JPS602115Y2 - sheet processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to a sheet feeding, separation, and stacking device, and more specifically, a new high-speed sheet that can feed and separate each sheet from a stack of multiple sheets of different thicknesses, dimensions, and qualities. It relates to a processing device.

Document feeders and/or document separators have a wide variety of uses.

For example, banks would greatly benefit from having equipment for accurately counting large stacks of banknotes.

One of the problems encountered when counting banknotes relatively quickly is that many of the banknotes that are counted are torn or creased and therefore require special care and handling when counting. If not handled properly, torn or creased banknotes may be stacked first (
must be removed from the pile of banknotes (stacked).

The reason is that current feeding and separating equipment cannot count such banknotes.

In addition, banknotes that are completely intact but have strong creases must be carefully and forcefully pressed to release the creases before they can be handled by the feeding and counting device.

Banks handle large quantities of checks with different paper quality, size, thickness, and finish.

As a result, checks of the same size and thickness must be stacked before they can be counted, which significantly increases the amount of handling preparation required during handling.

Another typical application in which such feeding, separating, counting and stacking devices are used is in the coupon field.

Coupons come in a variety of forms, such as those printed in newspapers or magazines and cut out of the newspaper or magazine before use.

Coupons are attached to part of the product's packaging and may therefore be made of further forms of paper as far as the size, weight, thickness and finish of the paper are concerned.

Companies that process such coupons find it extremely advantageous to be able to accurately and quickly count and process coupons of different sizes, thicknesses, and finishes; the applications described above are merely illustrative. A device that can separate and count documents of different paper sizes, weights, thicknesses, and finishes has many other applications that can be used to great advantage.

The present invention has a simple structure, and is capable of feeding and separating sheets of different paper thicknesses, weights, dimensions, and finishes, while simultaneously feeding and separating sheets at speeds not remotely possible with conventional devices. The present invention provides a sheet feeding, separating and stacking device that is capable of counting stacks of such sheets with great accuracy.

The infeed hopper is provided with an inclined support having an opening through which a portion of the outer circumference of the PICKER wheel projects.

The picker wheel rotates at a constant speed and is provided along a portion of its outer periphery with an eccentric surface having a coefficient of friction higher than that of the other portion of the outer periphery.

The picker wheel has the ability to strip off at least the bottom sheet of the stack and advance it towards the separation device and, due to its eccentric surface, push the entire stack upward to facilitate separation of the stack. fulfills the dual function of

The shape of the infeed hopper allows the sheets of the bottom group of stacked sheets to be released from the weight of, or on top of, the remaining sheets, thereby facilitating separation of the bottom sheets from each other. It is shaped like this.

The picker wheel advances the lowest group of sheets toward the drive wheel assembly, thereby releasing said group of sheets from the weight of the stack at the rear end of the stack due to the shape of the rear end of the slope support.

The inlet hopper also includes a second sloped surface that supports the front end weight of the stack.

The sheet is thus free to slide downwardly along the support surface under the action of the drive assembly and stripping assembly.

The drive shafts are disposed along a common axis and rotate at a substantially constant speed that is at least equal to the rotational speed of the picker wheel.

A stripping wheel is mounted on the free end of the stripping wheel assembly.

The stripping wheel assembly consists of a pair of arms whose rear ends are pivotally mounted within the machine frame and whose free ends support an axle on which the stripping wheel is mounted.

The stripping wheel glides onto the document being fed to the drive wheel, and the stripping wheel attachment automatically compensates for differences in weight, hardness, thickness, etc. of the sheets being processed. automatically adjusts the position of the stripping wheel.

The stripping wheel rotates at a constant speed, the speed being within a range extending from less than the rotational speed of the drive wheel to a value greater than the rotational speed of the drive wheel.

The stripping wheel is rotated such that its circumferential portion engages the sheet being fed to the drive wheel and moves in a direction opposite to the direction of forward feed.

The stripping wheel is also mounted to be positioned within a gap formed between a pair of spaced apart drive wheels, such that the stripping wheel is positioned below the circumference of the drive wheel with the stripping wheel in between. The circumference is located.

The sheet fed to the drive wheel assembly by this device is given a rounded and corrugated shape.

This shape stiffens the sheet and allows for lateral movement of the sheet, thereby greatly facilitating separation of the sheets when two or more sheets are fed between the stripping wheel and the drive wheel.

The stiffness imparted to the sheet enhances the frictional engagement between the drive wheel and the stripping wheel.

The coefficient of friction at the circumference of the drive wheel is substantially greater than the coefficient of friction at the inner circumference of the stripping wheel, and the material used to make the stripping wheel is preferably more elastic than the material used to make the drive wheel. Use a small one (that is, one with high hardness).

The inlet hopper has a surface immediately adjacent the area of the drive wheel.

This surface has a steep downward slope that hangs down the leading edge of the bottom sheet, thereby increasing the frictional engagement with the bottom sheet that is fed by the picker wheel toward the drive wheel.

The surface of the infeed hopper that supports the leading edge of the stacked sheets has at least a portion that exerts a significant frictional force on the leading edge of the sheets, removing the bulk of the weight of the stack from the bottom sheet. When advanced by the picker wheel, the lowermost sheet group is allowed to slide substantially freely downwardly toward the drive wheel.

When a single sheet is fed between the stripping wheel and the drive wheel, the relative difference in the coefficient of friction between these wheels causes the stripping wheel to slide against the opposing surfaces of the bottom sheet. The large force exerted on the bottom seat is the frictional engagement of the drive wheel.

Thus, one sheet is fed towards multiple acceleration wheels.

These acceleration wheels cooperate with the freewheel idler wheels to accelerate the sheet being fed towards the acceleration wheels.

This seat fits between the acceleration wheel and the idler wheel.

This speed of entry is faster than before because the sheet comes under the action of an accelerator wheel that rotates at a constant tangential speed that is faster than the tangential speed of the drive wheel.

The distance between the centers of rotation of the drive wheel and the center of rotation of the acceleration wheel is such that a sheet fed between the acceleration wheel and its associated idler roller is accelerated before the next sheet in the stack makes frictional contact with the drive wheel. The interval is such that it is done.

This action creates a finite gap between the leading edge of the sheet being fed between the freewheel and idler roller and the next sheet passing the drive wheel.

The accelerator wheels and idler rollers operate to rapidly advance sheets fed therebetween toward the stacker.

The stacker jerks the trailing edge of the first sheet fed into it, forcing it out of the path of the leading edge of the next sheet that should be fed into it, causing the stacker to snap out of the way before the next sheet enters the stacker area. form a neat stack of sheets in their original order.

As one or more sheets enter the area between the drive wheel and the stripping wheel, the large coefficient of friction of the drive wheel acts to push the bottom sheet towards the accelerating wheel in the forward direction.

This is because the gripping force due to friction between the sheets is smaller than the gripping force due to friction between the drive wheel and the lowest sheet.

The arrangement of the drive wheel and stripping wheel allows the sheets fed therebetween to be corrugated.

This corrugation greatly reduces the frictional forces between the contact surfaces of the sheets and causes the sheets in the corrugated portion to separate, thereby stripping the upper sheet from the lower sheet.

