A high speed signature inserter packer box to operate with a saddle stitcher at a rate in excess of 225 books per minute includes a very simple and rapid way to convert from operation with a feed hopper signature supply to operation with a stream feeder signature supply. The inserter packer box also has a novel arrangement for controlling the trailing end portion of a signature on the extracting drum in the area where it is grasped by the transfer drum grippers. A low volume, low velocity air st...

A signature feeding machine in which signatures are fed one by one from a stack in a supply hopper by suction devices; when a signature is not to be fed the stack is displaced so that the suction devices are inoperable to effect feeding and preferably suction is discontinued at the same time.

Disclosed is a method for determining whether or not two signatures were written by the same individual. An X-Y data tablet indicates the location of the writing instrument at a predetermined clock pulse rate as the signature is written. A number string is generated which indicates the relationship between sequentially determined locations of the writing instrument as it moves to different locations on the X-Y data tablet. The quantity of numbers within the number string is an indication of the ...

A stacker having platforms movable along a path by chains. Cam followers on the platforms engage a cam surface which controls the platform path. The chains are driven by a motor in a closed-loop system which monitors the platforms and controls their speed. The closed-loop system first decelerates the platforms and thereafter stops one platform in the intercept-ready position. The platform cam follower enters a claw which moves the end of the platform through the stream to collect signatures when...

The invention is to improvements in signature panels for credit cards or similar instruments. The signature panel is made from a foil having a carrier layer with a transferable signature panel layer having a coating composition incorporating a polymeric material. The signature panel layer can be transferred in response to heat and pressure onto a plastic substrate from the carrier layer providing a signature space. A security indicia is placed on or in the signature accepting surface, of the sig...

The present invention is directed to a diverter mechanism for use in a web fed rotary printing press, that is simple, low in mass, provides positive control of signatures passing through it, and can be located close to elements or mechanisms within the printing press for receiving signatures that have passed through the diverter mechanism. The diverter mechanism includes a nip formed using two cylinders. The nip can be rotated around an axis formed by the center of the nip, or can be rotated aro...

Extraneous signatures in a continuous stream are purged by so diverting the stream that it is possible at the same time to originate and advance the head of a new stream to the point of diversion.

The invention is of an "elastic matching" method for comparing one signature against another, comprising the operations of creating a mapping between corresponding points in two signatures to be compared measured at different times after the commencement of writing the signatures which maximizes the correlation between the local spatial neighborhood of the measured points and simultaneously minimizes the curvature of the elastic spatial distortion from the mapping, providing quantitative measure...

Cyclically operable signature machine having a one-way drive to incrementally advance a signature infeeding conveyor synchronously to the action of an oscillating suction finger for withdrawing a signature from a stack in a hopper; in a cycle where a signature is not to be fed, the suction finger is latched and simultaneously the one-way drive is disabled to prevent the stack from being compacted.

A gripper finger for clamping the margin of a signature sheet may be operated from the same source of suction which enables a suction cup to be effective on the same sheet, and this is made possible by oscillating the finger through a piston responsive to suction.