US3863821A - Bursting, Separating and/or Die Cutting Apparatus for Continuous Forms - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to means for automatically, continuously bursting and separating individual items at relatively high speed from a continuous series of items, such for example, as manifolded document forms or cutting from manifolded perforated items to provide clean cut forms. In one embodiment the invention employs oppositely disposed, substantially rigid, yet deformable members disposed in confronting arrangement in the path of the items to be separated. The deformable members are of differing resiliencies with the upper member being slightly more resilient than the lower member and the lower member including a longitudinally extending discontinuity or channel. The two members are movable relative to one another with the items disposed therebetween so as to cause the resilient portion of the upper member to distend slightly into the discontinuity in the lower member stretching the items tautly between the confronting surfaces of the deformable members causing the leading item to be burst apart and separate from the adjacent trailing items. In a second embodiment of the invention the upper member is provided with a cutting or severing element receivable in a cavity in the lower member such that items disposed therebetween have a portion of the area adjacent to the perforations removed therefrom as the items are fed therebetween at high speed. Means adjacent to the deformable members and in the pathway of the items cause the burst item to be rapidly discharged out of the path of the advancing items and into a stacking pocket or hopper or onto a shingling table.

Description

United States Patent Van Bennekom [451 Feb. 4, 1975 BURSTING, SEPARATING AND/OR DIE CUTTING APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS FORMS [75] Inventor: Hans Lochmann Van Bennekom,

Rochester, N.Y.

[73] Assignee: Burroughs Corporation, Detroit,

Mich.

[22] Filed: May 2, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 356,515

[52] US. Cl 225/93, 225/101, 225/105 [51] Int. Cl B26f 3/02, B65h 35/10 [58] Field of Search 225/100, 101, 106, 93,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,794,228 2/1974 Calwill 225/105 X Primary Examiner-Andrew R. Juhasz Assistant Examiner-Leon Gilden Attorney, Agent, or FirmPaul W. Fish; Edward G. F iorito; Carl Fissell, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT The present invention relates to means for automatically, continuously bursting and separating individual items at relatively high speed from a continuous series of items, such for example, as manifolded document forms or cutting from manifolded perforated items to provide clean cut forms. In one embodiment the invention employs oppositely disposed, substantially rigid, yet deformable members disposed in confronting arrangement in the path of the items to be separated. The deformable members are of differing resiliencies with the upper member being slightly more resilient than the lower member and the lower member including a longitudinally extending discontinuity or channel. The two members are movable relative to one another with the items disposed therebetween so as to cause the resilient portion of the upper member to distend slightly into the discontinuity in the lower member stretching the items tautly between the confronting surfaces of the deformable members causing the leading item to be burst apart and separate from the adjacent trailing items.

In a second embodiment of the invention the upper member is provided with a cutting or severing element receivable in a cavity in the lower member such that items disposed therebetween have a portion of the area adjacent. to the perforations removed therefrom as the items are fed therebetween at high speed. Means adjacent to the deformable members and in the pathway of the items cause the burst item to be rapidly discharged out of the path of the advancing items and into a stacking pocket or hopper or onto a shingling table.

8 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures 1 BURSTING, SEPARATING AND/OR DIE CUTTING APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS FORMS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION to provide a more efficient and rapid method and means for handling individual printed items, utilize socalled continuous forms. The continuous form is variously defined but, for eample, may be a series of items which are separated by lines of weakening, such as perforations; and generally the forms are provided with advancing and guiding means usually in the form of parallel rows of sprocket holes engagagable with the vertically projecting pins of a pin feed tractor, for example.

Such items may also be produced in a continuous, nonperforated form; fan-folded back and forth; or may be rolled items or sheets. Such items are then divided into individual item sheets or documents by means of a cutter penetrator mechanism.

Usually, and for the most part, the known bursting devices employ pairs of rollers operable in surface contact and disposed in the pathway to the advancing items. Such rollers are generally arranged in separated sets or pairs in such manner that the speed differential between the sets or pairs and the fact that the item is gripped between one pair or set causes the items to become stretched therebetween. A stress raising element, e.g. breaker bar, is projected into the weakened area of the item, causing the individual item to be stripped or burst apart from the continuous series of forms.

While all such bursting devices operate reasonably satisfactorily, there is a noticeable high degree of noise involved. Also, accuracy of control of separation may be relatively difficult to obtain and maintain because of the lack of positive and precise contact engagement of the rollers with the document to be burst. All such devices are characteristically weighty, suffer from noticeably high inertia problems due to the large moving masses and the speeds involved. Additionally, such apparatus requires supervision and interplay between operator and machine if the form size varies since in many cases the position of or distance between the bursting rollers must be altered to accommodate the change in the form size or length.

