A servo indexing table for rotary and horizontal shifting of paper bunch

Abstract

The present invention relates to an Indexer table for rotary and horizontal shifting of paper bunches. According to present invention, said table mainly comprises a stationary platform (2) having a top plate (201) and a bottom plate (202) being connected by plurality of vertical connecting plates (203) by defining space therebetween; a sewing bearing (26) is mounted on top surface of the top plate (201), said sewing bearing (26) includes internal gearing gear (26a). A drive unit (3) includes a servo motor (28) connected to gearbox (29) having shaft where pinion gear (27) is mounted, and this pinion gear (27) meshes with internal gearing of the sewing bearing for indexing of bunch from one station to other station. Thus, the bunch indexer table shifts the bunch paper before every station and provides multifold benefits to industries and end users.

Description

[0001] A SERVO INDEXING TABLE FOR ROTARY AND HORIZONTAL SHIFTING OF PAPER BUNCH

[0002] This application is an addition of Indian Application 201921001602 which has filling date of January 14, 2019.

[0003] Field of Invention:

[0004] The present invention relates to a single ring book binding machinery and more particularly it relates to an automatic single ring book binding machinery with servo indexing table which shifts the paper bunch from one station to another station in rotary and horizontal manner to make complete single ring notebook.

[0005] Background of the invention:

[0006] Machines for spirally binding sheets of paper on a commercial scale are generally known in the art. This invention is related to paper converting machinery and similar kind of machines. The binding machines uses paper roll as input raw material. This machine performs different process on paper to convert it into complete single ring binding notebooks.

[0007] The sequence of operations for paper converting machine are, unwinding the paper from reel, printing on paper, cross cutting the paper based on the size of notebook, overlapping the paper sheet, counting the paper sheet, collecting the counted paper sheet, inserting cover pages, punching of bunch and separating the bunch which make number of books from one bunch based on number of ups, round corner, single ring binding and delivery of complete book.

[0008] As of now, there are two methods to carry out coil binding process: by pure manual labor and by machine. If it is carried out by pure manual labor, such method takes too much time and manpower and hence can not be used to carry out the binding for a large amount of books. Therefore, machine must be used to carry out the binding of a large amount of books. However, in the binding process by machine, the coil can not spin through the holes smoothly because the holes are not oriented at appropriate angle and curvature; therefore, such angle and curvature have to be manually formed at the binding edge before the coil spin through the holes, lowering the speed in the binding process and often resulting in inaccuracy in such angle and curvature.

[0009] Various prior arts have been disclosed describing the spiral or wiro book binding machinery. The prior art document US 2015 / 0086296 Al describing about the production of books with wire or spiral bindings or other comparable bindings, wherein sub-layers made of punched sheets are collected one over the other in a successive manner into a book at a collecting station, and the book is subsequently bound. According to the invention, a sub-layer is held in a clamped manner by at least one lateral clamping device which moves together with the sub-layer while the sub-layer is transported into the collecting position, while the sub-layers already collected at the collecting station are held in a fixed manner by means of at least one needle which is moved upwards through the punched holes from below. The clamping of the pliers is released only when the needles are also located in the punched holes of the newly conveyed sub-layers as a result of the needles being moved upwards.

[0010] Moreover, the further prior art document US 4327780 describing about the tool which loops the end portion of the outermost convolution of a spiral wire binder around the neigh boring next-to-the-outermost convolution while the convolutions of the binder extend through the perforations of a stack of paper sheets and the binder is located in a preselected position has a knife which trims the outermost convolution and thereupon bends the end portion of the outermost convolution to a position of parallelism with and proximity to a stationary surface. A looping device which is mounted at the forward end of a rotary reciprocal shaft is thereupon caused to engage the bent end portion in response to forward movement of the shaft and to loop the bent end portion by moving it along the surface and around the neighboring convolution in response to rotation of the shaft. The shaft is rotatable and reciprocal and the knife is movable by a set of coaxial cams which complete one revolution in order to affect trimming of the outermost convolution, to thereupon effect bending of the end portion of the trimmed convolution and to ultimately effect looping of the bent end portion. The cams are rotatable by a rack and pinion drive through the medium of a one-way clutch.

[0011] However, abovementioned conventional spiral or wiro book binding machinery are complex in structure which having the binding operation is followed by various processes like punching of paper sheet, alignment of paper sheets etc.

