US20150321865A9 - Sheet Feeders - Google Patents
Sheet Feeders Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20150321865A9 US20150321865A9 US14/359,015 US201114359015A US2015321865A9 US 20150321865 A9 US20150321865 A9 US 20150321865A9 US 201114359015 A US201114359015 A US 201114359015A US 2015321865 A9 US2015321865 A9 US 2015321865A9
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- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- feed
- sheet feeder
- feeder according
- sheet
- feed block
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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Classifications
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H5/00—Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines
- B65H5/02—Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines by belts or chains, e.g. between belts or chains
- B65H5/021—Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines by belts or chains, e.g. between belts or chains by belts
- B65H5/026—Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines by belts or chains, e.g. between belts or chains by belts between belts and stationary pressing, supporting or guiding elements forming a transport nip
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H1/00—Supports or magazines for piles from which articles are to be separated
- B65H1/04—Supports or magazines for piles from which articles are to be separated adapted to support articles substantially horizontally, e.g. for separation from top of pile
- B65H1/06—Supports or magazines for piles from which articles are to be separated adapted to support articles substantially horizontally, e.g. for separation from top of pile for separation from bottom of pile
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/02—Separating articles from piles using friction forces between articles and separator
- B65H3/04—Endless-belt separators
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/02—Separating articles from piles using friction forces between articles and separator
- B65H3/04—Endless-belt separators
- B65H3/042—Endless-belt separators separating from the bottom of the pile
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/46—Supplementary devices or measures to assist separation or prevent double feed
- B65H3/52—Friction retainers acting on under or rear side of article being separated
- B65H3/5207—Non-driven retainers, e.g. movable retainers being moved by the motion of the article
- B65H3/523—Non-driven retainers, e.g. movable retainers being moved by the motion of the article the retainers positioned over articles separated from the bottom of the pile
- B65H3/5238—Retainers of the pad-type, e.g. friction pads
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- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/46—Supplementary devices or measures to assist separation or prevent double feed
- B65H3/56—Elements, e.g. scrapers, fingers, needles, brushes, acting on separated article or on edge of the pile
Definitions
- the invention relates to sheet feeder apparatus, which separates sheets of paper or card from a stack and feeds them individually from the apparatus in a direction parallel to the plane of the sheets.
- the sheet feeder may be part of a device for processing the paper, for example by creasing, perforating or cutting it between a pair of rollers or it may simply deliver the individual sheets to a separate device for further processing.
- the nature of the downstream operation does not form part of the present invention.
- the sheets handled by the feeder may comprise paper or cardboard, for example in the density range 50 gm 2 to 500 gm 2 , or other similar materials such as thin plastics.
- the material will be referred to hereafter as “paper”.
- Sheet feeders are known that use a drive means such as a belt or roller to remove a single sheet laterally from the bottom of a stack of sheets that rests on a feed deck.
- the bottom sheet resists separation from the stack owing to friction with the next sheet in the stack above it and with the non-moving parts of the feed deck below it.
- the grip between the sheet and the drive means must exceed those frictional forces. Ideally, that should be true whether the bottom sheet is weighed on by a full stack or by only a few sheets.
- Friction between the moving sheet and the stationary parts of the feed deck has a tendency to cause scuff marks on the surface of the paper. That is a particular problem with the increasing use of digital printing on paper with a smooth surface.
- Some sheet feeders have used suction drums to improve the grip between the drive means and the paper.
- the surface of a suction drum is perforated by holes and an air pump is provided to suck air from the interior of the drum so that the paper clings to the drum's surface.
- the air pump may also be used to direct a jet of air towards the edge of the stack in order to assist with separating the sheets of the stack.
- air pumps add to the bulk and complexity of the sheet feeder as well as its running costs and noise levels.
- a sheet feeder should be able to deliver the sheets as fast as possible, up to the maximum operating speed of any downstream processing apparatus. It should reliably deliver only a single sheet at a time because a misfeed in which two sheets are delivered together will at best not be processed properly downstream and may at worst jam the apparatus, causing a costly delay in workflow.
- the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; a drive belt for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction below the feed block; the feed block comprising a friction pad that projects from the bottom of the feed block towards the drive belt to define a gate therebetween and a first front face immediately upstream from the gate, the first front face defining a plane inclined at a first angle to the feed direction, wherein the friction pad does not intersect the plane of the first front face.
- a sheet feeder made in accordance with the invention is found to feed single sheets rapidly and reliably over a wide range of paper thicknesses and a wide range of stack heights. It runs quietly because it does not rely on air pumps and it reduces scuffing of the surface of the sheets.
- the first angle may be less than 45° and is preferably between 25° and 30°.
- the feed block may further comprises a second front face upstream from the first front face, the second front face being inclined to the feed direction at a second angle that is greater than the first angle.
- the feed block may further comprise a lower face, which is located downstream from the first front face and which faces the drive belt, the friction pad projecting from the bottom of the feed block below the lower face.
- the lower face of the feed block defines a plane that is substantially parallel to the feed direction; the feed block further comprising a curved surface that effects a smooth transition from the first front face to the lower face.
- a suitable material for the feed block is aluminium or an aluminium alloy; and at least the first front face of the feed block may be anodized.
- the friction pad preferably comprises a pad lower face that is substantially parallel to the feed direction. It may further comprises a pad front face that adjoins an upstream end of the pad lower face, the pad front face being inclined at an angle of less than 45° to the feed direction where it adjoins the pad lower face.
- a pair of the drive belts are positioned on opposite sides of a centreline of the feeder and pair of the feed blocks are aligned with respective ones of the drive belts.
- the pair of feed blocks may be mounted on a common bracket, which is in turn mounted on a frame of the sheet feeder.
- Means may be provided for adjusting the height of at least one of the feed blocks relative to the bracket or for adjusting the height of the bracket relative to the frame.
- the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; and drive means for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction at a first speed through a gate defined between the feed block and the drive means; the sheet feeder further comprising a counter-rotating pair of acceleration rollers downstream from the gate for gripping a sheet between them and urging the sheet away from the gate at a second speed higher than the first speed.
- the second speed may be at least twice the first speed and is preferably about five times the first speed.
- the increase in the speed at which the sheets are transported causes gaps to open up between successive sheets, which can improve their handling downstream of the sheet feeder.
