US3144797A - Slitter device tilting webs in accordance with the tilt of the receiving tray - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 18, 1964 P|TNER 3,144,797

SLITTER DEVICE TILTING WEBS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TILT OF THE RECEIVING TRAY 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed July 13, 1953 at H.

IN VEN TOR.

A L 0 Y0 E. 1 ruse Dscsmiso 5y JaH/v 1.. P1 TNEAZ, BY Ham/A05 rEmT E W, M ATTOBNEYs Aug. 18, 1964 E. PITNER 3,144,797

SLITTER DEVICE TILTING WEBS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TILT OF THE RECEIVING TRAY Original Filed July 13, 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 a m o m 0 Q INVENTOR. Q 3Q & A 4. 0 Y0 E D/TNER, Dsce ssn E Y JOHN A P, rNEE,

\ Arrozusv R a EW MMFM Aug. 18, 1964 E. PITNER 3,144,797

SLITTER DEVICE TICTING WEBS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TILT OF THE RECEIVING TRAY Original Filed July 13, 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 l l J o i l I L J I L L IN V EN TOR.

(LOYDE: p/TNEQ, 0505/7550 5y JaH/v A. P/TNEIQ Ham/1w 7-29 r02 A rrozwe v5 L. E. PITN ER Aug. 18, 1964 3,144,797 SLITTER DEVICE TILTING WEBS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TILT OF THE RECEIVING TRAY Original Filed July '13, 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Aug. 18, 1964 PITNER 3,144,797

SLITTER DEVICE TIL'TING WEBS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TILT OF THE RECEIVING TRAY Original Filed July 13, 1955 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Arroe/vsvf L. E. PITN ER Aug. 18, 1964 SLITTER DEVICE TILTING WEBS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TILT OF THE RECEIVING TRAY Original Filed July 13, 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 u RN 8m t 7 L. E. PITN ER Aug. 18, 1964 SLITTER DEVICE TILTING WEBS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TILT OF THE RECEIVING TRAY Original Filed July.l3, 1953 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 I N V EN TOR. LLOYD E. PITA/ER, 052595150 BY JOHN A. TNEE. BY Ham/N5 rEHTO Q W m W A TT ENEVS United States Patent 3,144,797 SLITTER DEVICE TILTING WEBS IN ACCORD- WITH THE TILT 0F THE RECEIVING '1 Lloyd E. Pitner, deceased, late of Milwaukee, Wis., by John L. Pitner, administrator, Milwaukee, Wis. Original application July 13, 1953, Ser. No. 367,686, new Patent No. 2,879,991, dated Mar. 31, 1959. Divided and this application Mar. 18, 1959, Ser. No. 804,059

4 Claims. (Cl. 8387) This invention relates to a collocating machine.

This is a division of copending application Serial No. 367,686, filed July 13, 1953, and now Patent 2,879,991.

Broadly speaking, the invention relates to a machine for slitting into strips a sheet made up of units arranged in rows longitudinally of the sheet and in rows transversely of the sheet; the advancement of the strips onto a collocating tray; the stacking of the strips from the collocating tray; the severing of the units from each other; the advancement of the units into collocating pockets and the advancement of the units with the pockets to a point of delivery.

In carrying out the collocating steps, a high degree of accuracy is required and yet high speed of operation is necessary to carry out a practical collocation. In each of the steps in handling material through the collocating machine, the strips of individual units are so controlled that the high degree of accuracy in operations is attained and means are provided for the ultimate collocation either amounting to a shuttling of the units in final delivery, or in collocating them with a high degree of predetermined arrangement adapting the machine for use in converting, collocating and assembling of cards or of pages to be arranged as books.

More particularly stated the object of the invention is to attain rapid operation of an input feed of units in sheet form, slit the sheet into strips of units, collocate them on a tray and by change of direction of movement and by provision or" a special tray, arrange the strips in stacks for severance of the units from one another before shuffling them, the shuilling being accomplished in passing the units to a conveyor.

Other objects of the invention are to be found in the features of construction of the machine such as the timing of the various functioning parts, the means for jogging the strips just prior to a die cutting operation, the pusher apparatus with its means for advancing the strips or the units with certainty and accuracy as will be apparent from the following description.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the entire machine drawn to the scale of three-fourths of an inch to one foot.

FIG. 2 is a perspective of portions of the machine, other portions of the machine being cut away to show diagrammatically the path of progress of material acted upon by the machine.

FIG. 3 shows in plan in an enlarged scale of one and one half inches to one foot the portions of the machine in which the slitting, stacking, die cutting, and pocketing of the material is accomplished.

