Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1~60493
The invention relates to an apparatus for individually removing
sheets from a stack of sheets, for example, paper~or the like,
including a sheet stack support member and several power driven
sheet separating roller sets. More specifically, the invention
,relates to an apparatus for guiding and supplying individual
sheets from a stack through an office machine and out again
onto a sheet receiving stack.
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'', Sheet separating devices for paper sheets or the like are well
, known. These devices supply the sheets to office machines, such
-, as printers, duplicators, copiers or to other types of processing.
Prior art devices are constructed in such a manner that they
~,i must be adjusted precisely to the particular type of paper
thickness employed for any particular type of operation: If it
is necessary to change to anotherpaper thickness a careful new
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-~, adjustment must be made. The required adjustments make the con-
ventional paper feeders or sheet separators expensive and sub-
ject to trouble which may occur, because the adjustment has
changed during the operation. Further, the adjustments are
time consuming.
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In many office machines it is customary to use interfolded,
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!~ continuous sheets of paper or sets of office form. This is,
for example, the case in automatic typewriters, accounting
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machines,and data processing machines. Such continuous,
interfolded forms are provided with a row of apertures
running along one edge or margin of the sheet for assuring
a line true feed advance of the sheet in the machine. After
the continuous sheets have passed through the office machine,
they are separated from each other, and it is necessary to
remove the margin of apertured strip. This involves additional
labor and may even require additional machines which can remove
the margin. Thus, these machines have the common disadvantage
that pre-printed letterheads, invoice forms, and the like,
which are available as individual sheets only, cannot be used
in this type of machine which makes it necessary to have these
forms and letterheads prepared especlally for use in the just
described type of machine.
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OBJECTS OF THE INVF'NTION
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In view of the above, it is the aim of the invention to
achieve the following objects, singly or in combination:
to separate sheets of paper from a stack individually
and independently of the thickness of the paper sheets;
to provide an apparatus capable of separating paper
. sheets from a stack, whereby the individual sheets of paper
may have different thicknesses even in the same stack;
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, to construct the sheet separating apparatus in such
~,? 10 a manner that transporting more than one sheet or one set of sheets
., at a time regardless of the thickness of the sheets or sets of
,~ sheets will be avoided;
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to provide a sheet feeder which will supply individual
sheets without a perforated margin into office machines, such as
automatic typewriters, accounting machines, data processing
machines, copiers, and teletypewr~ters, whereby said feeding
; must be automatic and precise; and
i~ to feed sheets into machines of the type just mentioned
. while maintaining the supply magazine as well as the receiving
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magazine in a substantially horizontal position or in a position
which is only slightly slanted relative to the horizontal.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
,
According to the invention there is provided an apparatus for
individually removing or separating sheets from a stack, wherein
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1 the sheet stack support is constructed as a see-saw and
wherein a plurality of rollers cooperate with the see-saw
and with further elements for the sheet removal and advance
from the stack. One sheet at a time will pass through the
apparatus to avoid clogging. A spring urges the see-saw
type of support and thus the sheets of paper on the support
against a first set of rollers rotatably supported in the
housing of the apparatus. These rollers are motor driven.
A table or surface is arranged substantially adjacent to the
downstream end of the support and a further set of motor driven
rollers is arranged above the table. A stop surface or member
is arranged downstream and adjacent to the sheet stack support.
The table and the first set of rollers are arranged in such a
manner relative to each other that the line of contact between
~, the first set of rollers and the top sheet of the stack is
located substantially in the same plane as that defined by the
table. A separating gate is arranged below the table but
reaches through a cut-out in the table at an angle relative to
the table. The separating gate is located below the second
set of separating rollers. The top surface of the separating
gate is provlded with friction increasing cover means to retard
a second sheet that might have been advanced below and along
with the top sheet from a stack.
,
According to the invention, there is further provided a first
set of sheet guide means which supply the sheets or sets of
sheets individually from a sheet separating device as described
above, toward a roller such as the platen in a typewriter on
the back side or upstream side thereof and that a second set
of guide means is arranged to guide the sheets backwardly into
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a tray arranged above the supply tray. This combination of
elements makes it possible to use standard letterheads, pre-
printed forms, invoice forms and the like, witho~t any continuous
folding and also without any marginal perforation. The invention
has the further advantage that the subsequent separation of
sheets from an endless interfolded sheet supply becomes
uns~ecessary. Similarly, the removal of the perforated margin has
been avoided, according to the invention. A still further
advantage of the invention is seen in that ~t may be combined
with any conventional office machine and may also be removed as
an integral structural unit.
