Howard,

1. One thing the balun does do is provide isolation
between the antenna and feedline and this 'decoupling'
can make for a quiter antenna system.
-R- On this we can agree.

2. The balun will not necessarily 'integrate the signals',
in other than a 1:1 configuration it transforms impedance
and allows you to go from balanced to unbalanced line.
At some frequencies it may 'smooth out' the impedance
mismatch, however if you want to combine the signals a
triplexer would do the trick.
-R- Yes - The Balun would simply 'smooth out' the
impedance mismatch between the combined Dipole
Antenna Elements and the Coax Cable Feed-in-Line.
- - - I have often though that a Bal(3)Un(1) for these
types of Multi-Band (Multi-Element) type of 'combined'
Antennas would be a better Matching Device.
? WHAT ? For the Three Dipole Antenna with One Coax
Cable Feed-in-Line :
* Three separate Primary Windings of 30 Turns
# 1 - One for the 49m Dipole Wire Antenna Element
# 2 - One for the 31m Dipole Wire Antenna Element
# 3 - One for the 22m Dipole Wire Antenna Element
* One Secondary Winding of 10 Turns for the Coax
Cable Feed-in-Line.
With All Four (4) Windings on a Single Ferrite Core.

3. ARRL Antenna Book
-R- Books are wonderful and I do own a few books.
But in the media of the NewsGroups (RRS) a
WebPage (Link) that provides some information
and Insight and is more directly accessable by
most readers here. Plus my personal 'theme'
here is to Keep It Simple And Practical (KISAP)
with some basic "How To" Details (Description).

that's where i am coming from - iane ~ RHF