US2634125A

US2634125A - Apparatus for separating sheets, envelopes, and the like

Info

Publication number: US2634125A
Application number: US791059A
Authority: US
Inventors: Bamber John Richard
Original assignee: UNIFOLD MAILING MACHINES Inc
Current assignee: UNIFOLD MAILING MACHINES Inc
Priority date: 1946-03-13
Filing date: 1947-12-11
Publication date: 1953-04-07
Anticipated expiration: 1970-04-07

Description

P 1953 J. R. BAMBER' 1 2,634,125

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING SHEETS ENVELOPES/AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. 11, 1947 Patented Apr. 7, 1953 UNITED] STATES ATENT osr cs John Richard Bamber, London, England, as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to Unifold Mail ing Machines, Inc., Saginaw, Mich.

Application December ll, 1947, Serial No. 791,059

r In Great. Britain March 13, 1946 a ,s l This invention relates to apparatus forSeparating sheets, envelopes and blanks of paper, cardboard, or the like from piles for the purpose of delivering them one by one to a machine, for

instance in the case of documents to be delivered one: by one and. inserted into envelopes.

In the apparatus according to the present in- 1 Claim. (Cl. 271- 26) vention use is made of means of the kind in which the documents or the like, hereinafter referred to as sheets, are taken one by one from the top of the pile by means of a suction device mechanically operated in such a manner that in each cycle: of operation it first makes contact with the uppermostsheet in the. pile so as. to grip it by suction and then separate the sheet from the pile and carries it. to a delivery position, whereupon the suction action is released to allow the suction device to return to the position for taking up the next sheet from the pile.

Referring to the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention Figures '1 and 2 arerespectively a plan view and a part sectional elevation of the improved apparatus.

One or more suction nozzles I9 are carried by a shaft 20 by means of brackets 2| The said shaft extends horizontally above the top of the .pile of sheets a adjacent one side thereof and being arranged to slide at its ends in slots provided in a pair of rocking arms 22 fixed to a horizontal rock shaft 23 located underneath the pile of sheets a, the said rocker arms being so arranged that they project upwardly from the rock shaft 23 at opposite sides of the pile. Located adjacent the arms 22 are a pair of vertical reciprocating push rods 24 passing through guide sleeves 25 and attached to track bars 26 adapted to support the shaft 29 through the intermediary of antifriction rollers 2'! mounted on the ends of the shaft 20.

The mechanism is operated from an electric motor 28 through the intermediary of suitable mechanism. 29 is a speed reducing gear belt driven from the shaft of the electric motor and driving two cams 33 and 3| respectively operating the push rods 24 and the rock shaft 23. The push rods 24 are moved up and down by a lever 32 which is held by a connecting link 33. The rock shaft 23 is operated by the cam. 3| through an operating lever 34 and link 35. The general arrangement is such that the cams referred to actuate the push rods 24 in such a manner that during each cycle of operation the push rods are first loweredsufliciently to allow the suction nozzle or nozzles l9 to move downwards to the maximum extent which may be necessary to bring them into engagement with the. top of the pile, being then raised sothat they lift the nozzle or nozzles. to a fixed level for the delivery of a sheet; The arrangement. is further suchthat there is a dwell at each end of the reciprocating movement of the push rods.

There is a fixed time relation between the two guiding mechanisms of push rods and rock shaft. The actuating mechanism of the rock shaft is such that durin v each cycle. of operation the rocking arms zz'move in the following manner: at the end of the upward movement: of the push rods 24 the rocker arms are inclined forwardly as shown in full lines in Figure 2 so asto deliver a sheet held by the suction nozzle or nozzles in between the roller 4 and a feeding roller 36 or other means for carrying the sheet away. The arms return to a vertical position during the dwell at the upper end of the reciprocating movement of the push rods 24 and remain in this vertical position during the downward movement of the push rods. vDuring the dwell at the lower end of the. movement of the push rods the arms 22 rock rearwardly to the position shown in broken lines and then during the upward stroke of the push rods the armsreturn to the forwardly inclined position; this cycle of operations is reg ularly repeated. 31 is a spring which keeps down the sheet at the edge after lifting and until it is taken up by the rollers 4 and 36.

