MODULAR AND PRODUCTION SYSTEM WITH HIGH FLEXIBILITY OF USE AND OPERATION, FOR COMBINED MANUFACTURING OF CUSTOMIZED PRINT, PAPER AND PAPERBOARD PROCESSING AND BINDING

The present invention regards an innovative system for personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding of a modular type with high flexibility of use and operation.

The paper and paperboard processing industry and the packaging industry are manufacturing sectors that use the semi-finished products of the pulp and paper industry, and hence are located downstream of the pulp and paper industry itself, which is the manufacturing sector constituted by the paper companies that produce paper and paperboard as semi-finished products or media, for example, for printing, or packaging.

Currently known are various patents regarding systems for printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding.

In particular, the following may be mentioned: the US patent No. US2015158322 published on Jun. 11, 2015, the Japanese patent No. JP2001316999 published on Nov. 16, 2001, and the Japanese patent No. JPH11235887 published on Aug. 31, 1999.

The US patent No. US2015158322 concerns a system of post-processing apparatuses for carrying out operations of paper and paperboard processing, and binding on a sheet provided with a pre-printed image. The post-processing basically consists in binding the corresponding case using an apparatus that comprises a particular application paste, as well as being equipped with a member for applying the paste itself by applying a pressing action. The system is likewise equipped with a control device configured for receiving information regarding any discrepancy detected as compared to a basic processing and operating setting.

The Japanese patent No. JP2001316999 concerns a system of paper and paperboard processing, and binding that solves the problem of obtaining paper pages for books with excellent characteristics of image and machineability with operations carried out on both sides of the pages themselves, using an electrophotographic printer and devices presenting excellent versatility in cutting the paper itself after printing thereof, completing the operation with a binding process. The paper, at the end of the production cycle, has a weight percentage of the filler content comprised between 10 wt % and 20 wt %, an opacity higher than 85%, a water content in the paper at the end of manufacture ranging from 3 wt % to 6 wt %, an electrical surface resistance of the paper comprised between 10¹⁰ and 10¹²Ω with a period of oscillation of half of the value of the voltage corresponding to the surface charge of the paper of approximately three seconds.

The Japanese patent No. JPH11235887 concerns a system of paper and paperboard processing, and binding applied to recycling of books to obtain from the books themselves water-soluble fibre filaments of a thick and strong type or extremely ultrafine type with operations of gluing and melting (obtaining typical fibres used in the binding industry). With the subsequent operations of binding by means of hot pressing, there are solved in an appreciable way the problems of protection of the environment, of the times for processing the fibres themselves, and hence also of the corresponding costs.

The above inventions do not solve other types of problems currently present in the sector. Hence, the present invention, as compared to the known art, is totally innovative in so far as there do not exist so far similar ones, and is likewise inventive in so far as it has been devised for providing a definitive solution to problems that have remained unsolved up to the present day, such as for example:

• • the problem of providing modulation of the layout constituted by the system of the machines necessary for the specific processes of paper and paperboard processing and binding, rendering it likewise flexible according to the amount and type of operations or personalizations, even of a special type, to be carried out;
  • the problem of being able to simplify further the above operations or personalizations likewise enabling, simultaneously, a greater control over the production process automatically or on the part of operators;
  • the problem of being able to obtain a better control of the system especially in the steps of start-up thereof in order to enable optimal start-up regulations; and
  • the problem of making it possible to achieve a control of the entire system via a digital management thereof by means of a console located even remotely.

The main purpose of the present invention is hence to provide an innovative and inventive system that will solve completely said problems that have so far remained unsolved in the prior art.

A further purpose of the present invention is to provide an innovative system that can be integrated in an effective way also on systems of personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding already existing, which is particularly suitable for creating postal parcels containing objects of various kind, including three-dimensional ones.

A further purpose of the present is to provide an innovative system that is easy to implement, presents high efficiency, and has a minimized cost of application for the specific needs of the customer.

The above purposes are achieved by providing an innovative system for personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding of a modular type with high flexibility of use and operation according to the claims annexed to the ensuing description and according to what is described in detail hereinafter.

These purposes and the consequent advantages, as well as the characteristics of the system according to the present invention, will emerge more clearly from the ensuing detailed description of a preferred solution, provided by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

From the above FIGS. 1 and 2 attached hereto it may be evinced how the present invention concerns a non-limiting example of a system 1 for personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding of a modular type with high flexibility of use and operation, basically constituted (FIG. 1) by:

