No-feed-roll corrugated board or paperboard sheet feeder retrofit apparatus and method

A method for supplying a corrugated board article or a paperboard sheet article from a feeder apparatus to an article processing host machine operating at a velocity, the method comprising:

• (a) feeding the corrugated board article or the paperboard sheet article to a feed end of the feeder apparatus, the feeder apparatus comprising:
• a feed table supporting surface having the feed end and a delivery end;
• and
• feed elements comprising a first plurality of first feed elements and a second plurality of second feed elements, the first feed elements being positioned in a first velocity zone, the second feed elements being positioned in a second velocity zone positioned adjacent to and downstream of the first velocity zone;
• operating the feed elements to accelerate the article to a velocity above the velocity of the article processing host machine and then decelerate the article to the velocity of the article processing host machine;
• (b) wherein the feeder apparatus further comprises a controller configured to receive velocity signals from the article processing host machine to generate a first variable velocity control signal for the first velocity zone and a second velocity control signal for the second velocity zone based on the velocity signals from the article processing host machine;
• (c) wherein the feed elements comprise first drive wheels mounted in the first velocity zone of the feed table supporting surface and second drive wheels mounted in the second velocity zone of the feed table supporting surface, and wherein the method further comprises operating the first drive wheels to drive the article in a first motion profile through a first vacuum zone of the feeder apparatus, and operating the second drive wheels to drive the article received from the first velocity zone in a second motion profile through a second vacuum zone of the feeder element to the delivery end;
• (d) wherein the feeder apparatus further comprises a dedicated primary servo motor in the first velocity zone configured to perform the first motion profile based on the first variable velocity control signal;
• (e) wherein the feeder apparatus further comprises a variable vacuum generator and variable control surfaces in each of the first and second velocity zones, and wherein the method further comprises selectively moving the variable control surfaces in the first and second velocity zones above the first drive wheels and the second drive wheels to prevent the articles from contacting the first and second drive wheels, respectively;
• (f) wherein the feeder apparatus further comprises first and second drive mechanisms, and wherein the method further comprises operating the first and second drive mechanisms to independently lower and raise the control surfaces to consecutively engage articles with selected drive wheels as the articles are fed through the feeder apparatus and into the article processing host machine;
• and
• (g) further comprising selectively moving the control surfaces into an angled state to selectively angle the control surfaces to consecutively conceal the respective feed elements as the article moves over the feed elements.