US2636728A - Signature gathering machine - Google Patents

Description

April 28, 1953 v ACKLEY 2,636,728

SIGNATURE GATHERING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet l N INVENTOR. Q 509m and E. flki y R BY 43% ,immdffm April 28, 1953 R. E. ACKLEY 2,636,728

SIGNATURE GATHERING MACHINE Filed Aug. 1, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet. 2

JNVENTOR. fiaymwzd flAd/t lay I BY R; E. ACKLEY SIGNATURE GATHERING MACHINE April 28, 1953 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 1, 1950 INVENTOR. Eaymond E. flak 7e Patented Apr. 28, 1953 SIGNATURE e- THEa No MACHINE Raymo E? Ach ev nstom, II. a si nor to E Hal h t ng Comp ny Chi ago, lit a.

oorporati oi l l n Application August 1, 1950, Serial No. 177,672

means; (01. zia sso keyed on a shattfor common pivotal movement between their respective. hoppers and the (2011-. veyor,;each swinging arm'being providedat its. free end with a. set, of grippin laws which act to engage and withdraw the bottom signature. from its respective. pile of signatures. and to .de-. liver same.- onto the. conveyor. As the conveyor noveslpast the several hoppersa signature .is successively withdrawn and delivered from each, hopper and onto the oonveyor to form a. complete set. of signatures. for delivery to a. bindingapparatus.

) As feathering machines employed to gather signatures for books and magazines are. often quitelyextensive in length and provided with a relatively large. numberofpswinging arms move. mg unison toward and away from theirree. speotive hoppers, the arm actuating mechanism is thus subjected to severewearand strain during each? reversal of movement of. the. swinging arms.

Thepresentinvention contemplates the provision I 1 of a igathering machine embodying a. pluralitnor similar sections secured together in end-towncl: relation with each. section having, for example, a set: of IZQsWinging arms and individual arm ac tea-ting mechanisms. to swing. its respective set of arms in unison. To, reduce wear and strain of thelarm actuatin mechanism and to provide. a. more balanced condition of. the arms through: out the length. oflagatherina machinaeach set Oi -arms is dispos d at a different re n-t inthe swine-cycle. For example; a gatherin mooihme embodying four Sections, two sets oi arms would be disposed atoonosite ends. of the. swing ovclewhile the o her twosets of: arms w u d; be disposed at. a medial point. in the swing cycle.

:Iior movement n opposite directions. The fo r 'se'tsof arms. arerequid-istantly positioned at. dif-.

"fere'nt. points throughout the swing cycle by. promachines embodying several sections, the. cranks or the several sections are equidistant-1v spaced about the axis of the crankshaft toohusprovide airame l 2 amore. balanced condition or the swinging andithe. arm actuating mechanism.

invention embodies. other novel features. details. or construction and arran ement; or parts which. are. hereinafter set: forth in the; soecifica,-.-. tion and claims, and illustrated. the enemies panning drawingslwhereinz,

Fi s 1. a. fra men ary front eleva onal view of a si na ure gathering machine empodrine ieae tunes; of the pre ent, invention"! E1832: a. transversesect onali view taken along; thol ine fir-2 orfi'ig. 1...

Big... 3: is a schematic front elevational view Hm lus oting; the. relative position of the. cranks and; swin n arms of: a. four section. gathering mas some.

Erase, 5", 6 and 7- arosohematic transverse; sees tional. views.- talren along the. lines. 4:-.-.4., Sgt-.5 E3161 and: 1 =='F, respectively, of: Big

Referring now to the drawings for as better understandin of the present invention, theoathoilin machine shown as. comprising four- Sim-i1: lar sections A,..B:. C. and mindicatedschemati-i ally in Figs, 31 to. 7,. joined together to gather si natures in succession. and in: proper order to form books; As; heretofore nointedout, anvnuimberof sections may be joined toge her; depend ing; upon the number. of: signatures to be gathered to form a. book and the following: description or one sec ion. applies to; the. other sections The h rin m hin comorises: generally a. drive shaft; iou nolod at. paced: intervals alon a d dapt d. to drive an endless eonveyor lla by any s it ble power tr nsmission means; (not The: ndless. conveyor @35- int rva s alo g. the. bac of. the; machine to be with a stationary part of the machine. The suction cups are so disposed that when the structure just described is rocked on the hinges 21-21 in a counterclockwise directionjin Fig. 2, the

cups pass upwardly through the aperturein the plate l9 and engage for forward edge portion of the bottom signature, and when rocked in the opposite direction will draw this forward edge portion of the signature down through the outlet of the hopper.

