Abstract: A sheet transport apparatus picks up and transports a topmost sheet of a stack of sheets in a one-by-one manner. A suction drum with a cylindrical member rotating in a cyclic manner picks up the leading edge of the topmost sheet by suction force when the cylindrical member is substantially in a momentary stop state. A stationary separation suction head disposed adjacent the stack in the transport direction separates by suction force any sheets underlying the topmost sheet undesirably picked up by the operation of picking the topmost sheet from the stack. A belt conveyor system disposed adjacent the stationary separation suction head in the transport direction gradually grasps the leading edge of the sheet picked-up by the suction drum while the trailing portion of the grasped sheet is also attracted by the suction drum means so that a slight tension is given to the sheet until it is firmly held and transported by the belt conveyor system.

Abstract: Document sheets are removed seriatim from the bottom of a stack of sheets by an oscillating vacuum feeder having a plurality of spaced tube sections. The feeder delivers a removed sheet to a sheet transport mechanism, which transports it to the platen for copying and then removes the sheet from the platen. The sheet transport mechanism has at least one vacuum belt that passes between two adjacent sections of the feeder and picks up a sheet as it leaves the feeder so that the sheet is tacked to the feeder or the vacuum belt throughout its path of travel from the stack of sheets to the platen. After the sheet is removed from the platen it is returned to the stack of sheets on top of other sheets in the stack. A sheet inverter can be provided for inverting duplex document sheets so that both sides of such sheets can be copied. Sheets also can be fed to the platen along a non-recirculating path by a document positioner apparatus.

Abstract: Different stacks repose upon the lower section or run of an endless, revolvingly driven roller grate or grid arrangement. The return section or return run of the roller grate arrangement extends above or in overlying relation to the stacks. Below the stacks there travels a conveyor belt or band, whose conveying direction is opposite to the direction of movement of the roller grate arrangement. The rolls of the roller grate arrangement are obliquely positioned with respect to its direction of movement. Each stack possesses, at the region of the stack corner directed towards the oncoming or moving rolls, a separation element which draws the corner of the momentarily lowermost product between two rolls or rollers. By means of the subsequent rolls which travel between the lowermost product and the stack this lowermost product is separated from the stack and falls onto the conveyor belt or, as the case may be, onto products already reposing upon such conveyor belt.

Abstract: The envelope feeder apparatus of the present invention is suitable for use with conventional mail sorting machines. The envelope feeder apparatus is capable of receiving a supply of envelopes on a feeder magazine which is incorporated into the body of the apparatus. The individual envelopes are picked off in succession at a feeder station by means of a suction device which operates in combination with a pair of conveying belts having a friction surface facing the incoming envelopes. The suction device acts through holes in the conveying belts to draw the lead envelope against the friction surface of the conveying belts for separation of the lead envelope from the rest of the supply. The separated envelope is then conveyed through an arcuate path and introduced into a transport channel which is positioned parallel to the feeder magazine of the apparatus.

Abstract: A rotatable drum switches a vacuum source on and off towards an outermost bill in a stack to separate bills one at a time at high speeds from the stack and provide registration between the separate bills. As the bills are separated from the stack, means are provided to maintain a relatively constant pressure on the stack of bills. Flexible bands transport the separated bills away from the stack.

Abstract: An apparatus for making a laminate has a rack having upper and lower vertically displaceable platforms adapted to support respective stacks of upper and lower foils and set up so that the uppermost foils of the respective stacks are always positioned at respective upper and lower levels. A central conveyor has an upstream stretch extending horizontally between the upper and lower platforms from a position upstream of these platforms to a position spaced downstream therefrom, so that it can displace a board in a transport direction between these platforms to an assembly location downstream of the platforms.

Abstract: Apparatus for feeding individual cardboard sheets to a rotary die cutting machine has two conveyor systems. The first system conveys a sheet from the bottom of a stack to a gap in a gate which passes only one sheet, and the second system conveys the sheet from the gap to the machine. Each system includes a perforated belt traveling in a closed loop over a suction box near the gate. The belt of the first system is shifted cyclically between an operative position of simultaneous engagement with the associated suction box and the bottom sheet of the stack and a retracted position and is accelerated and decelerated between a minimum speed in the retracted position and a maximum speed in the operative position, air being drawn from its suction box only in the operative belt position. The belt of the second system is driven continuously at a speed approximately equal to the maximum speed of the other belt, and air is drawn from its suction box only when the first belt is in the retracted position.

