Sheet material feeding and unloading apparatus
AssigneeLomir Engineering Limited
InventorsLionel Charles Hardwick, Malcolm Littlewood
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for feeding and unloading sheets of material, including a first sheet attraction device for lifting a topmost sheet from a stack; a device for checking that only a single sheet has been lifted; and a second sheet attraction device movable between operable and inoperable positions, whereby when in the operable position the second sheet attraction device can be attached to a sheet adhering beneath the topmost sheet, the first and second sheet attraction devices can be moved apart to separate the adhering sheets, and the topmost sheet suspended beneath the first sheet attraction device can be carried away.
Claims9
A method of feeding sheets of material in turn from a stack of sheets to a means of transportation away from said stack to a workstation, the method comprising:
- lifting each sheet in turn from a top of the stack of sheets by first sheet attraction means;
- checking that only a single sheet has been lifted from the stack of sheets and is suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means;
- if it has been determined that only a single sheet has been lifted from the stack of sheets and is suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means, continuing the feeding of said single sheet by carrying said sheet to said means of transportation away from the stack of sheets, suspended beneath said first sheet attraction means;
- if it has not been determined that only a single sheet has been lifted from the stack of sheets and is suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means, inhibiting further feeding and bringing second sheet attraction means into position beneath a plurality of sheets suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means, causing said second sheet attraction means to be attached to an underlying one of said sheets, and moving said first and second sheet attraction means apart to separate the adhering sheets leaving a single sheet suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means, continuing the feeding of said single sheet suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means carrying said single sheet suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means.
Apparatus for feeding sheets of material in turn from a stack of sheets to a means of transportation away from said stack to a workstation, the apparatus comprising:
- first sheet attraction means forming part of a pick-up mechanism for lifting a topmost sheet from said stack of sheets;
- means for checking that only a single sheet has been lifted by said first sheet attraction means;
- and second sheet attraction means movable between an operable position in a path of lifting movement of the sheets and an inoperable position remote from said path of lifting whereby when the checking means has detected more than one sheet suspended beneath said first sheet attraction means, the second sheet attraction means is movable to said operative position beneath sheets lifted by said first sheet attraction means, whereupon the first and second sheet attraction means can be moved apart to separate the sheets so that a single sheet remains suspended beneath the first sheet attraction means and can be carried to the means of transportation away from the stack.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.