In summary of the above, therefore, the present inven-
tion provides a sheet feeding and receiving apparatus for direct- -
; ing sheets of paper to and receiving the sheets from platen means
in an office machine, comprising first driven roller means, a
pivotally mounted stack support, mean~ resiliently urging the
.
:~ leadlng edge of an upper sheet on the stack support against the
;j first roller means, a stop engaging the lower sheets on the
stack support, second positively driven roller means positioned
Al 20 downstream of the first roller means in the transport direction
,~ of sheets on the stack, a table ~urface positioned between the,~
fir~t and second roller means at substantially the same level as
the bottoms of the first roller means, whereby at least the first -
~' roller means separate a sheet from the stack and feed the
i separated sheet along the table surface toward the second roller
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means, sheet separating means for inhibiting the passage of more
than one sheet through the apparatus at a time, the apparatus
further comprising sheet guide means for deflecting the sheet
supplied by the sheet separating means by an angle in a downward
direction, a rece~ving stack support arranged substantially above
the pivotally mounted stack support, and second guide means
arranged above and downstream of the platen means for directing
sheets upwardly from below the platen means to the receiving
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stack support for storing sheets received from the platen.
The above combination of features according to the
invention has the further advantage that no adjustment of the
various elements relative to each other is necessary while
simultaneously sheets of paper having different thicknesses may
be processed. Even in one and the same stack the sheets may
have individually differing thicknesses.
BRIEF FIGURE DESCRIPTION
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In order that the invention may be clearly understood,
it will now be described, by way of example, w~th reference to
the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1, is a sectional view according to the present
invention specifically illustrating the sheet guide means and
the location of the sheet receiving tray substantially above the
sheet supply tray;
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1 Fig. 2 illustrates a top view onto the sheet separating
sets of rollers also showing the sheet separating
gate in dashed lines below the table over which
the sheets advance;
Fig. 3 is a top view onto the sheet separating gate; and
Fig. 4 is a sectional view through the sheet separating
gate according to Fig. 3
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED E~ IPLE EMBODIMENTS:
Fig. 1 illustrates the improvement according to the present
invention. The individual sheets 5 are removed from the
stack 19 and supplied to the platen 36 , for example, of a
typewriter or an accounting machine. From the platen the
sheets6 with the typing thereon are moved in the direction
of the arrow D and further in the direction of the arrow E
onto a receiving stack 48 held on a receiving tray 43 .
The sheet separator proper 21 is arranged in a housing 31 ,
the side walls of which support a sheet supply tray 41 in
see-saw fashion, the supply txay 4 is again lurched in the
direction of the arrow A by a spring 7. The downwardly bent
end - of the tray 4 provides a limit stop for the clockwise
movement of the tray 4. The sheets5 are placed manually
onto the tray 4 so that the leading edge of the sheets con-
tact the stop 8 extending substantially at right angles to
the feed advance direction F. The sheet separator 2 is also
supported in see-saw fashion on an axle g in the side walls
of the housing 3.
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1 A first sheet separating set of rollers 10 is arranged
above the stop 8 and above the supply stack 5. The
first sheet separator set comprises a plurality of rol-
lers 12 arranged in a row and supported on a horizontal
shaft 14 to which the rollers 12 are rigidly secured
against rotation. The shaft 14 is driven by a motor 16
' th,rough a gear belt 17,as indicated by the arrow B. Since the
spring 7 of the sheet supply tray 4 with the stack 5
thereon presses the whole tray upwardly against the rollers
, 10 12 , the leading end of the top sheet of the stack 5 contacts
,~ the rollers 12, The lowest generatrix of the rollers 12 is
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" substantially at a level of, a table 18 over which the sheets
,~ are individually transported. Preferably, the table 18' is
,'~ an integral unit with the stop 8 and bent substantially at
, right angles, as shown in Fig. 1.
