Apparatus for feeding documents having an adhesive area thereon. An oscillatably mounted vacuum sucker has a curved surface and a slot. A rack holds a stack of documents in operative contact with the sucker. The sucker is oscillated to separate the closest document from said stack. Take-away roller means are connected to remove said document from said sucker. A mask is mounted on the bottom of said rack to cover said slot in one position of said slot whereby said adhesive areas do not come in contact with said slots in said sucker as the document is pulled across the sucker.
A high speed sheet feeding apparatus in which the lowermost sheet of a stack is propelled from the stack by a rotating perforate cylindrical member connected to a source of vacuum. A pawl actuated by an adjustable cam governs the amount of rotation of the cylindrical member for each sheet in accordance with the length of the sheet. At the start of each feeding cycle a detent on the pawl urges the cylindrical member in the direction opposite its feeding rotation for a short distance. As a result, the lowermost sheet is initially slightly buckled, freeing it from the next adjacent sheet and insuring single sheet feed.
A reciprocator sleeve for use in a printing machine having an envelope feeder is disclosed which enables the feeder to convey windowed envelopes from a stack and into a pair of pinch rollers without marking the windows of the envelopes. The sleeve is adapted for use with the feeder reciprocator upon which the bottommost envelope in the stack is retained for its conveyance therefrom and into a pair of pinch rollers. The reciprocator has a cylindrical head which is reciprocatingly rotated about its longitudinal axis to provide a generally arcuate feed and return stroke between the stack and the pinch rollers, and a shaft extending from an end of the head to a drive assembly. The head is in fluid communication with a vacuum source and has at least one vacuum port for applying a negative pressure differential to the front face of the bottommost envelope in the stack to retain that envelope for its conveyance on the feed stroke from the envelope stack and into the pinch rollers. The sleeve is formed of a tubular member which receives the reciprocator head and has an outer surface with at least one fenestration therethrough in registration with a corresponding vacuum port of the head. The tubular member is formed of a polymeric material effective to allow the windowed opening of each envelope in the stack to travel unmarked over its outer surface as each envelope is drawn from the reciprocator head on the return stroke thereof.
Apparatus for removing currency notes one by one from a stack of notes (82) includes a rotating suction drum (16) having openings (26) formed therein, and a fixed member (88) against which an end note (82') in the stack is urged. The fixed member (88) includes a curved portion (94) disposed adjacent to, and extending partially around the drum (16), the curved portion (94) being provided with a plurality of parallel slots (96) which are respectively disposed in cooperative relationship with the openings (26) in the drum (16). During rotation of the drum (16), vacuum is applied to the end note (82') so as to draw the lower part of this note into engagement with the curved portion (94), with the end of the note projecting slightly beyond the end of the curved portion (94). Feed rolls (38) are then moved into engagement with the end of the note, the rolls (38) and drum (16) thereafter drawing the end note away from the remainder of the stack.
A system for in-line processing of envelopes and the like includes a first upstanding feed hopper for feeding primary envelopes through a first printing station operative to print predetermined indicia on the primary envelopes after which they are conveyed in the direction of their major longitudinal axes through a plurality of inserter stations operative to insert special event envelopes between selected ones of the primary envelopes. The primary and insert envelopes are conveyed by conveyance means in-line past an ink jet type printer station operative to print particular cluster data on each successive envelope making up a set, followed by a station for the automatic collating and packaging of sets of envelopes into cartons. The conveyance means include a endless vacuum belt which holds the envelopes flat in a continuous stream and allows easy transfer to and from the conveyance means. The vacuum belt conveyance means increases the speed at which the system can be run because the envelopes are positively held in a predetermined location during their transport. Pulse encoders and photoelectric sensors cooperate with various elements of the system and a data processor to effect automatic high speed operation of the system.
