EP2609025B1 - Collating machine - Google Patents

Description

Technical environment

The invention relates to a gathering machine with at least two adjacent stations, each storing a stack of identical printing sheets, and a transport that connects all stations, from each station a sheet is fed to the already assembled sub-block, and the finished together worn block supplies.

State of the art

The gathering operation serves to gather folded sheets or single sheets, previously printed in printing presses and possibly folded in folding machines, into a block in the correct sequential order. The sheets or fold sheets that belong to a block are stacked on top of each other. The various sheets are located in successive arranged in a collator stations with magazines.

The blocks are successively transported in close succession through the stations of the gathering machine, at each station the block is supplemented by another arc until it is completed. As it passes through the stations, the block grows from the initial thickness to the final thickness. The initial thickness is usually zero. But it can also be introduced a sub-block in the gathering machine, where then the initial thickness has the appropriate value.

1. 1. Vereinzeln des Bogens aus dem Magazin,
2. 2. Auflegen des Bogen auf einen Teilblock ,
3. 3. Transport der unfertigen Blöcke durch die Maschine.

unterschiedlich gelöst werden und teilweise dem Bedarf angepasst sind. Es sind dabei einige Vorzugskombinationen der 3 Hauptfunktionen bekannt geworden.The process of gathering is done in practice with very different methods, including the main functions

1. 1. separating the sheet from the magazine,
2. 2. placing the sheet on a sub-block,
3. 3. Transport of unfinished blocks by the machine.

be solved differently and partially adapted to the needs. There are some preferred combinations of the 3 main functions become known.

The separation of a sheet from a stack with the same sheet can, for example, as in DE1919418 is proposed to take place upwards by suction via suction on an edge of the sheet, wherein the stack is flat. The isolated sheet is then brought laterally by the suckers to a transport shaft and placed on the already assembled sub-block.

The blocks are transported linearly past the magazines. By lifting tables, on which the stacks of sheets lie, the top edge of the stack is always kept constant to allow separation by the suckers. The separation to the top is good for single sheets that are flat, but not for folded sheets, which offer no flat surface because of the folding edge structure for the singling suction. The lateral transport of the isolated sheets to the transport channel is transverse to the transport direction. The time required for the movement of the mechanism and the abrupt acceleration of the deposited sheet on the linear transport speed limit the performance of such machines very much. They also have a lot of space. This principle is mainly used as a form-setter.

Instead of the horizontal arrangement of the different magazines in a row with a lot of space, the magazines can be arranged in a certain number on top of each other, such as in EP 1584589 to see.

The separation from the plan lying stack is done by suction upwards. The isolated sheets are fed to the vertical transport, where they are deflected without speed change from the horizontal to the vertical direction.

In vertical transport, the sheets are clamped and transported together with the sheets coming from the overlying magazines between transport belt and roller arrangements. This solution requires little space. However, the magazines have only a very small capacity. Reloading the magazines requires stopping the machine. Because of the poor accessibility of the superimposed magazines reloading is very cumbersome. Such machines are therefore not suitable for the gathering of signatures, but only of single sheets, where then the capacity is acceptable, cf. eg JP 2007-119123 A ,

When collating folded printed sheets, the standard case of this process, essentially the separation of the lowermost sheet from a horizontally flat stack has prevailed downwards, as in FIG EP 0 207 778 to see in the simplest way. The separation is carried out by suckers usually at the back edge. A drum with grippers captures the sheet and pulls it out of the magazine and places it in the transport channel, where it is then transported linearly together with the previously collected sub-block.

As the bottom sheet is removed from the stack, the weight of the stack creates frictional forces that act on the sheet overlying the sheet being withdrawn. When processing single sheets, the weight in the magazine must be kept very small, which of course reduces the magazine capacity. In these magazines but can be done advantageously in the barrel.

These solutions also have a problem when placing the sheet in the transport channel and when accelerating the sheet on the linear transport movement. For thin products, especially single sheets, the performance has to be reduced considerably.

To reduce the problem of dropping and accelerating offers DE 29 37 611 Solutions for a better guidance of the bow on the way to the transport channel and for a controlled pre-acceleration on the speed of the linear transport.

