Face and back reversing mechanism

A document front face and back face reversing mechanism, comprising:

• moving means for continuously moving a succession of documents having forward ends and rearward ends and having front faces and back faces, inserted into said moving means at a entry position, forward end first thereinto in succession, along a first conveyance path, all of the documents inserted into the moving means having a same one of the front face and the back face facing in a same direction at said entry position, said moving means including a plurality of continuously moving document holder parts for holding respective ones of the successive documents from said entry position to an extraction position;
• a first passage means for conveying the succession of documents to said entry position and inserting the succession of documents one-by-one into said moving means at said entry position;
• a second passage means for conveying other documents having the other of the front face and back face thereof facing in said same direction upstream of said entry position along a second conveyance path bypassing said entry position and said moving means;
• a receiving and conveying means for receiving and conveying the succession of documents and the other documents one-by-one along an entry passage;
• first guide means for guiding the succession of documents and the other documents one-by-one from said entry passage respectively to said first passage means and said second passage means;
• stopper means at said extraction position, for successively receiving and stopping only the successive documents at said extraction position;
• extracting and conveying means for successively extracting the successive documents from said holder parts, rearward ends first, and conveying the successive documents rearward ends first with the other one of the front faces and back faces of the successive documents facing in a given direction, along a third passage means to a merge position;
• said bypassing and conveying means including means for conveying the other documents along said second conveyance path bypassing said entry position and said moving means, to said merge position with the other one of the front faces and back faces thereof facing in said given direction;
• and
• second guide means, at said merge position, for guiding the documents conveyed by said second passage means and said third passage means, one-by-one onto a same downstream passage such that the succession of documents and the other documents are merged onto said same downstream passage for downstream movement therealong.