Bundled printed sheets

• US 20050000842A1
• Filed: 06/03/2004
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Precision Press Incorporated (Middleby Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Precision Press Incorporated (Middleby Corporation)
• Inventors: Klein, Corey, Gravely, Lane, Flitter, Doug, Timmerman, Lee
• Application Number:
  US10/860,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20050000842A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 206/449
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 11/00 Combinations of several similar cutting apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 2007/2692 the rollers or cylinders being mounted skewed
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 5/32 with the record carrier formed by the work itself
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 7/08 Means for treating work or cutting member to facilitate cutting tensioning band cutters B26D1/48
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 7/1863 by suction
• CPC Class Codes: B26D 9/00 Cutting apparatus combined with punching or perforating apparatus or with dissimilar cutting apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: B26F 1/384 using rotating drums
• CPC Class Codes: B26F 2001/407 stepwise sequential punching processes
• CPC Class Codes: B26F 3/002 Precutting and tensioning or breaking
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 27/08 Bundling paper sheets, envelopes, bags, newspapers, or other thin flat articles
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/11 Dimensional aspect of article or web
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/124 Patterns, marks, printed information
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/182 Piled package
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 35/00 Delivering articles from cutting or line-perforating machines; Article or web delivery apparatus incorporating cutting or line-perforating devices, e.g. adhesive tape dispensers cutting or perforating machines or devices in general B26D, B26F

Abstract

The present disclosure provides bundled printed sheet articles, an apparatus for the manufacture of bundled printed sheet articles, and methods of making and using the bundled printed sheet articles.

Claims

22. A bundle of printed sheets, comprising:

a plurality of printed sheets in a stack;

a band around the stack; and

each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about 0.03 inches, and

each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a variance of less than or equal to about 0.005 inches.

23. An apparatus for making bundled printed sheets, comprising:

a printable web;

a print module to print on the printable web;

a cutter module to cut the printed web into a stream of printed sheets;

a collator module to collate each stream of printed sheets into a registered stack;

a conveyor module to convey each registered stack into a stack stream; and

a packaging module to package each registered stack in the stack stream into a package comprised of a bundle of printed sheets.

1. A bundle of printed sheets, comprising:

a plurality of printed sheets in a stack;

a band around the stack; and

an overwrapper on the banded stack,

each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about 0.03 inches, and

each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a variance of less than or equal to about 0.005 inches.

2. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from about 0.03 to about 0.015 inches.

3. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack is to within a variance of from about 0.001 to about 0.005 inches.

4. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the band around the stack encompasses a portion of two opposite sides including the full height of the stack, and a portion of the outer facing top and bottom sheets including the full width of the stack.

5. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 4 wherein the two opposite sides are parallel.

6. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 4 wherein the two opposite sides are other than parallel.

7. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the ends of a band around the stack overlap each other and the overlap portion includes a point of attachment.

8. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 7 wherein the point of attachment is accomplished with an adhesive, a weld, a crimp, or combinations thereof.

9. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the band is plastic, paper, metal, rubber, string, or combinations thereof.

10. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 having 1 to 5 bands.

11. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 having 2 bands.

12. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 having 1 band.

13. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the overwrapper on the banded stack includes a pull-tab to facilitate removal of the overwrapper from the bundle.

14. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the overwrapper on the banded stack completely encloses the bundle.

15. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the overwrapper on the banded stack incompletely encloses the bundle.

16. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the bundle has from about 10 to about 10,000 printed sheets.

17. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the bundle has from about 50 to about 5,000 printed sheets.

18. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the bundle has from about 50 to about 1,500 printed sheets.

19. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the bundle is free of a chipboard support or stiffener panel.

20. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 further comprising a chipboard, a stiffener panel, or combinations thereof.

21. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 1 wherein the bundle is from about 1 to about 2 inches wide, about 2 to about 4 inches high, and about 3 to about 10 inches long.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the registered stack has a plurality of printed sheets.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein each registered stack is vertical.

26. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein each registered stack is unsupported.

27. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the printable web and the print module, in combination, comprise a high-speed offset printing press.

28. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the cutter module comprises a rotary die-cutter, a flat-bed die-cutter, a slit-and-gap cutter, a slit-and-but cutter, a guillotine cutter, or combinations thereof.

29. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the cutter module comprises a rotary die-cutter to angle-cut the printed web into at least one sheet stream and a waste matrix.

30. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the printable web has a width of from about 16 to about 40 inches and a speed of from about 300 to about 1,200 feet per minute.

31. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the printable web has a speed of from about 300 to about 900 feet per minute.

32. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the printable web has a width of less than about 16 inches and a speed of from about 10 feet per minute to less than about 300 feet per minute.

33. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the printable web has a speed of from about 10 feet per minute to less than about 300 feet per minute.

34. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the conveyor module comprises an endless belt.

35. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the conveyor module comprises a conveying elevator, the elevator being operable to receive a batch of stacks from two or more batch stackers and to convey the received batch of stacks to a first conveyor.

36. The apparatus of claim 35 wherein first conveyor conveys the batch of stacks as a stack stream uni-directionally to the packaging module.

37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein first conveyor conveys the batch of stacks as a stack stream bi-directionally to two or more packaging modules.

38. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the packaging module comprises a first banding station, a second over-wrapping station, and an optional third shrink-wrapping station.

39. The apparatus of claim 38 wherein the packaging module further comprises a boxing station and box sealing station.

40. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the packaging module comprises a first banding station for making bundled printed sheets, and a boxing station.

41. The apparatus of claim 40 wherein the boxing station manually or automatically places the bundled printed sheets in a box having a sealable liner.

42. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising a debris collector near the cutter module.

43. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the printable web comprises paper, film, synthetic materials, metalized papers, foils, and combinations thereof.

44. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein each stream of printed sheets is transported from the cutter to the collator with at least one transport belt and at least one backing roller opposing the transport belt.

45. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising an ambient humidity control system.

46. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising a web coating module.

47. The apparatus of claim 46 wherein the web coating module applies to the web, after the print module, a varnish coating, a gloss coating, a protective coating, an anti-static coating, or combinations thereof.

48. The apparatus of claim 47 further comprising a web chiller module between the web coating module and the cutter module.

49. The apparatus of claim 48 further comprising a web nip between a nip roller and a backing roller just before the chiller in the chiller module.

50. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising a web nip between a nip roller and an anvil roller just before the cutter in the cutter module.

51. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the cutter module provides from 2 to 80 streams of printed sheets.

52. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the collator provides from 2 to 80 registered stacks.

53. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the conveyor module conveys from 2 to 80 registered stack streams into a single stack stream.

54. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the conveyor module conveys from 2 to 80 registered stack streams into two stack streams.

55. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein packaging module comprises an optional stack jogger, a stack bander, an optional stack overwrapper, and an optional containerizer.

56. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the containerizer comprises a person or device for placing the bundled printed sheets into a container, for sealing the container, and optionally placing a plurality of sealed containers on a carrier.

57. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the package comprises:

a bundle of printed sheets comprising;

a plurality of printed sheets in a stack;

a band around the stack; and

an optional overwrapper on the banded stack, each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about {fraction (1/16)}^th inch, and each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a variance of less than or equal to about {fraction (1/100)}^th inch; and

a container for the bundle of printed sheets.

58. The apparatus of claim 57 the package further comprising:

a plurality of the containers on a pallet optionally partially overwrapped with an overwrapper.

59. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the cutter module includes a static eliminator.

65. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the print module comprises a first print engine to print constant image information, and a second print engine to print variable image information.

162. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein a module comprises an inspection station.

163. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the print module comprises a print quality inspection system.

164. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the print module comprises a print quality and print registration inspection system and the cutter module comprises a print-to-cut inspection system.

166. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the conveyor module comprises a first conveyor having two over-under parallel endless belts and an elevator, wherein the two over-under parallel endless belts each carry a stack stream from the collator to the second conveyor, the elevator being operable to alternate the position of the two over-under parallel endless belts relative to the collator and a second conveyor.

165. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein the cutter module comprises:

a rotary die-cutter;

an edge slitter for bursting;

an air knife debris disturber;

an abrader; and

a debris removal device.

167. The apparatus of claim 57 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about 0.03 inches, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about 0.005 inches.

