Feeding of cut films

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR THE PROCESSING OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL IN CUT SHEETS WHICH IN ADDITION TO A MAIN CASING IN WHICH THE PROCESSING PROPER TAKES PLACE, COMPRISES A GENERALLY VERTICAL, OPEN-BOTTOMED STORAGE COMPARTMENT MOUNTED ON THE MAIN CASING, AN EXTERNAL OPENING BEING PROVIDED THROUGH WHICH ACCESS CAN BE OBTAINED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE COMPARTMENT, A PLURALITY OF FLAPS CONTINUOUSLY ROTATABLE ON A COMMON AXIS BELOW THE STORAGE COMPARTMENT AND OF SUCH LENGTH THAT WHEN SWUNG INTO UPWARDLY DIRECTED POSITION THEIR UPPER EDGES COME BETWEEN THE FRONT AND REAR WALLS OF THE COMPARTMENT BUT CLEAR OF THE LOWER EDGE OF THE FRONT WALL AND SUFFICIENTLY BELOW THE LOWER EDGE OF THE REAR WALL, THUS ENABLING THE FLAPS TO SWING PAST THE FRONT WALL AND LEAVING A SLOT AT THE REAR THROUGH WHICH THE FLAPS CAN BE SWUNG MANUALLY AND CUT SHEETS CAN BE LOADED MANUALLY INTO THE COMPARTMENT WITH THE SHEETS ALTERNATING WITH THE FLAPS, AN ESCAPEMENT FOR RELEASING THAT FLAP NEAREST THE FRONT WALL OF THE COMPARTMENT FROM ITS UPWARDLY DIRECTED POSITION, THE AXIS ON WHICH THE FLAPS ROTATE BEING DISPOSED SO THAT GRAVITY URGES THE FLAPS TOWARDS THE FRONT WALL OF THE COMPARTMENT AND AS EACH FLAP IS RELEASED IT CONTINUES TO ROTATE BY GRAVITY AND THE CUT SHEET BEHIND IT IS ALSO RELEASED, A POWER DRIVEN FEED DEVICE IN FRONT OF AND BELOW THE STORAGE COMPARTMENT, A GUIDE WHICH DIRECTS EACH CUT SHEET AS IT IS RELEASED TO THE FEED DEVICE, MEANS BEYOND THE FEED DEVICE ENGAGED BY A CUT SHEET TO ACTUATE THE ESCAPEMENT AND THUS RELEASE THE NEXT FLAP AT AN INTERVAL ADEQUATE TO PREVENT OVERLAP OF CUT SHEETS WITHIN THE PROCESSING OPERATIONS, AND MEANS ENABLING THE ESCAPEMENT TO BE ACTUATED WHEN THE COMPARTMENT HAS BEEN LOADED AND BEFORE ANY CUT SHEET HAS BEEN RELEASED.