product formation to form an inverted unwound imbricated product formation in which the leading edges of said products are in an uppermost position in said inverted unwound imbricated product formation;
• delivering said inverted unwound imbricated product formation to a primary winding station;
• and
• winding up said delivered imbricated product formation at said primary winding station in underfeed to form a primary product package in which said leading edges are innermost in each coil layer formed upon said primary product package from said delivered imbricated product formation.

A method of processing essentially flat products, such as printed products and especially folded printed products comprising the steps of:

• infeeding said products in the form of an imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a preceding on of said products;
• winding up said infed imbricated product formation in order to form an intermediate product package;
• unwinding said imbricated product formation from said intermediate product package in order to form an unwound imbricated product formation;
• inverting said unwound imbricated product formation such that an upper side thereof becomes a lower side thereof;
• and
• winding up said inverted unwound imbricated product formation in underfeed in order to from a primary product package.

An apparatus for processing essentially flat products, such as printed products and especially folded printed products, comprising:

• means for infeeding said products in the form of an imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a preceding one of said products;
• an intermediate wind-up station means for winding up in underfeed said infed imbricated product formation;
• wind-up station means for receiving and unwinding said intermediate product package and for winding up a primary product package;
• said wind-up station means containing means for unwinding said intermediate product package in order to form an unwound imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a subsequent one of said products;
• means for inverting said unwound imbricated product formation such that an upper side thereof becomes a lower side thereof;
• said inverting means being arranged downstream of said intermediate product package at said wind-up station means;
• and
• input means following said inverting means and for delivering said inverted unwound imbricated product formation at said wind-up station means for winding up in underfeed said primary product package.

An apparatus for processing essentially flat products, such as printed products and especially folded printed products, comprising:

• means for infeeding said products in the form of an imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a preceding one of said products;
• an intermediate wind-up station means for winding up said infed imbricated product formation;
• said intermediate wind-up station means winding up in underfeed said infed imbricated product formation and thereby forming an intermediate product package;
• wind-up station means for receiving and unwinding said intermediate product package and for winding up in underfeed a primary product package;
• said wind-up station means unwinding said intermediate product package and thereby forming an unwound imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a subsequent one of said products;
• means for inverting said unwound imbricated product formation such that an upper side thereof becomes a lower side thereof, said inverting means being arranged downstream of said intermediate product package;
• and
• input means for delivering said inverted unwound imbricated product formation at said wind-up station means such that leading edges of said products are situated innermost in each one of coil layers forming said primary product package.

An apparatus for processing essentially flat products, especially folded printed products and the like, comprising:

• an unwinding station for unwinding said products from an intermediate storage package to form an unwound imbricated product formation in which said products have leading edges;
• inverting means for turning said unwound imbricated product formation through an angle of substantially 180.degree. about an axis essentially parallel to said unwound imbricated product formation to form an inverted unwound imbricated product formation in which said leading edges of said products remain leading edges;
• conveyor means uniting said unwinding station with said inverting means;
• a winding station for winding up said inverted unwound imbricated product formation to form a primary product package in which said leading edges of said products are innermost in each coil layer formed upon said primary product package from said inverted unwound imbricated product formation;
• and
• further conveyor means uniting said inverter means with said winding station.

An apparatus for processing essentially flat products, such as printed products and especially folded printed products, comprising:

• means for infeeding said products in the form of an imbricated product formation in which each product of said products rests upon a preceding one of said products;
• an intermediate wind-up station for winding up in underfeed said infed imbricated product formation and forming an intermediate product package;
• unwinding means for unwinding said intermediate product package in order to form an unwound imbricated product formation;
• means for inverting said unwound imbricated product formation such than an upper side thereof becomes a lower side thereof, said inverting means being arranged downstream of said unwinding means;
• a wind-up station for winding up in underfeed said said inverted unwound imbricated product formation to form a primary product package;
• and
• input means for delivering said inverted unwound imbricated product formation to said wind-up station in underfeed.