Methods of and apparatus for feeding sheets of material

摘要

An apparatus for feeding sheets of material, such as paper, sequentially from the bottom of a stack (11) of sheets comprises a suction chamber (14), a perforated belt (26) movable over the suction chamber, a sheet restraining gate (32) above the downstream end of the suction chamber, and a roller (30) to produce an upward corrugation in the bottom sheet only of the stack. The gap (33) between the bottom of the gate (32) and the belt (26) is profiled to match the corrugation in the bottom sheet to enable the bottom sheet only to pass through. The profile preferably includes a shallow triangular recess in the bottom edge of the gate. <IMAGE>