Abstract A printing press sheet conveyor having a pair of endless chains mounted for movement around drive sprockets and a plurality of gripper carriages carried between said chains for receiving and transporting sheets between one transfer station adjacent a pair of said sprockets to a remote transfer station. The gripper carriages each include a shaft with a plurality of gripping pads and a corresponding number of grippers mounted for coaction with the pads. The gripper pads of each carriage are of progressively decreasing height from the ends of the shaft to the center thereof so that when the shaft is conveyed around chain support sprockets at a transfer station and deflects slightly outwardly due to the resulting centrifugal forces exerted on the shaft the bearing pads rise to a substantially common level for uniformly receiving a sheet at the transfer station. There is also disclosed an efficient method for producing a gripper carriage with gripper pads of such progressively different heights.
Inventors
👤 P Abendroth
Bibliographic Details
Application Number—
JurisdictionUS
Data Sourcegoogle_patents
Last Synchronized2026-11-05 20:49
CPC Classifications
B; B41; B41F; B41F21/00; B41F21/08
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 5
Claim 1
Independent Claim
98 words
In a printing press sheet conveyor having a pair of endless chains supported by sprockets with a plurality of spaced gripper carriages carried between said chains for receiving and transporting sheets from oe transfer station adjacent a pair of said sprockets to a remote transfer station, said gripper carriages each comprising a shaft having a plurality of gripper pads, a plurality of grippers mounted on said carriage for coaction with said gripper pads to engage sheets to be transported, and said gripper pads being of progressively decreasing height from the ends of said shaft to the center thereof.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
98 words
In a printing press sheet conveyor having a pair of endless chains supported by sprockets with a plurality of spaced gripper carriages carried between said chains for receiving and transporting sheets from oe transfer station adjacent a pair of said sprockets to a remote transfer station, said gripper carriages each comprising a shaft having a plurality of gripper pads, a plurality of grippers mounted on said carriage for coaction with said gripper pads to engage sheets to be transported, and said gripper pads being of progressively decreasing height from the ends of said shaft to the center thereof.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
50 words
In the conveyor of claim 1 in which said gripper pads decrease in height according to a line which corresponds to the bending line of said shaft when subjected to the maximum centrifugal force experienced when the shaft is moved about said chain support sprockets during a sheet transfer operation.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
66 words
In the conveyor of claim 1 in which said gripper carriage pads decrease in height according to a line which corresponds with the bending line of said shaft when supported at its ends and subjected to a symmetrically applied load which exerts a force equal to the maximum centrifugal force exerted on said shaft when moved about said chain support sprockets during a sheet transfer operation.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
70 words
In the conveyor of claim 1 in which said shaft is outwardly bendable when moved around chain support sprockets at a sheet transfer station due to the centrifugal forces acting on said shaft, said gripper pads each being formed with a flat bearing surface of decreasing height such that when said shaft bends outwardly at a transfer station said gripper pad bearing surfaces rise to form a substantially straight line.