GB1211828A - Document handling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1,211,828. Feeding sheets. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. 2 Oct., 1969 [25 Oct., 19681, No. 48404/69. Heading B8R. A document handling apparatus is provided with a mechanism for selectively lowering documents, stacked in a hopper, to engage a device effecting sequential feeding of documents from the hopper. As shown, a bed-plate 12 and a latch frame 14 are secured to a shaft 11 to form a unitary assembly which is biased by a spring 30 into a first position where support tabs 55 hold documents, e.g. cards, stacked in a hopper clear of feed rollers (53) mounted between the tabs (Fig. 2, not shown). One arm of a bell-crank lever 22 pivoted on the frame 14 oscillates towards and away from the core 18 of an electromagnet mounted on the frame 14, being driven by a mechanism including a cam 39 and a shaft 40 carrying an emitter disc 42 co-operating with pick-ups 44 and 45. In operation, when a feed command is issued the passage of emitter 42 past the pick-up 44 causes the electromagnet to be energized, whereby frame 14 and arm 22 are locked together and pivot as a unit about shaft 11 causing the tabs 55 to pivot downwardly, exposing the lowermost card in the hopper to the feed rollers. The electromagnet is de-energized when the shaft 40 has rotated to the position to bring the emitter 42 into co-operation with the pick-up 45; the arm 22 is then freed for independent movement and the spring 33 restores frame 14 to its first position. Thus, during each feed cycle the card stack is lowered into and out of engagement with the feed device, a joggling action of the cards being provided by the movement of the bed-plate 12 which is provided with an upstanding projection 65 engaging the cards.