EP1177149B1 - Device for processing strips of forms - Google Patents

Abstract

The device (1) for processing at least one strip of forms by means of controlled or clocked advancement of said strip (B1) has at least one guide (12) for said strip extending towards a crosswise separating device (11) therefor. The device comprises a mechanism (17; 162) for controlling the advancement of the strip. The mechanism for advancing the strip has a driven roller (182) for each strip, extending perpendicularly to the working direction over the working width of the device and cooperates with at least one pressing device (192), i.e. at least one non-driven idling roller or several of such rollers, in order to advance said strip. The driven roller has a continuous main shaft (20) which is joined on the ends thereof to a drive for rotation of the continuous main shaft. At least one pair of cylindrical bushings (21; 22) which can rotate around said main shaft and interact with each other by means of a differential gear (24) are borne on the main shaft.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for processing form webs by advancing and cutting form webs in cycles; such devices are e.g. from the German utility model G 85 04 658 (1985) and from EP-A-0 156 775 known. Devices of this type are used in particular for automated Processing endios forms, i.e. for web separation and merging the sections that belong together and usually also for inserting, used.

EP-A-0 510 324 also relates to the processing of continuous forms. Here are the webs are transported with the help of belts which abut and circulate around them.

Finally, EP-A-0 556 640 belongs to the technological background Capstan roller for thermal printers describes. The roller for what is to be printed Paper consists of three segments that are connected to each other via a differential drive Connected to the average speed of the two end segments Adjust the speed of the middle segment.

In the case of devices of the type described in the input paragraph, the form webs, which are advanced continuously or discontinuously or cyclically and across Working direction separated into individual sections of predetermined length. The feed takes place in these facilities by means of so-called tractors, i.e. Barbed wheels or barbed tapes, whose spines in the usual edge perforation on one or both sides of the Intervene form web. The control of the feed can be mechanical or electrical or electronically and for example electro-optically, e.g. through a program or / and through form markings and according to the respective requirements to the form length.

It was generally accepted in the professional world that such a type of feed on most precise with spiked wheels or ribbons and correspondingly perforated on the edge Form webs can be achieved. The disadvantage was therefore accepted that Perforated paper must be used and facilities for separating the side Edge tape is required. In addition, the severed border strips cause a significant volume of waste paper that is removed and disposed of got to.

It would therefore be desirable to have a device of the type mentioned at the beginning, which avoid the use of perforated paper webs and still a would enable precise feed of the form webs. The object of the invention is es to provide a device that meets these requirements so that paper webs can be used without edge tape, no waste due to separated edge strips arises and no facilities for lateral trimming of the form webs or the forms created from these are required.

Attempts to achieve the desired result instead of the tractors did not lead to the desired result from form webs to the usual transport devices with pairs of rollers use as they are for the ongoing processing of paper, plastic or textile webs are used and typically at least one pair of rollers with opposite drive for the cyclical feed of the webs to a processing or cutting station.

US-A-4 555 967 relates to one continuous web guiding device , whereby to cross the Bahui the Path feed not interrupted becomes.

US-A-3 552 903 a ban guidance device with a differential in a continuous driven web winding system.

The investigations leading to the present invention have shown in particular that in this way the for contemporary devices for processing printed Paper webs with the required high processing speeds of 1-4 m / sec and the required feed accuracy cannot be achieved, in particular not with prolonged operation and the then inevitable change in the Interaction between form web and roller, e.g. as a result of contamination, Paper dust and the like.

Surprisingly, the object of the invention defined above can thereby be achieved be that the form web to achieve a sufficiently accurate and accurate Feed is stirred on a driven roller with at least one Pressing device. e.g. at least one adjacent but not driven joint ferrolle or another equivalent device cooperates and two parts owns, which are connected by a differential gear to unevenness to compensate for the feed, e.g. due to contamination or other side effects of rapid and sustained operation of the device can result.

According to a first general and preferred embodiment of the invention on the continuous main axis, which extends across the working width of the device (i.e. across the width of the web being processed) and only on one side with one Drive for rotation of the axis is connected, at least one pair of sleeves arranged be that rotatable and with respect to the longitudinal center line of the associated form web is arranged substantially symmetrically, with those adjacent to the longitudinal center line Sleeves are connected via a differential gear. The differential gear has two bevel gears, each of which is torsionally rigid with those adjacent to the longitudinal center line Sleeves of the at least one pair of sleeves is connected; the operative connection This bevel gear is made up of two differential bevel gears that freely move around one common axis are rotatable, which is perpendicular to the main axis, e.g. in a corresponding transverse bore of the main axis is arranged.

