US1161251A - Front sheet-guide for printing-presses. - Google Patents

Description

C. J. ROBERTSON.

FRONT SHEET GUIDE FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLlCATiON FILED JUNE 1.1915.

Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

COLUMBIA PMNDORAPH (JO-,WASHINDTDN. D- C C. ROBERTSON.

FRONT SHEET GUIDE FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 7, 191-5.

1,161,251. Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

(tai /5955 661 i COLUMBIA PLANDcIkAPM c0.. WASHINGTON, n. c.

marten erase ra'rnnr tll lfim CHARLES JAMES ROBERTSON, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MIEI-ILE PRINTING'PRESS & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLI- NOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

FRONT SHEET-GUIDE FOR PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 23, 1915.

Application filed June 7, 1915. Serial No. 32,548.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, CHARLES J AMEs Ronnn'rsoN, a subject of the King of England, residing at Taunton, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Front Sheet-Guides for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has to do with machines such as printing presses, folding machines and the like to which sheets as of paper are fed either automatically or by hand to be operated upon in accurate and unvarying register. In machines of this character-it is usual to have side sheet-guides to fix the lateral register of the sheet and also front sheet guides to govern the location of the sheet longitudinally of the machine.

The present invention relates to the front sheet guide. a

Hitherto front guides have been of either one of two classes, those in which the sheet contacting member of the guide moves substantially at right angles to the plane of the sheet, the guide moving up across the edge of the paper and allowing the sheet to pass underneath, and those in which the sheet contacting member moves in the general direction of the sheet travelbut faster than the sheet until it is swung slightly out of the path of the latter. 7

The present'invention relates to this second class of front guides and is particularly directed to the provision of means for supporting, adjustin and actuating the guides to obtain the most correct register through the extreme rigidity of construction thus made possible and through the reduction to a minimum of the weight of those parts that must start their movement suddenly and at high speed. j

Heretofore the supporting rod for the guides has also been the force transmitting or actuating shaft. This has necessitated long, slender structures which must be oscillated very'suddenly and at high speed and consequently with much Vibration which latter precludes accurate registering. As heretofore arranged, to keep the moving parts light inweight has necessitated making the supporting rod of slender dimensions and loose in its bearings so'thatit may oscillate freely. According to this present invention the supporting rod may be and is preferably, as shown, a massive bar rigidly fixed to-the main frame of the machine itself while to this stationary supporting rod is firmly fixed in a state of rest the body of the guide which is firmly clamped in adjusted position both longitudinally and trans versely of the machine. The actuating shaft, being separated entirely from the front guide and making physical contact with any part thereof only when and after the guide has accomplished its function of registering the sheet, may be as light as desired for quick action and may have as many additional bearings between the side frames as are needed, these bearings being rigidly supported from the fixed guide supporting rod. The member which bears the actual sheet-contacting surface of the front guide is thus made exceedingly light and this member is the only part that has to start froma state of rest as the speed of the paper; and all the spring required is such as is needed to control this small mass. The combating forces between the actuating means and the spring return are confined to a region closely adjacent the final sheet guiding point, and transmission stresses and strains are thus largely avoided in all the parts affecting register.

In order that the invention and its mode guides in elevation; and Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of one end of the cylinder and guide.

One side of. the main frame of the machine is represented at 11, it being understood that this framing consists generally of the two side frames with suitable base and cross ties spacing them apart so as to sup port the two ends of the cylinder shaft and any other shafts or rodsextending across said frame. Suitably journaled in the two side frame members 11 is the shaft-12 of the cylinder '13 for clockwise rotation as represented in Fig. 1 by means of suitable gearing or other driving means not shown. This cylinder is of the usual construction and is provided with sheet grippers 14 carried by sheet of paper and to release the same thereafter in proper t1n1ed sequence to the opera tion of the machine upon the sheet. The feed board is indicated at 16, being rlgidly supported and adapted to receive the sheets and to support the same as they are fed to the machine and into register with the front and side gages respectively. The metallic front extension of the feed board is shown at 17 and to-the underside thereof is the underguide 18 mounted upon the rod 19 for adjustment to the desired position transversely of the press, there being as many underguides 18 as thereare front guides.

