U.S. patent application number 11/825856 was filed with the patent office on 2008-01-24 for sheet material feeder.
This patent application is currently assigned to Goss International Americas, Inc.. Invention is credited to Mehmet Oktay Kaya, Edward James Limbert.
Application Number | 20080018043 11/825856 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 33097931 |
Filed Date | 2008-01-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080018043 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kaya; Mehmet Oktay ; et
al. |
January 24, 2008 |
Sheet material feeder
Abstract
A sheet material feeder includes a sheet material holder for
holding a pile of sheet material, a rotating drum for transporting
the sheet material from the pile, and an acceleration device
receiving the sheet material from the rotating drum at a first
speed and releasing the sheet material at a second speed greater
than the first speed. Also disclosed is a sheet material feeder
with a sheet material holder for holding a pile of sheet material;
and a rotating drum for transporting the sheet material from the
pile, the rotating drum including at least one sucker rotating with
the drum for contacting the sheet material.
Inventors: |
Kaya; Mehmet Oktay; (Lee,
NH) ; Limbert; Edward James; (Rochester, NH) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DAVIDSON, DAVIDSON & KAPPEL, LLC
485 SEVENTH AVENUE, 14TH FLOOR
NEW YORK
NY
10018
US
|
Assignee: |
Goss International Americas,
Inc.
Dover
NH
|
Family ID: |
33097931 |
Appl. No.: |
11/825856 |
Filed: |
July 9, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10437577 |
May 14, 2003 |
7306222 |
|
|
11825856 |
Jul 9, 2007 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
271/90 ; 271/109;
271/145; 271/34 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H 5/12 20130101; B65H
2513/21 20130101; B65H 3/0875 20130101; B65H 2405/54 20130101; B65H
2301/42322 20130101; B65H 2513/108 20130101; B65H 2406/3454
20130101; B65H 3/42 20130101; B65H 3/085 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
271/090 ;
271/109; 271/145; 271/034 |
International
Class: |
B65H 3/02 20060101
B65H003/02; B65H 1/00 20060101 B65H001/00; B65H 3/04 20060101
B65H003/04; B65H 3/06 20060101 B65H003/06 |
Claims
1. A sheet material feeder comprising: a sheet material holder for
holding a pile of sheet material; a rotating drum for transporting
the sheet material from the pile; and an acceleration device
receiving the sheet material from the rotating drum at a first
location at a first speed and releasing the sheet material at a
second location at a second speed greater than the first speed, the
acceleration device accelerating the sheet material between the
first and second locations; wherein the acceleration device
includes a plurality of variable-speed belts and input rollers and
output rollers, the belts running around the input and output
rollers, a surface speed of the belts at the input rollers being
equal to a surface speed of the rotating drum.
2. (canceled)
3. (canceled)
4. The sheet material feeder as recited in claim 1 wherein the
rotating drum includes a plurality of grippers spaced
circumferentially about the rotating drum.
5. (canceled)
6. The sheet material feeder as recited in claim 1 wherein the
holder includes a bottom tray and an adjustable sheet material
restrictor.
7-11. (canceled)
12. A sheet material feeder comprising: a sheet material holder for
holding a pile of sheet material; a rotating drum for transporting
the sheet material from the pile, the rotating drum having an outer
circumferential surface and including at least one sucker rotating
with the drum, the at least one sucker extending radially beyond
the outer circumferential surface for contacting the sheet material
in a first rotational position of the drum and being retracted to
be radially inside the outer circumferential surface in a second
rotational position of the drum; and an acceleration device for
receiving the sheet material from the rotating drum, the
acceleration device including a plurality of variable-speed belts
and input rollers and output rollers, the belts running around the
input and output rollers, a surface speed of the belts at the input
rollers being equal to a surface speed of the rotating drum.
13-18. (canceled)
19. The sheet material feeder as recited in claim 12 further
comprising a pressure roller interacting with the rotating drum
prior to the acceleration device.
20. (canceled)
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 10/437,577, filed on May 14, 2003, the entire
disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
[0002] The present invention relates to sheet material feeders, for
example hoppers for feeding sheet material such as signatures,
individual sheets or inserts from a pile.
[0003] German Patent Application No. 197 38 920 for example
discloses a feeder for taking a signature from a pile of signatures
using a suction device, which passes the signature to a rotating
drum. Grippers on further opening drums then open the signatures as
the signatures are transported to a saddle-back conveyor.
[0004] U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,457 discloses an apparatus for feeding
flat products from a pile using a sucker and conveying belts. The
flat products are then passed to a feeder conveyor, either directly
or via a gripper drum running at a stable surface speed ten percent
greater than the speed of the flat products.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] A problem with conventional feeders is that the separation
process for the bottom sheet material is prone to difficulties at
high speeds. For example, inertial forces and vacuum building for
the suckers creates limits on the speed for the feeder.
[0006] The present invention provides a sheet material feeder
comprising: a sheet material holder for holding a pile of sheet
material; a rotating drum for transporting the sheet material from
the pile; and an acceleration device receiving the sheet material
from the rotating drum at a first speed and releasing the sheet
material at a second speed greater than the first speed.
[0007] By providing an acceleration device in conjunction with the
rotating drum, the drum can rotate at a slower speed to remove the
sheet material from the pile, while the acceleration device
provides for increased delivery of the sheet material. Thus for a
particular feeder speed, removal of the sheet material can occur
more effectively due to the lower rotating drum speed.
[0008] The acceleration device preferably includes a plurality of
variable-speed belts, and may further include two intake nip
rollers and two output nip rollers over which the belts run. The
surface speed of the output nip rollers is then greater than the
surface speed of the input nip rollers.