This makes it extremely easy. The upper sheet is then kicked back toward the infeed hopper. The rotational movement of the eccentric surface of the picker wheel shakes the sheet in the infeed hopper,
This frees the lowest sheet in the stack from the weight of the remaining sheets in the stack, smoothing the unwinding action and pushing the leading edge of the sheet upwardly against the sheet receiving surface of the infeed hopper.

Due to the difference in the coefficient of friction between the stripping wheel and the drive wheel, the bottom sheet of the bottom feeder, or the top sheet of the top feeder, is removed from the area of action of the drive wheel and stripping wheel by the bottom (or top) sheet. Despite the fact that the leading edge of the primary sheet can be fed to the drive wheel and the stripping wheel before the leading edge of the sheet, it is the first sheet to be fed towards the acceleration wheel. Proactively secure.

The movable adjustment of the stripping wheel allows the device to accurately feed and strip sheets at high speeds, while accepting documents or sheets of different thicknesses, weights, dimensions and finishes, making it highly advantageous for a wide range of applications. Provides feeding and separation mechanism.

In another embodiment, the stripping assembly can be replaced with a fixed stripping wheel assembly.

In this assembly, the distance that the stripping wheel can move away from the sheet being fed between the stripping wheel and the drive wheel is limited by a spring, or the feeding and separating device Applications that are designed to handle such materials are limited by the drive system.

Alternatively, the stripping wheel assembly can be provided with a lanyard device to serve the same purpose.

This equipment can perform batch operations, matching operations, and operations such as counting all sheets while sending only selected sheets to the stacker (i.e., statistical sampling).
suitable for doing.

Clutches and brakes are also provided to separate the sheets.

Each assembled sheet group contains exactly the preselected number of sheets.

The clutch selectively disconnects the stripping wheel, drive wheel, and picker wheel from the device's power source, and the brake brings those wheels to a sudden stop.

The power source of the apparatus continues to operate until the last sheet of the preselected number of sheets reaches the stacker.

For merging operations, where you want to count all the sheets stacked in the input hopper and separate every Nth (2nd, 3rd, etc.) sheet from the rest of the stack, , a gate device is used,
When the gate is in a first position, it allows selected sheets to bypass the stacker as they leave the acceleration wheel, and when the gate is in a second position, it deflects remaining sheets toward the stacker.

Gates are used not only for matching operations but also for statistical sampling.

A brake and clutch assembly is also used in conjunction with the gating device to enhance the operation of the gating device by increasing the spacing between the sheet being sampled and the sheet passing through the feed mechanism before and after the sheet.

The brake and clutch assembly is operative to slow the advance of the sampled sheet through the drive wheel after the sheet preceding the sampled sheet is detected, and It operates to slow the advance of the sheet immediately following the sheet by the drive wheel to allow sufficient time for the gate to perform its mechanical movement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device that can feed and accurately separate documents of different nature at a speed that was not even remotely possible with conventional devices.

Another object of the invention is to separate the sheets from each other and prevent more than one sheet from being fed at a time by the use of a stripping wheel assembly which is barked in cooperation with a drive wheel assembly. , a feature placed in a single stacker that automatically adapts to sheets of different thickness in the stack, thereby advancing only one sheet from the cooperating drive and stripper assemblies toward the stacker. The object of the present invention is to provide a new device for feeding and accurately separating different sheets of paper.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

1 and 2 show a device 10 having a housing 11. FIG.

The housing 11 includes a base 1 for supporting the device 10 on any suitable surface such as a table or counter.
It has 2.

The device 10 is relatively small and lightweight, making it convenient to carry, which makes it easy to use the device 10 virtually anywhere desired.

The housing 11 is provided with a front part 13, and a control panel is attached to the upper end of this front part. Although not shown in the drawings to simplify the explanation, this control panel actually controls starting and stopping the device. A knob is provided.

The control panel is provided with a counter that visually displays the number of sheets processed through the apparatus, and the number and type of display mechanisms and the number of knobs are determined by the use of the apparatus.

The front part 13 forms part of the front part of the housing 11.

A feed hopper 14 is provided at the front of the stack support member 15 and a front edge support member 16 to form an L-shaped cross section.

A stack of sheets (a pile or bundle of stacked sheets) is located in the infeed hopper 14 as shown in FIG. hangs on top.

The slope of the hopper 14, especially the base support plate 15 and the support plate 1
The slope at 6 is designed to retain the stack in the hopper without placing any weight on top of the stacked sheets, and the right end 15a of the support plate 15 is connected integrally with the adjacent surface 15b. is inclined at an angle greater than the angle of inclination of

Due to the tilted configuration of the entire inlet hopper, the leading edge of at least some of the sheets in the stack S rests on the support plate 16.

A notable feature of the sheet feeding and separation mechanism of this invention is that before placing the stack in the feed hopper,
There is no need to pre-process the stack; the sheets can simply be stacked in the hopper and are ready to go.

For example, there is no need to align the leading edges of all of the sheets in the stack so that they rest against the surface 16a of the support plate 16; in fact, some of the sheets in the stack S Even if the portion is away from the surface 16a of the support plate 16, there is no problem in processing.

The feed hopper support surfaces 15a, 15b are bent into a dog leg shape and are joined together at a bent portion 15c.

This bent portion is located a predetermined distance away from portion 16a of support plate 16.

The dimension of this distance is designed to be sufficiently shorter than the width dimension W of the narrowest sheet among the sheets (documents and other sheets) received in the feeding hopper and processed by the apparatus.

As the stack of sheets s in the hopper is fed in the direction of arrow A, some of the bottom sheets are moved in the direction of arrow B, and the trailing edge of those sheets forms the slope of the support plate 15 of the infeed hopper. 15a downwardly.

However, the remaining rear portion of the stack S rests on the right end (in FIG. 1) of the ramp 15a.

With this configuration, the weight of the rear end of the remaining stacked sheets is not applied to the bottom group of sheets (usually 1 to 5 sheets) that has moved from the right end of the stacked sheets, and therefore the feeding operation and separation It is very easy to operate.

A picker wheel 19 is mounted on an axle 2o, the first end 20a and the second end 20b of the axle 20 being in a journal connection (FIG. 2).

The left end of the shaft 20 extends beyond the frame F of the machine, where a pulley 21 is fixed.

The pulley 21 is for driving the picker wheel 19.

A hole (not shown) is provided in the portion 15b of the support plate 15, through which the upper portion of the picker wheel 19 projects.

The angle of inclination of the surface 16a, which contacts the leading edge of the majority of sheets, is such that it supports a portion of the weight of the stack, thereby removing that weight from the bottom sheet group and leaving it behind the inlet hopper. This makes it very easy to feed sheets to the processing section.

The weight of the sheet can be expressed by a vertical downward thrust vector C.

This force can be represented by force components C□ and C2, which are perpendicular and parallel to surface 16a, respectively.

Surface 16a counteracts force component C1, thereby removing this force from the weight of the bottom sheet.

Further, there is some frictional force between the leading edge of the sheet and the contact surface 16a, thereby reducing the influence of the component force C2 applied to the lowermost sheet.

This frictional force can be increased by roughening the sheet contact surface 16a.

Alternatively, it can be wavy, stepped, or gently curved, as shown in FIGS. 5a-c.

An eccentric surface portion 19a is formed protruding from a part of the circumference of the picker wheel 19.

