EP2205514B1 - Apparatus and method for the production of multi-piece printed products - Google Patents

Description

The present invention is in the field of collecting and processing of multi-part printed products and relates to a device for collecting printed products according to the features of the preamble of claim 1 and a method for producing printed products having the features of the preamble of claim 10.

Such methods are used to compose any printed products, in particular newspapers and magazines, in any desired manner from different printed products, in particular from main and partial products or sheets.

In post-processing, the term collecting in the wider sense (i.w.S.) is often used as an umbrella term for collating, inserting and collecting in the narrower sense. Collecting in the narrower sense is - in contrast to insertion - the sequential superimposition of sub-products to understand, for example, signatures, in which the sub-products are stored in a predetermined order sequentially on saddle-shaped pads. This collection in the narrower sense (hereinafter referred to as collection, ie. S) is collected from the inside to the outside, since the partial product, which lies inside the finished printed product, is deposited as the first partial product on the pads. In contrast, insertion is understood to mean collection from outside to inside. The person skilled in various methods for producing multi-part printed products by means of collecting or inserting known.

For the production of such printed products in high-performance processes, collecting drums and insert drums from Ferag AG have proven their worth on the market for years. Become with these drums when collecting saddle-shaped carrier, when inserting V-shaped compartments continuously past at a plurality of addition or supply points and at each feed is usually another sub-product or the main product, such as another folded sheet added to the resulting product by means of feeders. When collecting ie it is usually started with an innermost folded sheet, when inserting with an outermost folded sheet or main product.

With the well-known high-performance facilities currently achievements of 40'000 to more than 80'000 printed products per hour can be produced. The conveying path of the printed products between successive feeders, often referred to as feeders, or other processing stations, is irregularly helical in the drum-shaped devices of the most recent product generations, alternating in each case without axial feed with areas with axial feed. For collecting devices ieS, such as the saddle stitching drums from Ferag AG, such as those from the US 5,332,404 are known, the printed products to be produced are stored on saddle-shaped carrier. The sequence with which the individual partial products, respectively the main product, are combined, usually corresponds to the sequence in which the successive feeders are equipped with the products. Within a device or drum, in known methods and devices, this sequence can not be changed within a single pass.

The ability to prepare, for example glue or staple, partial products in early process stages outside the collection device is known, but is still being exploited to a relatively small degree today. Some reasons for the dislike of the experts against the collection of already processed partial products are in the EP-B 0409770 enumerated. If prefabricated partial products or partial products arising at the same time on different process lines are to be connected to a final product, then is usually only the finished collected end product in the collection device or a downstream processing device glued or stapled.

A printed product, which consists, for example, of a news magazine accumulated and stapled in a saddle stitching drum with an inner folded leaflet, can currently only be produced by inserting the leaflet after stapling the news magazine, stapling it after collecting, and then folding the folded product into a further processing step is inserted.

Those skilled in the art will recognize the terms main and sub-product in the context of the aforementioned types of collection, e.g. and Einsteckens clearly occupied and he knows from the prior art, the respective relative position of the products to each other, their orientation in the production process and the timing of their supply.

From the CH 584153 or the corresponding US 3951399 a through-feed drum is known in which at a first feed point a first folded printed product, for example a main product, with its fold is introduced into a pocket-shaped receiving part of a cell wheel and opened in the course of a revolution of the cell wheel, the printed product and offset to the next in the axial direction arranged feeding point is promoted. At this next feed point, another folded printed product is inserted into the first opened printed product. It is described that further printed products are inserted into the first open printed product at further downstream feed points, the already inserted printed product being opened in each case in order to enable the insertion of the next following printed product. The multi-part end products or products thus formed thus have an outer part first fed into the insertion drum and at least one inner part arranged therein. As already mentioned, in this collection from outside to inside, the order or sequence of the products in the finished product is of the order, respectively the placement of the feeders set. Thus, for example, one of a third feed device in the sequence can not come to rest as the main product below the partial products inserted by a first and second feed device. The flexibility of the device in producing the printed products is limited accordingly.

