Patent ID: 7357244

Claim:
A device for feeding printed products to a subsequent processing machine having a working cycle and a cyclic infeed system, comprising: a continuous-drive accumulating conveyor for the products, having upstream and downstream ends; a product arrestor arranged at the downstream end of the accumulating conveyor; a timed trigger for the arrestor to release individual ones of the arrested products; a continuous-drive onward conveyor which receives and transports each individual product by friction through a conveyance region to a defined transfer position from which further transport of the product is taken over by the cyclic infeed system of the subsequent processing machine; a control sensor, arranged at a control position in the conveyance region of the onward conveyor, for generating a signal upon detecting the leading edge of each product at said control position along the conveying region; and an infeed control device responsive to the sensor signal for triggering the arrestor to release individual product, according to a control logic wherein, a first transport time interval is the measured time interval from the moment the detected product produces the sensor signal at said control position to the moment the printed product is taken over by the infeed system at the transfer position, a second transport time interval is a known time interval for the onward conveyor to translate from the control position of the sensor to the transfer position where the printed product is taken over by the infeed system, and the timing for triggering of the arrestor to release individual products subsequent to a leading product is adjusted by the time difference between said first and second time intervals associated with said leading product.