US2928284A - Intermittent drive device - Google Patents

Description

March 15, 1960 F. A. WALLS 2,928,284

INTERMITTENT DRIIVE DEVICE Filed A ril 1. 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR. flaa cricK 14 \n/w LLs March 15, 1960 F. A. WALLS 2,928,284

INTERMITTENT DRIVE DEVICE Filed April 1. 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 15, 1960 F. A..wALL$' 2,928,284

INTERMITTENT DRIVE DEVICE Filed April 1. 1957 v 4 Speets-Sheet 3 I 0 I L 2 g o 0 1 o I F O L l E 10 1 1s F. A. WALLS INTERMITTENT DRIVE DEV-ICE March 15, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 1. 1957 i pile of books and so on. requires the expenditure of'considerable energy by the INTERMITTENT DEVICE 5 Claims. or. 74-21 In the field of graphic art and of book-binding, the so-called trilateral (three-sided) machine s' are wellknown. Such machines, as their name indicates, serve to cut or trim piles of books or reams of paper and the like on threesides. In this respect, the back of thebook or ream is stitched or glued and, prior to applying the cover, it is necessary to trim or cut the three sides of the pile. 0

Such machines have three knives, one front blade and two side blades, which are moved with independent movements. In other words, the usual practice in the art recommends that the trimming at the sides should be carried out first and, then, the front trimming. This re "quirernent obviously stems from'the fact that, if front trimming were carried out first, the pile or ream might become misaligned and the operator would be compelled to square the ream a-gain prior to carrying out the'side finishing. l

For the reasons now set'forth, modern trilateral machines are provided with a synchronizing device permitting the descent and return of the side bladesand, then,

the descent and return of the front blade.

Such machines are always equipped, moreover, with a paper-pressing device that descends'with a slight advance with respect tothe descent of the side blades and.

serves the purpose of keeping the .pile or ream com-' pressed during cutting.

A carriage, which .18

-..pile.'of books, waitsfor the cutting to have been comslidable on an inclined bench, I carries the pile or ream to be trimmed. When the jcarriage has taken the pile or ream to the cutting position,

United States Patent ce Patented Mar. 15, 1960 2 L a in of p e on o the carr a e; (b) Feed travel of the carriage; (0) Cutting proper; (d) Discharge of cut pile; (e) Return travel of the carriage.

The introduction of the pile isthe operation that determines the release of movement of the cutting membegs.

' Thus, it is evident that the frequency of cutting passes pleted andreturns the carriageback to receive the new It is evident that-such work operator. For a further understanding of the operation,

the normal working cycle of such conventional machines maybe briefly summarized .as .-follows:

The operator loads the pile of books on the carriage and pushes the carriage by hand as.far as the cutting ,position at this point,-theiearriageireleases a spring mechanism which in turn releases movement of the paperpressing device and of the side blades. Thus, the side trimming of the pile is obtained; ,-On termination of this trimimng, theside blades riseto return to their upper .dead point and,cometoastandstill, and thelfront blade becomes operative.

On having carried out the cutting, the front'blade rises, returns back to its upper dead point ,and stops.

The blades do not function ,againuntilthecarriage return at its end of travel for the introduction of another :Hence, the cutting of a pilecomprises the following stages.

' lines B-'-B' of Fig. 1 and showingpart of the and, therefore, the production of trimmed piles in determined interval of time, depend on the frequency w th which the operator loads the machine. As aforestatedli t is almost impossible for an operator to exert a tinnal 'efioirt' beyond certain limits. In' acltual pract ee, it liardlypossible for an operator to trim more" than or seven piles per minute. J I From the foregoing, it will be seen that there are cone ventional trilatcr'al machines which are equipped devices for actuating bladesin a synchronized man with the arrival of the carriage at the feed-end tr e1 position. However, the feed movement of the carri go and its return travel for receiving a new pile areeifec manually. I It is a main object of the present invention to provide a mechanism capable of replacing the operator tora'utomatically carrying out the feed stage of the pile-carry ng carriage and the return travel of said carriage, ta ng into account the intervals of time neededflto load th I'e at one side, to trim and to unload'the finished pile other side. i

