GB989897A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for feeding sheet material - Google Patents

Abstract

989,897. Ironing machines. G. I. FREDHOLM. March 23, 1962 [March 27, 1961], No.11266762. Heading D1A. [Also in Division B6]. Apparatus for feeding sheets of an endless conveyer feeding table 4 of a mangle comprises a jaw 17, Fig. 3, movable by means of a conveying device in a first direction transverse to a second direction in which the sheets are to be fed, and a clamping device 30 movable to convey a sheet clamped thereby in said second direction, the arrangement being such that, in operation the jaw is caused to grip one corner of the sheet and is then moved in said first direction to stretch an edge of the sheet, the clamping device being subsequently closed to clamp the stretched edge portion of the sheet and then moved to feed the sheet in said second direction. The clamping device 30 extends substantially the full width of the machine and comprises a bar 2, Figs. 5 and 6 with two end walls 46, Fig. 4 to which is pivoted at 35 a number of arms 34. Each arm 34 is biased to the closed or clamped position by a spring 36, Fig. 4. The clamping members of the device comprise strips 31 and 32 of resilient material such as rubber. The jaw 17 comprises a carriage 16 and a pivoted member 20 biased in the open and closed position by springs 21, each having to pass their dead point to reach the open or closed position. The carriage 16 is mounted on grooved pulleys 14, 15 which run along guide rails 10,11 mounted on the bar 2. Conveying means for traversing the jaw 17 comprises a wire 27 attached to the carriage 16 which passes round two end pulleys 28 and is moved by a pneumatic cylinder arrangement 25, Fig. 7 (not shown). The corner of a sheet is taken from a table 106, Fig. 3, and clamped by hand in the jaw 17, when the bar 2 is in the position I, Fig. 3 with the carriage 16 to one extremity of its traverse. By operating a pedal (not illustrated) the carriage 16 is traversed by the pneumatic conveying means, so that a stretched edge of a sheet is placed on to the strip 31 of the clamping device 30. Air is then discharged from a cylinder 70, Fig. 1, releasing cam means 74 which in turn allows clockwise movement of an arm 41 rigidly attached to a bar 37 holding the arms 34 in the Fig. 5 position. The edge of the sheet is then clamped between the strips 31, 32 and the bar 37 continues to move down to co-operate with an extension 40 of the pivoted jaw member 20, thereby opening the jaw 17. As the cylinder 70 empties a valve 91 is actuated and compressed air is supplied to a cylinder 55 so that the bar 2 is displaced along a rail 45 towards'its rear position II, shown in broken lines, Fig. 3. A co-operating roller 80 of the feed table 4 is lifted hydraulically, Fig. 1, as the bar 2 passes. Cam means 67 releases the sheet edge in position II. Above the path of the bar 2 an air box 100, Fig. 3, extends parallel to the bar 2. Disposed directly beneath a nozzle 102 of the box 100 is an air shaft 103, disposed at the front edge of which is a freely rotatable roll 105. The shaft communicates with the suction side of a fan (not illustrated) the pressure side of which is used for feeding the air box 100 with compressed air. The box 100 and the shaft 103 together form an auxiliary device for spreading out and smoothing the sheet before it is fed to the feeding table.