EP0237701B1 - Method and apparatus for the insertion of at least one insert into, preferably, folded printed products - Google Patents

Abstract

The printed products to be provided with inserts or supplements are infed in respective pairs by an infeed conveyor to a processing drum or cell wheel. The cell wheel comprises substantially radially extending compartments which are open at the periphery of the cell wheel. Product feed devices, for example, clamps or grippers are arranged in the compartments for forwardly advancing the printed products located in the compartments. Each compartment is divided into two feed channels by a removable divider or partition wall. These divider or partition walls terminate at a predeterminate spacing from the product feed devices. Each of the two printed products which are conjointly conveyed as a pair are infed into a respective feed channel. The printed products in the feed channels of each compartment are then conjointly advanced and approximately simultaneously opened and are furnished with an insert or supplement. This is possible, in spite of their mutual advancement, since the printed products are separated from one another by a divider or partition wall and thus do not completely repose upon one another.

Description

The present invention relates to a method and a device for introducing at least one insert into folded printed products according to the preamble of claim I and claim 6.

A method or a device of this type is known from CH-PS 649 267 or the corresponding US-PS 4,416,448. In this known solution, two printed products are simultaneously introduced into the radial compartments of a processing drum which is driven to rotate about its horizontal longitudinal axis. The printed product pairs are advanced together in the longitudinal direction of these compartments and opened during the advancement. The two printed products lie on one another over their entire surface with one of their side surfaces during their entire feed path. First, one of the two printed products is opened while the other printed product remains closed. An insert is then introduced into the open printed product, while the other printed product is now opened and then provided with an insert. Both the opening of the two jointly fed printed products and the insertion of the inserts into the respectively opened printed product thus take place one after the other. This requires a correspondingly long processing route, i.e. after a suitably long processing drum.

The present invention is based on the object of creating a method and a device of the type mentioned at the outset, in which or in which the processing of the printed products can take place along the shortest possible processing path, without however reducing the processing capacity must be taken.

This object is achieved according to the invention by the features of the characterizing part of claim I and claim 6.

Due to the fact that the two jointly fed printed products remain at least partially lifted from one another during their advance along the processing path, it is possible to open the printed products essentially simultaneously and also to insert deposits into the opened printed products at about the same time. This insertion of the inserts can thus take place over a shorter distance than when the processes of opening the printed products and then inserting the inserts for the two printed products take place successively, as is the case in the prior art.

The printed products and also the inserts are preferably transported in pairs to the processing path, the printed products of each pair being introduced simultaneously into one of two feed channels lying next to one another. The feed channels are separated from one another over at least part of their height by a separating element.

Further preferred refinements of the subject matter of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

• Fig. l In Stirnansicht, und
• Fig. 2 In Seitenansicht, teilweise im Schnitt und mit weggebrochenen Teilen, eine Verarbeitungs vorrichtung mit horizontalachsiger Verarbeitungstrommel;
• Fig. 3 In gegenüber der Fig. I vergrössertem Massstab und ebenfalls in Stirnansicht einen Teil der Verarbeitungsvorrichtung;
• Fig. 4 - 6 In vergrössertem Massstab ein Abteil der Verarbeitungstrommel im Schnitt an in Achsrichtung der Verarbeitungstrommel versetzten Stellen, und
• Fig. 7 In einer der Fig. 3 entsprechenden Darstellung eine Variante einer Verarbeitungsvorrichtung.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing. It shows purely schematically:

• Fig. L in front view, and
• Fig. 2 In side view, partly in section and with parts broken away, a processing device with a horizontal-axis processing drum;
• 3 on a larger scale than in FIG. 1 and also in front view of part of the processing device;
• Fig. 4 - 6 on an enlarged scale, a section of the processing drum in section at points offset in the axial direction of the processing drum, and
• FIG. 7 shows a variant of a processing device in a representation corresponding to FIG. 3.

The processing device for printed products shown in FIGS. I and 2 in front view and side view has a processing drum 2 mounted in a frame I with a longitudinal axis 2a extending in the horizontal direction. The basic structure of this processing drum 2 corresponds to that of the processing drum, which corresponds to the processing drum explained in detail in DE-OSes 24 47 336 and 26 04 101 and the corresponding US Patents 3,951,399 and 4,058,202. For this reason, reference is made to these disclosures and patents with regard to the structure and mode of operation of the processing drum 2. The processing drum 2 is rotatably supported in two bearings 3, 4 which are attached to the frame I. The frame I also carries a drive 5 consisting of a motor and a transmission, which drives the drum 2 rotating in the direction of arrow A via a drive chain 6, which is only shown schematically in FIG .