This eccentric surface portion 19a is made of a material having a sufficiently high coefficient of friction, and extends along the circumference of the wheel 19 with a certain dimension as shown in the figure. 142 is connected between the drive wheel pulley 139 and the pulley 21 so that it can rotate in the direction of the arrow 22 at a constant angular velocity.

The circumferential eccentric surface portion 19a of the picker wheel 19 is arranged so as to shake the lowest sheet of the stack S up and down by its eccentric rotational movement to loosen the frictional contact between the sheets. (5~6
It performs the dual function of rocking the bottom sheet (sheets) and allowing the bottom sheet to be easily picked up and unwound in the direction of arrow B and sent towards the stripping and separation mechanism.

The shaking effect on the stack sheet s by the eccentric surface portion of the picker wheel also acts to push the stack upward and forward.

This action causes the leading edge to move upwardly relative to surface 16a, lifting the weight of the leading edge of the stack sheet s from the bottom sheet, the bottom sheet from which most of the weight of the stack sheet s is removed. is free to slide downwards along the support plate 15 towards the drive wheel.

The rotation of the picker wheel is selected such that the eccentric surface 19a contacts the largest sheet (document) processed by the device only once.

Sheet dimension is the length of the sheet measured in the feed direction.

If the length of each sheet (document) is uniform for all sheets to be handled, the circumference of the picker wheel should preferably be less than the length of the sheet.

For example, the length of the sheet (document) is about 5. Oh
(2 inches), the circumference of the picker wheel should be about 5.4 cm (about 2-V3 inches).

The picker wheel also has an eccentric surface portion 19 at least until the leading edge of the sheet being fed comes into contact with the circumferential portion of the drive wheel.
The structure should be such that a contacts the sheet as much as possible.

This feature can be achieved by adjusting the circumference of the picker wheel and by adjusting the length p of the eccentric surface portion 19a.
Alternatively, this can be achieved by adjusting both.

The rotational speed of the picker wheel is preferably slower than the rotational speed of the drive wheel so that the sheet is not advanced faster than it can be handled by the drive wheel.

The lowest sheet in the stack is pushed by picker wheel 19 towards drive wheel 23 .

This drive wheel is mounted on a shaft 24, the ends of which are journal-connected within the flume F.

A Pezo 25 is attached to one end of the shaft 24, and a belt is hung around this pulley to rotate the shaft 24 and the wheel 23 in the direction of an arrow 26.

The portion 15d of the inlet hopper support plate 15 is integrally joined to the portion 15b within the region of a V-shaped bent recess (KINK) provided in the support plate 15.

The frontmost part of the part 15b is bent downward at the part 15e forming the bent recess, and bent upward at the part 15f.
d is located slightly below the portion 15b.

Portion 15d is provided with a hole (not shown) through which a portion of the circumference of the drive wheel or wheel 23 can protrude.

The wheels 23a and 23b provided in the center are located at a relatively narrow interval, and the wheels 23 and 23a, 23b and 2
The distance between wheels 3c is sufficiently wider than the distance between wheels 23a and 23b.

This configuration receives a stripping wheel assembly.

The circumferential portion of the wheels 23 to 23c is the portion 15 of the support plate 15.
The V-shaped folding recess provided in the part projecting through d facilitates the frictional contact between the lowermost sheet which is fed by the picker wheel 19 towards the drive wheel 23 .

The reason for this is that the front edge of the lowermost sheet straddles the bending recess of the support plate 15 and hangs downward, causing the wheels 23 to 23c to
This is because it ensures good frictional contact of the sheet with the circumference of the sheet.

A stripping assembly 30 is placed on top of the drive wheel assembly.

Assembly 30 has a shaft 31, one end of which is mounted in an elongated bore in frame F.

A nut 31c is screwed into the threaded end of the shaft 31.

The elongated hole provided in the frame is located at the end 31 of the shaft 31.
a, allowing the stripping wheel assembly to be adjusted parallel to the drive wheel assembly.

The other end 31b of the shaft 31 is inserted into a hole in the frame and fixed with a nut.

The adjusting member 151 (FIG. 2a) of the stripping wheel assembly has a hole 152 into which the other end 31b of the shaft 31 is inserted and fixed by press fitting or a set screw.

An adjustment screw 153 is inserted into the elongated hole 154 of the member 151 and is screwed into a screw hole provided in a portion F1 projecting inside the frame F of the machine.

A helical spring 156 is attached around the adjustment screw 153, and both ends of this spring are in contact with the protrusion F□ and the support portion 151a of the member 151.

This assembly controls the angular orientation of the shaft 31 by adjustment of the screw 153, and thus the depth of engagement of the stripping wheel between the drive wheels.

Helical spring 156 operates to prevent movement of screw 153.

A pair of arms 32 and 33 are pivotally supported on the shaft 31 and are interconnected by a connecting rod 34 .

These arms are mounted on a shaft 31 in a freewheel manner.

The bearing is provided with shafts 35,36. Stripping wheel assembly 30 also includes a U-shaped member 37.

The arms 37a and 37b of this member have holes through which the shaft 31 passes.

Arms 37a, 37b are secured to shaft 31 by set screws 37c, 37d such that U-shaped member 37 assumes the same angular orientation as shaft 31.

It is arranged on the shaft 31 between the arms 37a and 37b so as to rotate like a freewheel.

The pulley 38 has a pair of continuous annular rims 38 a, 38
b is provided.

In order to ensure freewheel-like rotation of the pulley 38, a cylindrical bushing (not shown) is preferably provided between the pulley 38 and the shaft 31.

A shaft 39 located above the pulley 38 has bearings 40, 41 near its free end and is mounted on the frame F in a freewheeling manner.

A pulley 42 is attached to the left end of the shaft 39, and this pulley 42 is connected to a drive pulley 138 via a belt 140 so as to rotate in the direction of an arrow 43 (FIG. 1).

A pulley 44 is attached to the center of the shaft 39, and by passing a belt 45 between the pulley 44 and the pulley 38, the pulley 38 is rotated in the direction of an arrow 46 (FIG. 1).

The stripping wheel assembly 30 has an axle 47 which is attached to the front free ends of the arms 32, 33 by bearings 4B, 49.

These bearings attach the shaft 47 to the arms 32, 33 in a freewheel manner.

A pulley 51 attached to the shaft 47 is connected to the left side portion of the pulley 38 via a belt 50.

Belt 50 is hung between rims 51a and 51b of pulley 51.

The shaft 47 has a pair of stripping wheels 5 fixed to the shaft 47.
It also has 2.53.

The circumference of these wheels is the driving wheel 23-2.
It extends slightly below the circumference of 3c, that is, so that both wheels mesh with each other.

The rotation of shaft 39 and pulley 44 is therefore transmitted to stripping wheel 52,53 which rotates in the direction indicated by arrow 54.

The wheels 52,53 are adjustable laterally along axis 47 to adjust the assembly to accommodate sheets of different thicknesses and hardnesses as well as periodic adjustments for normal wear of the wheels.

Arms 32, 33 supporting the stripping wheel are mounted in freewheel fashion on the common shaft 31, such that the stripping wheel is connected to the drive wheels 23-23c and the stripping wheel 52.
．． 53 to allow a downward force to be exerted on the sheet interposed between the sheet and the sheet.

