This object is achieved according to the invention by an apparatus having
the features of Claim 1. Advantageous configurations and developments form the subject matter of the claims following, Claim 1 and, without the wording thereof being repeated here, the contents of these claims hereby expressly form a constituent part of the
25 description.
An exemplary embodiment of an apparatus of the type specified here is described in more detail hereinbelow with reference to the drawing, in which:
30 1 shows a schematic side view, depicted in vertical section, of an embodiment of the apparatus specified here for conveying, sheet-like C articles, certain framework and housing, parts having been omitted in order to simplify the illustration; Fig. 2 shows a portion of the conveying apparatus according to Figure 1 in the 5 region of the transition between the first conveying channel and the second conveying channel in a perspective illustration as seen obliquely from above, the region which is closer to the viewer being depicted in section; and 10 Fig. 3 shows a view of the portion according to Figure 2 in a perspective illustration as seen obliquely from above, Figure 3 essentially representing that part of the apparatus which was removed by the section in Fiaure 2.
is Figure I shows a first conveying channel 1, which extends essentially in the horizontal direction, and a second conveying channel 2, which extends obliquely I upwards following that end of the conveying channel which is on the left in Figure 1.
C, II;I The conveying channel 1 contains side walls 3 and 4, the latter only being I W illustrated Figure 3. The side walls 3 and 4 are aligned with side walls 5 and 6 of the 20 1 second conveying channel 2 or are formed in one piece with said side walls in each case.
The conveying-channel side walls 3, 4 and 5, 6 are connected to an apparatus 25 housing, which has a base plate 7 illustrated schematically in Figure 1.
The base of the conveying channel I is fon-ned by a top wall 8 of an elongate base support 9 which is positioned laterally essentially against the side walls 3 and 4 of the conveying channel 1, but is not fixed to said side walls, as is made clear at 10 and 11 in 30 the illustrations of Fiaures 2 and 3.
In the vicinity of its front end, which is on the left in Figure 1, the base support is bent obliquely downwards and forms a ramp 12 here, the specific design and the functioning of which will be discussed in more detail at a later stage in the text.
5 Pairs of rollers are mounted on the base support 9 by means of bearing arrangements, which for reasons of clarity and in order to simplify the drawing are not shown specifically, and endless conveying belts 13 and 14 are positioned over said pairs of rollers. For this purpose, corresponding cutouts are formed in the top wall of the base support 9, the tops of the rollers being, exposed by said cutouts and the endless 10 conveying belts 13 and 14 being guided through the same. The rollers which are located in the vicinity of the transition region between the conveying channel 1 and the conveying channel 2 are shown in the drawing, whereas the corresponding associated C rollers which are on the left of the illustration according to Figures 1 and 2 are not illustrated. It should also be pointed, out that the person skilled in the art, of course, will 15 take the steps necessary in order for it to be possible for the endless conveying belts 13 and 14 to be positioned on the rollers with comparatively low outlay in terms of installation.
The top strands of the conveying, belts 13 and 14 move over the top side of the top C 20 wall of the base support 9 in the direction of the arrows depicted in Figure 2 when the rollers are made to rotate, for example by means of the motor 15 indicated in Figure 1.
The motor 15 is expediently fixed on the base support 9.
The free end of the ramp 12 is directed approximately perpendicularly towards an 25 obliquely running wall 16, which constitutes the base of the second conveying channel 2 I., and can be fixed to the side walls 5 and 6 of the second conve ina channel. Said wall 16 y Cp merges, by way of a gentle bend, into a wall 17, which forms a horizontal base portion of the second conveying channel. The wall 16 and the wall 17 are provided with cutouts in the region of rollers 18, 19 and 20, with the result that second conveying belts 22 and C 3o 23, which are positioned over said rollers and over an additional roller arrangement 21 C, which is mounted at a lower level, can run, by way of their portion referred to as the top strand, between the rollers 18, 19 and 20 on the top side of the wall 16 and the top side of the wall 17 and can then be guided, through the cutouts assigned to the roller arrangements 18 and 20, beneath the wall 16 and beneath the wall 17, respectively, again and positioned over the roller arrangement 21. If, for example, the roller 5 arrangement 19 is made to rotate by a motor 24, then the second conveying belts 22 and 23 move upwards on the outside of the wall 16 in the direction of the arrows depicted in Fi ure 2. Resting on those portions of the second conveying belts 22 and 23 which run 9 C over the top part of the wall 16, over the roller 19 and over the horizontal portion 17 of the convey ing-channel base and, finally, over the roller arrangement 20, are the 10 undersides of further endless, freely circulating belts 25 and 26 which are positioned over roller arrangements 27, 28 and 29, as can be seen from Figures I and 2. The roller arrangements 27, 28 and 29 are located on a suitable, downwardly prestressable bearing means such that the circulatinc, belts 25 and 26 are pressed against the second conveying belts 22 and 23, respectively.
