Patent Publication Number: US-7588236-B2

Title: Device for gathering printed products

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to devices for gathering printed products such as perfect binders and to methods for gathering printed products. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,724 describes a signature collating apparatus such as an inserter having a plurality of hoppers delivering sheet materials to newspapers in pockets. Repair sheet material article feeders can be provided. U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,724 is hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,788,446 discloses a method and apparatus for making books, brochures and similar products with a perfect binding and is hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,678 discloses a device for separating a lowermost flat product from a stack of flat products and is hereby incorporated by reference herein. The device may also include a separator element insertable in a space defined between the lowermost flat product and the next adjacent flat product. 
     Gathering devices such as perfect binders, saddle stitchers and mailroom inserters may use hoppers to collect sheet material. A saddle stitcher or perfect binder may for example collect folded printed materials from hoppers onto a saddle or perfect binder conveyor, respectively, to form a magazine or other printed product. 
     In addition, saddle stitchers and perfect binders may collect printed materials for selective bookbinding. Selective bookbinding occurs when magazines or other printed products contain information unique or personalized to each magazine or printed product. Often, the products are collected and formed in a specific sequence to minimize distribution costs, for example, carrier route sequencing used by the United States Postal Service. Thus, gathering devices may work more efficiently when the printed products receive the corresponding personalized information and the printed products maintain sequencing. 
     Different versions of gathered printed products, for example, different saddle stitched products or collections of inserts, can be produced on the fly for example by having twice the number of hoppers required for the versions. In other words, sixty hoppers spaced equally along a conveyor line can provide for two products each with thirty separate sheet materials to be produced on the fly. 
     Hoppers also sometimes misfeed during transfer, often via a transfer drum, to the transfer device, for example by not providing a printed material or providing a double. If a double is provided, the collected product on the conveyor can be discarded. If a hopper fails to feed a printed material, repair may be provided, for example, by actuating a duplicate repair hopper further down the conveyor line to provide the missing printed material. In some cases, for example with pocket conveyors, the pockets can be recycled past the hopper that misfed to provide the missing material. As an alternative to the automatic repair systems, the conveyor may be stopped and the product repaired by hand. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a gathering device for forming a plurality of printed products including a transfer device having a plurality of grippers. A first sheet material feeder can selectively deliver first sheet material to the plurality of grippers and a second sheet material feeder can selectively deliver second sheet material to the plurality of grippers, the second sheet material feeder being downstream of the first sheet material feeder. A conveyor receives at least one of the first or second sheet material from the grippers. 
     By providing a transfer device for two sheet material feeders, such as hoppers, and then having the transfer device at the conveyor, the length of the conveyor can be shortened considerably while still permitting versioning. This is because the feeders associated with the transfer device can be spaced to the side of the conveyor and need not be in line. 
     Also, the second sheet material feeder could be used advantageously as a replacement hopper, for example, providing the same product as the first sheet material feeder, and thus reduce misfeeds at the conveyor. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described below by reference to the following drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  shows a side view of a dual feed hopper according to the present invention; and 
         FIG. 2  shows a view of a dual feed hopper with a transfer device depositing sheet material on a perfect binder conveyor and  FIG. 3  shows a view of a dual feed hopper with a device depositing sheet material on a saddle conveyor. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       FIG. 1  shows a dual feed hopper  10  including a transfer device  44 , a first hopper  30 , a second hopper  31 , a conveyor  60 , and a controller  80 . 
     Transfer device  44  circulates between first hopper  30 , second hopper  31  and conveyor  60  transporting sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ between first hopper  30 , second hopper  31  and conveyor  60 . Hoppers  30 ,  31  may be for example a modified RG-318 hopper available from Goss International, Inc. of Dover, N.H., or other hopper. Transfer device  44  has a plurality of grippers  82 . Transfer device  44 , can be, for example, a GOSS NP-200 gripper system available from Goss International of Dover, N.H. or other gripper system. 
