Signature collating and binding system

Claim 2

In a collating and binding system having a plurality of feeder means each responsive to actuation of an associated delivery means for delivering a signature to an adjacent station spaced along a conveyor, and processing means adjacent said conveyor for processing the books of signatures which have been progressively built by the feeder means to provide output books of signatures, the improvement comprising: source means having a plurality of outputs each corresponding to a different one of the plurality of feeder means, the source means generating a series of different combinations of signals at the plurality of outputs to form different books of signatures; a plurality of delay means each coupled between a different one of the outputs and a different one of the feeder means for selectively actuating the associated delivery means when signals are present at the associated outputs to progressively build said plurality of different books at the spaced stations; said processing means includes adjustable means having different positions for processing different thicknesses of books of signatures built by said feeder means; movable shaft means responsive to a total thickness signal for moving a shaft by a corresponding amount, the shaft driving said adjustable means to alternatively assume different positions corresponding to the total thickness signal; and summer means coupled to the plurality of outputs for summing each series of different combinations of signals to generate the total thickness signal coupled to the movable shaft means.

Claim 3

The improvement of claim 1 wherein said processing means includes stitcher means for binding said books of signature, said stitcher means including stitcher head means, stitcher drive means for producing reciprocating motion of said stitcher head means to bind an adjacent book of signatures, said adjustable means includes link means between said stitcher head means and said stitcher drive means for moving said stitcher head means to different positions, the shaft of the movable shaft means being coupled to auxiliary link means for moving said first named link means to different positions.

Claim 4

The improvement of claim 2 including synchronization means for causing said total thickness signals to control said movable shaft means when said particular combination of signatures is adjacent said stitcher head means.

Claim 5

The improvement of claim 1 wherein said processing means includes mailing applicator means for attaching individual mailing labels to a book of signatures carried by a mailing carrier means, said adjustable means comprises height means for adjusting the relative height between said applicator means and said carrier means, and the shaft of the movable shaft means controls said height means to compensate for different thicknesses of the books of signatures.

Claim 6

The improvement of claim 4 wherein said mailing labels each carry coded indicia representing a desired combination of signatures, the source means includes reader means for reading said coded indicia to generate the desired combination of signals at the plurality of outputs, and synchronization meaNs for causing the mailing label which controls selective actuation to be applied to the corresponding combination of signatures resulting therefrom when reaching the mailing carrier means.

Claim 7

The improvement of claim 1 wherein said source means includes programmable selector means for decoding a coded indicia to generate the series of different combinations of signals, said programmable selector means includes a plurality of switch means manually selectable to change the combinations of signals produced at the plurality of outputs by the same coded indicia.

Claim 8

The improvement of claim 1 including caliper means adjacent said conveyor for generating a caliper signal representing a monitored thickness of the combinations of signatures conveyed thereby, comparator means responsive to said caliper means and said summer means for determining if the monitored thickness corresponds to the total thickness signal, and reject means for rejecting a monitored combination of signatures when the comparator means indicates a predetermined degree of dissimilarity.

Claim 9

The improvement of claim 7 including replacement means adjacent said conveyor for storing a plurality of replacement books of signatures, and control means for actuating said replacement means to convey a replacement book of signatures to a conveyor station at which a book of signatures has been rejected by said reject means.

Claim 10

In a collating and binding system having a plurality of feeder means each with control means actuable to deliver a signature to an adjacent station spaced along a conveyor, processing means adjacent said conveyor with control means actuable for processing the signatures at an adjacent station spaced along the conveyor to produce output books of signatures, and drive means for moving the stations of said conveyor, the improvement comprising: sensing means associated with one of the feeder means or processing means for generating a reference signal when the drive means has moved a station to a predetermined position with respect to an adjacent station position at which the associated control means is to be actuated; source means for generating an actuation signal prior to the time of occurrence of the reference signal; delay means coupled between said source means and said associated control means for delaying the actuation signal in order to actuate said associated control means when the drive means has moved a station to said adjacent position, including increment delay means for establishing a plurality of increment time periods occurring in synchronism with increments of movement produced by said drive means, and variable delay means in series with said increment delay means for producing a plurality of different time periods which represent fractions of said increment time periods; and adjustment means responsive to the reference signal for selecting a particular one of said time period fractions for said variable delay means.

