US1879040A - Signature stitching machine - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 27, 1932.. E. w. BELLUCHE SIGNATURE STITGHING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed Jan. 29, 1930 Sept. 27, 1932. E. w. BELLUCHE 1,879,4@

SIGNATURE STITCHING MACHINE Filed Jan. 29, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 27, 1932. w, E E i,79,@4@

SIGNATURE STITCHING MACHINE Filed Jan. 29, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 27, 1932 .UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ELMEB W. BELLUCHE, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOB TO CHRISTENSEN MACHINE COMPANY, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN SIGNATURE STITCEING MACHINE Application filed January 29, 1930. Serial 1%. 424,266.

having a moving belt or plurality of belts.

onto which the signatures are discharged and which is intermittently advanced upon each operation of the delivery mechanism to carry the signatures which are deposited thereon one above the other in staggered relation forwardly to suitable receiving means. It is, of course, desirable that the pile of books on the table be maintained even and continuous,

, but heretofore no means has been provided for regulating the drive of the delivery table belt or belts and as signatures are not always discharged upon each successive cycle of operation, this has been impossible.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to co-ordinate the drive of the delivery table conveyer belts with the delivery mechanism per se so that it functions only when a signature is actually discharged.

Another objection toexisting delivery mechanisms was the lack of means for tim ing the advance of the delivery table belts, to accommodate signatures of different widths. It is obvious that narrow books are completely discharged onto the delivery table belts quicker than books of greater width, and as no means of regulating the time of feed of the delivery table belts was provided, difliculty was encountered in maintaining the proper cooperation between the rate of discharge of the books from the delivery mechanismper se and the movement of the delivery table belts.

It is, therefore, another object of this in-- vention to provide a novel and simplified means for regulating the time of operation of the delivery table belts together with means for regulating the amount of feed. With this structure, it is possible to at all times have the best operating condition, or in other words, to have the feed forthe table belts begin just as the tail edge of the book leaves the delivery mechanism.

Another objectional feature of delivery mechanisms heretofore in use with signature stitching machines, is the fact that when rather thick books are handled, there is a tendency for the book to follow the discharge rollers and turn under, due to the angle of the delivery tapes, and to overcome thls objection the present invention contemplates as another of its objects the provision of means for readily adjusting the discharge angle of the delivery tapes so that the mechanism ma be adjusted to efliciently handle books of di ferent thicknesses.

In connection with the discharge of the books it is also an object of this invention to provide means for holding the free ends of the books down so that the discharging signatures are thrown on top of, rather than between, the .covers of the books already on the delivery table.

A more specific object of this invention resides in the provision of means controlled by the passage of signatures therepast during their normal discharge from the machine, for

controlling the operation of the delivery table With the above and other objects in view,

which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claims, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of the herein-disclosed invention may be made as come within the scope of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention constructed according to the best mode I have so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a delivery mechanism for a signature o 66, and

v Figure 3 is an enlarged detail front view of the structure shown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view somewhat similar to Figure 2 with the parts in another position and with portions broken away to illustrate structural details;

Figure 5 is a detail, sectional view taken through Figure 1 on the plane of the line Figure 6 is a cross sectional view taken through Figure 5 on the plane of the line Figure 7 is a fragmentary, detail view taken through Figure 1 on the plane of the line Referring now more particularly to the accom anying drawings, in which like numerals esignate like parts throughout the several views, numerals 5 and 6 represent the end or supporting walls of a delivery mechanism for use with a conventional signature stitching machine or the like, and between which the delivery mechanism per se is mounted. As this invention is directed only to the delivery mechanism, no part of the signature stiching machine is shown but reference may be had to Patent No. 1,351,231 for a typical illustration of a machine with which the structure of this invention may be used. l

As is well-known, the signatures after heing stitched are conveyed along a saddle structure '7, indicated by dotted lines in Figures 2 and 4, until they are wholly between the walls 5 and 6 and in line with the delivery mechanism mounted therebetween. A tucker blade 8 then elevates the signature upwardly between a'delivery roll 9 consisting of a plurality of pulleys constantly rotating on a shaft 10, and delivery tapes lltrained over the pulleys 9 and traveling in unison there-' with.

