Turned corner and multiple sheet detector

Claim 1

An apparatus for use in association with a conveyor means for transporting a stream of underlapped sheets to a sheet-handling machine, means for temporarily arresting and front registering a sheet at its lead edge while said sheet is partially covered by the trailing edge of a preceding sheet in the stream, said front registering means being cyclically moved into the path of sheets from below the stream, side registering means for frictionally engaging the arrested sheet from above and below to move the arrested sheet against a side-registering block located upstream of the front-registering means, means to operate the conveyor means at a speed whereby the lead edge of the sheet next to be registered arrives at the location of said side-registering means after the side-registering means releases the engagement above and below on the previously registered sheet, means for forwarding each of the registered sheets to the sheet-handling machine, detecting means adjacent the location of said sideregistering block, said detecting means having sheet-contacting elements above and below the stream of sheets, which elements are spaced apart a distance adapted to permit free passage of two sheet thicknesses but to frictionally engage the stream from opposite sides in event sheet thicknesses greater than two are presented between said sheet-contacting elements, at least one of said elements being movable about a fixed axis and adapted to pivot with the stream of sheets when engaged thereby, and means actuated by rotation of said movable element to perform a machine-interrupting function, the sheet-contacting elements of said detecting means being spaced in proper detecting position from at least the time the lead edge of a moving sheet next to be registered arrives at said movable element until the trailing edge of a previously registered sheet in the sheet-handling machine passes said movable element, whereby turned corners on sheets are detected as an excess thickness of sheets.

Claim 2

An apparatus for use in association with a conveyor means for transporting a stream of underlapped sheets to a sheet-handling machine, means for temporarily arresting and front registering a sheet at its lead edge while said sheet is partially covered by the trailing edge of a preceding sheet in the stream, said front registering means being cyclically moved into the path of sheets from below the stream, side registering means for frictionally engaging the arrested sheet from above and below to move the arrested sheet against a side-registering block located upstream of the front-registering means, means to operate the conveyor means at a speed whereby the lead edge of the sheet next to be registered arrives at the location of said side-registering means after the side-registering means releases the engagement above and below on the previously registered sheet, means for forwarding each of the registered sheets to the sheet-handling machine, detecting means adjacent the location of said sideregistering block, said detecting means having sheet-contacting elements above and below the stream of sheets, which elements are spaced apart a distance adapted to permit free passage of two sheet thicknesses but to frictionally engage the stream from opposite sides in event sheet thicknesses greater than two are presented between said sheet-contacting elements, at least one of said elements being movable about a fixed axis and adapted to pivot with the stream of sheets when engaged thereby, and means actuated by rotation of said movable element to perform a machine-interrupting function, the sheet-contacting elements of said detecting means being spaced in proper detecting position from at least the time the lead edge of a moving sheet next to be registered arrives at said movable element until the trailing edge of a previously registered sheet in the sheet-handling machine passes said movable element, whereby turned corners on sheets are detected as an excess thickness of sheets.

Claim 6

An apparatus for use in association with a conveyor means for transporting a stream of underlapped sheets to a means for operating on the sheets, said apparatus comprising a side guide assembly for positioning each of the sheets in turn in a direction transverse to their direction of flow toward the means for operating on the sheets, said side guide assembly including a side register block adapted to be mounted along one side of the conveyor means and means for moving a sheet transverse to the direction of flow and into engagement with said side register block, and turned corner and multiple sheet detector means mounted on said side guide assembly for continuously checking the stream of sheets to detect the presence of three sheets and for continuously checking the stream of sheets to detect the presence of a turned corner on one sheet of a pair of sheets disposed in an underlapped relationship, said detector means including a base member which is adapted to be engaged by lower surfaces of the sheets, a detector member mounted for rotation about an axis which is fixed relative to said base member and extends generally perpendicular to the direction of flow of the sheets, said detector member having a peripheral surface spaced from said base member by a distance which is at least as great as the thickness of two of the sheets to enable two underlapped sheets to pass freely between said peripheral surface of said detector member and said base member, said peripheral surface of said detector member being spaced from said base member by a distance which is no greater than the thickness of three of the sheets to enable an upper surface of one of a plurality of sheets to firmly engage said peripheral surface of said detector member as either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets passes through the space between the peripheral surface of said detector member and said base, said detector member being rotatable about its fixed axis by engagement of an upper surface of a sheet with said peripheral surface of said detector member as the sheet moves in the direction of sheet flow to indicate the presence of either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets, and means for mounting said base member and said detector member on said side guide assembly.