• • at least one automatic sheet feeder A2 of the stack or drive-belt type, designed to take up continuously or individually pre-printed sheets 2 and to pre-position at least one sheet 2;
  • at least one automatic sheet feeder A3 of the drive-belt type, designed to pre-position the sheet 2 with at least one object 3;
  • at least one video-monitoring means B equipped with means V for acquisition of the images of the process;
  • at least one folding machine C or folding-gluing machine, which is likewise provided with a working surface, a roller track, and free clamping members for the various devices, a programmer with touch screen, and a plurality of photoelectric cells at input and output, is prearranged for all the types of accessories, such as card applicators, and is designed for carrying out processing operations on a plurality of objects 3, such as cases, CDs, simple and multiple folders, boxes, possibly with bellows, CD covers and envelopes, mailers, two-dimensional or three-dimensional parcels, etc.;

at least one personalizable machine D designed to carry out particular processes/prints on customer's request;

• • at least one sealing machine E;
  • at least one folding-and-inserting machine F;
  • at least one machine G for applying labels and/or identification means, for example of an RFID type 5; and
  • a plurality of further elements, accessories, apparatuses, useful for each specific production process, such as: helix folding assemblies complete with tractors, devices for creating the bellows, V-shaped folding pouches for paper or card with chrome-plated rollers with mobile rubber-coated sectors, freely positionable rods, built-in partial deflectors, automatic loaders 3 for insertion of the products or objects, alignment brackets, tool-holders, outlet collectors (for example of the shingling type), gluers (with possibility of multi-outlet expansion), personalized-printing stations equipped with printing cartridges of various types, and industrial imager readers equipped with a plurality of photoelectric cells.

As may be inferred from the scheme of FIG. 1 the system 1 concerns the logic and functional connection of a plurality of machines, devices and equipment designed to fold, glue, and personalize sheets 2 for making envelopes or postal parcels containing objects 3 to be sent to a plurality of recipients of the print itself (for example also bills, or else membership cards such as credit cards, compact disks, sachets, sample bottles, and many other gadgets).

The system 1 for personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding also enables insertion of said objects to be sent, with the further possibility of inserting even more than one of them in each envelope or parcel 15.

Characterization of the system 1 is inherent in the fact of having provided “processing stations”, namely, the aforementioned machines A2, A3, B, C, D, E, F, G, which afford the possibility of being allocated in the system 1 according to the desired modalities and operating sequence, with the further possibility of adding or removing some of them according to the needs and of their being replaced with further machines different therefrom so as to obtain a system 1 for personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding that is completely personalizable, namely that affords the possibility of installing or removing, according to the needs, individual machines with the maximum flexibility of use and operation.

Operation of the system 1 for personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding is likewise possible in all the cases of combination of the individual machines or stations constituting the system. Starting from pre-printed sheets 2 on which further information (personalization) can be printed, on the basis of said personalization the image reader enables insertion of the right object in the corresponding envelope or postal parcel (for example, it provides an effective and efficient solution to the problem of sending a credit card to the person effectively indicated as addressee without any possibility of errors or imprecisions).

The system 1 for personalized printing, paper and paperboard processing, and binding functions in an automated way in so far as it is completely managed by means of an electronic processor P equipped with purposely provided management software 14 (FIGS. 1 and 2) that manages and controls the system 1 itself and the individual various stations or machines A2, A3, B, C, D, E, F, G.

FIG. 2 represents by way of non-limiting example a flowchart of a possible operation of the system 1.

From the aforesaid flowchart of FIG. 2 there may be evinced a non-limiting application exemplifying operation of the system 1. The example envisages a dual starting possibility (I and II), with:

• • a first possibility (I) of start 7 of the pre-printed sheet 2 so that it can be checked by a reader 8 on the medium to be inserted into the parcel or on the sheet 2, and then be sent on to the envisaged processing operations 10, whether normal or special, and then undergo a further possible operation of personalization 12 according to the codes read;
  • a second possibility (II) of start 7 of the pre-printed sheet 2 so that it can undergo a process of personalization 9 on a paper medium, together with the subsequent operation of insertion 11 of one or more objects 3 into the parcel, and then subsequently with a possible further personalization operation 13, thus obtaining the parcel to be dispatched 6.

A specific management software 14 installed on a processor P enables filing, including remote filing, of all the data regarding the process and control and regulation of the inputs and outputs to/from the system 1 itself.

The fundamental parts in which said system 1 is articulated are constituted by:

• • a basic mechanical part;
  • at least one optical reader; and
  • a plurality of printing heads;

The media, the equipment, the machines or stations, and the devices constituting the mechanical part of the system 1 may be of various types and be allocated at any point of the operating process of the system 1.

The above mechanical part enables, however, installation thereon of other elements useful for the particular production process, as well as insertion of photoelectric cells for controlling the production process through the software 14 of the system 1.

The digital management device P enables interaction with all the elements and accessories of the system 1, thus performing continuous control over the processing operations undergone by the pre-printed sheet 2.

