Device for unstacking flat objects

Claim 1

In a device for unstacking flat objects, said device comprising a magazine for storing a stack of said objects and having an object outlet at the bottom of the stack, a transport conveyor for the objects constituted by a series of rolls which are driven in rotation and which are disposed beneath the object outlet both upstream and downstream thereof, an object separator means disposed downstream from said object outlet and resiliently mounted above said transport conveyor, an object retainer element disposed between said object outlet and said separator means and resiliently mounted above said transport conveyor, and separate object extractor means disposed downstream from said separator means, the improvement wherein said retainer element is constituted by at least one flexible end tongue (34) carried by a part (30) which includes firstly an inclined rigid deflector flap (31) substantially at the same height as said object outlet and extending said outlet and having an end which is substantially tangential to one of the rolls of said transport conveyor (7) thereby constituting an inclined smooth surface presser against said objects, which deflector flap is equipped with said tongue which overhangs said flap and falls onto said conveyor upstream from said separator means (40), and secondly a substantially C-shaped arcuate arm (32) above said object outlet having a terminal portion opposite to the retainer element which is pivotally mounted about a first fixed shaft (36) and a first return spring (38) for biasing said deflector flap towards said conveyor, said separator means is constituted by another part having a portion facing the conveyor forming a separator shoe (40), said separator shoe being of a material having a high coefficient of friction and being fixedly mounted onto a lever arm (41) having one end portion pivotally mounted about a second fixed shaft (43) and a second return spring (35) biasing the part constituting the separator shoe against said conveyor, and detector means (55, 56) for detecting an object engaged by said extractor means (50) and controlling the stopping of said transport conveyor (7) on each occasion that an object is detected as being engaged in said extractor means.