US2954225A - Feeding mechanism for envelopes and the like - Google Patents

Description

A. NOVICK 2,954,225

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE Sept. 27, 1960 8 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec. 5, 1956 INVENTOR. Abra/707m Nov/ck AT TORNEY5 Sept. 27, 1960 A. New

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 3, 1956 INVENTOR. Abraham NOV/CK AT TOR/V575 A. NOVIICK Sept. 27, 1960 FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 3, 1956 n t Q INVENTORZ Araham Nov/ck MM M . A T TOANEKS' Sept. 27, 1960 A. NOVICK FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 3, 1956 fig. 6.

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ATTORNEYS Sept. 27, 1960 A. NOVICK 2,954,225

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE iled Dec. 3, 1956 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. Abraham Nor/ck AT TORNEKS A. NOVICK Sept. 27, 1960 FEEDING MECHANISM FOR EINVELOPES AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. '3, 1956 8 Sheets- Sheet 6 INVENTOR.

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FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE Filed Dec. '3, 1956 v 8 Sheets-Sheet 8 23 2o 23 -M%w d! E 52/- ,L'JZ 3 i 1 fig 74 50 I. 74

INVEN TOR. Abra/707m NOV/Ck M M* M AT TORNEYS 2,954,225 Patented Sept. 27, 195

FEEDING vMECHANISM FOR ENVELOPES AND THE LIKE Abraham Novick, Flushing, N.Y., assignor to F. L. Smithe Machine Co., Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Dec. 3, 1956, Ser. N0.*625;993

7 Claims. (Cl. 271-1) This invention relates to the feeding of envelope blanks from the bottom of a'stack directly into fanned out relation, and is in the nature of an improvement upon the stack feeder disclosed in US Patent No. 1,808,706, of June 2, 1931, for Feeding Mechanism for Envelopes and the Like.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a simpler and faster fan out stack feeder than has heretofore been available.

It is a further object to contrive a fan out stack feeder in which compound motions of operating parts are avoided and long range operations of simple oscillatory or reciprocatory parts are also avoided.

To these ends it is an important feature of the invention that the blanks are delivered from the stack, bottom flaps leading, directly onto a slow moving cylinder which is located beneath the stack in position to receive the blanks and carry them downward away from the stack. In combination with this feeder a suction picker is mounted for oscillation through a path 'clear of the cylinder and clear of the path along which the blanks are advanced by the cylinder, together with one or more deflectors, movable at a substantial angle to the direction of picker travel for pushing each blank clear of the picker or sucker and into substantial conformity with the surface of the cylinder.

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the drawing forming part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view in sectional elevation (the section being taken on the line 1ll of Fig. 3) showing the stack feeder portion of an illustrative envelope making machine which embodies features of the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 2A is a detail view of one end of the picker;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary' detailed view, partly broken away, showing a movable stack supporting device and the picker simultaneously in stack supporting position;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Figure 4 showing the picker still in stack supporting position but the movable stack supporting device withdrawn;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view in sectional elevation, more comprehensive than Figure 5, and on a smaller scale, but showing the parts in substantially the same positions as Figure 5, but also showing the tip of the lowermost envelope blank drawn downward against an inclined face of the picker;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 77 of Figure 6, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6 but showing the parts at a somewhat more advanced stage in the operating cycle; 1

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figures 6 and 8 but showing the parts at a still more advanced stage than Figure 8;

Figures 10 and 11 are, respectively, sectional views taken on the lines 10-10 and 11-11-of Figures "8 and 9, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 12 is a fragmentary view in end elevation, partly broken away, showing in part the means for supplying suction to the picker;

Figure 13 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, the section being taken on the line 13-13 of Figure 12, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 14 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view, the section being taken on the line 1414 of Figure 12, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 15 is a fragmentary view in end elevation of the mechanism shown in Figure 1, the mechanism being viewed from the right in Figure l and looking in the direction of the arrows.

The illustrative machine is designed to deal with envelope blanks 10 of the kind illustrated in Fig. 2. Each blank comprises -a body portion 12, end flaps 14, a bottom flap 16 and a seal flap 18. The blanks are arranged in the form of 'a stack 20 which is inclined slightly to the vertical.