- the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; and drive means for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction through a gate defined between the feed block and the drive means; wherein the feed deck is inclined to the horizontal and wherein the feed deck comprises a plurality of feed rollers, each of which is free to spin about a generally horizontal axis.
- the sheet feeder may further comprise at least one guide plate arranged in a vertical plane and transversely to a series of the rollers, the series of rollers defining a plane of the feed deck that is tangent to the tops of the rollers; wherein a lower edge of the guide plate projects below the plane between adjacent pairs of the rollers.
- the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; and drive means for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction through a gate defined between the feed block and the drive means; wherein the drive means is part of a removably mounted unit in the feed deck.
- the drive means unit comprises means at one end of the unit for pivotally mounting the unit in the feed deck; and means at the other end of the unit for fastening the unit to the feed deck.
- the pivotal mounting means may comprise jaws on the drive unit for engaging a rod on the feed deck, or vice versa.
- the drive unit may also comprise a first gear for engaging a second gear below the feed deck, from which power for the drive means is derived.
- FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a paper creasing machine, which includes a sheet feeder in accordance with the invention.
- FIG. 2 is a plan view of part of the machine shown in FIG. 1 .
- FIGS. 3 , 4 and 5 are respectively a plan view, a side elevation and a front elevation of the drive unit and feed block of the machine shown in FIG. 1 .
- FIG. 6 is a schematic elevation of a side guide of the machine shown in FIG. 1 .
- FIGS. 7 , 8 and 9 are respectively a side elevation, a plan view and a front elevation of the feed block and mounting bracket of the machine shown in FIG. 1 .
- FIGS. 10 and 11 are side elevations of respectively the feed block and the friction pad of the machine shown in FIG. 1 , marked up to show preferred dimensions.
- FIG. 1 shows a machine 2 for creasing, perforating or cutting sheets of paper from a stack.
- a stack of paper to be processed (not shown) is placed on a feed deck 4 , supported by side guides 6 .
- a sheet feeder device in accordance with the present invention separates individual sheets of paper from the bottom of the stack and feeds them into the body 8 of the machine 2 along the plane of the feed deck 4 .
- the processed sheets are collected as an output stack in an output bin 10 .
- the processed sheets could be delivered individually on rollers to other machinery for further operations to be carried out.
- a control panel 12 allows an operator to control aspects of the operation of the machine 2 , such as its speed, in a conventional manner.
- An emergency stop button 14 is provided in a prominent and easily accessible location.
- FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sheet feeder of the creasing machine 2 , also showing the creasing device 20 but not the output bin 10 .
- the feed block (described below) that defines the gate 26 of the sheet feeder is also omitted to show details of the drive unit 40 .
- a stack of paper (not shown in FIG. 2 ) rests on the feed deck 4 overlapping the drive unit 40 , which acts on the lowest sheet of the stack to feed the sheet into the machine in the direction marked by an arrow 24 .
- the drive mechanism of the sheet feeder will be explained in more detail below but in FIG. 2 it can be seen that the drive unit 40 comprises a pair of drive belts 42 with upper surfaces that lie generally in the plane of the feed deck 4 .
- the majority of the surface of the feed deck 4 is formed by sets of feed rollers 22 .
- Each of the rollers 22 is mounted so that it can spin freely about its axis, with minimal resistance.
- the axes of the rollers 22 are generally horizontal and are perpendicular to the direction in which the sheets move. Because the plane of the feed deck 4 is inclined from the horizontal, as shown in FIG. 1 , a stack of paper placed on the feed deck 4 will roll down the slope of the deck towards the position of the gate 26 of the sheet feeder.
- An upstream part of the feed deck 4 may be formed as a removable extension 28 , which at the user's option can be present in order to allow larger sheets of paper to be stacked or can be absent in order to reduce the footprint of the machine 2 .
- the removable extension 28 comprises further sets of rollers 22 . Over the majority of the feed deck 4 , the surface is thus defined by feed rollers 22 . Wherever any significant level of friction occurs between a sheet and a roller, the free-spinning roller can simply rotate to follow the movement of the sheet and thus scuffing of the sheet's surface is substantially avoided.
- the sides of the stack on the feed deck 4 are supported by a pair of side guides 6 .
- the side guides 6 are generally vertical plates orientated in a plane parallel to the feed direction 24 .
- the guides 6 can be moved transversely to the feed direction along transverse rods 30 (only one of which is visible in FIG. 2 ) in order to adapt to paper stacks of various widths.
- Conventional means may be provided to release the guides 6 for sliding along the rods 30 and then to lock them again in the desired position.
- the two side guides 6 are both displaced to their maximum extent in the same direction, in normal operation the two guides 6 would be spaced equidistantly on either side of the centreline of the sheet feeder, in order that the fed sheets should be centred on the drive unit 40 and be drawn through the device without any off-centre forces.
- a scale 32 marked in suitable units with measurements of distance away from the centreline can be provided to assist the operator with positioning the guides 6 .
- a known balancing mechanism (not shown) may also be provided to keep the guides positioned symmetrically about the centreline.
- FIG. 6 shows schematically the relationship between the bottom of the side guides 6 and a set of the rollers 22 . It does not attempt to show the mechanisms by which the guides 6 or rollers are mounted.
- the rollers 22 in the set define a plane 34 that is tangent to the tops of the rollers, which is the plane in which the bottom sheet of the stack is supported.
- the lower edge of the side guide 6 comprises an alternating series of cut-outs 36 and cusps 38 .
- Each of the cut-outs 36 is preferably in the form of a circular arc that is concentric with the axis of an associated roller 22 to provide sufficient clearance around that roller so that its rotation is not impeded.
- Each cusp 38 may come to a sharp point or it may be blunt, provided that the tip of the cusp extends below the plane 34 between a pair of adjacent rollers.
- the set of cusps 38 are able to provide guidance for the stack down to the bottom sheet of paper, which rests in the plane 34 .
- the lower edge of the side guide 6 was straight, it would have to be positioned at a height above the plane 34 sufficient to clear the tops of the rollers, which would leave room for at least the bottom sheet in the stack to drift sideways, beneath the guide 6 .
- the cut-outs are not necessarily formed by cutting: any suitable process such as stamping or moulding may be used.
- the shape of the lower edge of the side guide 6 need not match that shown in the drawings: the important feature is that above the rollers 22 the guide should not interfere with their rotation and that between adjacent pairs of rollers the guide should project below the plane 34 .