60. An apparatus for making bundled printed sheets, comprising:

a sheet feeder;

a print module to print on the fed sheets;

a cutter module to cut the printed fed sheets into a stream of cut printed sheets;

a collator to collate each stream of cut printed sheets into a registered stack;

a conveyor module to convey each registered stack into a stack stream; and

a packaging module which packages each registered stack in the stack stream into a package having a bundled printed sheets.

61. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein the sheet feeder and the print module in combination comprise a high speed sheet-fed print engine.

62. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein the cutter module comprises a die-cutter to angle-cut the printed sheets into at least one sheet stream and a waste matrix.

63. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein packaging module comprises an optional stack jogger, a stack bander, an optional stack overwrapper, and an optional containerizer.

64. The apparatus of claim 60 wherein the package further comprises a plurality of containerized bundled printed sheets.

66. A method of making bundled printed sheets, comprising:

printing on a printable web;

cutting the printed web into a stream of printed sheets and a waste matrix;

collating each stream of printed sheets into a registered stack;

conveying each registered stack into a stack stream; and

packaging each registered stack in the stack stream to form a bundle of printed sheets.

67. The method of claim 66 wherein cutting is accomplished with rotary die-cutter, a flat-bed die-cutter, a slit-and-gap cutter, a slit-and-butt cutter, a guillotine cutter, or combinations thereof.

68. The method of claim 66 wherein cutting is accomplished with a rotary die-cutter.

69. The method of claim 68 wherein the die-cutter angle-cuts the printed web into a stream of printed sheets.

70. The method of claim 68 wherein the die-cutter angle-cuts the printed web into from 2 to 80 streams of printed sheets.

71. The method of claim 66 wherein the printable web has a width of from about 16 to about 40 inches and a speed of from about 300 to about 900 feet per minute.

72. The method of claim 66 wherein the printable web has a speed of from about 300 to about 1,200 feet per minute.

73. The method of claim 66 wherein the printable web has a width of less than about 16 inches and a speed of from about 10 to less than about 300 feet per minute.

74. The method of claim 66 wherein the printable web has a speed of from about 10 to less than about 300 feet per minute.

75. The method of claim 66 wherein conveying conveys from 2 to 80 stack streams into a merged single stream.

76. The method of claim 75 further comprising conveying the merged single stream in different directions into two separate stack streams.

77. The method of claim 66 wherein the printing, cutting, collating, conveying, and packaging, are accomplished continuously.

78. The method of claim 66 wherein the printing comprises offset, lithography, flexography, gravure, non-impact printing methods, electrophotography, and combinations thereof.

79. The method of claim 66 wherein the printable web comprises paper, film, a synthetic material, a metalized synthetic material, a metalized paper, a foil, and combinations thereof.

80. The method of claim 66 wherein each cutting event of the printed web is perpendicular to the web process direction.

81. The method of claim 66 wherein cutting is accomplished with a die-cutter.

82. The method of claim 66 wherein cutting is accomplished non-simultaneously and non-perpendicular to the web process-direction with a die-cutter.

83. The method of claim 81 wherein the die-cutter cuts from the web printed sheets which are, prior to cutting, aligned adjacent sheets, staggered adjacent sheets, angle-cut adjacent sheets, and combinations thereof.

84. The method of claim 83 wherein die-cutting cuts aligned adjacent printed sheets widthwise across the web process-direction.

85. The method of claim 83 wherein die-cutting cuts staggered adjacent printed sheets widthwise across the web process-direction.

86. The method of claim 83 wherein die-cutting cuts angle-cut adjacent sheets widthwise across the web process-direction.

87. The method of claim 66 wherein each cutting event produces from 2 to 50 of individually cut and printed sheets widthwise across the web process-direction.

88. The method of claim 66 wherein die-cutting the printed web continuously produces a stream of printed sheets.

89. The method of claim 66 wherein collating is accomplished by a collator having a receiver for receiving and registering each stream of printed sheets into an incipient registered stack.

90. The method of claim 66 wherein collating a number of streams of printed sheets produces an equal number of registered stacks of printed sheets.

91. The method of claim 66 wherein a registered stack or a bundle of printed sheets has from about 10 to about 5,000 printed sheets.

