Abstract: An automatic sheet feeder for feeding paper sheets one by one toward a body of an image recording apparatus has a feed roller and lap feed preventing device for preventing two or more paper sheets from being fed together. The lap feed preventing device is implemented as a reverse roller which is pressed against the feed roller and provided with a circumferential recess in a predetermined position thereof. When paper sheets each being formed with three holes for filing at spaced locations along the width thereof are used with the sheet feeder, the circumferential recess of the reverse roller coincides with the intermediate hole of each paper sheet being fed.

Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus has a stocker unit for storing a stack of sheet materials, a forward sheet feed roller having an operative condition capable of feeding a sheet material in a forward direction from the stocker unit during each cycle of operation of the apparatus, a sheet passageway through which a sheet material is to be fed in the forward direction further away from the stocker unit, a detector assembly for detecting the presence of a single sheet material or the concurrent presence of two or more sheet materials in the sheet passageway, a backward/forward feed roller located in proximity to the forward sheet feed roller and operative to feed a sheet material in a backward direction toward the stocker unit, a control system for actuating the backward/forward feed roller to feed a sheet material in the backward direction toward the stocker unit if the concurrent presence of two or more sheet materials in the sheet passageway is detected by the detector assembly when the forward sheet feed roller is i

Abstract: An overlapped-transfer preventing paper supply device in an image-forming apparatus includes an overlapped-transfer preventing member and a rotary paper supply member in an overlapped-transfer preventing portion. A sheet-returning member returns a sheet located in the vicinity of the overlapped-transfer preventing portion to a sheet source or supply and moves from a downstream side to an upstream side of the overlapped-transfer preventing portion. A drive operates in response to a sheet-returning signal to move the sheet-returning member in a sheet-returning direction. A sheet located in the vicinity of the overlapped-transfer preventing portion can be prevented from being damaged, and jamming due to such sheet can be prevented.

Abstract: A sheet feed mechanism installed in an image recorder for feeding sheets one by one out of a sheet cassette. A feed roller is driven in a rotary motion at a predetermined timing in a direction for feeding a sheet, while a reverse roller is pressed against the feed roller and driven in a rotary motion by a predetermined torque in a direction for returning the sheet. The feed roller functions to feed sheets out of the cassette alone. The feed roller and reverse roller cooperate to separate the sheets which are fed by the feed roller. A reverse shaft is formed integrally with the reverse roller. A torque limiter has a fixed hub and a free hub and provided integrally with the reverse roller and reverse shaft. A stop gear has a one-way clutch and engaged with the free hub. A coil spring generates a reverse torque.

Abstract: A sheet separating device is particularly usable in an intermediate tray of a copier. A drive belt separates the outside sheet from a stack and feeds the sheet through a nip with a retard roller. The retard roller is braked by a motor. The motor is adjustable between a braking condition in which it prevents rotation of the retard roller when two sheets are in the nip and a free-wheeling condition in which it permits rotation when one sheet is in the nip. When applied to an intermediate tray of a copier, the logic and control of the copier knows when one sheet is left in the tray and switches the motor to its free-wheeling condition.

Abstract: A card dispensing apparatus is disclosed of a type comprising a draw roller for drawing a card to be dispensed from a bottom of a stack of cards and a delivery roller for delivering the drawn card toward an outlet of the apparatus. The card dispensing apparatus further comprises an antidoubling roller positioned above the delivery roller and reversely rotated relative to the delivery roller to preventing an upper card of two overlapped cards from delivering to the outlet.

Abstract: A stack of documents to be supplied to a processing device rest on at least one pull wheel for pulling the documents towards the processing device. A pushing element exerts a constant and uniform force which pushes the stack of documents against the pull wheel. The pull wheel pulls the documents towards a guide. The guide, which is configured such that only one document is permitted to pass through to the processing device, includes a first roller with three toric projections mounted thereon on one side of the guide and a pair of rollers with two toric projections mounted therebetween on the other side of the guide. As the direction of the rollers on opposite sides of the guide rotate in different directions and as the force of rotation of the single first roller is greater than the force of rotation of the two second rollers, the toric projections mounted on opposite sides of the guide will only permit documents to pass therebetween one at a time.

