Patent GB-932442-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to sheet feeding systems
IPC: G06K13/08
Filed: 1960-09-02
Abstract: 932,442. Feeding and stacking sheets. BURROUGHS CORPORATION. Sept. 2, 1960 [Sept. 4, 1959], No. 30384/60. Class 100 (1). A sheet feeding apparatus includes a support for a stack of sheets which is moved from a loading position to a sheet separation position and returned in the reverse direction to the loading position by a drive means which is automatically coupled to the support by clutch means. The apparatus is described for use in the book-keeping machine described in Specification 932,441 which comprises a cabinet 1, Fig. 3, control unit 2, and a magazine loading platform 3 where ledger sheets at a loading station 5 are fed sequentially into the machine along a main path 6 and are stacked at a station 7. A sheet may be switched along a secondary path 8 and stacked in a bin 8a. Further sheets may be fed into the path 6 automatically at 9a, or manually at 9. The sheet magazines at stations 5 and 7 are identical, and each comprise a boxlike structure 96a, Figs. 6 and 8, with open top, slotted ends, and fitted with nylon or other free sliding elements on the sides and base. A vertical partition 116 for the sheet stack is arranged within the magazine, and is supported horizontally and vertically by a system of rollers, and pinions engaging racks, whereby it can be moved freely in a direction towards the front wall 102, but is locked normally against backward movement towards the rear wall 104: backward movement is possible when a push button 126 on the partition is depressed to release a one-way spring clutch arranged within the body of the partition. When the partition 116 engages the rear wall 104 of the magazine, it is automatically latched against forward movement on an anchor post 120. The front outer face of the partition is recessed to receive a pair of feeler fingers which are suspended from a cross-shaft within the partition. These fingers are for use when the magazine is used for stacking sheets at station 7, where they hang downwardly to rest on the sheets, and are raised, as the stack accumulates, to lie flat against the partition and thus operate a switch to cut off suction from a sheet separator operating at the loading station 5. A magazine 96a with a stack 12 of sheets is placed at 5, in an inclined position in a V-shaped depression in the stationary platform 3, to rest on a cradle 76, comprising an apertured rear plate 78 and a base 74 which has slide blocks 91 mounted on guide rods 92, 94. Secured to the base 74 is a nut 72 on a screw 24 provided at one end with bevel gears 26, 28 engaging, respectively, bevel gears 68, 58 on a drive shaft 30 which is driven continuously by a motor M. Electromagnetic clutches 44, 46 are associated with the bevel gears 68, 58, so that the screw 24 may be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise to move the cradle 76 and sheet magazine towards a sheet-separating member 14, or retract them back to the loading position at a faster rate. The sheets are separated from the magazine 96a by a continuously-rotating vacuum wheel 14 of the type described in U.S.A. Specification Reissue 939,260 associated with a stack sensing switch 114. Vacuum can only be established at the wheel 14 when a switch for a solenoid-operated valve 308 is closed by placing a stacking magazine in the station 7, and this switch is opened by the sensing fingers on the magazine partition 116 when the stacking magazine is full. In operation, a main switch in the electric circuit is closed to energize the clutch 44 to cause the sheet magazine to move angularly upwards towards the vacuum wheel 14, the leading sheet of the stack engages and opens the switch 114 to de-energize the clutch 44 and stop upward movement of the magazine, and sheets are separated by the wheel 14. When one or more sheets have been separated, the switch 114 opens to cause the clutch 44 again to be energized, and the magazine is moved upwardly. When the last sheet has been separated, a roller on the sensing switch 114 enters a recess in the partition 116 to cause an upper limit switch to be opened, and the clutch 58 will be energized to retract the cradle and magazine to loading position. A push-button in the circuit enables the magazine and cradle to be retracted at any time. The rearward movement of the cradle 76 opens a switch 90, by a cam 88 thereon, to de-energize the clutch 58. The separated sheets are fed along the path 6 to the stacking magazine at 7, Fig. 3, as described in Specification 932,441. Specifications 932,443 and 932,447 also are referred to.