FIG. 4 is a rear elevation of the central portion of the machine, the motor driving mechanism and the input conveyor and slitter being deleted.

FIG. 11 is a detail in front elevation of the parts for drive and dwell directly operated by the rack bar shown at the lower right in FIG. 3.

FIG. 12 is a section on line 1212 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a side elevation of the pneumatic control device for the drive and dwell mechanism shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

FIG. 14 is a detail in enlarged elevation of pockets and pocket conveyor mechanism forming part of the output end of the machine.

FIG. 15 is a section on line 1515 of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is a vertical section showing fragmentarily a detail of a portion of the die cutting head in retracted position over a stack of strips of cards positioned upon the bed of the machine in readiness for a die cutting operation.

Using FIGS. 1 and 2 as a basis for a preliminary general description of the machine tracing the path of movement of material therethrough, at 25 is an input feed table over which the sheet 26 of units is manually fed to the position shown in FIG. 2 where it may be gripped and fed automatically by feed rolls 27 and 28 so that the fed edge of the sheet 26 is engaged by slitting rolls 29 and 30. These slitting rolls act as feed rolls to project the individual strips 31 into the respective echelon troughs of the collocating tray 35. Stacker chains 36 cause stacker dogs 37 to move in slots across collocating tray 35 to force the strips 31 laterally of the tray and to advance them against stack stops 40. There they are in an accurately determined position in readiness for action by strip pushers 165 which move the stack under the die cutter head 45 for action by the die cutter knives. When the die cutter knives have come down thereon, the individual units are pushed by the pusher bar 41 into pockets 46 formed by a pocket conveyor mechanism 50. From these pockets 46 advanced upon the conveyor 50 to a point of delivery, the units may be removed manually or automatically as desired.

In the following detailed description of the various parts of the collocating machine, a minimum of description of the application of power to the various parts will be dealt with until in conclusion the drive connections will be dealt with separately.

The Input Feed Mechanism The operator of the machine places sheet 26 upon table 25 and thrusts it forward against an infeed stop 51. He is able to do this because the infeed rolls 27 and 28 are amply separated by an automatic input mechanism. The lower feed roll 28, as shown in FIG. 7, is mounted upon a fixed arbor 52 and its top surface is tangential to the plane of the top of table 25, but arbor 53 of the upper feed roll 27 is carried in bearing blocks 54 secured to a yoke 55. The yoke is mounted on a yoke shaft 56 and at each end of the yoke there is a pintle connection 57 to a yoke rod 58 extending to a tree 59 beneath frame 60 of the table 25. Centrally the tree 59 is connected to an air piston 61 of air cylinder 62, the valve for which is at 63 and is connected at 64 to a source of compressed air. Valve 63 is under control of a timer 65. Valve 63 is electrically operated and the timer 65 includes two separate switches each of which is provided with a feeler 66-67 mounted upon a frame bracket 68 in such a position that timer pin 69 mounted on an eccentric 70 will trip the feeler 66 so as to close the electric circuit 71-72 and cause the air valve to pull the yoke 54 downwardly, and almost immediately thereafter timer pin 69 will wipe against feeler 67 to close a circuit in wires 72-73 and actuate the valve to force the yoke upwardly again. This means that the upper feed roll is brought down upon sheet 26 at the same time that feed stop 51 is drawn upwardly to permit the feed of the sheet to the slitting rolls and the feed rolls are brought into operating relation upon sheet 26 merely long enough to advance the sheet to the bite of the slitting rolls. Immediately upon the release of the upper feed roll from its feeding contact with the sheet 26, the feed stop 51 is dropped down upon the forwardly feeding sheet so that the operator can feed an additional sheet in under the upper feed roll and into contact with the feed stop 51 in readiness for another feeding operation at the time when the timer pin 69 again contacts feeler 66.

The Slitting Operation As has already been indicated, sheet 26 has an array of units scribed or otherwise delineated thereon in rows indicated in FIGS. 2 as 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, and the individual units in any particular row are shown at 85, 86, 87, 88, 89., 90, 91 as shown in FIG. 2. There is also a waste area 92 at the end of the sheet 26.

The power driven slitting rolls 29 and are of the type well known in this art. Their arbors are in fixed pillow blocks 93 and 94 and each roll is equipped with annular slitting rings 95 so disposed that the side of one ring is continuous with and overlaps the side of a ring on the other roll. The result is, as will be readily apparent from an examination of FIG. 2, that as the sheet encounters the slitting rolls the rings 95 on roll 30 will lift one edge of a strip 31 and the ring 95 on roll 29 will depress the other edge of the strip. The strips 31 are thus tilted to match the tilt of the bottoms of the grooves of collocating tray 35. Also, there may be waste strips at each side margin of the sheet. These are diverted downwardly after they have been slit by the rings 95.

