Claims
- 1. A media feeder for use with a media punching machine, the feeder comprising:
a media pile stocking surface having a front edge and a rear edge and adapted to receive a pile of media sheets, each of the sheets having a plane and the plane of the sheets being perpendicular to the media pile stocking surface and facing forward; a mechanism for moving the pile forward toward the front edge; a picking mechanism comprising:
a movable stop at or near the front edge, the movable stop being moveable upward to contact and stop the forward-moving pile and the movable stop being moveable downward away from the front edge to allow paper sheets to move forward past the front edge; a movable stabbing member at or near the front edge, the stabbing member moveable upward to push in-between the sheets of media at a desired distance rearward into the media pile; wherein, the stabbing member moves upward and pushes between the sheets of media substantially simultaneously with the movable stop moving downward so that a picked number of sheets drop down into a hole punch below the media feeder.
- 2. A media feeder as in claim 1, wherein the movable stop and the movable stabbing member are closely adjacent.
- 3. A method of automatically feeding paper to a punch machine, the method comprising:
providing a pile of media on a stocking surface so that sheets of the media are held in vertical planes; advancing the pile of media toward a stop until the pile abuts against the stop; causing a stabbing member to be inserted upwards into the pile a given distance into the pile to separate a desired number of sheets of media are separated at their bottom edges from the pile; and removing the stop so that the separated sheets move substantially vertically downward into a punch die assembly.
- 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising punching the separated sheets, and, after punching, ejecting the separated sheets generally vertically out from the die assembly.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application claims priority of my prior provisional patent application U.S. Serial No. 60/180,470, filed Feb. 3, 2000, entitled, “Automatic Paper Feeder for Paper Hole Punch” which provisional patent application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60180470 |
Feb 2000 |
US |