Abstract: The invention provides a feeder having two stacks which are top fed by reciprocating suction boxes, the stacks feeding alternately and a belt being used to transfer blanks from the rear stack.

Abstract: A sheet applicator particularly suitable for bag-making machines comprises suction members controlled by a three-way valve to apply a vacuum to them at a sheet withdrawing station and atmospheric pressure when they have been reciprocated to a sheet releasing station. The valve comprises a first chamber communicating with atmospheric pressure and a second chamber of larger diameter than the first communicating with a source of vacuum, the chambers being alternately connected to the suction members by a valve plate displaceable between the chambers to close one of them and open the other. A spring acts on the valve plate with a force insufficient to displace it when it is closing the said second chamber but sufficient to hold it closed when it is closing the first chamber. Actual displacement of the valve plate is effected by a valve rod therefor striking abutments at the sheet withdrawing and sheet releasing stations.

Abstract: A bag tube feeder has an intermittently operated conveyor supporting a row of aligned stacks of bag tubes with a plurality of movable suction cups positioned over an outfeed station in which a stack of bag tubes is positioned. A pair of pneumatic cylinders lowers the suction cups to engage the uppermost bag tube, then lift the bag tube and a pneumatic cylinder swings the bag tube into the nip of a roller and an outfeed conveyor belt which takes the bag tube to a discharge location. A photo-electric sensor senses lowering of the stack of bag tubes in the outfeed station to automatically actuate a pneumatic cylinder arrangement for lifting the discharge end of the conveyor to maintain the top of the stack in a desired position. A mechanical sensor senses the depletion of the stack in the outfeed station to initiate actuation of the stack infeed conveyor to move the next adjacent stack into the outfeed station automatically.

Abstract: Apparatus for feeding sheets one by one from the bottom of a stack of sheets comprising first and second spaced supports cooperatively supporting the bottom of a stack of sheets, the first support comprising a rotatable unit and the second support comprising a flat abutment member. The rotatable unit includes a plurality of juxtaposed rollers at least one of which is intermittently rotated to feed the lowermost sheet in the stack to a conveyor. The flat abutment member is adjustably supported for displacement to a selected predetermined stationary position. The rotatable roller is coupled to a suction device so that suction force is applied to the lowermost sheet in the stack in the course of intermittent rotation and the position of the roller with the conveyor belt is such that the suction will be substantially reduced when the sheet has been received by the conveyor belt.

Abstract: There is described apparatus for selectively feeding leaflets or the like from a stack into or onto rapidly moving articles such as open packages, which apparatus employs a reciprocable vacuum head which removes the leaflets seriatem from the stack and places them between continuously moving belts which transport the leaflets to the articles.

Abstract: A sheet feeder drive for transferring paper sheets from a pile to a feeder device which is driven by a common drive shaft which enables adjustment of the feeder according to paper size and also enables the vertical setting of the feeder.

Abstract: A conveyor, particularly for feeding preshaped pieces of cardboard to a machine for packaging cigarettes into hinged lid packets, and in which a guide is provided to control the vertical position of said pieces when they fall from the bottom of an upper vessel on to said conveyor under the action of an extractor, said guide being movable to and from a working position in which the guide interferes with the falling path of said pieces.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for handling, separating and feeding gusset tubes from stacks thereof is provided which allows continuous, high speed separation and feeding of individual tubes without sagging or hangup problems, and at high operational speeds. The apparatus includes a pickup and feeding mechanism having tube-engaging arms, vacuum tube grippers for positively forming a bowed section in the tubes as they are lifted and upright stop structure for preventing shifting movement of the tube stack at the pickup station and separating any underlying tubes which may adhere to the topmost tube being fed. Stack elevating and lowering apparatus includes electrically controlled lifting mechanism having a pair of interconnected clutch elements for control of vertical movement. A conveying assembly having incrementally driven stack-supporting belts and pusher arms shiftable at a speed different than the belts serves to feed successive stacks to the pickup and feeding mechanism.

Abstract: A machine for counting flat articles includes a sequence of conveyor belts driven at successively increasing speeds from input to output. At the input end the articles are stacked and withdrawn from the stack from the bottom. A separator above the conveyor isolates the bodies from each other and spaces them, the spacing being increased by the increasing speed of the conveyors as the articles move toward the output end. The articles are counted by a photocell device or feeler. A receiver arranges the articles in a layered arrangement. In one embodiment the input conveyor belt is inclined and has spaced groups of holes with a suction box below the belt to grip and move the articles in spaced relationship.

