| 摘要 |
A bottom feed newspaper hopper utilizes a shuttle plate that reciprocates across the bottom of a stack of the papers to partially eject each successive lowermost newspaper from the stack during each feed stroke and present it to high speed nip rollers. The rollers grasp the leading edge of the partially ejected newspaper and quickly withdraw it the rest of the way from the stack. The stack of newspapers rests upon a fore-and-aft narrow rail on the shuttle plate so that a stiffening ridge is created in the body of the lowermost paper and at least several papers thereabove. During each feed stroke, a stop at the front of the hopper permits the lowermost paper to exit from the hopper but blocks similar movement of the second paper and all those above it. The stop is offset laterally from the path of travel of the rail so that the area immediately above the rail is open and unrestricted, allowing the peak of the ridge to pass out of the hopper even if the paper has an accidentally rolled up, fat leading edge. A downwardly and laterally outwardly flaring deflecting leg at the lower end of the stop pushes down on the side slope of the ridge as the paper moves forwardly toward the nip rollers so as to bend the side slope downwardly away from the surface of the next paper, thus encouraging separation of the lower paper from those above it in the stack. Several embodiments of separator stops are disclosed, including a dual stop version for thick newspaper products and a single stop version for relatively thin, flimsy newspaper products. |