In the solution according to DE 196 16 047 , which discloses the preamble of claim 1, the sheet is immediately deducted from the magazine in the transport direction and avoided the 90 ° deflection of the movement and thus the abrupt acceleration of the arc in the other solutions in the transport direction. In this case, the lowermost sheet is first separated at one corner by suction, conveyed by a suction plate from the magazine and conveyed by upper and lower belts obliquely downwards in the transport direction in the transport channel, where it is then linearly transported together with the already collected sub-block by transporters.

The transport takes place with all these solutions in the transport shaft via transporters, which are fixed at intervals on a chain and are moved by this continuously in the transport direction. The collapsed sub-block are pushed at the trailing edge. If there is a single sheet at the top, it tends to fly up. The speed must then be significantly reduced.

Processing of single sheets is difficult in all the known solutions with separation of the lowermost sheet and in any case associated with performance limitation.

The gathering takes place either before the adhesive binding or before the saddle stitching.

For adhesive bonding, the blocks are transported flat through the machine and erected after leaving the gathering machine in front of the perfect binder. Adhesive bonding also produces thicker blocks that require a high number of gathering stations, resulting in a large machine length.

When saddle stitching the standard method, the normal folded layers are isolated, opened in the middle and placed on a saddle transport and directly fed to the saddle stitcher, where they are stapled in the nested state on the back. One solution is in DE 26 48 254 shown.

However, there are also known designs, where for the saddle stitching the layers or sheets are gathered in the open state and are folded after leaving the gathering machine before the saddle stitcher on the back.

The transport can then be simply lying flat instead of a semitransport. The stations are arranged one behind the other horizontally or vertically one above the other with the disadvantages already mentioned regarding either space or inaccessibility of the magazines.

A major problem with gathering machines is the reliability of the separation. The fact that many stations are used at the same time and multiply the running safety, which are always less than 1, the single station must have a fantastic reliability of nearly 1 corresponding to 100%.

In times where print runways are getting smaller and make-ready time a big issue, it is not necessary to optimize the stations each time, depending on the material.

Object of the invention

The object of the present invention is to develop a gathering machine of the generic type so that is suitable for use in adhesive binding and saddle stitching, which can handle both folded layers and single sheets with optimum reliability, which requires little space and good accessibility of the Magazine for refilling has.

Solution of the task

The object is achieved by the disclosed in the characterizing part of claim 1 technical teaching.

Essential to the invention is that the machine consists of several successively arranged stations that are connected to each other via a linear transport consists.

Each station contains an upper magazine with separation of the lower sheet down and a lower magazine with separation of the uppermost sheet to the top. The magazines of a station are arranged one above the other, which halves the required space compared to the prior art for a given number of magazines.

The upper and lower magazines feed at the same place independently in the longitudinal transport over points, so that they can be used either simultaneously or alternatively.

A singling up and down has different advantages and disadvantages and is different well suited for folded layers or single sheets. The optional use of the upper or lower magazines makes it possible to achieve optimum functional reliability for the corresponding product, which is of crucial importance for the effective performance of the machine.

The upper magazines work without stopping and are easily accessible for refilling.

The lower magazines have a very large storage capacity, so that replenishment associated with stopping the machine is very rare.

When refilling while the magazine is pulled outwards to the side to ensure good accessibility. For optimum functional reliability, it is necessary that the materials are kept clean in the magazine.

The longitudinal transport takes place backwards. The sub-blocks are clamped between two upper and two lower main transport belt, which run continuously and which are interrupted at the feed points of the upper and lower magazines for a short distance. The distance between the upper and lower belts to each other is adjustable to the partial block thickness. A slight adjustment to the block thickness is made by compression.

The main transport belts always move the collected sub-block a certain distance away from the sides, which is automatically kept constant during format adjustment.

Leaves are thus reliably prevented from flying upwards even at higher transport speeds and remain in position.

The separation both in the upper and in the lower magazines takes place completely outside left and right seen in the transport direction close to the back edge. The corner of the sheet is tilted out of the plane by a pivoting movement of a sucker downwards or upwards. Due to the space-limited separation at the corners, a suction plate effect, which leads to double prints, is avoided even at high cycle rates.