Abstract: The device comprises at least one toothed roller supported by a rocking lever, and adapted to contact the outer edges of the side flaps of the blanks. Each toothed roller is mounted on a pin by a conventional free wheel device so as to exert a sliding friction on the outer edges of the flaps only during a downwardly directed movement thereof, thereby bending the flaps in a direction opposite to the one naturally assumed by them due to the composite conformation of the stack of blanks.

Abstract: Apparatus for alternately withdrawing lowermost sheets from stacks of sheets in two magazines has a frame which is reciprocable below the magazines along a horizontal path between two end positions and carries a main support, two auxiliary supports which flank the main support, and a suction wheel between the main support and each auxiliary support. The suction wheels are driven in phase with the movement of the frame whereby the wheels turn clockwise while the frame moves in one direction and anticlockwise while the frame moves in the opposite direction. Two toothed belts have end portions which are anchored in a tensioning device between the magazines, and the belts are trained over pulleys of the suction wheels and pulleys of rollers constituting the main support.

Abstract: An apparatus for destacking a stack of flexible flat structures, especially unfolded or folded sheets or printed products, comprising a stack support composed of revolving driven rolls and contact rails disposed above the stack support for defining a stack support surface. A separation device is arranged below the stack support and revolvingly driven in cycle or rhythm with the arriving rolls in order to continuously downwardly remove an edge of the momentarily lowermost flat structure between the arriving rolls. A conveyor device engages below the stack support for the removal of the printed products which have arrived beneath the stack support. The stack support surface is arranged to be at an inclination or directed obliquely at one of its corners towards the direction of movement of the rolls.

Abstract: Drywall boards are lifted from the bed of a truck to an extensible conveyor, which is supported by the bed of the truck, for transport from the truck to a building under construction. The drywall boards are disposed in two stacks on the truck bed with the conveyor being disposed along the longitudinal central axis of the truck bed so that a board from each stack is automatically disposed on the conveyor in sequence.

Abstract: Apparatus for successively delivering envelopes from a stack of envelopes arranged on edge on a support to a conveyor belt disposed below one edge of the support. The stack is urged by a driven feeder into engagement with an abutment extending across and slightly above the support adjacent to the support edge and into engagement with a retainer bar spaced above the support by a distance somewhat less than the height of the smallest envelope to be handled. A suction device first engages the leading envelope of the stack to pull it over the abutment and then to pull the lower edge forwardly over a stripper element to ensure that any envelope stuck to the leading envelope is stripped therefrom. Subsequently, the suction device moves downwardly to pull the leading envelope out from under the retainer bar and then releases it to permit it to fall to the conveyor. The driven feeder provides a controlled force for urging the envelopes against the abutment and the retainer bar.

Abstract: Currency dispensing apparatus is disclosed in which vertically stacked bills located in a removable container positioned in the dispenser are fed one-by-one from the top of the stack through an opening in the container ceiling by a proximately located overlying rotary suction head. The head advances the bills to the nip of a pair of superimposed bill transport belts overlying the stack from which point they are then transported by the belts back over the top of the stack to a diverter whereat the bills are either diverted to an underlying reject bin located adjacent the stack or to a delivery chute for manual removal by a customer. A multiple, or overlapped, bill sensor is located along the bill transport path between the suction pickup head and the diverter which, in cooperation with suitable control circuitry responsive to the sensor, controls the diverter for diverting multiple, or overlapped, bills into the underlying reject bin while allowing single bills to be transported to the customer delivery chute.

Abstract: A machine for successively feeding stacked blanks comprising a conveyor mounted for movement along a conveyor path passing through a receiving station where blanks may be deposited thereon, and a plurality of chutes mounted successively above the conveyor path at the receiving station with each chute positioned in spaced relation with the conveyor. A machine for extracting blanks from stacks and for depositing them upon the chutes is located at the receiving station. The feed machine also has a mechanism for simultaneously holding blanks deposited upon the chutes and for simultaneously releasing them thereby to enable them to be simultaneously placed upon the conveyor and successively conveyed from the receiving station.