The magnitude of this force is the arm 32, 33, shaft 47, bearing 48
．． 49, the weight of at least part of the pulley 51 belt 50 and the connecting rod 55, the arms 32, 33, the connecting rod 34 and the U
It is a function of the weight of the rear part of the glyph 37 and the balancing effect.

The downward force exerted by the stripping wheel assembly is also a function of the length L of arm 32.33 between axes 31 and 47.

Therefore, this downward force is applied to the arms 32 of different lengths.
．． 33 or by using the part between the shafts 31 and 47 that is made adjustable.

The downward force exerted by the stripping wheels allows wheels 52 and 53 to contact the top of the sheet passing beneath them and to pivot about axis 31 quite independently of the drive mechanism. It is important to note that due to the unique mounting assembly that allows the rotational drive force applied to the wheels 52 and 53 to be completely independent.

Stripping wheels 52 and 53 are drive wheels 23-23
The maximum depth of engagement between c and c is controlled by the adjustment member 151 by the precision adjustment screw 153 and the set screw 37e.

The set screw 37e is screwed into the screw hole of the U-shaped member 37 so that its lower end extends toward the upper surface of the connecting rod 34.

The upward pivoting of the arm 32.33 about the axis 31 is controlled by adjusting the screw 37e.

The U-shaped member 37, set screw 37e and connecting rod 34 perform coarse depth adjustment.

To limit the amount of clockwise rotation of the arm 32.33 about the axis 31, the arm 32.33 is provided with a spring 1.
A load of 70 is applied.

This spring 170 is connected between the connecting rod 34 and the U-shaped member 37 by set screws 37f, 37e and reduces the free float of the stripping wheel.

In applications that process sheets having a relatively narrow range of thicknesses compared to the wide range of thicknesses that stripping members are currently designed to handle, the U-shaped member 37 and connecting rod 34
The stripping wheels 52,53 are sufficiently fixed in position to prepare the machine for handling sheets having thicknesses within said narrow range.

Figures 6A and 6B illustrate another embodiment of a stripping wheel 30' for processing documents having a moderate thickness range (from banknotes to punched cards).

Although only one half of the assembly is shown in FIG. 6B, the other half is completely symmetrical in configuration to the illustrated half.

The shaft 172 is journal-coupled to a bearing 173 provided on the frame F.

A member 151 that is substantially the same as the adjustment member 151 shown in FIG. 2a.
' is fixed to the shaft 172 by a set screw 174.

Adjustment screw 176 is screwed into the threaded hole in member 151';
It contacts the fixing protrusion 177 extending inward from the frame F.

An arm 178 on the shaft 172 supports a stripping wheel.
is fixed by a set screw 179, and this arm 178
The rotating shaft 180 of the stripping wheel is mounted like a freewheel.

By adjusting the shaft 180 by a pair of adjustment screws 176, the stripping wheels 52.53 and the drive wheels 23-23c are aligned.
A gap 181 is provided in the frame F so that the parallel state between the two can be maintained.

A shaft 172, which is fixed at a position below the arm 178 between the side walls of the frame F, has a set screw 183 that contacts a stopper 178a extending downward from the arm 178 (see FIG. 6A). Controls how far the wheel can go down.

172.172a away from frame F of axis 172
is inserted into the hollow cylindrical tube 172b like a telescope lens barrel.

The central axis of this hollow cylindrical tube 172b is the axis 172.172a.
at the same time as axis 172.1.
72a can be independently rotated about the central axis A by respective precision adjustment members 151, 151.

Shaft 180 has a pulley 184.

The rotation shaft 24 of the drive wheel 23 has a pulley 185 (FIG. 2).

A resilient O-ring shaped belt 186 connects pulleys 184 and 1.
A hook is passed between the drive wheel and the stripping wheel to rotate the shafts 180 and 24 and to control the amount of separation that may occur between the drive wheel and the stripping wheel.

Adjustment of the stripping assembly controls the angular orientation of the centerline CL of the arm 32.33 relative to the feed direction and the angular relationship between the stripping wheel 52.53 and the drive wheels 23-23c.

If the angle α (FIG. 7C) becomes larger than a predetermined value, sheet jamming will occur.

Suppose that the angle α becomes smaller than a predetermined value (Fig. 7a).

b) Lifting occurs on the stripping wheel.

By selecting a suitable positive angle α with respect to the horizontal H, the stripping assembly provides a self-clamping effect to eliminate snap-up, prevent sheet jamming, and have a wide range of thicknesses, hardnesses, and finishes. Facilitates sheet handling.

Since the angle α is also a function of the friction coefficient of the circumference of the stripping wheel, α becomes smaller or larger depending on the magnitude of the friction coefficient.

The angle β formed between the feed direction and the stripping wheel 52 is also important (FIG. 6A1 FIG. 7C).

If β is too small, a sheet clogging phenomenon will occur.

However, by counter-rotating the stripping wheel, β can be made very small.

Continuously, the stripping wheel 52 is located at a point X on its surface.
The stripping wheel 52 should be positioned so that a straight line drawn through the line does not touch the intersection of the straight line and a straight line that coincides with the plane of motion of the sheet in the feed direction (Fig. 6A).
).

The linear return is also perpendicular to the direction of sheet movement, and the drive wheel 2
It must pass through the center of rotation of 3.

Point X need not be on the surface of wheel 23.

Figures 7a-c show arms 32.33 of the stripping assembly.
showing various orientations of

In FIG. 7a, the shaft 31 on which the arms 32 and 33 are pivoted is located below the straight line FL representing the direction in which the sheet is fed.

The direction of rotation of the stripping wheel 52 and the coefficient of friction of the stripping wheel against the pivot 31 tend to cause the wheel 52 to lift away from the sheet as indicated by arrow F□.

Arms 32 and 33 are in the first neutral position (i.e. center line CL)
parallel to the plane of the seat) (FIG. 7b), the counter-rotation of the wheel 52 exerts 'y2 along the centerline CL.

Since this force is almost neutralized, the wheel 52 is free to spring up.

Arm 32 when pivot 31 is above the plane of the seat
．． The orientation of 33 causes the stripping wheel 52 to rotate in the opposite direction, tending to hold the wheel 52 against the seat, thereby preventing the wheel 52 from flipping up and providing the self-clamping effect described above.

Therefore, pulley 44 and stripping wheel pulley 51
The device for transmitting the rotational movement between the stripping wheel 52.53 and the drive wheel 52.53 has no effect on either the orientation or the downward force exerted by the wheel 52.53 on the sheet entering between the stripping wheel 52.53 and the drive wheels 23-23c. It can be seen that the necessary rotation is transmitted to the wheels 52 and 53 without any interference.

The drive wheels 23-23c are made of elastic material, and the outer periphery of these wheels has a large coefficient of friction.

The wheels 52 and 53 are made of a material that is slightly less elastic than the material of which the wheels 23 to 23c are made.

The friction coefficient of wheels 52 and 53 is wheels 23 to 23c.
The coefficient of friction is slightly lower than that of

The lower part of the circumference of the wheels 52 and 53 are the wheels 23 to 2.
3c (FIG. 2), so that the sheet S' has a corrugated shape.

The circumference of the wheels 52, 53 is curved, so that the contour of the seat S' follows the shape of its curved circumference.

The severity of the corrugation formed in sheet S' is a function of the spacing between wheels 23 and 23a1/1z23b and 23c, the width of wheels 52 and 53, and the thickness and inherent strength of sheet S'.

