GB644740A - Improvements in sheet-feeding mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

644,740. Feeding sheets. ROSE BROS. (GAINSBOROUGH), Ltd. Aug. 18, 1948, No. 21776. [Class 100 (i)] [Also in Group XVII] Sheet-feeding mechanism comprises a sheet support 14 adapted to support a sheet 11 with an end portion of the sheet clear of the support, a suction head 16 arranged for movement towards and away from the end portion of the sheet so as to seize the sheet and deflect the end portion from its normal plane, and means for feeding a second sheet 22 between the first sheet and the suction head prior to the seizing action of the suction head so that, upon operation of the suction head, the adjacent portion of the second sheet 22 is held (i.e. trapped) between the first sheet and the suction head. As shown, the first sheet 11 is the bottom sheet of a stack of sheets in a magazine 13, and the second sheet 22 is cut from a web 23 fed by rollers 24, 25, but the first sheet may also be cut from a web. The suction head 16 is pivotally mounted for movement about an axis 17, lying coincident with the leading edge of the support 14, and is operated by an arm 41, link 39, and a bell-crank lever 42, 43 which is actuated by a cam 47 on a rotating shaft 48. The two sheets are transferred from the suction head by a pair of grippers 49, formed on arms 52 pivoted on a bar 54 adapted to be reciprocated between pairs of rollers 56, which forward the sheets to a wrapping or other machine. The grippers are opened against the action of a spring 63 by a vertically reciprocating member 59 adapted to engage an extension 57 on the arm 52 of the upper gripper; the lower gripper arm is also moved by the upper gripper arm through gear segments 62. The second sheets 22 are cut in succession from the web 23 by a rotary cutter 37. The lower feed roller 25 is carried by an arm 28, pivoted at 29, having an extension 31 provided with an adjustable abutment bearing against a hand-operated cam 33.