Sheet feeding device

Claim 2

A pivoting-type of sheet separating mechanism for separating a bottom-most sheet from a main portion of a sheet stack comprising: a main frame; a hopper assembly mounted on said main frame for supporting a stack of sheets; a sheet separating means for gripping a bottom-most sheet of the sheet stack and then moving along an arcuate path away from said sheet stack in a direction down and under said sheet stack, thereby bending a separated edge of said bottom-most sheet away from a main portion of said sheet stack; and a linkage means for mounting said sheet separating means to said main frame for causing said sheet separating means to move in said arcuate path in said direction down and under said sheet stack so that the apparent pivot point of said sheet separating means is on the concave side of said arcuate path, said linkage means being mounted to said main frame on the convex side of said arcuate path, however, so that the actual pivot point of said sheet separating means is on the convex side of said arcuate path.

Claim 3

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 1 wherein said sheet separating means includes a suction cup.

Claim 4

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said linkage means includes two links which are pivotally attached to said main frame and to said sheet separating means, with said pivotal attachments on said frame and said sheet separating means being laterally spaced from one another.

Claim 5

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 3 wherein the length of said links and positions of their pivots on the sheet separating means and main frame are such as to cause arcuate movement about an axis positioned close to a plane of the bottom-most sheet on the concave side of the arcuate path.

Claim 6

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 4 wherein said substantially arcuate path about said axis extends over an angle of approximately 23°.

Claim 7

A pivoting-type of sheet separating mechanism for separating a bottom-most sheet from a main portion of a sheet stack comprising: a main frame; a hopper assembly mounted on said main frame for supporting a stack of sheets; a sheet separating means for gripping a bottom-most sheet of the sheet stack and, moving along a substantially arcuate path in a direction down and under said sheet stack, bending a separated edge of said bottom-most sheet away from a main portion of said sheet stack; and a linkage means for mounting said sheet separating means to said main frame for causing said sheet separating means to move in said arcuate path in said direction down and under said sheet stack so that the apparent pivot point of said sheet separating means is on the concave side of said arcuate path, said linkage means being mounted to said main frame on the convex side of said arcuate path and comprising two links each being respectively pivotally attached at said main frame and said sheet separating means, the pivotal attachments of said links on said main frame and said sheet separating means being laterally spaced from one another so that the actual pivot point of said sheet separating means is on the convex side of said arcuate path.

Claim 8

A pivoting-type of sheet separating mechanism for separating a bottom-most sheet from a main portion of a sheet stack comprising: a main frame; a hopper assembly mounted on said main frame for supporting a stack of sheets; a sheet separating means for gripping a bottom-most sheet of the sheet stack and, moving along a substantially arcuate path in a direction down and under said sheet stack, bending a separated edge of said bottom-most sheet away from a main portion of said sheet stack; and a linkage means for mounting said sheet separating means to said main frame for causing said sheet separating means to move in said arcuate path in said direction down and under said sheet stack so that the apparent pivot point of said sheet separating means is on the concave side of said arcuate path, said linkage means being mounted to said main frame on the convex side of said arcuate path and comprising two links each being respectively pivotally attached at said main frame and said sheet separating means, the pivotal attachments of said links on said main frame and said sheet separating means being laterally spaced from one another so that the actual pivot point of said sheet separating means is on the convex side of said arcuate path.

Claim 9

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 6 wherein said two links are pivotally attached to said main frame on the convex side of said arcuate path.

Claim 10

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 7 wherein one link is longer than the other so that the distance between its axes is greater than the distance between the axes of the other link.

Claim 11

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 8 wherein the ratio of the distances between axes of the shortest link to the distances between axes of the longest link is approximately 0.846.

Claim 12

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 7 wherein the pivotal attachment of one of said links at said main frame is closer to a plane of the bottom-most sheet than the pivotal attachment at said main frame of the other link, the ratio between these distances being approximately 0.511.

Claim 13

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 7 wherein the distance of the pivotal attachment of one of said links to said sheet-separating means from the plane of the bottom-most sheet, when said sheet-separating means is contacting said bottom-most sheet, to the distance of the pivotal attachment of the other link to the sheet-separating means from the plane of the bottom-most sheet, when said sheet-separating means is contacting said bottom-most sheet, is approximately 0.353.

Claim 14

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 7 wherein the pivotal attachment of one of said links to said main frame is located a longer distance from a plane normal to the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and passing through an imaginary axis of said arcuate path, than the pivotal attachment of the other link to the main frame, and the ratio between these two distances is approximately 1.2.

Claim 15

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 7 wherein the distance of said pivotal attachments of one of said links to said sheet-separating means from a plane normal to the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and passing through an imaginary axis of the arcuate path, is shorter than the distance of the pivotal attachment of the other link to the sheet-separating means, when said sheet-separating means is contacting said bottom-most sheet, and the ratio between these two distances is approximately 0.952.

Claim 16

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 8 wherein the pivotal attachment of said shorter link to said main frame is positioned closer to the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and further from a plane normal to the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and passing through an imaginary axis of said arcuate path, than the pivotal attachment of the longer of said links.

Claim 17

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 14 wherein the pivotal attachment of said shorter link to said sheet-separating means is located a shorter distance from the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and a longer distance from a plane normal to the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and passing through an imaginary axis of said arcuate path, than the pivotal attachment of the longer of said links to said sheet-separating means, when said sheet-separating means is contacting said bottom-most sheet.

Claim 18

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 8 wherein the pivotal attachment of said shorter link to said sheet-separating means is located a shorter distance from the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and a longer distance from a plane normal to the plane of the bottom-most sheet, and passing through an imaginary axis of said arcuate path, than the pivotal attachment of the longer of said links to said sheet-separating means, when said sheet-separating means is contacting said bottom-most sheet.

Claim 19

A sheet separating mechanism as in claim 8 wherein the ratios of the positions of the pivotal attachments, and the lengths of the links, with reference to the drawings are approximately as follows: A/B=0.511 V/U=1.2 C/D=0.846 S/T=0.353 Q/R=0.952