EP0144751A2 - Device for providing stacks of printed paper with a cover sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

A forklift (16) with at least two stacking chutes (14, 15), which can be alternately loaded from above, is provided following a printed product conveyor (11). In addition, means (21, 24) are provided for placing a cover sheet on a finished stack. In order not to place this cover sheet on the stack until it leaves the stacker, a device (22, 23) is provided for providing loose and printed cover sheets, to which device a cover sheet conveyor (24) connects, which for each of the stacking shafts (14, 15 ) is provided with a controllable outlet (25, 26) opening into the relevant stacking shaft (14, 15).

Description

The present invention relates to a device for producing stacks of printed products provided with a cover sheet according to the preamble of patent claim 1.

Print products, such as newspapers, are usually shipped in batches from the print shop to larger distribution points. It is customary to provide each stack with a cover sheet, which, for example, indicates the address of the distribution point and the number of copies contained in the stack.

So far, these cover sheets have either been placed by hand on the stack leaving the stacker, or so-called feeders have been proposed, each pulling a cover sheet from a prepared package of such cover sheets, and placing them on the top of the stack leaving the stacker. Laying on by hand is no longer able to keep up with the output capacity of today's forklifts, which in turn is adapted to the output capacity of modern rotary presses. The use of feeders has the disadvantage that the stack leaving the stacker has to be stopped temporarily so that the cover sheet can be put on, after which the stack has to be set in motion again. This is detrimental to the stability of the stacks, since these have not yet been tied up or stabilized by another covering. In addition, the outlets of the feeders are the different heights of the stacks leaving the stacker adapt what can not be achieved without a corresponding technical effort.

In modern forklifts, which - as mentioned - are able to take up the continuous, high output capacity of rotary presses, there are also two or more stacking rooms - also known as stacking shafts - which are alternately fed by the upstream conveyor used feeder, one feeder per stacking shaft would have to be provided, which, apart from the additional technical effort, meant a larger space requirement.

It is therefore to be regarded as a purpose of the invention to create a device of the type mentioned at the outset which largely eliminates or circumvents the disadvantages and problems mentioned above.

For this purpose, the proposed device is characterized by the features defined in the characterizing part of patent claim 1.

Features of preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

In the proposed device, the cover sheets thus get into the stacking shaft itself, that is to say before the stack located therein and finished is set in motion for removal. In other words the stack is provided with a _D eckblatt already before it is ejected from the respective stacking shaft or carried away with the proposed device.

• Fig. 1 eine sehr schematische Seitenansicht einer Einrichtung,
• Fig. 2 einen schematischen Grundriss der Einrichtung gemäss Fig. l,
• Fig. 3 einen Schnitt nach der Linie III-III der Fig. l,
• Fig. 4 eine Stirnansicht von links auf die Einrichtung der Fig. 1 unter Weglassung des Endabschnittes des Druckprodukte-Transporteurs,
• Fig. 5, 6 Schnitte längs der Linie V-V der Fig. 1 und 7 durch den Deckblattförderer, und zwar Fig. 5 des an eine Deckblatt-Schneidvorrichtung anschliessenden Abschnittes, Fig. 6 des im Bereich des ersten und Fig. 7 des im Bereich des zweiten Stapelschachtes liegenden Abschnittes des Deckblattförderers,
• Fig. 8 im vergrössertem Massstab einen Schnitt längs der Linie VIII-VIII der Fig. 6 oder der Fig. 7 durch einen Teil einer der Ausstoss-Stationen des Deckblattförderers,
• Fig. 9 eine Draufsicht auf Fig. 8,
• Fig. 10 einen vereinfachten Schnitt durch eine Ausführungsvariante einer der Ausstoss-Stationen, und
• Fig. 11 eine Draufsicht auf Fig. 10.

The invention is described below purely by way of example with reference to the drawing. It shows:

• 1 is a very schematic side view of a device,
• 2 shows a schematic plan view of the device according to FIG. 1,
• 3 shows a section along the line III-III of FIG. 1,
• 4 is an end view from the left of the device of FIG. 1 with the end portion of the printed product transporter omitted,
• 5, 6 sections along the line VV of Figs. 1 and 7 through the cover sheet conveyor, namely Fig. 5 of the section adjoining a cover sheet cutting device, Fig. 6 in the area of the first and Fig. 7 in the area of the second stacking section of the cover sheet conveyor,
• 8 on an enlarged scale a section along the line VIII-VIII of FIG. 6 or FIG. 7 through part of one of the ejection stations of the cover sheet conveyor,
• 9 is a plan view of FIG. 8,
• 10 shows a simplified section through an embodiment variant of one of the ejection stations, and
• 11 is a plan view of FIG. 10.

