Patent GB-1004093-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to signature gathering and stitching machines
Inventor: MCCAIN WILLIAM B
IPC: B65H5/30
Filed: 1962-04-13
Abstract: 1,004,093. Feeding sheets; sheet gatherers. CHICAGO MACHINERY LABORATORY Inc. April 13, 1962, No. 14468/62. Headings B6B and B6H. In a signature gathering and stitching machine, signatures with extended marginal flaps are removed sequentially from a stack, inverted, and placed on a flat aligner plate by means comprising a feed roller which is moved bodily to force the signature along the plate to the aligned position. Each signature is then opened, placed on a saddle, and fed to the stitcher. Stack supports; separators.-There are two identical hoppers H1, H2, each with a transparent cover, and each is provided with signature separating and opening apparatus arranged in a pivoted framework over a common saddle SD, and the framework can be swung relative to the saddle by means of a handoperated hydraulic piston device. In each hopper, the signatures S are stacked on a plate 200 with their folded edges against a plate 201, and each signature has the extended marginal flap uppermost. The bottom plate 200 stops short of the front plate 201, and the front of the stack is supported by a finger on a member 205 which is oscillated in synchronism with a pair of suckers 230S which pull down the bottom signature to a position where it can be grasped by rotating grippers 240F which remove the signature from the stack. The suckers 230S are carried by hollow arms secured to a shaft 235 mounted in arms 240, and a roller 236 on the shaft 235 is engaged by a cam whereby the shaft 235 is bodily oscillated. Carriers; aligning means.-The signature is taken from the suckers 230S by a pair of grippers 240F on a shaft 243 carried by a pair of discs, such as 240A, secured to a driven cam shaft 210, and the grippers deposit the signature on a pair of plates 260 with the folded edge downwards and the extended flap at the left (Figs. 4A and 5). The plates 260 have an adjustable gauge 261, and the signature is urged towards this by rubber-covered rollers 265 which are spring- urged towards the discs 240A and are camactuated to reciprocate bodily to urge the signature against the gauge 261. When the signature is aligned, it is flattened by a pivoted plate 300 which is urged yieldingly towards the aligner plates 260 by cam means. Opening signatures; grippers.-The aligned signature on the plates 260 is gripped at the projecting flap by a pair of grippers 310F carried by a pair of spaced rotary discs 310, and is carried around these discs to a point where a pair of grippers 327F, on an opposed pair of rotary discs 327, can grasp the shorter leaf of the signature. On continued rotation of the discs 310, 327, the signature is first opened and then released to fall on a fixed saddle SD. The downward feed of the opened signature is assisted by the provision of rubber rims 328 on the discs 327. All the grippers 240F, 310F, and 327F are similarly constructed and operated. The grippers 240F are secured on an eccentrically located rock shaft 243 extending between the two discs 240A, 240B (not shown) and each co-operates with a pad on a disc. A spur gear 245 fixed on the shaft 243 meshes with a segment gear 246G which is pivotally mounted on the disc 240A and rockable by a fixed cam 247- 5, whereby the grippers are opened and closed. Saddles; pusher feeds.-The saddle SD, Figs. 5 and 11, extends from the signature gatherer GS to the stapling section SR, and comprises a back plate 368 and a shorter front plate 369, and the gap 370C between them accommodates pusher fingers 370 on an endless conveyer chain 365. A signature deposited from the hopper H1 is moved beneath the hopper H2 where a second signature is placed over the first, and the two are conveyed to the stapler. Each finger 370 is in the form of a bell-crank pivotally carried by the chain 365, and is erected for feeding by the engagement of a lug on the lower limb of the bell-crank with fixed rails. By varying the size of the lug on a pusher finger and the shape of the coacting fixed rail, it is possible to vary the position of the signatures in the stapling position so that the staples applied to one pair of signatures are staggered from the staples applied to the next pair. Alternating with the signature feeding fingers 370, are feed elements 390 which are also of bell-crank form and pivotally carried by the chain 365, but these are only erected by the fixed rails when the signatures have been stapled, to feed them out of the stapling station. Specification 1,004,094 is referred to.