US2631537A - Sheet guide for platen presses - Google Patents

Description

Marh 17, 1953 c, P, KUEVER 2,631,537

SHEET GUIDE FOR PLATEN PRESSES Filed Oct. 6. 1947 lE Emil F- Kum/Er,

EN 4 """T will# I 46M i, @w f I A TTX Patented Mar. 17, 19553 UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

^ This invention relates to automatic job platen presses and more particularly to a guide device for positioning a sheet on the platen of the press.

In modern automatic job presses of the platen type, a sheet is automatically fed from a supply stack onto the platen, is automatically moved on the platen to the proper printing position, and is then imprinted by contact with the type bed by a combined swinging of the platen and the bed toward each other. The platens of these presses are covered by a tympan which normally is formed of paper and the sheet guides are mounted on the platen by cutting slots or openings in the paper tympan and securingl them to the tympan or by sticking them into the tympan. It is a difcult and tedious job to properly locate these guides and when they are secured to the tympan they may be moved out of line by the vibration and jolting of the platen. Furthermore, this system is expensive, due to the fact that a new tympan is required for each job that is of a dilerent size, and this is not'only expensive from the standpoint of the cost of the tympan, but also from the standpoint of the time and labor it involves in removing and replacing the tympans and positioning the guides for the next job.

j Having in mind the diiiculties of the prior art apparatus it is an object of the invention to provide sheet guide means which may be adjustably mounted on a platen of a job press and employed universally for all sizes and types of jobs. It is another object of the invention to provide sheet guide means for platen presses that comprises simplicity of design, economy of construction and eiliciency of operation.

The foregoing objects and others ancillary thereto are preferably accomplished, in accordance with the preferred embodiment cf the invention, by a single guide member incorporating means for positioning sheets of any size that may be printed on a single platen and which may be adjustably mounted on the platen to accommodate sheets of dilerent sizes without the need of change of the guides. This guide may be in the form of a bar having a plurality of sheet contacting members extending perpendicularly from one edge thereof and including aligned slots extending inwardly from the opposite edges of the bar. These slots are. adapted to receive screws which may be permanently threaded in the face of the platen so that they need not be removed but may be employed for clamping the bar tothe platen in adjusted position. By this arrangement, a tympan may bemounted on the platen and holes punched through to accommodate the screws after which the tympan need not be changed until it is damaged from wear or other causes. The bar may be modied for different types of presses and for one well-known type, may have a cut-away portion centrally of its leading edge to accommodate a pressure finger and its rear edge may be cut-away on one end to accommodate a side guide. For another type oi press, a side guide may be mounted on the bar itself so as to form a right angle with its front edge.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claim. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout and in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of a platen of one type of press kand having the sheet guide member of the present invention mounted thereon;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional View taken on a lin corresponding to line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the guide member incorporating a side guide; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front View in elevation of the guide member and one of the sheet positioning devices thereof. v

Referring now to the drawings, specifically to Fig. l, a platen IE) is shown as being of the type that is incorporated in the Kluge automatic job press which is one of the more popular presses now in use. The platen i has a tympan ll mounted on its face and secured by a frame l2. A side guide I3 is adjustably carried by a rod lli adjacent the inner edge of the platen lli and a sheet holder tongue l5 is supported by a rear frame It. A plurality of suction fingers ll, are supported by a cross-bar I8 which is movably vcarried by an arm I9, the suction ngers il' being connected by tubes 20 with suitable source oi suction.

The platen lil is located between a stack 2l or" paper and a type bed 22 and in the operation of the press a sheet of paper is transferred from the stack 2| to the platen l0, where it is picked up by the suction fingers Il and moved forward by movement of the arm I9 to the front sheet guides and simultaneously-the side guide` I3 is moved laterally by movement of the rod l to contact and predeterminedly position the side edge of the sheet. The suction fingers Il are then removed and the platen iii swung upwardly while the type bed 22 is simultaneously swung forwardly to meet the platen and imprint the sheet thereon. The hereinbefore described press is well-known and consequently a description of the various elements for accomplishing the above described operation is not necessary in the present instance.

