JPH0789258A - Device for collating fold section - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To save labor involved in a book making work and also save cost by automatically separating mutually sticking fold sections and collating the edge of the stacked fold sections. CONSTITUTION:A bundle of fold sections 5' is placed on a fold section mounting table 28 and is held by a pair of support plates 22a, 22b. Further, the bundle is vibrated by a vibrator 30 and a horizontal collating bar 39 and a vertical collating bar 49 are allowed to come into contact with each edge of the bundle of fold sections 5' so that the edge of each fold section 5 is collated. In addition, the mutually sticking fold sections 5 are separated by blowing air to the bundle of fold sections 5' from air nozzles 32, 33 which shuttle back and forth. The bundle of fold sections 5' on the mounting table 28 becomes curved by the working of both projecting curved surface 26 and recessed curved surface 27 provided on each support plate 22a, 22b, and subsequently, becomes resilient. Thus the highly positive edge collation of the fold sections is achieved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a signature aligning device for aligning the edges of each signature with respect to a signature bundle formed by stacking a plurality of signatures.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a general bookbinding operation, a printing machine is used to produce a printed book, and the printed book is folded into a plurality of pages, for example, a bundle of about 16 pages to produce a so-called signature. A plurality of bundles are bundled together to make one book.
A bookbinding machine for performing this bookbinding work is usually equipped with a signature supply device for supplying signatures to the bookbinding machine, and a large number of signatures produced by a printing machine or a dedicated folding machine. Are laid one on top of another in a state of standing in a predetermined stack position of the signature feeder.

The signature supply device extracts the stacked signatures one by one and supplies them to the bookbinding machine. The bookbinding machine stacks the supplied signatures in order of pages and finally performs bookbinding processing such as stapling to produce a target book. During this bookbinding operation, if the signatures stacked on the signature supply device are not aligned, that is, if the four edges are not aligned in a straight line, the signatures will be removed when they are stacked in page order. There is a gap between them, making it impossible to perform accurate bookbinding processing. Therefore, the groups of signatures arranged in the stack position of the signature supply device must have their edges aligned neatly.

Further, when the signatures arranged in the stack position of the signature feeder are attracted to each other due to static electricity or other factors, the work of separating the signatures part by part by the signature feeder can be performed accurately. Can't run. Therefore, the suction state of each signature arranged in the stack position of the signature supply device must be canceled in advance.

[0005] Conventionally, when the edge alignment processing and the suction elimination processing of the signatures are performed, an operator manually peels a plurality of signatures that are attracted to each other on a workbench, and further, an appropriate amount of The signatures are piled up to form a signature bundle, and the four edges of the signature bundle are manually aligned, and then aligned at the stack position of the signature supply device. However, this manual method cannot save labor in bookbinding work and reduce costs.

In order to solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 15, a cassette 5 capable of accommodating an appropriate amount of signatures 51.
It is also conceivable to prepare 2 and put a plurality of signatures 51 in the cassette 52 to align the edges of the signatures 51 and eliminate suction.

[0007]

However, when the cassette 52 is used, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, a signature 51 having no peculiarity is placed on the signature 51 having a strong peculiarity, or in FIG. As shown in the drawing, the signatures 51 having strong habits face each other and are placed on one of the signatures 51, so that it is difficult to align the edges of the signatures 51.
If a certain amount of signatures 51 matching the cassette 52 are not accommodated in the cassette 52, the signature 51 is bent in the cassette 52 as shown in FIG. Furthermore, using the cassette 52, the signature 5
A large number of cassettes 52 must be manufactured and prepared for one size, and a space for storing the cassettes 52 must be secured.

