Patent GB-332345-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in sheet feeding mechanism
IPC: B65H3/46
Filed: 1929-05-31
Abstract: 332,345. Post, C. L. May 31, 1929. Sheet - separators; pile supports; sheet carriers and guides.-Sheets are separated from piles and fed to printing, embossing, wrapping, and like machines by means of feed rollers 59, Fig. 3, and friction pads 64 carried by pivoted members 54 attached to a pair of chains 48 driven by the printing or like machine so that the feed devices move in a closed path. The sheets are stacked on a support 89, Figs. 1 and 3, attached to supports fitted with pins which move in vertical guides and are carried by lazy-tongs 112 connected at their upper ends by a pin 107 surrounded by a roller 106 which is raised by the action of springs 104 into contact with a pair of cams 109. The cams are rotated, when the pile needs advancing, by sprocket gearing operated by a ratchet wheel 122 on which is engaged by a spring-controlled pawl 123 on a lever 125 oscillated by crank-mechanism from the shaft 41 of the sprocket wheel 47. The advanced sheets are normally combed over a feed-table 69 in which are adjustably fixed strips of rubber or the like, which act to prevent double feed by their friction on the underside of the sheets, and the table 69 is slotted to permit the rollers 59 to pass through when they advance beyond the edge of the combed out sheets. If the pile does not need replenishing the rollers 59 fail to act on an arm 134 of a lever 130 connected to the pawl 123, and the pawl remains out of engagement with the ratchet 122. If the pile is low. the rollers 59 cause the lever 130 to release the pawl and the cams 109 are rotated to permit the pile to advance. When the rollers 59 pass through the slots, the foremost sheet is gripped by a rubber friction member 64, as shown in Fig. 9, and is advanced into contact with feed rollers 43, 44, and feed rollers 27, 28 which forward it to the printing-machine. The friction blocks 64 are adjustably mounted in the pivoted members 54, and the extent of pivotal movement of the members 54 is controlled by twine loops 68 attached to the chains. The sheet magazine sides 94 are adjustable so as to accommodate sheets of different sizes, and the top edges of the sheets in the pile are controlled by adjustable guides 90 which are set to align with adjustable longitudinal guides on the table 69. Sheet guides are arranged between the rollers 27, 28 and the printing-machine. In one modified form of device the magazine is dispensed with and the sheets in feathered form are placed on the upper run 175, Fig. 12, of a sprocket chain which is advanced intermittently by ratchet mechanism controlled by the pivoted feed member 54a in a manner similar to the first modification. The feed table 69 is extended, as are also the L-shaped adjustable guide members 178 attached thereto. In another modification the sheets are advanced to the printing-machine by projections on sprocket chains which replace the rollers 27, 28. In a further modification, Fig. 21, the rollers 59 are guided by curved guides 92 fitted at the bottom with pivoted parts 94 controlled by counterweights 95 and stops 97. The front portion of the feathered pile is placed between the throat formed between the pivoted guide 94 and the table 69. The pile is advanced by two chains 107<1> advanced intermittently by ratchet mechanism which is controlled by the feed rollers 59, when these act on a crank arm 124 of a counterweighted shaft 122. The pawl of the ratchet mechanism is normally held inoperatively on an oscillating arm, but is put into action by au arm on the shaft 122 when the pile needs advancing. The pawl is put out of action automatically by a fixed cam acting on a pin on the pawl. Three pairs of feed rollers feed the separated sheet to the printing-machine.