US3477591A - Means for separating and stacking newspapers and the like - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 11, 1969 A. l. ANDERSSON 3,477,591

MEANS FOR SEPARATING AND STACKING NEWSPAPERS AND THE LIKE Filed D60. 15, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 zrme/m s Nov. 11, 1969 A. l. ANDERSSON 3,477,591

MEANS FOR SEPARATING AND STACKING NEWSPAPERS AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 15, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 $55-54 may:

B Y a reazewk. 59854, $595 fJZuw-uw United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE- A device for counting newspapers, magazines, signature and thelike, entering into the mechanism in either aseparated or overlapped fashion. Meansfor counting the signatures are provided at a predetermined location. A diverting. means controlled by the counting device diverts or deflects a predetermined count of signatures so as to be stacked upon a selected one of two pockets. When a predetermined number of signatures are stacked in a pocket the floor of the pocket is withdrawn from the stack causing the stack to fall between two sidernembers, which preferably experience vibratory motion for straightening the stack. 1

As soon as the predetermined count is reached the diverting means is shifted to a second position causing the stream of signatures to be diverted toward and fall upon the remaining pocket. Means are provided for pushing a completed stack developed between the side walls to an output station. A completed stack which reaches the output station may be comprised of signatures delivered from only one of said pockets or may be comprisedof signatures delivered from both of said pockets with the folded or binded edge of the signature groups from each pocket being arranged in alternating fashion to produce a level stack. 7

The present invention relates. to the newspaper and magazine field and more particularly to a novel stacking device for stacking newspapers, magazines, signatures and t One of the major requirements in the newspaper, magazine and book industries is to provide automatic highspeed means for stacking newspapers, magazines, signaa tures and the like into bundles either of uniformcounts or of predetermined differing counts at' operating speeds which are commensurate with the speeds of presses, folding machines, cutting and binding machines and the like so as to be able to stack such signatures immediately after the printing and signature formation operations without the necessity for reducing or otherwise altering the printing and final folding and cuttin'g operations of news paper, magazine orsignature forming equipment.

One such signature stacking device presently in widespread use throughout the above mentioned industries is set forth in detail in US. Patent 3,088,604, issued May 7, 1963 and assigned to the assignee ofthe present invention, US. Patent 3,326,353, issued June 20, 1967 and copending US. application Ser. No. 527,436, filedFeb. 15, 1966. In very brief termsfthe stacking device set forth in the above documents is comprised of endless conveyor means having "a plurality of stacking pocketso'r bucketslocated at spaced intervals along the, endlessc'onveyor and arranged to continuously pass through a stacking region at which point each bucket intercepts and gathers a predetermined number of newspapers discharged Patented Nov. 11, 1969 bymeans of an infeed conveyor toward the stacking region. Such devices are rather expensive, are quite complicated and experience a number of difiiculties when operating at high speed. q

The presentinvention is characterized by providing .a signature stacking mechanism having a vastly simplified arrangement and which, in spite of its simplicity of design, is capable of stacking signatures at relatively high operating speeds while at the same time assuring accurate separation of the signature stream being discharged to the stacking device.

The present invention is comprised of means for direct ing signatures, arranged in either an overlapping or spaced fashion, through a counting device capable of providing a control signal indicative of the passage of a predetermined number of signatures being passed therethrough.

A rockably mounted diverting mechanism operating under the control of the counting mechanism is capable of being pivoted to assume either one of two angular positions thereby causing the stream of signatures to be diverted either to one side or the other of the diverting mechanism so as to be directed toward and stacked in either one of two diagonally aligned prestacking pockets arranged on opposite sides of the diverting mechansm.

The floor of each stacking pocket is preferably comprised of a plurality of spaced members. The spaced members of each pocket floor dovetail with a plurality of upright fingers provided at the top end of an associated side wall such that the side walls define a stacking compartment which ultimately receives the signatures from each pocket as it is withdrawn from a position wherein the fingers of the pocket floor are removed from their interleaving position with the fingers of the side walls forming the stacking compartment, The fingers provided in the upper end of each side wall act to restrain the signatures from moving in the direction in which the reciprocally mounted pockets are moved so as to cause the signatures to drop by gravity into the stacking compartment.

