Sorting machine
AssigneesKeith B. Stewart, Peter Shea
InventorFrederick J. Lawrence
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Sorting apparatus has vertically adjustable sheet receiving and feeding vacuum chamber and traveling belt mechanism which directs successive sheets to a receiver having vacuum chamber and traveling belt conveyor mechanism for transporting sheets to or past vertically spaced trays. Fingers are shiftable to and from positions to deflect sheets from the transport conveyor and cause sheets to enter the trays. The receiving and feeding mechanism and the receiver are separable at the vertical plane of the fingers between the fingers and the vertically extended traveling belts.
Claims18
In a sorting machine having walls defining a vacuum chamber, sheet carrying belts movable about said chamber, and receiver means for successively receiving the sheets from said belts in sorted relation, the improvement wherein said walls and belts have portions pivotal about a horizontal axis and provide a vertically adjustable sheet input section about which said belts move, whereby said machine is adapted to receive sheets from a source of selected height.
In a sorting machine having walls defining a vacuum chamber, sheet carrying belts movable about said chamber, receiver means for successively receiving the sheets from said belts in sorted relation, said receiver means including a plurality of sheet receiver trays, and finger means actuatable between open and closed positions for picking off successive sheets from said belts and directing said sheets into said trays;
- the improvement wherein said finger means comprise fingers having bodies supporting said fingers in side by side spaced relation, said bodies having notches in side by side spaced relation therein, means supporting said bodies with said fingers disposed in said notches of an adjacent body when said fingers are closed to provide a sheet confining smooth path between said belts and said finger means, and said fingers having arcuate surfaces for directing said sheets from said path inwardly and upwardly with respect to said trays when said fingers are open.
A sorting machine comprising:
- a receiver having a plurality of vertically spaced trays, sheet transporting means for moving sheets successively to said receiver;
- finger means successively openable to deflect sheets from said transporting means into said trays, drive means for said transporting means, and actuator means for said finger means, said sheet transporting means comprising a vacuum chamber, fan means for evacuating said chamber, said chamber having an upper horizontal perforated wall and a vertical perforated wall pivotally interconnected for angular adjustment of said upper wall, and lower and side walls between said upper and vertical walls enabling said angular adjustment, sheet drive belts extending continuously about said upper, said vertical and said lower walls in transversely spaced relation, means for driving said belts to transport sheets thereon with said sheets held against said belts by external pressure, said vertical wall extending past said trays, and said finger means being operable to remove sheets from said belts along said vertical wall to deflect said sheets into said trays.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.