U.S. patent number 3,902,708 [Application Number 05/357,602] was granted by the patent office on 1975-09-02 for collating system.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Harris-Intertype Corporation. Invention is credited to Leonard Miaskoff, David A. Reed, James C. Wise.
United States Patent |
3,902,708 |
Wise , et al. |
September 2, 1975 |
Collating system
Abstract
A collating apparatus for assembling a magazine from a plurality
of signatures has a conveyor movable successively through a
plurality of signature feeding stations and includes equipment for
sensing and counting malfunctions of each feeding station. The
counter is periodically reset after a predetermined number of
machine cycles; if the number of malfunctions exceeds a preset
stored limit before the counter is reset, the machine is stopped
automatically. A rejection station following the last signature
feeding station rejects magazines for which any of the feeders
sensed a malfunction. An inspection station following the rejection
station senses the presence or absence of a magazine and compares
the results with a malfunction-data record to monitor the
performance of the rejection station. One or more feeding stations
may be switched to a mode of operation in which a single
malfunction instead of an unacceptable fault rate stops the
machine.
Inventors: |
Wise; James C. (Easton, PA),
Miaskoff; Leonard (Easton, PA), Reed; David A. (Easton,
PA) |
Assignee: |
Harris-Intertype Corporation
(Cleveland, OH)
|
Family
ID: |
23406290 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/357,602 |
Filed: |
May 7, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
270/58.03;
271/263 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H
43/00 (20130101); B65H 39/02 (20130101); B65H
2511/529 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65H
43/00 (20060101); B65H 39/02 (20060101); B65H
39/00 (20060101); B65h 039/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;270/54,56,58
;209/74R,74M ;271/57,263 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Michell; Robert W.
Assistant Examiner: Hum; Vance Y.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A collating system for forming a book from a plurality of
signatures, said system comprising a gatherer conveyor having a
plurality of chain spaces movable successively through a plurality
of signature feeding stations and past a reject station and adapted
to receive signatures at said feeding stations to form a book in
each chain space as the chain space moves, a signature feed means
at each feeding station for feeding signatures to said gatherer
conveyor chain spaces, sensing means for sensing a malfunction at
each feeding station which would produce an imperfect book and for
producing a status signal upon the occurrence of a malfunction,
storage means for storing the status signal in response to the
sensing of a malfunction at a signature feeding station, means
controlled by said status signal for rejecting the imperfect book
at said reject station, inspection means for inspecting a chain
space beyond said reject station and providing a signal if a book
is present in said chain space, and means for comparing the signal
from said inspection means with the status signal.
2. A system as defined in claim 1 and further including stopping
means responsive to said comparison means for stopping the
collating system when a book is present in a chain space from which
the book should have been rejected or when a book is absent from a
chain space from which the book should not have been rejected.
3. A system as defined in claim 1 and further including counter
means responsive to said comparison means for counting the number
of times that a book is present in a chain space from which the
book should have been rejected and absent from a chain space in
which a book should be present.
4. A collating system for forming a book from a plurality of
signatures, said system comprising a gatherer conveyor movable
successively through a plurality of signature feeding stations and
adapted to receive signatures at said feeding stations, a signature
feed means at each feeding station, sensor means for sensing a
malfunction at each signature feeding station which would produce
an imperfect book wherein said malfunction comprises either missing
the feeding of a signature or the multiple feeding of a signature
and said sensor means comprises first means for sensing the missed
feeding of a signature and second means for sensing a multiple
feeding of a signature, counting means for registering and counting
the sensed malfunctions for a predetermined number of machine
cycles, data storage means for each feeding station including first
means for storing a maximum limit number of missed feeding
malfunctions and second means for storing a maximum number of
multiple feeding malfunctions for the predetermined number of
machine cycles, comparison means for receiving and comparing data
indicating each number of malfunctions registered in said counting
means with the respective stored limit number of malfunctions, and
means responsive to said comparison means for stopping the system
when the number of malfunctions which occurred at any station
equals the respective stored limit number for that station.
5. A collating system for producing different magazines composed of
different predetermined combinations of signatures for different
groups of subscribers classified in accordance with predetermined
subscriber information, the system comprising a gathering machine
having a gatherer conveyor with a plurality of chain spaces movable
successively through a plurality of signatures feeding stations and
adapted to receive signatures at said feeding stations whereby a
magazine is formed in each chain space as the chain space moves
through the feeding stations, said gathering machine comprising
signature feed means at each of said stations, said gathering
machine operating in cycles, each cycle of operation causing
successive feeding of signatures from at least some of said
signature feed means to make up each magazine, each of said
signature feed means having instruction means for instructing the
associated signature feed means to feed or not feed during each
gathering machine cycle, file means for storing information in
machine readable form identifying different subscribers with
different predetermined combinations of at least some of said
signature feed means to be instructed to feed during a machine
cycle to provide the predetermined combination of signatures
constituting the appropriate magazine for each subscriber, reading
means for reading said file means and instructing feeding of said
signature feed means in the predetermined combination required to
provide the different magazines appropriate for the corresponding
subscribers, manual switching means for each instruction means for
disconnecting said reading means from said instruction means for
each signature feeding means, and further comprising sensing means
for sensing malfunctions separately at each of said signature
feeding stations, and producing status signals accordingly,
computer means comprising means receiving information based upon
said signals for computing for each of said stations a rate of
occurrence of malfunctons for a predetermined number of counted
cycles of said gathering machine, said computer means further
comprising means for computing when said rate of occurrence reaches
a predetermined and stored limit, and first stopping means for
stopping the system when said predetermined limit is reached, said
system further comprising second stopping means responsive to said
status signals for stopping the system when said sensing means
senses a predetermined number at least one of successive
malfunctions at a signature feeding station, and means for
disabling said first stopping means and enabling said second
stopping means upon actuation of said switching means to feed
signatures when said signature feeding means is disconnected from
said reading means, and further including storage means for storing
said status signals, means controlled by said status signals for
rejecting an imperfect book at a reject station, inspection means
for inspecting a chain space beyond said reject station and
providing a signal if a book is present in said chain space, and
comparison means for comparing the signal from said inspection
means with the status signal.
