US3006276A - Paper feeders for presses - Google Patents

Description

c. F. DESLAURIERS ETAL 3,006,276

Oct. 31, 1961 PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9 Sheets-Sheet 1 ITI INVENTORS W. A.S HIE L DS BY C F. DESLAURIERS ATTORNE Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DESLAURIERS Er AL 3,006,276

` PAPER FEEDERS EOE PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 29, 1960 NN. f 1% wv ox\ .Q L J v EL vv mm w 8/ n mw Nw n@ $8 fm S SR MDE OLR TEU N NMA ESL v a mAb m WF. C Y B N .QE

Y Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DESLAURIERS Erm. 3,006,276

PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS W. A. SHIELDS Y C.'F.DESLA URIERS Oct. 31, 1961 Ac. F.1DEsLAUR1ERs ETAL 3,006,276

- PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9 SheelZS-Sheel'l '4 INVENTORS w. A .sHlEL Ds BY c. P oEsL AuRm- Rs La a. 741/ ATTORNEY Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DESLAURIERS ETAL PAPER FEEDERs FOR PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet '5 Filed Feb. 29, 1960 f I :un

INVENTORS w. A .l sHlEL Ds 5244/ ATTORNEY 9 Sheets-Sheet 4(5 s R SSE @www/ ma. im v550/ m mAD wf. A C Y B Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DEsLAURn-:Rs ETAL PAPER PEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 OCR 31, 1961 c. F. DESLAURIERS E1' AL 3,006,276

PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed Feb. 29, 1960 lNvENToRs w. A SHIEL DS C FDESLAURIERS BY ATTORNE Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DEsLAURu-:Rs Er AL 3,006,276

PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Filed Feb. 29, 1960 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Oct. 31, 1961 c. F. DEsLAURlERs ErAL PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 Filed Feb. 29, 1960 United States Patent O 3,006,276 PAPER FEEDERS FOR PRESSES Clovis F. Deslauriers, 310 W. 73rd St., New York, and

Walter A. Shields, Jamaica, N.Y.; said Shields assignor to said Deslauriers Filed Feb. 29, 1960, Ser. No. 11,774 12 Claims. (Cl. 101-279) This invention relates to paper feeders for presses and particularly to feeding corrugated paperboard to a press having a reciprocating bed arranged with a die and/or printing form and a roller rotating above and cooperating with the bed die to score and cut and/ or print the paperboard fed to the roller.

It is an object of the invention to provide a feeder which adjusts itself to the paper sheets which vary not only in size, weight and thickness but vary from each other in that many sheets are curled and warped.

It is another object of the invention to automatically operate the feeder by the reciprocatory movement of the press bed which facilitates adjusting the press and feeder with a full paper hopper without causing the feeding of a sheet and facilitates freeing of a jammed sheet.

It is another object of the invention to reduce the number of moving parts whereby the feeder cannot be easily damaged.

It is another object of the invention to provide a kicker bar which will not be damaged if rear guide members of the paper hopper are set too close to the kicker bar.

It is another object of the invention to provide a kicker bar which does not require skilled personnel to adjust the press to a specific position before adjusting the kicker bar to feed a desired size of paper sheets.

It is a further object of the invention to provide the feeder with exible delivering members automatically adjusted to desired positions during the delivering of a sheet from the kicker bar to the press roller whereby the proper feeding of curled or warped sheets is assured.

A further object of the invention is to provide guide members for the paper hopper which are readily adjusted and secured in adjusted positions.

Another further object of the invention is to provide stop members arranged with resilient fingers and a side register buler mechanism for adapting the feeder to accurately feed paper sheets of less width than the maximum width handled by the feeder.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description of the invention.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of our paper feeder mounted on a press;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the paper feeder looking from the line 2 2 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a rear view of the feeder looking from the line 3 3 of FIGURE l in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 4 4 of FIGURE 3 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing a stack of paper sheets supported in a hopper with the kicker bar in its rearmost position;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 showing the kicker bar in an advanced feeding position;

FIGURE 5a is a fragmentary sectional view of a modified form of kicker bar and rear guide members;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 6 6 of FIGURE 2 looking in the direction of the arrows and showing the flexible delivering members positioned to receive a paper sheet from the kicker bar;

ICC

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 showing the exible delivering members positioned to deliver the paper sheet to the press roller;

FIGURE 8 is a front view, on an enlarged scale, looking in the direction of the arrows from the line 8 8 of FIGURE 1 to show the adjustable mounting of front and side guide members of the hopper;

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9 9 of FIGURE 8 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the adjustable mounting of a front guide member;

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 10-10 of FIGURE 9 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the vertical adjustable mounting of the front guide member;