Many prior art bursting devices suffer from one or more of the following problems in varying degrees of severity; bending, wrinkling or spindling of the items due mainly to the items entering the bight of the bursting rollers in the wrong manner; irregular bursting or ripping of the items in an area other than along the preweakened perforations; puncture type damage due in large measure to the type of penetrator employed; blurring of carbon image on multiply items due to excessive pressure build-up between snap or bursting rollers.

Many prior art burster constructions require some sort of cutter bar, blade, wheel, roller or other severing mechanism in addition to the hold and feed rollers in order to separate or burst the forms or items apart. Such equipment is costly to tool up and maintain, is

noisy, and must be renewed at periodic intervals due to wear and lubrication requirements.

Such prior art bursters as are generally available must be able to accommodate many size document lengths and widths necessitating operator intervention to change rollers, belts or pulleys, etc. Also, because all such known devices utilize sets or pairs of rollers operating at different relative speeds to hold and burst the forms apart, the apparatus tends to become excessively large or long or both and thus requires an undue amount of space which oftentimes cannot be conveniently accommodated in modern offices, laboratories, etc.

The present invention contemplates, but is obviously not limited to, the use of documents varying in length from 2 5/6 to 24 inches and in width between 6 and 20 inches. The paper or item thickness can vary from single ply item onion skin or thinner paper to as many as eight or more ply multipart forms.

So as to enable the present invention to be utilized with other and different cooperating devices such as check or item signers, check protectors, decollators, stackers, slitters, etc., the apparatus is constructed in a modular format. The main operational elements of the combination are demountably housed within and operably associated with a base supporting structure enabling efficient, quick, and easy maintenance and avoiding the requirement for highly skilled on-site operator service personnel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the difficulties of the-prior art and provides a neater, cleaner, quieter, smaller and much more efficiently operating burstingseparating cutting and/or severing apparatus by utilizing a novel and heretofore unknown combination of elements which enable the apparatus to accommodate itself to varying sizes and plies or thicknesses of documents without the need for operator intervention to change or alter the arrangement of the basic bursting mechanism itself.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided upper fixed and lower movable deformable members. These members are constructed so as to provide opposite, confronting, facing surfaces and are arranged to straddle a web of continuous item forms, e.g. checks, which may be fed longitudinally through the apparatus from a supply bin or roll, etc.

The two members are adapted to be brought into surface contact with the web therebetween and (by means of suitable timing devices) into contact with the line of weakening, e.g. perforations, approximately centrally located relative to the transverse dimension of the two deformable members. As the two members contact the web, they grip the continuous form item or item stack, as the case may be, tightly therebetween. Continued movement of the two members towards each other causes the upper softer more resilient deformable member to be deflected into a cavity in the lower less resilient deformable member so that the adjacent items are stretched apart at the line of weakening, effectively bursting the leading item from the next or trailing item. Thereafter the burst item or items are moved at high speed out of the bursting area onto a shingling table or into a stacking hopper as desired.

In another embodiment of the invention the upper and lower deformable members are first caused to move toward one another so as to grip the item or items therebetween after which, as the items are tautly held at the line of weakening, a cutting or severing assembly is caused to be projected into engagement with the items at the line of weakening, and then is driven on into the cavity in the lower member severing a transverse piece of material from the leading and trailing items.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with other and further advantages thereof, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an idealized side elevational view of a burster apparatus embodying the present invention illustrating the general arrangement of the item pathway from supply bin to burst item receptacle;

FIG. 2 is a greatly enlarged side elevational view partially in section of the burster hold foot of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 illustrating the bursting alignment of FIG. 2 at the moment of bursting;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view partially in section of a modification of the invention to provide a clean edge cut of continuous forms;

FIG. 5 is an isometric view partially in section of the apparatus of FIG. 4 illustrating the device at the moment the item is cut and,

FIG. 6 is an isometric view similar to FIG. 5 illustrating the device in its retracted condition with the burst item now cut;

