US3874522A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Signature handling system
Assignee: AB Dick Co
•
Filing: 1973-05-16
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Granted: 1975-04-01
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Expires: 1993-05-16
Abstract
Abstract A loose shingled stream of signatures is conveyed to a dense shingling location. A tray is supported at the dense shingling location on an elevator. A dense shingled array of signatures is formed at the dense shingling location. The elevator is raised to move the tray with the dense shingled array thereon to a tray removal location for removal from the elevator. A means is provided for removing the tray from the elevator when it is located at the tray removal location. The means for removing the tray from the elevator comprises a vertically movable carriage having extensible load-carrying arms thereon so that the arms are extensible beneath the tray on the elevator. The arms are then raised to pick up the tray from the elevator and then retracted in order to withdraw the tray. The load-carrying arms are extensible in a direction away from the elevator so that the tray may be deposited on a suitable support on the side of the carriage opposite where the elevator is located.
Inventors
- 👤 Victoriano Fernandez Rana
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-07 21:42
CPC Classifications
B; B65; B65H; B65H31/00; B65H31/04; B65H29/00; B65H29/66; B65H31/24; B65H31/30; B65H2301/00; B65H2301/30; B65H2301/32; B65H2301/321; B65H2301/40; B65H2301/42; B65H2301/421; B65H2301/4214; B65H2301/42144; B65H2301/422; B65H2301/4225; B65H2301/42256; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S414/00; Y10S414/10; Y10S414/106
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 36
Claim 1
Independent Claim
156 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a loose shingled stream of signatures to a dense shingling location, elevator means for supporting a tray at said dense shingling location, means for forming a densely shingled array of signatures at said dense shingling location, means for operating said elevator means to move said tray with said dense shingled array thereon to a tray removal location for removal from said elevator means, and means for removing said tray from said elevator means when said tray is located at said tray removal location, said means for removing said tray from said elevator means including a vertically movable carriage having extensible load-carrying arms thereon, means for extending said load-carrying arms beneath said tray, means for raising said carriage when said arms are located beneath said tray whereby said arms pick up said tray from said elevator means and means for retracting said arms with said tray supported thereon.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
156 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a loose shingled stream of signatures to a dense shingling location, elevator means for supporting a tray at said dense shingling location, means for forming a densely shingled array of signatures at said dense shingling location, means for operating said elevator means to move said tray with said dense shingled array thereon to a tray removal location for removal from said elevator means, and means for removing said tray from said elevator means when said tray is located at said tray removal location, said means for removing said tray from said elevator means including a vertically movable carriage having extensible load-carrying arms thereon, means for extending said load-carrying arms beneath said tray, means for raising said carriage when said arms are located beneath said tray whereby said arms pick up said tray from said elevator means and means for retracting said arms with said tray supported thereon.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
58 words
In a system as defined in claim 1 wherein said load-carrying arms are extensible to opposite sides of said carraige and further including means for extending said arms with said tray supported thereon to the side of said carriage away from said elevator means and means for lowering said carriage to deposit said trAy on a tray support.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
70 words
In a system as defined in claim 2 wherein said trays are deposited on top of another full tray and wherein said carriage includes a second pair of load-carrying arms which engage the tray and support the tray outwardly of the first pair of arms and outwardly of the array of signatures on said another tray so as to avoid interference with the array of signatures on said another tray.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
65 words
In a system as defined in claim 1 wherein said elevator means has means for simultaneously supporting an empty tray thereon, a tray at the dense shingling location and a full tray at said tray removal location, and drive means for indexing said elevator means to move an empty tray to said dense shingling location and move a full tray to said tray removal location.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
20 words
In a system as defined in claim 4 further including means for placing an empty tray on said elevator means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
141 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray-loading location, means for supporting a tray at said tray-loading location, means for moving an empty tray from a module in which empty trays are supported in a stacked arrangement to said tray-loading location, said means for moving an empty tray to said tray-loading location including an elevator which receives an empty tray and moves it vertically to the tray-loading location and means for removing an empty tray from said module and for placing it on said elevator, means for providing a shingled array of signatures on a tray at said tray-loading location, means for supporting a tray support adjacent said tray-loading location, and means for moving said tray with the shingled array thereon from said tray-loading location and for depositing it on the tray support.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