The drum 2 has a number of compartments 8 which extend in the direction of the longitudinal axis 2a of the drum and which are open on the drum circumference 9. Adjacent compartments 8 are separated from one another by walls 10. The latter are attached to C-shaped profile rails II, which in turn are connected to a drum base body 12, as can be seen in particular from FIGS. 4 to 6. In these profile rails II, slides (not shown in FIGS. 4 to 6) are guided so as to be displaceable in the longitudinal axis 2a of the drum, to which the compartments 8 bottom elements 13 are attached.

For each compartment 8, a feed mechanism, generally designated 14, is further provided, the structure and mode of operation of which are explained in more detail in the previously mentioned DE-OS 26 04 101 or the content-corresponding US Pat. No. 4,058,202. For this reason, a detailed description is omitted here and reference is made to the latter publications. To the This feed mechanism 14 includes a control drum 15 which is arranged coaxially with the longitudinal axis 2a of the drum and which does not rotate. This control drum 15 is provided on its outside with a control cam 16, only schematically shown in FIG. 2, into which follow links 17a of slides 17 engage, each of which is assigned to a compartment 8. With the carriage 17 of each compartment 8 sets of grippers 18, 19 and 20 are connected, which sit on a common shaft 21. While the processing drum 2 is rotating, the slides 17 in the associated compartments 8 together with the grippers 18, 19, 20 are advanced in the direction of the longitudinal axis 2a of the drum, ie in the direction of the arrow B, and then moved back again, as is the case in the aforementioned DE-OS 26 04 101 or US-PS 4,058,202 is explained. In addition, the shaft 21 and the grippers 18, 19, 20 connected to it are pivoted.

Three feed conveyors 23, 24 and 25 are arranged above the processing drum 2, which run parallel to one another and at a mutual distance, at least in the region of the drum 2. These feed conveyors 23, 24, 25 are shown only schematically in FIG. 2 and correspond in their construction to the conveyor described in DE-OS 31 02 242 or the corresponding US Pat. No. 4,381,056. Each of these feed conveyors 23, 24, 25 has individually releasable grippers 27 which are fastened to a chain 28 which is driven in the direction of arrow C and which is guided in a channel 29, as shown purely schematically in FIG. 1 with the aid of feed conveyor 23 is. The chain 28 is guided over a deflection wheel 23a. The feed conveyors 23, 24, 25 are driven by the drive 5 via drive connections 26 which are only indicated schematically. The grippers 27 have a movable jaw 30 which interacts with a fixed jaw 31.

Each of these feed conveyors 23, 24, 25 defines a feed section 32, 33 and 34, respectively. Main products 35 are fed by the feed conveyor 23 in a manner to be described in more detail and are fed into the individual compartments 8 in the feed section 32. The two other feed conveyors 24 and 25 supply inserts, that is to say also printed products 36 and 37, which are introduced into the compartments 8 and into the previously opened printed products 35 in the feed sections 33 and 34.

A removal section 38 adjoins the feed section 34, in the area of which there is a removal conveyor 39 which is constructed in the same way as the feed conveyors 23, 24 and 25 and has the same gripper 27 with a movable and a fixed clamping jaw 30 and 31. These grippers 27 are fastened to a chain 28 which is guided via a deflection wheel 39a and is guided in a channel 29 and is driven in a rotating manner in the direction of arrow D. The removal conveyor 39 is also driven by the drive 5, as indicated by the schematically illustrated drive connection 26 '.

A dividing wall 40 projects into each compartment 8 and is detachably and removably attached to the processing drum 2 by means of a holder 41 ((FIGS. 4 to 6). These dividing walls 40 divide each compartment 8 into two feed channels 42 and 43. The dividing walls 40 extend only over part of the length of the processing drum 2 and end before the start of the removal section 38. In other words, the partition walls 40 only pass through the feed sections 32, 33 and 34. The partition walls 40 do not extend to the bottom of the compartments 8, but end at a distance from the floor elements 13, as can be seen in particular from Figures 4 to 6. This means that the partition walls 40 do not protrude into the effective range of the grippers 18, 19, 20. The part 40 through the partition walls in their outer part Feed channels 42, 43 separated from one another thus merge into one another at their inner end in the region of the grippers 18, 19, 20.

