A signature inserter for a signature gathering machine having two hoppers, arranged one above the other; two rotary extractor drums, each of which is associated with one hopper and provided with means for extracting individual signatures from that hopper; a rotary transfer drum for transferring individual signatures from one extractor drum to the conveyor and a rotary intermediate drum for transferring signatures from the other extractor drum to the first extractor drum. Finally, the signature inserter includes means for selecting the hopper from which the signatures will be extracted.
A signature feeding machine of the type having suction grippers for removing a signature from a hopper. A vacuum is applied to the gripper when grabbing a signature. The gripper transports the signature to a rotating cylinder where the gripper releases it by disapplying the vacuum. The machine is operable in two modes; a run mode and a jog or intermittent mode. An adjustable timing control is provided to time differently the application and disapplication of the vacuum in accordance with the particular mode of operation.
A gripper drum for gripping printed products includes a drum shaft; at least one gripper disk coupled to the drum shaft; a gripper shaft disposed on the at least one gripper disk and having a shaft body rotatable about its longitudinal axis; an apparatus for controlling the gripper shaft; and a plurality of grippers disposed on the shaft body. The grippers are adaptable to be rotated about the longitudinal axis of the gripper shaft for gripping the printed products. The gripper drum further includes a tensing apparatus coupled to the gripper shaft for compensating any play between the controlling apparatus and the plurality of grippers. The gripper drum operates to define an opening movement and closing movement of the grippers.
A transport disc for an opening device of a printed sheet feeder is arranged on a first opening drum of the opening device and has at least one outer elastic support. The outer elastic support cooperates with a securing disc of a second opening drum of the opening device to clamp an individual printed sheet between the outer elastic support and the securing disc for transporting the individual printed sheet to a transport device. The outer elastic support has an outer bearing layer and a compensation area positioned radially inwardly underneath the outer bearing layer. The compensation area is radially yielding and supports the outer bearing layer.
A kit for handling undersized signatures in a packer box having a signature feeding station, a main drum assembly, a delivery drum assembly and a continuous signature carrying chain. The kit includes a pair of register stop extensions adapted to be disposed in cooperative relation with spaced apart register stops. It also includes at least one guide roller extension bracket adapted to carry a guide roller which is removable from the bracket normally supporting the guide roller and is securable on the guide roller extension bracket for rolling movement relative thereto. The kit further includes a timing adjustment feature for causing grippers to release signatures at a point generally corresponding to the remote end of the guide roller extension bracket. With this arrangement, a packer box can be modified for handling undersized signatures.
An improved apparatus for gathering printed signatures for saddle stitching has a single frame having shafts that carry two complete mechanisms each of which includes signature supply box means and signature transfer means for feeding 1-up signatures to a conveyor chain. The apparatus can be produced by a relatively simple conversion of a commercially available 2-up machine.