The differential gear according to the invention has an effect analogous to that known Differential gear on the driven wheels of a car making a turn whereby the driving speed of the wheels the different radii of the adapts to the curve traversed by each wheel. Only on a straight route - here with an exact one Straight line of the respective form web - both sleeves are exactly driven at the same speed. The differential gear used according to the invention between the adjacent sleeves on the main axis causes a lateral deviation from the normal straight running direction of the form web Deviation is compensated and corrected automatically by the differential.

According to a first general embodiment, the invention therefore relates to a Device for processing form webs by cyclical Feeding and cutting at least one form web with the in claim 1 respected features. Preferred embodiments of the device according to the invention have the features specified in claims 2-7.

The differential is in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention a mechanical transmission known per se, the two drive bevel gears and two Has differential bevel gears; each of the drive bevel gears is torsionally rigid with one of the Sleeves connected; the two differential bevel gears are rotatable about a transverse axis, connected to the main axis and e.g. is guided through this; each of the drive bevel gears meshes with the two differential bevel gears.

In such a mechanical transmission, the drive and / or differential bevel gears according to a preferred embodiment, designed as toothed bevel gears, preferably self-lubricating, i.e. at least one of the interlocking ones Bevel gears or toothed bevel gears consist at least on the outside of a self-lubricating one Polymer such as polyamide, polyacetal, polyester. Optimizing the choice of materials for the wheels of the differential and also for all other parts of the invention Device is within the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

In general, the friction surfaces. i.e. with the associated form web in Contact coming surface of the movement-connected by the differential gear Sleeves with an abrasion-resistant elastomer, especially an elastic one Material, e.g. synthetic or natural elastomer, such as rubber, polyurethane. Polyisoprene, or the like, which typically has a Shore hardness A in the range of 80-100 typically 90-95.

Furthermore, the friction effect of the sleeve surface can also be due to the surface condition or surface structuring can be achieved, e.g. due to surface roughness and / or pattern-like or statistically distributed profiles. Therefor can also create surfaces or surface areas made of abrasion-resistant materials including metal, ceramics, glass and hard materials (sintered metal, Metal carbide, nitride coatings, diamond, boron nitride), e.g. in the form of Embedding sufficiently fine grains of such hard materials in a layer of metallic or non-metallic binder.

There is also an optimizing material selection for the choice of the friction surface Taking the above information into account again in the area of professional Knowledge.

In general, at least serve to guide the form web in the longitudinal direction two opposing contact points for contacting the two side edges the form web. Pairs of contact points are preferably in the working direction Device, i.e. the running direction of the tracks, at least by the working width of each other the device spaced, in front of the associated driven roller. It goes without saying that these contact points or contact point pairs can be positioned, be it to adapt to different form widths or be it to fine-tune the Form Introduction.

To operate the new device with clock-wise The form web can be fed at every feed cycle of the form web an acceleration phase, a movement phase and a braking phase are assigned The acceleration phase will be determined by a form length that corresponds to the desired length The signal is triggered and the feed of the form web is regulated a point determined by the length of the form.

The form web has in a manner known per se, e.g. generated by printing Markings, the optical reading of which corresponds to the desired form length Control signal triggers; the movement is thereby known by a Control electronics that control the actual value of the feed trigger point with its Compares the setpoint and uses the difference to control the drive.

Figur 1 eine schematische Darstellung einer erfindungsgemässen Vorrichtung mit einer ersten und einer fakultativen zweiten Formularbahn;

Figur 2 eine halbschematische Schnittansicht der angetriebenen Walze einer erfindungsgemässen Vorrichtung;

Figur 2a eine vergrösserte Darstellung des Ausgleichsgetriebes der Walze von Fig. 2;

Figur 3 das Schema eines Vorschubtaktes und

Figur 4 die schematische Draufsicht auf eine Führung mit einer Formularbahn und der zugehörigen angetriebenen Walze.

The invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings using preferred, but not restrictive, exemplary embodiments. Show it:

Figure 1 is a schematic representation of a device according to the invention with a first and an optional second form web;

FIG. 2 shows a semi-schematic sectional view of the driven roller of a device according to the invention;

Figure 2a is an enlarged view of the differential gear of the roller of Fig. 2;

3 shows the diagram of a feed cycle and

Figure 4 is a schematic plan view of a guide with a form web and the associated driven roller.