In addition, separation springs prevent the next sheet from going along with the current arc, creating a double trigger.

In the gap between the tipped corner of the sheet and the other stack, a wedge penetrates, which presses down the back of the sheet on the entire format length, so that a line is formed over the entire width of the sheet. The wedge also supports the back area of the stack. This is important for the upper magazines. The friction of the isolated sheet when pulling out of the magazine generates friction on the overlying sheet and tries to prefer this and auszubulen in the space between the support table and backstop and so jeopardize the next separation process.

The wedge is retracted throughout the extraction phase and the sucker swung. When the nipple swings back to the next separation in the upper position after the sheet is pulled out, the wedge moves off again. After swiveling the vacuum cleaner to separate the corner of the sheet, the wedge retracts immediately.

In the wedge is the front deflection of a conveyor belt for extracting the sheets, both in the lower and in the upper magazines. The deflection diameter is small, so that the pulley can penetrate very far within the gap between the individual sheet and stack.

On the last piece of stroke when retracting the wedge, the deflection pulley is pressed together with the Auszugstrartsportriemen against a counter-belt and clamped the back portion of the bow. The pullout conveyor belts are located on both sides close to the main transport belt. At the moment of contact, the pullout conveyor belts begin to move at synchronous speed to the main conveyor belts and bring the block into the main conveyor belts through the space provided for it. The time is adjusted so that the arc is congruent to the already collected sub-block supplied. That can happen simultaneously from below and above.

The clamped transport of the sheet on both sides quite far outwards represents a safe transport. Excerpt transport belt and counter belt are so far cushioned that single sheets and folded sheets can be driven without further adjustments to thickness.

To increase the reliability when separating a special pre-separation is provided.

In the upper magazine is a walk roller under the stack. She reaches through the arch support table. The stack weighs on her with his weight. In the lower magazine, the Walk roller with its weight and any additional spring force on the stack in the smallest format area.

The Walkwalze is freely running on an axle. This axis makes a circular movement over eccentric pins. It touches the stack surface on a part of the movement. In the other part of the movement, there is no contact with the stack. The rotational movement of the eccentrically mounted axis is such that the Walk roller rolls in contact with the stack at this from the head stop away. She does one revolution per bar. This creates a walkteffect that shifts the individual leaves slightly up to a certain depth of action.

The leaves are fanned slightly and Schneidgrat separated, so that the separation can be done without interference. The displacement of the leaves away from the head takes place only until the sheets are in front of a stop located on the opposite side. This creates a slope in the last area of the stack, which supports the work of the separation spring. The bows that restrained are always minimally available and offer the separation spring an attack edge.

In order to ensure a large separation safety, the loading height of the upper magazines must be kept low and should fluctuate as little as possible.

For this purpose, an automatic Nachlademöglichkeit is provided. Low height stacks are placed on a conveyor belt outside the frame of the machine.

The conveyor belt is designed to be displaceable as a whole conveyor belt unit and arranged in terms of height so that it is in the inserted state at a certain distance above the support table of the upper magazine. If the supply in the upper magazine is so far used that the upper edge of the rest of the stack is slightly lower than the conveyor belt, this is inserted with a stack thereon, so that the supplied stack is at the desired position in the magazine. For this purpose, the movement of the band is blocked relative to its movable frame.

Thereafter, the conveyor belt unit is withdrawn, thereby blocking the belt from the frame of the machine, so that it moves relative to the frame of the conveyor belt unit. The stack is stored true to the position on the remaining stack. Then a new stack can be placed on the tape and is there in readiness when the upper magazine must be reloaded.

When placing a stack on the tape, this is outside the machine frame and can also be pulled further outwards, so that good accessibility is given. The application of the new stack is not clock bound, but in a very large time window. This way, a stop-free operation of the machine is supported stress-free.

As already mentioned, the lower magazines are not non-stop magazines. They have a large storage capacity for this.

The lift table can be controlled separately on the right and left.

With a large stack height, a limited, strongly printed area can be noticeable as a strong construction, especially in the case of digital printing. The separate control can help to compensate for different pressure build-up over the arc surface so that the suckers have optimal suction conditions left and right.