- FIG. 2 there can also be seen one of a pair of acceleration rollers 46 , which are located one above the other and downstream from the gate 26 of the sheet feeder.
- a sheet of paper having been drawn through the gate 26 by the drive belts 42 is fed between the counter-rotating acceleration rollers 46 , which grip the sheet between them and urge it away from the gate 26 at an increased speed.
- the acceleration rollers 46 deliver the sheet of paper to the creasing device 20 , where it is fed between a pair of counter-rotating shafts 48 , one of which is visible in FIG. 2 .
- Drums 50 which have frictional surfaces to grip the sheet between them and draw it through the creasing device at the same speed as it left the acceleration rollers 46 .
- processing drums 52 which may comprise respective male and female drums for creasing, perforating or cutting the sheet between them in a known manner.
- the positions of the drums 50 , 52 along their respective shafts 48 can be changed to adapt to the width of the sheets of paper and to the desired positions of the creases, perforations or cuts.
- the sheets On exiting the creasing device 20 , the sheets are delivered to the top of the output bin 10 ( FIG. 1 ), where they collect in an output stack.
- the acceleration rollers 46 preferably run at a high speed relative to the speed of the drive belts 42 . For example, they may accelerate the sheets of paper to five times the speed at which they are driven by the drive belts 42 . Paper is delivered more-or-less continuously from the stack by the drive unit 40 so that the front edge of one sheet closely follows the rear edge of the preceding sheet through the gate 26 . The acceleration of the sheets by the acceleration rollers 46 causes a gap to open up between successive sheets, which may be useful in downstream processing.
- the output sheets are to be delivered one at a time to a second machine, it is sometimes the case that the second machine requires its input feed path to be arranged perpendicularly to the output feed path of the present creasing machine. A gap between successive sheets allows time for one sheet to change direction and clear the feed path before the next sheet arrives.
- FIGS. 3 , 4 and 5 show in more detail the removable drive unit 40 of the sheet feeder.
- the two drive belts 42 are spaced at equal distances from the centreline, on opposite sides of it. Each belt forms a continuous loop around first and second drums 68 , 70 .
- the pair of first drums 68 is mounted on a common first shaft 69 beneath the feed deck 4 , upstream of the gate 26 .
- the pair of second drums 70 is mounted on a common second shaft 71 at a corresponding level but slightly downstream of the gate.
- the second shaft 71 carries a gear 72 , which is driven by a motor (not shown) to rotate both shafts 69 , 71 and drive the belts 42 .
- the shafts 69 , 71 are rotated in the anti-clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 4 , in order to drive the belts 42 along the feed deck 4 towards and through the gate 26 .
- the belts 42 are made of rubber or a similar material that makes sufficient frictional contact with the overlying paper, such that frictional forces holding the bottom sheet against the next sheet in the stack are overcome and the sheet is carried by the belts 42 through the gate 26 .
- the drive unit 40 comprising the drive belts 42 is supported by a frame 54 .
- the frame 54 has a latch 56 at one end and a fixing screw 58 at the other end, whereby unfastening of the fixing screw 58 allows the entire drive unit 40 to be quickly removed from the creasing machine 2 , for example so that worn drive belts 42 can be quickly replaced.
- the latch 56 comprises a pair of fixed jaws 57 that can respectively engage with and pivot about a pair of rods 59 that form part of the substructure 60 of the feed deck 4 .
- the rods 59 could be located on the removable drive unit 40 and the jaws 57 on the substructure 60 .
- the drive unit can thus be removed from the feed deck 4 by unscrewing the single fixing screw 58 , lifting the upstream end of the unit 40 to pivot the jaws 57 of the unit about the rods 59 until the upstream end is clear of the deck 4 , then withdrawing the unit 40 along its length, generally in the upstream direction, to free the jaws 57 from the rods 59 .
- the operation can be reversed to replace the drive unit 40 .
- the first gear 72 comes into engagement with a second gear (not shown) that is mounted beneath the feed deck 4 and that provides rotary power to the drive unit 40 from the motor (not shown).
- the delivery of sheets of paper from the stack is controlled by a pair of feed blocks 62 that are mounted by a bracket 64 on a frame of the sheet feeder so that each feed block 62 is suspended above a respective one of the drive belts 42 .
- a friction pad 66 projects from the bottom of each feed block 62 towards the associated drive belt 42 to define the gate 26 therebetween, through which only one sheet at a time can pass.
- the size of the gate 26 i.e. the vertical gap between the friction pad 66 and the belt 42
- the gate 26 is most easily set to the correct value for the thickness of paper to be processed by opening the gate, inserting a sheet of the paper between the friction pad 66 and the drive belt 42 and then closing the gate until the sheet is almost trapped. This ensures that no more than one sheet of paper at a time can pass through the gate.
- the adjustment knobs 68 are easily accessible during use of the machine so the size of the gate 26 can be fine-tuned during operation.
- bracket 64 is adjustable relative to the frame of the machine, preferably by means an adjustment knob similar to those illustrated. It is preferred that at least one of the feed blocks 62 should still be adjustable relative to the bracket in order that independent adjustment of the two feed blocks 62 remains possible, for example in case the two drive belts 42 should wear down at different rates.
- a front face 70 of each feed block 62 faces upstream towards the feed deck 4 .
- the stack slides on the feed rollers 22 down the inclined surface of the feed deck 4 until the front edges of the sheets in the stack 65 come to rest against the front face 70 of the feed block 62 .
- the front face 70 at least partly forms an acute angle with the plane of the feed deck 4 , which allows the lower sheets in the stack to travel further than the upper sheets and deforms at least the lower part of the stack 65 into a wedge. Successive sheets in the stack are thereby slightly offset from one another along the feed direction 24 , which begins the process of separating them to pass individually through the gate 26 .
- a first, lower portion 72 of the front face 70 is inclined at an angle of less than 45° to the feed deck and preferably at between 25° and 30°.
- a second, upper portion 73 of the front face which merges smoothly into the lower portion 72 need not be inclined at such a sharp angle.
- the angle between the upper portion 73 and the feed deck 4 may suitably be anywhere between 45° and 90° but a value between 60° and 70° is preferred.
- FIGS. 7 to 9 The shapes of the feed block 62 and the friction pad 66 are shown in more detail in FIGS. 7 to 9 , while their particular dimensions in the illustrated embodiment are marked on FIGS. 10 and 11 .