The means shown for actuating the. suction feed mechanism comprises a link 28 pivotally connected at one end, at 29, with the members 26-26 and at its opposite end with the upper end of an arm 30 rigidly secured to a rock shaft 3| journaled in the frame of the machine and having an arm 32 rigid therewith. A roller 33 is journaled on the arm 32 for engagement with a cam 34 keyed to the drive shaft 9.

The gripper feed mechanisms referred to, one of which is provided for feeding the signatures from each of the piles to position them against the stop wall I4, each comprises a gripper arm 35 keyed on a rock shaft 36 journaled in the frame of the machine, the rock shaft being shown as formed of two longitudinally aligned sections spaced apart (see Fig. 1). The gripper arm 35 is provided at its lower end with a rigid gripper jaw 31 and a movable gripper jaw 38 journaled on a pin 40.

Each of the several sections A, B, C and D of thegathering machine is provided with a rocker mechanism for swinging the several gripper arms 35 embodied in the section. The rocker mechanism is shown as comprising a pair of arms 4| and 42 keyed to adjacent ends of the shaft sections 36 and connected together at their outer ends by a shaft 43. A pitman 44 is pivotally connected at its upper endto the shaft 43 and is journaled at its lower end on a crank 45 formed on the drive shaft 9.

The mechanism for actuating the movable jaw 38 comprises a connecting link 46 pivotally connected at its lower end to said jaw and at its upper end to one end of a rocker arm 48 pivotally mounted at 49 on a bracket 50 carried by the gripper arm 35. A connecting link 52 is pivotally connected at 5! to the rocker arm 48 and has its upper end pivoted at 53 on an arm 54 keyed to a shaft 55 which, in turn, is journaled in a pair of stationary bracket arms 5656. A sleeve 51 is secured to the shaft 55 and provided with an arm 58.which is pivotally connected at 59 to the upper end of a link 60. The lower end of the link 60 is pivotally connected at 6| to the upper end of a link 62 and also to an arm 63 keyed formed on the sleeve and provided with a roller 1.! for engagement against a cam 12 keyed to the shaft 9. The cams 34 and 12 are so shaped and angularly positionedabout the shaft 9 that '4 as the arm 35 swings to its inner position adjacent the hopper l 8 the movable jaw 38 is pivoted upwardly to clamp the forward edge portion of a signature against the fixed jaw 31. As the arm 35 swings toward its outer position, as shown in Fig. 2, the movable jaw 38 is pivoted away from the jaw 31 to discharge the signature ontothe conveyor ll.

As heretofore pointed out, Figs. land 2 in the drawings illustrate a single section of a conventional gathering machine embodying, for example 8, 10,12 or more gripper arms 35 pivotally movable in unison between the hoppers l8 and the conveyor l l responsive to rotational movement of the crank 45. In the construction of gathering machines embodying, for example, 60

or more gripper arms, it has heretofore been the practice to place several individual sections in end-to-end relation along a conveyor and to pivot the gripper arms of the several sections in unison between the hoppers I8 and conveyor H. It will thus be appreciated that the simultaneous reversal of pivotal movement of 50 or more gripper arms produces an unbalanced condition and excessive strain and wear throughout the machine.

In order to balance .the several sections embodied in relatively long gathering machines, the present invention contemplates having the gripping arms of the several sections disposed in different positions in the swing cycle. For example, as illustrated schematically in Figs. 3 to 7 in the drawings, a gathering machine is shown as comprising four individual sections A, B, C and D disposed in 'end-to-end relation and having a common crank shaft 9 provided'with four cranks 45, 45a, 45b and 450 radially spaced. apart about the axis of the crank shaft.

As illustrated in Fig. 4, the first section A of the gathering machine embodies a plurality of gripper arms 35 keyed to shafts 36 and pivoted back and forth responsive to rotational movement of the crank 45, the arms being-disposed at the inner end of their swing cycle adjacent their hoppers l8. Fig. 5 illustrates the second section B of the machine in which the gripper arms 35a are keyed to shafts 36a and pivoted responsive to rotational movement of the crank 45a, the arms being disposed at amedial position in their swing cycle and moving toward their respective hoppers [8a. Fig. 6 illustrates the third section of the gathering machine in which the gripper arms' 35b arekeyed to shafts 36b and actuated responsive to rotational move-- ment of the crank 45b, the arms being disposedat the far end of their swing cycle from their hoppers I8b. Fig. 7 illustrates the fourth section of the gathering machine in which gripper arms 350 are keyed to shafts 36c and swing back and forth responsive to rotational movement of the crank 450, the arms being disposed at a medial position in their swing cycle and moving away from their respective hoppers I80.