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view taken on the line 11 11 of FIGURE 8 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the adjustable mounting of a side guide member;

FIGURE 12 is a rear view, on an enlarged scale, looking from the line 12-12 of FIGURE 1 in the direction of the arrows to show adjusting means for the flexible delivering members and for paper stop members positioned at the delivery end of the ilexible delivering members;

FIGURE 13 is a side view of the adjusting means shown in FIGURE 12;

FIGURE 14 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 14 14 of FIGURE 4 looking in the direction of the arrows to show an adjustable mounting of the kicker bar and means to retain a rear guide member of the hopper in adjusted position with one side of the hopper, kick-er bar and rear guide member broken away;

FIGURE l5 is a sectional view taken on the line 15-15 of FIGURE 14 looking in the direction of the arrows to show the adjustable mounting of the kicker bar;

FIGURE 16 is a top view of a resilient linger mounted on the kicker bar for engaging the lowermost paper sheet in a stack of paper sheets in the hopper;

FIGURE 17 is a fragmentary plan view of the delivery end portions of the ilexible delivering members and the press roller showing the paper stop members arranged with resilient lingers and a side register buffer mechanism to adapt the feeder for small size paper sheets;

FIGURE 18 is a side view of the buffer mechanism looking from the line 18-18 of FIGURE 17 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 19 is a fragmentary side view, on an enlarged scale, of a paper stop member and a resilient linger relative to the press roller;

FIGURE 20 is a rear view, on an enlarged scale, of the buffer mechanism looking from the line 20 20 of FIGURE 19 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 2l is a side view of the bulfer mechanism looking at the right hand side of FIGURE 20;

FIGURE 22 is a view similar to FIGURE 19 showing the paper sheet being engaged by the press roller lingers ang the ilexing of the resilient linger by said engagement; an

FIGURE 23 is a cross sectional view of the buffer mechanisrn taken on the line 23-23 of FIGURE 20 looking in the direction of the arrows. I

The invention is illustrated in association with a press used for scoring and cutting sheets of corrugated paperboard in a predetermined arrangement to form a carton or box and in some instances printing on said corrugated paperboard simultaneously with the scoring and cutting operation. Only the paper feeding end portion of the press is shown and includes a frame 17 reciprocally supporting ra bed 18 on a horizontal plane below a roller 19 rotatably supported between vertically spaced standards 20 of the frame 17 by a power driven shaft 21 extending transversely of the bed 18, as shown in FIGURE l. The bed 18 is arranged to carry a die form 22 to be reciprocated below the roller 19 in contact with a corrugated paperboard sheet being moved by theroller. The mechanisms for reciprocating the bed and rotating the roller have been omitted as they do not form a part of the invention. The reciprocatory movement of the bed 18 is cushioned by a pair of aircushion cylinders 23 mounted on each end of the frame 17 and a corresponding pair of pistons 24 carried by the opposite ends of the bed 18 to enter the corresponding cylinders 23 as the bed approaches said cylinders. There are shown only the pair of aircushion cylinders 23 at the rear of the frame 17 which cushion the retrograde movement of the bed 18. A corrugated paperboard sheet is moved by the roller 19 by the rotation of the roller and by having the forward end portion of said sheet gripped by a row of spaced iingers 24','FIGURES 7 and 22, pivoted within the roller and extended through an opening 25 in the roller to grip the sheet against an edge of said opening 25.

The embodiment of the invention includes a hopper for supporting la stack of corrugated paperboard comprising a bed 26 supported from the frame 17 by a pair of -braces 27 xed at the bottom to a base of the frame 17 and iixed at the top to the rear end of the bed 26 and a pair of braces 28 xed at the bottom to the top of the frame 17 Vand at the top to the front end of the bed 26. The braces 27 and 28 extend from the `frame 17 at diverging angles and the upper ends of the braces 28 terminate in a lower horizontal plane than the yupper ends of the braces 27 so that the hopper bed 26 will decline from the braces 27 to the braces 28 at an angle to the press bed 18, as shown in FIGURE 1. The corrugated paperboard sheets, as shown at s in FIGURES 4, 5, a, 6 and 7, are retained in vertical alignment on the hopper bed 26 by front guide members 29, side guide'membe'rs 30 and rear guide members 31. The front guide members 29 and the side guide members 30 are adjustably supported by a slide-bar 32 supported at the ends from the braces 28 by standards 33 with the slide-bar extending transversely above the front end of the hopper bed. The front guide members 29 are in the -form of two vertical strips, each strip having a pair of spaced guideway members 34 iixed thereto for the sliding engagement of a bracket 35 having the lower portion slidably mounted on the slide-bar 32, as at 36, and a Alateral extension 37 -at the upper end of the bracket 35. The front guide member 29 is adjustably connected to the bracket 35 by an adjustment screw 38 rotatably supported in a lateral extension 39 of the fro-nt guide member and engaged in a screw-threaded opening in the lateral extension 37 whereby turning the screw 38 in one direction will raise the front guide member 29 and the turning of the screw 38 in the opposite direction will lower the front guide member 29. The bracket 35 is retained in adjusted position on the slide-bar 32 by yan abutment screw 40 adjustably mounted in the sliding portion 36 to abut Vthe slide-bar 32, as shown in FIGURES 8 and 9. The

