Method and apparatus for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets
In a method for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets, initially two sheets are provided, respectively. The sheets are transferred into a common sheet track. If the sheets provided belong to the same group of sheets, these sheets are transferred into a collating station. Otherwise, one of the sheets is transferred into the collating station and the other one of the sheets is retained at a stop location.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets, in particular to a method and an apparatus for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets of paper, which collate the individual groups of sheets using a paper merging device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Paper-handling devices and/or collating equipment working with a merger, i.e. a paper joining device, are already known in the art. For example, such a merger is arranged upstream or downstream from a cutting machine and operates such that sheets, for example two printed sheets, which are arranged abreast of one another in the sheet conveying direction, are provided, and that the merger places the side-by-side papers and/or sheets on top of one another and subsequently outputs them to a directly connected collating station where the sheets are collated so as to form the individual groups of sheets.
Such a known system will briefly be explained below with reference to
Further,
With reference to
The subsequent more detailed discussion of the operation of device 900 will be effected with additional reference to
As can be seen in
As has already been described above, passing on sheet A within merger 904 as well as cutting sheets A′ and B in sheet-feeding device 902, which, as has already been mentioned, takes 200 ms, is effected concurrently with starting to move-stack X out. The situation presenting itself after this lapse of time is presented as phase 3 in
At the time when sheets B and A′ have been provided at the input end of merger 904, subsequent sheets B′ and C, which, however, have not been fully cut, are already provided at the output end of sheet-feeding device 902, as is further shown in
The situation represented in
As can be seen (see, in particular,
The drawback to this known system is that in the processing of uneven groups, one sheet will always remain in merger 904, as can be seen in
DE 34 33 497 A1 describes a means for compiling sets of form sheets from form sheets belonging to one set. The compiling means consists of two receiving stations which are arranged side by side. The receiving stations each receive a form sheet from two paper-conveying tracks running parallel to one another, form sheets of the same set of form sheets being collated in one of the two receiving stations. For conveying the form sheets in the transverse direction, a special rotating conveying belt which is provided with perforations and is guided via a vacuum suction block is used, whereby the operating speed is to be increased while safety from operating failures is increased at the same time. In one configuration, one of the two receiving stations of the compiling means has a collating station connected downstream from it so as to feed it form sheets of a set of form sheets.
WO 88/00919 A relates to a device for merging folded printed items in a shingled formation onto a conveying means. The device essentially consists of a rotatably mounted drum with a plurality of compartments along the circumferential direction of the drum. The compartments are offset in the longitudinal direction of the drum and are arranged in two groups in an alternating manner in the circumferential direction of the drum such that both groups of compartments overlap by at least the width of one printed item. One slide of provided for each compartment, the slides being driven, by a specific device, such that the printed items located in the compartments are shifted from an input point, where the printed items are introduced side by side into the compartments of different groups, to an output point in the compartments such that the printed items at the output point are centred in relation to the transverse centre plane of the drum and are output from the compartments onto a downstream conveying belt in a shingled formation by gravity.
GB 1,009,263 A relates to creating gaps in a continuous stream of sheet articles, such as newspapers, so as to facilitate recognition of a specific number of consecutive sheet articles and therefore the formation of stacks of, for example 25 items each. For forming the gaps in the continuous stream of overlapping sheet articles, use is made of a hook-shaped gripper arm which is mounted such that it can swivel around a hinge in such a manner that, in a first position, it stops sheet articles and that, in a second position, it allows the continuous stream of sheets to pass.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,271,023 A relates to a sheet-collating device for collecting and/or collating sheet-like materials, such as pieces of cardboard. In particular, the device resolves the problem that in the case of freedom from defects, pieces of cardboard which are provided side by side may be output, one on top of the other, onto a stack or may, alternatively, in the case of a quality defect, may be output to separate collating points. In this way, the subsequent removal of one in three pieces of cardboard from the stack in the case that a cutting device damages one of the pieces of cardboard, such as the one which is always on the left-hand side in the conveying direction, is dispensed with. In the case of faultless pieces of cardboard, they are transferred, on three different conveying tracks arranged on three different levels, to come to lie on top of one another and are output into the stack. Otherwise, it is achieved, by adjusting suitable redirecting means, that all three pieces of cardboard continue to be output, via the same central conveying track side by side so that only the central piece of cardboard comes to lie on the stack.
