US3606305A

US3606305A - Document feeding device

Info

Publication number: US3606305A
Application number: US850406A
Authority: US
Inventors: Raymond Gilbert Remi Debackere; Willy Alfons Franciscus Mens
Original assignee: International Standard Electric Corp
Current assignee: Alcatel Lucent NV
Priority date: 1968-08-23
Filing date: 1969-08-15
Publication date: 1971-09-20
Anticipated expiration: 1988-09-20
Also published as: NL6812027A; BE737823A; CH527111A; DE1942439A1; FR2016237A1; GB1268087A

Abstract

APPARATUS FOR SORTING DOCUMENTS BY MEANS OF VACUUM CHAMBER APPLICATION THROUGH A PERFORATED CONVEYOR BELT. THE APPARATUS IS CHARACTERIZED BY PROVIDING MEANS FOR PREVENTING TWO OR MORE DOCUMENTS FROM BEING SIMULTANEOUSLY SEPARATED FROM THE STACK CONTAINED IN A MAGAZINE. PRSSURIZED AIR IS DIRECTED AGAINST THE LEADING TRANSVERSE EDGE OF THE DOCUMENTS IN AN OBLIQUE DIRECTION RELATIVE TO THE DOCUMENT PLANE. A VACUUM IS CREATED SUBSTANTIALLY OPPOSITE THE VACUUM CHAMBER FOR APPLYING TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE DOCUMENTS SUCTION DIRECTED PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE THEREOF. THE DOCUMENTS ARE SUBJECTED ALSO TO A SECOND AIR PRESSURE IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE ABOVEMENTIONED PERPENDICULAR VACUUM.

Description

sept. 20, 1971 Filed. Aug. 15, 1969 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnvenlors AYNOND G. R. O. DEAC'ERE k//LLY A. F. MNS

BWMZ w gen:

sapt. 20, '1971 3,6os,3os

R.l G. REMIGlUS-DOMINICUS DEBACKERE ETL DOCUMENT FEEDING DEVICE I Filed Aug.- 15, 1989 '8 shets-sheet s RYNOND C. R. D. MJACKER WILLY A. F- MENS United States Patent O 3,606,305 DOCUMENT FEEDING DEVICE Raymond Gilbert Remigius-Dominicus Debackere, Edegem, and Willy Alfons Franciscus Mens, Wommelgem, Belgium, assignors to International Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N .Y.

Filed Aug. 15, 1969, Ser. No. 850,406 Claims Priority, application Netherlands, Aug. 23, 1968, 6812027 Int. Cl. B65h 3/12 U.S. Cl. 271-26 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Apparatus for sorting documents by means of vacuum Chamber application through a perforated conveyor belt. The apparatus is Characterized by providing =means for preventing two or more documents from being simlultaneously separated from the stack contained in a magazine. Pressurized air is directed against the leading transverse edge of the documents in an oblique direction relative to the document plane. A vacuum is created substantially opposite the vacuum Chamber for applying to the opposite side of the documents suction directed perpendicular to the plane thereof. The documents are subjected also to a second air pressure in the same direction as the abovementioned perpendicular vacuum.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a document feeding device including a 'magazine for documents, a feed belt passing adjacent to the magazine and along one side of a feed path for the documents and having at least one opening therein, a vacuum Chamber positioned adjacent to the feed belt along one side of the path and having at least one opening therein, and means for exhaustng air in the vacuum Chamber wherein the vacuum -chamber is operable in Cooperation with the opening in the feed belt to cause one document at a time to be withdrawn from the magazine and to be moved along the feed path.

Such a document feeding device is already known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,067,998. This known device includes a reverse belt passing along the other side of the feed path and opposite direction to that of the feed belt, said reverse belt being mounted along a second hollow vacuum cha'mber having at least one opening therein. This second vacuum Chamber is operable in Cooperation with openings in the reverse belt, the aim of which is to retain the documents in the magazine except those documents withdrawn one at a time therefrom. The reverse belt however also functions as a return belt if more than one document is withdrawn from the magazine since any document not directly influenced by the vacuum applied through openings in the feed belt will contact the return belt and be returned to the magazine by the efiect of the vacuum applied to this document through the second vacuum Chamber associated with the return belt.

