Abstract: Stacks of superimposed paper sheets are formed from a succession of layers each of which contains a given number of groups of sheets. One or more layers which contain a first number of groups can be followed by one or more layers containing a different second number of groups so that a stack can contain layers which, in turn, contain different numbers of groups and hence different numbers of sheets. The number of sheets in each stack and in each layer is a whole multiple of the number of sheets in a group. If the average number of sheets in a series of successive stacks is to deviate from a whole multiple of the number of sheets in a group, successive stacks contain different numbers of sheets; each such number is a whole multiple of the number of sheets in a group but the total number of sheets in the series of stacks divided by the number of stacks which form the series can deviate from such whole multiple.

Abstract: Stacks of paper sheets are delivered onto the upper reach of an endless conveyor or onto the upper side of a platform which is movable through an open side and into the interior of a carton at a carton filling station. The open side of the carton is closed, by pivoting the corresponding side wall upwardly from a level at or below the level of the bottom wall of the carton, upon completion of insertion of a stack.

Abstract: Apparatus for subdividing a paper web into a series of discrete sheets and for transporting the sheets to a processing station has a cross cutter whose knife holders can be driven at several speeds, and a sheet intercepting device downstream of the nip of the holders. The position of the entire intercepting device is changed in automatic response to changes in the speed of the knife holders to ensure that the inlet of the intercepting device can receive the leaders of successive sheets, even though the direction of advancement of such leaders is likely to change, e.g., in response to more or less pronounced curling, as a result of acceleration or deceleration of the knife holders and as a function of the thickness and/or composition of the web.

Abstract: Apparatus for transferring paper stacks from a first horizontal path into a second horizontal path which is coplanar with the first path has tongs installed at the junction of the two paths and driven to rotate about a vertical axis. The tongs has a lower jaw in the common plane of the two paths and an axially movable upper jaw which is held away from the first jaw when a stack to be transferred approaches the tongs and which is then moved toward the lower jaw to clamp the oncoming stack so that the latter rotates with the jaws and is transferred into the second path. The tongs then opens and is ready to engage the next stack. Signals for closing and opening of the tongs are generated by first and second detectors which are respectively adjacent to the first and second paths and respectively serve to detect certain surfaces of oncoming stacks and certain surfaces of transferred stacks.

Abstract: Successive stacks of flexible paper sheets are supplied by the conveyors of a feeding unit in a first direction and along a first horizontal path onto a succession of vertically movable sections of a horizontal table while the sections dwell in their upper positions. The sections are thereupon lowered simultaneously to the level of a second horizontal path wherein a pusher advances the lowered stack in a second direction at right angles to the first direction and along the second horizontal path into the range of two belt conveyors forming part of a removing unit. The sections of the table are disposed one behind the other, as considered in the second direction, and are raised individually back to their upper positions as soon as the pusher advances an article therebeyond. A supporting member assists the sections in supporting an oncoming article in the first path during advancement of such article to a position above the sections of the table.

Abstract: One of the two knife holder shafts in a cross cutter for webs of paper or the like is driven by a unit wherein a motor rotates the input shaft of a bevel gear drive whose output shaft drives or constitutes one shaft of a universal joint. The other shaft of the universal joint is driven by the one shaft and transmits torque to the knife holder shaft or shafts by way of a step-up gear transmission and a clutch which allows for changes in angular positions of the knife holder shafts with reference to the universal joint. An extension of the axis of the input shaft of the bevel gear drive intersects the axes of the shafts of the universal joint at the point where the axes of the shafts of the universal joint intersect each other. To this end, the other shaft of the universal joint contains an elastically deformable but torsion-resistant insert.

Abstract: One of the two knife holder shafts in a cross cutter for webs of paper or the like is driven by a unit wherein a motor rotates the input shaft of a bevel gear drive whose output shaft drives or constitutes one shaft of a universal joint. The other shaft of the universal joint is driven by the one shaft and transmits torque to the knife holder shaft or shafts by way of a step-up gear transmission and a clutch which allows for changes in angular positions of the knife holder shafts with reference to the universal joint. An extension of the axis of the input shaft of the bevel gear drive intersects the axes of the shafts of the universal joint at the point where the axes of the shafts of the universal joint intersect each other. To this end, the other shaft of the universal joint contains an elastically deformable but torsion-resistant insert.

