Patent GB-909982-A (GB)
Title: Sheet feeder
IPC: B65H1/14
Filed: 1959-12-15
Abstract: 909,982. Feeding sheets. BURROUGHS CORPORATION. Dec. 15, 1959 [Dec. 19, 1958], No. 42599/59. Class 100 (1). A sheet stack in a hopper is advanced towards a sheet separating and advancing means including a first feed roller for advancing separated sheets, means movable between open and closed positions and in contact with the first roller in the closed position for retarding sheets in excess of the foremost one separated from the stack, a second feed roller, and sheet guide means movable between open and closed positions and operative in the closed position to direct the advanced sheets to the second feed roller. As shown, a stack of sheets S, such as cheques of varying size, is urged resiliently against a moving endless friction belt 17 which separates the sheets and feeds them between a roller 22 and a second endless friction belt 44 which is urged towards the roller 22, the belt 44 travelling at a slower speed than the belt 17 and roller 22 to prevent more than one sheet being separated from the stack. The roller 22, which is recessed to take the belt 17, has a higher coefficient of friction relatively to a sheet S than the belts 17, 44. The belt 44 is arranged on rollers such that the top roller 52 can be swung away if a number of sheets are jammed between the belt and the roller 22. Each sheet is guided by a deflector 43 into a shoot 91 comprising two pivotable members 92, 93 which can be swung aside if several sheets are jammed in the shoot, and the sheet is then guided around a forwarding roller 98 by pressure rollers 114, 122 on the member 92. The forwarding roller 98, which is driven at a higher speed than the roller 22 to space the sheets out, delivers the sheet between an extension 97 of the member 92 and a series of sheet-stripper fingers 104. For intermittent sheet separation, when a sheet enters the shoot 91 it cuts off a beam of light from a photo-electric element, and causes the motor 46 driving the belt 17 to be stopped, and a magnetic brake to be applied to the drive means. When a signal is received from associated apparatus, such as a sorting machine, the brake is released and the motor started. The belt 17 is driven by the roller 22, the shaft 25 of which is geared to rollers 50, 51 which drive the belt 44. The shaft 25 is coupled to the motor 46 through a magnetic clutch, and is associated with a magnetic brake. Pile tables.-The sheets S are stacked in a hopper comprising a table 11 and an upstanding side plate 12, and the stack is advanced by upper and lower pushers 166, 167 secured, respectively, to carriages 170, 175, Fig. 15, slidably mounted on a single shaft 183 and maintained against rocking motion by opposed rollers which engage a second guide shaft. The carriages are independently urged forward by clock-type spring devices 189, 190 and leads 191, 192. The forward movement of the carriage 170 for pusher 166 is limited by the position of the carriage 175 for the pusher 167, and the latter can move forward when the former is stationary, so that when the pusher 166 abuts the solid region of a stack of sheets of differing size, the pusher 167 will move further forward. A flexible compressing plate 176 on the pusher 167 will compress the stack at its lower loose region against the belt 17 to prevent sheets being buckled as they are separated. The movement of the carriages for the pushers 166, 167 by the spring devices 189, 190 is controlled by a pin 199 on the carriage 175 engaging a link in the upper run of an endless chain 195. The chain 195 is engaged by a sprocket connected through a one-way clutch of the coiled-spring type to the shaft of a reversible motor (204, not shown). When the motor is driven in one direction, the chain 195 pulls the carriages and pushers away from the stack of sheets against the action of the spring devices 189, 190; but when the motor is reversed, the spring of the clutch is unwound by the motor shaft, and allows the carriages and pushers to engage and press the stack forward under the action of the spring devices 189, 190 only. Specifications 870,557 and 909,983 are referred to.