From the EP 454343 For example, a method and a device are known with which other types of multipart printed products than previously known can be produced and known printed products can be joined together in other ways. In this case, at least an inner part and an outer part are not assembled together by collecting ie to a final product, the folded outer part is placed at the end with its opposite the fold open side edge ahead astride the inner part. The fact that only at the end of the outer part is added, internal parts can be assembled in any way. For example, there is a possibility that the inner parts are collected ie, or inserted into each other. But it is also possible that an inner part or more joined inner parts, another inner part is stored astride, and optionally at least one further inner part is added laterally. At the end, the outer part is then placed astride all the assembled inner parts. The method thus enables the production of printed products, in each of which the fold opposite the open side edge of an inner part runs along the fold of the outer part. In practice, it has been shown that the transport of the several differently oriented internal parts or partial products in the axial direction along the translational conveying path, which is also superimposed in the drum of the rotary component, is not without problems. The method and the device according to the EP 454343 Already offer a high degree of flexibility in the compilation of end products, a product in which the sequence of the partial products in the final product depends on the sequence of the Feeding deviates in the conveying direction along the conveyor line, but can not be realized here.

For the understanding of the present invention, it is important to understand the similarities and differences of the rotary collecting devices, that is, the collection drums, respectively. and insertion drums and the limitations present in the known rotary methods briefly. On the basis of some embodiments described below, the prior art of the rotary collecting principles is set forth.

The CH 584153 shows a "classic insertion drum" for insertion of printed products, which revolves around a single axis. The central element of the insertion drum is the horizontal-axis elongated cellular wheel with axially successive sections. The cellular wheel is characterized in that the inserted printed sheets describe not only a two-dimensional path but a helical path, ie a spatial curve. By means of feed means, for example roller conveyors which are formed in connection with printing elements, the printing sheets are moved along the axis from section to section and so complete, but still unstiffened printed products formed, which are removed at the end of the drum at a sampling point.

In the DE 2447336 is described a plug-in and collection drum, which can be used in particular for inserting at least one precursor into a folded main product. However, it is already envisaged that collecting could also be carried out from the inside to the outside, wherein at one end of the cell wheel the innermost section and subsequently the further outward section must be fed one after the other. It is disclosed that the folded sheets can be collected from the inside to the outside on supports and conveyed on a helical or helical line about the central axis, wherein the signatures from input to input location by means of Feed means are moved. Furthermore, the person skilled in the art recognizes that the printed sheets are preferably fed continuously to the supports by means of so-called staple transporters. A high processing speed is achieved by a continuous transfer of the signatures from the staple transporters and by moving the signatures from compartment to compartment of the cell wheel. The specialist also counts circulation collectors, as for example from the EP 0095603 are known, the rotary collection technique too. A two-axis circulating saddle stitcher forms the central element of the device instead of a drum. As with the collection drums, mooring stations or other feeders can be used to feed the rotating receiving saddles. In the EP 0095603 Feed conveyors are described with grippers, which are fastened to each other at a circumferential traction member spaced from each other and their delivery areas extend substantially in the same direction as the conveying direction of the accumulation conveyor. As a result, a continuous combing of the printed sheets is effected over a longer conveying path, so that difficulties of feeding by means of laying stations can be avoided.

The known rotationally operating devices and methods have in common that the main and / or partial products to be conveyed in the drum with respect to the radial component of the conveying direction aligned transversely to the conveying path bearing edge and with respect to the axial or translational component of the conveying direction along or aligned parallel to the conveying direction are.

Further, a processing drum having means for processing printed products are for example from the EP-A 0341425 . EP-A 0341424 and EP-A 0341423 , as well as the corresponding US patents US 5052667 . US 5052666 and US 4981291 By means of these devices, folded printed products are collected by stacking them one upon the other on the wall elements of the processing drum and collecting the collected printed products, if necessary or stapling the printed products in the compartments of the processing drum by juxtaposing or inserting printed products into other folded printed products.

It was already in the EP 0681979 described that certain processing operations on printed products in processing drums can not be performed or only with great effort. Moreover, there are machining operations that take a considerable amount of time or consist of a number of successive steps. This requires, with a constant processing capacity, large lengths of the processing drum, which in addition to the increased space requirement can also lead to design problems.

In the EP 0681979 Therefore, the execution of certain processing steps on the printed products or the addition of additional products to the printed products is no longer proposed in the processing drum, but in a concentricity. The printed products keep their state unchanged during the transfer from the processing drum to the concentricity and from the concentricity back to the processing drum. Since the concentricity can be guided along a practically arbitrary trajectory, the possibility for the most diverse processing steps in the area of the concentricity is given outside the actual processing drum. The concentricity offers, in particular, the possibility of removing the printed products for carrying out special processing steps or feeding additional products from the processing drum and returning them to the processing for further processing. It is further proposed that by means of concentricity the transfer of the previously collected printed products from one processing drum to another is made possible. As a major advantage of EP 0681979 It is described that the printed products maintain their condition when transferred from concentricity to the processing drum or vice versa. It is revealed that the device according to EP 0681979 is suitable to process both printed on the wall elements of the processing drum and the dividing elements of the concentricity and / or introduced between the wall elements in the compartments of the processing drum and between the separating elements in the receiving parts of the concentricity printed products. Within the portions of a concentricity which are arranged outside the processing drum, the printed products are not conveyed in the axial direction.

