GB1279180A - Signature or sheet collating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1279180 Delivering sheets J W CLEMENT CO 12 June 1970 [25 June 1969] 28656/70 Heading B8R A signature collating apparatus comprises a plurality of units in each of which a signature 12, Fig. 1, is fed by a feeder 10 from a magazine 14 past a malfunction detecting caliper 18 on to a collating conveyer 16 whereon the signatures are collected into books and conveyed past a reject mechanism 48 which rejects a faulty book. The units make up the groups 25a-25j, Fig. 3, each comprising four feeders 1-4, the spacing A between groups being greater than the spacing B between units in a group to compensate for the fact that each successive group of feeders is driven 36 degrees out of phase with the preceding group. Malfunction signals from any caliper 10 are passed through a corresponding switch 20, Figs. 2 and 4, to a monitoring device 30 comprising a shift register made up of a functional element 40 for each feeding unit a spacing element 42 for the space between each two groups, intermediate elements 46 for stations between the last feeder and the reject station, and an ejector element 44. Each switch 20 is connected to one of the functional elements and each group of elements 40, 42 also receives a signal from a pick-up 36 when the latter is scanned by a magnetic element 34 on a rotating disc, each element 42 receiving such signals successively from the pick-ups corresponding to the preceding and the following group. The effect is that a malfunction information "bit" set up in any of the functional elements is shifted through all the elements 40, 42, 46, 44 in synchronism with the feeding cycles, so that the mechanism 48 is actuated by the element 44 when the faulty book reaches it. A predetermined number of malfunction signals from any one unit results in a signal through one of AND gates 56 to an OR gate 64, which actuates a relay 68 to stop the collating apparatus.