Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H39/00—Associating, collating, or gathering articles or webs
  • B65H39/02—Associating,collating or gathering articles from several sources
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
  • B65H2301/40—Type of handling process
  • B65H2301/43—Gathering; Associating; Assembling
  • B65H2301/432—Gathering; Associating; Assembling in pockets, i.e. vertically
  • B65H2301/4322—Asymmetric pockets
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H2405/00—Parts for holding the handled material
  • B65H2405/30—Other features of supports for sheets
  • B65H2405/35—Means for moving support
  • B65H2405/352—Means for moving support in closed loop
  • B65H2405/3521—Means for moving support in closed loop rail guided means, e.g. without permanent interconnection

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device for processing flat objects, in particular printed products, according to the preamble of patent claim 1.
• a device of this type is known from EP-A-0 771 754 and the corresponding US-A-5,765,823.
• a saddle-shaped support as well as a support wall and a base having support elements are arranged in a boom-like manner at a distance on a continuously driven endless traction element.
• the traction element is designed as a conveyor chain guided over rollers in a channel.
• a first feed station is intended either to place astride the printed products folded on the saddle-shaped support of the carrier elements that have moved past them, or to supply printed products to the carrier elements in such a way that they come to rest on the floor and support wall.
• processing stations designed as further feeding stations are arranged downstream of the first feeding station, with the same purpose as the first feeding station.
• the assembled printed products are removed from the carrier elements and taken away for further processing.
• the conveying element is formed by a multiplicity of conveying elements which can be moved individually in a rail system, each of the carrier elements being preferably arranged on one of the conveying elements in the manner of a cantilever.
• the conveyor elements and thus carrier elements are decoupled from one another and can be moved individually in the rail system.
• the conveying elements can be moved forward when they are in contact with one another by the transmission of impact forces, but they do not exert any tensile forces on one another.
• Each of the stations - the feed station, the processing station or the processing stations and the removal station - has its own drive arrangement for the conveying elements, which convey the conveying and carrier elements at the distance and at the speed required by the station in question. Due to the decoupling of the conveyor elements and the own drive arrangements, each station can be operated optimally, they are independent of each other.
• Sections of the rail system which serve as a buffer section allow intermediate storage of carrier elements and the objects transported by means of them. This also makes it possible to compensate for significant interruptions in stations.
• Figure 1 is a plan view of a device designed as a concentric run.
• FIG. 2 shows a section of the device according to FIG. 1 with individual conveying elements and carrier elements arranged on this in the manner of a cantilever;
• FIG. 3 shows a further possible embodiment of a section of the device with a station and a spatially curved section of the rail system
• FIG. 4 shows a station together with a section of the rail system assigned to it and the drive arrangement assigned to it with upstream or downstream further sections of the rail system;
• FIG. 5 shows a section of the rail system with, for example, support of the carrier elements acting as an auxiliary drive
• FIG. 6 shows a section of the rail system with a switched damming element and a station arranged in the damming section;
• 7 shows two feed stations arranged one behind the other with associated drive arrangements which move the carrier elements through the stations at a certain distance; 8 shows a section of a device according to the invention with a straight section of the rail system and a stapler and
• FIG 9 shows part of a device according to the invention with a stapler arranged in a curved section of the rail system.
• the device shown in FIG. 1 has a closed rail system 10 which runs in a horizontal plane.
• Two semicircular rail sections 12 are connected to one another by means of straight rail sections 14 to form a concentric run.
• a multiplicity of individual conveying elements 16 are arranged one behind the other in the rail system 10 and are freely movable along the rail system. The number of conveying elements 16 is chosen such that they do not form a self-contained chain by abutting one another; in other words, there are gaps between individual successive conveyor elements.
• a carrier element 18 is fastened to each of the conveyor elements in the manner of a cantilever arm, which projects from the conveyor element 16 with respect to the rail system 10 in the radial direction towards the outside.
• a first feed station 20 is indicated by a dash-dotted rectangle. It is assigned its own drive arrangement 22, which is intended to move conveyor elements 16 and thus the carrier elements 18 at a predetermined distance A and at a predetermined speed v through the feed station 20 in the conveying direction F, so that each carrier element 18 has a flat surface Object, for example a printed product, can feed.
• a processing station 24 with its own drive arrangement is arranged at a distance from and in the conveying direction F downstream of the feed station 20. This is intended to move the conveying elements 16 in a buffered state, ie in contact with one another, and thus to move the relevant carrier elements 18 through them at a minimal distance B and at a predetermined speed from the processing station 24.
• a further object can be attached, for example glued, to the objects supplied in the feed station 20 or any other processing or processing can take place on the objects in question.