iront guide members 29 are adjusted by the screws 38 t0 position the lower edges of the front guide members 29 a distance above the hopper bed 26 slightly greater than the thicknesses of the sheets of corrugated paperboard supported by the hopper bed 26 to permit feeding of the Vlowermost sheet from the hopper bed 26. The sliding adjustment of the brackets 35 on the slide-bar 32 permits the proper guiding of sheets of corrugated paperboard of different widths.

The side guide ymembers 30 are in the form of two vertical strips, each strip having an angle member 41 attached to said strip and to a slider 42 slidable on the slidebar 32 and having an abutment screw 43 to abut the slidebar and retain the slider 42 and the side guide member 30 in adjusted position. The sliding 4adjustment of the sliders 42 will move the side guide members toward and away from each other to accommodate corrugated paperboard of different widths.

The rear guide members 31 are in the form of quadrilaterals having parallel top and bottom portions 44, 45, respectively, and rear and front portions 46, 47, respectively, converging from the bottom portion 45 with the rear portion 46 extending from the bottom portion 45 at a more acute angle than the front portion 47, as shown in FIG- URES l, 4 and 5. In the present illustration of the invention, there are shown four guide members 31 but the number c-an be varied depending on the size of the feeder and the type of paper being fed. The guide members 31 are spaced along a bar 48 with said guide members xed to the bar at the bottom portions 45 adjacent to the front portions 47 and the rear portions of the guide members 31 supported by a foot 49 attached to each bottom portion 45 ladjacent to each rear portion 46, as shown in FIGURES l, 3, 4 and 5. The bar 48 and feet 49 are slidably supported on the hopper bed 26 with the opposite ends of the bar lterminating at the opposite sides of the bed 26. The bar 48 is adjusted toward and away from the front and side guide members 29 and 30, respectively, to accommodate sheets s of dilferent lengths. Due to the inclination of the front portions 47 of the guide members 31, the rear edges of the lowermost sheets are engaged by said portions 47 with the rear edges of the uppermost sheets gradually spaced from said portions 47 with the front edges of the sheets above the lowermost sheet abutting the front guide members 29, as shown in FIG- URES 4 and 5, so that the sheets Will extend in a plane converging with the plane of the hopper bed 26 at the rear of the front guide members 29 for a purpose to be described hereinafter. The lowermost sheet will be in register with the space between the hopper bed and the bottom edges of the front guide members 29. The rear guide member bar 48 is retained in adjusted position by clamping members comprising a hand lever 50 pivoted on a bracket 51 xed to each end of the bar 48 and the lever 50 connected by a pair of links 52 to an arm 53 pivoted on the bracket 51 and having an adjustable abutment 54 to engage a side member of a supporting frame 55 of the hopper bed 26, as shown in FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 14.

During the reciprocation of the press bed 18 toward the press roller 19, the lowermost sheet s on the hopper bed 26 is lfed below the front guide members 29V by a kicker bar 56 supported to reciprocate in a plane parallel to and above the hopper bed 26 by a plate 57 slidably mounted below the hopper bed 26 by rod bearings V58 mounted at the opposite ends in supporting members 59 fixed to the front and rear members of the frame 55, as shown in FIGURES l, 3, 4, 5, 8, 14 and l5. The plate 57 is supported on the bearings 58 by journals 60 fixed to the bottom of the plate 57 and slidable on the bearings 58.` The kicker bar 56 is adjustably supported on the plate 57 by a pair of channeled guideways 61 fixed to the top of the plate 57 and having opposed flanges 62 at the top of the channel. The top portion of each guideway 61V extends in a slot 63 of a pair of parallel slots extending from the rear edge and spaced from the front edge of the hopper bed, as shown in FIGURE 2. A clamping member 64 is slidable in each guideway 61 and is provided with a Vertical projection 65 to extend between and above the anges 62. The kicker bar 56 is releasably connected to each vertical projection 65 by a screw 66 rotatable in the kicker bar and screw-threaded in each clamping member 64 whereby the loosening of the screws 66 will permit adjustment of the clamping members 64 and kicker bar 56 in the guide members 61 and the tightening of the screws 66 will draw the clamping members 64 against the anges 62 and draw the projections 65 against the kicker bar 56, as shown in FIGURE 14.