In a preferred embodiment according to the figure 8 is in the EP-A 681979 also proposed that by the sequential arrangement of two revolutions the printed products to be produced by means of a first concentricity removed from the drum and by means of a second, arranged in the axial direction downstream concentricity, fed back to the drum.

FIG. 9 shows an embodiment in which, in one processing device, three processing drums are connected to one another by two circulations. The transfer of the printed products from one processing drum to the next or the removal of the printed products from a processing drum, takes place by means of revolutions.

The in the EP 0681979 proposed arrangement already allow a high degree of flexibility in the production of printed products from multiple printed products. The order of the printed products in the finished printed product is furthermore determined by the sequence of the feed devices along the conveyor line.

In none of the known high-performance collection devices in the broader sense can in a single device, the collection direction, that is, the fixed direction of the sequential arrangement of the products in the finished product, break through, change or turning back. For example, it is not possible to collect a magazine (ieS) in any known saddle-stitching drum, then staple it and then insert a folder in the same drum.

In all known collection drums, e.g. can be collected according to the specified sequence only from the inside to the outside. In all known insertion drums can be inserted along the conveying path only from the outside inwards.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for processing printed products by means of collecting, transporting, optional stapling or gluing and further optional processing steps which avoid the disadvantages of the known devices and methods and also a substantially higher Flexibility in assembling the printed products to be produced allowed. This is to be made possible without sacrificing the quality of the production result and without having to reduce the high processing speeds.

Another object of the invention is to allow a change in the composition of the printed product with little effort.

This object is achieved according to the present invention by a device having the features of the characterizing part of claim 1 and a method having the features of claim 10.

With the method according to the invention, printed products can be produced in one and the same processing drum, in which printed products along the conveying path in the drum are combined from outside to inside and from the inside to the outside (iwS). The axial sequence of the feeders along the drum determined thanks to the present invention no longer the order of the partial products in the finished product. In insertion drums, in which is collected in a known manner from the outside inwards, the present invention allows to break this sequence and to collect sections from the inside to the outside, this collecting from inside to outside, so to speak, while maintaining the position of the supplied products, directed with the fold to the drum axis takes place.

With collecting drums in the narrower sense, the invention makes it possible to supplement the collection from the inside to the outside by one or more collecting steps from outside to inside. The collection from the outside to the inside again takes place without the position of the supplied products, with the fold directed away from the drum axis, having to be changed.

On the basis of a simple embodiment of a saddle stitching drum, the inventive idea of the inverse collecting should be explained in more detail. In a stapled printed matter a leaflet is to be inserted. In a saddle stitching drum to a number of signatures are in a known manner on a saddle-shaped carrier in advance transport to a plurality of feed stations, each associated with a drum section, and if necessary with a stapler, as for example from EP-A 0546326 is known, stapled. These stapled products are conveyed out of the drum transversely to the axial direction and fed to a secondary conveying device, preferably to a staple conveyor with an initial-side withdrawal and an end-side return device. They now go through a secondary conveyor loop and are fed back to the drum in a downstream, for example, a section after the next. In a section located between the execution and recirculation device, a further printed product, according to the example of a folding leaflet, is deposited onto the now unoccupied saddle-shaped carrier with the aid of a further feed device. On the leaflet, the following is the already stapled journal stored. Looking at the finished example product, it can be seen that by means of the storage loop and the inventive method, a magazine collected from the inside to the outside was produced on a collection drum with an inversely inserted leaflet.

As is known, in the case of a push-in drum, it is possible to collect from the outside to the inside so that several partial products are collected from the outside inward along a conveying path, then taken out of the drum in a subsequent section by means of a storage conveyor, stapled in the storage loop and locked into the storage loop a second next section be led back into the drum. In the intermediate section, for example, a main product or an envelope is inserted into the now unoccupied V-shaped compartments and promoted in the subsequent section of the drum, in which it is kept open or open and is ready to receive the previously stapled partial products. In preferred embodiments, the stapled partial products can be glued into the envelope. For this purpose, a sufficient amount of adhesive in the inner fold of the envelope at the bottom of the V-shaped compartment is introduced before the stapled sub-products are inserted. The splices can be according to preferred embodiments also attach to the sub-product. The end product is a magazine with an inner part made of partial products, which are collected in a known way from the outside inwards and in which the envelope and stapled partial products are inversely collected from the inside to the outside. Especially with thin cover sheets can be avoided with the method described above according to the present invention that the thin sheet must be promoted throughout the drum. The risk of it collapsing or being crushed can therefore be greatly reduced.