It will thus be noted that the four sets .of gripper arms 35, 35a, 35b and 350 are equidistantly spaced throughout the. swing cycle and. act

to counterbalance each. other to'reduce vibration, strain and wear. In the construction .of gathering machines embodying more or less than four individualsections, a crank is provided'for each section and the several cranks are equally spaced about the axis of their common crank shaft to space the several sets of gripper arms at equal distances from each other throughout The gripperarms of large conventional gatherin machines are equally spaced from each other throughout the length ,of the machine inorder to deliver each signature in proper position upon the conveyor l I. In the present invention the spacing between adjacent sets of gripping arms mustbe increased or decreased due tothe fact that each set of arms is disposed in a. different position in the swing cycle. For example, in a gathering machine embodying four sections A, B, C andD, the gripping arms of sectionA precede the grip-ping arms of section B one-fourth of a swing cycle. Therefore, the spacing between the last arm of section A and the first arm of section B willb equal to the normal spacing of the arms less one-fourththe distance the conveyor I lmoves during each swing cycle.

Itis essential to ,the operation of a gathering machine of the type described, that the timing of the gripper arm swing have such a relation tothetiming of the conveyor chain that the sig, nature carried by the gripper arm be delivered to the conveyor between the carrier pins mounted thereon. This relationship can be brought about in two distinct ways: i

t 1, The timing of the swing of the grippers can be adjusted until the desired relationship exists between gripper arm swingand carrier pin travel. With any timing of the swing of the gripper arm, the desired relationship can be obtained by aproper positioning of the arm or group of arms along the conveyor chain. All possible relationships betweenthe timing of the conveyor carrier pins and the timing of the gripper arms can be exhausted by shifting a section or group of arms through a distance along the conveyor equal to thefcarrier pin spacing, which corresponds to one cycle of themachine, since the pins move through a distance equal to their spacing during one revolution of the machine. The carrier pin spacing is also the spacing of the signature containers or boxes, and of the gripperarms which remove signatures from these boxes; but although it has hitherto been the custom to make the distance between the arms of successive groups also equal to the carrier pin spacing, I have found that this is unnecessary. After any desired setting of the gripperarm swing has been selected for anysection or group of arms, this section can be caused to deliver its signatures between the carrier pins by suitably positioning the section along the conveyor chain. When this has been done, the distance between the last gripper arm of one-section and the first arm of the adjacent following section may be equal to (as is now the practice) less than, or greater than the distance between gripper arms within the section, according to the selection which has been made for the timing of the gripper arm swing of the respective sections. That is, the swing of the arm can'be ad} justed to suit the position of the arm with respect to the carrier pins, or the position of the arm can be adjusted to suit the swing. Either procedure brings about the sameresult.

It will be noted that with the revolution of the shaft 9 being counterclockwise; as indicated by arrows in Figs. 4-7 inclusive (in which the positions of the various sections of armsare shown as of the same instant), gripper arm of group A has reached its maximum forward position, at which time the signaturecarried by the arm has been positioned between a pair of pins l2 on the conveyor ll. At this same instant, the arm 35a of group B is one-fourth of acycle behindarm 35. r oup A m vem nt-.. trv h time; that arm- 3511 has reached the position-cor; responding to that shown for arm 35 of group A, the conveyor chain will have advanced onefourth of the distance between carrier pins, at which time the gripper arm must be in the proper position to release its signature between the pins: In order to insure this, the distance between the last .arm' of group A and the first arm of group B must be made one-fourth less than the carrier pin spacing (which is also the spacing of the arms within each section).

,If the;direction of the arrows in Figs. 4-7 were reversed, .so that shaft 9 would rotate clockwise, Fig. 5 would then represent the case where arm 35a has completed its outward movement, deposited its signature between the carrier pins, and advanced one-fourth cycle in its return trip to pick up another signature. From this it is evidentthat in order to deliver a signature between carrierxpins, the swing of the arm must have been in proper relation to the travel of the carrier pins one-fourth cycle earlier. To secure this condition, the distancebetween the last arm of group A and the first arm of group B would have to be one-fourth greater than the spacing of the arms within the sections.