Since as above described the feed rolls 27 and 28 are separated at the time when the slitting rolls engage the sheet 26, it is the feed roll characteristic of the outer surface of the rings 95 bearing upon the surface of the strips which actually feeds the strips onto and across tray 35, but since the distance from the slitting rolls to the stop at the far end of the tray is greater than the length of the strips, means must be provided to assure that the strips are fed completely onto the tray. For this purpose a final feed roll 96 is constantly power rotated and idler squeeze roll 97 is mounted on an arm 98 pivoted at 99 so that when air is fed into cylinder 100 the plunger 101 thereof will bear upon the arm 98 and cause the strip to be squeezed between rolls 96 and 97 for a final feeding operation. The air control for the cylinder 100 (see FIG. 8) is located in an air feed line 102 and a valve 103 has an actuating arm 104 responsive to cam button 105 carried by a shaft 145. When all of the strips have reached their positions upon the collocating tray 35, and against strip stops 107, they are ready for the stacking operation.

The Collocating Stacker As shown most clearly in FIGS. 2, 8 and 9, tray 35 is made up of a number of shallow troughs, the bottoms of which are in echelon. Each trough is positioned to receive a strip 31 and as each strip slides into its trough lengthwise, it comes in contact with the strip stop 107 at the end of the trough. Since the strips are often made of material which may be lifted by a breeze or may tend to convolute under the driving force of the slitter rolls or final feed roll 96, a number of brush guides 111 and 112 (see FIGS. 3 and 7) are so positioned that the bristles bear approximately at right angles to the inclined surface of the particular trough with reference to which a particular brush acts as a guide.

Above the tray 35' and aligned with the slots 38 and 39 are stacker chains 36 supported upon sprockets 113 on stacker shaft 114, and 115 on stacker idler shaft 116. The chains travel in the direction shown by the arrows and each chain has a stacker dog 37 pivotally mounted to its side. Each stacker dog is L,-shaped and is relatively loosely pivotally mounted at the bend in the L. The lower reach of each chain travels in an inverted channel memher 117 shaped to receive not only the chain but the L- shaped portion of the dog, and therefore shaped to keep the dog 37 in position to force the strips 31 laterally in a stacking or bunching operation wherein the first strip 31 contacted by the dog is forced out of its trough and up over the strip in the next adjacent trough. Thus the stacking operation is progressively and positively carried on until all of the strips 31 are stacked against stack stops 40. The channels 117 terminate at the point necessary to release the stacker dog 37 and permit it to swingably evade the stack at the point where the stacker dog interferes with the advancing progress of the stack at this point in the delivery of the stack against the stop 40.

Slack Feeding and Die Cutting When a complete stack has been deposited against the stack stops 40, the apparatus for operation of the stack pusher bar 41 provides means for advancing the stack into position under the die head 45. The die head is mounted above bed 120 and is mounted for vertical reciprocation between ways 121, 122 as shown in FIG. 3. The head 45 is carried upon heavy trunnions 123, 124 each carried by an adjustable pitman 125, 126. Each pitman is carried by an eccentric 127 on the end of head operating shaft 128 so that the die head 45 is vertically reciprocated to and from the bed 120.

Since, in the particular example of work to be done on this machine, the stack is to be cut transversely and separated into individual cards, the knives of the die cutter comprise individual knives 130 held in place and clamped by blocks under pressure of set screw 132 as shown in FIG. 16. The knives 130 are flanked by compressible stripper blocks 133 in a manner common in this art. Thus there are spaces between the stripper blocks for some of the mechanism required to move the strips of cards across the bed.

Above the tray 35 is a substantially rectangular frame shown in plan in FIG. 3. It is supported at 141, 142, 143, and 144 by blocks which in turn are each supported by a cam 141', 142', 143' and 144 on shafts 145 and 146. The shafts 145 and 146 are connected by chain 147 so that they rotate at the same rate of speed, with the result that the frame 140 remains horizontally above the tray and is raised and lowered in synchronism with the other parts of the machine. One wall of the frame 140 at 148 is provided with bearing bores at 149, 150 through which stack pusher bar rods 151 and 152 are extended as shown in FIG. 3. These pusher bar rods are developed at one end into rack bars 154-155 and at the other they carry a pusher bar head 156-157 to which a pusher bar connector 158-159 is mounted. It is upon the end of these connectors 158-159 that the stack pusher bar itself is mounted. Under the rack bars 154-155 there is a slide support 160-161 carried by frame 140 so that a pinion 162-163 may act upon the push rods 151-152 in accord with a drive of the pinion as described below.

