Means for moving an individual sheet from a stack of sheets or positioning the individual sheet with respect to a location where the sheet is operated upon or moving or positioning the individual sheet after having been operated upon.
(1) Note. Where the mechanism for operating on the sheet is particularly set forth and the function is not, therefore, merely that of positioning the sheet, it will be classified in the class provided for the particular operating mechanism.
LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES
In Class 271, a separation of an individual sheet from a stack of sheets is considered proper even if no specific feeding of the sheet toward an operation is disclosed. In Class 271, a sheet feeding or delivering means combines or places the sheets (1) adjacent to or on top of each other in a random order or (2) to perform the operation on individually fed sheets.
In Class 270, a sheet material associating apparatus has a mechanism to place the sheets from plural sources into an operational specified association onto or against a surface which then groups the sheets in said specified association or places the sheets in said specified association. The delivery of the sheet to a stack from plural sources requires a specific order of associating the sheets other than mere random stacking. Class 270 accepts putting the sheets in a logical array or placing the sheets in an associated stack in order to perform the operation on the sheets in the stack.
An explanatory note on the scope and limitations of this class is justified by the development of the art.
The line between the art for stacking or unstacking sheets found in this and the indented subclasses of Class 271 and that found in Class 414, Material or Article Handling, was at best nebulous prior to the reclassification of subclasses 788+ in Class 414. During that project the classifier discussed establishing a line with three examiners expert in the material handling arts (i.e., Mr. Valenza representing Class 198, Mr. Stoner representing Class 271, and Mr. Paperner representing Class 414) and the following line was established:
(a) Class 271 provides for the stacking or unstacking of either (1) individual sheets of unfolded paper, (2) packets of similar sheets of paper attached together or individual folded sheets of paper (e.g., signatures) when the thickness of each packet or folded sheet of paper is substantially uniform and any variation thereof is not utilized during the stacking or unstacking operation and (3) thin, substantially flat, nonfood articles when at least one of the articles to be stacked or unstacked is temporarily bent or flexed during the handling thereof; (b) Class 414 provides for the stacking or unstacking of either (a) sheetlike food articles (b) nonpaper, sheetlike articles (e.g., glass sheets) which are not temporarily bent or flexed during their handling, and (c) packets of similar sheets of paper when thickness of the packet or folded sheet varies (e.g., wedge shaped) and this variation is utilized during the stacking or unstacking operation; and
(c) Class 414 also provides for the stacking of paper sheets or sheetlike articles otherwise proper for Class 271 (i.e., in (a) above) when the stack formed is subsequently handled as a unit and moved away from the location where it was formed by handling means other than an endless conveyor surface on which the stack was formed. All original patents within Class 414, subclasses 788+ have been placed in compliance with this line.
REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES
SEE OR SEARCH CLASS
19, Textiles: Fiber Preparation.
26, Textiles: Cloth Finishing.
34, Drying and Gas or Vapor Contact With Solids, particularly
110+, 143+, 306, 443+, 444, 466, 556, and 611+.
40, Card, Picture, or Sign Exhibiting.
53, Package Making, especially
389.1+, for a package making apparatus with means to convey cover material. 72, Metal Deforming.
84, Music.
101, Printing.
112, Sewing.
140, Wireworking,
92.3+, web for fabric feeding combined with the intercoiling of helices with each other or with successive loops or apertures.
156, Adhesive Bonding and Miscellaneous Chemical Manufacture, for sheet or web feeding combined with laminating.
194, Check-Actuated Control Mechanisms.
198, Conveyors: Power-Driven, for a conveyor of general utility, and
418.3, and 418.4 for a conveyor on which articles are piled for further conveyance.
221, Article Dispensing, for an article dispenser not otherwise provided for, and see especially
33+, for a means for dispensing a flexible sheet, which sheet is distorted as it is separated from the source of supply. 226, Advancing Material of Indeterminate Length, for a method of or apparatus for feeding material without utilizing both the leading and trailing ends thereof.
242, Winding, Tensioning, or Guiding, for subject matter falling within the scope of this class (271) in combination with other apparatus, usually winding or unwinding.
250, Radiant Energy,
559+, for photocell with circuit for evaluating web, strand, strip, or sheet.
270, Sheet-Material Associating,
52+, especially subclasses 58+ for mechanism wherein individual sheets are removed from plural source stacks and the sheets are assembled into plural finished stacks, each finished stack comprising at least one sheet from each of the source stacks.
279, Chucks or Sockets,
3, for a vacuum operated chuck mechanisms, and see the notes therein for other, similar subject matter.
340, Communications: Electrical, for electrical condition responsive indicating system,
674, for transporting a discrete article and subclass 675+ for web, film or strip.
346, Recorders, 134+, for sheet feeding and delivering in combination with a record receiver or driving means.
358, Facsimile,
400+, for a facsimile apparatus including document handling.
364, Electrical Computers and Data Processing Systems,
478.01+, for an article handling or distributing sensor.
378, X-Ray or Gamma Ray Systems or Devices,
167+, for the devices or systems using X-ray or Gamma ray in combination with a sheet feeding or delivering.
396, Photography, appropriate subclasses for combinations with a sheet feeding or delivering.
399, Electrophotography,
16+, and 361+ for document handling (e.g., feeding or delivering sheet medium (i.e., originals or copies) within an electrophotos:graphic device).
400, Typewriting Machines,
624+, for a machine of that class having a sheet or web feeding means for feeding sheet from a stack or pack holder. 414, Material or Article Handling,
788+, for apparatus which places or removes articles from an intersupporting group, (e.g., from a stack).
493, Manufacturing Container or Tube From Paper; or Other Manufacturing From a Sheet or Web, for a combination of that class with sheet feeding means.
GLOSSARY:
CONVEYOR
Refers to "means for moving and placing the individual sheet with respect to a device for operation on the sheet." Thus, in the subclasses indented under "Feeding", the "Conveyor" may be modified by means for orienting, retarding or interrupting the feed relative to the operation; and in the subclasses indented under "Delivering", the "Conveyor" should be limited to a means for transporting the individual sheet from the operation or placing the individual sheet in a receiver for a stack of such sheets. In either case the conveyor of Class 271 is distinct from a conveyor of other classes, wherein material or articles are transported from an input location to an output location. Class 271 has also for many years included a device wherein a stack of sheets is moved as an article to a position at which sheets are removed from the stack by a separator, but has not included a device wherein a stack of sheets is formed by a delivery means, and subsequently the stack of sheets is moved as an article away from the formation position. See References With Other Classes, above, for the location of patents not proper for Class 271.
DELIVERING
Refers to the "means for removing the individual sheet from the operation after having been operated on or placing the individual sheet on a receiver after having been operated on."
FEEDING
Refers to the "means for moving individual sheet from a stack" and involves use of a "separator or a conveyor."
SEPARATOR Refers to "means for setting apart or individualizing a sheet relative to a stack of sheets, and moving the individual sheet from the stack, particularly for the purpose of presenting toward a position at which the sheet will be operated on."