US2011776A - Device for feeding sheet material to a machine, particularly to a printing machine - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 20, 1935.- R. REINARTZ 2,011,776

DEVICE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL TO A MACHINE, PARTICULARLY TO A PRINTING MACHINE Filed March 18, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l R. REINARTZ 2,011,776 DEVICE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL TO A MACHINE,

PARTICULARLY TO A PRINTING MACHINE Flled March 18 1935 Aug. 20, 1935.

2 Sheets-Sheet fzoberi fiemi WM/MJA a I Patented Aug. 20, 1935 DEVICE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL To A MACHINE, PARTICULARLY TO A PRINT- ING MACHINE Robert Reinartz, Offenbach, near Frankfort-onthe-Main, Germany Application March 18, 1935, Serial No. 11,532, In Germany January 2, 1934 8 Claims.

In devices for feeding sheet material to a rna' chine, it is well known to prevent the bulging of the sheets by guide-rods or similar means which smooth out the sheets and keep them flat. Such sheet controlling means have been combined'with the aligning gauges, or fastened in the machine, independent of said gauges. It has also been suggested to provide such sheet controlling means on the hooks used to slow-down the sheets before they meet the front gauges.

' Such existing means however cannot be used with advantage when the sheets pass over the feed table in overlapping relation to one another,

because in such cases the means provided over the sheets cannot act immediately on the sheet being aligned, and means, such as known heretofore, would interfere with the motion of the overlapping sheet.

My invention relates to a device in which the sheets are also prevented by guide-rods from bulging when they are caught'by cover plates, hooks,- or front'gauges. In addition to the front gauges provided in the usual manner with cover plates to catch and align the sheets, guide rods are arranged over the front gauges, which rods press down the overlying sheet which is either being aligned or passing away from the feed table and thus acts mediately on the next underlying sheet, assuring that this sheet properly enters into engagement with' the aligning organs. The invention also provides that the organs which are arranged under the overlying sheet and serve to align the next or underlying sheet-such as cover plates combined with the front gauges, or cover sheet controlling-and aligning parts at the moment when an overlying top sheet is passing off the feed table to a printing or other machine, and the underlying second sheet is just entering under a cover plate, to be carried along at a reduced speed to the front gauges,

Fig. 2,-a section corresponding to Fig. 1, showing the extreme front end of the feed-table at a moment when the front end of the underlying. sheet has been-carried along by the cover plate nearly to the front-gauges.

Fig. 3, a section corresponding to Fig. 2, showing the underlying sheet in contact with the front gauges, the cover plates having passed beyond the front end of the feed-table previous to starting their return motion backto the position shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4, a plan of the guide rods for keeping down the sheets, showing the position of the feed-table, one of the front gauges and a cover plate,

Fig. 5, a section corresponding to Fig. 1 showing a front gauge and a gripper just before commencing the swinging motion for passing the sheet to some transport device, or to the machine,

Fig. 6, a section corresponding to Fig. 5 showing the front gauge and gripper after the sheet has been passed on,

Fig. '7, a plan of the lower end of the feed-table showing the relative position of the front gauges, intermediate guide-plates and grippers, and

Fig. 8, a side elevation of one of the intermediate 2 guide-plates shownin Fig. 7.

Along the feed-table I the sheets are fed in such relation one to another that the following sheet 1 is overlapped by the previous sheet 8. On the shafts 2 (Fig. 5) there swings a sheet registering device carrying the front gauges 3, grippers 4 and gripper counter supports 5. The side gauge is provided on the feed-table I at some distance from the front gauges 3, as usual, but it is not shown in the drawings. By the sheet registering device the sheets are fed to a transport device of any suitable construction, such as reciprocating, or rotary transfer grippers, the path of which is indicated in Figs. 1, 5, and 6 by the are 6. Suchgrippers are usually mounted so that a cap will be provided to avoid any interference with the registering device during and immediately after the transfer 'of a sheet to said grippers.