6. A collating system for producing different magazines composed of
different predetermined combinations of signatures for different
groups of subscribers classified in accordance with predetermined
subscriber information, the system comprising a gathering machine
having a gatherer conveyor with a plurality of chain spaces movable
successively through a plurality of signatures at said feeding
stations whereby a magazine is formed in each chain space as the
chain space moves through the feeding stations, said gathering
machine comprising signature feed means at each of said stations,
said gathering machine operating in cycles, each cycle of operation
causing successive feeding of signatures from at least some of said
signature feed means to make up each magazine, each of said
signature feed means having instruction means for instructing the
associated signature feed means to feed or not feed during each
gathering machine cycle, file means for storing information in
machine readable form identifying different subscribers with
different predetermined combinations of at least some of said
signature feed means to be instructed to feed during a machine
cycle to provide the predetermined combination of signatures
constituting the appropriate magazine for each subscriber, reading
means for reading said file means and instructing feeding of said
signature feed means in the predetermined combination required to
provide the different magazines appropriate for the corresponding
subscribers, and further comprising sensing means for sensing
malfunctions separately at each of said signature feeding stations,
computer means comprising means for computing for each of said
stations a rate of occurrence of malfunctions for a predetermined
number of gathering machine cycles, said computer means further
comprising means for computing when said rate reaches a
predetermined limit, and first means for stopping the system when
said predetermined limit is reached.
7. A collating system as defined in claim 6 and further comprising
manual switching means for each instruction means for disconnecting
said reading means from said instruction means for each signature
feeding means, second means for stopping the system when said
sensing means senses a predetermined number at least one of
successive malfunctions at a signature feeding station, and means
for disabling said first stopping means and enabling said second
stoppping means upon actuation of said switching means to feed
signatures when said signature feeding means is disconnected from
said reading means.
8. A collating system for forming a book from a plurality of
signatures, said system comprising a gatherer conveyor movable
successively through a plurality of signature feeding stations and
adapted to receive signatures at said feeding stations, a signature
feed means at each feeding station, sensor means for sensing a
malfuncton at each signature feeding station which would produce an
imperfect book, counting means for registering and counting the
sensed malfunctions for a predetermined number of machine cycles,
data storage means for each feeding station for storing a maximum
limit number of malfunctions for the predetermined number of
machine cycles, comparison means for receiving and comparing data
indicating the number of malfunctions registered in said counting
means with the stored limit number of malfunctions, and means
responsive to said comparison means for stopping the system when
the number of malfunctions which occurred at any station equals the
stored limit number for that station, and wherein said malfunction
comprises either missing the feeding of a signature or multiple
feeding of a signature, and said sensor means comprises first
switch means for sensing the missed feeding of a signature and
second switch means for sensing the multiple feeding of a
signature, and wherein said means for storing a maximum limit
number includes means for storing a limit number of missed
signatures and a limit number of multiple-fed signatures for each
station, means for separately counting the number of missed
signatures and the number of multiple-fed signatures at each
station, and means for separately comparing the counts of missed
signatures and multiple-fed signatures at each station with their
respective stored limit numbers for stopping the system upon
reaching the respective limit number.
9. A collating system for forming a book from a plurality of
signatures, said system comprising a gatherer conveyor movable
successively through a plurality of signature feeding stations and
adapted to receive signatures at said feeding stations, a signature
feed means at each feeding station, sensor means for sensing a
malfunction at each signature feeding station which would produce
an imperfect book, counting means for registering and counting the
sensed malfunctions for a predetermined number of machine cycles,
data storage means for each feeding station for storing a maximum
limit number of malfunctions for the predetermined number of
machine cycles, comparison means for receiving and comparing data
indicating the number of malfunctions registered in said counting
means with the stored limit number of malfunctions, and means
responsive to said comparison means for stopping the system when
the number of malfunctions which occurred at any station equals the
stored limit number for that station, and wherein said counting
means and said comparison means comprise digital computer
means.
10. A collating system for forming a book from a plurality of
signatures, said system comprising a gatherer conveyor movable
successively through a plurality of signature feeding stations and
adapted to receive signatures at said feeding stations, a signature
feed means at each feeding station, sensor means for sensing a
malfunction at each signature feeding station which would produce
an imperfect book, counting means for registering and counting the
sensed malfunctions for a predetermined number of machine cycles,
data storage means for each feeding station for storing a maximum
limit number of malfunctions for the predetermined number of
machine cycles, comparison means for receiving and comparing data
indicating the number of malfunctions registered in said counting
means with the stored limit number of malfunctions, means
responsive to said comparison means for stopping the system when
the number of malfunctions which occurred at any station equals the
stored limit number for that station, and feed control means for
controlling said signature feed means to feed or not to feed a
signature to said gatherer conveyor at each station, said feed
control means including digital computer means for controlling said
feed control means at each station.
11. A collating system as defined in claim 10 and wherein said feed
control means further comprises manually settable means for
controlling said signature feed means to feed or not to feed,
including selection means for individually placing said signature
feed means either under control of said digital computer means or
under control of said manually settable means.
12. A collating system for forming a book from a plurality of
signatures, said system comprising a gatherer conveyor movable
successively through a plurality of signature feeding stations and
adapted to receive signatures at said feeding stations, a signature
feed means at each feeding station, sensor means for sensing
occurrence of a malfunction feed at each signature feeding station
which would produce an imperfect book, first counting means for
counting a predetermined number of machine cycles, second counting
means for registering and counting the number of sensed malfunction
feeds during said predetermined number of machine cycles, said
second counting means being capable of registering and counting
said malfunction feeds when said malfunction feeds occur
non-contiguously among intervening correct feeds, data storage
means for each feeding station for storing a maximum limit number
of malfunction feeds for said predetermined number of machine
cycles, comparison means for comparing said stored limit number
with data indicating said number of malfunction feeds registered in
said second counting means since the start of said predetermined
number of machine cycles, and means responsive to said comparison
means for stopping the system when the number of malfunction feeds
which occurred at any station equals the stored limit number for
that station.