The present system 1 has been devised for enabling implementation of special and mixed operations of paper and paperboard processing, and binding and is characterized by its structure of an open type (which allows the operator maximum simplicity of processing and control) and of a modular type, which likewise presents extreme flexibility, enabling over time replacement of dedicated machines in order to modify the production process itself

The modularity of the system 1 is inherent in the fact that its minimal structure of an overall length of less than three metres can be modified and expanded with other elements (arranged even orthogonally with respect to the machines installed in order to carry out other processing operations) as likewise with further devices, including special ones, such as, for example, dispensers of biadhesive tape, gumming devices, feeders of semi-finished products and cards, ink-jet personalization systems, etc.

The automatic sheet feeders A2-A3 may be of various types as regards the material and the format of the paper of the pre-printed sheet 2. For example, they may be of the plane-stack type for large formats, of the drive-belt type for paper processing, with continuous feed or with feed variable in an alternating way, or again of the “quire” type, the latter being equipped at the bottom with a purposely provided suction belt.

A further characterization of the system 1 is its flexibility, namely the possibility of working in stand-alone mode or else inserted between the stations of a folding machine, or again in combination with a creasing machine, or else again in a mailing line.

The system 1 also presents a possibility of movement of a reciprocating type, enabling, under automatic management control, starting of the process also in reverse order to enable the useful start-up adjustments of the production process itself.

No other system of the ones so far known similar to the one according to the present invention currently manages to achieve the same result as those achieved by the present system 1.

The basic advantages of the present system are listed below:

• • extreme ease of design of the system 1 according to the customer's requirements;
  • extreme ease of installation of the system 1 also on pre-existing machines and stations at the customer's own production premises;
  • extreme flexibility of adaptation of the system 1 to possible needs and requirements subsequent to the design order or to unexpected or unlikely events;
  • extreme modularity of the system 1 represented by the possibility of extending it or reducing it according to the production requirements;
  • maximized simplicity of operation by means of control via operator; and
  • possibility of automatic control of the process also remotely via PLC.

The present system hence presents the indisputable advantage of solving all the problems linked to the systems according to prior art.

A further advantage of the present system over known systems is its minimized cost of implementation and installation for the end user.

Another undeniable advantage is linked to the fact that with the present invention the possibilities of use thereof even in the future, with the advent of new technologies, are widened considerably and in an advantageous way.

It should be noted that, for the purposes of the present invention, printing of the personalization envisages, by way of non-limiting example, printing of: names, addresses, alphanumeric codes, codes of various types (QR codes, barcodes, data matrices, etc.).

It is also evident that the example of embodiment previously described by way of illustrative and non-limiting example may undergo numerous modifications, adaptations, integrations, variations, and substitutions of elements with other functionally equivalent ones, without thereby departing from the sphere of protection of the ensuing claims.

• 1. SYSTEM FOR PERSONALIZED PRINTING, PAPER AND PAPERBOARD PROCESSING, AND BINDING OF A MODULAR TYPE WITH HIGH FLEXIBILITY OF USE AND OPERATION
• 2. PRE-PRINTED SHEET
• 3. SHEET WITH POSSIBLE ATTACHED OBJECT/OBJECTS
• 4. FOLDED OBJECT/OBJECTS AND SHEET
• 5. LABELS AND/OR RFID TAGS
• 6. OBJECT/OBJECTS AND SHEET FOLDED IN AN ENVELOPE OR PARCEL 15 WITH LABELS AND/OR RFID TAGS
• 7. START OF THE PRE-PRINTED SHEET
• 8. READER ON A MEDIUM TO BE INSERTED OR ON THE SHEET
• 9. PERSONALIZATION ON A PAPER MEDIUM
• 10. NORMAL OR SPECIAL OPERATIONS
• 11. INSERTION OF OBJECT/OBJECTS
• 12. PERSONALIZATION/PERSONALIZED PRINTING CORRESPONDING TO CODES READ
• 13. POSSIBLE FURTHER PERSONALIZATION/PERSONALIZED PRINTING
• 14. MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
• 15. ENVELOPE (OR PARCEL) COMPLETE WITH ADDRESSES OF SENDER AND RECIPIENT
• A2 AUTOMATIC SHEET FEEDER FOR PRE-POSITIONING THE SHEET 2
• A3 AUTOMATIC SHEET FEEDER FOR PRE-POSITIONING THE SHEET 2 AND AT LEAST ONE OBJECT 3
• B VIDEO-MONITORING MEANS
• C FOLDING MACHINE
• D PERSONALIZABLE MACHINE DESIGNED TO CARRY OUT PARTICULAR OPERTIONS/PRINTS ON CUSTOMER'S REQUEST
• E SEALING MACHINE
• F FOLDING-AND-INSERTING MACHINE
• G LABELLING MACHINE AND/OR RFID-APPLICATING MACHINE
• P ELECTRONIC PROCESSOR EQUIPPED WITH PURPOSELY PROVIDED SOFTWARE 14
• Z FLOWCHART OF OPERATION OF THE SYSTEM
• I, II DUAL STARTING POSSIBILITY