1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to the field of post print press processing, specifically a collating apparatus and method for operating a collating apparatus.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The prior art discloses rigid solutions for collating printed products, which are based on an arrangement of feed stations on a circular or virtually circular conveying track. The document U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,018 discloses a collating apparatus which is based on the object of configuring a machine for inserting newspaper sections into newspaper covers in such a way that it continues to remain in operation even when some assemblies therein fail. This object is achieved in that, on the side of the magazine and downstream of the latter in the direction of migration of the pockets, there is an auxiliary magazine likewise containing covers, the conveyor of which is independent of the conveyor of the magazine and is under the control of a sensor which is assigned to the conveyor of the magazine and responds to the failure of the latter in such a way that, in this case, the conveyor of the auxiliary magazine can be moved in and loads the relevant pocket with the cover. Here, the circular conveying track comprises two identical 180° sectors which, in parallel and in the same way, fill covers with documents and then discharge the latter via two outlets to two conveyor belts. Flexible post processing is not provided.
A similar fault-tolerant collating apparatus having a plurality of outputs and a circular conveying track is also known from EP 0389745. A different type of post processing is not provided in this collating apparatus either. Instead, when one of the plurality of collating lines is interrupted, this collating line is stopped while the other lines continue to operate.
With these known, rigid apparatuses, the problem primarily solved is to continue to process large quantities of printed products, such as arise from the printing press—in particular from the rotary system—in real time.
In modern print post print press processing, however, in addition to high performance the primary demand is for flexible operation, in which, at different times, different products have to be processed further in different ways. Until now, for each type of post processing, in each case a dedicated collating apparatus has been used, in which pre-products or supplements were collated and in each case fed to one type of post processing, specifically either on a single path or on a number of parallel paths, as the documents cited at the beginning show.
If, in a company, a plurality of post processing processes are intended to be carried out on differently constructed lines with different steps or operations, a corresponding number of collating apparatuses had to be set up and operated. This meant a great deal of expenditure on apparatus and resulted in an increased demand for space.
The object of the invention is therefore to devise a collating apparatus and a method for operating a collating apparatus which avoid the disadvantages of known collating apparatuses and permit flexible operation with reduced expenditure on apparatus and a reduced demand for space.
The objects are achieved by a collating apparatus and method for operating a collating apparatus having the features claimed and/or described. The invention preferably includes receiving units that are conveyed on a conveying track by means of a three-dimensionally flexible, preferably chain-like, intrinsically closed conveying element, in that the receiving units in each case have clamping means which hold the pre-products collated in the receiving units, which means at least one pre-product, in a clamped manner, and in that at a number of points of the conveying track there are arranged transfer devices which pick up collated pre-products or supplements from the receiving units and transport them away for post processing. As a result of the specific configuration of the conveying track, of the receiving units and of the plurality of transfer devices, it is possible to carry out different post processing processes with the collated pre-products one after another or even at the same time as one another while using the same collating apparatus, without any conversion time.
The transfer units according to the invention are units which transfer the products or, in particular, the collated product collections to post processing in a known way from the receiving units of the collating apparatus, in a controlled manner and as far as possible with exact maintenance of the relative position of the products in relation to one another in the collated stack. These units are therefore not to be confused with a rejects removal system, as is also known from generically identical systems of the “Flystream” type from the applicant. Here, only incomplete or excess product collections are discarded or removed in another way and preferably collected in a collecting container. The reject copies must be disposed of or separated out by hand and fed manually to the processing system again. In the apparatuses according to the invention, the rejects removal is carried out in the simplest case by opening the clamps and emptying the receiving units under the force of gravity.
One embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the conveying track comprises an upper track portion or run and a lower track portion or run, which run substantially in parallel and are connected to each other at the ends by deflection regions and form a closed circuit, and in that at least one collating region is provided on the upper track portion and a plurality of transfer devices are arranged on the lower track portion and/or in the deflection regions. The collating regions are distinguished by the fact that pre-products and/or supplements are conveyed to the receiving units by means of at least one feed device in the said regions. Preferably, a plurality of feed devices are arranged in a, space-saving manner on both sides of the conveying track in each collating region.