     First hopper  30  includes a conveyor  32 , a transfer drum  34 , a stack  36  of sheet materials  24  and a servo motor  38 . Second hopper  31  includes a conveyor  33 , a transfer drum  35 , a stack  37  of sheet materials  24 ′ and a servo motor  39 . Conveyors  32 ,  33  transport sheet materials  24 ,  24 ′ to stacks  36 ,  37  respectively. Transfer drums  34 ,  35  transfer sheet materials  24 ,  24 ′ from stacks  36 ,  37  to grippers  82 . Servo motors  38 ,  39  drive conveyors  32 ,  33 . Sheet material  24  may be identical, for misfeed replacement, or not identical to sheet material  24 ′, for on-the fly versioning. First hopper  30  and second hopper  31  are preferably spaced laterally with respect to one another. 
     A misfeed sensor  40  is provided for hopper  30  and a misfeed sensor  41  is provided for hopper  31  to detect problems with delivery of sheet materials  24 ,  24 ′. Typically, one sheet material  24  or  24 ′ should be fed to gripper  82 . Misfeed sensors  40 ,  41  can detect the presence of more than one sheet material  24  or  24 ′ delivered to gripper  82  or the absence of sheet material  24 ,  24 ′. A home sensor  42  can also detect a home position  43  of the transfer device  44  and the location of each gripper  82  so that the location of the gripper  82  with the misfeed or problem can be determined. This home position  43  can also be used to determine or know which gripper  82  has which product  24 ,  24 ′, since the home position and the distances between the hoppers are fixed and known. 
     Conveyor  60  is preferably laterally spaced with respect to first hopper  30  and second hopper  31 . Conveyor  60  has sheet material receiving locations  62 , which may be perfect binder spaces, for example, with pin spacing P. 
     A servo motor  70  drives transfer device  44  and conveyor  60 , which may or may not have a phasing device between them, and may provide encoder information back to a controller  80 . A servo motor  72  drives first hopper  30  and a servo motor  74  drives second hopper  31 . Controller  80  receives information from and controls servo motors  70 ,  72 ,  74 ,  38 ,  39 , home sensor  42  and misfeed sensors  40 ,  41 . By knowing the home position  43 , the position and content of each gripper  82  traveling around transfer device  44  is known. Controller  80  also thus can set the gathering device for on-the-fly versioning or misfeed repair. 
       FIG. 2 and 3  show a view of a dual feed hopper  10  depositing sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ on a conveyor, for example, perfect binder conveyor  60  ( FIG. 2 ) or saddle conveyor  68  ( FIG. 3 ), by an transfer device  44 , and a transfer device,  144  upstream from transfer device  44  and a transfer device  244  downstream from transfer device  44 . It should be understood that each transfer device  144 ,  244  is associated also with two sheet material feeder devices  130 ,  131 , shown schematically, as described above. Thus, for example, 120 sheet material feeders could be provided, and sixty transfer devices. The length of the conveyors  60 ,  68  would only need to be 60 times the transfer device width at the conveyor, and thus much less than if 120 sheet material feeders were provided in line. Such a device would thus allow on-the-fly versioning or repair capabilities with a much shorter length, which can be extremely important as size constraints for printing plants are often of great importance. 
     In  FIG. 2 , a plurality of products B, C, D, E, F is being formed on perfect binder conveyor  60 . A first product to be collected thus can be designated as product B, a second product, C, a third product D, through products E, F, etc. Products B, C, D, E, F to be completed on conveyor  60  will each have collected sheet materials  21 ,  22 ,  23 , etc. previously collected from the delivery of sheet material from one of the transfer devices  144 ,  44 ,  244 . In  FIG. 3 , a plurality of products B, C, D, E, F is being formed on saddle conveyor  68 . Products B, C, D, E, F to be completed on saddle conveyor  68  will each have collected sheet materials  25 ,  26 ,  27 , etc. previously collected from the delivery of sheet material from one of the transfer devices  144 ,  44 ,  244 . 
     When gripper  82  reaches a position Z as shown in  FIG. 2 and 3 , a cam  85  may cause gripper  82 to release sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ onto conveyor  60  or  68  at receiving location  62  having a pin  64 . Sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ is gathered in perfect binder conveyor  60  along with the previously collected sheet materials 21 ,  22 ,  23 , etc., sheet material  23  having been delivered by transfer device  144  ( FIG. 2 ). Sheet material  24 ,  24  ′ is gathered in saddle conveyor  68  along with the previously collected sheet materials  25 ,  26 ,  27 , etc., sheet material  27  having been delivered by transfer device  144  ( FIG. 3 ). Then gripper  82  moves along transfer device  44  and spirals into a position X shown in  FIG. 2 and 3 . Gripper  82  moves downstream along transfer device  44  to first hopper  31 . 
