Abstract: Sheets are fed from the top of a stack (12) by a continuously rotating vacuum wheel (40). After the leading edge of a just-fed sheet is detected, a control circuit (110) de-energizes valve means (92) whereby the wheel (40) is effectively disconnected from a source of vacuum (90). Indicia borne on the just-fed sheet is read using a probe (23). If the indicia indicates that the just-fed sheet is related for grouping purposes to previously-fed sheets, the control circuit (110) energizes valve means (92) whereby vacuum is applied to the wheel (40) for the feeding of a further sheet. If the indicia indicates that the just-fed, just-read sheet is not related to previously-fed sheets, the control circuit (110) does not energize the valve means (92) for the feeding of a further sheet until the control circuit (110) receives an indication that all previously-fed sheets have been grouped and discharged onto an insert track (32).

Abstract: A pneumatic sheet feeder for removing individual sheets from a stack comprises a table having a surface for supporting a stack of sheets. A pair of parallel guide rails are provided on the table and with facing surfaces so that the stack is confined between the guide rails for movement in a feed direction across the table. Blast nozzles are provided in the guide rails for blowing air against the stack to form an air cushion between lower sheets of the stack. A suction cylinder is rotatably mounted to the table and includes a suction chamber therein for receiving a vacuum. Radial openings in the suction chamber cause a suction induced adhesion of a leading edge of a lowermost feed in the stack so that with rotation of the cylinder, the lowermost feed is fed in the feed direction away from the rest of the stack. A single blower is provided with a pair of two-way solenoid valves and a switching circuit is provided for alternately activating the valves.

Abstract: A paper handling system for a copier is disclosed. A paper sheet is wrapped around a drum of a copier by utilizing the exhaust air flow of a vacuum to lift the paper to the drum and to hold the paper sheet onto the drum. In addition, if a second paper sheet is lifted to the drum in a double pick situation, the second sheet is returned to a paper tray for subsequent copying thereon.

Abstract: This invention relates to sheet feeding apparatus including a cassette for holding a stack of sheets. It is known to provide in the cassette a lip or spring extending into the space in front of the stack, so that when a suction feeder acts on the front sheet to swing it through an arc and introduces it leading end into the nip of a pair of rollers, the leading end is momentarily retarded by the lip of spring. This has the effect of reducing the number of double feeds. In the present invention, the degree to which the lip or spring extends into the space in front of the stack of sheets is adjusted as the cassette is inserted into the apparatus by a control device which is set in accordance with the required rate of feed of the sheets.

Abstract: This relates to a transfer mechanism for transferring blanks from a hopper to a blank applying mechanism. Most particularly, the transfer mechanism includes an arm which is pivotally mounted and which arm carries at one end a suction head which is also pivotally mounted. A single drive shaft drives an eccentric which effects oscillation of the arm and a cam mechanism which effects oscillation of the suction head relative to the arm. The oscillation of the suction head relative to the arm is in the same direction as that of the arm whereby a blank carried by the suction head will rotate through a relatively great angle while the arm rotates or pivots through only a relatively small angle. For example, the arm pivot through an angle of 45.degree. while the suction head pivots through an angle of 90.degree. relative to the arm and thus through an arc of 135.degree..

Abstract: A microfiche feeder 10 conveys isolated sheets of microfiche from a stack 30 to a collator 12, sorter, or other processing apparatus. The stack of microfiche is placed in a receiver. A drive wheel 34 contacts the lowest sheet of the stack 30 to increment the sheet forward by suction as the wheel revolves. Spaced separator rolls 44 and 46 adjacent the drive wheel 34 ensure that a single sheet of microfiche is incremented forward to drive rolls 52 and 54, which convey the sheet to other processing apparatus.

Abstract: An apparatus for supplying bags of pliable or easily flexible material includes a vacuum mechanism for successively picking up the uppermost bag in a stack of the bags and transporting the same to a take-up roll mechanism. A delivering mechanism picks up the respective bag held by a holding mechanism at predetermined position and transports the same to the next processing station. The holding mechanism comprises an inclined holding plate having a stopper plate at the lower transverse edge so as to permit the respective bag received at the upper transverse edge to slide down along the upper surface of the holding plate until it is arrested by the stopper plate. An air discharge pipe extends longitudinally on the upper surface of the holding plate in the direction of transport of the bag. Air is discharged through a plurality of air discharge holes formed in the wall of the air discharge pipe between the upper surface of the holding plate and the bag sliding down the plate.

