Abstract:
An apparatus and method is shown to retrofit a printing press to provide for perforations in a paper at the time of printing, which perforations aid the end user in tearing out coupons or redeemable items from the paper. An existing pipe roller is removed and replaced with a perforator assembly and a perforator roller. The assembly has perforator wheels that are adjustable left and right between limits, and can be lowered when perforations are desired. A threaded drive shaft moves the perforator wheels left or right. Cylinders lower the perforator wheels during perforating. Adjustments may be made electronically, as where to set the perforator wheels.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    This is invention relates to newspaper printing presses and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus to perforate a newspaper so that an item such as coupons can be easily removed. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Printing has come a long way since being developed by the Chinese where the material to be printed was carved into wood, rolled with ink and transferred by pressure to parchment. The development of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1440 was extremely crude and used a screw-type line press to print his famous Gutenberg Bible. Even the development of linotype, type setting and motor setting left a lot to be desired in the printing industry. As early as the late 1960s, newspapers began to use digital production processes and computers. By the 1970s, offset presses were common in the newspaper business. 
         [0005]    In the current era, offset lithography is the common way newspapers are currently printed. The image or text to be reproduced is first imaged on to a plane through a photographic negative of the content of an image. The image is placed on the paper by the use of rotating drums that contain the text and/or image. If color is desired, the paper will flow through a color tower that will add the proper color. 
         [0006]    However, as the Internet age has arrived, more people are getting their information and news by means other than newspapers. The newspaper industry has shrunk with the newspapers merging, being reduced in size and even shut down. As a result, the newspaper industry is looking for ways to survive and generate other sources of revenue. One source of revenue newspapers have found in the last few years is printing inserts and advertisements that are sent out with their newspapers. Anytime these advertisements may have coupons or redeemable items so that customers can get reduced pricing at particular stores or locations. 
         [0007]    One possible revenue for newspapers is if they can print coupons as part of the newspaper, which coupons can be torn out and taken to a store for redeeming in the form of reduced pricing or free goods. However, for ease of removing the coupon, some type of perforation of the newspaper is necessary at the time of printing. No device is known to Applicant to provide for such perforation of the newspaper on a selected basis. The coupons may appear in any section of the paper and it is desirable for the customer to be able to remove the coupons from the paper along the perforation line. Applicant is not aware of any device that provides for perforation of the newspaper at the time of printing. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for perforating a newspaper at the time of printing. 
         [0009]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of retrofitting an existing printing press so that perforation can be performed in the newspaper at the time of printing. 
         [0010]    It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method of retrofitting a printing press where an existing pipe roller is removed and replaced with the current perforating assembly. 
         [0011]    It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of controlling the perforation by adjusting the perforator up or down to control when the perforations occur or right or left to determine the width between perforations or perforations and the edge of the paper. 
         [0012]    A pipe roller nest is replaced with a current perforator assembly. The perforator assembly includes a urethane rubber-coated perforating roller and mounted immediately there above a support shaft with a threaded drive shaft. The threaded drive shaft will move a perforating head left and right with a pneumatic cylinder moving the perforating roller up and down. Drive rods are held in place by end brackets, all of which are supported on a support shaft. Limit switches make sure the perforators do not move too far right or left. 
         [0013]    There are separate drive shafts on each side of the perforator assembly with different motors being on each side to control either the left or the right drive shaft. By use of a split collar, the perforator roller and the perforator assembly can easily replace an existing pipe roller. 
         [0014]    By use of the proper electronic controls, the perforator assembly can be set to provide a perforated line along any particular fixed point in the newspaper as it feeds along to the rollers. A perforator head would be raised when no perforation is desired. Once the perforator has been positioned, left or right, it may then be lowered to provide the perforation desired. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a side view of a printing press showing a color tower and folder as exists in the prior art. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a pipe roller as used by a printing press in the prior art. 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is an elevated view showing how the prior art pipe roller is replaced with a perforator assembly. 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view showing the perforator assembly as installed. 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is an enlarged perspective view of an individual perforator. 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a control panel for perforators  1  through  4 . 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a control diagram for a single perforator in the UP position. 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  is a control diagram for a single perforator in the DOWN position. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0023]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , an elevated view of a portion of a printing press  11  is shown. A roll of paper  13  is rotatably mounted on roll stand  15 . From the roll stand  15 , paper  17  feeds from the roll of paper  13  up through color tower  19 . Color tower  19  will have a yellow color unit  21 , blue color unit  23  and red color unit  25 . If color is not needed, a black color unit  27  is also provided. Depending what is needed in that section of the newspaper, appropriate printing will occur on paper  17 . The paper  17  also feeds through pipe roller nest  29  located at the top of the color tower  19 . In the pipe roller nest  29  are located a series of pipe rollers  31 . 
