Singulator assembly having a buffer with a biased arm

A document singulator for singulating a shingled stream of documents in a synchronous or asynchronous mode comprising:

• buffer means for accepting an incoming shingled stream of documents and accumulating a stack thereof said buffer means including a biased arm, at least one drive belt mounted thereon, a coacting buffer feed belt spaced from said drive belt and means for pivoting said arm to increase the space between at least one end of said arm and said buffer feed belt.
• feeder pinch belt means for extracting only the first document accumulated in said buffer means and advancing said document including a rotating, continuous friction feeder belt and drive means therefor and a counter rotating continuous stripper belt and drive means therefor;
• scanner means downstream of said feeder belt means for scanning the leading and trailing edges of said document advanced by said feeder means;
• accelerator pinch belt means for accepting said document advanced from said feeder belt means and discharging the same at a predetermined speed;
• and
• control means coupled to said scanner means and the drive means for said feeder belt for initiating extraction of a document from said buffer means responsive to the discharge of the next previous document from said accelerator means.