Abstract: Apparatus gathering writing pads into stacks has a row of receptacles disposed at a level below the discharge end of a feeding conveyor which delivers several lines of pads, one for each receptacle. The receptacles have a common horizontal floor assembled of spaced-apart elongated strips mounted in a main frame and extending in the longitudinal direction of the row, and the receptacles are separated from each other by separating units having sets of upright rods which extend upwardly through the spaces between the neighboring strips and can be lowered to move out of the way preparatory to removal of assembled stacks of pads by two endless conveyor belts which flank the row of receptacles and have inner reaches movable into engagement with the respective sides of the stacks. The conveyor belts are set in motion after their inner reaches engage the stacks and after the rods are retracted to a level below the floor.

Abstract: A transverse cutter for a running web of paper or the like has two rotary drum-shaped holders disposed opposite each other at the opposite sides of the path for the web. Each holder carries at least one knife with an elongated cutting edge extending transversely of the path of movement of the web, and each knife of one holder cooperates with a knife of the other holder to sever the web once during each revolution of the holders. One of the knives is adjustable with reference to the respective holder so that its cutting edge can be shifted relative to the cooperating cutting edge of the other knife. The adjusting mechanism for the adjustable knife includes a row of closely adjacent wedge-like retainers which are recessed into the peripheral surface of the respective holder and are movable radially of such holder by threaded fasteners which can move the associated retainers radially inwardly against the opposition of dished springs in the respective holder.

Abstract: Apparatus for changing the orientation of successive stacks of overlapping paper sheets has a first conveyor which delivers stacks seriatim onto the upper side of a support located below a vertically movable and rotatable turntable having at its underside a layer consisting of rubber and formed with openings for escape of air. The support has plenum chambers which discharge streams of compressed air against the underside of a stack between the support and the turntable whereby the stack is lifted off the support and bears against the layer at the underside of the turntable before the latter begins to rotate through 90 degrees to thus change the orientation of the stack. Prior to rotating, the turntable is moved downwardly toward and bears against the stack on the support to thereby expel air from the stack and to cause opening of valves in the upper side of the support by way of the lowermost sheet of the stack.

Abstract: An apparatus for engaging and transporting discrete sheets downstream of a severing station at which a cross-cutter severs a running paper web has a catcher assembly with an upper and a lower conveyor unit. The conveyor units define an elongated path for the transport of sheets therebetween. The catcher assembly is adjustable, in its entirety, with reference to the severing station, and each conveyor unit is adjustable relative to the other conveyor unit. The rearmost portion of the upper conveyor unit is adjustable toward and away from the adjacent portion of the lower conveyor unit.

Abstract: A rotary knife holder which is used in a transverse cutter for running paper webs or the like has a tubular carrier with an axial bore for a dynamic damping system serving to damp the natural frequency oscillations of the carrier. The damping system has a cylindrical mass whose end portions are surrounded by elastic annuli installed in a sleeve which is fixedly installed in the axial bore of the carrier. The natural frequency of the damping system is attuned to the natural frequency of the carrier. If the carrier is journalled at both ends, the damping system is installed midway between the ends of the carrier.

Abstract: A series of separate paper sheets issuing from a cross cutter wherein a running paper web is subdivided into discrete sheets is converted into a stream of partly overlapping sheets by transporting the sheets of the series at a first speed onto the upper reach of a belt conveyor which is driven at a lower second speed. A cylindrical braking roller is adjacent to the sheet-receiving end of the upper reach of the belt conveyor and is driven at a peripheral speed matching the second speed. A flat of the otherwise cylindrical peripheral surface of the braking roller is adjacent to but out of contact with the leading edges of successive sheets of the series but the cylindrical surface of the roller engages the intermediate portions of successive sheets and decelerates such sheets from the first to the second speed. This ensures that reaction liquid cannot escape at the leading edges of successive sheets which constitute carbon-free pressure-sensitive copy paper sheets.

Abstract: Apparatus for supporting the core of a reel of convoluted paper in a winding machine has two trunnions which extend into the end portions of the core from opposite ends of the reel and are surrounded by ring-shaped stops which are normally closely adjacent to the respective end faces of the reel therebetween. The trunnions and the respective stops are movable axially toward and away from the core and each trunnion is surrounded by a ring-shaped sensor which is biased against the respective end face of the reel so that the distance between the sensor and the corresponding stop denotes the width of the gap between the respective end face of the reel and the corresponding stop.