Abstract: The reverse belt drive assembly is mounted to an envelope feeding apparatus. The envelope feeding apparatus includes a deck along which sheet member is caused to traverse by a drive assembly. The reverse belt drive assembly includes a first frame pivotally mounted to the apparatus above the deck and drive assembly. The first frame rotatively supporting a plurality of first and second rollers such that respective ones of the first and second rollers are in longitudinal spaced apart relationship. A first endless belt extends around respective ones of the first and second rollers. A second frame is pivotally mounted to the first frame. The second frame rotatively supporting a plurality of third rollers axially aligned to the first rollers and a plurality of fourth rollers, respective one of the third and fourth rollers being in longitudinal spaced apart relationship and having a second endless belt extending around respective ones of the third and fourth rollers.

Abstract: A document feeder includes a feed tray which is pivotal about a horizontal axis between an elevated automatic position in which it can be locked and in which the uppermost document of a stack of documents thereon is engaged with an endless belt skimmer to be fed from the stack, and a lowered manual position away from the skimmer for manual feed of a single document. A reverse feed roller is movable with the feed tray and is operative in the automatic position to inhibit feed of documents other than the uppermost document of a stack.

Abstract: An envelope processing system (20) includes an input transport section (22); a processing/transport section (24); and a discharge transport section (28). Envelopes are fed on-edge from the input transport section to the processing/transport section (24) by a feeder section (40) comprising a feeder (72) and a feed assist device (80). When a signal controller (190) monitoring the feeder (72) detects a significant delay between the feeding of envelopes, the feeder (72) is enabled to acquire greater contact with the next envelope by displacing the feed assist device (80) out of its normally biased co-planar position with a feed belt (130) of the feeder (72), resulting in a greater force vector on the next envelope in the direction toward a singulation region (73). A stacker section (38) comprising the discharge conveyance section (28) includes introductory conveying means (302), stacker conveying means (304), and a discharge magazine (300).

Abstract: A document feeding apparatus having both an automatic and manual feed mode. the apparatus includes a paper feeding belt for feeding documents from a stack set on a document stacker, wherein the lowermost document in the stack is fed, and a stop roller placed in contact with an upper surface of the paper feeding belt to prevent the overlapped feed of documents. Documents are fed through a common paper path in both modes. The belt and roller are commonly used in both the automatic and manual document feed modes. In the automatic document feed mode, the belt is driven while the roller is held in a non-rotational state. In the manual document feed mode, the belt is driven and the roller is driven by the belt.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding sheets has a surface over which a sheet may be fed, a sheet feeder for feeding sheets over the surface which has at least one feed roll rotatably driven in the feeding direction at least one nudger roll upstream of the feed roll for urging a sheet to be fed toward the feed roll, the at least one nudger roll being pivotally supported about the at least one feed roll, a drive to rotate the feed roll in the feeding direction, an endless belt drive means to couple the rotational movement of the feed roll to the nudger roll, means responsive to identified feeding conditions to stop the drive and terminate the rotation of the feed roll in the feeding direction and reverse the direction of rotation of the feed roll whereby the endless belt drive coupling reverses the direction of rotation of the nudger roll and creates a drive torque on the nudger roll which urges it upwardly away from the feed surface.

Abstract: An improved document feed mechanism for feeding documents in a vertical direction through at least two stations including a device for shingling the documents in at least one station by having successive ones of the documents overlap one another to thereby compress the amount of vertical space required for the feeding operation as opposed to the space that would be required if the documents were fed top edge to bottom edge, respectively.

Abstract: An automatic paper feed device includes a first paper feed roller rotating in pressing contact with the upper surface of a sheet stack for feeding upper sheets from the sheet stack by its rotation in a counterclockwise direction, a second paper feed roller located downstream of the first paper feed roller with respect to the paper feeding direction and rotating in a counterclockwise direction for feeding only an uppermost sheet of the sheets fed by the first paper feed roller, a separating roller rotating in a direction opposed to the paper feeding direction while being held in pressing contact with the second paper feed roller for returning the sheets other than the uppermost sheet toward the sheet stack, a first frame rotatably supporting said first paper feed roller and a second frame rotatably supporting said separating roller, a paper feed unit pivotably supported so as to be pivotable in upward and downward directions so that the first paper feed roller descends to a level corresponding to the height of

Abstract: A sheet feeder in which a picker member engaging an end sheet of a stack is actuated to drive the end sheet through a feed nip formed by a feed member and a cooperating member. The picker member is actuated in advance of the feed member to prevent other sheets from entering the nip. Preferably, the picker member is preactuated by coupling it directly to the drive source while coupling the feed member to the same drive source through an electrically actuated clutch.