[0012] The aforesaid conventional spiral or wire binding machines encounter various problems which lead into the difficulties like this operations carried in linear and vertical manner. In linear type of configuration, it leads to lengthy type of machine structure.

[0013] In vertical method, shifting of the punched bunch for making the spiral or wire notebook is operating vertically (horizontal axis rotation). The main drawback of this conventional method is maintenance and setting of machine parameters are not user friendly also it takes longer time and skilled operator required. Another problem of the conventional machinery is that the spiral and wire binding process have different assemblies. As in the present invention the single ring binding process handled simultaneously on the same unit.

[0014] Hence, it is desperately needed to introduce a bunch indexer unit that conveniently shifts the paper bunch for carrying out various operations. Object of Invention:

[0015] The main object of present invention is to provide bunch indexer table that shift the punched paper bunch from one station to another station in rotary and horizontal manner.

[0016] Another object of present invention is to provide a bunch indexer table that provides facility for carrying out various operations of bunch of paper sheets i.e. book bunch collecting, bunch correction, single ring binding, single ring wire end cutting and bending, book exit conveyor, book rejection conveyor.

[0017] Further object of present invention is to provide bunch indexer unit that enable the ease of maintenance for all surrounding unit for different operation, provide more space for setting the different parameters from different unit and having user friendly and unique design.

[0018] One more object of the invention is that is to provide bunch indexer unit that is facilitated to visualize each operation happening at surrounding the operation and hence, the quality of the product can be improved. Summary of Invention:

[0019] The present invention relates to an Indexer table for rotary and horizontal shifting of paper bunches. According to present invention, said table mainly comprises a stationary platform having a top plate and a bottom plate being connected by plurality of vertical connecting plates by defining space therebetween; a sewing bearing is mounted on top surface of the top plate, sewing bearing includes internal gearing gear. A drive unit includes a servo motor connected to gearbox having shaft where pinion gear mounted, and this pinion gear are internal gearing with sewing bearing for indexing of bunch from one station to other station. Drive unit assembly is mounted with top plate. Spider unit is mounted on surface of sewing bearing at fixed six interval, all this six spider unit are connected to at center of the top plate with slip ring, slip ring supply to all spider air and lubrication oil to all spider unit which are mounted on top surface of sewing bearing. Servo motor drive pinion gear start and stop in such a way spider unit bunch indexing at every 60-degree interval. So that each spider unit collects bunch at bunch infeed area and indexing of bunch to perform operation like hole correction of punched bunch, single ring forming in punched bunch, single ring end cutting & bending, delivery of single ring binding book at delivery unit and not ok books transferred to rejection conveyor unit. The bunch indexer table shifts the bunch paper before every station. The bunch indexer unit of present invention provides multifold benefits to industries and end users which will be apparent from the following description. Brief Description of Drawings:

[0020] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0021] Figure 1 shows a perspective view of the servo indexing table according to present invention.

[0022] Figure 2 shows perspective view of the stationary platform of the servo indexing station according to present invention.

[0023] Figure 3 shows the top view of the servo indexing table along with the stations located on periphery thereof according to present invention.

[0024] Figure 4 shows the working principle of the drive distribution of the servo indexing table according to present invention.

[0025] Figure 5 shows perspective view of slewing bearing with internal gear according to present invention.

[0026] Figure 6 shows perspective view of servo indexing table with spider arms according to present invention. Figure 7 shows the mechanism for operating a gripper according to the present invention.

[0027] Detailed description of the Invention:

[0028] Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompany drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments, as depicted in different figures as described above and of being practiced or carried out in a variety of ways. It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

[0029] The particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the present invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the present invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the present invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the present invention may be embodied in practice. It is to be also understood that the term "comprises" and grammatical equivalents thereof are used herein to mean that other components, ingredients, steps, etc. are optionally present. For example, an article "comprising" (or "which comprises") components A, B, and C can consist of (i.e., contain only) components A, B, and C, or can contain not only components A, B, and C but also contain one or more other components.

[0030] Before explaining the present invention, it is to be noted that the bunch indexer unit for producing single ring bound paper products according to present invention may be installed into the reel to book binding machine or may be operated independently. It is to be also noted that, in the drawing, identical reference number identify similar element and acts.