141 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray-loading location, means for supporting a tray at said tray-loading location, means for moving an empty tray from a module in which empty trays are supported in a stacked arrangement to said tray-loading location, said means for moving an empty tray to said tray-loading location including an elevator which receives an empty tray and moves it vertically to the tray-loading location and means for removing an empty tray from said module and for placing it on said elevator, means for providing a shingled array of signatures on a tray at said tray-loading location, means for supporting a tray support adjacent said tray-loading location, and means for moving said tray with the shingled array thereon from said tray-loading location and for depositing it on the tray support.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
79 words
In a system for handling signatures as defined in claim 6 wherein said means for removing an empty tray from said module comprises a vertically movable carriage having extensible load-carrying arms thereon, means supporting said carriage for vertical movement between said module and said elevator, means for extending said arms into said module for picking up an empty tray, and means for extending said arms to the opposite side of said carriage for placing said tray on said elevator.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
38 words
In a system for handling signatures as set forth in claim 7 further including means for supporting said module and means for moving said module relative to said carriage after empty trays have been removed from said module.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
114 words
A system for handling signatures, said system comprising means for moving a loosely shingled stream of signatures to a loading location, means at the loading location for moving signatures from the loosely shingled stream into a densely arranged group, and means for moving the densely arranged group of signatures from the loading location to a receiving location, said means for moving the densely arranged group including extensible arm means operable from a first extended condition to a retracted condition to move the densely arranged group of signatures from said loading location and operable from said retracted condition to a second extended condition to move the densely arranged group of signatures to the receiving location.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
114 words
A system for handling signatures, said system comprising means for moving a loosely shingled stream of signatures to a loading location, means at the loading location for moving signatures from the loosely shingled stream into a densely arranged group, and means for moving the densely arranged group of signatures from the loading location to a receiving location, said means for moving the densely arranged group including extensible arm means operable from a first extended condition to a retracted condition to move the densely arranged group of signatures from said loading location and operable from said retracted condition to a second extended condition to move the densely arranged group of signatures to the receiving location.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
35 words
A system as set forth in claim 9 further including means for disposing the signatures in a densely arranged group on a support tray, said extensible arm means including means for engaging said support tray.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
54 words
A system as defined in claim 9 further including elevator means for supporting a tray at the dense shingling location and for indexing to receive a densely shingled arrangement of signatures on the tray and wherein said means for moving the densely arranged group includes means for removing the tray from the elevator means.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
30 words
A system as defined in claim 11 further including a second elevator arranged adjacent the means for removing the tray and for receiving the tray from the first-recited elevator mechanism.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
66 words
A system as defined in claim 11 furthEr including means for dividing the main stream of signatures being advanced to the loading location into short spaced streams, each of which contains an amount of signatures appropriate to fill the tray and wherein said elevator mechanism elevates the filled tray vertically when there is a gap in the main stream being fed to the dense shingling location.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
228 words
A method of continuously forming dense shingled stacks from a continuously moving main stream of loose shingled signatures comprising the steps of providing a generally horizontal dense shingling station of a length approximating the length of individual stacks to be formed, moving said main stream along a path the exit end of which coincides with an entrance end of said dense shingling location, vertically introducing a first stack support from below into said station to receive signatures, dividing said main stream into short spaced streams each of which contains an amount of signatures appropriate to fill said first stack support, conveying a first one of said short streams into said dense shingling station and forming a dense shingle of signatures on said first stack support, elevating said filled first stack support vertically and introducing a second stack support from below to occupy the space vacated at the dense shingling station by the filled first stack support, introducing a laterally-movable supporting mechanism below the first stack support and relatively moving said mechanism and said first stack support whereby said first stack support is solely supported on said mechanism, moving said mechanism laterally to a position at which said first stack and stack support may be removed for subsequent handling, and continuing the feeding of signatures, supplying of empty stack supports, dense shingling and the removal of filled stack supports.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