         [0024]    From the pipe roller nest  29 , the paper  17  feeds to a folder unit  33 . The folder unit  33  consists of an upper folder  35  with upper folder board  37 . If needed, the paper  17  can also feed to lower folder  39  and lower folder board  41 . Lead-in rollers  43  maintain tension on the paper  17  as it feeds from the color tower  19  to the folder unit  33 . 
         [0025]    As the paper  17  feeds through upper folder  35 , then lower folder  39 , it goes across a cutting cylinder (not shown) and a folding cylinder  45 . From the folding cylinder  45 , the newspaper drops down onto conveyor belt  47 . 
         [0026]    The particular newspaper being run may call for strictly black and white and no color. Then, newspaper may be taken from paper roll  49  on the single black print unit  51 . It may be that different sections are being formed at one time and each of those different sections of the paper will come together on a conveyor belt  47 . There may be six or seven different webs coming in to form a section and then each section coming together to form the entire paper. 
         [0027]    Turning now to  FIG. 2 , a perspective view is shown of a single pipe roller  31  as contained in the pipe roller nest  29  of  FIG. 1 . The pipe roller  31  has a cylindrical pipe  53  rotatably mounted by bearings  55  on either end thereof to press frame  57 . 
         [0028]    The paper  17 , also referred to as a “web”, feeds over cylindrical pipe  53 , which is free to rotate inside a bearing  55 , all of which is mounted on press frame  57 . In  FIG. 3 , the cylindrical pipe  53  is removed along with the bearings  55 . Attached to the pipe roller-mounting bracket  59  is a lower split collar  63  held in position on the pipe roller-mounting bracket  59  by lower split collar screws  65 . The upper split collar  61  is attached to the lower split collar  63  by split collar screws  67 . 
         [0029]    Held between the upper split collar  61  and lower split collar  63  is center shaft  69 . Center shaft  69  extends from the left split collar to the right split collars as shown in  FIG. 3 . Mounted on the center shaft  69  is a perforator roller  71  that has a blend of urethane and rubber on the outside thereof. The blend should be hard enough for a perforator to cut the web or paper  17 , but at the same time have enough resiliency to return to its original condition. At the same time, the perforator roller  71  should be durable enough not to wear out with the continuous running of the paper  17  there across. Applicant has found that a coating that has approximately 90 durometers of hardness is close to the ideal hardness. The specific urethane rubber blend that is being used by Applicant is made by Tech-Energy Co. and is identified as “coated perforator roller”. 
         [0030]    The perforator roller  71  is maintained in position by stops  73  on either end thereof. Bearings  75  allow for ease of rotation of the perforator roller  71  on the center shaft  69 . Center shaft  69  does not rotate. 
         [0031]    Also mounted on the lower split collar  63  is a perforator assembly mounting bracket  77 . The perforator assembly-mounting bracket  77  is held in position by lower mounting block  79  and screws  81  that threadably attach to the perforator assembly-mounting bracket  77 . At the top of the perforator assembly-mounting bracket  77 , upper mounting block  83  is threadably connected thereto with upper mounting block screws  85 . Secured between the upper mounting block  83  and the perforator assembly-mounting bracket  77  is support shaft  89 . Support shaft  89  is prevented from rotating by any convenient means such as a flat surface on one side thereof and set screws (not shown) connecting into the flat surface. A perforator assembly  91  mounts on the support shaft  89 . 
         [0032]    The perforator assembly  91  has a left end bracket  93  and a right end bracket  95  securely fastened to support shaft  89  and held in position by setscrews  97 . Center bracket  99  is also attached to support shaft  89  and held in position by setscrews  97 . The setscrews  97  screw into a flat portion or a flat mill out of support shaft  89 . 
         [0033]    Also held in position by left end bracket  93 , right end bracket  95  and center bracket  99  is top guide rod  101  and bottom guide rod  103 . Top guide rod  101  does not rotate and is held in position by top guide rod set screws  105 . Likewise, the bottom guide rod  103  is held in position by bottom guide rod set screws  107 . 