The mode of operation of the processing device described above will now be explained with reference to FIGS. I to 6.

As indicated in FIG. 3, the distance a between successive grippers 27 of the feeders 23, 24, 25 is matched to the division b of the compartments 8 in such a way that one compartment 8 is aligned with a gripper 27 while the drum 2 is rotating. As FIG. 3 further shows, each gripper 27 of the feed conveyor 23 delivers two main products 35 and 35 _' . These main products 35, 35 'are held in the region of their open side edge, designated 35a, which extends transversely to the conveying direction C of the feed conveyor 23. The two main products 35, 35 'held by the same gripper 27 are offset from one another by the dimension c in a direction running transversely to the mentioned side edge 35a, so that on the opposite side edge 35b (folded edge) one product 35 over the other printed product 35 'protrudes. Seen in the conveying direction C of the feed conveyor 23, the processing drum 2 is preceded by a conveyor belt 44 driven in the direction of the arrow E, on which the hanging printed products 35, 35 'come to rest with their lower side edge 35b. The print products 35, 35 'are stabilized in their position. After leaving the conveyor belt 44, the two main products 35, 35 'held in the same gripper 27 meet with a compartment wall 10 which enters between the two printed products 35, 35', as shown in FIG. 3. This retraction of the compartment walls 10 and thus separation of the two main products 35, 35 'is facilitated in that, as mentioned, the printed product 35 protrudes beyond the other printed products 35' on the lower side edge 35b (folded edge). The two printed products 35, 35 ', which are now separate from one another, now reach the feed channels 43 and 42 of adjacent compartments, as shown in FIG. Correct insertion of the main products 35, 35 'into the feed channels 42, 43 is also ensured by the fact that the compartments 8 do not run in the exact radial direction R (FIG. I), but rather are inclined in front of this radial direction in the direction of rotation A of the drum 2 are. The middle plane 8a of the compartments 8 forms an angle a with the radial direction R, as can be seen from FIG.

As soon as the main products 35 and 35 'fed together by the same gripper 27 are in the feed channels 42, 43, the associated gripper 27 is opened in a manner which is not shown but is known, which results in the main products 35, 35' being released now drop down into the compartments until their lower side edge 35b strikes the base element 13, as shown in FIG. However, the two printed products 35 and 35 _' located in the compartment 8 are separated by the partition 40, as shown in FIG. 4.

As the drum 2 continues to rotate, the grippers 18 are now moved into the clamping position shown in broken lines in FIG. 4, in which they clamp the two products 35 and 35 '. The printed products 35, 35 'which are gripped by the grippers 18 in the region of their lower side edge 35b are now advanced together with these grippers 18 in the direction of the arrow B against the feed section 33. They reach the effective range of opening elements 22 projecting into the two feed channels 42 and 43, of which an opening element is shown schematically in FIG. When the printed products 35, 35 'located in the same compartment 8 move past the associated opening element 22, these printed products 35, 35' are opened at the same time. Seen in the direction of feed B behind the opening elements 22, guide plates 45 and 46 protrude into each feed channel 42, which are fastened to the compartment wall 10 and to the partition wall 40 and run at a distance therefrom, as can be seen from FIG. These guide plates 45, 46 engage between the two halves 47, 48 of the opened products 35, 35 '.

Are the opened main products 35, 35 'in the second input section 33, i.e. in the feed area of the feed conveyor 24, the grippers 18 are pivoted back into the rest position shown in broken lines in FIG. 5, these grippers being moved back to the first feed section 32 against the feed direction B. Backstops (not shown) prevent the main products 35, 35 'from moving back, as is explained in more detail in the aforementioned DE-OS 26 04 101 and the corresponding US Pat. No. 4,058,202. In the feed section 33, a first insert 36 is now introduced into each opened main product 35 and 35 '. Like the main products 35, 35 ', these inserts 36 are fed in pairs by the feed conveyor 24 and, as described with reference to FIG. 3, are fed into the feed channels 42, 43 separately.

