Sheet feeding apparatus for use with copier/duplicators or the like

A combination recirculating sheet feeder and document positioner for feeding document sheets from supporting means to an exposure station spaced from the supported means, the feeder and positioner comprising:

• means defining a recirculating sheet path having a first portion extending from said supporting means to the station and having a second portion extending from the station back to the supporting means;
• means defining a non-recirculating sheet path extending to the station and away from the station and being at least partially coextensive with said recirculating sheet path in the area of the station, said non-recirculating sheet path having entrance and exit portions that diverge from the recirculating sheet path;
• and
• drive means for advancing document sheets along the respective sheet paths.

Sheet feeding apparatus for use with a copier having a platen at which one or more document sheets are position for copying of information on a first side and a second side of a sheet or for copying only information on the first side of the sheet, the apparatus comprising:

• a tray spaced from the platen and adapted to receive a stack of document sheets with the sheets arranged in sequential order with the first side of all sheets facing upwardly and with the first side of the first sheet being on top of the stack;
• means for (1) removing the bottom sheet from the stack along a first sheet path, (2) inverting said sheet so that the first side thereof faces downwardly and (3) feeding said sheet onto the platen in a first direction;
• means for (1) feeding a sheet from the platen in said first direction along a second sheet path, (2) inverting the sheet and (3) feeding the sheet back onto the platen in a second direction opposite to the first direction;
• means for (1) feeding a sheet from the platen in said first direction along a third sheet path, (2) inverting the sheet and (3) returning the sheet to the tray on top of any other document sheets in the tray;
• and
• control means effective (1) to cause a document sheet to be fed along the second sheet path twice when information on both the first side and second side of the sheet is to be copied and (2) to cause the sheet to bypass the second sheet path and be fed along the third sheet path when information on only the first side of the sheet is to be copied.

In a recirculating feeder including means for feeding seriatim the sheets of a document from document support means along a recirculation path to the platen of a copier for copying and then back to the support means a plurality of times to obtain a plurality of sets of collated copies from the copier, means for selectively presenting one side only or both sides of the document sheets in sequence to the platen for copying, comprising:

• means defining a sheet inverting path which intercepts said recirculation path for inverting a sheet moving in the recirculation path and for moving the inverted sheet onto the platen;
• means associated with said recirculation path and said inverting path for diverting a sheet moving along said recirculation path into said inverting path;
• and
• means for actuating the diverting means when a document sheet is to be inverted relative to the platen, whereby one or both sides of the document sheet are positioned for copying by the copier prior to returning to the support means.

Apparatus for feeding document sheets seriatim from support means to a copier platen for copying information from either side or both sides of the sheets, the apparatus comprising:

• means defining a recirculating sheet path including a first portion extending from the support means to a location superposed on the platen and a second portion extending from said location back to the support means, which means inverts sheets the same number of times while traversing each portion;
• means defining a sheet inverting path which intercepts one of said portions and extends to said locations, which means inverts sheets an odd number of times while traversing said inverting path;
• means for moving sheets in said recirculating and inverting paths;
• means for selectively diverting a sheet from said one of said portions into said sheet inverting path when information on both sides of such sheet is to be copied;
• and
• means for controlling said diverting means to determine the path in which sheets move so that either one side or both sides of said sheets can be copied.