US1807865A - Mechanism for feeding sheets or blanks - Google Patents

Description

June 2, 1931. A. NOVICK MECHANISM FOR FEEDING SHEETS OR BLANKS Original Filed Jan. 6, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 B Y INVENTOZ ATTORNEYS MECHANISM FOR FEEDING SHEETS OR BLANKS Original Filed Jan. 6, 1928 I 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR & N B WM ATTORN EY5 June 2, 1931. A. NOVICK nmcmmxsu FOR FEEDING SHEETS on BLANKS Original Filed Jan. 6, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS June 2, 1931.

A. NOVICK MECHANISM FOR FEEDING SHEETS 0R BLANKS Original Filed Jan. 6, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS June 2, 1931. A. NOVICK 1,307,865

MECHANISM FOR FEEDING SHEETS OR BLANKS Original Filed Jan. 6, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEYS Patented June 2, 1931 UNITED STATES, PATENT OFF-ICE ABRAHAM NOVIO'K, OF FLUSHING, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T F. L. SMITHE MACHINE 00., INCL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK MECHANISM FOR FEEDING SHEETS OR BLANKS a 3 Application filed January 6, 1928, Serial No. 244,786. Renewed September 4, 1930.

My present invention relates to sheet feeding mechanism which is particularly adapted for feeding envelope blanks from a stack into further mechanism for gumming the blanks and folding them into envelopes. In my earlier application Serial Np. 143,047, filed October 21, 1926, I have disclosed and claimed a mechanism for feeding blanks from a stack so as to form a band in which the blanks overlap one another. The present invention may be regarded as an improvement of such mechanism although not limited thereto and is particularly concerned with the provision of improved means for completely separating the outermost blank from the stack and improved means for transferring the separated blank into contact with the means for conveying the blanks from the stack.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a view in side elevatio of a preferred embodiment of my invention. Figure 2 is a view on a somewhat reduced scale of the same machine, seen from the right of Figure 1 and in the plane of the feed discs. Figure 3 is a plan view of the machine illustrated .in the foregoing figures, the scale being approximately the same'as Figure 2.

Figures to 10 show diagrammatically the operations of separating the top sheet from the stack and transferring it to means for positively gripping it and conveying it away, Figure 4 showing the feed separator discs employed in initial position with reference to the blank shown and corresponding to the positions of the parts as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 5 shows the position of the sucker after having lifted the end of the blank.

Figure 6 shows the position of the separator discs at the start of the separating action of the discs and corresponds to the position of the parts shown in Figure 5.

Figures 7 and 8 show the position of the parts a little further in the same cycle.

Figures 9 and 10 show the parts at or near the completion of the feeding cycle.

Figure 11 shows the position of the sucker the sake of clearne'ss.

In order that the understanding of the illustrative machine may be facilitated, the

operations to be gone through with may be briefly summarized. The blank W to be fed off the stack is first engaged preferabl at one end by the sucker A, Figures 1 and which action of the sucker lifts the end of the blank as is customary in feeding devices of this type. As soon as this lifting has been initiated, the upturned edge of the blank is engaged by transfer members which for the sake of convenience, may be termed daggers, which pass beneath said edge and by their continued movement transfer the released portion of the blank to the conveying rolls G. Preferably directly following the engagement of the blank by the daggers, the entrant portions of the discs E shown in Figs. 3 and 4 to 10 inclusive, pass beneath the blank and ultimately sever it completely from the pile or stack beneath it. It will be understood that as the blanks are removed from the stack, the stack will be elevated by mechanism which forms no part of the present invention so as to maintain the level of the" topmost blank to be fed substantially constant.

Sucker and operating meham'sm therefor Inspection of Figures 4 to 10 will indicate that it is desirable for the sucker to have both a horizontal movement to-and-fro and a vertical up-and-down movement. The means for imparting this to-and-fro movement is as follows: Referring to Figure 1 the sucker A is pivotally mounted on a link 10 which is capable of an oscillatory motion about a shaft 11 as an axis, and is moved about said shaft by means of a cam 12 engaging cam follower 13, and attached to said shaft 10.

