US1748572A - Sheet-feeding apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 25, 1930.

J. A. JoHNsQN E-r AL SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS original Filed' Nov. 1o, A1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 (ye WCZfaZozers v mm Q QNNNNHLVNNM mmw , www.

Feb. 25, J. A. JQHNSON ET AL SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. lO, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb- 25, 1930. J. A. JoHNsoN 'Er AL SHEET FEEDIN'G APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. 10. 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Feb. 25, 1930. J. A. JOHNSON Er AL l,748,57? v SHEET FEDING APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. 10.- 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 fij d A l Feb-.- 25', 1930. JQ'A. JoHNsoN ET AL SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS Original Filed Nov. 10, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Feb. 2.5, 1449-30 UNITED STATES PATENT ori-ICE JOSEPH A. JOHNSON, DECEASED, LATE OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, BY MARK M. HENNESSY, EXECUTOR, OF LA GRANGE, ILLINOIS, AND GEORGE W. QHALMERS, F SUMMIT, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORS T0 INTERNATIONAL PATENTS DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE SHEET-FEEDING APPARATUS Original application iiled November 10, 1924, Serial N'o. 749,088. Divided and this application led July 9, 1927. Serial No. 204,617.

Thisinvention relates to automatic sheet feeding machinery andthe primary object of the invention is to provide new and improved sheet feeding mechanism, adapted for example, to lift metal sheets lfrom a pile ouf sheets and forward them to a printing press or other apparatus, the improvement consisting in certain novel mechanisms whereby the sheets are lifted from the pile one by one and moved to any desired place, for example to the usual sheet feeding mechanism of a printing press; and in the provision of a holder for the stack of sheets which is raised automatically as the sheets are removed from the stack by mechanism controlled by the sheet liftingmeans so that the top sheet of the stack is always within the range of movement of the lifting mechanism. The invention consists, furthermore, in certain novel features of construction and arrangement shown in the drawings and to be hereinafter described and claimed, the specific objects of which will be` referred to in the following g specification descriptive of a preferred em-v bodiment of the invention.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the sheet feedpress to which the sheets are fed..- Y

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the machine, with certain parts in section, showing the end of the machine remote from the printing press.

Fig. 3 is a plan view which is incomplete, so far as the table is concerned, over which the sheets are forwarded. p

Fig. 3a is a sectional viewon line 3 3 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4 4. of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view) on line 5-5 of Fig. 2. I

Fig. 6 is afragmentary view, in side elei vation, of the sheet lifting device.

tional view on a plane indicate Fig. 7 is a detail view in perspective of one of the parts of the sheet lifting device. Y

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary lon itudinal secby line8f-8 on Fig. 2, but showing the support for the -pile of sheets in its lowermost position., l

' 53 with a lever 54 fixed to the rock s Fig. 9 is a sectional view on line 9-9 of' Fig. 2.

Fig. 10 is adetail view in side elevation of one of the sheet forwarding fingers.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view in side elevation with certain parts in section of one of the operating cams of the machine; and

Fig. 12 is a similar view of an eccentric for imparting movement to certain parts of the sheet feeding mechanism.

Referring to the drawing, designates the printing press to which the sheets are fed, the machine being shown fragmentarily, and 26 the table over which the sheets are moved to the press by any suitable form of feeding mechanism. This mechanism forms no part of the invention and a brief description of it will suffice. It comprises rollers 27, 27 fixed to a shaft 28 having bearings in arms 29, 30 rigidly secured to a rock shaft 31 on which is a loose pinion 32 meshed with a pinion 33 fixed to shaft 28. Pinion 32 is driven `by a ear 34 on a shaft 35 provided also with a. beveled gear 36 meshing with a beveledgear 37 on a shaft 38 driven from a gear 39 on the main shaft 40 of the printing press by the following train: gears 41, 42, 43 and beveled spring 46, by means of a cam 47 4on a shaft 48 driven from the main shaft of the printing press b gear 49, a bell-crank 50 being provided W ch is pivotedon a fixed shaft 51 on the frame of the printing press and carries at one end a roller 52 bearin on cam 47 and its other end being connectedg a link aft 31. After the sheets have been moved across the table by operation of -rollers 27 they fare picked up by a set of fingers 55 (FigilO). which operate through slots 56 inthe table 26 to engage the rear edges of the sheets, these fingers being secured to a shaft 57 on a carriage 58 which slides on rods 59 beneath the table, reciprocating movements being imparted to the turningon shaft 51, and provided with a roller 61to operate in the cam slot of a box cam ing machine showing a part of the printing gears 44, 45. Shaft 31 is turned to oscillatekl esl carriage by bell-crank 60, also y of the bell-crank 60 being pivoted to a link 63 adjustably connected at 64 to the carriage 58. This much of the apparatus shown is of known construction.

