Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     The present application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/962,414 filed on Oct. 13, 2004, which is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/642,341 filed on Aug. 18, 2003, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,243, which is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/721,859 filed on Nov. 25, 2000, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,897, all of which are herein incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The following invention relates to a page binding support tray having vibratory page alignment. More particularly, though not exclusively, the invention relates to a page binding support tray to receive a number of pre-edge glued, uniformly sized printed pages and to ensure alignment of those pages prior to pressing the pre-glued edges together.  
         [0003]     It is well known to print individual pages of a volume to be bound, then to place all of the printed pages into a stack, to then crop one or more edges of the stack and to then bind the pages together by applying a binding adhesive to an edge of the stack of pages. This is a time consuming and labour-intensive process.  
         [0004]     It would be more efficient to provide pre-cut, uniformly sized pages, to print one or both surfaces of each page and to provide a strip of binding adhesive to one or both surfaces of each page adjacent the edge to be bound, to accurately place the printed and pre-glued pages in a stack, and to press the pages adjacent the spine so that the adhesive binds the page edges together.  
         [0005]     It would also be desirable to provide a page binding support tray having vibratory page alignment to ensure alignment of the pages prior to pressing.  
       OBJECT OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     It is the object of the invention to provide a page binding support tray having vibratory page alignment.  
       DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007]     There is disclosed herein an apparatus comprising: 
        a support tray for receiving a stack of printed pages having binding adhesive applied adjacent an edge of at least one of the pages, and     a vibrator interacting with the tray so as to induce vibration therein to assist in alignment of the pages of the stack.        
 
         [0010]     Preferably the tray has a support surface having one corner that is lower than other portions of the support surface.  
         [0011]     Preferably the tray has at least two side walls extending substantially perpendicularly to each other and against which perpendicular edges of the pages bear for alignment of the pages within the stack.  
         [0012]     Preferably vibration of the tray is dampened by dampers.  
         [0013]     Preferably the tray is supported by a frame.  
         [0014]     Preferably the tray is suspended from the frame.  
         [0015]     Preferably the dampers extend from the tray to the frame.  
         [0016]     Preferably the vibrator is a subsonic vibrator.  
         [0017]     Preferably means are provided to alter a level of the support surface of the tray so as to ensure that an upper page of the stack is situated at a predefined level for interaction with an edge-pressing device.  
         [0018]     There is further disclosed herein a method of aligning pages in a stack of pages, the method including the steps of: 
        delivering pages one upon another to a tray so as to form a stack of pages, and     during and/or after said step of delivering, inducing vibration in the tray.       
 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]     Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:  
         [0022]      FIG. 1  is a schematic illustration of a page conveyed along a path and passing a pagewidth print head and an adhesive applicator;  
         [0023]      FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration of a page having an adhesive strip adjacent one edge thereof;  
         [0024]      FIG. 3  is a table, schematically illustrating the principles of five alternative adhesive application methods;  
         [0025]      FIG. 4  is a schematic elevational view of a number of pages with all but the top page having a strip of adhesive applied to an upper surface adjacent to an edge to be bound;  
         [0026]      FIG. 5  is a schematic elevational view of a stack of pages with all but the bottom page having a strip of adhesive applied to a lower surface thereof adjacent to an edge to be bound;  
         [0027]      FIG. 6  is a schematic elevational view of a stack of pages with a first part of a two-part adhesive applied to the upper surface of all but the top page and a second part of a two-part adhesive applied to the bottom surface of all but the bottom page,  
         [0028]      FIG. 7  is a schematic perspective view of a page binding support tray situated immediately down-line of the adhesive applicator,  
         [0029]      FIG. 8  is a schematic cross-sectional elevational view of the page binding support tray of  FIG. 7  showing a first page having a strip of adhesive adjacent its edge at an upper surface en route thereto,  
         [0030]      FIG. 9  is a schematic cross-sectional elevational view of the page binding support tray and page of  FIG. 8 , with the page closer to its rest position,  