GB 918,709 A describes a device for stacking flat workpieces, such as pieces of cardboard, in counted stacks of, for example 100 items each. In this device, individual pieces of cardboard are stacked, in a manner such that they abut at a stopper arm, until the predetermined number for each stack has been reached, whereupon the stopper arm is lifted and the stack formed is continued to be conveyed onto the conveying means.
EP 0 869 092 A1 discloses a method and an apparatus for producing printed items enabling an optional continued conveyance of sheets printed two-up, after processing by suitable knives, in a manner such that they are rotated by 90° and disposed behind one other in one or several rows, via a common conveying section, either straight on to further processing, or in a vertical direction leading to a different further processing.
By this optional continued conveyance either in a direction of a first processing means or of a second reprocessing means, variable adjustment of a book production device to variable format sizes is achieved.
WO 93/15006 A1 describes a method and an apparatus for automatic sorting of sheet-shaped objects into bundled groups. The device includes an aligning and conveying section wherein the objects to be processed may be introduced from one of two different directions, so as to continue to be conveyed to a grouping section with one edge abutting against a side beam. At the start of the grouping section an interruption and lifting device is located which lifts, via rolls, the trailing parts of the objects while it slows them down via a roll at the leading edges, so as to enable the objects which follow in each case to slide underneath. In this way, a shingled arrangement of the objects is created downstream from the device. Subsequently, the objects which are arranged in a shingled manner arrive at a grouping device where the flow of mutually overlapping objects may be stopped so as to effect an interruption of the flow. Finally, the stacking device is located downstream from the grouping device. In order to facilitate stacking of the sheets in the stacking device, the grouping device is not actuated until a predetermined number of objects have been slid beneath the bundle. When a sufficient number of objects pass through the grouping device, the grouping device is actuated so as to interrupt the stream of objects upstream from the stacking device. After the last object has been slid beneath the bundle, the bundle is output from the stacking device, the grouping device being controlled at the same time to end the interruption of the stream of objects.
Thus, a need exists for an improved method and an improved device for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets, which makes it possible to increase the cycle performance in forming the individual groups.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is a method for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets, in which (a) at least two sheets, respectively are provided, (b) if the sheets provided in step (a) belong to the same group of sheets, these sheets are transferred into a common sheet track and into a collating station, and in which (c) otherwise the sheet of a previous group of the sheets are transferred into a common sheet track and moved in the direction of a stop location, at an offset in timing as against the sheet of the previous group, the other sheet of a subsequent group of the sheets is transferred into a common sheet track moved in the direction of the stop location, and, as soon as the sheet of the previous has reached the stop location, moved into the collating station. The other sheet is retained in the stop location. The offset in timing is such that shortly after the sheet of the previous group has been output into the collating station, the sheet of the subsequent group is inserted into the stop location.
Further, the present invention is a method for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets, in which (a) at least two sheets, respectively, are provided, (b) if the sheets provided in step (a) belong to the same group of sheets, these sheets are transferred into a common sheet track and through a double-storey stop location into a collating station, and in which (c) otherwise the sheets are simultaneously transferred into a common sheet track, and the sheets are fed into the double-storey stop location in a form in which they are arranged on top of each other, then the sheet of a previous group of the sheets is moved out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station, and the other sheet of a subsequent group is retained in the double-storey stop location. Then the sheet of the previous group is moved out of the collating station, and the sheet of the subsequent group is moved out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station in a manner offset in time as against the sheet of the previous group.
The present invention is also an apparatus for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets. The apparatus has a sheet-feeding means, wherein two sheets are arranged, for providing the sheets, a sheet-transferring means for transferring the sheets into a common sheet track, a stop location means receiving one or several sheets from the sheet-transferring means, a collating station collating sheets of a group of sheets, and a control means which if the sheets provided by the sheet-feeding means belong to the same group of sheets effects the transferral of these sheets into a common sheet track and into a collating station, and otherwise the transferral of the sheet of a previous group of the sheets into a common sheet track and the moving of same in the direction of a stop location, at an offset in timing as against the sheet of the previous group, the transferral of the other sheet of a subsequent group of the sheets into a common sheet track and the moving of same in the direction of the stop location, as soon as the sheet of the previous group has reached the stop location, the moving of same into the collating station, retaining the other sheet in the stop location, the offset in timing being such that shortly after the sheet of the previous group has been output into the collating station, the sheet of the subsequent group is inserted into the stop location.
