The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 12, 1996
Filed:
Oct. 24, 1994
Carlos Alicea, Ronkonkoma, NY (US);
Macro Technology International, Inc., Ronkankoma, NY (US);
Abstract
A bottom feeding mechanism comprises a feed roller assembly and a conveyor belt assembly functioning as a first stage gate and a set of snubber rollers functioning as a second stage gate. The feed roller assembly comprises a pair of feed rollers fixed on a shaft rotatably mounted on feeding bases and the conveyor belt assembly is situated in between the feed rollers and above the feed roller shaft. Apexes of the feed roller and the conveyor belt define the medium passage. The feed roller and the conveyor belt can only move unidirectionally, which are controlled by a driving means through one-way clutches. The snubber rollers are rotatably mounted on a bracket in an overlapping relation, i.e. one is over the other. Each snubber roller is independently driven. The upper snubber roller is driven by a torque-limited slip clutch device. When a medium is fed to hit the gate, vertical component of momentum of the feeding medium forces the conveyor belt deflecting the leading edge and opens up the gap to its proper opening to allow one piece of media to pass through. Should more than one piece pass through the first stage gate, the second stage gate will virtually eliminate the possibility of more than one piece passing through this gate, i.e. frictional torque between two piece is less than slip clutch torque, the upper roller rotates in the direction same as the lower snubber roller and drives the top piece backwards until it emerges from the roller set.