Patent GB-1223978-A (GB)
Title: Stacking machine for sheet materials such as newspapers magazines and the like
Inventor: SPENCER ROBERT L
IPC: B65H29/70
Filed: 1969-11-10
Abstract: 1,223,978. Sheet-delivery apparatus. BONNIERFORETAGEN AB. 10 Nov., 1969, No. 54999/69. Heading B8R. Apparatus for delivering sheet materials such as newspapers, magazines and the like in batches, comprises a number of racks 12 moved through a downward path, means spaced from the rack path to convey the sheets horizontally towards the racks, and stationary means for slidably engaging the rear edges of the sheets being delivered to the racks to bow the sheets intermediate their side edges as they enter the racks. Each rack 12 comprises members 40 fixed to a bar 42, Fig. 10, and having two legs at right-angles to one another. The central horizontal leg has a vertical extension piece 120, Fig. 10, thereon which, when a rack 12 reaches its initial sheet-receiving position, bows the first few papers delivered to the rack to maintain the side edges of the papers in alignment. As the rack moves downwardly, a stationary member 126 engages the trailing edges of the papers to impart a greater bowing to the papers. The member 126 which may be a flat plate or a channel-shaped plate is situated centrally of the trailing edges or to one side thereof according to whether each paper has no folds at its side edges or a fold at one edge, and the horizontal rack legs pass on either side of it. The bar 42 is guided by a member shaped so that the racks 12 in their downward movement first assume an inclined position and then a vertical position as shown in Fig. 1. From the latter position the horizontal legs pass between rollers 48 of a conveyer driven by a motor 54, the stack being deposited on the conveyer which conveys it out of the apparatus. Endless chains 16 carrying the racks 12 are driven from a motor 22 through a slipping clutch 24. The motor 22 is connected through a rheostat 26 to a generator 28 driven from the rollers 30 of an endless conveyer 76, Fig. 5, feeding the papers in overlapping formation to a further conveying apparatus 60 described below from wihch the papers pass to the racks. When a rack 12 approaches its paperreceiving position, it engages a spring-pressed plunger 102 which stops its movement, preferably gradually, and therefore stops the chains 16, the slip clutch 24 allowing this to take place without overloading the motor 22. A counter 96, Fig. 1, actuated by a feeler device 94, registers the number of papers passing through the conveying apparatus 60, and when a predetermined number is registered, a pulse is transmitted to a solenoid 100, Fig. 10, which withdraws the plunger 102, so that the new rack ahead of it delivers a stack to the conveyer 48. Above the delivery end of conveyer 76, a pair of rollers 80, 90 are mounted and connected by a wire belt 92 so that they rotate clockwise in unison. The roller 80 is carried by a spring- pressed arm 82, and the arrangement prevents papers from passing thereunder unless they are a predetermined distance apart. From the conveyer, 76, the papers pass to the conveyer section 60 which comprises endless spring-wire belts 64, 70, 72, Fig. 5, passing around rollers 62 &c. driven from a constant-speed motor 74 such that the belts convey the papers at a higher speed than that at which the previous conveyer 76 operates, to increase the spacing of the papers. A curved plate 110 extends over the left-hand roller and is adjustable in the direction of paper movement to vary the arc along which papers travel as they pass to the racks 12. A further fixed curved plate 134 bends the papers downwardly so that the front edges of the paper do not strike a stationary rack and cause jamming.