A Paper Feeding Device for Printing Machines.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Dec., 1891-Accepted, 9th Jan., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Paper Feeding Device for Printing Machines.
I, FRANZ SLOVÁK of 57 Eichhorngasse, Brünn (Moravia) in the Empire of
Austro-Hungary, Manager of the Joint Stock Printing Company of Brünn, 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 :-
Up to the present time it has been necessary by hand to place the sheets of
paper to be printed upon, against the guide-ledge or mark and it was not until
then that it was seized by grippers and caused to complete its course through the
machine.
The object of this invention is to provide an arrangement whereby the sheets to
be printed upon may be fed and placed in position against the guides without the
assistance of the operative.
This arrangement is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which
Figs. 1 and 2 are elevations of the two opposite sides, Fig. 3 is a plan, Fig. 4 a
front elevation thereof, Fig. 5 is a view similar to a portion of Fig. 1 showing a
different stage of the operation of the machine, and Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a
modified form of the apparatus.
The pile of paper is placed upon the inclined board a and retained thereon at
the lower end by the stationary ledge b and at the upper end by the adjustable
ledge or wall c. An indiarubber roller d (Fig. 4) extends across the whole width
of the paper, or instead of this continuous roller a number of smaller elastic
rollers may be mounted upon the spindle e as in Fig. 3. This roller or rollers
during the operation of the machine are either brought down so as to bear on the
paper or raised so as to be clear of it. The roller dorf receives motion from the
pulleys 9 and h around which a band passes. The roller d is raised or lowered as
required in the following manner. Upon the shaft i carrying the pulley h is loosely
pivotted a bell-crank lever jk, the arm j of which carries the shaft or spindle e.
while the lower lever arm k is provided with an adjustable weight serving
constantly to press the roller d against the paper P. On each side of the frame
there is also a lever arm n pivotted at m and loosely passed through a block or
bearing o which holds the spindle e whereby a loose or adjustable connection
between this spindle e and the two lever arms n is obtained. Upon the driving
shaft i carrying the pulley his further mounted on each side of the machine &
cam p serving for raising the adjacent lever arm n and thereby releasing the paper.
When the camp has passed the lever arm n the roller d under the action of the
weighted bell-crank lever j k comes down upon the paper. The stationary ledge b
is provided with a flange or block q at right angles thereto. Through this block
passes a spindle or rod s cylindrical throughout except at one end where it
terminates in a square r. This spindle also is provided with a lever-arm t carrying
an adjustable weight . In addition to this the said spindles carries a blade or
knife-edge connected thereto by means of lugs z. In the normal condition the
blade or knife-edge is constantly pressed against the paper by the weight and
it is raised by means of the cam p¹ firmly secured to the shaft i and which by
raising the lever arm t causes the blade or knife-edge to move upwardly.
The operation is as follows:-
When the pulley h turns in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1 so does also the
flexible roller d lying upon the pile of paper and bulges up the topmost sheet x
bringing it into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In the meantime the blade or
knife-edge has been raised by the cam p'. This cam immediately afterwards
releases the lever-arm t the blade or knife edge v sinks down again as in Fig. 5 and

page_text: as before bears upon the sheet which now lies uppermost upon the pile that is the
sheet with which the roller d will next operate upon. By this time the cams p
have also advanced the lever arms n and the roller d have been raised and the
topmost loosened sheet has been released so that it may slide over the now
lowered knife-edge r and take up its position against the guide-rail u as in Fig. 5
where it is grasped by the nippers y and further conducted through the machine.
After this the cams p release the lever arms n and the roller d descends while the
knife-edge vor rather the lever arm t is again raised by the cam pl the whole
operation being then repeated as before. The cams are so arranged that the
roller d and knife-edge bear upon the paper and recede therefrom alternately
that is to say while the roller d rests upon the paper the knife-edge v is clear of it,
The construction of the guide-ledge or guide-pins u and of the
nippers y is well-known and need not be further described.
and vice versa.
Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a modified arrangement of the paper feeding device.
The incline a is here supported by a slide or carriage A capable of being moved
backwards and forwards. The pile P¹ of sheets of paper to be printed upon is
placed upon this incline its lower edge being supported by a longitudinally grooved
indiarubber plate 6 firmly connected with the incline and carriage and following
the movements of the latter. This grooved plate is to prevent the paper from
sliding or slipping. To ensure the regular and effective operation of the
mechanism the indiarubber roller d' is by a weight / constantly pressed down in the
manner described above so that it continues in contact with the surface of the paper
even after the pile has considerably decreased in depth. In this modification
provision is also made for controlling the removal of the sheets. The means by
which this result is attained consist of a cam 4 connected with a ratchet-wheel 3
which intermittently moves it, so that the paper carriage A along with the pile of
paper moves forward each time. To enable the speed of such feeding motion to
be controlled the lever 2 carrying the pawl 5 is provided with openings or a slot
enabling the point of attachment of the link 1 to said lever to be adjusted as
required.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is ;-
1. A paper feeding device in which the loosening of the sheets singly off the
pile of paper is effected by means of a rotating indiarubber or flexible roller such
as d or a shaft or spindle carrying a serics of flexible rollers such as f which roller
or rollers are first firmly pressed down upon the paper-pile so as to displace and
bulge the topmost sheet thereof and then raised so as to release the said sheet
which by its own weight slides over a knife-edge or blade such as which has been
lowered in the meantime into the proper position substantially as described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. A paper feeding device in which the raising and lowering of a flexible roller
such as d or rollers such as fis effected by means of a shaft or spindle e which
carries the said roller or rollers and has its bearings in bell-crank levers j k which
under the action of weights / constantly tend to lower the said spindle e while two
other lever arms n loosely fitted in blocks or bearings o which connect them with
the said spindle e and are adapted to be raised by cams such as p raise the rollers d
orf substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. In apparatus such as described the arrangement of a blade or knife-edge such
as v for the purpose of guiding each sheet taken off the pile towards the guide-
ledge or guide-pins of the printing machine while blade is for the purpose mounted
on a shaft or rod s which during the rotation of the roller d keeps the blade in a
raised position away from the paper pile but lowers the same as soon as a sheet: is
loosened for which purpose the rods receives the necessary movements from: a
weighted lever-arm t and from a cam such as p' operating such lever arm substan-
tially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

page_text: 4. A paper feeding device in which the lower edge of the paper pile P¹ rests
upon a grooved indiarubber plate such as 6 rigidly connected with the incline a¹
and with a slide or carriage such as A which slide or carriage is intermittently
moved forward by means of a cam through the medium of a ratchet wheel 3
operated from the driving pulley h' through the medium of a link 1 a lever 2
and pawl 5 substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
Dated this 8th der of December 1801
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.