Abstract: In a rotary applicator, suction rollers planetating about a central shaft are provided with suckers which are arranged in a row, project beyond the enveloping cylinders of the rollers and are placed on sucker carriers having suction air bores. The carriers communicate with suction air conduits and are rotatably but axially undisplaceably placed by means of sleeve-like tube members on the suction air conduits, the latter consisting of supporting tubes. The walls of the tubes and tube members are provided with bores which are in registry in the operative position of the suckers and of which the bores of the tube members communicate with the suction air bore of the sucker carrier. The suckers are rotatable to a position in which they are swung back within the enveloping cylinder and the walls of the tube members cover the bores of the supporting tube.

Abstract: An apparatus for mounting a recording medium having positioning apertures on a mount with positioning pins which are engageable with the apertures. A support having pins engageable with the apertures supports a plurality of recording mediums. A transfer mechanism is reciprocating between a first position in which the mechanism picks up a recording medium from the support, and a second position in which the mechanism delivers the recording medium to the mount.

Abstract: Precut and punched fully formed slats for a venetian blind are mounted upside down in a stack on a slat magazine cradle disposed below the assembly station of a venetian blind assembly apparatus, and are picked up, one at a time, by a suction cup and fed in between two endless feed belts which pass around a roller so that the slats are fed the correct way up into the assembly station.

Abstract: An insertion machine includes an insert supply station 10 located alongside a conveyor 30. Associated with the supply station 10 are a selector 16 for deflecting a lowermost piece of material 15 contained in a hopper 12; a separator foot 25 for segregating the deflected piece from the hopper 12; a monitoring means 40 for determining whether only the lowermost piece 15 was, in fact, deflected; and, a gripper arm 18 for extracting the lowermost piece 15 and depositing the same on the conveyor 30. In one embodiment, the monitoring means 40 comprises an infrared source 29 which directs a signal to a sensor 27 mounted in the separator foot 25.

Abstract: An envelope feeder for a printing press providing a unique feeder arrangement that allows multiple parallel feeding of stacks of differently sized and shaped envelopes to be fed into the press simultaneously. An envelope vacuum pick-up arrangement is coordinated with a feed roller that grabs the envelopes from the bottom end of open-ended, independently adjustable feeder trays, that can be fed with unprinted envelopes continuously without interrupting the printing process. Electronic logic sensing and control apparatus monitors the envelope feeding process such that, in case of misfeeds, the next following printing cycle is inhibited to avoid smearing of wet ink. Timing apparatus with manual control insures precise registration of the printed image even at high speed operation. Manual switches coordinated with the electronic control allows feeding from a single or from all feeder trays.

Abstract: The invention relates to a system for feeding single bags to automatic bag inserting apparatuses, picking them up and also unsticking the bag being picked up from the underlying ones, in case they are glued to one another because of glue drops during the bag manufacture. The system substantially comprises (see FIG. 3) three units: a first unit provided with suction cups, picking up the bag at its transversal middle portion, where accidental adhesion of bags cannot happen, and lifting it to allow that two unsticking units, including bars being inserted under the bag and unsticking it from the underlying one with a spreading action, are inserted between said bag being picked up and the underlying one. One of the two units is also provided with pincers blocking the bag edges on the open unsticking arms and, in the return stroke of the unit to the starting position, transferring it on to the feeding device of the bag inserting apparatus.

Abstract: The leaders of successive topmost sheets of a stack of sheets are lifted by a set of aligned suction cups which move each leader into a horizontal plane including the nip of two advancing rolls. The suction cups insert the leading edge of each leader into the nip and continue to adhere to the leader while the latter is advanced by the rolls so that the leader pulls the suction cups against the opposition of a weak spring tending to move the suction cups and their mobile support to a starting position. The drive for the advancing rolls is thereupon arrested for an interval of time which suffices to ensure the collapse of suction in the cups by arresting the suction pump and by simultaneously opening a valve which connects the interior of each cup with the atmosphere.

