Feed mechanism for presses

Claim 1

A feed mechanism for presses comprising a base and a reciprocable feeding assembly, said assembly embodying pusher means comprising a pair of fingers which are arranged so that they each extend in a direction generally parallel to said direction of reciprocation and which, on reciprocation of said assembly, engage the edge of the lowermost workpiece of a stack of workpieces which are disposed in use over said base so as to push said lowermost workpiece forwardly to an intermediate station on said base, there being provided on said base an upwardly extending projection which is disposed beneath a hopper adapted to hold said stack of workpieces and which is arranged in use to engage the underside of said lowermost workpiece at the rear thereof so as thereby to raise the rear of the workpiece relative to the front, said fingers being arranged so that their leading ends are separated to define a slot which receives said projection as the fingers are advanced, said feeding assembly also embodying a pair of calipers which each extend in a direction which is parallel or substantially parallel to the direction of reciprocation of said feeding assembly, means being provided to close the leading ends of said calipers to grip a workpiece previously deposited on the base at said intermediate station when said assembly is at the rearward end of its cycle whereby forward movement of the assembly from its rearward position will result in said calipers carrying the workpiece forwardly to the die or other tool in which it is to be deposited whilst said pusher means separates another workpiece from said stack to move said other workpiece to the intermediate station, further means being provided to open said calipers when the feeding assembly is at the forward end of its cycle in order to drop the workpiece carried by the calipers into the die or other tool.