An apparatus for franking flat items of mail removed individually or at the underside of a supplied stack and guided in a transport direction at one side edge, includes a separating station formed from a feeder for items of mail separating device, and a downstream processing line of a franking machine, following in a conveying manner in the transport direction, for franking/printing the individual items of mail. The processing line in the transport region between feeder and the separating device of the separating station assigned to the latter includes a plurality of driven transport rollers which form a transport plane for receiving an item of mail or the respective lowest item of mail from a stack, which rollers are mounted in a frame in the transport direction of the items of mail transversely and beside one another and in the same direction and at the same peripheral speed.

A refilling device on a stacking magazine (2) comprises a refilling magazine (18) which is disposed above the stacking magazine and has a rotatably drivable shaft (10) on each of two sides of the refilling magazine, the shafts together forming a support for a stack (11), and at least one controllably activatable air nozzle, by way of which air can be blown into the refilling magazine in such a way that metal sheets on the bottom side of the stack (11) can be bent by the air supply in the direction of the stacking magazine.

A refilling device on a stacking magazine (2) comprises a refilling magazine (18) which is disposed above the stacking magazine and has a rotatably drivable shaft (10) on each of two sides of the refilling magazine, the shafts together forming a support for a stack (11), and at least one controllably activatable air nozzle, by way of which air can be blown into the refilling magazine in such a way that metal sheets on the bottom side of the stack (11) can be bent by the air supply in the direction of the stacking magazine.

A medium feeding apparatus includes a feed roller that feeds media. A separation roller nips the media together with the feed roller to separate it and is rotated in a first direction to feed the media. A motor applies driving torque to the separation roller in a second direction opposite to the first direction. A torque limiter, when rotation torque applied to the separation roller in the first direction exceeds a preset upper torque limit, causes the separation roller to rotate at idle in the first direction independently of the driving torque. During feeding operations, including feeding of first and second media, a controller that controls the motor provides a break period in which the motor is not driven. The break period contains the timing when a rear edge of the first medium leaves a nip position between the feeding and separation rollers.

Disclosed is an automated insert feeding system and related methods, capable of removing bulk-packaged items from a tray or other package, and separating the bulk-packaged items individually for distribution into individual packages in high speed reliable fashion. The disclosed systems can also be loaded with multiple packages of the pre-packaged items for automatic feeding into the system which allows human operators to load several packages and allow the system to work unattended, thereby reducing man-hours spend on the process.

Disclosed is an automated insert feeding system and related methods, capable of removing bulk-packaged items from a tray or other package, and separating the bulk-packaged items individually for distribution into individual packages in high speed reliable fashion. The disclosed systems can also be loaded with multiple packages of the pre-packaged items for automatic feeding into the system which allows human operators to load several packages and allow the system to work unattended, thereby reducing man-hours spend on the process.

A sheet feeder includes: a casing; a first roller; a pressing portion; a first spring; and a second spring. The pressing portion is movable between a first position and a second position via a third position. The pressing portion in the first position faces the first roller within a conveying region defined in the casing. The pressing portion in the second position is separated from the first roller farther than in the first position. The third position is located between the first position and the second position. The first roller is exposed to the conveying region. The first spring urges the pressing portion toward the first roller when the pressing portion is disposed between the first position and the second position. The second spring urges the pressing portion toward the first roller when the pressing portion is disposed between the second position and the third position.

A sheet feeder includes: a casing; a first roller; a pressing portion; a first spring; and a second spring. The pressing portion is movable between a first position and a second position via a third position. The pressing portion in the first position faces the first roller within a conveying region defined in the casing. The pressing portion in the second position is separated from the first roller farther than in the first position. The third position is located between the first position and the second position. The first roller is exposed to the conveying region. The first spring urges the pressing portion toward the first roller when the pressing portion is disposed between the first position and the second position. The second spring urges the pressing portion toward the first roller when the pressing portion is disposed between the second position and the third position.

A medium feeding device is provided with a feeding section for feeding a medium and sensors for detecting the medium. The feeding section includes a feed roller and a separation roller, the sensors form a sensor line in which the plurality of sensors is aligned in a feeding direction of the medium to be fed, the two sensor lines are arranged in such a manner that the sensors overlap with each other in a width direction of the medium to be fed, and the sensor lines are so configured as to extend, in the feeding direction, from an upstream region upstream of a nip point where the feed roller and the separation roller make contact with each other, a nip region including the nip point, and to a downstream region downstream of the nip point.

In a destacking device comprising a stacking magazine (2), the respective lowest sheet of a stack (1) of metal sheets is destacked by way of a suction element (5, 15). This element can be moved upward and downward by way of a drive (6). At the end of the upward movement, the respective lowest metal sheet (4) of the stack (1) is gripped by suction power and pulled from the stack. A second suction element (5, 15) is provided, which can be moved upward and downward by way of a drive (6) and by way of which the lowest sheet (4) of the stack (1) can be gripped at the end of the upward movement. The second suction element is driven so as to be leading with respect to the first suction element, so that the respective lowest sheet (4) of the stack (1) can first be pulled from the stack by the second suction element (5), and subsequently by the first suction element (5). In this way, it becomes possible to destack thin sheets having a thickness of only 0.12 mm and a square shape without disruption. The stack is held magnetically in the stacking magazine, which facilitates destacking.