In particular, the upper track portion and the lower track portion can in each case comprise a plurality of straight track portions, the orientation of which is different and which are connected to one another by at least one curved section.
According to the present invention, pre-products are preferably collated one after another and one above another.
A further refinement of the invention is characterized in that a plurality of collating regions are arranged one after another on the conveying track in the direction of circulation. Since the receiving units are conveyed by means of a three-dimensionally flexible, preferably chain-like, conveying element, a linear section of a conveying track can be rotated about its longitudinal axis, so that the receiving units are conveyed linearly and simultaneously pivoted radially as they run through this section. Without a collating apparatus having an upper run and a lower run, the receiving units can be populated with pre-products or supplements from above in a collating region. The collated product groups can then be discharged downwards by means of pivoting the receiving units through 180° and, by means of renewed pivoting through 180° again, it is possible for products to be guided from above once more in a further collating region. The functionality of the upper run and of the lower run is realized by the pivoting in a region of the apparatus which is aligned substantially linearly.
In particular, at least one transfer device can be provided between successive collating regions.
Furthermore, it is possible for the conveying track to be led out between successive collating regions, forming an intermediate loop, and for the associated transfer device to be arranged on the intermediate loop.
According to another refinement, a plurality of transfer devices are arranged immediately one after another on the conveying track in the direction of circulation without any collating region being located between them.
A further refinement is distinguished by the fact that the conveying track runs predominantly in a horizontal plane.
Another refinement of the invention is characterized in that the feed devices in the at least one collating region are arranged alternately on opposite sides of the conveying track.
A further refinement of the invention is characterized in that a control system is provided which, in a predetermined way, controls the feed devices and the transfer devices such that in each case the desired collections of products are available on the transfer devices.
As already mentioned, with the aid of the new apparatus and the new method, it is made possible, by using the same collating apparatus and without any additional expenditure, to carry out different post processing processes with the collated pre-products without any expenditure on conversion time or even at the same time as one another. Each of the receiving units can be populated with a collection of pre-products and/or supplements in a known way in the collating region. Here, this can be an identical collection in each receiving unit or different receiving units are supplied with products from different feed devices, so that they transport different collections. Depending on the production plan and depending on the capacity of the following processing apparatuses, receiving units following one another directly can be populated with different product collections, or in each case groups of a few to several dozen receiving units are supplied with a specific product collection in batch mode, and a following group is given another collection of products from other feed devices. The fact that the apparatuses according to the invention comprise at least two transfer devices makes it possible to allocate the product collection from each receiving unit to a quite specific transfer device and therefore to feed it to specific post processing.
Thus, for example, identical product collections can be fed via a first transfer device to post processing in which they are inserted into a main product and, via a second transfer device, they can be fed to post processing in which they are sealed in film. The separation of the product streams can optionally be carried out at the same time or one after another for individual receiving units or groups of receiving units.
If different product collections are collated in different receiving units, then a first collection type can be fed via a first transfer device to specific post processing, and a second collection can be fed via a second transfer device to other post processing. This can again be carried out successively, which means that firstly the first collection type is collated and further processed and then the second collection type is collated and further processed. According to the present invention, however, it is now also possible to collate the two types at the same time and to feed them to the envisaged post processing. If the systems needed for the simultaneous post processing are not available or do not have sufficient capacity, a specific collection from a transfer device can also be fed to a storage device, as are known for example from the prior art in the form of large coils or discs, and can be fed to the post or further processing at a later time.
If there are more than two transfer devices in an apparatus according to the invention, then accordingly three and more different types of product collections can be fed to different post processing systems or identical types of product collections are fed to different post processing systems or identical types of product collections are fed to parallel, identical post processing systems.