Each sheet is fed first to the cover plates or preliminary front gauges 20 (Figs; 1-4) which carry the sheet along to the front gauges 3, from which it then passes to the transport device deplate 20 pivoted on a pin l9. This plate 20 is opened and closed by a lever 2| moved by the con- 55 necting rod. 22, bell-crank lever 23, roller 24 and cam 25, when thelever 23 is moved to and fro. Both the guideway II and cam 25 are fixed to a shaft 21 which is oscillated by the lever 28, roller 29 and cam 30 fastened to the shaft IS. The roller 24 ispressed on the cam 25 by the spring 3|, while the roller 29 is pressed on the cam by the spring 32, and the roller l5 on the cam II by the spring 33. a This part of the device operates asf0llows:--

During each cycle of operations the cover plates 2|) are moved to and fro in a slot 35 in the feed table (Fig. 4) together with the slide l2. In thus reciprocating, the plate 20 is opened by the cam 25 when approaching the back end of its stroke (Fig. 1) and is closed again shortly after its forward motion begins (Fig. 2).

and forwards. During the motion forwards the guideway II is kept parallel to the feed tablel by the cam 30, so that the plates 20, as is clear from Fig. 2, will keep the sheet'l flat on the feedtable, with but little play, during the forward motion. It is preferable to make the pin I9 vertically adjustable on the arm l8, to adapt it to the thickness of paper or cardboard; this is not shown on the drawings for the sake ofgreater simplicity. Further, the arm l8 must be adjustable according to the height of the feed table.

When the sheet I, which is moved forward, together with the plates 20, and, during this motion is kept in contact with the cover plates 2|) by a suitable speed of the transport tapes, arrives in contact with the front gauges 3, it is prevented from moving further by these gauges. plates 20 continue their forward motion until their back edges go beyond the front edge of the sheet I, whereupon the roller 29 runs on a lower part of the cam 30, so that the guideway takes a more downwardly inclined position, and the plates 20 sink below the surface of the feed table I (Fig. 3).; Consequently the slide l2 can begin to move backwards while the sheet 1 is still in contact with the front gauges 3. As mentioned above, the plates 2|) remain closed during the ater part ofthe backward stroke. Because, further, the guide retains its inclined position the plates 20 remain at first underneath the feed table, and only take the position shown in Fig. 1 towards the end of the backward motion. In the meantime the aligned sheet '|,'as will be described below, has been moved forward and has takenthe position of the sheet 8. By the rising of the arm l8, and the opening of'the plates 2|), the back end of the overlapping sheet .8 is raised. while passing away, so that thenext sheet I can enter the space between the plate 20 and feed table I, even when its front edge is bent up as shown in Fig. 1.

The front gauges 3 as shown particularly inthe m. l and 6 have three superposed motions:- swing to and fro about the axis ll relative to the body of the sheet registering device; the

- .axis ll' swingsup and downabout the axis 42;

It remainsclosed. during th'e remainder of'its motion backwards The The devices for moving the sheet regising from the swinging of the sheet registering deviceabout the. axis 2, and the swinging of the cam .46, describes the up and down movements which are necessary as shown below. The roller I 45 is pressed bya spring 48 attached to an arm 41 continuously on the cam 45, unless the screw 50 on'the arm' 49 which is also carried by the axis I 42, limits the downward movement of this roller by pressing against the stop 5| fixed on the sheet tive to the sheet registering device by an arm 56 (Fig. 5);whichis' fastened to the axis 4| and is connected by a connecting rod 51 with a lever 58. On the axis 59 of the lever 58 there is fixed an arm Bilwhich carries a roller 5| running on the cam 62. A spring 63 connected to the lower end of the lever 58 presses'the roller 6| continuously against the .cam 52 and has the tendency to turn the carrier of the front gauges 55 in the direction of the hands of a clock. The front gauges can follow this pressure until a lever 5'4 (Fig. 6) on the axis 4| presses against aroller which,-as will bedescribed below, is journalled in the paper registering, device: By this means the extreme right position-cf the front gauge carrier 55 is sufficiently determined, even when the front gauges, owing tothe swinging of the axis, are moved up or down. i z I The front gauges 3, which when seen from theside, have adistorted M-shape; can be so adjusted in screwing the angular piece H to the carrier 55 that they all have the same height relative to the feed-table. The fine adjustment vertically, in accordance with the thickness of the sheet material, is effected for all the front gauges and for the cover plates described below by adjusting the screw 59 which influences the height of the axis 4!. On the angular body H the front gauges are finally adjustable horizontally by the adjusting screws 12 and can be fixed by the screws 13. This horizontal adjustment of the front gauges is effected for each gauge separately, unless the roller 85, as is possible, although mostlysuperfiuous, is made adjustable, or an ad- 'justment screw is provided on the arm 54.

