Sheet receiving apparatus in sheet-fed rotary printing press

Abstract: A sheet receiving apparatus in a sheet-fed rotary printing press includes at least one paper receiving bar (35a,35b,35c), an air cylinder (25), and a moving plate (30). The paper receiving bar is inserted in a dropping path for a sheet-like printing product to temporarily stop it after printing. The air cylinder moves the paper receiving bar between a wait position and a sheet receiving position. The moving plate supports the paper receiving bar to be movable in a widthwise direction of the printing product.

Description: Background of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet receiving apparatus in a sheet-fed rotary printing press which temporarily receives a sheet as a printing sample from sheets that are printed, conveyed, and delivered onto a pile board. In a sheet-fed rotary printing press, a sheet 1 printed by a printing unit is gripped and conveyed by the grippers of delivery chains, is released at a convey terminal end, and is dropped onto a pile board and stacked there. In this printing operation, the operator checks from time to time if the density of the ink and water of the delivered printing product is appropriate so defective printing is not performed. In the conventional checking method, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-87469, a plurality of rod-like sheet receiving members are horizontally and quickly moved forward and backward to and from a delivery sheet dropping path to receive a dropping printing product, thereby temporarily stopping the operation of stacking the printing product onto a pile board. While the printing product stacking operation is temporarily stopped, the operator extracts one to three printing products stacked at the top of the pile board and compares them with a regular printing sample. With a double-sided simultaneous printing product, when the sheet receiver is temporarily moved forward under the lower surface of the printing product to receive it, the lower surface of the printing product where the ink is not dried is brought into slidable contact with the sheet receiver. Therefore, the lower surface of the printing product is soiled by rubbing off of the ink to produce a defective printing product. Then, the defective printing product must be removed from the stacked printing products, which is cumbersome. Another sheet delivery apparatus for printing machines is known from document GB 861 133 showing an apparatus which ensures the replaceability of a platform having printed sheets piled thereon for an empty platform. In order to achieve this, an auxiliary apparatus is provided which acts as an intermediate storage. If the platform is to be replaced, the receiving members of the auxiliary apparatus are pivoted from an inoperative position to an operative position, the receiving arms being pivoted around a pivot. An arm, which functions as a sheet receiving member by an operating lever, pivots, and moves between a fixed inoperative position and a fixed sheet receiving position. Therefore, the sheet receiving position itself by the arm is not adjustable. Document DE-A-2 301 840 shows a sheet delivering apparatus of a sheet-fed printing press, in which the sheets are eitherconveyed by an endless chain conveyor to foldaway stacking stops and laid on the stack, or, for the purpose of removal of a control sheet, are briefly placed on supporting fingers positionable over the stack. From US 4 529 190 a sheet unloading device is known for use in a duplicating machine or the like wherein sheets are delivered seriatim at the exit end of the machine. The sheet unloading device is adapted for use in a printing machine or the like wherein sheets are delivered seriatim to a receiving tray whereat the sheets are deposited onto the top of a stack of sheets in the tray. Interposer means are movable to an operative position at the end of the tray for dividing the stack into a first, lower portion and a second, upper portion. The interposer means permit removal of the lower portion of the stack while sheets are continuously delivered to the upper portion of the stack. Thus, continuous unloading can be performed without either interrupting sheet delivery to the receiving tray or complete shut-down of the machine itself. DE 41 29 164 C1 relates to a device for uniting piles provided on the sheet-feeding device in the printing press. A residual sheet pile is supported by lattice bars to allow a sheet pile, which is fed into the printing press for printing, and a new pile to be united. A rake member is provided which is comprised of a plurality of lattice bars which are integrally interconnected to one another at fixed distances. The rake member as a whole is movable in a widthwise direction of the printed product. EP 0 741 098 A2 discloses a sheet receiving apparatus with a plurality of blowing tubes. Summary of the Invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet receiving apparatus in a sheet-fed rotary printing press in which occurrence of a defective printing product is prevented. It is another object of the present invention to provide a sheet receiving apparatus in a sheet-fed rotary printing press in which the operation of removing a defective printing product is not necessary. In order to achieve the above objects, according to the present invention, there is provided a sheet receiving apparatus according to the features of claim 1. Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1A is a plan view of a sheet receiving apparatus in a sheet-fed rotary printing press according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 1B is a front view of a moving plate shown in Fig. 1A; Fig. 2 is a rear view of the sheet receiving apparatus shown in Fig. 1A; Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line III - III of Fig. 1A; Fig. 4A is a sectional view showing covers and a guide plate fixed to each other, and Fig. 4B is an enlarged plan view of the guide plate shown in Fig. 4A; Fig. 5A is an enlarged plan view of a sheet receiving bar mounting portion shown In Fig. 1A, and Fig. 5B isasectional view taken along the line I - I of Fig. 5A; Figs. 6A, 6B, and 6C are views for explaining the position of the sheet receiving bar with respect to one printing product in four-surface printing, two-surface printing, andthree-surface printing, respectively; and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a moving plate showing the mounting portions of sheet receiving bars according to the second embodiment of the present invention. Description of the Preferred Embodiments The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1A shows a sheet receiving apparatus in a sheet-fed rotary printing press according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 1A, a stay 4 horizontally extends between a pair of frames 2 and 3 provided to be separate from each other by a predetermined distance. A pair of prismatic supports 5 are attached to the two ends of the stay 4 with bolts 6 to extend in a direction B opposite to a delivery direction A of a printing product. Flat plate-like covers 7a, 7b, and 7c, which are substantially rectangular when seen from the top, are arranged in series between the frames 2 and 3. One end of each of the covers 7a and 7c is fixed to the corresponding support 5 through bolts 8. Other-end portions of the covers 7a and 7c are connected to the two ends of the cover 7b through a pair of guide plates 20 fixed to the stay 4. As shown in Fig. 4B, a guide groove 23 which is open in the delivery direction A of the printing product is formed at the central portion of each guide plate 20. A plurality of holes 20a and 20b are formed in two rows on two sides of the guide plate 20 along the guide groove 23. The covers 7a and 7c, and 7b are fixed to the guide plates 20 with bolts 102 extending through the holes 20b. Each guide plate 20 is attached to the stay 4 with bolts 101 extending through the holes 20a such that its one side extending in the counter convey direction (direction indicated by an arrow B) of the printing product is inclined downward. The cover 7b is formed with a pair of wide notches 10 and a narrow notch 11 to be parallel to the guide groove 23. The notch 11 is formed at the center of the cover 7b between the notches 10. The notches 10 open in the counter delivery direction B of the printing product, in the same manner as the opening of the guide grooves 23. A lay shaft 12 is pivotally supported by supports 13 fixed to the frames 2 and 3. As shown in Fig. 2, a plurality of paper lays 14 are fixed to the lay shaft 12 at their proximal ends by split fastening. The lay shaft 12 is driven by an air cylinder (not shown) to pivot such that the paper lays 14 take an upright state indicated by a solid line and a laid state indicated by an alternate long and two short dashed line in Fig. 3. Referring to Fig. 3, a pair of right and left delivery chains (one delivery chain is not shown) 16 travel in the direction of arrow A. Gripperbars (not shown) extend between the pair of delivery chains 16 at a predetermined pitch. Each gripper bar is provided with a gripper unit composed of a gripper and a gripper pad. The delivery unit having the above arrangement Is disclosed in U.S.P. No. 5,797,321. As the delivery chains 16 travel, a printing product printed by the printing press is conveyed in the direction of arrow A in Fig. 3 as it is gripped by the gripper units. At the convey terminal end, the printing product is released from the gripper units and dropped onto a delivery plate board 17 to be stacked on it. The printing products stacked on the delivery plate board 17 are aligned in the vertical direction by their leading ends abutting against the paper lays 14. A guide 18 guides insertion of the delivery plate board 17. Lay hooks 19 prevent the printing product stacked on the delivery plate board 17 from dropping from the delivery plate board 17. As shown in Fig. 1A, a pair of air cylinders 25 are attached to the lower surfaces of the guide plates 20, provided between the covers 7a and 7c, and the cover 7b, through brackets 26 with bolts 27. A moving element 29 to engage with the guide groove 23 is attached to the distal end of a rod 28 of each air cylinder 25. The two ends of an elongated moving plate 30 are attached to the moving elements 29 with bolts 31 to extend between the moving elements 29. As shown in Fig. 1 B, the two ends of the moving plate 30 are bent in a crank manner. The moving plate 30 is formed with a pair of elongated holes 32 and an elongated hole 33 shorter than the elongated holes 32. The elongated holes 32 extend in a direction (a direction of arrows C - D) perpendicular to the convey direction of the printing product to match the width of the notches 10. The elongated hole 33 matches the width of the notch 11. Round rod-like paper receiving bars 35a, 35b, and 35c are supported by the moving plate 30. Proximal ends 36 of the paper receiving bars 35a, 35b, and 35c movably engage with the elongated holes 32 and 33. As shown in Fig. 5C, the proximal ends 36 of the paper receiving bars 35a, 35b, and 35c are cylindrical. The upper end of each proximal end 36 forms a projection 37 which is oval when seen from the top. The projection 37 has a width slightly smaller than width L of the elongated holes 32 and 33 and a height slightly smaller than the thickness of the moving plate 30. A screw hole 38 is formed at the center of the projection 37, as shown in Fig. 5A. As shown in Fig. 5B, a knob 40 has an abutting portion 41 formed at its lower portion and having substantially the same diameter as that of the proximal end 36. A screw 42 integrally projects from the lower end of the abutting portion 41. With the paper receiving bars 35a, 35b, and 35c having the above arrangement, the projections 37 of the proximal ends 36 of the paper receiving bars 35a, 35b, and 35c engage in the elongated holes 32 and 33 of the moving plate 30. The screws 42 of the knobs 40 are threadably engaged in the screw holes 38 of the corresponding proximal ends 36 to sandwich the moving plate 30 with the proximal ends 36 and abutting portions 41. The paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are attached to the moving plate 30 in this manner. The paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are mounted at positions corresponding to the non-printing areas in accordance with the paper size and plate making, as will be described later. The temporary sheet receiving operation of the sheet receiving apparatus in the sheet-fed rotary printing press having the above arrangement will be described. The pair of air cylinders 25 are actuated synchronously to move the respective rods 28 forward in the direction of the arrow B. The moving elements 29 move in the direction of the arrow B as they are guided by the guide grooves 23 of the guide plates 20, so that the moving plate 30 also moves in the direction of the arrow B. Since the three paper receiving bars 35a also move in the direction of the arrow B, the sheet released from the gripper units of the delivery chains 16 is placed on the three paper receiving bars 35a to 35c. Simultaneously, another air cylinder (not shown) is actuated to pivot the lay shaft 12 counterclockwise, as shown in Fig. 3. The paper lays 14 are accordingly set in the laid state indicated by the alternate long and two short dashed line, so the sheet located immediately under the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c can be extracted from the paper lays 14 as the printing sample. How the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are mounted will be described hereafter. As shown in Fig. 6A, when four-surface printing is to be performed for one printing product 50, four image areas 51 a to 51 d are arranged to correspond to four image patterns, and the three paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are positioned on the printing product 50 to correspond to three non-image areas 52a to 52c among the image areas 51 a to 51 d. As shown in Fig. 6B, when two-surface printing is to be performed for one printing product 50a, two image areas 53a and 53b are arranged to correspond to two image patterns, and one paper receiving bar 35c is positioned to correspond to one non-image area 54 between the image areas 53a and 53b. In this case, the paper receiving bars 35a and 35b are removed from the moving plate 30 by rotating the knobs 40 to disengage their screws 42 from the screw holes 38. As shown in Fig. 6C, when three-surface printing is to be performed for one printing product 50b, three image areas 55a to 55c are arranged to correspond to three image patterns, and the two paper receiving bars 35a and 35b are positioned to correspond to two non-image areas 56a and 56b among the image areas 55a to 55c. In this case, the paper receiving bar 35c is removed from the moving plate 30 in the same manner as described above, and the projections 37 of the proximal ends 36 of the paper receiving bars 35a and 35b are moved in the widthwise direction (direction of arrows C - D) of the printing product along the elongated holes 32 by loosening their knobs 40, thereby positioning the paper receiving bars 35a and 35b. After that, the knobs 40 are rotated to fasten them, so the paper receiving bars 35a and 35b are fixed. In this manner, the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c can be removed from the moving plate 30 or moved in the widthwise direction of the printing product in accordance with changes in plate making for the images of the printing products 50, 50a, and 50b. Therefore, the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c can be positioned in the non-image areas. When the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are positioned not to be located in the image areas, contamination of the image areas can be prevented, and occurrence of a defective sheet can accordingly be prevented. The operation of removing a defective sheet becomes unnecessary thus reducing the work