The present invention is directed to a device and to a method for separating single usable imprints printed in groups on a printed sheet. Defective usable imprints are removed and are replaced by replacement usable imprints.
A generally known prior art device and method are known from EP 0 248 307 A1.
This generally known prior art device is employed for detecting those specific imprints, whose printing shows faults, on a sheet on which a plurality of these imprints, typically of security papers, and, in particular, banknotes, have been imprinted. The device of the prior art is also used for cutting the sheet into individual usable imprints, for extracting the faulty ones and for consecutively numbering those imprints without faults. For this purpose, this prior art device includes a first cutting device for cutting the sheet into a plurality of strips each containing several usable imprints, a quality control arrangement for detecting faulty imprints, and a second cutting device for cutting the strips into individual usable imprints. The strips are conducted through a numbering device, which is controlled on the basis of information regarding the position of the faulty imprints received from the previous quality control arrangement. A faulty imprint on a strip remains unnumbered. Thereafter, the strips are cut into individual usable imprints, and the faulty ones are extracted.
Later published DE 199 39 164 A1 discloses a method for processing imprinted materials, wherein the printed image containing a plurality of usable imprints is checked. The imprinted material is separated into individual usable imprints and faulty imprints are extracted.
EP 0 286 317 A1 shows a device for cutting a web into sheets. These sheets are deposited on different stacks as a function of their quality as determined by a control device.
The object of the present invention is directed to providing a method and a device for separating usable imprints on an imprinted sheet.
In accordance with the present invention, the object is attained by providing a device for conveying adjacently located strips of useful imprints. The device includes first and second conveying units. A shunt for extracting strips and an inserting device for inserting replacement strips are located intermediate the two spaced conveying devices. Faulty imprints on the sheet are detected. The sheet is then cut into a plurality of strips. Each strip that includes a faulty imprint is extracted. The place of the extracted faulty strip is taken by a replacement strip which is fault-free.
The advantages obtained by the present invention lie, in particular, in that the control of the method, or of the device, is considerably simplified. Because the strips containing faulty imprints are extracted prior to each strip being separated into individual imprints, it is not necessary to store information regarding the position of the faulty imprint or imprints on a sheet or strip. This also need not be taken into consideration in the course of further processing of the individual usable imprints.
In a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, a sheet which is provided with a plurality of imprints is first cut into strips transversely to the conveying direction of the sheet by a first cutting device. If, in this case, it is necessary to remove a strip because of a fault, the gap caused by this strip removal can be closed, in a simple way, by letting additional strips of a following sheet catch up and by adding an additional strip of the following sheet in order to complete, in this way, the number of strips customarily obtained from a sheet. In this way, a regular sequence of fault-free strips is obtained, which strips can be further processed, for example by being numbered, separated and banded with little management effort.
In a second preferred embodiment of the present invention, a sheet is cut into strips longitudinally with respect to its conveying direction. If one of these strips is faulty and is extracted, it is useful to replace the removed strip by adding a replacement strip from a magazine of strips and to insert the replacement strip in place of the extracted strip. The group of strips obtained in this way can also be further processed with little management effort.
To make the extraction of faulty strips, as well as their subsequent processing, easier, it is beneficial if the strips cut from a sheet are spaced apart transversely to the cutting direction.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention are represented in the drawings and will be described in greater detail in what follows.
Shown are in:
a, 4b, cross-sectional views through the surface area of a transfer cylinder in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention and in,
A first preferred embodiment of a device in accordance with the present invention is represented in a schematic side elevation view in FIG. 1. Sheets, on which banknotes are imprinted in a line and column arrangement, are fed to the device from a sheet feeder, which is not specifically represented, in a conveying direction 01, i.e. in the direction of arrow 01. First, the sheet passes through a quality control unit 02. This quality control unit 02 comprises two control cylinders 03, 04. The structure of the two control cylinders 03, 04 is substantially identical. Their surface areas each have large-sized cutouts, by which each fed-in sheet is held in such a way that the previously produced imprints, such as in this case individual banknotes, are visible to a CCD camera that is housed in the interior of the control cylinder 03, 04, and which is not specifically shown in FIG. 1. An evaluating unit is connected to the CCD camera, which evaluating unit is equipped for detecting faults in the printed image of the individual banknotes. The sheets pass through a gap between the two control cylinders 03, 04, so that the CCD cameras in the two control cylinders 03, 04 are able to check the front and back of each sheet and to record information regarding the position of possibly faulty imprints on each sheet.