The above also applies to the relations; between group B and grou C, and also between group C and group D. i

Similar arrangements can be worked out for a different number of sections than four. All possible arrangements can be covered, however, by the condition that a group of arms, whatever the timing of their swing may be, can always be caused to deliver their signatures between the carrier pins on the conveyor chain by suitably choosing the position of the group with respect to the conveyor. 4

Since the purpose in view is to distribute the operating load about the machine cycle asuniformly as possible, the timing of the arms is arranged to leave an equal or substantially equal interval between their operation, and then the positions of the various sections is selected to cause all of the sections to deliver their signatures between the carrier pins. I claim as my invention:

1. .In a signature gathering machine, a frame; an endless conveyor extending along the front side of the machine, a plurality of signature hop--v pers disposed along the back side of the machine,-a plurality of signature gathering sections each including a group of gripper arms adapted to transfer signatures frorn'their respective hoppers to said conveyor and then return to their respec-. tive hoppers to complete a-swing cycle, a shaft having its group of arms keyed thereon for move-. ment in unison to simultaneously deliver a group of signatures to said conveyor, an actuating arm keyed to said shaft, a crank, a connecting rod pivotally connected at its one end to said actuat ing arm and connected at its other end to said crank, the cranks of the several sections beingprovided on a, common crank shaft and disposed at different angular positions about the axis of said shafibthe gripper arms of each section being out-of-phase with the arms of the adjacent sec-,. tions to distribute the operating load about the swing cycle.

2. In a signature gathering machine, a con-' veyor having equidistantly spaced carrier pins mounted thereon, a plurality of signature gathering sections disposed in end-to-end relationalong said conveyor and including a plurality of hoppers, each section havin a plurality of;

gripper'arms spaced apart a distance equal to the 'sp'acin'g'of said carrier pins and supported for swinging movement in unison to simultaneously deliver a group of signatures from their respective hoppers to said conveyor and then return 'to said hoppers to complete the swing cycle, and crank means to position the gripper arms of the several gathering sections in out-ofgripper arms spaced apart a distance equal to the spacing of said carrier pins and supported for swinging movement in unison to simultaneously deliver a group of signatures from their respective hoppers to said conveyor and then return to said hoppers to complete the swing cycle, a crankshaft extending along theseveral gathering sections, a plurality of cranks provided on said shaft, said cranks being circumferentially spaced about the axis of said shaft, the gripper arms 'of'each section being out-of-phase'with the gripper arms of the adjacent sections, and means connecting each crank t the gripper arms of its respective gathering section, said sections having their positions with respect to said conveyor predetermined to cause the gripper arms of the respective sections to deliver their signatures between the carrier pins mounted on said conveyor.

'4. In a signature gathering machine, a frame, a conveyor extending along the front side of the machine having equidistantly spaced carrier pins mounted thereon, a plurality of signature hoppers disposed along the back of the machine, a plurality of gathering sections each including a group of gripper arms supported forswinging movement on said frame to transfer signatures from their "respective hoppers to said conveyor and then return to said hoppers to complete the swing cycle, an actuating mechanism provided l for each group of gripper arms, saidactuatin'g mechanisms being arranged to dispose each grou of gripper arms out-oi-phase with the arms of the adjacent sections throughout the swing cycle to provide a balanced machine, and

acommon drive means for said actuating mechanisms, the position of each group of gripper arms with respect to said conveyor'being predetermined'to cause the gripper arms of each group to deliver their signatures between the carrier pins mounted on said conveyor. v '5, In a signature gathering machine, a'frame, a-conveyor extending along the front side of the machine having equidistantly spaced carrier pins mounted thereon, a plurality of signature hop-- pers disposed along the back of the machine, a plurality of gathering sections each including a group of gripper arms supported for swinging movement on said frame to transfer signatures from their individual hoppers to said conveyor and then return to said hoppers to complete the swing cycle, an actuating mechanism provided for'each group of gripper arms, said actuating mechanism including cranks arranged to dispose the several groups of gripper arms at different relative positions in out-of-pha'se relationship throughout theswing cycle to provide a balanced machine, said cranks being provided with a com- 'mon drivemeans, and the position of each group of gripper arms with respect to said conveyor being predetermined to cause the gripper arms-oi each group to delivertheir' signatures between the carrier pins mounted on said conveyor 6. ma signature gathering machine, afra'me, an endless conveyor extending along} the front side of the machine having equidistantly spaced carrier pins mountedthereon, a'plu'rality of signature hoppers disposed along the back side of the machine, a plurality ofindividu'al: gathering sections each including a group of swinging arms to transfer signatures from their respective hopdistribute the operating pers to said conveyor and then return tosa'id hoppers to complete the swing cycle, a Sha'fthaving its group of arms keyed thereon fo'rmovement-in unisonto simultaneously deliver a group of signatures to said-conveyor, an'actuating'arm keyed to said shaft, a crank, a connecting rod pivotally connected at its one end tosaid actuatingarm and connected at its other end to said crank, the cranks of the several individual sections being disposed'at different positions to dispose "the several groups of gripper arms in outof-phase'relationship throughout the swing cycle. and a common drive 111621181501 said cranks, said groups of swinging arms having their positions with respect to said conveyor predetermined to cause the arms of the respective groups to de? liver their signatures between the carrier pins mounted on said conveyor.