13. A collating system as defined in claim 12 further including
feed control means for controlling said signature feed means to
feed or not to feed a signature to said gatherer conveyor at each
station.
14. A collating system as defined in claim 12 and wherein said
malfunction comprises either missing the feeding of a signature or
the multiple feeding of a signature, and said sensor means
comprises first switch means for sensing the missed feeding of a
signature and second switch means for sensing the multiple feeding
of a signature.
15. A collating system as defined in claim 12 and wherein said
first counting means comprises means for resetting said second
counting means to start its count anew when said predetermined
number of machine cycles is reached.
16. A collating system as defined in claim 12 and further
comprising shutdown means responsive to said sensing means to
actuate said means for stopping upon occurrence of a predetermined
number at least one of uninterrupted successive malfunctions at
each individual feeding station, and switching means for each
individual feeding station for selectively making said means for
stopping responsive either to said comparison means or to said
shutdown means.
17. A collating system as defined in claim 12 and wherein said
second counting means comprises means capable also of registering
and counting malfunction feeds that occur contiguously without
intervening correct feeds, whereby said number of malfunction feeds
registered in said second counting means includes both
non-contiguous and contiguous malfunction feeds.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a collating apparatus having a
plurality of hoppers or feed stations at which signatures are fed
to a conveyor, with each station being controlled to feed or not to
feed a signature in accordance with commands received from a
computer.
The invention is an improvement in collating systems, and in
particular an improvement in a collating system disclosed in U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 141,331, filed May 7, 1971. In that
system various magazines or books composed of various predetermined
combinations of signatures are made in accordance with various
subscriber information under the control of a computer. On the
basis of information read from a magnetic tape, the computer
instructs different ones of the feed stations to feed or not to
feed to provide differently constituted magazines for different
subscribers. At each feeding station, the performance of the feeder
in properly adding one signature is sensed, and a malfunction code
is generated when the feeder does not operate properly. The
malfunction code is shifted through a shift register to simulate
the movement of the defective magazine through the remaining
stations of the gatherer to a reject station and the magazine is
rejected when it arrives at the reject station.
In another gatherer of the prior art, described in U.S. Pat. No.
3,525,516, issued Aug. 25, 1970, to T. W. Bushnell, et al, the
gatherer is automatically stopped if a feed device repeatedly
malfunctions for a predetermined number of successive machine
cycles. The fact that the predetermined number of successive
malfunctions occur is detected by a logic gate having inputs from a
number of successive stages of a shift register in which the
malfunction codes are stored.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a collating appparatus having a
plurality of feed stations at which signatures are added to a
conveyor, with each station being controlled to feed or not to feed
a signature in accordance with commands received from a computer.
At each feed station, malfunctions of the feeder are detected, the
type of detectable malfunctions preferably including a miss, which
is a failure to feed any signature, and a douuble, which is the
feeding of more than one signature. The number of misses and the
number of doubles committed by each feeder are counted in the
computer. Preferably, each counter is reset to zero and starts
counting anew after a predetermined total number of routine machine
cycles, for example, 1,000 cycles. If the number of malfunctions
which has been accumulated in a counter during 1,000 machine cycles
ever reaches a preset limit number which was previously programmed
into the memory of the computer, the collating machine is stopped
automatically. Thus, the collating machine is stopped if the fault
rate is too high.
Two preferred embodiments of the invention are described herein,
which differ in that, in the second embodiment, more tasks are
performed by a computer than in the first embodiment. In the first
embodiment, when a fault is detected, a chain space of the conveyor
is identified by a code as having a faulty magazine, and, by means
of a shift register, the apparatus follows that chain space through
the machine and prevents each downstream feeder from feeding a
signature to it. If a downstream hopper does not feed because of
the downstream shutoff just described, or because it is programmed
by the computer not to feed for that particular subscriber, the
abstention from feeding is not counted as a fault by the computer.
The computer actuates a reject gate to reject the defective
magazine when the chain space which the defective magazine occupies
arrives at the reject gate station following the last hopper.
The computer and its shift register continue to track every chain
space beyond the reject gate to another station, where an automatic
inspection is made for presence or absence of a magazine. If the
reject gate malfunctioned by failing to reject a defective
magazine, that failure to reject stops the collating apparatus
immediately. Similarly, if the reject gate malfunctioned by
rejecting a magazine which was not defective, that malfunction of
the reject gate also stops the collating apparatus immediately.
One or more individual feeders can be placed by the operator under
"standard" control in which only one malfunction at that feeder
stops the collating machine, or, if desired, two or more
consecutive malfunctions can stop it, as in the prior art.
Programming of whether or not each hopper should feed can also be
taken away from computer control and controlled instead by manual
switches.
Accordingly, one principal object of the present invention is to
provide a collating system for forming a magazine or book
comprising a gatherer conveyor receiving signatures from a
plurality of feeding stations, equipment for sensing a malfunction
at each signature feed station, and apparatus for counting the
malfunctions for a predetermined number of machine cycles, and
comparing the count with a maximum acceptable number of
malfunctions for each feed station.
A further object is to provide a system as above in which both
misfed and double-fed signatures are sensed at each hopper and the
number of each is separately counted and compared with a limit.
Another principal object is to provide a collating system for
forming a magazine or book having a gatherer conveyor moving
through a plurality of signature feeding stations and past a reject
station, and in which a malfunction at a feed station produces a
reject code signal which is stored until the imperfect magazine
arrives at a reject station where the magazine is rejected, and
including an inspection station following the reject station for
ascertaining whether or not the reject station properly rejected or
properly retained each book.
A further object is to provide a system as immediately above and in
which improper rejections and improper retentions at the reject
station stop the collating apparatus.
A further principal object of the invention is to provide a system
for producing different magazines composed of different
predetermined combinations of signatures in accordance with
different subscriber information, and in which individual hoppers
may be selectively controlled to operate in either of two modes:
(a) a first mode in which a malfunction of a feed station is sensed
and stops the machine, or (b) a second mode in which malfunctions
of hoppers are counted and stop the machine only after a
predetermined count of malfunctions for each hopper occurs within a
period consisting of a predetermined number of machine cycles.
