Sheet dispenser

Claim 1

Sheet storing and feeding means comprising: a. a shallow tray defining parallel upper and lower planes, having low side walls and including guide means for guiding to a discharge point a sheet forwarded from the top of a stack held in the tray; b. a shaft extending across the tray and supported rotatably on said side walls; c. an arm rockable on the shaft and carrying at its free end a feed roller resting on the top of the stack of sheets; d. a drive member rotatable with the shaft aNd a belt connecting said drive member and said feed roller for effecting rotation of the latter by the former; and e. means to rotate said shaft in one direction only comprising: an oscillating lever disposed for convenient manual actuation with a swing no greater than between said upper and lower planes and carrying a gear segment, and a gear train operatively connecting said gear segment and said shaft including: 1. a first small pinion of n teeth meshing with said segment, 2. a first element of a one-way clutch coaxial and integral with said first pinion, 3. a large internal gear having at least 2n teeth mounted coaxially with said first small pinion and approaching the height of said side wall in diameter, 4. a second element of a one-way clutch coaxial and integral with said internal gear and coacting with said first oneway clutch element, and 5. a second small pinion having a number of teeth of the order of magnitude of the number of teeth in said first small pinion, drivingly associated with said shaft and meshing with said internal gear.