92. The method of claim 66 wherein a registered stack or a bundle of printed sheets has from about 10 to about 1,500 printed sheets.

93. The method of claim 66 wherein each registered stack has cut printed sheets stacked vertically and unsupported.

94. The method of claim 66 wherein each registered stack has cut printed sheets stacked vertically and supported.

95. The method of claim 66 wherein each registered stack has cut printed sheets stacked horizontally and supported.

96. The method of claim 66 wherein each registered stack is edge-to-edge registered, side-to-side registered, height-registered, edge-registered, width-registered, weight registered, or combinations thereof.

97. The method of claim 66 wherein each registered stack is height registered and edge-to-edge registered.

98. The method of claim 66 wherein each registered stack is edge-to-edge registered.

99. The method of claim 66 wherein conveying conveys on a first conveyor the registered stacks away from the collator in the web process-direction for a distance and thereafter the registered stacks are displaced laterally, with respect to web process-direction, on a second conveyor to form a stack stream.

100. The method of claim 66 wherein packaging each registered stack in the stack stream to form a bundle of printed sheets comprises banding, overwrapping, shrink-wrapping, or combinations thereof.

101. The method of claim 66 wherein packaging is accomplished by banding each registered stack.

102. The method of claim 66 wherein packaging is accomplished by placing two or more bands around each registered stack.

103. The method of claim 66 wherein packaging is accomplished by placing one band around each registered stack.

104. The method of claim 66 wherein packaging is accomplished by over-wrapping each registered stack, banded or un-banded, to form a wrapped stack.

105. The method of claim 104 wherein the over-wrapping of each registered stack forms a sealed enclosure about the stack.

106. The method of claim 66 wherein packaging comprises a first banding, a second over-wrapping, and optionally shrinking the over-wrapping.

107. The method of claim 66 wherein packaging comprises applying a band to each stack, placing one or more banded stacks in a container, and sealing the container.

108. The method of claim 107 wherein the container is a box.

109. The method of claim 108 wherein the container has a sealable liner.

110. The method of claim 66 wherein the printed sheets are labels, business cards, credit cards, phone cards, greeting cards, trading cards, tickets, game cards, note pad sheets, currency, checks, negotiable instruments, interlaced images, coupons, chits, ballots, forms, time sheets, or combinations thereof.

111. The method of claim 66 wherein the waste matrix is removed by vacuum and discarded.

112. The method of claim 66 further comprising applying a coating to the first face, the second face, or both faces of the printed web.

113. The method of claim 112 wherein the coating is applied to the printed side of the web, the unprinted side of the web, or both the unprinted side of the web and the printed side of the web.

114. The method of claim 112 wherein the coating is a varnish, a gloss coat, a clear coat, a seal coat, an antistatic treatment, or combinations thereof.

115. The method of claim 112 further comprising chilling the coated web.

116. The method of claim 66 further comprising a web guiding system for web substrate regulation.

117. The method of claim 66 further comprising monitoring the print quality of the printing.

118. The method of claim 117 wherein monitoring the print quality is accomplished with a video inspection system.

119. The method of claim 66 further comprising monitoring the registration of the printing to the cutting.

120. The method of claim 119 wherein monitoring the registration of the printing to the cutting is accomplished by continuously detecting a reference mark on the matrix prior to cutting, and continuously adjusting, as needed, the web position relative to the cutter to achieve a predetermined alignment of the cutter relative to the printed items on the printed web.

121. The method of claim 120 wherein continuously adjusting the web position relative to the cutter comprises controllably varying the speed of the web, controllably varying the position of the web, or combinations thereof.

122. The method of claim 120 wherein monitoring the print registration is accomplished with a video print registration inspection system.

123. The method of claim 66 further comprising monitoring the color quality of the printing.

124. The method of claim 123 wherein monitoring the color quality is accomplished with a closed-loop color control and adjustment system.

125. The method of claim 124 further comprising adjusting print density to maintain the color quality of the printing.

126. The method of claim 66 further comprising monitoring the cut precision of the cutting.

127. The method of claim 126 wherein monitoring the cut precision is accomplished with a video inspection system.

128. The method of claim 66 wherein the bundled printed sheets are produced in from about 1 to about 4 minutes.

130. The method of claim 66 further comprising placing a plurality of bundled printed sheets in a container.

131. The method of claim 130 further comprising sealing the container containing the plurality of bundled printed sheets.

