Front lay device for sheet-fed rotary printing presses

A front lay device for a sheet-fed rotary printing press comprising a feed table, a stop shaft disposed downwardly of a front end of the feed table and reciprocably angularly movable about its own axis, a stop holder mounted on the stop shaft and having a stop located adjacent to the front end of the feed table, a swingable hold-down member pivotably mounted by a pivot shaft on the stop holder and having a hook-shaped distal end disposed adjacent to the front end of the feed table, a cam shaft rotatable in synchronization with the stop shaft for driving the swingable hold-down member, and a link shaft drivable by the drive shaft for reciprocable movement about its own axis. The pivot shaft and the link shaft are operatively connected by a quadruplet link mechanism for lifting the swingable hold-down member from an upper surface of the front end of the feed table when a sheet is delivered onto the latter, and for bringing the swingable hold-down member toward the feed table to hold the sheet down against the feed table, while the stop shaft makes a single reciprocable angular movement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a front lay device disposed between a 
sheet feeder and a printing cylinder of a sheet-fed rotary printing press 
for holding the leading or gripping end of a sheet in position with 
respect to a printing plate. 
Sheets as delivered one by one onto a feed table by a sheet feeder in a 
sheet-fed rotary printing press are stopped for positional control by a 
front lay device located at a front end of the feed table. The sheet is 
then gripped by a swing gripper mechanism and supplied thereby onto a 
printing cylinder. The front lay device includes a front stop movable 
downwardly toward the leading end of the sheet on the feed table. As 
modern printing presses operate at higher speeds, there is a tendency for 
a sheet held against the front stop to become unstable. In order to 
stabilize the sheet, it is necessary to supply sheets at shorter intervals 
causing the leading end of the next sheet to reach the position of the 
front stop before the trailing end of the previous sheet is fed out past 
the front stop. The front lay device having the downwardly movable front 
stop, however, fails to meet such a requirement. 
To meet the high-speed requirement, there have widely been used front lay 
devices with a front stop movable obliquely upwardly at the front end of a 
feed table. These front lay devices however cannot be adjusted with ease. 
When the front lay device is not properly adjusted, sheets cannot be 
delivered smoothly, and the printing press often needs to be stopped due 
to improper sheet delivery. Once the printing press is stopped, a large 
spoilage of paper will occur before the printing press operates under a 
normal condition. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the present invention to provide a front lay device for 
sheet-fed rotary printing presses which can prevent a sheet from passing 
over a swingable hold-down member when the sheet is delivered onto a feed 
table and yet can hold the sheet on the feed table stably for increased 
register accuracy. 
According to the present invention, a swingable hold-down member is 
pivotably mounted by a pivot on a stop holder mounted on a stop shaft 
which is reciprocably angularly movable about its own axis. The pivot for 
the swingable hold-down member is operatively connected by a quadruplet 
link mechanism to a link shaft which is reciprocably angularly movable 
about its own axis by a shaft that is angularly movable in synchronization 
with the stop shaft for driving the swingable hold-down member. The 
swingable hold-down member can be moved toward and away from the upper 
surface of the front end of a feed table while the stop shaft makes one 
reciprocable motion. When a sheet is delivered onto the feed table, the 
swingable hold-down member is lifted away from the feed table to prevent 
the sheet from passing over the swingable hold-down member. When the sheet 
is to be positioned on the feed table, the swingable hold-down member is 
brought toward the feed table to hold the sheet down against the feed 
table stably for increased register accuracy. 
The many objects, features and advantages of the present invention will 
become more apparent from the following description when taken in 
conjunction with the accompaying drawings in which a certain preferred 
embodiment is shown by way of illustrative example.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
FIG. 1 shows a conventional front lay device having a front stop which is 
movable obliquely upwardly. The front lay device includes a plurality of 
stop holders 3 mounted on a stop shaft 2 disposed downwardly of a feed 
table 1, and a front stop 5 which is adjustable by an adjustment screw 4 
for lateral displacement (leftward or rightward as shown), the front stop 
5 being fixed by bolts 6 to the stop holders 3. Upon loosening of a 
setscrew 7, the front stop 5 is vertically adjustable in position. When a 
sheet of paper 8 is delivered onto the feed table 1 in the direction of 
the arrow A and has its leading end held against the front stop 5 for 
positional control, the stop shaft 2 is turned counterclockwise about its 
own axis to cause the front stop 5 to be retracted downwardly obliquely 
leftward away from the front end of the feed table 1. Then, a swing 
gripper mechanism (not shown) comes downwardly obliquely rightward toward 
the feed table 1 to grip the end of the sheet of paper 8, and delivers the 
sheet of paper 8 upwardly obliquely leftward, whereupon the sheet of paper 
8 is transferred to grippers and supplied thereby onto a printing 
cylinder. While the sheet of paper 8 is being delivered by the swing 
gripper mechanism, the stop shaft 2 is turned clockwise to allow the front 
stop 5 to return to the illustrated position for controlling the position 
of the following sheet of paper 8. The delivery of the sheet of paper 8 is 
not obstructed or disturbed by the front stop 5 as it returns before the 
trailing end of the sheet of paper 8 being delivered leaves the front end 
of the feed table 1. Thus, the front lay device shown in FIG. 1 can be 
used with high-speed printing presses. 