In contrast to previously known methods in which the main, partial and intermediate products in a collecting drum only either in the collecting direction from the inside to the outside or from outside could be collected inside, can be combined by means of the devices and the method according to the present invention, both collection directions, without the orientation of the products must be swept with respect to the drum axis.

Contrary to the teachings known so far, it is no longer possible to collect in a single collection drum only in the sequence P1-> P2-> P3, which corresponds to the sequence of the products in the active feed devices, but the product sequence P3 can be achieved by using a secondary conveying line according to the invention -> P1-> P2 without having to replace products in the feeders. The higher the number of products to be collected, the higher are the possible variations.

These partial products are preferably conveyed in the storage loop with known staple conveyors, even if this means that the products to be conveyed must be closed. When collecting, rather than This means that the products must be reopened before returning to the collection drum.

The combing of the withdrawn partial products back onto the drum supports rotating with the drum can be achieved, for example, by means of the method and apparatus as described in US Pat EP-A 0600216 or EP-A 0647382 are revealed, accomplish. The closed, folded printed products are held in hanging position at their fold by a staple of a conveyor and transported supported in their end remote from the fold. With the help of a screw-like piercing element, the printed products are opened, that is, the two product legs are moved away from each other and released on both sides over the intended for recording saddle from the clip. The person skilled in the art knows various other methods in which the products to be fed can be opened by means of folding grippers or suction grippers.

According to further embodiments, the subsidized products in the secondary conveyor are not closed, but actively kept open by appropriate means. This can be accomplished, for example, by each of a trailing leg of a first product in the conveying direction is held together by clamping elements together with a leading leg of a subsequent second product. Such approaches to open product transport are for example from EP-A 1809557 known.

According to further preferred embodiments, it is ensured that an edge of the conveyed products leading along the surface line in the conveying direction is in turn leading in the conveying direction during return conveying. In these embodiments, the orientation of the products in the feeders arranged along the main conveying path, that is along the drum, need not be changed. Each product retains its orientation, right down to the finished product, regardless of whether it passes through a secondary production route or not. The alignment with respect to the conveying direction along the generating line plays a decisive role, in particular when processing multiply folded folded sheets. If, for example, the leading in the conveying direction along the generatrix folded edge is a folded edge, which remains even after the trimming in the final product.

In simple embodiments could be discharged in an upper region of the strand and stored after hanging through a substantially U-shaped secondary conveyor section in a downstream drum section on the now collected products / respectively inserted in a plug-in in this. Due to the simple U-shaped secondary conveyor section, the orientation with respect to the conveying direction along the generatrix is swept. The leading edge of the respective printed product before the discharge has become the trailing edge after the return. Through a targeted use of this effect can be prepared in a simple way originally compiled multi-part printed products in a variety of variants.

If such a change in orientation is not desired, the intermediate products previously produced in the drum are preferably taken either in the region of the lower run or conveyed in a simple space curve while maintaining the conveying direction along the surface line to the upper run in a downstream drum section. In a projection in the direction of the drum axis, in the simplest case, only an arc of 180 ° is passed through. If the products are discharged in the upper part of the run and returned downstream again in the upper part of the run, then in the simplest case, at least a complete arc of 360 ° must be traveled in the auxiliary conveying section. The direction of rotation of the secondary conveyor track with respect to the drum axis can be chosen in the simpler case in the opposite direction to the direction of rotation of the drum. If the secondary conveyor line is guided around the drum, the direction of rotation of both can be the same.

The type and arrangement of necessary for the secondary funding out and return devices, as well as possibly different conveying devices on the secondary conveyor section can be selected by the skilled person as needed from the prior art and advantageously combined based on the technical teaching according to the present invention.

The devices and methods according to the present invention are preferably also used in the production of individualized printed products. They make it possible to achieve an almost arbitrary degree of individualization of the multi-part printed products to be produced with minimal procedural and plant-specific additional expenditure compared to existing systems. The degree of individualization of the products to be manufactured extends to a completely addressee-specific magazine or newspaper, in which the order of the individual collected products in the finished product is selected according to a previously known subscriber profile. For sports-interested subscribers, the sports federation can be ordered outside as the main product For a little sports enthusiastic reader, the sports federation can be relocated inside.

