Device for the removal of sheets,inserts or the like released from a roller frame

Claim 1

A destacking apparatus for sheets, comprising a roller drum adapted to support a stack of said sheets along its periphery, said drum being rotatable in one sense and being provided with a plurality of angularly spaced roller assemblies along its periphery, each of said assemblies comprising a shaft rotatable in the opposite sense and provided with a plurality of disks axially spaced along the shaft and rotatably entrained therewith while being formed with suction grippers adapted to entrain the lowermost sheet of the stack along with the roller assembly upon movement thereof past the stack by said drum, and a plurality of disks freely rotatable on each shaft and axially spaced from one another and from the rotatably entrained disk of the shaft; and a conveyor assembly disposed adjacent said roller drum for receiving the sheets carried by said roller assembly at a location angularly offset from said stack, said conveyor assembly comprising a plurality of parallel endless conveyor bands spaced apart along the axis of rotation of said drum and communicating same at least at said location while being displaceable at said location in a direction opposite the direction of movement of the drum periphery, said rotatably entrained disks lying laterally outwardly from said banks and said freely rotatable disks being aligned with said bands, and means for rollingly supporting said bands and driving same at a speed independent of the speed of said drum.