Abstract: An arrangement for forming successive layers of sheets of paper and the like from a stream of individual sheets supplied in succession to a collecting station by a supply conveyor, and for transferring the formed layers to a continuously advancing discharge conveyor, includes an abutment capable of interrupting the advancement of the supplied sheets to form a layer from a predetermined number of sheets, and a clamping device which grips the layer of sheets and transfers the same to the discharge conveyor. The arrangement includes a drive including a transmission, particularly a kinematic linkage transmission, causing the abutment and clamping device to perform a preselected succession of movements, and a prime mover which is kinematically separated from the main drive of the machine in which the arrangement is used and thus from the drive of the supply and discharge conveyors.

Abstract: A web of undulate wire is converted into a series of coherent C-shaped binders of the type known by the trademark Wire-O and used to bind stacks of paper sheets or the like in the making of steno pads, brochures, calendars and similar stationery products by continuously moving the web lengthwise at a constant or variable speed, by imparting to successive increments of one marginal portion of the moving web a concavo-convex shape in stepwise fashion so that the one marginal portion resembles (in cross-section) one-half of the letter C, and by thereupon imparting to successive increments of the other marginal portion of the moving web a concavo-convex shape in stepwise fashion so that the thus converted other marginal portion becomes a mirror image of the converted one marginal portion. The imparting steps include deforming the respective marginal portions from the inner toward the outer edges thereof.

Abstract: Apparatus for cutting a running web of paper or the like has a rotary disk-shaped first knife and a driven counterknife. The first knife is rotatable on a shaft which constitutes the piston rod of a double-acting pneumatic cylinder and piston unit. The cylinder of such unit is connected with a second piston rod forming part of a single-acting cylinder and piston unit. The control system for the two units includes a shutoff valve which can admit compressed air to the single-acting unit whereby the pressure in a first conduit which connects the source of compressed air with the single-acting unit rises when the second piston rod reaches an end position in which the marginal portion of the first knife overlaps but is remote from the marginal portion of the counterknife. A second conduit thereupon admits compressed air to the double-acting unit in order to move the first knife axially against the counterknife.

Abstract: Apparatus for cutting paper sheets wherein a first knife, which is freely rotatable on a shaft, is movable sideways toward and away from a driven counterknife. The shaft is reciprocable in a carrier which is connected with one end of a reciprocable and turnable piston rod. The piston rod extends into a cylinder and is reciprocable by a spring and a membrane-like piston. The orientation of the first knife with respect to the counterknife can be changed by turning the piston rod with reference to the cylinder so that the piston rod can assume and is held in any one of several angular positions. To this end, the piston rod is rigidly connected with a radially extending projection which is disposed between two rollers mounted in the cylinder for movement at right angles to their axes. One of the rollers is biased against one side of the projection by a helical spring, and the other roller is movable at right angles to its axis by an adjusting screw which meshes with the cylinder.

Abstract: Apparatus for looping the free end portions of the outermost convolutions of helical binders which are threaded through the perforations of a stack of loose leaves has a pivotable tool with a cutting edge which clips the end convolution of a properly located binder and a bending edge which bends the free end portion of the clipped end convolution over the neighboring convolution. A rotary loop forming device is thereupon actuated by a lever to convert the deformed end portion into a loop which surrounds the neighboring convolution. The loop forming device has a guide face which cooperates with a parallel second guide face provided on a reciprocable hold-down device which is caused to extend between the end convolution and the neighboring convolution while the end portion is converted into a loop.

Abstract: Apparatus for accumulating discrete stacks of superimposed note books has a feeding conveyor which delivers note books seriatim into each of a battery of receptacles forming a row which extends transversely of the direction of feed of note books. Each receptacle has a composite bottom wall with two elongated horizontal carriers which are movable sideways toward and away from each other to constitute a platform for an oncoming note book in those positions in which they are closer to each other and to provide an opening for gravitational descent of a note book onto a stacking table therebelow in those positions in which they are more distant from each other. The carriers are parallel to the direction of feed of note books into the respective receptacles, one carrier of each bottom wall is connected to a first reciprocable support, and the other carrier of each bottom wall is connected to a second reciprocable support.