It has now been found that this reverse belt only operates correctly when the documents are relatively stift. Indeed, when this is not so the documents to be returned to the magazine are buckled by the return belt and damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a document feeding device which does away with the reverse belt and which is adapted to handle documents having any degree of stiffness at high speeds, e.g., 20 to 40 documents per second.

The present document feeding device is particularly characterized in that it further includes means supplying Patentecl Sept. 20, 1971 ICC a stream of air and directing at least a portion thereof between the feed belt and the magazine in such a manner that said portion has a direction substantially opposite to the direction of displacement of the feed belt to cause the documents to be retained in the magazine except those documents withdrawn one at a time therefrorn.

An other characteristic of the present document feeding device is that the -means supplying and directing the stream of air are constituted by a pressure Chamber positioned along the other side of the feed path having at least one opening therein and being coupled to a source of pressurized air, wherein the opening communicates with a channel such that the stream of air issuing therefrom is oblique with respect to the direction of displacement.

By the action of the portion of said stream of air, the leading edges of the documents subjected to this portion of air are much as possible prevented from sticking to one another, so that in principle only the front document in the magazine may be subjected to the action of the feed belt and withdrawn from this magazine. If together with the front document other documents are howe'ver withdrawn from the magazine, the above portion of air considerably brakes or even stops these documents.

Still another characteristic of the present document feeding device is that it further includes a second vacuum Chamber positioned along the other side of the feed path, the second vacuum Chamber having at least one opening therein and being coupled to exhausting means.

Yet another characteristic of the present document feeding device is that it further includes a second pressure Chamber positioned along the one side of the path in front of the second vacuum Chamber, the second pressure Chamber having at least one opening therein and being coupled to a source of pressurized air.

By the combined action of the second vacuum Chamber and the second pressure Chamber, the other documents withdrawn from the magazine together with the front document, which have not been completely stopped by the action of the above portion of air, are brought into contact with the second vacuum Chamber and retained by the latter.

The present invention also relates to a document feeding device including a magazine for documents, a feed belt passing adjacent to the magazine along one side of a feed path for the documents and having at least one opening therein, a first 'vacuum cham'ber positioned adjacent to the feed belt along one side of the path and having at least one opening therein, and means for exhausting air in the first vacuum Chamber, wherein the first vacuum Chamber is operable in Cooperation with the opening in the feed belt to cause one document at a time to be withdrawn for the magazine and to be moved along the feed path, and a second vacuum Chamber positioned along the other side of the feed path and beyond the magazine considered in the direction of travel of the documents, the second vacuum Chamber having at least one opening therein and being coupled to other exhausting means.

According to the broader aspects of the invention, there is provided a document feeding device which includes a perforated conveyor belt moved between the front document of a stack arranged in a magazine and a vacuum Chamber. By the combined action of the vacuum and the travelling conveyor belt the documents are successively separated from the stack. In order to prevent twoor more documents from being simultaneously separated from the stack pressurizcd air is blown through Channels which are oblique with respect to the plane of the documents in such a manner that at least a portion of this air reaches the leading edges of the documents in the stack. After having left the magazine the documents separated from the stack are moreover subjected to the combined effect of air pressure and suction exerted at the one and other oppositely located sides of the conveyor belt, the air pressure and suction being perpendicular to the plane of the documents and being directed away from the vacuum chamber.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above mentioned and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by referring to the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a document feeding device according to the present invention, however with two guide plates and a photocell arrangement removed for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a side view along line II-II of FIG. 1 and considered in the direction of the arrows, including the guide plates and photocell arrangement;

FIG. 3 is a side view along line III- III of FIG. l and considered in the direction of the arrows, and also including the guide plates and photocell arrangement; and

