Rank Xerox Ltd.

Vernon J Smith

Howard M Smith

Bernard F Page

Laurence G Miller

A plurality of first rollers are rotatably mounted on a shaft symmetrically about the center of the shaft. The shaft is biased toward an axis about which a plurality of second rollers are mounted for rotation so that the first and second rollers contact each other. The shaft is supported for movement in a plane toward and away from the axis, and for rotation about an axis through the center of the shaft at right angles to the plane. A drive mechanism is provided for driving either the first or second rollers to forward a sheet between the nip of the rollers.

Sheet feeding devices

A sheet feeding mechanism for a reproduction machine has a plurality of trays for supporting sheets of various sizes which are to be fed into the machine. A baffle plate is provided for each tray for guiding the sheets from that tray upwardly to a sheet separating roller assembly associated only with that particular tray. All of the sheets from the various trays are fed to a common output.

A receptacle for supporting a stack of sheets which are to be fed into a reproduction machine has a support surface and two parallel margin guides which can be moved asymmetrically with respect to the support surface so that sheets of different widths can be placed in the receptacle with the center line of the stack always in alignment with the center line of the feed path through the machine. This is effected by a lug mounted on the receptacle at a position remote from the support surface for movement with the guides in the same direction as, and by the average distance which the guides move relative to the support surface.

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Tewkesbury, United Kingdom

Vernon J Smith