US3008748A

US3008748A - Suction pick-up head

Info

Publication number: US3008748A
Application number: US753943A
Authority: US
Inventors: William H Rives
Original assignee: Universal Business Machines Inc
Current assignee: Universal Business Machines Inc
Priority date: 1958-08-08
Filing date: 1958-08-08
Publication date: 1961-11-14
Anticipated expiration: 1978-11-14

Description

Nov. 14, 1961 w. H. RIVES SUCTION PICK-UP HEAD Filed Aug. 8, 1958 INVENTOR W/LL/AM H. RI VES BY MM M ATTORNEY United States atent Patented Nov. 14, 1961 flies 3,008,748 SUCTION PICK-UP HEAD William H. Rives, Columbia, S.C., assignor to Universal Business Machines, Inc., Columbia, S.C., a corporation of South Carolina Filed Aug. 8, 1958, Ser. No. 753,943 6 Claims. (Cl. 294-64) This invention relates to a device for picking up documents, one at a time, from the top of a stack of documents. The term documents as used herein refers to sheet-like material or articles generally, such'as checks, vouchers, receipts, paper money, and the like.

While not limited to such use, this invention is especially useful in document-sorting machines of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,668,706 issued to LeRoy J. Benson, and a specific application of the invention to a sorting machine of this type is disclosed in the mpending application of Swartz et al. Ser. No. 686,745, filed September 27, 1957 and entitled, Suction-Head Document Feeder.

An object of the invention is to devise a pick-up head involving a suction nozzle for lifting the uppermost document from a stack under suction action.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pickup head of the suction type which not only lifts the document from the top of the stack but flips it up under suction action to aid in separating it from the next lower document.

A specific embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of the entire pick-up head or device;

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view of the pick-up head shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of FIGURE 1 taken on line 4-4; and

FIGURES 4 and 5 are fragmentary views of the lower part of FIGURE 3 showing different stages of operation of the pick-up head.

Referring to the drawing the suction head is formed of a suction tube 1 extending substantially horizontally and a nozzle section which comprises a head member 8 which may preferably, but not necessarily, be made of a solid block of material having .a horizontal bore 8a formed in a vertical side wall for receiving the suction tube 1. Bore 8a stops short of the opposite wall of the head 8, but it extends beyond a vertical bore 8b formed in the bottom wall of the head. Suction tube 1 is closed at its inner end by a disc 1a, and a screw 4 passing through the end wall of bore 8a is threaded into the disc 1a to secure the tube 1 to the head. A short tube 2 extends into the vertical bore 8b and has a tight fit therein. Tube 1 has a notch or opening 112 formed in the side wall thereof adjacent the closed end 1a and in a position to communicate with the upper end of tube 2 mounted in bore 8b. Tube 1 may be turned about its axis to diflerent positions and thereby vary the effective size of the coupling between tube 1 and tube 2 through opening 1b.

Mounted for slidable movement on the tube 2 is an outer sleeve member 3 of generally cylindrical shape having a smooth, polished bottom face 3a lying in a plane which is at an angle of approximately 15 to the horizontal when the axis of tube =2 is identical. The front face of sleeve 3 is cut away or flattened at right angles to the bottom face 3a as shown at 3b, leaving a thin bottom edge portion on the sleeve at the front thereof. The sleeve member 3 has a sliding fit on the tube 2 with substantially very little play. To prevent the outer sleeve member 3 from sliding olf the tube and to maintain its bottom end in a predetermined position with respect to the bottom of the tube 2, a pin 6 is anchored in the sleeve 3 and extends vertically through an opening extending through the head 8 at one side of the bore 8b. A stop member 6a carried on the end of the pin extending through the head 8, keeps the sleeve 3 at the proper height on the tube 2 and allows the sleeve to move upwardly until it abuts the bottom face of the head. If so desired, a spring 7 may be placed on pin 6 between sleeve 3 and head 8 to bias the sleeve to its lowermost position. This position is such that the lower rim of tube 2 lies wholly within the sleeve 3 and the shortest vertical distance between the rims of tube 2 and sleeve 3 is approximately inch.

