Method and apparatus for securing plural printed material with peelable tabs
AssigneeBrown Printing Company
InventorMark Scheibelhut
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method for forming and securing small-count stacks of plural printed documents for handling and mailing with peelable tabs which are applied to opposite sides of stacked plural documents. The apparatus is incorporated into an automated magazine binding production line to receive predetermined printed documents. The apparatus has a glue bead applicator for tacking a glue bead on the printed documents, a stacking station downstream of the glue station for stacking said plural printed documents, and a tabbing station downstream for creating tabs of the required length and then applying of the stacking station tabs on opposing sides of said stacked printed documents. The secured stack of printed documents is then conveyed to a sorting and mailing station.
Claims33
An apparatus for securing plural printed documents in stacked relationship for handling and mailing comprising:
- (a) an endless conveyor belt for conveying printed documents therealong;
- (b) a stacking station fed by said endless conveyor belt for stacking said plural printed documents one atop the other;
- and
- (c) a tabbing station downstream of said stacking station, said tabbing station including means for affixing selectively removable adhesive coated tab substrates to a stack of plural printed documents to thereby retain said documents in stacked relation during handling and mailing.
An apparatus for securing plural paged printed documents in stacked relationship for handling and mailing comprising:
- (a) an endless conveyor belt for conveying printed documents therealong;
- (b) a first glue applicator disposed adjacent said stacking station for selectively applying an adhesive bead on said plural paged printed documents;
- (c) a stacking station fed by said endless conveyor belt for stacking said plural printed documents one atop the other, the top and bottom surfaces of a stack comprising opposed sides of said stack;
- (d) a tabbing station downstream of said stacking station, said tabbing station including means for affixing adhesive coated tab substrates to a stack of plural printed documents to thereby retaining said documents in stacked relation during handling and mailing, said tabbing station having:
- 1. first and second longitudinally spaced transfer belts defining a tabbing area therebetween;
- 2. first and second tab feed means located on opposing sides of said transfer belts in said tabbing area, each said tab feed means having (i) a source of tab substrate with means for selectively advancing said tab substrate along a predetermined path;
- (ii) a tab substrate cutter means located between said source of tab substrate and said tabbing area for cutting said substrate into predetermined lengths;
- (iii) a tab adhesive applicator located adjacent said tab substrate cutter for applying adhesive to said tab substrates;
- 3. means for transferring tab substrates from said tab feed means to said tabbing area;
- 4. means for wrapping said adhesive coated tab substrate on opposing sides of said stacked plural printed documents, said means for wrapping located in said tabbing area downstream of said first and second tab feed means;
- 5. means for pressing a first and a second adhesive coated tab substrate on said opposed sides of said stacked plural printed documents, said pressing means located adjacent said second transfer belt.
An apparatus for securing plural printed documents in stacked relationship for handling and mailing and for use with a magazine binding production line comprising:
- (a) means for diverting a predetermined number of said printed documents from said magazine production line to a first conveyor;
- (b) a first glue applicator downstream from said production line adjacent said first conveyor for applying a bead of pressure sensitive glue to a surface of said documents;
- (c) a stacking station downstream from said first glue applicator and said first conveyor for orienting said predetermined number of said printed documents in stacked relation;
- (d) a tabbing station downstream of said stacking station for adhering adhesively coated tabs around opposed side edges of the stacked document;
- and
- (e) a second conveyor located downstream of said tabbing station for returning the stack of plural printed documents to said magazine binding production line.
A method for forming and securing plural printed documents in stacks handling and mailing comprising the steps of:
- (a) conveying said plural printed documents to a stacking station;
- (b) stacking said plural printed documents one atop of the other;
- (c) conveying said stacked plural printed documents to a tabbing station;
- (d) applying a selectively removable adhesive tab on opposing side edges of said stacked plural printed documents;
- and
- (e) repeating steps a-d for forming and securing additional stacks of plural printed documents.
A method for forming and securing plural printed documents in stacks for handling and mailing said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) conveying said plural printed documents to a stacking station;
- (b) stacking said plural printed documents one atop of the other with the resulting stack having top and bottom exposed surfaces;
- (c) conveying said stacked plural printed documents to a tabbing station;
- (d) applying a selectively removable adhesive tab to said stack with a portion of said tab adhering to said top and bottom exposed surfaces of said stacked plural printed document so as to bridge the side edges of intermediate ones of said stacked printed documents;
- (e) selectively applying a bead of glue on one of said to and bottom exposed surfaces of said stack at a first glue station;
- and
- (f) repeating steps a-e for forming and securing additional stacks of plural printed documents.
A method for forming and securing plural printed documents in stacks for handling and mailing said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) conveying said plural printed documents to a stacking station;
- (b) stacking said plural printed documents one atop of the other at said stacking station;
- (c) conveying the stacked plural printed documents to a tabbing station;
- (d) applying an adhesive tab to an exposed upper and lower surface of said stacked documents and bridging the side edges of intermediate plural printed document in said stack by:
- 1 feeding tab substrate material from a supply;
- 2cutting said tub substrate material to a predetermined length;
- 3 applying a pressure sensitive peelable adhesive to said tub substrate material;
- 4 placing the tab of step 3 on a portion of opposing side edges of said stacked plural printed documents;
- 5 folding said tabs to engage said exposed upper and lower surfaces of said stacked plural printed documents;
- 6 pressing said tabs to said stacked plural printed documents;
- and
- (e) repeating steps a-d for forming and securing additional stacks of plural printed documents.
A method for securing a predetermined number of printed documents in stacked relationship for handling and mailing for use in combination with a main line conveyor for a magazine binding production line comprising the steps of:
- (a) periodically diverting a predetermined number of said documents onto a parallel line;
- (b) conveying said predetermined number of printed documents on said conveyor to a first glue station;
- (c) tacking a bead of glue on selective areas of said predetermined number of printed documents;
- (d) conveying said predetermined number of printed documents to a stacking station;
- (e) stacking said predetermined number of printed documents with said beads of glue therebetween;
- (f) conveying the stacked predetermined number of printed documents to a tabbing station;
- (g) adhesively bonding a tab to exposed top, bottom and intermediate side edges of said stacked predetermined number of printed documents;
- (h) returning said stacked predetermined number of printed documents to said main line conveyor;
- (i) repeating steps a-h for forming and securing additional predetermined number of printed documents in stacked relationship.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.