US2262781A - Printing press transfer device - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 18, 1941. A. sHlPP 2,262,781

PRINTING PRESS TRANSFER DEVICE Original Filed Aug. 3, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l 42 aim- 54 E .4 diff@ 2 Nov. 18, 1941. A. sHlPP 2,262,781

PRINTING PRESS TRANSFER DEVICE Original Filed Aug. C5, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 18, 1941 UNiTED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRINTING PRESS TRANSFER DEVICE Arthur Shipp, Bergeneld, N. J.

Original application August 3, 1940, Serial No. 350,251. Divided and this application April 29, 1941, Serial No. 390,880

7 Claims.

This invention relates to printing presses in general and more especially to transfer devices for facilitating the feeding and positioning oi paper, labels, cards and the like into impressionreceiving position on a press and constitutes a division ofV my copending application Serial No. 350,251, led August 3, 1940.

Among the objects of the present invention, it is aimed to provide improved devices for facilitating the feeding and positioning of paper, labels, cards and the like into impression-receiving position on the printing platen of a printing press, including guides for initially stacking one or more stacks or piles of sheets of paper, labels, cards or the like face to face, with the upper face of the uppermost sheet of paper and the like exposed to facilitate simultaneously feeding into printing position one sheet of paper or the like at a time simultaneously from one or more stacks or piles.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide improved devices for facilitating the feeding and positioning of paper, labels, cards and the like into impression-receiving position on the printing platen of a printing press,

including guides for initially stacking one or more stacks or piles of sheets of paper, labels, cards, or the like, either of one size or of a different size for each stack, face to face, with the upper face of the uppermost sheet of paper and the like exposed to facilitate simultaneously feeding into printing position one sheet of paper or the like at a time simultaneously from one or more stacks or piles. v

It is still another object of the present invention to provide improved devices for facilitating the feeding and positioning of sheets of paper, labels, cards and the like into impression receiving position on the platen of a press, and maintaining the sheets ofv paper and the like in printing position during' the printing operation, including guides for initially stacking one or more stacks or piles of sheets of paper and the like on a supply platform, and also grippers or pins on the platen of a press positioned relative to the guides on the supply platform to facilitate simultaneously tranferring. the sheets of paper from the stacks one at a time to the grippers or pins.

These and other features, capabilities `and advantages of the invention will appear from the subjoined detail description of specific embodiments thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in Which Figure 1 is a fragmental transverse section of a printing press and feeder equipped with the improvements constituting the present invention;

Fig. la is a plan of a printing platen equipped with grippers of the type illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of one form of grip- Per;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a bottom plan view of the device shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a transverse section on the line 5--5 of Fig. 3;

Fig.V 6 is a longitudinal section of another form of gripper or pin;l

Fig. '7 is a fragmental section on theline 'I-'I of Fig. 1 showing one form of guidesv to facilitate stacking one or more stacks or piles of sheets ofy paper or the like;

Fig. 7a is a section on the line 'Ia- 1a of Fig. '7;

Fig. 8 is a fragmental perspective of a pair of guides of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. '1;

Fig. 9 is a fragmental plan showing a modification of the guides shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a fragmental rear elevation of the supply platform of a feeder equipped with another arrangement of guides;

Fig. 11 is a fragmental plan view of the embodiment illustrated in Fig'. 10;

Fig. 12 is a plan view of another form of pin or gripper; and

Fig. 13 is a longitudinal section on the line I3'-I3 of Fig. 12.

In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1, `there is shown the printing press platen I typical of that extensively used today, such as the Chandler 8; Price press, equipped with a feeder 2 of the type extensively used today such as the Miller automatic feeder disclosed in Patent No. 1,194,- 327. With this combination of platen I and feeder 2, there is provided a supply platform 3 for receiving a stack 4 of material to be printed. The sheets from the stack 21 are fed to the platen I by a combination of devices, including a suction cup such as the suction cup 5 which picks up the uppermost sheet of the stack 21, raising it, whereupon' the feed grippers 6 on the carrier 1 are moved rearward to receive and grip the sheet so raised, which carrier 'I is then carried forward into engagement with pins or grippers on the platen I while the platen I is in open, slightly inclined position. According to the present invention, the platform 3 has secured y tangular in cross section. On this rod I6, there are slidably mounted the guiding .brackets I1 arranged in pairs. The brackets I1 each consist essentially of the block I9 having a rectangular opening to receive the rod I6, to fix the bracket I1 against rotation on the rod I6 while permitting slidable movement thereon. i

