Automatic sheet dispensing mechanism for hand-fed patty machine

In a sheet dispensing mechanism for applying a separator sheet to each of a series of molded articles cyclically ejected at an ejection station along an article ejection path from a molding device for forming a stack of said articles, with said sheets interleaved therebetween, comprising:

• an open bottom sheet dispenser positioned beside said path for retaining a stack of said sheets, with an end sheet of said stack exposed;
• sheet feeding means operatively positioned adjacent said end sheet for feeding said end sheet from the bottom of said stack in the direction of said article travel path, said dispenser having at least laterally spaced sidewalls and a front wall facing in the direction of feed of said sheets, facing guides on opposite sidewalls of said dispenser engaged with respective opposite sides of said stacked sheets to guide said sheets and to provide a hold-back force tending to restrain said sheets against movement in the sheet feeding direction, said front wall terminating in a forward and downwardly oblique terminal portion forming with said facing guides a lock zone for a series of sheets at the bottom of the stack such that said sheets at the bottom of the stack shingle out against said oblique terminal portion of said front wall, the improvement wherein said sheet feeding means comprises at least one rotatable indexing roller mounted for rotation beneath said stack with a high coefficient of friction block member on a localized periphery of said roller, said friction block member penetrating said open bottom of said dispenser for pressing said shingled sheets against the bottom surface of said oblique terminal portion of said front wall, with said front wall oblique terminal portion functioning as a baffle to maintain all but said end sheet under pressure in said lock zone, but allowing said indexing roller to frictionally drive said end sheet in the direction of said path;
• means responsive to movement of said molded article to said ejection station for indexing said at least one indexing roller through one revolution to cause said indexed end sheet of said stack to intersect said ejection path of said article simultaneously with ejection of said article such that the interleaving sheets are properly aligned with the articles during article stacking, while preventing said sheets from excessive sagging prior to impact of said article against said indexed end sheet during the stacking procedure.