The signature-is gripped between thepulleys and their cooperatin ta s 11 and carried upwardly and forwar 1y to be discharged onto a delivery table, indicated gen erally by the numeral 12.

The tapes 11, as is customary, are trained about lower pulleys 13, upper idler pulleys 14 by which they are maintained under the proper degree of tension, and over forward pulleys which in the present instance are replaced by an adjustable shaft 15, to be later described.

Thedelivery table 12 consists of side supporting bars 16 which have their inner ends hingedly connected with the walls 5 and 6 in any suitable manner, as by a shaft 17 which extendsaoross the distance between the walls 5 and 6 and has its end portions The outer ends of the bars 16 are connected by a roller 21.whose medial portion,'like that of the shaft 17 is provided with a plurality of belt recelving-pulleys in line with the pulleys 19, and whose ends are journaled in bearmgs formed in sliding bearing blocks 22. The blocks 22 have outwardly extending spaced flanges between which the side arms 16 are slidably received, and are rigidly connected by a shaft 23 whose ends are clamped in suitable split bearings 24 formed in the outer portions of the blocks 22.

Tie rods 25 also extend between the side bars 16 to maintain them in proper spaced relation and the outermost bar 25 forms a support against which tensioning screws 26 carried by the blocks 22 abut to provide means for forcing the blocks and consequently the roller 21 outwardly to tighten the endless belts 27 trained about the pulleys of the shaft 17 and the roller 21.

The belts 27 form the work receivin surface of the delivery table and if desire may be replaced by a single belt sufliciently wide to extend across the entire width of the table. However, it has been found that separated belts are more easily maintained in proper alignment. To support the medial-portion of the belts 27, a plate 28 extends across and is secured to the tie rods 25. v

The signatures, as they leave the delivery mechanism per se, are discharged onto the delivery table belts and by intermittently ad vancing the belts, are constantly moved forward in a staggered relation, as clearly illustrated in Figure 1, until the leading sig- 18 formedin the walls and 7 upon an end plate 28, as will be readily apparent. I

Heretofore, it has been customary to merely provide an intermittent drive for the forward movement of the delivery table belts which functioned upon each operation of the delivery mechanism whether a signature was present or not, and as very often the machine is permitted to operate without passing sig-, natures therethrough, it is readily apparent livery table, was not even nor continuous.

To eliminate this objectionable feature, the

present invention contemplates novel means for driving the delivery table belts so that that the condition of the pile upon the de-' Y the belts are moved only when a signature is actually being discharged. To carry out this object, the shaft 17 which forms the drive means for the delive table-belts, has one end extended beyond-t e bearing bushing 18 carried by thewall 5 and has a. ratchet wheel 29 pinned or otherwise fixed thereto with which 'a pawl 30 cooperates whenever it is desired to advance the delivery table belts.

The pawl 30 is pivoted to the outer end of an arm 31, as at 32, which extends from a sleeve 33 freely journaled upon the outerend of the shaft 17. The sleeve 33 has its portion directly adjacent the arm 31 slightly enlarged in diameter to receive a pinion 34 which, to prevent turning with respect to the sleeve, is secured to the arm 31 and the flange which forms the base thereof by rivets 35.

Meshing with the pinion is a rack 36 formed on the outer end of a pitman 37 which is maintained in its proper position by a member 38 freely journaled on the outer end of the sleeve 33 and having an elongated tubular portion ,39 in which the pitman outer end is freely slidable and a central substantially circular portion 40 which surrounds the pinion gear and forms a guard housing therefor. The pitman is thus maintained in proper meshed relation with the pinion gear and 15 free to be reciprocated by means to be later described, to oscillate the pinion gear and consequently the arm 31 to carry the pawl back and forth as will be readily apparent.

. During forward movement of the pawl, the ratchet wheel 29 and consequently the shaft 17 will be rotated to advance the delivery table belts whenever the pawl is engaged with the teeth of the ratchet wheel to which position the pawl is normally yieldably urged by a contractile spring 41 connected at one end with the free end of the pawl and at its other end with ascrew 42 carried by the flange forming the base of the arm 31. However. as it is desirable to drive the delivery table belts only when a signature is actually being discharged, the engagement of the pawl with the ratchet wheel is controlled by the discharging signatures in a manner to be later described, through a mask 43 over which a roller 44 carried by the pawl tracks.

