Method of operating a document feeding mechanism to reduce chance of a document jam condition and an apparatus therefor

4-9. (canceled)

A method of operating a banknote feeding mechanism having a banknote transport path which passes through an extended nip defined between an advance belt disposed on one side of the banknote transport path and a retard belt disposed on an opposite side of the banknote transport path, the method comprising:

• locating the retard belt relative to a stack of used banknotes to enable the retard belt to reduce tendency of a leading edge of a used banknote which has been picked from the stack to fold over and roll along its length as the leading edge is being fed into the extended nip and thereby to reduce chance of a banknote jam condition along the banknote transport path.

A method of operating a banknote feeding mechanism having a banknote transport path which passes through an extended nip defined between an advance belt disposed on one side of the banknote transport path and a retard belt disposed on an opposite side of the banknote transport path, the method comprising:

• locating the advance belt relative to a stack of limp, used banknotes to pick limp, used banknotes from the stack and to feed limp, used banknotes one-by-one through the extended nip from an upstream end of the banknote transport path to a downstream end of the banknote transport path;
• and
• locating the retard belt relative to the advance belt and the stack of limp, used banknotes to enable the retard belt to reduce tendency of a leading edge of a limp, used banknote which has been picked from the stack to fold over and roll along its length as the leading edge is being fed into the extended nip and thereby to reduce chance of a banknote jam condition along the banknote transport path.