US 4,971,303 AGranted

Paddle wheel distributor system for printed products

AssigneeMAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG

InventorsKlaus-Ulrich Lange, Reinhard Mayr

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

To provide for gentle braking by braking fingers (12) located in axial slots between paddle wheel vanes or blades (9, 10) of paddle wheels (8), the fingers have an outer contour which is shaped and dimensioned, at least in the inlet region of gaps (11) for the printed product forming an intersection angle (.alpha.) defined by the axial projection between the contour of the braking fingers and the adjacent inner surface (91) of a vane or blade to continuously increase during rotation of the paddle wheel vanes or disks, to thereby define effective gaps of continuously decreasing width during rotation of the paddle wheel vanes. Preferably, the position of the fingers is adjustable along a predetermined direction (X) by an electrical closed loop positioning system (13 -20, 43), receiving input signals (44, 45) representative of thickness of products and machine speed and, preferably, also emergency control signals (48) to control the position of the fingers with respect to the vanes or blades. Emergency control signals cause withdrawal of the blades to a maximum effective gap position, for example upon tearing of supply belts; increased braking by the fingers, with a narrowed gap, at different axial positions can be used to overcome skew of incoming or delivered products.

Claims16

Dependent claims

Paddle wheel distributor for printed products having

a plurality of paddle wheel disks (8);
a common rotatable shaft (7) retaining said paddle wheel disks in axially spaced alignment, the axial spaces between said disks defining spacing slots,
each paddle wheel disk having a plurality of paddle vanes or blades (9) circumferentially located thereabout and defining product receiving gaps (11) between adjacent blades, said gaps having an open inlet region for the products (1);
and
a plurality of non-rotating braking fingers (12) located in the spacing slots, said braking fingers having an outer contour on one side thereof which, in axial projection with respect to the gaps, covers said gaps at least within a predetermined angular range of the disks,
wherein, in accordance with the invention,
said outer contour of the braking fingers (12) is shaped and dimensioned at least in the inlet region towards said gaps (11) for the printed products to form an intersection angle (.alpha.) which continuously increases during rotation of the paddle wheel or disk,
for progressively braking printed products supplied to said paddle wheel disks upon entry into said gaps and then continuing as the leading edge of said printed products travels into said gaps,
wherein said intersection angle (.alpha.) is defined by the axial projection between the contour of the braking finger and the adjacent inner surface (91) of the vane or blade;
and
wherein the axial projection between the contour of the braking finger (12) and the adjacent inner surface of the vanes or blades (9) of the paddle wheels or disks (8) define effective gaps of continuously decreasing width during rotation of the paddle wheels or disks.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.