         [0031]      FIG. 10  is a schematic cross-sectional elevational view of the page binding support tray and page of  FIGS. 8 and 9 , with the page at rest thereon,  
         [0032]      FIGS. 11, 12  and  13  are schematic cross-sectional elevational view of the page binding support tray showing a second page as it progresses to rest upon the first page,  
         [0033]      FIG. 14  is a schematic cross-sectional elevational view of the page binding support tray having a number of pages resting thereon to be bound, with all but the top page having an upwardly facing strip of adhesive adjacent an edge thereof,  
         [0034]      FIG. 15  shows the progression of a page-binding press toward the edge of the stacked pages,  
         [0035]      FIG. 16  shows the page binding support tray with pages bound along their edge by application of the binding press,  
         [0036]      FIG. 17  is a cross-sectional elevational view of the page binding support tray having a number of individual volumes resting thereon, with a top volume ready to be pressed,  
         [0037]      FIG. 18  is a schematic cross-sectional elevational view of the page binding support tray and volumes of  FIG. 17 , with all volumes having been pressed, one upon another,  
         [0038]      FIG. 19  is a schematic perspective illustration of a number of volumes having been bound,  
         [0039]      FIG. 20  is schematic elevational view of a page binding support tray having an alternative press,  
         [0040]      FIGS. 21 and 22  are schematic perspective views of a portion of the alternative press of  FIG. 20 , and  
         [0041]      FIG. 23  is a schematic elevational view of a page binding support tray having an alternative press at a trailing edge of a stack of pages to be bound. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0042]     In  FIG. 1  of the accompanying drawings there is schematically depicted a path  10  of a page  11  passing through a printer incorporating an adhesive applicator.  
         [0043]     Page  11  is driven to the right at a driving station D. Driving station D might comprise a pair of opposed pinch rollers  12  as shown. The page  11  then passes a printing-station P and then an adhesive application station A. As an alternative, the adhesive application station A might precede the printing station P, but it is preferred that the adhesive application station follow the printing station so that adhesive on the page  11  does not clog the print head or print heads at printing station P.  
         [0044]     For single sided page printing, the printing station P might comprise a single print head  13 . The print head  13  might be a pagewidth drop on demand ink jet print head. Alternatively, the print head might be that of a laser printer or other printing device. Where the page  11  is to be printed on both sides, a pair of opposed print heads  13  might be provided.  
         [0045]     Where the print heads  13  are ink jet print heads, wet ink  15  on page  11  might pass through the adhesive application station A.  
         [0046]     An air cushion  14  at either side of the page  11  as it passes printing station P can be provided by means of air passing through an air flow path provided in each print head  13 .  
         [0047]     The adhesive application station A can comprise an adhesive applicator  16  at one or both sides of the page  11 , depending upon which side or sides of the page to which adhesive is to be applied.  
         [0048]     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a page  11  having matter printed thereon by printing station P also includes a strip  17  of adhesive as applied at adhesive application station A.  
         [0049]     As can be seen, the strip  17  can be applied adjacent to the leading edge  27  of page  11 . The application of strip  17  adjacent to the leading edge  28  is suitable for those situations where the adhesive applicator does not contact the page, or contacts the page at a velocity accurately matching that of the page  11  as it passes the adhesive application station A. Alternatively, the strip  17  could be applied adjacent to the trailing edge  28  of page  11  and this position might be more suited to adhesive applicators that make some form of physical contact with the page  11  as it passes adhesive application station A.  
         [0050]     A margin  29  of about 1 to 2.5 mm is desirable between the strip  17  and edge  27  or  28  of page  11 .  
         [0051]     Various methods of applying adhesive to the page  11  are envisaged, some of which are schematically depicted in  FIG. 3 .  
         [0052]     Method  1  in  FIG. 3  is a non-contact method of applying adhesive to the moving page  11 . In this method, a stationary adhesive applicator  16  sprays adhesive on one side of page  11  as it passes the applicator. The adhesive applicator might be formed integrally with the print head  13  or might be located upstream or after the print head.  
         [0053]     Method  2  also applies adhesive to one side of the moving page  11 , although this time using a contact method. An adhesive applicator  163  is pivotally mounted about a fixed pivot point and is caused to move at a speed matching that at which the page  11  passes through the adhesive application station. A reaction roller  30  comes into contact with the underside of page  11  as the adhesive applicator  163  applies adhesive to the page.  
