Patent ID: 6206366
Filing Date: 2001-03-27
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
An apparatus for stacking sheets, the apparatus comprising:a frame defining a stacking station;conveyor means for delivering the sheets continuously one after the other at a predetermined upper level in a transport direction to the station;a platform vertically displaceable in the stacking station between the upper level and a lower level;a vertically extending rack fixed on the frame and having an outer side provided with an array of teeth and an opposite inner side;a lever pivoted on the platform at a pivot adjacent the inner side of the rack and having an outer arm extending horizontally past the rack to the outer side thereof and an inner arm;a cable or chain having a lower end attached to the inner lever arm;drive means for tensioning the cable or chain, displacing the platform vertically, and rotating the lever in one rotational sense bringing the outer lever arm away from the teeth;a stop on the outer lever arm engageable in the rack to arrest the platform on rotation of the lever in an opposite rotational sense; anda spring braced between the platform and the lever and urging the lever in the opposite sense, whereby when the cable or chain is detensioned the spring urges the stop into the rack and vertically arrests the platform.