The parts thus far described are of the usual character and form no distinctive part of the'present invention'which is adapted for use in connection with feeding mechanism cylinders and grippers of many types. Suitably fixed in the side frame members 11 is the guide supporting rod 20 having therein a longitudinally extending V-shaped groove 21 within which engage the set screws 22 by means ofwhich the rod 20 is fixed against rotation within the machine frame and which groove also serves, as will be hereafter described, for the adjustable mounting of the front guides upon the rod. The actual sheet contacting surface by which the front edge of the sheet is registered is usually of hardened steel and is here shown as a plate 23 fastened by screws to the finger 24 pivoted to the body of the guide at 25 The guide body comprises two side members 26, 26, slidably mounted upon the guide supporting rod 20. These two side members are spaced apart by the square shouldered stud '27 and, when clamped in adjusted position, by thesquared end 28 of the adjusting screw 29. Between these two side plate members is a hub 30 which is slidablyfmounted upon the supporting rod 20 but held from angular movement thereon by th'e engagerhent within the groove 21 of the cylindrical gib 31 which lies lengthwise partially within the groove and partially within a rectangular key seat 32 of the hub 30. The clamping of the hub 30 inadjusted position longitudinally of the shaft 20 is ac- I complished by means of the set screw 33 movement thereon it is also necessary to which bears inwardly upon the cylindrical gib3ll I 1- While it is desired to securely anchor the guides'upon the rod 20 to prevent angular provide for a slight angular adjustment of the guides inorderjto adjust the position which; "will be occupied by, the contact SUI: fate of the guide plate 23 longitudinally of the machine to vary the front margin of the sheet. To efiect this adjustment of the front guide the same is angularly adjusted bodily by swinging the same about the axis of the rod 20 as a center. This will vary the front margin of the sheet within a requisite range without materially affecting the angular relation of the plate 23 to the front edge of the sheet, this being due to the fact that the supporting rod 20 includes a radial plane from the center of the cylinder within which plane lies the sheet contacting face of the guide plate 23, and the swing of the front guide, about the axis of the supporting rod 20 will therefore be approximately tangent to the cylinder 13 at the feed point within the extent of its range of adjustment and practically parallel to the sheet as it lies on the feed board and extension 16, 17. This adjustment is accomplished in the manner following: The hand wheel 84 on the screw 29 has a boss 35 bearing upon a washer 36 which in turn bears upon an upward extension 37 of the hub 30. The squared end 28 of the screw 29 is normally rigidly clamped L between the side plate members 26 by means of the bolt 38 whereby the body of the guide is rigidly connected with the frame of the machine through the hub 30 and the supporting rod 20. Upon the loosening of the nut 39 of the bolt 38 the clamping action of the plates upon the hub 30 and upon the squared end 28 of the nut of the screw is relieved to such an extent that by the manipulation of the hand wheel 3th the plates and hub may be angularly moved relative to each other resulting in the swinging of the guide bodily about the axis of the supporting rod 20 as a pivot and thus adjusting the ,sheet contacting plate 23 in an are which is i" tangent to the cylinder at the point of feed and substantially parallel. to the plane of the sheet lying upon the feed board.

The guide finger 24: pivoted at 25 is yieldingly held in the position shown against abutment-s 26 on the side plate members 26 by the compression spring 40 on a rod 41 which is pivoted at 12 to the said guide finger 24, said rod 11 being guided at its opposite end in the squared stud 27.

The guide-actuating shaft 43 is journaled in bearings of the machine frame at M so as to rock freely at the proper time and it may be provided with additional bearings as indicated at 15 intermediate the two sides of the frame. These intermediate bearings being rigidly supported upon the fixed rod 20. Upon this actuating shaft 43 is mounted a series of tappet arms 46 for slidable adjustment longitudinally of the shaft by means of opposed grooves within which is mounted between the two side plates 26 whereby the tappet armG slides longitudinally of its shaft 4:?) together with the side plates and a key 47 which is confined within the grooves hub of the guide body without disturbing the angular fixed relation between the tappet arm 4-6 and its shaft 4-8, the one set screw 33 being thus utilized to clamp the entire guide m chanism in longitudinal adjustment upon the shafts and 43.

The tappet arm L6 carries at its free end a roller 48 which is adapted to engage, upon the rocking of the shaft 43, with a projection 49 of the guide finger 24. The position at rest of the tappet arm 4. 6 and the finger extension 19 is such that there is a considerable distance between the said extension 4-9 and the roll 48 which allows for the arm and roll to have reached its maximum speed of angular swing together with the shaft 43 before it contacts with the extension 49 in order that the contact plate 23 of the guide finger 24 shall move at the proper time suddenly and at the requisite speed to clear the path of the sheet after registration.

The shaft 43 is actuated by means of a cam which is fastened by means of a bolt 51 screwed into the end of the cylinder 13 within a slot 52 of the cam 50 so that the timing of the cam 50 may be regulated. This cam 50 acts upon a roll 53 on a stud 54: at the front end of an arm 55 which is rigidly secured to the actuating shafts?) so that the said shaft t3 will be rocked in properly timed relation to the feed of the sheets whereby to effect the front registration of the sheet and the withdrawal of the front guide from before the sheet at the proper time so as to permit the passage of the sheet thereunder.

From the foregoing it will be seen that, in addition to the advantageous constructional features heretofore pointed out, reaching to the attainment of rigidity and quickness of response to the actuating forces, the inven tion presents further advantages over the prior art.

Heretofore it has been usual to withdraw the front guide previous to the grasping of the sheet by the grippers and front drops or grasshoppers have been used to hold the sheet in position on the feed plate in the interval therebetween, thus necessitating additional mechanism without even then entirely avoiding danger of disarrangement of the registered sheet. My invention above described entirely eliminates this uncertainty by permitting the grippers to seize the sheet immediately after the registration of the latter and while yet held against the front guides, which guides move forwardly away from and upwardly out of the path of the sheet, while it is advancing in the grasp of the grippers. This forward and upward movement of the guide, about its axis 25. which is substantially in the radial plane of the cylinder passing through the point of sheet registration and at a higher speed than that of the paper, avoids the dragging of the guide face transversely across and in contact with the edge of the sheet with the con sequent danger of disturbing the position of the registered sheet.

