EP1245518B1 - Pile former - Google Patents

Abstract

The machine for producing a vertical stack from an overlapping stream of printed products (P) comprises a guide (12) which feeds them into an inclined shaft (14). This has combs (16, 18, 20) along its length which can be moved to and fro in it.

Description

The present invention relates to a vertical bar former according to the preamble of Anpruchs 1 (Rgl. US 4,541,763 A).

Such known bar formers (also US Pat. No. 4,772,003 A) have a product feed for feeding the scale flow in a conveying direction and a straight stacking path. The stacking line follows the product infeed and has an upper beginning and a lower end. Furthermore, several handling elements are provided in the region of the stacking line for the continuous formation of bars.

It is the object of the present invention to improve a bar former according to the preamble of claim 1 in that at high power the printed products stacked into a bar are less damaged.

The solution of this object is achieved by the features of claim 1.

According to the upper end of the stacking path is inclined relative to the lower end and in the conveying direction, so that the stored in the stacking section printed products with their leading edge (Fold) slip by itself by gravity against an intended in the stack section stop. As a result, lower forces can be applied during the passage of the printed products through the product feed and when holding down the product back, whereby smearing of the printed products by hold-down elements or pressure belts is avoided. At the same time results in an overall improved rod formation, since the products align themselves.

The handling elements have two slidable along the stacking path and at the same time retractable into the stacking path is arranged on the end position above the supplied by the product guide scale flow. The upper end position, i. the waiting position of the rake is thus above the supplied scale flow, so that the rake from above put on the rod. As a result, the rod end is held securely so that it can not slip.

Advantageous embodiments of the invention are described in the description, the claims and the drawings.

According to an advantageous embodiment, the handling elements have at least one lowering fork which can be displaced along the stacking path, in whose displacement path a first feed for end plates is arranged. The lowering fork is used in a known manner to lower the rod during the rod forming process. According to the invention, when returning the lowering fork, it is possible to take over an end plate for the next rod to be formed, since an end plate feed is provided in the displacement path of the lowering fork.

This first feed for end plates is thus arranged in an area that is not critical both spatially and in terms of time sequence.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, a second feed for end plates is arranged in the displacement path of the holding rake. Again, according to the invention there is the possibility that a second end plate, for example an upper end plate, is placed on the holding rake from above, after this has been moved along the stacking path.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the tines of the separating rake can be provided with a support belt which can be unrolled on retraction of the rake from the stacking section via a roller provided at the tip of the tine. By such a separating rake with a roll-off support belt or take-off belt can prevent that a relative movement between the rake and the overlying product stack takes place by the support belt is rolled over the roll during the withdrawal of the rake. This prevents the printed products to be transferred from being damaged or smeared.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the product supply at least three extending in the conveying direction and spaced transversely to the conveying direction of the pressure belt. By such pressure belts, the supplied scale flow of printed products can be accelerated and pre-pressed into the stacking path, at the same time a proper orientation of each individual printed product is ensured.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the product feed may be formed so that the position of the two outer pressure belt is adjustable transversely to the conveying direction. As a result, a simple adjustability is ensured because the middle pressure belt can maintain its position even with different formats, while only the two outer pressure belts must be adjusted. An adjustability of the outermost each Andruckriemen has the additional advantage that each printed product of the supplied scale flow is always held on the head and foot and pressed when it is introduced into the stacking section.

Preferably, a total of six pressure belts are provided in the product feed, wherein the two innermost pressure belts are not adjustable transversely to the conveying direction, and wherein the relative length of the two outermost pressure belts and the relative position of each adjacent Andruckriemens is adjustable transversely to the conveying direction. Such a product feeder can also be used with multi-toothed rakes at different format sizes, since the adjustability of the pressure belt in a simple way an adaptation to different formats is possible. At the same time, it is again ensured that the products are always securely pressed and held at their two outermost opposite edges, ie on the head and foot. At the same time results in a particularly simple adjustment of the pressure belt.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the product feed and the handling elements are mounted on a common base, wherein the distance between base and stacking path in the conveying direction is adjustable. As a result, a format adaptation in the conveying direction, i. in the width direction of the printed products, again a particularly simple adjustability is ensured, since only the base must be set in the conveying direction to the product width.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, a unit is provided for introducing a gap in the scale flow, which is arranged at a height above the ground that it can be easily reached by an operator standing on the ground, wherein a transport device for further transport of the product flow to the product feed provided at the upper end of the stacking path is provided. Such an embodiment brings with it a considerable operating advantage, since the adjustment of the unit for introducing a gap into the shingled stream can be conveniently made by the operator without having to stand on a ladder, a pedestal or the like.