- the bottom of the feed block 62 is defined by a bottom face 74 that is generally parallel to the surface of the drive belt 42 .
- the bottom face 74 is smoothly connected to the lower portion 72 of the front face 70 by a curved transitional surface 76 .
- the lower part of each feed block 62 takes the form of two sidewalls 78 with a recess 80 between them.
- the bottom face 74 of each feed block 62 therefore in fact comprises a pair of discrete surfaces on the respective sidewalls 78 .
- the friction pad 66 is mounted in the recess 80 between the sidewalls 78 so that it projects slightly below the bottom face 74 of the feed block 62 .
- the friction pad 66 is bounded by a generally cylindrical surface 82 , except that at the lowermost part of the projecting portion, the cylindrical surface 82 is replaced by a flat surface 84 parallel to the drive belt 42 . It is therefore the flat surface 84 of the friction pad 66 that defines the gate 26 .
- the projecting portion of the friction pad 66 also comprises on its upstream side an exposed section 85 of the cylindrical surface 82 that is inclined at a sharp angle (less than 45°) to the drive belt 42 . It is important to note that the friction pad 66 does not intersect the plane 86 that is defined by the lower portion 72 of the front face 70 of the feed block, as indicated by a dashed line in FIG. 7 .
- the lower portion 72 of the front face of the feed block 70 may be gently curved, rather than truly straight, and therefore not define a true plane over its whole length.
- the plane 86 in question which is not intersected by the friction pad 66 , is that tangent to the lowest part of the lower portion 72 before it transitions into the bottom face 74 via the curved surface 76 .
- the friction pad 66 is formed from a resilient material such as rubber or, preferably, polyurethane. Polyurethane has been found to work with a Type A Shore hardness of 65 , 80 or 90 . Because the friction pad 66 is resilient rather than completely rigid, and because the geometry of the gate is important, means need to be provided to mount the pad 66 securely in the recess 80 .
- the pad 66 is fixed at two points to prevent it pivoting. At each fixing point a horizontal bore passes through the pad 66 and is lined with a metal (e.g. steel) bush 88 that is internally threaded. Four bolts 90 are then passed through apertures in the opposing side walls 78 of the feed block 62 and are screwed into the each end of each bush 88 to secure the friction pad 66 against movement.
- a metal e.g. steel
- the feed blocks 62 may be manufactured from any suitable, rigid material, for example aluminium or an aluminium alloy. It is preferred that the surfaces of the feed blocks 62 and in particular the front surfaces 70 that contact the stack of paper should be anodized to provide them with a smooth and durable finish.
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Abstract
A sheet feeder comprises a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets (65) to be fed. The feed deck may be formed by a bed of freely spinning rollers. A feed block (62) comprises a friction pad (66) that projects from the bottom of the feed block (62) towards a drive belt (42) to define a gate therebetween. The drive belt (42) frictionally engages the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack (65) and urges the sheet towards the gate. The feed block (62) comprises a front face (72) immediately upstream from the gate, which is inclined at a sharp angle to the feed direction. The friction pad (66) comprises a lower face that is substantially parallel to the feed direction and does not intersect the plane of the feed block front face (72).
Description
- The invention relates to sheet feeder apparatus, which separates sheets of paper or card from a stack and feeds them individually from the apparatus in a direction parallel to the plane of the sheets. The sheet feeder may be part of a device for processing the paper, for example by creasing, perforating or cutting it between a pair of rollers or it may simply deliver the individual sheets to a separate device for further processing. The nature of the downstream operation does not form part of the present invention.
- The sheets handled by the feeder may comprise paper or cardboard, for example in the
density range 50 gm2 to 500 gm2, or other similar materials such as thin plastics. For simplicity, and without limitation, the material will be referred to hereafter as “paper”. - Sheet feeders are known that use a drive means such as a belt or roller to remove a single sheet laterally from the bottom of a stack of sheets that rests on a feed deck. The bottom sheet resists separation from the stack owing to friction with the next sheet in the stack above it and with the non-moving parts of the feed deck below it. In order for the sheet to slide away from the stack, the grip between the sheet and the drive means must exceed those frictional forces. Ideally, that should be true whether the bottom sheet is weighed on by a full stack or by only a few sheets.
- Friction between the moving sheet and the stationary parts of the feed deck has a tendency to cause scuff marks on the surface of the paper. That is a particular problem with the increasing use of digital printing on paper with a smooth surface.
- Some sheet feeders have used suction drums to improve the grip between the drive means and the paper. The surface of a suction drum is perforated by holes and an air pump is provided to suck air from the interior of the drum so that the paper clings to the drum's surface. The air pump may also be used to direct a jet of air towards the edge of the stack in order to assist with separating the sheets of the stack. However, such air pumps add to the bulk and complexity of the sheet feeder as well as its running costs and noise levels.
- A sheet feeder should be able to deliver the sheets as fast as possible, up to the maximum operating speed of any downstream processing apparatus. It should reliably deliver only a single sheet at a time because a misfeed in which two sheets are delivered together will at best not be processed properly downstream and may at worst jam the apparatus, causing a costly delay in workflow.
- In a first aspect, the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; a drive belt for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction below the feed block; the feed block comprising a friction pad that projects from the bottom of the feed block towards the drive belt to define a gate therebetween and a first front face immediately upstream from the gate, the first front face defining a plane inclined at a first angle to the feed direction, wherein the friction pad does not intersect the plane of the first front face.
- A sheet feeder made in accordance with the invention is found to feed single sheets rapidly and reliably over a wide range of paper thicknesses and a wide range of stack heights. It runs quietly because it does not rely on air pumps and it reduces scuffing of the surface of the sheets.
- The first angle may be less than 45° and is preferably between 25° and 30°.
- The feed block may further comprises a second front face upstream from the first front face, the second front face being inclined to the feed direction at a second angle that is greater than the first angle.
- The feed block may further comprise a lower face, which is located downstream from the first front face and which faces the drive belt, the friction pad projecting from the bottom of the feed block below the lower face. Preferably the lower face of the feed block defines a plane that is substantially parallel to the feed direction; the feed block further comprising a curved surface that effects a smooth transition from the first front face to the lower face. A suitable material for the feed block is aluminium or an aluminium alloy; and at least the first front face of the feed block may be anodized.