Arranged between the second conveying belts 22 and 23, in the second conveying CP channel 2, is a stripping device 30 which is directed towards the wall or the base of the second conveying channel and can be adjusted in terms of its spacing from the surface of the wall 16. Such stripping devices are known per se. Details are neither described in 20 the present text nor shown in the drawing since the design of the stripping device does 1-1 I-P not have a direct influence on the functioning, of the apparatus specified here. It should be pointed out, however, that, in the embodiment shown in the drawing, the stripping device 30 is installed in a stationary manner within the second conveying, channel 2 and, in particular, may not be designed such that it can be adjusted in or counter to the 25 conveying direction of the second conveying belts 22 and 23. This will be discussed in more detail at a later staoe in the text.
The stripping device 30 at any rate contains a stripping nose which is directed, I between the second conveying belts 22 and 23, towards the wall 16 or an additional belt 30 running over the latter and has the task of allowing to pass through beneath it only individual sheet-like articles from a stack of articles which, with the main planes of the articles aligned parallel to the wall 16, has the lowermost article resting on the conveying belts 22 and 23, with the result that the respectively lowermost articles pass in time sequence, by way of their leading edge, into the gap between the conveying belts 22 and 23 and the circulating, belts 25 and 26 and, finally, are transported further as an 5 imbricated stream of articles which are to be conveyed.
Parts of the stacks of sheet-like articles 31 which are inserted into the first conveing channel 1, and are guided through the first conveying channel with their M Z In bottom edges standing on the base of the first conveying channel or on the first 10 conveying belts 13) and 14, finally pass onto the ramp 12, as soon as they have negotiated bends from the top wall of the base support 9 in the direction of the ramp 12, and are then positioned on the wall 16 with their main plane aligned approximately parallel to said wall.
is It has been found that, for a uniform resulting imbrication, it is important for the 01 spacing between the top edges of the sheet-like articles which rest on the wall 16, or on the second conveying belts 22 and 23, and the stripping, device 30 to be as small as possible and to remain the same from processing task to processing task even in the case of different formats of the articles which are to be handled, and that it is also 20 advantageous for the resultinc, imbrication if the relative position of the stripping device and the aaps between the conveying belts 22 and 23 and the circulating belts 25 and 26 resting thereon remains essentially unchanged.
In order to achieve this, in the case of the apparatus specified here, the base of the 25 first feed channel 1 and the first conveying belts 13 and 14 assigned to it are designed in a height-adjustable manner such that, with the position of the stripping device 30 along the second conveying channel 2 unchanged, the position of the top edges of the articles 31 relative to the stripping device 30 can be adjusted, for different formats of the articles 31, such that it remains essentially the same in relation to the conveying direction of the 30 second conveying belts 22 and 23.
The adjustment takes place by virtue of the capacity for height adjustment of the C7 essentially horizontally aligned base support 9 parallel to itself. Since, however, the ramp 12 of the base support 9, said ramp being directed towards the wall 16, that is to sa towards the obliquely upwardly running base of the second conveying channel 2, y In 5 must not strike against the wall 16 during, the height adjustment of the base support 9 and also must not move away from the wall 16 by such a distance that articles 31 resting C, on the wall 16 or on the second conveying belts 22 and 23 slide downwards along, the C wall 1,6 beneath the free edge of the ramp 12, the base support 9 has to be guided approximately in the direction of the wall 16 during the translatory movement for height 10 adjustment.
For this purpose, the base support 9 is connected to the housing base 7 via a pair of frame-like links 32 and 33. The links 32 and 33 each contain link legs 35 and 36 which are connected to one another in a rotationally fixed manner via shafts 34, as can 15 be seen in respect of the frame-like link 32 from the illustration of Figure 2. Bearing lugs on the base support 9, on the one hand, and the housing base 7, on the other hand, t> serve for the pivot mounting of the frame-like links 32 and 33.
The length of the links 32 and 33 and their central inclination over a pivoting path 20 indicated by a chain-dotted arcuate arrow P in Figure I are selected such that finger-like protrusions or prongs 37, which project from the free edge of the ramp 12 and engage in slot-like through-passages 38 of the wall 16, do not lift out fully from the through passages 38 of the wall 16 in any position during the pivotina, of the links 32 and 33, 0 r5 t:) althouo,h the free edge of the ramp 12 and the base of cutouts 39 in the edge of the ramp 25 12 for accommodating the second conveying, belts 22 and 23 are not positioned on the top side of the wall 16 or of the second conveying, belts 22 and 23. In order to achieve this, corresponding limiting stops, which limit the pivoting movement of the links 32 C "D and 33, are of course provided.
30 The height adjustment of the base support 9 takes place by means of a threaded C.
spindle actuating mechanism 41 which is actuated b a motor 40, extends between y bearing lugs on the base support 9, on the one hand, and on the housing base 7, on the - 1 1-1 other hand, and is oriented approximately parallel to the course taken by the wall 16 or of the base of the second conveying channel 2.
5 It should also be mentioned here that the base support 9 has connected to it not just the conveying belts 13 and 14, together with their running and drive rollers, but also the drive motor for the conveying belts 13 and 14 for the joint height adjustment. In this case, the height adjustment on the parallel-link arrangement specified here, with two link frames which are spaced apart horizontally in the conveying direction of the first 10 conveying channel and each extend obliquely downwards, in the manner which can be seen from the drawing, to a housing base from the base support 9, has the advantage of high mechanical stability and tilting prevention, even if the first conveying channel is of comparatively lono, length, along with a straightforward construction and small amount tD It, of space being required for this part of the apparatus.
In order to avoid the situation where a certain ratio of the supply speed of articles 3 31, on account of the operation of the first conveying belts 13 and 14, to the removal speed of articles by the second conveying belts 22 and 23) results in operating states in which stacks of articles 31 are pressed against the second conveying belts 22 and 23 20 under increased pressure, and accumulate at the stripping device 30, this resulting in a non-uniform imbrication, the apparatus proposed here makes provision for the stacks of articles 31 which are to be handled to be conveyed in the direction of the base or the wall 16 of the second conveying channel 2 in each case by the conveying belts 13 and 14 of the first conveying, channel 1 when there is a need there for the stack of articles to 25 be supplemented again.
This need in respect of articles 31 being conveyed up out of the region of the first conveying channel 1 is manifested in that, at the transition bend from the horizontal top side 8 of the base support 9 to the ramp 12, bottom edges of articles 31 slide down the 3o ramp surface of the ramp 12 in the direction of the wall 16 to an increasing extent without articles 31 being conveyed up. This then forms, in the stack of articles 31 which Z _10 are to be handled, a wedge-shaped gap 43 which runs obliquely upwards from the bend regions. This gap allows the detector beams of a light transmitter and receiver 44 to pass through, said lioht transmitter and receiver being installed at the front end of the base 1-1 "n 11> support 9 and being moved together with the same. The transmission beam of the liaht 5 transmitter and receiver is directed towards a reflective coating 45, which is provided on the side walls in the transition region of the side walls 3 and 5 of the first and second conveying channels, respectively. From the reflective coating 45, the reflected detector beam passes back to the light transmitter and receiver 44 and initiates a detector signal there, said detector signal being fed to a control means 47 via a line 46 (see Figure 1) 10 and indicatina to the control means 46 that the wedge-shaped gap 43 has formed in the stack of articles 31 which are to be handled and there is thus a need for the stack of articles 31 located in the first conveying channel 1 to be pushed up by means of the conveying, belts 13 and 14. The control means 47 thus sets the motor 15 in operation by way of a corresponding control signal. The first conveying belts 13) and 14 move, by is way of their top strands, in the direction of the transition to the second conveying channel 2, and the wedge-shaped gap 43 in the stack of articles 31 which are to be handled closes again and the beam path for the transmission beam and the reception beam of the light transmitter and receiver 44 is deflected, with the result that the detector sicnal then disappears from the line 46 and the control means 47 switches the 20 motor 15 off again in order to bring the first conveying belts 13 and 14 to a standstill.
The person skilled in the art can see from Figures 2 and 3 that sheetlike articles In 31 which are to be handled, in particular envelopes, are not, in the embodiment shown of an apparatus of the type specified here, guided, in respect of their dimensions, in the 25 horizontal direction, transversely to the conveying, direction, between the side walls 3 and 4 of the first conveying channel 1; rather, they are guided between the side wall 3 and a vertical Cruide plate 50 which extends in the conveying direction, projects perpendicularly from the top side 8 of the base support 9 and is supported and retained transversely to the longitudinal extent of said support, parallel to the side wall 3, by 30 retaining and securing means 51 and 52. Slots 53 and 54 are cut in the top side 8 of the CD base support 9 in the direction transverse to the running direction of the conveying belts 13 and 14, and grip-containing securing screws of the securing and supporting means 51 and 52 extend to female elements which are retained beneath the top wall of the base support 9 in a displaceably and rotationally secured manner, with the result that the position of the guide plate 15 in relation to the side wall 3 of the conveying channel 1 5 can be adapted to the transverse format of the articles 31 which are to be handled.
