Apparatus and method of processing mail

A method of preparing mass mailings comprising the steps of:

• conveying folded printed sheets along a path through an envelope inserter station;
• sealing some of the folded printed sheets and leaving others unsealed at said envelope inserter station placing said unsealed printed sheets in envelopes while said unsealed printed sheets are travelling along said path, and allowing said sealed printed sheets to travel along the same path without being placed into envelopes;
• and,
• expelling said thusly enveloped printed sheets and said sealed printed sheets from said envelope inserter station along the same path.

A method of preparing mass mailings comprising the steps of:

• longitudinally conveying a continuous web of paper upon a track through a printing station;
• at said printing station, selectively printing material corresponding to pages of printed material along the length of said continuous web of paper;
• conveying said web through a cutting station, and at said cutting station selectively cutting the continuous web of paper crosswise between selective ones of said material corresponding to pages of printed material to form individual-page printed sheets and united multi-page printed sheets;
• conveying said individual-page and multi-page printed sheets along the same conveyor through a first folding station, and at said first folding station folding said multi-page printed sheets along lateral creases to the size of the individual-page printed sheets;
• thereafter conveying said individual and multi-page printed sheets through a second folding station, and in said second folding station folding all sheets to a standard folded-letter size;
• conveying all said letter-size sheets through a sealing station, and at said sealing station selectively sealing some of said letter-size sheets in their folded configurations to form self mailers, but allowing others of said letter-size sheets to pass through said sealing station without being sealed;
• and
• thereafter conveying all said letter-size sheets through an envelope inserter station, and at said envelope inserter station placing said unsealed printed sheets in envelopes and allowing said sealed printed sheets to pass through said envelope inserter station without being placed into envelopes.