132. The method of claim 131 further comprising placing the sealed container on a carrier.

133. The method of claim 66 further comprising removing debris after cutting the printed web into printed sheets.

134. The method of claim 133 wherein removing debris after cutting is accomplished with a vacuum, a brush disturber, a tacky-surface member, or combinations thereof, situated in an area near the cutter.

135. The method of claim 66 wherein the bundled printed sheets are free of a chipboard support or a stiffener panel.

136. The method of claim 66 wherein the print registration to cut edges of the printed sheets is within less than or equal to about plus or minus 0.03 inches.

137. The method of claim 66 wherein the method is accomplished in ambient humidity of from about 65 to about 75 percent.

138. The method of claim 66 wherein the cutting, collating, conveying, or packaging is accomplished at an ambient temperature of from about 50 to about 90 degrees °

C.

139. The method of claim 66 further comprising controlling or eliminating static during substrate transport, printing, cutting, collating, conveying, or combinations thereof.

140. A method of making bundled printed sheets, comprising:

printing on a printable web;

die-cutting the printed web into a stream of printed sheets and a waste matrix;

collating each stream of printed sheets into a vertical registered stack;

conveying each registered stack into a single stack stream;

banding each registered stack in the conveyed single stack stream to form a banded stack of bundled printed sheets wherein a band circumscribes a portion of two opposite sides and the entire height of the vertical stack, and a portion of the width of the first sheet and a portion of the width of the last sheet in the stack;

overwrapping each banded stack; and

optionally placing each overwrapped banded stack in a container.

141. A method of making bundled printed sheets, comprising:

providing single-sheets;

optionally printing on the single-sheets with a print engine;

cutting each single-sheet into a stream of cut-printed sheets and a waste matrix;

collating each stream of cut-printed sheets into a registered stack;

conveying each registered stack into a stack stream; and

packaging each registered stack in the stack stream into a bundle of printed sheets.

142. The method of claim 141 wherein providing single-sheets provides single-sheets free of printed images.

143. The method of claim 141 wherein providing single-sheets provides single-sheets having printed images on one or both sides of the sheet.

144. The method of claim 141 wherein cutting is accomplished by an angle-cut rotary die-cutter.

145. The method of claim 141 wherein cutting comprises slit-and-gap cutting.

146. The method of claim 141 wherein collating is accomplished with a batch stacker machine modified to transport and receive a plurality of printed sheet streams.

147. The method of claim 141 wherein collating is accomplished with a vacuum assist transfer device to transport the printed sheet streams to the collator.

148. The method of claim 141 further comprising controlling or eliminating static during cutting, collating, conveying, or combinations thereof.

149. A method of affixing printed sheets to articles, comprising:

optionally slitting the over-wrapper on an over-wrapped bundle of printed sheets;

removing the over-wrapper from the over-wrapped bundle of printed sheets comprising;

a plurality of printed sheets in a stack;

a band around the stack; and

an overwrapper on the banded stack, each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about {fraction (1/16)}^th inch, and each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a variance of less than or equal to about {fraction (1/100)}^th inch;

optionally fanning the unwrapped bundle of printed sheets;

removing the banding from the unwrapped bundle of printed sheets;

inserting the stacked printed sheets into a sheet applicator machine;

optionally activating an adhesive on, or applying an adhesive to, a portion of the individual printed sheets; and

contacting the individual printed sheets having adhesive with an article.

150. The method of claim 149 wherein the printed sheets are labels.

151. The method of claim 149 wherein the article is a container or package.

168. The apparatus of claim 149 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about {fraction (3/64)}^th inch, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about {fraction (1/133)}^rd inch.

169. The apparatus of claim 149 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about 0.03 inches, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about 0.005 inches.

152. A stack of printed sheets, comprising:

a plurality of printed sheets in a unitary form, each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about {fraction (1/16)}^th inch, and each printed sheet having substantially the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a variance of less than or equal to about {fraction (1/100)}^th inch, and the stack being in a label applicator machine.

