Bell + Howell Company

Graphic Management Associates, Inc.

Bell & Howell Phillipsburg Company

Muller Martini Mailroom Systems, Inc.

Muller Martini Corp.

Harry C Noll, Jr

George Fallos

David P Nyffenegger

Richard B Hawkes

Winston A Orsinger

Eric A Belec

James S Lee, Jr

Randy R Seidel

Robert G James

Gary L Davenport

Timothy Goszka

Eric Bader

Darrell E Pav

Daniel Langengger

Douglas Walter

Peter J Braschoss

Barry D Yekel

Mike White

Lee, Jr: James S

A stacker infeed machine providing adjustment of a gripper drum with respect to an overhead conveyor system. The infeed further provides for separate adjustment of a conveyor system with respect to the gripper drum without altering the vertical spacing between the gripper drum and the overhead conveyor.

Adjustable stacker infeed

An apparatus feeds paper inserts or other flat products from one area to another. The apparatus is particularly useful for newspaper insert machines. A rotating gripper drum or pusher disk feeds paper products from the bottom of a stationary stack down into open moving pockets. Roller assemblies are employed to first speed up the product and then slow the product down as the product exits the feeder. In operation, the product is first quickly accelerated to a speed faster than the circumferential speed of the drum or pusher disk, to maximize feeding speed, and then is quickly decelerated to a slower speed, to prevent the product from bouncing or crumpling in the bottom of the pocket.

Product feeder with accelerator and decelerator devices

The present invention discloses an improved insert machine for inserting flat material into an open pocket and, more particularly, to a straight line insert machine employed for printed matter such as newspapers. The machine includes an all-electronic control system for controlling machine functions. The control system includes at least one central control computer running under software control and a plurality of network controllers, all coupled together via a controller area network (CAN) bus. Electronic control messages for controlling machine elements are sent among the computers and controllers using a novel message protocol to enable both broadcast messages and individual messages to be employed.

Insert machine

A transfer wheel removes flat products from one location, such as an overhead conveyor, spaces the products apart, reorients them and then transfers the products to a second conveyor or other location. The transfer wheel is eccentrically mounted within a circular frame. Grippers mounted on radially-moving spokes of the transfer wheel rotate as the wheel turns, to reorient the products, for example from vertical to horizontal, so they can be laid flat on the second conveyor. The eccentric mounting of the wheel causes the spokes to increase the spacing between adjacent products as the wheel turns, to prepare the products for later processing.

Transfer wheel

This invention discloses an apparatus and method for separating and feeding flat products from a stack to a gripper drum. The invention employs a specially-positioned pivoting and articulating sucker bar, having several degrees of motion, operating in timed relationship with a reciprocating and articulating pusher blade, to reduce the travel distance of vacuum suckers, to reduce the diameter of the gripper drum, and to increase the speed at which products are separated from the stack and transferred to the gripper drum.

Product separator and feeder

The transfer device is a circular conveyor having a plurality of radially moveable grippers. The grippers receive a non-self-supporting package, such as a newspaper jacket, on its bottom edge from an overhead line conveyor and rotate the newspaper down onto a receiving device such as a bundler at the bottom of the drum's rotation. The transfer device controls the gripping of the newspaper from the line conveyor with an inhibitor cam to provide a controlled bypass mechanism. The radial moveable grippers allow for smoother transistion and decrease space needs.

Transfer device

The device stacks successive planar products (newspapers) and separates a plurality of the products into individual stacks. A circular conveyor has a plurality of grippers thereon which are spaced apart by a circumferential distance, grasps the planar products from a linear conveyor, upstream of the circular conveyor, so that the products are transferred from the linear conveyor to the circular conveyor and onto a stack.

Stacking and counting device for planar products

An in-line inserter device comprises envelope and insert feeding assemblies, an envelope inserting station assembly, a sealing and stacking assembly, and various diverter stations. The envelope feeding assembly withdraws envelopes from a hopper-held envelope stack and conveys them to the inserting station. Each modular insert feeding assembly comprises a hopper-held insert stack disposed above, along, and in line with an insert conveyor. The conveyor, along its track, carries inserts dispensed from the hopper-held insert stacks to the inserting station. Diverter stations are disposed ahead of the envelope inserting station for diversion of envelopes and inserts and ahead of the inserted envelope stacking assembly to divert inserted envelopes, for normal operational purposes and for rectification of sensed faults by rejection and extraction of processed faulty items. Such faults include paper jams, misalignments, absences of inserts, duplication of inserts and envelopes, incorrectly collated inserts, damaged inserts or envelopes, etc. Subsequently to inserting, insert-filled envelopes are conveyed from the inserting station, are sealed, turned, and stacked. Supervision and coordination of the operation of the various assemblies and stations in concert is provided by computer control to efficiently accomplish the inserting of the inserts into the envelopes, further processing and handling thereof, and conveyance of the items in and between subunits of the in-line inserter device.