The device 1 shown schematically in FIG. 1 has a first guide 12 for the form tracks B ¹ and an optional (broken line) second guide 14 for a second form track B ² . The number of guideways is only limited by the design and the number of form tracks to be processed.
If desired, three or more form paths could also be merged in an analogous manner (not shown), provided that this is spatially possible in the given case. The number of webs processed simultaneously with a device according to the invention is not regarded as critical and is within the professional discretion.

If more than one guide is used, the guides can be known Be arranged converging one above the other. It is in use of more than one roller (and simultaneous processing of more than one form web) not essential whether the guides each make an angle with the horizontal include or one of the guides runs approximately horizontally. Using A single form web can guide 12 horizontally or at an angle be arranged to the horizontal. The size of this angle is again in the range of professional discretion.

The form web B ¹ and any further form web which may be present are fed to the device from a source, not shown, for example a magazine or a longitudinal separating device for a double-sided printed form web. Each form web lies on the side of a guide 13 or 15 (only the guide in front is shown).

Each form web runs between the associated driven roller 182 or 184 and the pressure device attached to it under slight pressure of typically 50 - 500 g, e.g. the non-driven contact or idler rollers 192 or 194 or similarly acting pressing devices to the cross-cutting device 11, which e.g. in on known type as "guillotine" with a cutting bar or knife and one or two cutting edges, can be designed as a rotating knife or the like. How Already briefly indicated, several contact rollers can be used for each roller and / or this by means of the same or similar effect, e.g. adjacent feathers, Brackets or the like can be replaced or effectively supplemented.

The roller 182 or 184 is equipped with an associated drive 162 or 164, e.g. one Electric motor, the activity of which is regulated by a controller 17 in order to to lead at least one form web to the cross cutting device 11.

The structure of the driven roller 182 in FIG. 2 is based on a semi-schematic one Sectional view explained. The roller has a one-piece and continuous Main axis 20 made of a rigid material, typically steel, aluminum or the like, which are rotatably guided at both ends 201, 202 in the bearings 204, 205 and on one side, here e.g. the end 201, is connected to a drive motor, not shown.

On the main axis 20, two sleeves 21, 22 are connected between two with the axis 20 Stop pieces 206, 207 rotatably guided about the axis on this. Every sleeve typically consists of a rigid material such as steel, aluminum or thermoset and is provided with a friction lining 219, 229, e.g. made of an elastic polyurethane (e.g. Vukollan® from Bayer AG) or from a coating of fine-grained hard material provided in a suitable matrix material.

The associated pressure roller lies on each sleeve in the area of its friction lining 219, 229 29a, 29b in order to adequately close the form web against the friction lining press that the form web (not shown in FIG. 2) when the (in Fig. 2, not shown) drive is transported practically without slippage.

The two sleeves 21, 22 are in the region of the center of the main axis 20 through the differential 24 connected to each other, as shown enlarged in Fig. 2a. The differential 24 consists of two drive bevel gears 211, 221, which act as bevel gears formed and each connected rigidly to the associated sleeve 21, 22 are. The operative connection of the drive bevel gears 211, 221 or with this rigidly connected sleeves 21, 22 is carried out by two also formed as gears Differential bevel gears 261, 262, which are freely rotatable about the auxiliary axis 28 and are engaged with the drive bevel gears 211, 221.

The auxiliary axis 28 lies in a transverse bore of the main axis 20 and is by the Rotation taken, i.e. rotates in the radial direction. The auxiliary axis 28 can be axial be rotatable, but this is usually of no practical importance. It is essential that the differential gear 24 only comes into effect when on the form web adjacent sleeves 21, 22 are not equally involved in the transport. Such an inequality can e.g. then occur if contamination occurs during continuous operation due to paper dust or the like, which would result in the form web not exactly straight anymore, i.e. perpendicular to the cross cutting device, runs. In in this case, the differential 24 causes an immediate correction and ensures therefore also in continuous operation with typical running speeds of the form webs reliable guidance of the form web from 1 to 4m / sec.

A preferred control or regulation of the drive of the main axis 20 is shown in the diagram of FIG. 3. The electric motor causing the drive is controlled in such a way that the initially stationary form web first accelerates during a start-up phase B _acc and is then guided through the movement or feed phase B _mov until the start of the braking phase B _br at a practically constant speed. To regulate the drive, according to a preferred embodiment of the operation of the device according to the invention, the transition from phase B _mov to phase B _{br is used} and the braking process is dimensioned such that the form web is exactly in the position controlled in the usual manner, for example by printed markings Cross cutting device is positioned.