It will thus be seen that as the framework 140 is raised and lowered the push rods 151 and 152 will be reciprocated by the pinion and rack bar drive therefor, and pusher bar 41 is lowered to the bed 120, thrust to the right as viewed in FIG. 9 to push material in that direction, then raised with the frame 140 during retraction of the pusher bar, and then lowered again to the bed for another pushing operation. The entire height of the pusher bar 41 and its connectors 158-159 is slightly less than the compressed thickness of the stripper blocks 133 and the connectors 158-159 are spaced between sets of stripper blocks.

Under the connectors and adjustably secured thereto are strip pushers 165. These are positioned at a distance from the pusher bar 41 equal to the total horizontal stroke of the push rods 151-152. Their function is to push the stacked strips from their position against stops 40 accurately to the position which the strips must take under the head 45 for a die cutting operation.

Reviewing the action of the stacker and the stack feeding and die cutting, it will be seen that the dogs 37 stack the strips 31 and move them against the stops where they come to rest and the dogs 37 retract so that they may return to pick up the next group of strips. The stops 40 are then retracted by mechanism to be described below and the strip pushers 165 are brought down in position behind the strips in readiness for a pushing operation wherein the strips are pushed under the die head. With the die head descending for a die cutting operation, the connectors 158-159 lie in a position between the die cutting knives where they will not interfere with the die cutting operation. The die cutting is completed and the head raises suificiently and in such timed relation to the movement of the pushers that the stack pusher bar 41 may be raised, retracted, and brought down behind the die cut material and moved in a pushing operation to push the die cut material out from under the die head 45 and into conveyor pockets described below.

Push, Refract, Dwell and Push Apparatus Pinions 162 and 163 engaged with the rack bars 154 and are mounted upon shaft (FIG. 3). A dwell drive pinion 171 (FIG. 11) is mounted near the end of this shaft. Actually the pinion 171 is loosely mounted on the shaft but it has a hub 172, sectors of which at 173- 174 are cut away (FIG. 12). Keyed to the shaft 170 is a collar 175 which has a pair of drive lugs 176-177 shaped complementarily to the contour of hub 172 but of substantially less peripheral extent than the missing sectors of hub 172 at 173-174. A hubbed retainer bracket 178 is mounted upon shaft 178 and is so shaped that the pinion, keyed to the shaft is embraced by the bracket to hold the bracket in position and retain the rack bar 188 in engagement with the pinion. A dwell drive rack bar 180 is secured to a pitman 181 which is in turn connected to a dwell drive plate 182 so that as the plate 182 revolves in timed relation to the rest of the power connections of the machine the rack bar 180 causes the stack pusher bar apparatus to be reciprocated. However, it is necessary that the stack pusher bar dwell in that part of its stroke in which the pusher bar is at the extreme right as viewed in FIG. 9, and this dwell takes place at the time when the rack bar is in the extreme left position as viewed in FIG. 10. To produce this reciprocation and dwell drive, a separate driving force is provided to urge shaft 170 to rotate in counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 9 and 10. This separate driving force is provided by the mechanism shown in FIG. 13. A sprocket 185 on shaft 170 is provided with a chain 186, one end of which at 187 hangs freely. The other end 188 is connected to the plunger rod 189 of a piston (not shown) in a cylinder 190. Air pressure upon the piston and cylinder 190 is provided through an air tube 191 which constantly urges the piston to its lowermost position and therefore constantly tends to revolve sprocket 185 and shaft 170 in a counterclockwise direction as seen in FIGS. 9 and 13. Thus with the drive connections for shaft 178 as thus far described, the pneumatic drive is adequate to advance the pusher bar to its forward position at the right as viewed in FIGS. 9 and 10 until the adjusting nuts 192 upon the plunger rod 189 strike a stop at 193. Throughout this stroke of the plunger 189, the collar 175 and its drive lugs 176 have actually been attempting to drive pinion 171 faster than rack bar 188 permits it to travel. But when the nuts 192 strike stop 193, the pneumatic drive of shaft 170 ceases and there is a dwell in its oscillation throughout the remaining portion of the stroke of rack bar 188 in that direction. Then as the direction of movement of rack bar 180 is reversed, the hub 172 of pinion 171 picks up the lug 176 and the pusher bar is retracted. Of course, throughout the retracting stroke of the rack bar the pneumatic drive resists the mechanical operation of the pusher since there is no automatic valve to shut off or control air pressure in the cylinder 190.

