Signature feeder for a bookbinding machine

摘要

A signature feeder comprises an in-feed table for conveying signatures disposed in a stack adjacent one another and each in an almost vertical aspect to a signature separator operating to separate the signatures one at a time from the stack and transfer them to a signature elevator operating to raise them to an upper horizontal conveyor on which they are disposed in a partly overlapping shingle configuration. The signature separator comprises a plurality of sucker devices mounted on arms turnable about a horizontal spindle and a plurality of rotatable discs each having a circumferential recess or notch able to receive the lower edge of a signature removed from the stack by the sucker devices whereby to transfer it to the said signature elevator to be conveyed to an upper level and placed on the said upper horizontal conveyor which is constituted by conveyor belts driven at a slower speed than that of the said signature elevator and having cooperating rollers which cause the signatures to accumulate on the said upper horizontal conveyor in a partly overlapping configuration.