Patent GB-113986-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Sheet or Stock Feeders.
IPC: B65H3/08
Filed: 1917-01-09
Abstract: 113,986. Automatic Printing Machines, Ltd., (Harris Automatic Press Co.). Jan. 9, 1917. P i l e supports; s h e e t separators; s h e e t carriers; dropping-roller and like feeds.-Relates to suction apparatus for feeding sheets, paper bags, or sacks from the underside of a pile, and comprises suction devices mounted on an axis carried in swinging arms for detaching one end of the undermost sheet and presenting it to cut-away or drop feed - rolls, means being provided for relieving the pressure of the pile from the detached sheet as it is withdrawn by the rollers. As shown in Fig. 7, the lower part of the pile 36 rests on a series of pile supports 51 secured at their lower ends to a transverse shaft and rocked to relieve the pressure of the pile as the sheet is drawn away by the cut-away rollers 25, 22, by a cam 93 engaging a roller 92 on the middle support 51. The lower ends of the sheets rest on adjustable arms, and the side edges are engaged by side arms. Preferably the middle support 51 is placed slightly in advance of the others so as to hold the lower part of the pile in a curved or buckled condition. The upper margins of the pile rest against an adjustable transverse plate 37, and at right-angles to this plate is a guide-plate 40. Spring separatorblades 55 projecting inwardly from brackets 53 engage the side margins of the pile. Suction nozzles 66, Figs. 5 and 7, are carried by L- shaped tubular arms 61 secured to a tubular axis or shaft 60 in rock arms 80 pivoted at 81. The nozzles 66 are of rubber or flexible material and their pressure on the pile is regulated by plates 67 projecting from the upper ends of the arms 61. A flexible pipe connects the shaft 60 to a control valve which regulates the action of the suckers, as the arms 80 are rocked by the cam 85 engaging rollers 84 on the shaft 60. As the suckers move back, the upper end 89 of the sheet is engaged in the gaps 88 of the upper rollers or disks 25 and is carried round into engagement with the lower rollers 22 which are geared to and driven in unison with the rollers 25. In a modification, the suckers 66 are on short curved tnbular arms on the shaft 60. and this shaft is given a longer movement by the rocking of the arms 80. and in place of the plate 37, rocking hold-back fingers, which are lifted as the suckers engage the sheet and are lowered to hold the pile as soon as the suckers have moved the undermost out of the range of the descent of the fingers. These fingers are similar to the fingers 104 shown in Figs. 19 and 20. In another modification, the hold-back fingers act also as separator blades to assist in separating the under sheet frorn the pile, and comprise a series of fingers projecting down from a rod pivoted in a rock arm, tho fingers being pulled by a spring into engagement with the rear side of the transverse plate 37. In the modification shown in Figs. 19 and 20, drop rollers are used instead of cut-away rollers, and the tubular shaft 60 has an angular movement in the rock arms. The lower ends of the sheets rest on pile supports 41 adjustable on a transverse bar 42, and the pressure is relieved by the movable supports 51 which are on a rock shaft 47<a>. Hold-back fingers 104 are carried by a rock shaft 105 operated by a rod 108 and cam 110. The shaft 60 carrying the sucker arms 61 is carried by rock arms 98 and is guided by segmental slots 86 in the framing, the rock arms having rearward extensions 100 operated by rods 101 and crank-arms 101<a>. The shaft 60 is rocked on its axis, as it moves with the arms 98 by an arm 60<a> fixed on the shaft 60 and con. nected by a link 60b to a fixed stud 17<a> on the frame. The end of the sheet 89 is pulled down by the suckers into position to be seized between the feed-rollers 22 and the drop rollers 25 carried by the rock arms 24<a>. The rollers 25 are driven as they move up and down by gearing 24<d>, 25<a>, &c.