Further, as shown in FIG. 18, when a bundle 53 of signatures formed by stacking an appropriate amount of signatures 51 is piled up by reversing the direction of each other, and is bound together in a so-called manner. The end portion of the folded bundle 53, especially the spine folding portion, has a habit of curving in a certain direction. Regarding such a signature bundle 53, it is necessary for an operator to manually bend the end portion in the opposite direction to correct the curving habit before supplying the signature bundle 53 to the signature supply device. This correction work has been a factor that further reduces the efficiency of bookbinding work.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and automatically performs each process such as peeling off signatures that are attracted to each other and aligning the edges of a plurality of signatures that are stacked. It is an object of the present invention to provide a signature aligning device that can save labor and reduce costs in bookbinding work by performing the bookbinding operation.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a signature aligning apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a signature placement table on which a bundle of signatures is set up and a folding table placed on the signature placement table. A support plate for sandwiching and supporting the signature bundle from both sides in the signature stacking direction, an air nozzle that blows air toward at least the back folding portion of each signature with respect to the signature bundle placed on the signature placement table, A vibrating means for vibrating the signature table and a movable side that can move toward or away from the side of the signature stack placed on the signature table and contact the side of the signature stack. A pair of horizontal alignment bars for aligning the edges of each signature, and movable toward and away from the top of the signature placed on the signature table, and contacting the top of the bundle of signatures. An upper alignment bar that aligns the upper edges of the signatures. The support plate is a convex side support plate having a convex curved surface protruding toward the signature bundle,
And a concave side support plate having a concave curved surface that is arranged to face the convex side support plate and that matches the convex curved surface of the convex side support plate.

Since the main purpose of the convex side support plate and the concave side support plate is to bend the signature bundle, its shape is not limited to a particular shape. For example, they can be arcuate curved surfaces or V-shaped curved surfaces.

Various methods are conceivable for abutting the top aligning bar against the bundle of signatures, but in order to effectively align the bundle of signatures by vibration, the top aligning bar is applied by its own weight. It is preferable to bring it into contact with the signature bundle. Further, it is desirable to provide a stopper for restricting the movement of the pair of lateral alignment bars toward each other so that the signature bundle can always be positioned at a constant position. .

[0013]

The signature bundle, which is formed by stacking an appropriate amount of signatures, is placed upright on the signature placement table while being sandwiched by the pair of support plates. Desirably, the back folding portions of the signatures are arranged in contact with the signature mounting table. Then, the vibration from the vibrating means is transmitted to the bundle of signatures through the signature placement table and vibrates, and at the same time, the air jetted from the air nozzle is blown to each signature.
By vibrating and blowing the air, the signatures that stick to each other are automatically peeled off and reliably separated. In addition, a pair of horizontal alignment bars abut on both sides of the folded signature bundle, and the top alignment bar abuts on the upper edge of the signature bundle, so that each edge of the signature bundle is aligned in a straight line. To be

Further, since the curved convex surface and the curved concave surface are formed on the pair of support plates, the signature bundle sandwiched between the support plates is erected on the signature table in a curved state. For this reason, the rigidity of each signature becomes strong. Therefore, vibration is applied to this, air is blown, and the horizontal alignment bar and the upper alignment bar contact each other, so that the suction elimination processing between each signature and each folding The edge alignment processing of the Ding is performed more reliably.

In particular, if the curved surface of the support plate is a V-shaped curved surface, even a small-sized signature bundle can be surely bent to strengthen the waist. Further, since the bulge of the back-folded portion of the signature bundle can be forcibly crushed by the V-shaped apex angle portion, it is possible to prevent the gap between the signatures during the transportation of the signature bundle.

[0016]

EXAMPLE 1 FIG. 14 schematically shows an example of a bookbinding system to which the signature aligning device according to the present invention can be applied.
This bookbinding system includes a printing machine 7, a sorting apparatus 8, a signature aligning apparatus 9, and a bookbinding machine 10.
The sorting device 8 and the signature aligning device 9 and the signature aligning device 9 and the bookbinding machine 10 have the same structure, respectively.
For example, a signature carrier 11 having a well-known robot hand or other carrier mechanism is installed.

The printing machine 7 prints desired characters, images, etc. on a printing material such as paper to produce a printed book, and further folds the printed book by several pages as shown in FIG. The signature 5 having the spine fold portion D is manufactured, and the signature 5 is discharged to the outside. The discharged signatures 5 are stacked outside the printing machine 7.

The stacked signatures 5 are placed on the stacker 12 of the sorting device 8 in an appropriate amount by a manual operation of an operator or an appropriate carrying device. The sorting device 8 extracts a predetermined number, for example, several tens from the plurality of signatures 5 arranged on the stacker 12, and sets the extracted signature bundle 5 ′ at a predetermined delivery position E. . The set bundle of signatures 5 ′ is transported to the predetermined stack position P of the signature aligning device 9 by the signature transporting device 11.

