Sheet feeder for a collator

Abstract

In a collator which assembles sheets, the sheets are pushed upwardly by individual sheet pusher arms from each of a group of generally vertically oriented sheet storage bins to a generally horizontal conveyor system which then pulls up and conveys the sheets from the bins to a discharge station. The sheets from the respective bins are fed into the conveyor system at the same time by the sheet pusher arms which are reciprocally driven by a cam actuated bar. The sheet pusher arms are magnetically latched against a member at the top of their upward feeding stroke. This latching is accomplished by an extension of the rear wall of the bin which is angled so as to force the sheet pusher arm back against the magnetic latch member. The sheet pusher arms remain in this latched position out of engagement with the pack of sheets in the sheet storage bins during their downward stroke. At the bottom of their stroke, a pin carried on the sheet pusher arms engages a cam and mechanically breaks the magnetic latch and allows the sheet pusher arm to again engage the sheets in the bin for the next upward stroke. The individual unlatching cams are mounted on a push-pull rod to enable the cams to be retracted from an operating position thereby permitting the sheet pusher arms to remain latched and effectively disabling the sheet feed in individual bins.