Method and apparatus for assembling a stack of sheet articles from multiple input paths

• US 20030146559A1
• Filed: 02/06/2003
• Published: 08/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bell & Howell LLC (Böwe Systec AG)
• Original Assignee: Bell & Howell Mail and Messaging Technologies Company
• Inventors: Middelberg, Neal J., DeRome, Gerard A. Jr., Curry, Dale R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,100,911 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 271/9.01
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/33 Modifying, selecting, changing orientation
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2301/34 Modifying, selecting, changing direction of displacement
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 31/3081 by acting on edge of the pile for moving it along a surface, e.g. by pushing
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 39/06 from delivery streams

Abstract

An apparatus for assembling a plurality of sheet articles into a document includes a plurality of individual sheet input paths along which one or more sheet articles can be advanced, and a central accumulation area for accumulating the sheet articles. The central accumulation area includes a single-level accumulation surface for receiving one or more sheet articles advanced from each individual sheet input path and accumulating the sheet articles in a single stack. The central accumulation area can receive sheet articles from two or more different directions. The sheet articles can optionally be staged for accumulation into subsets prior to advancement to the central accumulation area. The central accumulation area advances the assembled document into an output path.

Claims

1. An apparatus for assembling a stack of sheet articles, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a plurality of individual sheet input paths along which one or more sheet articles can be advanced;

(b) a central accumulation area comprising a single-level accumulation surface for receiving one or more sheet articles advanced from each individual sheet input path and from at least two different directions, and for assembling the sheet articles into a single stack; and

(c) an output path for advancing an assembled sheet stack from the central accumulation area.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the plurality of individual sheet input paths comprises at least three sheet input paths.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of sheet input paths is staged prior to entry into the central accumulation area.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein at least first and second individual sheet input paths are configured to advance sheet articles into the central accumulation area from opposite sides of the central accumulation area.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 further comprising a third sheet input path configured to advance sheet articles into the central accumulation area substantially orthogonal to the first and second sheet input paths.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 comprising a first accumulator module at least partially defining the first sheet input path and a second accumulator module at least partially defining the second sheet input path, the first and second accumulator modules comprising respective first and second transport surfaces over Which sheet articles are transported.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the central accumulation area comprises a central accumulation surface to which sheet articles are fed from the plurality of sheet input paths, the first and second transport surfaces are disposed at a higher elevation than the central accumulation surface, the first and second accumulator modules comprise respective first and second end walls extending downwardly from respective ends of the first and second transport surfaces toward the central accumulation surface, and the first and second end walls and the central accumulation surface cooperatively form a center pocket of the central accumulation area.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the transport surfaces and end walls of each of the first and second accumulator modules are laterally adjustable toward and away from the central accumulation surface for rendering a width of the center pocket adjustable.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the direction in which at least one of the sheet input paths is configured to advance sheet articles into the central accumulation area is substantially identical to the direction in which the central accumulation area is configured to advance an assembled sheet stack to the output path.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a plurality of transport surfaces, each transport surface at least partially defining a respective sheet input path, wherein the central accumulation area comprises a single central sheet receiving surface disposed at an elevation lower than the transport surfaces.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising at least one accumulator module for accumulating sheet articles of a corresponding sheet input path into a subset and feeding the subset to the central accumulation area.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the at least one accumulator module comprises a transport surface generally disposed at a higher elevation than the central accumulation area, a sheet feeding device for feeding sheet articles along the transport surface, and a stop gate alternately movable between a closed position at which sheet articles are prevented from being fed into the central accumulation area and an open position at which sheet articles are permitted to be fed into the central accumulation area.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the at least one accumulator module comprises an actuator-driven rocker arm comprising a front portion, a rear portion and a rocker arm axis between the front and rear portions, the front and rear portions are pivotable about the rocker arm axis, and wherein the sheet feeding device of the at least one accumulator module comprises a roller mounted to the rear portion and the stop gate is mounted to the front portion.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein one of the sheet input paths is an in-line sheet input path oriented generally along the same direction as the output path to define an in-line path through the central accumulation area.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 wherein the central accumulation area comprises an upstream end interfacing with the in-line sheet input path, a downstream end interfacing with the output path, a center pocket terminating generally at the downstream end for receiving sheet articles from the sheet input paths, and a center pocket adjustment device movable toward and away from the upstream end for adjusting a longitudinal length of the center pocket.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 wherein the center pocket adjustment device comprises a nose roller assembly.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the central accumulation area comprises an output device for driving the assembled sheet stack into the output path.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the output device comprises a shuttle plate longitudinally movable along a surface of the central accumulation area, and the shuttle plate comprises a first section on which the sheet articles accumulate and a second section facing a trailing edge of the sheet articles.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the central accumulation area comprises a stop gate movable between a closed position at which the sheet articles are prevented from being transported into the output path and an open position at which the assembled sheet stack is permitted to be transported into the output path.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 comprising means for jogging the output device to register the received sheet articles between at least a portion of the output device and the stop gate.

21. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the central accumulation area comprises a substantially planar surface which is lower in elevation from the plurality of sheet input paths.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the central accumulation area is adapted for accumulating sheet articles with at least one side of the sheet stack in side-registration.

23. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising one or more reader devices for reading code data printed on sheet articles processed by one or more sheet input paths and comprising an electronic controller for receiving information from the reader devices and for controlling the operation of the respective sheet input paths based on the code data read.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the code data includes information associating the sheet article on which the code data is printed with a specific processing job performed by the apparatus.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the code data includes information associating the sheet article on which the code data is printed with a specific sheet stack to be assembled in the central accumulation area.

26. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the code data includes information associating the sheet article on which the code data is printed with a specific one of the input paths.

27. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the code data includes information associating the sheet article on which the code data is printed with a specific subset of sheet articles to be accumulated.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the code data indicates the number of sheet articles associated with the subset.

29. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein the code data includes an end-of-subset character.

30. An apparatus for merging multiple sheet paths, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a plurality of individual sheet input paths along which one or more sheet articles can be advanced;

(b) a central accumulation area for receiving one or more sheet articles advanced from each individual sheet input path and from at least two different directions, and for assembling the sheet articles into a single sheet stack;

(c) an accumulator module disposed in a corresponding one of the sheet input paths for accumulating one or more sheet articles of the corresponding input path into a subset and for feeding the subset into the central accumulation area; and

(d) an output path for advancing an assembled sheet stack from the central accumulation area.

31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein the accumulator module comprises a transport surface generally disposed at a higher elevation than the central accumulation area, a sheet feeding device for feeding sheets along the transport surface, and a stop gate alternately movable between a closed position at which sheets are prevented from being fed into the central accumulation area and an open position at which sheets are permitted to be fed into the central accumulation area.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the accumulator module comprises an actuator-driven rocker arm comprising a front portion, a rear portion and a rocker arm axis between the front and rear portions, the front and rear portions are pivotable about the rocker arm axis, and wherein the sheet feeding device of the at least one accumulator module comprises a roller mounted to the rear portion and the stop gate is mounted to the front portion.

33. An apparatus for assembling a stack of sheet articles, the apparatus comprising:

(a) a plurality of sheet paths for advancing one or more sheet articles;

(b) one or more readers for reading code data from sheet articles advanced on the plurality of sheet paths;

(c) an electronic controller operatively connected with the one or more readers;

(d) one or more of the plurality of sheet paths having a staging area for accumulating advanced sheet articles into one or more subsets; and

(e) a central accumulation area for assembly of a stacked document of sheet articles selectively advanced from the plurality of sheet paths.

34. A method for merging multiple sheet paths, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) advancing one or more sheet articles along each of a plurality of individual sheet paths;

(b) advancing the one or more sheet articles from each of the plurality of individual sheet paths into a central accumulation area where the one or more sheet articles are accumulated into a single sheet stack at a single elevation; and

(c) advancing the sheet stack out of the central accumulation area into an output path.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the plurality of individual sheet paths comprises at least three sheet paths.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the three sheet paths advance sheet articles to the central accumulation area from different sides of the central accumulation area.

37. The method of claim 34 further comprising staging at least one of the plurality of individual sheet paths prior to advancing the one or more sheet articles therefrom into the central accumulation area.

38. The method of claim 34 comprising accumulating at least one of the plurality of individual sheet paths into a subset and advancing the subset into the central accumulation area.

39. The method of claim 34 further comprising registering at least one side of the accumulated sheet stack.

40. The method of claim 34 wherein the sheet stack accumulated in the central accumulation area is advanced therefrom to the output path in a direction which is substantially identical to the direction in which sheet articles are advanced to the central accumulation area from at least one of the plurality of sheet paths.

41. The method of claim 34 wherein advancing the sheet articles from each sheet path into the central accumulation area comprises transporting each sheet article from a higher elevation to a lower elevation.

42. The method of claim 34 comprising adjusting a longitudinal length of the central accumulation area by adjusting the position of a sheet in-feed device disposed at an upstream region of the central accumulation area.

43. The method of claim 34 comprising reading code data from one of more sheet articles of each sheet path prior to advancing the sheet articles into the central accumulation area.

44. The method of claim 43 comprising, for each sheet stack to be accumulated in the central accumulation area, advancing the sheet articles into the central accumulation area from each sheet path according to a sheet path order determined from the code data read from one or more sheet articles of one or more of the sheet paths.

45. The method of claim 43 comprising, for each sheet stack to be accumulated in the central accumulation area, advancing a specific number of sheet articles from each sheet path into the central accumulation area, wherein the number of sheet articles from each sheet path is determined from the code data read from at least one sheet article of each sheet path.

46. The method of claim 43 comprising, for each sheet stack to be accumulated in the central accumulation area, advancing a specific number of sheet articles from each sheet path into the central accumulation area, wherein the number of sheet articles from each sheet path is determined from the code data read from at least one sheet article of each sheet path, the code data comprising an end-of-subset character.

47. The method of claim 43 wherein reading code data determines whether the sheet articles of one or more of the sheet paths are to be accumulated into a subset prior to advancement into the central accumulation area.

48. A method of assembling a document, the method comprising:

(a) advancing one or more sheet articles along a plurality of sheet paths;

(b) reading code data printed on one or more of the sheet articles advanced along the plurality of sheet paths to identify the one or more sheet articles and determine whether or not the one or more sheet articles should be advanced to a central accumulation area; and

(c) assembling sheet articles advanced from the plurality of sheet paths into a stack of sheet articles collected in a predetermined order in the central accumulation area.

49. The method of claim 48 further comprising selectively accumulating for at least one of the plurality of sheet paths the advanced sheet articles in a stack of sheet articles prior to advancement to the central accumulation area.

50. The method of claim 48 further comprising advancing the collected stack of sheet articles from the central accumulation area.