Abstract: Device for the conveying of sheets from each of a plurality of sheet piles via a partially common conveyor track. This track extends in vertical direction along superposed stock holders. Adjacent to the sheet delivery side a driven roller is stationarily arranged above each pile. Each of these rollers can function both as suction roller for separating sheets from a pile and as friction roller for conveying sheets in the common track. For separating sheets from a pile, each pile can be brought by pneumatic means into short contact with a driven roller then functioning as a suction roller. For conveying sheets in the common track, each roller cooperates with a pressure roller. After a sheet in the common track has been gripped between a driven roller and a pressure roller, the sucting action of that driven roller is interrupted.

Abstract: An item dispensing system is disclosed wherein in a preferred sheet dispensing embodiment, primary and secondary sets of vacuum cups are mounted to one end of a pick arm which is rotated between a stack of sheets and a dispensing path. Initially, a two-way valve is controlled to pass a vacuum from a vacuum source only to one of the primary and secondary sets of vacuum cups. The selected set of suction cups then attempts to vacuum lift and pass a sheet to and along the dispensing path. The failure of a sensor to sense that sheet in the dispensing path within a preselected period of time indicates that the selected set of vacuum cups may have been unsuccessful in vacuum lifting that sheet from the stack due to a poor vacuum seal between the selected set of vacuum cups and that sheet. Such a failure causes a processor to generate a signal to cause the two way valve to apply the vacuum from the vacuum source only to the other one of the primary and secondary sets of vacuum cups.

Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus for feeding vertically disposed sheet material from a horizontally extending stack comprising a platform adapted to support a stack of sheet material, a vertically extending frame disposed at one end of the platform, and first and second rollers vertically supported in spaced relation by the frame. Endless webs extend around and are driven by the first and second rollers, wherein the webs include a plurality of perforations therein and have one run facing the platform. The one run has a portion which provides an effective contact surface to engage the first article in the stack of sheet material to transport the article from the stack of sheet material as the endless webs are driven. A carriage adjustably located between the first and second rollers supports third and fourth rollers, and the endless webs pass between the third and fourth rollers to continue movement in a different plane.

Abstract: Apparatus for transferring sheets from a relatively wide or relatively narrow stack of sheets into a transporting device has a pair of suction cups which engage the leader of the topmost sheet in the stack and turn it through 90.degree. so that the leader becomes separated from the leader of the sheet therebelow. The suction cups are thereupon raised to the level of the nips of driven advancing rolls in the transporting device to move the leader into a plane which includes the nips and is parallel to the planes of sheets in the stack, and such leader is introduced into the nips so that the advancing rolls engage the leader while the latter becomes detached from the suction cups.

Abstract: Labels 36 are arranged in a stack and supported in a tray 11, and the open end 49 of a suction tube 46 is reciprocated toward and away from the label at the end of the stack, to draw the end label away from the stack. A fork member 12 straddles the suction tube and reciprocates about the suction tube so as to engage the label on opposite sides of the tube and push the label off the tube, thereby dropping the label into an inclined chute 72. A conveyor belt 85 positioned in the inclined chute moves the label downwardly toward engagement with the moving work product 14, and the lower conveyor roller 81 presses the label into position on the work piece and a band 90 extends about the lower conveyor roller and extends toward the sewing machine 20 to hold the label in place as it advances to the sewing machine.

Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus including an air flow sheet separation mechanism for feeding individual sheets of paper from a stack of sheets slanted slightly from the vertical. A flow of air established through a plurality of resiliently surfaced feed wheels draws individual sheets seriatim from the nearly vertical stack of sheets into driving contact with feed rollers located adjacent the upper edge of the stack of sheets and mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis. Each sheet is then drawn upwardly by frictional contact with the feed rollers into the nip of a pair of opposed feed rolls which are mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis parallel to the feed wheel axis. The sheet is then delivered by conveyors to a sorting mechanism or other sheet fed device.