The stack rests mainly upon rotary supporting and separating discs 22, which are carried and driven by shafts 23. Each of these discs has at least one opening 22a for the passage of a blank from the top of the discs to the bottom thereof. The lowermost seal flaprests marginally upon a supporting roller 24. Slightly inclined supporting and aligning rods 17 engage all the blanks of the stack in the angles or notches between the end flaps 14 and the seal flaps 18, and include flanges at their lower ends which extend beneath narrow marginal portions of the lowermost blank. A supporting device 28 and a suction picker 30 move periodically into and out of supporting relation with the stack at the lower margin of the bottom fla'p 16 of the lowermost blank. Supporting finger 32 extends slightly into the forward portion of the stack to take the weight of most of the bottom flaps off the supporting device 28 and the suction picker 30. The blanks resting on the finger 32 slip downward past the finger as the underlying blanks are progressively withdrawn.

Before describing the blank feeding mechanism in detail, the principal parts will be briefly referred to, and the mode of operation will be outlined.

Initially, as seen in Fig. 1, the supporting device 28 is located in stack supporting position and the picker 30 is moving upwardtoward stack supporting position. In Fig. 4 the picker 30 has attained th'e'stack supporting position. While the picker remains in that positionthe supporting device 28 is withdrawn as illustrated in Fig. 5 to give the margin of the bottom flap 16 an opportunity to be pulled down by the suction picker 30 against the inclined suction face 34 of the picker, as in Fig. 6, while the forward margin of the stack continues to rest upon the flat, level face 35 of the picker. The supporting device 28 is then thrust into supporting engagement with the stack while the suction picker remains in the stack supporting position. As soon as the device 28 has been returned to stack supporting position, the suction picker 30 starts down as seen in Fig. 8, carrying the margin of the lowermost bottom flap 16 with it as seen in Fig. 8. When the suction picker has moved down a short distance, say to the dotted line position indicated at 30a in Fig. 8, the discs 22 start slicing through between the lowermost blank whose bottom flap has been deflected downward, and the remainder of the stack.

With the picker 30 and the support 28 in the positions shown in Fig. 1 a pair of deflectors 36 are disposed at their forward limits of movement adjacent the cylinder.

drawn, as seen in Fig. 6, the deflectors have been fully retracted, as shown in Fig. 6. As the picker 30 then starts down, however, the deflectors 36 start down also and are quickly caused to occupy a position between the forward lower edge of the stack and the forward margin of the deflected blank.

The suction to the picker 30 is next cut off so that the deflected blank margin (Fig. 8) is free to engage with arcuate faces 38 of the deflectors 36 while the picker 30 continues to move downward through the position illustrated in full lines in Fig. 8 to the terminal position illustrated in Fig. 9, in which latter position it is completely clear of the leading edge of the blank and of the path which the leading edge of the blank will follow. During the described movement of the picker the deflectors push and bend the leading margin of the blank down toward, and into conformity with, the feed drum 40 which is located directly beneath the stack 20, and which is fast upon a drive shaft 41. The deflectors 36 do not, however, cause the blank to be frictionally gripped and fed by the drum 40.

Arms 42, which carry idler feed rollers 44 at their outer ends, are reciprocated in time with the operations of the picker 30 and the deflectors 36 to be down out of the way of the leading edge of the blank as the blank is pressed toward the drum 40 by the deflectors 36, but to move the rollers 44 up along the drum into position to press the leading margin of the blank against the drum and cause the blank to be fed by and with the drum until other instrumentalities can take over the function of continuing the advance of the blank with the drum. The rollers, having once been moved over the leading margin of the blank, will not thereafter be withdrawn from bearing upon the blank either directly or through other added blanks until the full length of the blank has passed beneath them. The drum, however, moves only a fraction of an inch in each cycle, so that the blanks are arranged in fanned out relation with only a narrow forward margin of the outer face of each bottom flap extending in advance of the next following blank, and correspondingly narrow trailing margin of the inner face of each seal flap extending rearward beyond the preceding blank.

As each added blank moves forward with the drum 40 it is soon brought into overlying relation to feed belts 46 which run in grooves 47 of the drum 40 and beneath narrow overlying guide arms 48 and guide rollers 49. The guide rollers 49 keep the blanks pressed frictionally together so that they are caused to advance in unison. The arms 48 exert little frictional retarding force because the surfaces are smooth anti-frictional retarding surfaces and are of small area. The belts 46, which run on the drum 40, are trained also on end rollers 50, and are kept taut by idler tightening rollers 52.