- The friction pad preferably comprises a pad lower face that is substantially parallel to the feed direction. It may further comprises a pad front face that adjoins an upstream end of the pad lower face, the pad front face being inclined at an angle of less than 45° to the feed direction where it adjoins the pad lower face.
- In a preferred sheet feeder according to the invention, a pair of the drive belts are positioned on opposite sides of a centreline of the feeder and pair of the feed blocks are aligned with respective ones of the drive belts.
- The pair of feed blocks may be mounted on a common bracket, which is in turn mounted on a frame of the sheet feeder. Means may be provided for adjusting the height of at least one of the feed blocks relative to the bracket or for adjusting the height of the bracket relative to the frame.
- In a second aspect, the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; and drive means for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction at a first speed through a gate defined between the feed block and the drive means; the sheet feeder further comprising a counter-rotating pair of acceleration rollers downstream from the gate for gripping a sheet between them and urging the sheet away from the gate at a second speed higher than the first speed. The second speed may be at least twice the first speed and is preferably about five times the first speed.
- The increase in the speed at which the sheets are transported causes gaps to open up between successive sheets, which can improve their handling downstream of the sheet feeder.
- In a third aspect, the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; and drive means for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction through a gate defined between the feed block and the drive means; wherein the feed deck is inclined to the horizontal and wherein the feed deck comprises a plurality of feed rollers, each of which is free to spin about a generally horizontal axis.
- By allowing the moving sheets to travel on freely spinning rollers in the areas where they are not in contact with the guide means, the reliability of feeding the sheets is improved and scuffing of their surface is reduced.
- The sheet feeder may further comprise at least one guide plate arranged in a vertical plane and transversely to a series of the rollers, the series of rollers defining a plane of the feed deck that is tangent to the tops of the rollers; wherein a lower edge of the guide plate projects below the plane between adjacent pairs of the rollers.
- In a fourth aspect, the invention provides a sheet feeder comprising: a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed; a feed block; and drive means for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet along a feed direction through a gate defined between the feed block and the drive means; wherein the drive means is part of a removably mounted unit in the feed deck. This permits worn parts of the drive means, such as belts or rollers, to be replaced easily and in a short time.
- Preferably, the drive means unit comprises means at one end of the unit for pivotally mounting the unit in the feed deck; and means at the other end of the unit for fastening the unit to the feed deck. The pivotal mounting means may comprise jaws on the drive unit for engaging a rod on the feed deck, or vice versa. The drive unit may also comprise a first gear for engaging a second gear below the feed deck, from which power for the drive means is derived.
-
FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a paper creasing machine, which includes a sheet feeder in accordance with the invention. -
FIG. 2 is a plan view of part of the machine shown inFIG. 1 . -
FIGS. 3 , 4 and 5 are respectively a plan view, a side elevation and a front elevation of the drive unit and feed block of the machine shown inFIG. 1 . -
FIG. 6 is a schematic elevation of a side guide of the machine shown inFIG. 1 . -
FIGS. 7 , 8 and 9 are respectively a side elevation, a plan view and a front elevation of the feed block and mounting bracket of the machine shown inFIG. 1 . -
FIGS. 10 and 11 are side elevations of respectively the feed block and the friction pad of the machine shown inFIG. 1 , marked up to show preferred dimensions. -
FIG. 1 shows a machine 2 for creasing, perforating or cutting sheets of paper from a stack. A stack of paper to be processed (not shown) is placed on afeed deck 4, supported byside guides 6. A sheet feeder device in accordance with the present invention separates individual sheets of paper from the bottom of the stack and feeds them into the body 8 of the machine 2 along the plane of thefeed deck 4. After a processing operation such as creasing, perforating or cutting by the machine 2, the processed sheets are collected as an output stack in anoutput bin 10. Alternatively, the processed sheets could be delivered individually on rollers to other machinery for further operations to be carried out. - A
control panel 12 allows an operator to control aspects of the operation of the machine 2, such as its speed, in a conventional manner. Anemergency stop button 14 is provided in a prominent and easily accessible location. -
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sheet feeder of the creasing machine 2, also showing thecreasing device 20 but not theoutput bin 10. The feed block (described below) that defines thegate 26 of the sheet feeder is also omitted to show details of thedrive unit 40. A stack of paper (not shown inFIG. 2 ) rests on thefeed deck 4 overlapping thedrive unit 40, which acts on the lowest sheet of the stack to feed the sheet into the machine in the direction marked by anarrow 24. The drive mechanism of the sheet feeder will be explained in more detail below but inFIG. 2 it can be seen that thedrive unit 40 comprises a pair ofdrive belts 42 with upper surfaces that lie generally in the plane of thefeed deck 4. - The majority of the surface of the
feed deck 4 is formed by sets offeed rollers 22. There are sets offeed rollers 22 to each side of thedrive unit 40 to support the areas of the paper in the stack that do not overlie the drive unit. Each of therollers 22 is mounted so that it can spin freely about its axis, with minimal resistance. The axes of therollers 22 are generally horizontal and are perpendicular to the direction in which the sheets move. Because the plane of thefeed deck 4 is inclined from the horizontal, as shown inFIG. 1 , a stack of paper placed on thefeed deck 4 will roll down the slope of the deck towards the position of thegate 26 of the sheet feeder. - An upstream part of the
feed deck 4 may be formed as aremovable extension 28, which at the user's option can be present in order to allow larger sheets of paper to be stacked or can be absent in order to reduce the footprint of the machine 2. Theremovable extension 28 comprises further sets ofrollers 22. Over the majority of thefeed deck 4, the surface is thus defined byfeed rollers 22. Wherever any significant level of friction occurs between a sheet and a roller, the free-spinning roller can simply rotate to follow the movement of the sheet and thus scuffing of the sheet's surface is substantially avoided. - The sides of the stack on the
