Automatic sheet feeding mechanism

An automatic sheet feeding mechanism comprising:

• a frame;
• a shaft mounted on said frame and adapted for rotational motion relative thereto;
• a pick tire mounted on the shaft and adapted to rotate therewith;
• a kicker mounted on said frame for retaining paper in a first position;
• and
• a kicker cam mounted on the shaft, said kicker cam adapted to deflect said kicker during a first portion of a rotational cycle in a first direction and to release said kicker when said cam is in a second rotational position, said cam being shaped to push said kicker toward said stack when said cam is rotated in a second direction such that said kicker is returned to said first position.

A method for dispensing media from a stack including the steps of:

• selectively moving a sheet of media from a stack with a pick tire;
• retaining media on said stack with a kicker in a first position;
• deflecting said kicker from said first position to a second position with a rotation of a cam attached to said pick tire in a first direction;
• and
• counter-rotating said cam to push said kicker toward said stack.

A paper control apparatus for feeding individual sheets from a sheet stack, comprising:

• an elongate pick shaft mounted for rotation about its longitudinal axis;
• an wheel-like kicker cam mounted on said pick shaft for helping to facilitate the picking of a top sheet from the sheet stack during a portion of its rotation about said axis and for helping to facilitate the returning of any extraneous sheets pulled from the sheet stack during another portion of its rotation;
• said kicker cam having an arcuate shaped cut out portion at its circumference extending inwardly a sufficient distance to provide an upstanding protrusion at one end thereof;
• an elongated pivotally mounted kicker having a centrally disposed trough disposed beneath said kicker cam, said kicker being biased forwardly into engagement with said upstanding protrusion when said kicker cam is positioned at a home resting position;
• pair of pick tires mounted on said pick shaft on opposite sides of said kicker for engaging said top sheet during a portion of their rotation about said pick shaft to cause said top sheet to be picked and moved toward and over said kicker as it is pushed rearwardly away from the sheet stack to a loaded position by the protrusion of said kicker cam;
• said kicker pivoting rearwardly past said protrusion as said pick shaft completes a full revolution to snap forwardly toward said sheet stack to push any extraneous sheets pulled from the sheet stack back thereon.