A conveyor 54 is provided which consists of a single wide belt 56 (Figs. 1 and 15) and a multiplicity of rollers which comprise an end roller 58, a large backing roller 60, a guide roller 57, and a multiplicity of smaller guide rollers 62. The wide belt 56 runs in opposed relation to the drum 40 and to the narrow belts 46. It carries the band 63 (Fig. 15) of blanks away from the drum 40 and past a fan out gummer 64.

The gummer comprises a gum pot 66, a pickup roller 68, an applying roller 70 and the backing roller 60. A pair of narrow belts 72, out of line with the belts 46, as in Fig. 15, but also located opposite the wide belt 56, cooperate with the belt 56 in carrying the band of blanks 63 past the gummer 64. The belts 72 run upon end rollers 74.

After passing the gummer 64 the manufacture of the ,4 are driven from a shaft 76 (Figs. 1 and 2) which is constantly rotated at the rate of one revolution per cycle. The shaft 76 has fast upon it a channel cam 78 which, through a follower 80, oscillates a crank 82 fast on a rock shaft 84. The shaft 84 is rockably mounted in a stationary sleeve 86 which is unitary with a fixed frame member 88. The rock shaft 84 also has fast upon it a crank 90 in which one end of the suction picker 30 is made fast. The cam 78 and the operating connections from the cam to the suction picker 30 are constructed and arranged to cause the suction picker to be operated in timed relation to the other operating parts as previously described.

The shaft 76 (Figs. 1, 2 and 12) is rotatively supported in the frame member 88 and in an opposite frame member 92. A stationaryvalve member 94 is mounted on the shaft 76 adjacent the frame member 92, being secured in fixed relation to the frame member by a headed screw 96. The stationary valve member 94 has formed in it a passage 98 (Fig. 14) which constantly communicates with a suitable source of suction (not shown) through a flexible tube 100. The valve member 94 also has formed in it a passage 102. The passage 102 communicates with the interior of an elbow 104 which is threaded into the valve member 94. The elbow 104 is connected through a union coupling 166 with a flanged nipple 108. The nipple 168 is connected through a flexible hose with a reduced end portion 112 of the rock shaft 84. The rock shaft 84 is formed with a bore 114 which maintains the tube 110 in communication, through a side passage 116, with a bore 118 formed in the crank 90. The bore 118 communicates with the bore 126 of the suction picker 30 through a side passage 122 formed in the wall of the hollow suction picker 36.

Communication of the suction picker with the source of suction and with the atmosphere is controlled through a rotary valve member 124 which is connected through a key 126 to the shaft 76. The valve member 124 is free to shift axially of the shaft 76, but is spring-pressed toward the stationary valve member 94. A flanged pin 128 is fast in an abutment disc 130 and is slidingly received in a bore of the valve member 124 to constrain the abutment member to turn in unison with the valve member 124 and with the shaft 76. Compression coil springs 132 seated in facing bores of the valve member 124 and the abutment member 130 urge the valve member 124 against the stationary valve member 94. A collar 134, made fast on the shaft 76 by a set screw 136, backs up the abutment member 130.

The rotary valve member 124 has formed in its side which faces the stationary valve member 94 an arcuate slot 136 which travels across the passages 102 and 98 for at times placing the passages in communication with one another, and across an atmospheric passage 138 which is formed in the valve member 94.

A further channel cam 140, fast on the shaft 76, acts through a follower 142 to operate a crank 144 fast on a rock shaft 146. The shaft 146 is rockably mounted in ears 148 of the stationary sleeve 86. A further crank 150, also fast on the shaft 146, is connected through a link 152 to a slide rod 154 which forms part of the stack supporting device 28. The rod 154 is slidably guided in a guide member 156 which is affixed to a stationary frame member 158. The supporting device 28 further includes a blade member 160 which is set into a rabbet of the rod 154, and an L-shaped bar 162 which is secured in fixed position on the blade member 160.

