20,595. Neidich, S. A. Sept. 14, 1912, [Convention date]. Sheet-separators; sheet-carriers; pile tables and supports; sheet-registering devices.--Sheets are fed to a printing or other machine by rotating friction members which act on the bottom sheet of a pile fitted with adjustable side and rear gauges, the front of the pile resting on a vertically-adjustable slotted member through which the friction members act to buckle the bottom sheet, and to carry it down between rollers on their own shaft and a positively-driven rubber-covered roller, which is formed with a recess into which the edge of the sheet is directed, the sheet being forwarded through guides to the printing or other machine. The shaft of the friction buckling-members is driven at a slow speed for about a third of its rotation while the sheet is being buckled, and during the remainder of its revolution at a much greater speed. Mechanism for counting the number of sheets fed, and for stopping the machine in case two or more sheets are fed. is also employed. As shown, the sheets are supported on a slightly inclined table 32 fitted with adjustable side gauges and with an adjustable rear gauge 37, the front edges of the sheets being registered against ribs 42 on a vertical stop-plate 40 mounted in vertical guides and adjustably supported by means of eccentrics 191 which rest on fixed supports, the eccentrics, when adjusted to bring the pile to the correct height, being held by set-screws 194 with locknuts 195. The table 32 is supported by hinged wings 21, which are provided with openings into which are sprung pins 26 on lugs 22 of a crossmember 5 of a portable frame, the bottom member 4 of which is secured by screws 8 to the rest of the frame, and is shown as secured by clamps 11 to a stand 10 of the printing or other machine. The front edges of the sheets rest on a slotted bar 41 on the plate 40, and a roller 45 also assists in supporting the sheets. The bottom sheet of the pile is buckled by rotating notched rubber strips 65 secured by plates 68, Fig. 8, and screws 69 to rotating members 63 secured to a shaft 60, which is provided between the bucklers 65 with freelymounted sleeves 61 coacting with feeding-rollers 51, which are secured to a shaft 50 and are faced with soft rubber and formed with recesses 57 in which plates securing the rubber facing are fixed. The bucklers 65 contact with the bottom sheet as shown in- Fig. 2, and the rotation of the shaft 60 at a slow speed causes the sheets p, Fig. 11, to buckle to the position shown therein, while the previously-fed sheet p<1> is fed by the rollers 61, 51 into the printing- machine. The sheet p is then fed into the recesses 57 of rollers 51 by the time these have completed a further revolution, and the buckler 65 moves on quickly to engage the pile again, the sheet being finally forwarded by the rollers 51, 61 when the shoulders of the recesses 57 contact with the rollers 61. By this means, exact registration of the sheets is obtained, since the position of the sheets when taken by the rollers, and the time of advancement, are constant. The shafts 60, 50 are driven as follows. A gear-wheel 106 on the shaft 50 is geared to the printing or other machine, the wheel 106 being adjustably connected to the shaft 50 by means of a worm-wheel 108, Fig. 4, secured to the shaft 50 and engaged by a worm mounted in a housing 109, which is rigid with the wheel 106 and loose on the shaft 50. The shaft 50 is geared to the shaft 60 by means of a wheel 120, Fig. 4, which is freely mounted on a sleeve 160 secured to the shaft 50, and is frictionally held in engagement with a flange 161 of this sleeve by means of a washer 162 pressed by a spring-controlled nut 165, which can be adjusted axially on a threaded portion of the sleeve 160. The other end of the shaft 50 is positively geared to teeth on a ring 132, Figs. 5 and 6, formed with a hub 133 mounted on an annular bearing 134. The shaft 60 is provided with a head 136 which normally rotates freely in the ring 132. For the period of rotation of the shaft 60 at which it is to be driven slowly, a sliding trigger 141 is moved in a diametric slot in the head 136 bv a fixed cam 145 so as to engage with one of a series of spring-pressed dogs 148 mounted in tangential recesses in the ring 132. The dog 148 acted on thus locks the wheel 132 to the shaft 60, and this shaft is thus prevented from being driven at a greater speed than the ring 132, this slow speed being maintained until the trigger 141 moves off the cam 145, when the dog 148 is pressed against a shoulder 150 but no longer prevents the shaft 60 from moving at a greater speed. A gear casing 130 and a protecting-plate 152 spaced by a ring 153, protect the mechanism described. The shafts 50, 60 are mounted in ball bearings comprising rings 170, 175 on the shafts, and rings 171, 177 held in place by screwed plugs 174, 182. The balls between the rings are positioned by retainers 173. The bearings of the shaft 50 are eccentrically mounted in bushings 180, which are adjustable to enable the rollers 51, 61 to deal with sheets of various thicknesses. The sheets are guided to the printing-machine by guides 71, 70, the upper one being hinged to the stop-plate 40 and being formed with spring detents to hold it in the operative or inoperative position, and with a lip 76 to enable it to be raised to the inoperative position. The stopplate 40 may be raised and automatically held by spring plungers in such inoperative position, if it is desired to run the printing-machine without feed.