After one or a predetermined number of preformed stacks are delivered to the stacking compartment from one or more of the prestacking pockets, a reciprocally mounted pusher plate, positioned adjacent one side of the stacking compartment, moves the completed stack to a final delivery location which may, for example, be an outfeed conveyor.

In cases where a completed stack of signatures is comprised of a plurality of preformed stacks delivered from bothof said reciprocally mounted pockets, the folded edges of the signatures (or bound edges as the case may be) of each preformed stack are arranged in alternating fashion along opposite sides of the stack so as to provide a completed stack or bundle having an arrangement which compensates for the increased thickness of the folded or bound end of the signature thereby providing a substantially level bundle. The criticality of operating speeds necessary for driving the reciprocating pockets is substantially reduced through the use of the diverting means since the stream of signatdresrnay be directed to a first pocket while the remaining pocket undergoes reciprocating movement so as toavoidthe necessity for providing an extremely abrupt return movement of the pocket which has last delivered a prestacked group of signatures to the stacking compartment.

It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a novel stacking device for newspapers, magazines, signatures and the like wherein signatures fed in either a separated or overlapping fashion are initially caused to be prestacked 'upon a selected one of two diagonally aligned, preferably reciprocating pockets which, turn, cooperate with a stacking compartment to form bundles of an accurate, predetermined quantity of signatures.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel device for stacking newspapers, magazines, signatures and the like discharged to the device in either an overlapping or separated fashion and including diverting means positioned in the discharge path of the signatures for alternately diverting the signatures to a pair of preferably reciprocally mounted pockets. 2

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel device for stacking newspapers, magazines, signatures and the like into bundles of an accurate, predetermined quantity comprising means for diverting the signatures fed to the stacking device to either one of two preferably reciprocally mounted prestacking pockets which cooperate with the side walls of a stacking compartment to drop the preformed stacks into the stacking compartment and having a reciprocally mounted pusher plate for delivering a completed stack contained in the stacking compartment to a final delivery station.

These as well as other objects of the present invention will become apparent when reading the accompanying description and drawings in which:

FIGURES 1 and 2 are side and end elevational views, respectively, showing one preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIGURES 3a and 3b show the diverter in use with signatures arranged in overlapped fashion.

With reference to the drawings. FIGURES 1 and 2 show a newspaper stacking device designed in accordance with the principles of the present invention. That portion of FIGURE 1 positioned above and to the left of the signature designated by the numeral will be omitted from the initial description as the mechanism shown in the upper left-hand portion of FIGURE 1 relates to an alternative embodiment of the invention.

The single signature or newspaper 10 is shown in a vertical position with its folded edge 11 facing downwardly. The signature 10 constitutes one signature of a stream being fed to the stacking device by means not shown. The stream of signatures may alternatively enter by means of a vertical conveyor (not shown) or by means of a substantially horizontally aligned conveyor with the discharge end of the horizontally aligned conveyor being provided with guide means (not shown) capable of turning or reflecting the path of signatures so as to move in a downward vertical direction causing the signatures to enter into a free fall region identified by the signature 10. The signature 10 may be a newspaper, magazine or other like printed material.

In one preferred embodiment the signatures enter into the free fall region in separated fashion such that the rear or upstream end of signature 10 is spaced by a predetermined distance from the downward or folded end 11' of a signature 10' falling behind signature 10. Obviously, in a like manner, the folded edge 11 of signature 10- will follow the cut or upstream end of the signature fed to the device immediately prior to signature 10, which has not been shown for purposes of simplicity.