The deflectors 36 and the roller carrying arms 42 are operated from a cam shaft 164 (Figures 1 and 3). The deflectors 36 are mounted with capacity for rocking movement on a supporting shaft 166, which is located below, and nearer to the cylinder 40 than the shaft 76. A track cam 168, fast on the shaft 164, acts through a follower carried upon the driving arm 172 of a lever 174, to rock the lever 174 to and fro. The lever 174 is rockably mounted upon stationary shaft 176, being confined between stationary collars 178 and 180. The driven arm 182 of the lever 174 carried a pivot block 184 through which a rod 186 slidably extends. The rod 186 includes a sleeve 188' at its upper end which surrounds a pin 190. The pin 190 forms a rigid connection between the pressers 36, causing the pressers to be operated in unison by the rod 186. The rod 186 includes a fixed collar 192 which bears against the upper face of the pivot block 184. Below the pivot block, a compression coil spring 194 surrounds the rod 186, being held under compression against the block 184 by a nut 196 and washer 197, which nut is threaded onto the lower extremity of the rod 184. With the arrangement described the deflectors are moved positively away from the cylinder 40 by the action of the pivot block 184 on the collar 192 but are yieldingly moved toward the cylinder 40 by the pivot block 184 acting through the spring 194 and the nut 196. The yielding action is provided in order to accommodate blank bands of different thicknesses.

The roller carrying arms 42 are pivotally connected at their outer ends to the driven arms 198 of a rocking lever 200. The lever 200 is rockably supported on the fixed shaft 176 between fixed collars 180 and 202 An operating arm 204 of the lever 200 carries a follower 206 through which the lever is operated from a track cam 208, fast on the rotary shaft 164. Tension coil springs 210, connected between pins 212 fixed on the stationary arm 180 and pins 214 fixed on the arms 42, maintain the rollers 44 pressed yieldingly toward the cylinder 40 at all times.

I have described what I believe to be the best embodiments of my invention. I do not wish, however, to be confined to the embodiments shown, but what I desire to cover by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A blank feeder for envelope making machines adapted to withdraw blanks one by one from the bottom of a stack and to arrange them directly into fanned out relation comprising, in combination, a pair of separator discs each having at least one opening for the passage of a blank therethrough from the top of the disc to the bottom thereof, said discs constituting the principal support for a stack of blanks, means for rotating the discs, a feed cylinder disposed beneath the stack in position to receive the deflected margins of successive blanks and to feed the blanks down and away from the stack,v an oscillatably mounted suction picker having its axis of oscillation at a fixed location spaced from said feed cylinder and said blank stack and having an end swingable through an are which intercepts the forward edge of the lowermost blank in the stack and which is substantially tangent to said feed cylinder, means for periodically applying suction to said suction picker to engage the bottom flap margins of successive bottommost blanks of'the stack, means for oscillating the suction picker between the stack and said feed cylinder to engage each blank in succession and move it into proximity to said feed cylinder, deflector means, means for oscillating said deflector means to and away from said cylinder and serving to engage the margin of a blank when it is deflected from the stack by said suction picker and to shift the said deflected margin toward the cylinder and then hold it there while the picker is being returned toward the stack, and means cooperative with the cylinder to press the blank toward the same while it is advanced by the rotation thereof.

2. A blank feeder for envelope making machines adapted to withdraw blanks one by one from the bottom of a stack and to'arrange them directly into fanned out relation comprising, in combination, a pair of separator discs each having at least one opening for the passage of a blank therethrough from the top of the disc to the port for a' stack of blanks, means rotating the discs, 2- feed cylinder disposed beneath the stack in position to receive the deflected margins of successive blanks and to feed the blanks down and away from the stack, an oscillatably mounted suction picker having its axis of oscillation at a fixed location spaced from said feed cylinder and said blank stack and having an end swingable through an arc which intercepts the forward edge of the lowermost blank in the stack and which is substantially tangent to said feed cylinder, means for periodically ap plying suction to said suction picker to engage the bottom flap margins of successive bottommost blanks of the stack, means for oscillating the suction picker between the stack and said feed cylinder to engage each blank in succession and move it into proximity to said feed cylinder, deflector means, means for oscillating said deflector means to and away from said cylinder and serving to engage the margin of a blank when it is deflected from the stack by said suction picker and to shift the said deflected margin toward the cylinder and then hold it there while the picker is being returned toward the stack, and means cooperative with the cylinder to press the blank toward the same while it is being advanced by the rotation thereof, and fixed guide means associated with the cylinder adjacent said last mentioned cooperative means in positions to clear the blank undergoing transfer but to define a guide path into which the leading margin of the blank is advanced during the cycle following transfer. V t