In order to anchor the block I9 against slidable movement on the rod I6, there is provided the set yscrewZII passing through the block I9 to engage the rod I6 and frictionally anchor Vthe block I9 in position on the rod I6 in the usual Vway. 'To the front face of the block I9 there is f provided the anglev iron strip 2I having a web 22 in alinement with the front face of the block I9, and a web 23 extending at right angles thereto and forwardly thereof.` The bracket I8 is substantially identical tothe bracket I1 except that the web 24 of the angle iron strip 25 extends from the edge of the web 26 removed from the bracket I1 while the web 23 vextends from the edge lof the web 22 removed from the bracket I8. With this arrangement of the webs 23 and 24, see Fig. 7, the uppermost brackets I1 and I8 of a pair may cooperate with a stack 21 of paper sheets or labels, cards or the like, illustrated in dashand-dot lines.

With the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 7, the successive pairs of brackets I1 and I8, all mounted on the same rod I6, may position a plurality of groups of labels, cards, sheets of material and 'the'like ofdifferent widths, but of one and the same length. vIn other words, the cards of the stack 21 would have the same dimension from the stops 9 to theinner' faces of the webs 22 and 26 of the brackets I1 and I8 relative, to the other pairs, but the widths thereof, thatfis, between the inner faces of the webs 23 andi24 of the successive pairs, may vary. Or, to state it differently, the brackets I1 land I8 of yeach pair may lbe adjusted relative to one another to accommodate different widths.

l: If the card or1abe1sueh as tne1abe1 28 of Fig.

9 has one straight edge such as the edge 29 and `an opposite' curved edge, such as the edge 30, jtheweb 3l of the bracket 32 will be considerably ywider than the web 33 of the bracketv 34. In all other material respects, the brackets 34 and 32 -of'ja pair are identical to the brackets I1 and I8 ,of the pair illustrated in Fig. 8.

When the material to be printed is arranged in stacks' 21, the feeder 2 will be provided with suctionr'cups 5 positioned one above each stack 21. Thereupon, when the operation of the machine is started, the cups will initially and simultane- AouslyJ engage ,th-e upper faces of the sheets of paper orv the Alike in the stacks 21, land feed them lupward* for engagement by the feed grippers 6 `on the carrier 1 which will thereupon feed the sheetsofpaperl or the'like so being advanced by the carrier-1 into engagement with grippers on theqplaten I. To cooperate with the guides formed -by thebrackets I1 of the `embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1, and assuming lthat the Sheets of paper or the like are not only of the same length but also of the same width as shown in Fig. 1a, then there will be secured to the platen I a corresponding number of pairs of grippers 35, the two grippers of each pair being positioned on the platen I to aline with the position of the brackets I1 of its associated pair to enable the feed grippers 6 to feed the material from a pair of guides I1 to its associated pair of grippers 35.

In the embodiments shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the form of gripper, designated 35, consists essentially of three spring metal strips 36, 31 and 38 secured to one another by the fastening bracket 39. The housing 39 consists essentially of an upper plate portion 4I) provided with a rear downwardly extending portion 4I having an opening therein to enable the metal strips 31 and 38 to extend therethrough and then provide with a rearwardly extending portion 42 having an intermediate sharp pointed prong element 43, the forward edge of which is only slightly bent upwardly as shown in Fig. 3, with two prong elements 44 and 45, one to either side of the prong 43 extending forwardly and terminating in the portions 46 and 41 respectively, short of the front end of the prong 43 and having upward bends considerably more acute than the upward bend of the prong 43. At the front end of the portion 40 of the housing 39, there is provided a downwardly extending portion 48 with `a tongue 49 cut out of the portion 40 and slightly waved, with the upper convex face of the tongue 49 `engaging the lower face of the strip 38 and pressing it snugly against thev strip 31 in turn to press the forward portion of the strip 31 against the lower face of the portion 48. 'Ihe rear lower face of the strip 36 above the housing 39 is secured to the upper face of the portion 40 in any suitable way such as welding, soldering, or the like. The, forward portions of the strips 31 and 38 also are preferably secured to one another, by welding, solderingv or the like, and similarly the upper forward face of the strip 31 is preferably secured to the lower'face of the portion 40 of the housing 39 by welding, soldering or the like.

