Importance

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Abstract

An air bearing shelf is provided for supporting a newspaper jacket in open position while being transported on a conveyor during addition of an insert into the jacket at printing press speed. The jacket is oriented on the conveyor with the jacket spine aligned with the direction of conveyor movement. The open side of the jacket is split by a sword, and the top portion of the jacket is elevated by sliding on a transition piece until the free side of the top portion enters a pathway bounded on opposite sides by air cushions supplied through apertured upper and lower walls at the margins of the pathway, while the bottom portion of the jacket continues along the plane of the conveyor and is surpressed below an air cushion supplied through the apertured wall over the pathway of the bottom portion. An insert is delivered into the open jacket via a slot located between the upper and lower jacket portion pathways, and the slot is provided with air cushions at its top and bottom margins to center the insert during passage through the slot. The various apertures supplying air cushions are in communication with one or more pressure vessles and are oriented to direct pressurized air along a vector that is partially angled in the direction of conveyor movement so that drag on the jacket is reduced and the jacket and insert are urged to move with the conveyor.

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First Claim