Sheet handling apparatus

Claim 2

Apparatus for laterally feeding flat articles, singly, from a stack of such articles, comprising a suction head and an extension within said suction head, the lower edges of the extension defining a pickup opening, at least one drive roll located adjacent said suction head, said extension being movable between a lower position adjacent a stack of articles and an upper position above the lowermost part of the drive roll, thus to pick up an article in the lower position and in the uppermost position to maintain the article in driving engagement with the drive roll.

Claim 3

Apparatus for laterally feeding flat articles, singly, from a stack of such articles comprising a suction head and a pair of rolls at least one of which is driven, a pickup opening in the suction head and means for controlling the application of suction generated by the head to the uppermost one of the articles in the stack of articles to raise the article into driving engagement with the drive roll and to maintain it in driving engagement with the rolls, and in which the means for applying the suction and raising the article comprises an extension housed within the suction head and movable downwardly towards the uppermost one of the articles in a stack of articles to pick up one article and movable upwardly to raise the article into engagement with the dRive rolls.

Claim 4

Apparatus for laterally feeding flat articles, singly, from a stack of such articles comprising a suction head and a pair of rolls at least one of which is driven, a pickup opening in the suction head and means for controlling the application of suction generated by the head to the uppermost one of the articles in the stack of articles to raise the article into driving engagement with the drive roll and to maintain it in driving engagement with the rolls, and in which the means for applying the suction and raising the article comprises an extension housed within the suction head and movable downwardly towards the uppermost one of the articles in a stack of articles to pick up one article and movable upwardly to raise the article into engagement with the dRive rolls.

Claim 5

Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which both said rolls are driven.

Claim 6

Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which sealing means is provided between the suction head and the roll.

Claim 7

Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 wherein said sealing means comprises resilient sealing strips secured to the suction head and having sliding contact with the roll.

Claim 8

Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the roll has a coefficient friction while sufficient to cause article brought into contact therewith to be fed, is sufficiently low as to allow easy, relative sliding movement between the articles and the roll.

Claim 9

Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the rolls have a coefficient friction while sufficient to cause articles brought into contact therewith to be fed is sufficiently low as to allow relative sliding movement between the articles and the rolls.

Claim 10

Apparatus for feeding articles, singly, from a stack of such articles comprising a suction head, an extension within the suction head defining an elongated pickup opening at its lower end, a pair of drive rolls spaced apart in the feeding direction and adjacent to suction head, said extension being movable upwardly and downwardly between the drive rolls between a lowermost position close to the stack of articles and an uppermost position slightly above the lowest part of the drive rolls.

Claim 11

Apparatus for feeding articles, singly, from a stack of such articles comprising a suction head, an extension within the suction head defining an elongated pickup opening at its lower end, a pair of drive rolls spaced apart in the feeding direction and adjacent to suction head, said extension being movable upwardly and downwardly between the drive rolls between a lowermost position close to the stack of articles and an uppermost position slightly above the lowest part of the drive rolls.

Claim 12

Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 in which the rearmost roll, in the direction of feeding, is slightly lower than the forward roll.

Claim 13

Apparatus as claimed in claim 8 in which the rearward roll, in the direction of feeding, is slightly lower than the forward roll.