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
  • B65H39/06—Associating,collating or gathering articles from several sources from delivery streams
• • 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
  • B65H2301/30—Orientation, displacement, position of the handled material
  • B65H2301/33—Modifying, selecting, changing orientation
  • B65H2301/332—Turning, overturning
  • B65H2301/3321—Turning, overturning kinetic therefor
  • B65H2301/33212—Turning, overturning kinetic therefor about an axis parallel to the direction of displacement of material
• • 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
  • B65H2301/30—Orientation, displacement, position of the handled material
  • B65H2301/33—Modifying, selecting, changing orientation
  • B65H2301/332—Turning, overturning
  • B65H2301/3322—Turning, overturning according to a determined angle
  • B65H2301/33222—90°
• • 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
  • B65H2301/44—Moving, forwarding, guiding material
  • B65H2301/443—Moving, forwarding, guiding material by acting on surface of handled material
  • B65H2301/4431—Moving, forwarding, guiding material by acting on surface of handled material by means with operating surfaces contacting opposite faces of material
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H2404/00—Parts for transporting or guiding the handled material
  • B65H2404/20—Belts
  • B65H2404/26—Particular arrangement of belt, or belts
  • B65H2404/261—Arrangement of belts, or belt(s) / roller(s) facing each other for forming a transport nip

Definitions

• This invention relates, generally, to paper-handling machines. More particularly, it relates to a machine that receives a pair of documents disposed in lateral relation to one another and discharges them with one document in overlying relation to the other.
• a first pair of twisted belts engages a first article and rotates it ninety degrees (90°) into a vertical plane.
• a second pair of twisted belts engages the second article and rotates it ninety degrees (90°) as well so that the first and second articles are disposed in spaced apart, parallel relation to one another.
• the first article is then transported between a first pair of confronting elongate O-rings towards a pair of opposing rollers.
• the second article is transported between a second pair of confronting elongate towards the same opposing rollers.
• the first and second articles remain in their respective vertical positions while engaged by said elongate, opposing O rings, but are disposed in abutting relation to one another after they pass through the nip of the opposing rollers.
• the abutting articles are then engaged by a third pair of twisted belts that simultaneously rotate the articles ninety degrees (90°) so that they are again disposed in a horizontal plane.
• the first article overlies the second article, or vice versa, depending upon the direction of the twist provided by the twisted belts.
• the articles are then deposited atop conveyor means 44 and carried to a discharge station. Said articles may be discharged into an inserter bin, an accumulator, or the like.
• a primary advantage of this invention is that the path of travel of the printed documents is not abruptly changed at any time so that a generally forward path of travel is obtained at all times.
• a closely related advantage is that such arrangement allows the machine to run much faster than a prior art machine where the path of travel is from longitudinal to transverse and back to longitudinal.
• FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the novel folder interface machine.
• Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof.
• FIG. 1 an illustrative embodiment of the invention is denoted as a whole by the reference numeral 10.
• Articles 12 and 14 are personalized printed documents that have been folded symmetrically along a line transverse to the direction of travel of said articles. However, it is not critical that the documents be folded. Said direction of travel is hereby defined as being a longitudinal path of travel and is denoted by single- headed directional arrows 16, 18. Note that articles 12, 14 are disposed in lateral relation to one another in the plane of the paper as depicted in Fig. 1. [0018] As best understood in connection with in the side elevational view of
• Fig. 2 articles 12 and 14 are sandwiched between upper link 20 and lower link 22 as they enter machine 10, carried by a conveyor belt , not depicted, or other suitable conveyor means.
• Articles 12, 14 are normal to the plane of the paper in Fig. 2.
• Upper nip 24 is positioned in leading relation to lower nip 26 to reduce the chances that a thick article will become jammed as it passes between said nips.
• a first pair of twisted belts, collectively denoted 28 engage article 12 and rotate it ninety degrees (90°) into a vertical plane, i.e., so that it is disposed normal to the plane of the paper.
• a second pair of twisted belts engage article 14 and rotate it ninety degrees (90°) into a vertical plane, i.e., so that it is disposed normal to the plane of the paper.
• Articles 12 and 14 are now disposed in transversely spaced apart, parallel relation to one another
• Articles 12 and 14 remain in the vertical, normal to the plane of the paper position while engaged by said elongate, opposing O rings, but are disposed in abutting relation to one another after they pass through the nip of rollers 36, 38. [0021 ] Articles 12 and 14 are then engaged by a third pair of twisted belts, collectively denoted 42, that rotate articles 12, 14 ninety degrees (90°) so that they are again in the plane of the paper. Article 12 will now overlie article 14, or vice versa, depending upon the direction of the twist provided by the twisted belts.
• articles 12 and 14 may also be staggered (shiplapped) by any preselected distance.
• Articles 12 and 14 are then deposited atop conveyor means 44 and carried to a discharge station. Said articles may be discharged into an inserter bin, an accumulator, or the like.
• articles 12 and 14 maintain a substantially longitudinal path of travel through machine 10. When they are converged toward one another by the confronting elongate O rings, they are not required to stop or slow down and they maintain their forward path of travel. Thus, the repeated stopping and starting caused by the prior art method of changing from a forward path of travel to a sideways path of travel and back to a forward path of travel is eliminated.
• the machine thus has a simpler construction, is less expensive to build, and can run faster with fewer jams or other malfunctions as compared to the earlier machines of this type.

Landscapes

• Registering Or Overturning Sheets (AREA)
• Attitude Control For Articles On Conveyors (AREA)
• Specific Conveyance Elements (AREA)
• Delivering By Means Of Belts And Rollers (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

Family

ID=37709157

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (3)

Families Citing this family (3)

Family Cites Families (13)

• 2006
  • 2006-07-27 EP EP06788619A patent/EP1910201A4/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2006-07-27 US US11/996,841 patent/US20080191402A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2006-07-27 WO PCT/US2006/029126 patent/WO2007016213A2/en not_active Ceased

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