Regarding the signatures 5 forming the bundle 5'of signatures placed at the stack position P, their edges are not aligned,
That is, they are not neatly aligned with each other. The signature aligning device 9 aligns the edges of the signatures 5 in a straight line by applying vibration to the irregular signature bundles 5 ′, and returns the aligned signature bundles 5 ′ to the stack position P again. Set. The set of signatures bundle 5'is attached to the bookbinding machine 10 by the signature transporting device 11 and is a signature supply device 5
0, and are successively lined up at the tail position of the signature group previously transported there.

The signature supply device 50 extracts the signatures 5 one by one from the plurality of aligned signatures 5 and binds them to the bookbinding machine 1.
Supply to 0. The bookbinding machine 10 sequentially stacks the supplied signatures 5 so that the pages are continuous, and finally performs a staple process and other bookbinding processes to produce a target book.

The signature aligning device 9, as shown in FIG.
It has a pair of transport hands 1 a and 1 b supported by a rodless cylinder 2. These transport hands 1
As is clear from FIG. 2, two a and 1b are provided along the width direction of the folded bundle 5 '. The rodless cylinder 2 has a guide rod 4 extending in the vertical direction.
It is arranged on a frame 6 that is vertically guided by the air cylinder 3 while being guided by. As is known per se, the rodless cylinder 2 includes a cylindrical cylinder body 13 having a hollow interior, and a piston 14 housed in the cylinder body 13 that is slidable in the axial direction and configured by a magnet. And a moving block 15 that is sucked by the piston 14 and that slides in the axial direction on the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder body 13 integrally with the piston 14.

Both ends of the cylinder body 13 are connected to the frame 6
It is supported by a bracket 18 fixed to a carrier 17 which slides freely on a rail 16 installed above. Further, the hand base 19 extending from the right side transport hand 1b in FIG. 1 is fixed to the upper end of the moving block 15, while the connecting bar 20 extending from the left side transport hand 1a is integrally fixed to the cylinder body 13 via the bracket 18. Has been done. In the illustrated state in which air is supplied from the left port 13a of the cylinder body 13, the moving block 15 is located at the rightmost end of the cylinder body 13, and the two transport hands 1a and 1b are separated from each other. When air is supplied from the right side port 13b of the cylinder body 13 from this state, the moving block 15 moves leftward in the figure, and the right hand 1b moves integrally with it and moves leftward. At the same time, the cylinder body 13 moves to the right in the figure due to the reaction force, and as a result, the left hand 1a
Moves to the right with it. That is, the left and right hands 1a and 1b are closed and moved toward each other.

The rodless cylinder 2 and the transport hands 1a and 1b supported by the rodless cylinder 2 are located at the upper position shown in FIG. 1, that is, at the stacking position P of the folded bundle 5'by the extension operation of the air cylinder 3. On the other hand, the contraction operation of the air cylinder 3 brings it to the lower position shown in FIG. 3, that is, the position for aligning the folded bundle 5 '.

In FIG. 1, a holding plate 36 which is driven by an air cylinder 35 and moves back and forth in the left-right direction in the drawing is provided at the left side position of the left-handed conveying hand 1a. As shown in FIG. 5, the pressing unit including the air cylinder 35 and the pressing plate 36 is provided at two locations corresponding to both side ends of the folded bundle 5 '.

In FIG. 1, a straight rail 21 is fixedly installed on the machine frame F at a position below the ascending / descending path of the transport hands 1a and 1b. A pair of support plates 22a and 22b facing each other are mounted on the rail 21 so as to be freely slidable in the left-right direction in the drawing. As shown in FIG. 9, each of the support plates 22a and 22b is provided with hanging pieces 23a and 23b extending downward, and these hanging pieces extend below the rail 21 as shown in FIG. The cylinder body 24a of the air cylinder 24 is fixed to the left side surface of the hanging piece 23a of the left side support plate 22a, and the tip end of the piston rod 24b extending from the cylinder body 24a is located at the right side support plate 22b.
It is fixed to the hanging piece 23b. That is, the air cylinder 24 is suspended on the rail 21 via the hanging pieces 23a and 23b.