3. A blank feeder for envelope making machines adapted to withdraw blanks one byone from the bottom of a stack and to arrange them directly into fanned out relation comprising, in combination, a pair of separator discs each having at least one opening for the passage of a blank therethrough from the top of the disc to the bottom thereof, said discs constituting the principal support for a stack of blanks, means rotating the discs, a feed cylinder disposed beneath the stack in position to receive the deflected margins of successive blanks and to feed the blanks down and away from the stack, an oscillatably mounted suction picker having its axis of oscillation at a fixed location spaced from said feed cylinder and said blank stack and having an end swingable through an arc which intercepts the forward edge of the lowermost blank in the stack and which is substantially tangent to said feed cylinder, means for periodically applying suction to said suction picker to engage the bottom flap margins of successive bottommost blanksof the stack, means for oscillating the suction picker between the stack and said feed cylinderrto engage each blank in succession and move it into proximity to said feed cylinder, deflector means, means for oscillating said deflector means to and away from said cylinder and serving to engage the deflected margin of a blank when it is deflected from the stack by said suction picker and to shift the said deflected margin toward the cylinder and then hold it there while the picker is being returned toward the stack, and roller means cooperative with the cylinder to press the blank toward the same after it has been deflected to said cylinder by said deflector means and as it is being advanced by the rotation of saidtcylinder and effective after said deflector means has deflected the margin of the blank to said cylinder, said last mentioned means comprising said roller means cooperative with the cylinder, and means for shifting the roller means along the cylinder into position to overlie the leading margin of the last added blank While the presser means remains in position to press such margin against the cylinder, and for shifting the roller means in the opposite direction along the' cylinder into position to clear the margin of the next addedblank as the latter is moved toward the cylinder by the presser means in the next ensuing cycle of the feeder.

4. A blank feeder for envelope making machines bottom thereof, said discs constituting the principal sup- 7 adapted to withdraw blanks one by one from the bottom of a stack and to arrange them directly into fanned out relation comprising, in combination, a pair of separator discs each having at least one opening for the' passage of a blank therethrough from the top of the disc to the bottom thereof, said discs constituting the principal support for a stack of blanks, means rotating the discs at the rate of one opening per cycle, a feed cylinder disposed beneath the stack in position to receive the deflected margins of succemive blanks and to feed the blanks down and away from the stack, an oscillatably mounted suction picker having its axis of oscillation at a fixed location spaced from said feed cylinder and said blank stack and having an end swingable through an are which intercepts the forward edge of the lowermost blank in the stack and which is substantially tangent to said feed cylinder, means for periodically applying suction to said suction picker to engage the bottom flap margins of successive bottommost blanks of the stack, means for oscillating the suction picker between the stack and said feed cylinder to engage each blank in succession and move it into proximity to said feed cylinder, through a fixed arc substantially tangent to the cylinder, deflector means, means for oscillating said deflector means to and away from said cylinder and serving to engage the deflected margin of a blank when it is deflected from the stack by said suction picker and to shift the said deflected margin toward the cylinder and then hold it there while the picker is being returned toward the stack and means cooperative with the cylinder and effective to press the blank toward the same and cause it to be advanced by the rotation thereof.

5. A blank feeder for envelope making machines adapted to withdraw blanks one by one from the bottom of a stack and to arrange them directly into fanned out relation comprising, in combination, a pair of separator discs each having at least one opening for the passage of blank therethrough from the top of the disc to the bottom thereof, said discs constituting the principal support for a stack of blanks, means roating the discs at the rate of one opening per cycle, a feed cylinder disposed beneath the stack in position to receive the deflected margins of successive blanks and to feed the blanks down and away from the stack, an oscillatably mounted suction picker having its axis of oscillation at a fixed location spaced from said feed cylinder and said blank stack and having an end swingable through an are which intercepts the forward edge of the lowermost blank in the stack and which is substantially tangent to said feed cylinder, means for periodically applying suction to said suction picker to engage the bottom flap margins of successive bottomost blanks of the stack, means for oscillating the suction picker between the stack and said feed cylinder to engage each blank is succession and move it into proximity to said feed cylinder, through a fixed are substantially tangent to the cylinder, deflector means, means for oscillating said deflector means to and away from said cylinder and serving to engage the deflected margin of a blank when it is deflected from the stack by said suction picker and to shift the said deflected margin toward the cylinder and then hold it there while the picker is being returned toward the stack, and roller means cooperative with the cylinder to press the blank toward the same and cause it to be advanced by the rotation thereof after it has been deflected to said cylinder by said deflector means, said last mentioned means including means for shifting the roller means along the cylinder into position to overlie the leading margin of the last added blank while the presser means remains in position to press such margin against the cylinder, and for shifting the roller means in the opposite direction along the cylinder into position to clear the margin of the next added blank as the latter is moved toward the cylinder by the presser means in the next ensuing cycle of the feeder.