In addition to the front gauges 3, there are provided, on the axis 4|, cover plates 15 (Figs. 7 and G) which describe the same movements as the front gauges and only differ from these bythe fact that they have no vertical abutment surface.

above (Fig. 6). The gripper counter-supports 5 have arcuate extensions to support the sheet when it is pulled awayfrom the feed-table by the s)' .et registering device;

The operation of this part of the device is as follows:

Although the cover plates 2! keep down the front edge of the sheet as long as it moves towards the front gauges .3 (Fig. 2), still this occurs only at the few points where such coverplates 20 are provided. At intermediate points the front edge of the sheet can bend up. For

this reason the cam 46 (Fig. 5) is so shaped that the roller 45 and therefore also the cover-plates 86 of the front gauges 3' and the intermediate j cover-plates l5 are'raised when the front edge of the sheet I arrives at the back edge of these edge, with an amount of play regulated by the screw 50, shortly before the sheet contacts with the vertical abutment surfaces of the'gauges 3. One of the principal requirements of an exact register is thus met. The entire front edge of the sheet is flattened on the feedtable, and the rise or bulging of the sheet'is prevented with .certainty, particularly at the front gauges. At

the same time the speed of the cover-plates 20 is so chosen that the speed at which the sheet meets the gauges 3 is as low as possible. (In' *order to bring the cover plates out of the range of thesheets as quickly as possible, the motion of the slide I! can be accelerated again).

The descending cover-plates work better than those used in devices in which the alignment does not; take place in overlapped condition, and in which cover plates having a horn-shaped undersurface are stationaryat the time when the sheet to be aligned enters the narrow space below them. However they only hold the sheet down in the neighbourhood of the front edge of the sheet and do not replace the guide-rods commonly used which lie on the sheet also at a greater distance from the front gauges and prevent bulging. For that reason guide-rods 81 are provided here as well which however do not'act immediately on the sheet to be aligned, as is usually the case, but they press against the overlying sheet and thus act mediately on the underlying sheet. These guiderods are not fastened in the machine, but they are lowered just at the moment when the cover plates 15, 86 descend (Figs. 1 to Inorder not to bend the overlying sheet 8 in an irregular manher, the cover plates 2|), 15, 86 have the. shape of flat plates, which permit the guide-rods 81 'to descend close to the feed table without creasing the overlapping sheet. In this position the guide-rods, in spite of the intermediate over-.

lapping sheet 8, hold down the sheet I being aligned in exactly the same way as in a device in which the alignmentis eifected in a non-overlapping condition. Further, the guide-rods, in spite of the overlapping sheet, can be used to guide that part of the front edge of the sheet which is bent up between the plates 28; under the cover plates 15, 86, if, as shown in Fig.2, their ends are brought to the height of said cover-plates, at least at the moment when the front edge of the sheet moves under the back edge of said plates. On the other hand, the guide rods 81, as long as they are not serving the purpose set forth above. must be turned up about the axis 88 (Fig. 1), as otherwise the overlying sheet would be clamped by the rising cover plates.

As long as the sheet 1 lies against the front gauges, the sheet 8 is pulled away continuously' by the transport grippers and later by the machine itself. When its back edge has passed the side aligning gauges which are at some distance from the front gauges, these side gauges begin to operate. Before the side alignment is finished,

device.

As soon as the side alignment is finished, the I grippers 4 close (Fig. 5), and the sheet register ably 1m; the from gauges entirely, so that, at

ing device 40 then begins to swing forward with accelerating-speed. 'Because the aligned sheet, after being transferred from the sheet registering device to the transport device, is lifted off the gripper counter-support 5 of the sheet registering device, the cover-plates I5, 86, must be moved out of the way while the sheet registering device is passing from the aligning position to the point at which the sheet is taken over by the transport To this end their back edge, as in the case of the cover plates 20, are moved away in front of the aligned front edge of the sheet and under the path of said sheet; both operations are obtained simultaneously, in the arrangement adopted by a swinging forward of. these cover plates about the axis 4|, under the influence of .the cam 62 (Figs. 5 and6).