FIGS. 7 and 8 are sectional views of a modification of the invention of FIGS. 4 6 inclusive.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring first to FIG. 1 of the drawings, there is shown an idealized assembly view of a high speed continuous form item bursting apparatus 10. The burster 10 may be part of a modularized signer-protectorburster apparatus such as that described and claimed in copending U.S. Pat. Application U.S. Ser. No. 210,737 filed Dec. 22, 1971, in the names of Richard H. Colwill et al, and titled BURSTING AND SEPARATING AP- PARATUS FOR CONTINUOUS FORMS now U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,228 assigned to the same assignee as the present invention. The bursting mechanism 12, hereinafter described in detail, is disposed centrally of the main machine assembly 10, as shown. An item moving device such as a pin feed tractor mechanism 14 is driven by electric motor 16 through a belt 18 and pin wheel pulleys 20. Conically shaped pins 22 are engagable with line holes or perforations 24, FIGS. 5 and 6, located on opposite parallel edges of continuous item forms 26.

The item forms 26 are generally, although not necessarily, manifolded as shown at 28, FIG. 1, and may be fed vertically upwardly from the supply bin 30 by the pins of the feed tractor 14.

The continuous forms 26 are adapted to be fed slantingly, vertically, upwardly over smoothing and retarding means such as the arcuately curved guiding member 32 under a smoothing brush assembly 34 into the feed area 36. Individual pin feed tractors 14 are arranged on opposite sides of the apparatus. Each edge tractor is adapted for horizontal, slidable movement toward and away from the other tractor along a helically threaded member (not shown) permitting the tractors 14 to be operator-adjusted for varying documents or item width.

The continuous form 26 is fed by the tractors 14 into the bursting mechanism 12, to be described in detail shortly, and there beyond into the bight of upper and lower ejection rollers 38 and 40, respectively. Rollers 38, having resilient peripheral portions, are spring biased so to be engagable with the continuously rotating surface of transverse roller 40. The individually burst item hereinafter identified as 42, once separated from the continuous item forms 26, is moved at high speed leftwardly in FIG. 1 in the direction of arrow 44, into a stacker hopper 46 wherein such items are stacked one on top of the other for further handling and processing.

The burster mechanism 12, due to its unusual and novel structural configuration enables the apparatus either to burst the continuous forms along the perforations therebetween or to provide a clean cut edge adjacent the line of perforations, if desired.

The following detailed description will first address itself to the bursting technique and the associated hardware and thereafter the description will address itself to the die-cutting operation detailing the slight modification employed.

As seen in the assembly view of FIG. 1 and in detail in FIGS. 2 and 3, there is provided upper and a lower hold foot rail members 48 and 50, respectively. Upper hold foot rail member 48 is an elongated, transversely disposed, rigid member extending at right angles to the path of movement of the incoming document-item. Attached to the lower exposed surface portion of member 48 is a relatively soft resilient member 52 such as rubber, Neoprene or similar material. Member 52 may be secured to hold foot member 48 as by gluing, channelling, etc. Both the attachment face as well as the exposed surface of material 52 is substantially flat throughout its transverse extent.

Lower hold foot member 50 is configured to provide a hollow central chamber 54 of rectangular cross section extending through its length. An elongated relatively narrow channel 56 extends parallel to the long dimension of'member 50. A bar like plunger member 58 is received in channel 56 and is biased vertically upwardly by means of springs 60 disposed within the chamber opening 54. The upper surface of member 50 carries oppositely disposed relatively hard, resilient members 62 arranged in parallel on the upper surface of member 50 so as to straddle channel 56 and the vertical portion of plunger bar 58. The height of the bar is calculated so as to permit the upper transverse edge thereof to'extend upwardly between the resilient members 62 such that in the rest position of FIG. I biased by springs 60 the surface of the bar member 58 is contiguous with and forms a common surface with the members 62.

The lower foot rail member 50 is additionally configured to provide a pair of oppositely disposed, parallel, substantially identical rigid members 64a and 64b extending transversely across the width of the burster assembly. The two members 64a and 64b each carry a pair of substantially identical depending follower members 66 located at opposite ends thereof and cooperable with follower rollers or wheels 68 rotatably secured to each member 66 enabling the lower hold foot member to be vertically, slidably movable upon rotation of drive cams 70, as hereinafter described.

Disposed below the foot rail assembly is drive motor 72 the output shaft 74 of which is coupled to gear train 76. Drive shaft 78 from gear train 76 rotates drive cams 70. It will be immediately apparent that energization of motor 72 from a source of electrical energy will cause the lower foot rail member 50 to move vertically upwardly and downwardly in precise timed relationship.

Assuming the burster apparatus is placed in the operational mode the continuous forms 26 will be fed by tractors 14 from the supply bin into the bursting area in cyclical stop-start fashion.

