Abstract: An inserting machine and method for transporting newspapers is provided. The inserting machine includes a pocket conveyor having a plurality of interconnected pockets, each pocket having a fixed pocket wall, a movable pocket wall, a first side gripper, a second side gripper, a center gripper located between the first and second side grippers, at least one first suction opening on the fixed pocket wall and at least one second suction opening on the movable pocket wall. The at least one first and second suction openings coupled to a vacuum source. Hoppers are located above the pocket conveyor to feed inserts to the pockets in the pocket conveyor. The machine also includes a set of actuators for separately controlling movement of the movable pocket wall, the first side gripper, the second side gripper, and the center gripper, and for separately controlling application of a vacuum to the at least one first and second suction openings.

Abstract: A newspaper is provided. The newspaper includes printed materials. The printed materials have an off-center cross-fold which defines a longer part and a shorter part and an outermost page and an innermost page of the newspaper. The newspaper also includes an adhesive closure for securing the off-center cross-fold. The adhesive closure contacts a short part of the outermost page of the newspaper and a long part of the innermost page of the newspaper. A method for producing a newspaper is also provided.

Abstract: A method for transporting newspapers includes the steps of feeding an asymmetrically folded multiple section newspaper into a pocket of a pocket conveyor of an inserting machine, wherein the asymmetrically folded multiple section newspaper has an extended lap having a height of at least 15% of a height of the asymmetrically folded newspaper when unfolded. A face of a first section of the headline side of the newspaper, when fed into the pocket is adjacent a movable wall of the pocket, and a back of a last section of the headline side of the newspaper adjacent a fixed wall of the pocket. The method further comprises feeding one or more inserts from a hopper to the pocket, where the inserts are fed into an opening between newspaper sections, removing the newspapers with the inserts therein from the pocket with a gripper conveyor, and releasing the newspapers with the inserts from the gripper conveyor headline up on a lapped stream conveyor.

Abstract: A method for transporting newspapers includes the steps of feeding an asymmetrically folded multiple section newspaper into a pocket of a pocket conveyor of an inserting machine, wherein the asymmetrically folded multiple section newspaper has an extended lap having a height of at least 15% of a height of the asymmetrically folded newspaper when unfolded. A face of a first section of the headline side of the newspaper, when fed into the pocket is adjacent a movable wall of the pocket, and a back of a last section of the headline side of the newspaper adjacent a fixed wall of the pocket. The method further comprises feeding one or more inserts from a hopper to the pocket, where the inserts are fed into an opening between newspaper sections, removing the newspapers with the inserts therein from the pocket with a gripper conveyor, and releasing the newspapers with the inserts from the gripper conveyor headline up on a lapped stream conveyor.

Abstract: A stitcher is provided including a carriage having a center of gravity, the carriage movable between an extended position and a retracted position; at least one bearing for supporting the carriage; and an operating link for driving the carriage, a driving force of the link being applied through the center of gravity or between the center of gravity and the bearing. Another stitcher also is provided including a movable carriage having a center of gravity, the carriage movable between an extended position and a retracted position; and an operating link for driving the carriage, a driving force of the link being applied through the center of gravity when the carriage is in the extended or retracted position. A saddle stitcher is also provided. Methods for stitching are also provided.

Abstract: An automated mail transporting and sorting apparatus is provided. The automated mail transporting and sorting apparatus includes an identifying and processing machine for determining a particular category from a group of at least two categories of each mail item of a continuous stream of mail items, the at least two categories including a first category and a second category; a first sorting machine for receiving mail items of the first category; a second sorting machine for receiving mail items of the second category; and a continuous gripper line including a plurality of grippers, each gripper being adapted to grip one of the mail items processed by the identifying and processing machine, the gripper line arranged and configured to transport mail items of the first category to the first sorting machine and mail items of the second category to the second sorting machine. A method of transporting and sorting mail items and a gripper apparatus are also provided.

Abstract: A newspaper is provided. The newspaper includes printed materials. The printed materials have an off-center cross-fold which defines a longer part and a shorter part and an outermost page and an innermost page of the newspaper. The newspaper also includes an adhesive closure for securing the off-center cross-fold. The adhesive closure contacts a short part of the outermost page of the newspaper and a long part of the innermost page of the newspaper. A method for producing a newspaper is also provided.

Abstract: A stitcher is provided including a carriage having a center of gravity, the carriage movable between an extended position and a retracted position; at least one bearing for supporting the carriage; and an operating link for driving the carriage, a driving force of the link being applied through the center of gravity or between the center of gravity and the bearing. Another stitcher also is provided including a movable carriage having a center of gravity, the carriage movable between an extended position and a retracted position; and an operating link for driving the carriage, a driving force of the link being applied through the center of gravity when the carriage is in the extended or retracted position. A saddle stitcher is also provided. Methods for stitching are also provided.

Abstract: A method for eliminating rhythmic register errors in sheet-fed rotary printing machines, the sheets therein being transported by an impression cylinder of double size having two gripper arrangements, includes bringing front lays, which have been provided for orienting the sheets at a feed table, out of an end position outside a conveying plane of the sheets and into a first orientation position on the feed table, then bringing the front lays back into the end position, and thereafter bringing the front lays into a second orientation position on the feed table; and a device for performing the method.

Abstract: A device for conveying a stream, in particular an imbricated or shingled stream, of sheets to a sheet processing machine, having a conveyor table formed with suction holes, and at least one endless transport belt formed with suction holes extending therethrough and being revolvingly drivable around the conveyor table, includes at least one suction box disposed under the conveyor table and having vacuum applied thereto, the one suction box being connected, via the suction openings formed in the conveyor table, to an underside of the transport belt, the one suction box being individually assigned to the respective one endless transport belt and being formed with a single suction chamber, the one suction box having at least two suction connections spaced apart from one another, as viewed in a sheet transport direction.