Mechanism for performing the vertical movement of this sucker consists of a clamp thereto at one end, and secured to a shaft 18 at its other end. Shaft 18 in turn receives a rocking motion as follows: As seen in Figure 2, shaft 18 extends through a frame of the machine 19 and has connected at its end an arm 20 (see also Fig. 1)', said arm being in position to be rocked by a curved arm 21 attached' to a shaft 22. The-inner end of said shaft 22 has secured thereto a bellcrank 23 having a follower 24 which makes contact with the cam 25, tension of the spring 26 attached to an arm of said crank serving. to cause the follower 24 to follow the contour of said cam. A'spring 25 operatively attached to shaft-27 (Fig. 2) returns the sucker to its initial position against the stack. Thus from the foregoing it will be seen that by the mechanism described the shaft 18 is raised. against the tension of spring 25.- The purpose of having the connection of operating elements for the sucker broken between the arm 21 and the arm 20 is to permit the slight play at such point occasioned by the fact that the sucker must descend a slight distance below its .previous position due to the removal ofa blank and before the level of the stack has been re-" stored by the stack elevating mechanism.-

The sucker A, it will be noted, is capable of longitudinal adjustment by virtue of a screw thread 111, having engagement with a '30 portion 112 pivotally attached to link 10.

The purpose of this adjustment is in order that the mouth of the sucker may be adjusted for diEerent shapes of blanks, as for example, in the ase where the bottom flap of the blank is pointed instead of the more truncated type shown in Figure 3. A blank having such a pointed bottom flap is shown in Figure 11, wherein the sucker A is also shown in operative position. A tubular portion of sucker A 40 is connected to a source of suction not shown.

Also it will be understood-that the suction is turned on and off by appropriate mechanism not shown. 4

Means for transferring the blank fromthe sucker to the conveyor means As previously mentioned, this mechanism consists in horiz-ontally moving daggers D. These members, which are preferably two in number, are mounted close to the sucker A on either side thereof, see for example Figure 3, andin such position engage the bottom flap along the longitudinal edge thereof (i. e. parallel to the longitudinal axis of the blank) although the presence of this longitudinal edge is not necessary for the operation of the q daggers, as a blank of the type in which the bottom flap has a pointed end'may, as above stated, likewise be operated upon, so long as the daggers are properly disposed with reference to the sucker, whereby the blank is sufiiciently lifted before the operation of said daggers. Such daggers D moreover preferably have edges 113 of the approximate curvature of the main feed roll of the conveyor and entered into conveying means means-C'for aiding in the presentingof the I blank thereto.

Each dagger D is attached on either side of block 30 which is arranged to slide back and forth on a guide 30a',means for performing this consisting of a link 31 attached to lever 31a, pivoted on shaft 32', and which has a horizontally extending portion at the end of which is a cam follower 33, which engages cam 34. Thus at the proper time, movement of said cam causes the block 30, carrying the daggers D to reciprocate back and forth.

Separator discs Referring to Figures 1 and 3, in each disc E is formeda plurality of inwardly and eccentrically extending cut-out portions 40 so as to form a plurality of blades 41, eachblade having a beveled entrant edge 42 and also a follower edge 43, preferably, though not necessarily, beveled as shown. As has been previously mentioned, it isthepurpose of these discs to insure a complete separation of the topmost blank, and accordingly move-' ment of the discs is timed so that the entrant portion of the blade passes beneath the blank as soon as its edge is, turned up by the sucker and is engaged by the transfer members or daggers D. Accordingly to operate such disc in timed relation, there is provided a shaft 45 upon which each disc is mounted,-

such shaft being connected through bevel' gearing -46 to shaft 47, which'shaft 47 has at the opposite end thereof, a second and larger bevel gear 48 (shown in dotted lines in Figure '1 and in full lines in Figure 2) which is driven by means of a beveled gear 49 on a drive shaft 50. 00nve3 z'ng.nceans receiving the blank from J the transfer device The blanks having been transferred by the daggers D are now in position to be (gripped This conveyingmeans is similar in principle'to that disclosed in my said copending application Serial No. 143,047, but differs therefrom in important details as will be apparent hereafter. This gripping of the blank is ef-- fected by means of the roller 55 of said means iary rollers 56, 56 which have a motion of rotationto feed the blank as well as a planetary motion about the main roll 55 to be described. The extent of this planetary motion. is seen from Figure 5, for example, in which the extreme positions of the roller are indithis constructionallowing the auxiliary rolls 'with which cooperates a pair of small auxil- 56 to be yieldingly held against the main roller 55 by means of a coil spring 460 which is mounted on said shaft 58. Shaft 58 is in turn mounted upon links 61 which engage the shaft 62 carrying the main roller 55. Motion is imparted to said shaft by means of a link 63 which is connected to a bell crank 64 having a follower 65 operated by cam 66, the other arm of said bellcrank being connected with a spring 67 which causes the said follower to follow the contour of the cam. This up and down movement of the link 63 causes the links 61 to be rocked upon the shaft 62 and hence the shaft 57 carrying rollers 56 likewise to be rocked, such motion of the rollers following the periphery of the roll 55. Since the mechanism for moving each roller I 56 is the same, it will be understood that the foregoing description with reference to one of the rollers 56 applies equally to the operation of the other roller 56. For imparting the necessary motion of rotation to the gripping and conveying rollers I have provided a gear 68 whose driving gear is not shown, said gear 68 meshing with gear 69 secured to the shaft 57 carrying the auxiliary feed rolls 56. To assist in maintaining said gears in mesh, I provide a coil spring 70 about shaft 58 whose action is similar to, and assists that of spring 60 further along said shaft. For the purpose of preventing the gears 68 and 69 from jamming, due to the action of springs 60 and 70, I have provided an adjustable stop 71 carried by link 61 and contacting with the outer of said links 59.