As is apparent from FIG. 9, the left side support plate 22a has a convex curved surface 2 which is curved and protrudes in an arc shape.
6 is provided. On the other hand, the right side support plate 22b has a concave curved surface 27 that matches the convex curved surface 26. Further, two grooves 29 extending in the vertical direction are formed at the center positions of both the support plates 22a and 22b in the width direction.
Are formed. The transport hands 1a and 1b (see FIG. 2) move up and down through the grooves 29. Also,
A groove 38 extending in the horizontal direction is provided at a position slightly lower than the central position in the vertical direction of both support plates 22a and 22b.
Are formed.

In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, at the upper position of the rail 21, there is arranged a signature table 28 composed of a plurality of elongated plate members arranged in parallel at a distance from each other, that is, six in total. There is. This signature table 28
Is fixedly installed on the machine frame F via a damper 25 made of vibration-proof rubber or other vibration-proof material. Also, as is apparent from FIG. 2, the support plates 22a and 22b are
The hanging pieces 23a and 23b vertically penetrate the signature mounting table 28. Two vibrators 30 as a vibrating means are attached to the lower surface of the signature loading table 28. When these vibrators 30 operate, the signature mounting table 28 vibrates.

In the state shown in FIG. 1, both support plates 22 are
Air cylinder 24 suspended between a and 22b
The piston rod 24b is in the extension operation state, and in this state, both support plates 22a and 22b are separated from each other. Piston rod 24b of air cylinder 24
Is moved to a contracting operation, both support plates 22a and 22a
b moves toward each other, that is, closes.

In FIG. 2, air nozzle units 31 are arranged on both left and right sides of the support plate 22b (and 22a). These units 31 have a lateral air nozzle 32 located on the side of the support plate 22b (and 22a) and a lower air nozzle 33 located below the support plate 22b (and 22a). Each of the air nozzles 32 and 33 is connected to an air source (not shown), and the air supplied from the air source is jetted from the air nozzles 32 and 33. Each air nozzle unit 31 is provided with a carrier system 34 having a chain carrier system, a feed screw carrier system, or any other configuration. By the function of the carrier system 34, the air nozzle unit 31 is moved in the left-right direction in FIG. 2 reciprocally moves in parallel to the direction perpendicular to the paper surface.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, an upper alignment bar 49 which is driven by a well-known lifting mechanism 37 to move up and down is arranged above the transport hands 1a and 1b. Further, a pair of horizontal alignment bars 39 that penetrates the horizontal grooves 38 provided in both the pair of support plates 22a and 22b and faces each other is provided. These horizontal alignment bars 39 are provided on the rails 4 provided parallel to the support plates 22a and 22b.
It is integrally attached to two carriers 41 which run on the zero. The carriers 41 are driven by an air cylinder 42 that is fixedly arranged, and move in the left-right direction in FIG. 2, and thus in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG.

Further, in FIG. 2, a stopper mechanism 43 for restricting the pair of horizontal alignment bars 39 from approaching each other within an allowable limit is provided in the central portion of the rail 40. As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the stopper mechanism 43 includes a base portion 44 which is fixed to the rail 40 and whose position does not move, and a screw shaft 45 which penetrates the base portion 44 and extends parallel to the rail 40. An adjusting knob 46 integrated with the screw shaft 45, stoppers 47 arranged on both sides of the base portion 44 and screw-fitted to the screw shaft 45, and a clamp screw 48 for fixing the stopper 47 to the rail 40 in a positionally immovable manner. And have.

Loosen the clamp screw 48 and adjust the adjustment knob 46.
If the screw shaft 45 is rotated by rotating the screw shaft by an appropriate angle, the stopper 47 screw-fitted into the screw shaft 45 can be opened and closed as shown by an arrow AA '. When the pair of horizontal alignment bars 39 is closed, when the inner ends of the carriers 41 supporting the horizontal alignment bars 39 hit the side surfaces of the stoppers 47, the horizontal alignment bars 39 are prevented from further closing movement. To be done.

The operation of the signature aligning device having the above structure will be described below.