The signature 10 is caused by gravity to fall downwardly between a pair of guide plates 12 and 13 which constitute the inlet portion of the stacking apparatus. The guide plates Hand 13 may be provided with outwardly turned upper eiids 12a and 13a, respectively, to further assist each signature in being guided between plates 12 and 13. The taper of portions 12a and 13a may be straight or curved.

The guiding plates 12 and 13 may be translucent or transparent or may be provided with suitable apertures to permit the passage of light rays in the region identified by dotted line 14a, which light rays emanate from a light source 15 so as to impinge upon a photosensitive device 14 such as a photocell. As the signatures pass between the guide plates in the above mentioned separated fashion the light ray will be intermittently blocked causing the photocell device to generate impulses each time a gap between falling signatures occupies the region of the light rays shown by dotted line 14a. The electrical impulses generated as a result of the pulsed light source are applied to a counting and control device for the purpose of actuating mechanisms yet to be described to enable the formation of signature bundles of a predetermined quantity.

A stream separating tongue 16 which is pivotally mounted upon a horizontal shaft 17 to permit rocking thereof, is supported upon the supporting frame (not shown) of the stacking device. For example, the shaft 17 may be journaled within suitable means provided in opposite sides of the frame F. The separating tongue is preferably formed to have concave shaped side surfaces 16a and 16b to facilitate the diverting and guidance of the signatures in a manner to be more fully described. The upper edge of the separating tongue is located beneath the lower end of inlet guide plates 12 and 13 and may be rocked by drive means 41, to be more fully described, to the solid line position 16 or alternatively to the dotted line position 16 in order to deflect a predetermined quantity of signatures to either one side or the other side of the separating tongue.

The signatures are deflected, dependent upon the position of tongue 16, to either the left or right-hand side of tongue 16 as shown by curved arrows 16c and 16d, respectively, so as to be directed to and collected by the pockets 18 and 19, respectively, positioned on opposite sides of an imaginary vertical plane 16e which is coplanar with a vertical diameter of shaft 17.

Since the construction and function of each pocket is substantially identical, only one of said pockets will be described in detail herein for the purposes of simplicity. The pocket 18 is comprised of a diagonally aligned fioor 20 (shown best in FIGURE '2) having a plurality of spaced fingers 21 which dovetail with a plurality of spaced fingers 23 projecting generally upwardly and outwardly from the upper end of a stacking compartment side wall 22. g

The floor of each pocket is further comprised of two pairs of supporting arms 2929 and 3030 which are aligned substantially in vertical planes and which are secured to a pair of hollow elongated sleeves 32 and 33. The sleeves are reciprocally supported by a pair of diagonally aligned shafts 34 and 35, respectively, which permit reciprocating movement of the pockets 18 and 19, in a manner to be more fully described. The shafts 34 and 35 are secured to the frame (in a manner not shown).

Each of the side walls 22, 22 forming the stacking compartment and provided with the upwardly and outwardly extending fingers 23, are in turn supported by horizontally aligned shafts 24, 24 which may be journaled in means, not shown, provided in the supporting walls of the frame.

As can best be seen from FIGURE 1 the upper ends of the end walls 22, 22 taper inwardly and downwardly to form two vertically aligned side wall portions 25, 25 which define a stacking compartment for receiving preformed stacks of signatures collected in the pockets 18 and 19.

While the fingers 23, which act as supports for the downwardly facing edges of signatures stacked in the pockets, and the side walls 25 are rigidly suspended by shafts 24 and 24, the side walls are preferably designed to experience vibratory motion, which vibratory motion is, in turn, imparted to the edges of the signatures in order to form a signature stack in the stacking compartment 26 which will have smoothly aligned edges along the sides of the stack engaging the side walls 25, 25.

The vibratory motion imparted to the side walls 22, 22 may take the form of vibrator means and 61 mechanically coupled to the side walls, as indicated by the dotted lines 60a and 61a, respectively. The amplitude of the vibrations imparted to side walls 22 is preferably small to avoid undue displacement of the plates from their solid-line positions, as shown in FIGURE 1.