Abstract: A sheet transporting system for transporting sheets from a pull-foot feed mechanism to a stuffing station includes parallel fast and low-speed endless conveyors. The low-speed endless conveyors have pins thereon which extend into the path of sheets transported by the fast endless conveyors. The pins register, and control the speed of, sheets being transported. This transporting mechanism is used in one embodiment for transferring sheets from the pull-foot feeding system into the mouths of clamps on a transporting chain and in another embodiment for transferring sheet to a drum/belt transporting system.

Abstract: Apparatus for picking up a single sheet of semi-rigid material from the top of a stack of such sheets having a device overlying the back end of the stack and holding down that end of the stack, vacuum pick-up shoes to engage the back end of the topmost sheet in the stack, said shoes moving initially to slide the sheet forward from beneath the overlying device and then to lift the back end of the sheet, and a chain conveyor with hooks to engage the raised end of the sheet and feed such sheet into a conveyor for transporting the sheet away from the stack.

Abstract: Two vertically aligned elevators, each being adapted to support a stack of blanks, elevate the blanks to a magnetic blank separator and conveyor. A releasable stack support on the upper of the elevators is operative to release the stack held thereby when the stack on the lower elevator is elevated subjacent the stack of the upper elevator, with the lower elevator then supporting the merged stack of both elevators. The stack support on the upper elevator engages beneath the merged stack at a predetermined height of the lower of said elevators to permit the latter to return for another stack. A stack height sensing device automatically alternately controls the vertical movement of the elevators when supporting the merged stack for continuous upward movement of the same for separation and lift-off. A double thickness detector is provided in combination with an ejector to ensure the conveying of only one blank at a time from the top of the stack.

Abstract: A stack of items having an irregular thickness such as folded sheets, booklets, filled envelopes and the like are positioned in a stack receiver with the stack leading edge resting against the pair of support rails. The stack lowermost item is supported adjacent its rear edge by rotatable supports mounted adjacent to a feed cylinder. A depending wiper device is mounted adjacent the leading edge of the stack and has a flexible bottom edge portion that is positioned either abutting or closely adjacent the cylinder surface. The feed cylinder positioned below the stack has a longitudinal protuberance that extends beyond the cylinder surface and is arranged upon rotation of the cylinder to contact the lowermost item of the stack and move this item between the wiper bottom edge and the cylinder to a position where the leading portion of the lowermost item is moved beyond the wiper device.

Abstract: In the arrangement, a batch or stack of vertically oriented recording media sheets is supported on edge on a horizontal vibrating table which is vibrated by a vibrating conveyor and the sheets are advanced singly, starting with the leading or frontmost sheet, through a separating slot between a pair of endless belts constituting a transporting arrangement. A first rotating suction drum is mounted at the rear end of the vibrating table and is formed with circumferentially spaced suction bores for operative relation with a rotary slide valve to connect the suction bores intermittently to a suction system. A second rotating suction drum is arranged within the range of the separating slot and serves as a separating drum, and a hold-back suction drum is also arranged within the range of the separating slot and serves as a hold-back device, the hold-back suction drum having the same design as the first rotating suction drum.

Abstract: An endless belt is supported in apparatus adjacent a wheel, and at least a portion of the belt wraps around and is in driving communication with the wheel. A head supplied with a source of negative pressure pivots in timed relation with the belt, which is movable on the perimeter of the wheel, and operates to deflect the lowermost product of a stack of flat, flexible sheet-like products to a point adjacent the wheel. When the sheet is in its deflected position adjacent the wheel, the belt is actuated to move and engage the sheet to cause the sheet to be extracted from the stack between the belt and the wheel and to be fed away from the stack. The apparatus automatically adjusts to a wide variation in the thickness of the product being fed.

Abstract: A rotary suction device selectively removes individual paper money or currency bills or banknotes endwise from a stack or bundle thereof and delivers each removed bill endwise to conveyor means which successively, individually transports the bills to a dispensing station. Sensor means detects the presence of multiple bills on the suction rotor during removal from the stack; and, before delivery of any bills in multiple to the conveyor means, the multiple bills are rejected and bypass-discharged directly from the suction rotor to a reject station. A plurality of rotary suction devices may be installed side by side to deliver bills in various denominations, such as 1, 5, 10 and 20 dollar bills.

Abstract: The invention relates to a control arrangement for sheet feeders having a pull-off device for transferring the sheets serially to a continuously operating conveyor apparatus, with disposed in the path of the sheets, a sensor which, when it recognises the rear edge of a sheet, generates a switching signal by means of which the pull-off device can be switched on, and having a switch arrangement by means of which the pull-off device can be switched off after a delay.