Device for guiding a brochure from a stock-piling device to a brochure conveying device

Abstract

A transfer device for package inserts is disposed between a brochure device and a brochure conveyor system has two pairs of two conveyor belts each. To enable ejection of defective package inserts two of the conveyor belts are disposed pivotably by means of a lever, in order to form an alternative conveyor path that transfers the defective package inserts into a discard bin. The transfer device of the invention makes early ejection of defective package inserts from a cardboard box-making machine possible.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an apparatus for delivering a brochure from a magazine system to a brochure conveyor system, as generically defined by the preamble to claim 1.

In a known apparatus of this type, the individual brochures or package inserts, once they have been folded, are gradually withdrawn from the brochure device and delivered by means of belts to a brochure conveyor system which has tongs and unites the folded brochures with a packaged product that is then inserted along with the brochure into a folding box. During operation, it may happen that a brochure has not been folded correctly, or for other reasons it may become necessary to eject the brochure over its further course or travel, to prevent the defective brochure from being slipped into a cardboard box together with the packaged product. As a rule, this ejection takes place in the region of the brochure conveyor system, before the defective brochure is put together with the packaged product or the folding box.

Conversely, it would be desirable to have an apparatus in which the ejection of a defective brochure takes place as early as possible, so that as needed, instead of the defective brochure, an error-free brochure can be furnished immediately, so as not to impede the further course of work in the packaging process.

Although that another apparatus is already known in which the ejection of a defective brochure already takes place in the brochure device, the functional reliability and space requirements of this known apparatus are unsatisfactory.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

The apparatus of the invention for delivering a brochure from a magazine system to a brochure conveyor system, having the definitive characteristics of claim 1, has the advantage over the prior art that a defective brochure can be ejected immediately after it has been withdrawn from the brochure device. As a result, on the one hand, a mistake in folding can be detected very quickly, since the defective brochure is ejected over the shortest possible course, and on the other, interruptions in operation, which can for instance happen if a plurality of defective brochures are processed immediately one after the other are avoided. According to the invention, this attained essentially by providing that the apparatus that has withdrawal and transfer belts has an ejection position, in which at least one withdrawal and transfer belt is pivotable out of its normal operating position, so that the defective brochure can be ejected before it is delivered to the brochure conveyor system.

Advantageous refinements of the apparatus according to the invention for delivering a brochure from a magazine system to a brochure conveyor system are defined by the dependent claims. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, two groups of cooperating withdrawal and transfer belts are provided, between which a stationary ejector element is disposed. As a result, in the ejection position of the apparatus, reliable ejection of the defective brochure is brought about, since in the ejection position, the stationary ejector element plunges between the two pivoted withdrawal and transfer belts.

DRAWINGS

One exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in the drawing and will be described in further detail below. Shown are:

FIG. 1, part of a cardboard box making machine in a simplified perspective view;

FIG. 2, the apparatus of the invention in a simplified perspective view; and

FIGS. 3 and 4, the apparatus of FIG. 2 in side views, during various operating states.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

In FIG. 1, part of a cardboard box making machine 10 is shown that serves to insert packaged material, not shown, together with brochures or package inserts 1 into folding boxes, also not shown. Inside the frame 11 of the cardboard box making machine 10, part of a first feeder system 12 for the packaged material can be seen, along with a brochure conveyor system 13, which is embodied as a revolving, endless chain, with brochure tongs 14 for the package inserts 1, the tongs being disposed at equal intervals from one another. A brochure device 15 for keeping the package inserts 1 on hand is shown in the region of the frame 11.

The brochure device 15 has a magazine 16 for the package inserts 1, in which the package inserts 1 are kept on hand, in the form of flat blanks. By means of the brochure device 15, the individual package inserts 1 are gradually fed out of the magazine 16 and folded, by means of a folder 17 located in the lower region of the brochure device 15, in such a way as to produce package inserts 1 folded for instance in striplike form, and additionally prefolded in U-shaped fashion so that the package insert 1, prefolded in a U, can be placed around the packaged product. A brochure device 15 as described thus far is already known.

