Vertical carousel padding system for retail signage

Abstract

A vertical carousel padding system and method to create an adhesive retail signage pack based on aisles and aisle groupings where the adhesive is applied along the long edge of the stack to make a solid pack that allows for the operator at the store to remove one sign at a time. This system creates a unique and novel system that can accept stacks of varying heights and apply a padded layer of adhesive to the stacks as the clamped stacks move orthogonally around the carousel motion to the glue roller application station. By gripping and then incrementing the stacks in a vertical carousel configuration, the correct edge of the stack can have the adhesive applied to it while the stack height (i.e., size based on the number of signs in the stack) does not require the gluer to adjust to the stack height.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for automatically binding stacks of media sheets, the system comprising:
 a carousel including a plurality of stack housings attached to the carousel adjacent a periphery thereof, one of the stack housings configured to receive a stack of media sheets and to rotate the received stack of media sheets incrementally around the carousel; and   a padding station adjacent the one of the plurality of stack housings, the padding station including a container housing an adhesive and an adhesive applicator configured to deposit a layer of the adhesive onto a side of the received stack of the media sheets, the adhesive layer curing and binding the received stack of the media sheets together into a bound bundle of the media sheets.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an exit conveyor mechanism adjacent the carousel and configured to remove the bound bundle from the one of the stack housings. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the exit conveyor includes a conveyor belt. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the adhesive applicator includes a roller configured to roll the layer of adhesive across the side of the stack of the media sheets rotated by the one of the stack housings rotating around the carousel. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the stack housings include an aperture on a side of the stack housings adjacent the side of the stack of the media sheets configured to receive the layer of the adhesive, and the adhesive applicator deposits the layer of the adhesive through the aperture onto the side of the stack. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the stack housings include a first support configured to abut one side of the received stack of media sheets, and a second support configures to abut another side of the received stack of media sheets to hold the received stack together during a rotation of the received stack and adhesive deposition onto the side of the received stack. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a delivery unit having an automated pusher, the automated pusher configured to move the stack of media sheets from an upstream source adjacent the carousel to the one of the stack housings for rotation thereof around the carousel. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a drive mechanism attached to the carousel and configured to rotate the carousel and transfer the stack of media sheets received in the one of the stack housing from a first orientation to a second orientation normal to the first orientation via the rotation of the carousel. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the drive mechanism includes a stepper motor configured to incrementally rotate the carousel. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the carousel is a vertically oriented carousel. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a curing device adjacent the carousel, the curing station configured to cure the adhesive layer to the side of the received stack of the media sheets and bind the media sheets at the side of the received stack together into the bound bundle of the media sheets. 
     
     
         12 . A method for automatically binding stacks of media sheets, the system comprising:
 a) receiving a stack of media sheets via a stack housing of a carousel, the stack housing being one of a plurality of stack housings attached to the carousel adjacent a periphery thereof;   b) rotating, via the stack housing, the received stack of media sheets incrementally around the carousel; and   c) depositing a layer of an adhesive onto a side of the received stack of the media sheets during the incremental rotation via a padding station adjacent the stack housing, the padding station including a container housing the adhesive and an adhesive applicator, the adhesive layer curing and binding the received stack of the media sheets together into a bound bundle of the media sheets.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising removing the bound bundle from the stack housing via an exit conveyor mechanism adjacent the carousel. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising, after step c), continuing rotation of the received stack of media sheets via the stack housing to the exit conveyor mechanism, and during the continuing rotation, curing the deposited layer of the adhesive on the side of the received stack of the media sheets together into the bound bundle of the media sheets. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , the step c) including the adhesive applicator rolling the layer of adhesive from the container across the side of the stack of the received media sheets. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising, during the step b), the stack housing registering the received stack of media sheets within the stack housing, and abutting opposite sides of the registered received stack to hold the stack together during step c). 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein step a) includes moving the stack of media sheets from an upstream source adjacent the carousel to the stack housing via an automated pusher. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein step a) includes receiving the stack of media sheets with the stack having a first orientation, and step b) includes incrementally rotating the received stack of media sheets in the stack housing from the first orientation to a second orientation normal to the first orientation via a drive mechanism attached to the carousel rotating the carousel. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the step b) further includes incrementally rotating the received stack of media sheets in the stack housing from the second orientation to a third orientation opposite to the first orientation via the drive mechanism, and the method further comprises removing the bound bundle from the stack housing via an exit conveyor mechanism adjacent the carousel with the stack having the third orientation. 
     
     
         20 . A device for automatically binding stacks of media sheets, the device comprising:
 a vertical carousel including a plurality of stack housings attached to the vertical carousel adjacent a periphery thereof, each of the stack housings configured to receive a respective stack of media sheets from an upstream source and to rotate the received stack around the vertical carousel;   a padding station adjacent the stack housings, the padding station including a container housing an adhesive and an adhesive applicator configured to deposit a layer of the adhesive onto a side of the respective stack of media sheets received by one of the stack housings adjacent the padding station, the adhesive layer curing and binding the respective stack of media sheets into a bound bundle of the media sheets; and   an exit conveyor mechanism adjacent the vertical carousel and configured to remove the bound bundle from the one of the stack housings.