The portion 4I furthermore has two prongs I4I Iextending down below the lower level of the prong elements 43, 46 and 41.

In the present instance, the sides of the upper strip 31 rearward of the portion 48, have ears 50 bent from the edges thereof to form journals for the pin 5I of the knurled Wheel 52 extending through the opening 53 in the upper strip 36 and also extending through an opening 54 in the intermediate strip 31 registering with the opening 53 to enable the roller 5I] to engage the upper face of the strip 38.

The prongs 43, 46 and 41 are provided to secure the gripper or pin 35 to the sheets of paper 55 secured to the upper face of the platen I in the Well-known method customary in the trade,

the prong 43, as shown in Fig. 3, piercing the paper 55 and being buried under th-e same with the prongs 46 and 41 to either side thereof disposed to engage the upper exposed face of the paper 5 While the prongs I4I pierce thev paper 55, as shown.

'I'he rear ends of the strips 36, 31 and 38 have a predetermined curve or bend, as shown, the rear end of the strip 38 being slightly bowed so that its extreme rear edge snugly engages the upper face of the paper 55 to prevent a sheet of paper, label, card or the like being obstructed by 1t when fed into gripping engagement by the gripper 6. The rear end of the strip 31 on the other hand is bowed to extend upward at a considerable angle, in the present instance, of about forty-five degrees to the upper face of the paper 55, and adjacent the upwardly bowed end of the outer strip 36. The two outer strips 36 and 38 are preferably composed of half tempered steel of about .009 of an inch in thickness, while the intermediate strip 31 is of an extremely flexible steel such as high grade Swedish steel of about .004 of an inch. With this type of gripper, the intermediate strip is particularly yieldable to prevent interfering with the ready reception of a very thin sheet of paper in the act of advancing the same while the outer strips 36 and 38 serve an entirely different purpose. While the strip 38 might be as flexible as the intermediate strip 31, a strip composed of half tempered steel, if thin enough, will serve the purpose, so long as it snugly engages the upper face of the paper 55 to prevent the sheet of material being fed from unintentionally passing under the strip 38 between the strip 38 and the paper 55. The strip 36, on the other hand, should be of a stiffer nature than that of the strip 31 to act as a buffer, reenforcement and protection to the intermediate strip 31. The free end of the strip 31 need not necessarily engage the free end of the strip 36 so long as the portion 56 thereof is spaced from the strip 36 and in engagement with the upper face of the strip 38 so that the bowed portion 56 of the intermediate strip 31 may cooperate with the upper face of the adjacent portion of the strip 38 frictionally to anchor the card, sheet of paper, or the like in printing position. The portion 4I in these pins is provided to serve as the forward stop for the card, sheet of paper, or the like, that is, the material to be printed, the strips 31 and 36 thus cooperating with the portion 4I to anchor the strip in printing position.

Still furthermore, the knurled wheels 52 will ride on the edges of the material to be printed and provide additional frictional contact due to the resiliency of the strip 36 so that the material to be printed may be frictionally anchored in position against the strip 38 between the bowed portions 56 and knurled wheels 52. With the pivot point, to-wit: the pin 5I of the knurled roller 52 disposed above the strip 31, the arc of the roller 52 exposed below the strip 31 for engagement with the material to be printed, will cooperate to facilitate ready feed of the sheet of material to be printed while being advanced into and out of printing position.