The kicker bar 56 is provided with spaced fingers 67 vof resilient material, such as spring steel, each finger having one end bent to right angle shape and secured to the ont of the kicker bar 56, as shown at 68 in FIG- URES 15 and 16, with the major portion of the nger bent at an obtuse angle to the right angled portion 68 and extended rearwardly over the kicker bar 56. The free end of each nger 67 is provided with an abutment member 69 xed to the upper surface of the finger with the forward edge of the abutment member serrated, as at 70 in FIGURE 16, and the rear edge portion curved downwardly, as at 71 in FIGURE l5, to facilitate the retrograde movement of the kicker bar 56 below the stack of sheets s on the hopper bed 26. The diverging position of the stack of sheets s will also facilitate the retrograde movement of the kicker bar 56. The serrated edges 70 of the resilient ngers 67 will assure the firm engagement of the rear edge of the lowermost sheet s on the hopper bed 26, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5.

The kicker bar 56 is reciprocated by the movement of the press bed 18 through the air pressure in the aircushion cylinders 23. This is accomplished by a twoway air cylinder 72 mounted on the rear portion of the frame 55 and the front end of the cylinder 72 is connected by a hose 73 in air communication with the aircushion cylinders 23 mounted at the rear end of the frame 17, as shown in FIGURES l and 3, and the rear end of the cylinder 72 is connected by a hose 74 in air communication with the aircushion cylinders 23 mounted at the front of the frame 17. A piston 75, FIGURE 4, is carried by a bracket 76 iixed to the bottom of the plate 57 and the piston 75 is mounted in the two-way air cylinder 72 whereby the forward movement of the press bed 18 toward the press roller 19 will create air pressure in the cylinders 23 at the front of the frame 17 and force said air pressure into the rear end of the two-way air cylinder 72 which will force the piston 75 to the front of the two-way air cylinder 72 and actuate the kicker bar 56 toward the front and side guide members 29 and 30, respectively, to engage the abutment members 69 w-ith the rear edge of the lowermost sheet and move said sheet under the front guide members 29. The retrograde movement of the press bed 18 away from the press roller 19 will create air pressure in the aircushion cylinders 23 at the rear of the press frame 17 and cause the delivery of said air pressure to the front end of the two-way air cylinder 72 and the actuation of the piston 75 to the rear of the two-way air cylinder and of the kicker bar 56 toward the rear guide members 31 to position the abutment members 69 behind the rear edge of the lowermost sheet in the stack. The kicker bar 56 is urged toward the rear guide member bar 48 by a spring 77 anchored at one end to the rear portion of the frame 55 and the opposite end of the spring 77 is connected to a post 78 extended from the bottom of the plate 57, as shown in FIGURES 4, 5 and 14. The reciprocatory movements of the plate 57 are limited by said plate abutting the supporting members 59, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5.

FIGURE 5a shows a modified form of kicker bar and rear guide members. Said modified kicker bar comprises a bar 138 of greater `width than vthe bar 56 but of approximately the length of the kicker bar 56, as shown in FIGURE 2. The lbar 138 is provided with the bevelled-faced recesses 139 and 140 in the opposite edge portions, the recess 139 being deeper than the recess 140 to accommodate paper sheets of greater thickness. The -bar 138 is adjustably connected to the plate 57 by the guideways 61, the clamping members 64 and the screws 66 in the same manner as the kicker bar 56. The modied rear guide members comprise a U-shaped bar having leg portions 141 resting on the opposite side portions of the hopper bed 26 with a connecting portion 142 extending in a plane above the path of movement of the kicker bar 138. The rear guide bar 141, 142 Iis provided with vertical guide members 143 having laterally extending ears 144 secured to equidistantly ,spaced portions of the bar portion 142 .to engage the rear edges of the paper sheets s and abut the front edges of v,the paper sheets against the front guide members 29,. The

rear guide bar 141, 142 is retained in adjusted position on the hopper bed 26 in the same manner as the rear guide bar 48 by the clamping members 50-54 mounted on the leg portions 141 of said rear guide bar 141, 142. To feed paper sheets of greater thickness than that shown in FIGURE 5a, the screws 66 are removed from the kicker bar 138 and the clamping members 64 and the position of the kicker bar 138 is reversed to position the recess 139 to engage the rear edge portion of the lowermost paper sheet s on the hopper bed 26. After reversing the kicker bar 138, the screws 66 are replaced in openings 145 in the kicker bar 13-8 adjacent to the recess 139.

