US3825246A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Gathering machine and control therefor
Assignee: AB Dick Co
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Filing: 1971-04-05
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Granted: 1974-07-23
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Expires: 1991-04-05
Abstract
Abstract Gathering machine in which a gathering station and feed stations are moved relatively to each other to feed items in sequence to the gathering station. If a feed station misses a feed, downstream stations for feeding the sequence are shut off until the group is again positioned to receive the missed item of the sequence. Feeding of the sequence is then reinitiated. When a station feeds double items at a rate greater than a predetermined rate, a control operation is performed.
Inventors
- 👤 C Hofschild
- 👤 R Bryson
- 👤 F Elia
- 👤 D Brothers
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 11:06
CPC Classifications
B; B65; B65H; B65H43/00; B65H43/02; B41; B41F; B41F13/00; B41F13/54; B41F13/64; B65H39/00; B65H39/02; B65H39/04; B65H39/045; B65H2301/00; B65H2301/40; B65H2301/43; B65H2301/432; B65H2301/4321; B65H2301/437
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 19
Claim 1
Independent Claim
348 words
In a gathering apparatus for forming groups of sequentially fed items in which each item is fed sequentially to a gathering station for forming one of said groups, said apparatus including delivery means for delivering an assembled group of items from the apparatus and further comprising a plurality of movable gathering stations, feeding means for feeding said items in a predetermined sequence to said gathering stations as said gathering stations move sequentially past a plurality of feed stations including an initial feed station and a terminal feed station for respectively feeding the first and terminal items of an initial sequence of items to form a group at a gathering station, said feeding means being operable to feed a repeat sequence of items to a gathering station after the gathering station moves past said terminal station beginning with any item of the sequence, means for concurrently moving each of said plurality of gathering stations along a closed path and for moving a plurality of said gathering stations in turn past each of said feed stations to sequentially position said gathering stations at said feed stations in sequence to receive an initial sequence of items and for concurrently operating said feed stations to feed items to different gathering stations at respective feed stations and for moving at least incomplete groups past said feed means for a repeat sequence, and control means for said feeding means including first means For monitoring the feed of items from each of said feed stations to a gathering station at the feed station and second means responsive to a feeding malfunction at any of said feed stations for terminating the feeding of items to the misfed gathering station as the misfed gathering station is moved past any remaining stations for completing the remaining items of the sequence and any feed stations of said feed means for feeding previously fed items of the sequence while maintaining feeding to other gathering stations and for actuating said feed means to resume feeding to the misfed gathering station beginning with the item fed by the station which initially misfed.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
348 words
In a gathering apparatus for forming groups of sequentially fed items in which each item is fed sequentially to a gathering station for forming one of said groups, said apparatus including delivery means for delivering an assembled group of items from the apparatus and further comprising a plurality of movable gathering stations, feeding means for feeding said items in a predetermined sequence to said gathering stations as said gathering stations move sequentially past a plurality of feed stations including an initial feed station and a terminal feed station for respectively feeding the first and terminal items of an initial sequence of items to form a group at a gathering station, said feeding means being operable to feed a repeat sequence of items to a gathering station after the gathering station moves past said terminal station beginning with any item of the sequence, means for concurrently moving each of said plurality of gathering stations along a closed path and for moving a plurality of said gathering stations in turn past each of said feed stations to sequentially position said gathering stations at said feed stations in sequence to receive an initial sequence of items and for concurrently operating said feed stations to feed items to different gathering stations at respective feed stations and for moving at least incomplete groups past said feed means for a repeat sequence, and control means for said feeding means including first means For monitoring the feed of items from each of said feed stations to a gathering station at the feed station and second means responsive to a feeding malfunction at any of said feed stations for terminating the feeding of items to the misfed gathering station as the misfed gathering station is moved past any remaining stations for completing the remaining items of the sequence and any feed stations of said feed means for feeding previously fed items of the sequence while maintaining feeding to other gathering stations and for actuating said feed means to resume feeding to the misfed gathering station beginning with the item fed by the station which initially misfed.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
94 words
In an apparatus for assembling items as defined in claim 1 and wherein said gathering station and feed stations are relatively movable through a closed path while the gathering station is is positioned for conveying items received therein, said delivery means effecting delivery of an assembled group at a delivery station along said path downstream of said terminal station and including delivery control means responsive to said control means for rendering said delivery means ineffective to deliver a partially assembled group from said machine whereby the partially assembled group remains in said closed path.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
108 words
In an apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said second means includes memory means for storing electrical signals and means responsive to said first means for setting said memory means to record a misfeed to a gathering station and third means responsive to stored signals recorded in said memory means for controlling said feeding means to prevent feeding to the gathering station while continuing the feed to other gathering stations to which a misfeed has not occurred until the gathering station to which a misfeed was occurred is again relatively positioned with respect to said feeding means to receive the item of the sequence which was misfed.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
32 words
In an apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said memory means is settable to indicate the identity of the feeding station which misfed and the gathering station affected by the misfeed.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
