EP1810838A1

EP1810838A1 - Device for assembling a plurality of sheets

Info

Publication number: EP1810838A1
Application number: EP06100736A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marc Piot
Original assignee: Cadara NV
Current assignee: Cadara NV
Priority date: 2006-01-23
Filing date: 2006-01-23
Publication date: 2007-07-25

Abstract

A device for assembling a plurality of sheets arranged in a stack, each sheet having a plurality of substantially mushroom-shaped openings therein, which openings are spaced apart along an edge of the sheet, said device comprising a reception platform provided for placing said stack thereon and a supply member provided for supplying disk-like assembling elements configured so as to co-operate with said openings in order to assemble said sheets of said stack, whereby said supply member comprises a plurality of outputs, each time spaced apart over a distance corresponding to the distance between two successive openings in said sheets, said supply member being mounted in such a manner that said outputs are aligned along a lateral side of said reception platform where said openings in said sheets should be placed, said device further comprising an impact load having an aligned set of cut-outs, each cut-out being dimensioned such as to enable one of said assembling elements to penetrate it, said impact load being provided to impart an impulse on said stack in order to mutually engage said openings and said assembling elements.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for assembling a plurality of sheets arranged in a stack, each sheet having a plurality of substantially mushroom-shaped openings therein, which openings are spaced apart along an edge of the sheet, said device comprising a reception platform provided for placing said stack thereon and a supply member provided for supplying disk-like assembling elements configured so as to co-operate with said openings in order to assemble said sheets of said stack.
Such a device is known and used for industrial manufacturing of booklets, notebooks etc. formed by a plurality of sheets arranged in a stack and assembled by using disk-like assembling elements. For assembling the sheets, the stack comprising the sheets is brought near the supply member so that the openings face the supply member. The disk-like assembling elements are thereafter brought partially inside the opening in such a manner that in each opening of the sheet one disk-like assembling element is introduced. As the disk-like assembling element is configured to co-operate with the openings, assembling of the stack is realised once the disk-like assembling elements are engaged into the openings.
A drawback of the known device is that it is not suitable for other purposes than for industrially assembling a plurality of sheets. For use on a smaller scale, such as for example in a copying center, the known device is too cumbersome and not appropriate.
It is an object of the present invention to realise a device for assembling a plurality of sheets, each sheet having a plurality of substantially mushroom-shaped openings therein, which device is easy to handle and to be operated by a customer who wishes to assemble such a stack of sheets by means of disk-like assembling elements, in a quick and a reliable manner.
For this purpose, a device according to the present invention is characterised in that said supply member comprises a plurality of outputs, each time spaced apart over a distance corresponding to the distance between two successive openings in said sheets, said supply member being mounted in such a manner that said outputs are aligned along a lateral side of said reception platform where said openings in said sheets should be placed, said device further comprising an impact load having an aligned set of cut-outs, each cut-out being dimensioned such as to enable one of said assembling elements to penetrate it, said impact load being provided to impart an impulse on said stack in order to mutually engage said openings and said assembling elements. The plurality of outputs of the supply member, which outputs are aligned along a lateral side of the reception platform, provides the customer an indication how to place the stack so that the openings in the sheets face the outputs of the supply member. The cut-out in the impact load prevents that the impulse would be applied on the disk-like elements thereby avoiding to destroy them upon assembling. In order to assemble the sheets, the customer then only has to put the stack so that the openings in the sheet face the disk-like assembling elements. Thereafter, the customer applies the impulse by operating the impact load. By application of the impulse, a force is applied on the sheets of the stack thereby causing the openings and the disk-like assembling elements to mutually engage.
A first preferred embodiment of a device according to the invention is characterised in that said impact load is movably mounted, in such a manner as to impart said impulse by moving between a first position, offset from said reception platform, and a second position where said impact load impacts on said stack. In such a manner, the impact load is removed from the reception platform and does not hinder the placing of the stack.
A second preferred embodiment of a device according to the invention is characterised in that said impact load is pivotably mounted in order to pivot between said first and second position. A pivoting movement can be easily and reliably carried out by an electrical motor.
A third preferred embodiment of a device according to the invention is characterised in that said supply member is removably mounted. By removably mounting the supply member, the latter can be easily interchanged. In such a manner, a same device can be used for booklets or notebooks with a different format.
Preferably said impact load is mounted behind a protection screen, dimensioned in such a manner as to render said impact load inaccessible when applying said impulse. In such a manner, the impact load is protected as well as the customer.
Preferably, said protection screen is pivotably mounted and connected with a switch for controlling an operation of said impact load. In such a manner, the device is operated by pivoting the screen. This has the advantage that the customer has to keep his hands where no contact with the impact load is possible.
The invention will now be described in more details with reference to the drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of a device according to the invention. In the drawings :

figure 1 illustrates an overall view of the device according to the invention;
figure 2 and 4 illustrate the same device as in figure 1 but without protection screen; and
figure 3 shows details of the impact load.

In the drawings a same reference sign has been allocated to a same or analogous element.
The device 1 according to the invention and illustrated in figure 1 comprises a housing 2 wherein a motor (not shown) is mounted. On the front side of the housing a supply member 3 is mounted. Preferably, the supply member is removably mounted. So, for example the supply member is formed by a cassette, which is removably mounted in a sliding rail (not shown). The advantage of having the supply member removably mounted is that in such a manner it is easy to change the supply member and adapt the device to different formats as will be explained below.
The supply member 3 is provided for supplying disk-like assembling elements 8. For this purpose the supply member is preferably formed by an aligned set of galleries 10, such as illustrated by dotted lines in figure 2. The galleries extend over the whole height of the supply member. In such a manner, the galleries serve as a buffer for storing the disk-like assembling elements. As the disk-like assembling elements are stacked inside the gallery, they will fall down by gravity towards the output of the gallery.
The supply member comprises a plurality of outputs 7. When the supply member is formed by the set of galleries 10, the outputs 7 are formed by the open end of the galleries. The outputs 7 are each time spaced apart over a distance ds corresponding to the distance dp between two successive openings in the sheets 11 of the stack to be assembled. Indeed, as can be seen in the figures 1 and 2, the device comprises a reception platform 9 on which a plurality of sheets 11 arranged in a stack are placed. Each sheet has a plurality of substantially mushroom-shaped openings therein. The openings are spaced apart along an edge of the sheet. In order to assemble the sheets of the stack by means of the disk-like assembling elements, it is necessary that the disk-like assembling elements are configured so as to co-operate with the openings in the sheets. By having the outputs 7 of the supply member each time spaced apart over a distance ds corresponding to the distance dp between the successive openings in the sheets, it is possible to place the stack on the reception platform in such a manner that the openings in the sheets face the outputs of the supply member. The supply member 3 is therefor mounted in such a manner that its outputs are aligned along a lateral side of the reception platform where the openings of the sheets have to be placed.
The device according to the invention further comprises an impact load 6 as illustrated in the figures 2 and 3. The impact load has an U-shaped configuration and is mounted in such a manner that the legs extend partially outside the housing 2 of the device. The front-side or bottom part of the U-shape extend completely outside the housing 2. The impact load has an aligned set of cut-outs 12, each cut-out being dimensioned so as to enable one of said assembling elements to penetrate. As can be seen in figure 3, the cut-outs are applied in the inner peripheral of the U-shaped configuration. In particular, the cut-outs are applied on a stroke 13, which forms a substantially right angle with the front side of the impact load.
The impact load is provided to impart an impulse on the stack in order to mutually engage the openings in the stack and the assembling elements. For this purpose, the impact load is preferably movably mounted in such a manner as to impart the impulse by moving the impact load between a first position (figure 1, 2) offset from the reception platform 9 and a second position (figure 4) where the impact load impacts on the stack. The movement of the impact load is preferably driven by the motor, but it could also be driven manually. The movement can consist in a vertical movement where the impact load is moved along a guiding rail (not shown). The movement of the impact load is however preferably realised by a pivotable movement, where the impact load pivots between the first and second position. In the second position of the impact load, the disk-like assembling elements extend within the opening formed by the cut-outs in the impact load. Therefor, there is no contact between the disk-like assembling elements and the impact load and the latter can not damage the disk-like assembling elements when imparting the impulse. The parts of the impact load situated between the successive cut-outs however are in contact with the stack so that they can apply the impulse on the stack when the impact load is brought into its second position. Therefor the segments of the sheets extending between two successive openings of the sheet undergo the impulse applied by the impart load and are forced to engage with the disk-like assembling elements.
In order to avoid that a customer would get injured by the movement of the impact load, the latter is preferably mounted behind a protection screen 5, as illustrated in figure 1. The protection screen is dimensioned in such a manner as to render the impact load inaccessible when the impulse is applied. Preferably the protection screen is pivotably mounted and connected with a switch for controlling an operation of the impact load. This offers the advantage that the customer then has to pivot the protection screen in order to start the application of the impulse by the impact load. The pivoting movement of the protection screen will then coincide with the one of the impact load. As one hand of the customer user is on the protection screen for controlling the operation of the impact load, this hand is kept away from the impact load, thereby avoiding a contact between it and the moving impact load.
The reception platform 9 is preferably made of two parts, one (9-1), which is pivotably mounted, and one (9-2) which is rigidly mounted. The pivotably mounted part (9-1) is situated under the outputs of the supply member 3 and pivots slightly downwards when the impulse is applied by the impact load. This enables to provide more flexibility to the stack, which rests partially on the pivotable part of the reception platform, when the impulse is applied. The sheets of the stack thereby engage more easily with the disk-like assembling elements.
The fact that the supply member is removably mounted enables to use different supply members, thereby enabling to use different sizes of disk-like assembling elements and sheets with a different distance ds between the successive openings.

Claims

A device for assembling a plurality of sheets arranged in a stack, each sheet having a plurality of substantially mushroom-shaped openings therein, which openings are spaced apart along an edge of the sheet, said device comprising a reception platform provided for placing said stack thereon and a supply member provided for supplying disk-like assembling elements configured so as to co-operate with said openings in order to assemble said sheets of said stack, characterised in that said supply member comprises a plurality of outputs, each time spaced apart over a distance corresponding to the distance between two successive openings in said sheets, said supply member being mounted in such a manner that said outputs are aligned along a lateral side of said reception platform where said openings in said sheets should be placed, said device further comprising an impact load having an aligned set of cut-outs, each cut-out being dimensioned such as to enable one of said assembling elements to penetrate it, said impact load being provided to impart an impulse on said stack in order to mutually engage said openings and said assembling elements.
A device as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that said impact load is movably mounted, in such a manner as to impart said impulse by moving between a first position, offset from said reception platform, and a second position where said impact load impacts on said stack.
A device as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that said impact load is pivotably mounted in order to pivot between said first and second position.
A device as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said supply member is removably mounted.
A device as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 4, characterised in that said supply member is formed by an aligned set of galleries.
A device as claimed in any one of the claims 1 to 5, characterised in that said impact load is mounted behind a protection screen, dimensioned in such a manner as to render said impact load inaccessible when applying said impulse.
A device as claimed in claim 6, characterised in that said protection screen is pivotably mounted and connected with a switch for controlling an operation of said impact load.