Collating, folding and inserting system

A document feed and folding device carried by a collator and stuffing machine, comprising:

• a main drive means operatively supported by said collator and stuffing machine;
• first and second sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanisms operatively connected to each other, the second sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism being operatively connected to said main drive means;
• a tray carried by a folding device for supporting a quantity of documents to be fed into a folding apparatus;
• a feed roller carried by said tray for feeding said tray supported documents into said folding apparatus;
• and
• a clutch mechanism interdisposed between and operatively connecting and disconnecting said feed roller to and from said first sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism.

A document folding and feeding mechanism for a collator and envelope stuffing system, comprising:

• a tray carried by a folding and feeding mechanism for supporting a quantity of documents to be folded;
• a first feed roller supported by said tray for feeding said documents into said folding and feeding mechanism;
• a main drive means operatively supported by said collator and envelope stuffing system;
• a first sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism operatively connected to said main drive means;
• a second sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism operatively connected to said first sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism;
• a first clutch means interposed between said first feed roller and said second sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism for operatively connecting and disconnecting said frist feed roller to and from said second sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism;
• a first solenoid associated with said first clutch means for actuating said first clutch means in response to a demand feed signal provided by said collector and envelope stuffing system;
• a second clutch means interdisposed between said second feed roller and said first sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism for operatively connecting and disconnecting said second feed roller to and from said first sprocket wheel and chain drive mechanism;
• and
• a second solenoid associated with said second clutch means for de-actuating said second clutch means in response to a demand signal provided by said collator and envelope stuffing system.

A method of folding and discharging a document into a collating feed path comprising the steps of:

• a. positioning a first document to be folded under a folder feed roller carried by a document supportive feed tray;
• b. engaging said folder feed roller with a folder drive mechanism to rotatively drive said folder feed roller so that said first document will be fed by said folder feed roller into a folding mechanism;
• c. folding said first document;
• d. disengaging said folder feed roller with said folder drive mechanism after said first document is fed by said feed roller into said folding mechanism, and allowing for a subsequent document to be positioned under said folder feed roller;
• e. discharging said folded first document from said folding mechanism to a discharging feed roller;
• f. engaging said discharging feed roller with a discharging drive mechanism to rotatively drive said discharging feed roller so that said folded first document is discharged into a collating feed path;
• and
• g. simultaneously with the engaging of the discharging feed roller of step (f), engaging the folder feed roller with said folder drive mechanism so that the subsequent document will be fed by said folder feed roller into said folding mechanism at substantially the same time the folded first document is being discharged into said collating feed path.