(19)
(11) EP 0 180 006 A3

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(88) Date of publication A3:
20.01.1988 Bulletin 1988/03

(43) Date of publication A2:
07.05.1986 Bulletin 1986/19

(21) Application number: 85111090

(22) Date of filing: 03.09.1985
(84) Designated Contracting States:
DE FR GB

(30) Priority: 31.10.1984 US 666844

(71) Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
 ()

(72) Inventors:
  • Habich, Adolph Broadus
     ()
  • Hunt, Ronald Eugene
     ()

   


(54) Document separator wheel and document hopper using the same


(57) 57 A wheel (22) for reliable separation of the bottommost document in a stack (12) of such documents is formed of low friction material having formed therein a groove (34) of material of a high friction material so that rotation of the wheel (22) causes the groove (34) to engage an edge of the lowermost document in the stack (12) urging it toward an adjustable width throat (18) so that only a single document can pass therethrough, continued rotation of the wheel (22) allowing the document edge to snap over the high friction portion without resulting damage.






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