Abstract:
An apparatus for tilting away a part of a sheet to be separated, in which apparatus a compressed-air supply is sufficient for operating the tilting sucker. To this end, the tilting sucker of the apparatus is assigned a vacuum generator which can be fed with compressed air and which generates a vacuum from the supplied compressed air.
Abstract:
An envelope feeder for removing envelopes from an envelope stack. The envelope feeder comprises a shuttle plate and a suction cup assembly. The shuttle plate translates between a position under the envelope stack and another position partially remote from the envelope stack. The shuttle plate includes an orifice passing through its surface and an envelope gripping mechanism in connection with a vacuum valve. The suction cup assembly has a suction cup connected to a hollow rod that is in connection with another vacuum valve. An actuator engages the suction cup and moves the suction cup between an extended position and a retracted position. The suction cup attaches to an envelope at the bottom of the envelope stack when it is in the extended position, and pulls the envelope toward the shuttle plate as it moves to the retracted position. Then the envelope gripping mechanism retains the envelope, allowing the shuttle plate to remove the envelope from the envelope stack.
Abstract:
A sucker adjustment device including a moving lever having a cam surface adjacent its far end. An axis is located adjacent the near end and a first cam follower is mounted intermediate the ends. The first cam follower bears against an actuating cam which causes the former to move between an extended position, wherein the sucker cup attached thereto contacts the bottom newspaper of a stack, and a retracted position, wherein the sucker cup is out of the path of the lowest newspaper. There is an actuating lever pivotally mounted about the axis and carrying an arm between its distal end and the axis. There is a second cam follower on the arm at a point remote from the actuating lever and bearing against the cam surface. A pivot adjacent the rotating end of the sucker bar spaced apart from the sucker cup permits the sucker bar to move between its extended and retracted positions. By this means, appropriate movement of the actuating lever will adjust the extended position of the sucker cup with respect to the newspapers without changing its retracted position.
Abstract:
A device for continuous separation of blanks for book cover material, envelopes for brochures or similar bendable sheets of a stack of sheets from a magazine with a conveyor belt with a non-skid surface and openings acted upon by air suction, bearing the stack of sheets, feeding the lowest sheet in each case in timed fashion from the magazine, which has a suction element grasping the lowest sheet and removing it from the stack of sheets, with an air blower for creating an air cushion between the raised sheet and the following sheet and with a removal conveyor system receiving and further transporting the sheet fed with respect to a functionally reliable separation of large-format flexible sheets is characterized by supports (17, 18) on both sides of an open space supporting a stack of sheets (1) in the edge area and by a suction element (14) capable of being driven under the stack of sheets (1), grasping a sheet (1a) in the open space in the edge area, and pulling down from the stack of sheets (1) in order to create an indentation (21) in the sheet (1a), opened to the edge of the sheet (1a), drawn inwards around the supports (17, 18), in order to introduce blown air via an air blower (16).
Abstract:
Stacks of part-products are arranged on the circumference of a rotating processing drum that has radial receiving compartments that open along the drum circumference. Rotatable rollers are provided in the region of the introduction opening of each receiving compartment on which the stacks of part-products are supported. Each stack has a separating device with a suction head separating member that seizes the bottom part-product in the stack and moves it to a location between the rollers of successive receiving compartments. The part-product that has been seized, in this manner, is fully detached from the stack by the roller and is deposited into the corresponding receiving compartment where it can be processed. For example, the part-product can be folded or cut at the borders, and assembled with other part-products by collating or inserting to form a multi-part end product.
Abstract:
Sheet feeding apparatus comprises suction cups which initially engages the bottom surface of a bottommost sheet in a stack of sheets, with the suction plane thereof parallel to the sheet. The suction cups are then raised a small distance where the cups are tilted in a direction away from a support ledge without any substantial horizontal movement thereof, and following which the suction cups are lowered to pull the front end of the bottommost sheet past the support ledge with a wiping contact and down upon the top and front portions of a drive roller. Adjustable suction cup position control apparatus is provided including a manually progressively adjustable member for varying the peak elevation reached by the suction cups. A stationary cam is provided against which a pivotable follower portion of a suction cup mounting member rides, to vary the inclination of the mounting member and the suctoin cups carried thereby as the elevation of the suction cups is varied. The common gripping plane of the suction cups are maintained at an angle corresponding to the varying tangent lines extending from the varying points of contact of the sheet as it is pulled down upon the drive roller. Suction to the cups is shut-off when pressure rollers are raised to catch a rigid sheet as it springs upward upon release of suction to the suction cups.
Abstract:
Both positive pressure fluid and negative pressure fluid are used in a method and by an apparatus to at least partially separate a sheet prior to the feeding of the sheet. A carriage 22 having registration arms 160 resiliently coupled thereto is rotated toward a sheet lying in a storage position in a hopper 200. The carriage 22 bears both a positive pressure-communicating port 54 and negative pressure-communicating orifice, preferably in the form of two bellows-type sucker cups 56A, 56B. Positive pressure fluid is applied through port 54 in a manner whereby at least a portion of sheet 220 is attracted to a surface 52 in which ports 54 lie. While positive pressure fluid is being applied, the carriage 22 is rotated away from the storage position of the sheet 220, thereby deflecting at least a portion of the sheet about a first axis 208 of the sheet 220. Negative pressure fluid is then applied through sucker cups 56A, 56B to attract the deflected sheet 220 onto the sucker cups 56A, 56B, thereby deflecting the sheet about the surface 52 and thus about a second axis 230 of the sheet. The carriage 22 is rotated further away from the storage position of the sheet 220, thereby further deflecting the sheet 220 about its first axis 208.
Abstract:
This relates to a label separator which is operative to separate a foremost label from a stack of labels in advance of such label being picked by a picker so as to assure that only one label is picked at a time and that the other labels in a stack of labels will not be disturbed. One end or edge portion of a foremost label is displaced relative to the remainder of the stack and after a gap has been formed between the displaced label and the next adjacent label in the stack, a blade enters in between these two labels so as to separate completely the foremost label from the remaining labels in the stack. The apparatus which effects the initial displacement has associated therewith a label support whereby the displaced label remains supported in its original alignment for reception by the picker.
Abstract:
Empty, flat folded storage bags which may be valve bags are prepared for filling with a flowable material, by seating and stacking a plurality of the bags on a fixed elevation base within a chamber of a bag holding magazine assembly, the resulting stack defining an initial stack rising from a lowermost one the bags on the base to an uppermost one of the bags. In a first cycle of operation, all but the lowermost bag is raised away from the base, the raised bags defining a depleted stack of bags. Then, while the depleted stack remains raised, the lowermost bag is removed from the chamber through a chamber outlet opening. Then, the depleted stack is lowered to seat a new lowermost bag on the base to complete first cycle. The cycle is repeated for each lowermost bag.Each bag removed from the magazine chamber may be conveyed to a bag pick-up position located away from the magazine assembly and, from there, automatically picked with a carrying tool located at the end of a robotic arm and transported to a bag filling station for filling with the flowable material. In the case of valve bags, the valve may be opened by the carrying tool at the time of pick-up.