In operation, the suction tube 1 with the pick-up head mounted thereon is supported in a suitable mechanism, such as that illustrated in the above-mentioned copending application 686,745, for movement of the head from a pick-up position, to remove the topmost sheet from a stack of documents, to a discharge position where the document is discharged at a point spaced from the stack. In the pickup position of the head, the smooth bottom face 3a of the sleeve 3 lies just above and parallel to the upper-most sheet 9 of a stack of documents as in FIGURE 4. As a vacuum is created in the passageways leading from pipe 1 to the sleeve, the sheet 9 will be drawn upwardly and held against the end of the sleeve and, on maintenance of the vacuum, the sheet 9 will move the sleeve 3 upwardly against its light weight and against the bias of spring 7 if used, until the sheet abuts on edge 2a of the tube 2 as shown in FIGURE 5. Since the suction creating the vacuum still continues, the sheet will continue to move the sleeve 3 up the tube, but further upward movement of sheet 9 is restrained by edge portion 2a of tube 2. This movement takes place rapidly, causing the sheet to flip up suddenly against the tube portion 2a, thus disposing this part of the sheet at an angle to the remaining part thereof and causing it to separate from the underlying sheet as shown in FIGURE 5. As shown in FIG. 5, during the upward movement of sleeve 3, a portion of the sheet is held against the end of tube 2 and a portion is held against the bottom face 3a of sleeve 3, which being at an angle to the end of tube 2 causes buckling of the sheet at the point 9a, thereby insuring separation of sheet 9 from the other sheets. The entire head assembly can then be moved to transfer the sheet to the discharge position where the suction will be cut-oif or reduced and the sheet 9 is discharged by the dropping of sleeve 3.

The arrangement for mounting the head 8 upon tube l'including the provision of screw 4 permits adjustment of the angle of the head 8 about the axis of the tube 1, and it also permits adjustment of the tube 1 about its axis, with respect to the head 8, to vary the effective size of the coupling opening 1b in the tube 1.

What I claim is:

1. A suction pick-up head for thin sheet-like material comprising a hollow tubular member for connection to a vacuum pump at one end and terminating at its free end a single plane, a sleeve having a bore therethrough slidably mounted on the tubular member and having its outer end, corresponding to the free end of the tubular member, terminating in a single plane at an angle to said first mentioned plane for first contacting a sheet upon operation of the vacuum pump.

2. A suction pick-up head in accordance with claim 1 including cooperating means on the tubular member and sleeve for limiting the movement of the sleeve otf the free end of the tubular member to form an extension thereof with the outer end of the sleeve a slight distance beyond the free end of the tubular member.

3. A suction pick-up head in accordance with claim 2, further including resilient means for biasing said sleeve to said limiting position.

4. A suction pick-up head for the topmost sheets of a stack comprising a hollow tubular member, a sleeve member having a bore therethrough slidably mounted on the tubular member, one end of thetubular member terminating in a plane, a corresponding end of the sleeve terminating in a smooth surface lying in a single plane at an angle to the first plane, means on said members for limiting relative slidable movement of the sleeve off the one end of the tubular member to permit the sleeve to extend a slight distance beyond the one end, means supporting the assembly, and means connecting one of said members to a suction source.

5. A pick-up head for the topmost sheet on a stack of sheets comprising a hollow tubular member arranged in a generally vertical direction and terminating at lower end in a given plane, a hollow sleeve member mounted for sliding movement about the lower end portion of said tubular member and terminating at its lower end in a smooth surface surrounding the tubular member and in a plane at an angle to the said given plane, cooperating means on the sleeve and tubular members to limit downward movement of the sleeve to a position such that its lower end is spaced downwardly of the 25 lower end of the tubular member by a slight amount, and means for connectingthe opposite end of said tubular member to a suction source.

6. A suction pick-up head comprising a block of rigid material having a substantially L-shaped bore formed therein, a first hollow tubular member closed at its inner end extending into one branch of the bore and having an opening in its side wall, a second hollow tubular member extending into the other branch of the bore and terminating at its free end in a single plane, a sleeve having a bore therethrough slidably mounted on the second tubular member and having its outer end, corresponding to the free end of the tubular member, terminating in a single plane at an angle to said first mentioned plane for first contacting a sheet upon operation of the vacuum pump, means on said block for adjustably securing the first tubular member to position its opening in desired angular relation to the second branch of the bore to vary the efl'ective size of the coupling between the first and second tubular members, the free end of the first tubular member being adapted to be connected to a suction source.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 939,948 Chesney Nov. 9, 1909 1,457,775 Henderson June 5, 1923 1,585,368 Blaine May 18, 1926 2,850,27 9 Stoothoff et a1 Sept. 2, 1958