Sheet accumulator
AssigneePitney Bowes Inc.
InventorWilliam J. Wright
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A paper sheet accumulator for receiving sheets of paper from an upstream, horizontal conveyor. The accumulator includes: a housing; an accumulation deck secured to the housing: an upper, accumulation roller operatively connected to the housing, the roller being located at the upstream end of the deck; a lower, accumulation roller below and contiguous with the upper, accumulation roller, the lower roller being operatively connected to the housing; and a device to provide a vacuum adjacent the lower, accumulation roller and the upstream end of the accumulation deck.
Claims8
Apparatus for conveying and accumulating a plurality of sheets of paper seriatim, comprising:
- a horizontal conveyor for conveying sheets of paper with a spacing of about 1/8 inch seriatim from an upstream position to a downstream position;
- an accumulator housing located downstream of said horizontal conveyor;
- an accumulation deck secured to said housing and located in a plane below said horizontal conveyor, said deck having an upstream and a downstream end;
- an upper, accumulation roller operatively connected to said housing, said roller located at the upstream end of said deck;
- a lower, accumulation roller below and contiguous with said upper, accumulation roller, said lower roller operatively connected to said housing;
- and wherein said upper roller is downstream of said lower roller;
- and
- means to provide a vacuum adjacent said lower, accumulation roller and the upstream end of said accumulation deck, wherein said vacuum immediately pulls down the trailing edge of each sheet of paper as said sheet of paper drops down from said horizontal conveyor onto said accumulation deck.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.