The present invention is also an apparatus for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets. The apparatus has a sheet-feeding means wherein two sheets are arranged, for providing the sheets, a sheet-transferring means for transferring the sheets into a common sheet track, a stop location means receiving one or several sheets from the sheet-transferring means, a collating station collating sheets of a group of sheets, and a control means which if the sheets provided by the sheet-feeding means belong to the same group of sheets effects the transferral of these sheets into a common sheet track and through a double-storey stop location into a collating station, and otherwise effects the simultaneous transferral of the sheets into a common sheet track and the feeding of the sheets into the double-storey stop location, the moving of the sheet of a previous group of the sheets out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station and the retention of the other sheet of a subsequent group in the double-storey stop location; and the moving of the sheet of the previous group out of the collating station, and the moving of the sheet of the subsequent group out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station in a manner offset in time as against the sheet of the previous group.
The present invention is based on the findings that a pronounced increase in performance in collating devices for paper, as have been described above with reference to
By means of the inventive arrangement of the stop location and/or by the inventive retention of the sheet of a subsequent group it is achieved that, instead of the operation apparent from
In accordance with a first preferred embodiment, the inventive stop location is arranged between a merger and a collating station, the sheet-feeding device including a cutting means and a printer.
In accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention, the stop location is arranged between the sheet-feeding means and the collating station, the sheet-feeding means being arranged, in this embodiment, such that it receives two paper webs arranged parallel with each other, prints onto them, merges them from the side-by-side arrangement onto a common paper track and cuts them so that the sheets to be grouped of the individual webs are arranged on top of one another at the output end of the paper-feeding device.
In a third embodiment, the device is designed such that the individual sheets are deposited at a sequence sorter by a sheet-feeding device in the form of a cutting and printing means, wherein the two sheets are provided side by side in a first paper conveying direction, are transferred into the sequence sorter and are moved from the latter into a collating station via the inventive stop location, arranged upstream from the collating station, in a second paper conveying direction which is preferably perpendicular to the first paper conveying direction.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the sheets provided are merged onto a common track such that they are either arranged behind one other in a non-shingled manner in the sheet conveying direction, that they are arranged behind one other in a shingled manner in the sheet conveying direction, or that they are arranged on top of one other in the sheet conveying direction.
In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, a further stop location is provided between the sheet-feeding device and the merger in addition to the above stop location, whereby further improvement in the cycle performance can be achieved, since in this way, the feeding operation to the merger is decoupled from the operation of the cutting device. This additional stop location receives the sheets provided, which exhibits the advantage that, in the case of a merger already filled, paper can immediately be fed again in an accelerated manner from the paper-feeding device and that paper can immediately be reloaded when requested by the merger i.e. that no unnecessary time losses due to the time-consuming cutting operation (approximately 20 ms) result.
The advantage of the present invention is that in processing uneven groups, the cycle performance of the paper-handling system can be substantially increased in comparison with devices known from the prior art.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSIn the following, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, similar components and elements, or components and elements which operate in the same manner, are given the same reference numerals.
Initially, a first embodiment of the inventive method and of the inventive device shall be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
In
In sheet-feeding means 102, a paper web 114 fed to the same is printed upon, and subsequently the paper web 114 is cut so as to provide, at the output end of paper-feeding means 102, two individual sheets 116 and 118 arranged side by side in the sheet conveying direction P. Individual sheet 116 is arranged on the right-hand side of central axis Z of device 100 in the paper conveying direction P, and individual sheet 118 is arranged on the left-hand side in the paper conveying direction P with regard to central axis Z. Individual sheets 114, 116 arranged side by side are passed to merger 104 which transfers the same onto a common sheet track, as is indicated at 120 in
Control means 112 controls the overall flow of operation of device 100 in such a manner that, if the sheets transferred by the sheet-transferring means 104 (merger) belong to the same group of sheets, transferral of these sheets to the collating station is effected. If this is not the case, the control function causes transferring of one of the sheets to collating station 108 and buffering and/or retaining the other one of the sheets in the stop locating means 106.
The sheet-feeding device 102 is, for example a combination of a printer and a cutting device or of a sheet leader which provides two separate sheets side by side for transferral to merger 104.