The main products 35, 35 'provided with these inserts 36 are now held in place by the grippers 19 and again advanced together in the direction of arrow B to the third feed section 34, the main products 35, 35' remaining open. At this third feed section 34, the grippers 19 are pivoted back into the rest position and moved back to the second feed section 33. At the third feed point 34, a second insert 37 is now introduced into the open main products 35, 35 ', which, like the supplements 36, is fed in pairs by the feed conveyor 25 and introduced individually into the feed channels 42, 43.

The main products 35, 35 'now provided with the two inserts 36, 37' are now gripped by the grippers 20 and conveyed together in the direction of arrow B into the removal section 38. In this removal section 38 there are no guide plates 45, 46 and also no more partition walls 40, as can be seen from FIG. 6. The main products 35, 35 'with the inserts 36, 37 close and come to rest on one another. The end products consisting of a main product 35 or 35 'with inserts 36, 37 are shown in FIG. 6 and are designated 49 and 49'. As described above, the grippers 20 pivoted back into their rest position move back to the feed point 34. The two end products 49 and 49 'are now gripped in the region of their outer side edge 49a by a gripper 27 of the conveyor 39 and transported away in the direction of arrow D, as can be seen in FIG. 3. Each gripper 27 of the conveyor 29 thus detects two end products 49, 49 '.

The processing procedure previously described with reference to a compartment 8 takes place in the same way with a time offset in all other compartments 8.

Since, as already mentioned, there is only one feed mechanism 14 per compartment 8, which is common to the two products 35, 35 'arranged in the feed channels 42, 43, and the partition walls 40 do not extend into the effective range of the grippers 18, 19, 20 it is easily possible to remove the partition walls 40 without impairing the operability of the processing drum 2. This makes it possible to easily halve the processing capacity of the drum 2 without having to change the speed of the drum 2 and the conveying speed of the feeders 23, 24, 25.

In FIG. 7, another representation of the processing device is shown in a representation corresponding to FIG. 3, which differs from the embodiment according to FIG. 3 by a somewhat different design of the feed conveyors 23, 24, 25.

In the variant according to FIG. 7, the grippers 27 'of the feed conveyors 23', 24 ', 25' are arranged at a mutual distance a 'which is only approximately half the distance a between adjacent grippers 27 of the ones shown in FIG. 3 Contraption. The division b of the compartments 8 remains unchanged. Each gripper 27 'now feeds only one main product 35 or only one insert 36, 37 which is introduced into a feed channel 42 or 43. However, in this embodiment as well, the two printed products 35 introduced shortly one after the other into the feed channels 42, 43 of a compartment 8 are pushed together, opened approximately at the same time and provided with inserts, as has been described in detail above.

In the embodiments shown Although the printed products are advanced together, the printed products can be processed separately from one another, since they do not lie on one another over the entire surface, but are separated from one another by the partition walls 40. This makes it possible to subject the printed products 35, 35 'essentially simultaneously to the same processing steps as opening and inserting the inserts 36, 37. This means that the processing route required to insert the inserts can be correspondingly short.

Instead of inserting the two printed products 35, 35 ', which are respectively fed together by the feed conveyor 23, into feed channels 42, 43 of adjacent compartments 8, as shown in FIG. 3, it is also possible to insert the printed products 35, 35' into the feed channels 42, 43 of the same compartment 8 to bring. In such a case, instead of the compartment wall 10, the corresponding partition 40 would move between the two printed products 35, 35 _' held by the same gripper 27.

It goes without saying that, instead of the processing drum 2, other devices can also be used, in which the printed products 35, 35 'run through a straight-line or another type of two-dimensional processing path.

Claims (18)

1. Method of introducing at least one insert into folded printed products (35, 35'), wherein two printed products at a time are conjointly fed forward along a processing path and individually opened while being fed forward, whereupon one or more inserts is or are introduced between the separated parts of the opened printed products, characterized in that while they are being conjointly fed forward the two printed products (35, 35') are held at least partly lifted off each other, are opened substantially simultaneously and provided with inserts (36, 37).

2. Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that while they are being conjointly fed forward the folded printed products (35, 35') are held lifted off each other at least in the region of the opposite side edge (35a) to the fold edge (35b), the printed products (35, 35') preferably being fed forward in the direction of their fold edge (35b).

