Chute return mechanism for a photocopier collator

A chute return mechanism for a collator adapted for use with an electrostatic photocopy machine, said collator including a plurality of bins mounted within a housing, a movable chute operatively positioned to receive photocopies from a discharge slot of said electrostatic photocopy machine and divert said photocopies to each of said plurality of bins, said movable chute being selectively pivoted from an initial position, indexing means for selectively pivoting said movable chute including an electrical connection adapted to receive a first pulse from said electrostatic photocopy machine indicating that a photocopy has been discharged therefrom, said pulse actuating said indexing means for selectively pivoting said movable chute to lower said movable chute for diverting photocopies to each successive bin, the improvement comprising:

• return means for returning said movable chute including an electrical connection adapted to receive a second pulse from said electrostatic photocopy machine indicating the completion of a predetermined number of copies, said second pulse actuating a drive means for imparting motion to a lever means for returning said chute to its initial position for diverting a photocopy to a first bin of said plurality of bins, said indexing means includes a cam latch having a tortuous path with flanges for guiding a follower element connected to the movable chute to lower said movable chute in response to said first pulse.