Dual purpose sheet material feeding and safety apparatus

Claim 1

A dual purpose sheet material and safety apparatus, comprising: a generally horizontal feeding deck for supporting a stack of sheet material; a generally vertically extending wall disposed upon said feeding deck for guiding the sheet material; a pair of frictional feed rollers generally disposed at a junction formed between the horizontal deck and the vertical wall, said feed rollers forming a bite for said sheet material for conveying the sheet material from said feeding deck, one of said pair of rollers partially extending above a surface portion of the deck so as to provide frictional contact with the sheet material; and a pivotably mounted gravity arm movably affixed to the vertical wall above said pair of feed rollers, said arm being pivotable about one end thereof, and having a weighted safety guard member on an end that is opposite to said pivotable end, said gravity arm being pivotable so as to be able to raise said guard member above the stack of sheets, the weighted guard member then coming to rest upon an upper surface of said stack, said weighted guard member then applying a force upon the stack to urge sheets of said stack into frictional contact with said partially extending roller, said safety guard member having the additional function of gravitationally pivoting the arm to a lower position as the stack becomes depleted, the guard member eventually coming to rest adjacent said pair of rollers and covering the bite thereof, said guard member then acting as a protective safety guard against the inadvertent intrusion of an operator's fingers and clothing into the bite of the feed rollers.