US 7,588,238 B2Granted

Method and device for gathering sheets

AssigneeKolbus GmbH & Co. KG

InventorAndreas Walther

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Abstract

During the gathering process, an individual signature is respectively withdrawn from several collections of identical signatures, wherein the various decollated signatures are delivered to a collecting conveyor in order to form stacks. The invention proposes that the sheets (3) of a collection (4) are transported in a direction that is essentially oriented transverse to the transport direction (F) of the collecting container (10) in the form of continuous stream feed (4) of sheets (3) that lie on top of one another in a shingled fashion, that the respective front sheet (3) is taken hold of by a conveyor (42) on its leading section such that it is prevented from turning and displaced such that it is deflected in the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor (10), and that the displaced sheet (3) is received by a withdrawal conveyor system (50) and additionally transported in said transport direction (F) in order to synchronously deliver the sheets (3) to the collecting conveyor (10) in the corresponding cycle. This makes it possible to reliably and carefully process sheets supplied in the form of stream feeds without intermediately storing the sheets in magazines and decollating the sheets anew from the stacks.

Claims12

Dependent claims

In a method for gathering a plurality of different printed sheets from a respective plurality of collections, each collection having respective identical sheets taken from one of a respective plurality of feeder stations, wherein one individual sheet is respectively withdrawn cyclically from each collection of identical sheets and the withdrawn sheets are delivered to a common collecting conveyor moving continuously in a transport direction, in order to form stacks of different sheets on the collecting conveyor, the improvement comprising that:

the sheets of a collection are transported in a direction that is oriented transverse to the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor, in the form of a continuous stream feed of sheets that lie on top of one another in a shingled fashion;
a front portion of the respective front sheet of the shingled sheets is taken hold of by a deflection conveyor such that the held sheet is prevented from turning and it is displaced such that it is deflected in the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor;
the displaced sheet is received by a withdrawal conveyor system and additionally transported in said transport direction (F) in order to synchronously deliver the sheets onto the stack on the moving collecting conveyor during each cycle;
wherein the sheets are delivered to the collecting conveyor in the form of a stream feed of sheets that lie on top of one another toward said front portion, in a shingled fashion;
wherein the arriving stream feed of sheets is pulled apart in several acceleration stages (0→v1, v1→v2) by initially displacing the respective front sheet in the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor with a slower transport speed (v1) and then additionally transporting this front sheet with a higher transport speed (v2) by the withdrawal conveyor system;
and
including another acceleration stage (v2→v3) during the transfer of the sheet to the collecting conveyor wherein the transport speed (v2) of the withdrawal conveyor system is slower than the transport speed (v3) of the collecting conveyor.

4 more elements

A device for gathering and stacking different printed sheets having a format height and width, comprising:

several feed devices that are arranged in a row for respectively providing different sheets from respective sources of identical sheets;
a collecting conveyor moving continuously in a transport direction (F), to which different individual sheets are delivered in sequence in order to form stacks of different sheets on the collecting conveyor;
a delivery conveyor for each feed device that is approximately oriented perpendicular to the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor and transports the sheets to the collecting conveyor in the form of a continuous stream feed of sheets that lie on top of one another in a shingled fashion, whereby the shingled feed stream has a front sheet closest to the collecting conveyor;
a deflection conveyor for each delivery conveyor that clamps the front sheet on a front portion and displaces this front sheet in the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor, with a clamp having a width that is larger than half the format height of the sheets;
a withdrawal conveyor system for each deflection conveyor that receives and additionally transports the displaced sheet onto a stack on the collecting conveyor in an accelerated fashion;
wherein each feed device includes a bundle feeder that is arranged upstream of the delivery conveyor and forms a stream feed from sheets that are stacked in bundles;
the deflection conveyor comprises driven upper transport rollers that have a conical face and operatively associated lower inching rollers that are cyclically closed and opened;
and
the withdrawal conveyor engages the front sheet while partially shingled and completely withdraws the engaged sheet from the shingled stream feed.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/492,265Filed 25 Jul 2006
Priority: DE 10 2005 035 33328 Jul 2005
Published: US 2007/0023998 A11 Feb 2007
Granted: 15 Sep 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

B65H 5/28
Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines: feeding articles stored in rolled or folded bands
B65H 5/24
Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines: feeding articles in overlapping streams, i.e. by separation of articles from…
B65H 29/6663
Changing the overlapping figure: reversing the overlapping figure
B65H 39/043
From piles: the piles being disposed in juxtaposed carriers