The guide plate 50 extends into the vicinity of the wall 16, that is to say into the vicinity of the base of the second conveying channel 2. Before the leading edge of the Z guide plate 50 reaches the surface of the wall 16, however, it merges into a directing, Z:7 -,I lo segment 55, for which purpose the guide plate 50 bends in the direction of the side walls 3 and 5 of the first and second conveying channels, respectively, about an axis of curvature which is positioned in front of the surface of the wall 16, is indicated by a chain-dotted line 56 in Figure 3 and is oriented parallel to the conveying direction of the second conveying belts 22 and 23. This inward bend of the directing segment 55 has a 15 smooth, gentle transition to the vertical plane of the guide plate 50 and allows those articles 31 which are to be handled and reach the readon of the ramp 12 by way of their .7 bottom edges, and have their main plane aligned with the course taken by the second conveying, belts 22 and 23 or with the position of the wall 16, to be pressed gently, by way of their edges bending away from the directing, segment 55, against the side wall 5 20 of the second conveying channel 2, with the result that the articles which are to be handled are aligned precisely relative to the course taken by the conveying belts 22 and 23.
It can be seen that the guide plate 50 is provided with a cutout 57 in its bottom 25 region, adjacent to the ramp 12. This arcuate cutout 57 provides a through-passage for the transmission beam and the reception beam of the light transmitter and receiver 44, which, irrespective of the format-specific adjustment of the guide plate 50 in each case, has an unchanged position on the base support 9 in each case. The reflection of the transmission beam of the light transmitter and receiver 44 on the side of the side walls 3 3o and 5 of the conveying channels does not depend on the respective position of the base support 9 on account of the use of the reflective coating 45.
The specified translatory height adjustment of the base of the first conveying channel in adaptation to the course taken by the second conveying channel thus makes it possible to take account of the format of articles 31 which are to be handled, in 5 particular of envelopes, in relation to the conveying direction in the second conveying 4-17 Cl channel without the stripping device 30 located there having to be adjusted in the 1.7 C:I direction of said second conveying channel, with the result that the position of the stripping device in relation to the further, downstream conveying means in the form of the circulating conveying-gap-forming, belts 22, 2.3) and 25, 26 also remains the same.
lo The advantageous control of the drive of the first conveying belts 13 and 14 of the first conveying, channel on an intermittent basis in dependence on the need of articles to be conveyed in the second conveying channel takes place by detection of the presence or absence of a wedoe-shaped gap 43 in a stack of articles 31 movin in the direction of :D 9 the second conveying channel, this control mechanism, in turn, not depending on the 15 adjusted height position of the base of the first conveying channel 1, and the detector means used moving along with the base of the first conveying channel during the height adjustment. The articles which are to be handled are aligned precisely with the course taken by the conveying path in the second conveying, channel by the directing segment on an adjustable vertical guide plate on the base of the first conveying channel, these 20 directing means and adjusting means also being raised or lowered together with the base of the first conveying channel during different height adjustments in each case, but I I performing their functions irrespective of the height.
Claims 1 Apparatus for conveying sheet-like articles (31), in particular envelopes, to a 5 processing station which forms an imbricated stream of said articles, having a first, approximately horizontally running, conveying, channel (1), on the base of C) C7 which the top strands of first conveying belts (13, 14) run, on which stacks of articles can be positioned on edge and conveyed in the direction of a second, obliquely upwardly running conveying channel (2), on the base (16) of which the 10 top strands of second conveying belts (22, 23) run, between which there is arranged a stripping device (30) which can be advanced towards the base of the C CD second conveying channel and acts on the top edges of the articles supplied by the first conveying channel (1), and aligned with their main planes approximately parallel to the base of the second conveying., channel, in order to form the 15 imbricated stream, characterized in that at least the base (8, 9) of the first conve inc, channel (1) and the first conveying belts (13, 14) are connected to an y apparatus framework via a parallel-link arrangement, which extends from the base of the first conveying channel to a lower-level housing base (7), and are designed such that they can be adjusted in height on said parallel-link arrangement, the 20 central position of the links (32, 33) of the parallel-link arrangement being oriented approximately perpendicularly to the plane of the base (16) of the second conveying channel (2).