A further object is to provide a system as above in which commands
for some of the plurality of feeders are under manual control and
commands for the other feeders are under computer control, and each
feeder can be selectively controlled to feed or not to feed under
either type of control.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent
upon consideration of the following description taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 shows a collating machine including a conveyor, a plurality
of signature feeding stations, a rejection station, and an
inspection station;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a programmable controller which
receives instructions from a computer and which controls the
collating machine of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of the computer which
cooperates with the programmable controller of FIG. 2 to control
the collating machine of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a symbolic block diagram showing a portion of a memory
unit of the computer of FIG. 3 and some logic functions performed
by the computer; and
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a second embodiment in which the
computer performs some of the operations that were performed in the
first embodiment by the programmable controller.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In a first preferred embodiment of the invention, a collating or
gathering machine for assembling magazines and books from a
plurality of signatures is arranged to be controlled by a
programmable controller which in turn is under the direction of a
digital computer so that the machine can provide different
combinations of signatures for different subscribers. The computer
10 (FIG. 3) is preferably programmed in advance, after which it
receives subscriber data from a reel of magnetic tape or other
source of input information. The magnetic tape contains data
describing the particular different sets of signatures which are to
be employed by the collating machine 14 (FIG. 1) to form a magazine
tailored differently for various groups of subscribers.
The computer 10 does not operate directly upon the collating
machine 14, but instead issues its instructions and receives
information back from the programmable controller 12, (FIG. 2). The
programmable controller 12 implements the instructions issued by
the computer 10 to control the collating machine 14 to produce the
various desired types of magazines. Thus, a magnetic data tape file
containing subscriber data indirectly controls the collating
machine 14 to produce the desired magazines. The computer 10 is a
conventional and well-known model PDP-8 computer complete with
convention commercially-available interface equipment for it
manufactured by the Digital Equipment Corp. of Maynard,
Massachusetts.
The collating machine has a conveyor chain 16 onto which different
signatures are fed from hoppers to form a desired magazine, after
which any defectively formed magazines are rejected at a rejection
station, the performance of the rejection station being monitored
at a subsequent inspection station. As shown in FIG. 1, the
conveyor chain 16 is divided longitudinally into chain spaces, each
of which is large enough to accommodate a magazine to be assembled
on the chain space. The conveyor chain 16 moves through a plurality
of feeding stations. A signature feeder or hopper is located at
each feeding station. The number and construction of the feeders or
hoppers may vary, but preferably the feeders are as shown in U.S.
application Ser. No. 339,144, assigned to the assignee of the
present invention. That disclosure is incorporated herein by
reference.
In general, each feeder includes, as is well known, a hopper which
contains a supply of signatures. The signatures are removed from
the hopper by a suitable mechanism which includes a suction device
which withdraws an edge of a signature downwardly into a position
where it can be gripped by a gripper which is carried on a
rotatable drum. The gripper, once it grips the signature, carries
the signature with the drum to a release location where the
signature is released for deposit into the chain space.
As noted, the number of hoppers or feeders may vary and in the
preferred embodiment there are 32 hoppers 18a, 18b, etc., for
feeding signatures onto the chain. Each of the hoppers 18a, 18b,
etc., has a supply of signatures which differ among hoppers, and
each hopper is capable of feeding one signature at a time onto the
chain 16 when a respective feed device 20a, 20b, 20c, etc., of the
hopper is actuated.
Each hopper has a respective caliper means 22a, 22b, etc., for
measuring the thickness of a signature which is fed during each
machine cycle. The caliper device actuates a first switch called
the miss switch 24a, 24b, etc., if no signature is fed, and it
actuates a second switch 26a, 26b, etc., if two or more signatures
are fed. Under some circumstances but not all, an abstention from
feeding represents a malfunction, so that actuation of the miss
switch 24 may indicate a malfunction. Actuation of the doubles
switch 26 always indicates a malfunction of a signature feeder.
Each chain space, as it comes out of the last stage of the gatherer
18, carries a magazine. Some of the magazines are defective, as
indicated by information obtained from the miss switches 24 and the
doubles switches 26. When a defective magazine reaches a reject
station 28, it is removed from the conveyor chain 16 by the
operation of a reject actuator 30 which is under the control of the
programmable controller 12.
At a later station 32, each chain space is inspected for the
presence or absence of a magazine in order to monitor the
performance of the reject station 28. The inspection station 32
includes a lamp 34 projecting a beam of light 36 across the chain
space to a photocell 38, which receives light if and only if a
magazine is present at the chain space. The inspection station 32
supplies a signal to the programmable controller 12 which stops the
collating apparatus immediately upon a malfunction of the rejection
station and which provides information to the computer 10 for
counting wrongful absences of magazines and for counting wrongful
presences of magazines at the inspection station 32, that is, for
counting both types of errors which could occur at the rejection
station 28.
In this way, the collating machine 14 selectively feeds signatures
at a plurality of hoppers onto a conveyor chain 16, with the misses
and double feeding of signatures detected at each hopper by a
caliper, and defective finished magazines are rejected at a
rejection station 28, and the performance of the rejection station
28 is monitored at the inspection station 32. At the rejection
station a suitable means is provided for rejecting the defective
magazines. Details of the mechanism will not be described, since
any known reject structure can be utilized.
In the first preferred enbodiment the programmable controller 12
performs many functions. It stores data describing the pattern of
signatures which are to be fed at the various hoppers, receives
malfunction data from the caliper switches 24 and 26, and shifts
that data through shift registers to simulate movement of the books
through the collating machine 14, issues reject signals to the
reject station 28, and receives data from the inspection station 32
for retransmission to the computer 10. Binary data specifying which
hoppers should feed signatures for producing a particular type of
magazine for one particular group of subscribers is received by the
programmable controller 12 on data lines 40 and stored in latching
relays 42a, 42b, 42c, etc. corresponding respectively to the
hoppers 18a, 18b, 18c, etc.