At this point, the sheet registering device swings back into the aligning position, the roller 6| running on the cam 62, so that the front gauges 3 take their original position, shown in Fig. l, relative to the sheet registering device. In Figs. 5

and 6 there is a sheet 9|, overlapped by the sheet I, which; in the time, between the two figures, as 'shown' by the position of the parts, has approached the aligning position somewhat. This sheet 9| becomes sheet 1 in Fig. 1, while the previously aligned sheet 1 becomes the overlapping sheet 8.

To assure that no vacuum is formed when the sheet 8 is raised by the cover plates 20, which might raise the sheet 1 as well, it may be preferable to open the cover plates earlier than described and slowly. In this case the cover plates arepreferably opened by a different part of the cam 25 from that serving to close same.

What I claim anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A device for feeding sheet material to a machine, comprising in combination, a feed table over which sheets move in overlapping relation to one another, front registering gauges adapted to align an underlying sheet at the front end ofsaid feed table, cover plates on said front gauges, extending rearwardly and adapted to cover the front end of each sheet, guide-rods in a higher plane than said front gauges, adapted to .keep down the overlapping sheet and thus to mediately control the underlying sheet in passing to said front gauges.

2. A device for feeding sheet material to a machine, comprising in combination, a feed-table over which sheets move in overlapping relation to one. another,'front gauges adapted to align each said sheet at the front end of said table, guide rods adapted to keep down the'overlapping sheet and thus to mediately control the underlying sheet in passing to said front gauges, sheet controlling means adapted to engage the front the backend ofthe sheet 8 should have preferedge of said underlying sheet to be aligned and mechanism to lower said sheet controlling means to provide a not too bulging support for said overlapping sheet.

3. Sheet registering mechanism, having in com- 5 bination, a registering table adapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, front registering guides, sheet slow-down means arranged to close on the top surface of an underlying sheet and adapted to present the leading edge of the foremost sheet .to said guides, and means extending above said table andfsaid registering guides and adapted to hold down a registered sheet while it is being removed, to thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet from curling up while it advances to said slow-down means.

4. Sheet registering mechanism, having in com! bination, a. sheet registering table adapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, movable front registering guides ha'ving a portion thereof extending over the leadin edge of a sheet to be registered, sheet slow-down means adapted to present the leading edge of an underlying sheet to said guides, and means extending above said table and said registering guides and adapted to hold down a registered sheet while it is being removed, to thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet from curl 'ing up while it advances to said slow-down means.

5. Sheet registering mechanism, having in comv bination, a sheet registering table adapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, front registering guides and grippers bodily movable with the registered sheet and having a. portion ereof extending over the leading edge of a sheet to be .registered, sheet slow-down means adapted to present the leading, edge of the :foremost sheet to said guides, and means extending above. said table and said registering guides and adapted to hold down a registered sheet while it is being removed, to thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet from curling up while it advances tosaid slow-down means. 6. Sheet registering mechanism, having in combination, a registering table adapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, front registeringguides, sheet slow-down means adapted to present the leading edge of an underlying 7 sheet to said guides and having a portion thereof extendingover the leading edge of an oncoming sheet to hold it down, and means extending above said table and said registering guides and adapted to holddown a registered sheet while it is being removed, to thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet fromcurlingup.

' viously registered sheet above an oncoming sheet,

and means extending above said table and said registering guides and adapted to hold downa registered sheet while it is being removed, .to thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet from curling up while it advances to said slow-down means.

8. Sheet registering mechanism, having in combination, a registering table adapted to support a continuous bank of seriated sheets, front registering guides, preregistering means adapted to receive an underlying sheet and opening above a sheet so that it mayclose on the top surface of said sheet, slow it down, and move bodily with a sheet to present it to said front registering guides, and means extending above said table and said registering guides and adapted to hold down a registered sheet while it is being removed, to

thereby prevent the leading edge of an oncoming underlying sheet from curling up while it advances to said slow-down means.

ROBERT REINAR'IZ.

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