Apparatus for collating sheets

Sheet-material associating – Associating and folding – Sheet associating

Reexamination Certificate

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C270S032000, C270S052010, C270S052020, C270S058010, C053S117000, C053S460000, C053S569000, C493S420000, C493S421000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06648319

ABSTRACT:

This invention relates to apparatus for collating sheets, such as may be incorporated in an inserter for inserting sheets into envelopes.
Inserter systems are used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies and utility companies for producing a large volume of specific mailings where the contents of each mail item are directed to a particular addressee. Additionally, other organizations, such as direct mailers, use inserts for producing a large volume of generic mailings where the contents of each mail item are substantially identical for each addressee. Examples of such high volume inserter systems are the 8,9 and 14 series inserter systems available from Pitney Bowes, Inc., Stamford, Conn.
However, inserter systems are not limited to such high volume applications as they also have considerable utility in lower volume applications, such as SOHO (small office/home office) applications. An example of such a SOHO inserter system is the tabletop 3 Series inserter system available from Pitney Bowes Limited, Harlow, England. This inserter system has been designed for implementation on a table top surface while providing many automated features and requiring little maintenance. In other words, it has been designed to be operated by an ordinary office worker with little or no training in operating inserter systems. Therefore, regarding the operation of such inserters, it is critical that they provide many automated and self adjusting features while having a high degree of reliability.
Inserters are well known having sheet feeding stations for feeding for example individually typewritten or printed sheets, an optional insert feeder for feeding standard inserts (e.g. advertising material, printed information that is uniform for all addressees etc.), a folding station for folding sheets fed from the sheet feeders and receiving one or more inserts into a fold produced by the folding station, an envelope feeding station, an insertion station to which the envelope is fed, with its flap in an open position, an envelope opening device at the insertion station for separating the front and rear panels of the envelope, a feed path for feeding the folded sheets, and any inserts, into the waiting open mouthed envelope at the insertion station, an optional moistener for receiving the filled envelopes from the insertion station and for moistening the (gummed) envelope flap, an envelope sealing device for sealing the envelope and an outlet through which the filled and sealed envelope is delivered for the application of postage and for subsequent mailing.
A particular example of such an inserter designed for lower volume applications is disclosed in the present Applicants' EP-A-0 700 794 and EP-A-0 943 459 (European patent application 99 104 095.7). The inserter is a tabletop inserter and generally consists of an upper housing mounted atop a lower housing. Upper housing generally includes first and second sheet feeders and, preferably an insert feeder. Individual sheets are preferably conveyed from each sheet feeder and into respectively first and second feed paths. The first and second sheet paths merge with one another at a collation station having first and second collating rollers. The collating station is operative to align the leading edges of first and second sheets being respectively conveyed from the first and second sheet feeders, via the first and second sheet paths, within the nip formed between the collating rollers. Once aligned, the collating rollers are actuated to simultaneously feed the aligned sheets in a supply path downstream of the collating station. These aligned sheets are also known as a “collation”. This sheet collation as prepared by the sheet collation apparatus described above is then conveyed downstream in the supply path to the folding station. After this, the folded collation is inserted into an open envelope and the envelope flap moistened and sealed, these steps being performed automatically by the inserter as described in the opening passage of this specification.
When using the inserter described, each sheet feeder is loaded with sheets of a different kind. Therefore, when preparing a collation of two sheets which can be regarded as sheet 1 followed by sheet 2, one tray is loaded exclusively with sheets 1 while the other tray is loaded exclusively with sheets 2. Since sheets 1 and 2 can be fed simultaneously to the nip of the collating rollers at the collation station, each collation can be assembled relatively rapidly. However, the operator has to load each tray manually with a batch of identical sheets of the appropriate kind, which is different for the different trays. When using an associated printer, typically a laser jet printer in an office environment for example, the operator has to instruct the printer to print a first batch of sheets 1, and then re-instruct the printer to print a second batch of sheets 2, which two batches are then loaded manually into the two sheet feeders. These manual operations are time-consuming. Still further, forming a collation of three or more sheets would require a corresponding number of different sheet feeders.
It is an objective of this invention to provide a simple, inexpensive and reliable inserter, particularly though not exclusively suited to the low volume user, which is not subject to the above disadvantages.
According to the invention from one aspect, there is provided apparatus for collating sheets, comprising:
(i) a collation station;
(ii) feeding means for successively feeding a plurality of sheets one at a time along a first path to the collation station;
(iii) an accumulation station;
(iv) transferring means for transferring the sheet(s) at the collation station, after each feeding of a sheet to that station, along a second path to the accumulation station;
(v) sheet returning means associated with the accumulation station for returning the sheet(s) at the accumulation station to the collation station;
(vi) means at the collation station for collating those sheet(s) and the next of the successively fed sheets, such collation being repeated, in operation of the sheet collating apparatus, until a sheet collation of a predetermined number of sheets is formed at the collation station, and
(vii) first driving means for driving said collation of a predetermined number of sheets from the collation station along a third path.
Since the sheet(s) received by the accumulation station for return to the collation station originated from the feeding means, which also supplies the next sheet to the collation station, it is necessary for the operator to manually prepare only one stack of sheets for the sheet feeding means (when taking the form of a sheet feeding tray or the like), the stack consisting of successive alternate sheet numbers, i.e. sheet 1, sheet 2, sheet 1, sheet 2 etc. Furthermore, a printer used for printing the sheets only needs to be set once for printing such sheets and can be left at the same setting for printing all subsequent batches of sheets for the sheet feeder. By contrast, with the conventional inserter the operator has to separately instruct the printing of two batches of differently number sheets, and to reinstruct the printer twice for the printing of each subsequent batch.
To provide continuous operation, it would be possible for the sheet feeding means to comprise an automatic sheet feeder connected to supply sheets printed by a printer, directly to the collation station. Then, there would be no need for operator intervention at all.
Yet another advantage is that the collation apparatus may be used for forming a collation of two, three or any other higher predetermined number of sheets. The known collator according to our above-mentioned European patent application EP-A-0 700 794 and EP-A-0 943 459, however, can only form a collation of two sheets since it has only two sheet feeders. Whilst in principle further sheet feeders could be incorporated in the collator where a collation of three or more sheets is required, this would undesirably add to the constructional complexity, geomet

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