Sheet-material associating – Associating or disassociating – Sheet associating
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-03
2001-05-22
Olszewski, Robert P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet-material associating
Associating or disassociating
Sheet associating
C414S789900, C414S789200, C414S792200, C414S766000, C270S058070
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234467
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention concerns an apparatus for sorting printed documents consisting of at least one page and feeding the documents to a finishing machine.
BACKGROUND ART
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,439,209 to Kurt Rünzi a paper stacking apparatus is disclosed which is capable of separating successive documents or jobs on the stack being formed. The apparatus has a conveyor belt for transporting the individual sheets to a stacker. A holder is arranged above the conveyor belt. The holder holds a row of freely rotatable balls which press the sheets onto the belt. On one side of the belt a guide rail is arranged which is pivotable about its rear end between two pivot positions. In both positions the belt converges towards the guide rail in the transport direction. The guide rail is switched to its other position each time the last page of a document printed has passed the conveyor. Thereby, the documents are separated from one another on the stack being formed by a lateral shift. This way the individual documents can easily be separated from one another in a following operation. Presently, this separation is performed manually. This U.S. patent is declared an integral part of the present application.
In modern high speed printing machines, e.g. laser printers, the individual papers of the successive documents or jobs are printed in successive order of their page number and outputted with their printed side down. The printed papers are stacked in a stacker. The sheets of the individual documents are then in correct order.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The aim of the present invention is to improve the handling of such stacked and separated documents.
In a first aspect the present invention concerns an apparatus for stacking printed documents consisting of at least one sheet of paper. The apparatus comprises conveying means for conveying the sheets from an input end to an output end. Deflecting means are associated with the conveying means for laterally deflecting the sheets as they pass from the input to the output end. The deflecting means are switchable between two positions. A stacker is arranged at the output end and contains a sled which is vertically displaceable in vertical guide rails of a stand. A first motor is provided for lifting and lowering the sled. A carriage is pivotably mounted on the sled for pivoting about a horizontal axis by means of a second motor. An exchangeable cassette is inserted into the carriage. The cassette has a rear wall and two opposite side walls. In the initial position of the carriage, as the stack is being formed, the cassette has a removable bottom plate and a top plate which is placed on the stack when the latter is finished. The top plate is arrestable at a plurality of levels. A pusher is mounted on the stand to push the inserted top plate against the stack.
In a second aspect the present invention concerns the apparatus for sorting printed documents consisting of at least one sheet of paper each. The apparatus comprises a conveying means for transporting the documents. A holder is arranged upstream of the conveying means. A sled is displaceably mounted in the holder for movement in a vertical direction by means of a first motor. An exchangeable cassette is mounted in the sled. The cassette contains a stack of documents which are separated from one another by a lateral shift between each successive document. The shifts alternate such that the stack is substantially vertical. Two lifting means are disposed on either side of the cassette which can act on one side of the stack between the topmost document and the next lower one and lift the topmost document. Each of the two lifting means is pivotable by a separate second motor. At least one pusher is arranged for pushing the lifted document to the conveying means. A sensor which is connected to a controller is arranged for controlling the height position of the stack relative to the lifting means.
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Browdy & Neimark
Olszewski Robert P.
Ridley Richard
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