As previously stated the sheet to be imprinted is positioned on the platen l@ by the side guide and by front guides which are positioned 'on the tympan Il in accordance with the size of the sheet to be printed. To determine the exact location of the guides it is customaryhto print directly on the tympan Il to locate the print relative to the platen lil. The measurement of the sheet is then figured around the print on the tympan and the tympan is then cut to permit the positioning of the front guides in accordance with this measurement.

i To overcome the above difficulties, the present invention comprises a single guide member 25 that is in the form of a bar land has a plurality of sheet guides 25 projecting from its front edge 2l? which is beveled, as best shown in Fig. 2. to permit pas sage of the suction rngers il in Vclose proximity 'to the bar 25. Aligned slots 28 extend inwardly from both the front edge '2? and the rear edge Z2 of the bar to receive the shanks of bolts Sii that are threaded into the platen lll. Obviously, these bolts 3U may be permanently positioned in the platen andmerely loosened to permit adjustment of the bar 25 or they may be removable from the platen 'NJ to permit other uses of the platen it if desired. By this arrangement, the bar 25 may be adjusted through 'slots 23 while in a forward position, as shown in Fig. 1, to accommodate smaller sheets or it may be located in a rear position with the bolts 39 in the forward slots 2B, whereby to accommodate larger sheets. It will he seen, therefore, that the single bar 25 maybe employed for various sizes of sheets without affecting the position of the holding screws 3i! or of the tympan l i. On the other hand the tympan il may be employed for many jobs and the only operation that is necessary in mounting it is to punch small apertures 3l topassthe bolts 3m l The guide member 25 is best shown in Fig. 3 wherein it vmay be seen that it comprises an elongated bar whichris preferably provided with a V-shaped notch 32 in its front edge 2l' to accor modate the forward end of the tongue l5, as shown in Fig. 2. IThe notch 32 is locatedcentrally of the bar 25 and there are preferably four of the sheet guides 26 on one end of the bar whereas only two of the guides 25 are necessary on the other end of the bar, which latter end is the one adjoining the side guide i3. By this arrangement the necessary and proper sheet guides 2t are provided to accommodate all sizes of sheets ranging from the largest to the smallest that may be employedin the particular press. These` sheet guides'26 are spaced not only in consideration of the sizes of the sheets with which they are to 'be employed, but also of the suction fingers il which must necessarily pass therebetween during the forward portion of their movement over the front edge 21 of the bar 25.

The guides 25 each comprise a pair of forwardly extending arms 33 which are spaced to receive a spring tongue 34 therebetween. The arms 33 are preferably formed integrally with bar 25 and have forwardly extending portions 35 that angle upwardly and which terminate in downwardly ex'l tending vertical portions 36 which form abutments for the edge of the sheet. The bottoms of the vertical portions 35 are cut away to form reduced feet 31 which 'bear directly on the tympan l l. The spring tongue 34 is adjustably ypositioned at its rear end by a screw 38 that is threaded into the bar 35 in a position laterally of the spring 34 so that said spring may be adjusted longitudinally between thearms 33. The tongue 34 may beat but preferably comprises an upwardly bowed portion 39 and a forward downwardly bowed portion 4l! and terminates with the forwardly extending tip '4l which may turn up very slightly to guide the edge of the sheet downwardly against the vertical 'portions 33 of the arms 33.

