Claims
- 1. An apparatus for processing flat products, comprising:a rail system extending along a path of travel, a plurality of conveyor elements supported by the rail system for individual movement along the path of travel, a plurality of product carrier elements mounted to respective ones of the conveyor elements, with each of said carrier elements being configured for supporting thereon a flat product to be processed, a plurality of stations disposed serially along the path of travel, and including a product feed station wherein the products are delivered to the product carrier elements, a product processing station, and a product output station wherein the products are removed from the product carrier elements, and at least one of the stations including a dedicated drive arrangement for the conveyor elements for transporting the conveyor elements and thus the product carrier elements along the path of travel at a spacing and speed required by the associated station.
- 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rail system includes a buffer storage section connected upstream of each of the stations.
- 3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein a section of the rail system is permanently joined to each of the stations.
- 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the rail system has individual sections with some sections being permanently joined to a station and other sections serving as a buffer storage or connecting section, and it being possible to combine the sections as desired to form an intrinsically closed rail system.
- 5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said feed station has a dedicated drive arrangement which includes drivers driven in the conveying direction synchronously with the feed of the products, said drivers moving the conveyor elements through the feed station at a predetermined spacing.
- 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing station has a supporting device which serves as an auxiliary drive and is configured for supporting the carrier elements at their free ends remote from the associated conveyor element.
- 7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processing station has a stapling apparatus which is configured for introducing staples into folded products which have been deposited in straddling form onto saddle-like rests of the carrier elements.
- 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the stapling apparatus has stapling heads which move along a closed circulating path, and the dedicated drive arrangement is configured for moving the conveyor elements according to the speed and the spacing of the stapling heads.
- 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein an associated section of the rail system is convexly curved with respect to the stapling apparatus.
- 10. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein each carrier element includes a saddle-like rest and a bending over device for bending over staples inserted into the products supported thereon.
- 11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein at learnt two feed stations and a processing station are provided, with the processing station arranged downstream with respect to said feed stations and including a stapling apparatus, the spacings between the conveyor elements in the feed stations being greater than in the processing station having the stapling apparatus.
- 12. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier elements are arranged on the assigned conveyor elements on one side in the manner of a cantilever.
- 13. An apparatus for processing flat products, comprising:a rail system extending along a closed path of travel, a plurality of conveyor elements supported by the rail system for individual movement along the path of travel, a plurality of product carrier elements mounted to respective ones of the conveyor elements, with each of said carrier elements being configured for supporting thereon a flat product to be processed, a plurality of stations disposed serially along the path of travel, and including a product feed station wherein the products are delivered to the product carrier elements, a product processing station, and a product output station wherein the products are removed front the product carrier elements, and each of the stations including a dedicated drive arrangement for the conveyor elements for transporting the conveyor elements and thus the product carrier elements along the path of travel at a spacing and speed required by the associated station.
- 14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 further comprising at least one conveyor drive positioned between two of the stations for delivering the conveyor elements to the downstream station.
- 15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 13 wherein each of the product carriers comprises a rest wall and a base, and a saddle-like rest extending along an upper edge of the rest wall.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2139/00 |
Nov 2000 |
CH |
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CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a continuation of international application Ser. No. PCT/CH01/00643, filed Oct. 30, 2001, and designating the U.S. The subject matter of the referenced application is incorporated herein by reference.
US Referenced Citations (15)
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Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
Copy of International Search Report for PCT/CH01/00643 completed Jan. 18, 2002. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
PCT/CH01/00643 |
Oct 2001 |
US |
Child |
10/427133 |
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US |