t is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanism adapted to provide ajfeed pathjfor a carig; hich is slidably movable on guides, toenable of said carriage during a certain predeter ed of time, to provide a return' mov em"ent of and to enable halting of said carriageduring predetermined interval of time, whic maybe different frornthe "first halting time duration, andto'repeat cyclicallythe operations just recited, any number of timesfatwil l. It is another object of the present invention to provide It 'is a further ObJCll of the present inventiontop 'oyide a mechanism to be applied on trilateralcuttingjmaehiries for trimming paper'in books, blocks or reams; the in 'hanisrn being capable of forwarding tl ecarriage ca ying the pile'to be trimmed to the position of'cutting, ofjk eping it there during the cutting operation, of returnin he carriage when the cutting has been terminated bythe operator to load'another pile onto the can These and other objects of the present invention appear evident from the particular description *that lows hereinafter with reference to the accomp" drawings, wherein: i

Fig.1 represents a longitudinal section of the case containing the mechanism of theinvention;

Pi 2 is a representation partly in s'ectiontaken along ris tion partly in elevation;

I Fig. 3 shows how the movement of the mecha "g m age With reference to the drawings, now 'therewilFbe described the device of the invention in itsparticillars.

' An electric motor is provided'for transmitting} movement to a pulley, as shown'in Fig.1, by' inea f belts. A ge ar is connected to the pulley and thioiggh-a clutch means and a suitablegearing'arrangem tAS of keeping the carriageat Standstill'during the timene transmits rotary movement to the shaft 31 which parallels the shaft 40. The shaft 31 is disposed parallel with the shaft 5. Fixed on the shaft 31 is the plate 27, the sector gear 26 and the sector disk 25. Fixed on the shaft are the star plate 24, the sector gear 23 on one side and the disk 4 with the button on the other side.

By virtue of such arrangement, the continuous rotary movement of the shaft 31 is translated into a movement of intermittent rotation by the shaft 5, the shaft 5 having its rotation interrupted by two halting periods. In other words, the button 10 is provided to travel in an arc of 180, to stop for a short period, and then travel over another arc of 180 and stop for a period of longer than that of the preceding stop. This operation is repeated .cyclically.

. The device providing the succession of movements of the pile-carrying carriage according to the object of the present invention, will be easily understood with particular reference to Fig. 2. With the shaft 31, as said, there are rigid the shaped plate 27, the sector gear 26 and the sector disk 25. Parallel and above with respect to the shaft 31 there is the shaft 5, Whereon there are fixed the star plate 24, and the sector gear 23 on one side, and the disk 4 with button 10 on the other side. The kinematical problem to be solved is to transform the continuous rotary movement of shaft 31 into a movement of rotation interrupted by two halting periods of the shaft 5: in other words, the button 10 is wanted to travel over an arc of 180, to stop for a short period, to travel over another arc of 180, to stop for a period longer than that of the preceding halt, and so on repeating these operations cyclically.

On observing more particularly the shaped plate 27, it will be noted that it is composed of two parts or wings of sector shape equal to each other and the axes of symmetry whereof are radial with respect to the center of the shaft 31 and form an obtuse angle. From Fig. 2 it will be noted also that on the ends of each of the two arcs of the plate 27 there are fixed two studs. In Fig. 2 the studs are designated with 28, 28', 28", 28", according to the order with which they follow one another in plate rotation.

For a more particular understanding of operations, let us suppose that the plate 27 turns in clockwise sense with respect to an observer observing the mechanism in the directions of the arrow C of Fig. 1.

The star plate 24 then will turn in an anti-clockwise sense as will be explained hereinafter; the curved arrows in Fig. 2 represent the movement mentioned just now.

Operation of the mechanism is as follows:

The stud 28 penetrates into the first eyelet of the plate 24 and pushes it in rotation. As soon as the stud 28 is going to leave the first eyelet, and this takes place when the stud 28 has surpassed in its travel the axial line that connects the centres of the shafts 5 and 31, the first toothed sector rigid with the wheel 25 engages with 'the corresponding toothed sector 23 rigid with the plate 24 which continues rotating. When the teeth of the toothed sectors are going to disengage, the stud 28 pene' trates into the second eyelet of the plate 24 and pushes it to complete the rotation of plate 24 by 180. From what has been stated hereinbefore, a rotation of the star plate by 180 is obtained according to the following succession of movements:

(a) Entrance of a stud (28) into an eyelet of the plate 24, with start of rotation of the plate 24;

(b) Exit of the stud (28) from the eyelet, engagement between the toothed sectors respectively rigid with the plate 27 and with the plate 24;

(0) Termination of engagement between the toothed sectors mentioned above under (b) and entrance of the subsequent stud (28) into the subsequent eyelet of the plate 24 until completion of the rotation by 180.