Typically for thin sheets, the periphery of the stripping wheel is inserted deeper into the gap between the drive wheels 23-23c.

The stripping wheels and drive wheels shown in Figures 2 and 3 can be replaced by foil wheels of the type shown in Figures 3a and 3b.

FIG. 3a shows a drive wheel 23 having an arcuate groove 23a'.
', and in cooperation with the stripping wheel 52 which enters this groove and rotates, the sheet S is corrugated.

The drive wheel 23' shown in FIG. 3 has a pair of grooves 23a".
and 23b".

Raised portion 52a'952 of stripping wheel 52'
b' is 23a".

23b" to form a corrugation on the sheet sr.

A plurality of pairs of stripping wheels and drive wheels shown in FIGS. 3a and 3b can be mounted on the rotating shaft.

It is also possible to provide a large number (three or more) of grooves on the wheel 23''.

Wheel 23' can be mounted on strip-off wheel axle 47 and wheel 52 can be mounted on drive wheel axle 24.

Stripping wheels 52, 53 and drive wheels 23-23
If only one sheet enters between c, the relative coefficient of friction between these wheels causes the drive wheels 23 to 23c to exert the main force on the sheet fed to it; The sheet is fed in the forward feed direction towards the acceleration wheel 60.

The coefficient of friction of the stripping wheels causes these wheels to come into sliding contact with the sheet being fed.

This action is aided in part by the fact that the stripping wheel pushes a single sheet downwardly by the weight of the stripping wheel assembly, and thus the stripping wheel is forced to move forward as the sheet is fed through it. can move freely upwards under the action of.

During the passage of the sheet between the wheels 52.53 and 23-23c, the sheet is corrugated and stiffened, so that the effective frictional contact between the sheet and the wheels 52, 53.23-23c is significantly reduced. increase

The most effective frictional contact is at one near edge of the adjacent drive wheel and stripping wheel (i.e., for example, edge 2).
3d and 52a).

These edges work together to sandwich the sheet between them,
This transmits the driving force.

When a pair of sheets is fed towards drive wheels 23-23c and stripping wheels 52,53, these wheels corrugate the sheet pair.

(Figure 2). Outside the gaps G, G', the sheets S and S' are slightly separated by a stripping wheel located at least partially between the drive wheels, thereby reducing the amount of surface contact between the sheets.

The main driving effect of the stripping wheel and the driving wheel lies in the region where the closest one curved edge of the wheel is at the position P closest to each other (FIG. 3).

) Due to the separation of the sheets in the outer region of the gaps G and G', the stripping of the sheet S from the sheet S' becomes very easy.

The coefficient of friction between the stripping wheels 52 and 53 is greater than the coefficient of friction between two sheets in contact, so that the stripping wheels 52 and 53 move the topmost sheet S'' one step backwards toward the inlet hopper, while Sheet S' is fed towards the acceleration wheel.

The coefficient of friction around the circumference of the drive wheels 23-23c is greater than the holding friction force between the sheets in contact, allowing the drive wheels to move the lowermost sheet S' towards the acceleration wheel. .

Thus, when two sheets S and S' are fed between the drive wheel and the stripping wheel, even if these two sheets are properly aligned, the stripping wheel will move the lower sheet to the upper sheet. It is effective in stripping off one sheet, thereby allowing only the bottom sheet to be sent towards the accelerator wheel.

The stripping wheels 52,53 feed the sheets touching their circumference backwards, thereby pushing them towards the stack.

Most of the weight of the stacked sheets is carried by the infeed hopper 1.
The trailing edge of the sheet is subjected to bending due to the reverse movement of the sheet being fed rearward towards the infeed hopper as it is removed from the approximately 1-weightless pocket yo formed in the lowest region of 4. You can move backwards without any trouble.

Even if the first sheet that contacts the drive wheel is not the bottom sheet, a simultaneous two-sheet feeding operation as described above will occur (for example in the case of the bottom feeder of FIG. 1.2).

■The sheets are advanced by the drive wheel until the bottom sheet contacts the drive wheel.

When the bottom sheet is advanced such that the bottom sheet and the portion of the sheet above it are between the stripping wheel and the drive wheel, the stripping wheel exerts a large force on the sheet it is in contact with. and move this top sheet towards the feed hopper.

When the bottom sheet r''11 is removed from the action of the drive wheels 23-23C, the drive wheels become the wheels 52.53
and 23 to 23c, exerting a large force on the sheet still remaining between 23 and 23c, causing it to advance toward the acceleration wheel behind the 11th bottom sheet.

This action ensures that the sheets are fed, separated and stacked in the same order as they were in the input hopper.

The acceleration wheel (FIG. 2) is fixed to the shaft 61 and
It is composed of wheels 60 to 60C that rotate together.

The shaft 61 is journal-connected to the frame F by bearings 63, 64 and is mounted on the frame in a freewheel manner.

A pulley 62 is fixed to the left end of the shaft 61, and a belt 63 is hung around this pulley.

The acceleration wheel is associated with a plurality of idler rollers 65.

The coefficient of friction of the circumference of the outer idler roller is less than the coefficient of friction of the idler rollers associated with acceleration wheels 60a and 60b.

Each acceleration wheel 60-60c has an idler roller aligned therewith.

These idler rollers are mounted as independently as possible as shown in FIG.

Rollers 60a and 60b are placed close together near the center of shaft 61, and wheels 60 and 60c
They are arranged at large intervals from b.

The friction coefficients of the circumferential portions of the wheels 60a, 60b are larger than the friction coefficients of the wheels 60, 60c.

Because the spacing between the wheels 60a and 60b in the center of the shaft 61 is narrow, these wheels do not promote twisting of the sheets that engage the wheels 60a and 60b.

In order to prevent the outer wheels 60 and 60c from promoting twisting, idler rollers cooperating with the acceleration wheels 60 and 60c cause the acceleration wheels 60a, 60
It is located slightly downstream of the idler roller that cooperates with b.

FIG. 2 shows the acceleration wheel 60 mounted on the shaft 61.

All acceleration wheels 60-60c are lined up in a row.

Idler 65a (shown in broken lines) represents an idler roller that rotationally engages acceleration wheel 60a.

The idler 65a is arranged so as to be in contact with a straight line that coincides with the feeding direction.

The rotation axis X of the idler 65 is located downstream of the rotation axis X of the roller 65a.

All idler rollers are mounted by resilient U-shaped members, the yoke of which is fixed to support plate 16 by fixing members 302.

The arm of the U-shaped member 301 receives a pin 303 on which an idler roller is mounted.

U-shaped member 301 pushes its idler roller against the surface of its associated acceleration wheel.

Assuming that the sheet twists as it advances toward the accelerator wheels, the alignment of the idler rollers cooperating with the accelerator wheels 60 and 60c is such that from the point It hits the surface of idler 65 at a point a distance away.

This will either realign the idler rollers or significantly reduce sheet kinking.

The leading edge is then directed toward point X2 and accelerated by the acceleration wheel 60 and idler 65.

If some kinks remain after the sheet has entered between the acceleration wheels 60a, 60b and the idler rollers, the outer acceleration wheels and their associated idler rollers will leave the action of the acceleration wheels. Ensure that the end of the last trailing edge is never allowed to advance towards the stacker.

