Kicker: From kick to bundle

To most people, a kicker is something that kicks, or someone who kicks. In sports, the kicker boots the ball. In music, it is an energetic rhythm or a sudden shift that gives a song momentum. The word suggests forward motion, impact, force applied in a direction.

In newspaper printing, a kicker operates in the gathering stage of production. After sheets exit the press they travel along a conveyor or gathering line. The kicker is a mechanical arm or blade that periodically pushes the newspaper sideways off the main line into an aligned stack or bundle. This lateral displacement allows papers to accumulate in the correct position for binding or wrapping. The action is rhythmic and controlled: kick, align, kick, align. The bundling happens not through momentum but through organized displacement and gravity.

The device solves a real problem. Newspapers come off the press in a continuous stream. Without intervention, they pile randomly. The kicker introduces a timed interrupt: every few sheets, it ejects one newspaper perpendicular to the flow. This creates a bundle of papers lying flat and nested, ready for the next stage. Some kickers work with compressed air; others use powered arms. Timing and pressure must match the line speed.

The name persists even though the device does the opposite of what 'kicker' suggests in other contexts. It does not propel the newspaper forward or away from the press. Instead it uses a lateral blow to organize and contain. The term borrowed from the physical act of kicking but applied it to a wholly different function: not ejection from a system but orderly arrangement within one. In this narrow technical sense, the kicker is a brake on chaos, not an engine of motion.