The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 19, 1996
Filed:
Nov. 23, 1994
Alan S Farr, Huber Heights, OH (US);
AM International, Inc., Mt. Prospect, IL (US);
Abstract
A collator (10) comprises a collating conveyor (12) and a plurality of hopper sections (20, 40, 60) located along the conveyor. Each section includes at least one signature pile support (21-24, 41-44, 61-64) for holding signatures to be fed to the conveyor. Each section also includes a signature feeder (25-28, 45-48, 65-68) for feeding a signature from the pile support to the conveyor. Each section has its own respective motor (32, 52, 72) for driving the associated feeder. Each motor includes its own respective controller (30, 50, 70) for controlling the associated motor to control the feeding of signatures from the associated feeder to the conveyor. Each controller includes its own respective motor drive for controlling operation of the associated motor. A master controller (14) interconnecting the motor drives controls speed of operation and coordinates timing of operation of the motor drives. Alternatively, each pile support (21a-24a) could have its own respective feeder (25a-28a) for feeding a signature from the associated pile support to the conveyor (12a). In this case, each feeder would include its own respective motor (112, 122, 132, 144) for driving the associated feeder. Also, each motor would include its own respective controller (110, 120, 130, 140) for controlling the associated motor to control the feeding of signatures from the associated feeder to the conveyor.