The front edge support plate 16 of the feed hopper is provided with a plate portion 16b that is integrally joined to the plate portion 16a.

This plate portion 16b includes the feed hopper support plate 15
are arranged parallel to and spaced apart from the plate portion 15d.

The plate portion 16b is provided with an appropriate opening that allows a part of the circumference of the idler roller 65 to protrude, and the circumference of the roller 65 that protrudes from this opening comes into contact with the circumference of the acceleration wheel 60. I'm trying to make it possible.

The rear end of the plate section 16b cooperates with the support plate 15 to form a narrow delivery 1 throat which limits the number of sheets that can be advanced towards the drive wheels 23-23c.

The center of rotation of acceleration wheel 60 is separated from the center of rotation of drive wheel 23 by a distance G.

This distance G is preferably less than the width of the smallest sheet that the feed and separation mechanism can accommodate and accelerate and that the idler roller can grip before the trailing edge leaves the drive wheel.

However, the distance G can be increased if desired, since the drive wheel transmits enough movement to the sheet passing past it to ensure adequate feed to the accelerator wheel.

The tangential speed of the circumferential portion of the acceleration wheel 60 is much larger than the tangential speed of the circumferential portion of the drive wheels 23 to 23c;
When the leading edge of a sheet enters between the acceleration wheel 60 and the idler roller 65, the sheet is moved at a high linear speed.

The trailing edge of the sheet passing between the acceleration wheel 60 and the idler roller 65 is separated by a constant gap between the drive wheel 23 and the idler roller 65.
~23c provides an acceleration wheel 60 and an idler roller 65
separated from the leading edge of the next sheet fed to the

Drive wheel 23~23C and acceleration wheel 60~60c
The gaps formed between successive sheets fed in between can be utilized to great advantage by providing a detection assembly that can be used for counting.

For example, a light source 71 is provided on the side of the idler roller 65, a photoself 2 is provided on the side of the acceleration wheel 60 (FIG. 1), and light from the light source 71 is transmitted through holes (not shown) provided in the plate parts 16b and 15d. It can be configured so that the photoself 2 receives the light.

Detection of this light occurs during the time interval between the passing of the trailing edge of the sheet being fed into the acceleration wheel 60 and the passing of the leading edge of the next sheet leaving the drive wheels 23-23c.

These light pulses are converted into electrical signals by the photoself 2, and by counting these signals with a counter (not shown), the number of sheets sent can be counted.

The gate assembly 200 shown in FIG.

One end of the shaft 202 extends through one side wall of the machine frame and has a lever arm 203 fixed thereto.

Armature 204a of solenoid 204, which is attached to the machine frame at location 205, is secured to arm 203 by pin 206.

When the solenoid 204 is in its de-energized state, a spring 207 connected between a position 205 and a pin 206 causes the gate member and arm to be in positions 201', 20 shown in dashed lines.
3' respectively.

When solenoid 204 is energized, armature 204
a is pulled into the solenoid, and the gate member 201 and arm 203 are moved to the position shown by the solid line against the elasticity of the spring 207.

To count a large number of sheets, while retaining only one statistical sampling of the sheets to be counted (for example, every 100 f sheets), the gate member is held in the position shown by dashed line 201' and advanced by the accelerator wheel. Belts 207' and 208, which are hung between pairs of rollers 209 and 210, 211 and 212, respectively,
Send between.

Belts 207' and 208 feed the sheet in the direction of arrow 213.

The curved plate 214 serves to drop the counted sheets into a container 215.

When the trailing edge of the 9th sheet passes through the gate member 201 and enters between belts 207' and 208, the gate solenoid 204 is energized to move the gate to position 201 and move the 100th sheet to the stacker. Turn towards 80.

When the first (1) sheet passes through the gate member 201, the solenoid 204 is de-energized and the next sheet is sent between the belts 207' and 208.

Therefore, all the first sheets are retained as samples, and the other sheets are discarded.

It is clear that any number of statistical samples can be selected by configuration switch 216.

Upon detecting a gap between the sheets (for example, sheets S1 and 32), the photoself 2 advances the count of the counter 217.

The count of the counter 217 is compared with the set value of the setting switch 216 by a decoder 218, and when the count matches the set number N of sheets, the decoder 218 generates a signal to operate the drive circuit 219.

When circuit 219 is activated, solenoid 204 is energized.

The clutch and brake mechanism is actuated by the N-1st signal and the N111th signal, and there is a sufficient gap between the one sheet ahead of the Nth sheet and the sheet following the Nth sheet. A gap G of a suitable length is secured to provide sufficient time for the gate 201 to move.

When the trailing edge of the N-1 sheet passes in front of the photoself 2, the decoder 218 generates the N-1 signal, and the drive wheel, stripping wheel, and picker wheel are disconnected from the motor and stopped suddenly. , thereby decelerating the Nth sheet.

Gate 201 is then moved and the clutch and brake mechanism is released to continue the sheet feeding operation.

When the trailing edge of the Nth sheet is detected, the above operation is repeated and the gate is moved to the position 201' shown by the dashed line.

This feeding operation continues until the next statistical sample is about to pass in front of the photoself 2.

Gate assembly 200 can also be used for verification purposes.

For example, operation of the gate assembly may cause odd-numbered sheets (eg, original papers) to be assembled into one stack and even-numbered sheets (eg, carbon copies) into another stack.

A stamping wheel can be provided downstream of the acceleration wheel 60.

In order to stamp the sheet as it passes through the stamp wheel, the support plate is preferably long enough to receive the stamp wheel and the associated elongated idler roller.

The sheets leaving the imprint wheel are stacked as described below.

The support plate 16 has a plate portion 16c that is integrally joined to a plate portion 16b.

This plate portion 16c is bent to form a predetermined angle with respect to the plate portion 16b, and the sheet is moved so that one sheet accelerated by the acceleration wheel 60 is moved toward the stacker 80 indicated by an arrow 75. turn the direction.

The front end of the sheet that hits the surface of the curved plate portion 16c is moved along the curve.

FIG. 2 shows a preferred pulley configuration.

Motor M has an output shaft 129.

The pulley 130 fixed to this shaft is
It is hung between 2.

Pulleys 133 and 134 are attached to the other end of shaft 61.

The pulley 133 rotates the hard wheel shaft 85 via the belt 132.

The belt 132 is hung between the pulley 133 and a pulley 89 attached to the shaft 85 in an r'' shape, and rotates the shaft 85 in the opposite direction to the shaft 61.

A clutch 131 is attached to the shaft 61, and the clutch 131
Controls the rotation of a pulley 134 attached to the

When clutch 131 is disengaged, pulley 134 is free to rotate relative to shaft 61.

A belt 135 is attached to the boos IJ 134 and 136.

Pulley 136 is fixed to one end of drive wheel shaft 24 .

Two boots 1J25 and 138 are fixed to the other end of the shaft 24.

A belt 142 is hung around the pulley 21 and pulley 25 that are fixed to the picker wheel shaft 20.

A belt 140 is hung between the pulley 42 and the pulley 138 attached to the idler shaft 39.

The shaft 39 rotates the stripping wheel 52,53.

The circumferential surfaces of pulleys 133 and 89 are provided with semicircular grooves for receiving belt 132.

