Sheet inspecting and sorting mechanism

Claim 1

A SHEET INSPECTING AND SHORTING MECHANISM COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, CONVEYING MEANS FOR ADVANCING SHEET MATERIAL THROUGH AN INSPECTING STATION AND THEN ALONG A COURSE WHICH INCLUDES ONE SORTING STATION AFTER ANOTHER, INSPECTING MEANS AT THE INSPECTING STATION CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED AUTOMATICALLY TO SCAN EACH SHEET LENGTH AS IT IS ADVANCED AT HIGH SPEED AND TO DEVELOP NO CLASSIFICATION SIGNAL IF A SHEET LENGTH FALLS IN THE CATEGORY OF FIRST QUALITY, BUT TO DEVELOP DISTINCTIVE CLASSIFICATION CONTROL SIGNALS FOR SHEET CATEGORIES OF UNACCEPTABLE QUALITY AND OF ACCEPTABLE QUALITY OTHER THAN FIRST QUALITY, A RECEIVER FOR SHEETS OF THE UNACCEPTABLE CATEGORY, COLLECTORS FOR THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF ACCEPTABLE SHEETS INCLUDING ONE MORE COLLECTOR THAN THERE ARE ACCEPTABLE CATEGORIES SO THAT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE AT LEAST TWO ACTIVE COLLECTORS AND AN INACTIVE COLLECTOR, SORTING FLIPPERS ASSOCIATED WITH THE RESPECTIVE COLLECTORS AND RESPONSIVE TO THE CLASSIFICATION CONTROL SIGNALS, MEANS INSTANTANEOUSLY SETTABLE TO SO DETERMINE THE RESPONSES OF THE RESPECTIVE SORTING FLIPPERS TO THE CLASSIFICATION CONTROL SIGNALS THAT ANY ONE OF THE COLLECTORS MAY BE MADE THE COLLECTOR OF FIRST QUALITY SHEETS, ANY ONE OF THE COLLECTORS MAY BE MADE THE COLLECTOR OF A CATEGORY OF ACCEPTABLE SHEETS OF LESS THAN FIRST QUALITY, AND ANY ONE OF THE COLLECTORS MAY BE RENDERED INACTIVE FOR THE PURPOSE OF UNLOADING AND FOR THE PURPOSE OF BEING HELD IN RESERVE AS AN IMMEDIATE REPLACEMENT FOR ANY ONE OF THE ACTIVE COLLECTORS WITHOUT INTERRUPTING OR RETARDING THE OPERATION OF THE MECHANISM, THE CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT BEING SUCH THAT WHEN A SETTING HAS BEEN EFFECTED THE SORTING FLIPPER ASSOCIATED WITH THE COLLECTOR ASSIGNED THE DUTY OF COLLECTING FIRST QUALITY SHEETS WILL BE NORMALLY OPEN, BUT IN RESPONSE TO EACH CLASSIFICATION CONTROL SIGNAL WILL BE TEMPORARILY CLOSED AT A PROPER TIME AND FOR A SUFFICIENT PERIOD TO CAUSE THE SHEET RESPONSIBLE FOR SAID SIGNAL TO BE EXCLUDED, THE SORTING FLIPPER ASSOCIATED WITH A COLLECTOR ASSIGNED THE DUTY OF COLLECTING A LOWER CATEGORY OF ACCEPTABLE SHEETS WILL BE NORMALLY CLOSED, BUT IN RESPONSE TO THE CLASSIFICATION CONTROL SIGNAL OF THAT CATEGORY WILL BE TEMPORARILY OPENED AT A PROPER TIME AND FOR A SUFFICIENT PERIOD TO CAUSE THE SHEET RESPONSIBLE FOR SAID SIGNAL TO BE ACCEPTED, AND THE SORTING FLIPPER ASSOCIATED WITH THE RESERVE OR INACTIVE COLLECTOR WILL BE MAINTAINED CLOSED UNTIL SAID RESERVE COLLECTOR REPLACES ONE OF THE OTHER OF SAID COLLECTORS, EACH COLLECTOR INCLUDING A COLLECTING DRUM ROTATING AT CONSTANT SPEED ON WHICH SHEET PACKETS OF A PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF SHEETS ARE ACCUMULATED, A TRANSFER DRUM, DISPOSED IN RECEIVING RELATION TO THE COLLECTING DRUM, TO WHICH THE SHEET PACKETS ARE DELIVERED FROM THE COLLECTING DRUM, A COOPERATIVE CONVEYOR INCLUDING TAPES WHOSE ACTIVE RUNS BEAR IN PART AGAINST THE TRANSFER DRUM AND WHICH ARE DRIVEN BY THE TRANSFER DRUM, A SHEET COUNTER FOR EFFECTING A COUNT OF SHEETS DELIVERED TO THE COLLECTING DRUM, MEANS RESPONSIVE TO THE SHEET COUNTER FOR INITIATING DELIVERY OF A SHEET PACKET TO THE TRANSFER DRUM WHEN THE COUNT REACHES THE PRESCRIBED NUMBER, A CONTROLLABLE HEIGHT SHEET STACKING TABLE DISPOSED IN RECEIVING RELATION TO THE TRANSFER DRUM FOR RECEIVING THE PACKETS IN STACKED RELATION FROM THE TRANSFER DRUM, AND MEANS POSITIVELY DRIVING THE TRANSFER DRUM AT THE PERIPHERAL SPEED OF THE COLLECTING DRUM THROUGHOUT SAID DELIVERY TO THE TRANSFER DRUM AND AUTOMATICALLY EFFECTIVE WHEN THE DELIVERY OF A PACKET OF SHEETS TO THE TRANSFER DRUM HAS BEEN COMPLETED TO SO MODIFY THE TRANSFER DRUM SPEED THAT THE TRANSFER DRUM AND COOPERATIVE TAPES WHICH BEAR IN PART AGAINST THE TRANSFER DRUM ARE PUT THROUGH A PROGRAMMED SLOWDOWN AND RESTORATION CYCLE DURING WHICH THE TRANSFER DRUM AND COOPERATIVE TAPES WHICH BEAR IN PART AGAINST THE TRANSFER DRUM ADVANCE THE SHEET PACKET AT HIGH VELOCITY ONTO THE SHEET STACKING TABLE AND THEN SLOW DOWN PROGRESSIVELY UNTIL THE PACKET OF SHEETS IS DISCHARGED TO SAID STACKING TABLE AT A RELATIVELY LOW VELOCITY, THE TRANSFER DRUM DRIVE THEN PROGRESSIVELY RESTORING THE SPEED OF THE TRANSFER DRUM AND THE COOPERATIVE TAPES WHICH BEAR IN PART AGAINST THE TRANSFER DRUM TO THE COLLECTING DRUM SPEED BY A TIME NO LATER THAN THAT AT WHICH A NEXT ACCUMULATED PACKET OF SHEETS ON THE COLLECTING DRUM BECOMES READY FOR DELIVERY TO THE TRANSFER DRUM.