Claim 11

In a collating and binding system having a plurality of feeder means each with control means actuable to deliver a signature to an adjacent station spaced along a conveyor, processing means adjacent said conveyor with control means actuable for processing the signatures at an adjacent station spaced along the conveyor to produce output books of signatures, and drive means for moving the stations of said conveyor, the improvement comprising: sensing means associated with one of the feeder means or processing means for generating a reference signal when the drive means has moved a station to a predetermined position with respect to an adjacent station position at which the associated control means is to be actuated; source means for generating an actuation signal prior to the time of occurrence of the reference signal; delay means coupled between said source means and said associated control means for delaying the actuation signal in order to actuate said associated control means when the drive means has moved a station to said adjacent position, including increment delay means for establishing a plurality of increment time periods occurring in synchronism with increments of movement produced by said drive means, and variable delay means in series with said increment delay means for producing a plurality of different time periods which represent fractions of said increment time periods; and adjustment means responsive to the reference signal for selecting a particular one of said time period fractions for said variable delay means.

Claim 12

The improvement of claim 9 wherein said increment delay means comprise first shift register means for shifting said actuation signal in response to each generation of a first shift pulse, shift control means for generating first shift pulses in response to incremental movements of the stations, said variable delay means comprise second shift register means for shifting said actuation signal in response to each generation of a second shift pulse, and means for generating second shift pulses at a higher frequency than the frequency of said first shift pulses.

Claim 13

The improvement of claim 10 wherein said sensing means includes timing cycle means for generating the reference signal at a predetermined time in the cycle of operation of the associated one feeder means or processing means, and said adjustment means is responsive to said reference signal for automatically adjusting the effective length of said second shift register means.

Claim 14

The improvement of claim 9 wherein each of said feeder means includes delivery means actuable for delivering a signature to an adjacent station spaced along said conveyor means, one of said delivery means corresponding to said associated control means.

Claim 15

The improvement of claim 12 wherein the source means establishes a series of different combinations of signatures which are to be serially produced, and selective means responsive to said source means for selectively generating individual ones of said actuation signals for coupling by associated ones of the delay means to the associated delivery means when the spaced station adjacent the associated feeder means is to contain a signature stored by the associated feeder means.

Claim 16

The improvement of claim 12 including a plurality of detector means each associated with a different feeder means for detecting a malfunction which would produce an imperfect book, disable means operated in synchronism with said drive means for sequentially disabling each delivery means as a selected one of the stations of the conveyor means is sequentially moved adjacent each feeder means, and means coupled to said plurality of detector means for causing said disable means to disable the feeder means at which a malfunction is detected in order to effectively override the actuation signals from the delay means.

Claim 17

In a collating and binding system having a plurality of feeder means for delivering signatures to a plurality of stations along conveyor means and processing means adjacent said conveyor means for processing books of signatures progressively built by the feeder means, the improvement comprising: source means for establishing a series of different books of signatures which are to be sequentially delivered by said feeder means; feeder control means responsive to said source means for selectively actuating said feeder means to progressively build the different books of signatures; error means responsive to a malfunction which would produce an imperfect book for generating a malfunction signal; diverter means responsive to the malfunction signal for diverting a single book of signatures corresponding to the imperfect book from said conveyor means to create an open station; replacement means for storing a plurality of replacement books of signatures, including delivery means actuable to feed a single replacement book of signatures to said conveyor means; and control means for actuating said delivery means to fill the open station with the replacement book of signatures to cause the different books of signatures on said conveyor means to remain in synchronization with the series of different books established by the source means.

Claim 18

In a collating and binding system having a plurality of feeder means for delivering signatures to a plurality of stations along conveyor means and processing means adjacent said conveyor means for processing books of signatures progressively built by the feeder means, the improvement comprising: source means for establishing a series of different books of signatures which are to be sequentially delivered by said feeder means; feeder control means responsive to said source means for selectively actuating said feeder means to progressively build the different books of signatures; error means responsive to a malfunction which would produce an imperfect book for generating a malfunction signal; diverter means responsive to the malfunction signal for diverting a single book of signatures corresponding to the imperfect book from said conveyor means to create an open station; replacement means for storing a plurality of replacement books of signatures, including delivery means actuable to feed a single replacement book of signatures to said conveyor means; and control means for actuating said delivery means to fill the open station with the replacement book of signatures to cause the different books of signatures on said conveyor means to remain in synchronization with the series of different books established by the source means.

Claim 19

The improvement of claim 15 wherein said control means includes switch means adjacent said conveyor means for detecting the open station, and means responsive to said switch means for actuating said delivery means.

Claim 20

The improvement of claim 15 wherein said source means includes a series of mailing labels corresponding to said series of different books, and said processing means includes mailing head means for affixing individual ones of said mailing labels to the series of books and replacement books carried by the conveyor means to maintain the mailing labels in synchronism with the series of different books which correspond thereto.