AInlorclerutc accommodate the side guide i3 the rear 'edge Y29 of the bar 25 has a cut away portion '112 at the end adjacent said side guide I3. This cut away portion 42 cornes into use only when the lbar 25 islin its rear position as indicated lin Fig. l, by the broken lines R. In this position the rear edge 23 would `normally'interfere with the block ljthat is mounted on the -rod it. Thercut away 432 however, ii-ts around block i3 so as to accommodate the side guide i3 in any normal position as the :bar 25 is placed in its rearward position only when larger sizes of sheets are to be printed and, consequently, the side guide !3 would necessarily `be positioned toward v*the side of the platen to accommodate the larger sheets so that the out away e2 extends along the rear edge il@ of the bar 25 for only a limited distance. u

The guide member 25, hereinbeiore described, is specifically adapted for a machine having aside guide i3 such as the aforementioned Kluge machines. Other well-known types of machines, however, do not incorporate the side -guide l 3 @but employ small guides which are clipped to the tympan! l or the platen lil and areprovided with positioning means that move the sheet angularly into contact with the front andthe side guides. One of the'better known machinesl of vthistypeis the Craftsman :press with a C ahdR automatic feeder. This type of 'press is provided with a finger in place of the tongue l5 which receives 'a pivotal or angular movement to move the sheet forwardly and laterally into contact with the `front guides-and the side guides. 'To-cooperate with amachine of this type the` guide bar 25 may'beprovided with an arm 43 that is positionedjust oatside of the mountingslots it at one end of thebar 2E and extends at'right angles to jthe bar uThe arm 3 has at least one "sheet guide fifi mounted thereon to provide a side guide 'for n'the sheet and this guide may be fixed'integrallywith'the arm such as the guides 26, or it may be formed-independently and adjustably mounted to the arm -by means of a nut bolt l5 and a slot fin the arm et. bviously morcilla-n one of the -.guides d4 maybe employed if desired. Thearm be formed integrally Vwith the bar 25er itmay be formed independently to be removabiy attached to the bar 25 as vby means ofiscrews il which'fare adapted to cooperate with-threaded apertures t3 in the bar '2%. By providing an 'arm c3 nas a removable attachment the guide niember'may 1t be adapted'foi'use with'either vtype of machine.

It willbeobvious to those'familiar withithelart that the 'present invention provides many advantages over 'the' present system. For instance, at the present time, it is the custom to pulllafprint on the tympan and thenfsetthe front orv bottom guides andthe side Vguides after-laying'out the size of the'sheet-around the print on thetympan.

A print is then pulled on a sheet and guides straightened if necessary.

In accordance with the present invention, however, the guide member is mounted on the platen by the screws 30 in its exact position in accordance with the size of the sheet and a print is pulled on a sheet rather than on the tympan. The important factor, however, is the fact that considerable time and labor is saved in setting up the single guide 25, instead of having to position and mount the plurality of individual guides.

Although a certain specic embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is obvious that many modifications thereof are possible.

That which I claim as new, is:

A sheet guide member for printing press platens having a pair of spaced screws thereon and for use with sheet moving means movable across and close to the platen for moving a sheet on the platen into position against the guide member, which member comprises an elongated bar having spaced pairs of transverse slots respectively in the front and rear edges of said bar for selective reception of the pair of screws on the platen, sheet guide elements spaced along and projecting from the front of said bar and each including a pair of spaced rigid arms with a spring nger therebetween, said arms extending in an upward incline from said bar and terminating in rigid downwardly bent vertical portions which extend to engagement with the platen and form rigid -abutments for the edge of a sheet, said spring finger being adjustably mounted on said bar and being bowed downwardlybetween said arms to substantially engage the platen between said vertical portions and curving upwardly beyond said vertical portions to guide and hold the edge of a sheet' in abutment with said vertical portions, said bar having a beveled front edge between said sheet guide elements to provide clearance for the passage in close proximity thereto of the sheet moving means. i-

CECIL P. KUEVER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 698,343 Ward Apr. 22, 1902 843,688 Morrison Feb. l2, 1907 863,311 Odell Aug. 13, 1907 893,587 Howard July 14, 1908 1,073,865 McGinty Sept. 23, 1913 1,162,102 Rager Nov. 30, 1915 '1,710,853 Allan Apr. 30, 1929 2,370,591 Thompson Feb. 27, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,242 Great Britain Aug. 5, 1890

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