Abstract: Automatic terminal machines for banking transactions utilize a document dispenser for delivering bank notes to a customer. The document dispenser moves the bank notes from a storage bin by means of a picker mechanism that moves along a path profile established by the configuration of a pair of cam tracks and associated cam followers. The picker mechanism includes vacuum cups for lifting the first document from a stack in the storage bin for delivery into a document transport. Connected to the vacuum cups is a vacuum/pressure supply that includes a multiple chamber cylinder that provides both vacuum and pressure synchronized with operation of the picker mechanism. The piston is pivotally mounted to enable swivel action when driving the interconnected pistons in respective chambers. When provided, the document dispenser includes a cassette having a loading door and an unloading door, each separately equipped with a locking device.

Abstract: Apparatus for opening up folded sheets has a rotary withdrawing conveyor which extracts successive folded sheets from a stack and places successive withdrawn sheets into a path between two rotary spreading elements in such a way that the front edges of the sheet in the path are adjacent to the respective spreading elements and the back of the sheet is located at a level above the front edges. The spreading elements are driven in opposite directions and carry jaws which engage the respective front edges of a sheet therebetween in first angular positions of the spreading elements, whereupon the jaws move the sheet downwardly to move its front edges apart and to separate it from the withdrawing conveyor, and ultimately release the sheet in second angular positions of the spreading elements so that the sheet can descend onto a removing conveyor.

Abstract: An automatic feeding apparatus is disclosed which includes an arm having at one end a hand for holding a workpiece and which is pivotally mounted at the other end in a vertically movable manner, a swinging member that is swung by a swinging mechanism driven by a single motor and which is swung to move the other end of the arm vertically, and a guide member that is shifted along a guide groove in conjunction with the swinging motion of the swinging member to control the movement of the one end of the arm holding the workpiece. The guide groove consists of a curved area that controls a horizontal movement of the one end of the arm and straight areas that control the vertical movements of the one end of the arm at each extremity of the horizontal movement. The swinging action of the swinging member causes the hand to move horizontally between the feed position and working position of the workpiece and to move vertically by a predetermined distance at each position.

Abstract: A note separating and delivering apparatus for use in a note handling machine includes a delivery mechanism. The delivery mechanism comprises grabbing rollers disposed at the middle portion thereof for grabbing the note from the suction heads. The delivery mechanism further comprises feeding members disposed at the opposite sides of the grabbing rollers for compensating for the delay of the notes at the side portions thereof.

Abstract: A laminating machine consists of a feeding mechanism for continuously supplying sheets along a path towards a laminating roll which also receives a continuous supply of laminating film. The laminating film is fed from a continuous supply and a dewrinkling mechanism is disposed along the path to remove any wrinkles prior to being received into the laminating rolls. The laminating machine also incorporates a decurling mechanism downstream of the laminating rolls for removing any tendency of the laminated material to curl between opposite ends. The sheet feeding mechanism also incorporates novel means for delivering the sheets and accurately controlling the flow of the sheets during the laminating process.

Abstract: The spacing between jaws on a gripper lever is gauged by a sensing rod movably mounted on the lever to actuate a limit switch supported in a switch housing clamped to the oscillatory shaft to which the gripper lever is attached. The limit switch is adjusted to detect deviations from the thickness of a single sheet of material clamped between the jaws during transfer from a magazine to a collating conveyor.

Abstract: A machine for feeding cards one by one from the bottom of a vertical stack into a receiving nip, the trailing edge portion of the stack being supported on a platform and the leading edge of the stack having a stripper type support in the form of a projection which extends under the corner of the stack, the platform being foreshortened to provide a window adjacent the projection. A suction cup supported on a sucker block faces upwardly into the window. The sucker block is mounted on a block carrier which is reciprocated in forward and retract directions. A cam surface and cam follower are interposed between the sucker block and the carrier and a striker is blockingly arranged in the path of retracting movement of the sucker block so that when the carrier is retracted the sucker block engages the striker causing the sucker block to be cammed upwardly completing an L-shaped path in which the suction cup suckingly engages the underside of the bottom card.

Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus with a sheet support tray, a rear vacuum plenum chamber adapted to acquire the rear portion of a sheet, a front vacuum plenum chamber positioned over the front of the sheet and adapted to acquire the front portion of a sheet, sheet transport means associated with the front vacuum plenum to transport a sheet acquired in a forward direction and an air knife positioned at the rear of the stack of sheets to inject air between the trailing edge of the top sheet in a stack and the remainder of the stack. In a specific embodiment the trail edge of a sheet in a stack is separated by the air knife, acquired by the rear vacuum plenum then acquired by the front vacuum plenum and transported in a forward direction. As the trailing edge clears the rear vacuum, the rear vacuum which together with the air knife is continuously activated, acquires the next sheet in the stack.

Abstract: A photographic printing system including a masking card for carrying a transparency bearing an image to be printed at an aperture thereof. The card contributes to registration of the image within the printer optical path. The masking cards are carried in a first receptacle in stacking relation to others of the masking cards. A printing station is provided generally at the optical path of the printer and a card transport removes masking cards from the first card receptacle and conveys them to the printing station. A second card receptacle is provided while the printing station includes apparatus for ejecting masking cards from the printing station to the second card receptacle.

Abstract: A paper sheet stripper device of the type used in a paper sheet dispenser, such as a bank note dispenser, in which sheets of paper are sucked by a suction head assembly one by one and passed to a conveyer assembly by the swinging action of the suction head assembly. The improvement proposed is the use of a vacuum source for generating a constant reduced pressure for sucking operation, instead of the conventionally used vacuum source which fluctuates between positive and negative pressures. A valve is interposed between the suction head assembly and the vacuum source so that the suction head assembly communicates with the vacuum source only when the suction head assembly is swung from a sucking position at which it engages with a lower portion of the first sheet of a bundle of paper sheets to a take-up position at which the sucked paper sheet is passed to the conveyer assembly.

Abstract: Automatic terminal machines for banking transactions utilize a document dispenser for delivering bank notes to a customer. The document dispenser moves the bank notes from a storage bin by means of a picker mechanism that moves along a path profile established by the configuration of a pair of cam tracks and associated cam followers. The picker mechanism includes vacuum cups for lifting the first document from a stack in the storage bin for delivery into a document transport. Connected to the vacuum cups is a vacuum/pressure supply that includes a multiple chamber cylinder that provides both vacuum and pressure synchronized with operation of the picker mechanism. The piston is pivotally mounted to enable swivel action when driving the interconnected pistons in respective chambers. When provided, the document dispenser includes a cassette having a loading door and an unloading door, each separately equipped with a locking device.

Abstract: A sheet receptacle is provided which is capable of carrying a multiplicity of sheets to be separated and conveyed, in theform of a stack. A suction device which shaped like an inverted cup is located above the receptacle and is supported by an associated support member. A piping connects the suction device with an air suction source, which may be operated to apply an air suction. The sucker support member forms part of a mechanism which imparts a rotary motion to the suction device, which is also associated with another mechanism which causes a movement of the suction device in the vertical direction as well as in the fore-and-aft direction. An air intake opening may be formed in the air flow path which connects the suction device with the air suction source, and is provided with a sheet receiver which can be covered by a sheet to be separated and conveyed or a sheet which is equivalent thereto.

Abstract: An electrophotographic copying apparatus includes a photosensitive surface capable of retaining an electrostatic latent image for at least two cycles of the surface so a first copy of an original can be made upon scanning the original and the latent image can be recycled to produce a second copy of the same original during the return of the scanning mechanism. The apparatus includes an improved mechanism for driving the scanning mechanism, as well as improved developing and transfer stations.

Abstract: A new and improved vacuum document feeder provides a vacuum cup support mechanism which follows a somewhat crescent-shaped coupler curve that eliminates the vacuum cup wear-producing disadvantages of the prior art; improves separation of documents, and provides for increased feeding rates. A four-bar system moves a table over the somewhat crescent-shaped coupler curve, while at all times holding an edge of the table parallel to the documents. Two vacuum cups are individually pivotally mounted on the table, to sweep over an angle which accommodates leaning documents. Cams on a drive pulley associated with the transport system coordinates the table movement with both the pivoting and vacuumizing of the cups. The cups move in a manner to cause the document to buckle thereby improving separation between documents and eliminating double feeding.

