Sheet take-out apparatus

Claim 1

A sheet take-out apparatus for taking out sheets one by one from stacker means, said sheet take-out apparatus comprising: feed roller means for feeding sheets one by one by engaging with a bottom surface of the lowermost sheet in said stacker means, take-out roller means having at least two grooves extending circumferentially on a peripheral surface thereof, said take-out roller means being disposed downstream of said feed roller means with respect to the direction of the feeding of sheets and rotated synchronously with the rotation of said feed roller means, said take-out roller means including a plurality of take-out rollers, a plurality of pulley means disposed facing at least two grooves and rotating in a direction opposite to that in which the sheets are fed, two annular rings of said plurality of pulley means projecting radially into a plane defining an outermost periphery of said take-out rollers and each of said two annular rings being spaced outwardly from a different peripheral end face of said take-out rollers which extends perpendicular to the direction of the feeding of sheets, and an additional at least one annular ring being located centrally between said two annular rings, and contacting the peripheral surface of the take-out rollers between said at least two grooves, and endless belt means made of frictional material, said endless belt means being mounted on said plurality of pulley means so that a part of said endless belt means is positioned in said at least two grooves and being moved in a direction opposite to that in which the sheets are fed, said sheets being fed by being held between the peripheral surface of said take-out roller means and said endless belt means.