In the device 10 shown in Fig. 1-4, one can see very schematically the end section of a printed product transporter 11, which is provided with spaced-apart, not shown, controlled grippers, which each have a product 12 in the direction of the arrow 13 feed from two stacking shafts 14, 15 of a stacker designated overall by 16. Trigger stations that can be activated alternately, which bring the grippers either over the stacking shaft 14 or 15 into the open position and thus release the release of the printed product for free fall into the stacking shaft 14 or 15 in question, are only shown schematically and are designated by 17 or 18. Further details about the conveyor 11 and the stacker 16 can be found, for example, in DE-OS 31 30 945 A1, published on April 29, 1982, I P C B65 H29 / 58, although only one stacking shaft of the stacker is shown there.

The stacker 16 is provided with ejectors 19, which form a stack which has been formed in one of the stacking shafts 14 or 15 in a direction perpendicular to the viewer in FIG. 1 to the plane of the drawing and in FIG. 2 downward direction from the stacking shaft to one here schematically Transfer conveyor shown as conveyor 20.

A device 21 for providing loose and printed cover sheets (not shown in FIG. 1) is assigned to the stacker 16. This device has a commercially available, computer-controlled continuous form printer 22, which also has a commercially available cutting device direction 23 is downstream. For example, the printer sold by the USA company Printronix Inc. can be used as a continuous form printer 22 and a device sold by Kern AG in Konolfingen / Bern as the cutting device 23. Therefore, a detailed description of both the printer 22 ′ and the cutting device 23 is not necessary at this point.

The continuous form printer 22 need not be firmly coupled to the cutting device 23. A central continuous form printer can also be provided which, thanks to its performance, delivers printed continuous webs for the cutting devices of several devices. This does not change the fact that in this case the cutting device alone is a device for providing loose and printed cover sheets.

A cover sheet conveyor 24 connects to the outlet of the cutting device 23 and will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5-9 and 10, 11. This cover sheet conveyor 24 has an individually controllable ejection station for each of the stacking chutes 14, 15, the outlet 25 or 26 of which opens from the side into the stacking chute 14 or 15 at the level of its upper end.

So much for the general overview of the entire facility. 5-7 details of the cover sheet conveyor 24 are shown. Immediately following the outlet 27 of the cutting device 23 a switch 29, which can be actuated by an electromagnet 28, is arranged with a switch tongue 30. If the switch tongue 30 is in the position shown in solid lines in FIG. 5, it forwards the cover sheet resulting from the outlet 27 into a subsequent conveying channel 31 which is delimited at the bottom by a sliding plate 32 and at the top by a cover plate 33. If, on the other hand, the switch tongue 30 is pivoted upward in the clockwise direction, then it guides the material accumulating from the outlet 27 into a waste container 34.

The switch 29 is in the present case from the following The measure of the individual sheets printed by the printer 22 is given in the direction of the take-off in accordance with the folding of the continuous web. However, this measure does not necessarily correspond to the measure of the cover sheet format measured in the direction of arrow 35, which is suitable for a stack of printed products. Therefore, the cutting device is set up to cut cover sheets to a smaller dimension in the direction of passage of the continuous web than corresponds to the dimension between two successive folds, ie to make two cuts per sheet of the continuous web. The resulting strip is therefore fed to the waste container 34 since it is not required.

The conveyor channel 31 is assigned to the sliding plate 32 passing through, in the direction of the arrow constantly driven conveyor rollers 36, each of which cooperate with spring-loaded, freely rotatable pressure rollers 37 to ensure a safe advancement of the sheet forwarded from the switch tongue 30 into the conveyor channel 31.

It can be seen from FIG. 5 on the right and from FIG. 6 on the left that a further switch 39, which can be actuated by an electromagnet 38 and has a switch tongue 40, is switched into the feed channel 31. If the switch tongue 40 is in the position shown in solid lines in FIGS. 5 and 6, it forwards the leaves arising from the conveying channel 31 into its continuation 31 ', which is likewise delimited at the bottom by a sliding plate 32' and at the top by a cover plate 33 '. The track plate 32 'is also penetrated by a set of conveyor rollers 36 which are arranged at regular intervals and are constantly driven in the direction of the arrow and which, as in FIG. 5, are arranged with appropriately arranged ones rotatable pressure rollers 37 cooperate. The conveyor and pressure rollers 36 and 37 guarantee that the cover sheets forwarded from the switch tongue 40 into the conveyor channel 31 'are conveyed further in the latter.