Abstract: Singulating apparatus for singulating mail pieces of varying sizes and thickness comprises reversely-driven belts mounted in a four-bar linkage that pivots upwardly to allow bottom most mail pieces through while driving backward overlying mail pieces.

Abstract: An apparatus applicable to a sheet article processing system for temporarily accumulating sheet articles which come in arbitrarily one by one or in a bunch and sending them out one by one at predetermined intervals. The apparatus includes a drive mechanism capable of starting and stopping the movement of a suction belt instantaneously, a sensor responsive to the leading edge of a sheet article which has been nipped by a downstream transport path, and a sensor responsive to the presence/absence of an interval between successive sheet articles which occurs between the downstream transport path and a reverse belt. Other sensors are provided for determining an interval between successive articles. A pick-up roller pair is driven at a controllable speed in matching relation to the interval between successive articles determined.

Abstract: A document feeder for use with a copying machine, for automatically recirculating documents through a copying process. The document feeder comprises a housing, a document tray disposed in the housing for storing a plurality of documents to be copied, a drive shaft carrying a pickup roller and a drive gear coaxially with each other, a rotary shaft carrying a driven gear and a document detector coaxially with each other, and a sensor for detecting one angular movement of the driven gear. The document detector contacts the documents on the document storing member for detecting presence of the documents. The driven gear defines, peripherally thereof, a gear portion for meshing with the drive gear and a cutout portion out of mesh with the drive gear.

Abstract: In a copying machine, a sheet conveyance mechanism which allows an image to be copied on both sides of a sheet of paper. The sheet conveyance mechanism includes an intermediate tray in which the sheet is copied on one side thereof by an image copy section, a friction roller capable of effecting reversible rotation and a double feed preventing roller. In operation, a sheet of paper is conveyed by the friction roller into the intermediate tray in which an image is copied onto one side of the sheet, the sheet is then removed by the friction roller, rotating in the reverse direction and transported back to the intermediate tray in which an image is copied on the second side of the sheet.

Abstract: A sheet take-out apparatus for taking out sheets one by one from a stacker including a feed roller for feeding sheets one by one by engaging with the surface of the sheet in the stacker, one or more take-out rollers having at least one groove extending circumferentially on the peripheral surface thereof, the take-out roller being disposed downstream of the feed roller with respect to the direction of the feeding of sheets and rotated synchronously with the rotation of the feed roller, a plurality of pulleys disposed so as to face the one groove and rotated in the opposite direction to that of the sheet feeding, and one or more endless belt made of frictional material, the endless belt being mounted on a plurality of the pulleys so that a part of the endless belt is positioned in the groove and moved in the direction opposite to that of the sheet feeding, the sheets being fed by being held between the peripheral surface of the take-out roller and the endless belt.

Abstract: An incremental motion mechanism which utilizes first and second one-way clutches attached to the output shaft of the mechanism. The first one-way clutch is used to prevent back up of the output member, while the second one-way clutch is used to incrementally rotate the output shaft. First and second solenoids and associated linkage under the control of a controller are used for adjusting the extent of rotation of the output shaft.

Abstract: A mechanism for preventing the feeding of more than one sheet of paper at one time comprising a document feeder having a pair of parallel shafts, one of which is a paper-supply roller shaft supporting a plurality of paper-supply rollers, and the other of which is a separation roller shaft supporting a plurality of separation rollers, wherein the distance between the shafts is slightly less than the sum of the radii of these paper-supply rollers and separation rollers, and said paper-supply rollers and said separation rollers are arranged in a zigzag manner, the outer surface of each of said paper-supply rollers being composed of a large frictional section producing much friction between the paper-supply roller and the paper and a small frictional section producing little friction between the paper-supply roller and the paper.

Abstract: In a dispensing device for sheet material that includes a draw-off device and a single feed device with at least one draw-off roll, several conveyor rolls (22) arranged side by side with some axial spacing and with mating rolls (24) that are axially offset and are radially adjustable with respect to the conveyor rolls (22), where the mating rolls (24) and at least one of the conveyor rolls (22) that can be driven in the same direction with the former are made of a hard material, a ring-shaped strip (44) made of an elastic deformable material is embedded in the peripheral surface of the conveyor roll (22) that is made of a hard material where the axial width of this ring is smaller than the axial width of the peripheral surface of the conveyor roll (22) and projects radially above the peripheral surface in the unloaded state.

Abstract: An automatic paper feeding apparatus which automatically feeds sheets one by one to an image forming portion, comprises a sheet storing plate, a paper-feeder roller for feeding sheets stored on the sheet storing plate, a transport roller positioned at the downstream relative to the paper-feeder roller in the paper feeding direction and rotatable in the paper feeding direction, a separation roller touching and pressing the transport roller and rotatable in the reverse direction to the paper feeding direction, a supporting plate for rotatably supporting the separation roller and being pivotably provided to move in the direction where the separation roller touches with and separates from the transport roller and being urged by an elastic member so as to cause the separation roller to be pressed toward the transport roller, and a guide plate for guiding a sheet into the nipping portion between the transport roller and the separation roller.

Abstract: A position controlling member for controlling the leading ends of paper sheets housed in a paper receiving member is provided at a free end thereof with an auxiliary double feed preventing member having large friction factor or force and engaging with a lower side of a paper sheet during return movement thereof to a position controlling position thereof, thereby preventing double feeding of paper sheets without interfering with the paper feeding operation.

Abstract: Sheet feeding apparatus such as a cash dispenser comprises a first transport system having feed rollers (5), separation rollers (6), and a contra-rotating roller (7); a second transport system comprising a pair of belts (11, 12); and a diverter (25) positioned between the two transport systems. The diverter is movable between a first position in which sheets may be conveyed from the first transport system to the second transport system and a second position in which sheets may be conveyed upon reverse movement of the second transport system past the diverter (25) and away from the first transport system. The diverter is biassed towards its second position and is movable toward its first position in response to engagement of the diverter by a sheet fed towards the diverter by the first transport system.A belt (53) extends between a pair of pulleys (54, 55), the pulley (55) being mounted via a single direction three-wheel clutch to the shaft (5'). The pulley (54) is non-rotatably mounted to the shaft (14').

Abstract: The paper feeding device of the present invention comprises a paper holder for holding a stack of large number of paper sheets; a first roller for sheetwise feeding out paper sheets from the stack in or on the holder; a regular rotation roller for further feeding each of paper sheets and rotatably mounted at a position downstream from the first roller when looking in the paper feeding direction; and a paging roller mounted in opposition to the regular rotation roller. The paging roller is driven always in such a rotational direction for drawback of sheet or sheets in the reverse direction relative to the regular and forward paper feed direction when one or more common class paper sheet or sheets or a plurality of special class paper sheet of a different quality then common class paper sheet is/are fed between the regular rotation roller and the paging roller.

Abstract: The leading ends of sheets in a storage container are brought into abutment against arcuate portions of stopper rollers by an abutment roller to orient the sheets properly with respect to the first direction, i.e, to correct the sheets out of a skewed condition Then, the sheets are fed between a feed roller and a separator roller to arrow the separator roller to separate the uppermost sheet from the other sheets. Thereafter the other sheets are fed back into the storage container by reverse rollers.

Abstract: A mailing system for metering batches of mixed weight mail. The system includes a demand feed for singulating mailpieces, a weighing module for weighing the singulated mailpieces and determining the appropriate postage amount and a postage meter responsive to the weighing module for metering each singulated mailpiece with the appropriate postage amount. A transport system sequentially transports singulated mailpieces from the feeder to the weighing module when the postage meter is set then stops during the weighing period. The postage meter is set for the next sequential mailpiece only after weighing and metering are both completed. In another embodiment a mechanical buffer is provided between the weighing module and the meter to allow overlapping of weighing time with meter setting time.

Abstract: Sheet feeding systems provide a sheet receiving nip at a peripheral region of a rotary sheet transport and arrange sheets in a stack having a stack and formed by a bottom sheet and spaced from the nip by a distance shorter than the minimum length of any of the sheets. The stack is temporarily lifted from a stack rest, and the bottom sheet is removed therefrom. Sheet jams are prevented by advancing any bottom sheet to the rotary sheet transport in a plane intersecting that rotary sheet transport at a distance from the nip. Each bottom sheet is further advanced from that intersecting plane to the nip, and such advanced bottom sheet is engaged with the nip for transport away from the stack with the rotary sheet transport. The stack end is returned to the stack rest after said removal of a bottom sheet, and the temporary stack end lifting, sheet advancing, sheet engaging and stack end returning steps are repeated individually for further bottom sheets advanced from the stack end.

Abstract: A separating apparatus, to which the sheet material is transported in stacks via a stack transporting system, comprises a movable retaining means which reduces the separating gap before the stack is fed and is restored to its original width immediately before separation begins. This allows for the prevention of sheets being wedged in the separating gap, which would otherwise lead to a disturbance of the separation process. The design of a stationary retaining element having an integrated second, movable element allows for the formation of a stopping surface which protrudes beyond the stopping surface of the stationary part and is hit by the leading edges of the sheets in the stack. A toothed design of the new stopping surface allows for the leading edge of the stack of sheet material to be influenced selectively.

Abstract: An automatic document feeder includes a separating roller disposed adjacent to one end of a table on which a stack of documents to be fed is placed for separating the bottom-most document from the stack. The feeder also includes a feed roller which is fixedly mounted on a first shaft on which the separating roller is fixedly mounted. A friction roller is rotatably supported as being pressed against the separating roller and a transport roller is rotatably provided as being pressed against the feed roller. The separating and feed rollers are provided coaxially, but they are comprised of different materials to provide a stable document feeding operation. The separating roller is preferably comprised of a rubber material having a hardness ranging from 25 to 30 degrees, and the feed roller is preferably comprised of a chloroprene material having a hardness on the order of 60 degrees.

Abstract: An automatic sheet feeding device for feeding sheets of low rigidity and high coefficient of friction, such as documents of small thickness and thin sheets with carbon backing, including feeding rollers, separating rollers, a rotating mechanism for rotating the separating rollers, and a regulating mechanism for regulating a torque applied to the separating rollers. A torque tending to rotate the separating rollers in a direction in which the sheets are fed is applied thereto by the feeding rollers, and a torque tending to rotate the separating rollers in a direction opposite the direction in which the sheets are fed is applied thereto by the separating roller rotating mechanism through the regulating mechanism for regulating the torque applied to the separating rollers which is a friction clutch.

Abstract: An automatic sheet feeding apparatus for feeding sheets on a stacker one by one, includes a separation device having a sheet convey member for conveying a separated sheet and a double feed prevention member which is brought into tight contact with or separated from the convey member, and a sheet stop member for preventing movement of nonseparated sheets along a convey direction. When the separation device is in tight contact with the sheet during a separation operation, the sheet stop member is located in a first position where the sheet stop member does not prevent the separation operation. When the separation device is released and the sheet is conveyed, the sheet stop member is moved to a second position where the sheet stop member abuts against leading ends of sheets except for a sheet to be fed, thereby preventing movement of the sheets except for the sheet to be fed.

Abstract: An apparatus for separating documents from one another includes two spaced-apart rollers which define a gap therebetween. The rollers rotate so that the surfaces which face one another move in opposite directions. One of the rollers serves to transport a document in the conveying direction, while the second countermoving roller serves to hold back any additional document which has been fed on top of the first document. The second roller is mounted so as to be pivotable, so that the gap between the rollers can be adjusted in accordance with the document conveyed through the gap. A guide roller serves to maintain the gap between the rollers. A storage container for the documents has movable rearward and bottom walls, wherein the rearward wall is biased by a tension spring so as to exert an essentially constant pressure on the stack of documents.

