Sheet feeding apparatus
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorsMichael Kenin, David P. Dworzanski, Donald S. Hensel, Raymond M. Quackenbush
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for feeding material, in the form of discrete sheets, seriatim from a stack of discrete sheets. The sheet feeding apparatus comprises a support for a stack of discrete sheets. A sheet in the supported stack of discrete sheets is engaged by a friction mechanism for selectively removing such sheet from the stack. Such sheet is attracted to the friction mechanism by vacuum directed adjacent to the friction mechanism. The vacuum attraction increases the force of engagement of such sheet with the friction mechanism to facilitate removal of such sheet from the stack of discrete sheets by the friction mechanism.
Claims6
Apparatus for feeding material, in the form of discrete sheets, seriatim from a stack of discrete sheets, said apparatus comprising:
- means for supporting a stack of discrete sheets;
- at least one scuff feed belt frictionally engaging a sheet of a stack of discrete sheets supported by said stack supporting means, said at least one scuff feed belt movable in a direction for selectively removing such sheet from said stack of discrete sheets;
- and
- vacuum means, located adjacent to said at least one scuff feed belt, for attracting a sheet from said stack of discrete sheets to increase the force of engagement of such sheet with said at least one scuff feed belt to facilitate removal of such sheet from said stack of discrete sheets by said sheet engaging means, said vacuum means including a vacuum source, a plenum defining a plurality of ports located adjacent to each marginal edge of said at least one scuff feed belt, and means for communicating said vacuum source with said plenum.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.