In operation with the platen I in descended open position, and the material to be printed in a stack 21, the nozzle 5 will be lowered into engagement with the upper face of the top sheet in the stack 21 whereupon the suction nozzle will act to pick up the uppermost sheet and then rise with the sheet so picked. Thereupon the feed grippers 6 of the carrier 1 will move to receive the sheet so raised, grip it, and will then advance it into gripping engagement with the grippers 35 on the platen I. Thereupon, the carrier 1 will clear the platen I and the platen I will close into printing position. After the impression, the platen I will open, and upon assuming the position shown in dash-and-dot lines in Fig. 1, the removing fingers 51 on the shaft 58 at the end of the arm 59 will swing over, open its jaws, and engage the sheet held by the grippers 35 and remove the same, whereupon the platen I will return to the original open position ready to receive the next feed.

The form of gripper 60, shown in Fig. 6, differs from the form of gripper 35 shownin Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 primarily in that it dispenses with the wheel 52 and consequently, of course, with the function performed by the wheel 52, in this case -depending entirely upon a frictional lock, namely, that between the bowed portion 6I of the intermediate strip 62, and the lower strip 63.

The gripper or fork shown in Figs. 12 and 13 is of the type which dispenses with the securing prongs, such as the prongs 43, 46 and 41 of the form shown in Fig. 2. The lower strip 64 corresponding to the strip 38 of the embodiment shown in Fig. 2 is enlarged at its front end into the bifurcated extension 65. 'Ihe intermediate strip `66 composed of high grade Swedish steel of about .004 of an inch in thickness, is secured at its free end to the rear end of the upper face of the extension by soldering, welding and the like, and then bent over to form the flange 68 folded upon the front end of the upper strip 61 and secured thereto by soldering, welding or the like. The' upper strip 61, similar to the strip 36 of the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2, is provided with a knurled wheel 69 which also extends through an opening in the intermediate strip 66 and normally rests on the upper face of the lower strip 64 so that the sheet of paper constituting the material to be printed is frictionally secured against the lower strip 64 by the knurled wheel 69 and the bowed portion 10 of the intermediate `highly flexible, high grade Swedish steel grip 66.

The fork shown in Figs. 12 and 13 is secured to a support by a screw or the like, not shown, passing through the recess 1I into the support. The support may be the platen, such as the platen I in Fig. 1, when the sheet to be printed remains in the fork and thereby positioned on the platen during the printing operation, or thel fork may be secured to a portion of the frame adjacent the edge of the platen to facilitate removing the fork after the sheet to be printed has been positioned and before the platen is moved into closed printing position.

The embodiment shown in Figs. l0 and 11 of guides for the stacks of sheets on the platform 3, before being advanced onto the platen I', presents as an advantage added flexibility. With this embodiment, labels, cards, sheets of paper or like work of different sizes, both as to width as well as length, may be stacked in position to be advanced onto the platen I. As an instance, here, instead of the plate 8 shown in Fig. '7, there is provided a plate 12 of suflicient thickness so that it may accommodate the slots 13, 14 and 15 with the diminished Vnecks 16. The slots 13, 14 and 15 are provided to accommodate the bases 11 of the pins 18 `which extend up through the posts 'I9 which, in turn, are provided with polygonally shaped diminished ends slidably mounted but fixed against rotation in the ranged in pairs, the web 86 of the strip 84 extending from the edge of the strip 84 remote from the strip 85, and the web 81 extending from the edge of the strip remote from the strip 84. It will be noted that the spacing of the strips 84 and 8'5 of each pair are independent of one another so that the material stacked by The pins 18 extend up beyond the upper ends of the brackets formed by the posts 19 and arms 8l and 82 and are preferably threaded at the upper ends to receive the wing nuts 88 byfmeans of which the brackets may be anchored in thev plate 12 at a predetermined distance removed from the edge 89 or from the stop wall 9, shown in Fig. 7, when the plate 12 is secured on the platform 3. In this way, it willappear that-the individualV pairs of strips 84 and 85 may be anchored at different distances from the edge89 or stop 9 to accommodate stacks of different lengths relative to one another.

