Patent ID: 7588238

Claim:
In a method for gathering a plurality of different printed sheets from a respective plurality of collections, each collection having respective identical sheets taken from one of a respective plurality of feeder stations, wherein one individual sheet is respectively withdrawn cyclically from each collection of identical sheets and the withdrawn sheets are delivered to a common collecting conveyor moving continuously in a transport direction, in order to form stacks of different sheets on the collecting conveyor, the improvement comprising that: the sheets of a collection are transported in a direction that is oriented transverse to the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor, in the form of a continuous stream feed of sheets that lie on top of one another in a shingled fashion; a front portion of the respective front sheet of the shingled sheets is taken hold of by a deflection conveyor such that the held sheet is prevented from turning and it is displaced such that it is deflected in the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor; the displaced sheet is received by a withdrawal conveyor system and additionally transported in said transport direction (F) in order to synchronously deliver the sheets onto the stack on the moving collecting conveyor during each cycle; wherein the sheets are delivered to the collecting conveyor in the form of a stream feed of sheets that lie on top of one another toward said front portion, in a shingled fashion; wherein the arriving stream feed of sheets is pulled apart in several acceleration stages (0→v 1 , v 1 →v 2 ) by initially displacing the respective front sheet in the transport direction (F) of the collecting conveyor with a slower transport speed (v 1 ) and then additionally transporting this front sheet with a higher transport speed (v 2 ) by the withdrawal conveyor system; and including another acceleration stage (v 2 →v 3 ) during the transfer of the sheet to the collecting conveyor wherein the transport speed (v 2 ) of the withdrawal conveyor system is slower than the transport speed (v 3 ) of the collecting conveyor.