Abstract: A top vacuum corrugation feeder employs a vacuum feedhead working in conjunction with an air knife to feed sheets from the top of a stack. The feedhead is valveless and has a vacuum applied thereto during the entire feed cycle in order to increase reliability and decrease minimum feed speed. The air knife includes trapezoidal shaped fluffer jets in front of the stack and side fluffer jets and added on the sides of the stack in order to assist the feedhead in separating severely downcurled sheets for feeding. A rotational damper member is positioned above and has a portion thereof resting on the stack for controlling sheet flutter and leakage of air from the stack sides. A belt coast control member controls the precise stopping position of vacuum belts that surround the vacuum feedhead in order to minimize multifeeding of sheets from the stack.

Abstract: A top vacuum corrugation feeder employs a vacuum feedhead working in conjunction with an air knife to feed sheets from the top of a stack. The air knife includes a pair of trapezoidal shaped fluffer jets that enable high speed feeding of 13# to 110# paper with one pneumatic setting while at the same time improving reliability and expanding stack height latitudes.