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US 6,829,320 B2Granted
Counting and tabbing apparatus
AssigneeVacuumatic Limited
InventorEdward Colvill
Life of this patent
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AssigneeVacuumatic Limited
InventorEdward Colvill
Estimating the term…
Apparatus for counting sheets in stack (17) thereof and inserting tabs (27) between the sheets at predetermined counts, as well as a tabbing method, uses a rotatable counting disc (10) engageable with an edge region of the stack and including a sheet transfer slot (12) to transfer the next sheet to be counted from one face of the disc to the opposed face, upon rotation of the disc. There are means (30) to count the number of sheets transferred and also to advance the disc relative to the stack, as the counting progresses. A tabber (31) is arranged to insert a tab (27) between two sheets of the stack (17) when a predetermined sheet count has been achieved, which tabber (31) projects a tab in a generally radially outward direction with respect to the disc (10), immediately adjacent one face (13) of the disc and in a timed relationship to the rotation thereof. The disc includes a tabbing recess (20) in its one face (13) and into which a projected tab is received for insertion between the last and next sheets to be counted, at the moment of projection of the tab.
Counting apparatus for counting sheets in a stack thereof, which apparatus comprises a rotatable counting disc engageable with an edge region of the stack and including a sheet transfer slot to transfer the next sheet to be counted from one face of the disc to the opposed face on rotation of the disc, means to count the number of sheets transferred from one face to the other, advancing means to effect relative movement between the disc and the stack along the length of the stack as the sheets are counted, and a tabber arranged to insert a tab into the stack between two sheets when the count means achieves a predetermined sheet count value which tabber is arranged to project a tab in a generally radially-outward direction with respect to the disc, immediately adjacent one face of the disc and in a timed relationship to the rotation thereof, and the disc includes a tabbing recess in said one face and into which a projected tab is received for insertion between the last and next sheets to be counted at the moment of projection of the tab.
A method of tabbing sheets in a stack thereof using a rotatable counting disc engageable with an edge region of the stack and including a sheet transfer slot through which the next sheet to be counted is transferred from one face of the disc to the opposed face on rotation of the disc, the count being incremented each time a sheet is transferred from one face to the other and the disc being advanced along the length of the stack as the sheets are counted, in which method comprise:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.