feed deck 4 are supported by a pair of side guides 6. The side guides 6 are generally vertical plates orientated in a plane parallel to thefeed direction 24. Theguides 6 can be moved transversely to the feed direction along transverse rods 30 (only one of which is visible inFIG. 2 ) in order to adapt to paper stacks of various widths. Conventional means may be provided to release theguides 6 for sliding along therods 30 and then to lock them again in the desired position. Although inFIG. 2 the two side guides 6 are both displaced to their maximum extent in the same direction, in normal operation the twoguides 6 would be spaced equidistantly on either side of the centreline of the sheet feeder, in order that the fed sheets should be centred on thedrive unit 40 and be drawn through the device without any off-centre forces. Ascale 32 marked in suitable units with measurements of distance away from the centreline can be provided to assist the operator with positioning theguides 6. A known balancing mechanism (not shown) may also be provided to keep the guides positioned symmetrically about the centreline. - Conventional side guides often have an L-shaped cross-section so that the edges of the bottom sheet of the stack rest on inwardly directed horizontal portions of the guides. In the present apparatus it is preferred that the side guides 6 should have no horizontal portions in order that the bottom of the stack should make maximum contact with the
feed rollers 22.FIG. 6 shows schematically the relationship between the bottom of the side guides 6 and a set of therollers 22. It does not attempt to show the mechanisms by which theguides 6 or rollers are mounted. Therollers 22 in the set define aplane 34 that is tangent to the tops of the rollers, which is the plane in which the bottom sheet of the stack is supported. The lower edge of theside guide 6 comprises an alternating series of cut-outs 36 andcusps 38. Each of the cut-outs 36 is preferably in the form of a circular arc that is concentric with the axis of an associatedroller 22 to provide sufficient clearance around that roller so that its rotation is not impeded. Eachcusp 38 may come to a sharp point or it may be blunt, provided that the tip of the cusp extends below theplane 34 between a pair of adjacent rollers. - Thus the set of
cusps 38 are able to provide guidance for the stack down to the bottom sheet of paper, which rests in theplane 34. If the lower edge of theside guide 6 was straight, it would have to be positioned at a height above theplane 34 sufficient to clear the tops of the rollers, which would leave room for at least the bottom sheet in the stack to drift sideways, beneath theguide 6. The cut-outs are not necessarily formed by cutting: any suitable process such as stamping or moulding may be used. The shape of the lower edge of theside guide 6 need not match that shown in the drawings: the important feature is that above therollers 22 the guide should not interfere with their rotation and that between adjacent pairs of rollers the guide should project below theplane 34. - Reverting to
FIG. 2 , there can also be seen one of a pair ofacceleration rollers 46, which are located one above the other and downstream from thegate 26 of the sheet feeder. A sheet of paper having been drawn through thegate 26 by thedrive belts 42 is fed between thecounter-rotating acceleration rollers 46, which grip the sheet between them and urge it away from thegate 26 at an increased speed. - The
acceleration rollers 46 deliver the sheet of paper to thecreasing device 20, where it is fed between a pair ofcounter-rotating shafts 48, one of which is visible inFIG. 2 . Mounted on theshafts 48 aredrums 50, which have frictional surfaces to grip the sheet between them and draw it through the creasing device at the same speed as it left theacceleration rollers 46. Also mounted on theshafts 48 are processingdrums 52, which may comprise respective male and female drums for creasing, perforating or cutting the sheet between them in a known manner. The positions of thedrums respective shafts 48 can be changed to adapt to the width of the sheets of paper and to the desired positions of the creases, perforations or cuts. On exiting thecreasing device 20, the sheets are delivered to the top of the output bin 10 (FIG. 1 ), where they collect in an output stack. - The
acceleration rollers 46 preferably run at a high speed relative to the speed of thedrive belts 42. For example, they may accelerate the sheets of paper to five times the speed at which they are driven by thedrive belts 42. Paper is delivered more-or-less continuously from the stack by thedrive unit 40 so that the front edge of one sheet closely follows the rear edge of the preceding sheet through thegate 26. The acceleration of the sheets by theacceleration rollers 46 causes a gap to open up between successive sheets, which may be useful in downstream processing. For example, if instead of being collected in theoutput bin 10, the output sheets are to be delivered one at a time to a second machine, it is sometimes the case that the second machine requires its input feed path to be arranged perpendicularly to the output feed path of the present creasing machine. A gap between successive sheets allows time for one sheet to change direction and clear the feed path before the next sheet arrives. -
FIGS. 3 , 4 and 5 show in more detail theremovable drive unit 40 of the sheet feeder. The twodrive belts 42 are spaced at equal distances from the centreline, on opposite sides of it. Each belt forms a continuous loop around first andsecond drums first drums 68 is mounted on a commonfirst shaft 69 beneath thefeed deck 4, upstream of thegate 26. The pair ofsecond drums 70 is mounted on a commonsecond shaft 71 at a corresponding level but slightly downstream of the gate. Thesecond shaft 71 carries agear 72, which is driven by a motor (not shown) to rotate bothshafts belts 42. Theshafts FIG. 4 , in order to drive thebelts 42 along thefeed deck 4 towards and through thegate 26. Thebelts 42 are made of rubber or a similar material that makes sufficient frictional contact with the overlying paper, such that frictional forces holding the bottom sheet against the next sheet in the stack are overcome and the sheet is carried by thebelts 42 through thegate 26. - The
drive unit 40 comprising thedrive belts 42 is supported by aframe 54. Theframe 54 has alatch 56 at one end and a fixingscrew 58 at the other end, whereby unfastening of the fixingscrew 58 allows theentire drive unit 40 to be quickly removed from the creasing machine 2, for example so thatworn drive belts 42 can be quickly replaced. Thelatch 56 comprises a pair of fixedjaws 57 that can respectively engage with and pivot about a pair ofrods 59 that form part of thesubstructure 60 of thefeed deck 4. Alternatively, therods 59 could be located on theremovable drive unit 40 and thejaws 57 on thesubstructure 60. The drive unit can thus be removed from thefeed deck 4 by unscrewing the single fixingscrew 58, lifting the upstream end of theunit 40 to pivot thejaws 57 of the unit about therods 59 until the upstream end is clear of thedeck 4, then withdrawing theunit 40 along its length, generally in the upstream direction, to free thejaws 57 from therods 59. The operation can be reversed to replace thedrive unit 40. When the drive unit is in its installed position, thefirst gear 72 comes into engagement with a second gear (not shown) that is mounted beneath thefeed deck 4 and that provides rotary power to thedrive unit 40 from the motor (not shown). - The delivery of sheets of paper from the stack is controlled by a pair of feed blocks 62 that are mounted by a
