Sheet feeding or delivering – Delivering – With transfer means between conveyor and receiver
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-01
2001-03-06
Skaggs, H. Grant (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Delivering
With transfer means between conveyor and receiver
C271S220000, C271S214000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06196542
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application claims priority of German Patent Application Number 198 13 662.5, filed Mar. 27, 1998, by Franz Allmendinger, and entitled, “Device for Delivering, Depositing, and Aligning Sheets in a Stack Container.”
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device for delivering, depositing, and aligning sheets in a stack container of an apparatus by means of sheet delivery means, sheet deposition means, sheet alignment means, and sheet hold-down means that are driven in circulating fashion such that the alignment means and hold-down means are components of the deposition means, and the delivered and deposited sheets can be aligned against a sheet stop lying at right angles to the sheet delivery direction and can be held down on the sheet stack.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,265, titled “Tray Apparatus”, filed Jul. 28, 1988, by Noriyoshi Iida, et al., discloses a device of the aforesaid kind for delivering, depositing, and aligning sheets in a stack container. The sheet deposition, sheet alignment, and sheet hold-down means are configured in combined fashion as at least a single toothed belt, configured in the form of an endless loop, having teeth arranged on its inner side. The toothed belt is arranged around a toothed pulley which is mounted centeredly on a drive pulley, located below, of a sheet in-feed roller pair of the sheet delivery means. The toothed belt, which projects with its free loop region into the stack container, is secured in position by means of a contact roller of the sheet in-feed roller pair on the one hand with its upper belt portion on the toothed pulley and by means of a rotation or circulation effected by means of the drive pulley, and on the other hand is pressed with its lower belt portion onto the sheet deposition surface or the sheet stack. In this context the free loop region of the toothed belt constitutes, with its outer side of its upper belt portion in the region of the toothed pulley, a transport surface running substantially horizontally and parallel to the sheet deposition surface for a sheet delivered by means of the sheet in-feed roller pair. For reliable transportation of the sheet, the outer side or transport surface has an elevated coefficient of friction. After it has been released by the sheet in-feed roller pair, the delivered or fed-in sheet, carried at its rear, end region by the upper belt portion, is fed farther into the sheet stack, lowered, and deposited onto the sheet deposition surface or onto the sheet stack. Because the sheet stack container is arranged with a downward tilt at its sheet deposition surface end which faces against the sheet delivery direction, the delivered sheet slides back, opposite to the sheet delivery direction, against the toothed belt which continues to circulate. The delivered sheet is thereby grasped by the lower belt portion and transported and aligned, opposite to the sheet delivery direction, against a front wall of the stack holder that is configured as a sheet stop and tilted against the sheet delivery direction. Arranged in the region above the upper belt portion is a pressure means which presses the delivered sheet onto the upper belt portion while it is being fed in.
It is disadvantageous that the delivered or fed-in sheet is not guided to the point of complete deposition or to the deposition surface during its lowering and deposition movement. In this case, an imprecise lateral alignment is possible as the sheets are being stacked. Furthermore, an inclined collection container is necessary in order to bring the delivered sheet once again into the region of influence of the tooth belt for alignment. The consequence of the latter, together with a longer in-feed path resulting from the toothed belt, is a longer sheet in-feed time. It is also disadvantageous that the toothed belt circulates continuously, which, when thin sheets are being aligned and held down, can lead to compression (creasing, waving, etc.) of the sheets at the sheet stop, or, regardless of the sheet thickness, to elevated material abrasion. A further disadvantage is that the toothed belt for aligning and holding down sheets does not act on the sheets at the outermost end of the delivered sheets or not directly at the sheet stop, which can result in the sheets being pushed up at the stop.
Therefore, a need persists for a device that can deliver, deposit and align sheets in a stack container that greatly reduces sheet in-feed time, virtually eliminates compression of the sheets while being easy to construct and operate, and is cost effecient to manufacture.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, the object of the invention to provide a device that overcomes the shortcomings cited above to allow precise, reliable, and rapid stacking of sheets, while at the same time guaranteeing a simple, compact configuration and operation in an automated environment.
The above and other objects and advantages are achieved by a device for delivering, depositing, and aligning sheets in a stack container of an apparatus by means of sheet delivery means, sheet deposition means, sheet alignment means, and sheet hold-down means that are driven in circulating fashion. According to the invention, the alignment means and hold-down means are components of the deposition means. The delivered and deposited sheets can be aligned against a sheet stop lying at right angles to the sheet delivery direction and can be held in place on the sheet stack. According to our invention, the sheet deposition means is configured in separately controllable fashion, and for completely guided lowering and deposition of a delivered sheet.
Advantageously, the sheet deposition means can be operated by means of a drive unit controllable separately from the sheet delivery means. In this way, the sheet deposition means can be moved at a lowering speed which is the same as or slightly less than the falling speed of the delivered sheet.
Also advantageously, the sheet deposition means, sheet alignment means, and sheet hold-down means can be operated in a discontinuous circulating fashion and in synchronism with sheet delivery. The sheet deposition means has conveying means having at least one circulating, resilient finger for carrying a delivered sheet. By means of the finger during its lowering movement, a delivered sheet is held at one of its end regions and can be lowered and deposited onto the sheet stack in linear and uniform fashion.
In addition, advantageously, the resilient finger(s) is/are arranged in a perpendicularly projecting alignment on one or more circulating belts running parallel and extending in the stacking direction of the sheets. Each finger has at its fingertip a lower and an upper surface region with an elevated coefficient of friction. Each resilient finger is additionally configured as an alignment means and hold-down means.
Moreover, advantageously, the sheet deposition means is arranged in the region of a sheet in-feed roller pair of the sheet delivery means and in the region of a rear wall of the collection container lying in the sheet delivery direction. The sheet deposition means is configured as a sheet stop, in such a way that the sheet deposition means is movable in the stacking direction directly along the rear wall or along the sheet stop. In addition, the sheet stop is arranged with its upper edge tilted against the sheet delivery direction and toward the sheet deposition means.
Furthermore, advantageously, the sheet deposition means has in the region of the sheet delivery means a controllable sheet pressure means that cooperates with the sheet deposition means as the sheet begins to be lowered.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 32872 (1989-02-01), Buck
patent: 3847388 (1974-11-01), Lynch
patent: 4056264 (1977-11-01), Dhooge et al.
patent: 4385757 (1983-05-01), Muller
patent: 4591142 (1986-05-01), Divoux et al.
patent: 4883265 (1989-11-01), Iida et al.
patent: 5765827 (1998-06-01), Gillmann
patent: 146700 (1978-12-01), None
patent: 69449 (1989-03-01), None
patent: 261161 (
Kessler Lawrence P.
Nexpress Solutions LLC
Skaggs H. Grant
LandOfFree
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