Variable speed signature collating apparatus

An apparatus for use in forming sheet material assemblages, said apparatus comprising:

• a conveyor having a plurality of receiving locations for receiving sheet material articles;
• a plurality of article feeder means disposed along said conveyor for feeding sheet material articles to said receiving locations, each of said article feeder means includes a variable speed motor;
• conveyor drive means for driving said conveyor to move each of said receiving locations past each of said article feeder means in turn;
• a plurality of receiving location sensor means each of which is associated with a receiving location of said plurality of receiving locations and provides an output signal when the associated receiving location is in a predetermined positional relationship with an article feeder means of said plurality of article feeder means;
• a plurality of feeder sensor means each of which is associated with an article feeder means of said plurality of article feeder means and provides an output signal when the associated article feeder means is in a predetermined operating condition;
• and
• control means for controlling operation of said plurality of article feeder means as a function of output signals from said receiving location sensor means and said feeder sensor means, said control means varies the speed of operation of said variable speed motor in one of said article feed means in response to one of said feeder sensor means of said plurality of feeder sensor means and one of said receiving location sensor means in said plurality of receiving location sensor means providing output signals indicative of a relationship between one of said receiving locations and one of said article feeder means other than a desired relationship.

An apparatus for use in forming sheet material assemblages, said apparatus comprising:

• a conveyor having a plurality of sheet material receiving locations;
• a plurality of article feeder means disposed along said conveyor for feeding sheet material articles to said receiving locations;
• feed failure sensor means for sensing a failure of one of said article feeder means to feed a sheet material article to one of said sheet material receiving locations;
• repair feeder means disposed along said conveyor for feeding sheet material articles to sheet material receiving locations to which said one article feeder means of said plurality of article feeder means fails to feed sheet material articles, said repair feeder means includes a feeder element which feeds sheet material articles and a motor connected with said feeder element, said motor being operable between a de-energized condition in which said motor is ineffective to move said feeder element and an energized condition in which said motor moves said feeder element;
• control means connected with said feed failure sensor means and said motor for effecting operation of said motor from the de-energized condition to the energized condition in response to said feed failure sensor means sensing a failure of said one of said article feeder means to feed a sheet material article and receiving location sensor means for providing an output signal upon movement of each of said receiving locations in turn to a predetermined position relative to said repair feeder means, said control means operates said repair feeder means in response to an output signal from said receiving location sensor means.

An apparatus for use in forming sheet material assemblages, said apparatus comprising:

• a conveyor having a plurality of sheet material receiving locations;
• a plurality of article feeder means disposed along said conveyor for feeding sheet material articles to said receiving locations, each of said article feeder means includes a motor;
• conveyor drive means for driving said conveyor to move said sheet material receiving locations relative to said plurality of article feeder means;
• and
• control means for operating said motors in said article feeder means at a first speed to feed sheet material articles to said sheet material receiving locations during movement of said sheet material receiving locations by said conveyor drive means, said control means including feed adjust means for changing the relationship of a first one of said article feeder means of said plurality of article feeder means relative to other article feeder means of said plurality of article feeder means during operation of said motors in said plurality of article feeder means at the first speed, said feed adjust means including means for changing the operating speed of said motor in said first one of said article feeder means from the first speed to a second speed while the motors in said plurality of article feeder means other than said first one of said article feeder means continue to operate at the first speed and for changing the operating speed of said motor in said first one of said article feeder means from the second speed back to the first speed while the motors in said plurality of article feeder means other than said first one of said plurality of article feeder means continue to operate at the first speed.

An apparatus for use in forming sheet material assemblages, said apparatus comprising:

• a conveyor having a plurality of sheet material receiving locations;
• a plurality of article feeder means disposed along said conveyor for feeding sheet material articles to said receiving locations, each of said article feeder means includes a motor;
• a plurality of feeder sensor means each of which is associated with one of said article feeder means of said plurality of article feeder means and provides an operating signal when the associated one of said article feeder means is in a predetermined operating condition;
• conveyor drive means for driving said conveyor to move said sheet material receiving locations relative to said plurality of article feeder means, said conveyor drive means includes a motor which is operated to drive said conveyor to move said sheet material receiving locations relative to said article feeder means during operation of said motors in said article feeder means;
• and
• control means for operating said motors in said article feeder means at a first speed to feed sheet material articles to said sheet material receiving locations during movement of said sheet material receiving locations by said conveyor drive means, said control means includes a main controller which is connected with said motor in said conveyor drive means and controls the operation of said motor in said conveyor drive means, and a plurality of sheet material feed controllers which are connected with said main controller and with one of said motors in one of said article feeder means and with one of said feeder sensor means, each of said sheet material feed controllers being operable to control the operation of one of said motors in one of said article feeder means.