[0031] Now, according to exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 1, 2 and 3, the paper bunch servo indexing table (1) according to present invention mainly comprises a stationary platform (2) and a drive unit (3) being accommodated within said stationary platform (2). Said drive unit (3) transfers drive to each indexing station to each unit B to F (Refer Fig 3) circulating the paper bunch in rotary and horizontal manner and shifting the paper bunch from one platform to next platform for further operation. From Fig. 3, it can be seen that various stations i.e. book bunch collecting station (A), a bunch correction station (B), a single ring binding station (C), a single ring wire end cutting and bending station (D), a book exit conveyor (E) and a book rejection conveyor (F) have been depicted surrounding said bunch indexer table (1) for performing single ring binding operation on the paper bunch. However, it is to be understood that the various other operations can be performed rather than described herein surrounding the bunch indexer table (1) according to present invention.

[0032] During operation of the present invention, there is possibility of either No Single ring or No cut & Bend operation during production run of Single Ring Binding books due to various situations other than Machine Quality. Hence there is necessity to segregate such rejected books from Finished Book delivery unit and hence Book Rejection Conveyor employed.

[0033] Referring continuous with Fig. 2, said stationary platform (2) comprises a top plate (201) and a bottom plate (202) being connected by plurality of vertical connecting plate (203) by defining space therebetween wherein said drive unit (3) is accommodated. Said top plate (201) is provided with top central opening (201a).

[0034] Now, referring to Fig. 2 and 3, there is 6 pair of vertical connecting plates (203) has been shown that forms 6 platforms (P1-P6). At each platform, corresponding station (A-F) is located respectively for performing different operation on the paper bunch (As shown in Fig. 3). Now, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention as shown in Fig. 3, at platform Pl, a punch paper bunch collecting station (A) is located that act as input to the indexing table. At platform P2, a book bunch correction unit (B) is located. At platform P3, a single ring binding station (C) is located. At platform P4, single ring end cutting and bending station (D) is located. At station P5, a book exit station (E) is located and at platform P6, a book rejection station is located. The book indexing table of the proposed invention shifts or index the paper bunch from one station to another station in the manner as described below in detailed.

[0035] Referring continuous with Fig. 4, said drive unit (3) comprises a main shaft (4) extended between the pair of vertical connecting plates (203) of the platform Pl, an auxiliary shaft (5) extended between the pair of vertical connecting plate (203) of the platform P4 and being driven by said main shaft (4) in the manner as described below, juxtaposed shafts (6, 7, 8) extended between the pair of vertical posts (203) of the platform (P2, P3, P5) respectively, each said juxtaposed shaft (6, 7, 8) is driven by the auxiliary shaft (5) through respective bevel gears (10). Referring continuous with Fig. 4, said auxiliary shaft (5) drivably connected with juxtaposed shaft (7, 8) at its respective end through the bevel gear (10). Further, free end of said juxtaposed shaft (7) is coupled with juxtaposed shaft (6). Further, free end of said mail shaft (4) is coupled with a juxtaposed shaft (9) through respective bevel gear (10). Thus, the rotary motion of the auxiliary shaft (5) is transferred to the juxtaposed shafts (6, 7, 8) through the arrangement of the bevel gear Referring further to Fig. 4, said main shaft (4) and the auxiliary shaft (5) are provided with a pulley (11) and a double strand chain wheel (12) located along their length. The input drive power is provided to the main shaft (4) and the auxiliary shaft (5) that transfers the drive to the further platform (P1-P6) from subsequent unit round corner cutting unit. Further, an intermediate shaft (19) is provided with a first pulley (19a) and a second pulley (19c) being mounted along the length thereof.

[0036] Now as show in Fig. 5, a slewing bearing (26) is disposed in the central opening (201a) of the top plate (201). Said slewing bearing (26) having an internal gear (26a) formed on internal diameter thereof. Said teeth (26a) mesh with teethes (27a) of a drive pinion (27). Said drive pinion (27) is operated through a servo motor (28) and a reduction gear box (29). Said servo motor (28) rotates the slewing bearing (26).