228 words
A method of continuously forming dense shingled stacks from a continuously moving main stream of loose shingled signatures comprising the steps of providing a generally horizontal dense shingling station of a length approximating the length of individual stacks to be formed, moving said main stream along a path the exit end of which coincides with an entrance end of said dense shingling location, vertically introducing a first stack support from below into said station to receive signatures, dividing said main stream into short spaced streams each of which contains an amount of signatures appropriate to fill said first stack support, conveying a first one of said short streams into said dense shingling station and forming a dense shingle of signatures on said first stack support, elevating said filled first stack support vertically and introducing a second stack support from below to occupy the space vacated at the dense shingling station by the filled first stack support, introducing a laterally-movable supporting mechanism below the first stack support and relatively moving said mechanism and said first stack support whereby said first stack support is solely supported on said mechanism, moving said mechanism laterally to a position at which said first stack and stack support may be removed for subsequent handling, and continuing the feeding of signatures, supplying of empty stack supports, dense shingling and the removal of filled stack supports.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
110 words
A method of handling signatures, said method comprising the steps of conveying a loosely shingled stream of signatures to a dense shingling location, supporting a tray at said dense shingling location, forming a densely shingled array of signatures at said dense shingling location, moving the tray with the densely shingled array of signatures thereon to a removal location, and removing the tray with the densely shingled array of signatures thereon from said removal location to a receiving location, said step of removing the tray from the removal location includes the steps of extending an arm beneath the tray, picking up the tray be raising the arm, and retracting the arm.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
110 words
A method of handling signatures, said method comprising the steps of conveying a loosely shingled stream of signatures to a dense shingling location, supporting a tray at said dense shingling location, forming a densely shingled array of signatures at said dense shingling location, moving the tray with the densely shingled array of signatures thereon to a removal location, and removing the tray with the densely shingled array of signatures thereon from said removal location to a receiving location, said step of removing the tray from the removal location includes the steps of extending an arm beneath the tray, picking up the tray be raising the arm, and retracting the arm.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
126 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray loading location, means for supporting a tray having a longitudinally extending support surface at said tray loading location with said support surface in a horizontal orientation, means for forming a horizontally extending shingled array of signatures on said support surface at said tray loading location, and transfer means for moving a tray with said horizontally extending shingled array of signatures thereon from said means for supporting a tray to a tray receiving location, said transfer means including means for moving a tray along a path at least a portion of which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the said support surface with said support surface in a horizontal orientation.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
126 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray loading location, means for supporting a tray having a longitudinally extending support surface at said tray loading location with said support surface in a horizontal orientation, means for forming a horizontally extending shingled array of signatures on said support surface at said tray loading location, and transfer means for moving a tray with said horizontally extending shingled array of signatures thereon from said means for supporting a tray to a tray receiving location, said transfer means including means for moving a tray along a path at least a portion of which extends transversely to the longitudinal axis of the said support surface with said support surface in a horizontal orientation.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
34 words
In a system as set forth in claim 16 wherein said transfer means includes means for forming at said receiving location a vertical array of trays with horizontally extending shingled arrays of signatures thereon.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
59 words
In a system as set forth in claim 16 wherein said means for supporting a tray includes elevator means for moving a tray along a vertical path from said tray loading location to a tray removal location with said support surface in a horizontal orientation, said transfer means including means for engaging a tray at said tray removal location.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
145 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray loading location, means for supporting a traY having a longitudinally extending support surface at said tray loading location, means for forming a longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures on said support surface at said tray loading location, and transfer means for moving a tray with said longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures thereon from said means for supporting a tray to a tray receiving location, said transfer means including extensible arm means for enagaging a tray and means for operating said extensible arm means between a retracted condition in which said arm means has a first effective length and an extended condition in which said arm means has a second effective length which is greater than said first effective length to move a tray engaged by said arm means.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
