Patent GB-228618-A (GB)
Title: Machines for feeding separate sheets to a printing press or other like machine
IPC: B65H9/10
Filed: 1923-11-06
Abstract: 228,618. Marks, E. C. R., (Swart & Co., Inc., G. R.). Nov. 6, 1923. Sheet-separators; pile tables and supports; feed-tables.-Sheets are fed to printing and like machines by grippers which are suspended from a carriage reciprocated over frames in such a manner that the carriage is accelerated after taking a separated sheet while the carriage is at rest and is finally retarded to a slow speed whilst registering the sheet against front stops. The grippers are raised after taking the sheets so as to allow an air space under the sheets, and there are two pairs of grippers which are normally closed under spring pressure, the inner pair being operated on by heavy and light springs. The arrangement is such that while the sheets are being registered the grippers are lowered and are relieved of the pressure of the heavy springs but the light springs are operative to prevent the sheets from rebounding from the front stops. The invention is described in connection with a sheet feeding and separating device as described in Specifications 228,815 and 228,816 in which a bank of feathered sheets is passed from an upper board 30 by tapes 29 around a drum 28 and is acted on by combing rolls contained within a casing 36, the combing rolls being raised out of operation when the separated sheet is arrested by feelers in a position for the sheet to be seized and forwarded bv four sets of grippers as 129. 134, Figs. 4 and 12. The grippers are mounted in a carriage 117 which moves in guides in frames 43 mounted above each side of a feed table 25. The frames 43 are pivoted to the casing 36 and can be raised and held bv a catch 45 when the casing 36 and the combing rolls are moved to the left Jay racks 37 operable by pinions 41. A pile. of sheets can then be placed on the table 25 and the machine can be fed by hand. Normally however, the sheetts are fed by the. grippers 129, 134 which are fed by the grippers 129. 134 which are all adjustable laterally on a tubular shaft 118 connecting the two sides of the carriage 117. The carriage is reciprocated over the frames 43 by means of reciprocating racks 159 operated by gears one of which is in mesh with a reciprocating rack 153 operated by a revolving pin 146 engaging a cam groove in a yoke 149 attached to the rack 153. There are two sets of grippers, the inner grippers of each set being constructed as in Fig. 4; the outer grippers are of similiar construction but without the light compression springs encircling the gripper shaft 128 to close the same after the grippers are relieved from the action of the heavy springs 135 which normally keep the grippers closed. The lower fixed members of the grippers are carried by arms 127 pivoted to arms 125, and the arms 127 are oscillated to raise and lower the grippers by curved arms 143, and links 144, the arms 143 being mounted on a shaft 123 controlled by means of an arm 171, Fig. 12, fixed thereto and provided with a roller 184 moving on a cam bar 162 which is sloped as at 195, to cause the grippers to drop as the front stops are being reached. The pivoted upper gripper members are simultaneously relieved of the pressure of the springs 135 by means of arms 137 on a shaft 124 which is rocked when a roller 164 on an arm 165, fixed to the shaft, meets an inclined portion 163 on a cam bar 161 on which the roller 164 runs. The arms 137 have pin- and-slot connections with the inner grippers 129 so that the grippers can remain closed under the action of their light springs. As the grippers return to effect a further feed, they are held raised by a spring latch 173 which is released by a fixed cam block 186, Fig. 13, when the gripper is in the position to take a further sheet from the combing devices. The height of the grippers is then controlled by a bar 182 connected to parallel links 181, 183, one of the links being integral with a lever arm 128 controlled by a roller 180 and cam 177, which permit the grippers to be depressed to receive a sheet and subsequently raise the grippers so that the sheet is kept above the feed table 25 while being fed. A bar similar to the bar 182 is adapted to receive the roller 164 which controls the shaft 124, and the, shaft is given sufficient movement to open all the grippers against the action of the light and heavy springs, the grippers being closed after the sheet is taken. The sheet is supported by a grid-like device slighily above the level of the table 25 while the grippers close on the sheet.