Improvements in Sheet Feeding Apparatus for Printing and the like Machines.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Sept., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 13th July, 1900-Accepted, 8th Sept., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sheet Feeding Apparatus for Printing and the like
Machines.
I, EDWARD THOMAS CLEATHERO, of The Hollies, Barrington Road, Altrincham,
in the County of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
The present invention relates to improvements in sheet feeding apparatus for
printing and the like machines, and the object of it is to prevent more than one
sheet at a time reaching the carrier rollers, in the event of more than one having
been fed forward from off the pile.
In carrying it into effect, there is mounted a roller or series of discs, faced
with rubber or similar material, and driven at the same speed as the tape rollers
and in the same direction. The said roller is just in front of the pile with its
under side on a level with the top thereof. A second and similar roller or series
of discs, is mounted on the under side of the path of the top sheet from the pile,
, This
with its top standing normally at a little distance below that path.
bottom roller is opposite the top one already described and is carried in bearings
in swinging brackets or slides, so that it can be raised to press as many sheets
as the feeding arm, or its equivalent, has fed forward, up against the first men-
tioned or top roller. The bottom roller is so raised by any suitable device such as
cams on the driving shaft, engaging with projections on the brackets; and is
further fitted with a brake to prevent it being freely rotated under the circum-
stances described further -on. There is a third roller of similar construction to
that above described, working in touch with the carrier tape drum, and a presser
foot adapted to press on the top of the pile.
The invention acts as follows. As soon as the leading edges of the sheet or
sheets fed forward by the feeling arm, is under the top roller, the bottom roller
is raised high enough to press the sheets. (if there are more than one) against the
top roller. The brake then prevents the bottom roller from rotating, and only
the top sheet is fed forward towards the carrier or tape rollers. The presser
foot then drops upon the remainder and holds them until the top one
has been carried away. It is then raised and the two rollers then act on the
said remainder in the same way. When only one sheet is fed forward by the
feeding arm, the bottom roller revolves so long as it is in close contact with
that sheet, because the power driving the top roller is greater than the resistance
of the bottom one to the travel of that sheet.
The resistance necessary to separate a top sheet from those under it, is regulated
by a thumb screw, spring, brake, or equivalent device.
Dated this 12th day of September 1899-
CHAS. S. WOODROFFE,
Chartered Patent Agent.

page_text: Improvements in Sheet Feeding Apparatus for Printing and the like
Machines.
I, EDWARD THOMAS CLEATHERO, of The Hollies, Barrington Road, Altrincham,
in the County of Chester, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The present invention relates to improvements in apparatus for feeding sheets
to printing and similar sheet using machines and the object of it is to prevent
more than one of the said sheets reaching the carrier rollers at a time in the
event of more than one having been fed forward off the pile in the direction of
the said rollers.
Referring to the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as part of this
specification and read therewith:-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional diagram illustrating the improvements:
Figure 2, a sectional side elevation of the bracket device for automatically
raising the bottom roller; and
Figure 3, a sectional side elevation of the brake.
.1 is the pile of sheets on the feed table 2; and 3, the feeding roller acting on
the top sheet of the said pile as heretofore.
4 is a roller or series of discs faced with rubber or similar material, and
mounted on a transverse shaft 5 turning in suitable bearings so as to be driven
at the same speed as the tape roller 6 and in the same direction. The said roller
or series of discs 4 is just in front of the pile 1 with its under-side or the bottom
peripheries on a level with the top of the said pile 1 as clearly shewn in Figure 1.
7 is a second and similar roller or series of discs mounted upon a shaft 8 likewise
turning in suitable spring bearings 9 with their top surfaces normally just below
the plane of the bottom side of the top sheet as it leaves the pile 1. It is con-
venient that there should be two discs 4 and 7 instead of a roller, each of the
said discs being adjustable along the respective shaft, to suit the width of the
sheet, the best position of each being near the respective edge of the sheet. The
shaft 8 is immediately underneath the shaft 4, the bearings 9 being carried in
rocking brackets 10. These rocking brackets may be replaced by slides capable
of a reciprocating. arcual or vertical motion, the object of the said rocking or
reciprocating motion being to press up against the roller 4, as many sheets as
the feeding roller 3 sends forward off the pile 1. 11 is a brake of any suitable
kind, acting on one or more pulleys 12 or equivalent surfaces fast on the shaft 8.
It is brought into action by a cam 13 on a constantly turning shaft 14, each time
that a sheet is fed forward off the pile 1. It is preferred that the brake 11
should be adjustable in respect of the control which it can exert upon the shaft 8
and its dises, such control requiring to be variable according to the surface of
the sheets. Provided that the brake selected can meet the requirements just
stated, any type is suitable for the purpose of the present invention.
15 is a cam on the shaft 14 to raise the brackets 10 already described.
16 is a roller working in conjunction with the tape roller 6, and 17 is the
well-known presser foot adapted to engage the pile 1 near its rear edge as hereto-
fore.
The invention acts as follows. If only one sheet is fed forward off the pile 1,
the bite or pressure of the discs 7 or their equivalent roller passes through the
said sheet as the brackets 10 or their equivalents are moved upwards, and presses
it against the discs or rollers 4, so that the sheet is fed forwards between the

page_text: discs 4 and 7, the former turning the latter. If, say two sheets are fed forward
off the pile 1, the upward pressure exerted by the discs 7 fails or stops short of
pressing the bottom sheet against the top one hard enough to make the discs 4
traverse both sheets forward and rotate the discs 7, the brake 11 co-operating
by preventing the rotation of the discs 7.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what.
I claim is:-
The herein before described combination with a sheet-feeding apparatus of brake
and co-operating roller.