Patent ID: 8910935

Claim:
An apparatus for stacking and feeding sheet products discharged successively from a discharge position, comprising: catcher bars formed of flexible metal belts, disposed above a conveyor, opposed to the discharge position, bent to be accumulated at an accumulated position, and arranged and spaced from each other in a lateral direction, the accumulated position being spaced from the discharge position; shutter bars disposed between the discharge position and the catcher bars, extending vertically, and arranged and spaced from each other in the lateral direction so that the sheet products collide against the shutter bars to fall onto the conveyor after being discharged successively, for stacking the sheet products on the conveyor; and a catcher drive by which the catcher bars are pushed out of the accumulated position to pass between the shutter bars and protrude toward the discharge position so that coming products are received on the catcher bars after stacking the sheet products, the catcher bars being then bent by the catcher drive to be returned to, and accumulated at, the accumulated position so that the coming products fall onto the conveyor after feeding the sheet products by the conveyor, wherein the catcher bars are engaged with a catcher guide to be bent upwardly for accumulation, the catcher bars terminating at end portions connected to the catcher drive so that the catcher bars are pushed downwardly by the catcher drive and guided by the catcher guide to be pushed out.