Other pulleys are gear-shaped pulleys that engage toothed belts, commonly referred to as timing pulleys.

An electromagnetic brake 137 fixed to the frame F of M is coupled to one end of the shaft 20.

When this brake is energized, the rotation of the shaft 20 is abruptly stopped.

When motor M is rotating, shafts 61 and 85 always rotate.

When the clutch 137 is actuated, the drive wheel shaft 24 and
The idler shaft 39 and the picker wheel shaft 20 are connected to a motor M.
selectively removed from

Clutch 131 and brake 137 are actuated almost simultaneously, making it possible to bring shaft 24, 39, 20 to a sudden stop even when motor M is rotating.

The novel features of this configuration are best understood from the description of the gate assembly provided above.

This gate assembly is suitable for one batch operation.
It is also advantageously used for operations in which a precise number of sheets is distributed into separate stacks (goperation), ie, the distribution of a precise number of sheets into separate stacks.

For example, to form a separate stack of the fifth banknote, counter 127 activates clutch 131 and brake 137 after counting the fifth banknote, causing the stripping wheel, drive wheel, and picker wheel to suddenly move. make it stop.

However, since the kicker wheel and acceleration wheel are still rotating, the fifth bill is advanced toward the stacker, while the fifty-first bill is prevented from advancing toward the stacker.

Then remove five stacks of enemy banknotes from stacker 80.

If you press the continue button (not shown) after that, the counter 2
17 is reset so that clutch 131 and brake 137 are deactivated so that the next stack of five languages can be formed.

The size of the sheet group to be formed is determined by the setting switch 216 (first
Depends on the settings in figure b).

Each sheet moves into the area between plate 81 of movable member 112, forming part of stacker assembly 80, and support plate 16e, and is urged against stacker base plate 83 by stacker wheels 84-84c.

The stacker wheels 84-84c are mounted on shafts that are journal-coupled to bearings 86 and 87, and are attached to the machine frame F.
It is designed to rotate in a freewheeling manner.

Shaft 85 is rotated via belt 132 to rotate stacker wheels 84-84e in the direction of arrow 91 so that the leading edge of the sheet being moved toward the stacker by acceleration wheels 60-60c is rotated against base plate 83. Netobasu.

The surface of the elongated strip member 83b (FIG. 1a), which is arranged parallel to and spaced from the upper surface of the base plate 83, is smoothed and serves to flatten the sheet passing therethrough.

The strip member 83b is connected to the front edge of the seat and the base plate 83.
Narrow the width of the surface contact between the

The friction coefficient of the stacker wheel 84 is the drive wheel 23~
It is almost the same as the friction coefficient of No. 23c.

The stacker member 112 is biased by a spring mechanism 95 and a pulley mechanism 96, causing the stacker member 112 to move in the direction of arrow 97.
Push in the direction of.

As the sheets enter the stacker, member 112 moves in the direction of arrow 98 against the force of spring 95 to form a tightly compressed stack.

The hooked end 95a of the spring 95 is attached to the rod R by a fixture 103, and the hooked end 95b is attached to an eyelet 104 fixed to a bracket 105 rotatably supporting a pulley 106.

The second pulley 107 , which is rotatably attached to the bracket 108 , is fixed to the left end of the base plate 83 by an L-shaped bracket 109 .

A thin tape 110, one end of which is fixed between the yoke of the bracket 108 and the arm 109, connects the pulleys 106 and 1.
07, and the other end is fixed between the downward protrusion 112a of the stacker member 112 and the bracket 111.

The bracket 111 is fixed to the protrusion 112a of the stacker member 112 by a fixing member 111a.

The stacker member 112 moves within an elongated guide groove 83a provided in the base plate 83 and is prevented from being lifted out of the groove.

By using a stacker and pulley device, the pulley 106
is one half of the distance moved by the stacker member 112
The mechanical advantage is that shorter springs 95 can be used which have a greater spring resiliency.

The plate portion 16e of the support plate 16 is the plate portion 16
c, and moves the movement of the sheet from arrow 75 to arrow 76.

Since each sheet is bounced against the stacker base plate 83 and pushed sharply against the opposing surface of the plate 81, the trailing edge T of the sheet S''
move away from the sheet to provide sufficient clearance for the next sheet entering the stacker assembly.

Due to the high speed movement of the sheet passing through this device 10, static electricity is generated on the sheet and the sheet is often attracted to the plate portion 16c.

The pusher wheel 84 pushes the sheet towards the plate 81 and prevents this attraction due to static electricity.

Additionally, the hard wheel pushes the leading edges of the sheets toward the base plate 83 to form a neat stacker.

The elasticity of spring 95 pushes stacker member 112 in the direction of arrow 97 to compress the formed stacker.

Plate 81 can be removed, leaving only stacker member 112 for supporting sheets within the stacker.

The ends of the sheets extending laterally through the stacker member 112 are not subject to any restraining force, thus forming a butterfly shape.

However, if plate 81 is provided, the stacking operation will be effective.

Removal of plate 81 facilitates removal of all sheets in the stack.

This is because the plate 81 covers the stack and there is a possibility that one sheet will not be able to remove any more sheets from the stack and will remain unaware of this.

The stripping wheel and drive wheel are centrally located (FIG. 2) and the force exerted by these wheels is applied approximately to the center of the sheet S'.

The edges E, E' of the sheet S' can extend a sufficient distance from this central part C so that the plate section 16b of the plate 16 can be provided with a pair of free hanging flaps 99.

The lower edges 99a of these flaps extend downwardly into the inlet formed by plates 16b and 15b.

The flap 99 hangs down due to its weight and applies a guiding force to the sheets being fed by the picker wheel 19 towards the drive wheels 23-23c to realign the twisted sheets being fed towards the drive wheels and stripping wheels. .

However, it has been found that the stripping wheel and drive wheel can only feed one sheet even if the leading edge of the sheet being moved towards the stripping wheel and drive wheel is twisted.

It has also been found that these assemblies can successfully feed a single sheet toward an accelerator wheel, creating a gap of finite length sufficient to perform a counting operation.

FIG. 2 shows the relative position of flap 99 with respect to the stripping wheel and drive wheel.

FIG. 4 shows the upper sheet feeder.

In FIG. 4, the device 10' is mounted on a suitable base forming part of the device frame.

A movable tray member 121 is provided between a pair of vertical side plates (not shown), and a biasing member is mounted between the base plate 120 and the tray member 121.

The biasing members can be a plurality of spring members 122 that push member 121' vertically upward.

A stack of sheets S is placed on the tray member 121 and the top of the stack S is pushed downward enough to create a gap under the picker wheel 19.

The raised portion 19a of the picker wheel 19 has a high coefficient of friction and advances the top sheet of the stack towards the drive and stripping wheels.

The picker wheel 19 projects through a hole provided in the guide plate 123.

The top sheet is moved by the picker wheel 19 towards the drive wheel 23.

A portion of the circumference of the stripping wheel 52 protrudes through a hole in the lower guide plate 124.

At the left end of the guide plate, a bent portion 124b is joined to the vertical alignment portion 124a.

The bend 124b combines with the upper guide plate 123 to form a narrow throat 125.

This throat limits the number of sheets that can be fed towards the drive wheel and stripping wheel.

The sheet feeding and stripping operations are substantially the same as previously described.