If a signature is to feed at, for example, hopper 18b, a pair of
contacts 44b of the relay 42b are placed in a closed position and
they connect a voltage from a voltage supply 46 to the feeder
actuator 20b of hopper 18b through a chain of switch and relay
contacts 48b, 50b, 52b, whose various individual functions are to
be described later. If all of the contacts 48b, 50b, 52b are
closed, the actuator 20b causes a signature to feed at the station
18b onto the conveyor chain 16.
Signals on the cable al, FIGS. 1 and 2, actuate the feed devices
20a, 20b, 20c, etc., to feed or not to feed a signature, using
mechanisms and methods that are well-known in the prior art. One
such known method of controlling feeding, for example, is to turn a
vacuum suction system on or off at the hopper at a proper time to
pick up a signature or not to pick up a signature for feeding.
Voltages applied to the various conductors of a multiple-conductor
cable 54 on a line a2 of FIGS. 1 and 2 serve to enable and disable
the miss switches 24 and the doubles switches 26 of FIG. 1. In this
way, the miss switches and doubles switches are selectively
controlled to prevent them from generating a reject signal when a
hopper is intentionally inhibited from feeding a signature.
If the signature feeds properly, the caliper 22b does not actuate
either the miss switch 24b or the doubles switch 26b. If the
signature does not feed at all, however, the caliper 22b closes the
contacts of the miss switch 24b. This connects an electrical
signal, which was received from one of the switches 52 on the cable
54, through the miss switch 24b, and from there through a phase
delay device 56b and an OR gate 58b, into a second stage 60b of a
shift register 60 which keeps track of the miss signals. The miss
signal which is thus stored in stage 60b is later transmitted to
the next succeeding stage 60c upon the next machine cycle, the
machine cycle being indicated by a pulse produced by a synchronizer
62 and a polyphase slaved clock 64, which shifts the shift register
60. The synchronizer 62 is a sensing device which produces one
output pulse signal for each machine cycle of the collating machine
14. When it is being shifted, the malfunction signal in stage 60 b
passes through an OR gate 58c into the stage 60c of the shift
register 60. The shifting is repeated cyclically. All strobe
signals are omitted from the diagrams.
When the malfunction signal arrives at a later station 6OR of the
shift register 60, the defectively produced magazine which resulted
from the misfeed at station 18b is then located at the reject
station 28, and the reject actuator 30 is actuated by the
malfunction signal in stage 6OR, which is communicated to the
reject actuator 30 through an OR gate 62. Thereupon, the defective
magazine is removed from the conveyor chain 16 by the reject
actuator 30.
The malfunction signal remains in the shift register 60, and upon
the second following machine cycle, the malfunction signal is in a
stage 60I, where it is available for comparison with photocell data
received from the inspection station 32. No magazine should then be
present at the inspection station 32 if the reject station 28
properly rejected the defective magazine two cycles earlier.
In a similar manner, when a feeder feeds two signatures instead of
one, the malfunction is detected by a caliper and entered as a code
signal into another shift register 64, which thereafter shifts the
malfunction code signal to successive stages of the register 64
upon successive machine cycles. The code signal subsequently
arrives at a stage 64R, where it is capable of actuating the reject
actuator 30 through the OR gate 62. Two machine cycles later, the
malfunction code is in a stage 64I of the register 64. The presence
of a malfunction code in the stage 64I should coincide with the
absence of a magazine at the inspection station 32, because the
reject station 28 should have removed the defective magazine.
Further description of the operation of the inspection station 32
is provided hereinbelow.
When a malfunction of a hopper feeder occurs, the downstream
hoppers are prevented from feeding signatures onto the particular
chain space which carries the defective magazine. This downstream
shutoff of feeders is accomplished by the switches 50b, 52b, FIG.
2. The switch 52b is actuated to an open position by a register
read device 66b when the respective shift register stage 60b
contains a logic 1 signal, which indicates that a defective book is
then present at the hopper 18b. The open contacts of the switch 52b
prevent the actuator 18b from operating in the current machine
cycle, so that no signature is fed onto the defective magazine at
hoppers downstream from a hopper where the malfunction occurred.
The switch 50b performs a similar function for double-feed
malfunctions of an upstream hopper by opening its switch contacts
in response to the presence of a malfunction code signal in the
stage 64b of the doubles shift register 64.
If it is desired to operate one or more hoppers under the control
of a manual switch instead of the computer 10, a
manual-or-automatic selector switch 48a, 48b, 48c, etc. is first
actuated to its manual position. For example, switch 48b would be
actuated to a position 68b. The hopper 18b is thereafter controlled
to feed or not to feed in accordance with whether a manual switch
70b is closed or open, the switch 70b substituting for the contacts
44b.
Preferably, the switch 70b has two other pairs of contacts 72b and
74b, shown at the top of FIG. 2, which, when closed, connect the
fault signals from the miss switch 24b and the doubles switch 26b
to an OR gate 76 whose output actuates a stop relay 78. The stop
relay 78 interrupts a run contactor 80 to stop the machine upon the
first occurrence of either a misfeed or a double feed fault at
hopper 18b, or indeed any hopper at which the manual-or-automatic
switch 48 is in the manual position.
Other embodiments of these switch circuits are readily achieved and
have been used in the prior art. For example, the occurrence of two
successive faults at a particular hopper can stop the collating
machine 14 when a respective manual-or-automatic switch 48 is in
the manual position, which could be termed the "standard" position
because its corresponding mode of operation is old. If desired, the
switch contacts 72b, 74b may be arranged to be opperated
independently of the manual-or-automatic switch 48.
In a first portion of each machine cycle, both the miss shift
register 60 and the doubles shift register 64 are read, and their
corresponding switches 52, 50 are set in positions in accordance
with the data in those shift registers. Also, the hopper feeders
18a, 18b, etc. are actuated, and the misses and doubles switches
24, 26 are operated to produce new fault data if a malfunction
occurs. In a later portion of the same machine cycle, following a
phase delay introduced by the phase delay devices 56, 57, the new
fault data from the switches 24, 26 are entered into the respective
shift registers 60, 64, following which the data in those shift
registers are shifted to the next succeeding stage in response to a
pulse on a line 82 from the slaved polyphase clock 64.