In the following, the mode of operation of device 100 in accordance with the present invention shall be explained in more detail with reference to
With regard to the provision of the individual sheets by the sheet-feeding device, it should be pointed out that it is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention that has been described using groups of two sheets with reference to
In a paper web 114, as is shown, for example in
The inventive device 100 makes this possible on account of the fact that the control means is operable to control sheet-feeding means 102 and paper-transferring means 104 so as to transfer all sheets of a group of sheets into collating station 108, wherein, in case of one of the sheets of the deposited pair of sheets not belonging to the current group of sheets, the control means is operable to transfer the last sheet of the current group of sheets into the collating station and to retain the first sheet of the subsequent group in stop location means 106. After the stack of the current group of sheets has been moved out of the collating device, the control means causes the individual sheet retained to be transferred from the stop location means into the collating means, and subsequently controls the remaining components of the device so as to feed the respective sheets of this new group to the collating station.
In the embodiment represented in
In the following, the principle of operation of the inventive device, as is depicted in
In the flow chart in accordance with
The situation at the time t 100 ms is shown in
With reference to
In the following, a second preferred embodiment of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to
The embodiment in accordance with
At this time the previous stack X has already been moved to folding mechanism 110, and sheet A, which initially was located at the stop location, has been moved into collating station 108. Stop location 106, which is designed as a two-storey stop location, receives sheet A′ at the one level and sheet B at the other level, and passes on merely sheet A′ to collating station 108 and retains sheet B, as is represented in
At the time t=0 ms, the initial situation is represented in which the previous stack X is located in collating station 108, individual sheets A′ and B are deposited at the input end of the merger, individual sheet A is deposited at stop location 106 and further sheets B′ and C are provided in sheet-feeding means 102 in the manner represented in
The increase which can be achieved in accordance with the present invention in comparison with conventional systems depending on the printed forms used and on the arrangement of the printed forms in the paper webs is apparent from the table in
Another embodiment of the present invention shall be described below with reference to
With regard to
At the time t=120 ms, the situation depicted in
At the time t=200 ms, the situation shown in
In the following, a further preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The mode of operation of the device shown in
At the time t=265 ms (see
Another embodiment of the present invention will, again, be described in more detail below with reference to
The mode of operation of this device is represented in further detail with reference to
In the course of roughly 120 ms, the situation represented in Fig. C occurs in phase 2, wherein stack X has been transferred from collating station 108 to folding mechanism 110, and sheet A has been transferred, at the same time, from stop location 106 into collating station 108. In addition, sheets A′ and B′ have been moved further, to be precise in the paper conveying direction P2, so that sheet A′ is arranged at stop location 106 and sheet B is arranged at the output end of the sequence sorter 160. After an additional 130 ms, the situation represented in
As can be seen from
When compared with the systems as are known in the prior art, the present invention offers substantial advantages in terms of speed, since providing the stop location being the merger and the collating station enables the merger to be recharged with paper sooner, since the first sheet of a subsequent group is latched and/or retained at the stop location. A further advantage results from the fact that a further stop location may be arranged at the input end of the merger, so that a pair of sheets is provided at the input end of the merger at any time, so that they can immediately be fed at the merger's request, without requiring an initial performance of the time-consuming cutting steps.
Claims
1. (Canceled)
2. Method for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets, comprising the following steps:
- (a) providing at least two sheets, respectively;
- (b) if the sheets provided in step (a) belong to the same group of sheets transferring these sheets into a common sheet track and through a double-storey stop location into a collating station; and
- (c) otherwise simultaneous transferring of the sheets into a common sheet track and feeding the sheets into the double-storey stop location in a form in which they are arranged on top of each other, moving the sheet of a previous group of the sheets out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station and retaining the other sheet of a subsequent group in the double-storey stop location; and moving the sheet of the previous group out of the collating station; moving the sheet of the subsequent group out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station in a manner offset in time as against the sheet of the previous group.