         [0034]    On the left end of the perforator assembly  91  is a left drive motor  109  mounted on the left end of the top guide rod  101  and the bottom guide rod  103  by left drive motor bracket  111 . The left drive motor  109  connects to left threaded drive shaft  113  by left universal joint  115 . By appropriate signal to the left drive motor  109 , the left perforator head  117  may be moved either left or right. The thread of the left threaded drive shaft  113  threadably engage with the left perforator head-mounting bracket  119 . Turning of the left threaded drive shaft  113  by left drive motor  109  will cause the left perforator head  117  to move either left or right depending on the direction the left drive motor  109  was turning. 
         [0035]    Connected to the top of the left perforator head mounting bracket  119  is left pneumatic cylinder  121 . Left pneumatic cylinder  121  either extends or retracts left pneumatic cylinder shaft  123 . On the lower end of the left pneumatic cylinder shaft  123  is a left perforator shaft  125  extending at a right angle thereto. The left perforator  127  rotates on the left perforator shaft  125 . By applying pressure to the left pneumatic cylinder  121 , the left pneumatic cylinder shaft  123  is extended causing the left perforator shaft  125  to lower the left perforator  127 . 
         [0036]    The same explanation explaining the operation of the left perforator head  117  applies to the right perforator head  129 . Therefore, the explanation will not be repeated herein. It is only necessary to identify by number the right pneumatic cylinder  131  and the right perforator  133 , which are carried on the right threaded drive shaft  135 . The right threaded drive shaft  135  is operated by right drive motor  137 . 
         [0037]    Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5  in combination, these figures show the perforated assembly  91  fully connected into the printing press  11  with pneumatic and electrical connections. Referring first to  FIG. 5 , an enlarged partial rear perspective view of the left perforator head  117  is shown. The left perforator  127  has a left trolley wheel  139  and a right trolley wheel  141  with a perforator wheel  143  being located there between. The perforator wheel  143  extends about 1/32,000 of an inch radially from left trolley wheel  139  and right trolley wheel  141 . The 1/32,000 of an inch is enough so that when pressed against the paper  17  on perforator roller  71 , perforations will be cut in the newspaper  17 . Also, as can be seen in  FIG. 5 , the perforator roller  71  has the urethane rubber blend coating  145  applied to metal cylinder  147 . The urethane rubber blend coating  145  is resilient to return to its original position after having the perforator wheel  143  pressed there against, but only for 1/32,000 of an inch. 
         [0038]    Referring back to  FIG. 4 , a front perspective view is shown of the perforator assembly  91 . Like numbers have been applied to like parts as previously described in conjunction with  FIGS. 3 and 5 . An additional feature, not described in conjunction with  FIG. 3  is shown in  FIG. 4  as a laser sensor consisting of a laser sending unit  149  and a laser receiving unit  151 . When the left perforator  127  or right perforator  133  is down in perforating preparation, if the laser beam from the laser sending unit  149  is interrupted and not received by the laser receiving  151 , the perforator that is being used is raised by removing the pressurized air from either left pneumatic cylinder  121  or right pneumatic cylinder  131 . 
         [0039]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , a control box  153  is located at the control station to communicate with the operator of the printing press  11 . The control box  153  has a left perforator control panel  155  for the left perforator  127  and the right perforator control panel  157  for the right perforator  133 . Two additional control panels  159  and  161  are provided to control additional perforators (not shown nor described). For the sake of illustration, Applicant will describe in detail only the left perforator control panel  155 . 
         [0040]    The pressure gauge  163  indicates the pressure being applied to the left pneumatic cylinder  121  (see  FIG. 3 ) which is typically around 15 psi. If too much pressure is applied, it can cause problems with the feed of the paper  17 . However, not enough pressure and the perforator wheel  143  will not cut the paper. The pressure delivered to the left pneumatic cylinder  121  as measured by pressure gauge  163  can be adjusted by pressure control knob  165 . If indicator light  167  is lit that means the perforator wheel  143  is down. Selector switch  169  allows the operator to select concerning the left perforator  127  as to whether it is up, down or is operating in an automatic mode. 