The forward edge portion of the lowermost sheet s after it passes below the front guide members 29 is engaged by means to deliver said sheet to a position to be engaged by the fingers 24' of the press roller 19. Said means comprises two series of endless belts 79 and 80, the series of belts 79 being superposed to the series of belts `80. 'I'he upper series of belts 79 are supported by rollers 81 and l82 secured to spaced portions of the shafts 83 and 84, respectively. The opposite ends of the shaft 83 are rotatable in bearings 85 pivotally mounted on the standards 33, as shown at 86 in FIGURES 1, 2, 4 and 5. The opposite ends of the shaft 84 are rotatably supported in bearings 87 xed on one end of arms l88 having the opposite ends rotatable on the shaft 83 adjacent to the bearings 85. The lower series of belts are supported by rollers 89 and 90 secured to spaced portions of shafts 91 and 92, respectively. The opposite ends of the shaft 91 are rotatable in bearings 93 supported on the braces 28. The opposite ends of the shaft 92 are rotatable in bearings 94 supported by the press frame 17. By the pivotal mountings of the rollers 81 and 812, the opposite end portions of the upper series of belts 79 are individually adjustable toward and away from the corresponding end portions of the lower series of belts 80. The rollers 81, 82, 89 and 90 are equidistantly spaced from each other on the respective shafts 83, 84, 91 and 92. The rollers 81 and 89 are of the same diameter, and the rollers 82 and 90 are of the same diameter and smaller than the diameters of the rollers 81 and 89 so that the upper and lower stretches of each series of belts 79 and 80 converge from the rollers 81 and 89 to the rollers 82 and 90, as shown in FIGURES l, 6 and 7.

During the entire feeding operation, the belts 79 and 80 are continuously actuated to travel in the same direction by an electric motor 95 mounted on one of the braces 28, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, and connected by a belt -96 to one end of the shaft 91 so that the lower series of belts 80 are driven directly from the motor 95. The shaft 91 is operatively connected to the shaft 83 by meshing gears 97 fixed on said shafts 91 and 83 and having their teeth more deeply cut than usual to assure engagement with one another in all adjusted positions of the shaft 83, as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. As shown by the arrows in FIGURE 6, the shafts 83 and 91 are rotated in opposite directions so that the lower stretches of the belts 79 -will travel in the same direction as the upper stretches of the belts 80.

The shaft 83 is adjusted toward and away from the shaft 91 by a cam disk 98 secured on a shaft 99 rotatably supported in the press frame 17 and rotated by the mechanisms of the press, not shown. A cam follower 100 is rotatable on one end of an arm 101 pivoted on a stud 102 extended from the press frame 17, so that the follower 100 will engage the cam disk 98, as shown in FIG- URES l, 12, and 13. An intermediate portion of the arm 101 is pivotally connected to one end of a link 103 having the opposite end pivotally connected to a doublearm crank 104 secured on one end of a shaft 105 rotatably supported on opposite side members ofthe prfs frame 17 so that the shaft 105 is extended transversely of the frame 17. The crank 104 is pivotally connected to one end of a rod 106 having the opposite end pivotally connected to one of the bearings 85, as shown at 107 in FIGURES 1 and 2. The opposite end of the shaft 105 is arranged with a single arm crank 108 pivoted to the lower end of a rod 109 having its upper end pivoted to the other bearing 85, as shown at 110 in FIGURES 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The follower 100 is urged into engagement with the disk 98 by springs 111 anchored to the press frame 17 and connected to the connections 107 and 110. The shaft 84 is adjusted toward and away yfrom the shaft 92 by a cam disk 112 secured to the shaft 99 and engaged by a follower 113 rotatable on an intermediate portion of an arm 114 rotatable at one end on the stud 102 and the opposite end of said arm 114 pivoted to one end of a link-115 having the opposite end pivoted to one arm of a double-arm crank 116 secured to one end of a shaft 117 rotatably supported at both end portions on the press frame 17. The other arm of the crank 116 is pivotally connected to one end of a rod 118 having the other end pivotally connected at 119 toY one of the arms 88 adjacent to one of the bearings 87. 'Ihe other end of the` sha-ft 117 is providedwith a single arm crank 120 pivotally connected to arod 121 pivotally connected to the other arm 88 adjacent to the other bearing 87, as shown at 122 in FIGURES 6 and 7. 'IThe -follower 113 is urged into engagement with the disk 112 by springs 123 anchored to the press frame 17 and connected to the connections 119 and 122.

