By Sheet-impaling Restrainer Patents (Class 271/168)
  • Patent number: 7950654
    Abstract: A film handling system is described, including: a supply container for supporting a plurality of sheets of film; a film receiver; and a transport mechanism for retrieving a sheet of film from the supply container and transporting the sheet of film to the receiving mechanism, said transport mechanism comprising a vacuum head for adhering the sheet of film to the vacuum head; wherein the film receiver comprises a feed mechanism for conveying the sheet of film received by the film receiver, said feed mechanism including a sprocket for mating with at least one of a plurality of sprocket holes in the sheet of film transported by the transport mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Inventor: Michael Tenbrock
  • Patent number: 7661672
    Abstract: A film handling system is described, including: a supply container for supporting a plurality of sheets of film; a film receiver; and a transport mechanism for retrieving a sheet of film from the supply container and transporting the sheet of film to the receiving mechanism, said transport mechanism comprising a vacuum head for adhering the sheet of film to the vacuum head; wherein the film receiver comprises a feed mechanism for conveying the sheet of film received by the film receiver, said feed mechanism including a sprocket for mating with at least one of a plurality of sprocket holes in the sheet of film transported by the transport mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Inventor: Michael Tenbrock
  • Patent number: 6659448
    Abstract: An apparatus for separating flat products from a pile of flat products, the apparatus including a support and at least one separator for separating a product from a pile of products. The separator is movable with respect to the support and includes a curved surface for contacting an edge of the pile so that a contact point between the separator and the edge of the pile can remain fixed despite adjustments to the penetration depth of the separator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 9, 2003
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Glen Alan Guaraldi, Mehmet Oktay Kaya
  • Patent number: 5505994
    Abstract: Fabric-handling equipment which removes a fabric web from a stack of such webs or from a supporting surface, dries ink printed on a fabric, and removes a porous fabric held onto a surface by a vacuum. To remove a fabric web from a surface, like a stack of such webs, a device places needles partially into the web. Since the needles extend into the fabric less than about nine tenths of the fabric's thickness, they can only attach to the upper surface of a single web. The needles, after insertion into the web, separate from each other to effectuate a firm connection. When the device raises, it can only lift a single web. When a fabric web receives printing, touching it with a heated block having a Teflon surface cures the ink. This permits its subsequent printing or collecting and stacking. A fabric web may adhere to a supporting surface through suction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 9, 1996
    Assignee: QST Industries, Inc.
    Inventor: Warren N. Crawford
  • Patent number: 5076754
    Abstract: An apparatus for forming stacks from consecutively fed, flat workpieces, preferably bags, comprises a ram, which is movable up and down and serves to force the workpieces from a plane of conveyance onto a stacking plate or onto a stack formed on said stacking plate. The stacking plate is adapted to be lifted and to be lowered to an extent depending on the increasing height of the stack. In order to ensure that the ram will exert an approximately constant force on each workpiece as it is stacked, the stacking plate is adapted to be lowered against the action of a force exerted by a brake.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 1990
    Date of Patent: December 31, 1991
    Assignee: Windmoller & Holscher
    Inventors: Wilfried Ebmeyer, Gunter Mattiebe
  • Patent number: 5062340
    Abstract: Apparatus for cutting a continuous web into precise length sheets and precisely stacking the sheets, relative to each other, includes first and second moving endless belt tables for advancing the web, a sheet orientation table and a stacking table. A vacuum holds the web firmly, without tension, against the respective belts. A shearing device is disposed between the first and second endless belts. Web, detectors positioned along the line of travel of the web, detect printed or colored lines on the web to obtain accurately cut sheets. Individually driven and positioned sheet grippers grasp the cut sheet positioning each sheet under dual hole punching devices which punch precisely positioned holes in each sheet. A pair of aligning pins on a sheet stacking bed are used as guides for orienting the sheets in interleave configuration. Each sheet is secured to its adjacent sheet to maintain sheet orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 1990
    Date of Patent: November 5, 1991
    Inventor: Richard Greven
  • Patent number: 5039078
    Abstract: Apparatus for the seriatim separation and feeding of garment parts from a shingled stack of the parts to a predetermined destination. Comprising the apparatus is a movable hold down mechanism for engaging the trailing edge of the second part in the stack and a picker head for engaging the leading edge of the first part in the shingled stack and removing it from the stack. Mechanisms are provided for accurately determining the location of the trailing edge of the second part in the stack and moving the hold down mechanism into position to accurately engage the trailing edge of the second part in the stack. Following separation, the separated part is transferred to a second location at which the head is withdrawn from the transferred part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1989
    Date of Patent: August 13, 1991
    Assignee: Levi Strauss & Co.