If, on the other hand, the switch tongue 40 is pivoted upwards in a clockwise direction by the electromagnet 38, the cover sheet (not shown) which arises from the conveying channel 31 passes through a channel section 41 branching off from the conveying channel and into which a conveying roller 36 and a freely rotatable pressure roller 37 also engage , in an ejection station 42. As already mentioned, this is assigned to the stacking shaft 14 and arranged at the level of its upper edge. In this ejection station 42 the cover sheet is advanced by a further pair of conveyor roller 36 / pressure roller 37 until it leaves this pair, and then passed through its own inertia over a slightly rising and then falling ramp 43 until it hits a stop 44 . In the region of the side edge of the ramp 43 which is more distant from the stacking shaft, that is to say closer to the viewer in FIG. 6, a bar 45 of the same shape (see also FIG. 8) is arranged on the ramp at a short distance, which thus also the corresponding edge of the feed Cover sheet a little more than the ramp 43 lifts. Below the apex of the ramp 43 there is an air nozzle arrangement 46 which will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Suffice it to say here that the air nozzle arrangement 46 is used for a cover sheet which has come approximately in the direction of the channel 31 into the ejection station 42 up to the stop 44 transversely to this direction via the outlet 25 (FIG. 2) onto a stacking shaft 14 to "blow" existing stack, and through a burst of compressed air.

Fig. 7 essentially shows the ejection station 42 'assigned to the stacking shaft 15, which corresponds to the ejection station 42 of Fig. 6, with the exception that the channel section 41' leading to the ejection station 42 'is direct, i.e. connects to channel 31 without a switch. This is because only two stacking chutes 14 and 15 are present and, accordingly, only two ejection stations are required. If there were three stacking shafts, the channel section 41 'would branch off from the channel 31' via a further switch, while the latter would continue above the ejection station 42 '.

The air nozzle assembly 46 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 as a component of the ejection station 42 is identical to the air nozzle assembly 46 'of FIG. 7 and is essentially constructed from a control valve 48 which is controlled by an electromagnet 47 and blocked on it, to which a nozzle block 49 is flanged. A supply line 50 for compressed air is connected to the nozzle block 49, from which passages 51, 52 extend to the inlet 53 of the control valve 48. The outlet 54 of the control valve 48 is connected to a nozzle line 55 formed in the nozzle block 49, the end section of which is directed obliquely upwards through a circular opening 56 of the bottom plate 57 of the ejection station 42 forming the ramp 43 (FIG. 6). Thus, a pulse-like air jet 58 emerging from the nozzle line 55 hits in the direction of the nozzle line 55 the underside of the one located in the ejection station and resting on the ramp 43 or the strip 45 and their Form-containing cover sheet D. As a result, the cover sheet D is lifted from its supports and, as it were, floats on an air cushion on the stack located on the stacking shaft assigned to it.

In order for this transport of the cover sheet to take place without interference by an air blast, the following .t1 measures have also been taken at the ejection station 42 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. A cover plate or guide plate 59 spanning the floor plate 57 forming the ramp has a D-shaped or U-shaped cutout 60 which is symmetrical to the nozzle line 55 and extended or open towards the stacking shaft. The lateral edges (as viewed in the direction of the air jet 58) of the cover sheet D shown only in FIG. 8 are thus guided in such a way that, in contrast to the central area, they can only be lifted off their contact surfaces to a limited extent. The intermittent air jet 58 also has an injector effect in the sense that it entrains ambient air. So that this phenomenon does not lead to a temporary negative pressure between the cover sheet D on the one hand and the bottom plate 57 or the strip 45, and so that the cover sheet D with its trailing edge (on the right in FIG. 8) adheres to the latter elements, is between the bar 45 and the bottom plate 57 a gap 61 through which air can flow freely. The recesses formed in the nozzle block 49 and flanking the outlet of the nozzle line 55 on both sides have the same purpose, namely to prevent the suction emanating from the air jet 58 and acting on a part of the cover sheet D and thus inhibiting the ejection of the same from the ejection station 62, 63.