The stripping wheel assembly can be modified to provide a biasing force in the form of a spring 126 mounted between each arm 32,33 and the guide plate 124.

Spring 126 pushes the stripping wheel about pivot 31 in the direction of arrow 126a.

The drive wheel and stripping wheel also impart the corrugated shape to the sheet as described above.

Although two stripping wheels 52, 53 and four drive wheels 23-23c are shown in FIG. 2, other numbers of wheels can be used, and the number of stripping wheels can be adjusted by changing the number of stripping wheels to the drive wheels. It should be understood that there can be more than .

A preferred configuration is to provide at least a plurality of stripping wheels and drive wheels, so as to increase the corrugated hardness of the sheet fed between the stripping wheels and the drive wheel, and to minimize the contact area as much as possible. It is.

By providing one stripping wheel with its circumference protruding into the gap between the pair of drive wheels, the hardness imparted to the sheet fed between the drive wheel and the stripping wheel is significantly reduced. and further reduces the effectiveness of the drive and stripping operations by moving the sheet to the adjacent drive wheel (or stripping wheel).
Allows to push downward into the gap between.

The drive wheel moves only one sheet towards the acceleration wheel 60.

The acceleration wheel 60 and the idler roller 65 associated therewith suddenly increase the speed of the sheet being fed between them, and the trailing edge of the sheet passing between the acceleration wheel and the idler roller. A certain gap is provided between the sheet and the leading edge of the next sheet to be fed.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 4 may be provided with a stacker assembly such as that shown in FIG.

The leading edge of the sheet being advanced in the direction of arrow 134 by acceleration wheel 84 hits plate 136 and is directed by arrow 135.
be moved in the direction of

Picker wheel 84 advances the sheet in the direction of arrow 137.

The sheets are pressed against the base plate 83 and stacked neatly.

Plates 136 and 83 function as straightening plates in the same manner as described in connection with the embodiment shown in FIG.

Plates 136 and 83 are combined with stacking wheels 84 to neatly stack the sheets.

The top feed embodiment of FIG. 4 simplifies feeding of a single sheet to the drive wheel and stripping wheel because the weight of the stack S is below the top sheet.

The spring 122 is only required to apply a light upward force to the stack and lightly push the top sheet towards the picker wheel 19.

The upper guide plate 123 can be provided with a portion 123a which is pivoted at a position 123b.

The microswitch 12 is used to detect the descent of the portion 123a that rotates counterclockwise about the pivot point 123b.
3b is provided.

When this microswitch is turned on, the motor starts and rotates the screw shaft S' in the screw hole 120a of the base plate 120.

The upper end of the shaft S' is fixed to the tray member, and the top sheet of the stack contacts the section 123a of the guide plate 123 and pushes the section 123a clockwise, turning off the microswitch 123b. Push the tray member 121 until the motor pushing the tray member 121 is stopped.

Or tray member 121, guide plate 123a, 1
24 and the picker wheel 19, the use of the infeed hopper device 14 shown in FIG. 1 in the top feed device of FIG. can be obtained.

The advantages of the feeding and separating device of the present invention described above over conventional devices are as follows.

a) It is not necessary to adjust any part of the equipment to feed individual sheets of paper, plastic or other materials of different dimensions, thickness, weight or finish, and sheets of uniform or non-uniform nature or dimensions; Sheets can be sent using the same technique from a stacker that includes a stacker.

b. A stack of sheets with different properties varies in thickness over a fairly wide range.

Apparatus of the present invention can handle sheets having thicknesses in the range of at least about 0.0051 to 0.00 increments (0.002 to 0.021 inches) and, for example, widths of at least about 6.35 to 17.8c1N (2,5 to finches) with a length of at least about 6.35 to 60.9crI
Can handle L (2.5 to 24 inch) sheets.

Stacks that are not uniform and have non-square edges can be fed in the same manner.

d. There is no need to pay any special attention to the stack of sheets, and there is no need to prepare a pre-assembled stack.

e Sheets can be fed and separated without the need for tightly calibrated knives or slits, or without the use of compressed air or vacuum sources as required with conventional equipment.

f Proper selection and combination of materials for the drive wheel and stripping wheel virtually eliminates double feed, thereby eliminating the need for double feed detectors and associated circuitry.

g. No sheet bending or curling during any stage of feeding, separation and stacking operations, and no sheet jamming throughout the entire operation.

h Sheets can be fed either from the bottom infeed hopper or the top infeed hopper.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a side view of the feeding, separating and stacking device according to the present invention; FIG. 1a is a side view of a part of the stacker of FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a part of the device of FIG. 1 combined with a gate mechanism;
Figure C is an enlarged view showing a block diagram of the gate mechanism of Figure 1a and the electronic circuitry used to operate it, and Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the device of Figure 1 seen from the direction 2-2. an elevational view, FIG. 2a a perspective view of a portion of the stripping assembly of FIGS. 1 and 2;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of one idler assembly from FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a portion of FIG. 2 to illustrate the separation of multiple sheets entering the drive assembly and stripping assembly. 3a and 3b are front views showing an alternative configuration of the drive wheel and stripping wheel shown in FIGS. 2 and 3; FIG. Schematic representation of another embodiment of the invention, Nos. 5a-5b
6A and 6B are side views of different embodiments of stripping wheel assemblies. 7a-'c are front views showing the stripping wheel and drive wheel to illustrate the optimal configuration of the stripping assembly. 14... Infeed hopper, 15.16・・・・・・
Stack seat support plate, 19... Zetsuka wheel, 23.23'... Drive wheel, 30
... Stripping assembly, 52, 52', 53
... Stripping wheel, 60~60c...
...Acceleration wheel, 65...Idler roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An apparatus for advancing sheets from a stack to a delivery location, wherein the sheets are successively delivered to the delivery location, and the trailing edge of the last sheet advanced to the delivery location is the trailing edge of the next sheet delivered to the delivery location. a plurality of sheets arranged in a stack as a whole, configured to be separated from the leading edge by a short distance, having a dispensing opening at one end through which at least the lower sheet passes, and an opening at the bottom; an infeed hopper for depositing a number of sheets, and an inlet hopper for slidingly contacting the lower sheets of the stack and advancing at least the lower or lowest sheet toward the delivery location; continuous rotary drive means for advancing sheets from a stack to a delivery location, at least intermittently through said opening for intermittently advancing at least the lower sheets of said stack toward said outlet. an eccentric means protruding from the outlet; a swingably mounted continuously rotating stripping means located adjacent to the outlet and the drive means and rotating in the same direction as the drive means; said drive for rotating said stripping means and compressively pressing said stripping means towards said drive means in order to cause only one sheet passing between said drive means to be delivered towards said delivery location; a resilient belt-type pushing means responsive to rotation of the means, said stripping means being adjustably positioned relative to said drive means by said pushing means to accept sheets of different thicknesses; The cooperating curved portions with the means at least partially overlap each other and cooperate to impart a corrugated shape to the sheet fed between the means transversely in the direction of sheet advance, thereby reinforcing said sheet and thereby reinforcing said sheet. sheets being fed to said delivery location in such a way as to facilitate the driving and stripping action of said means and said stripping means, irrespective of the fact that only one sheet passes between said drive means and said stripping means; A sheet processing apparatus characterized in that only the sheet is in sliding contact with the driving means.