58 words
In an apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said memory means has memory location for each of said gathering stations and said second means includes means for storing data in said memory means indicating the identity of a feeding station at which a misfeed occurred at the memory location for the gathering station affected by the misfeed.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
75 words
In an apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said third means comprises addressing means for signaling the identity of the gathering location approaching a feed station for addressing and reading the data stored in said memory location for the gathering station and actuating means responsive to the data stored in said memory means for controlling the feed of an item to the gathering station by the feed station being approached by the gathering station.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
118 words
In an apparatus for assembling items as defined in claim 3 and wherein said gathering stations and feed stations are relatively moved through a closed path while the gathering stations are maintained in a position for conveying items received therein, said delivering means effecting delivery of an assembled group at a delivery station along said path after a gathering station passes said terminal station and said delivery means including delivery control means responsive to said control means for rendering said delivery means ineffective to deliver a partially assembled group from said machine whereby the partially assembled group remains in said closed path and said delivery control means comprises means responsive to said memory for controlling said delivery means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
342 words
In a gathering apparatus comprising feeding means including a plurality of feed stations and a plurality of gathering stations to which items for forming a group are to be fed sequentially as the gathering stations and feed stations move relatively to each other with each feed station feeding a pArticular item of the sequence to the gathering stations, said feed stations including an initial feed station for feeding the initial item of the sequence and a terminal station spaced from the initial feed station in the direction of relative movement of said gathering stations past said feed stations for feeding the terminal item of a sequence, said apparatus being operable to feed said items in a repeat sequence after a gathering station has relatively moved past said terminal station, means for moving each of said gathering stations along a closed path and for concurrently moving a plurality of gathering stations past said feed stations and for feeding and driving said feed stations to feed different locations concurrently, each of said feed stations having associated therewith detecting means for providing an electrical signal indicating a misfeed to a gathering station, memory means comprising a memory store for each gathering station for storing a misfeed code indicating the feed station and gathering station at which the misfeed occurred, and control means comprising first means for setting said memory store for a gathering location in response to said electrical signal indicating a misfeed from a feed station to the gathering station, and second means for reading said store for the gathering location each time a gathering station is being positioned to receive a feed at a feed station to determine whether a misfeed has previously occurred to the gathering station for preventing a feed to a previously misfed gathering station until the previously misfed gathering station is again positioned to receive the misfed item of the sequence and for then reinitiating the feed of the remainder of the sequence to the previously misfed gathering station and for clearing the memory store of the misfeed code.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
342 words
In a gathering apparatus comprising feeding means including a plurality of feed stations and a plurality of gathering stations to which items for forming a group are to be fed sequentially as the gathering stations and feed stations move relatively to each other with each feed station feeding a pArticular item of the sequence to the gathering stations, said feed stations including an initial feed station for feeding the initial item of the sequence and a terminal station spaced from the initial feed station in the direction of relative movement of said gathering stations past said feed stations for feeding the terminal item of a sequence, said apparatus being operable to feed said items in a repeat sequence after a gathering station has relatively moved past said terminal station, means for moving each of said gathering stations along a closed path and for concurrently moving a plurality of gathering stations past said feed stations and for feeding and driving said feed stations to feed different locations concurrently, each of said feed stations having associated therewith detecting means for providing an electrical signal indicating a misfeed to a gathering station, memory means comprising a memory store for each gathering station for storing a misfeed code indicating the feed station and gathering station at which the misfeed occurred, and control means comprising first means for setting said memory store for a gathering location in response to said electrical signal indicating a misfeed from a feed station to the gathering station, and second means for reading said store for the gathering location each time a gathering station is being positioned to receive a feed at a feed station to determine whether a misfeed has previously occurred to the gathering station for preventing a feed to a previously misfed gathering station until the previously misfed gathering station is again positioned to receive the misfed item of the sequence and for then reinitiating the feed of the remainder of the sequence to the previously misfed gathering station and for clearing the memory store of the misfeed code.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
58 words
In an apparatus as defined in claim 8 wherein said apparatus includes delivery means for delivering an assembled group of items from said machine after it passes said terminal station and delivery control means responsive to the first said control means for effecting operation of said delivery means to prevent discharge of an incomplete group from said machine.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
41 words
In an apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein said delivery control means comprises means responsive to data stored in said memory in response to a misfeed to prevent delivery of the items from the gathering location at said delivery means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
56 words
In an apparatus as defined in claim 10 wherein each feed station has an address counting means for counting the gathering stations to provide an identification of the gathering station approaching the feed station and said second circuit means is responsive to said address counting means for reading the store corresponding to the approaching gathering station.
