Decelerating mechanism for printed products

摘要

An arrangement for decelerating and shingling printed products as they are conveyed from a variable rotary cutter by a high-speed belt conveyor to a slower speed belt conveyor includes at least one depressor wheel at the entry end of the slower speed conveyor. The depressor wheel carries a plurality of depressor members in circumferential positions corresponding to the circumferential positions of cutting knives on the rotary cutter. The leading edge of each printed product entering the slow speed conveyor enters a headstop nip which reduces the speed of the entering product while its trailing edge is simultaneously momentarily depressed by a depressor on the rotating depressor wheel to enable shingling between successive products. A brake pad cooperates with the depressors to decelerate the printed products to a speed close to the surface speed of the slower belt conveyor. Successive printed products are thus caused to shingle and decelerate irrespective of unequal spacing between the conveyed printed products due to removal by the cutter of dissimilar size transverse blanket gaps or non-image waste strips.