Small and bulk pack napkin separator

摘要

An apparatus and method are provided, for alternatively producing either small or bulk packs of napkins from a stack of folded napkins produced by one folding machine, through use of a pack dispatching arrangement having an inlet, a small pack transfer station and a bulk pack transfer station, and configured for operation in a small pack mode for dispatching a stream of spaced apart small packs of folded sheets separated from the stack of folded sheets, and received at an inlet of the pack dispatching arrangement, to the small pack transfer station, and alternatively operable in a bulk pack mode for dispatching a stream of spaced apart bulk packs of folded sheets separated from the stack of folded sheets, and received at an inlet of the pack dispatching arrangement, to the bulk pack transfer station.

主权项

1. A separator apparatus for separating a stack of folded sheets into either small or bulk packs of the folded sheets, the apparatus comprising:
a separator arrangement for separating the stack of folded sheets into a stream of spaced apart packs of folded sheets, the separator arrangement being alternatively operable in a small-pack mode in which the separator forms small packs of folded sheets and a bulk-pack mode in which the separator forms bulk packs of folded sheets; a pack dispatching arrangement having an inlet for receiving each pack from the separator arrangement, a bulk pack transfer station, and a small pack transfer station; the pack dispatching arrangement being operable in a bulk pack mode for delivering a bulk pack received at the inlet to the bulk pack transfer station; the pack dispatching arrangement being alternatively operable in a small pack mode for delivering a small pack received at the inlet to the small pack transfer station; and wherein: the folded sheets in the separated packs are oriented on an edge of the folded sheets with the packs each having an upstream and a downstream face thereof oriented substantially perpendicular to the edge of the folded sheets as the packs enter the pack dispatching arrangement; the bulk pack received at the inlet is delivered to the bulk pack transfer station with the sheets in the bulk pack resting on the edges of the folded sheets when in the bulk-pack mode; and the small pack received at the inlet is delivered to the small pack transfer station with the small pack resting on one of the faces of the small pack when operating in the small-pack mode.