The execution of the products in the secondary conveyor line does not necessarily have to be done in a separate drum section, but can certainly be done for example in the same drum section in which, for example, a partial product was previously supplied. Likewise, the return can be accomplished in a drum section, in which subsequently still another product is supplied or a processing step is performed. For the sake of clarity, however, a "separate" drum section is to be assigned in the following but in each case to each input, output and return step.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings.

Fig. 1

in perspektivischer Darstellung eine erfindungsgemässe Einrichtung mit einer Verarbeitungstrommel zum Verarbeiten von gefalteten Druckprodukten und einer im Bereich der Verarbeitungstrommel angeordneten Speicherstrecke zur Entnahme und Rückführung und allfälligen Vornahme spezieller Verarbeitungsschritte an den Druckprodukten;

Fig. 2

in perspektivischer Darstellung eine erfindungsgemässe Einrichtung mit einer Verarbeitungstrommel und einer im Bereich der Verarbeitungstrommel angeordneten Speicherstrecke gemäss einer weiteren Form der Erfindung;

Fig. 3

eine Draufsicht auf eine Sammelhefttrommel gemäss einer bevorzugten Ausführungsform der vorliegenden Erfindung;

Fig. 4

eine schematische lineare Abwicklung eines Teils des tatsächlich schraubenförmigen Verarbeitungs- und Förderwegs in einer Sammeltrommel entlang mehrerer Zuführstationen gemäss dem Stand der Technik, wobei ein bestimmtes zuzuführendes Druckprodukt mit einem Dreieck gekennzeichnet ist; und

Fig. 5

eine schematische lineare Abwicklung eines Teils des tatsächlich schraubenförmigen Verarbeitungs- und Förderwegs in einer Sammeltrommel entlang mehrerer Zuführstationen und der Entnahme und Rückführeinrichtungen der Speicherstrecke gemäss einer Ausführungsform gemäss der Erfindung, wobei der Förderpfad innerhalb der Trommel strichliniert angedeutet und ein bestimmtes zuzuführendes Druckprodukt mit einem Kreis gekennzeichnet ist.

It shows purely schematically:

Fig. 1

a perspective view of a device according to the invention with a processing drum for processing of folded printed products and a arranged in the processing drum storage section for removal and return and possibly performing special processing steps on the printed products;

Fig. 2

a perspective view of an inventive device with a processing drum and arranged in the processing drum storage section according to another form of the invention;

Fig. 3

a plan view of a saddle stitching drum according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4

a schematic linear development of a portion of the actual helical processing and conveying path in a collection drum along several feed stations according to the prior art, wherein a given printed product to be supplied is marked with a triangle; and

Fig. 5

a schematic linear development of a portion of the actual helical processing and conveying path in a collecting drum along several feed stations and the removal and return devices of the storage section according to an embodiment of the invention, wherein the conveying path within the drum indicated by dashed lines and a particular zuzuführendes printed product marked with a circle is.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Fig. 1 shows a device 1 for processing printed products P1 with a continuously driven about a horizontal axis of rotation A in the direction of rotation D processing drum 10. On a rotation axis A coaxial rotary shaft 11, which in a known manner connected to a drive motor and at both ends to a machine stand, not shown is mounted, a wheel- or roller-like support member is arranged, protrude from the radial wall elements 12 in the direction towards the outside and form saddle-shaped supports 20 with their radially outer ends, which extend parallel to the axis of rotation A and define a cylindrical outer surface. The supports 20 are distributed uniformly in the circumferential direction of the processing drum 10 and comprise means for moving the deposited on them printed products in the axial direction F, ie in the direction of the generatrix. Since this linear displacement of the products is superimposed by the rotational movement of the drum, the products to be processed are actually conveyed over the indicated helical or helical space curve in the drum. With insertion drums, separate compartments 13 are accordingly formed between the longitudinal wall elements 12.

After a first sub-product P1 has been placed by a first not shown feeder 40, for example by a chain conveyor in a first drum section 14 on one of the saddle-shaped pads, their rotation about the cylinder axis A with simultaneous continuous displacement in the direction of the generatrix line in a conveying direction There, after a full drum revolution, another partial product is deposited on the first partial product by a feed device, also not shown, as is known from collecting from the inside to the outside. The two partial products are conveyed astride one another in the subsequent third drum section 16 in which a further product is supplied. The three astride superimposed sub-products are further promoted along the helical conveyor curve in the section 17 and stapled together on the way there by a not shown stapler.