The line of weakening or perforations between adjacent continuous form items is automatically disposed centrally beneath the two opposed hold foot members 48 and 50. As the lower hold foot member moves upwardly in its precise cammed cycle, as seen most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings, the item is first gripped between the resilient confronting faces or surfaces of the hold feet (FIG. 2). Thereafter as the cycle continues the upper more resilient member is compressed by the lower less resilient hold foot member FIG. 3.

As the gap between the anvils, i.e., the upper and lower hold foot members is closed, the adjacent items at the line of perforations are securely clamped therebetween. As the compressive forces become increasingly higher the upper resilient member presses the item or items with it, deflecting the items downwardly into the cavity between the two parallel resilient members of the lower hold foot 50 against the upward bias of the plunger member 58. At the point of maximum stress concentration the elastic limit of the line of perforation is reached then exceeded and the two adjacent items are burst apart.

The plunger 58 in its rest or inoperative position or condition provides a smooth continuous surface in the bursting area so that the continuous items have no tendency to become hung-up" or caught in their passage from the supply bin into the bursting area between the two hold foot members.

It is noted in the drawings that FIGS. 2 and 3 are slightly exaggerated relative to scale. The upper resilient member 52 should deflect approximately 0.020 inch into the cavity to break the perforation and burst the items apart.

As described and claimed in the copending application U.S. Ser. No. 210,737 now US. Pat. No. 3,794,228 previously referred to herein, the lower hold foot member can be elevated progressively lengthwise by moving this burst member at an angle to the upper foot rail member. Or, the resilient members may be tapered or wedge shaped throughout their length depending upon the ultimate desired structural configuration and the type and speed of operation to be employed.

The present invention permits of minor modification enabling the basic apparatus to function as a die cutting device as will now be described in connection with FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings.

It is often desirable or even necessary and required that the perforated discontinuous edge remaining after the bursting operation be made regular, even and continuous such for example as where a data processor printer is utilized to produce hard copy correspondence in letter forms. Here the perfed" edge would destroy the aesthetically desirable uniform copy edge normally seen with typewriter bond paper.

As seen first in FIG. 4, the upper hold foot member is shaped to provide an elongated cutting member or blade 82 either integral with or as part of the rigid member 80. Oppositely disposed; parallel, resilient members 84 straddle the blade 82 and provide a substantially straight, flat uniform transverse surface adjacent to the blade. The depending extent of the members 84, which are secured to the hold foot member 80 in suitable fashion as by gluing for example. are such that the blade 82 is recessed slightly below the exposed surface of the members 84 when in the rest or inoperative condition.

The lower hold foot member or anvil 86 comprises a substantially U-shaped, elongated. transverse rigid structure, e.g. metal, disposed as is the upper hold foot member, at right angles to the pathway of the continuous item forms. The channel 88 formed by the vertical arms of the U is first rectangular in cross section and then wedged shaped as indicated by reference character 90 with the wider portion of the wedge at the bottom interior of the channel as seen in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 for purposes to be described shortly. The upper portion of channel 88 is linear with parallel walls as at 92 to matingly engage the die-cutting member 82 as hereinafter described.

The lower depending portion of the lower hold foot assembly 86 is provided with oppositely arranged follower members 94 carrying follower rollers 96 rotatably secured thereto. Cams 98 secured to shaft 78 rotatably contact rollers 96. The follower roller assembly is biased downwardly by means of spring I00 so as to cause the follower rollers to continually engage and track the cams 98.

In operation of this embodiment of the invention the perforated continuous item forms 26 are fed by the tractor mechanism 14 into the cutting area 102 so that the perf line is midway between the side edges of the channel opening 88 as seen in FIG. 4. Continuing the cycle of operation of the apparatus causes the lower hold foot member 86 to move vertically upwardly to the position of FIG. 5. The upper exposesd surface 104 of member 86 engages the lower surface of the item 26 compressing it upwardly against the lower exposed surface 106 of resilient members 84 compressing the latter as indicated by the slight bulge at 108 FIG. 5 and causing the knife blade die 82 to project downwardly forcing the blade to cut the paper and push the cut piece 110 into the cavity or channel opening 88 therebelow as in FIG. 5.

The burst cut item 26 is thereafter fed at high speed by rollers 38 and 40 to take-up bin. A fresh item is next fed into the die-cutting area.

