Apparatus for engaging and transporting discrete sheets of paper or the like

Abstract

An apparatus for engaging and transporting discrete sheets downstream of a severing station at which a cross-cutter severs a running paper web has a catcher assembly with an upper and a lower conveyor unit. The conveyor units define an elongated path for the transport of sheets therebetween. The catcher assembly is adjustable, in its entirety, with reference to the severing station, and each conveyor unit is adjustable relative to the other conveyor unit. The rearmost portion of the upper conveyor unit is adjustable toward and away from the adjacent portion of the lower conveyor unit. Such adjustability of the catcher assembly, of the conveyor units and of the rear portion of the upper conveyor unit enables an attendant to counteract the tendency of the leader of the web to miss the entrance into the path for successive sheets between the upper and lower conveyor units regardless of whether such tendency is attributable to the propensity of the web to curl, to excessive or pronounced flexibility of the material of the web, to the weight of the material of the web, to the generation of eddy currents at the severing station owing to rotary movement of the severing instrumentalities, and/or any combination of such factors.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.