When the front stop 5 is too high with an increased gap t between the front 
stop 5 and the feed table 1, the sheet of paper 8 is apt to become 
unstable on the feed table 1, lowering the register accuracy. The front 
stop 5 is then positionally adjusted to equalize the gap t with the 
thickness of two or three sheets. Once the gap t is adjusted, it is fixed; 
when the gap t is too small, the next sheet of paper 8, as it is delivered 
onto the feed table 1, often passes over the front stop 5. Each time a 
sheet of paper 8 passes over the front stop 5, the printing press must be 
stopped for a predetermined period of time, during which balancing between 
the ink and dampening solution may be lost. Such a condition produces a 
large spoilage of paper until the print press operates in a normal 
condition after it has started operating. 
A front lay device according to the present invention is illustrated in 
FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5a through 5d. 
As shown in FIG. 2, a feed table 12 is disposed between an impression 
cylinder 11 rotatably supported in a printing unit and a sheet feeder, not 
shown. The feed table 12 has a width which is substantially the same as 
the length of the impression cylinder 11. The feed table 12 is inclined 
downwardly toward the impression cylinder 11. A stop shaft 13 is located 
downwardly of a front end of the feed table 12 for reciprocable angular 
movement about its own axis in one and opposite directions. A plurality of 
stop holders 14 are disposed around the stop shaft 13 and secured thereto 
by bolts 15. A stop 16 of an L-shaped cross section is attached by a bolt 
17 to each of the stop holdlers 14, the stop 16 having a raised portion 
located adjacent the front end of the feed table 12. The stop 16 is 
mounted on an upper projection of the stop holder 14 and is adjustable for 
movement toward and away from the feed table 12. The stop holder 14 has an 
upper U-shaped portion on which there is pivotably mounted by a shaft 19 a 
swingable hold-down member 18 composed of a link portion 18a and a 
catch-hook portion 18b, as shown in FIG. 3. The catch-hook portion 18b has 
a distal end positioned over the distal end of the feed table 12 and 
extending substantially parallel thereto. An adjustment screw 20 extends 
threadedly through the link portion 18a of the swingable hold-down member 
18. The adjustment screw 20 can be turned by a wrench 22 (FIG. 4) inserted 
through a through hole 21 defined in the feed table 12 to adjust a gap 
t.sub.1 between the catch-hook portion 18b of the swingable hold-down 
member 18 and the upper surface of the feed table 12. 
A cam shaft 23, which serves as a shaft for driving the swingable hold-down 
member 18, is rotatably disposed obliquely downwardly of the stop shaft 
13. The cam shaft 23 is rotatable about its own axis in synchronization 
with the reciprocable angular movement of the stop shaft 13. A link shaft 
24 is rotatably disposed obliquely downwardly of the cam shaft 23. A cam 
25 having a larger-diameter portion 25a and a smaller-diameter portion 25b 
on a cam surface thereof is mounted on the cam shaft 23. The link shaft 24 
supports thereon a cam lever 27 having a cam follower 26 rotatably mounted 
on a distal end thereof in abutting relation to the cam surface of the cam 
25. The link shaft 24 and the shaft 19, on which the swingable hold-down 
member 18 is pivotably mounted, are operatively connected by a quadruplet 
link mechanism 28 with the shafts 24 and 19 serving as joints at two 
opposite ends of the quadruplet link mechanism 28. 