7. Ina signature gathering machine, a movable conveyor to receive and support signatures for movement along the machine, a plurality of individual signature gatherin sections arranged in end-to-end relation along one side of said conveyor, each section comprising a plurality of s'ig'naturehoppers equally spacedalongsaid conveyor and a plurality of grip-per arms supported on a common axis for common pivotal movement to simultaneously engage and transfer signatures from their respective hoppers onto said conveyor and then return to their respec tive hoppers to complete a swing cycle, meansto move the conveyor and signatures thereon a dis tanceequal to the distance between centers of adjacent hoppers of each gathering section'dur ing each swing cycle of the gripper arms, a crankshaft extending along the several "gathering sections and including a crank for each section and connecting rods connecting th cranks to their respective gripper arms, the cranks and gripper arms of the several gathering sections being arranged in diiierent positions throughout the swing cycle in out-of-phase relationship to load about the swing cycle.

8. In a signature gathering machine, a movable conveyor to receive and support signatures for movement along the machine, a-pluralityjof indie vidual signature gathering sections arranged in end-to-end relation along one side'of said conveyor, each section comprising a plurality of signature hoppers equally spaced along said con veyor and a plurality of gripper arms supported on a common axis for common pivotal movement to simultaneously engage and transfer signatures from their respectivehoppers onto said conveyor and then return to their respective hoppers to complete a swing cycle, means to'move the conveyor and signatures thereon a distance equal to the distance between centers of adjacent hoppers of each gathering section during each swing cycle of the gripper arms, a crankshaft extending along the several gathering sections and including a crank for each section and connecting rods connecting the cranks to their respective gripper arms, the cranks and gripper arms of each section being out-of-phase with the cranks and gripper arms of the adjacent sections whereby the operating load is distributed about the swing cycle.

9. In a signature gathering machine, a movable conveyor to receive and support signatures for movement along the machine, a plurality of individual signature gathering sections arranged in end-to-end relation along one side of said conveyor, each section comprising a plurality of signature hoppers equally spaced along said concrank for each section and connecting rods connecting the cranks to their respective gripper arms, the cranks and gripper arms of the several sections being in out-of-phase relationship at substantially equally spaced positions through the swing cycle whereby the operating load is distributed about the swing cycle.

10. In a signature gathering machine, a movable conveyor to receive and support signatures for movement along the machine, a plurality of individual signature gathering sections arranged in end-to-end relation along one side of said con.- veyor, each section comprising a plurality of signature hoppers equally spaced along said conveyor and a plurality of gripper arms supported on a common axis for common pivotal movement to simultaneously engage and transfer signatures from their respective hoppers onto said conveyor and then return to their respective hoppers to complete a swing cycle, means to move the conveyor and signatures thereon a distance equal to the distance between centers of adjacent hoppers of each gathering section during each swing cycle of the gripper arms, a crankshaft extending along the several gathering sections and including a crank for each section and connecting rods connecting the cranks to their respective gripper arms, the cranks and gripper arms of the several sections being in out-of-phase relationship at substantially equally spaced positions through the swing cycle whereby the operating load is distributed about the swing cycle, the distance between centers of the last hopper of one section and the first hopper of the adjacent section in the line of travel of the conveyor being equal to the distance the conveyor travels during movement of the gripper arm of said first hopper to one point in the swing cycle after the gripper arm of said last hopper is disposed at said one point.

RAYMOND E. ACKLEY' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,177,600 Bredenberg Apr. 4, 1916 1,442,059 Engstrom -1--- Jan. 16, 1923 1,713,218 Dufiie May 14, 1929 1,977.369 Ackley Oct. 16, 1934

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