US2867438A - Paper-stacking device - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 6, 1959 u HQR] 2,867,438

PAPER-STACKING DEVICE Filed Oct; 19, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet l 5006 C5 0 Pall/5Q YINVENTOR.

Fla. 2 5

Jan. 6, 1959 su HQRI 2,867,438

PAPER-STACKING DEVICE Filed Oct. 19, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG. Z0.

2'4 750 A oe INVEN'R Pk.

WQZ/VEYS United States Patent PAPER-STACKJNG DEVICE Tatsu Hori, San Francisco, Calif., assignor, by mesne assignments, to General Electric Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 19, 1956, Serial No. 617,100

13 Claims. (Cl. 271-74) paper have a certain weight or be of a uniform size and also be substantially unwrinkled. In addition, these stacking devices usually depend for operation on a completely timed or synchronous system.

An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for stacking sheets at rates exceeding those performed heretofore.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a sheet-stacking apparatus wherein a synchronized feed is not required.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of asynchronous-operating sheet-stacking apparatus.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of paper-stacking device wherein the sheets need not be of the same size or same weight.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a sheet-stacking device which is capable of handling sheets which are wrinkled or torn.

These and other'objects of the invention are accomplished by the provision of apparatus comprising a hollow cylinder. A plurality of passages exist in the wall of the cylinder. A plurality of openings exist in the periphery of the cylinder, each of which communicates with a different one of said passages. Means are provided for selectively controlling the application of vacuum through the passages to the holes in the periphery of the cylinder. These means include valve means comprising a valve pin extending through the walls of the passage and being movably supported therein. Each valve pin is formed so that when it is in a first position it operates to block completely a passage and prevent the application of vacuum to the holes, and when it is in a second position it does not block the passage, thus permitting application of vacuum to the holes. A first means comprising a solenoid-actuated means is positioned at a location relative to the pins where it is desired to pick up each sheet of paper by the suction from the holes in the periphery of the cylinder. Upon a sheet of paper coming into a position to be operatively associated with the periphery of the drum, the solenoid is actuated and moves the valve pin adjacent thereto to its second position, permitting the application of vacuum through the passage controlled by the valve to the holes on the periphery of the drum. These holes are the ones which are in operative position with the paper which it is sought to be picked up. The vacuum is thus applied to the paper sheet, causing it to adhere to the periphery of the cylinder.

The cylinder continues to rotate to a second position, at which position it is desired to release the sheet. At this second position there is stationed a camming means having a cam surface which pushes against the valve pin until it is moved to its first position, blocking the passageway communicating with the holes previously mentioned. At this second position, the sheet of paper is released, and the cylinder continues to spin, picking up and releasing sheets of paper as desired. Since the suction at the periphery of the drum is applied only when the solenoid means is excited, the operation of the system is asynchronous.

The novel features that are considered characteristic of this invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, both as to its organization and method of operation, as well as additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a view in elevation of one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan View of this embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 is a view in section along the lines 3 3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a section along the lines 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a view in section of a second embodiment of the invention;

Figure 6 is a view in section along the lines 6-6 of Figure 5, showing the operation of the cam surface;

Figure 7 is a View along the lines 7--7 of Figure 6, showing the valves;

Figure 8 is a side view of another embodiment of the invention;

Figure 9 is a view in section along the lines 99 of Figure 8, showing valve pin details; and

Figure 10 is a view in section along the lines 1010 of Figure 8, showing valve and cam details.

It should be noted at the outset that although embodiments of the invention are shown and described in a horizontal position, they will operate equally well, either in a vertical or horizontal position. Figure l of the drawings shows the embodiment of the invention with the axis of rotation vertical. The embodiment of the invention shown has the appearance of a drum, or hollow cylinder, 10 which, as shown in Figure 3, is attached to a hollow hub or shaft 12. This shaft is rotatably supported by bearings 13, which are seated in a housing 15. The outer periphery of the drum has a plurality of sets of holes 14 (shownin Figure 2), each set being axially aligned and adjacent to another set. For each set of openings, there is provided a passage 16 (shown in Figure 3), which extends underneath the openings and communicates therewith. These passages extend axially in the cylinder walls and each one at one end is joined to what might-be termed a vacuum-supply passage 18. The vacuum-supply passage 18 is in a wall member 20.