FIG. 4 is a side view from left to right of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The document feeding device shown is mounted on a mounting plate 1. It includes a valve the housing 2 of which is secured to mounting plate 1 by means of screws such as 3. This valve is for instance of the type disclosed in the Dutch patent application No. 6811256 filed on Aug. 8, 1968 and entitled Valve. It is able to establish a communication between vacuum chamber '4 and either the ambient atmosphere or conduit 5 which is connected to exhausting means (not shown) adapted to create an underpressure substantially equal to 0.5 kg./cm.2. Chamber 4 opens in the rear wall 6 of a cavity 7 of housing 2 which further has a lateral cut-out portion 8 separated from cavity 7 by wall 9. Three

rollers

10, 11, 112 are mounted in a freely rotatable manner in the cavity 7 on the respective axles 13', 14,*15 which are fixed between the walls 16 and 17 of housing 2, delimiting this cavity 7. A further roller 18 is mounted in a freely rotatable manner on axle 19 secured between the same walls 16 and 17 delimiting cut-out portion 8. Rollers '10 to 12 and 18 slightly project beyond walls 9, 16 and 17 which are all located in a same plane. Wall 9 has a plurality of openings such as 20 which communicate with a pressure Chamber 21 which is itself connected to a source of pressurized air (not shown) via conduit 22 which passes through mounting plate 1. The pressure of this air is substantially equal to 1.14 kg./cm.2.

A guide plate 23 (FIG. 2) is secured to the lower part (FIG. 2) of wall 17 of housing 2 in such a manner that it protrudes beyond the plane of the above rollers 101 to 12 and 18. Guide plate 24 is fixed to the upper part (FIG. 2) of wall 16 in such a manner that it is located in the same plane as guide plate 23. These

guide plates

23, 24 are not shown in FIG. 1 for clarity. A pressure chamber 25 is fiXed to the upper portion of guide plate 24 and protrudes beyond the plane of this plate. Pressure chamber 25 has a plurality of channels such as 26 and is connected to the above mentioned source of pressurized air via conduit 27.

A small block 29 (FIG. 2) housing a lamp 28 schematically represented by a small circle is secured to guide plate 24 in such a manner that lamp 28 is located behind cut-out portion 30 of this guide plate.

A perforated belt 31 makes contact with the

above rollers

10, 11, 12 and 18 and is arranged around

rollers

32, 33 and 34 which are able to drive belt 31 in the direction indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by the arrows. Roller 32 is a drive roller and is secured to shaft 35 which is rotatably mounted on mounting plate l by means of a bearing mounted in housing 36 and which forms part of a motor (not shown).

Rollers

33 and 34 are mounted in a freely rotatable manner on the

respective axles

37 and 38 which are fixed on mounting plate 1.

Piece 39 (FIG. 3) is fixed on mounting plate 1 and carries a small block 40 which is fixed by means of screws such as 41. Block 40 houses a photocell 42 which is schematically represented by a small circle and which faces lamp 28. This photocell is connected to an electric control circuit (not shown). Portion 4-3 of the wall 44, of piece 39, facing belt 31 has a cavity 45 which is laterally closed by plate 46 which is fixed to piece 39 by means of screws such as 47, 481 (FIG. 1). A cylindrical roller 49 is mounted in this cavity 45 and is continuously urged into contact with roller 18 (not shown) by spring means located in the cavity 45.

Wall portion 43 further has nine small cavities such as 50, which are located in front of wall 9 having opening 20, and which extend in a direction parallel to the direction of displacement of the documents. Each of these cavities 50 has an opening such as 51 which is substantially located in the middle of the cavity and which communicates with a common vacuum chamber 52 through a channel such as 53 which is perpendicular to wall 43. This vacuum chamber 52 is connected to a conduit 54 which passes through mounting plate 1 and which is itself coupled to the above mentioned exhausting means.

Wall portion 43 also has two

cavities

55, 56 located on either side of the cavities 50 and each having an opening such as 57, 58 located near one end of the cavity. These

cavities

55, 56 also extend in a direction parallel to the direction of displacement of the documents. Openings 57 both communicate with pressure chamber 59 via a channel such as 60, while openings 58 both communicate with pressure chamber 61 via a channel such as 6'2. These pressure chambers 59 and 61 in turn both communicate with a common chamber 63 which is itself connected to a conduit 64. This conduit 64 is coupled to another source of pressurized air the pressure of which is substantially equal to 1.7 kg./cm.2. The channels such as and 62 are oblique with respect to wall 43 as clearly shown in FIG. 1.