In practice, this expediently takes place in such a way that each sequential-selective feed cycle the form path by a corresponding to the desired form length and signal generated by markings on the form path is generated and the Regulation of the feed of the form web at the one determined by the form length Trigger point occurs. The reading can be carried out in a manner known per se e.g. through optical Reading of the marking on the form web can be triggered. The movement will controlled by control electronics, the actual value of the location of the trigger point compares it with its setpoint and uses the difference to control the drive.

4 shows a broken part of the guide 42 of a device according to the invention with the form web 43 lying thereon, which has a center line M and a Width B has. The edge-side guides 45a, 45b are at a distance L in the running direction (Arrow A) located in front of the driven roller 44, the distance L is preferably at least as large as the width B of the web 43 Pressure rollers 49a, 49b are arranged symmetrically to the center line M of the form web and press the form web against the roller in the area of the friction linings is connected via the axis 40 to the drive 46 and the actuation of the roller in controls in the manner set out above.

The exemplary embodiment set out above serves for explanation and not for limitation of the invention and generally provides an apparatus for processing at least a form web by continuously or intermittently feeding and cutting the at least one form web; the device has at least one to a cross-cutting device Guided tour for the at least one form web. If more than one form path is to be processed, the number of tours is naturally larger accordingly; the device has means for controlling the Feed the form web and at least one driven roller, which is transverse to the Working direction extends over the working width of the device and with at least one Pressing device, e.g. one or two non-driven idler foils, cooperates; the driven roller has a continuous main axis that only on one Side is connected to a drive for rotation of the continuous main axis; this main axis carries at least one pair of cylindrical rotatable about the main axis Sleeves connected to each other via a mechanical or differential gear are related.

In the description above are some preferred embodiments of the invention shown. However, it goes without saying that these are not restrictive but merely explanatory specifications. The specified special Materials and fixture elements as well as the design or operating parameters can rather on the basis of inventive teaching within the framework of specialist knowledge be modified many times.

Claims (7)

1. Device (1) for feeding by clock pulse and cutting of at least one continuous sheet of forms (B₁), this device having at least one guide (12) for the continuous sheet of forms extending to a separating device (11) and the device (1) having devices (17; 162) for the feed control of at least one continuous sheet of forms, characterized in that the device to feed the continuous sheet of forms has at least one driven roller (182), extending crosswise to the working direction over the working width and interacts with at least one pressing device (192a, 192b), the driven roller having a through-passing main axis (20), which is connected on only one of its ends (201) with a drive for rotating the through-passing main axis; the main axis (20) having at least one pair of cylindrical bushings (21, 22) being rotatable around the main axis and that are interconnected by an equalizing gear (24).
2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the equalizing gear (24) is a mechanical gear, having two drive bevel wheels (211, 221) and two equalizing bevel wheels (261, 262); each of the drive bevel wheels is connected to the appropriate bushing (21, 22) against torsion and the two equalizing bevel wheels being rotatably arranged around a transverse axis (28), that is connected with the main axis, each of the drive bevel wheels being interlocked with the two equalizing bevel wheels.
3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that the drive bevel wheels and/or the equalizing bevel wheels (211, 221; 261, 262) are formed as toothed bevel wheels.
4. Device according to one of claims 2 or 3, characterized in that the drive bevel wheels and/or the equalizing bevel wheels (211, 221; 261, 262) are autolubricating, e.g., by consisting at least of autolubricating polymers on their surfaces being interlocked.
5. Device according to one of claims 1 - 4, characterized in that each of the bushings (21, 22) is coated with frictional surfaces (219, 229) made of a rubber-elastic material, e.g., with a Shore hardness A of 80 - 100.
6. Device according to one of claims 1 - 4, characterized in that the frictional surfaces consist of a practically rigid material and having a structured surface, e.g., roughness, especially by an adhesive, fine-grained hard material.
7. Device according to one of claims 1 - 6, characterized in that each guide (12) for the continuous sheet of forms (B₁) has two contact sites being opposite (13a, 13b) to adjoin on both sides of the continuous sheet of forms and the contact sites are arranged in running direction before the roller (182) distanced by at least the working width of the device.

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