The cam disks 98 and 112 are arranged as shown in FIGURES 1, 12 and 13, whereby the high portion of the Ycam disk 98 will engage the follower 100 and raise the rollers 81 from the rollers 89 to position the adjacent portions of the lower stretches of the belts 79 in spaced relation to the corresponding portions of the upper stretches of the belts 80 to receive the forward edge portion of the lowermost sheet s being advanced below the front guide members 29 by the finger abutments 69, or either of the recesses 139 or 140, as shown in FIGURE 6. When said sheet s has been advanced by the belts 79, 80 to a point Where the forward edge portion of the sheet s approaches the press roller 19, the high portion of the cam disk 112 will engage the lfollower 113 raising the rollers 82 from the rollers 90 whereby the lower stretches of the belts 79 will be out of contact with the sheets, as shown in FIGURE 7. The raising of the opposite portions of the belts 79 facilitates the handling of curled facilitates the engagement of the forward edge portion of the sheet s' by the fingers 24 of the press roller 19.

When the high portion of the cam disk 98 engages the follower 100, the low portion of the cam disk 112 will engage the follower 113, and when the high portion of the cam disk 112 engages the follower 113, the low portion of the cam disk 98 will engage the follower 100. As shown in FIGURES 6, 7 and 13, the high portion of the cam disk 112 is of greater extent than the high portion of the cam disk 98 so that the rollers 82 will be raised to a greater distance and for a longer period of time than the rollers 81.

The forward portion of the sheet s is held in the declining angle of the hopper bed 26 and the upper stretches of the lower belts 80 to be engaged by the fingers 24 of the press roller 19. This Vis iaccomplished by a pair f stop members 124, each member adjustably mounted `on a bracket 125 adjustable ona shaft 126 rotatably supported at the opposite ends in bearings 127 mounted on the press frame 17, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

` Side guides 128 are secured on the shaft 126 and a transverse guide 'roller 129 is supported by the side guides 128, as shown in FIGURES 6 and 7, to center the sheet relative to the press roller 19. The stop members 124 and the side guides 128 are adjusted to extend in the plane of the hopper bed 26 and the upper stretches of the lower belts 80 when the rollers 82 are positioned adja- Ycent to the rollers 90 and the stop members 124 and side guides 128 are adjusted to extend at 4a vdeclining angle from the plane of the hopper bed 26 and the upper stretches of the lower belts when the rollers 82 are spaced from the rollers 90. This is accomplished by a cam disk 130 secured on the shaft 99 and engaged by a follower 131 rotatable on a forked end 132 of a rod 133 having the opposite end pivoted to a sleeve 134 adjustably mounted on a rod 135 secured to the shaft 126. The forked end 132 straddles the shaft 99, as shown in FIG- URES l, 12 and 13. VThe follower 131 is urged into engagement with the disk 130 by a spring 136 anchored to the press frame 17 and connected to a projection 137 fixed to the shaft 126. The shaft 99 is rotated in synchronism with the rotation of the press roller 19 so that the cams 98, 112, 130 yadjust the rollers 81, 82 and the stop members 4124 in unison with the positioning of the lingers 24 into engagement with the forward edge portion of the sheet s. Y