8 As will be described more in detail below, the pushing stroke of the rack bar 188 and the movement of the pusher bar 41 is accomplished while the frame 140 is in its lowermost position with the pusher bar 41 and strip pushers 165 in contact with the bed 120 of the machine.

The Pocket Conveyor In the particular collocating operation illustrated in FIG. 2 where the strips 31 comprise units of card-like configuration after the strips have been acted upon by the knives 130, it is desired that a pack of these cards as ultimately delivered by the machine shall include sets of units stacked one above the other; units from one end of the strip 31 are to be overlaid by another stack of units comprising the second set from the end of each strip 31 and so forth throughout the length of the strips. Therefore, a conveyor mechanism 50 is provided with individual pockets 46 to be advanced step by step along the bed of the machine. Each of these pockets, as shown most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 14, is made up of a plate 195 secured to a belt-like metallic strip 196. Each plate 195 is provided with a pair of strap engaging clamps 197- 198 which are undercut to receive the strap 196 as shown in FIG. 15. It will be noted that the strap 196 has a line of perforations 199 spaced in from each margin of the strap. Each of the clamps 197 and 198 is provided with a dowel 280 shaped for insertion through one of the perforations and into a pocket in plate 195. Thus the plate is secured snugly and positively to the strap 196 and cannot change its position with respect to the strap. Each pocket 46 has a side plate 201, and a vertically bored bottom plate 202 of substantial vertical dimension. Through the bore 203 is guided a rod-like bottom post 204 at the upper end of which is a tilted bottom 205 for the pocket. This tilted bottom is of such dimensions as to fit between the side plate 201 of its own pocket and the side plate of an adjacent pocket when the pockets are aligned along the bed 120. At the lower end of bottom rod 204 is a caster wheel 286 positioned to roll upon a bottom adjusting conveyor channel 217.

The conveyor strap 196 is in belt-like relation to two conveyor pulleys 210 and 211 which are supported upon vertical axes in bearings 212 and 213 so that the strap 196 has one long reach 215 parallel with the margin of the bed 120 along which the strap and its pockets may pass to receive the die cut product pushed from beneath the die cutting head 45.

It will be noted that the channel 217 is sloped with its lowermost portion at the left as seen in FIG. 4 and its highest portion as seen at the right. As the pockets pass in their path of travel from the extreme right to the extreme left, the bottoms 285 of the pockets are lowered progressively, and in their path of travel from left to right as seen in FIG. 4 the casters riding in the channel are progressively elevated to push the pocket bottoms back up toward the tops of the pockets in readiness for reception of the next load of units. To keep the pockets erect, each plate 195 is provided with a roller 218 slightly outstanding therefrom as shown clearly in FIGS. 3 and 4. These rollers are positioned to roll in an upper channel 219 which is horizontally disposed since the strap 196 and channel 219 are not sloped. The strap 196 bears upon the vertical side margins of pulleys 211) and 211 and each of the pulleys fits between clamps 197-198 to prevent the strap from sagging off of the rim of the pulley.

Near the lower end of each plate 195 is a driving spud 225 extending inwardly of the path of travel. These spuds are in position to be acted upon by a reciprocating drive dog 226 and they receive the driving force to move the conveyor in step by step motion. The dog is much like a spring latch and is mounted on a pin 227 carried by a slide 228 which is carried by slide mount 229. The spring to act on the latch is seen at 230 in dotted lines. Slide 228 is reciprocated by pitman 231 acted upon by rotary plate 232 on shaft 233. As the plate revolves the slide is reciprocated, and the dog is moved far enough on each stroke to engage the next spud on the next pocket so as to advance it the proper amount for reception of the next set of stacked and severed units. As the slide is moved to the right (FIG. 4) the dog is forced by the next spud to oscillate downwardly against its spring 23% and it then snaps up into driving position for its next forward stroke against the spud.

If a particular collocating operation requires that the pockets be advanced for a greater distance, as for instance, the distance of two pockets, the slide is long enough to permit of a longer sweep with a larger plate and a longer pitman for that purpose.

The Driving and Power Connections With the exception of the power derived from air under pressure, the entire machine is powered by motor and speed reducer 240. This is connected by V-belts to a clutch 241 on main power shaft 242. This shaft is extended across the lower part of the machine and is seen in FIG. 5 where it terminates in a spur pinion 243. This pinion drives a spur gear 244, on the shaft 245 of which is a miter gear at 246 mated with 247 on shaft 248. Sprocket 249 and chain 250 for the drive of shaft 251 are connected to the infeed rolls and slitters.