153. The stack of printed sheets of claim 152 wherein the unitary form is a stack of substantially identically shaped sheets.

154. The stack of printed sheets of claim 152 wherein the unitary form is a cube or parallelepiped.

155. The stack of printed sheets of claim 152 wherein the unitary form is a stack of substantially identically irregularly shaped sheets.

156. The stack of printed sheets of claim 152 wherein the printed sheets are labels.

170. The apparatus of claim 152 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about {fraction (3/64)}^th inch, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about {fraction (1/133)}^rd inch.

171. The apparatus of claim 152 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about 0.03 inches, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about 0.005 inches.

157. An article having a printed sheet attached thereto, the printed sheet being obtained from unpackaging a bundle of substantially identically shaped printed sheets, the bundle of printed sheets comprising:

a plurality of printed sheets in a stack;

a band around the stack; and

an overwrapper on the banded stack, each printed sheet having a narrow cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about {fraction (1/16)}^th inch, and

each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a narrow variance of less than or equal to about {fraction (1/100)}^th inch.

172. The apparatus of claim 157 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about {fraction (3/64)}^th inch, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about {fraction (1/133)}^rd inch.

173. The apparatus of claim 157 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about 0.03 inches, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about 0.005 inches.

158. An apparatus for making bundled printed sheets comprising:

a printable web;

a print module to print on the printable web;

a cutter module to cut the printed web into a stream of printed sheets and a waste matrix;

a collator module to collate each stream of printed sheets into a registered stack;

a conveyor module to convey each registered stack into a stack stream; and

a packaging module to package each registered stack in the stack stream into a package containing bundled printed sheets,

wherein;

the printable web and the print module is a high speed lithographic press adapted to;

print and cure multiple color UV curable inks on a paper substrate;

apply a protective coating;

chill the protectively coated web; and

apply an antistatic coating;

the cutter module is a rotary die-cutter adapted to angle-cut the printed web, the cutter further including a static eliminator to facilitate separation of cut sheets and matrix from one another and the cutter;

the collator module is a sheet stream transporter and batch-stacker to transport and collate each stream of printed sheets from the cutter module into a registered stack;

the conveyor module is a conveyor for the output of each batch-stacker and adapted to directly receive the stack batch and transport the stack batch as a single stack stream to the packaging module;

each bundle of printed sheets having from about 10 to about 1,500 cut printed sheets, each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about {fraction (1/16)}^th inch, and each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the bundle to within a variance of less than or equal to about {fraction (1/100)}^th inch;

the packaging module having a banding machine, an overwrapping machine, a heat-shrink machine, a containerizer machine, a stretch banding machine, a palletizer, or combinations thereof; and

the apparatus having a humidity controller, a web-nip just before the chiller module, and a web-nip just before the cutter module.

174. The apparatus of claim 158 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about {fraction (3/64)}^th inch, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about {fraction (1/133)}^rd inch.

175. The apparatus of claim 158 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about 0.03 inches, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about 0.005 inches.

159. A bundle of printed sheets, comprising:

a plurality of printed sheets in a stack;

a band around the stack; and

an optional overwrapper on the banded stack,

each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about {fraction (1/16)}^th inch, and

each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a variance of less than or equal to about {fraction (1/100)}^th inch.

161. The bundle of printed sheets of claim 159 wherein the printed sheets are labels, business cards, credit cards, phone cards, gift cards, greeting cards, trading cards, tickets, game cards, note pad sheets, currency, checks, negotiable instruments, interlaced images, coupons, chits, ballots, forms, time sheets, or combinations thereof.

160. A bundle of printed sheets, comprising:

a plurality of printed sheets in a stack;

a band around the stack; and

an optional overwrapper on the banded stack,

each printed sheet having a cut-to-print registration variance of from less than or equal to about {fraction (3/64)}^th inch, and

each printed sheet having the same length and width dimensions as the other printed sheets in the stack to within a variance of less than or equal to about {fraction (1/133)}^rd inch.

166-1. The apparatus of claim 57 wherein the cut-to-print registration variance is from less than or equal to about {fraction (3/64)}^th inch, and length and width dimensional variance is less than or equal to about {fraction (1/133)}^rd inch.