Claim 7

An apparatus for use in association with a conveyor means for transporting a stream of underlapped sheets to a means for operating on the sheets, said apparatus comprising a side guide assembly for positioning each of the sheets in turn in a direction transverse to their direction of flow toward the means for operating on the sheets, said side guide assembly including a side register block adapted to be mounted along one side of the conveyor means and means for moving a sheet transverse to the direction of flow and into engagement with said side register block, and turned corner and multiple sheet detector means mounted on said side guide assembly for continuously checking the stream of sheets to detect the presence of three sheets and for continuously checking the stream of sheets to detect the presence of a turned corner on one sheet of a pair of sheets disposed in an underlapped relationship, said detector means including a base member which is adapted to be engaged by lower surfaces of the sheets, a detector member mounted for rotation about an axis which is fixed relative to said base member and extends generally perpendicular to the direction of flow of the sheets, said detector member having a peripheral surface spaced from said base member by a distance which is at least as great as the thickness of two of the sheets to enable two underlapped sheets to pass freely between said peripheral surface of said detector member and said base member, said peripheral surface of said detector member being spaced from said base member by a distance which is no greater than the thickness of three of the sheets to enable an upper surface of one of a plurality of sheets to firmly engage said peripheral surface of said detector member as either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets passes through the space between the peripheral surface of said detector member and said base, said detector member being rotatable about its fixed axis by engagement of an upper surface of a sheet with said peripheral surface of said detector member as the sheet moves in the direction of sheet flow to indicate the presence of either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets, and means for mounting said base member and said detector member on said side guide assembly.

Claim 9

An apparatus for operating on sheet material comprising conveyor means for transporting a stream of underlapped sheets, cylinder means for working on the sheets transported by said conveyor means, frame means for supporting said conveyor means and said cylinder means, first and second side guide means located on opposite sides of the stream of sheets for positioning the sheets relative to said cylinder means in a direction transverse to the direction of flow, said first and second side guide means being independently movable transversely of the direction of flow to thereby enable the locations of said first and second side guide means to be adjusted to position sheets of different dimensions, said first and second side guide means each including a side register block, a pair of cooperating rollers for moving a sheet transversely to the direction of flow and into engagement with said side register block, and mounting means for connecting said side guide means to said frame means, and first detector means mounted on said first side guide means and second detector means mounted on said second side guide means for continuously checking opposite sides of the stream of sheets to detect the presence of a sheet having a turned corner adjacent to either side of the stream of sheets and for continuously checking opposite sides of the stream of sheets to detect the presence of three or more sheets, said first and second detector means each being connected to an associated side guide means for movement therewith transversely to the direction of flow to thereby enable the positions of said first and second detector means to be adjusted to detect the presence of a turned corner on either side of streams of sheets of different dimensions, said first and second detector means each including a base member which is adapted to be engaged by lower surfaces of the sheets, a detector member mounted for pivotal movement about an axis which is fixed relative to said base member and extends generally perpendicular to the direction of flow of the sheets, said detector member having a peripheral surface spaced from said base member by a distance which is at least as great as the thickness of two of the sheets to enable two underlapped sheets to pass freely between said peripheral surface of said detector member and said base member, said peripheral surface of said detector member being spaced from said base member by a distance which is no greater than the thickness of three of the sheets to enable an upper surface of one of a plurality of sheets to firmly engage said peripheral surface of said detector member as either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets passes through the space between the peripheral surface of said detector member and said base, said detector member being rotatable about its fixed axis by engagement of an upper surface of a sheet with said peripheral surface of said detector member as the sheet moves in the direction of sheet flow to indicate the presence of either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets, and means for mounting said base member and said detector member on an associated one of said guide means.