FIG. 7 shows shaft 251 and sprocket drive through chain 252 to the lower feed roll 28. This roll (see FIGS. 3 and 5) has spur gear connection at 253-254 to the upper feed roll 27. It will be remembered that upper feed roll 27 is mounted on arm 54 but both rolls are power driven nevertheless and rotate at identical peripheral speed at all times in readiness for feeding operation when the air controlled plunger in cylinder 62 and its yoke 55 pull down the upper roll and squeeze the sheet to be fed.

Shaft 251 also is connected through sprockets and chain 255 with the lower slitter roll 30 so that power is applied to these rolls which are interconnected by spur pinions 256 and 257.

Another chain connection 260-261 with appropriate sprockets provides power from shaft 251 to drive final feed roll 96 as shown most clearly in FIGS. 7. This is the feed roll which completes the feed of strips 31 onto the tray 35 after they have left the slitting rolls.

The heaviest drive connections are those which drive the head 45. Main power shaft 242 with its spur pinion 243 and driving spur gear 244 on shaft 245 as above described carry rotative power to head drive pinion 265 meshed with large spur gear 266 on head operating shaft 128. Thus the motor drive to the head is relatively slow, actually in the particular illustrated operation 20 cycles per minute.

Upon the head operating shaft 128 is a large sprocket 270 (see FIG. 5) with chain 271 operating over idler sprockets 272 and 273 and extending to sprocket 274 on jack shaft 275. This supplies power to a pinion 276 meshed with gear 277 on stacker shaft 114. It is this stacker shaft which carries the two sprockets 113 for stacker chains 36 as described above.

As shown in FIG. 10 it is stacker shaft 114 which carries power to sprocket 280 and chain 281 for the drive of the pusher mechanism. Chain 281 is connected to driven sprocket 282 on shaft 145 and since shaft 145 is connected to shaft 146 by chain 147 the drive is complete for raising and lowering pusher frame 140.

Likewise the chain drive to sprocket 282 drives the plate 182 for the push and dwell mechanism.

A jogger shaft 285 extending across the machine under tray 35 is connected to shaft 146 by means of chain 286 and appropriate sprockets 287 and 288. This jogger shaft has a flanged cam hub 289, the cam of which is convoluted as shown at 290 in FIG. 7. A jogger rod 291 is carried reciprocably parallel to shaft 285 by tray supports 292 and 293 and by frame member 294, and the jogger roller at the end of the rod bears against the convolutions 290 under the bias of compression spring 295 positioned about the rod and between the frame and the roller head 296. Extending upwardly from the rod 291 is a jogger 297 protruding through the bed 120. It is thus in line with the end of a stack of strips 31 when the stack pushers 165 have pushed the stack off of the tray 35. The jogging by the jogger 297 aligns the ends of the strips with accuracy so that the units are pressed against guide 298 and may be accurately severed from one another by the die head after they have been pushed forward.

On shaft 285 is also cam 300 with cam flange 301 faced to the right as seen in FIG. 7. This cam is shaped to properly time the upward thrust and then the retraction of stack stops 40. Each of these stack stops is mounted in vertical ways 305 attached to a frame member 306 so that the lower end of each stop 40 is connected to an L- shaped stop actuator 307 mounted to a frame supported pin 308. The other end of each L-shaped actuator is connected to a reciprocable actuator bar 309 and the connections have appropriate lost motion slots as shown. The bar 309 has a roller head 310 somewhat similar to roller head 296. This is biased by spring 311 to bear against earn 301 which reciprocates bar 309 in proper timed relation so that the stops 40 retract below the bed when a stack pushing operation is to be performed.

This completes the power connections except for the pocket conveyor drive which is shown most clearly in FIG. 4. Shaft 128 is connected to jack shaft 315 by means of sprocket 316 and chain 317. Miter gears at 318 connect jack shaft 315 to conveyor drive shaft 319 and a sprocket thereon drives chain 320 connected to jack shaft 321. Another chain, on appropriate sprockets, at 322 connects shaft 321 to the shaft 233 of plate 232. Thus the rotation of the plate is powered to motivate the step by step movement of the pocket conveyor as above described.

Under the channel 217 at 325 is a pocket jogger comprising a rotor with knobs positioned to contact the channel when the rotor is operated by chain 326 connected to shaft 321. This slight jogging of the pocket bottoms and the pockets generally serves to settle the cards or units as they are passed to the conveyor.