Refilling on the lifting table located in the machine would be uncomfortable. Therefore, the actual support plate is again on the lifting table, which is displaceable to the outside via telescopic guides for loading.

figure description

Fig. 1

eine Seitenansicht einer Doppelstation, wobei die erste Station im Schnitt und die zweite Station in der Seitenansicht dargestellt ist,

Fig. 2

die Frontansicht einer Station,

Fig. 3

das Prinzip der Vorseparierung über Walkeffekt,

Fig. 4

eine automatische Nachlademöglichkeit für die oberen Magazine mit Zufuhr von Stapeln im Bereitschaftszustand und

Fig. 5

die automatische Nachladung beim Ablegen des Stapels

Hereinafter, an embodiment will be explained in more detail with reference to the accompanying figures. It shows:

Fig. 1

a side view of a dual station, the first station in section and the second station is shown in side view,

Fig. 2

the front view of a station,

Fig. 3

the principle of pre-separation via Walkteffekt,

Fig. 4

an automatic recharging option for the upper magazines with supply of stacks in standby mode and

Fig. 5

the automatic recharging when placing the stack

A double station with two upper and two lower magazines consists of the lower side walls 1, which are interconnected via support 2, the upper side plates 4, compared to the lower side walls 1 in height to block thickness in a known manner, not shown on format thickness are adjustable, and the two upper and two lower separating units. 5

They are adjustable to match the block width, so they always look close to the edge of the bow. They are guided on guides 10 between the side walls 1 and the upper side plates 4. The adjustment takes place in a manner not shown via threaded spindles.

The separation units 5 contain main transport belt 6, separating wedge 12, transport belt 15 for the extension, transport belt 22 as a counter belt, telescopic suction device 30 with control.

The main transport belt 6 with the guide wheels 7 and 8 transport the sub-block from station to station, where then each a sheet is fed from below and / or above. The deflection wheel 8 is driven continuously, wherein the power transmission takes place by a splined shaft 9.

The separating wedge 12 is pivoted by the control cam 13 in the gap between the individual sheet and stack, on the one hand abzukippen the one tipped at the corners by the telescopic suction 30 arc across the width and on the other hand when pulling the sheet against the frictional forces acting on the stack To avoid pulling the next bow.

In contrast to the separation wedges known as prior art, the front edge of the separating wedge 12 is inclined relative to the front sheet edge. As a result, the separating wedge 12 first penetrates close to the telescopic suction cup 30, where a defined separating gap between the stack and the printed sheet is ensured, and then peels on the way of penetration between the stack and the printed sheet. The movement is not horizontal, but with an angle to the horizontal, which corresponds approximately to half the Abkippwinkel of the sheet when singulating. The wedge angle of the separating wedge 12 increases, the farther the front edge is located, so that the lower edge of the separating wedge 12 extends parallel to the leading edge of the printing sheet and in the penetrated state of the separating wedge 12 then tilts the printed sheet in parallel. For the tipped arc facing side of the separating wedge 12 results in a twisted surface.

In the separating wedge 12, the front guide wheel 16 of the conveyor belt 15 is mounted. The diameter is small so that it reaches far into the singling gap. We driven the conveyor belt 15 through the wheel 17 and the splined shaft 18. For length compensation due to the Einschwenkhubes the separating wedge 12 and thus the guide wheel 16 of the conveyor belt 15 is held taut by the tension roller 19 and the upper guide wheel 20.

In the last part of the stroke is controlled by cam control of the separating wedge 12 so that the guide wheel 16 gets in contact with the transport belt 22. This is arranged opposite the conveyor belt 15. The sheet to be withdrawn is clamped between the transport belts 15 and 22. While the separating wedge 12 moves forward and tightens the separated sheet, no drive takes place via the splined shaft 18. The drive of the transport belt pair 15,22 starts for the withdrawal process, runs synchronously with the main transport belt 6 and brings the new sheet and the already existing partial block together congruently. The drive of the spline shaft 18 may e.g. done in a conventional manner by a servo drive or a standstill gear.

For this, the transport belt 22 runs against a fixed rail, the transport belt 15 against an elastic rail whose spring force determines the contact pressure for the printing sheet during removal.