The vacuum-supply passages all terminate in an annular passage 22 (shown in dotted lines in Figure 1) One side of the radial passage is closed by a plate 23. The radial passage communicates with the hollow hub 12 of the cylinder 10 by means of four radial passages 24. These are represented by dotted lines in Figure l. The hollow hub communicates with a pipe 30, which is connected to a vacuum pump, not shown.

In each vacuum-supply passage 18 there is a slidingtype valve, designated as a pin valve 32. This pin valve has a first section 32A, which is large enough so that when the pin valve is moved with this section in the vacuum-supply passage, the vacuum supply to the peripheral openings 14 is cut off. The pin valve has aseeond section 32B, which is smaller than the first section and which, when it is in the passage, offers very little, if any,

obstruction to the .suction of the vacuum through the openings 14. A solenoid 34 is mounted at the position wherein it is desired to pick up sheets of paper. The solenoid has a movable armature 36, which is attached to an L-shaped member 38. The L-shaped member is pivoted at the junctionof its arms to be rotatable. One end of the arm 38 is attached to the armature of the solenoid; .the other arm extends in proximity to the pin valves 32, which are being moved past the arm by the rotation of the drum. Thus, a means for selectively applying suction to the holes in the periphery of the cylinder is shown, since all that is required in order for suction to be applied to the holes controlled by the pin valves underneath the arm 38 is to excite the solenoid 34. At this time, the arm is caused to rotate and depress a pin valve or move it, so that its second section is in .the vacuum-supply passage. This may better be seen in Figure 4, wherein two pin valves are shown in position with the second section Within the vacuum-supply passage 18. A spring 46. is attached to the arm 38 which is attached to the movable armature 36 to restore it to its unoperated position after the exciting current has been removed from the solenoid.

As may be seen in Figure 4, at a position at which it is desired to cut oif or terminate the application of vacuum to the peripheral openings of the cylinder, a

camming plate '42 is positioned. This camming plate has a cam surface 44, which is adjacent the end of the valve pins extending from the other side of the wall member. This camming surface serves the function of restoring the valve pin back to its original position with its first section in the vacuum-supply passage, whereby suction is cut olf. I

As may be seen in Figure 3, the shaft 12 is rotatably supported by means of the two bearings 13, which are seated in the housing 15. The wall member 20 is an integral portion of the cylindrical surface of the drum, and it is fastened to the shaft 12. Thereby, when the shaft is rotated, the entire cylinder is rotated. The means for rotating the shaft is provided by a gear 40, which is mounted at one end of the shaft 12 and to which the rotating driving force is applied. The cam plate 42,

besides performing the function of returning the valve pins to a position whereby the suction is cut off to the peripheral holes, also serves to limit the travel of the valve pins when they are first moved by the solenoid apparatus. (The low portion of the cam 45 serves as the limiting surface.)

Referring back to Figure 1, the view shown is that whereby the drum is employed for stacking sheets of paper. These sheets of paper 42 are moved by a suitable means, not shown, past a switch 44. This switch may be of the microswitch type, whereby when the paper touches the sensing arm 46 a circuit is closed. (Any other switch may be used, e. g., photocell or light interrupting switch.) The closing of this circuit energizes the solenoid 34. The energized solenoid thus is actuated to move one or more valve pins to enable the application of suction to the peripheral holes just at the position where the leading edge of the sheet 42 passes over the cylindrical surface. The sheet is then held to the surface and moves therewith to the opposite, or release, portion of the path of travel to the cylinder.