It will also be noticed that at 327 there are guides over each pocket position so as to direct the units downwardly as they leave the bed 120.

The framework to support the various parts of the machine will be obvious from an examination of the drawings. Pedestals 350 under the bed at the pocket conveyor end of the machine are built heavily. Legs 351 at the other end of the machine are lighter but they also support cross members 60 and risers 352 braced by braces 353 to carry the functioning portions of the machine.

Operational Sequence of the Machine Referring to the particular collocating problem used herein as an illustrative use of this invention, the sheets of units are to be separated and arranged in the ultimate form of cards piled in the pockets. Each of these cards is a prize or trading card to be included in a package of candy or gum. There must be a certain number of these cards (units) of a certain type in each filled pocket. For instance, one sheet has a picture on each unit of a major league ball player and a complete sheet shows all the players in a ball club. A complete pocket full of cards or units at the output end of the machine will have one picture of each player.

The operator feeds a sheet across the table 25 so that its leading edge strikes infeed stop 51. The infeed rolls 27 and 28 are ready to bear against the sheet as soon as air valve 63 is opened by switch 66. Air under pressure is thus passed for a short interval to cause arm 55 to be pulled down. Roll 27 is brought down by the arm and the sheet is fed to the slitting rolls with suflicient force to cause the slitting rings to bite into the sheet and to commence action which is both a feeding and a slitting operation as above described.

The individual strips 31 are tilted as shown in FIG. 6 and are projected into their respective troughs under the bristles of the respective brushes 111-112. While the feed of strips by the slitters is quite fast there is suflicient friction in the trough and under the bristles to prevent the strips from reaching the stops 1117 at the ends of the roughs. Therefore, in timed relation to the approaching trailing ends of the strips the valve 193 passes air to the cylinder 1% and the squeeze rolls 97, of which there are enough separate roll surfaces to contact the individual strips, press the strips upon the final feed roll surfaces at 96 to complete the feeding action.

When the slitting and strip feeding operation is complete the strips 31 are disposed in flat contact with the tilted bottoms of the troughs in the tray 35, the high side of each trough being on the side toward the head 45. Then the stacker dogs attached to the chains 36 are timed to swing to the lower reach of the chains where the channels 117 hold the dogs 37 in the vertical position shown in FIG. 2 for a stacking sweep across the tray. It will be clear that each strip 31 laterally moved up and out of its trough is projected up and over the strip in the next trough. A stacking of strips is the result, and the complete stack, in this case of five strips slides out of the last trough onto the bed 120 approximately under the shaft 278, but definitely against stack stops 40.

It is while the stack is in this position that the jogger mechanism 290, 296, 297 jogs the ends of the strips so that the strips are abutted against the guide 298 for accurate location prior to the advancement of the stack into position under the die head 45.

The timing is such that the die head is close to its lower position on the descending stroke when a new stack is moved to position against stop 49. This means that the pusher mechanism is in its advanced position, the rack bar 180 is in its opposite relation to the position shown in FIG. and the apparatus for dwell in the pusher operation is etfective. The adjusting nuts at 192 are against the head 193 of the cylinder 190. The air action to ad- Vance the pusher is no longer eifective, the rack bar is taking up the slack in the apparatus 171-180, and the pusher rods are motionless.

At this time the pitmen 125 at each end of the head are being pulled down by eccentrics 70 and the die cutting operation is taking place. The pads 133 are compressed at either side of each blade 130 and the blades are severing the units from one another.

As the head 45 is being retracted (raised) in upward movement following the die cutting operation, the dwell apparatus has completed its function and the rack bar 1841 moves to the position shown in FIG. 10 with the positive mechanical result of pulling the pusher apparatus to the position shown in FIG. 9 where it is about to be lowered for another pushing operation.

During the early part of the retraction of the pusher mechanism the cams 141, 142, 143 and 144 have raised frame 140 so that the pusher bar and its connectors 158- 159 with their stack pushers 165 are raised high enough to clear the new stack now being jogged. Then when the pushers are fully retracted the frame 140 is lowered to bring the stack pushers 165 down onto the bed 120.

Rack bar 180 is now in the position shown in FIG. 10 and rack bars 154-155 are in the positions shown in FIG. 9.

