Apparatus for supplying sheets to a sheet processing machine in successive stacks

Claim 1

Apparatus for successively supplying sheets to a sheet processing machine, wherein said sheet processing machine is provided with sheet receiving means on which the sheets supplied by said apparatus can be successively stacked up, said apparatus comprising in combination: I. a frame including an upright support having an aperture; II. an elevator mechanism including a. a platform slidably supported on one side of said upright support for vertical reciprocation therealong, said platform being adapted to receive thereon a stack of sheets to be supplied to said sheet processing machine, and b. first drive means for causing said platform to reciprocate vertically along said upright support; III. a sheet feed mechanism including a. a guide beam extending horizontally at said one side of the upright support and located above said platform of said elevator mechanism, b. a carriage slidably mounted on said guide beam for horizontal reciprocation therealong, c. a push member supported by said carriage, and d. a second drive means for causing said carriage to reciprocate horizontally along said guide beam, whereby each time said push member travels forwardly toward said upright support from the remote end of said guide beam, a prescribed number of sheets on said platform can be fed in the form of a stack into and through said aperture formed through said upright support; IV. a conveyor mechanism including a. parallel spaced side frames supported on the other side of said upright support, b. a plurality of parallel space endless belts extending in coplanar relationship around terminal pulleys rotatably supported at both ends of said side frames, said endless belts being adapted to receive at one extremities thereof each prescribed number of sheets delivered through said aperture of said upright support by said feed mechanism, and c. third drive means for causing said endless belts to move around said terminal pulleys, whereby each prescribed number of sheets loaded on said endless belts at one extremities thereof are thereby transported toward the other extremities; V. a plurality of stop members pivotally supported at their proximal ends on said conveyor mechanism adjacent said other extremities of said endless belts and aligned with respect to each other transversely of said conveyor mechanism, each of said stop members being pivotable between an upright position above the upper runs of said endless belts in which each prescribed number of sheets being transported by said conveyor mecHanism is prevented from being fed by the conveyor mechanism, and a lying position in whichc it is swung toward said other extremities of said endless belts under the upper runs of the same; VI. sheet stack detecting means provided on said conveyor mechanism upstream of said stop members to detect said prescribed number of sheets being transported on said endless belts to send a detection signal; and VII. power means responsive to said detection signal to swing each of said stop members from its lying position to its upright position so as to temporarily arrest and stop said prescribed number of sheets being transported to readjust the same into a neat stack, said power means being swung thereafter into said lying position to allow said prescribed number of sheets to advance further to be unloaded onto said sheet receiving means.