On inspecting again Fig. 2, it will be seen that the free arcsbetween the two wings of the plate 27 are occupied by the sectors H and K having smooth borders and it will also be noted that sector H is narrower than sector K.

These sectors H and K are integral with the sector disc 25 which as said is fixed to the shaft 31 coaxially with respect to the shaped plate 27 and to the sector gear 26. Attention is called here to the fact that the radius of curvature of the sectors H and K coincides With the radii of curvature of the curved portions of the star plate 24. There is a slight phase shift between the end of the' rotation by of the plate 24 and the beginning of the contact of the sector H with the corresponding curved portion of the plate 24. The length of time during which the sector H finds itself at contact with the corresponding curved portion of the plate 24, represents the halt of the pile-carrying carriage under the blades for trimming. Once the sector H has left the curved portion of the plate 24 mentioned above, the second wing of the shaped plate 27 comes to act, which carries the studs 28" and 28' and under which is placed a toothed sector equal to that provided under the first wing carrying the studs 28 and 28'. Now the succession of movements as already described is repeated, there is a new rotation by 180 of the plate 24, until the sector K comes to find itself at contact with the corresponding curved portion on the plate 24. The length of time during which the sector K is at contact with the corresponding curved portion on the plate 24, represents the haltlonger than the one corresponding to the sector H-for loading the pile of books on the carriage.

Summarizing the above, the correspondence between the movements of the mechanism described and the movement of the pile-carrying carriage can be stated to be as follows:

(A) Rotation by 180 of the star plate 24, which corresponds to the feed travel of the pile-carrying carriage;

(B) Contact of the sector H with the curved portion of the star plate 24, which corresponds to the halt of the carriage for enabling to efiect trimming and discharge of the trimmed pile;

(C) Subsequent rotation by 180 of the star plate 24, which corresponds to the return travel of the discharged carriage;

(D) Contact of the sector K with the curved portion of the star plate 24, which corresponds to the halt of the carriage for loading thereon a new pile of books to be trimmed.

It may be added that the continuous rotation of the shaft 31 ensures the cyclic repetition at will of the operations A-B-C-D, in the order of succession hereinbefore specified.

Means is then provided for transforming the continuous movement of a rotary shaft into a composite rotary movement, formed by a rotation by 180, a short halt, a second rotation by 180 and a longer halt, of a second shaft.

Now the composite rotary movement has to be translated into the succession of movements required for the pile-carrying carriage, namely:

(1) Feed travel of the loaded carriage;

(2) Halt for cutting and unloading of the trimmed pile;

(3) Return travel of the empty carriage;

(4) Halt for loading a new pile on the carriage.

To understand how the succession of the movements as set forth is obtained in practice, particular reference is made to Fig. 3. In that figure the pile-carrying carriage is visible, which has not been represented in the preceding figures.

The carriage is slidably mounted on guide and whereon it can slide: it will be noted from Fig. 3 that the carriage is inclined with respect to the horizontal. At the end of the carriage C nearest to the operator, that is, to the right hand of him who observes Fig. 3, there is pivoted at 18 the upper end of an Oscillating arm 16.

The lower end of said arm .1. i p dothe-small 7 adjustable. connecting rod. 20' an t l e is pi o d to the support 100. a r

p The crankpin 10 is pivoted on a small adjustable con necting rod. 12 and the latter in turn is pivoted 'on the Oscillating arm 16 at a point, 15, The crankpin 10 in its rotation drags along with it the arm 16. It has been seen that by virtue of the. mechanism represented in Fig. 2, the crankpin 10 achieves two rotations by 180 intermeaning' by pauses: the same will happen now withthe carriage C since the arm 16 in oscillating also will drag along with it the carriage. Hence the latter will perform the feed travel, halt for the time necessary for cutting and unloading the trimmed pile, perform the return travel, halt for the time necessary for'loading the new pile to be. trimmed, and so on. Now with particular reference to Fig. 4, the braking device will be described that serves .to rendereasier the movement of the shaft whereon the star plate 24 is mounted,

, It is desirable, in order to obtain a more regular'movement of the shaft 5, to have the possibility of braking said shaft a short time before the sectors H and K of the disc 26 come to contact the corresponding curved portions of the star plate 24: meeting this requirement means avoiding shocks and vibrations as would be unavoidably caused otherwise, when the sectors H and K come to act, by the stopping of the star plate 24.