It will be noted that on the cylindrical surface radial grooves are cut and separating fingers 48 are laid in these grooves. Thus, when the leading edge of the sheet approaches the separating fingers, the camming plate 42 operates to cut the suction off from the drum. At this point it should be noted that the solenoid may actuate more than one valve pin. Thus, when the loading, or foremost, valve pin which was moved by the solenoid is restored to cut off the suction from the leading holes holding the sheet, the edge of the sheet can be separated fromthe drum by the fingers. The sheet is still being urged forward into the stack of sheets 50, however, by

the suction which is being applied by the sets of holes which still pass the Vacuum due to the successive pins (following the first pin) which were actuated by the lever. These, in turn, will be closed successively upon passing over the cam plate. This action maintains the velocity of the sheet given to it by the rotation of the cylinder and is sufficient to carry the sheet into the stack. The tail end of the sheet flares outward from the drum by reason of the centrifugal force. This is desirable, too, since this assists in throwing the trailing half of each successive sheet away from the drum, enabling the leading edge of the next sheet to be inserted properly into the stack without interference from the preceding sheet.

Figure 5 shows in section a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the identical drum struc ture is employed and therefore its similar functioning parts will be given similar reference numerals to those in Figure 3. In this embodiment of the invention a different valve pin 69 and cam 70 are employed. The valve pin 60 has a body portion 62, which extends into and fills the portion of the passage 16 which communicates with the vacuum supply passage 18. The body portion 62 has a right angle passage 64 therethrough which is dimensioned so that when the valve pin is depressed or pushed further into the drum the right-angle passage permits communication between the passages 16 and 18. The valve pins 60 may be selectively depressed by the solenoid 34 in the same manner as was described previously for the valve pins 32. The valve pin on the left side of Figure 5 has been depressed to permit the vacuum to be applied to the holes in the periphery which open into the passage 16 controlled by the valve pin. The valve pin on the right side of Figure 6 is in its first, or passage blocking, position. In this position the opening of the right-angle passage no longer communicates with vacuum passage 18, and therefore the vacuum is blocked off.

Each valve pin has a cap 66 at one end. The cam 70, which is positioned at the location where it is desired to release a sheet which is being carried by the drum, can partially withdraw the valve pin by pushing up under the cap 66, thereby blocking the passage 18 with the pin body. The successive positions assumed by the valve pins as they are raised by the cam 70 are shown in Figure 6, which is a sectional View of the apparatus shown in Figure 5 taken along the lines 66. Figure 7, which is a sectional view taken along the lines 7-7 of Figure 6, shows that the cam 70 is split so that it comes up under the cap on either side of the valve pin body.

It should therefore be apparent that the operation of this embodiment of the invention is similar to the one first described. The solenoid 34 is actuated when it is desired to pick up a sheet. It depresses the valve pin to the second position, whereby vacuum is applied and the sheet is adhered to the drum. At the release position the cam is restored to its first position, whereby the vacuum is cut ofl and the sheet is released.

Figures 8, 9, and 10 show still another embodiment of the invention. The structure of the drum is identical with the one shown in the previous embodiments of the invention. The valve pin and camming arrangements are structurally diiferent but follow the same operative principles described above. The valve pins in this embodiment of the invention have triangular shaped caps 82. As may be seen in Figures 9 and 10, the body 84 of the valve pin is inserted in the drum so that it intersects the vacuum supply passage 18. A passage 86 extends through the body 84 so that when the valve pin is in the position shown in Figure 10 thenthe vacuum supply passage 18 is blocked. When the valve pin is turned to the position shown in Figure 9, the passage 86 in the body is aligned with the vacuum supply passage 18, and vacuum can be applied to the passage 16.