The frequency of the vibrations imparted may be of any suitable value within a wide operating range since the actual frequency selected is not critical in controlling the formation of a bundle having substantially smooth side edges.

Each of the reciprocally mounted pockets may be displaced from their solid line positions 18 and 19 to their dotted line positions 18 and 19', respectively, by their associated pneumatically operated cylinder means. For purposes of simplicity, only one of the pneumatically driven reciprocating means is shown in the figures. The pneumatic means 43, which may be comprised of a cylinder 43a positioned between shafts 34 and 35 is secured by means of a cross-bar 44 to the frame F. Air pressure entering the cylinder controls the operation of a piston rod 45 having its downward end rigidly secured to a cross-bar member'46 whose opposite ends are secured to sleeves 32 and 33.

FIGURE 1 shows pocket 18 containing a quantity 36 of signatures which have been guided into the pocket when the diverting tongue is in the solid line position 16. The phantom line 37 constitutes an outline of a similar quantity of signatures and the manner in which they would be stacked upon the floor of pocket 21.

For the purposes of describing the operation of the present invention, let it be assumed that a predetermined quantity of signatures have been stacked upon the floor of pocket 19. The appropriate count will have been reached as a result of pulsing counter 40 by the photosensitive means 14. When the predetermined count is reached, a pulse or other suitable signal is applied to control means 41 which, through mechanical coupling designated by dotted line 41a, rocks the diverting tongue from the dotted line position 16' to the solid line position 16 causing signatures subsequently fed to the device to be diverted toward pocket 18 (which for the purpose of the present discussion will be considered as having already been emptied in a manner to be more fully described).

Simultaneously with this operation control means 41 Will provide an enabling signal to the cylinder-piston assembly 43 so as to cause the piston rod 45 to be driven diagonally downward in a direction shown by arrow 38a until the pocket assembly 19 reaches the dotted line position 19'. It can clearly be seen that the fingers 21 formed in the floor of pocket 19 move from the dovetailing position with fingers 23 eflfectively causing the floor of pocket19 to be removed from beneath the stack of signatures which have been collected by the pocket.

The dovetailing fingers 23 of the right-hand side wall 22 relative to FIGURE 1 retain the edges of the signatures stacked in pocket 19 so as to prevent the signatures from moving in the direction shown by arrow 38a and thereby causing the signatures to be guided so as to fall by gravity down to, the base or floor 26a of the stacking compartment 26.

The enabling signal applied to assembly 43 then causes the pocket 19 to be returned from the dotted position 19' to the solid line position 19 in readiness for receiving another batch of signatures. The frequency of reciprocation of pocket 19 is not too critical since the stationary pocket 18 will be receiving signatures at this time allowing ample time for return of the pocket to the solid line position 19.

In a like manner, after a predetermined count of signatures has been stacked in pocket 18, this pocket may be, reciprocally driven in the downward direction shown by arrow 37a and returned in the upward direction shown by arrow 37b by a mechanism similar to the mechanism 43 but not shown in the figure for purposes of simplicity. As can clearly be seen, the uppermost edges of the fingers 21 are completely separated from the dovetailing fingers 23 so as to remove all obstructions from the path of the signatures as they are caused to fall into the.stacking compartment 26. The operation of the pneumatic driving means should be performed at a high enough speed so as to prevent the newspapers from curling or bending, in the manner shown by arrow A and thus to permit the signatures to lie substantially fiat as they fall by gravity into the stacking compartment 26.

With the arrangement shown in FIGURE 1, the stack of 'fsignatures delivered from pocket 1'9 will fall upon the upper surface of a signature stack .27 previously delivered from pocket 18. Beneath the stack 27 is a stack 28 which "was previously delivered from pocket 19.