According to a further advantageous embodiment, a displacement device may be provided, which passes a completely formed rod from the region of the stacking line on all sides guided to a pressing and strapping unit. This results in a fully automatic operation of the machine, while still ensuring that the fully formed rod is guided on all sides during the transfer to the pressing and strapping unit.

Fig. 1

eine stark vereinfachte schematische Seitenansicht eines vertikalen Stangenbildners;

Fig. 2

eine stark vereinfachte Draufsicht auf die Produktzuführung mit eingeführtem Rechen; und

Fig. 3

eine vereinfachte Seitenansicht eines mit einem Auflageband versehenen Rechens bei der Übergabe eines Produktstapels.

In the following, the present invention will be described purely by way of example with reference to advantageous embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Show it:

Fig. 1

a highly simplified schematic side view of a vertical bar former;

Fig. 2

a highly simplified top view of the product feed with inserted rake; and

Fig. 3

a simplified side view of a provided with a support band rake in the transfer of a product stack.

Fig. 1 shows a side view of a vertical bar former for forming bars S from printed products delivered in a scale flow P. The bar former has on a base frame 10 a product feed 12 for feeding the scale flow P in a conveying direction F, wherein the product feed 12 is followed by a rectilinear stacking line 14 with an upper beginning in the region of the product feed P and a lower end. In the area of the stacking area 14, a plurality of handling elements are provided to continuously form individual bars S from the conveyed scale flow P. Specifically, it is a separating rake 16, a holding rake 18 and a lowering fork 20, which are each mounted along the stacking path 14 slidably mounted on the base frame 10. Here, the lowering fork 20 along a guide 22 is displaced, whereas the separating rake 16 and the holding rake 18 along a guide 24 slidably are. Both guides overlap along the stacking path 14.

Both the separating rake 16 and the holding rake 18 are retractable into the stacking section 14 (see illustration in Fig. 1) and can be moved out by means of adjusting cylinders 26 to the rear from the region of the stacking section 14.

As shown in Fig. 1, the stacking path 14 is inclined, in such a way that the upper beginning of the stacking path 14 relative to the vertical in the conveying direction F (and not against the conveying direction) is inclined. As a result, a stop 28 provided on the rear side of the conveying path 14 encloses an acute angle α with the horizontal, which is for example about 70 °, and which opens in the conveying direction.

Approximately in the middle third of the stack section 14, a first feeder 34 is provided for end plates 36 parallel to the rake 16, 18. In the upper third of the stacking path, a second feed 30 for end plates 32 is provided at right angles to the stop 28 and parallel to the first feed 34. By the feeders 30 and 34, respectively, a stacking plate 32 and 36 are introduced into the stacking section 14, wherein the lowering fork 20 takes an end plate 36 of the feeder 34 and the holding rake 18 takes an end plate 32 of the guide 30, which is even closer is explained.

As further shown in FIG. 1, a displacement device 40 is arranged in the lower region of the stacking section 14. With this displacement device, the completely formed rod S from the region of the stacking path 14 are transferred to a (not shown) pressing and strapping unit. For this purpose, the rod S is displaced in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Then the rod is pressed and strapped.

In order to obtain an all-sided guidance of the rod S during the transfer, the displacement device 40 has a plurality of pivotable mounting brackets 42, which are provided with pins 44, which press on the top of the upper end plate 32 when the retaining brackets 42 are folded. Above the bracket 42, a lateral guide 46 may be provided for the rod S.

The product feeder 12 has a plurality of upper and lower pressure belts 50, 52 which lead between them the conveyed scale flow P of printed products and thereby press. The upper pressure belts 50 are longer than the lower pressure belts 52 and the front end of the upper pressure belts 50, 52 extends into the upper end of the stacking path 14. In this area are on the side of the stopper 28 parallel and substantially in alignment therewith several take-off belts 54 provided with the help of the product back (fold) of the conveyed into the stack section 14 printed products is pulled down.

As FIG. 1 illustrates, the upper end position of the separating rake 16 and of the holding rake 18 lies above the imbricated flow P fed through the product guide 12 when its products enter the stacking section 14. This means that the rakes 16, 18 submerge in a lowering movement through the scale flow. Since the upper pressure belt 50 of the product supply 12 into the area of the stacking line (see Fig. 1), the rakes 16, 18 must mesh with the upper pressure belts 50. Fig. 2 shows a plan view of this arrangement in detail.

In Fig. 2 is a plan view of the separating rake 16 is shown, which meshes with the pressure belts 50 a - 50 f of the product feed 12. At the same time it can be seen that the tines of the separating rake 16 are passed through slots provided in the stop 28 and that the separating rake 16 by means of the adjusting cylinder 26 in the direction of the double arrow 27 into the stacking path 14 and out of this is moved out.