[0009] The rotating drum preferably includes a plurality of
grippers, so that more than one sheet material is obtained from the
stack per revolution of the drum.
[0010] The grippers preferably include a first gripper part and a
second gripper part, each gripper part being individually
actuable.
[0011] The holder may include an adjustable bottom tray, and a
restrictor.
[0012] A caliper and pressure roller may be provided to interact
with the gripper drum prior to the acceleration device. The roller
may be eccentrically mounted.
[0013] Preferably, the drum further includes suckers. The suckers
thus are no longer separate from the drum, and may be actuated by
rotation of the drum.
[0014] The present invention thus also provides a sheet material
feeder comprising: a sheet material holder for holding a pile of
sheet material; and a rotating drum for transporting the sheet
material from the pile, the rotating drum including at least one
sucker rotating with the drum for contacting the sheet
material.
[0015] By having the sucker rotate with the drum, complex
reciprocating parts such as independent suck bars and lift feet may
be eliminated.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0016] The present invention will be described with respect to a
preferred embodiment in which:
[0017] FIG. 1 shows a side view of a preferred embodiment of the
present invention;
[0018] FIG. 2 shows a first step of sheet material removal from on
the sucker/gripper pairs of the rotating drum; and
[0019] FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 shows steps
subsequent to the step in FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0020] FIG. 1 shows a side view of a preferred embodiment of the
feeder of the present invention. Sheet material 10 is held in a
holder 20, which has an adjustable bottom tray 22 and a bottom
opening 24. Bottom tray 22 is adjustable to alter the size of the
opening 24. Sheet material 10 may include signatures, which have a
folded edge resting against a front wall 26. An adjustable
restrictor 28 may protrude from the front wall into bottom opening
24.
[0021] The feeder further includes a rotating drum 30 having a
plurality of grippers 32 and suckers 34, which can be connected to
cam followers and moved and actuated by cams adjustable for various
sheet material 10 lengths. Each gripper 32 has a first gripper part
35 and a second gripper part 36, which pivot about a pivot point 38
and each of which may have its own cam. The two gripper parts 35,
36 may be spring-forced together, so that the cams for each part
operate to open the spring. A plurality of grippers 32 and suckers
34 may be spaced axially on the drum 30, the grippers 32 and
suckers 34 preferably alternating and being spaced axially
apart.
[0022] The suckers 34 can take suction from an adjustable vacuum
pad on drum 30, which may be connected to a vacuum source apart
from drum 30.
[0023] Interacting with an outer surface of drum 30 is an
eccentrically-mounted rotating pressure roller 40, located in front
of an acceleration device 50. Acceleration device 50 includes two
take-off belts 52, 54, which are spaced axially in radial gaps in
the drum 30, and thus spaced axially with respect to grippers 32
and suckers 34 as well. Belts 52, 54 are driven by input rollers
56, 57 and/or output rollers 58, 59 and have a variable speed.
Preferably the surface speed of belts 52, 54 at input rollers 56,
57 is equal to the surface speed of the drum 30, which may rotate
at a constant speed. The belts accelerate through the device 50, so
that the surface speed of the belts 52, 54 at the output rollers
58, 59 is greater than at the input rollers 56, 57. The
variable-speed drive for the rollers may include elliptical gears,
a Geneva mechanism, or a separate servo-drive. Holding devices also
could be provided on the belts.
[0024] FIGS. 2 to 13 show the gripping of a bottommost one of the
sheet material 10 for one set of grippers 32 and suckers 34.
[0025] FIG. 2 shows a sucker 34 attached to sheet material 10, as
drum 30 rotates in direction D. Sucker 34 pulls sheet material 10
downwardly, so that the vacuumed sheet material 10 passes the
restrictor 28, as shown in FIG. 3.
[0026] Sucker 34 then pulls sheet material 10 to gripper 32, which
then grips the front edge of sheet material 10, as shown in FIGS. 4
and 5.
[0027] Once the sheet material is gripped the vacuum to sucker 34
is cut and gripper 32 moves counterclockwise to free the sheet
material 10 from sucker 34, as shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8. Sucker 34
retracts into drum 30.
[0028] Sheet material 10 is then pressed against the outer surface
of drum 30 by pressure roller 40, while grippers 32 still grip
sheet material 10, as shown in FIG. 9. Pressure roller 40 may be
made of a plurality of axially-spaced disks, the grippers 32
passing between the axial spaced of the disks. Pressure roller 40
may be eccentric so that contact with drum 30 is selective and
space is provided for sheet material 10 as sheet material 10
approaches pressure roller 40, this space being shown schematically
in FIGS. 4 to 8.
[0029] FIG. 10 shows sheet material 10 entering acceleration device
50. Once sheet material 10 enters belts 52, 54, the second gripper
part 36 is rotated as shown in FIG. 11 so that gripper 32 opens and
sheet material 10 can pass second gripper part 36 as sheet material
accelerates through acceleration device 50.
[0030] FIG. 12 shows sheet material 10 exiting acceleration device
50, and FIG. 13 shows gripper 32 returning to grip the another
piece of sheet material 10.
[0031] Since many grippers 32, for example 4, 6 or 8, may be spaced
circumferentially about the drum 30, the drum 30 can pull off a
plurality of pieces of sheet material 10 per revolution at a speed
slow enough to ensure good transfer from the holder 20, while
acceleration device 50 ensures that feeder throughput is not
degraded.
[0032] While the present invention has been described with respect
to a preferred embodiment, a similar device could be used for
example in a forced shingling device (where the drum would rotate
in the opposite direction and shingle the sheet material 10). The
feeder could be used in a saddle stitcher or for perfect
binding.
* * * * *