By alternately directing the separated stream of signatures to opposite sides of the diverting tongue a completed stack of signatures will be formed in the stacking compartment 26 in which the folded edges of each preformed stack will be facing in alternating directions so as to greatly enhance the stability and evenness of the stackl 'For example, considering the operating description given above, the first stack 28 will have its folded edges adjacent the right-hand side plate 25; the second stack 27 will have its folded edges adjacent the left-hand side plate 25, and so forth. It can clearly be seen that if an even number of stacks are dropped into the stacking compartment 26 by each of the pockets 18 and 19, that the stack will be relatively stable and the topmost signature will be substantially flat and lie in a. horizontal plane. However, even in the case where one of the pockets feeds an odd number of signature batches while the remaining pocket feeds an even number of signature batches, the stability of the final bundle will still, neverthless, be

greatly enhanced. Alternatively, the bundle ultimately formed in the stacking region 26 may be exclusively comprised of signatures delivered from only one pocket.

, After the final stack has been completed, the stack is pushed out of the stacking compartment in a transverse direction by means of a pusher plate 39 which experiences reciprocating movement under the control of a pneumatic driving device 42 including a push rod designated by the dotted line 42a secured to pusher plate 39 enabling it to be moved to the dotted line position 39 which may, for example, be an outfeed conveyor or alternatively a final delivery table. In the case where an outfeed conveyor is employed, the conveyor may be mechanically driven and becomprised of a belt 70 (only a portion of which is shown) entrained around rollers 71 (only one of which is shown) which is driven by a motor means 72 so as to deliver each completed bundle to a wrapping location, for example.

The operation of the pneumatic driving device 42 may be controlled by the control device 411, shown in FIG- URE l, which generates an enabling pulse or other suitable signal at its output 41b. The enabling signal may be generated either after each pocket has delivered a stack of signatures to the stacking compartment 26 or alternatively after a plurality of stacks have beenv delivered to the stacking compartment by the pockets 18 and 19 which experience reciprocating movement in an alternating fashion.

It should be noted that the mechanical coupling to diverting tongue 16 has been shown in simple schematic fashion by a dotted line 41a. It should be noted that rocking of the diverting tongue may be controlled by means of a similar air pressure cylinder. All of the air pressure cylinders provided for operating the mechanisms of the device may be controlled by control means 41 which may, for example, be a programmed apparatus which is further under control of the pulsing assembly 1415 in order to obtain the desired size of batches and the stacking of same in compartment 26.

Whereas the above description of operation has been set forth for an application wherein the signatures are delivered in a separated fashion, it should further be understood that the stacking device of the present invention will work with equal success for applications in which the newspapers are fed in overlapping fashion. For example, considering the apparatus shown in the upper lefthand portion of FIGURE 1, there is shown a newspaper or signature stream 61 fed from means, not shown, in which the folded edges 11 of the signatures face toward the right and the signatures are arranged in an overlapping fashion with a predetermined spacing being provided between the forwardly facing folded edges. The spacing may, for example, lie within the range from 1"-4".

The overlapping stream 61 is directed toward an infeed conveyor assembly 47 comprised of an upper portion having a plurality of belts 48 entrained around rollers 49, 50 and 51. The lower conveyor portion is comprised of a plurality of belts 52 entrained around rotatably mounted rollers 53 and 54. This stream enters the left-hand end of the infeed conveyor and is discharged at the discharge or right-hand end at which point suitable guiding means, shown by the curved dotted line 65, causes the stream to be deflected or guided so as to be fed in a downward vertical direction. Obviously, the stream may be further guided by conveyor means (not shown) continuing from the right-hand end of infeed conveyor 47 and terminating at a position in the region of dotted line 14a. If desired, the infeed conveyor assembly 47 may be a single continuous assembly which curves downwardly, as shown by dotted line 65, so as to terminate near the position occupied by dotted line 14a.

Since the signature stream is now being fed in an overlapping fashion, suitable counting means 58 of the type shown in FIGURE 3 of the above mentioned US. Patent 3,326,353 may be employed for the purpose of counting the signatures. This counter may be a newspaper counter of the type described in Patent 3,197,136.