145 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray loading location, means for supporting a traY having a longitudinally extending support surface at said tray loading location, means for forming a longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures on said support surface at said tray loading location, and transfer means for moving a tray with said longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures thereon from said means for supporting a tray to a tray receiving location, said transfer means including extensible arm means for enagaging a tray and means for operating said extensible arm means between a retracted condition in which said arm means has a first effective length and an extended condition in which said arm means has a second effective length which is greater than said first effective length to move a tray engaged by said arm means.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
42 words
In a system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said transfer means further includes means for moving said arm means along a path which extends transversely to the path of movement of said arm means between said extended and retracted conditions.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
68 words
In a system as set forth in claim 19 wherein said means for supporting a tray includes means for supporting a tray at said tray loading location with said longitudinally extending support surface in a horizontal orientation, said arm means including means for supporting a tray with said longitudinally extending support surface in a horizontal orientation as said arm means is operated between said extended and retracted conditions.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
173 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray loading location, tray support means for supporting each of a plurality of longitudinally extending trays in turn at a tray loading location, empty tray transfer means for moving each of the trays in turn along a first path from a location spaced apart from said tray support means into engagement with said tray support means, means for forming a longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures on each one of said trays in turn at said tray loading location which the one tray is supported by said tray support means, and loaded tray transfer means for enagaing a tray which is supported by said tray support means and which is loaded with a longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures and for moving an engaged tray away from said tray support means along a second path to a receiving location spaced apart from said tray support means with the longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures on the engaged tray.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
173 words
In a system for handling signatures, means for conveying a stream of signatures to a tray loading location, tray support means for supporting each of a plurality of longitudinally extending trays in turn at a tray loading location, empty tray transfer means for moving each of the trays in turn along a first path from a location spaced apart from said tray support means into engagement with said tray support means, means for forming a longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures on each one of said trays in turn at said tray loading location which the one tray is supported by said tray support means, and loaded tray transfer means for enagaing a tray which is supported by said tray support means and which is loaded with a longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures and for moving an engaged tray away from said tray support means along a second path to a receiving location spaced apart from said tray support means with the longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures on the engaged tray.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
43 words
In a system as set forth in claim 22 wherein said loaded tray transfer means includes means for stacking loaded trays in a vertical array at said receiving location with a longitudinally extending shingled array of signatures on each of the stacked trays.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
36 words
In a system as set forth in claim 22 wherein said tray support means includes means for moving each of the trays in turn along a third path extending transversely to said first and second paths.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
34 words
In a system as set forth in claim 22 wherein said loaded tray transfer means includes means for moving a loaded tray with the longitudinally extending array of signatures thereon in a horizontal orientation.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
43 words
In a system as set forth in claim 22 wherein said empty tray transfer means is disposed on a first side of said tray support means and said loaded tray transfer means is disposed on a second side of said tray support means.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
84 words
In a system as set forth in claim 22 wherein said tray support means includes means for supporting a tray at any one of a plurality of levels and for moving a tray between said levels, said empty tray transfer means being operable to move an empty tray into engagement with said tray support means at a first level, and said loaded tray transfer means being operable to enage a loaded tray at a second level which is spaced apart from said first level.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
25 words
In a system as set forth in claim 27 wherein said loading location is disposed at a third level intermediate said first and second levels.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US2883074A
Cited
US3013292A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-03-31 | 1978-09-30 | 1979-04-01 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-03-31 | 1982-09-30 | 1983-04-01 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-03-31 | 1986-09-30 | 1987-04-01 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |