De La Rue Systems Ltd.

Raymond Simpson-Davis

Sheet feeding apparatus for use in a sheet thickness monitoring system comprises a pair of rollers (1, 5) which define a nip or gap (25) therebetween, the rotation of the rollers (1, 5) causing sheets to be fed between the rollers. The passage of a sheet between the rollers (1, 5) causes deflection of one roller (5) relative to the other (1) by an amount related to the sheet thickness. The one roller (5) is biassed into engagement with the other roller (1). The apparatus further comprises elastomeric plugs (13, 14) for damping movement of the one roller (5) under the influence of the bias.

Sheet feeding apparatus

Apparatus for feeding sheets, particularly bank notes, comprises a feed system (1) for feeding sheets (6), and a sheet stacking system (7) to which the sheets are fed by the feed system (1), the sheet stacking system (7) including a rotatable stacking wheel (8) having a plurality of sheet receiving slots (9') into which sheets are fed by the sheet feed system (1), rotation of the stacking wheel (8) carrying sheets from a sheet receiving position (30) to a sheet stacking position (32), the sheet stacking system (7) including means (16) actuable to stop rotation of the sheet stacking system (7) to enable at least the leading end of a sheet to be fed into a sheet receiving slot of the stacking wheel (8). Typically, the means actuable to stop rotation of the stacking wheel (8) includes a hub brake (16) and a slipping clutch mechanism (11,13,14) to enable a drive means (5) to continue to operate when the stacking wheel (8) is stopped.

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Southampton, United Kingdom

Raymond Simpson-Davis