The mask 43 is substantially semi-circular in shape and is of such diameter that when in its operative position it maintains the nose of the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet wheel teeth throughout the entire range of movement of the pawl.

ihe mounting for the mask consists of an approximately U shaped lever 45 medially pivoted from the wall 5, as at 46, and having a roller 47 which tracks on a cam 48 having a high and a low period of dwell, to raise and lower the lever and move the mask to and from operative position, a weight 49 carried by the lever maintaining it in position engaging its roller with the cam.

The cam 48 forms a central annular flange cordance with the widthof the books, the connection between the pitman 37 and the disc 50 is adjustable. A substantially T shaped slot 52 formed in the disc to' slidably receive the head of the pivot pin 51 which may thus be secured at any desired distance from the center of'the disc, forms the adjustable connect on between the disc and the pitman.

The rotation of the disc and cam reciprocates the pitman to carry the pawl back and forth and rocks the lever 45 to move the mask to and from operative position, the alignment of the low portion of the cam with the roller 47 permitting the weight 49 to rock the lever in a clockwise direction with respect to ative position and allow the pawl to move the ratchet wheel forward. The drive for the pawl and the operation of the mask are thus positively coordinated, and to enable the performance of-these functions to be properly timed with the discharge of the signatures from the delivery mechanism per'se, the disc is rotatably adj ustably connected with its driving means.

The driving means for the disc also mounts Figures 1 and 2, to lower the mask out of operthe same and consists of a shaft 53 journaled in a bearing formed in the wall 5 (see Figure 5) and to which the disc is adjustably connected by being clamped to a flange 54 on the shaft by means of screws 55 passed through counterbored apertures in the disc and threaded into nuts 56. The nuts 56, as best illustrated in Figure 6, have flatted portions receivable between the outer periphery of the flange 54 and the inner-periphery of an inwardly directed flange 57 on the disc 50 to hold the same against turning during tightening of the screws 55, as will be readily obvious.

Rotation is imparted to the shaft by means of a gear 58 secured on the inner end of the shaft 54 and meshed with a pinion 59 fixed on the delivery roll shaft 10, which also carries a gear 60 by which the delivery mechanism receives its drive from the stitching machine in any desired manner, not shown.

Again referring to the control for the drive of the delivery table belts by means of the cam 48, it is see that the relation of the high of the pitman produces a forward movement of the ratchet wheel and the shaft 17 connected therewith.

v The mechanism so far described, however,

This means consists of a plurality of fingers 61 secured to a shaft 62 journaled in the walls 5 and'6, and having their free ends extended downwardly and forwardly between adjacent rollers 14 to lie in the path of the discharging signatures carried between the peripheral edges of the pulleys 9 and the tapes the free ends of the lever to slightly oscillate 11, whereby the passage of a signtureraises the shaft 62.

The end of the shaft 62 which extends beyond the wall 5 has a dog 63 secured thereto whose lower end is stepped, as at 64, to cooperate with a stop 65 carried by the adjacent free end of the lever -so that when the'fingers 61 are in their normal positlon'and hang down beneath the path of the discharging signatures the stepped end 64 of the dog will be directly above the stop 65, to prevent the lever 45 from turning about its mounting 46 when the lower part of the cam registers with the roller 47.

- In this manner, operation of the delivery table belt drive is prevented except when the fingers 61 are raised by the passage of a signature therebeneath.

.As hereinbe fore stated, the timing of the delivery table belt drive is governed by the width of the signatures being handled and is determined from the trailing edge of the book, as the leading edge reaches the fingers 61 at the same time irrespective of the width of the book.

The position of the disc 50 is, therefore, adjusted so that the lower part ofthe cam reaches the roller 47 before the trailing edge of the book passes from beneath the ends of the fingers 61 to permit the lever 45 to rock and raise its stop 65 before the stepped end of the dog 63 is again allowed to return to its normal position above the stop. With this adjustment each advance of the delivery table belts begins at approximately the same time the books are discharged from between the pulleys 9 and the tapes 11 so that they strike.

.a moving rather than a stationary surface and thus insure more efficient handhng.