Inserter with diverter for faulty members

An on-edge stacker for stacking envelopes comprises a transporter and diverter, an accumulator, a spider wheel for delivering diverted envelopes to a conveyor belt of the accumulator, and a propelling arrangement to a drive diverted envelopes to the spider wheel. The diverter includes a gate for intercepting and diverting envelopes from the transporter. The stacker includes a device for laterally offsetting envelopes. In one embodiment, the spider wheel is suspended in a free-floating manner against a spring load. The floating spider wheel displacement as a consequence of stack increase is sensed to energize the accumulator conveyor belt drive to reduce the displacement. The actuation of the envelope propelling arrangement is sychronized in correlation with the positions of spaces between legs of the spider wheel. In operation, a diverted envelope is aligned, selectively offset, and propelled into the spider wheel. The spider wheel deposits the envelope on-edge onto the conveyor belt and thusly stacks envelopes side-on-side in the accumulator.

On-edge stacker

In an inserter, a skew and misalignment detector for measuring skew misalignment of inserts that are conveyed on and along a conveyor comprises a plurality of photosensors disposed above the insert-conveying path in transverse relation thereto and a plurality of retroreflective targets disposed beneath the insert-conveying path in transverse relation thereto and directed toward the photosensors. Inserts obstruct the targets while being conveyed thereover. The photosensor signals are sampled in synchronism with the insert-conveying motion. The obtained signals are evaluated in relation to pre-established skew rejection threshold criteria in dependence on insert conveying speed. Inserts are diverted when the skew detector arrangement provides measures of skew and misalignment of inserts that exceed rejection threshold criteria.

Skew detector for inserter

A turnover module for turning over envelopes comprises a plurality of pulleys and disposed thereabout a driven endless belt in the general shape of a flattened figure `8`. The belt includes a crossover region and a first and a second reach extending therethrough. The reaches contact one another resiliently along length portions thereof while crossing over and twisting about one another. Envelopes are received in a first orientation at an entry end of the reaches; nipped between the reaches; transported thereby through the crossover region while being turned over by virtue of the twist of the reaches about one another; and, delivered from the turnover module in a second orientation.

Turnover module

An inserter with collation tracking comprises a programmable computer, means for tracking handled items including individual tracking and collation tracking, sensing means for sensing individual items in different locations, as well as for sensing defective, multiple or missing items, corrective action means, and, means for updating tracking information in correspondence with corrective action taken. The inserter performs corrective action in the form of the rejection and diversion of defective items. Further, the inserter provides for complementarily associating envelopes with particular inserts intended for insertion thereinto, for collation tracking of such complementarily-associated items, and for the diversion of such associated items if at least one of the associated items has been stigmatized as defective.

Inserter with collation tracking

An envelope flap opener comprises a revolving gripper drum for conveying envelopes thereupon in flap-up orientation with flap edge trailing and a revolving rotor disposed vicinally to the gripper drum, the rotor having at least one sucker cup extending from its periphery. Vacuum is valved to the sucker cup at a time when an envelope is conveyed upon the gripper drum past the rotor, the sucker cup grabs and opens the envelope flap, and subsequently the flap is released. Prior to release of the flap, a plow device intercepts the flap and further unfolds it. The plow device includes a photo-sensor for checking of proper flap opening and for detecting missing envelopes.

Envelope flap opener

A feeder module for feeding sheet inserts and having a thickness detector for measuring the thickness of inserts comprises: a gripper drum disc for transporting the inserts upon its periphery; a detector caliper assembly including a pivotable arm having a follower roller borne at one end and a magnet mounted at the other end, the arm being spring loaded with the follower roller against the periphery of the gripper drum disc; and, a stationary Hall sensor to measure relative displacement between the sensor and the magnet. As an insert is transported upon the periphery of the gripper drum disc, the insert is interposed between the periphery and the follower roller and the Hall sensor senses the consequent magnet displacement as a measure of the thickness of the insert. In one embodiment, an adjustable anvil having a peripheral surface is mounted on a face of the gripper drum disc. The anvil is pre-adjusted so that its peripheral surface is disposed at a constant radius from the axis of rotation of the disc. In another embodiment, signals provided by the Hall sensor in absence of inserts are stored as reference signals. Signals provided by the Hall sensor in the presence of an insert are compared with the corresponding stored reference signal to provide an accurate measure of insert thickness regardless of eccentricity of the gripper drum disc periphery.

Growing community of inventors

Whitehall, PA, United States of America

Harry C Noll, Jr