Thus the selective application of vacuum for picking up sheets is controlled by the turning of the valve pin. This is performed by the solenoid 34, which this time,

when excited, actuates a lever arm 88 to assume the position shown in phantom in Figure 8. As a result of the rotation of the drum, the valve pin is turned by the lever arm being held against one side of the cap 82. A cam 90, which is stationed at the release position, serves the function of turning the valve pins to the position shown in Figure 10, wherein the opening 86 is no longer aligned with the passage 18, and the passage 18 isblocked.

Thus it may be seen that in all the embodiments of the invention the valve pins may be selectively moved to a second position from a first position by a solenoid-21cm ated device to open a passage to permit a vacuum to be applied to holes in the periphery of the cylinder, and a cam is provided at the position desired for release, which serves the function of restoring the valve pin back to the first position, whereby the vacuum supply passage is blocked.

From the above description, it can be seen that the stacking operation is asynchronous, since it is the paper sheet itself that triggers the stacking drum. The feed is extremely rapid, over 1400 sheets per minute being picked up and stacked by an embodiment of the invention which was built. In view of the fact that the turning oli of the suction is not an instantaneous arrangement, but occurs progressively by virtue of the camming plate progressively or successively moving the valve pins, the insertion of a sheet into a stack is very effectively accomplished. Wrinkles, variations in size, and thicknesses of paper do not afiect the operation of the apparatus shown.

In addition to being employed for stacking sheets of paper, this apparatus may also be employed for picking up sheets of paper singly in response to a demand energization of the solenoid means. Such demand energization may be controlled by a manual switch, photoelectric device, or any other suitable mechanism.

Accordingly, there has been shown and described herein novel, useful, and simple apparatus for picking up a sheet selectively, carrying it to a desired location, and then releasing it.

I claim:

1. A paper pickup device comprising a rotatably supported cylindrical surface, a plurality of sets of openings in said surface, a plurality of passages in said cylindrical surface, each set of openings communicating with a different one of said passages, means for applying suction to all said passages, and valve means in each passage to control the application of suction to the set of holes communicating therewith, said valve means including a valve pin movably mounted in the walls defining a passage and extending across said passage, said valve pin being movable between a first and a second position, in said first position said valve pin being adapted to block said passage and in said second position being adapted not to block said passage, means to move a valve pinto its second position when it is desired to apply suction to the set of holes communicating with said passage to pick up paper, and means to move said valve pin to its first position when it is desired not to apply suction to said set of holes.

2. A paper pickup device comprising a rotatably supported cylindrical surface, a plurality of sets of openings in said surface, a plurality of passages in said cylindrical surface, each set of openings communicating with a different one of said passages, means for applying suction to all said passages, and'a valve means in each passage to control the application of suction to the set of holes communicating therewith, said valve means including a valve pin movably mounted in the walls defining a passage and extending across said passage, means to establish said valve pins in a first or a second position including solenoid means positioned adjacent a desired paper pickup location to selectively move said valve pins to a second position from said first position, and cam means positioned at a desired paper-release location to restore any pins in said second position to said first position, each said valve pins having a section afiording passage therethrough, said section communicating with the passage wherein said valve pin is inserted only when said valve pin is in said second position.

3. A paper sheet pickup device as recited in claim 2 wherein the section afiording passage through a valve pin is a portion of the length of the valve pin which is thinner than the remainder, in said second position a valve pin has its thinner portion in the passage in which it is inserted, said cam means moving said valve pin axially to remove said thinner portion from said passage.

4. A paper sheet pickup device as recited in claim 2 wherein the section affording a passage through a valve pin is an opening therethrough, said solenoid means rotating a valve pin to align said opening with the passage in which said valve pin is inserted, said cam means rotat ing said valve means until the opening therethrough is no longer aligned with said passage.

