US 5,938,193 AGranted

Method and apparatus for aligning moving flat articles with an also moving alignment member

AssigneeWinkler & Duennebier Maschinenfabrik und Eisengiesserei KG

InventorsMartin Bluemle, Engelbert Rottmann

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Abstract

Flat articles such as letter envelopes or letter envelope blanks or the like are aligned for further processing by transporting the articles through an alignment path with the help of a pulling mechanism that seizes or entrains each individual article along its leading edge as viewed in the transport direction and moves the article by pulling the article against a stop member or members which are also moved, but with a slower speed than the pulling of the article. Once the leading edge of the article bears against the stop member or members, the article is aligned and ready for further processing. The entraining or seizing takes place in an area positioned substantially centrally along the leading edge of an article between ends of the leading edge of an article.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A method for aligning flat articles each having a leading edge as viewed in a transport direction and an entraining area along said leading edge between ends of said leading edge, said method comprising the following steps:

(a) transporting said flat articles with a first speed along an alignment path with said leading edge facing in said transport direction,
(b) simultaneously moving at least two stop members along said alignment path with a second speed that is lower than said first speed to provide a relative motion between said articles and said at least two stop members,
(c) applying a holding force to said entraining area along said leading edge holding each individual flat article at least during its alignment thereby preventing a lateral displacement of said flat articles during alignment while still permitting a turning of said flat articles about said entraining area,
(d) first pulling said flat articles one after another with said leading edge against one stop member of said at least two stop members moving at said lower speed, and
(e) further pulling and thereby rotating said leading edge against the other stop member of said at least two stop members while still preventing said lateral displacement of said flat article, whereby said turning and rotating aligns said leading edge of each article against said at least two stop members.

2 more elements

An apparatus for aligning flat articles having a leading edge as viewed in a transport direction and an entraining area along said leading edge between ends of said leading edge, said apparatus comprising an article transport mechanism for moving said articles in said transport direction, a first drive (22) connected to said transport mechanism for driving said transport mechanism with a first speed in said transport direction, two parallel carrier members with a spacing between said carrier members, at least two stops arranged so that at least one stop is carried by each of said parallel carrier members for moving said at least two stops in parallel to said transport mechanism, a second drive connected to said parallel carrier members for moving said parallel carrier members at a second speed slower than said first speed, said transport mechanism including a force applicator positioned in said spacing between said two parallel carrying members applying a holding force to said entraining area along said leading edge to hold each individual flat article at least during its alignment against a lateral displacement while simultaneously permitting a turning of the flat article about said entraining area, said transport mechanism driven by said first drive first pulling said leading edge against one of said at least two stops and then rotating said leading edge against the other stop of said at least two stops to thereby align said articles one after another against both stop members.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.