         [0054]     Method  3  applies adhesive to both sides of a page  11  as it passes through the adhesive application station. A pair of pivotally mounted adhesive applicators  16                                move pivotally at a speed corresponding with that at which the page  11  passes through the adhesive application station. They both come into contact with the page  11  and mutually counteract each other&#39;s force component normal to the page  11 .  
         [0055]     Method  4  employs a pair of adhesive applicator rollers  16                                spaced from either side of the page  11  until activated to apply adhesive whereupon they move toward and touch the page  11 , leaving a strip of adhesive  17  at either side of the page. The rollers would mutually counteract each other&#39;s force component normal to page  11 .  
         [0056]     Method  5  employs a pair of adhesive spray applicators  16                               , one at either side of page  11 . The applicators do not contact page  11 . Each applicator would apply one part of a two-part adhesive to a respective side of page  11  so as to apply strips  17   a  and  17   b . Like Method  1 , Method  5  could employ an adhesive applicator formed integrally with the print head. That is, a channel for the flow of one part of a two-part adhesive might be provided in each print head.  
         [0057]     Also, the use of a two-part adhesive could be beneficial in situations where there might be some delay in the printing/binding operation. For example, if there were a computer software or hardware malfunction part-way through a printing/binding operation, the use of a two-part adhesive could provide sufficient time within which to rectify the problem and complete the binding process.  
         [0058]      FIG. 4  illustrates a stack of pages  11  with all but the top page provided with an adhesive strip  17  at an upper surface adjacent one edge to be bound.  
         [0000]     An alternative is depicted in  FIG. 5  wherein all but the bottom page has an adhesive strip  17  applied to its bottom surface adjacent an edge to be bound.  
         [0059]     In  FIG. 6 , a stack of pages is shown with part A of a two-part adhesive applied to the upper surface of all but the top page and the second part of the two-part adhesive applied to the bottom surface of all but the bottom page.  
         [0060]     When the stacks of pages of  FIGS. 4 and 5  are pressed together, adhesion of the pages occurs once the adhesive  17  has dried.  
         [0061]     When the pages  11  of  FIG. 6  are pressed together, the respective parts of the two-part adhesive in strips  17   a  and  17   b  combine so as to react and set.  
         [0062]     Where print head  13  is an ink jet print head, and non-contact adhesive application Methods  1  and  5  are employed, the adhesive strip  17  is applied to page  11  before ink on the page passing through the adhesive application station  10  has dried. Air passing through air gap  14  accelerates the drying process. That is, adhesive is applied to the page as it passes out of the print head  13 . The velocity of the page  11  does not change as a result of the application of adhesive strip  17 .  
         [0063]     Where the strip  17  is applied alongside the leading edge  27  of the page  11 , any alteration to the velocity of page  11  would adversely affect print quality. Hence application of adhesive strip  17  alongside the leading edge  27  is only possible without adversely affecting print quality using non-contact adhesive application methods or methods where the velocity of the adhesive applicator coming into contact with the page is very close to that of page  11 .  
         [0064]     Where the adhesive strip  17  is applied alongside the trailing edge  28  of page  11 , a non-contact method or method of very close speed matching is also desired. For example, if the speed of the adhesive applicator of Methods  2  to  4  was faster than that at which the page  11  was passing the print head, the page could buckle.  
         [0065]     A most desirable embodiment of the present invention would use a two-part adhesive and would incorporate the adhesive applicators within the print heads themselves. That is, a passage or passages for the flow of adhesive through the print head would be space and cost-effective.  
         [0066]     The likelihood of adhesive “gumming” and blocking such channels would be diminished where a two-part adhesive was employed. That is, only one part of the two-part adhesive would pass through any particular channel or channels of the print head.  
         [0067]     Where respective parts of a two-part adhesive are applied to opposed sides of pages  11 , those respective parts could pass through dedicated channels in the respective print head at either side of the page. This would greatly reduce the likelihood of adhesive blockages in the flow channels.  
         [0068]     The adhesive or respective parts of a two-part adhesive can be provided in a chamber of a replaceable ink cartridge providing ink to the print head.  
         [0069]     The print head  13  should be as close a possible to the pinch rollers  12 . This is because the rollers  12  provide a mechanical constraint upon the page  11  to enable accuracy of printing.  
