Am International Incorporated

John N Hobbs

Robert A Bryson, Sr

Dale K Wells

Al Baglyos

David F Christofferson

An existing sheet material feeder has a feed tray which holds sheet material in an on-edge orientation in which side surfaces of the sheet material are generally vertical. An apparatus is provided to convert the sheet material feeder to one having a feed tray which holds sheet material in a lying-down orientation in which side surfaces of the sheet material are generally horizontal. The apparatus for converting the on-edge sheet material feeder to the lying-down sheet material feeders includes a frame having a pair of parallel side sections. A single sheet material feed drum is disposed between and is connected with the side sections. The side sections are connected with side sections of the existing collator conveyor sheet material feeder.

Apparatus for converting a sheet material feeder from on edge to bottom

An improved apparatus is used to feed sheet material to a feed station of a collating conveyor. At the feed station of one embodiment of the invention, a first feed drum engages a leading edge portion of the sheet material and feeds the sheet material toward the collating conveyor. A first feed drum feeds the sheets along an arcuate path to a secondary drum. The secondary feed drum feeds the sheet material from another holder to a secondary conveyor. The secondary conveyor is inclined to a horizontal at an angle lesser than the arcuate path. A printer assembly prints indicia on the sheet material. The printer assembly directs ink toward opposite sides of the sheet material along paths which are skewed at an acute angle relative to the vertical so that particles of ink do not fall back onto ink jet nozzles and clog the nozzles. The conveyor belts are movable transversely to the path of movement of the sheet material through the printer assembly to enable printing to occur at various locations on the sheet material. After printing, the sheets are conveyed along a third path segment which slopes downward away from the printer.

Collator with printer having inclined printing path and displaceable

An improved sheet material handling apparatus includes a pair of saddle conveyors. An extractor drum sequentially grips folded edge portions of signatures in hoppers and moves the signatures along an arcuate path. During rotation of the extractor drum to move the signatures along the arcuate path, a first signature engages a first stop member and is transferred to a first saddle conveyor. The first stop member is then retracted and the next signature moves past the first stop member into engagement with a second stop member. The second signatures is then transferred to a second saddle conveyor. A single stitcher assembly is provided to stitch signatures in first and second spaced apart streams of signatures being conveyed by the two saddle conveyors. In addition, a single trimmer assembly is provided to trim the signatures while maintaining the signatures in the first and second spaced apart streams of signatures.

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Troy, OH, United States of America

John N Hobbs