A cutting device 06, which is used for cutting the sheet into a plurality of strips, is arranged downstream or following the quality control unit 02 in the sheet conveying direction 01. In the first preferred embodiment depicted in
In order to be able to grasp and to convey the several adjacently located strips issuing from the longitudinal cutting device 06, the transfer cylinder 09 is equipped with an internal suction device 11 which, as represented in greater detail in
The transfer cylinder 09 transfers the strips, which are conducted parallel in respect to each other, to a cylinder 26, hereinafter called a removal cylinder 26, whose structure also substantially corresponds to the structure of the transfer cylinder represented in FIG. 3. However, a difference in the removal cylinder 26, with respect to the transfer cylinder 09, can lie in that each chamber 15 of the removal cylinder 26 can be equipped with a valve in order to selectively interrupt the vacuum supply to individual chambers 15, to thereby operate the suction chambers 15 of the removal cylinder 26 independently of each other.
The removal cylinder 26 rotates in contact with two subsequent transfer or delivery cylinders 27, 28, which are each also equipped with an internal suction device 11. In the normal state, the suction device 11 of the faulty strip delivery cylinder 27 is inactive, and it is equipped with a valve for the selective charging of individual chambers 15 with a source of vacuum or suction. If a fault in an imprint on a sheet has been detected in the quality control unit 02, the column of the sheet on which this imprint is located is recorded. As soon as the strips of the sheet reach the faulty strip delivery cylinder 27, the chamber 15 of the faulty strip delivery cylinder 27 corresponding to this column is charged with a vacuum in order to pull the faulty strip off the surface of the removal cylinder 26. Pulling the faulty strip off the surface of the removal cylinder 26 can be made easier in that the vacuum supply to the corresponding suction chamber 15 of the suction device 11 of the removal cylinder 26 is interrupted, provided the suction chambers 15 of the latter are equipped with valves.
All strips in which the quality control unit 02 did not detect a fault pass through the gap between the removal cylinder 26 and the first, faulty strip delivery cylinder 27 unhampered and remain attached to the removal cylinder 26 until, at the level of a gap to the second delivery cylinder 28, they reach the end of the suction chamber 15 of the removal cylinder 26. However, as represented in
In this way the removal cylinder 26, together with the first and second delivery cylinders 27, 28, constitutes a shunt, where, in accordance with their quality, the strips are fed either to a waste depository 39, or on to further processing.
The waste depository 39 is divided into a plurality of compartments which are located adjacent each other transversely or axially in relation to the cylinders shown in
The second, accepted strip delivery cylinder 28 transports the accepted or fault-free strips on to a so-called collecting cylinder 29, which is used to replenish the extracted faulty strips by fault-free ones. A magazine 31 is arranged at the collecting cylinder 29, and can be equipped with fault-free replacement strips in a plurality of compartments, which are located one behind the other. A distributing device 32 has a suction head 33, which can be moved vertically in respect to each one of the compartments and in the longitudinal direction of the strips, and by use of which an individual replacement strip can be removed from a compartment. Removed replacement strips are routed to the collecting cylinder 29 over several rollers 34. The operation of the distributing device 32 is linked with that of the removal cylinder 26, or the one of the first, faulty strip delivery cylinder 27 in such a way that every time a faulty strip is extracted, a replacement strip is taken from the compartment of the magazine 31 corresponding to the same column and is conveyed to the collecting cylinder 29, synchronized in such a way, that the front edges of the non-extracted accepted or fault-free strips of the original sheet and of the newly inserted replacement strip lie on a common line on the collecting cylinder 29. Therefore the arrangement of strips which subsequently are passed on by the collecting cylinder 29 to a further conveying element, for example a second transfer cylinder 36, can no longer be distinguished from an arrangement which would have been obtained by merely cutting a fault-free sheet into strips.
