Patent GB-822439-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus employing receptacles for flexible discreteelements of a sheet-like nature
IPC: B65H1/06
Filed: 1958-02-18
Abstract: 822,439. Feeding and delivering sheets. EASTMAN KODAK CO. Feb. 18, 1958 [Feb. 18, 1957], No. 5228/58. Class 100(1) Separating and stacking sheets. In apparatus comprising an open-ended receptacle 10 for supporting a stack of sheets 15, the lower end of the receptacle having sheet-supporting lips 16 which allow sheets to be added to the stack or to be removed therefrom, the application of force to the bottom of the stack caused by adding or removing sheets is resisted by a weight 40 which rests on the top of the stack which exerts forces on the stack and the opposed walls of the receptacle 10, and has a braking member or means carried thereby for engaging one wall with an increased force if the stack is urged upwardly by the sheet removing &c. means. As shown in Fig. 8, the weight 40 comprises a body 41 of polystryene or other plastic material having a low co-efficient of friction, an inclined base 42, a cavity 43 open to one side and the base in which is pivoted at 49 a braking member comprising an L-shaped metallic arm 46, a resilient, metallic arm 47 and a block 48 of friction material, and a slot 55 which leads from an inclined top 53 to the bottom of the weight, this slot being covered by a plate 54. The weight 40 is designed and made of such material that it will fall freely with the stack; the centre of gravity of the weight is towards the side 44, the inclined base 42 causes the plate 54 to engage one wall of the receptacle, and the pivoted arm 46 causes the friction block 48 to engage the opposite wall of the receptacle. If the stack is urged upwardly, the weight is tilted to the left as it moves with the stack, and the block 48 is urged against the wall of the receptacle with increased force to retard movement of the weight. A modified weight 60, Fig. 9, comprises a polystyrene body 61 mounted on a sponge rubber or like shock-absorbing member 62, stack-engaging plate 63 carried by the member 62, a block 66 of greater specific gravity than the body 61 mounted in one slot in the body, and a second block 68 having a high co-efficient of friction mounted in a second slot in the body. An inclined top 71 leads to a slot 69 in the body, and a corresponding slot 76 is provided in the plate 63. Two blind holes may be drilled in the body 61 from the base 74, and the hole towards the wall 64 may be filled with lead &c. to shift the centre of gravity towards the side 64: the top of the member 62 is inclined so that the body 61 is also inclined to enhance the shift of the centre of gravity. When the weight 60 is inserted into the receptacle 10, the rubber member 62 is deformed and the block 68 presses against the wall of the receptacle. Sudden upward movement of the sheet stack and weight 60 causes greater pressure between the block 68 and receptacle wall and retards such movement. The apparatus comprises several receptacles 10, Fig. 1, mounted in alignment over an endless feed belt 11 driven intermittently by power driven sprocket wheels 12 engaging perforations in the belt. The sheets 15 comprise small rectangular pieces of film each provided with a slot. A stick or rod 9 can be inserted in the receptacle to pass through the slot in the weight 40 (or 60), through the superposed slots, the sheets 15, and have a retaining member secured on the end of the rod for the purpose of removing a stack of sheets bodily from the receptacle. Similarly, a new sheet stack can be inserted by using such a rod. To facilitate placing a retaining member on the end of the rod 9, the receptacles 10 may be pivotally mounted on the apparatus. Sheets are stacked or separated by a plunger 23 slidable in a sleeve 24 and reciprocated by a link 25, an arm 26 pivoted at 27, and a continuously rotating cam 28. Spaced openings 20 with marginal lips 21 and edge guides 22 are provided in the conveyer belt 11: the sheets 15 are engaged at their' edges by these guides 22 and thus registered on the belt, and the plunger 23 moves through the opening 20 to contact the sheet stack. Normally, the armature 30 of a solenoid 31, which is connected by a link 32 to the link 25, maintains the link 25 in a position in which the arm 26 is free to oscillate without actuating the plunger 23. When the solenoid is energized, the armature and link 32 move the link 25 to the left and into engagement with the arm 26. The plunger 23 is then moved upwardly to move a sheet 15 on the belt into the open end of the receptacle 10, or to contact the lowermost sheet for withdrawal from the receptacle and deposition on the belt 11. A valve 37 controls the application of suction to the plunger 23 when it acts as a sheet separator. The electric circuit arrangement may be such that all the sheets 15 are separated from one receptacle 10, conveyed by the belt 11 past a sensing head which reads coding on the sheets and determines which of several other receptacles the sheets are to be stacked. The signals derived from the coding on the sheets cause the proper solenoid 31 to be energized when a sheet is beneath the appropriate receptacle. Sheet-forwarders. The sheets 15 are conveyed beneath the series of receptacles 10 by the endless belt 11 which is driven intermittently by sprocket wheels 12, the sheets being registered on the belt by the edge guides 22 thereon engaging in slots in the sheets. An aperture 35 in the casing 36 is connected to a vacuum pump so that a slight vacuum is created beneath the belt 11 to assist in retaining the sheets on the belt during forwarding.