Heretofore it has been found that. when relatively heavy books were being handled there was a tendencyfor their leading edge and a portion to follow the pulleys 9 and turn under. This of course, is objectionable as it prevents the proper discharge and stacking of the books one upon the other on the delivery table, and to overcome this feature the forward roller 15 about which the tapes 11 are trained is vertically adjustable to permit the angle formed by the stretch of the tapes between the roller 15 and the pulleys .9 to be increased when heayziy books are. being handled so that they are ischarged in a substantially horizontal line to eliminate the tendency of their leading ed es to follow the pulleys 9 and turn under.

ertical adjustment of the roller 15 is accomplished by forming the same of a length of tubing having its ends j ournaled on plugs 66 to be freely rotatable, thereon with the tapes 11. The plugs 66 are axially eccentrically secured to a shaft 67 freely journaled in suitable bearings formed in the walls 5 and 6 and the end of the shaft 67 ,.which proects through the wall 6, has an adjusting member 68 secured thereto by which it and consequently the plugs 66 may be turned to raise and lower the roller 15. Y I

The adjusting member 68 has a handle 69 provided with a segmental recess 7 O in whic uponbeing tightened secures the member and consequently the shaft 67 in any position of adjustment to which it may be moved by the handle. As illustrated in the drawings, the roller 15 is in its position of maximum elevation and is adjusted for books of maximum thickness, Rotation of the handle and the adjusting member 68 in a clockwise direction with respect to Figure 4 causes the roller to be moved to a lower position of adjustment.

To maintain the outer ends of the signa-' tures fiat against the table, especially where they have stiff covers which have a tendency to project upwardly and to thus prevent the signatures as they are discharged from the delivery mechanism from being thrown between the covers, a pair of wheels 72 are freely rotatably carried by arms 73 whose inner ends are freely pivotally mounted on a cross shaft 74, the arm 73 being maintained in any desired position of transverse adjustment by collars 75, as will be readily apparent. The cross shaft 74 is secured at its outer ends in upright brackets 76 which are slidable along the side arms 16 and are 'securable at any desired position of adjustment by tightening thumb screws 77.

F romthe foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which an invention of the character described appertains, that I provide an improved and novel deliveryascrew 71 is received, which which different widths of books are readmeans normally holding the pawl out of enily accommodated and the tendency of heav-- ier books to turn under iseliminated. -What I' claim as my inventionis:

1. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including, a conveyer, means including a rotatable drum for discharging completed signatures onto the conveyer, drive meansfor intermittently advancing the conveyer and trip means mounted above said drum-and in normal contact therewith to intermittently advance the conveyer upon a signature passing between said drum and the trip means.

2. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism, includin adelivery table provided with a movab e conveyer, means including a rotatable drum for discharging completed signatures onto the n table, drive means for intermittently advancing the conveyer, and trip means normally in contact with said drum and operable upon a signature passingbetween the drum and the trip means whereby said conveyer is intermittently advanced when a signature is discharged.

3.. In a signature stitching machine or the i like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery table provided with a movable conveyer, means including a rotatable drum for discharging the completed signatures onto the table and conveyer, drive means for intermittently advancing the conveyer, a trip in normal contact with said drum whereby signatures dischar g around said drum pass beneath the trip and the drum whereby said trip is displaced to operate said drive means.

i. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery table provided with a movable conveyer, means discharging completed signatures onto the table and conveyer, pawl and ratchet means for intermittently advancing the conveyer and means for oscillating the pawl, means normally holdin the pawl out of engagement with the rate let to prevent its movement by the pawl to advance the conveyer, and means controlled by the discharge of signatures for governing the action of the means for holding the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet whereby the passage, of a signature during its dischar e from the mechanism onto the delivery ta le renders the means for holding'the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet inoperative to permit the conveyer to be advanced whenever a signature is discharged.

5. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery table provided with a movable conveyer, means for discharging completed signatures onto the table and conveyer, pawl and ratchet means for intermittentlyadvancing the conveyer and means for oscillating the pawl, like, a delivery mechanism having a delivery 130 gagement with the ratchet to prevent its movement by" the pawl to advance the conveyer, and means actuated upon the discharge of a signature to render inoperative the means normally holding the pawl out, whereby the conveyer is advanced.

