Patent Grant
7611133
The present invention relates to an inserter input system for generating sheets of printed material to be collated and inserted into envelopes. Such an inserter input system cuts and processes a continuous web of material into individual sheets. The individual sheets may then be processed into mail pieces.
Inserter systems, such as those applicable for use with the present invention, are typically used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies and utility companies for producing a large volume of specific mailings where the contents of each mail item are directed to a particular addressee. Also, other organizations, such as direct mailers, use inserts for producing a large volume of generic mailings where the contents of each mail item are substantially identical for each addressee. Examples of such inserter systems are the 8 series, 9 series, and APST™ inserter systems available from Pitney Bowes Inc. of Stamford, Conn.
In many respects, the typical inserter system resembles a manufacturing assembly line. Sheets and other raw materials (other sheets, enclosures, and envelopes) enter the inserter system as inputs. Then, a plurality of different modules or workstations in the inserter system work cooperatively to process the sheets until a finished mail piece is produced. The exact configuration of each inserter system depends upon the needs of each particular customer or installation.
Typically, inserter systems prepare mail pieces by gathering collations of documents on a conveyor. The collations are then transported on the conveyor to an insertion station where they are automatically stuffed into envelopes. After being stuffed with the collations, the envelopes are removed from the insertion station for further processing. Such further processing may include automated closing and sealing the envelope flap, weighing the envelope, applying postage to the envelope, and finally sorting and stacking the envelopes.
The input stages of a typical inserter system are depicted in
The separated sheets must subsequently be grouped into collations corresponding to the multi-page documents to be included in individual mail pieces. This gathering of related document pages occurs in the accumulator module 40 where individual pages are stacked on top of one another.
The control system for the inserter senses markings on the individual pages to determine what pages are to be collated together in the accumulator module 40. In a typical inserter application, mail pieces may include varying numbers of pages to be accumulated.
Downstream of the accumulator 40, a folder 50 typically folds the accumulation of documents, so that they will fit in the desired envelopes. To allow the same inserter system to be used with different sized mailings, the folder 50 can typically be adjusted to make different sized folds on different sized paper. As a result, an inserter system must be capable of handling different lengths of accumulated and folded documents.
Downstream of the folder 50, a buffer transport 60 transports and stores accumulated and folded documents in series in preparation for transferring the documents to the synchronous inserter chassis 70.
In a typical embodiment of a prior art web cutter 20, the cutter is comprised of a guillotine blade that chops transverse sections of web into individual sheets. This guillotine arrangement requires that the web be stopped during the cutting process.
A frequent limitation on speed of an inserter system is the ability of the system to handle all of the generated documents if the system is required to stop. An input system may be capable of going very fast under non-stop operating conditions, but a problem arises during stopping if there isn't a means to handle all the sheets produced by the input system. Thus in designing input stages to an inserter system, a consideration is to provide a place for all “work-in-progress” sheets and collations, assuming that the system may be required to stop at any time. A buffer module such as the ones described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,687,569 and 6,687,570 issued Feb. 3, 2004 and assigned to the assignee of the present application, may be used to provide stopping stations, or “parking spots,” for work-in-progress documents.
For proper operation, an inserter input system should not be run faster than spaces for holding work in progress can be made available. For mail runs including mail pieces having larger numbers of sheets, the problem is less severe since sheets from the same mail piece are stored together in the buffer stations. For mail runs with mail pieces only having a few sheets, the ratio of required stopping stations to the number of sheets generated will be greater, and the inserter input may be required to slow down, or to pause.
For existing systems with webs having “2-up” side-by-side sheets, some additional logic has been used to control cutting and to facilitate throughput. This logic is applicable when a set of 2-up sheets is presented to the guillotine cutter for cutting, and at least one of the sheets belongs to a new collation to be started.
If both of the 2-up sheets belong to the same collation, and if there is an available parking spot, then both sheets are cut in a continuous stroke of the guillotine cutter.
If the sheets in the set are from different collations then two single cuts are performed. The first cut is done by a partial cutting operation. As is known in the art, a guillotine blade can be also be used to perform a partial cut across the width of the web. This is accomplished by partially lowering the sloped blade, as seen in
The present invention represents an improvement over the prior art by providing improved throughput. Instead of performing two single cuts when side-by-side sheets belong to different collations, a system and method are provided so that the sheets are cut more efficiently, and with less delay.
Accordingly, an improved inserter input system and method are used for transversely cutting a web of printed material into separate sheets. The web includes at least two side-by-side sheets printed transversely across a width of the web. Typically, 2-up style sheets are used, but it will be recognized by one of skill in the art that the invention is applicable for other configurations with more than two sheets across the width of the web. The side-by-side sheets are separated from each other in a direction parallel to a length of the web, typically by a web slitting device.
