GB961371A - Improvements relating to sheet feeding devices - Google Patents

Abstract

961,371. Feeding sheets. KEMP APPLICATIONS Ltd. May 29, 1963 [May 29, 1962], No. 20595/62. Heading B6B. Apparatus for separating sheets sequentially from a stack comprises a reciprocating or oscillating carrier having a supporting surface over which a length of pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is arranged and adapted to engage a sheet in the stack and remove it, and a part which moves relatively to the supporting surface to release the separated sheet therefrom. The carrier 1, Fig. I, supports a reel 4 of pressuresensitive adhesive tape 5 which passes over a pulley 6, around a supporting surface 7 having a convex face, over a pulley 8 and between the nip of rollers 9, 10, and the whole is oscillated about a fixed pivot 2. The carrier 1 is swung so that the tape engages the front sheet 14 of a stack 12 of sheets in a container 13 arranged above a movable conveyer 15, and is then swung back so that the trailing end of the separated sheet rests on the conveyer 15. Before the end of the backward swing of the carrier 1, a rubber foot 23 on a rod 19 presses the sheet on the conveyer 15 and strips it from the tape 5. The rod 19 and a, second rod 18 are secured to a block 20 pivoted at 21, and the block is oscillated against the action of a spring 22 by an arm 16 fixed for movement with the carrier 1. Tape 5 is fed from the reel 4 at each oscillation of the carrier 1 when a stop 27 engages a lever 25 carrying a pawl 26 which engages a ratchet-wheel fixed to the feed roller 10. In the modification shown in Fig. III, sheets are separated from the top of a stack 12a. A frame 31, pivoted at 30 to a reciprocating carrier 29, supports a tape reel 4a, a supporting plate 7a, tape feed rollers 9a, 10a, and the associated feed mechanism which is substantially as that in Fig. I. The tape 5a, in passing around the end of the supporting plate 7a, forms a loop through a hole in the foot 35 of a lever 33 pivoted at 34 to the frame 31. The frame 31 is normally urged against a stop 41 on the carrier 29 by a spring 42, so that the end of the plate 7a is clear of the stack 14a, but at the end of the return stroke a roller 39 on the frame abuts and runs down a fixed stop 40 to cause the plate 7a, and the adhesive tape 5a around it, to descend substantially vertically into contact with the top sheet 14a of the stack. When a sheet has been separated from the stack, the lever 33 abuts a stop, and is rocked about its pivot 34 to force the sheet away from the tape 5a for release to a conveyer.