A transfer device 20 serves to transfer the prefolded package inserts 1 gradually out of the folder 17 of the brochure device 15 to the brochure tongs 14 of the brochure conveyor system 13.

The transfer device 20 of the invention, shown in further detail in FIGS. 2 through 4, has a first pair 21 of two cooperating conveyor belts 22, 23, and a second pair 24, also of two cooperating conveyor belts 25, 26, which pairs are driven continuously by means of a common drive mechanism. The respective conveyor belts 22, 25 on the one hand and 23, 26 on the other are embodied identically as endless belts and serve to take over the package inserts 1 from the folder 17 in a takeover region 27 dispense into the brochure tongs 14. The conveyance of the package inserts 1 from the takeover region 27 to the transfer region 28 is effected by feeding the package inserts 1, between the runs facing one another of the conveyor belts 22, 23 and 25, 26, by means of flush contact with the runs.

The conveyor belts 22, 23 and 25, 26 are disposed in stationary fashion on a conveyor belt support 30. The conveyor belts 22, 25 are guided about a plurality of deflection wheels 31 through 35. The deflection wheel 31 is disposed near the takeover region 27, and the deflection wheel 32 is disposed near the transfer region 28. The deflection wheel 33 is disposed approximately in the center between the two deflection wheels 31 and 32. While the two deflection wheels 31 and 32 are disposed approximately vertically one under the other and form a first, nearly vertical conveyor path or conveyor segment 36 for the package inserts 1, the deflection wheel 32 is laterally offset from the deflection wheel 33, forming a second conveyor segment 37, inclined from the vertical, for the package inserts 1.

The other two conveyor belts 23, 26 are likewise guided about five deflection wheels 38 through 42. While one deflection wheel 38 is disposed somewhat below the deflection wheel 31 in the region of the takeover region 27, the deflection wheel 39 is disposed approximately at the level of the deflection wheel 32 in the region of the transfer region 28. What is essential is that the deflection wheel 39 is supported in a lever 43. The lever 43 is in turn supported pivotably in a shaft 44 approximately at the level of the deflection wheel 33. The pivoting of the lever 43 is effected by means of a pneumatic cylinder 45, which is braced on the conveyor belt support 30.

FIG. 3 shows the position of the lever 43 and of the two conveyor belts 23, 26 in which the transfer device 20 conveys package inserts 1 that have been properly folded. It can be seen that the lever 43 has been pivoted such that the conveyor belts 22 and 25 on the one hand and 23 and 26 on the other rest on one another between the takeover region 27 and the transfer region 28, on the side toward the package insert 1, and feed the package insert 1 along the first conveyor segment 36 and the second conveyor segment 37. In FIG. 3, the package insert 1 has just now reached the transfer region 28, and from there it is taken over by brochure tongs 14 of the brochure conveyor system 13.

To enable ejecting defective package inserts 1 from the transfer device 20, the two pairs 21, 24 of conveyor belts 22, 23, 25, 26 are spaced apart from one another, as can be seen best from FIG. 2. An ejection device is provided, in the form of a tublike discard bin 46. The discard bin 46 has a cutout 47 in the region between the conveyor belts 22, 26. The two portions 48, 49 of the discard bin 46 that laterally define the cutout 47 are, as can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 4, bent obliquely somewhat out of the vertical and extend to near the conveyor belts 22, 25.

FIG. 4 shows the ejection position of the transfer device 20, in which the lever 43 has been pivoted, compared to the position shown in FIG. 3, into a nearly vertical position, so that the two conveyor belts 23, 26 are spaced apart from the conveyor belts 22, 25 in the region between the deflection wheel 33 and the transfer region 28. A defective package insert 1, in the position of the lever 43 shown in FIG. 4, is thus conveyed along the first conveyor segment 36, whereupon, by gravity, after moving past the deflection wheel 33, it drops virtually vertically downward along a third conveyor segment 50, and in the process is engaged by the portions 48, 49 of the discard bin 46. Once it has also moved past the deflection wheel 39, it reaches the tublike region of the discard bin 46 by gravity and as a result of its kinetic energy and from there it can be removed by hand.

