Cut sheet feeder

A cut sheet feeder (10) for feeding stacked sheets of material (24) including a feed support deck (16) defining a planar surface for supporting the stacked sheet material (24) and a transport deck (12) defining an inclined surface (14) relative to the planar surface of the feed support deck (16). The inclined surface (14) is operative to transport additional sheet material (24) to the feed support deck (16) and produce a cantilevered sheet material delivery profile (ARC). Furthermore, a rotating element (28) is employed to engage a surface of the stacked sheet material (24), and separate a single sheet from other sheet material (24) supported by the feed support deck (16). The cantilevered delivery profile (ARC) reduces the weight acting on the stacked material (24), minimizes the friction developed between individual sheets of material (24) and facilitates separation of the sheets (24) by the rotating element (28). A platen structure may also be employed to bear against the stacked sheet material (24) to ensure reliable sheet material run out. That is, the platen structure (50) serves to equilibrate or compensate for a lessening of sheet material weight as the final or last sheets of the stacked sheet material (24) are singulated or separated by the rotating element (28).