Abstract: An unstacking apparatus comprises one or more sheet-entraining drums each having a peripheral depression, lying behind a rising forward edge, onto which the first sheet of a confronting stack is pulled by suction cups during every drum revolution. A counterpressure roller osscillatable about the drum axis is then swung from a position downstream of the depression past its forward edge, against the sense of rotation of the drum, to engage the pulled-off sheet and deliver it to a conveyor. Each counterpressure roller is spring biased toward the associated drum but is prevented by a stop from reaching the bottom of the depression in the absence of an entrained sheet. A sensor on the drum shaft or on the roller shaft emits an alarm signal whenever the distance between these shafts deviates from a predetermined range limit.

Abstract: To insure accuracy in feeding a sheet of paper from an overlapped, shingled paper supply on a make-ready table, a suction pick-up picks up the sheet and moves it upwardly for a limited distance of about 1 mm before initiating the forward movement of the sheet to transfer it to a gripper mechanism of a printing cylinder or transport drum while, simultaneously, moving it transverse to the plane of the sheet to bring it into proper alignment with the drum or cylinder gripper mechanism.

Abstract: Disclosed is a device for transporting printing plates, having one coated and one uncoated surface, stacked in a holder to an exposure and developing station and for positioning them, comprising a holder for holding a plurality of printing plates stacked in alternating relationship with a plurality of separating sheets and a device for selectively positioning the holder substantially perpendicularly to the direction of transport of the printing plates so that the uncoated surface of each printing plate faces toward the direction of transport. A suction device engages the uncoated side of the first printing plate from the stack in the holder, and a device, movable horizontally in the direction of transport, is provided for transporting the suction device between a first position adjacent to the holder and a second position displaced from the first position in the direction of transport, to withdraw the engaged printing plate from the stack.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding a single sheet from the bottom of a stack of sheets to a station for performing subsequent operations on the sheet. The apparatus is comprised of a magazine to receive a stack of sheets having a bottom support and upstanding walls, the bottom support having an opening therein through which the lower most sheet can be removed. A suction nozzle is provided below the magazine opening and a vacuum surface is provided below the suction nozzle. A first pivot arm is attached to the suction nozzle and a second pivot arm is attached to the vacuum surface. A sheet receiving and feeding apparatus below the magazine receives and feeds the sheet to the station which performs the subsequent operation on the sheet. The pivot arm is pivoted to (i) raise the suction nozzle to engage the surface of the lower most sheet, and subsequently (ii) lower the suction nozzle to engage the bottom surface of the sheet with the vacuum surface.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding individual substrates from the top of a stack upon demand includes an air nozzle that directs air along the bottom surface of an airfoil located above the front end of the stack. The combined effect of air pressure from the nozzle and the shape of the airfoil serves to lift the leading edge of the top sheet in the stack above a restraining member. A paddle wheel drives the separated sheet away from the stack.

Abstract: A cylindrical drum of a rotary transfer conveyor rotates below an opening at the bottom of a magazine for a stack of superimposed sheets. The drum carries a first pivotable gripping lever and one or more second pivotable gripping levers. The common pivot axis of the levers is parallel to the axis of the drum, and the levers are pivotable by cams so that their speed relative to the magazine is less than the peripheral speed of the drum during travel immediately below the opening in the bottom of the magazine. At such time, a set of suction cups flexes a portion of the lowermost sheet of the stack through the opening and between the first and second gripping levers so that the speed of the engaged sheet need not be immediately accelerated to the peripheral speed of the drum but merely to the relatively low absolute speed of the levers.

Abstract: A new and improved vacuum document feeder provides a vacuum cup support mechanism which follows a somewhat crescent-shaped coupler curve that eliminated the vacuum cup wear-producing disadvantages of the prior art and provides for increased feeding rates. A four-bar system moves a table over the somewhat crescent-shaped coupler curve, while at all times holding an edge of the table parallel to the documents. At least one vacuum cup is pivotally mounted on the table, to sweep over an angle which accommodates leaning documents. Cams on a drive pulley associated with the transport system coordinates the table movement with both the pivoting and vacuumizing of the cups.

Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus comprising a vertically movable vacuum plate having openings for sucking sheets individually and for allowing sheet feeding rollers to extend therethrough for translating the sucked sheets, wherein a sheet pressing portion is formed in the vacuum plate to form a space between the forward end portions of the sheets and the vacuum plate prior to the suction of the sheets. In another embodiment, instead of the sheet pressing portion, a sheet feeding roller mounted on the vacuum plate is utilized as the sheet pressing element, so that the sheets are pressed before being sucked causing the suction force to be applied to the forward end portions of the sheets.

Abstract: An automatic document handler adapted to receive a stack of a stack of documents to be copied for feeding the documents seriatim to the platen of a copy machine and returning the copied documents to the stack. A combination vacuum-document separator in conjunction with an air knife and a document tray having a "U" shaped pocket with ramps formed on both sides thereof is provided to assure positive feeding of various sized documents without misfeeds or multifeeds.

Abstract: A sheet feed apparatus for use with facsimile apparatus comprising an original table for inserting original sheets manually, a recording sheet cassette for holding a stack of recording sheets therein, sheet feed roller means disposed so as to be capable of receiving both original sheets and recording sheets to transport them individually to a reading and printing station of the facsimile apparatus, and sheet feed means for automatically separating recording sheet individually from a stack of recording sheets in the cassette.

Abstract: A jointed manipulator is formed of a body, first and second arms, and a holder for an object to be manipulated, wherein the first arm is pivoted to the body, the second arm is pivoted to the first arm, and the holder is pivoted to the second arm, and coupling and constraining mechanisms are provided which limit the relative movements of the parts so that the entire system has only one degree of freedom.

Abstract: A device for the automatic feeding of individual sheets from a stack of sheets to an apparatus comprises lower carrier rollers, upper feed rollers in resilient contact therewith, and a suction chamber which is displaceable in the direction of transport of the individual sheets. The suction chamber comprises a cover plate and a base plate, the base plate being designed as a perforated plate and the cover plate being provided with a suction hole for a ventilator which is arranged on the cover plate, above the suction opening.

Abstract: Suction feet are arranged to pick up and feed a sheet from a stack and a blower is arranged to blow air against the edges of the sheets on the stack to separate the top sheet from the rest. A cam assembly driven through a novel one-rotation clutch moves a piston in a cylinder which is connected to both the feet and blower so that the piston is moved in one direction to supply pressurized air to the blower and subsequently in the opposite direction to apply suction to the suction feet. A cylindrical presser member is carried by each suction foot which extends past the suction foot to bend the top sheet during pickup and further aid in separating the top sheet from the lower sheets.

Abstract: A pneumatic sheet feeder includes a movable bottom plate which is disposed to form a constant angle with the uppermost sheet in a stack placed on a sheet receptacle, irrespective of the height of the stack. Sheets on the receptacle are attracted one by one by a negative pressure to be sequentially fed by a feed roller which is driven for rotation in an automatic manner.

Abstract: A floating feed device is adapted to be engaged by the top sheet in a rising stack and to feed the sheet downstream. The mount for the feed device is articulated, and the device includes a vacuum chamber and horizontal drive rollers. A narrow slot is formed between a guide roller of the feed device and a gate which is disposed in the plane of a stack back-up plate and which is vertically movable in said plane. A control is provided to maintain the same slot width, no matter what the articulated position of said guide roller, by automatically adjusting the gate vertically with the guide roller. The feed device is caused to articulate about its mount upon engagement by a rising stack, and such articulation causes a resultant change in the speed of the stack lift drive.

Abstract: A feeder system for serially feeding collapsed bag tubes including a first conveyor means for conveying a stack of tubes to a predetermined pickup location, second conveyor means spaced from the first conveyor means and feeder means disposed adjacent to the pickup location and between the first and second conveyor means for sequentially engaging the topmost tube in the stack and feeding it to the second conveyor means. The feeder means comprises a plurality of reciprocal picker arms and a pair of nip defining rotatable feeder elements disposed adjacent to the picker arms. The picker arms are adapted to serially transport the tubes from the top of the stack toward the nip defined by the rotatable feeder elements. The rotation of the rotatable feeder elements propels the tubes through the nip toward the second conveyor.