A set of side-by-side sheets is transported to the cutting device which is preferably a guillotine cutter. The improved system becomes applicable when one or more of the sheets in the set belongs to a new collation for which sheets have not previously been cut. The system determines whether sufficient collation parking spots exist to accommodate a new collation. If there are no available collation parking spots, and if all of the sheets in the set belong to the new collation, then transverse cutting is delayed until an open collation parking spot becomes available. If there are no available collation parking spots, and if a subset of sheets belong to a prior collation, then the web is partially cut to separate only the sheet, or sheets, that belong to the prior collation. The cutting of the other sheet(s) is delayed until the open collation parking spot becomes available. If there is an available collation parking spot, then the cutting device transversely cuts the entire set of side-by-side sheets.
In the preferred embodiment, the step of partially transverse cutting is achieved by partially lowering the sloped guillotine blade. Scanners may also be used to scan identifying markings to determine what collation a sheet belongs to by scanning a marking on the sheet.
In the preferred embodiment, after cutting, sheets are transported away from the cutter and shingled. In this embodiment, shingling is accomplished by a right angle turn module. Also, a high speed transport is used to separate sheets out of the shingled arrangement by pulling the lead sheet out of the stream of shingled sheets. After high speed separation of the sheets, the desired collations are formed downstream in an accumulator module.
Further details of the present invention are provided in the accompanying drawings, detailed description, and claims.
A preferred embodiment for implementing the present invention is depicted in
A web 100 is drawn into the inserter input subsystem. Methods for transporting the web are known and may include rollers, or tractors pulling on holes along a perforated strip at the edges of the web. The web 100 is split into two side-by-side portions by a cutting device 11. Cutting device 11 may be a stationary knife or a rotating cutting disc, or any other cutting device known in the art. While the embodiment in
Sensors 12 and 13 scan a mark or code printed on the web. The mark or code identify which collation and mail piece that particular portion of web belongs to, and provides instructions for processing and assembling the mail pieces. In addition to using the scanned information for providing assembling instructions, the scanning process is useful for tracking the documents' progress through the mail piece assembly process.
Once the location of a document is known based on a sensor reading, the document's position may be tracked throughout the system by monitoring the displacement of the transport system. In particular, encoders may be incorporated in the transport systems to give a reliable measurement of displacements that have occurred since a document was at a certain location.
After the web 100 has been split into at least two portions, the web is then cut into individual sheets by cutter 21. Cutter 21 is preferably a guillotine cutter comprised of a sloped blade that extends across the width of the web. The cut is made across the web, transverse to the direction of transport.
The set side-by-side of sheets to be cut by cutter 21 rests upon a continuous transport 25. Transport 25 is preferably comprised of belts have a low co-efficient of friction such that the belts slip underneath the web prior to the sheets being cut. Once one or more sheets have been cut by cutter 21, the transport 25 urges the sheets into nips 24 for removal to the right angle turn 30. Nips 24 are positioned slightly more than one sheet length downstream of cutter 21, so that cut sheets 1 and 2 can be immediately ingested and transported once they are cut away from the web.
Right angle turn devices 30 are known in the art and will not be described in detail here. However, and exemplary right angle turn will comprise turn bars 32 and 33. Of the two paper paths formed by the right angle turn 30, turn bar 33 forms an inner paper path for transporting sheet 1. Turn bar 32 forms a longer outer paper path on which sheet 2 travels.
Because sheets 1 have a shorter path through the right angle turn 30, a lead edge of sheet 1 will be in front of a lead edge of sheet 2 downstream of the right angle turn 30. Also, the turn bars 32 and 33 are arranged such that sheet 2 will lay on top of sheet 1 downstream of the right angle turn, thus forming a shingled arrangement. Downstream of the right angle turn 30, further sets of roller nips 36 transport the shingled arrangement of sheets.
In a preferred embodiment, the turn bars 32 and 33 are further arranged so that a lead edge of a subsequent sheet on the shorter path will catch up to, and pass, the trailing edge of the prior document on the longer path. The result of this arrangement can be seen in
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention, all of the transport mechanisms between the cutter 21 and high speed separation nip 34 operate at the same speeds. Collectively, the transport mechanisms may be referred to herein as the “right angle turn transport,” and include rollers 24, 36, and turn bars 32 and 33. Preferably the components of the right angle turn transport are electronically or mechanically geared to one another so that speeds are always consistent throughout.