Thel arrangement of the embodiment shown in Figs. 10 and 11 also provide for greater Widths than that made possible by the combined lengths of the arms 8| and 82 by using the'strip 84 of the rst orsecond pair for alining one side of the sheet of material to be printed and the strip'85 of the second or third pair, in which case the intermediate strips 85 and 84 will, of course, `be removed. The strips 84 and 85, while normally slidable on'the arms'l and 82, respectively, may be anchored in place by the set screws 90 extending through the blocks 83 and frictionally engaging the arms 8| or 82 in anchoring or locking position. l i

The plate 12 may be secured to the platform 3 by a set screw 9| similar to that shown in Fig. 7a screw threadedly connected to the shoe I 9| slidably mounted in the slot 92 formed in y the platform 3, the set screw `SH extending through an opening in the plate 12 similar to the manner of securing the platel 8 to the platl form 3.

The guides I1 and I8 Vof the embodiment shown in Figs. '1` vand 8 are slidably mounted on the bar L6 to adjust for they Width of the material to be printed. The space between the stop 9 and the rear faces of the webs 22 and 24 is adjustable by moving the plate 8 relative to the platform 3, and I`8' relative to lone another have been determined, the set screws 20 will be actuated to anchor the guides l1 and I8 relative to one another on the bar I6, and when the space between the stop'9 and the rear faces of thewebs 22 and l,

24 has been determined for a given job, the set screws l0 will be actuated to anchor the plate l8 in such position onthe platform 3.

In operation, after the printing impression has taken place, and the platen l has moved into When the spaces of the guides .I1K

the position shown in dash-and-dot lines in Fig.r`

l, as is well knownin the Miller feeder, such as disclosed in Patent No. 1,194,327, issued to E. Cheshire, dated August 8, 1916, the fingers 51 will be actuated to grip the sheet 93 and carry it over to the trough-94 and deposit it therein.

It is obvious that various changes and modications may be made tothe details of'construction without departing from the general spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. l

I claim:

1`. The Acombination of a feeder platform having stack forming guides operatively associated therewith corresponding in position to the grippers on the platen of a printing press,'said guides including a transversely extending support, and wings slidably mounted on said support to correspond to the width of the material to be print- 2. The combination of a feeder platform havying stack forming guides operatively associated therewith corresponding in position to the grippers on the platen of a printing press, said guides ring means.

4. The combination of a feeder platform having' a stop wall at the rear thereof, a plate securedto said platform, a transversely extending bar secured to the plate, pairs of guides slidably mounted on said bar but xed against rotation, the guides of each 'pair having rearwardly eX- tending flanges spaced from one 'another according to the width of the material to be printed, said plate being adjustably secured to said platform to ladjust the position of the guides relative to said stop wall to correspond to the length of the material to be printed.

5. lThe combination of a feederplatform having a stop wall at thev rear thereof, a plate secured to said platform, a transversely extending bar secured to the plate, pairs of guides slidably mountedv on said'bar but fixed ragainst rotation, the guides of each pair'having rearwardly extending flanges spaced from one another according to the width of the material to be printed, said plate being adjustably secured to said platform to adjust the position of the guides relative to said stop wall to correspond to the length of the material to be printed, the rearwardly extending flange on one'of said guides being longer than that of the flange on its associated guide to accommodate a sheet, card or label having a rounded edge on one side.

6. The combination of a feeder platform having a stop Wall at the rear thereof, a plate secured to said platform, a plurality of brackets having transversely extending arms mounted on said plate independent of one another, guides Amounted on said arms and having rearwardly extending webs, said guides vbeing slidably mounted ing to the width of the material to `be printed, means for securing the guides against movement when so positioned, said brackets being slidably mounted on .said plate to adjust forv the length of the material to be printed, and means for securing the brackets against movement when properly positioned.

7. The combination of a feeder platform having a stop wall at the rear thereof, a plate vsecured to said platform, a plurality of brackets having transversely extending arms mounted on said plate independent of one another, guides mounted on said arms and having rearwardly extending webs, said guides being slidably mounted on said arms and removable therefrom to space lthe guides selected according to the width of the material to be printed, and means for securing positioned ARTHUR SHIPP.

Images