The requirement mentioned above is met by the device as represented in Fig. 4 and visible also in Fig. 1. l

About the pin 114 there is mounted the shoe brake 112: the free end of the lever of said brake being COl'l'! trolled by the cam 117 Said cam is mounted on the shaft 31 and as is seen in Fig. .4, it provides two braking stages and two positions of disengagement: the duration of the stages of braking corresponding to the halting time wanted. To the lever of the brake 112 there is pivoted at 116 a tension rod 118 which is guided by the stirrup 115. The spring 118 is fitted over the tie rod 118 and rests at one end against the stirrup 115 and at its other end against a nut screwed onto the free threaded end of the tie' rod 118. It is thus possible to adjust the tension of the spring at will.

The brake shoe 113 acts upon the grooved pulley 109 fitted on the shaft 5. i

I claim: a

1. A mechanism for automatically controlling the introduction and discharge of paper piles in a trilateral cutting machine comprising a reciprocating carriage adapted to support the paper piles, an intermittently rotating operating means, means operatively connecting the intermittently rotating operating means with the carriage to translate such intermittent rotation into intermittent reciprocatory movement of the carriage, a continuously rotating driving means and means connecting the continuously rotating driving means to the intermittently rotating operating means so as to produce the intermittent rotation thereof, said continuously rotating driving means including a rotating drive shaft, said intermittently rotating operating means including a driven shaft parallel to the drive shaft and said connecting meansincluding a plate circumposed on the driving shaft and formed of two sectors arranged at an obtuse angle relative to each other, said sectors having arcu-ate peripheral portions provided with teeth, a stud provided at the end of each peripheral portion and extending laterally from the sectors, a disc circumposed on the drive shaft and arranged coaxially with and fixed to the'plate and having two smooth sectors arranged in the spaces between and on the same radius with the toothed portions of the sectors, a star plate circumposed on the driven shaft and having two pairs of spaced side by side eyelets on its periphery for engagement with the studs and having a curved sec tion between the eyelets of each pair and a rectangular portion between each eyelet of one pair and each eyelet of the other paira'nd a disc circumposed on the driven movement is transmitted from the driving shaft to the driven shaft at first by means ofthe entrance of a stud of the plate into one eyelet of the star plate, to put it to rotation, then the movement is continued, when the stud leaves the eyelet, by the engagement of the corresponding toothed sectors of the plate and the star plate, then a second stud of the plate enters into a second eyelet of the star plate as seen as the toothed sectors disengage, so that a rotation by of the star plate is achieved, whereafter one of the smooth sectors of the disc rigid with the plate slides in'contact with one curved section of the star plate comprised between the two eyelets of one pa until the st u of e bs q ent ec o zQne enters into the corresponding eyelet of the star plate, putting it to rotation again, the movement of the star plate being resumed with the engagement of two corresponding toothed sectors, then the second stud of said subsequent sector zone of the shaped plate enters into the eyelet of the star plate as soon as the toothed sectors disengage, thus obtaining a second rotation by 180 of the star plate as soon as the toothed sectors disengage, disc rigid with the plate slides in contact with the other curved section of the star plate, whereby there is obtained a movement of the star plate and, therefore, of the driven shaft, which is constituted by a rotation by 180, a short halt, a second rotation by 180 and a longer halt, said movement being repeated cyclically by the rotation of the driving shaft. 7

