Patent GB-772845-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to feeding devices for books, booklets, pads and like articles of comparable thickness
Inventor: BAILEY ERIC
IPC: B65H5/16
Filed: 1954-04-26
Abstract: 772,845. Feeding books and like articles. BRITISH TABULATING MACHINE CO., Ltd. April 26, 1954; No. 11965/54. Class 117 [Also in Group XVI] Books; booklets, pads and like articles are fed from a stack 1, Fig. 1, in a hopper 2 one at a time through a side aperture 5 by a member 4 carrying a picker plate 3 and book advancing pawls-8, 11 which reciprocates below and is spaced from a fixed member 35, 37 carying book retaining pawls 6, 10, the sets of pawls being sprung towards each other and so disposed on the members that a book is advanced past a set of pawls on the fixed member at each reciprocation. The pawls 11 advance the books &c. into engagement with a stop on the grippers 12 when the platen roll 13, on which they are mounted, is stationary. Towards the end of the feeding stroke, a cam mounted on the member 4 releases the latch 25 holding the arm 26 of a cam 27 and the grippers close. An electromagnetically controlled clutch is then engaged to cause the roll 13 to be rotated to bring a desired line on the outer cover of the book to position 36 and then step-by-step to feed the book one line at a time. When the platen has been rotated beyond the last printing line, in this example the tenth, the grippers are released by the high point of the cam 27 and the book is fed by the rotary armed member 38 into a stack backed by the pressure plate 39. The member 4 is driven by a link 20 connected to a crank-arm 16 on a shaft 17 driven trough bevel gearing by a shaft 14. Each pawl 11, Fig. 6, is carried by a pin 78 mounted in the arms 79 of a block 76 which is itself pivoted on a pin 75 extending between a pair of fixed blocks 70. A spring 77 is inserted between the block 76 and a fixture 73, and a spring 80 bears on the undersurface of the pawl and on the top of the block 76. The platen drum 13 is mounted on a shaft 48 on which are freely mounted three substantially identical cam housings 85. Gripper carrying members 86 rotating with the shaft 48 are located between the housings 85, Fig. 2. The grippers 12 are hinged on pins 87 and extend across the faces of the members 86. A curved member 29 secured to each gripper carries a spindle 32 bearing rollers 30 which run on the cam 27. Each gripper is held against the member 86 by a helical spring 31 attached to a fixed pin 33 and an extension of the plate 29. The shaft 14, Fig. 7 is driven from a continuously-running main shaft through a train of gears in which is an electro-mechanical clutch mechanism 104 of the kind described in Specification 679,944 [Group XIX]. This clutch is used to connect the gear 102 to the shaft 103 on which it is free: A gear 114 integral with the gear 102 drives a gear 116, Fig. 7, provided with a tongue which mates with a groove 118, Fig. 8, in a ratchet gear 117 fast on a shaft 119. A detent plate 120 is mounted freely on the shaft 119 and carries a pivoted pawl 121 which is pivoted at one end 122 and retained at the other by a spring 123 anchored at 124. A stop post 126 mounted on a plate 125 free on the shaft 119 protrudes through a slot 127 in the plate 120 and coacts with the free end of the pawl 121, the spring 123 and a spring 128. The latter spring is attached at one end to a pin 129 mounted on the pawl and at the other end to the post 126. A pin post 130, also mounted on the plate 125, protrudes through a slot 131 in the plate 120 and engages the outer edge of the pawl 121. Ten teeth 132 are formed on a part of the periphery of the plate 125 and are engageable in turn by a projection 133 on the lever 134 which is pivoted at 135. A slot 136 in one end of the lever is engaged by the end 137 of a pivoted armature 138 which is positioned selectively in two positions by electromagnets 140, 141. The other end of the lever is engaged by sprung frictional latching pawl 142. The detent plate 120 also has ten notches 143 which are engaged by a sprung lever 144. An arm 146 mounted on the pivot post 135 carries a roller 147 which engages a cam plate 148 secured to the plate 120. A screw 149 mounted on the arm 146 is adjusted to engage the edge of the lever 134 to cause the projection 133 to engage the last tooth of plate 125 when the roller 147 is pulled into the recess 150 of the cam 148 by the spring 152. The roller drops off the cam to engage the projection in the first tooth. A gear 153 secured to the side of the plate 125 meshes with a gear 154 secured to the shaft 48 of the platen drum. The gear 153 meshes with a gear 155 carrying an arm 157 provided with a roller 158. This roller engages the slots 159 of a Geneva mechanism to rotate the shaft 47 carrying the fingers 38. The clutch may be turned tooth-by-tooth from its first tooth position to its ninth tooth position by suitably timed pulse energization of the magnets 140, 141. Means may be provided whereby the whole feed in relation to the operational position for printing may be advanced or retarded to allow for printing on books of other thicknesses and, at the same time, appropriately - adjusting, the throat blades. An eccentric 201, Fig. 10, mounted in a block 203 and journalled in the side wall 40 when actuated by the handle 200 causes the whole feed to slide forwards or backwards upon cross members 209, 210. The eccentric 201 is connected by links 204, 205, 206 to an eccentric 207 which when turned moves a block 208 connected to throat blade 60 to adjust the throat gap.