GB1390764A - Apparatus for handling laminar material - Google Patents

Abstract

1390764 Feeding and delivering sheets VACUUMATIC Ltd and G S DUTTON 28 March 1972 [29 March 1971] 8108/71 Heading B8R Feeding sheets.-Sheets or groups of sheets 20 are separated from the top of a pile 21, Fig. 1, by means of a reciprocating platform 16 having tapered extrusions 17 and a roller 18, which platform is slidable between guide members 15 of a support 13 mounted for vertical movement on a gantry 10. In operation, an angle member 19 is inserted into the pile edge to separate the end portion of the top sheets. The platform 16 then slides under the member 19, which is raised by the extensions 17 so as to form a gap in the pile, into which the platform 16 enters so that the sheets to be separated come to lie on the platform. The member 19 is removed and the platform 16 retracted to a position where the sheets can be pushed on to the table 22 of a handling-machine 23. The support 13 is then lowered by the height of the removed sheets before the process is separated. Delivering sheets.-Sheets or groups of sheets delivered from a handling-machine 23 are received on a table 16, Fig. 2, arranged to reciprocate as in Fig. 1. In this case, the table 16 has a tapered end portion 52. After the platform has carried the sheets to a position over a stack 55, a gate 53 is lowered and the platform is retracted so that the sheets fall on to the stack. Movement of sheets on to the table may be assisted by longitudinal rollers constituting the table surface. After each deposition, either the support 13 is raised or the stack support is lowered, and in the latter case the support is fixedly mounted on the gantry. The surface of the platform may be formed of lateral rollers arranged to rotate while the platform is withdrawn from the stack in such a direction that there is no relative movement between the overlying sheets and the platform surface. Driving-mechanism.-The platform 16, Fig. 3, of both the apparatus of Figs. 1 and 2, is mounted so as to be slidable relative to an intermediate structure comprising a plate 30 at each side of the platform, while the plate 30 is simultaneously slidable in the same direction relative to the member 15, so that the platform 16 moves at twice the speed of the plate 30. A pinion 39 on a shaft 40 supported in a bearing 41 in the plate 30 engages a rack 38 fixed with respect to the member 15 and a rack 37 fixed with respect to the platform 16. For moving the platform, a further pinion on the shaft 40 engages an endless chain which passes round a plurality of guide sprockets mounted on the plate 30 and round a further sprocket rotatable by an electric motor. Alternatively, a pneumatic cylinder is fixedly mounted with respect to the member 15, while the piston slidable in the cylinder is mounted on the plate 30.