M eams for assisting the separating action of the sucker Referring to Figures 1 and 2, I have provided three fingers, one of which 80,- is seen in Figure 1' for assisting the separating action of the sucker A, such fingers resiliently pressing against the top edge of the stack. In order to vary the tension in said fingers and to adjust their position with reference to the stack, I have mounted each of such fingers upon an arm 81 which is adjustably mounted in a bracket 83, the latterin turn being pivotally mounted on a shaft 83 and held in adjusted position with reference to said shaft by means of a wing nut 84. In order to adjust each finger 80 in a longitudinal direction each arm 81 has an upstanding end 85 through which a knurled-headed bolt 86 is passed, such bolt being threaded in the bracket 82. 'A spring v87 keeps the arm 81 against the head of bolt 86. Thus by means 1 of the construction described, each finger 80 may be adjusted both longitudinally and up and down about the shaft 83 as an axis.

Operation of may now be given. Figure 4 represents the discs above the topmost blank, the last blank having been just removed. The sucker A is about to lift the blank and this occurs when the discs E have moved suficiently to perrnit the edge of the blank to be turned up. This condition is shown in Figure 5. The blank now having been lifted by the sucker, the daggers D are moved forward beneath the uplifted edge of the blank, whereupon the suction is cut off and the edge of the blank is allowed to fall upon the receiving edge of the daggers. Continued movement forward of the daggers, and continued rotation of the discs, allow-the edge of the blank to be pushed forward as shown in Figures 7 and 8, where in such position the edge of the blank is in close proximity to the main feed roller 55. When this occurs the planetary rollers 56 are moved downward along the periphery of roller 55 and engage the edge of the blank and commence their feeding action upon it. This situation is seen in Figures 9 and 10 and when it has taken place, the discs E have moved to the position shown in Figure 10 to completely release the blank, whereupon continued operation of the machine results in further feeding of the blank between the roller 56 and the rolls 55, the retraction of the daggers D and the lowering of the sucker A against the edge of the stack,'whereby in such position of the parts a new feeding cycle is recommenced.

During the feeding of the blanks, the fingers 80 pressing against the edge of the stack function to prevent the sucker from lifting up the edge of more than one blank at a t1me.. Also as the blanks'are removed from the top of the stack, the mechanism level of the topmost blank substantially con-- stant. V

As has been stated the normal operation of the feeder described is to feed the blanks so as to form a band with each blank overlapping the one next to it. In this manner one surface of the band willybe composed, for example, of the exposed portions of the sealing flaps, whereby said flaps may be gummed by applying the gum in a continuous band 'to such exposed portions. 4 In order to regulate the amount of overlap of the blanks and hence the width of the gum applied to each flap, it is only necessary to vary the speed of rotation of the auxiliary and main feed rollers with reference to the operating cycle of the feeding members comprising the discs E, the sucker A, and the daggers D, this adjustment being conveniently effected by change in the gear ratios of the drive of the' ration of the topmost blank from the stack. This is important because of the fact that occasionally the blanks stick (particularly in the case of window envelope blanks) and without the presence of the separator discs it occasionally happens that the blank being has been released. A further feature of the present invention is that the separator discs E traverse substantially the entire surface of the blank and thus are particularly efiective in completely separating the blank to be fed from those beneath it.