         [0041]    Perforator selector switch  171  allows the operator to select one of the four perforators being monitored. For the sake of explanation, the numeral  1  refers to “PERF- 1 ” which is controlling the left perforator control panel  155  and left perforator  127 . The position of the left perforator  127  is indicated in the digital read-out  173 . Below the digital read-out  173  is a series of push buttons. Assuming the perforator selector switch  171  is on the numeral  1 , which indicates the digital read-out  173  is monitoring “PERF- 1 ”, which for this explanation is the left perforator  127  as indicated in the left perforator control panel  155 . The ON/OFF switch  175  will turn ON or OFF the digital read-out  173 . Assuming the ON/OFF switch  175  is ON, the position of the left perforator  127  can be measured in either inches or meters by pushing the INCH/METER switch  177 . If a particular position has been programmed in memory by the left perforator  127 , by pushing the memory select switch  179 , the position as contained in memory can be called up. If at any time during the operation it is necessary to move the left perforator  127 , but its position prior to movement needs to be recorded, then the zero switch  181  is pressed to maintain the zero set point. 
         [0042]    Assuming the perforator selector switch  171  is still set for the numeral  1  which indicates the left perforator  127  is being controlled, motor switch  183  may be turned left or right to adjust the left perforator  127  either left or right assuming the left perforator  127  is raised at that time. Since the control box  153  is located at the operator station, the operator station does not use “left” or “right”. Instead, the operator thinks in terms of “far side” or “near side”. Therefore, the notations “FS” and “NS” are used for the motor switch  183 . Depending upon the arrangement of the printer press  11 , “FS” could be either left or right. 
         [0043]    If the motor switch  183  is turned and the limit switch is reached for the left perforator head  117 , far side indicator light  185  or near side indicator light  187  will be lit. 
         [0044]    If someone interrupts the laser beam from the laser sensing unit  149  to the laser receiving unit  151  as described in connection with  FIG. 4 , safety limit active indicator  189  will light up indicating the laser beam has been broken. When that occurs, the pressure being applied to the left pneumatic cylinder will be removed and the left perforator  127  will be raised. 
         [0045]    Power for the entire system may be turned ON or OFF by power knob  191 . If power is ON, power indicator light  193  will light up. 
         [0046]    Referring back to  FIG. 5 , the controls at the operator station can also be made on the line by someone adjusting the equipment. As is explained in conjunction with left perforator head  117 , a digital control box  195  has the same information concerning left perforator as is contained in the control box  153  at the control station. Local digital readout  197  provides the same information as digital readout  173  in the control box  153 . 
         [0047]    Likewise, local ON/OFF switch  199  turns the local digital readout  197  ON or OFF. Local inches/meter switch gives the position of the perforator head in inches or meters. Also, local memory select switch  203  allows a particular position to be stored in memory. Lastly, local zero switch  205  allows a position of the perforator head to be zeroed out at the perforator head. If preset conditions are to be loaded into the digital control box  195 , they can be set by preset switches  207  and  209 . A left limit can be set for left perforator head  117  by left set knob  211 . Likewise, the right limit switch can be set by right set knob  213 . 
         [0048]    Referring to  FIGS. 7 and 8  in combination, a pictorial block diagram is shown for the adjustment of a perforator head. For the purposes of the present illustration, it is assumed that the perforator head shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8  is left the perforator head  117 . Air supply  215  is controlled by solenoid  217 , which allows pressurized air to flow to or from left pneumatic cylinder  121 . If the air supply  215  is delivered to the left pneumatic cylinder  121 , the left pneumatic cylinder shaft  123  will be extended, which will lower the left perforator shaft  125  and the left perforator  127 . The laser sending unit  149  and the laser receiving unit  151  are actually located in front of the left perforator  127 . If the laser beam is interrupted while the left perforator  128  is down, safety relay  219  will be activated to operate the auto/manual switch  221  to remove the air delivered by the air supply  215  and hence raise the left perforator  127 . 
         [0049]    If the pressure switch  223  is closed, which means the left perforator  227  is down, then the left perforator head  117  cannot be moved either left or right. However, assuming the left perforator  227  is raised to the UP position as shown in  FIG. 7 , by operation of the left relay  225 , the left perforator head  117  can be moved to the left until it hits the left limit switch  227 . Likewise, by operating the right relay  229 , the left perforator head  217  can be moved until it reaches the right limit switch  231 . Note the left relay  225  and the right relay  229  feeds through motor relay  233  to turn the left drive motor  109  either right or left, depending upon which has been selected. 
         [0050]    While other voltages could be used, a 12 Volt supply  235  is recommended.