Patent ID: 9340380
Filing Date: 2016-05-17
CPC Classification: B42C,B65G,B65H

Claim Text:
1. An apparatus for supplying book blocks, comprising: a control unit; a feed conveyor coupled to the control unit to successively transport the book blocks with optional spacing: a buffer conveyor arranged downstream of the feed conveyor and connected to the control unit to receive a plurality of the book blocks from the feed conveyor and to transport the plurality of the book blocks at a first speed while fitting against each other without a gap; a clocking-in conveyor arranged downstream of the buffer conveyor and coupled to the control unit to respectively receive a single book block from the buffer conveyor at the first speed, accelerate the single book block from the first speed to a second speed and transport the single book block at the second speed; a path conveyor arranged downstream of the clocking-in conveyor and including a plurality of spaced apart pushers defining respective gaps between successive pushers, wherein each book is transported at the second speed toward the path conveyor and is inserted into one of the gaps between two successive pushers on the path conveyor; and a read-out unit arranged in a region of the buffer conveyor and couple to the control unit to detect and to transmit identification marks of the book blocks to the control unit, wherein the control unit adjusts the first speed of the buffer conveyor based on at least one of the detected identification marks of the book blocks and additional data from a database, an external memory, or the identification marks themselves.