It should be noted that the one end of the cavities '50, 55, 56 nearest to the magazine is located on a line perpendicular to the direction of displacement of the documents.

At both sides of portion 43, wall 44 is chamfered as indicated by 65 and 66. Mounting plate 1, piece 39 and the assembly constituted by

guide plates

23 and 24 and belt 31 delimit a magazine 67 for a stack of documents such as front document 68. This stack is continuously urged towards

guide plates

23 and 24 by, not shown, but classical means such as a spring urged weight.

Operation Normally the above mentioned drive motor, exhausting means, and sources of pressurized air are operated while the valve is in a first or rest condition. Consequently belt 31 is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow around

rollers

32, 33 and 34 and over

rollers

12, 11, 10. An underpressure of approximately 0.5 kg./cm.2 is created in vacuum chamber 52 via conduit 54 so that a suction is exerted in the openings 51 of the cavities 50; a pressure of approximately 1.14 kg./cm.2 created in pressure chamber 21 via conduit 22 so that jets of pressurized air issue from the openings 20; a pressure of approximately 1.14 kg./cm.2 is created in pressure chamber 25 so that jets of pressurized air issue from the openings 26; a pressure of approximately 1.7 kg/cm.2 is realized in

pressure chambers

63, 59, 61 via conduit 64 so that jets of pressurized air issue from the

openings

57, 58 in the respective cavities 55, '56; finally, in chamber 4 atmospheric pressure is realized since the valve is in its one condition. The suction exerted in openings 51 and the jets of air issuing from the openings 21 have no effect. The jets or air issuing from the openings 26 are directed between the front documents of the stack and are substantially parallel to the planes thereof and substantially perpendicular to the direction of advancement of belt 31. These jets of air prevent the front documents of the Stack from sticking together.

The jets of air issuing from the

openings

57, 58 are directed against the non perforated upper and lower portions of belt 31 so'that a portion of this air is deflected towards the magazine 66 in a direction opposite to the direction of advancement of perforated belt 31. This portion of air prevents the leading edges of the front documents from sticking to one another.

When the front document 68 of the stack of documents located in magazine 67 must be separated from this stack, the above valve is brought in its other position by the above-mentioned electric control circuit in order to establish a communication between vacuum chamber 4 and the above exhausting means via conduit 5. Due to this the portion of the front document 68 located in front of cavity 7 is sucked against belt 31 so that this document is slightly deformed and conveyed through the gap between belt 31 and piece 39. Hereby the portions of the document which are not sucked against belt 31 are prevented from abutting against piece 39 since the latter piece is chamfered at both

sides

65, 66 of wall portion 43. The advancement of the document 68 thus separated from the stack is not hindered either by the air jets issuing from the

openings

20, 57, 58 nor by the suction exerted in the openings 51 since the surface on which a suction is exerted by chamber 4 is larger than that of the cavities 50. The only elfect of air jets issuing from openings 20 and of the suction exerted in openings '51 is that a portion of front document 68 is deflected against wall portion 43 of wall 44 of piece 39.

substantially at the moment the leading edge of this document 68 is gripped between belt 31 and roller 49, it interrupts the light beam between lamp 28 and photocell 42 due to which the valve is brought back into its first condition wherein it establishes a communication between chamber 4 and the atmosphere. From that moment on the trailing portion of the document is no longer subjected to suction and consequently the advancement of the document between the belt 31 and roller 49 is not hindered by this suction.

The jets of pressurized air issuing from the

openings

57, 58 are directed in the gap between belt 31 and piece 39 and a portion of this air has a direction substantially opposite to the direction of displacement of this belt 31 in order to prevent other documents than the front one 68 from being separated from the stack. If, notwithstanding the action of this pressurized air, one or more documents are separated from the stack together with the front document 68, they are considerably braked or even stopped by this air since these documents are only moved, for instance, by the suction effect exerted through the belt and the front document or by adhesion to this vfront document.

If one or more documents, which have been separated from the Stack together with the front document, have not been stopped by the above-mentioned jets of pressurized air issuing from

openings

57, 58, they are advanced into a position wherein they are subjected simultaneously to the pressure of the jets of air issuing from openings 21 and to the suction exerted in the openings 51. Consequently the portion of the document nearest to the wall portion 43 of piece 39 is pushed into contact with this wall where it is subjected to the suction exerted in the openings 51. Due to this it is stopped. The other documents separated together with the front document will be stopped by the same pressure and suction effect and by the jets of pressurized air issuing from the

openings

57, 58.