1. In a machine of the character described, afront sheet-guide mechanism comprising a stationary supporting rod extending longitudinally of the cylinder, a plurality of front guides supported by the rod and including sheet-contact fingers mounted for independent movement into and out of the path of the sheet, yielding means to hold the fingers normally in the path of the sheet, and means mounted independently of the supporting rod and adapted to engage the con tact fingers to actuate the same, and means controlled by the operation of the press to act upon the actuating meanswhereby to withdraw the sheet contact fingers and perunit the sheet to be advanced by the grippers.

2. In amachine of the character described, a front sheet-guide mechanism comprising a guide-supporting rod extending longitudinally of the cylinder, a plurality of front guides supported by the rod and adjustable bodily about the axis thereof and including sheet contact lingers pivoted for independent movement thereof into and out of the path of the sheet, yielding means normally holding the contact fingers in the path of the sheet, tappet members mounted independently of the guide supporting rod and adapted to engage the fingers, and means to 3" actuate thetappet members in timed relation to the operation of the press whereby to withdraw the sheet contact fingers and permit the sheet to be advanced by the grip pers.

scribed, a front sheet-guide mechanism com- 3. In a machine of the character deprising a guide supporting rod rigidly i mounted in the machine frame and extendlongitudinally of the cylinder, a plurality of front guides mounted on the rod for bodily adjustment longitudinally of the rod and about the axis thereof and including sheet contact fingers pivoted for independent movement in an arcuate path, springs normally holding the contact fingers in the path of the sheet fed to the machine.

vtappet members mounted independently of the guide supporting rod and adapted to engage the fingers, and means to actuate the tappet members in timed relation to the operation of the press whereby to withdraw the sheet contact fingers and permit the sheet to be advanced by the grippers.

4. In a machine of the character described, a front sheet-guide mechanism comprising a guide supporting rod rigidly mounted in the machine frame and extending longitudinally of the cylinder in a radial plane including the points of engagement of l the sheet by the grippers, a plurality of front guides mounted on the rod for bodily adjustment longitudinally thereof and about the. axis thereof and including sheet contact fingers pivoted for independent movement in an arcuate path tangential to the cylinder surface, springs normally holding the con tact fingers in thepath of the sheet fed to the machine, tappet members mounted independently of the guide supporting rod and adapted to'engage the fingers, and means to actuate the tappet members in timed relation to the operation of the press whereby to withdraw the sheet contact fingers and permit the sheet to be advanced by the grippers.

In a machine of the character described, a front sheet-guide mechanism comprising a stationary guide-supporting rod extending longitudinally of the cylinder, a plurality of front guides supported by the rod and adjustable bodily about the axis thereof and including sheet contact fingers pivoted for movement independently thereof into and out of the path of the sheet, yielding means normally holding the contact fingers in the path of the sheet, a rock shaft j ournaled in the machine frame parallel to the guide supporting rod, tappet arms carried by the rock shaft and adapted to actuate the contact fingers upon the rocking of the shaft, and means to rock the shaft in timed relation to the operation of the machine whereby to withdraw the sheet contact fingers and permit the sheet to be advanced by the grippers.

6. In a machine of the character described, 'a front sheet-guide mechanism comprising a guide supporting rod rigidly mounted in the machine frame and eXtending longitudinally of the cylinder in a radial plane including the points of engagement of thieqsheet by the grippers, a pluralityof front guides mounted on the rod Copies of this patentinay be obtained for to the cylinder surface, springs normally holding the contact fingers in the path of the sheet fed to the machine, a rock shaft journaled in the machine frame parallel to the guide supporting rod, tappet arms car-- ried by the rock shaft and adapted to actuate the contact fingers upon the rocking of the shaft, and means to rock the shaft in timed relation to the operation of the machine whereby to withdraw the sheet contact fingers and permit the sheet to be advanced by the grippers.

In a machine of the character described, a front guide mechanism comprising a stationary supporting rod extending longitudinally of the cylinder, front guides supported by the rod normally in the path of the sheet, guide-actuating means mounted independently of the supporting rod and arranged to engage the guides at predetermined intervals to move the same out of the path of the sheet as the latter is advanced by the grippers.

8. In a machine of the character described, a front guide mechanism comprising a supporting rod extending longitudinally of the cylinder, front guides supported by the rod and including sheet contact fingers pivoted for independent movement in an arcuate path tangential to the cylinder surface, the pivotal axis of the fingers lying substantially in a radial plane including the cylinder axis and the points of engagement of the sheet by the grippers, yielding means holding the fingers normally in the path of the sheet, guide-actuating means mounted independently of the supporting rod and arranged to engage the guides at predetermined intervals to move the same forwardly and outwardly out of the path. of the sheet as the latter is advanced by the grippers.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of a subscribing witness.

' CHARLES JAMES ROBERTSON. Witness:

F. E. SWEETLAND.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

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