load of inspection. The paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are moved as they are guided along the elongated holes 32 and 33 formed in the moving plate 30, and are removed by disengaging the screws 42 from the screw holes 38 through rotation of the knobs 40. Therefore, the number of components does not increase, and the structure is simplified. In the above embodiment, the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are moved or removed to cope with changes in plate making for images. Obviously, the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c may be moved or removed to cope with a change in paper size or position of the image. Although the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are moved forward by the air cylinders 25 in the paper delivery direction A, they may be moved in a direction perpendicular to the convey direction A of the printing product to match the direction along which the non-image areas are aligned. In the above embodiment, the paper receiving bars 35a to 35c are moved along the elongated holes 32 of the moving plate 30. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in Fig. 7, a plurality of screw holes 130b may be formed in a front end face 130a of a thick moving plate 130 in its longitudinal direction, and screws 136 may be formed on the bases of paper receiving bars 135a to 135c. The paper receiving bars 135a to 135c can be positioned at arbitrary positions by selectively, threadably engaging the screws 136 with the plurality of screw holes 130b. In the above embodiment, three paper receiving bars 135a to 135c are provided. However, it suffices if at least one paper receiving bar is provided. The covers 7a to 7c may form one plate. In this case, notches to oppose guide grooves 23 may be formed at positions corresponding to guide plates 20. As has been described above, according to the present invention, for example, when plate making for the image of the sheet is to be changed, the paper receiving bars can be moved in the widthwise direction of the printing product or can be removed to correspond to the non-image areas. The image areas will not be soiled, and occurrence of a defective sheet can be prevented. The operation of removing defective sheets becomes unnecessary thus reducing inspection work. Furthermore, the number of components does not increase, and the structure is simplified.

Claims: A sheet receiving apparatus in a sheet-fed rotary printing press, comprising: a plurality of sheet receiving members (35a-35c, 135a-135c) inserted in a dropping path for a sheet-like printing product to temporarily stop the printing product after printing; drive means (25) for moving said sheet receiving members (35a-35c, 135a-135c) between a wait position and a sheet receiving position; and a support mechanism (30,130) for supporting said sheet receiving members (35a-35c, 135a-135c), characterized in that said sheet receiving members (35a-35c, 135a-135c) being movable in a widthwise direction of the printing product thereby enabling positioning the sheet receiving members (35a-35c, 135a-135c) in a widthwise direction of the printing product, allowing to cope with changes in plate making for the images of the printing product, paper size or position of the image of the printing product and to position each of said sheet receiving members (35a-35c, 135a-135c) in a non-image area of the printing product. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said support mechanism is reciprocally driven by said drive means, and said sheet receiving members move between the sheet receiving position and the wait position while being supported by said support mechanism. An apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said sheet receiving members are detachably supported by said support mechanism. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said support mechanism comprises an elongated member (30) extending in the widthwise direction of the printing product, an elongated hole (32, 33) formed to extend through said elongated member to extend in the widthwise direction of the printing product, and a fixing member (40) for fixing one end of a corresponding one of said sheet receiving members movably engaging with said elongated hole to said elongated member. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said support mechanism comprises an elongated member (130) extending in the widthwise direction of the printing product, a plurality of screw holes (130b) formed in one end face (130a) of said elongated member and aligned in the widthwise direction of the printing product, and a screw (136) formed on one end of a corresponding one of said sheet receiving members to selectively engage with said screw holes. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said sheet receiving members comprise a rod-like member. An apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein said drive means comprises an air cylinder having a rod (28) that moves forward and backward, and said sheet receiving members move between the wait position and the sheet receiving position in accordance with a forward/backward movement of said rod.

Inventors: SAITO NOBUAKI, SAITO, NOBUAKI
Applicants: KOMORI PRINTING MACH, KOMORI CORPORATION
Application year: 1999
Main classification: B41F13
IPC codes: B65H31, B65H29, B41F13