Patent GB-191422314-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Gathering Machines for Paper Sheets and the like.
Inventor: SPIESS GEORG
IPC: B65H3/44
Filed: 1914-11-10
Granted: 1915-09-30
Abstract: 22,314. Spiess, G. Nov. 10. Signature gatherers and the like; pile tables for sheet feeds; separators; carriers; delivery apparatus. -- A sheetgathering machine is constructed to permit the whole length of the pile table to be utilized irrespective of the size of the sheets to be gathered. The piles of sheets, arranged on edge as usual, are placed adjacent to one another on a pile table 5, and the front sheets are taken and conveyed by a suction bar 1 on oscillating arms 2 to grippers 16 on a reciprocating carriage 15. The grippers deliver the sheets on to a grid table 22, and, after each delivery, a rake 23 rises through the grid to support the sheets and transfer them to the next position on the table 22 ready for the next delivery. the end pile of gathered sheets being moved on to a stack 42 by an independent reciprocating carriage 40 and depressed against the frictional mounting of its support 47 by an oscillating foot 45. The pile table 5 is supported in a slightly inclined position from a link 58 carried by pivoted arms 56, 60 on an adjustable support 59, and is tilted backwards slightly when sheets are being removed, so as to take the weight of the piles off those sheets, by a cam 63 acting through arms and links 64, 57, 56. The piles are pressed forwards hy hinged slides 65, 68 held apart by springs surrounding stops which limit the backward movement of the piles when the table 5 is tilted, the slides being fixed on endless bands 69 passing round rolls, one of which is fixed on a shaft operated by ratchet gear 52, 53 from the tilting arm 56. The support 59 is hung by chains 6 passing to a drum 7, which may be rotated by hand gear for adjustment. The edges of the sheets in each pile are marked by a resilientlymounted crayon on an arm 49, the marking of successive piles being at successively increasing distances from the end, so that the gathered pile shows a diagonal mark on the edge serving to indicate whether any sheets have been missed. The arms 2 carrying the suction bar 1 are oscillated by rods 3 from a crank-disk 4, which also oscillates, through a rod 13, a wheel 12 acting through a chain 14 to reciprocate the gripper carriage 15 on its guides 20, the connexions ensuring that the grippers move over and engage the edge of the sheets as the arms 2 are reversing their movement. The grippers then return and are opened by a stop-rod 51 to deliver the sheets on to the grid table 22. Guides 50 facilitate the delivery of small sheets. When the grippers again advance, a rake 23 slidably supported on bars 24 is raised through the grid, to support the sheets, by a cam 28 acting through a rod 26 and lever 25 to raise the bars 24, and simultaneously the rake is moved on the bars to advance the delivered sheets a step by a rod 33 adjustably connected to the rake and pivoted to an adjustable lever 31 rocked from a crank-disk 29, the return movement taking place when the rake is below the grid. The adjustment of the rack lever 37 on the rack support 32 provides for adjusting the movement to any size of sheets to be gathered. The end pile of gathered sheets is transferred to a stack 42 by a carriage 40 having an upstanding finger for engagement behind the pile, the carriage being reciprocated on guides 39 by a chain extending from the crank-disk 29, and the guides being moved vertically to engage and disengage the finger by a pivoted lever 37 actuated by the bars 24. The stack is supported on a bracket plate 47 frictionally held by a pin and spring 46 to the vertical side of a container capable of movement on rails 48 when filled by the superposition of gathered piles, which are pressed down by a foot 42 pivoted to an oscillating arm.