It will be understood that various changes may be made from the exact embodiment described without departing from the spirit of myinvention, and that while the invention 'is particularly adapted for feeding the blanks from the top of the stack, the principles thereof may also be app-lied to mechanism for feeding theblanks from the bottom of the stack.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a blank feeding mechanism, having means for separating an edge of an outermost blank, means for gripping a presented blank and conveying it from the stack, comprising a main feed roller and a cooperating auxiliary roller, means for transferring the partially separated sheet to said conveying means comprising a member having a reoiprocatory mo- 7 tion adapted to engage between the separated edge of the blank and the stack to move said blank against said main conveyor roller, said member having an edge presenting said blank to the main roller of the approximate contour of said main roller, and means for moving said auxiliary roller to grip said preented blanksagainst said main roller.

2. In a blank feeding mechanism, having means for suppdrting a stack of blanks, means for gripping a presented blank and conveying it from the stack, means for lifting an edge of the outermost blank, a separator member, means to enter said member beneath the lifted edge of the blank, transfer .means for moving the separated portion of the blank to said conveying means, and means for operating said transfer means and said separator means so that said blank is moved by said transfer means as it is released by said separator means.

3. In a blank feeding mechanism, having means for supporting a stack of blanks, means for gripping a presented blank and convey ing it from the stack, comprising means for displacing an edge of'the outermost blank, separator members in the form of discs having entrant portions adapted to engage between said outermost blank and the stack and reciprocatory members transferring the released blank to said conveying means and means for operating said transfer means and said separator means so that said blank is moved by said transfer means as it is released by said separator means.

4. In a sheet feeding mechanism for envelope blanks, means for gripping a presented sheet and conveying it from the stack, comprisin a main roller extending throughout the width of the sheet being fed, a pair of auxiliary rollers, adapted to grip and hold the sheet against the roller, means for rotating said auxiliary rollers with the same peripheral speed as said main roller and means for moving said auxiliary rollers back and forth along the periphery of said main roller.

5. In a blank feeding mechanism in which the blanks are fed from the top of the stack and in which means is provided for elevating the stack to maintain the level substantially constant, a sucker for lifting the edge of the topmost blank, means to reciprocate the sucker in a plane more or less normal to the blanks, comprising an actuating cam mechanism and an interrupted connection between said actuating mechanism and said sucker, permitting said sucker to return to the topmost blank on thestack in case the elevating mechanism should not have become operative to restore the level of said stack.

6. In a blank feeding mechanism, having means for separating an edge of an outermost blank, means for gripping a presented blank and conveyin it from the stack, comprising a main feed roller and a cooperating auxiliary roller, means for transferring the partially separated sheet to said conveying means comprising a member having a reciprocatory motion adapted to engage between the separated edge of the blank and the stack to move said blank against'said main conveyor roller, and means for moving said auxiliary roller to grip said presented blank against said main roller.

7. In' a blank feeding mechanism, having means for holding a stack of blanks, means for completely separating the outermost blank from the stack, a sucker, means for moving same to bend the edge of the blank to be separated, a transfer member, means for moving same to enter into the space between said bent edge of the blank to be separated and the-stack, means for releasing the suction in said sucker and allowing the released portion of the blank to be guided by said transfer member, and means for moving said transfer member in position to bring said released portion of the b grip of a conveying means.

lank into the 8. In a blank feeding mechanism, having means for holding a stack of blanks, separator elements for more or less completely separating the outermost blank from the stack, a transfer member, means for entering same between the outermost blank and the stack, said parts being arranged so that said transfer member simultaneously peels said blank from the stack as it is released by said separating elements.

9. In a device for feeding envelope blanks in overlapped relation, in combination, a support for holding a stack of blanks, means for initiating the separation of the outside blank, means completely separating said blank from the stack independently of the forward feed of the blank, a conveyor for said blank for conveying same away from the stack, and means for bringing the separated portion of the blank against said conveyor and for holding same incontac-t therewith whereby said blank may take the motion of the conveyor.

10, In a device for feeding envelope blanks in overlapped relation, in combination, a support for holding a stack of blanks, a conveyor for withdrawing the blanks from the stack and for conveying the same away from the stack, means for initiating the separation o f the outside blank of the stack, a pair of apertured rotary members whose movement is adapted to complete the separation of said blank from the stack, and means for bringing the separated portion of the blank against said conveyor and for holding same in contact therewith whereby said blank may take the motion of the conveyor.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature to this specification.

ABRAHAM NOVI'CK.

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