The object of this invention is to provide mechanism for lifting the sheets one by one from a stack of sheets and moving them across table 26 until their forward edges are engaged by the feeding rollers 27 As is 'customary with apparatus of this sort, the pile of sheets, designated A, is car-l ried on a base plate 65, supported on a vertically movable carriage 66. The bottom of the carriage has longitudinal slots 67 through which rollers 68 carried on the cross frame member 69 will project to support the base plate 65, when the carriage 66 is in its lower position, to facilitate the removal of the base plate and its replacement by another -with a load of sheets.

The carriage 66 is provided with threaded bosses 70, through which extend lifting screws 71 turning in suitable bearings in the side frame members 72 of the feeding apparatus. These screws are provided at their lower ends with bevel gears 73, 74 meshingwith bevel gears 75, 76 on a shaft 77 to which is fixed a ratchet wheel 78 adapted to be rotated by a pawl 79 (Fig. 9) pivoted to a pawl carrier 80 oscillated on shaft 77 by means of an eccentric 81 (Fig. 12) on shaft 48 having a connecting rod 82 articulated with one end of a lever 83 which is pivoted at 84 to the side frame member 72 of the A-fe'eding apparatus, the other end of lever 83 being connected by link 85 with the pawl carrier 80. This much of the feeding apparatus is not novel.

The improvements of this invention willnow be described. The sheets A are raised singly fromthe stack by one or more vacuum cups 86 which are preferably made of rubber or other resilient material, two being indicated in the drawing. These cups are moved down into contact with the upper sheet of the stack, the air exhausted from them, and the cups then raised carryingwith them the upper sheet, the rear-edge of which is engaged by a pair of hooks 87 on a sliding carriage,l the hooks being moved against the edge of the sheets and the sheets released from the vacuum cups by entrance of air into the latter, at about the same time. The hooks then push the sheet across table 26 until its '93, 94 on the side frame members of the machine. The transverse member 88 is held in any adjusted position on rods 90 by set screws i lteferring now to the left hand sheet lifting unit, (Fig. 2) The vacuum cup 86 is secured to a circular pad 96 on a rocking member 97 (Fig. 7) pivoted by a pin 98 to a clevis member 99 havinga threaded opening to receive the lower end of a plunger 100 which extends slidably through a bore in a guide block 101 attached by screws 102 to the transverse mem.- ber 88. A coiled spring 103 is interposed between the under side of guide block 101 and the clevis member 99. Secured to the upper end of plunger 100 is an angular member 104 carrying at its upper end a roller 105. This roller rests on a cam 106 fixed to a shaft-107 turning in bearings on brackets 108, 109, 110 on the transverse member 88. The member 104 is slotted'at 111 for the shaft 107 (Fig. 5).

The plunger 100 is formed with a bore 112 having a port 113 at its upper end which is open to the atmosphere when the plunger is in its upper position. The rocking member 97 and a portion of the cup 86 engaged therewith is formed with a duct 114 vand thisV duct is connected with the lower end of bore 112 in plunger 100 by the flexible tube 115, the ends of which extend over nipples 116 screwed into members 97, 99.

A pipe 117 (Fig. 2) is connected with an exhausting apparatus (not shown) and this pipe has a branch 118 leading to a port 119 extending through the guide block 101 to the bore in which plunger 100 reciprocates. Another branch pipe 120 leads from pipe 117 to the right hand unit of the lifting mechanism, as shown in Fig. 2. When the plunger is in its lower position, with cup 86 against the pile of sheets, port 113 is in communication with the exhausting port 119. Since the downward movement of the plunger depends entirely upon gravity and the action of spring 103, the plunger being merely released by the cam when the latter is turned to present its short' radius to roller 105, the plunger so released will move downwardly until it is stopped by the pile of sheets. However, the upper sheet of the stack must be at an elevation to be reached by the cup before the plunger reaches its lower limit of possible movement. On the other hand, the upper sheet of the stack cannot be at such an elevation as to prevent port 113 from being brought into communication with the exhausting port 119. Mechanism has to be provided, therefore, for controlling the engagement vof pawl 79 with ratchet 78 so as to maintain the upper surface of the stack within the operative range of movement of the sheet lifting plunger as j ust defined. This mechanism is as follows: l

Pivoted at 122 to the side frame member 72 of the feeding mechanism, above ratchet 78, is a pawl lifting lever 123 (Figs. 1 and 9) adapted to bear against the underside of the stud 124 011 the pawl 79. Connected to the outer end of lever 123 is the stem 125 of a piston 126 operating in a cylinder 12.7-'se- .i l'137isso-placed that when the stack is raisedl in. they upper part `of. the operation range of' maarre is lprovided. with a transverse ort 137. The

valve 136 is secured to a brac et 138 on the an lar member 104 of the rig-ht hand lifting unit shown in Fig. 2. rlhe transverse port vrhighenough so that ythe upper sheet is withl'novement: ofthev plunger, this' port is' not tothe level of'ports 131, 134. rl`hat. is, the cup encounters-and is stopped bythe pile beforeport 137 reaches ports 131, 134.." At such time pavvl, lifter 123 holds pawl 79 out of engagement with ratchet 78 and the table 66 remains stationary, As soon, however, as.

