EP1832538B1 - Method and device for feeding, opening and depositing folded printed products - Google Patents

Abstract

The method for feeding, opening and delivering folded printed products (6) entails gripping the trailing folded edge (6.3) of the printed product before this folded edge is shifted from the clamping gap (1), and guiding the trailing folded edge from the clamping gap while it is held against a support (7). A number of saddle-form supports are provided, each having a saddle line which is orientated parallel to the clamping gap. The supports are continuously fed along beneath the clamping gap in succession, and the folded edges of the product are fed to the saddle lines. An independent claim is included for a device for feeding, opening and delivering folded printed products by application of the proposed method.

Description

The invention is in the field of further processing of printed products and relates to a method and a device according to the preambles of the corresponding independent claims. Method and device are used for serial feeding, opening and depositing folded printed products.

Folded printed products have a folded edge and an open edge opposite the folded edge. They have two product parts which are joined together at the seaming edge, and the folded printed product can be opened by moving the two product parts apart from the open edge.

It is known to supply folded printed products in succession, for example, to a further processing, wherein the printed products fed with trailing fold edges (eg clamped between two press belts) and ejected successively against the bottom with their open edges ahead of a (eg formed by two opposing deflection rollers of the press belts) nip be, each printed product during ejection from the nip (eg by fixing at least one product part in the region of the circumference of the pulleys) is at least partially opened and wherein each open printed product, as soon as its folded edge has left the nip, on a support (eg saddle-shaped pad with parallel to the clamping gap aligned saddle line) falls in order to continue on the overlay (eg by appropriate promotion of circulation) and, where appropriate, further processed (eg combined with other folded printed products and / or stapled).

Folded printed products that are not folded exactly in the middle, so that the one product part at the open edge over the other product part protruding (pre-fold) are usually opened by the fact that the protruding and thus first emerging from the nip product part detected at its leading edge by means of grippers and led away from the other part of the product. Once the leading edge of the projecting product part is sufficiently spaced from the other product part, and the other product part can be detected to further open the printed product at its leading edge and guided in the opposite direction. Depending on the inherent rigidity of the two product parts and depending on the adhesion between these product parts, the printed products are also opened without problems, without the leading edge of the non-protruding product part is detected. Folded printed products consisting only of a single, folded sheet or multiply folded printed products can also be opened with the aid of suction devices, while the printed product is pushed out of the nip. Such suction devices act on the outside of at least one product part. Even a centrally folded such product can be opened by suction.

Further processing, which follows feeding, opening and depositing in the manner described briefly above, can be carried out without prior alignment of the printed products on the pads easily and accurately when the printed products with high accuracy in always the same manner on the Edition be filed. For depositing on saddle-shaped pads, it is particularly important that the folded edge of each stored printed product is located exactly above the saddle line of the support and is aligned therewith. For example folded sheets are successively placed on saddle-shaped pads and then a plurality of such collected sheets are stapled on the saddle-shaped pad at the folding edges, it is important that the folding edges of all sheets are exactly on top of each other and just above the saddle line, because only so is an accurate Stapling possible.

Accurate deposition of printed products is particularly difficult if the pads are conveyed substantially continuously under the nip while the nip is stationary. In such a case, the saddle line moves relative to the nip, while a printed product falls substantially unguided against the support and is stored there.

The said problem occurs less in devices in which the printed products are not supplied by ejecting from a nip but held at their folding edges by grippers, because it is easier, the printed products held by the grippers, that is, brought closer to the support and nachzuführen the conditions, as this is possible with the nip. In the gripper feed but must be provided for the opening of the printed products of the feeder substantially independent measures to guide the free edges of the product parts, which can lead to complex device parts especially for the processing of very flexible and lightweight (easily influenced by draft) printed products.

