Method and apparatus for horizontal stacking and batching of sheet products

A horizontal sheet stacking and batching system comprising, in combination, a first conveyor section operative to receive sheets or signatures from a web press and convey said sheets along a generally horizontal path while disposed in a generally flat orientation, a second conveyor section downstream from said first conveyor section for receiving sheets from said first conveyor section, said second conveyor section including means for rotating said sheets about their direction of travel from a substantially flat orientation to positions inclined to horizontal as said sheets travel from an upstream end to a downstream end of said second conveyor, a loop conveyor section operative to receive sheets from said second conveyor section and convey said sheets in an upward direction disposed in a generally vertical orientation as they leave the downstream end of said second conveyor, a stop mechanism operative to stop upward movement of said sheets on said loop conveyor section at a predetermined position so that successive sheets cause preceding sheets to move generally horizontally while generally vertically disposed, and a receiving trough having a generally V-shaped transverse cross-sectional configuration, said sheets being oriented during said upward movement so that each sheet has two downwardly facing edges that are received in and supported by said V-shaped trough as said sheets undergo said horizontal movement while vertically disposed.

A method for stacking generally rectangular sheets in a substantially horizontal stack of generally vertically disposed sheets, said method comprising the steps of:

• conveying said sheets in consecutive order along a generally horizontal conveyor path,
• causing said sheets to successively pass from said generally horizontal conveyor path to a downstream conveyor path along which said sheets are progressively rotated to positions inclined relative to horizontal as the sheets reach a downstream end of said downstream conveyor path,
• causing said sheets to successively pass from said downstream conveyor path to a conveyor path operative to continue travel of said sheets in an upwardly directed path,
• stopping a first predetermined number of consecutive sheets in succession at a first predetermined position during travel along said upwardly directed path and causing said first predetermined number of consecutive sheets to be progressively moved generally horizontally after being stopped at said first predetermined position,
• causing at least one sheet traveling immediately behind said first predetermined number of sheets to be stopped at a second predetermined position so that an upper edge of said at least one sheet behind said predetermined number of sheets extends above at least the last of said first predetermined number of sheets, and causing said at least one sheet to be moved immediately behind said first predetermined number of sheets so as to create a physical demarcation between the last of said first predetermined number of sheets and said at least one sheet to thereby facilitate separation of said predetermined number of sheets from said sheets immediately behind said first predetermined number of sheets.