- 2. A mechanism for automatlcally controlling the intating operating means so as to produce the intermittent rotation thereof, said continuously rotating driving means including a rotating drive shaft, said intermittently rotating operating means including adriven shaft parallel I to the drive shaft and said connecting means including a plate circumposed on the driving shaft and formed of two sectors arranged at an obtuse angle relative to each other, said sectors having arcuate peripheral portions provided with teeth, a stud provided at the end of each peripheral portion and extending laterally from the sectors, a disc circumposed on the drive shaft and arranged coaxially with and fixed to the plate and having two smooth sectors arranged in the spaces between and on the same radius with the toothed portions of the sectors, a star plate circumposed on the driven shaft and having two pairs of spaced side by side eyelets on its periphery for engagement with the studs and having a curved section between the eyelets of each pair and a rectangular portion between each eyelet of one pair and each eyelet of the other pair and a disc circumposed on the driven shaft and arranged coaxially with and fixed to thestar plate and having two toothed sectors which project beyond the rectangular portions of the star plate whereby movement is transmitted from the driving shaft to the driven shaft at first by means of the entrance of a stud of the plate into one eyelet of thestar plate, to put it to rotation, then the movement is continued, when the stud leaves the eyelet, by the engagement of the correspond-t ing toothed sectors of the plate and the star plate, then 1 a second stud of the plate enters into a second eyelet of with the plate slides in contact with one curved section of the star plate comprised between the two eyelets of one pair, until the first stud of the subsequent sector zone enters into the corresponding eyelets of the star plate, putting it to rotation again, the movement of the star plate being resumed with the engagement of two corresponding toothed sectors, then the second stud of said subsequent sector zone of the shaped plate enters into the eyelet of the star plate as soon as the toothed sectors disengage, thus obtaining a second rotation by 180 of the star plate, whereafter the other smooth sector of the disc rigid with the plate slides in contact with the other curved section of the star plate, whereby there is obtained a movement of the star plate and, therefore, of the driven shaft, which is constituted by a rotation by 180, a short halt, a second rotation by 180 and a longer halt, said movement being repeated cyclically by the rotation of the driving shaft, said means connecting the intermittently rotating operating means with the carriage including a disc fixed on the driven shaft and having a crankpin and a leverage system pivoted on the crankpin and to the carriage.

3. The combination of claim 2, wherein said leverage system includes a rod fulcrumed at one end to a fixed support, an oscillating arm pivoted at its ends to the rod and to the carriage and a connecting rod pivoted to the arm intermediate the rod and the carriage and pivoted on the crankpin.

4. The combination of claim 3, wherein a braking means is provided for stopping the driven shaft in slight advance of the engagement of the smooth sectors of the disc .with the curved sections of the star plate and includes a pulley fixed on the driven shaft, a lever provided with a brake shoe engageable with the periphery of the pulley, said lever being pivoted at one endendv having a free end, a cam secured on the drivingshaft andon which the free end of the lever rides and a spring tension means holding the free end in engagement with the cm.

5. A mechanism for automatically controlling the introduction and discharge of paper piles in atrilaterail cutting machine comprising a rectilinearly reciprocating carriage, a continuously rotating driving shaft, 21' plate circumposed on the driving shaft and having sectors arranged in circumferentially spaced relation, said sectors having teeth arranged along their peripheral portions and having studs outstanding laterally from the ends of said peripheral portions and means providing smooth portions arranged between the peripheral portions and disposed on the same radius therewith, a driven shaft disposed parallel to the driving shaft, a star wheel havingcircunrferentially'spaced eyelets fixed on the driven shaft an arranged so that the studs engage in the eyelets to rotate the star wheel and means on the star wheel andgshaft providing alternating toothed and smooth portions complemental to the teeth on the sectors and the means providing smooth portions intermediate said sectors whereby an intermittent rotation is imparted to the driven shaft and means connected between the driven shaft-and the carriage for translating the intermittent rotation of'the driven shaft into an intermittent reciprocation 'of 'the carriage. l

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ,cERTIFIcAT OF CORRECTION Patent No. 2,928,284 March 15, 1960 Frederick Alfred Walls It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below,

In the rant, lines 2 and 12, and in the headin to the printed speci icatlon, line 4, name of assignee, for 'Pivana 81 C. Soc. per A2,", each occurrence, read Pivano 81 C. Soc per Az, v 4

Signed and sealed this 25th day of October 1960.

(SEAL) Attest:

KARL H. AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting Officer I Commissioner of Patents

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