Sheet-material associating – Associating or disassociating – Sheet associating
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-06
2003-07-15
Mackey, Patrick H. (Department: 3651)
Sheet-material associating
Associating or disassociating
Sheet associating
C270S052010, C270S052020, C270S058010, C270S059000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06592114
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method of and apparatus for handling both preprinted and unprinted forms without streaking of the printing when handling printed forms. Forms which are preprinted and coded in certain machine or human readable formats may be taken from a bulk stack or roll of forms and automatically processed. Unprinted forms can be processed using preprogrammed steps.
The processing operations may include combinations of stacking, sequencing, merging, accumulating, restacking, folding, collecting, and then loading into a high speed mail insertion machine. The invention can be operated both in line—with an inserter—or off line for testing or other operations such as sequencing and stacking for folding. The stacked, folded forms can then be handled manually or preferably fed to an inserter machine. These can also be programmed in a preset automatic non-optical mode that does not rely on optical marks for control.
The invention in U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,864 has advantages in a combination of its flexibility in handling alternative form printing formats such as last page first, mixed multiple and independent sequencing and stacking, as well as keeping track of multiple page and variable page sets while also providing greatly improved speed of operation to enable maximizing the speed of the high speed mail insertion machinery.
Prior to the invention described in said patent, previous feeding and transporting mechanisms required major mechanical and electronic changes to efficiently process a variety of form sizes and formats and printing sequence formats. Most prior art devices have no provisions for under or over stacking while running a side-by-side form. In addition, most prior art devices make no provision to stack, right and/or left justify and deliver up to two channels of paper side-by-side, independently of each other, with precise superimposition of the stack.
As described above, there are a variety of formats for printing of documents that arrive to the envelope inserter facility in the form of the continuous form web. For a variety of reasons, a web is printed at the convenience of the company whose statements or mailings go to mail recipients. Often this is a company such as a credit card company sending credit card bills or a bank sending mortgage statements or the like.
Very often, the preprinted webs of continuous feed forms are delivered to a mailing house that processes and mails all the documents with the capital, facilities and expertise to do so with greater efficiency than the credit card companies or banks. However to serve different credit card companies, banks or the like, it is necessary for the mailing house to tailor its operations to process whatever format their customers, i.e., the different credit card companies, banks, or the like, use. Since different credit card companies, banks or the like often print in different formats, flexibility in processing formats is important to the efficiency of the mailing house. Similarly, even the mailer, who does the envelope insertion, itself may want to have flexibility in the event it changes its printing program or uses different printing programs.
Formats such as “one up” printing, where a single page is processed are fairly easy to feed into an envelope inserter such as that taught in U.S. Pat. No. 1,738,119 and later embodiments generally known as machines of the Phillipsburg type. For documents fed “two up”, typically side by side, it is necessary to use a merger so that a plurality of document streams or channels result in a single channel. A typical approach is that taught U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,319. Another approach is in U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,497. Still another is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,127.
West/East printing starts with a left channel, the next page to the same recipient in the right channel, the third page back to the left channel, but, of course behind the first page. This sequence, zig-zagging back and forth, is repeated for the selected number of recipients and pages. When there are the same number of pages for every recipient, the format is called “West/East multiple.” Where there is a different number of pages for every recipient, the format is called “West/East mixed multiple.” If the right channel has the first page and the left channel the second, the analogous terminology to that above would be used to describe “East/West” formats. Typically, documents fed in West/East or East/West are accumulated in a stack in an accumulator and then the set is injected to a folder and thence to the inserter. However, the arrangements prior to the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 5,887,864 for typical inserter feed apparatus were unable to handle North/South multiple formats. North/South mixed multiple format and the operation of the invention will be discussed in detail and with reference to schematic drawings.
Thus, the convention in the high speed printing and the subsequent high speed mail handling field is to refer to printing operations as “East/West” where related forms such as a credit card bill of multiple pages that go to the same addressee, are printed, at least in part, side by side, and “North/South” where related forms are printed end to end or top to bottom. Another convention is to refer to form printing and subsequent high speed mail handling as “one up” where a single page is printed, and all subsequent pages follow in one continuous feed batch, and “two up” where two pages are printed side by side and enter the high speed mail handling equipment's first step (usually a cutter) in a side by side manner. It is the forms, as printed, which determine whether the batch is arranged “East/West”, West/East, “North/South”.
When forms are printed that have different number of pages per set they are referred to as mixed multiple forms. While these may be printed either “East/West” or “North/South,” because of the mixed number of multiple pages, it is critical to control both channels to be sure sets are processed correctly. East/West or West/East mixed multiple forms use both left and right channels to process one particular form, effectively zig-zagging from one channel to the other. North/South mixed multiples have all the pages for one form in one channel, but both channels must be controlled to be sure multiple forms from one channel are not processed out of order relative to the other channel.
A one-up continuous form is a continuous web of paper used for creating documents in a continuous stream allowing only one document for the width of the form. Each consecutive document appears in a subsequent pattern and continue along the length of the web.
A two-up continuous form is a continuous web of paper used for creating documents in a continuous stream allowing two documents to be printed side-by-side restricted by the width of the form. This form is generally slit vertically down the center to separate the documents and then trimmed to width on the sides.
North/South printing sequence format is a process by which a one-up or two-up continuous form is used, printing one document or two documents side-by-side. Of course, by definition one up forms have to be North/South because there is no East/West relationship.
East/West printing sequence is the process by which a two-up continuous form is used for printing two documents side-by-side on a continuous web. In East/West, when a multiple page statement is required, the first page of the set can appear in channel one or channel two (left or right). The next page of that same set would appear in the next position using a left to right, top to bottom theory of collation. Therefore, if there was a three page set and page one of that set appeared in channel two, the second page appeared in channel one, one position down from the first page and the last page of that set would also appear in channel two, one position down from the first page. The convention used herein will use West/East by analogy to the cardinal points of a compass where North refers to the leading edge of the sheet. Thus, West/East refers to side by
Keller Douglas A.
Stevens Kenneth A.
Barnes & Thornburg
Mackey Patrick H.
Stevens Kenneth A.
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