In the drum section 17, the stapled products are guided out of the drum in the region of the lower run of the drum. This is done, for example, by means of a discharge device 51, which forms the first section of a secondary conveyor line 50 according to the invention. In the next drum section 18, a fourth partial product is deposited on the now unoccupied saddle-shaped support with a further feed device 44, which comes after the return of the previously stapled product from the secondary conveyor section 50 below this, ie based on the product to be produced inside. Transporting the products from the discharge device 51 to the downstream of the drum For example, attacking return conveyor 53 takes place by means of staple transporter 52, so that the products only have to be gripped by a clamp once from the discharge to the return conveyor. The return of the stapled partial product in the drum by means of a return conveyor 53 in the section 19, which substantially corresponds to a device, as shown in the EP-A 0600612 known and already briefly described above. The last section 20 of the processing drum, in the drawing at the right end of the drum, is a Wegführabschnitt 20 with a, arranged at the top of the strand, away conveyor 90 with the printed products E.

In the FIG. 2 According to a further embodiment of the present invention in the Ausförder-section 17 on the upper run of the drum attacking chain conveyor 61 indicated that removes the previously collected in sections 14 to 16 and stapled products from the drum and along a helical space curve 62 to the return conveyor in the penultimate Drum section 19 transported. The helical space curve 62 ensures that the leading edge in the conveying direction of the conveyed products when returning by means of return conveyor 63 is again leading in the conveying direction.

While in the two embodiments according to the figures, two very simple variants of the secondary conveyor line 50, 60 are indicated, it is easy for the skilled person to understand that the present invention allows a quasi arbitrarily long and complex spatial course of the secondary conveyor line.

During the promotion of the products can, as already mentioned, perform various processing steps such as lateral trimming, printing with address codes, labeling with labels and others. In other, not shown in the figures preferred embodiments is stapled not in the drum, but outside the drum in the secondary conveyor line.

Based on the simple schematic representations of FIGS. 4 and 5 essential features of a collection according to the invention are again to be shown step by step. The known collection method according to the FIG. 4 is in the FIG. 5 a novel method according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention compared. In the scheme of FIG. 4 In the prior art, a conventional collection process is shown in which four printed products P1 to P4 are successively collected in four sections of a collecting drum, not shown, from the inside to the outside. For the sake of clarity, the description of the correct relative position of the individual products to one another and their position in the drum was dispensed with. In the illustrated diagram, the time sequence during collection was attempted in four drum sections or segments S1 to S4, which are arranged along the axial main conveying direction F, that is to say parallel to the drum axis. Four printed products P1 to P4 to be joined together are respectively arranged in the upper half of the figure and are fed one after the other in the exactly predetermined sequence 1 to 4 by means of a feed device, not shown, of the drum, so that the product to be created gradually over time and over the conveyor line is collected from the inside to the outside. Since three products P1 to P3 have already been combined to form a partial product T3, another product P4 can only be placed on the partial product T3 in the collecting drum of the prior art, so that the end product E1 is formed, in which the sequence of products P1 until P4 is mandatory from the inside to the outside P1->P2->P3-> P4. In case stapling is required, the product P1 must be stapled. Lose can be at most the outer products P3 and / or P4 hang up. A stapled product with an inner loose supplement can be in the device according to FIG. 5 do not make.

On the other hand, the embodiment of the method according to the invention offers considerably more possibilities, as is shown in the FIG. 5 is shown. In turn, four printed products P1 to P4 are processed into a printed product in a collecting drum ieS. To clarify the differences from the known method according to the FIG. 4 is the product P4 marked with a dot. In the first three drum sections 14, 15 and 16, in turn, three products P1, P2 and P3 for the partial product T3 are collected in a known manner from the inside to the outside. This partial product T3 can be stapled or untied out of the drum. Basically, the removal of the auszufördernden products in the devices and methods according to the present invention preferably takes place transversely to the conveying direction F. In the area of the discharge in the segment 16, the partial products are not displaced in the direction F, so that the approximately tangential discharge from the drum can take place undisturbed by a displacement in the axial direction. The collected partial products T3 experience no acceleration in a direction other than the tangential Wegförderrichtung when running. The stapled partial products T3 are conveyed, as described above, along a helical space curve from the secondary conveyor 70 past the segment 17 to the segment 18. In segment 17, sub-products P4 are fed to the saddles, which are no longer occupied, of the collecting drum, onto which sub-products T3 can be deposited in the following section 18. From the outer sub-product T3 and the inner product P4 thus end product E2 has arisen, in which the sequence of the products P1 to P4 from the inside to the outside P4->P1->P2-> P3. Although the product P1 must be stapled in the present example in the present example, it does not have to be inside the finished product. Therefore, both the outer products P3 and / or P4 and the innermost product P4 can be provided in the product. The method according to the invention makes it possible to produce a product with an inner loose insert, an inversely inserted printed product, in a collecting device ieS. If necessary, this inverse inserted printed product can also be stapled or glued by means of a pressure applied to the adhesive point.