5. A paper sheet pickup device as recited in claim 2 wherein for each said valve pin the section affording passage through a valve pin includes walls defining a right angle passage through said valve pin, said valve pin being inserted at the juncture of two passages, when said valve ,pin is in said first position said right-angle passage is not communicating between the two passages and is communicating between the two passages when in said second position. i

6. A paper sheet pickup device comprising a rotatably supported cylindrical surface, a plurality of adjacent passages within said surface, a plurality of sets of radially extending openings, each set of openings communicating with a different one of said passages, a wall member extending from said cylindrical surface radially inward and being rotatable with said surface, said wall member including a separate vacuum supply passage connected to each of said adjacent passages, a valve means for each of said vacuum supply passages, each said valve means including a valve pin extending through a vacuum supply passage and from either side of said wall member, each valve pin having a first section of sufiicient size to block said supply passage and a second section of a size insufii- .cient to block said supply passage, means to supply vacuum to all said supply passages, solenoid means to selectively move a valve pin to a position with its second section in said passage, and cam means positioned to move a valve pin to a position with its first sections in said supply passage.

7. A paper sheet pickup device as recited in claim 6 wherein said solenoid means is positioned adjacent one side of said wall member at a location wherein it is desired to pick up paper sheets and said cam means is positioned on the other side of said wall member at a location where it is desired to release said paper sheets.

8. A paper sheet pickup device as recited in claim 7 wherein said solenoid has a movable armature, an L- shaped member pivotally mounted at the juncture of the arms of said L, said mounting being positioned to permit one arm of said L-shaped member to move said valve pin when the other arm is actuated, means coupling said solenoid armature to said other arm, and spring means coupled to said armature to bias it to a nonoperated position.

9. A paper sheet pickup device as recited in claim 8 wherein said cam means includes a plate adjacent said wall member having a cam surface positioned to move all valve pins which have been moved by said solenoid means to extend on the side of said plate.

10. A paper sheet pickup device comprising a rotatably supported cylindrical surface, a plurality of adjacent passages within said surface, a plurality of sets of radially extending openings, each set of openings communicating with a different one of said passages, a wall member extending from said cylindrical surface radially inward and being rotatable with said surface, said wall member including a separate vacuum supply passage connected to each of said adjacent passages, a valve means for-eachof said vacuum supply passages, each said valve means including a valve pin extending through a vacuum supply passage and from either side of said wall member, each said valve pin having Walls defining an opening therethrough, means to supply vacuum to all said vacuum supply passages, solenoid means to selectively turn a valve pin to a position wherein said valve pin opening atfords unobstructed communication through the vacuum supply passage in which said valve pin is inserted, and cam means positioned to turn a valve pin to a position wherein its opening does not afford communication through the vacuum supply passage.

11. A paper sheet pickup device as'recited in claim 10 wherein said solenoid means is positioned adjacent one side of said wall member at a location wherein it is desired to pick up paper sheets and said cam means is positioned on the other side of said Wall member at a location where it is desired to release said paper sheets.

12. A paper sheet pickup'device comprising a rotatably supported cylindrical surface, a plurality of adjacent passages within said surface, a plurality of sets of radially extending openings, each set of openings communicating with a different one of said passages, a Wall member extending from said cylindrical surface radially inward and being rotatable with said surface, said wall member including a separate vacuum supply passage connected to eachof saidadjacent passages, avalve means .for each ofsaid vacuum supply'passages'each said valve means includinga valve pin having a body portion'movably inserted-into-each passage at-itsjuncture-with the vacuumsupplypassage connected thereto, each said valve pin body portion having walls defining an opening adapter toconnect said vacuum supply passage with the passage into which said valve pin extends, each said valve'pin having a cap at the end of the'body portion extending from said wall member, cam means to pushon a valve pin cap to move said valve pin until its opening no longer connects said vacuum supply passage and the associated passage-and solenoid means to selectively depresssaid valve pins until its opening connects said vacuum supply 'passageand the associated passage.

l3. A paper sheet pickup device as recited in claim 10 wherein said solenoid means is positioned adjacent one side of said wall member at-a location wherein it is desired to pick up paper sheets and said cam means is positioned on the other side of said wall memberat a location where it is desired to release said paper sheets.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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