Patent ID: 6443444
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
A singulation mechanism for use in a handling system for substantially flat articles including:a singulation head to which a stack of said articles is fed, said head including a belt having a predetermined pattern of openings formed therein, which belt is driven across said head at a selected rate, and first and second vacuum chambers positioned behind said belt so as to apply vacuum therethrough when energized, with the fist vacuum chamber V1 tailing the second vacuum chamber V2, the belt therefore passing over V1 before V2, an article fed to the head being pressed against a surface of said belt opposite that passing over V1 and V2, the surface of said belt against which articles are pressed having a low coefficient of friction within a range of 0.20 to 0.32, as measured against that of paper, and including at least one of: polyester and polyteuoroethylene, such that absent vacuum applied through said belt from a vacuum chamber, the belt does not impart substantial movement to an article pressed against it; a first detector for detecting when ah article being singulated by said head reaches a selected first point near a leading edge of said head; a take-away mechanism for articles exiting said head; a second detector for detecting the article reaching a selected second point of the take away mechanism; and controls for selectively energizing V1, for de-energizing V1 and for energized V2 in response to an output from said first detector, and for de-energizing V2 in response to an output from said second detector.