Supplemental feed assembly for sheet material spreading machine

In a fabric spreading machine for spreading sheet material in superimposed layers on a table surface, and including a carriage which moves back and forth over said table surface in opposed operative strokes between a pair of spaced fold-retaining members, with said carriage having a fold-forming assembly, a shaft, and a positive feed roller mounted on said shaft for rotation therewith, for feeding a supply of sheet material carried by said carriage onto said table, and first drive means connected to said positive feed roller for continuously rotating the latter during said operative strokes with said sheet material fed at a rate corresponding to the speed of travel of said carriage;

• a supplemental feed assembly comprising second, intermittent drive means connected to said shaft through a one-way clutch mounted on said shaft and operatively connected to said positive feed roller for intermittent additional rotation thereof to provide an overfeed of said sheet material as said carriage approaches and engages each of said fold-retaining members,
• actuating means mounted on said carriage and operatively connected to said intermittent drive means for actuating the latter in response to arrival of the carriage at that portion of each of said operative strokes in which the fold-forming assembly moves into contact with a respective fold-retaining member,
• and lost motion means mounted on said shaft for operatively connecting said first drive means to said positive feed roller and operable by said second, intermittent drive means, after the latter has turned said roller through said additional rotation to provide said overfeed of material, for disconnecting said feed roller from said first drive means for a selected period sufficient to take up slack of excess sheet material fed as said carriage commences movement in the opposite stroke,
• said lost motion means comprising a first coupling block rigidly mounted on said shaft, a second coupling block rotatably mounted on said shaft and spaced apart from said first coupling block, a first drive pin connected to said first coupling block and projecting toward said second coupling block, and a second drive pin connected to said second coupling block and projecting toward said first coupling block, said second drive pin being positioned to engage said first drive pin to form a driving connection therewith, said first drive means being connected to said second coupling block for rotating the latter.