Claim 21

In a collating and binding system having a plurality of feeder means for delivering signatures to a plurality of stations along conveyor means and processing means adjacent said conveyor means for processing books of signatures progressively built by the feeder means, the improvement comprising: diverter means responsive to a predetermined condition for diverting a single book of signatures from said conveyor means to create an open station; book hopper means for storing a plurality of replacement books of signatures, including an active storage section with delivery means actuable to feed a single replacement book of signatures to said conveyor means and a buffer storage section for storing repLacement books for the active storage section, detector means associated with said active storage section for determining when additional replacement books are required from said buffer storage means, and controller means responsive to said detector means for transferring a predetermined number of replacement books from said buffer storage means to said active storage means; and control means for actuating said delivery means to fill the open station with the replacement book of signatures.

Claim 22

In a collating and binding system having a plurality of feeder means for delivering signatures to a plurality of stations along conveyor means and processing means adjacent said conveyor means for processing books of signatures progressively built by the feeder means, the improvement comprising: diverter means responsive to a predetermined condition for diverting a single book of signatures from said conveyor means to create an open station; book hopper means for storing a plurality of replacement books of signatures, including an active storage section with delivery means actuable to feed a single replacement book of signatures to said conveyor means and a buffer storage section for storing repLacement books for the active storage section, detector means associated with said active storage section for determining when additional replacement books are required from said buffer storage means, and controller means responsive to said detector means for transferring a predetermined number of replacement books from said buffer storage means to said active storage means; and control means for actuating said delivery means to fill the open station with the replacement book of signatures.

Claim 23

The improvement of claim 18 wherein said delivery means includes vacuum means for gripping an individual one of said replacement books in said active storage section, replacement conveyor means for conveying the replacement book to the open station of said conveyor means, shuttle means for moving said vacuum means between said active storage section and said replacement conveyor means, and said control means includes valve means for controlling the vacuum to said vacuum means.

Claim 24

In a collating system having a plurality of feeder means each responsive to actuation of an associated delivery means for delivering a signature to an adjacent station spaced along a collating conveyor, and drive means for operating the collating conveyor to progressively build a plurality of books of signatures at the plurality of spaced stations, the improvement comprising: source means for establishing a series of coded indicia of different combinations to represent different combinations of signatures which are to be serially delivered from the collating conveyor as different books of signatures, decoder means coupled to the source means and responsive to each coded indicia for generating at a plurality of outputs a plurality of actuation signals with each actuation signal representing a different signature which is to be delivered to the collating conveyor, a plurality of delay means each associated with a different delivery means and having a time delay corresponding to the time necessary for a spaced station to be driven from a reference position to the associated feeder means, each delay means being responsive when one of the actuation signals is coupled thereto to selectively actuate the associated delivery means after the lapse of the corresponding time delay, a plurality of manually actuable switches greater than the plurality of delay means with at least two manually actuable switches being associated with one of the delay means, and circuit means for connecting said plurality of manually actuable switches between said decoder means and the plurality of delay means with said at least two switches being actuable to connect either one or another output of the decoder means to the same delay means to cause the same actuation signal to actuate different delivery means as controlled by the programming of the plurality of switches.

Claim 25

In a collating system having a plurality of feeder means each responsive to actuation of an associated delivery means for delivering a signature to an adjacent station spaced along a collating conveyor, and drive means for operating the collating conveyor to progressively build a plurality of books of signatures at the plurality of spaced stations, the improvement comprising: source means for establishing a series of coded indicia of different combinations to represent different combinations of signatures which are to be serially delivered from the collating conveyor as different books of signatures, decoder means coupled to the source means and responsive to each coded indicia for generating at a plurality of outputs a plurality of actuation signals with each actuation signal representing a different signature which is to be delivered to the collating conveyor, a plurality of delay means each associated with a different delivery means and having a time delay corresponding to the time necessary for a spaced station to be driven from a reference position to the associated feeder means, each delay means being responsive when one of the actuation signals is coupled thereto to selectively actuate the associated delivery means after the lapse of the corresponding time delay, a plurality of manually actuable switches greater than the plurality of delay means with at least two manually actuable switches being associated with one of the delay means, and circuit means for connecting said plurality of manually actuable switches between said decoder means and the plurality of delay means with said at least two switches being actuable to connect either one or another output of the decoder means to the same delay means to cause the same actuation signal to actuate different delivery means as controlled by the programming of the plurality of switches.

Claim 26

The improvement of claim 20 wherein the plurality of manually actuable switches includes a switch for connecting each output of the decoder means to any one of the plurality of delay means in order to form a matrix of switches which allows any actuation signal at an output to actuate any one of the delay means.