First, in FIG. 1, the transport hands 1a and 1b are set at the stack position P of the signature aligning device 9 in a state in which they are the most open. Then, in FIG. 14, the folded bundle 5 ′ sorted by the sorting device 8 into an appropriate amount and further transported by the transporting device 11 is the both transport hands 1.
It is inserted between a and 1b and placed on the hand base 19. In this case, the spine folding part D (see FIG. 13) of each signature 5 is placed in contact with the hand base 19.
After that, the rodless cylinder 2 operates and the transport hand 1
When a and 1b are closed, the folded bundle 5'is sandwiched by their conveying hands. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the air cylinder 35 is actuated to extend the piston rod,
As a result, the pressing plate 36 presses both end portions of the folded bundle 5 '. By this pressing, for example, as shown in FIG. 18, the curling habit of the signature bundle 5 ′ having the curving habit is removed to form the signature bundle 5 ′ flat.

After that, the pressing plate 36 returns to the original retracted position, and the air cylinder 3 operates in FIG. 1 to lower the transport hands 1a and 1b together with the rodless cylinder 2 supporting them. As shown in FIG. 4, the descending transfer hands 1a and 1b are provided with a support plate 2
It passes through the vertical groove 29 provided in 2b (and 22a). When the upper surface of the hand base 19 that descends integrally with the transport hands 1a and 1b falls to a position lower than the signature mounting table 28, the transport hands 1a and 1b stop descending. By the above-mentioned operation, the signature bundle 5 ′ placed on the hand base 19 is delivered to the signature placement table 28. afterwards,
The rodless cylinder 2 operates to transfer hands 1a and 1b.
Move in an opening movement, i.e. move away from each other, to release the signature bundle 5 '.

After that, the air cylinder 24 is contracted to move the pair of support plates 22a and 22b so that they come close to each other, that is, to move the pair of support plates 22a and 22b to close the signature bundle 5'under pressure. In this case, as shown in FIG. 10, the left side support plate 22a presses the folded bundle 5'with the convex curved surface 26, while the right side support plate 22b presses the folded bundle 5'with the concave curved surface 27. . Therefore, the folded bundle 5'is bent and bent as illustrated. By this bending, the rigidity of each signature 5 forming the signature bundle 5'is strengthened.

After that, the contraction operation of the air cylinder 24 is released so that the two support plates 22a and 22b are set so that they can be opened freely, or they are urged toward each other by a relatively weak air pressure. In this state, the vibrator 30 operates to vibrate the signature placement table 28, and at the same time, air is jetted from the lateral air nozzle 32 and the lower air nozzle 33. At the same time, the nozzle transport system 34 causes the nozzles 32 and 33 to reciprocate a plurality of times along the end face of the folded bundle 5 '. The air jetted from each nozzle 32, 33 is, as shown in FIG.
The left and right sides 5a and 5b and the lower side 5c of the folded bundle 5 ',
That is, the spine folding portion D is sprayed. Folding table 2
Due to the vibration of 8 and the action of the air blown to the bundle of signatures 5 ′, the signatures 5 that have been attracted to each other due to static electricity or other causes are automatically peeled off and separated. When air is blown into each of the signatures 5, the signature bundle 5 '
The width in the stacking direction (width in the left-right direction in FIG. 3) expands. At this time, the left and right support plates 22a and 22b gradually open following the bulging of the width of the signature bundle 5 ', so that the signature bundle 5'is firmly supported by the support plates 22a and 22b, and Adhesion between the signatures 5 can be reliably eliminated by blowing air.

Simultaneously with the application of vibration and air blowing to the signature bundle 5 ', as shown in FIG.
9 descends and comes into contact with or comes close to the upper side 5d of the folded bundle 5 ', and at the same time, a pair of opposing horizontal alignment bars 39 moves to close and comes into contact with the left and right sides 5a and 5b of the folded bundle 5'. Or close. Due to this movement of the aligning bars 39 and 49, the four edges of each signature 5 forming the signature bundle 5'are accurately aligned in a straight line. The closing movement of the pair of horizontal alignment bars 39 is restricted by the stopper 47 (FIG. 2), so that the position where the horizontal alignment bars 39 stop always coincides with the desired position. Therefore, the position of the folded bundle 5'can be always positioned at a fixed position.

Since the signature bundle 5'is forcibly bent and curved as shown in FIG.
The stiffness of the signatures is strong, so even if vibration is applied to each signature 5, and even if air is blown, the signatures 5 will not buckle or shift in position, thus ensuring stable alignment. Processing can be performed.

