US3487447A

US3487447A - Delivery mechanism for rotary printing press

Info

Publication number: US3487447A
Application number: US726481A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ralph L Fusco
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: JAMES TALCOTT Inc
Priority date: 1968-05-03
Filing date: 1968-05-03
Publication date: 1969-12-30
Anticipated expiration: 1986-12-30

Description

Dec. 30, 1969 R. L. FUSCO 3,487,447

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Filed May 5, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

flzP/V Zf'asra Dec. 30, 1969 L, Fusco 3,487,447

DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Filed May 5, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

f/llfifi z Fusra United States Patent O 3,487,447 DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR ROTARY PRINTING PRESS Ralph L. Fusco, Commack, N.Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to James Talcott, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed May 3, 1968, Ser. No. 726,481 Int. Cl. B65h 29/58, 29/06 US. Cl. 271-64 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE pockets onto one of two conveyor receiving means so that the folded signatures are delivered alternately to the two conveyors so as to effect an alternate feed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to printing machinery and more particularly to the delivery system of a rotary printing press.

It is a general object of the invention to provide a means whereby copies of folded printed products can be alternately delivered from a folding unit of the printing press to at least two separate receiving means.

In the typical delivery system the printed products are delivered from a folding mechanism into pockets or fiys of a rotating fan, and then each product is conveyed partly around the fan at fan speed until its leading edge engages a stationary stop member or stripper which interrupts the travel of the folded product around the fan and strips the product from the fan pockets and deposits them in overlapping relation onto a single traveling conveyor to be carried to a counting or wrapping station.

In the modern high speed printing press it is sometimes desirable to split the delivery into two or more streams so as to prevent clogging in the delivery stream and so as to facilitate the stacking and handling of the delivered copies. Previous devices for splitting the delivery, such as shown in Quick et al. Patent No. 2,121,327 and Turrall et al. Patent No. 2,563,492 have required major alterations in the delivery portion of the machine, have involved the use of substantially more equipment and have generally been found to be costly and complicated.

It is accordingly a more specific object of the present invention to provide a device for splitting the delivery of folded signatures as they are delivered by a folder unit which is simple in design, relatively inexpensive and which requires no major alterations in the existing portion of the delivery system. This is accomplished by replacing the fan, as presently used, with a fan of unique design having a multilevel construction so as to carry the signatures at different levels, and by providing separate stripper means so that the copies in the different levels are stripped off or pushed out of the pockets at different times by its respective stripper onto separate receiving means.

Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

3,487,447 Patented Dec. 30, 1969 DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODI- MENT OF THE INVENTION As shown in the drawings the apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention incorporates a plurality of delivery fans 11 having a hub 13 secured to a shaft 15 by key 17. The shaft is rotatably journaled in the

side frames

10, 12 of the machine. The fans rotate on the shaft at a speed proportional to and less than the speed of the press so that as the folded products P are folded off the folding cylinder 31 by rollers 27, 29 they are deposited into one of the pockets on the periphery of the fans.

The embodiment of the invention as shown and described herein incorporates two levels of pockets. The pockets 21 on the first level are formed by extended fingers 19 and the pockets 25 on the second level are formed by fingers 23. The pockets of each level are alternately spaced about the periphery of the fan so that as the fan rotates the papers are alternately deposited between first and second level pockets. The folded papers are guided into the pockets by guide 45 mounted on shaft 46 and by guide 47 mounted on shaft 48. They are prevented from prematurely flying out of the pockets as the fan rotates by guide 45.

In accordance with the objectives of the invention to split the delivery, two separate conveyor means 41 and 43 are provided for receiving the papers from the pockets of the fans. The papers from the first level pockets 21 are received by conveyor 41 and the papers from the second level pockets 25 are received by conveyor 43. The resulting two streams of papers are thus separately delivered to separate stations for easy handling thus preventing overloading of a single conveyor.

In order to remove the papers from the pockets so that they can be deposited onto the respective conveyors there is provided a first stripper 33 secured to a bar 35 for stripping the papers from the first level pockets 21 and a second stripper 37 secured to bar 39 for stripping the papers from the second level pockets 25. Both strippers are located alongside each fan as shown in FIG. 2. Stripper 33 is so disposed that it only interrupts the travel of the paper in pocket 21 as the fan continues to rotate. The papers in this pocket are thus prevented from continuing to rotate with the fan thereby dropping out of the pocket and onto the conveyor 41. The next pocket which passes stripper 33 is a second level pocket 25. As seen in FIG. 1 stripper 33 will not interrupt the travel of the paper in this pocket but it will continue to rotate with the fan past sripper 33, which also acts as a guide for the passing paper, until its leading edge engages stripper 37. The paper in the second level pocket 25 will thus be forced to fall onto conveyor 43.

Since the

pockets

21, 25 are alternately spaced, the papers carried therein will be alternately deposited in overlapping relation onto conveyors 41, 43 respectively.

This invention has been discribed and illustrated with respect to an embodiment of splitting the delivery into two separate streams by providing a fan having two levels of pockets with associated strippers for each level. It should be understood, however, that the delivery can be split into multi-streams by providing multilevel fans, each level having its associated stripper. Accordingly it will be understood by those skilled in the art after appreciating the principle of the invention that various changes and modifications may be made with out departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and it is therefore intended to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claims; What is claimed is: 1. A delivery mechanism comprising:

a plurality of delivery fans'mounted on a shaft rotatably journaled in the side frames of the press, said fans comprising a first set of pockets on its periphery formed by fingers spirally extending from a first radial level of said fan body and a second set of pockets on the periphery of said fan formed by fingers spirally extending from a second radial level of said fan body, 1 said pockets of said first and second levels being alterfor a rotary printing press nately spaced about the periphery of said fan body for receiving folded signatures from a folder unit;

means for guiding said signatures in said pockets as 1 of pockets only and said second stripper means intercepting the signatures in said second set of pockets;

whereby said signatures are alternately delivered be- 'tweensaid first-and second receiving means. e

2. The delivery mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said first and second receiving means comprises a pair of conveyors mounted below said fans so that as said signatures engage said first and second -stripper means they are deposited on said first and second conveyor in overlapping relationship.

3. The delivery mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said first and second stripper means are mounted on separate support bars.

4. The delivery mechanism according to claim 3 wherein said first set of pockets comprises a set of three pockets and said second set o f pocketscomprises a set of three pockets, each ppqketoi onesetybeingslocated on the periphery ofthe' f aninbetween a pair of pockets of the other Setr w y v 2 References Cited- "UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,43s,6 24 4/1969 Behringer 271-64 EDWARD A. SROKA, Primary Examiner v ,U.S. Cl. X.R. 27180