A simplified but extremely efficient structural arrangement is that illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 of the drawing. This modified construction can be substituted for that shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 inclusive. The upper hold foot member 112 is provided in its modified form with oppositely disposed deformable, resilient members 114-114 secured to the lower planar surface of member 112 and adapted to straddle an elongated penetrator member 116 extending transversely of the burster. The lower depending end portion of member 116. is smoothly rounded as at 118, for purposes to be explained presently. The lower hold foot member 120 carries on its upper, exposed. flat surface portion oppositely disposed, parallel, resilient members 122 offering relatively more resistance to deformation than the members 114. Members 122 are arranged to form an elongated, transverse groove or channel 124 for the reception therein of penetrator member 118, as will now be described.

Assuming the bursting apparatus to be in operation and cycling as earlier described herein, the continuous item forms 26' will be positioned first as shown in FIG. 7 with the line of weakening or perforations 126, disposed between the upper and lower hold feet and centrally of the transverse channel 124. Continued cycling of the apparatus causes the two hold feet to come together (the lower hold foot 120 rises vertically upwardly into engagement with the upper hold foot) compressing the upper less resilient members 114-114 and causing them to bulge laterally, slightly, as shown in FIG. 8. This deformation of members 114 permits the penetrator 118 to extend from between members 114, to force the forms at the line of weakening (i.e. perforations) into the channel 124. The force resulting from this compression exceeds the elastic limit of the perforations effectively bursting the leading item from the trailing item form 26. The cycle is completed with the lower hold foot member 120 retracting downwardly as earlier described herein, ready for the next item bursting cycle.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles involved. it is to be understood that the invention may be otherwise embodied without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the appended claims.

. What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for separating continuous multiple item forms into separate and individual items comprising;

oppositely disposed, relatively rigid members,

one of said rigid members being movable with respect to the other of said rigid members,

means of differing relative resilience disposed on each of said rigid members, the upper resilient means being solid, flat faced, flexible material, the

lower resilient means being formed as two separate, flat faced members with a cavity therebetween, the resilient means of one member being receivable within the cavity formed by the resilient means of the other of said rigid members,

means for advancing continuous item forms between said rigid members, and

means operably associated with said advancing means and said rigid members whereby relative movement between said rigid members causes said resilient means to grip said items and force the resilient means of one of said rigid members into the cavity of the otherof said resilient means so that the items therebetween are burst apart along a line of preweakening between items.

2. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein one of said rigid members includes reciprocable means within said cavity cooperating with said resilient means to form a continuous item form receiving surface.

3. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein said reciprocable means includes spring biased transverse means disposed within a receptacle in said rigid member.

4. The invention in accordance with claim I wherein said lower resilient member has a higher Shore Durometer value than the upper resilient member.

5. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein said resilient members are elastomers providing a relatively high coefficient of friction for said continuous item forms.

6. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein the upper rigid member includes a penetrator means receivable within the cavity formed in the resilient means of said lower rigid member.

7. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein the lower of said two rigid members is angled progressively lengthwise for engagement with said upper one of said two members.

8. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein one of said resilient members is wedge shaped from end to end.

Claims (8)

1. Apparatus for separating continuous multiple item forms into separate and individual items comprising; oppositely disposed, relatively rigid members, one of said rigid members being movable with respect to the other of said rigid members, means of differing relative resilience disposed on each of said rigid members, the upper resilient means being solid, flat faced, flexible material, the lower resilient means being formed as two separate, flat faced members with a cavity therebetween, the resilient means of one member being receivable within the cavity formed by the resilient means of the other of said rigid members, means for advancing continuous item forms between said rigid members, and means operably associated with said advancing means and said rigid members whereby relative movement between said rigid members causes said resilient means to grip said items and force the resilient means of one of said rigid members into the cavity of the other of said resilient means so that the items therebetween are burst apart along a line of preweakening between items.

2. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein one of said rigid members includes reciprocable means within said cavity cooperating with said resilient means to form a continuous item form receiving surface.

3. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein said reciprocable means includes spring biased transverse means disposed within a receptacle in said rigid member.

4. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein said lower resilient member has a higher Shore Durometer value than the upper resilient member.

5. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein said resilient members are elastomers providing a relatively high coefficient of friction for said continuous item forms.

6. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein the upper rigid member includes a penetrator means receivable within the cavity formed in the resilient means of said lower rigid member.

7. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein the lower of said two rigid members is angled progressively lengthwise for engagement with said upper one of said two members.

8. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein one of said resilient members is wedge shaped from end to end.

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