When the suction release and the edge alignment of the respective signatures 5 are completed as described above, the pair of support plates 22a is formed.
3 and 22b again make the closing movement in FIG. 3 and the signature bundle 5'is pinched under pressure. As a result, the folded bundle 5'of swelled air is compressed into an appropriate width. After that, the transport hands 1a and 1b are moved to
1 is lifted from the lower position shown in FIG. 1 to the upper position shown in FIG. 1, so that the signature bundle 5 ′ for which the suction release and the edge alignment for each signature 5 have been completed is returned to the stack position P again. The folded bundle 5 ′ thus returned is carried to the bookbinding machine, as described with reference to FIG.

(Embodiment 2) FIGS. 19 to 21 show the essential parts of the second embodiment. This embodiment is different from the above-described first embodiment in that the mechanism for raising and lowering the upper aligning rod 49 in FIG. 19 is modified and the support plates 22a and 22b are formed as shown in FIG. That is, the convex curved surface 56 and the concave curved surface 57 are modified.

Specifically, in FIG. 19, the upper aligning rod 49 is supported by the lifting device 58. The lifting device 58 is composed of an air cylinder, a wire drive mechanism, and any other drive mechanism, and can lift and drive the upper aligning bar 49 upward in the drawing, and the upper aligning bar 9 can be driven.
The downward movement of the acts freely. That is, the upper aligning bar 49 is driven by the lifting device 58 to move upward, and then moves downward due to its own weight.

With the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 8, when the upper edge of the folded bundle 5'is aligned by the upper aligning rod 49, the upper aligning rod 49 hits the upper edge of the folded bundle by its own weight. Contact. The signature bundle 5'is reliably separated by the synergistic effect of the vibration of the signature mounting table 28 and the own weight of the upper alignment bar 49, and is further aligned. The specific weight of the upper aligning bar 49 can be appropriately determined according to the number of folded bundles 5'and the material, but according to the experiments by the inventor, about 900 g is sufficient. If such a weight cannot be realized by the upper aligning bar 49 alone, an appropriate weight is added to the upper aligning bar 49.

In FIG. 20, the supporting plates 22a, 2
The convex curved surface 56 and the concave curved surface 57 formed on 2b are
It has a V-shaped curved surface instead of the arc-shaped curved surface (FIG. 9). That is, the convex curved surface 56 and the concave curved surface 57.
Is composed of two planes that are adjacent to each other and are inclined with the apex angle portion T as a boundary.

When the signature bundle is curved by using the support plates 22a and 22b having the arcuate curved surface shown in FIG. 9, as shown in FIG. 21, the signature bundle 5a having a wide width Wa is curved. The depth Ga of the signature is relatively deep to obtain the desired waist strength of the signature, but the signature bundle 5b having a narrow width Wb
The bending depth Gb becomes shallow, and the waist of the folded bundle may be weakened. In contrast,
If the V-shaped curved surface is used as in this embodiment, the narrow bundle of signatures 5b can be forcibly bent and its waist can be reliably strengthened. In addition, the spine folding portion D of the signature bundle (see FIG. 13)
Since the bulge can be forcibly crushed by the V-shaped apex angle portion T, it is possible to prevent the deviation between the signatures when the signature bundle is conveyed by the robot hand or other conveying device.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments and can be variously modified within the technical scope described in the claims. . For example, the shape of the signature loading table 28 may be other than the illustrated embodiment. Further, the support plates 22a and 22b may have any shape as long as the convex curved surface 26 and the concave curved surface 27 corresponding thereto are provided. As for the air nozzles 32 and 33, at least the lower air nozzle 33 may be provided.

[0047]

According to the signature aligning device of the present invention,
Each process such as peeling off the signatures that are attracted to each other and aligning the edges of the plurality of signatures to be stacked can be automatically performed, and labor saving and cost reduction in bookbinding work can be achieved.

Further, since the convex curved surface is provided on one of the pair of supporting plates for sandwiching the folded bundle and the concave curved surface corresponding to the convex curved surface is provided on the other, the folded bundle is sandwiched by these supporting plates under pressure. At that time, the signature bundle is curved, which makes each signature stiffer. This prevents the signatures from being deformed such as buckling during edge edge alignment processing, and thus the edge edge edge alignment processing and the like can be performed more reliably.