To provide full and complete information regarding the rate of movement of the newspapers, a speed sensing device 56 may be mechanically coupled to roller 50, for example, as shown by dotted line 57. The counting information, together with the speed sensing information will provide the output signal to control device 41 at the exact moment required in order to rock diverting tongue 16.

The operation of the alternative arrangement is as follows:

FIGURE 3a shows the position of diverting tongue 16 when newspapers are to be guided toward pocket 18. At a predetermined instant of time controlled by the counter 58 and the speed sensing device 56 the diverting tongue 16 is moved from the position of FIGURE 30 to the position of FIGURE 3b so as to enable signature 10" to fall into pocket 18 while intercepting signature 10" and causing it to be diverted toward the right so as to fall into pocket 19.

A stream separating means may be comprised of a stationary plate 75a and a reciprocating plate 75b provided to momentarily halt the stream under control of the control device 41 so as to provide a break or gap in the stream of overlapping signatures to enable the diverting tongue, when moving from the position shown in FIGURE 3b to the position shown in FIGURE 3a, to again divert the signature stream to be directed to and fall into pocket 18.

However, a preferred stream separating means which is of the pneumatic operating type, is set forth in copending application Ser. No. 724,524, filed Apr. 26, 1968 and assigned to the assignee of the instant invention. Obviously, any other suitable type of stream separating means may be employed, if desired. The stream separating means is preferably associated with the infeed conveyor to provide gaps in the stream of signatures at predetermined intervals before the signatures pass between the plates 75a, 75b which are then both stationary and serve as guide plates. The gaps are provided to separate predetermined groups of signatures each having the desired number of signatures. The counter is adjusted to rock tongue 16 in response to the impulse created by each gap when passing the light beam 14a.

Thus, the stacker may be used either for a stream of separated signatures or for a stream of overlapping signatures by merely adjusting the counter for receiving impulses from each signature passing between the guide plates 12-13 or 75a-75b, or for receiving impulses from each group of overlapping signatures, respectively.

It can be seen from the foregoing description that the present invention provides a novel means for forming signature stacks of an accurate predetermined count wherein the finally formed stackhas extremely good stability by alternating the sides at which the folded edges are arranged in the final stack even in the case where the final stack is comprised of a batch of signatures delivered from only a single reciprocating pocket. The present invention provides a stacking device of greatlyv simplified designand operation relative to stacking devices heretofore in use thereby enabling signature stacking to be performed at extremely high operating speeds. Signatures delivered to the stacking device may be arranged in either a separated or overlapped fashion.

Although there has been described a preferred embodiment of this novel invention, many variations and :modifications will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, the floors 20 of each of the pockets 18 may be pivoted at their upper ends (i.e. the ends nearest the imaginary line 16e) so that their lower ends may be controlled (by pneumatic means, for example), to pivot substantially into alignment with imaginary line 162. For such modifications the length of the pocket floors 20 may be increased to provide sufficient clearance for the signatures of fall into the stacking region 26.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for stacking signatures fed thereto in a substantially continuous stream comprising:

first means for guiding said stream along a predetermined path; 3 first and second reciprocally mounted pockets for receiving signatures and being arranged on opposite sides of said predetermined path; second means for selectively emptying saidpockets by selectively imparting reciprocating movement'of said pockets; third means lying along said path for selectively diverting the stream away from said predetermined path in first and second directions toward said first and second pockets respectively; first and second stationary means each positioned adjacent an associated pocket for limiting linear movement of signatures received by a pocket being stacked and guiding stacked signatures toward a'predetermined location where said pocket is emptied.

2. The device of claim 1 further comprising" compartment means positioned intermediate said pockets and at said predetermined location for selectively receiving stacked signatures from both of said pockets? 3. The device of claim 2 further comprising pusher means for delivering signature stacks deposited insaid compartment means to an output Station.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein each of said pockets is comprised of a floor having spaced fingers extending toward said path;

means comprising a pair of side plates defining a compartment of receiving batches of signatures inn alternating fashion from at least one of said pockets.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein each of said first and second means is further comprised of spaced fingers interleaving with the spaced fingers of an associated pocket floor to define a stop for its associated pocket which limits the amount of fall experienced by signatures diverted toward a pocket;

said spaced fingers being further aligned to guide a stack of signatures toward said compartment when said pocket is emptied.

