Dispenser for dispensing photographic sheets from a stack

Claim 1

A dispenser for dispensing photographic sheets from a stack, comprising a stack-containing and locating unit and a dispensing mechanism for removing the upper sheet from the stack, said mechanism comprising a bodily displaceable roller movable from a transporting position to a buckling position for frictionally engaging the upper sheet of the stack and exerting on such sheet a force causing buckle of a sheet portion and from buckling position to transporting position while carrying a free end of the sheet upwardly, a stationary co-operating, rotatably driven roller defining with the displaceable roller when in transporting position a roller nip for receiving the upwardly carried free sheet end and transporting the same from said unit, means supporting the bodily displaceable roller for free rotation about its axis and bodily pivotal movement about an axis that runs transversely with respect to the feeding direction of the sheets to and from said positions, uni-directional anti-rotation means associated with said displaceable roller for permitting free rotation of the roller as the latter is swung into buckling position, and that prevents rotation of said roller as the roller is subsequently pivoted to transport position, thereby to frictionally engage a portion of the sheet and produce the buckling of the sheet and the upward displacement of said one end of the sheet.