The shingling of sheets provides a means for storing a greater number of sheets in a smaller amount of space. Thus, the prior art problem of a need for parking spots is partially mitigated. Upon the occurrence of a stopping condition the right angle turn transport 30 is subjected to a controlled deceleration to receive and store the extra sheets before coming to a complete stop.
Referring to
Downstream of nip 34, a sensor 35 scans a code on the sheets. Once again, this scanned code can link the particular sheet to a set of instructions for assembling the mail pieces. Sensor 35 further is used to confirm that the sheets detected by sensors 12 and 13 have arrived as expected by detecting a lead edge of the sheet. Of particular interest at this stage of the production process is the number of sheets belonging to a particular mail piece, and which sheets go together to form the same mail piece. Based on mail piece information determined from the sensors, flipper gate 41 directs sheets belonging to the same mail piece to one of two accumulator bins 42 and 43 of accumulator 40.
Any type of accumulator may be used, however, the accumulator 40 depicted in
While one accumulator bin (42 or 43) is receiving documents to be stacked into an accumulation, the other bin transfers its completed stack to the next stage for processing. Downstream of the accumulator 40, collations of sheets are returned to a single paper path. In a typical embodiment, the next processing station downstream of the accumulator 40 will be a folder 50 configured to fold the collation to a required by the control system.
In a further preferred embodiment, the velocities of the right angle turn transport and the high speed separator nip 34 are controlled to provide consistent sheet spacing relationships to facilitate high speed processing. This embodiment ensures adequate sheet separation after the sheets are ingested at nip 34 to allow flipper gate 41 adequate time to switch to the alternate accumulation bins 42 or 43.
In this preferred embodiment, the velocity if the right angle turn transports (24, 36) are set such that all lead edge sheet spacing displacements within the right angle turn 30 are equal to the width of the document, Wdoc, at the instantaneous cutter rate. By setting the right angle turn spacing displacements to Wdoc, the velocity of the high speed nip 34 can be minimized to generate a desired inter-sheet gap to allow reliable upper and lower dual accumulator flipping. This constant sheet spacing also provides the added benefit of simplified control. Since the right angle turn 30 transport is preferably electronically geared to the cutter 21, the lead edge sheet-to-sheet spacing displacement in the web will always be preserved. The equations for these preferred speed relationships are as follows:
Vrat=(C/3600)*Wdoc;
Vhsn=Vrat*(Ldoc+Ghsn)/Wdoc;
where:
Vrat=instantaneous velocity of the right angle turn transports 24, 36 (in/s);
Vhsn=instantaneous velocity of the high speed nip 34 (in/s);
C=instantaneous cut sheet rate (sheets/hr);
Wdoc=width of the cut sheet (inches);
Ldoc=length of the cut sheet (inches);
Ghsn=predetermined inter-sheet gap downstream of the high speed nip 34 (required for downstream processing) (inches).
a-4c depict the guillotine cutter 21 through a downward cutting motion, starting at a beginning position in 4a, to a finished cut position in 4c. Guillotine cutter blade 21 preferably has an edge that is vertically inclined at an angle above the path of web 120. As the blade 21 is lowered (
Alternatively, blade 21 can be stopped at the position shown in
It will be understood by those skilled in the art that motor crank 26 may also be coupled to the arm 25 through a coupling ratio other than unity. Thus a complete 360 degree cutting cycle may actually correspond to more or less than a full rotation of a motor, or even multiple rotations. Accordingly, the term “rotary motor” in this application shall be understood to mean the motor and any corresponding coupling that results in movement of the linkage arm 25.
Positions A-H of the rotary motor crank 26 in
If sensors 12 and 13 detect a sheet belonging to a new collation within the set to be cut, then a further determination must be made whether there is a parking spot to accommodate the new collation (step 54). If there is an open parking spot, then the improved system and method proceed with a full double cut across the web (step 53).
If there is no open parking spot, then further steps are taken, starting at step 55, depending on whether the sheets in the set belong to the same collation. If the sheets belong to the same collation, then the cutter 21 must wait for a parking spot to become available (step 57). However, if one of the sheets is a remaining portion of a collation that has already been started, then the cutter 21 performs a single cut to remove the sheet belonging to the already started collation. The continuous transport 25 advances the single sheet to the nips 24, for the single sheet to be processed in advance of the rest of the set. After a parking spot becomes available (step 58), the remaining sheet, or sheets, of the set can be cut. After a set has been double cut, or had two single cuts, then the system is ready for the next cut request (step 51).
Although the invention has been described with respect to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and deviations in the form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20080106022 A1 | May 2008 | US |