According to the signature aligning device of claim 3,
Even if the size of the signature bundle is small, it can be surely folded with a sufficient depth, and thus the waist of the signature bundle can be reliably strengthened.

According to the signature aligning device of the fourth aspect,
When vibration is applied to the signature bundle, the vertical alignment processing of the signature bundle can be performed very effectively.

According to the signature aligning device of claim 5,
The position of the signature bundle in the lateral direction does not shift, and therefore, the signature bundle for which the edge alignment processing has been completed can be positioned and placed at a constant position at all times.

[0052]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a signature aligning device according to the present invention, particularly a state in which a bundle of signatures is delivered.

2 is a side view according to the arrow II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the state of the signature aligning apparatus shown in FIG. 1 during alignment processing of a bundle of signatures.

FIG. 4 is a side view according to arrow IV in FIG.

5 is a plan view schematically showing a signature bundle removing mechanism provided in the upper portion of the signature aligning device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a state in which the same-habit eliminating mechanism operates.

7 is a side view schematically showing an air blowing mechanism provided in the signature aligning device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

8 is a side view showing the movement of the aligning bar mechanism for aligning the edges provided in the signature aligning device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

9 is a perspective view showing an example of a pair of support plates provided in the signature aligning device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing the operation of the pair of support plates.

11 is a plan view showing a stopper mechanism for the aligning bar mechanism provided in the signature aligning device shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

12 is a side sectional view taken along line XII-XII in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing an example of a signature.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a bookbinding system to which the signature aligning device according to the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional signature aligning method using a cassette case.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of an unaligned state of signatures in a conventional signature alignment method using a cassette case.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of a state in which the signatures are not aligned in the signature alignment method using the conventional cassette case.

FIG. 18 is a side view showing an example of a stacked state in which a large number of signatures are stacked and stored.

FIG. 19 is a front view showing another embodiment of the signature aligning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a main part of still another embodiment of the signature aligning device according to the present invention, particularly a pair of support plates.

FIG. 21 is a diagram for explaining a curved state of a folded bundle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Transfer hand 2 Rodless cylinder 3 Air cylinder 4 Guide rod 19 Hand base 22a Convex side support plate 22b Concave side support plate 23a, 23b Hanging plate of support plate 24 Air cylinder 25 Damper 26, 56 Convex curved surface 27, 57 concave curved surface 28 signature placement table 30 vibrator (vibrating means) 32 horizontal air nozzle 33 lower air nozzle 39 horizontal alignment rod 43 stopper mechanism 49 upper alignment rod P stack position of signature bundle

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Yasuo Toda 1-5-1 Taito, Taito-ku, Tokyo Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A signature aligning device for aligning the edges of each signature with respect to a signature bundle formed by stacking a plurality of signatures, and a signature placing table for standing the signature bundle and a signature placing. A support plate that supports the signature stack placed on the platen from both sides in the stacking direction of the signatures, and an air gap for at least the spine folds of each signature with respect to the signature stack placed on the signature table. An air nozzle that blows the air, a vibrating means that vibrates the signature mounting table, and a direction that can move toward or away from the side of the signature stack placed on the signature mounting table. A pair of horizontal alignment bars that abut the side edges of the signatures and align the edges of each signature, and can move toward or away from the top edges of the signatures placed on the signature table. Aligning the top edge of each signature by touching the top edge of the stack The supporting plate includes a convex side supporting plate having a convex curved surface projecting toward the signature bundle, and the convex side supporting plate disposed opposite to the convex side supporting plate. And a concave side support plate having a concave curved surface that matches the convex curved surface of the support plate. 2. The signature aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the convex curved surface of the convex side support plate and the concave curved surface of the concave side support plate are arcuate curved surfaces. . 3. The signature aligning device according to claim 1, wherein the convex curved surface of the convex side support plate and the concave curved surface of the concave side support plate are V-shaped curved surfaces. apparatus. 4. The signature aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the upper alignment bar abuts against the signature by its own weight. 5. The signature aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising a stopper that restricts movement of the pair of horizontal alignment bars in a direction in which they approach each other. A signature aligning device. 6. The signature aligning device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the signature mounting table is formed by a plurality of plate members arranged in parallel with each other at intervals. A signature aligning device characterized in that an air nozzle blows air to a bundle of signatures through a gap between the plate materials.