3-13. (Canceled)
14. Apparatus for forming groups of sheets from a plurality of sheets, comprising:
- a sheet-feeding means wherein two sheets are arranged, for providing the sheets;
- a sheet-transferring means for transferring the sheets into a common sheet track;
- a stop location means receiving one or several sheets from the sheet-transferring means;
- a collating station collating sheets of a group of sheets; and
- a control means which if the sheets provided by the sheet-feeding means belong to the same group of sheets effects the transferral of these sheets into a common sheet track and through a double-storey stop location into a collating station, and otherwise the simultaneous transferral of the sheets into a common sheet track and the feeding of the sheets into the double-storey stop location, the moving of the sheet of a previous group of the sheets out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station and the retention of the other sheet of a subsequent group in the double-storey stop location; and the moving of the sheet of the previous group out of the collating station; the moving of the sheet of the subsequent group out of the double-storey stop location into the collating station in a manner offset in time as against the sheet of the previous group.
15-24. (Canceled)
25. Method as claimed in claim 2, comprising the following step:
- repeating steps (a), (b) and (c) for all sheets of a group of sheets.
26. Method as claimed in claim 2, comprising the following steps:
- for all sheets of a group of sheets: repeated performance of steps (a) and (b), and one-off performance of step (c); and
- for all sheets of the next group: transferring the sheet retained; and repeated performance of steps (a), (b) and (c) for the remaining sheets of this group of sheets.
27. Method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sheets are arranged side by side in a sheet conveying direction in step (a), and wherein same are transferred from the side-by-side arrangement into the common sheet track in step (a).
28. Method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sheets are arranged side by side in a first sheet conveying direction in step (a) and are subsequently moved in the direction of stop location and collating station in a second sheet conveying direction in steps (b) and (c).
29. Method as claimed in claim 28, wherein the first sheet conveying direction is perpendicular to the second sheet conveying direction.
30. Method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the sheets are arranged on top of one other in a sheet conveying direction in step (a).
31. Method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the two sheets are transferred, in step (c), such that they are arranged, in the common sheet track, behind one other in a non-shingled manner in sheet conveying direction or that they are arranged behind one other in a shingled manner in sheet conveying direction or that they are arranged on top of one other in sheet conveying direction.
32. Method as claimed in claim 27, comprising the following step after step (a):
- retaining the two sheets, which have been provided in step (a), at a further stop location.
33. Method as claimed in claim 2, wherein step (a) includes the following steps:
- printing upon a paper web;
- cutting the printed paper web so as to provide the two sheets.
34. Method as claimed in claim 2, wherein three or more sheets are provided in step (a).
35. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the control means controls the sheet-feeding means so as to transfer all sheets of a group of sheets into the collating station.
36. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the control means
- controls the sheet-feeding means so as to transfer all sheets of a group of sheets into the collating station and to transfer one sheet of a next group of sheets into the stop location means and retain it; and
- controls the stop location means so as to transfer the sheet retained in the stop location means into the collating station, and controls the sheet-feeding means and the sheet-transferring means so as to transfer all remaining sheets of the next group into the collating station.
37. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the sheet-feeding means arranges the sheets side by side in a sheet conveying direction and wherein the sheet-transferring means is arranged between the sheet-feeding means and the stop location, and wherein same receives the sheets provided from the sheet-feeding means and transfers them from the side-by-side arrangement into a common sheet track.
38. Apparatus as claimed in claims 14, wherein the sheet-feeding means arranges the sheets side by side in a first sheet conveying direction, and wherein the sheet-transferring means is arranged between the sheet-feeding means and the stop location, sheet-transferring means moving the sheets in a manner such that they are arranged behind one another in a second sheet conveying direction in the direction of the stop location and the collating station.
39. Apparatus as claimed in claim 38, wherein the first sheet conveying direction is essentially perpendicular to the second sheet conveying direction.
40. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the sheet-feeding means provides the sheets on top of one another in a sheet conveying direction.
41. Apparatus as claimed in claim 37, wherein the sheet-transferring means transfers the sheets, which have been fed by the sheet-feeding means, into the common sheet track such that they are arranged behind one other in a non-shingled manner in the sheet conveying direction, that they are arranged behind one other in a shingled manner in the sheet conveying direction, or that they are arranged on top of one other in the sheet conveying direction.
42. Apparatus as claimed in claim 37, comprising:
- a further stop location means arranged between the sheet-feeding means and the sheet-transferring means.
43. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the sheet-feeding means includes a printer and a cutting machine.
44. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the sheet-feeding means provides three or more sheets.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 28, 2004
Publication Date: Mar 17, 2005
Inventor: Franz Schwab (Augsburg)
Application Number: 10/951,988