bracket 64 on a frame of the sheet feeder so that eachfeed block 62 is suspended above a respective one of thedrive belts 42. Afriction pad 66 projects from the bottom of eachfeed block 62 towards the associateddrive belt 42 to define thegate 26 therebetween, through which only one sheet at a time can pass. The size of the gate 26 (i.e. the vertical gap between thefriction pad 66 and the belt 42) can be manually adjusted by usingknobs 68 to turn a to screw thread connection between eachfeed block 62 and thebracket 64, thereby raising or lowering thefeed block 62. Thegate 26 is most easily set to the correct value for the thickness of paper to be processed by opening the gate, inserting a sheet of the paper between thefriction pad 66 and thedrive belt 42 and then closing the gate until the sheet is almost trapped. This ensures that no more than one sheet of paper at a time can pass through the gate. The adjustment knobs 68 are easily accessible during use of the machine so the size of thegate 26 can be fine-tuned during operation. - An alternative arrangement (not illustrated) is possible, in which the vertical position of the
bracket 64 is adjustable relative to the frame of the machine, preferably by means an adjustment knob similar to those illustrated. It is preferred that at least one of the feed blocks 62 should still be adjustable relative to the bracket in order that independent adjustment of the two feed blocks 62 remains possible, for example in case the twodrive belts 42 should wear down at different rates. - A
front face 70 of eachfeed block 62 faces upstream towards thefeed deck 4. When a stack ofsheets 65 is placed on thefeed deck 4, as shown schematically by dot-dash lines inFIG. 4 , the stack slides on thefeed rollers 22 down the inclined surface of thefeed deck 4 until the front edges of the sheets in thestack 65 come to rest against thefront face 70 of thefeed block 62. Thefront face 70 at least partly forms an acute angle with the plane of thefeed deck 4, which allows the lower sheets in the stack to travel further than the upper sheets and deforms at least the lower part of thestack 65 into a wedge. Successive sheets in the stack are thereby slightly offset from one another along thefeed direction 24, which begins the process of separating them to pass individually through thegate 26. It is preferred that a first,lower portion 72 of thefront face 70 is inclined at an angle of less than 45° to the feed deck and preferably at between 25° and 30°. A second,upper portion 73 of the front face which merges smoothly into thelower portion 72, need not be inclined at such a sharp angle. The angle between theupper portion 73 and thefeed deck 4 may suitably be anywhere between 45° and 90° but a value between 60° and 70° is preferred. - The shapes of the
feed block 62 and thefriction pad 66 are shown in more detail inFIGS. 7 to 9 , while their particular dimensions in the illustrated embodiment are marked onFIGS. 10 and 11 . - It is believed that the geometry close to the gate is most important in producing a reliable sheet feeder, i.e. one that can rapidly and consistently transport one sheet at a time through the gate without jamming. The bottom of the
feed block 62 is defined by abottom face 74 that is generally parallel to the surface of thedrive belt 42. Thebottom face 74 is smoothly connected to thelower portion 72 of thefront face 70 by a curvedtransitional surface 76. As best seen inFIG. 9 , the lower part of eachfeed block 62 takes the form of two sidewalls 78 with arecess 80 between them. Thebottom face 74 of eachfeed block 62 therefore in fact comprises a pair of discrete surfaces on the respective sidewalls 78. Thefriction pad 66 is mounted in therecess 80 between the sidewalls 78 so that it projects slightly below thebottom face 74 of thefeed block 62. Thefriction pad 66 is bounded by a generallycylindrical surface 82, except that at the lowermost part of the projecting portion, thecylindrical surface 82 is replaced by aflat surface 84 parallel to thedrive belt 42. It is therefore theflat surface 84 of thefriction pad 66 that defines thegate 26. The projecting portion of thefriction pad 66 also comprises on its upstream side an exposedsection 85 of thecylindrical surface 82 that is inclined at a sharp angle (less than 45°) to thedrive belt 42. It is important to note that thefriction pad 66 does not intersect theplane 86 that is defined by thelower portion 72 of thefront face 70 of the feed block, as indicated by a dashed line inFIG. 7 . - It is possible that the
lower portion 72 of the front face of thefeed block 70 may be gently curved, rather than truly straight, and therefore not define a true plane over its whole length. In that case, theplane 86 in question, which is not intersected by thefriction pad 66, is that tangent to the lowest part of thelower portion 72 before it transitions into thebottom face 74 via thecurved surface 76. - The
friction pad 66 is formed from a resilient material such as rubber or, preferably, polyurethane. Polyurethane has been found to work with a Type A Shore hardness of 65, 80 or 90. Because thefriction pad 66 is resilient rather than completely rigid, and because the geometry of the gate is important, means need to be provided to mount thepad 66 securely in therecess 80. Thepad 66 is fixed at two points to prevent it pivoting. At each fixing point a horizontal bore passes through thepad 66 and is lined with a metal (e.g. steel)bush 88 that is internally threaded. Fourbolts 90 are then passed through apertures in the opposing side walls 78 of thefeed block 62 and are screwed into the each end of eachbush 88 to secure thefriction pad 66 against movement. - The feed blocks 62 may be manufactured from any suitable, rigid material, for example aluminium or an aluminium alloy. It is preferred that the surfaces of the feed blocks 62 and in particular the
front surfaces 70 that contact the stack of paper should be anodized to provide them with a smooth and durable finish.
Claims (22)
1. A sheet feeder comprising:
a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed;
a feed block;
a drive belt for frictionally engaging the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack and urging the sheet below the feed block along a feed direction;
wherein the feed block comprises:
a friction pad that projects from the bottom of the feed block towards the drive belt to define a gate therebetween; and
a first front face immediately upstream from the gate, the first front face defining a plane inclined at a first angle to the feed direction;
wherein the friction pad does not intersect the plane of the first front face.
2. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the first angle is less than 45°.
3. The sheet feeder according to claim 2 , wherein the first angle is between 25° and 30°.
4. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the feed block further comprises a second front face upstream from the first front face, the second front face being inclined to the feed direction at a second angle that is greater than the first angle.
5. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the feed block further comprises a lower face, which is located downstream from the first front face and which faces the drive belt, the friction pad projecting from the bottom of the feed block below the lower face.
6. The sheet feeder according claim 5 , wherein lower face of the feed block defines a plane that is substantially parallel to the feed direction; the feed block further comprising a curved surface that effects a smooth transition from the first front face to the lower face.
7. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the friction pad comprises a pad lower face that is substantially parallel to the feed direction.
8. The sheet feeder according to claim 7 , wherein the friction pad further comprises a pad front face that adjoins an upstream end of the pad lower face, the pad front face being inclined at an angle of less than 45° to the feed direction where it adjoins the pad lower face.