In the ejection station 42 shown schematically in FIGS. 10 and 11, the cover sheet D is ejected mechanically by friction. Therefore, the bottom plate is flat, as is the cover plate 59 arranged at a distance above it. The bottom plate 57 is penetrated in its area closer to the assigned stacking shaft by conveyor rollers 64 which are constantly driven in the direction of the arrow (here two in number), which interact with pressure rollers 65 . These pressure rollers 65 can be delivered to and removed from the conveyor rollers 64 by means of an electromagnet 66 in the direction of the arrow 67. For this purpose, the core of the electromagnet 66 is articulated to the free end of a crank arm 69 which is firmly seated on a shaft 68, while arms 72 projecting from the shaft 68, which are rotatably mounted on the cover plate 59 at 70, 71, are anchored at the free ends, which in turn support the bearing points for a shaft 63 connecting the two pressure rollers 65 to one another. For passage through the cover plate 59 of the pressure rollers 65 in the course of their feed movement onto the conveyor rollers 64, cutouts 74 are formed in the cover plate 59.

From what has been described so far, the mode of operation of the device described is likely to arise. The triggering of the triggering stations 17, 18, the printer 22 and the cutting device 23, the switch 39, as well as the control valve 48 or the electromagnet 66 at the ejection stations 42 and 42 ', respectively, is carried out by a not shown on the transporter 11 Stacker 16 arranged in advance, pre-programmed copy counter, the control commands being issued to the individual components mentioned in a time sequence, and wherein the intervals between the individual control commands essentially depend on the conveying speed of the conveyor 11. The switch 29, on the other hand, is controlled by the cutting device 23 in accordance with the format preset on it.

If it is desired that the cover sheet comes to rest at the bottom of the stack to be built up in one of the stacking chutes, the device can also be designed such that the outlets 25, 26 open into the bottom of the stacking chutes. However, this would have to be done on the side opposite the ejection side of the stack from the stacking shaft.

In any case, the device described ensures that the cover sheet is fed to the stack before it leaves the stacking shaft in which it was set up.

Claims (10)

1. Device for producing stacks of printed products provided with a cover sheet, with a stacker (16) arranged after a printed product transporter (11) with at least two stacking shafts (14, 15) that can be loaded individually and from above, and with means (21 , 24) for placing a cover sheet (D) in each case on a stack, characterized in that the said means have a cover sheet conveyor (24) arranged after a device (22, 23) for providing loose and printed cover sheets, which for each stacking shaft (14, 15) is provided with a controllable outlet (25, 26) opening into the relevant stacking shaft (14, 15). 2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the device for providing the cover sheets have a printer (22) for continuous forms and a cutting device (23) connected downstream of the printer (22). 3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the cover sheet conveyor (24) runs essentially parallel to the conveyor (11) and is provided with an ejection station (42, 42 ') for each stacking shaft (14, 15). Device according to claim 3, characterized in that each ejection station (42, 42 ') is provided with means for conveying a cover sheet (D) located in the ejection station transversely to the conveying direction of the cover sheet derers (24) in the stack shaft (14, 15) in question. 5. Device according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the outlet of each ejection station (42, 42 ') is arranged at the height of the upper end of the relevant stacking shaft (14, 15). 6. Device according to one of the claims 3 - 5, characterized in that the cover sheet conveyor (24) has a conveying channel (31, 31 '), from which feed channels (41, 41 ") to each of the ejection stations (42, 42 ') branch off, the feed channels (41, 41'), with the exception of the last feed channel (41 ') seen in the conveying direction, being connectable to the feed channel (31, 31') via a switch (39). 7. Device according to one of the claims 4-6, characterized in that the means to convey a cover sheet (D) located in one of the ejection stations (42, 42 ') into the relevant stacking shaft (14, 15) an air nozzle (55) for generating a compressed air blast (58) directed towards the stacking shaft in question and onto the underside of the cover sheet. 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that in each ejection station (42, 42 ') guide elements (43, 45; 43', 45 ') are present in order to raise an accruing cover sheet via the outlet of the air nozzle (55) . 9. Device according to one of claims 4 - 6, characterized in that the means for conveying a cover sheet (D) located in one of the ejection stations (42, 42 ') into the relevant stacking shaft (14, 15) have at least one pair of rollers (64, 65) which can be temporarily activated for the purpose of conveying, that acts directly on the cover sheet (D). 10. Device according to one of claims 3 - 9, characterized in that the conveying direction of the cover sheet conveyor (24) is in the same direction as that of the printed product transporter (11).

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