The transport belt 22 is deflected by the wheel 23 and driven by the wheel 24. The wheel 24 is driven by the wheel 17 of the conveyor belt 15 via a pair of spur gears, so that the transport belt 15 and the transport belt 22 run synchronously with each other.

The wheel 24 for the drive is congruent with the guide wheel 8 of the main transport belt 6. Thus, the gap between the areas of action of the main transport belt 6 remains small, the diameter of the guide wheel 8 and the wheel 24 must be small.

The already collected partial stack is clamped by the main transport belt 6 congruent with the isolated sheet from the transport belt 15 and 22 passed over the gap L in the main transport belt 6 of the next station. For this, the format must be larger than the gap L.

The separation takes place at the right and left corner of the sheet by Teleskopsauger 30 simultaneously. The telescopic suction 30 makes a pivoting movement controlled by the curved piece 31, wherein the telescopic suction 30 is guided over the roller 32. The movement is generated via the cam 33 which is coaxial to the cam 13 of the continuous 1: 1 running spline shaft 34 is driven. The stroke of the cam 33 is transmitted by a linkage 35 to the telescopic suction.

In the upper magazines, the stack of layers are on the table 40, the front is so far shortened that the telescopic suckers 30 can tip the sheet leading edge.

The position of the stack is held by the front stops 41, which are located on the adjustable singulation units 5, and over the entire format width reaching backgauge 42. The latter are adjustable in form height in a manner not shown, for example via adjusting spindles. Stops (not shown) for the lateral fixation of the stack are located on the separating units. 5

The loading height of the upper magazines is limited depending on the material, because the occasional lowermost sheet under the weight load of the stack between this and the table 40 has to be pulled out.

In the lower magazines, the sheet stack rests on a plate 50, which is fastened on guide rails 51 on the lifting table 52 and can be pulled out laterally by the amount of the maximum format width. This allows loading to take place outside the machine outline and thus without any obstruction.

The lower magazines have a large capacity and rarely need recharging.

The lifting tables 52 are adjusted separately by two spindle drives 53 and 53a, one on the right and one on the left and on the left and on the left side, in order to compensate for differences in stacking height due to ink build-up and to always ensure the exact height at the suction positions. The level control of the lifting tables takes place in a known manner.

To improve the separation safety, a pre-separation is carried out via the Walk rollers 60 and 61. In the upper magazine, the contact pressure between stack and Walk roller 60 is generated by the weight of the stack. In the lower magazine is the Walkwalze 61 with its weight. The Walkwalze 61 rolls (see Fig. 3 ) along the block with contact pressure and creates a shift effect between all leaves to a certain depth of effect. The sheets are pushed against the back stops 42, which have a slight slope 42a there. The mini-set between the blades separates cutting burr and facilitates retention via known retaining elements such as separating springs.

The Walkwalze 61 is freely running with bearing bush 63 mounted on a shaft 62. The shaft 62 has an eccentric journal 62a and is continuously driven 1: 1. The Walkwalze 61 describes a circular movement with a radius of e = about 5 mm. On one part of the circular motion she rolls off the pile. At the rear of the circular motion there is no contact to the stack. During the preliminary movement with unrolling, the stack is raised by the dimension a in the upper magazines.

In the lower magazines, where the surface of the stack can not escape by lifting, the Walk roller 61 raises with its weight and an additional spring force when unwinding by the dimension a. In the returning part of the movement, the Walkwalze 61 lifts relative to the stack surface by the dimension b.

The shift takes place in the unwinding direction of the Walkwalze on the stack.

As in 4 and FIG. 5 To see, the upper magazines are provided with a comfortable recharging. A laterally opposite the machine frame herausziebbares belt frame 70 with the belt 71 is loaded outside the machine outline with a stack of low height. For sliding into the station via the magazine, the belt 71 is fixed relative to the belt frame 70 in a manner not shown. During the return stroke, the belt 71 is fixed to the upper side plates 4 of the machine frame in a manner not shown. The stack rolls on the existing stack.

Alternatively, it is also conceivable to deport the stack from a tray driven over the magazine, as in DE 195 44 006 proposed. Of course, pushing off creates frictional forces that can cause the bottom bow to shift.

