摘要 |
A top sheet feeding apparatus for feeding sheets from a stack of sheets is disclosed. The feeding apparatus comprises a sheet stack support tray for supporting a stack of sheets, an air knife device positioned immediately adjacent the front of the stack of sheets for applying a positive pressure to the sheet stack in order to separate the uppermost sheet in the stack from the rest of the stack, and a feedhead device including a vacuum plenum chamber positioned over the front of the sheet stack having a negative pressure applied thereto during feeding, the vacuum plenum chamber having a sheet corrugation member located in the center of its bottom surface and perforated feed belt means associated with the vacuum plenum chamber to transport the sheets acquired by said vacuum plenum chamber in a forward direction out of the stack support tray. The air knife device includes a pair of straight air nozzles extending from the rear portion of the air knife device.
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