    Inventors: Hubert Blessing, Gene Croyle
  • Patent number: 4899983
    Abstract: A valve plug having a valve plug housing shaped to fit in a bonnet cylinder of steam control valves has a pressure seal ring groove for holding a pressure seal ring therein. The pressure seal ring groove has a pair of walls and a bottom surface end and antiwedging relief groove formed in one wall of the pressure seal ring groove adjacent the bottom surface thereof to prevent the wedging of a pressure seal ring between a valve plug and a bonnet cylinder bore wall. The pressure seal ring wears a step in the contact surface to allow the wedging which can otherwise prevent the valve from closing as required for turbine overspeed protection. The valve plug housing pressure seal ring groove can be annular groove having an annular pressure seal ring therein and the relief groove can be annular groove formed in one wall of the pressure seal ring groove adjacent the pressure seal ring along the seal ring contact surface of the pressure seal ring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 1989
    Date of Patent: February 13, 1990
    Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp.
    Inventors: David B. Berrong, Thomas L. Schuchart
  • Patent number: 4838536
    Abstract: A fabric picking and transferring device for transferring one or more top fabric plies from a stack of such plies. The device comprises a support body having a fabric engaging end. The housing is displaced toward the stack to position the fabric engaging end on an uppermost ply of the stack. At least two picking needles are supported by the body and each has a pointed engaging end portion. The needles are disposed in opposed offset facing relationship and at a shallow angle with respect to the plane of the uppermost ply, with the pointed engaging end portion retracted inside the fabric engaging end of the body. An actuating mechanism is provided for moving the fabric engaging end of the needles a predetermined distance outwardly of the fabric engaging end with the fabric engaging ends crossing one another, and wherein the needles will penetrate in each of the one or more uppermost fabric plies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1987
    Date of Patent: June 13, 1989
    Inventor: Nabil Kamal
  • Patent number: 4717140
    Abstract: A stream feeder for moving a shingled stream of signatures forwardly to maintain a small upright stack of signatures at a packer box of a bindery line collator has a transversely extending impaling pin bar movably mounted on a forward end portion of the stream feeder frame, and a line of impaling pins that are individually adjustable in the pin bar have free ends projecting into the path of movement into the packer box of signatures from the small upright stack. Mechanism for moving the pin bar to simultaneously adjust the extent of projection of all the pins includes a manually movable adjustment control member mounted at a position spaced from the pin bar where it is readily accessible to an operator attending the bindery line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 1986
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1988
    Assignee: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company
    Inventor: Jorg Schniter
  • Patent number: 4684120
    Abstract: A picking and separating device and method of operation for picking one or more upper ones of sheet-like material, such as fabric plies from a stack. The device comprises a frame supporting a picker mechanism which is secured thereto. The mechanism has a fabric engaging member having a flat picker surface. A plurality of angulated aligned needles are movable in and out of the surface by a movable support frame. The support frame and needles are displaced along an angulated fixed axis for engaging one or more upper ones of the sheet-like material in a stack of sheet-like material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 1986
    Date of Patent: August 4, 1987
    Inventor: Nabil Kamal
  • Patent number: 4540167
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 1982
    Date of Patent: September 10, 1985
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kaoru Tamura, Kiichiro Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 4502677
    Abstract: Image recording sheet materials having a relatively hard support, e.g., printing plate sheet materials, can be simply, efficiently, automatically fed to a subsequent step without damaging a photo-sensitive surface by the present feeding method which comprises piling plural units each of which comprises a combination of an image recording sheet material having a relatively hard support and a spacing paper put on said sheet material in such a manner that the leading edge portion of the sheet material protrudes beyond the leading edge of the spacing paper and the trailing edge portion of the spacing paper protrudes beyond the trailing edge of the sheet material and the trailing edge portion of the spacing paper is held so as not to be fed and applying a feeding means to the leading edge portion of said sheet material to feed only the sheet materials to a subsequent step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 1982
    Date of Patent: March 5, 1985
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Paper Mills, Ltd., Dainippon Screen Mfg., Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takao Senga, Shigeyoshi Suzuki, Jun Yamada, Sadao Kuriu
  • Patent number: 4437655
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process and apparatus for separating flexible sheets from a stack wherein the stack is locally compressed and pierced and stack holders are fitted in the holes formed extending through the entire thickness of the stack. The piercing device caan be located inside the frame of the actual separating device or in a second frame linked to the first frame, which frame is then provided with transporting chains to introduce the supporting platforms for the stacks into said frame, and to remove them therefrom after the sheets have been separated from the stack. The apparatus also includes an improved pick-up head wherein a stop for the pricking element is mounted between the pressure shoes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1981
    Date of Patent: March 20, 1984
    Assignee: Gaspar A. H. Bijttebier
    Inventors: Gaspar A. H. Bijttebier, Jozef Vangheluwe