GB829719A - Sheet feeding apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

829,719. Feeding sheets. CUMMINSCHICAGO CORPORATION. Sept. 3, 1957, No. 27725/57. Class 100(1) In a sheet-feeding apparatus comprising a sheet-separator which supplies sheets from a stack or other source to a pair of feed rollers, the feed rollers have friction surfaces in rolling engagement with one another and one roller is power driven, and the arrangement is such that when two or more sheets are supplied to the feed rollers, the friction driven roller ceases to rotate, and such non-rotation causes the sheet-separator to be disabled. As shown, sheets 22, such as cheques, in a stack are separated sequentially by a friction roller 25 which protrudes through an aperture 24 in a plate 23 and co-operates with a plate 30 which is curved upwardly towards the roller to reduce the likelihood of feeding more than one sheet at once. The roller 25 is of rubber and is formed with spaced ribs 27 on its periphery. It is coupled to a shaft 26 by a coil spring 29 which constitutes an over-running clutch 28. The feed rollers comprise a powerdriven roller 40 and a friction-driven roller 45, both having rubber peripheries. The roller 45 is secured to a shaft 46 and is braked by means of a friction disc 55 which is retained against rotation by an anchor 60, and is urged against the side of the roller by a spring 62. The shaft 46 is mounted in arms 48, 49 swingable about a shaft 50 and biased upwardly by coil springs 51, 52 to urge the roller 45 against the roller 40. The shafts 26 and 46 are connected by gears 71, 72, so that the separator roller 25 will cease to rotate when the roller 45 is stopped due to the presence of two superposed sheets between the rollers 40, 45, since in that case the roller 45 is not driven. Relative slippage takes place between the two superposed sheets, enabling the top one to be discharged by the roller 40, and the lower sheet is held back on the surface of the braked roller 45: when the top sheet is clear, the lower sheet is then discharged by the two rollers. The over-running clutch 28 ensures that one further sheet is separated from the pile by the roller 25 even when the roller 45 is stopped. The sheets are passed between transport rollers 73, 74 driven at a higher peripheral speed than the roller 40. In a modification, the separator roller is driven through an electric clutch by a motor which also drives the top feed roller, the clutch being controlled by the lower friction-driven feed roller such that the separator roller is not driven if the lower feed roller does not rotate due to the presence of two superposed sheets. In this case, there are two or more sets of feed rollers which can cope with circumstances in which three or more sheets are separated together from the pile. A rotation detector is mounted at the end of each braked roller for the purpose of operating electric contacts in the circuit of the electric clutch in response to the rotation of the braked roller. The clutch is rendered inoperative when more than one sheet is present between any of the sets of feed rollers.