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Document feeder employing a belt

  • US 5,192,069 A
  • Filed: 03/05/1992
  • Issued: 03/09/1993
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/05/1992
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for feeding documents comprising:

  • a hopper for storing a stack of documents to be fed in a substantially vertical plane, said hopper having an alignment side and a stop;

    feed means for moving the documents in the hopper along said alignment side towards the stop;

    a drive roller and an idler roller having an endless belt mounted thereon to provide a linear portion of the endless belt parallel to the first document to be picked from the stack, with said linear portion engaging the first document to be picked;

    a retard mechanism positioned adjacent said alignment side and in opposed relationship with said linear portion of said endless belt;

    said retard mechanism having a retard member including a first portion to engage the documents in the stack and also having a second portion substantially parallel to said linear portion to permit only one document to be moved towards a document track by aid linear portion of said endless belt; and

    a resilient member to bias said second portion towards said lien ar portion of said endless belt;

    said stop being aligned with said linear portion of said endless belt, and said idler roller being positioned between said stop and said retard mechanism.

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