'~ Above the table 18' as viewed in the transport direction F,
,,~ there are arranged downstream of the first set 10 , a further
'~ set of sheet separating rollers 20 comprising a plurality of
i" rollers 22 secured to a common shaft 15 driven by a gear
~i 20 belt 26 which derives its driving force from the motor 16:
q~;~ through the gear belt 1% The rollers 12 and the rollers 22
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have the same diameter. Preferably, the gear belt 26 provides
for an upward speed translation so that the rollers 20 run
faster than the rollers 12. Thus, the circumferencial speed
i of the rollers 22 is larger than that of the rollers 12_
The second set of rollers 20 is arranged above the cut-out
~,' l9j shown in Fig. 1, provided in the table 1~ and also in the
'' table of Fig. 2. The separator gate 28 is arranged to
, reach through this cut-out and tiltable about its tilt axis
29~ The tilting axis 29 is arranged below the table 18
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` 1 and the spring 27 urges the sheet separator gate 28
against the rollers 22. As described, the gate 28 is
also provided with a friction increasing means 31 as shown
in Fig. ~. The friction increasing means 31 are preferably
(or a coating~
provided in strips as best seen in Fig. 3. The stri ~ y,~
for example, be made of soft rubber having a relatively high
friction coefficient relative to paper so that the separated
paper sheets encounter a higher friction relative to the
separating gate 28 in the transport direction than on the
ta~le 18. The rubber strips extend above the level defined
: by the lowest generatrix of the rollers 22 so that a trans-
ported sheet will take on a slightly wavy, corrugated shape.
Further, as described, the rollers 12 and 22 are provided
with a free wheeling over drive or idle running device so
that they may run faster than the speed determined by the
drive of the motor 16. This is the case, where the sheet
is transported faster by the downstream sheet handling
elements than by the speed determined by the motor 16, The
, just described sets of rollers 10 and 20 make sure that
.. 20 only one sheet at a time is supplied to the platen 36 over
. a guide roller 30 secured to a shaft 31 also driven by.a
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gear belt through the previously mentioned gear belt 17 and
26. A guide member 32. is arranged to cooperate with the
guide roller 30 for moving a sheet 6 into the entrance gap
3~ defined between a further guide member 37 and the platen
36. This feed-in gap 34 may comprise conventional pressing
rollers for the sheet 6 which rollers are not shown for
simplicity's sake.
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1 The sheet 61 is now located behind the platen 36 in the
feed-in gap 34 and as the platen 36 rotates, typing may
begin by, for example, a type head not shown. The platen
is advanced line by line to move the sheet towards the
front side of the platen 36 in the direction of the arrow
D and thus into a funnel 38 which guides the sheets 6 between
two guide meanbers 49 and 50. The funnel 38 has such a shape
that it diverts the sheet 6 into the direction E which is
- substantially opposite to the feed advance direction F.
- 10 At the output end of the funnels 38 there is arranged a
pair of rollers 40 and 42 normally so spaced that the
sheet emerging from the funnel may easily pass between these
: rollers 40 and 42 without any pull being applied to the
sheet by the rollers. One of these rollers is supported on
its axle in a manner permitting a shifting of the axle sub-
stantially up and down by means of electromagnets 45. If
these electromagnets are energized, the respective roller is
pressed against the other roller of the pair, whereby the
sheet is firmly held between these rollers. One of the rol-
lers is positively driven, for example, also through the motor
- 16 through gear belts 41 , whereby the sheet is positively
: transported in the discharge direction E and onto the stack 48
held on a tray 43 in the form of rods or the like. Thus, it
is possible, according to the invention, to arrange the two
trays 4 and 43.. substantially one above the other, as illus-
trated, which has the advantage that the space above the type-
writer is not cluttered by the trays, The
total angle between the two trays is within the range of 340
to 360. The tilt of the supply tray 4 . and also of the
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1 receiving tray 43 relative to the horizontal should not
exceed 30, preferably it should be within the range of
10 to 20.
The control of the sheet supply may be arranged in response
to the operation of the typewriter as is conventional. When
all the sheets 5 are removed from the stack, the whole system,
including the typewriter, may be stopped, for example, through
a micro switch 46. rloreover/ as mentioned above, the entire
apparatus may be constructed as an attachment unit. The con-
nection may either be of the slip-on or clip-on type or screws
7 may be used for the purpose.
Although the invention has been described with reference to
specific example embodiments, it is to be understood, that
it is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents
within the scope of the appended claims.
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