The apparatuses according to the invention all permit incomplete collections to be fed back and completed. This is made possible by product tracking over the entire apparatus. The control system registers for each receiving unit the type and number of products which are collated therein. Since the position of each receiving unit is known accurately at any time, not only is it possible to repair incomplete product collections with the missing pre-product or pre-products but it is also possible for product collections from specific receiving units to be fed specifically to specific transfer devices.
The invention is to be explained in more detail below by using exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the drawing, in which:
When the receiving unit 13 is open, in a collating region (32 in
For reasons of simplicity, in
From the example of
Thus,
In print post processing, the stacks or collections of pre-products P formed by collating apparatuses 10, 30 according to
Until now, it was usual to employ an individual collating apparatus for each of these different post processing processes. This not only required considerable additional expenditure on the machinery but also took up a considerable amount of space in the production facilities. According to the present invention, a collating apparatus is now used jointly for a plurality of post processing processes, in that a plurality of transfer devices with corresponding transfer devices for the collated pre-products are provided on the conveying track. Each transfer device is then assigned a specific post processing process and the collated pre-products are removed at this outlet when this type of post processing is to be performed. If the type of post processing changes, another outlet is accordingly used. In this way, maximum flexibility in post processing can be achieved with a minimum expenditure on machinery.
On account of the closed circulating guide track, it is possible in every case to implement what is known as a “repair” function. In such a function, a stack of pre-products which has been detected as incomplete is not discharged but led past the feed devices in the collating region once more, where it is completed by actuating the respective feed devices.
The two transfer devices 34 and 35 do not necessarily have to be arranged at opposite ends of the conveying track 11, 12, 22, 23, as shown in
Both in
Of course, the number of outlets in a collating apparatus of the type described is not limited to two. If the spatial conditions permit it and the production sequence requires it, according to
In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention shown in
The collating apparatus 90 which is illustrated in the exemplary embodiment according to
The exemplary embodiments described above make clear what a high level of physical and functional flexibility can be achieved by the apparatus according to the invention.
The conveying directions F, more precisely the corresponding conveying means in the transfer devices according to the invention, which means for example the conveying direction F of the receiving units and the arrangement of a conveyor belt, are preferably arranged in parallel or tangentially with respect to one another in the region of the product transfer. As a result, the product transfer generally and, in particular, the maintenance of the accurate physical alignment of the individual products and of the products in the stack and their controlled discharge is made easier.
By means of the transfer devices according to the invention, the products or product stacks K, as sketched in
The apparatus according to the invention and the method according to the invention permit gaps to be generated specifically in each case in the product streams comprising product collections from the individual transfer devices, irrespective of whether the said streams are fed to post processing separately or in an overlapping stream. Such gaps can be desired for production engineering reasons, for example in order to relieve the load on a subsequent operation/apparatus in the post processing. Such a gap in a product stream may be generated, for example, by two types of collections A and B being collated as follows in successive receiving units in a collating region: A, B, A, B, B, B, A, B, A, B. The fact that the fifth receiving unit is not populated with a collection of type A but with a collection of type B means that no collection is discharged from the fifth receiving unit as it passes the transfer device for the discharge of collections of type A, and a product gap (A, A, _, A, A; called a gap below) is generated in the product stream discharged. The same gap can be generated by the corresponding feed devices not discharging the pre-products for the fifth receiving unit (A, B, A, B, _, B, A, B, A, B), so that once more a gap is formed at the third point in the discharged product stream of the collections of type A.
In
By using the invention, flexible solutions for different post processing processes of pre-products and/or printed products can be implemented with considerably reduced expenditure on apparatus and considerably reduced demand for space. As a result of the use of a collating apparatus having only one conveying track for various post processing processes, sources of faults and expenditure on maintenance are also reduced. The expenditure for in-house logistics may likewise be reduced markedly, since the pre-products to be processed all have to be conveyed to only one system.
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