GB820984A - Improvements in feed and delivery apparatus for sheet-like articles - Google Patents

Abstract

820,984. Feeding and delivering sheets. BOXMAKERS (MANCHESTER) Ltd., and BARNES, H. J. M. March-20, 1958-[March- 21, 1957], No. 9228/57. Class 100(1) In a machine for operating on sheets wherein the sheets are fed to the machine from a feed pile and delivered to a delivery pile by hand or by automatic means, both pile tables are supported by fluidpressure means which are interconnected by piping provided with a valve, so that fluid can How freely from the feed side to the delivery side of the machine, but the return flow is automatically. regulated in accordance-with the transfer of sheets from the feed to the delivery pile, the fluidpressure means supporting the delivery table being pre-loaded until the weight of the sheets on that table exceeds that on the feed table. The system shown in Fig. 11, which does not utilize electric power, comprises hydraulic cylinders 27 and rams 28 for the feed and delivery tables F, D, respectively, interconnected by piping 34 and a valve 44, the latter including a spring-pressed ball which allows free flow of liquid from the feed cylinder to the delivery cylinder. When the ball in the valve 44 is depressed by a rod 51, liquid can flow in the reverse direction, whereby the feed table is raised, and the delivery' table lowered. The liquid to charge the system initially is drawn from a reservoir 35 through a stop valve 36, by a. hand-pump 37, which causes the delivery table to be raised to the top of its stroke. The feed table 15, Fig. 2, supporting a pallet 17 and sheet pile 16, is provided with anti-friction rollers 18, 20 engaging on opposite faces of a vertical column 22, and is adapted to be raised bodily along that column by chains 31. The chains 31 are secured at one end to the table 15, pass over sprockets 30 on a crosshead (such as shown at 29; Fig. 1), and the other ends are secured to the column 22. The crosshead is secured to the ram 28 of hydraulic cylinder 27 arranged within the column 22, and liquid under pressure is admitted to the cylinder to raise the ram when the valve 44 is opened. The valve 44, Fig. 11, is opened when a sheet is removed from the stack 16 since a feeler 53, which rests on the pile, depresses the rod 51 when it falls to a lower level. The table 15 may be modified to accommodate different kinds of pallets 17 or stillages arranged beneath a pile 16: it can be replaced by two connected cantilevers; or it may comprise two side supports each connected to a rigid base by two scissor-levers, such that theside supports. form the table and rise when the levers are closed, the inner ends of the supports carrying rollers which engage a vertical framework The feeler 53 may operate a mechanism for counting sheets removed from the feed table. The delivery table 15<SP>1</SP>, Fig. 1, is substantially the same as the feed table, but incorporates pre-loading means tending to force the ram 28 in a downward direction. As shown, twin air cylinders 54 mounted beneath the head 25 of the fixed column 22 have rams 55 acting on a yoke 56 suspended from the crosshead 29 secured on the hydraulic ram, 28 which controls the height of the table 15<SP>1</SP>. In a modification (Figs. 3 and 4, not shown), a single air cylinder mounted on and above the head 25 has its ram acting directly on the crosshead 29. Compressed air is supplied from a receiver which is charged initially by a hand-pump or other means so that the feed table 15 with a full pile 16 is balanced. Pre-loading may also be effected (Figs. 9 and 10, not shown) by springs in compression or tension.