Each of the suction nozzles I9 is connected by means of a flexible conduit 38 to a fan or other suitable source of suction 39 which is belt driven by the electric motor 23. The said conduit 38 is connected to the suction side of the fan 39.

The suction nozzles l9 are provided with a control valve consisting of an inner fixed sleeve 4| surrounded by an outer spring controlled sleeve 42 provided with an arm 43 having attached thereto the one end of a spring 44, the other end of which is attached to a fixed part of the apparatus. The free end of the arm 43 is arranged to abut against a pin 44a mounted on a bracket 45 which in its turn is adjustably mounted on a fixed bracket 46. The valve 4|, 42 is so controlled by the driving mechanism of the apparatus as to release the suction at the end of each swinging movement of the rocker arms 22,

whereupon they grip the sheet by suction in a well-known manner. Backward movement of the rocking arms 22 then produces a tilting movement of the suction nozzle or nozzles whereby a separation of the uppermost sheet a from the pile is effected; The push rods then move upwardly so that the bearing surfaces or tracks 26 thereof engage the rollers 21 to lift the shaft 20 with the suction nozzle or nozzles so as to raise the separated sheet from the pile. At the same time the rocker arms 22 rock forwards and deliver the sheet to the feed rollers 4 and 36 or other mechanism for carrying the sheet away. During this forward rocking movement the arm 43 attached to the outer sleeve 42 of the valve provided on the suction nozzle abuts against the abutment 440; which upon the further forward movement of the suction nozzle carried by the shaft 20 causes the outer sleeve 42 of the valve to move in such a direction as to open the valve against the action of the spring 44. Now the suction is released from the suction nozzle or nozzles and the sheet, is released therefrom as it is delivered to the feed rollers 4 and 36. The rocker arms now return to the vertical position, whereupon the push rods 24 again commence to move downwards in order to initiate a further cycle of operations.

The machine thus delivers the sheets one by one from the top of the pile and the movements of the suction nozzle or nozzles are adjusted automatically to accommodate the diminishing height of the pile, so that no mechanism for feeding the pile upwards as its height diminishes is necessary.

I claim:

An apparatus for separating sheets from the top of a pile by means of a suction nozzle, connected by a suction tube to a source producing a vacuum for the purpose of delivering them one by one to another part of the apparatus and comprising a carriage for the said nozzle, a rocking member for moving the said carriage and therewith the nozzle towards and away from the pile, means for operating the rocking arm, up and down movable means supporting the carriage and therewith the nozzle, the rocking member having a slideway to allow the carriage to move up and down, and a valve mounted on the suction nozzle for automatically timing the operation of the suction, characterised by the feature that the said valve is of the sleeve type comprising an inner sleeve and an outer sleeve and that means are provided for rotating the outer sleeve relatively to the inner sleeve of the valve, the latter means comprising: a radial arm fixed to the outer sleeve, a spring having one end attached to the said arm and the other end attached to a stationary part of the apparatus, and a stationary abutment for the said radialarm, whereby upon the said carriage moving the nozzle away from the pile with the sheet kept thereon by suction and nearing the end of the movement, the said radial arm comes against the said stationary abutment and the outer sleeve is rotated relatively to the inner sleeve of the valve against the action of the saidspring, thereby opening the valve and releasing the suction, and upon the return movement of carriage and nozzle, and the radial arm leaving the stationary abutment, the outer sleeve closes the valve under the action of the spring and suction is again applied to the nozzle.

JOHN RICHARD BAMBER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 317,929 Cox May 12, 1885 1,625,578 Tremper Apr. 19, 1927 1,814,021 Buttner July 14, 1931 1,820,469 Low Aug. 25, 1931 2,097,587 Dearing Nov. 2, 1937 2,224,802 Spiess Dec. 10, 1940 2,274,797 Kluge Mar. 3, 1942 2,282,411 Sundstrand May 12, 1942 2,295,055 Rupp et al Sept. 8, 1942 2,350,511 Lake et a1 June 6, 1944 5 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 18,052 Great Britain of 1911 271,509 Great Britain Sept. 29, 1927