Patent attributes
A cut sheet feeder for feeding stacked sheets of material including a feed support deck defining a planar surface for supporting the stacked sheet material and a transport deck defining an inclined surface relative to the planar surface of the feed support deck. The inclined surface is operative to transport additional sheet material to the feed support deck and produce a cantilevered sheet material delivery profile. Furthermore, a rotating element is employed to engage a surface of the stacked sheet material, and separate a single sheet from other sheet material supported by the feed support deck. The cantilevered delivery profile reduces the weight acting on the stacked material, minimizes the friction developed between individual sheets of material and facilitates separation of the sheets by the rotating element. A platen structure may also be employed to bear against the stacked sheet material to ensure reliable sheet material run out. That is, the platen structure serves to equilibrate or compensate for a lessening of sheet material weight as the final or last sheets of the stack are singulated or separated by the rotating element.