Claims (12)

1. Collating machine having at least two stations located side by side, each of which stocks a stack of identical printed sheets, and a conveyance which connects all the stations, wherein a printed sheet is fed from each station to the part-block already collated, and which conveyance delivers the ready-collated block at its end,
   characterised in that
   each station contains two magazines, each of which stocks a printed sheet of the book and which are arranged one above the other, and that the printed sheets are selectively isolated, drawn off and fed to the common conveyance from above from the lower magazine, from below from the upper magazine or simultaneously from the lower and upper magazines.
2. Collating machine according to Claim 1,
   characterised in that
   isolation of the lowermost sheet takes place downwards in the upper magazines and isolation of the uppermost sheet takes place upwards in the lower magazines.
3. Collating machine according to Claim 1 or 2,
   characterised in that
   isolation takes place via vacuum suction cups at the front corner, viewed in the direction of conveyance, on the right and left sides in each case.
4. Collating machine according to Claim 3,
   characterised in that
   the vacuum suction cups are constructed as telescopic suction cups (30) which, on making contact with the printed sheet, achieve pre-separation of said printed sheet from the stack at the left-hand and right-hand front corners by means of their small gathering stroke.
5. Collating machine according to either of Claims 3 or 4,
   characterised in that
   a separating wedge (12) can be introduced into the isolating gap between the printed sheet isolated by the vacuum suction cup and the stack and, in the process, tilts the front edge of the quire, from the corners, to an angle of preferably 25°.
6. Collating machine according to one of Claims 1 to 5,
   characterised in that
   the tilted edge, which is the front edge viewed in the direction of conveyance, of the isolated printed sheet is grasped by preferably two pairs of conveying belts (15, 22) per magazine as a result of being gripped between said belts, and the particular sheet is then drawn out of the magazine in the direction of movement of the main conveyance, under which circumstances the conveying belts (15, 22) are at a standstill when they grip the tilted part of the sheet, and then draw off said sheet at a speed synchronised with the main conveyance and transfer it to said main conveyance.
7. Collating machine according to Claims 5 and 6,
   characterised in that
   the front deflecting wheels (16) of one of the conveying belts (15) belonging to the pair of conveying belts are located in the separating wedge (12) and are pivoted, with the latter, into the gap between the tilted printed sheet and the stack and are pressed, over the last part of the pivoting-in movement, against the other conveying belt (22) belonging to the pair of conveying belts via a control cam and, in the process, grip the printed sheet.
8. Collating machine according to Claim 1,
   characterised in that
   the main conveyance between the stations takes place in each station by means of preferably two main conveying belts (6) which consist of upper and lower belts which are driven in a continuous manner and convey the partially collated block from station to station and which undergo an interruption in each station, as a result of which a further printed sheet can be fed to the part-blook from above and/or below in the course of conveyance.
9. Collating machine according to Claim 1,
   characterised in that
   the elements for isolation, drawing-off and conveyance to the next station are accommodated in compact units, of which two are located in the upper magazine and two in the lower magazine and which can be adjusted as a whole unit, format-wise, on the right and left to the outer edges of the printed sheet.
10. Collating machine according to Claim 3 or 4,
    characterised in that
    the lifting tables (52) for the lower magazine have a separate level-regulating system on the left and right sides for the purpose of optimal adaptation of the upper edge of the stack to the position of the vacuum suction cups.
11. Collating machine according to Claim 9,
    characterised in that
    there is located, on each lifting table, a plate (50) on which the material lies and which can be extended laterally on guide rails (51) on the lifting table (52) for the purpose of effecting loading outside the frame of the machine.
12. Collating machine according to Claim 1,
    characterised in that
    the upper magazine having a low admissible loading height can be subjected to subsequent loading with stacks of low height by means of a laterally displaceable band (71), through the fact that said band (71) can be brought, with a stack laid on it, across the magazine with the band (71) locked in position in relation to the framework (70) of the band, and then retracted again with the band (71) locked in position in relation to the frame of the machine, under which circumstances the new stack rolls off onto the existing residual stack in a congruent manner.

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