Patent ID: 6338482
Filing Date: 2002-01-15
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
Apparatus for delivering successive flexible sheets of a file of non-overlapping sheets in a predetermined direction along a first path wherein a trailing section of each preceding sheet is located ahead of a leading section of the next-following sheet to a scalloping station where the trailing sections of preceding sheets are caused to overlap with the leading sections of the respective next-following sheets, comprising:means for supplying successive sheets of the file in said direction along said first path to said station at a first speed; means for removing successive sheets of the file from said station along a second path at a different second speed less than said first speed so that the leading sections of sheets arriving at said station overlap with the trailing sections of the respective preceding sheets; means for deflecting at said station, with a variable force, at least one of each pair of sections including the trailing section of a preceding sheet and the leading section of the respective next-following sheet so that the sections of said pairs can overlap with each other as a result of the difference between said first and second speeds; and means for varying said force including means for varying said force as a function of one of said speeds, wherein said variable force varies at least substantially proportionally with variations of said one speed, and wherein said variable force respectively increases and decreases in response to an increase and decrease of said one speed.