Printer feeding and stacking

A dual sheet feeder for a printer or the like, comprising

• a supporting frame
• a pair of opposed sheet feeding hoppers mounted on said frame for supporting opposed stacks of paper sheets, said sheet feeding hoppers including
• bottom wall means for supporting thereon the bottom edge of a stack of paper sheets, said bottom wall means having inner and outer edges
• generally vertical inner wall means pivotally mounted on said frame adjacent its upper end for swinging movement about a horizontal axis for generally horizontal movement of its lower edge from an operating position adjacent said inner edge of said bottom wall means to a loading position within said inner edge
• generally vertical outer wall means pivotally mounted on said frame adjacent its upper edge for swinging movement about a horizontal axis outwardly spaced from the axis of said inner wall means for generally horizontal movement of its lower edge from an operating position outward of said inner wall means to a loading position more remote from said inner edge
• means normally urging said outer wall means toward said inner wall means to compress said stack of paper therebetween, and
• positioning means for moving said inner and outer wall means between their operating and loading positions
• extracting means mounted on said frame between the inner wall means of said opposed hoppers for selectively extracting individual sheets from either of said hoppers, said extracting means having
• a drive shaft rotatably mounted on said frame and extending between said opposed inner wall means for rotation about an axis parallel thereto, said drive shaft having mounted thereon a driving gear having a radially extending surface
• reversible power means for selectively rotating said drive shaft in opposite directions
• rocker arm means having a radially extending surface rockably mounted on said drive shaft
• sheet engaging roll means rotatably mounted on said rocker arm means for rotation about a axis spaced from and parallel to the axis of said drive shaft, the surface of said sheet engaging roll means being normally generally tangent in operating position to a selected one of said inner wall means, said sheet engaging roll means having a driven gear thereon tangentially engaging said drive shaft driving gear in both of its selected operating positions, and
• friction means interposed between said radially extending surfaces of said arm means and said driving gear for rocking said arm means in the direction of rotation of said drive shaft to selectively engage said sheet engaging roll means responsive to the direction of rotation of said drive shaft with one of said opposed stacks of paper sheets and extract an individual sheet therefrom.

A dual sheet feeder for a printer or the like, comprising

• a supporting frame
• a pair of opposed sheet feeding hoppers mounted on said frame for supporting opposed stacks of paper sheets, said sheet feeding hoppers including
• bottom wall means for supporting thereon the bottom edge of a stack of paper sheets, said bottom wall means having inner and outer edges
• generally vertical inner wall means pivotally mounted on said frame adjacent its upper end for swinging movement about a horizontal axis for generally horizontal movement of its lower edge from an operating position adjacent said inner edge of said bottom wall means to a loading position within said inner edge
• generally vertical outer wall means pivotally mounted on said frame adjacent its upper edge for swinging movement about a horizontal axis outwardly spaced from the axis of said inner wall means for generally horizontal movement of its lower edge from an operating position outward of said inner wall means to a loading position more remote from said inner edge
• spring means normally urging said outer wall means toward said inner wall means to compress said stack of paper therebetween
• positioning means for moving said inner and outer wall means between their operating and loading positions, including cam means pivotally mounted on said frame and follower means mounted on said inner and outer wall means, said cam means having a manually operable lever for moving said wall means between said operating and loading positions
• extracting means mounted on said frame between said opposed inner wall means of said opposed hoppers for selectively extracting individual sheets from either of said hoppers, said extracting means having
• a drive shaft rotatably mounted on said frame and extending between said inner wall means for rotation about an axis parallel thereto, said drive shaft having mounted thereon and axially spaced from one another a driving gear having a radially extending surface and an abutment
• reversible power means for selectively rotating said drive shaft in opposite directions
• rocker arm means having a radially extending surface rockably mounted on said drive shaft between said driving gear and said abutment for axial movement therealong
• sheet engaging roll means rotatably mounted on said rocker arm means for rotation about a axis spaced from and parallel to the axis of said drive shaft, the surface of said sheet engaging roll means being normally generally tangent in operating position to a selected one of said inner wall means, said sheet engaging roll means having a driven gear thereon tangentially engaging said drive shaft driving gear in both of its selected operating positions
• friction means interposed between said radially extending surfaces of said arm means and said driving gear, and
• compression spring means interposed between said abutment and said arm means for urging said surfaces together in a direction axially of said shaft for rocking said arm means in the direction of rotation of said drive shaft to selectively engage said sheet engaging roll means responsive to the direction of rotation of said drive shaft with one of said opposed stacks of paper sheets and extract an individual sheet therefrom.

A sheet feeder for a printer or the like, comprising

• a supporting frame
• a sheet feeding hopper mounted on said frame for supporting a stack of paper sheets and
• extracting means mounted on said frame for extracting individual sheets from said hopper,
• said sheet feeding hopper including
• bottom wall means for supporting thereon the bottom edge of a stack of paper sheets, said bottom wall means having inner and outer edges
• generally vertical inner wall means pivotally mounted on said frame adjacent its upper end for swinging movement about a horizontal axis for generally horizontal movement of its lower edge from an operating position adjacent said inner edge of said bottom wall means to a loading position within said inner edge
• generally vertical outer wall means pivotally mounted on said frame adjacent its upper edge for swinging movement about a horizontal axis outwardly spaced from the axis of said inner wall means for generally horizontal movement of its lower edge from an operating position outward of said inner wall means to a loading position more remote from said inner edge
• spring means normally urging said outer wall means toward said inner wall means to compress said stack of paper therebetween
• positioning means for moving said inner and outer wall means between their operating and loading positions, including cam means pivotally mounted on said frame and follower means mounted on said inner and outer wall means, said cam means having a manually operable lever for moving said wall means between said operating and loading positions.