Claim 14
Independent Claim
227 words
A method of sequentially assembling items into groups which comprises relatively and concurrently moving a plurality of feed stations and a plurality of gathering stations to sequentially position each gathering station at a feed station to receive an item from the feed station and concurrently driving the feed stations to feed items to different gathering stations at different feed stations to initially form the groups, detecting a misfeed at any feeding station, continuing the relative movement of the feeding stations and gathering stations on the detection of a misfeed and storing electrical data indicating the gathering station for which the misfeed occurred and the and the item of the sequence which was misfed, electrically utilizing said data to prevent the feeding of the remaining items of the sequence to the gathering station to which a misfeed occurred as it sequentially moves by the remaining feed stations of the sequence while maintaining the feed to other gathering stations for which a misfeed has not occurred and moving the incomplete group for which a misfeed has occurred again past feed stations for repeating the feeding of the items in sequence, and resuming the sequential feeding of items In response to the stored data when the gathering station for which a misfeed occurred is again positioned at a feed station for feeding the item of the sequence which was misfed.
Claim 15
Independent Claim
227 words
A method of sequentially assembling items into groups which comprises relatively and concurrently moving a plurality of feed stations and a plurality of gathering stations to sequentially position each gathering station at a feed station to receive an item from the feed station and concurrently driving the feed stations to feed items to different gathering stations at different feed stations to initially form the groups, detecting a misfeed at any feeding station, continuing the relative movement of the feeding stations and gathering stations on the detection of a misfeed and storing electrical data indicating the gathering station for which the misfeed occurred and the and the item of the sequence which was misfed, electrically utilizing said data to prevent the feeding of the remaining items of the sequence to the gathering station to which a misfeed occurred as it sequentially moves by the remaining feed stations of the sequence while maintaining the feed to other gathering stations for which a misfeed has not occurred and moving the incomplete group for which a misfeed has occurred again past feed stations for repeating the feeding of the items in sequence, and resuming the sequential feeding of items In response to the stored data when the gathering station for which a misfeed occurred is again positioned at a feed station for feeding the item of the sequence which was misfed.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
96 words
A method as defined in claim 12 wherein a code indicative of the item of the sequence which was misfed is electrically stored in a memory store corresponding to the gathering station for whcih the misfeed occurred and as the gathering station approaches a feed station thereafter, the step of electrically reading the store to determine if the gathering station is approaching a feed station for feeding the misfed item of the sequence and resuming the sequential feeding to the gathering station if the feed station is one for feeding the misfed item of the sequence.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
66 words
A method as defined in claim 13 wherein a code unique to the feed stations is stored in a store corresponding to the gathering station positioned at the feed station when a misfeed occurs and feeding to the gathering station by other stations is prevented and feeding reinitiated by comparing the stored code with a code for the feed station being approached by the gathering location.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
185 words
In an apparatus for gathering a plurality of sequentially fed items into a group, a plurality of gathering stations each of which is movable along a closed path, feeding means comprising feed stations for feeding respective items of said sequence for feeding a first sequence of items to a gathering location and for subsequently feeding an item misfed during the initial sequence, means for moving a plurality of gathering stations past said feeding means and for driving said feeding means to feed said gathering stations, detecting means for monitoring the feed of items from each feed station to said gathering stations and providing a signal indicating a misfeed to a gathering location, means responsive to said monitoring means for storing coded data indicating the item which was misfed for the gathering location to which the item was misfed including memory means in which said coded data is stored, and feed control means responsive to the stored coded data in said memory means for effecting operation of said feeding means to subsequently effect a feeding of the misfed item to the gathering location which was misfed.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
185 words
In an apparatus for gathering a plurality of sequentially fed items into a group, a plurality of gathering stations each of which is movable along a closed path, feeding means comprising feed stations for feeding respective items of said sequence for feeding a first sequence of items to a gathering location and for subsequently feeding an item misfed during the initial sequence, means for moving a plurality of gathering stations past said feeding means and for driving said feeding means to feed said gathering stations, detecting means for monitoring the feed of items from each feed station to said gathering stations and providing a signal indicating a misfeed to a gathering location, means responsive to said monitoring means for storing coded data indicating the item which was misfed for the gathering location to which the item was misfed including memory means in which said coded data is stored, and feed control means responsive to the stored coded data in said memory means for effecting operation of said feeding means to subsequently effect a feeding of the misfed item to the gathering location which was misfed.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1977-07-22 | 1978-01-21 | 1978-07-23 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1981-07-22 | 1982-01-21 | 1982-07-23 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1985-07-22 | 1986-01-21 | 1986-07-23 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |