GB731594A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for separating flat articles from a stack - Google Patents

Abstract

731,594. Feeding sheets &c. HALL TELEPHONE ACCESSORIES, Ltd. July 23, 1952 [July 24, 1951], No. 17465/51. Class 100 (1). Flat articles, such as postal letters, are separated from a pile by a suction separator 5 which first lifts the top letter and then moves it transversely so that it rides up a curved and inclined guide plate 6 to be gripped between endless belts 7 and rollers 8. The latter is registered by abutting the plate 6 before it is moved up the surface thereof. It is fed upwardly by the belts and rollers until the trailing edge of the latter engages teeth in rotating serrated wheels 9 which bring the letter into an approximately vertical plane, and it then drops between front and rear guides 11, 12 on to a gate 10 which is opened intermittently to allow letters to fall on to a conveyer belt 13. To prevent more than one letter being removed from the pile by the sucker 5, adjustable stops 1 are arranged to engage and bend each letter as it is lifted from the pile by the sucker. The belts 7 are arranged to project through slots in the guide plate 6, and are depressed by resiliently mounted rollers 8. These rollers are moved away from the belts and plate 6 in accordance with the thickness or stiffness of the letters, and this movement may be arranged, in known manner, to operate a switch to allow for the removal or interception of all letters exceeding prescribed limits of thickness and stiffness. The gate 10 is solenoid-operated and its movements are co-ordinated in known manner with the movements of the sucker 5.