Sheet dispensing method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method of dispensing sheets from a store, the method comprising:
- (a) attempting to withdraw a single sheet from said store;
(b) feeding said withdrawn sheet to transport means;
(c) preventing further sheets from being withdrawn from said store;
(d) detecting whether a single sheet has been correctly fed to said transport means;
(e) causing said transport means to pass said withdrawn sheet in a first direction to an output station or in a second direction to a reject position according to the result of said detection step; and
,(f) if a further sheet is to be dispensed, enabling a further sheet to be withdrawn from said store, and repeating said steps (a) to (f) until the required quantity of sheets has been fed to said output station.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for dispensing sheets (2) from a store (1) is described. Single sheets are withdrawn from the store (1) by a friction feed roller (3) driven by a motor (5). Each sheet is fed to a transport path (17) defined by a pair of conveyors (15) driven by a motor (5'"'"'). The motor (5'"'"') is reversible so that the sheets can be fed either to an output station (19) or a reject position (20). The motor (5) is stopped as soon as the leading edge of a sheet has reached the transport path (17) so that no further sheets can be withdrawn from the store (1) until the sheet has been dispensed. A conventional doubles detect system determines whether a single sheet has been correctly withdrawn from the store (1).
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method of dispensing sheets from a store, the method comprising:
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(a) attempting to withdraw a single sheet from said store; (b) feeding said withdrawn sheet to transport means; (c) preventing further sheets from being withdrawn from said store; (d) detecting whether a single sheet has been correctly fed to said transport means; (e) causing said transport means to pass said withdrawn sheet in a first direction to an output station or in a second direction to a reject position according to the result of said detection step; and
,(f) if a further sheet is to be dispensed, enabling a further sheet to be withdrawn from said store, and repeating said steps (a) to (f) until the required quantity of sheets has been fed to said output station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. Sheet dispensing apparatus comprising:
- an output station;
a reject position;
a sheet store;
first feed means for intermittently attempting to withdraw single sheets from said store;
first detection means for detecting whether a single sheet has been correctly fed;
second feed means for feeding said withdrawn sheet from said first feed means to said output station when said first detection means determines that a single sheet has been correctly fed and for feeding said withdrawn sheet to said reject position when said first detection means determines that said withdrawn sheet has not been correctly fed, said first feed means delaying the withdrawing of each consecutive said sheet from said store until the immediately preceding said sheet has been fed to either said output station or said reject position. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- an output station;
Specification