3. Method according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the printed products (35, 35') are gripped and fed forward in the region of one side edge (35b), preferably the fold edge, by feed means (18, 19, 20) common to the two printed products (35, 35').

4. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the printed products (35, 35') are fed forward in feed channels (42, 43) lying side by side in the feed direction (B) and at least partly separated from each other.

5. Method according to Claim 4, characterized in that the printed products (35, 35') are introduced approximately simultaneously into the feed channels (42, 43).

6. Apparatus for introducing at least one insert into folded printed products (35, 35'), which is provided with feed means (18, 19, 20) for conjointly feeding forward two printed products at a time along a processing path defined by lateral boundaries (10), with an opening means for opening each individual printed product while it is being fed forward, and with at least one feeder for introducing an insert between the separated parts of each opened printed product, characterized in that while they are being conjointly fed forward the two printed products (35, 35') are at least partly lifted off one another by a separator (40) extending in the feed direction (B) between the boundaries (10), and that the opening means (22) and the feeder (24, 25) are constructed respectively for the substantially simultaneous opening of the printed products (35, 35') and for the introduction of the inserts (36, 37).

7. Apparatus according to Claim 6, characterized by at least one feeder (24, 25) which feeds the inserts (36, 37) for the two printed products (35, 35') simultaneously and introduces them into the printed products (35, 35').

8. Apparatus according to Claim 6 or 7, characterized by feed means (18, 19, 20) which are common to the two printed products (35, 35') and engage on the printed products (35, 35') in the region of a side edge (35b) preferably extending in the feed direction (B), preferably the fold edge.

9. Apparatus according to Claims 6 to 8, characterized by a conveyor (23) for simultaneously feeding two printed products (35, 35') at a time to the processing path.

10. Apparatus according to Claim 9, characterized in that the conveyor (23) is provided with individually releasable grippers (27), which grip two printed products (35, 35') at a time on a side edge (35a) preferably extending transversely to the conveying direction (C) and hold them in a position offset to each other transversely to said side edge (35a).

11. Apparatus according to Claim 10, characterized in that the conveyor (23) conveys the printed products (35, 35') in the suspended position, while in each case the leading printed product (35) of each pair of printed products (35, 35') projects at the bottom beyond the other printed product (35').

12. Apparatus according to one of Claims 6 to 11, characterized by a processing drum (2) which is adapted to be driven rotationally about its horizontal longitudinal axis (2a) and which on its periphery (9) is provided with open compartments (8) extending in the direction of its longitudinal axis (2a) to receive the pairs of printed products (35, 35') and also, in each compartment (8), with feed means (18, 19, 20) acting in the longitudinal direction of said compartment for conjointly feeding forward two printed products (35, 35') at a time in the direction of the drum axis (2a), each compartment (8) being subdivided by a separator (40) into two feed channels (42, 43) each intended for one of the two printed products (35, 35').

13. Apparatus according to Claim 12, characterized in that the separators (40) projecting into the compartments (8) are situated outside the range of operation of the feed means (18, 19, 20) in the respective compartment (8).

14. Apparatus according to Claim 13, characterized in that the separator walls (40) project from the region of the periphery (9) of the drum into the compartments (8) and end at a distance from the bottom (13) of the compartments (8), while the feed means (18, 19, 20) act on the printed products (35, 35') in the region of the bottom (13) of the compartment.

15. Apparatus according to one of Claims 12 to 14, characterized in that, viewed in the direction of rotation (A) of the processing drum (2), the compartments (8) are inclined ahead of the radial direction (R).

16. Apparatus according to one of Claims 12 to 15, characterized in that the separators (40) are removably mounted on the processing drum (2).

17. Apparatus according to Claim 11 and 12, characterized in that the conveyor (23) is disposed above the processing drum (2) with a conveying direction (C) extending transversely to the longitudinal axis (2a) of said drum and introduces one of the conjointly conveyed printed products (35, 35') into each of the feed channels (42, 43).

18. Apparatus according to Claim 17, characterized by a belt conveyor (44) which, viewed in the conveying direction (C) of the conveyor (23), is disposed upstream of the processing drum (2) and lies under the conveyor (23) and on which the bottom side edge (35b) of the printed products (35, 35') held by the grippers (27) comes to rest.

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