6. In a signature stitching machineor the like, a delivery mechanism, including a. de-

livery table provided with amovableeonveyer, means for discharging completed signatures onto the table and conveyer, means for intermittently advancing said conveyer and drive means for the advancing means, andmeans for adjusting the time of operation of said drive means with respect to the opera tion oi: the means for discharging the signatures, whereby the advance of the conveyer may be coordinated with the discharge of the si atures.

In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery table provided with a movable conveyer, means for discharging completed signatures onto the table and conveyer, drive meansfor advancing the conveyer, means. for driving the discharging means, meansfor adjustably connecting the drive means for intermittently moving the conveyer and the drive means for the discharge means, whereby the operation of the first-mentioned drive means may be coordinated with the discharge of signatures.

8. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery table provided with a movable conveyer, means for discharging completed signatures onto the table and conveyer, means for driving the conveyer, means for regulating the time of operation of said drive means, and means for adjusting the degree of travel of said drive means.

9. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery tableprovided with a movable conveyer, means includin a rotary drum for discharging completed slgnatures onto the table and the conveyer, means fordriving the conveyer and means normally in'contact with said drum for controlling the conveyer drive means, whereby the conveyer is advanced upon a signature passing between the control means and the drum.

10; In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism, including a delivery table provided with a movable conveyer, means for discharging signatures onto the'table and conveyer, means for intermit-- 11. In a signature stitching machine orcthe table provided with a movable" conveyer, means for dischargingsignatures onto the table and conveyer, means including a reciprocating pitman for driving the conveyer to intermittently advance the same, a driving disc for reciprocating the pitman, means for rotating the driving disc, and means for adjustably connecting the driving disc with its rotating means whereby the time of operation of said conveyer drive maybe adjusted.

12. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism having a de livery table provided with a movable conveyor, means for discharging signatures ontothe table and conveyor and means including a reciprocating pitman for intermittently driving the conveyor, a rotatable driving disc for reciprocating the pitman, means for driving the driving disc, said means having a fixed relation to the means for discharging the completed signatures, means for adjustably connecting the driving disc with its driving means whereby the time of operation of the driving means for the intermittently advancing conveyer may be coordinated with the means for discharging the signatures.

13. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism having a delivery table provided with a movable conveyer, means for discharging completed signatures onto the table and conveyer, means includin a pawl and ratchet for intermittently driving the conveyer, means including a rotating member for oscillating the ratchet, means for holding the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet to prevent advancement of the conve er, means carried b the rotatable member or moving the pawl holding means to its operative position, means for maintaining the pawl holding means in operative position, and means movable by the passage of a signature during its discharge onto the delivery table for rendering said maintaining means inoperative.

.14. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism mcluding a. delivery roll, pulleys and an endless member trained over the pulleys and delivery roll for 'carrying signatures'outwardly from the ma-' chine, means for adjusting the location of the outermost of the pulleys with respect to the delivery roll to accommodate signatures of different sizes.

15. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery roll, pulleys and an endless member trained over the pulleys and delivery roll for carrying signatures outwardly from the machine, that portion of the endless member running from the delivery roll to the outermost of said pulleys providing a guide for discharged signatures, and means for adjusting the angle of said guide with respect to the horizontal.

6 16, In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a rotatable delivery roll, pulleys and an endless member trained about the pulleys, one of which is disposed above and outwardly with respect to the delivery roll, said membercooperating with the delivery roll to discharge completed si atures from the machine, and means for a j iisting the position of the pulley disposed above and forwardly with respect to the delivery roll.

17. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a delivery mechanism including a delivery roll and an endless member trained over the delivery roll cooperating therewith to discharge completed signatures from the machine and pulleys about which the endless member is trained, the stretch of the endless member between the delivery roll and one of the pulleys governing the angle of discharge of the si natures, means for adjusting the angle 0 inclination of the said stretch of the endless member to accommodate signatures of different characteristics.

18. In a signature stitching machine or the like, a deliver mechanism, a delivery roll, a plurality of i lers, an endless member travelmg about the idlers and trained over a portion of the delivery roll and cooperating therewith to discharge completed signatures from the machine, the stretch of the endless 'member between the delivery roll and the outermost of said idlers forming means for

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