[0037] Referring to Fig. 6, a bunch indexing spider (20) is mounted on sewing bearing at six location at fixed interval, and a pneumatic cylinder assembly (21a) is mounted on a fixed flat bar and connected to bunch indexing spider which guide to forward and reverse movement thereof. A gripper (21) is mounted at free end of each spider (20). Said gripper (21) is operated through a lever connected to pneumatic cylinders (21a, 21b) which gives up and down movement for feeding and gripping paper bunch. From fig. 1, it is seen that the top end of said vertically driven shaft (14) is extended with respect to the plan of the top plate (201). Referring again to Fig 4, the drive power rendered to the main shaft (4) is provided to the intermediate shaft (19) through the mechanical connection between the first pulley (19a) and the pulley (11) of the main shaft (4). Then, from the intermediate shaft (19), the drive is transferred to the pulley (11) of the auxiliary shaft (5) through the second pulley (19c). Afterwards, the drive power is transferred to juxtaposed shaft (6, 7, 8) through the universal joints (11) respectively for shifting the paper bunch in horizontal rotary motion in synchronize manner. The juxtaposed shaft (9) receives drive power from the main shaft (4) through the universal joint It is to be understood that the drive power may be rendered to the pulley (11) of the main shaft (4) by synchronizing with the previous operative unit of the book binding machine or may be provided by independent mechanical arrangement.

[0038] From Fig 6, It is to be understood that in the present embodiment, six spider arms (20) are shown. However, it is within the scope of present invention to increase or decrease the numbers of spider arm (20) as per end user requirement.

[0039] Now, by aforementioned arrangement of the present embodiment, various operations like shifting of paper bunch from one station to another station, open and close movement of gripper (21) to pick and drop the gripped paper bunch and to and fro movement of spider arm (20) to carry and drop the bunch are performed which are described below in detailed. Initially, after setting the gripper (21) of the spider arm (20), the To and Fro movement of the spider arms (20) is required to be carried out to move forward the gripper (21) for picking the bunch from one unit and then the gripper (21) of each spider arm (20) is actuated to pick the bunch and then rotation of spider arms (20) is performed to shift the gripped bunch at next unit for next sequence of operation. Hence, in order to perform To and fro movement of the spider arms (20), each spider arm receives feedback from pneumatic cylinder (21a). Further, pneumatic cylinders (21a) and (21b) are provided on each spider arm as shown in Fig. 6 and 7. The to and fro movement of each griper is performed by said pneumatic cylinder (21a).

[0040] Then after, open and close movement of gripper (21) is required to grip the bunch. In order to perform this operation, as shown in Fig. 7, each gripper is provided with pneumatic cylinder (21b) that opens and closes gripper to grip the paper bunch. . After gripping the paper bunch, each spider arm (20) moves in reverse direction. It is to be understood that all these to and fro movements of spider arms (20) and open and close movements of the grippers (21) will be carried out at each platform (P1-P6) simultaneously.

[0041] After gripping of the paper bunch, each spider arm (20) is rotated for predefined rotating angle with the help of the servo motor (28) which transfer power pinion gear (27) to slewing bearing(26) which that cause to rotate the spider arms (20). It is to be understood that in present embodiment, it is shown that there are six operations are carried out on the paper bunch (as shown in Fig. 3). Hence, the rotation of the spider arm (20) is set for 60° for shifting of bunch to next station through the spider arms (20). Thus, each spider arm (20) will be rotated 360° for completing one cycle (from station A to F).

[0042] Thus, after gripping bunch paper from bunch collecting station (A), the spider arm (20) will be shifted from platform Pl to the platform P2 and then next spider arm (20) will be shifted to platform Pl. Thus, each spider arm (20) shifts to next station along with the rotation of slewing bearing (26). At platform P2, same sequence of activity will be performed by the spider arm (20) and the gripper (21). At platform P2, the book bunch correction unit (B) is installed. In this unit, the punched paper bunch holes are aligned properly before inserting to the next stations. After completion of working of unit B, the paper bunch is shifted to next station at platform P3 which is the single ring wire binding unit (C) where single ring binding of paper bunch is performed. Then after, the single ring biding paper bunch is shifted to the single ring wire end cutting and bending unit (D) at platform P4. The function of this station is to precisely cut the extra wire kept in previous station and bend the same towards the inside of spiral. Then after, the paper bunch (26) is shifted to the book exit conveyor (E) at platform P5 where spiral bound books are delivered towards the defined locations. . Afterwards, the spider arm (20) shifts the bunch to the book rejection conveyor (F) at platform (P6) for delivering rejected book of single ring binding book. Rejected books means single ring wire not filled to all punched holes of bunch, cut or bend not properly as per defined standard bend and U bend. It is to be understood that the aforesaid working operation of the present invention is explained with reference to the rotary shifting of the single spider arm (20). All such operations will be performed by each spider arm (20) at each station (A-F) simultaneously.

[0043] In this manner, the paper bunch (26) gripped by each spider arm (20) will be simultaneously shifted to each platform (P1-P6) in rotary manner and at each platform (P1-P6); the corresponding operations will be carried out by the corresponding stations.

