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AssigneeAM International, Inc.
InventorGeorge J. Diamantides
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for handling sheet material articles includes a hopper which supports a stack of sheet material articles with front edge portions of the articles skewed at an acute angle to the axis of rotation of a feed drum. A separator is sequentially engageable with a corner portion of each of the sheet material articles to move the corner portion of the sheet material article away from a next succeeding sheet material article. The feed drum pulls a sheet material article from the hopper with the front edge portion of the sheet material article skewed at an acute angle to the axis of rotation of the feed drum. While a portion of the sheet material article is still in the hopper, the sheet material article moves from between the separator and the next succeeding sheet material article to expose the next succeeding sheet material article to the separator. A conveyor receives the sheet material article from the feed drum. A plurality of alignment rods engage a leading end portion of the sheet material article as it moves toward the conveyor and rotates the sheet material article into alignment with the conveyor.
An apparatus for use in handling sheet material articles, said apparatus comprising hopper means for supporting a stack of sheet material articles, separator means for at least partially separating the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles from the front edge portion of the next succeeding sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles, said separator means including means for engaging a lower side of the front edge portion of the lowermost article in the stack of sheet material articles and pulling the front edge portion of the lowermost article downwardly away from the front edge portion of the next succeeding sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles, and feed means for feeding sheet material articles from said hopper means, said feed means including a drum which is rotatable about an axis which is skewed at an acute angle to the front edge portions of sheet material articles in the stack of sheet material articles and gripper means connected with said drum means for rotation therewith, said gripper means being operable to grip the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles while the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article is separate from the front edge portion of the next succeeding sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles and to pull the lowermost sheet material article from said hopper means with the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article skewed at an acute angle to the axis of rotation of said drum to move the lowermost sheet material article from between said separator means and the next succeeding sheet material article while a portion of the lowermost sheet material article is being pulled from said hopper means by said gripper means.
An apparatus for use in handling sheet material articles, said apparatus comprising means for holding a stack of rectangular sheet material articles having parallel front and rear edge portions interconnected by parallel first and second side edge portions, each of the sheet material articles in the stack of sheet material articles having a first corner portion which is at least partially defined by the intersection of the front edge portion and first side edge portion of the sheet material article, separator means for engaging the first corner portion of each of the sheet material articles in the stack of sheet material articles in turn and for moving the first corner portion of each sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles in turn out of engagement with the first corner portion of a next adjacent sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles to sequentially move the front edge portions of the sheet material articles toward a pickup location, and feed means for gripping the front edge portion of each one of the sheet material articles in turn at the pickup location and for moving each one of the sheet material articles in turn from between said separator means and the first corner portion of a next succeeding sheet material article by moving the one sheet material article along a path which is skewed at an acute angle to the first side edge portions of the sheet material articles in the stack of sheet material articles to expose the first corner portion of the next succeeding sheet material article to said separator means during movement of the one sheet material article from the stack of sheet material articles by said feed means.
An apparatus for use in handling sheet material articles, said apparatus comprising hopper means for supporting a stack of sheet material articles having front edge portions disposed along a first side of the stack of sheet material articles, feed means for sequentially feeding each of the sheet material articles from said hopper means along a feed path which is skewed at an acute angle to the first side of the stack of sheet material articles in said hopper means and with the front edge portions of the sheet material articles parallel to the first side of the stack of sheet material articles in said hopper means, conveyor means for sequentially receiving sheet material articles from said feed means and for sequentially moving the sheet material articles along a conveyor path which is skewed at an acute angle to the first side of the stack of sheet material articles, and alignment means disposed between said feed means and said conveyor means for engaging each of the sheet material articles in turn as it moves from said feed means toward said conveyor means to rotate each sheet material article in turn to an orientation in which the front edge portion of the sheet material article is skewed at an acute angle to the first side of the stack of sheet material and is aligned with said conveyor means.
A method of handling sheet material articles, said method comprising the steps of providing a stack of sheet material articles having front edge portions disposed along one side of the stack of sheet material articles, separating the front edge portions of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles from the front edge portion of the next succeeding sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles by pulling downwardly on a lower side of the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles, gripping the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles while the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article is separate from the front edge portion of the next succeeding sheet material, article, and, thereafter, pulling the lowermost sheet material article from the stack of sheet material articles while performing said step of gripping the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material articles by moving the lowermost sheet material article along a path extending at an acute angle to the one side of the stack of sheet material article, said step of gripping the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles including gripping the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material with a gripper disposed on a rotatable drum, said step of pulling the lowermost sheet material article from the stack of sheet material articles includes rotating the drum about a central axis of the drum, said step of moving the lowermost sheet material article along a path which extends at an acute angle to the one side of the stack of sheet material articles includes rotating the drum about an axis which is skewed at an acute angle relative to the one side of the stack of sheet material articles.
A method of handling sheet material articles, said method comprising the steps of providing a stack of sheet material articles having front edge portions disposed along one side of the stack of sheet material articles, separating the front edge portions of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles by pulling downwardly on a lower side of the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles, gripping the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles, gripping the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article in the stack of sheet material articles while the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article is separate from the front edge portion of the next succeeding sheet material article, and, thereafter, pulling the lowermost sheet material article from the stack of sheet material articles while performing said step of gripping the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article by moving the lowermost sheet material article along a path extending at an acute angle to the one side of the stack of sheet material articles, includes rotating the drum about an axis which is releasing the grip on the front edge portion of the lowermost sheet material article after the lowermost sheet material article has been pulled from the stack of sheet material articles, transferring the released sheet material article to a conveyor assembly, and operating the conveyor assembly to move sheet material articles along a path which is skewed at an acute angle to the one side of the stack of sheet material articles, said step of transferring the sheet material article to a conveyor assembly includes rotating the sheet material article relative to said conveyor assembly to align edge portions of the sheet material article with the conveyor assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.