Patent GB-1059520-A (GB)
Title: A device for the controlled separation of flat, flexible articles from a stack
IPC: G06K13/107
Filed: 1964-11-01
Abstract: 1,059,520. Feeding sheets. TELEFUNKEN PATENTVERWERTUNGSGESELLSCHAFT m.b.H. Nov. 11, 1964 [Dec. 13, 1963], No. 45916/64. Heading B6B. Documents &c. 9 are separated sequentially from a stack by attracting them against a rotating drum or a moving belt by suction means, and they can be prevented from engaging the drum or belt by a control means which causes compressed air to be directed against the foremost document. As shown in side elevation in Fig. 1, the documents rest on edge on a base 10, and against a vertical plate 28 which is grooved to receive three belts 1<SP>1</SP>, 1<SP>11</SP>, 1<SP>111</SP> which are mounted on pulleys 2-5, Fig. 2 (not shown), the pulley 2 being driven continuously. Mounted behind the plate 28 is a chamber 6 having three air passages 19-21 therein leading to a cylindrical chamber 7. and apertures 8 in the plate 28 and arranged between the belts, communicate with the chamber 7. A shaft 18 rotatably mounted in the chamber 7 is connected by a belt 27 and pulleys 24, 26 to the shaft of a magnet 25 which can be oscillated through an angle of 180 degrees. A disc 17 secured obliquely to the shaft 18 divides the chamber 7 into two equal parts 7<SP>1</SP>, 7<SP>11</SP>. As shown, the part 7<SP>11</SP> and the apertures 8 are in communication with the passage 21 which is connected to a suction means, so that the foremost document 9 is attracted to the moving belts and removed from the stack: in this position, compressed air from the passage 19 enters the part 7<SP>1</SP> and leaves by the passage 20. When the shaft 18 is rotated through 180 degrees and the disc 17 is in the dotted line position indicated, the passage 20 is closed, the suction passage 21 is cut off from the apertures 8, and compressed air from the passage 19 flows through the apertures 8 and urges the foremost document 9 away from the belts. The separated document 9 is moved by the belts past a number of fingers 12, Fig. 2 (not shown), which ensure that only one document is separated, to a pair of feed rollers 13, 14, and it deflects a finger 16 to actuate a switch 15. When the switch 15 is thus actuated, a pulse is applied to the magnet 25, and the disc 17 is rotated to the dotted line position, and when the separated document leaves the rollers 13, 14, the switch is restored and causes a second pulse to rotate the magnet in the reverse direction, thus restoring the disc 17 to the full line position. The switch 15 may be replaced by a photo-electric device, and the belts 1<SP>1</SP>-1<SP>111</SP> by a single wide perforated belt. In a modification, Fig. 4 (not shown), the feed belts are replaced by a rotatable drum comprising an outer shell 43 rotated continuously about a vertical axis by a friction drum 47, and engaging the documents 46. Perforations 44 in the shell 43 can communicate with the inside of the drum through perforations 40 in a fixed inner shell 31, and an oblique disc 34 secured to a rockable shaft 35 divides the inside of the drum into equal portions. Pipes 37, 38, 39 are fixed to end-plates of the shell 31, the pipes 37, 38 forming supply and return passages for compressed air, and the pipe 39 is connected to a suction source. The shaft 35 is rocked through 180 degrees by a magnet, and the device functions in a similar manner to that shown in Fig. 1. In modifications, the fixed shell 31 is mounted eccentrically to the rotating shell 43; or the pipes 37-39 are replaced by passages in the shaft 35, and the shell 43 extended and attached to a pulley mounted on the shaft 35.