Abstract: A document dispenser capable of dispensing documents from a plurality of separate bins is constructed of a modular design. The dispenser is constructed by assembling the modules, one for each bin, with each module including an input hopper and a document feeder. The modules are connected together to feed the documents along a common delivery feed path to a stacker which is provided on a module on the dispensing end of the device.

Abstract: This invention relates to a bill receiving/dispensing apparatus applied to a vending machine and a money changing machine which can house and store bills inserted by users and return a desired number of bills. Provision of a reversing roller (10) makes it possible to ensure that in paying out a bill (1) only a single bill is paid out at a time from a plurality of bills (3) overlaid one on another in a bill storing device (2).

Abstract: In a document feeding apparatus, a document table carrying documents is provided with a stopper plate. The stopper plate can move between a stop position to retain the documents on the document table and a release position to allow the documents on the document table to move by the force of gravity. A first guide plate to guide the forward edges of the documents is provided on the lower-course side of the document table with respect to the document feeding direction. An obtuse angle is formed between the plane containing the first guide plate and the plane containing the document table. The forward edges of the documents transferred from the document table are guided by the first guide plate so that they are trued up in an oblique manner. On the document feeding side of the guide plate intake rollers are arranged which pick up and deliver, one by one, the documents guided by the guide plate in an orderly manner.

Abstract: An automatic document feeder for feeding documents individually to a document scanning surface of a copying machine from a pile of documents on a document tray.

Abstract: An automatic sheet feeding device cooperates with a copying apparatus or the like for advancing a single sheet to be copied from a stack of sheets. A sheet drive mechanism of the sheet feeding device feeds the sheets into an entrance end of a feeding device of the sheet processing apparatus. A cover is pivotally mounted on the sheet feeding device and cooperates with a roller separating device to facilitate the clearing of sheet jams. A provision is made to allow removal and replacement of rollers of the sheet drive mechanism.

Abstract: An elongated, cylindrical roll, having a surface machined to a predetermined microfinish, is mounted in place of the conventional chromium plated fixed gate in a known type of blank feeder. In such feeders, the upper stretch of the conveyor advances blanks from a high stack, in a bottom feed magazine, along a path, in shingled formation to continuously resupply a low stack in the hopper of a folder-gluer. The elongated roll is reversely rotated, at a surface speed equal to the speed of the upper stretch. The leading edges of the lower most blanks in the high stack are barred by leaf springs from contacting the rear surface of the reversely rotating roll except for an arcuate area, in the lower rear quadrant, defined by an angle of 30.degree. rearwardly from the bottom longitudinal center line of the roll.

Abstract: This invention relates to a apparatus for separating and feeding sheets such as sheets of paper comprising an accommodation box for accommodating the sheets of paper stacked by their own weight, a pick-up roller provided so that the upper surface thereof projects into the interior of the box to bear the weight of the stacked sheets of paper, a separation arrangement comprising a frictional roller and the feed roller and provided so as to face an ejection port of the accommodation box from which sheets are sent out to the separation arrangement, and a support arrangement disposed on the side opposite to the ejection port supports the end, opposite to the ejection port, of the sheets of paper, and for allowing the lowermost sheet end to be free of the weight of the sheet thereabove when the lowermost sheet is moved to the ejection port side so that frictional resistance of the lowermost sheet is reduced greatly and the pick-up roller can surely pick up and convey the sheet one by one from the lower side of the

Abstract: An automatic document feeder for use with a facsimile apparatus, a copier or the like includes a separator roller and feed rollers which are mounted on a common shaft and each is provided with a spring clutch. While the separator roller cooperates with a friction roller for separating documents from a stack on a tray one at a time, the feed rollers cooperate one with another feed roller, which is provided with a one-way clutch, for feeding the separated document. A reversible stepping motor is selectively driven in opposite directions depending upon the position of a document in a predetermined path, so that the coactive feed rollers selectively serve as drive rollers and follower rollers. The separator roller rotates in the same direction as the feed rollers which are coaxial therewith only when the latter serves as drive rollers.