In the FIG. 5 dashed line the course of the conveyor curve of the products P1 to P3 is indicated within the collection drum. A transport path from segment 16 to segment 17 within the drum is not shown, but of course in the collection drum Functionally available. Should it be desired, the secondary conveyor section can be deactivated at any time, and products can be collected in the P1->P2->P3-> P4 sequence in a previously known manner.

In the FIG. 3 a device for processing printed products according to a further embodiment of the invention is shown in a view from above. The heart of the system is a collecting stapling drum which is essentially known from the company Ferag AG and which can also be referred to as a folding sheet transport cylinder. On the circumference of the drum, up to 40 busbars are mounted as axially parallel generators. The operating units in the form of four feed stations 40, 42, 43 and 44 are located above the drum and are in turn part of four bar feeders 41 ', 42', 43 'and 44' as known from the company Ferag AG. By means of the first three feeders in the conveying direction, as previously described, a partial product collected from inside to outside is produced, which is stapled by a stapler 45 in the transition area between the drum section 16 and 17.

After stapling, the partial product is dispensed in section 17 in the region of the lower run of the drum onto a belt conveyor 46. This closes the partial product, so that it can be promoted away from the drum in a proper scale flow. The discharge device is in the example shown, the belt conveyor 71, which forms the first part of the secondary conveyor section 70. From belt conveyor 71, the products coming out of the drum are transferred to a staple conveyor 72 in advance of the fold. In the staple transporter 72, each printed product is held by a staple in the region of the fold and along the sub-conveying path 70 away from the drum, up in an arc across the rod feeder 44 'in the direction of the main conveying direction F and then in approximately tangential direction 76 to a return region returned over the drum. From the return device 73, the partial products are opened and placed astride the printed sheets, which in the section 18 from the feeder 44 '. as new innermost products have been deposited on the saddle-shaped pads of the drum. In the subsequent downstream segment 20, the now complete products in the form of a magazine with a loose internal sheet are removed from the drum. For this purpose, the path conveyor 91, which is also a staple conveyor in the illustrated embodiment. The segments 14 to 20 of the processing drum preferably have the same lengths in all embodiments of the drums according to the invention, measured in the direction of the drum axis.

If the auszufördernden products according to further preferred embodiments in the upper run of the drum taken directly from staple conveyors, any further transfer of the products within the secondary conveyor section is unnecessary.

The finished product, in turn, was made from the inside to the outside with a combination of classic internal-to-outside and in-side insertion, and the delivery sequence of the products in the drum does not reflect the sequential arrangement of the products in the finished product. Based on the above description and the embodiments with collecting drums, respectively. should anyone of skill in the innovative technical teaching in a way infer that he is able to transfer this technical teaching on insertion methods and devices.

For collecting drums ie, for saddle stitching drums, a variety of possible combinations of the known collection methods from the inside to the outside and the new inverse insertion from the inside to the outside are possible. By contrast, in the case of the insertion methods according to the invention, or the means with insertion drums, it is possible to connect the classic insertion from the outside inwards with inverse collection ie from the outside to the inside. A significant advantage of the devices according to the present invention is based on the fact that the combinations of collecting and insertion in each case in the same drum are feasible.

If the drums have a sufficient number of sections, they can be designed in such a way that the conventional collection and insertion methods can be combined repeatedly with the new inverse methods. The variability in the composition of the products there are only a few limits.

List of reference numbers

1

processing device

10, 10 '

processing drum

11

rotary shaft

12

wall elements

13

compartments

14

drum section

15

drum section

16

drum section

17

drum section

18

drum section

19

drum section

20

drum section

21

Saddle-shaped pads

40

feeding

41-44

feeding

41'-44 '

rod investors

45

stitcher

50

Secondary conveyor section

51

unloading device

52

In addition to conveyor

53

Return device

60

Secondary conveyor section

61

Outfeed device, chain conveyor

62

production curve

63

Return device

70

Secondary conveyor section

71

belt conveyors

72

Gripper conveyor

73

Return means

75

Ausförderrichtung

76

Return flow direction

90

removal conveyor

A

axis of rotation

D

direction of rotation

P _n

printing products

S

Drum sections or segments

T

part products

e

printed matter

F

conveying direction

Claims (14)

