Apparatus for inserting a marker strip in a stack of sheets during the stacking thereof

An apparatus for inserting a marker strip into a stack of sheets during the stacking thereof by the advance of said sheets in succession in a sheet-feed direction to a stack having a front side opposite a side form which the sheets are fed to the stack, said apparatus comprising:

• a guide channel mounted at the front side of said stack and extending downwardly and toward said stack, said guide channel having an outlet for a strip adapted to be inserted into said stack;
• a wedge-shaped tongue rigidly fixed to said channel adjacent said outlet and having a substantially horizontal underside adapted to rest on said stack and form a gap therein to receive said strip;
• a supply roll feeding said strip into said channel;
• a cutter mounted on said channel for severing a marker tab from said strip whereby said marker tab is retained in said stack;
• means connected to said channel for displacing same in substantially vertical and horizontal directions whereby the underside of said tongue is withdrawable from said back substantially horizontally without alteration of an angle of said underside to the horizontal;
• and
• a proximity sensor at an end of said channel carrying said tongue and mounted on an underside of said channel for detecting proximity of said tongue and said outlet to an upper surface of said stack.

An apparatus for inserting a marker strip into a stack of sheets during the stacking thereof by the advance of said sheets in succession in a sheet-feed direction to a stack having a front side opposite a side from which the sheets are fed to the stack, said apparatus comprising:

• a guide channel mounted at the front side of said stack and extending downwardly and toward said stack, said guide channel having an outlet for a strip adapted to be inserted into said stack;
• a wedge-shaped tongue rigidly fixed to said channel adjacent said outlet and having a substantially horizontal underside adapted to rest on said stack and form a gap therein to receive said strip;
• a supply roll feeding said strip into said channel;
• a cutter mounted on said channel for severing a marker tab from said strip whereby said marker tab is retained in said stack;
• means connected to said channel for displacing same in substantially vertical and horizontal directions whereby the underside of said tongue is withdrawable from said stack substantially horizontally without alteration of an angle of said underside to the horizontal;
• and
• a frame carrying said channel, said channel being pivotally mounted on said frame and being biased by a spring into a position wherein the underside of said tongue maintains said angle.