     In one scenario, gripper  82  receives sheet material  24  from hopper  30  via transfer drum  34 . Gripper  82  travels downstream along transfer device  44  to second hopper  31 . Here, controller  80  inhibits delivery of sheet material  24 ′ from hopper  31  to gripper  82 . After passing second hopper  31 , gripper  82  spirals into a position Y shown in  FIG. 2 . Gripper  82  moves further downstream and deposits sheet material  24  at receiving location  62  if desired, as controlled by controller  80 . 
     In another scenario, gripper  82  may not receive sheet material  24  from transfer drum  34  due to a misfeed, for example. If misfeed sensor  40  senses a miss or double, controller  80  has second hopper  31  deliver sheet material  24 ′ to gripper  82  (if a double has been produced, the gripper  82  may release the doubled product to a waste or recycle bin). Thus, gripper  82  moves downstream to second hopper  31  and receives sheet material  24 ′, which in this case is the same as sheet material  24 , from transfer drum  35 . Then, gripper  82  spirals into a position Y shown in  FIG. 2 . Gripper  82  moves further downstream via transfer device  44  and deposits sheet material  24 ′ at receiving location  62  if desired, as controlled by controller  80 . 
     For on-the-fly versioning, sheet material  24 ′ may not be identical to sheet material  24 . This may occur for example when variations or different versions are desired among products B, C, D, E, F. As a gripper  82  passes hopper  30 , delivery is inhibited and the second hopper  31  then may supply gripper  82  with sheet material  24 ′ that is different from sheet material  24  from first hopper  30 . Thus, products B, C, D, E, F may contain either sheet material  24  or sheet material  24 ′ as desired. Stacks  36 ,  37  may be supplied with a variety of sheet products, for example sheets containing carrier route sequencing information or addresses for each recipient. 
     In addition, for reducing downstream waste when a misfeed occurs, sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ may not to be delivered on conveyor  60 , and cam  85  can inhibit gripper  82  from releasing sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ onto conveyor  60 . Sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ can be recycled past first hopper  30  and second hopper  31  again. Subsequently, hoppers  30 ,  31  are inhibited from delivering a new sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ to the gripper  82 . 
     Controller  80  preferably controls delivery of sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ onto conveyor  60 . Misfeed sensors  40 ,  41 , gripper home sensor  42  and servo motors  72 ,  74  preferably control delivery of sheet material  24  or  24 ′ to gripper  82  by inhibiting transfer drums  34 ,  35  so gripper  82  does not receive sheet material  24  or  24 ′ when desired. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , product B and product C have already received the fourth sheet material  24  or  24 ′ from transfer device  44  and are being conveyed to another hopper downstream in the gathering process to receive additional sheet material. 
     Product D receives sheet material  24  or  24 ′ from gripper  82  and product E will receive sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ as shown in  FIG. 2 . Cam  85  interacts with gripper  82  causing gripper  82  to release sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ on conveyor  60  at corresponding receiving location  62 . 
     If for example both hoppers misfeed or a misfeed is detected, the downstream transfer devices can also be inhibited as shown with sheet material  81 . Controller  80  inhibits cam  85 . Thus, gripper  82  does not release. Gripper  82  recycles sheet material  24 ,  24 ′ back past first hopper  30  and second hopper  31 . Therefore, the location for intended product (here the product ahead of product B) remains empty downstream of the misfeed and waste is reduced. 
     The present invention may also provide for grippers  82  to discard rejected sheet materials  24 ,  24 ′. When sequencing products B, C, D, etc. on conveyor  60 , grippers  82  may discard sheet materials  24 ,  24 ′ not deposited on conveyor  60  so sheet materials  24 ,  24 ′ can be recycled and used later. 
     Conceivably, a single transfer device could weave back and forth all of the various sheet material feeders and have more than one delivery location to the conveyor  60 , although this is not preferable as it would increase the overall length of the transfer device(s). Also, more than two hoppers could be provided for a single transfer device having a single delivery location. 
     The device may be a saddle stitcher, and inserter, or other similar gathering device.