Apparatus for separating and feeding sheets from a stack thereof

Apparatus for feeding respective sheets from a stack thereof comprising:

• (a) means for supporting a plurality of sheets in an upright stack thereof, the supporting means including an upright wall, the supporting means including a deck extending beneath the wall and defining a path of travel for respective sheets fed from the stack, the deck extending transverse to the path of travel;
• (b) means for successively feeding respective sheets downstream in the path of travel, the feeding means including opposed outfeed rollers downstream of the upright wall, the feeding means including an elongate first roller longitudinally extending transverse to the path of travel upstream of the upright wall, the feeding means including an elongate second roller longitudinally extending transverse to the path of travel upstream of the first roller, the feeding means including means for driving the outfeed and first and second rollers;
• wherein the driving means include:
• (i) first clutch means connected to the first roller and including a first drive gear, the first clutch means electrically operable for connecting the first drive gear to the first roller and for disconnecting the first drive gear therefrom, the driving means including second clutch means connected to the second roller and including a second drive gear;
• (ii) second clutch means electrically operable for connecting the second drive gear to the second roller and for disconnecting the second drive gear therefrom, the driving means including a DC motor having a pinion gear, the driving means including a gear belt looped about and disposed in meshing engagement with the respective pinion and drive gears;
• (c) means for controlling the drive means, the controlling means including means for causing the driving means to intermittently drive at least one of the outfeed rollers and to selectively drive the first and second rollers, the causing means including a microcomputer, the microcomputer connected to the first and second clutch means for operation thereof, and the microcomputer connected to the DC motor for operation thereof.