Roller-accumulator for sheets

A roller-accumulator for the seriatim feeding and accumulation of sheets into stacks and for further transportation of accumulated stacks, the roller-accumulator comprising:

• upper and lower endless belt means, said upper belt means having lower reaches, said lower belt means having upper reaches, said upper and lower reaches being driven in a common direction and being disposed substantially in and thereby defining a common plane, said upper and lower reaches being disposed along a stacking region substantially in said common plane;
• driven roller means for feeding therethrough sheets in seriatim delivered thereto by said upper and lower belt means, said driven roller means including upper and lower roller means having a nip therebetween, said nip being disposed along said upper and lower reaches upstream from said stacking region and having an offset in relation to said common plane;
• and,
• stop gate means for selectively stopping and releasing sheets from said stacking region, said stop gate means being disposed along said upper and lower reaches downstream from said driven roller means;
• whereby sheets are fed in seriatim by and between said upper and lower reaches into and through said nip to said stacking region wherein the sheets are selectively stopped by said gate means and stacked into stacks that are subsequently selectively released by said stop gate means for further transport by said upper and lower endless belt means, said driven roller means being operative in offsetting a sheet in the direction of said offset so that the sheet is fed to said stacking region.