• the processing station 24 is connected downstream and at a distance from another processing station which is designed as a further feed station 26. Their structure and mode of operation correspond to that of the feed station 20.
• a further section of the rail system is assigned a drive arrangement 22 ', the task of which is to drive the arriving conveyor elements 16 in the conveying direction F, so that they arrive at an exit station 28.
• This in turn has its own drive arrangement, which is intended to move the conveying elements 16 in a buffered state - distance B - through the removal station 28.
• the removal station 28 the objects fed upstream to the carrier elements 18 and processed in the processing station 24 are removed from the carrier elements 18 and fed to further processing.
• a drive arrangement 22 ' is assigned to a further rail section in order to feed the carrier elements 18 back to the feed station 20.
• the device can be adapted to individual needs. For example, it is conceivable to again arrange stations 44 between the removal station 28 and the feed station 20 - in the conveying direction F - these stations being able to form a separate processing or processing section for objects or together with the stations 44 shown above form a single processing section ,
• FIG. 2 shows a section of the device shown in FIG. 1 with three conveyor elements 16 abutting one another in the buffered state on the end side.
• Each of the conveyor elements 16 has a conveyor element body 30 to which a horizontal support shaft 32 is fastened in the manner of a cantilever.
• the latter carries, for example, a support element 18 formed from sheet metal, which on the one hand forms a saddle-shaped support 34 and on the other hand has a flat support element 36 and a floor 38 adjoining it.
• Another folded object 40 'sits astride the support 34 and covers the object 40.
• the object 40' has been opened, for example, by means of the further feed station 26 - FIG. 1 - and placed on the support 34.
• Guide wheels 42 are freely rotatably mounted on each conveyor element body 30, which guide the conveyor element 16 on the rail which is C-shaped in cross section. store well and freely.
• the end faces of the conveying element body 30 are designed as abutting surfaces in order to lie in the buffered state on the facing end face of the conveying element body 30 of the adjacent conveying element 16.
• FIG. 3 schematically shows a processing station 24 with an associated rail section 12 '.
• the drive arrangement assigned to this processing station 24 is not shown. It is intended to move the conveyor elements 16 - these and the carrier elements 18 are of the same design as shown in FIG. 2 and described above - at a predetermined distance and at a predetermined speed through the processing station 24. Of course, this movement can take place continuously or in start / stop mode.
• the rail section 12 ' is followed by a further rail section 12 ", which is spatially curved with narrow radii. It is also the task of the processing station 24 to release the conveying elements 16 at such a distance that they can be mutually prevented by the strong curvature of the rail section 12 "can move through.
• This rail section 12 ′′ can have a slope, for example, so that no further drive arrangement is necessary.
• a further possibility of the rail guide arrangement with respect to the conveying and carrier elements 16, 18 is indicated by dash-dotted lines. Accordingly, the conveying elements 16 are located adjacent to the floor 38, for example — seen in the longitudinal direction thereof — approximately in the middle.
• FIG. 4 shows a station 44 designed as a module or module insert - this can be a feed station 20, a processing station 24 or act as an exit station 28 - with a permanently assigned rail section 12 'and its own drive arrangement 22.
• a station 44 designed as a module or module insert - this can be a feed station 20, a processing station 24 or act as an exit station 28 - with a permanently assigned rail section 12 'and its own drive arrangement 22.
• adjacent rail stations adjoin these rail sections, in the example shown both adjacent stations as buffer stations 46 each with its own rail section 12 "'and own drive arrangement 22 are formed.
• the drive arrangement 22 of the station 44 has a circumferentially driven belt 48, which moves the conveying elements 16 through the station 44 at a predetermined mutual distance and at a predetermined speed in a positive or non-positive manner.
• a lock wheel or a controlled release device can be provided in order to feed or release a conveyor element 16 to the belt 48 at the desired times.
• the buffer stations 46 have a further belt 48 ′ which is driven in a rotating manner in the conveying direction F and which, for example, takes the conveying elements 16 along in the conveying direction F by friction or magnetic connection until they abut one another in the buffered state.
• the support shafts 32 of the support elements 18 protrude beyond the support 34 and the support element 36 on the side facing away from the conveying elements 16.
• a drive arrangement 22 is also assigned to the rail section 12 ′ shown, which drives the conveying elements 16 in a manner capable of slipping in the conveying direction F.
• the station 44 shown in FIG. 5 has an auxiliary drive arrangement 50, which also serves as a support device, with a closed tension element 52 which is driven in the conveying direction F and has groove-like recesses 52 'at predetermined intervals for receiving the free end regions of the support shafts 32. From the- stood and the conveying speed of the carrier elements 18 is predetermined in this case by the auxiliary drive arrangement 50.
• a rail section 12 "' Upstream of the station 44 there is a rail section 12 "', for example with a slope, which serves as a buffer section, from which a conveying element 16 is successively taken over by means of the auxiliary drive arrangement 50 and moved through the station 44 at the desired distance from the preceding carrier element 18 5, the support elements 16 are supported at both ends, which can be particularly advantageous if processing is to be carried out on the objects 40, 40 ', for example if objects placed on top of one another are to be connected to one another by means of staples.
