GB1256265A - Self-aligning feed roller - Google Patents

Abstract

1,256,265. Feeding sheets. XEROX CORP. 21 May, 1969 [24 May, 1968], No. 26017/69. Heading B8R. Sheets are separated from the top of a pile S, Figs. 7 and 9, and fed to a xerographic printing- machine by means of rotatable friction rollers 486, 485. The roller assembly is supported on an arm 496 secured to a sleeve 505 so as to be movable up and down, and the rollers are rotated by a belt 517. The rollers 485 are mounted on axially movable shafts 487 urged outwardly by a spring 492 against side guide members 445, 446, so that the rollers 485 are maintained near the sides of the sheets when the members 445, 446 are adjusted for sheet width. The arm 496 is formed in two parts 497, 498 connected by a tongue 501 and slot 500 allowing slight relative movement about the axis of the arm, whereby all the rollers can contact the pile regardless of pile deformation. Double feed is prevented by snubbers 480 carried on plungers 477 and engaging the top corners of the pile at the feed end. The guide members 445, 446 are movable towards and away from each other by rotating a hand-wheel 464, to accommodate sheets of different widths. The separator rollers are rotated through separate one-way clutches. Pile supports.-The pile rests on a tray 400 comprising a stationary plate 403 and a movable plate 404, having intermeshing fingers and recesses. The plate 404 can be pulled to the right to support long sheets, a switch 416 acting to change the printing-machine cycle correspondingly. The tray is raised continuously by a motor as sheets are separated, under the control of a limit switch SW-8, and is lowered for reloading, under the control of a limit switch SW-7, through the medium of gear trains 433, 432, 428, and a rack 427. Registering sheets.-The sheets are fed by the separator rollers to feed rollers 520, 521, Figs. 7 and 16, which are normally slightly separated, and against pivotal front stop fingers 555. After the sheet is registered, the rollers come together and the fingers are lowered, under the control of solenoids. The upper roller 520 comprises a metal core with a plurality of soft rubber layers therearound. The lower roller 521 comprises a plurality of short rollers 544.