Adhesion breaker for sheet stacks
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorsJohn A. Harrington, Dennis J. Kluy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus transports sheets of material and breaks the adhesion between first and second sheets when sheets are fed from a stack one at a time. The apparatus includes a gripper which is mounted on a gripper arm and grips the first sheet. The arm repeatedly and cyclically moves the leading edge of the first sheet to be fed while the first sheet is held by the gripper. The arm moves the leading edge of the first sheet both horizontally and vertically. The vertical cyclical motion causes air pockets to travel between the first and second sheets and the horizontal cyclical motion translates the first sheet relative to the second sheet to break the adhesion.
Claims18
An apparatus for transporting sheets of material one at a time from a stack in a first location to a second location and for breaking the adhesion between the first and second sheets on the stack to prevent the transportation of more than one sheet at a time, wherein each sheet has a leading edge, the apparatus comprising:
- means for gripping the first sheet on the stack from its side opposite the second sheet;
- means for transporting the first sheet from the first location to the second location;
- and
- means for repeatedly and cyclically moving the leading edge of the first sheet while the transporting means moves the first sheet, wherein the cyclical movement has at least two components moving the leading edge from the first location toward the second location separated by at least one component moving the leading edge from the second location toward the first location.
A method for breaking the adhesion between first and second sheets of material when sheets are to be transported one at a time from a stack in a first location to a second location, wherein each sheet has a leading edge, the method comprising:
- gripping the first sheet on the stack from its side opposite the second sheet;
- transporting the first sheet from the first location to the second location;
- and
- repeatedly and cyclically moving the leading edge of the first sheet while transporting the first sheet, wherein the repeated cyclical moving comprises alternately moving the leading edge from the first location toward the second location, moving the leading edge from the second location toward the first location, and then again moving the leading edge from the first location toward the second location.
An apparatus for transporting sheets of material one at a time from a stack in a first location to a second location and for breaking the adhesion between the first and second sheets on the stack to prevent the transportation of more than one sheet at a time, wherein each sheet has a leading edge, the apparatus comprising:
- means for gripping the first sheet on the stack from its side opposite the second sheet;
- means for transporting the first sheet from the first location to the second location;
- and
- means for repeatedly and cyclically moving the leading edge of the first sheet while the transporting means moves the first sheet, wherein the cyclical movement has components moving the leading edge from the first location toward the second location and components moving the leading edge from the second location toward the first location, wherein the transporting means and the moving means are a single integral system comprising:
- two pivoting bars which are connected in parallel at respective fixed points and which pivot around their fixed points while remaining parallel to each other;
- a link which connects the respective free ends of the pivoting bars;
- and
- a gripper bar which extends from the link, wherein the griping means is mounted on the gripper bar and wherein as the pivoting bars cyclically pivot back and forth, the gripper bar changes position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.