Patents by Inventor Peter Förch

Peter Förch has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7232123
    Abstract: An apparatus for conveying sheets from a printing machine to a stack has highly rigid gripper bars that can be produced with relatively little expense, and the gripper assembly permits great flexibility in the use of the apparatus. The apparatus has at least one gripper bar carrying one or more grippers which, during the conveyance, holds a sheet at its edge between a gripper finger and a gripper pad. Endless chains move the gripper bar on a path between a cylinder belonging to the machine and the stack. An actuating mechanism opens and closes the gripper as a sheet is picked up from the cylinder and as it is allowed to fall onto the stack. In the opened state, the gripper finger is located below a path described by the upper edge of the gripper pad.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2004
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2007
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Peter Förch, Markus Möhringer, Paul Nicola
  • Patent number: 7198267
    Abstract: A sheet-processing machine, such as a rotary press, has normally closed grippers that circulate during operation. The grippers transport the sheets along a conveying section and guide the sheets at their leading and trailing edges. The conveying section is assigned a sheet decurler and a sheet guide device that follows the latter in the conveying direction. The conveying section further has a gripper opener assigned thereto for opening the trailing edge grippers carrying the trailing edges of the sheets in order to decurl the sheets. After the sheets have traversed the decurler and decurling has been carried out, the trailing edges are once more grasped with the trailing edge grippers for renewed positive guidance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2007
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Peter Förch, Sven Kerpe, Markus Möhringer, Paul Nicola
  • Patent number: 7156021
    Abstract: A machine for processing sheets of printing material has a cylinder for transporting the sheets and sheet supports which are mounted such that they can be rotated about a sheet support axis of rotation and in each case contain supporting segments for pressing the sheets onto the cylinder. The supporting segments are mounted such that they can be pivoted as desired into an active position and into a passive position about pivot axes that are skewed relative to the sheet support axis of rotation or about rotary joints determining the pivot axes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2007
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Peter Förch, Alexander Klee, Markus Möhringer, Stefan Mutschall, Paul Nicola, Marius Stelter
  • Patent number: 7011305
    Abstract: A device for aligning sheets prior to transferring the sheets to a sheet-processing machine includes at least one sheet-gripping device by the aid of which the sheet to be aligned is displaceable, the sheet-gripping device having at least one positioning table displaceable by an actuating drive in at least one of a sheet travel direction, transversely to the sheet travel direction, and in a direction wherein it is pivoted about an axis extending in a direction orthogonal to the sheet travel direction, the sheet to be aligned being fixable on the positioning table; and a method for aligning sheets by the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2006
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Peter Förch, Andreas Henn
  • Patent number: 6789442
    Abstract: A gear stage assembly having a gear stage with two meshing gearwheels for mechanically transmitting a torque includes individual magnets arranged in the form of a ring on each of the gearwheels in a manner corresponding to that of the teeth of the gearwheels, for producing magnetic forces in the gear stage, individual magnets of respective ones of the magnets formed in a ring being arranged with alternating polarity in the direction of rotation and forming a stage of magnets in a ring disposed parallel to the gear stage, for producing a preload torque in the gear stage; and a varnishing unit including the gear stage assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2004
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventor: Peter Förch
  • Patent number: 6604739
    Abstract: A method of aligning flat copies in a sheet-processing machine includes the steps of determining the actual position of a sheetlike material in relation to a coordinate system; implementing a nominal position of a cylinder that accommodates the sheetlike material to be aligned on the jacket surface of the cylinder by correctively controlling non-contacting radial/axial magnetic bearings so as to compensate for position changes of the cylinder or components thereof from the nominal position; and maintaining the cylinder in the nominal position thereof until the aligned sheet material is transferred to transport units arranged farther downline; a device for performing the method; a printing unit having the device; and a multicolor rotary printing machine having the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2003
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Peter Förch, Andreas Henn
  • Patent number: 6543351
    Abstract: An absorber for damping vibrations in a rotating component includes a primary part connectable to the rotating component so as to be fixed against rotation relative thereto; an absorber mass; the primary part and the absorber mass being couplable to one another via a damping and spring coupling so that the absorber mass is rotatable to a limited extent relative to the primary part; at least two antifriction bearings for mounting the absorber mass on the rotating component; the two antifriction bearings being nested within one another, so that one of the antifriction bearings is seated on a larger radius than the other; and an intermediate ring disposed in a radial direction between the two antifriction bearings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2003
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventor: Peter Förch