6. A blank feederffor envelope making machines adapted to withdraw blanks one by one from the bottom of a stack and to arrange them directly into fanned out relation comprising, in combination, a pair of separator discs each having at least one opening for the passage of a blank therethrough from the top of the disc to the bottom thereof, said discs constituting the principal support for a stack of blanks, means rotating the discs at the rate of one opening per cycle, a feed cylinder disposed beneath the stack in position to receive the deflected margins of successive blanks and to feed the blanks down and away from the stack, an oscillatably mounted suction picker having its axis of oscillation at a fixed location spaced from said feed cylinder and said blank stack and having an end swingable through an are which intercepts the forward edge of the lowermost blank in the stack and which is substantially tangent to said feed cylinder, means for periodically applying suction to said suction picker to engage the bottom flap margins of successive bottommost blanks of the stack, means for oscillating the suction picker between the stack and said feed cylinder to engage each blank in succession and move it into proximity to said feed cylinder, through a fixed arc substantially tangent to the cylinder, deflector means, means for oscillating said deflector means to and away from said cylinder and serving to engage the deflected margin of a blank when it is deflected from the stack by said suction picker and to shift the said deflected margin toward the cylinder and then held it there while the picker is being returned toward the stack, and roller means cooperative with the cylinder to press the blank toward the same and cause it to be advanced by the rotation thereof after it has been deflected to said cylinder by said deflector means, said last mentioned means including means for shifting the roller means along the cylinder into position to overlie the leading margin of the last added blank while the presser means remains in position to press such margin against the cylinder, and for shifting the roller means in the opposite direction along the cylinder into position to clear the margin of the next added blank as the latter is moved toward the cylinder by the presser means in the next ensuing cycle of the feeder, and fixed guide means associated with the cylinder adjacent said roller means in positions to clear the blank undergoing transfer but to define a guide path into which the leading margin of the blank is advanced during the cycle following transfer.

7. A blank feeder for envelope making machines adapted to withdraw blanks one by one from the bottom of a stack and to arrange them directly into fanned out relation comprising, in combination, a pair of separator discs each having at least one opening for the passage of a blank therethrough from the top of the disc to the bottom thereof, said discs constituting the principal support for a stack of blanks, means rotating the discs at the rate of one opening per cycle, a feed cylinder disposed beneath the stack in position directly to receive the deflccted margins of successive blanks and to feed the blanks down and away from the stack, and means operating in timed relation to the separator discs for assisting transfer of the blanks to the cylinder, including a suction picker engageable in supporting position with the bottom flap margins of successive bottommost blanks of the stack, said picker having a stack supporting area, and a suction face which slopes downward from said area, an auxiliary supporting device normally supporting the stack marginally through the bottom flap margin of the bottommost blank and formed to fit between the stack and the sloped face of the picker, means for withdrawing and returning the device while the picker is in stack supporting position to enable the bottommost blank to become marginally attached to the sloped suction face of the picker while the device is Withdrawn, means for operating the suction picker up and down through a fixed arc substantially tangent to the feed cylinder, means causing the suction to be terminated in the picker as the picker moves 9 downward toward the cylinder, deflector means mounted for to and fro movement about a fixed axis to move in between the bottom of the stack and said cylinder, to overlie the deflected margin of a blank when it is released by terrnination of suction in the picker and to shift the deflected margin toward the cylinder and then hold it there while the picker is being returned toward the stack, auxiliary feed roller means cooperative with the cylinder, and means for shifting the roller means along the cylinder into position to'overlie the leading margin of the last added blank while the deflector means remains in position to press such margin toward the cyl- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,676,005 Conti July 3, 1928 1,808,706 Novick June 2, 1931 1,886,102 Jahne Nov. 1, 1932 2,097,301 Novick Oct. 26, 1937

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