Claims

1-6. (canceled)

7. An apparatus (20) for delivering a brochure (1) from a magazine system (15) to a brochure conveyor system (13), the apparatus comprising

at least two endless withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26), whose runs are in flush contact for conveying the brochure (1), and in a first deflection region (27) of the withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26), a brochure (1) being transferred is taken over from the magazine system (15) and, in a second deflection region (28), the brochure is delivered from the withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26) to the brochure conveyor system (13), and

means pivotably supporting at least one of the withdrawal and transfer belts (23, 26) for creating an alternative conveyor path for ejecting the brochure (1), in which position the at least two withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26) are at least partly no longer in flush contact with one another.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, comprising two pairs (21, 24) of conveyor belts, each with two cooperating withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26) the two pairs (21, 24) being spaced apart from one another, and a stationary ejector element (46) between the two pairs (21, 24) of conveyor belts, the two withdrawal and transfer belts (23, 26) that have been pivoted into the ejection position cooperating with the stationary ejector element.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein of each two withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26) forming one pair (21, 24), one withdrawal and transfer belt (22, 25) is driven in a stationary path, and wherein a portion of the path of the other withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26) is pivotable.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein of each two withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26) forming one pair (21, 24), one withdrawal and transfer belt (22, 25) is driven in a stationary path, and wherein a portion of the path of the other withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26) is pivotable.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the belt driven in a stationary path is guided, on the side toward the brochure (1), between deflection wheels (31, 32) in the two takeover regions (27, 28) about one additional deflection wheel (33); wherein between the first takeover region (27) and the additional deflection wheel (33), an approximately vertically disposed first conveyor segment (36), and between the additional deflection wheel (33) and the second takeover region (28) a second, obliquely disposed conveyor segment (37), are formed; and wherein the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26) is disposed pivotably at the level of the additional deflection wheel (33), so that in the operating position, the two withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26) that cooperate with one another are operatively connected via both conveyor segments (36, 37), and in the ejection position the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26), beyond the additional deflection wheel (33), has a vertically disposed ejection portion (50), in which the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26) is spaced apart from the stationary withdrawal and transfer belt (22, 25).

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the belt driven in a stationary path is guided, on the side toward the brochure (1), between deflection wheels (31, 32) in the two takeover regions (27, 28) about one additional deflection wheel (33); wherein between the first takeover region (27) and the additional deflection wheel (33), an approximately vertically disposed first conveyor segment (36), and between the additional deflection wheel (33) and the second takeover region (28) a second, obliquely disposed conveyor segment (37), are formed; and wherein the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26) is disposed pivotably at the level of the additional deflection wheel (33), so that in the operating position, the two withdrawal and transfer belts (22, 23, 25, 26) that cooperate with one another are operatively connected via both conveyor segments (36, 37), and in the ejection position the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26), beyond the additional deflection wheel (33), has a vertically disposed ejection portion (50), in which the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26) is spaced apart from the stationary withdrawal and transfer belt (22, 25).

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26), at the level of the additional deflection wheel (33), further comprises a pivoting mechanism (43, 44) driven by a pneumatic cylinder (45).

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the pivotable withdrawal and transfer belt (23, 26), at the level of the additional deflection wheel (33), further comprises a pivoting mechanism (43, 44) driven by a pneumatic cylinder (45).

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the vertically disposed ejection portion (50) discharges into a discard bin (46) for defective brochures (1), and the brochures (1) pass from the ejection portion (50) into the discard bin (46) by gravity and by their own kinetic energy.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the vertically disposed ejection portion (50) discharges into a discard bin (46) for defective brochures (1), and the brochures (1) pass from the ejection portion (50) into the discard bin (46) by gravity and by their own kinetic energy.