To accommodate paper sheets s of less width than the width of the feeder as shown in FIGURES 17 to 23, inclusive, there are provided stop members 146 similar to the stop members 124 but said stop members 146 are fixed to or integral with brackets 147 adjustably mounted on the shaft 126, so that the stop members 146 are adjusted in the same manner as the stop members 124 by the cam disk 130 and follower 131, The sheet s is frie- Itionally retained on the stop members 147 by resilient fingers 148, such as spring steel, carried by brackets 149 adjustably mounted on a shaft 150 secured at the opposite ends in brackets 151 mounted on the standards 20. The brackets 147 and 149 are adjusted on the shafts 126 and 150, respectively, so that the resilient fingers 148 will extend longitudinally of the stop members 146 with the paper sheet s fed between the stop members 146 and the resilient ngers 148, as shown in FIGURE 19. Each pair of stop member and resilient finger is adjusted along the shafts in spaced relation to adjacent pairs of stop members and resilient fingers, the spaces between the pairs of stop members and resilient fingers depending on the Iwidth of the paper sheets being fed. When the iinygers 24 of the press roller 19 engage the paper sheet s, the fingers 148 will be flexed, as shown in FIGURE 22. For the purpose of illustration, there are shown four stop members 146 and resilient fingers 148 which are adjusted on the shafts 126 and 150, respectively, to engage a paper sheet having a width of approximately twothirds of the maximum width handled by the feeder shown. In FIGURES 1, 2, 6 and 7, there are shown only two stop members 124, and it is understood that the number of stop members 124 may be increased according to the type of paper sheets being handled. T o maintain the paper sheet centrally of the stop members 146 and the resilient fingers 148, there is provided a side register buffer mechanism comprising a plate 152 having the rear edge portion curved outwardly, as at 153, to facilitate the forward movement of the paper sheet s. Said plate 152 is secured to a rod 154 slidably supported in bearings 155 adjustably suspended from the shaft 150. The plate 152 is reciprocated toward and away from a side edge of the paper sheet to properly position said paper sheet between the stop members 146 and the resilient fingers 148 by the vertical movement of the press roller 19. The press roller 19 is moved in a vertical plane toward the press bed 18 during the forward movement of said press bed to apply pressure to the paper sheet rtraveling with the press bed and roller for scoring and cutting said paper sheet. To accomplish this, the opposite ends of the roller shaft 21 are rotatably supported in bearings 156 slidably supported in the standards 20 and yieldingly urged to their uppermost position by springs 157, as shown in FIGURES 1 and 18. Downward movement is imparted to the bearings 156 and the press roller 19 by mechanism associated with the press mechanismfor reciprocating the bed 18 and does not form a part of this invention. The downv'ward movement of the press roller 19 moves the plate A152 of the buifer mechanism toward the paper sheet s through a bell-crank 158 pivotally mounted on an extension 159 of one of the brackets 151 on the press standards 20 and having an arm pivotally connected to a bifurcated portion 160 of a sleeve 161 adjustably mounted on the rod 154. The other arm of the bellcrank 158 is arranged with a slot 162 for the adjustable mounting of a pivot 163 carried by one end of a link 164 pivotally supported at the opposite end on a bracket 165 mounted on one of the sliding bearings 156. 'I'he movement of vthe plate 152 of the buffer mechanism caused by the downward movement of the press roller 19 will adjust the paper sheet s laterally between the stop members 146 and the resilient fingers 148, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURES 17 and 20. The resiliency of the iingers 148 permits the paper sheet to slide between the stop members 146 and the lingers 148. The retrograde movement of the press bed 18 will raise the press roller 19 and move the plate 152 from its dotted line position to its full line position, as shown in FIGURES 17 and 20.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

l. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed and a rotating roller above the bed, a hopper having a bed supporting a stack of paper sheets at one end of the press bed, kicker bar slidably mounted below the plane of the hopper bed and extending transversely above said hopper bed, the opposite transverse edge portions of the kicker bar being recessed with one transverse edge portion recessed to a greater depth than the other recessed edge portion for feeding paper sheets of different thicknesses, means to reciprocate the kicker bar actuated by the reciprocation of the press bed, the kicker bar being removably mounted on the reciprocating means to position the proper recessed edge portion for engagement with the lowermost paper sheet on the hopper bed, and means to receive the lowermost paper sheet from the recessed edge portion and move said sheet to a position to be engaged by the press roller.

2. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed, a rotating roller above the press bed, air-cushion cylinders xedly spaced from the opposite ends of the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, pistons carried by the press bed to extend into the air-cushion cylinders and cushion the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, a hopper supporting a stack of paper sheets at one end of the press bed, a kicker bar slidably mounted to have movement longitudinally of the hopper and adapted to move the lowermost paper sheet from the stack, a two-way air cylinder having one end connected in air communication with the air-cushion cylinders at one end of the reciprocatory movement of the press bed and the other end of the two-Way air cylinder connected in air communication with the air-cushion cylinders at the opposite end of the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, a piston operatively mounted in the two-way air cylinder and connected to the kicker bar whereby the reciprocatory movement of the press bed reciprocates the kicker bar in the same direction, and means to receive the lowermost paper sheet from the kicker bar and move said sheet to a position to be engaged by the press roller.

3. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocatory bed and a rotating roller above the bed, a hopper for supporting a stack of paper sheets adjacent to one end of the press bed, a kicker bar slidably mounted and adapted to move the lowermost paper sheet from the stack toward the press bed, means to reciprocate the kicker bar toward and away from the press bed actuated by the reciprocation of the press bed, two series of continuously travelling spaced endless belts extending from the hopper to the press roller, one series superposcd to the other series and the opposite portions of the upper series of belts being adjustable toward and away from the lower series of belts, and means to adjust the portions of the upper series of belts adjacent to the hopper away from the lower series of belts and adjust the portions of the upper series of belts adjacent to the press roller toward the lower series of belts when the kicker bar is reciprocated toward the press bed to receive the lowermost paper sheet from the kicker bar and feed said sheet toward the press roller and adjust the portions of the upper series of belts adjacent to the press roller away from the lower series of belts and adjust the portions of the upper series of belts adjacent the hopper toward the lowe1 series of belts when the leading edge of the lowermost paper sheet between the series of belts approach the press roller to facilitate engagement of the leading edge of said paper sheet by the press roller.

