Patent ID: 7516950

Claim:
A cut sheet feeder for feeding stacked sheets of material along a feed path, comprising: a feed support deck defining a planar surface for supporting the stacked sheet material; a transport deck defining an inclined surface relative to the planar surface of the feed support deck; the inclined surface operative to transport additional sheet material to the feed support deck and produce a cantilevered sheet material delivery profile, the transport deck including a conveyor belt having a drive surface, and further comprising a platen structure having a weighted segment for engaging a rearwardly facing surface of the stacked sheet material, a drive segment for engaging the drive surface of the conveyor belt, and a resilient strap tying the segments together, the weighted segment including first and second tandem sections, the tandem sections being spaced apart and connected by an extended segment of the resilient strap, the tandem sections and resilient strap operative to follow the contour of the cantilevered delivery profile and a rotating element operative to engage a surface of the stacked sheet material, and separate a single sheet from other sheet material supported on the feed support deck, wherein the cantilevered delivery profile of the sheet material minimizes friction developed between individual sheets of material to facilitate separation of the sheets by the rotating element, and wherein the conveyor belt transfers motion to the weighted segments via the resilient strap.