The separating rake 16 has five prongs in the illustrated embodiment, with one prong each coming to rest between two adjacent pressure belts 50a, 50b, 50c, 50d and 50e, 50f. When lowering the separating rake 16 along the guide 24, the teeth of the rake 16 mesh with the pressure belts of the product feeder 12 so that the rake 16 can pass through the product feeder 12.

The holding rake 18 is formed in the same way as the separating rake 16 and is lowered from the position shown in Fig. 1 together with the separating rake 16, wherein at the beginning of the lowering movement both rakes are directly above one another.

• Fig. 1 zeigt eine im normalen Betrieb an sich nicht vorkommende Betriebsstellung. Im normalen Betrieb befindet sich demgegenüber bei vollständig abgesenkter Senkgabel 20 der Trennrechen 16 etwa in der gestrichelt dargestellten Position, wohingegen der Halterechen 18 sich etwa im oberen Endbereich der vollständig gebildeten Stange S befindet. In der Darstellung der Fig. 1 ist der Halterechen 18 bereits aus der Stapelstrecke 14 zurückgezogen und die Haltewinkel 42 sind vorgeklappt, so daß die Stange S von den Zapfen 44 gehalten wird. Nachdem die Stange S durch die Verschiebeeinrichtung 40 aus dem Bereich der Stapelstrecke 14 entfernt worden ist, wird die Senkgabel 20 entlang der Führung 22 bis an den sich kontinuierlich absenkenden Trennrechen 16 herangefahren. Hierbei nimmt die Senkgabel 20 bei Durchlaufen der Zuführung 34 eine untere Endplatte 36 auf.

The operation of the bar former described above will be described below.

• Fig. 1 shows a non-operating operating position in normal operation. In normal operation, on the other hand, it is completely lowered lowering fork 20 of the separating rake 16 approximately in the position shown in dashed lines, whereas the holding rake 18 is located approximately in the upper end region of the fully formed rod S. In the illustration of Fig. 1, the holding rake 18 is already withdrawn from the stack section 14 and the bracket 42 are folded forward, so that the rod S is held by the pin 44. After the rod S has been removed by the displacement device 40 from the region of the stacking section 14, the lowering fork 20 is moved up along the guide 22 to the continuously lowering separating rake 16. Here, the lowering fork 20 takes a lower end plate 36 when passing through the feeder 34.

After the lowering fork 20 has been brought up to the bottom of the separating rake 16, this is withdrawn from the stacking section 14 by means of the adjusting cylinder 26, so that the (not shown) partial stack of printed products, which is located on the separating rake 16, to the lowering fork 20 is transferred, ie the stack is placed on the end plate 36, which is located on the lowering fork 20. The lowering fork 20 is then lowered continuously further, whereby the partial stack located on the lowering fork 20 is steadily increased. At the same time, the two retracted rakes 16 and 18 are moved at high speed to their upper end position (waiting position), which is shown by solid lines in FIG. In this upper end position, both rakes lie directly above one another, so that they can be retracted together into the upper end region of the stacking section 14 when the bar located on the lowering fork 20 has reached the desired height.

The separating rake 16 and the holding rake 18 shoot together into the stacking section 14 after a separator 60 has created a certain gap in the scale flow and after this gap has reached the area of the stacking path 14. Subsequently, these are simultaneously lowered so that they mesh with the pressure belts 50a-50f of the product feeder 12. The holding rake 18 is then moved downwards at the same speed as the lowering fork 20, so that the completely formed bar is clamped between the lowering fork 20 and the holding rake 18. The separating rake 16 is lowered at the usual bar-forming speed so that a new partial stack is formed thereon.

When lowering the completely formed rod S, an upper end plate 32 is transferred to the top of the holding rake 18 via the feeder 30, after it has passed through the feeder 30. Subsequently, the rod S is lowered to the lowest, shown in Fig. 1 position and the bracket 34 are closed, so that the holding rake 18 can be withdrawn. Then the cycle starts again.

With the bar former described above, also printed products of different formats can be stacked without the need for complicated adjustments. For this purpose, the bar former has a format adjustment which acts in the conveying direction F and a format adjustment which acts transversely to the conveying direction F of the conveyed products P.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the exemplary embodiment illustrated, the product feed has six upper pressure belts 50 a - 50 f, which are fastened on a base 70. All pressure belts are parallel and each take a tine of the rake 16 and 18 between them. As indicated in FIG. 2 by double arrows, the two respective outermost pressure belts 50a and 50f can be adjusted transversely to the product conveying direction F (arrows A, B), wherein in addition a relative displacement between the two outermost pressure belts 50a and 50b or 50e and 50f is possible (arrows C, D). In this way it is ensured that each product is held at its two transverse to the conveying direction outermost edges of pressure belts (pressure belts 50a and 50f) and that the remaining Andruckriemen are evenly distributed over the surface of the product.