The quadruplet link mechanism 28 includes a connecting rod 29 having an 
upper U-shaped end pivotably mounted by a pin 30 on the link portion 18a 
of the swingable hold-down member 18 and a lower end extending through a 
rod retainer 33 swingably mounted on a U-shaped distal end of a link 32 
which is fastened by a bolt 31 to the link shaft 24 for rotation 
therewith. A compression coil spring 35 is disposed around the connecting 
rod 29 between the rod retainer 33 and a collar 34 on a lower end of the 
connecting rod 29 for normally urging the connecting rod 29 axially 
downwardly. The connecting rod 29 has thereon a collar 36 which prevents 
the connecting rod 29 from moving downwardly with the compression coil 
spring 35 being held slightly in compression. When the cam shaft 23 makes 
one revolution the link shaft 24 is angularly moved back and forth, 
causing the quadruplet link mechanism 28 to swing the swingable hold-down 
member 18, whereupon the catch-hook portion 18b thereof moves away from 
and toward the upper portion of the front end of the feed table 12. 
A swing shaft 38 is disposed upwardly of the front lay device. The swing 
shaft 38 supports thereon a swing gripper mechanism (not shown) which is 
angularly reciprocably movable between angularly spaced positions shown by 
the dot-and-dash-lines C and D in FIG. 2 for gripping the end of a sheet 
placed on the feed table 12 and stopped by the front lay device and for 
delivering such a sheet toward grippers (not shown) that coact with the 
impression cylinder 11. 
Operation of the front lay device of the invention is as follows: Prior to 
the printing operation, eccentric bearings, not illustrated, in which the 
stop shaft 13 is journalled, are angularly moved for the registration of a 
sheet 37, and the wrench 22 is inserted through the hole 21 in the feed 
table 12 and turned to advance or retract the adjustment screw 20 for 
adjusting the gap t.sub.1 into conformity with the thickness of the sheet 
37. When the printing operation is started, the sheet 37 is fed by sheet 
feeder rollers of the sheet feeder, not illustrated, onto the feed table 
12 as shown in FIG. 5a. At this time, the stop shaft 13 has turned 
counterclockwise with the swingable hold-down member 18 retracted away 
from the feed table 12. Before the leading end of the sheet 37 reaches the 
front end of the feed table 12, the stop shaft 13 is turned clockwise to 
bring the swingable hold-down member 18 adjacent to the feed table 12. At 
the same time, the cam follower 26 is in contact with the smaller-diameter 
portion 25b of the cam 25, whereupon the swingable hold-down member 18 is 
turned counterclockwise via the quadruplet link mechanism 28. The leading 
end of the sheet 37 arrives at the front end of the feed table 12 from 
which the catch-hook portion 18b of the swingable hold-down member 18 is 
spaced upwardly. Therefore, even if the leading end of the sheet 37 is 
upturned or curved upwardly, it will not pass over the swingable hold-down 
member 18 as the latter is lifted upwardly of the feed table 12. 
Simultaneously with abutting engagement of the leading end of the sheet 37 
with the stop 16, the cam follower 26 is brought into contact with the 
larger-diameter portion 25a of the cam 25, whereupon the swingable 
hold-down member 18 is angularly moved clockwise to cause the catch-hook 
portion 18b to move toward the upper surface of the front end of the feed 
table 12, substantially holding the sheet 37 as registered by the stop 16 
down against the feed table, as shown in FIG. 5c. Therefore, the sheet 37 
is stably retained on the feed table 12 against upward movement out of 
registration. With the sheet 37 thus held on the feed table 12, the swing 
gripper mechanism, not illustrated is moved over toward the feed table 12 
to grip the leading end of the sheet 37. Since the swing gripper mechanism 
and the swingable hold-down mechanism 18 are displaced out of axial 
alignment with the stop shaft 13, they do not interfere with each other. 
When the swingable hold-down member 18 is retracted away from the feed 
table 12 to release the sheet 37 as illustrated in FIG. 5d, the swing 
gripper mechanism is angularly moved from the position C to the position D 
(FIG. 2) to feed the sheet 37 away from the feed table 12 toward the 
grippers coacting with the impression cylinder 11. Sheets can successively 
be fed onto the impression cylinder 11 through repeated operations as 
shown in FIGS. 5a through 5d. 
With the arrangement of the present invention, the swingable hold-down 
member is raised above the feed table when a sheet is delivered onto the 
latter to prevent the sheet from passing over the swingable hold-down 
member. Accordingly, the printing press is free from unwanted stoppage 
which would otherwise result from accidental passing of sheets over the 
swingable hold-down member. The spoilage of paper is thus greatly reduced 
as compared with conventional front lay devices. When a sheet is to be 
positioned on the feed table, the swingable hold-down member is moved 
adjacent to the upper surface of the front end of the feed table, holding 
the leading end of the sheet down against the feed table. Thus, the sheet 
can stably be placed on the feed table against upward movement out of 
registration, and the required degree of register accuracy is retained. 
Although a preferred embodiment has been shown and described in detail, it 
should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made 
therein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.