• FIG. 6 shows part of a station 44 which has a switched damming element 54 at its downstream end. Adjoining the baffle element 54 upstream, the station 44 has its own drive arrangement 22 with a belt 48 which is driven in a rotating manner in the conveying direction F. This is intended to take conveying elements 16 that come into their effective area with them until they come to rest on the preceding conveying element 16.
• the non-positive coupling between the belt 48 and the conveyor elements 16 can be formed, for example, by a frictional or magnetic connection.
• the station 44 requires the carrier elements 18 to stand still for the processing or processing of objects 40, 40 ′, which are either to be fed to the conveying elements 16 or have been fed to them earlier by means of a feed station 20.
• FIG. 7 shows a feed station 20 and a processing station 24 arranged at a distance and designed as a further feed station 26, both of which each have an assigned rail section 12 ′ and an assigned drive arrangement 22.
• Each of the two drive arrangements 22 has a belt 48 which is driven in rotation in the conveying direction F at a certain conveying speed and from which driving cams 56 protrude at a distance from one another. These are intended to come into positive engagement with the conveying elements 16 in order to move them through the feed stations 20, 26 at the desired distance and at the required conveying speed.
• the feed station 20 is designed to feed an object 40 to each of the carrier elements 18 from above.
• the object consists of a folded printed product in which a further partial product is arranged.
• the printed products are fed with the fold ahead, so that they come to rest with their fold on the floor 38 and can be transported on the support element 36 with the flat side lying on.
• the further feed station 26 is intended to open objects 40 ′ designed as folded printed products in a known manner and to place them astride the saddle-shaped supports 34 of the carrier elements 18 in such a way that they cover the objects 40 fed in the feed station 20.
• FIG. 8 shows a linear rail section 12 ′ which is assigned to a processing station 24 having a stapler 58.
• the drive arrangement 22 of this processing station 24 is intended to move the conveying elements 16 through the processing station 24, resting against one another in time with the stapler 58.
• the stapler 58 has stapling heads 62 arranged at a uniform distance along the circumference of a rotatably driven support disk 60. The distance between the stitching heads 62 and The rotational speed of the support disk 60 is matched to the distance B between successive support elements 18 in such a way that a stitching head 62 meets with each support element 18, so that it can insert a staple into the objects 40 'placed astride the supports 34'.
• a bending device 64 is assigned to each carrier element 18 and is controlled, for example, by means of a link 66 in such a way that the staples placed in the objects 40 'are bent in a known manner.
• the mutual distance between the carrier elements 18 is minimal and thus much smaller than in the feed stations 20, 26 shown in FIG. 7.
• the processing station 24 shown in FIG. 8 is the same Conveying speed lower than in the feed stations 20, 26.
• FIG. 9 also shows a processing station 24 with a stapler 58 of the same construction as shown in FIG. 8 and described above.
• the associated rail section 12 ' is convexly curved with respect to the stapler 58.
• This has the advantage that the angle change between the stitching head 62 and the carrier element 18 takes place more slowly than in the embodiment according to FIG. 8 with a straight rail section.
• the drive arrangement 22 in turn has a belt 48 driven in the conveying direction F with driving cams 56 for the positive driving of the conveying elements 16. Since these are moved through a curvature, they are preferably kept at a distance from one another by means of the drive arrangement 22 which can be very small.
• a bending device 64 with benders is fastened to the support element 36 of each carrier element 18 and is moved by means of a link control for bending staples. Due to the fact that the stations 44 and the rail system 10 have a modular structure, the modules can be combined to form a device as desired.
• the carrier elements 18 can also be pocket-shaped and / or have opening and holding elements or closing elements for the objects 40.
• the device always has a feed station 20 and a removal station 28 and in between at least one processing station 24, which can also be designed as a feed station 26. However, it can perform any other function.
• the rail system 10 has a self-contained rail which consists of rail sections 12, 12 ', 12 ", 12"' arranged one behind the other.
• a more complex rail system with switches and the like is also conceivable, the switches again being designed in the manner of a processing station 24.
• the carrier elements 18 do not necessarily have to have saddle-shaped supports 34, unless objects 40 'are to be placed astride them. However, they can also have only such supports 34 but no support elements 36 and bottoms 38 if the objects 40 'are only to be placed astride the supports 34 for machining and processing.
• the device according to the invention is also particularly suitable for addressing objects, for gluing cards, for example, or for inside printing, since the spacing of successive carrier elements can be selected in the stations 44 in accordance with the requirements.
• the device according to the invention allows the most varied functions and processing to be carried out on the same conveyor line (i.e. rail system) without disrupting the flowing processing. Even with mixed feeds - e.g. 7 - and / or mixed processing can be set in the entire process flow according to the required intervals.