Claim 27

The improvement of claim 20 wherein said source means includes a series of mailing labels and an associated series of coded indicia each formed of plural marks, reader means for reading the plural marks to develop a plurality of actuation signals greater than the number of plural marks, said collating system includes mailing head means for applying said series of mailing labels to said combinations of signatures in synchronism with the series of coded indicia which controlled actuation of the delivery means.

Claim 28

The improvement of claim 22 wherein said plural marks comprise different letters having substantially parallel lines representing binary bits, said letters containing a number of possible combinations of lines greater than the number of letters, the decoder means having a number of output lines greater than The number of letters and corresponding to the number of possible combinations, and a coding-to-decimal circuit responsive to the binary bits for generating on the output lines the actuation signals which correspond to the binary bits.

Claim 29

The improvement of claim 20 wherein at least one of said plurality of delay means includes fixed delay means for shifting actuation signals stored therein in response to incremental movements of the collating conveyor and variable delay means for shifting the actuation signals in response to fractional increments of movement of said collating conveyor.

Claim 30

The improvement of claim 24 wherein the feeder means associated with the at least one delay means includes timing means for generating a timing signal when the associated delivery means should be actuated to properly deliver a signature to an adjacent station, and said variable delay means includes timing compensation means automatically responsive to different occurrences of said timing signal for automatically varying the fractional time delay produced by said variable delay means.

Claim 31

In a collating system having a plurality of feeder means each responsive to actuation of an associated delivery means for delivering a signature to an adjacent station spaced along a collating conveyor, and drive means for operating the collating to progressively build a plurality of books of signatures at the plurality of spaced stations, the improvement comprising: source means for establishing a series of different combinations of coded indicia which represent different combinations of signatures which are to be serially delivered from the collating conveyor as different books of signatures; first reader means for reading the coded indicia from the source means to generate a plurality of actuation signals which are to actuate different ones of the delivery means in accordance with the different combinations of signatures represented by the coded indicia; selective means responsive to the first reader means for selectively actuating individual delivery means when the associated feeder means contains a signature which the source means indicates by the presence of the actuation signals is to be included in the combination of signatures on the spaced station adjacent the associated feeder means; second reader means for reading the coded indicia from the source means after the coded indicia has been coupled from the first reader means to the selective means to develop a total thickness signal representing the thickness of the combination of signatures represented by the coded indicia; and caliper means for generating an error indication when a measured thickness of signatures on the collating conveyor does not match the total thickness signal from the second reader means.

Claim 32

In a collating system having a plurality of feeder means each responsive to actuation of an associated delivery means for delivering a signature to an adjacent station spaced along a collating conveyor, and drive means for operating the collating to progressively build a plurality of books of signatures at the plurality of spaced stations, the improvement comprising: source means for establishing a series of different combinations of coded indicia which represent different combinations of signatures which are to be serially delivered from the collating conveyor as different books of signatures; first reader means for reading the coded indicia from the source means to generate a plurality of actuation signals which are to actuate different ones of the delivery means in accordance with the different combinations of signatures represented by the coded indicia; selective means responsive to the first reader means for selectively actuating individual delivery means when the associated feeder means contains a signature which the source means indicates by the presence of the actuation signals is to be included in the combination of signatures on the spaced station adjacent the associated feeder means; second reader means for reading the coded indicia from the source means after the coded indicia has been coupled from the first reader means to the selective means to develop a total thickness signal representing the thickness of the combination of signatures represented by the coded indicia; and caliper means for generating an error indication when a measured thickness of signatures on the collating conveyor does not match the total thickness signal from the second reader means.

Claim 33

The improvement of claim 26 including selector means responsive to the coded indicia at an input for generating feeder signals at a plurality of outputs corresponding to the plurality of feeder means, summer means for summing the feeder signals to generate the total thickness signal, and coupling means for coupling the input of the selector means to the second reader means and the outputs of the selector means to the summer means.

Claim 34

The improvement of claim 27 wherein the coupling means comprises a multiplexer for coupling the first reader means to the input of the selector means and the plurality of outputs to the plurality of delivery means, and for alternatively coupling the second reader means to the input of the selector means and the plurality of outputs to the summer means, whereby the selector means is used in common by the first reader means and the second reader means.

Claim 35

The improvement of claim 26 in which the collating system includes processing means adjacent the collating conveyor processing the books of signatures which have been progressively built at the plurality of spaced stations, the processing means includes adjustable means having different positions for procEssing different thicknesses of books of signatures and movable shaft means for moving a shaft by an amount corresponding to the total thickness signal from the second reader means, the shaft driving the adjustable means to different positions corresponding to the total thickness signal.