In order to achieve the said high storage accuracy with the nip method, is in the publication DE-19638448 (Grapha-Holding ) proposed, for example, the saddle-shaped supports, which are conveyed substantially continuously under the nip, to pivot during an advancing around an axis, wherein the axis parallel to saddle line and Clamping gap is aligned and positioned under the saddle line. The pivoting is controlled such that the saddle line remains positioned for a long time just below the nip and the folded printed product can fall on the support during this time. The disadvantage of this measure is that while the alignment of saddle line and nip remains unchanged over a period of time, but that change the distance between the saddle line and nip and in particular the spatial orientation of the saddle-shaped pad, which in turn lead to storage inaccuracies by pivoting can.

The DE 44 34 178 discloses the features of the preamble of claim 1 and claim 5, respectively.

The invention now has for its object to provide a method and a device for supplying, opening and depositing printed products, which are based on known methods and devices of the same type and the associated simple opening method, but with which the storage accuracy of these known methods and facilities can be increased.

This object is achieved by the method and the device as defined in the patent claims.

The basic idea of the method according to the invention is a combination of a feed and opening by means of a clamping gap with a feed in which the folded edges are held and, if appropriate, a support which moves relative to the clamping gap is tracked.

In the method according to the invention, therefore, the printed products are preferably successively clamped between two conveying means fed from above against a clamping gap, wherein the folded edges of the printed products are trailing.

Upon exit of the leading, open edge of each printed product from the nip, the printed product is opened by detecting at least one of the product parts and moving it away from the other product part. Before the trailing fold edge reaches the nip, this is also detected and after exiting the nip, the folded edge is held against the support, to be released only immediately above the edition of its content. The direction in which the folded edge is guided after its exit from the nip, is directed primarily towards the bottom and may also have a secondary component, which is aligned parallel to the conveying direction of the support.

For detecting the trailing folding edges of the supplied printed products, before said edge leaves the nip, and for guiding this edge, when it has left the gap, to just above the support, the inventive device comprises at least one gripping member having a nip the clamping forming supply means and an opening means and optionally synchronized with the support is driven. Furthermore, the device according to the invention has control means with which the at least one gripper element is activated (closed) in front of the clamping gap for gripping a printed product and deactivated (opened) immediately above the support for releasing the printed product. It is particularly advantageous to provide a plurality of circumferentially arranged gripping elements, wherein the orbit of the gripping elements corresponds at least immediately before the nip of defined by the feeding means and the nip path of the printed products or their folded edges.

In a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention, the gripping elements are directly coupled to the feed means and the opening means, that is to say they run around the same axis as a feed roller bounding the nip on the one side and optionally as a means for catching the leading edge of the feed means a product part.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the support is a saddle-shaped support which is conveyed past the clamping gap substantially continuously, with a saddle line aligned parallel to the clamping gap, a plurality of such supports (eg collection drum, circulation system or linear collection line) being provided and advantageously provided transversely to the latter Direction oriented saddle lines are conveyed in a row. But this is not a condition of the invention. The edition may for example be a flat edition on which the printed products are stored completely open, or it may be a saddle-shaped pad with a aligned on the nip saddle line, but relative to the nip has a non-changing position and orientation and on a stored printed product is further promoted by slider from the area of the nip.

The nip feeder according to the preferred embodiment of the invention is a pair of press belts which clamp the printed products, wherein two pulleys terminating the conveyor belt of the belts define the nip and at least one of them is known per se for opening the printed products the leading edges of the printed product parts attacking grippers or equipped with a corresponding suction device. Again, this is not a requirement for the invention. The feed can be realized in any way, such that the folded printed products are fed successively and with trailing fold edges substantially from top to bottom and ejected through a nip.

Figur 1

Der Bereich des Klemmspaltes einer bevorzugten Ausführungsform der erfindungsgemässen Einrichtung zur Illustration des erfindungsgemässen Verfahrens (Phasen a bis e);

Figur 2

eine erste, beispielhafte Ausführungsform der erfindungsgemässen Einrichtung;

Figuren 3 bis 5

Klemmspaltbereiche weiterer, beispielhafter Ausführungsformen der erfindungsgemässen Einrichtung.

The inventive method and exemplary embodiments of the inventive device will be described in detail with reference to the following figures. Showing:

FIG. 1

The region of the nip of a preferred embodiment of the inventive device for illustrating the inventive method (phases a to e);

FIG. 2

a first exemplary embodiment of the inventive device;

FIGS. 3 to 5

Clamping gap areas of further, exemplary embodiments of the device according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows successive phases a to e of the supply, opening and depositing a printed product according to the inventive method. Shown is the region of the nip 1 of a device according to the invention, wherein the nip is formed by two mutually pressable deflection rollers 2 and 3 of the feeding press belts 4 and 5. The only printed product 6 shown has a prefold, that is to say the printed product part 6.1 facing the press belt 5 is slightly longer than the other product part 6.2. Under the nip 1 saddle-shaped pads 7 (only one shown) are conveyed past, wherein the aligned perpendicular to the drawing plane saddle lines are always aligned parallel to the nip 1 and wherein the conveying direction of the pads 7 perpendicular to the alignment of nip 1 and saddle lines of the nip side of the guide roller 3rd is directed to the nip side of the guide roller 2. The speeds of the press belts 4 and 5 and the peripheral speeds of the two pulleys 2 and 3 are the same size.

Aligned substantially to the path of the press belt 5 about the guide roller 3 run in a substantially known manner gripping elements 10 for gripping the leading edge of the longer printed product part 6.1 to. In substantially the same way, run on the web of the press belt 4 to the guide roller 2 Gripping elements 11 for gripping the trailing folding edges 6.3 of the printed products to. The press belts 4 and 5 and their guide rollers 2 and 3 are, for example, narrower than the printed products to be handled and project on both sides between the press belts 4 and 5, so that they can be gripped by the gripping elements 11 in these outstanding regions. But it is also possible to design each press belt as a plurality of spaced-apart sub-bands and to allow the gripping elements 11 between the sub-bands to attack the printed products.

In phase a of the process, the whole printed product 6 is still in the feed (above the nip), that is clamped between the press belts 4 and 5 against bottom and against the nip 1 conveyed, the folded edge 6.3 is the trailing edge. The feed direction is directed vertically downwards.

In phase b, the leading edges of both printed product parts 6.1 and 6.2 have already passed the nip 1 and immediately after this passage or during this passage, the leading edge of the printed product part 6.2 has been detected by the gripping member 10 and is in the moment shown along the path of the gripping member 10, which corresponds to the circumference of the deflection roller 3, guided and thereby spaced from the other printed product part, that is, the printed product is opened. The fact that a connecting line between the axes of the deflection rollers 2 and 3 is not perpendicular to the feed direction contributes to the opening of the printed product or to the spacing of the two printed product parts from one another. Thereby, the printed product, when pushed by the nip 1, is bent from the feeding direction in the direction of a contact tangent between the two diverting pulleys (perpendicular to the connecting line), whereby the printed product part 6.2 not held by a gripping member is slightly bent away from the held printed product part 6.1.

In phase c, the printed product 6 is so far advanced from the nip 1, that the substantially vertically downwardly hanging printed product part 6.2 has reached the level of the saddle line of the pads 7, wherein the printed product part 6.1 by the guide along the path of the gripping elements 10 on this Level is maintained. The trailing fold edge 6.3 has reached shortly before the nip 1 and is gripped by the gripping element 11 and accompanied by the nip 1.

In phase d, the printed product part 6.2 is securely positioned on the leading side of the support 7 and the printed product part 6.1 by releasing it by the gripping member 10 on the trailing side of the support. The folded edge 6.3 is still held by the gripping element 11 and along the path of this gripping element, which corresponds to the circumference of the guide roller 2 substantially, on the one hand against below, ie against the saddle line of the support 7 and on the other hand in the conveying direction of the support 7 tracked ,

In phase e, the gripping element 11 has reached the lowest point (discharge point) of its orbit. In this case, the promotion of the conditions and the path and movement of the gripping member 11 is coordinated such that at this moment the print product associated with the support is disposed vertically below the gripping member 11 and spaced as little as possible from this. The gripping element 11 is deactivated or opened at this moment, so that the printed product is deposited on the correspondingly positioned support 7 substantially without free fall.

Of course not as in the FIG. 1 shown supplied only one printed product, opened and filed but many printed products are supplied with the smallest possible distances from each other and one after the other is opened and on an associated with him pad 7 a plurality of successively substantially filed continuously under the nip over conveyed supports. In phase e, for example, a secondary product that is currently undergoing phase b and another secondary product that passes through phase a, for example, should be drawn. In addition, pre-printed products stored on leading editions should be presented.

As from phases a to e of FIG. 1 As can be seen, the gripping elements 11 are not only activated or deactivated but they are also pivotable relative to their orbit to be arranged at least in the region of their orbit in which they hold the folded edge of the associated printed product. In the area of the clamping gap, they are to be aligned with a printed product part aligned tangentially with respect to their orbit, in the region of discharge onto a printed product part aligned radially with respect to its orbit.

As already mentioned above, gripping means for leading edges can be provided for opening the printed product not only in the region of the deflection roller 3 but also in the region of the deflection roller 2. For the opening of the printed products can be equipped by the pulleys 2 and 3, at least one for sucking a product part.

FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the inventive device, the nip region, for example, the in the FIG. 1 corresponds to the nip area shown. The printed products (not shown) are conveyed, for example from the feeder (not shown) in a feed direction Z on the press belt 4 and before they are clamped between the press belts 4 and 5, aligned by means of rotating alignment cams 20 in the conveying direction (setting precise distances between successive printed products ). The ejected from the nip 1 printed products are stored, for example, on the saddle-shaped supports a collecting drum 21.

FIG. 3 shows the nip portion of another exemplary embodiment of the inventive device. This is different from in FIG. 1 illustrated nip region in that the supply is not perpendicular but in the direction of promoting the supports 7 obliquely down. Furthermore, the guide roller 2 four gripping means 11 for detecting the trailing folding edges and the guide roller 3 two gripping means 10 for the detection of leading edges (ratio of Umlenkrollendurchmesser 2: 1), while according FIG. 1 three gripping means 11 and two gripping means 10 are provided (Umlenkrollendruchmesser 3: 2).

FIG. 4 shows the nip portion of another exemplary embodiment of the inventive device. Here, the nip 1 is not formed by two deflection rollers but by a deflection roller 2 and a substantially rectilinear press belt 5. The orbit (dashed line U) of the gripping means 11 for detecting the trailing folding edges does not correspond to the circumference of a deflection roller but has a substantially rectilinear area between nip 1 and lowest point (discharge point), where the discharge takes place. This makes it possible to adjust the speed of the gripping means 11 exactly to the speed of the continuously conveyed supports 7, such that the only relative movement between held folded edge of a printed product to be deposited and support is a vertically directed downward movement.

FIG. 5 also shows the nip region of another exemplary embodiment of the inventive device. Also in this case corresponds the orbit (dotted line U) of the gripping elements 11 for gripping the trailing fold edges of the printed products not the circumference of one of the pulleys 2 or 3 but has a rectilinear area between nip 1 and lowest point (discharge point) where the discharge takes place In this case, the direction of the feed continues straight. This embodiment of the nip area is particularly suitable for placement on a stationary support 7. Each stored on this edition print product is moved after depositing and before depositing a follow-up product, for example, by appropriately arranged slide (not shown) perpendicular to the drawing plane, such that from another printing product can be deposited thereon on a further clamping gap and / or that it can be processed in a suitable manner.

In the nip 1 according FIG. 5 the printed products are not bent, as is the case for the FIG. 1 has been described. Here is the direction in which the printed products are supplied against the nip, and also the direction in which the trailing fold edges are guided away from the nip, perpendicular to the line connecting the axes of the two pulleys 2 and 3, that is, these two Directions are on the contact tangent of the two pulleys.