. theelevation 'of the upper surface of the stack lifter 123 to release pawl 79 so that ratchet of sheets islowered so that 'it begins vtoepproach thelower' limit of possiblemovement .of plungerslOO, port-137 of va1ve1136 isycarf `ried down far 'enough to connect-, ports 131, 134, whereupon air is exhausted from cylin-v der 127 and atmospheric pressure overcomes the stress of spring 129, causing the pawl 7 8 'isturned to eleveate the table 66. As. soon as the table is elevated to a certain extent, port 137 .ceases on the down stroke of the plunger to conn- ect ports 131, 134, the vacuum is shut v0E from cylinder 127 and the pressures within andwithout the cylinder are eqlpalized by leakage of air past piston 126.

v e lpawl lifter is therefore operated to disengage the pawl from ratchet 78 andthe upward movement ofthe table is stopped. f

Ports 113, 119 may either be made wide enough so that they always overlap', on the downstroke of the plunger, and the port 137 located so that .the stack is kept atan elevason within rimas determined by the width.

f of these ports; or, Where the vacnunfi main 'tained is high enough. the machine may be designed so that port 113 will always, or at l the stack over table 26 to the printing press -feedl rollers 27 by means of the following mechanism:

vto the 'transverse member 88.

depressed Vat the'down stroke of the plunger A reciprocating frame is provided comn prising a pair of longitudinal rods 139 c0n' nected by?. cross piece 140. The rods slide in guides 141 formed on brackets 141a secured The rods 139 carry, at their ends remote from the press, the hooks 87, above referred to, arranged to engage the rear edgesof the sheets. Preferably the sheets are tilted so as to elevate their rear edges as shown in Fig. 6. To accomplish this, member 97, above referred to-the member which supports the cup-is formed with a clevis 142 on which is secured by pivot pin 143 a tripping member 144, normallyheld in vertical alignment with the clevis 142 by .a

leaf spring 145. .This tripping member 1s ada ted to engage, on the upward movement of tie sheets, with a block 146 on a bracket 147 depending from the. transverse member 88. Eventually as the upward movement of.

the sheet proceeds the tripping member 144 is released. from block 146 and returned to its normal position by spring 145. There is sudicient resiliency in the tubular connection 115 between the ports of plunger 100 and cup 86 to return the cup to its horizontal position when the tripping member 144 is re'- member 88. Connected to link 149 at 152 is a push rod 153, the rear end of'which is slotted at 154 so as to be slidably guided on the shaft 107.` The push rod carries a roller 155 which operates in a cam groove 156 of a cam wheel 157 fixed to shaft 107. This shaft carries atfits outer end a sprocket Wheel 158 for a drive chain 159 extending around a sprocket 160 on a stub shaft 161 turning in bearings ena-part 162 of bracket 92, (Fig. 3). The stub shaft 1 61 carries at its opposite vend a bevel gear 163 meshing with a bevel pinion 164 on shaft 38. The transverse member 88 is adjustable by lowering set screws so as to adapt the machine to handling sheets of various widths. This involves moving the frame 72 on the base 165 by means of pinions 166 and racks 167 andv other adjustments of the old parts of the machineas indicated'.

Summary of operation: W'hen cams 106 are rotated to present the short radius surfaces of the cams to rollers 105, springs 103 move the vacuum cups 86 down upon the pile of sheets A, the amplitude of the downward movement depending upon the height of the upper surface of the pile. As the height of the pile is diminished by removal of the sheets therefrom, the downward movements of the cups increase in amplitude until eventually port 137 of the valve 136 puts pipe 130 in communication with the vacuum pipe 117, through pipe 135, whereupon air is exhausted from cylinder 127 and pawl 7 9 is dropped into engagement with ratchet 78 to bring about the raising of the table 66 on which the stack of sheets is supported. When the stack has been raisefl to a certain extent the amplitude of the movements of the vacuum cups is shortened suiiiciently to shut ofi' cylinder 127 from the vacuum and pawl lifter 123 is operated to lift pawl 79 from engagement with ratchet 78, stopping the upward movement of table 66. The exhausting of the vacuum cups takes place intermittently at each downward stroke of the cups, that is when ports 113 come into communication with ports 119. The air is admitted to the .vacuum cups at the end of the upstrokes of pistons 100, that is when ports 113 clear the guide blocks 101.