A different product width can be achieved by adjusting the base 70 along the double arrow 72. Since with the base 70 and the guide 24 of the rake 16, 18 and the guide 22 of the lowering fork 20 is connected, an adjustment of all required settings is effected solely by adjusting the base 70 along the double arrow 72.

Fig. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of a holding rake 18 'in the transfer of a formed sub-stack S to the lowering fork 20 and to the end plate located thereon 36. In this alternative embodiment, a deflection roller 82 is provided at the ends of each prong of Trennrechens 18' , wherein a support belt 80 is guided around each guide roller 82. Upon retraction of the rake 18 ', the upper run of the support belt 80 is held at the (in Fig. 3) left end, so that upon retraction of the rake 18 'at the same time as the lower run of the support belt 80, it can roll around the deflection roller 82. As a result, the partial stack S located on the support belt 80 is unrolled without a relative movement between the rake 18 'and the partial stack S taking place. In this way, an extremely gentle transfer of the formed partial stacks can take place.

According to a further, not shown embodiment, the separating device 60 is provided for introducing a gap in the scale flow at such a height above the ground that it can be easily reached by an operator standing on the ground. In this case, a transport device is provided for further transport of the product stream to the product feed 12 provided at the upper end of the stacking section 14. In this embodiment, an adjustment of the separator 60 can be made by an operator in a convenient, simple and secure manner, without the aid of such tools as ladders, stools or the like are required.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

base frame

12

product feed

14

stacking section

16

separating rake

18

holding rake

18 '

holding rake

20

lowering fork

22

Guide for lowering fork

24

Guidance for separating and holding rakes

26

actuating cylinder

27

Adjustment direction of the rake

28

attack

30

second feeder

32

upper end plate

34

first feeder

36

lower end plate

40

shifter

42

bracket

44

spigot

46

lateral guidance

50

upper pressure belt

50a - 50f

upper pressure belt

52

lower pressure belt

54

off belts

60

separator

70

Base

72

Shifting direction of the base

80

supporting belt

82

idler pulley

F

conveying direction

P

product flow

S

pole

α

tilt angle

Claims (9)

1. A vertical stack former for forming vertical stacks (S) from printed products (P) delivered in an overlapping stream comprising
   a product feeder (12) for feeding the overlapping stream in a transport direction (F),
   a straight line stacking section (14) adjoining the product feeder (12) and with an upper start and a lower end, and
   a plurality of handling elements (16, 18, 20) in the region of the stacking section for the continuous forming of stacks,
   wherein the upper start of the stacking section (14) is inclined in the transport direction (F) with respect to the vertical,
   characterized in that the handling elements have a separating rake (16) and a holding rake (18, 18') which are both displaceable along the stacking section (14) and can simultaneously be moved into the stacking section, wherein the upper end position or waiting position of the separation rake (16) and of the holding rake (18, 18') is arranged above the overlapping stream fed by the product feeder (12).
2. A stack former in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the handling elements have at least one lowering fork (20) which is displaceable along the stacking section and in whose displacement path a first feeder (34) for end plates (36) is arranged.
3. A stack former in accordance with claim 2, characterized in that a second feeder (30) for end plates (32) is arranged in the displacement path of the holding rake (18, 18').
4. A stack former in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the prongs of the separating rake (18) are provided with a contact band (80) which can be rolled off over a roll (82) provided at the tip of the prong on the retraction of the rake (18').
5. A stack former in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the product feeder (12) has at least three pressing belts (50a - 50f) extending in the travel direction (F) and spaced transversely to the travel direction (F), with the relative position at at least the two outer pressing belts (50a, 50f) being adjustable transversely to the transport direction (F).
6. A stack former in accordance with claim 5, characterized in that a total of six pressing belts (50a - 50f) are provided, with the two innermost pressing belts (50c, 50d) not being adjustable transversely to the transport direction (F), and with the relative position of the two outermost pressing belts (50a, 50f) and the relative position of the pressing belt (50b, 50e) adjacent thereto in each case being adjustable transversely to the transport direction (F).
7. A stack former in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the product feeder (12) and the handling elements (16, 18, 18', 20) are secured on a common base (70), with the relative position between the base (70) and the stacking section (14) being adjustable in the transport direction.
8. A stack former in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that a unit (60) is provided for introducing a gap into the overlapping stream which is arranged at such a height above the floor that it can easily be reached by an operator standing on the floor; and in that a transport device is provided for the further transport of the product stream to the product feeder provided at the upper end of the stacking section.
9. A stack former in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that a displacement device (40) is provided which transfers a completely formed stack (S) guided at all sides from the region of the stacking section (14) to a pressing and banding unit.

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