1. A device (1) for processing printed products, comprising a collecting drum (10) driven rotatingly about an approximately horizontal rotation axis (A) and divided at least functionally into axial portions, which collecting drum has saddle-shaped rests (20) and/or mutually separated compartments (13) which are open to the outside in the radial direction, are evenly distributed in the peripheral direction and run approximately in the direction of the rotation axis (A), a first feeding device (40) for supplying printed products (P) to the processing drum (10), an evacuation conveyor (90, 91), disposed downstream in relation to the first feeding device (40) in the direction of the rotation axis (A) in the direction of the axial component (F) of the direction of conveyance, for transporting the print articles (E) away from the processing drum (10), conveying elements, assigned to the compartments (13) and/or rests (21), for transporting the printed products in the direction of the axial component (F) of the direction of conveyance, in the course of the revolutions of the processing drum (10), and a working device and/or at least one further feeding device or feed station (41, 42, 43, 44), disposed between the first feeding device (40) and the evacuation conveyor (90, 91), for working the printed products (P, T) and for supplying further printed products (P2, P3, P4) to the processing drum (10) respectively, wherein between the first feeding device (40) and the evacuation conveyor (90, 91) there is arranged at least one secondary conveying section (50, 60, 70), which comprises an outfeed conveyor (51, 61, 71), a secondary conveyor (52, 62, 72), and a return device (53, 63, 73), characterized in that the outfeed conveyor (51, 61, 71) feeds out from the collecting drum (10) the products (T3) to be conveyed outward, the products (T3) are conveyed in the secondary conveyor (52, 62, 72) from the outfeed conveyor (51, 61, 71) to the return device (53, 63, 73), and are led by the return device (53, 63, 73) back into the drum (10), wherein between the outfeed conveyor (51, 61, 71) and the return device (53, 63, 73) there is arranged at least one further feeding unit (44) for supplying printed products to the processing drum (10).
2. The device (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the outfeed conveyor (51, 71) feeds out at a lower strand of the collecting drum (10) the products (T3) to be conveyed outward, and the products are led by the return device (53, 73), at an upper strand, back into the drum (10).
3. The device (1) as claimed in claim 2, characterized in that the products (T3) between the outfeed conveyor (51, 71) and the return device (53, 73) are pivoted at least through a 180° arc in relation to the drum axis (A).
4. The device (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the outfeed conveyor (61) feeds out at an upper strand of the collecting drum (10) the products (T3) to be conveyed outward, and the products are led by the return device (63), at an upper strand, back into the drum (10).
5. The device (1) as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the products (T3) between the outfeed conveyor (51, 71) and the return device (53, 73) are pivoted at least through a full 360° arc in relation to the drum axis (A).
6. The device (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the products (T3) are conveyed out of the drum with the supporting edge orientated transversely to the principal path of conveyance (F).
7. The device (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the secondary conveying section (50, 60, 70) comprises a clamping conveyor.
8. The device (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the collecting drum (10) is a collecting drum in the narrower sense, preferably a gathering-stitching drum or an insertion drum.
9. The device (1) as claimed in one of the preceding claims, characterized in that along the secondary conveying section there are arranged further devices for the supplying of products and/or for the working of the conveyed products.
10. A method for the production of multipart print articles, in which in a collecting drum (10), by means of at least one secondary conveying section (50, 60, 70), at least one inverse collection step is performed, which causes the sequence of the at least three collected printed products (P1, P2, P3, P4) in the print article (E) to differ from the sequence of the supply of the printed products (P1, P2, P3, P4) along a direction of conveyance (F) in the drum.
11. The method for the production of multipart print articles according to patent claim 12, characterized in that at least two printed products (P1) are collected in the drum in the sequence P1->P2 to form a part-product (T3), are preferably stitched and are then conveyed out of the drum by means of the secondary conveying section, in that in at least one further step downstream at least one further printed product (P4) is supplied to the drum, and further downstream the part-product is returned into the drum by means of the secondary conveying section and, in a further collection step, is combined with the at least one printed product (P4) to form an article (E) with the sequence P3->P1->P2 from outside to inside in relation to the position in the article in the insertion and with the sequence P2->P1->P3 from outside to inside in relation to the position in the article in the collection in the narrower sense.
12. The method for the production of multipart print articles according to patent claim 10 or 11, characterized in that collection in the narrower sense is realized in a collecting drum in the narrower sense, preferably a gathering-stitching drum, or insertion is realized in an insertion drum.
13. The method for the production of multipart print articles according to one of patent claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the delivery of the products out of the drum is realized transversely to the principal direction of conveyance.
14. The method for the production of multipart print articles according to one of patent claim 10 to 13, characterized in that a, in the principal direction of conveyance (F) of the drum, leading edge of the part-products delivered into the secondary conveyor is leading once again in the direction of conveyance (F) upon the return into the drum.

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