Abstract: A drive mechanism is disclosed for a document feeder which is used in supplying documents to-be-copied onto the glass top of a copy machine.The drive mechanism includes a set of feed wheels which remove the document to-be-copied from a document support and by rotating in one direction move the document to-be-copied against a set of drive wheels. The drive wheels, when rotated in one direction, move the document onto the glass top of a document copier against a stop, where the document is copied. Thereupon the drive wheels rotate in the opposite direction to remove the copied document from the glass top of a copying machine and deposit the copied document into a receiving tray.

Abstract: A sheet feeding system of a frictional sheet separation type including a feed roller rotating in a sheet feeding direction, and a separation roller maintained in pressing contact with the feed roller with a path of travel of a sheet therebetween and having applied to it a predetermined torque oriented in a direction opposite the sheet feeding direction. The system further includes a separation roller shaft supporting the separation roller at one end thereof and pivotable at the other end thereof for pivotal movement in a plane including its own axis and the axis of the feed roller, a pivot for biasing the separation roller shaft toward the feed roller, and a slide for guiding the separation roller shaft in such a manner that it rotates in a plane including its own axis and the axis of the feed roller.

Abstract: A paper sheet feeding arrangement for feeding paper sheets one sheet by one sheet, including a paper sheet cassette, a paper feeding roller, a feed roller, a paper sheet separating roller rotated, in contact with the feed roller, in a direction counter to a paper feeding direction, a return roller provided rotatably and coaxially with one of the feed roller and the paper sheet separating roller, and a paper sheet returning device which, in response to release of the paper sheet cassette from a paper feeding section, not only brings the feed roller and the paper sheet separating roller out of contact with each other but rotates the return roller in the direction counter to the paper feeding direction.

Abstract: In a mail processing machine, there is at least one mail piece separating and feeding device for handling vertically oriented mail pieces to assure that only one mail piece at a time is fed into the mail processing machine. A feeding roller is positioned in a feed path defined by guide plates to keep the mail pieces in a vertical orientation, and a separator belt is mounted on a plurality of rollers mounted on a bell crank, one of the rollers being a drive roller. The bell crank is resiliently urged toward an adjustable stop member so that, a predetermined minimum gap is maintained between the outer surface of the belt and the adjacent surface of the feeding roller regardless of the extend of wear on the belt.

Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes a retard mechanism to prevent the inadvertent feeding of doubled or overlapped sheets. The retard mechanism includes a plurality of belts in an assembly positioned adjacent to a sheet feeding roller, and rotating in such a direction as to retard the sheets being fed. The retard assembly is mounted on the free end of a lever arm pivotally secured adjacent to its other end to the base of the sheet feeding apparatus. The lever arm with the retard assembly mounted thereon is spring-urged toward the feed roller, but may be moved slightly away from said roller to accommodate the thickness of the sheet being fed between the feed roller and the retard assembly. A dual spring arrangement contained in the lever arm permits the lever arm to move with relatively little force to accommodate passage of a single sheet, but to resist more vigorously any additional movement, such as would be required for the passage of double or overlapped sheets.

Abstract: A paper feeding device includes conveyor rollers including top rollers and bottom rollers which rotate in the same direction and disposed respectively on two shafts in alternate positions. Timing rollers are provided on the down stream side of the conveyor rollers. The center-to-center distance between the two shafts is somewhat smaller than the sum of the radii of the top and bottom rollers. A recess is provided on each of the top rollers, so that the recess faces the direction of the circumference of the bottom rollers, when the forward end of the original sheet conveyed to the timing rollers by conveyor rollers abuts the timing rollers.

Abstract: An improved automatic paper feeding device for a facsimile equipment or the like apparatus is disclosed which includes a feeding roller (3) disposed below the feeding end part of an inclined paper feeding board (2) and a reversing roller (7) located above the feeding roller (2) in a line contact relation to be rotated in the opposite direction to that of drawing of papers from the paper feeding board (2), the reversing roller being rotatably supported at the free end part of side plate members (20) adapted to turn about a support shaft (21). A connecting line between the shafts (4,8) of the feeding roller (7) and the reversing roller (7) extends substantially at a right angle relative to a connecting line between the shaft (8) of the reversing roller (7) and the support shaft (21) for the side plate members (20).