6. The device of claim further comprising means for selectively reciprocally moving said pockets toward a second position causing signatures gathered upon the pocket floor so moved to be dropped into said compartment guided by said spaced fingers and subsequently to move said pockets toward a first position in readiness for receiving another batch of signatures.

7. The device of claim 4 further comprising means for imparting vibratory motion to said side plates to smooth the alignment of signature edges engaging the side plates as the signature stack is being formed in the compartment.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein said signatures are arranged with folded edges forward and are supplied to said device in space intervals;

monitoring means for counting said signatures just prior to their passing said diverting means.

9. The device of claim 8 further comprising means for alternatively enabling one of said pockets and simultaneously operating said diverting means to divert said stream to the pocket opposite the one being enabled, under control of a predetermined count developed by said monitoring means.

10. The device of claim 9 further comprising compartment means positioned intermediate said pockets for selectively receiving stacked signatures from both of said pockets.

11. The device of claim 10 further comprising pusher means for delivering signature stacks deposited in said compartment means to an output station.

12. The device of claim 11 further comprising means for operating said pusher means after a predetermined number of signature batches are dropped into said compartment by the operation of said pockets.

13. The device of claim 1 further comprising monitoring means for counting said signatures just prior to their passing said diverting means.

14. The device of claim 13 further comprising means for alternatively enabling one of said pockets and simultaneously operating said diverting means to divert said stream to the pocket opposite the one being enabled, under control of a predetermined count developed by said monitoring means.

15. The device of claim 1 wherein said signatures are delivered to said devices with folded edges forward and being arranged in overlapping fashion.

means for selectively separating the overlapping stream V to provide gaps between predetermined quantities of said signatures prior to reaching said third diverting means.

16. The device of claim 15 further comprising means for counting the signatures in said stream to control operation of said stream separating means upon reaching a predetermined count.

17. The device of claim 1 wherein said stream is fed to said device in a downward vertical direction with folded edges facing downwardly;

said first means guiding said stream along said vertical said third means diverting said stream to alternately follow first and second paths extending diagonally in said first and second directions to opposite sides of said downward vertical direction.

18. The device of claim 17 wherein each of said pockets are aligned along an associated one of diagonal directions to receive signatures diverted toward each pocket.

19. 'The device of claim 18 further comprising fourth means for receiving signatures deposited in said pockets;

means for alternately moving each of said pockets between asignature receiving and a signature depositing position;

said fourth means cooperating with each of said pockets and including a stacking compartment; said first and second stationary means associated with each pocket limiting the linear movement of said signa- Lures along said first and second directions when said pockets are in said signature receiving position and direction signatures toward said stacking compartment when said pockets are moved to said signature depositing position.

20. The device of claim 18 further comprising at least one stacking compartment for receiving signatures deposited in at least one of said pockets;

means for alternately moving each of said pockets in a reciprocating manner between a signature receiving and a signature depositing position;

at least one of said first and second stationary means associated with the pocket which loads said stacking compartment being adapted to direct signatures toward said stacking compartment when its associated pocket is moved toward the signature depositing position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,266,737 5/ 1918 Wood. 1,856,978 5/ 1932 Terrey 214--6.5 2,109,050 2/1938 Quick et a1. 2,128,316 8/1938 Paul. 2,133,264 10/1938 Wolif. 2,137,478 11/1938 Delany. 3,082,885 3/ 1963 Williamson 214-6.5 3,150,578 9/1964 Dale et a1. 3,166,206 1/1965 Porter et a1.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner RIBERT J. SPAR, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 19339, 93

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