[0044] According to the present example embodiments corresponding to FIGS. 1 to 7, there are six platforms (P1-P6) which are disposed uniformly on the rotary indexing table. With this, six workstations can be positioned at the periphery of the rotary indexing table, adjacent to the rotary indexing table. Due to the division, an angle 60°, relative to the axis of rotation of the rotary indexing table, results between two adjacent platforms. However, other divisions of the rotary indexing table can also be envisioned corresponding to the number of transfer workstations required in other cases. In this context it is mentioned that the term rotary index table is not limited to a circular contour, rather it comprises in particular also a contour of a regular rectangle or polygon.

[0045] The servo indexing table of the present invention is apparently advantageous over existing machine. Said the machine with simplified and unique design provides automation in book binding process, reduced pattern storage space requirements, ease operating machine and visualized surrounding operations.

[0046] The invention has been explained in relation to specific embodiment. It is inferred that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the present invention and it is not intended that the invention be limited or restrictive thereto. Many other specific embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the foregoing disclosure. All substitution, alterations and modification of the present invention which come within the scope of the following claims are to which the present invention is readily susceptible without departing from the spirit of the invention. The scope of the invention should therefore be determined not with reference to the above description but should be determined with reference to appended claims along with full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

[0047] List of Reference Numerals

[0048] Bunch indexer table (1)

[0049] Stationary platform (2)

[0050] Top plate (201)

[0051] Top Central aperture (201a)

[0052] Surrounding holes (201b)

[0053] Bottom plate (202) Vertical connecting plates (203)

[0054] Drive unit (3)

[0055] Main shaft (4)

[0056] Auxiliary shaft (5)

[0057] Juxtaposed shaft (6, 7, 8, 9)

[0058] Bevel gear (10)

[0059] Pulley (11) double strand chain wheel (12)

[0060] Intermediate shaft (19)

[0061] First pulley (19a)

[0062] Second pulley (19c)

[0063] Spider arms (20)

[0064] Bunch gripper (21)

[0065] Slewing bearing (26)

[0066] Internal gear (26a)

[0067] Drive pinion (27)

[0068] Servo Motor (28)

[0069] Gear Box (29)

[0070] Platforms (P1-P6)

Claims

AMENDED CLAIMS received by the International Bureau on 12 December 2025 (12.06.2025)I Claim:

1. A servo indexing table for rotary and horizontal shifting of paper bunches comprising: a stationary platform (2) having a top plate (201) and a bottom plate (202) being connected by plurality of vertical connecting plates (203) by defining space therebetween; a drive unit (3) being accommodated within said space; said top plate (201) having central aperture (201a);Characterized in that, said drive unit (3) includes an intermediate shaft (19) having a first pulley (19a) and a second pulley (19c) being mounted along the length thereof, a main shaft (4) having a pulley (11) being in mechanical connection with the first pulley (19a) of the intermediate shaft (19), at least one auxiliary shaft (5) having a pulley (11) being in mechanical connection with the second pulley (19c) of the intermediate shaft (19), juxtaposed shafts (6, 7, 8) and (9) that receives drive power from said auxiliary shaft (5) and the main shaft (4) respectively, spider arms (20) each having a gripper (21) at its free end; wherein a slewing bearing (26) is disposed in the central opening (201a) of the top plate (201); spider arms (20) are located at regular distance on slewing bearing (26);said slewing bearing (26) having an internal gear (26a) formed on internal diameter thereof; Said internal gears (26a) mesh with teethes (27a) of a drive pinion (27);Said drive pinion (27) is operated through a servo motor (28) and a reduction gear box (29).

2. The servo indexing table for rotary and horizontal shifting of paper bunches as claimed in claim 1, wherein one end of said juxtaposed shafts (7, 8) coupled with respective end of the auxiliary shaft (5) and free end of the juxtaposed shaft (7) is coupled to the juxtaposed shafts (6) and free end of main shaft (4) is coupled to the juxtaposed shaft (9) through bevel gear (10).

3. The Servo Indexing table for rotary and horizontal shifting of paper bunches as claimed in claim 1, wherein said drive unit (3) includes a book thickness adjustment mechanism.

4. The Servo Indexing table for rotary and horizontal shifting of paper bunches as claimed in claim 1, wherein pneumatic cylinders (21a) and (21b) are provided on each spider arm.

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