Fault signals from the miss switches 24 and from the doubles
switches 26 are also transmitted, over cables 84, 86 respectively,
from the programmable controller 14 to the computer 10, where the
faults are counted in a manner to be described hereinbelow.
If desired, the gatherer 18 may be divided into sections having
four hoppers per section, with a different synchronizer 62 for each
section, and with the various sections mechanically driven out of
phase with each other to distribute the torque load on a driving
motor more uniformly throughout a machine cycle. The techniques
involved in using more than one synchronizer are known in the prior
art.
The inspection station 32 of FIG. 1 cooperates with portions of the
programmable controller 12 to produce an output pulse at an output
line 88 of FIG. 2 whenever a magazine should be present but is not
present at the inspection station, for use by the programmable
controller 12 to stop the collating machine 14 immediately, and for
use by the computer. The computer counts these occurrences, which
can be due to a malfunction of the reject station 28. The
inspection station 32 also produces an output pulse at another
output line 90 of FIG. 2 when a magazine in present at the
inspection station 32 which should have been rejected at the reject
station 28, which also stops the collating machine 14 and is
counted.
The wrongful absence signals at the output line 88 are produced by
the output of a logic gate 92 when one of the gate's input
terminals 92a has a logic 1 signal indicating that the photocell 38
is receiving light in consequence of the absence of a signature at
the station 32. Simultaneously, another input terminal 92b is
receiving a logic zero signal, indicating that neither the stage
60I of the miss shift register 60 nor the stage 64I of the doubles
shift register 64 contains a malfunction logic 1 signal. The
signals from the stages 60I and 64I are combined in an OR gate 94
so that either could have, but did not, produce a logic 1 signal at
the terminal 92b. The signal at terminal 92b is inverted and
connected in a logic AND relationship with the signal at terminal
92a. Thus, if the shift registers 60 and 64 indicate that there is
no defect at the chain position presently at the inspection station
32, and at the same time the inspection station photocell 38
indicates that the magazine has been removed from that chain
station, a wrongful absence signal is produced at the output
terminal 88 and transmitted to the computer 10 to be counted. The
signal at the terminal 88 is also connected to the OR gate 76 to
stop the collating machine 14.
In a similar way, if a book is present at the chain station 32,
thereby producing a zero logic signal at an inversion terminal 96a
of a logic gate 96, and on the same machine cycle another terminal
96b of the logic gate 96 has a logic 1 signal indicating that one
or both of the stages 60I, 64I is indicating a defective magazine
at the chain space 32, a wrongful presence signal is produced on
the line 90 for transmission to the computer 10 where it is
counted. The signal on the line 90 is also connected to the OR gate
76 to stop the collating machine 14. The technique by which events
are counted by the computer 10 is described hereinbelow following a
general description of the main components of the computer.
The computer 10 includes an input/output interface unit 98, a
memory unit 100, an arithmetic unit 102, and a control unit 104.
Major communication routes between the units of the computer are
shown in the greatly simplified block diagram of FIG. 3. The
input/output interface unit 98 represents inputs and outputs of the
computer 10 from any of a variety of sources and destinations.
Program instructions are entered into the computer at a terminal
98a of block 98. Also certain parameter values, such as the maximum
permissible number of misses per 1000 cycles for each hopper, and
the maximum permissible number of double feeds per 1000 cycles of
machine operation for each hopper are entered at terminal 98a and
stored in the computer's memory unit 100 before the collating
machine 14 is started. After the computer has been thus programmed,
subscriber data specifying the signatures to be used in forming
magazines for a first group of subscribers is entered into the
computer at terminal 98a, preferably from a magnetic tape file.
Other sources of input data can be employed, of course, including
punched paper tape, punched cards, or a manually operated keyboard
instrument.
When a hopper error rate is found to be excessive, as further
discussed below, the input/output interface unit 98 transmits a
stop signal from the computer 10 to the programmable controller 12
on a line 105 to stop the collating machine 14. If desired, the
input/output interface unit 98 may also print out information
concerning the operation of the collating machine 14 on a
teleprinter. Other output devices which may be used are paper tape,
punched cards, and magnetic tape.
The memory unit 100 stores program instructions for use by the
control unit 104, data for use by the arithmetic unit 102, and
instructions and data for use by the programmable controller 14.
Preferably, the memory unit 100 is a random access storage device
such as an array of toroidal magnetic cores which store binary data
by being magnetized in either a clockwise or a counterclockwise
direction. The memory unit is preferably capable of storing more
than 1000 words, each of which is 12 bits long, typically. Each
word space of data storage is identified by an address so that data
can be written into the space or read out of it by addressing that
location.
The arithmetic unit 102 performs the computations that must be done
by the computer. In the present invention, the counting of errors
and the counting of machine cycles are performed by the arithmetic
unit in cooperation with the memory unit. The principal component
of the arithmetic unit is an accumulator which can accumulate
partial sums during arithmetical computations and which, among
other things, can count events such as malfunction-indicating
pulses. To count, the computer reads the previously accumulated
count from memory upon occurrence of an event to be counted then
increments that data by one unit, and then transfers the new amount
out of the accumulator and back into the memory unit for storage
again in the same location from which it was previously read.
The control unit 104 is a switching section which manages the
operations of the computer 10. The control unit 104 withdraws
programmed instructions in an orderly manner from the computer
memory unit 100 and uses those instructions to control the
arithmetic unit 102, the memory unit 100, and the input/output
interface 98. The control unit 104 issues commands to the
arithmetic unit 102 to tell it what to do and to tell it from what
addresses in the memory unit it should obtain the data upon which
it is to operate. When the arithmetic unit 102 has completed a
task, the control unit 104 instructs the arithmetic unit as to what
to do with the results, for example, to store the results in a
particular address of the memory unit 100 for subsequent use.
Some of the contents of the memory unit 100 are indicated
symbolically in FIG. 4 for the first preferred embodiment. The
contents include program instructions stored in a group of storage
locations 106, each of which accommodates one word.
