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US 6,193,227 B1Granted
Continuously feeding sheets with coil unwind control
AssigneeGrapha-Holding AG
InventorHeinz Boss
Life of this patent
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AssigneeGrapha-Holding AG
InventorHeinz Boss
Estimating the term…
A method of and an apparatus for feeding a processing machine with flat products, such as printed sheets, cards, patterns or the like. Over a conveyor path arranged between a storage unit and the processing machine and forming a product storage unit, the flat products are carried from the storage unit in a stream formed by products arranged in an overlapping configuration. The product stream conveyed on the conveyor path toward the processing machine is followed by a product stream having a higher speed. The apparatus includes a device with a drivable storage unit for removing the flat products, wherein the storage unit is connected through a conveyor unit to a processing machine for processing the products. The conveyor unit includes a plurality of separate conveyor elements arranged one behind the other and driven in the same direction, wherein a sensor each is directed to the conveying ends of the conveyor elements, and wherein each sensor is connected to a control unit for changing the discharge speed of the product from the storage unit and/or the conveying speed of the products on the conveyor elements.
A method of feeding a processing machine with flat products, such as printed sheets, cards, patterns, the method comprising feeding the printed products from a storage unit on a conveyor in a stream of products arranged in an overlapping manner, wherein the conveyor is arranged between the storage unit and the processing machine and forms a product storage, further comprising feeding on the conveyor another product stream at a higher speed and following the product stream being fed on the conveyor to the processing machine, further comprising forming the product stream traveling at the higher speed by a residual quantity of products stored in a second storage unit, and feeding the product stream formed by a residual quantity of products to an upstream end of the conveyor, wherein the conveyor is divided into a plurality of conveyor elements which are driveable separately or commonly, further comprising feeding the product stream with the higher speed of another storage unit exchanged against an empty storage unit with a higher speed as compared to the processing speed of the products to an upstream end of a conveyor element.
An apparatus for feeding a processing machine with flat products, such as printed sheets, cards, patterns, the apparatus comprising a driveable storage unit from which the flat products are removed, a conveyor forming a product storage means connecting the driveable storage unit to the processing machine for processing the products, wherein the conveyor comprises a plurality of separate conveyor elements arranged one behind the other and driven in the same direction, each conveyor element having a conveyor end, a sensor each being directed toward the conveyor end, a control unit for changing at least one of a discharge speed of the products from the storage unit and a conveying speed of the products on the conveyor elements, wherein each sensor is connected to the control unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.