Apparatus for the receiving packing and transferring of sheet material

An apparatus for receiving and forming a package of cut piled sheets, the sheet material being received by the apparatus as a continuous strip composed of individual single sheets joined to an adjacent sheet and delineated therefrom by means of separation lines, comprising:

• a fixed frame;
• roller feeder means supported by said frame upstream thereof for advancing an oncoming continuous strip along a path in a controlled manner;
• a sheet receiving plate together with means for the controlled positioning thereof carried by said frame downstream thereof for receiving the sheets after passing through said roller feeder means;
• guiding means interposed between said roller feeder means and said sheet receiving plate for receiving, guiding and vertically directing the continuous strips towards said receiving plate on which the individual sheets are piled up in an accordian-like configuration;
• means between said guide means and said receiving plate for temporarily holding the strip being piled up onto said receiving plate at a predetermined pile height;
• means associated with said guide means for engaging the strip coming from said guide means and for accompanying the strip for the piling up thereof into said accordian-like configuration;
• means between said guiding means and said receiving plate for temporarily separating and supporting the strip coming from said guiding means and advancing to said receiving plate, said temporarily separating means including at least one horizontal plate interposable between adjacent strips after leaving said guiding means slidable between a retired position and an operative position;
• cutting blade means mounted proximate to said at least one horizontal plate and movable together therewith for engaging one edge formed by the accordian shaped folded strip immediately below said temporarily separating and supporting means, said cutting blade means including a blade movable between a resting position in which said blade does not protrude from said plates and an operative position in which said blade protrudes from said plates;
• a driving jack and two rigid bars fastened to said blade, said bars being driven by said jack for the resting and said operative positions;
• first detecting means proximate to said roller feeder means for detecting the presence of the strip in said roller feeder means upstream of said apparatus;
• second detecting means along said path downstream of said first detecting means for measuring the length of the strip passing through said roller feeder means;
• third detecting means associated with said receiving plate for detecting the accumulation level of the strip folded as an accordian onto said receiving plate;
• and
• transferring means for the removal of a package of piled sheets from said receiving plate formed after the sheets are separated from the oncoming strip, and formed into packaged piles on an operative surface of said receiving plate.