Hopper data that is stored in the memory 100 includes feed commands
stored in a group of memory locations 108. These particular core
addresses 108 contain instructions to the hoppers 18, to control
whether or not their feed devices 20a, 20b, 20c, etc. should feed a
signature. Hence, the feed commands in the storage locations 108
specify the makeup of a particular type of magazine for a
subscriber whose magazines are currently being assembled by the
collating machine 14.
The hopper data also includes, in storage locations 110, the count
of the number of miss malfunctions that have occurred thus far for
each hopper in the current 1000-cycle interval. On FIG. 4 the
number of misses for the first hopper is designated A.sub.M and the
number of misses for the 32nd hopper is designated A.sub.M '.
The maximum number of misses for any hopper, at which number the
collating machine will be stopped, is stored for each hopper in
storage addresses 112. This could be called the maximum fault rate
per 1000 cycles for misses. The maximum number for hopper 1 is
designated P.sub.M, and for hopper 32, P.sub.M '.
The numbers A.sub.M . . . A.sub.M ' are reset to zero at the end of
each 1000 machine cycles, although some number other than 1000 can
be employed if desired.
The number of doubles malfunctions, that is the feeding of two or
more signatures when only one should have been fed, is stored for
each hopper in storage addresses 114. A.sub.D represents the number
of doubles counted for hopper No. 1 since the start of the 1000
machine cycle interval which is currently in progress, and A.sub.D
' represents the number of doubles for hopper 32. The fault rate
limit per 1000 cycles for double feeds is stored in storage
locations 116 for each of the 32 hoppers, in the preferred
embodiment. These numbers are denoted P.sub.D for hopper No. 1 and
P.sub.D ' for hopper No. 32. The fault rate limits may be different
for different hoppers if desired.
Intervals within which the fault rate is determined are established
and controlled by data in a "count intervals" portion of the memory
unit 100. The number of machine cycles, for example, 1000, within
which misses and doubles are to be counted before starting over at
zero is stored in the memory address 118, labeled I.sub.P. The
number of machine cycles that have occurred thus far in a current
1000 cycle counting interval is stored in the memory location 120,
the count being designated by I.sub.A. Thus, for example, at a
given instant I.sub.A may be 800 and I.sub.P = 1000, indicating
that 800 machine cycles have occurred thus far in the current 1000
cycle counting interval. To continue the numerical example, the
number of misses P.sub.M ' which would stop the collating machine
14 for hopper No. 32 may be set at 3 and this would be stored in
the hopper 32 address location 112. After 800 machine cycles in the
present example, the number of misses A.sub.M ' for hopper 32 may
be 2. The number 2 is therefore stored in the address location 110.
If, during the next 200 machine cycles, another miss should occur
at hopper 32, the number A.sub.M ' would then be increased to 3,
and the collating machine 14 would be stopped, because the maximum
fault rate limit P.sub.M ' of 3 would have been reached. If,
instead, no further misses should occur at hopper 32 within the
next 200 machine cycles, the 1000 cycle interval would have come to
an end and the count A.sub.M ' would be reset to zero without
reaching the limit P.sub.M ' and therefore without stopping the
collating machine 14.
The number of counts I.sub.A accumulated thus far during a count
interval are counted by reading the number I.sub.A from the storage
location 120, and adding 1 to that amount in a portion 122 of the
arithmetic unit 102 upon occurrence of a synchronizing signal 124.
After each addition of 1 to the count I.sub.A, the new count is
compared, as indicated by a block symbol 126 of FIG. 4, with the
programmed interval length I.sub.P. If I.sub.A does not as yet
equal I.sub.P, the new value of I.sub.A is written back into the
storage location 120 to await the next sync signal 124. If,
instead, the number I.sub.A has been increased to the point that it
equals I.sub.P, the block 126 produces a signal 128 to reset
I.sub.A, that is to write a zero into the memory location 120. The
signal 128 also resets to zero all 32 of the miss counts A.sub.M .
. . A.sub.M ' in the storage registers 110, and resets to zero all
of the doubles counts A.sub.D . . . A.sub.D ' in the storage
locations 114.
Upon occurrence of a miss signal on one of the lines 84 of FIG. 2,
the miss count in the storage register 110 for the corresponding
hopper is increased by a count of 1. For example, a miss at hopper
32 causes the computer to withdraw the number A.sub.M ' from its
storage location and to increment it by 1 unit as shown in block
130 of FIG. 4. The increased value of A.sub.M ' is then compared in
a comparator block 132, which is part of the arithmetic unit 102,
with the stored fault rate limit P.sub.M ' for the hopper 32. If
the fault rate limit has not been reached as yet, the new value of
A.sub.M ' is written back into the storage register 110 for hopper
32. If, however, the fault rate limit has been reached, a signal is
transmitted from the circuit 132 to an OR logic function portion
134 of the computer 10. An output signal 134a from portion 134 is
connected to the OR logic device 76 in the programmable controller,
FIG. 2, to actuate the stop relay 78 and interrupt the run
contactor 80 to stop the collating machine 14.
In the same way, when a doubles malfunction occurs, for example for
hopper 32, the count A.sub.D ' in a storage register 114 is read
from the memory 100 and incremented in a unit 136 by 1 count. The
new count is compared in a comparator program 138 with the fault
rate limit P.sub.D ' for that hopper, and if the fault rate limit
has been reached, a signal 140 is applied to the OR function device
134 to stop the collating machine 14.
In this way, the computer operates to count the number of faults of
each type, that is, misses or doubles, and to stop the collating
machine 14 if any of the malfunction counts reaches a maximum
permissible value which is stored in the memory unit 100 of the
computer 10.
The number of wrongful absences WA detected at the inspection
station 32 is stored in a memory address 142 of the computer
memory, from which it can be accessed upon command for reading by
an operator. The number of wrongful presences WP is similarly
stored, in a memory location 144, FIG. 4. The WA and WP counts can
be reset to zero by a signal on the line 128 if desired, or can
instead be reset by a manually initiated reset command.
