GB1309439A - Apparatus for separating stacked flat articles and feeding them one at a time to a machine in which a subsequent operation can be performed on them - Google Patents

Abstract

1309439 Feeding sheets; and collapsed bags HAVER & BOECKER 24 Sept 1970 [24 Sept 1969] 45649/70 Headings B8C and B8R An apparatus for separating flat articles from a pile 11 and feeding them to a subsequent machine comprises a magazine having a floor 2, e.g. inclined to the horizontal, on which articles, e.g. bags, can be piled, one on top of another, a separating device, e.g. resiliently mounted suction cups on arms 20, or grippers on arms 20 and suction cups on one arm 17 of a two-armed lever, which device separates the uppermost articles one at a time from the top of the stack and orients them substantially vertically, a feed height adjusting device 43, e.g. vertically movable grippers 44, (45), Fig. 6 (not shown), for receiving vertically oriented articles from the separating device and adjusting them to a desired height, e.g. as determined by a sensor finger 50, and a conveyer, e.g. gripper chains 39, 40, for receiving the articles at said height and conveying them to the machine. The magazine may be raised by a chain drive via rollers 4, 5 as the pile is consumed as detected by the twoarmed lever, the other arm 17<SP>1</SP> of which operates a switch 15, the lever being moved clear of the pile when the separating arms 20 are actuated. A number of reserve magazines may be provided, being driven into operative position by a chain drive 30. The magazine floor may have a hinged portion (35), Fig. 3 (not shown), to facilitate location of the bags, e.g. side folded bags, the folds being held together by glue spots (37a), Fig. 4 (not shown), into a neat pile. Alternatively, piles may be located in magazines formed by upright guides on a conveyer. Different types of bags may be located in each magazine, a control system being used to control the sequence in which each magazine is moved into operative position.