Machine for applying indicia to tennis ball felts

A machine for applying indicia to tennis ball felts while the felts are in flat form, each of said felts including a fuzzy side and an opposite side having a mastic coating thereon, said coating tending to adhere adjacent felts of said stack, comprising at least one applicator for applying an indicium to a fuzzy side of a felt, an intermittently moving conveyor for moving a series of felts to and past said applicator in intermittent start and stop movement, a destacking mechanism adjacent one end of said conveyor including a magazine adapted to receive and support said stack of felts, a movable head mounted at the lower open end of the stack, said head including a flat surface and air means for holding a felt on said flat surface, means for moving said head generally vertically between an upper position where said flat surface engages the lower side of the lowermost felt of said stack and supports said stack and said air means attaching said lowermost felt to said head, and a lower position where said head is spaced downwardly from said stack and places said felts on said conveyor during a stop portion of said movement, blade means movably mounted between said head and said stack, means for moving said blade through said stack to separate said lowermost felt from the remainder of said stack and then to retract said blade, said blade further supporting said stack when said head is not in said upper position, said air means producing a partial vacuum to hold a felt while said blade is moving through said stack and while said head is moving from said upper position to said lower position, a restacking mechanism adjacent the other end of said conveyor for removing said felts from said conveyor and restacking said felts during a stop portion of said movement, and means on said conveyor for holding said series of felts at regularly spaced positions during said intermittent movement, said holding means being oriented with said destacking and restacking mechanisms and with said applicator whereby respective holding means are simultaneously adjacent said destacking and restacking mechanisms and said applicator, and said mechanisms and said applicator operating simultaneously during said stop portions of said movement.