A second preferred embodiment of the invention is shown, in part,
in FIG. 5, in which more of the functions of the collating
apparatus are controlled by software in the computer 10. The
programmable controller 12' of FIG. 5, which replaces the
programmable controller 12 of the first preferred embodiment, is
drawn so as to receive correspondingly labelled cables and lines
a1, a2, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, and i from FIG. 1. Thus in the second
embodiment FIG. 5 replaces FIG. 2. FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 are applicable
to both the first and second embodiments.
In the second preferred embodiment, the programmable controller 12'
receives signals from the collating machine and stores them in
storage registers, from which the data are read out periodically by
a scanning unit and transmitted to the computer 10, which then
determines control signals, and transmits the control signals back
to the programmable controller 12', which in turn sends them to the
collating machine 14. The programmable controller 12' receives
input signals from the miss switches 24, the doubles switches 26,
the synchronizing device or devices 62, and from the inspection
photocell 38. For example, signals from the miss switch 24a of the
first hopper are transmitted on a line c to a first stage 148a of a
misses storage register 148 in the programmable controller 12', and
signals from the miss switch 24b of the second hopper are connected
by way of a line e to a second stage 148b of the misses storage
register 148, FIG. 5. A read-only memory scan unit 150 scans the
stages 148a, 148b, etc., of the misses storage register 148 to read
the data sequentially therefrom.
The scan unit 150 is a read-only memory unit having very high noise
immunity, and is capable, because of semi-permanent internal
programming, of performing sequential operations under its own
control. The read only memory scan unit 150 and other devices of
the programmable controller 12' are known in the prior art. A
typical commercial programmable controller of this type is being
manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard,
Massachusetts and is known as model PDP-14. Methods for programming
the read-only memory unit of the programmable controller 12' are
well known.
The array of misses data that is stored in the misses storage
register 148 is periodically transmitted through the read-only
memory scan unit 150 and through an input/output register 152 to
the computer 10. In the computer 10 these data are utilized under
the control of program instructions which were previously entered
into memory addresses 106 of the memory unit 100 by a software
program. The computer determines the proper behavior of the feed
devices 20a, 20b, 20c, and determines whether or not to enable each
of the miss switches 24 and doubles switches 26 upon each machine
cycle, and determines whether or not to actuate the reject actuator
30 and the run contactor 80. Instructions of this sort that are
generated by the computer 10 are transmitted to the input/output
register 152 of the programmable controller 12', and under the
control of the read only memory scan unit 150, are connected to an
output register 154 of the programmable controller. The output
register 154 applies control signals to the lines a1, a2, g, and i
to control the feed devices 20, to enable the malfunction switches
24, 26, to operate reject actuator 30, and to trip the run
contactor 80 respectively.
The construction and operation of a doubles storage register 156 is
similar to that of the misses storage register 148 described above.
Signals produced by the doubles switches 26a, 26b, etc., are
entered into respective stages 156a, 156b, etc., of the doubles
storage register 156. The scan unit 150 sequentially scans the data
contents of the doubles storage register 156 at least once for each
cycle of collating machine operation and transmits the data which
it reads successively therefrom, to an input/output register 152
and thence to the computer 10. Data from the doubles storage
register 156 are taken into account along with the data from the
misses storage register 148 by the computer 10, in determining and
controlling the proper behavior of the collating machine 14. Hopper
data such as misses and doubles data are stored in portions, which
are not shown, of the memory unit 100 of the computer 10, in a
manner similar to their storage in the registers 148, 156.
A sectional synchronizing signal storage register 158 is also
included in the programmable controller 12'. It periodically
receives synchronizing signals from the synchronizing device 62 on
a line b, which it enters into a data storage stage 158a. If only
one synchronizing device 62 is employed to serve all 32 hoppers of
the collating machine, only the first stage 158a of the storage
register 158 receives signals upon each cycle of the collating
machine 14. If instead, as is preferred, a separate synchronizing
device, such as device s' of hopper No. 5, is provided for each
four-hopper section of the collating machine 14, then signals are
periodically provided by these additonal synchronizing devices
also, and are stored in additional stages such as a stage 158e of
the sectional sync storage register 158. The separate synchronizing
devices are necessary when each four-hopper section is out-of-phase
with the other four hopper sections. This is the case in the
preferred embodiment.
The data stored in the sync register 158 are frequently and
periodically scanned by the read-only memory scan unit 150, and
transmitted through the input/output register 152 to the computer
10 for the purpose of synchronizing the command signals which are
subsequently issued from the computer 10.
The photocell 38 at the inspection station 32 produces signals
which are transmitted on a line h to an inspection data storage
stage 160 of the programmable controller 12'. This binary data is
also periodically read from the storage stage 160 by the scanning
unit 150, and transmitted to the computer 10. The computer takes
this photocell data into account, along with data from the misses
storage register 148 and the doubles storage register 156, to
determine whether or not the reject station 28 is operating
properly, and hence whether or not to stop the collator 14. In the
second preferred embodiment the computer performs the same logic
operations with regard to the inspection station 32 that were
provided by the logic units 92, 94 and 96 of the first embodiment.
Just as in the first embodiment, a stop signal is produced when the
reject actuator 30 erroneously rejects a book which should not have
been rejected, or erroneously retains a book which should have been
rejected. Thereupon, in the second preferred embodiment, a command
is issued to the programmable controller 12' from the computer 10
which makes the output register 154 issue a stop command signal on
the line i to trip the run contactor 80 to stop the collating
machine. If desired, the number of faulty operations of the reject
station 28 can be counted in the inspection data portions 142, 144
of the computer 10.
Fewer interconnecting lines are required to the input/output
interface 98 of the computer 10, FIG. 5, in the second embodiment
because the scanning unit 150 multiplexes the data passing between
the computer 10 and the programmable controller 12'.
Software is required for programming the computer 10, including
software to perform those functions of the second embodiment that
were performed by the programmable controller 12 in the first
embodiment. The preparation of the software for performing such
clearly defined functions is well within the knowledge of those
skilled in the art of programming process control computers and
general purpose computers, and will not therefore be elaborated
here.
* * * * *