Abstract: A device for aligning sheets on a feeding table of a sheetfed printing press having at least one swivelably mounted top lay and at least one swivelably mounted front lay, and a control device for cyclically moving the at least one front lay and the at least one top lay includes a control device for the at least one top lay operative independently of the control device for cyclically moving the at least one front lay and the at least one top lay, the at least one top lay being disposed so as to be vertically movable and being constructed wider than the at least one front lay, and the at least one front lay being laterally encompassed by the at least one top lay.

Abstract: Gripper control for a cyclically rockingly driven pregripper for single-sheet feeding in a sheet-fed printing press, the pregripper being disposed at a free end of a rocker lever, which is swivelable about a rocker shaft fixed to a frame of the printing press, and having at least one sheet gripper forcibly movable by cams about an articulated shaft disposed parallel to the rocker shaft, for closing and opening the sheet gripper when the sheet is taken over and transferred, respectively, one of the cams being revolvable a single revolution, and another of the cams being disposed on a locally stationarily swivelable roller lever carrying a cam roller engaging with the one cam, the other cam being swivelable cyclically in the position thereof, the position of the cams determining the closing time and opening time of the gripper, includes an indexing mechanism for fixing the other cam on the locally stationarily swivelable roller lever, the other cam having a first gripper-closing cam region and a first gripper-o

Abstract: Device for register correction and for compensating for distorted sheets in a pregripper of a feeder for a sheet-fed rotary printing press has a frame-fixed brace disposed on a pregripper shaft and located approximately centrally between end supports on a gripper bar, the gripper bar being supported rigid against torsion at opposite ends thereof on the pregripper shaft and being capable of executing swivelling movements in a sheet-feeding direction and in a direction opposite thereto, the frame-fixed brace serving for elastically bending the gripper bar in the sheet-feeding direction before the sheet is gripped by sheet grippers which are disposed side by side on the gripper bar and are swivellable about an axis of the pregripper shaft, the brace including a cam roller by which it runs onto an adjustable cam having a frame-fixed support, and an articulated joint with an eccentric element having a lever arm connected thereto for carrying the cam roller spaced from a center of the eccentric element.

Abstract: A device for uniting a residue sheet pile and a main sheet pile into an aggregate sheet pile wherein a lowermost sheet of the residue sheet pile rests upon and uppermost sheet of the main sheet pile includes a displacement device having a drive; and a rake displaceable by the displacement device along a displacement path in a pile slide-in direction from a first to a second position and from the second to the first position in a direction opposite to the slide-in direction. The residue sheet pile is seated with its undermost sheet on the rake in the second position thereof, and the main sheet pile is in engagement with the rake from below with the uppermost sheet thereof, in one phase of the pile uniting process. The rake has traversed the displacement path in the direction from the second to the first position thereof, in a final phase of the pile uniting process.

Abstract: A measurement device for detecting the presence of a sheet is disclosed. A paper sheet processing machine has front lays with stop surfaces at which the leading edges of paper sheets are aligned. The paper sheets are accelerated by pre-grippers to a speed sufficient for transferring the paper sheets to a paper sheet processing unit, such as a transfer drum in a sheet-fed rotary offset printing machine. The measurement device comprises upper and lower sensor members between which a gap is defined. The leading edges of sheets which are aligned at the front lays are disposed within the gap. The upper and lower sensor members forming upper and lower boundaries, respectively, of a scanning region which is defined vertically relative to the plane of the paper sheet. Paper sheets which cross the scanning region between the sensor members and which are aligned along the stop surfaces of the front lays are detected. A method and a corresponding pre-gripper assembly are disclosed as well.

Abstract: A device for uniting residual sheet pile and a main sheet pile into an aggregate pile, wherein a lowermost sheet of the residual sheet pile rests on an uppermost sheet of the main sheet pile, includes a pile-carrying plate having a horizontally oriented upper side whereon the residual sheet pile rests with its lowermost sheet prior to a performance of a pile uniting process, the pile-carrying plate having mutually parallel grooves formed on the upper side thereof, an auxiliary carrying device for temporarily carrying the residual sheet pile including an assembly of horizontally disposed and mutually parallel lattice bars fitting into respective cross sections of the grooves formed in said pile-carrying plate and combined into a rake, guide rails whereon said rake is mounted so as to be displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the lattice bars, a stop rail extending transversely to and being displaceable in the longitudinal direction of the lattice bars, the stop rail being formed with penetrations throug

Abstract: A process and an apparatus for prestacking in a sheet feeder of a rotary printing press provided with lateral stack stops, which can be adjusted to the format of the sheet to be printed, the printing press also having an automatic lateral stacking orientation and a stack raising apparatus, which are designed so that they make possible an easy manual prestacking in the sheet feeder by the operator.

Abstract: A sheet transfer device for a printing machine for taking over sheets which have been aligned at front lays and for transferring the sheets to a sheet-guiding drum includes a pregripper device swivellable between a sheet takeover and a sheet transfer position. Gripper pads are carried by the pregripper device, and a gripper shaft is swivel-mounted in the pregripper device and carries gripper fingers which are associated with the gripper pads. Also provided are a device for connecting the gripper shaft and the gripper fingers so that swivelling movements of the gripper shaft are transmitted to the gripper fingers, and a swivel device for swivelling the gripper shaft about a longitudinal axis thereof.