9. The sheet feeder according to claim 8 , wherein the pad front face is part of a substantially cylindrical surface that surrounds the friction pad except in the region of the pad lower face.
10. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the friction pad is polyurethane.
11. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the friction pad has a Type A Shore hardness in the range 50 to 100.
12. The sheet feeder according to claim 11 , wherein the material of the friction pad has a Type A Shore hardness in the range 85 to 95.
13. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the feed block comprises a pair of sidewalls and a recess in the bottom of the feed block extending between the sidewalls, the friction pad being mounted in the recess.
14. The sheet feeder according to claim 13 , wherein the friction pad comprises at least two bores therein, the friction pad being mounted in the recess by at least two fixings that pass through the sidewalls of the feed block and engage with the bores.
15. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the feed block is aluminium or an aluminium alloy; and wherein at least the first front face of the feed block is anodized.
16. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 comprising a pair of the drive belts positioned on opposite sides of a centreline of the feeder and pair of the feed block aligned with respective ones of the drive belts.
17. The sheet feeder according to claim 16 , wherein the pair of feed blocks are mounted on a common bracket, which is in turn mounted on a frame of the sheet feeder.
18. The sheet feeder according to claim 17 , further comprising means for adjusting the height of at least one of the feed blocks relative to the bracket.
19. The sheet feeder according to claim 17 , further comprising means for adjusting the height of the bracket relative to the frame.
20. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , further comprising a counter-rotating pair of acceleration rollers downstream from the gate for gripping a sheet between them and accelerating the sheet away from the gate.
21. The sheet feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the feed deck is inclined to the horizontal and wherein the feed deck comprises a plurality of feed rollers, each of which is free to spin about a generally horizontal axis.
22. The sheet feeder according to claim 21 , further comprising at least one guide plate arranged in a vertical plane and transversely to a set of the rollers, the set of rollers defining a plane that is tangent to the tops of the rollers wherein a lower edge of the guide plate projects below the plane between adjacent pairs of the rollers.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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PCT/GB2011/052241 WO2013072648A1 (en) | 2011-11-16 | 2011-11-16 | Sheet feeders |
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US20150035223A1 US20150035223A1 (en) | 2015-02-05 |
US20150321865A9 true US20150321865A9 (en) | 2015-11-12 |
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US (1) | US9567173B2 (en) |
EP (1) | EP2780270B1 (en) |
CA (1) | CA2891756C (en) |
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DK (1) | DK2780270T3 (en) |
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HR (1) | HRP20160449T1 (en) |
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SI (1) | SI2780270T1 (en) |
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CN104392541B (en) * | 2014-10-13 | 2017-03-22 | 广州广电运通金融电子股份有限公司 | Banknote sorting device and radial clearance adjusting method thereof |
CN107826356B (en) * | 2017-10-31 | 2020-07-07 | 青海海西东诺化工有限公司 | Automatic control method and device for paging machine |
CN109516248A (en) * | 2018-11-24 | 2019-03-26 | 宣城华艺包装科技有限公司 | Cardboard piles up separator |
CN112249743B (en) * | 2020-12-16 | 2021-06-08 | 佛山市金页盈信智能机械有限公司 | Paper delivery device |
Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3151863A (en) * | 1962-03-29 | 1964-10-06 | Monroe Int | Control for card feed |
US4718809A (en) * | 1985-03-13 | 1988-01-12 | Smh Alcatel | Device for unstacking flat objects |
Family Cites Families (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3664660A (en) | 1967-12-20 | 1972-05-23 | Ruenzi Kurt | Device for feeding flat objects to a processing machine |
CA1156274A (en) | 1980-06-27 | 1983-11-01 | Nicholas Danchak, Jr. | Roller normal force applicator for bottom article feeder |
US4555103A (en) | 1983-09-06 | 1985-11-26 | The Mead Corporation | Bottom level sheet feeding apparatus |
JP2001335175A (en) | 2000-05-24 | 2001-12-04 | Hitachi Ltd | Paper sheet discharge mechanism and automatic cash dispenser having this paper sheet discharge mechanism |
US7748696B2 (en) | 2005-03-16 | 2010-07-06 | Kaiping James C | Sheet feeder with feed belts and traction belt |
-
2011
- 2011-11-16 CA CA2891756A patent/CA2891756C/en active Active
- 2011-11-16 WO PCT/GB2011/052241 patent/WO2013072648A1/en active Application Filing
- 2011-11-16 ES ES11804743T patent/ES2570540T3/en active Active
- 2011-11-16 US US14/359,015 patent/US9567173B2/en active Active
- 2011-11-16 EP EP11804743.0A patent/EP2780270B1/en active Active
- 2011-11-16 DK DK11804743.0T patent/DK2780270T3/en active
- 2011-11-16 SI SI201130789A patent/SI2780270T1/en unknown
- 2011-11-16 HU HUE11804743A patent/HUE028933T2/en unknown
- 2011-11-16 RS RS20160275A patent/RS54710B1/en unknown
- 2011-11-16 PL PL11804743T patent/PL2780270T3/en unknown
-
2016
- 2016-04-25 CY CY20161100337T patent/CY1117468T1/en unknown
- 2016-04-26 HR HRP20160449TT patent/HRP20160449T1/en unknown
Patent Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3151863A (en) * | 1962-03-29 | 1964-10-06 | Monroe Int | Control for card feed |
US4718809A (en) * | 1985-03-13 | 1988-01-12 | Smh Alcatel | Device for unstacking flat objects |
Also Published As
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SI2780270T1 (en) | 2016-06-30 |
US20150035223A1 (en) | 2015-02-05 |
PL2780270T3 (en) | 2016-07-29 |
CA2891756A1 (en) | 2013-05-23 |
HUE028933T2 (en) | 2017-01-30 |
DK2780270T3 (en) | 2016-04-18 |
CA2891756C (en) | 2018-03-20 |
EP2780270A1 (en) | 2014-09-24 |
ES2570540T3 (en) | 2016-05-18 |
HRP20160449T1 (en) | 2016-05-20 |
EP2780270B1 (en) | 2016-02-03 |
RS54710B1 (en) | 2016-08-31 |
US9567173B2 (en) | 2017-02-14 |
WO2013072648A1 (en) | 2013-05-23 |
CY1117468T1 (en) | 2017-04-26 |
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