4. In a paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, means to continuously impart travel to the lower series of belts, and means to transmit the continuous travel of the lower series of belts to the upper series of belts in all of the adjusted positions of the upper series of belts.

5. A paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, wherein the hopper is arranged with a bed extending in the plane of travel of the upper stretches of the lower series of belts.

6. A paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, wherein the upper and lower stretches of both the upper and lower series of belts converge toward each other from the hopper to the press roller. 1

7. In a paper feeder as claimed in claim 3, stop members adjustably mounted between the lower series of belts and the press roller, and means to adjust the stop members to extend in the line of travel of the upper stretches of the lower series of belts and position the lowermost paper sheet relative to the press roller when the portions of the upper series of belts adjacent the press roller are adjusted toward the lower series of belts and adjust the stop members out of the line of travel of the upper stretches of the lower series of belts when the portions of the upper series of belts adjacent the press roller are adjusted from the lower series of belts for admitting the lowermost paper sheet to be engaged by the press roller.

8. A paper feeder as claimed in claim 7, wherein the means to adjust the opposite portions of the upper series of belts and the means to adjust the stop members comprise separate cam disks rotated at the same rate of speed.

9. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed and a rotating roller adjustably mounted above the press bed and moved in a vertical plane toward the press bed during the forward movement of the press bed and moved away from the press bed during the retrograde movement of the press bed, a hopper for supporting a stack of paper sheets adjacent to one end of the press bed, a kicker bar slidably mounted and adapted to move the lowermost paper sheet from the stack toward the press bed, means to reciprocate the kicker bar toward and away from the press bed actuated by the reciprocation of the press bed, an upper and lower series of continuously traveling spaced endless belts extending from the hopper to the press roller to receive the lowermost paper sheet from the kicker bar and deliver said paper sheet to the press roller, stop members adjustably mounted between the lower series of belts and the press roller, means to adjust the stop members into and out of the line of travel of the upper stretches of the lower series of belts, a resilient nger mounted above each stop member to engage the upper face of the paper sheet resting on the stop member, a buffer plate reciprocatory toward and away from one side edge of the paper sheet positioned between the stop members and the resilient fingers to properly adjust said paper sheet between said stop members and resilient ngers, and means connected to said buffer plate and actuated by the vertical movement of the press roller to reciprocate the buffer plate toward the edge of the paper sheet during the movement of the press roller toward the press bed and reciprocate the buifer plate away from the edge of the paper sheet during the movement of the press roller away from the press bed.

l0. In a paper feeder for a press having a reciprocating bed and a rotating roller above the bed, a hopper having a bed supporting a stack of paper sheets at one end of the press bed and arranged with slots extending longitudinally of the hopper bed, supporting members suspended from the hopper bed adjacent the opposite ends of the slots,

bearings mounted in the supporting members to extend longitudinally below the hopper bed, a plate slidable on the bearings in a plane parallelly spaced below the hopper bed and limited in its sliding movementsby the supporting members, guideways mounted on the plate and eX- tended into the slots in the hopper bed and karranged with opposed anges, a kicker bar having clamping members mounted in the guideways to abut the opposed anges and adjustably connected to the kicker bar to secure the kicker bar to the guideways in adjusted position for accommodating different size paper sheets and the kicker bar arranged to engage the lowermost paper sheet of the stack, means connected Vto the plate and actuated by the reciprocation of the press bed to reciprocate the plate, guideways and the kicker bar and move the lowermost sheet from the stack, and means traveling between the hopper and press roller :and arranged to receive the lowermost paper sheet from the kicker bar and `feed said paper sheet to the press roller.

11. In a paper feeder as claimed in claim l0, -a spring connected to a rear portion of the hopper bed and to the plate to ,yieldin'gly urge the plate into engagement with the supporting members adjacent the rear ends of the slots.

12. In a paper feeder `as claimed in claim 10, airvcushion cylinders xedly spaced from the opposite ends of the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, pistons carried by the press bed to extend into the air-cushion cylinders and cushion the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, and the means to reciprocate the plate, guideways and kicker bar comprises a two-way air cylinder suspended from the rear portion of the hopper bed and having the rear end portion connected in air communication with the air-cushion cylinders at the front end of the reciprocatory movement of the press bed and the front end portion of the two-way air cylinder connected in air communication with the air-cushion cylinders at the rear end of the reciprocatory movement of the press bed, and a piston slidable in the two-way air cylinder and connected to the plate, whereby the forward movement of the press bed actuates the kicker bar to move the lowermost sheet from the stack and the rearward movement of the press bed actuates the kicker bar to the rear portion of the stack of paper sheets.

` References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,906,529 McWhorter et kal Sept. 29, 1959

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