The individual usable imprints on this now formed arrangement of strips can be sequentially numbered in a simple manner and without a large control effort on a numbering unit 37 following the second transfer cylinder 36, in particular without the need of having to take misprints possibly occurring on the strips into account.
A conveyor belt device 38 conveys the strips with the sequentially numbered usable imprints to a second cutting device, which is represented schematically at 40 in
a and 4b show a section through the surface area 12 of a first transfer cylinder 09 in accordance with a further embodiment of the devices shown in
The surface area segments 41 are subsequently again pushed together, following the transfer of the strips to the removal cylinder 26, so that they are again in the configuration in accordance with
In this first embodiment of the present invention, the suction chambers 15 of the suction device 11 of the transfer cylinder 09 are axially displaceable in respect to each other, and are coordinated to the movement of the segments 41 in respect to each other, so that the alignment of the rows of holes 13 with the slits 19, which is important for the suction effect, always remains.
If the distance l along the circumference of the second transfer cylinder 36 from the gap between the first transfer cylinder 09 and the removal cylinder 26, on the one hand, to the gap between the removal cylinder 26 and the first faulty strip delivery cylinder 27, on the other hand, is set to be greater than the length of the strips, it is possible to synchronize the movement of the segments 41 away from each other with the rotation of the removal cylinder 26 in such a way, that this movement of the segments takes place entirely during the time in which the strips are located between the two gaps. Tilting or skewing of the strips on the removal cylinder 26 is avoided in this way.
In both of the two preferred embodiments described above, it is possible, in a simple manner, to further process the strips obtained after the faulty strips have been extracted and, in the case of the first embodiment, following their replacement by fault-free strips, without a special treatment being necessary for individual strips or for individual usable imprints. A considerable simplification of the necessary control assembly results from this. If no sequential numbering of the usable imprints obtained is necessary, the first embodiment can also be simplified by leaving out the collecting cylinder 29 and the magazine connected therewith, in this case, the strips are passed on directly from the delivery cylinder 28 to the second cutting device without filling possible gaps.
The device for transporting adjacently located strips, in accordance with the present invention, has a first conveying element or transfer cylinder 09 and a second conveying element or transfer cylinder 36, wherein a shunt 26, 27, 28, or 43 for extracting strips and an inserting device 29, 31, 32, 33 for inserting a replacement strip at the position of an extracted strip are arranged between the two conveying elements 09, 36. The shunt 26, 27, 28, or 43 is arranged between a first cutting device 06, or 42 and a second cuffing device. Moreover, an inserting device 29, 31, 32, 33 for inserting a replacement strip in place of an extracted faulty strip is provided between the first cutting device 06 or 42 and the second downstream cutting device.
While preferred embodiments of a device and method for separating useful units of a printed sheet in accordance with the present invention have been set forth fully and completely hereinabove, it will be apparent to one of skill in the art that various changes in, for example, the type of press used to print the sheets, the specific nature of the useful units on the sheets and the like could be made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention which is accordingly to be limited only by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
100 62 817 | Dec 2000 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/DE01/04246 | 11/12/2001 | WO | 00 | 6/13/2003 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO02/48014 | 6/20/2002 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4633395 | Kuehfuss | Dec 1986 | A |
4793251 | Kuehfuss | Dec 1988 | A |
4843959 | Rendell | Jul 1989 | A |
5628574 | Crowley | May 1997 | A |
6646280 | Schaede | Nov 2003 | B1 |
6684787 | Sauer | Feb 2004 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
199 39 164 | Mar 2001 | DE |
100 02 904 | Aug 2001 | DE |
0 248 307 | Dec 1987 | EP |
0 286 317 | Oct 1988 | EP |
2 656 290 | Jun 1991 | FR |
1 557 264 | Dec 1976 | GB |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20040020384 A1 | Feb 2004 | US |