Landscapes

• Feeding Of Articles By Means Other Than Belts Or Rollers (AREA)
• Vending Machines For Individual Products (AREA)
• Collation Of Sheets And Webs (AREA)
• Auxiliary Devices For And Details Of Packaging Control (AREA)
• Separation, Sorting, Adjustment, Or Bending Of Sheets To Be Conveyed (AREA)
• Threshing Machine Elements (AREA)
• Making Paper Articles (AREA)
• Control And Other Processes For Unpacking Of Materials (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=4567658

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (9)

Families Citing this family (13)

Family Cites Families (14)

• 2001
  • 2001-10-30 CA CA002425020A patent/CA2425020C/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 2001-10-30 AT AT01975955T patent/ATE338002T1/de active
  • 2001-10-30 EP EP01975955A patent/EP1330406B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-10-30 DK DK01975955T patent/DK1330406T3/da active
  • 2001-10-30 AU AU2001295366A patent/AU2001295366B2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2001-10-30 ES ES01975955T patent/ES2266269T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-10-30 AU AU9536601A patent/AU9536601A/xx active Pending
  • 2001-10-30 DE DE50110896T patent/DE50110896D1/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-10-30 WO PCT/CH2001/000643 patent/WO2002036474A1/fr active IP Right Grant
• 2003
  • 2003-05-01 US US10/427,133 patent/US6764069B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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