Claims (15)

1. A method for supplying, opening and depositing folded printed products (6), wherein the printed products (6) are supplied in succession from above and with their fold-edges (6.3) trailing, and ejected through a clamping gap (1), wherein, during ejection from the clamping gap, the printed products (6) are opened by at least one product part (6.1, 6.2) being gripped and are positioned in an at least partly opened condition above a support (7), and wherein, after the trailing fold-edge (6.3) has emerged from the clamping gap (1), the printed products (6) are deposited on the support (7), characterized in that the trailing fold-edge (6.3) of the printed product (6) is gripped before it is ejected from the clamping gap (1), and that the trailing fold-edge (6.3) is guided from the clamping gap (1) towards the support (7) in a held manner by means of a gripper element (11).
2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that a plurality of saddle-like supports (7) is provided, wherein each support (7) comprises a saddle line in parallel alignment with the clamping gap (1), wherein the supports (7) are conveyed in succession and essentially continuously below the clamping gap (7), and wherein the trailing fold-edges (6.3) of the printed products (6) are guided in a held manner to track the saddle lines of the supports (7).
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the printed products (6) are bent during ejection from the clamping gap (1).
4. The method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, on being supplied, the printed products (6) are aligned in a supply direction (Z).
5. A device for feeding, opening and depositing folded printed products (6), said device comprising a supply means with a clamping gap (1), a means for opening the printed products, and at least one support (7), wherein the supply means is equipped for supplying the printed products (6) from above towards the clamping gap (1) and for pushing the printed products (6) out of the clamping gap (1), wherein the opening means is equipped for gripping at least one product part (6.1, 6.2), and wherein the support (7) is arranged below the clamping gap (1), characterized in that the device further comprises at least one gripper element (11) which is equipped for gripping the trailing fold-edges (6.3) of the printed products (6) in the region of the clamping gap (1), for guiding the trailing fold-edge (6.3) in a held manner from the clamping gap (1) towards the support (7), and for releasing the printed products (6) in the region of the support (7).
6. The device according to claim 5, characterized in that a plurality of supports (7) is provided, that the supports (7) are saddle-like and comprise saddle lines in parallel alignment with the clamping gap (1), and that the supports (7) are driven to be conveyed in succession below the clamping gap (1).
7. The device according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that a plurality of revolving gripper elements (11) is provided, wherein, in the region of the clamping gap (1), a circular path (11) of the gripper elements (11) is adapted to the course of the supply means.
8. The device according to one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the supply means comprises two press belts (4 and 5), and that the clamping gap (1) is formed by two deflection rollers (2 and 3) of the press belts (4 and 5).
9. The device according to claim 8, characterized in that a direction in which the press belts (4 and 5) run into the clamping gap (1) is slanted relative to a connecting straight line between the axes of the two deflection rollers (2 and 3), so that the printed products (6) are bent on passage through the clamping gap (1).
10. The device according to one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the supply means comprises two press belts (4 and 5) and that the clamping gap (1) is formed by a deflection roller of the one of the press belts (4), and an essentially straight-lined part of a revolving path of the other press belt (5).
11. The device according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the circular path of the gripper elements (11) for gripping the fold-edges (6.3) of the printed products (6) is adapted to the periphery of one of the deflection rollers (2 or 3).
12. The device according to one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that the circular path of the gripper elements (1) for gripping the fold-edges (6.3) of the printed products comprises a straight-lined region between the region of the clamping gap (1) and a release location, where the gripper elements (11) are deactivated for releasing the printed products (6).
13. The device according to one of claim 7 to 12, characterized in that the gripper elements (11) are grippers which are pivotable relative to their circular path.
14. The device according to one of claims 5 to 13, characterized in that the opening means comprises further revolving gripper elements (10), which are designed for gripping the leading edges of at least one of the printed product parts (6.1 or 6.2) of the printed products (6).
15. The device according to claim 14, characterized in that a circular path of the further gripper elements (11) for gripping the leading edges of the printed product parts (6.1 or 6.2) is adapted to the periphery of at least one of the deflection rollers (2 or 3) of the press belts (4 or 5).

Images