Patent ID: 7487965

Claim:
An apparatus for preparing a multi-sheet stack of sheet material to fabricate a package, comprising: a compiler including a sheet feeding apparatus and a registration device, the sheet feeding apparatus feeding multiple sheets of material to the registration device, the sheet material being laid to form the multi-sheet stack, the multi-sheet stack having first and second face sheets and content sheets disposed therebetween, and the registration device including: a compiler tray for accepting and supporting multi-sheet stack from the sheet feeding apparatus, a first registration gate for aligning leading edges of the first and second face sheets of the multi-sheet stack to define a peripheral edge portion of the multi-sheet stack, the first registration gate having first and second abutment members disposed proximal to an edge of the compiler tray and positionable from a registration position to a release position, a second registration gate for aligning leading edges of each of the content sheets of the multi-sheet stack, the leading edges of each of the content sheets being disposed inboard of the peripheral edge portion, the second registration gate proximal to an edge of the compiler tray and positionable from a registration position to a release position, and a controller for controlling the sheet feeding apparatus and operative to displace the first and second registration gates into the respective registration positions as the sheets are placed onto the compiler tray, and to displace the second registration gate into its release position when aligning the edge of the second face sheet to complete a lay-up of the multi-sheet stack, and an axial deformation binding mechanism for deformation binding the peripheral edge portion of the multi-sheet stack and including first and second rotating elements each having a rotational axis, the first and second abutment members of the first registration gate each being pivotally mounted to one of the first and second rotating elements of the axial deformation binding mechanism, and being staggered axially along the rotational axes of the first and second rotating elements to form a V-shaped registration surface.