Stops 40 are now drawn below the bed by the cam 3013 and bar 309 and are held there while the next pushing operation proceeds. The head 45 is now in its uppermost position and the previously die cut stack is in position to be pushed by pusher bar 41. The frame 140 stays in its lowermost position while the pushers are thrust forward by rack bars 154455 with the result that stack pushers 165 move the stacked strips 31 into position under the head 45. The stacked strips are not only advanced accu- 1'9 rately to position in the advancing movement, but also are held in properly stacked position by the overhead pressure of the connectors 158-159.

As the forward motion of the stack is complete the stack stops 41? again are raised above the bed to position the next stack to come from the tray.

The forwardly moving die cut cards are projected off of the bed and into the respective pockets 46 with which each card is aligned. This means that the five units, one each from the end of strips -84 is dropped into the pocket at the left as seen in FIG. 2. The five cards to go into the next pocket comprise the next card in each of the five strips and so on through the rest of the groups of five cards to a stack in the length of the strips.

On the next cycle the pockets will have advanced one thrust of the dog 226 with the result that the next pack of five cards will be a different pack of cards struck from the next adjacent range of units. For instance, if the five cards coming to a pocket on one cycle come from range 91 the next five cards to that same pocket will come from range (see FIG. 2). Thus by the time a pocket has progressed throughout the length of the bed the successive cycles will have filled the pocket with five cards from each range and the pocket will have a complete set of cards from an entire sheet.

An operator at the infeed table 25 and an outfeed man at the output end of the pocket conveyor to unload the pockets constitute the only manpower required to run the machine.

What is claimed is:

1. In a collocating machine having feed means for sheet material directed forwardly toward a tray, a tray to receive a plurality of individual strip products, said tray having elongated troughs for the receipt of each strip, said troughs having laterally inclined floors positioned to receive a product moving into a trough from a receiving end thereof, a slitter positioned adjacent said receiving end of said troughs and comprising a pair of slitting rolls having spaced slitting collars provided with mated radial side walls overlapping in contiguity whereby in a slitting operation, material at one side of the slit is thrust one way, and the other is thrust the other way to tilt the slit material, said slitting collars being arranged and positioned along said rolls whereby to slit material and tilt it for passage to a trough in accord with the tilt of the bottom of the trough.

2. In a collocating machine, a slitter and a tray, the slitter having means for tilting the slit strips, and the tray being positioned to receive slit strips from the slitter, the tray having troughs tilted in accord with the tilt of the strips.

3. In a collocating machine, a pair of slitting rolls each having annular slitting knives with slightly contiguous radial side walls and strip contacting peripheral lands whereby in a slitting operation one side of the slit material is thrust one way and the other is thrust the other way to tilt the slit material, and a tray to receive the material, said tray having a surface tilted in the same direction as the material.

4. A collocating tray infeed apparatus having infeed rolls for initial feed of sheet material to slitter rolls, slitter rolls positioned to receive a sheet from the infeed rolls and act as feed rolls when the infeed rolls no longer act on the sheet, the tray being spaced from the slitter rolls, and a final feed roll between the slitter rolls and the tray.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 121,117 Mauger Nov. 21, 1871 146,897 Gilbert Jan. 27, 1874 1,951,389 Anthony Mar. 20, 1934 2,482,118 Matthews Sept. 20, 1949 2,613,571 Herman Oct. 14, 1952

Claims (1)

1. IN A COLLOCATING MACHINE HAVING FEED MEANS FOR SHEET MATERIAL DIRECTED FORWARDLY TOWARD A TRAY, A TRAY TO RECEIVE A PLURALITY OF INDIVIDUAL STRIP PRODUCTS, SAID TRAY HAVING ELONGATED TROUGHS FOR THE RECEIPT OF EACH STRIP, SAID TROUGHS HAVING LATERALLY INCLINED FLOORS POSITIONED TO RECEIVE A PRODUCT MOVING INTO A TROUGH FROM A RECEIVING END THEREOF, A SLITTER POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID RECEIVING END OF SAID TROUGHS AND COMPRISING A PAIR OF SLITTING ROLLS HAVING SPACED SLITTING COLLARS PROVIDED WITH MATED RADIAL SIDE WALLS OVERLAPPING IN CONTIGUITY WHEREBY IN A SLITTING OPERATION, MATERIAL AT ONE SIDE OF THE SLIT IS THRUST ONE WAY, AND THE OTHER IS THRUST THE OTHER WAY TO TILT THE SLIT MATERIAL, SAID SLITTING COLLARS BEING ARRANGED AND POSITIONED ALONG SAID ROLLS WHEREBY TO SLIT MATERIAL AND TILT IT FOR PASSAGE TO A TROUGH IN ACCORD WITH THE TILT OF THE BOTTOM OF THE TROUGH.

Images