It should be noted that the volume of air delivered per time unit through the openings 21 is larger than that sucked through the openings '51 in order to have an excess of air preventing the documents from sticking together. It should also be remarked that the cavities 50' have been provided in order to have large suction surfaces although the openings 51 are small, whereas the

cavities

55, 56 have been provided in order that the air issuing from the

openings

57, 58 should be guided to some extent. These cavities have moreover been provided in order that the air issuing from the

openings

57, 58, should not enter the cavities 50.

What is claimed is:

1. In a document feeding apparatus 'which includes a feed belt with a plurality of perforations therein passing along one side of a feed path for the documents, a magazine for the documents which is positioned on the other side of the feed path, and a first vacuum chamber, with associated first exhausting means, having at least one opening which communicates with the perforations in the feed belt along a portion of the one side of the feed path opposite the magazine, so as to cause one document at a time to be withdrawn from the magazine and moved along the said path, the improvement comprsing:

(a) first means (57-64) for supplying a stream of air and directing at least a portion thereof between the feed belt (31) and the magazine (67) in a manner such that said portion is directed substantially opposite to the directon of displacement of the feed belt so as to cause the documents to be restrained in the magazine excepting those withdrawn one -at a time therefrom, said first means for supplying and directing the stream of air including a first pressure cham- 'ber (59, 61) and associated first source of pressurized air positioned along said other side of the feed path and having at least one opening (57, 58), and a chamber (60, 62) communicating with said opening and the feed path such that the stream of air issuing therefrom is oblique with respect to the direction of document displacement;

(b) a second vacuum chamber (52) and associated second exhausting means positioned along said other side of the feed path and having at least one opening (51) which communicates with the feed path between the magazine and said first means; and

(c) a second pressure chamber (21) and associated second source of pressurized air positioned along said one side of the feed path, said second pressure chamber having at least one opening (20) therein which communicates with the feed path substantially opposite the opening (51) of said second vacuum chamber (52), wherein said oppositely arranged openings (51, 20) cooperating to insure the transport of only one document at a time along the feed path.

2. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said openings in said first pressure chamber and in said second vacuum chamber are aligned in a plane which constitutes a portion of said other side of the feed path.

3. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said first pressure chamber has at least two openings (57, 58) which are located at the one and other sides of said opening in said second vacuum chamber.

4. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 1 further including a third pressure chamber (25) positioned above the magazine, said third pressure chamber having at least one opening (26) therein and being coupled to a third source of pressurized air, said opening being such that the stream of air issuing therefrom is substantially parallel to the plane of the documents and perpendicular to the direction of document displacement.

5. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 3 wherein each opening (57, 58) of said first pressure chamber is made in an individual first cavity (55, 56) of a wall of said first pressure chamber.

6. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 5 wherein each said opening (51) of said second vacuum chamber is made in an individual second cavity (50) of a wall of said second vacuum chamber.

7. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 6 Wherein each of said first and second cavities extends along said other side of the feed path parallel to the direction of document displacernent.

8. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the one ends of said cavities nearest to the magazine are located substantally on a line perpendicular to the direction of document displacement.

9. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the opening in each first cavity is located substantially near the other end thereof, while the opening in each second cavity is substantially centrally located between the one and other ends thereof.

10. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 1 Wherein the volume of air deli'vered per time unit by said first source (20, 22) of pressurized air is larger than the volume of air exhausted per time unit by said second exhausting means (52, 54).

11. The document feeding apparatus according to claim UNITED sTATEs PATENTS 3,131,'9`29 5/1964 Rehrn 271-26 3,260,520` 7/1966 Sugden 271--34 3,312,464 4/1967 Rehm 271-26 4/ 1970` Burk'hardt 271-26 OTHER REFERENCES Anderson et aL-IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin,

5 vol. 6, No. 2, 1963,

pages

32 and 33.

JOSEPH WEGBREIT, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 271 34