At this time the hooks 87'on the slide rods 138 engage the rear edge of the sheet, this engagement taking place just before the sheet is released by the vacuum cups. and the sheet is then pushed over the table 26 until its forward edge is engaged by the rollers 27, whereupon the sheet is fed into the printing press by feeding mechanisms shown, or any other suitable apparatus for moving the sheets-into the press.

This application is a division of copending application of Joseph A. Johnson and George W. Chalmers, filed November 10, 1924, Serial No. 749,088. No claim is made herein to the sheet lifting mechanism by itself or to the sheet lifting mechanism in combination with the forwarding hooks 87, as these combinations are claimed in the parent case; the present application covering the mechanism for raising the pile of sheets with its control devices and the combination thereof with the sheet lifting mechanism by which the raising of the support for the pile is controlled and with which it is synchronized so that the operations 0f lifting the sheets from the pile and delivering them to the feeding mechanisms of the printing press or elsewhere are made automatic.

Claims:

1.. In sheet feeding apparatus the combination of a support for a pile of sheets, sheet feeding mechanism comprising a vacuum cup adapted to be forced, yieldingly, down upon the upper sheet of the pile and means for exhausting the air from said cup, intermittently operated mechanism for raising said support, and Vacuum operated means for putting said last named mechanism into and out of operation dependent upon the amplitude of the movements necessary to bring said cup into contact with the pile.

2. In sheet feeding apparatus the combination of a support for a pile of sheets, mechanism .for raising said support comprising a ratchet, pawl and pawl carrier, means for continuously oscillating the pawl carrier, a

pawl lifter, and means for operating the pawl lifter comprising a vacuum cylinder and piston in said cylinder.

3. In sheet feeding apparatus the combination of a support for a pile of sheets, and mechanism for raising said support comprising a ratchet, a pawl provided with a laterally projecting stud, a pawl carrier, means for continuusly oscillating the pawl carrier, a pivoted pawl lifter over which said stud moves when the carrier is oscillated, and means for rocking the pawl lifter for moving said pawl into and out of engagement with the ratchet.

4. In sheet feeding apparatus the combination of a support for a pile of sheets, and mechanism for raising said support comprising a ratchet, a pawl provided with a laterally projecting stud, a pawl carrier, means for continuously oscillating the pawl carrier, a pivoted pawl lifter over which said stud moves when the carrier is oscillated, and means for rocking the pawl lifter for moving said pawl into and out of engagement with the ratchet comprising a vacuumvcylinder and piston in said cylinder with which said pawl lifter is connected.

5. In sheet feeding apparatus the combination of a support for a pile of sheets, mechanism for raising said support comprising a ratchet, pawl and pawl carrier, means for continuously oscillating the pawl carrier, a pawl lifter, means for operating the pawl lifter comprising a vacuum cylinder and piston in said cylinder. mechanism for lifting sheets from said pile and means actuated thereby for controlling the exhaustion of air from said vacuum cylinder.

6. In sheet feeding apparatus the combination of a support for a pile of sheets; sheet lifting mechanism comprising a vacuum cup, a vertically movable plunger to which the cup is attached having a duct communicating with the interior of the cup, a cam for raising said plunger, a spring for moving -the plunger downwardly to bring the cup into Contact with the pile of sheets, and an exhausting pipe, said duct having a port in communication with the atmosphere when the plunger is raised and withl said exhausting pipe when the plunger is lowered; mechanism for intermittently raising said support; and means for putting said support raising mechanism into and out of operation comprising a vacuum actuated device and a valvel opthe pawl, a pawl lifter anda vacuum actu-A ated device for controlling the pawl lifter; sheet lifting mechanism comprising a plunger, a vacuum cup on the plunger, the latter formed witha duct communicating with the cup, a guide block through which the plunger 1s slidably formed with an exhausting port 5 with which the duct in the plunger communicates when the plunger is lowered, said duct being open to the atmosphere when the plunger is raised, a cam to raise the plunger and a spring operating on the plunger to force 10 the cu vagainst the pile ofsheets; a valve block aving a bore, an exhausting port and a port oppositely arranged thereto and communicatmglwith said fvacuumoperate'd device; and a valve supported on said plunger 15 having a transverse port adapted to put said `last named two ports in communication when, through removal of. the sheets from the pile 'the amplitude of downward movements o the plunger is increased. m MARK M. .HENNESSY,

E'eoutor of the Estate of Joseph A. Jaimson, Deceased. a

GEORGE W. CHALMERS.

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