Claim 10

An apparatus for operating on sheet material comprising conveyor means for transporting a stream of underlapped sheets, cylinder means for working on the sheets transported by said conveyor means, frame means for supporting said conveyor means and said cylinder means, first and second side guide means located on opposite sides of the stream of sheets for positioning the sheets relative to said cylinder means in a direction transverse to the direction of flow, said first and second side guide means being independently movable transversely of the direction of flow to thereby enable the locations of said first and second side guide means to be adjusted to position sheets of different dimensions, said first and second side guide means each including a side register block, a pair of cooperating rollers for moving a sheet transversely to the direction of flow and into engagement with said side register block, and mounting means for connecting said side guide means to said frame means, and first detector means mounted on said first side guide means and second detector means mounted on said second side guide means for continuously checking opposite sides of the stream of sheets to detect the presence of a sheet having a turned corner adjacent to either side of the stream of sheets and for continuously checking opposite sides of the stream of sheets to detect the presence of three or more sheets, said first and second detector means each being connected to an associated side guide means for movement therewith transversely to the direction of flow to thereby enable the positions of said first and second detector means to be adjusted to detect the presence of a turned corner on either side of streams of sheets of different dimensions, said first and second detector means each including a base member which is adapted to be engaged by lower surfaces of the sheets, a detector member mounted for pivotal movement about an axis which is fixed relative to said base member and extends generally perpendicular to the direction of flow of the sheets, said detector member having a peripheral surface spaced from said base member by a distance which is at least as great as the thickness of two of the sheets to enable two underlapped sheets to pass freely between said peripheral surface of said detector member and said base member, said peripheral surface of said detector member being spaced from said base member by a distance which is no greater than the thickness of three of the sheets to enable an upper surface of one of a plurality of sheets to firmly engage said peripheral surface of said detector member as either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets passes through the space between the peripheral surface of said detector member and said base, said detector member being rotatable about its fixed axis by engagement of an upper surface of a sheet with said peripheral surface of said detector member as the sheet moves in the direction of sheet flow to indicate the presence of either three sheets or a turned corner on one of a pair of underlapped sheets, and means for mounting said base member and said detector member on an associated one of said guide means.

Claim 11

The method of detecting the presence of folded corners at the leading and trailing edges of rectangular sheets being fed in underlapped stream fashion toward a registering mechanism of a sheet-handling machine comprising the steps of arresting a first sheet in said stream of sheets from below to front register the sheet while said first sheet is partially covered by the trailing end portion of a preceding sheet being processed by a sheet-handling machine, side registering the first sheet by frictionally gripping the first sheet from above and below while urging the first sheet against a side-registering block positioned upstream of the front-registering mechanism, said step of side registering the first sheet commencing after the trailing end portion of the preceding sheet in the stream has passed the side-registering block, conveying remaining sheets in said stream at a speed such that leading edge portions of the second and subsequent sheets each arrive at the side registering location after side registering of the first sheet has been completed and the frictional grip on the first sheet has been released, and detecting turned corners on the leading edge portion of a sheet next to be registered and on the trailing edge portion of a previously registered sheet by sensing the stream of sheets at a turned corner detecting station to detect the presence of three or more sheet thicknesses from at least the time the leading edge portion of a sheet next to be registered arrives at the detection station until the trailing edge portion of a previously registered sheet departs from the detection station to enable turned corners to be detected as three or more sheet thicknesses, and interrupting machine operation in response to detecting three or more sheet thicknesses at the detection station.

Claim 12

The method of detecting the presence of folded corners at the leading and trailing edges of rectangular sheets being fed in underlapped stream fashion toward a registering mechanism of a sheet-handling machine comprising the steps of arresting a first sheet in said stream of sheets from below to front register the sheet while said first sheet is partially covered by the trailing end portion of a preceding sheet being processed by a sheet-handling machine, side registering the first sheet by frictionally gripping the first sheet from above and below while urging the first sheet against a side-registering block positioned upstream of the front-registering mechanism, said step of side registering the first sheet commencing after the trailing end portion of the preceding sheet in the stream has passed the side-registering block, conveying remaining sheets in said stream at a speed such that leading edge portions of the second and subsequent sheets each arrive at the side registering location after side registering of the first sheet has been completed and the frictional grip on the first sheet has been released, and detecting turned corners on the leading edge portion of a sheet next to be registered and on the trailing edge portion of a previously registered sheet by sensing the stream of sheets at a turned corner detecting station to detect the presence of three or more sheet thicknesses from at least the time the leading edge portion of a sheet next to be registered arrives at the detection station until the trailing edge portion of a previously registered sheet departs from the detection station to enable turned corners to be detected as three or more sheet thicknesses, and interrupting machine operation in response to detecting three or more sheet thicknesses at the detection station.