         [0070]     The pinch rollers  12 , print heads  13  and adhesive applicator  16  are illustrated in  FIG. 7  alongside a page support tray  18 . That is, the page support tray  18  receives pages  11  that exit the paper path  10 . The tray  18  is suspended from a frame  21  by means of respective dampers  22  at each corner. The dampers could be elastomeric dampers or small hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders for example. The floor of tray  11  is not level. It has a lower-most corner  23  beneath which there is provided a vibrator  19 . The vibrator  19  might be a subsonic vibrator (ie a vibrator having a frequency below 20 hz) or an out-of-balance electric motor for example. A binding press  20  is situated above the tray  18  over the at-rest position of the respective leading edge of the pages  11 . However, as an alternative, the binding press  20  could be provided so as to be situated over the trailing edge of the pages.  
         [0071]     In  FIG. 8 a  first page  11  is shown in its trajectory toward tray  18 . Page  11  has a strip of adhesive  17  on its upper surface adjacent the leading edge. The page  11  might tend to catch a pocket of air beneath it as it floats into position and the leading edge  28  might strike the vertical wall  31  as shown in  FIG. 9 . The vibrations of the tray  18  as a result of the vibrator  19  will cause the page  11  to come to rest with edge  27  alongside the lower edge of wall  23  and with a right angled edge of the page touching the front wall  32  of tray  18 .  
         [0072]     In  FIG. 11 , a second page  11  is shown in its trajectory toward tray  18 . In a motion similar to that of the first page, the second page comes to rest upon the first page in a position perfectly aligned therewith. The second page comes to rest into the position depicted in  FIG. 13 . Where the pages have the adhesive strip  17  applied to the upper surface, the final page is provided without any adhesive and it comes to rest at the top of the stack as depicted in  FIG. 14 . If, instead, the majority of pages  11  had the adhesive strip  17  applied to their bottom surface, the first page (ie the page at the bottom of the stack) would have no adhesive applied to it. This would be suitable for multiple binding compressions.  
         [0073]     As shown in  FIG. 15 , the binding press  20  commences downward movement toward the stack of pages  11  over the aligned adhesive strips  17 . The stack is then compressed to a bound volume  24  as shown in  FIG. 16 .  
         [0074]     It should be noted that no subsequent edge trimming of the bound volume is required so long as standard-sized pages  11  had initially been used. This is because the vibrator  19  has aligned the pages into the lower-most corner  23  of tray  18  as described earlier.  
         [0075]     In  FIGS. 17 and 18 , multiple volume  24  are shown stacked on upon another with the upper-most volumes being progressively compressed by repeated application of press  20 .  
         [0076]     The binding press  20  is shown schematically in the Figures and could be pneumatically or hydraulically driven, or could be driven by other mechanical means such as rack and pinion, electrical solenoid or otherwise. An alternative embodiment as depicted in  FIGS. 20, 21  and  22  incorporates a plurality of semicircular disks  203  each spaced apart, but fixedly mounted to a common rotatably driven shaft extending along an axis of rotation  26 . Each disk  203  could pass through a respective vertical slot  32  formed in the end wall  31  of tray  18 . That is, there would be as many vertical slots in wall  31  as there are disks  203 . The disks could commence in the orientation depicted in  FIG. 21  and upon rotation of the shaft pivot to the orientation depicted in  FIGS. 20 and 22  so as to press down upon the pages.  
         [0077]     The tray  18  might be provided with a floor of adjustable height so as to always present the top page in the tray closely to the pressing device. This would reduce noise levels by minimizing the stroke length of the binding press  20 . Furthermore, the binding press  20  could be fixed and the tray could be pushed upwardly toward it to press and bind the pages.  
         [0078]     The floor of tray  18  can be driven so as to move downwardly as each page  11  is delivered thereto. This would ensure that the upper-most page always resided at the same level. This could result in reduced noise of movement of the press bar  20  as it need not move very far to effectively bind the pages.  
         [0079]     Where the pages have applied thereto adhesive strips alongside the trailing edge  28 , the press would be provided to the left as shown in  FIG. 23 . In this embodiment, a pressing bar  20                                is provided. Any pressing arrangement could however be provided.

Technology Category: b