Sheet transfer apparatus with adaptive speed-up delay

A printing apparatus, including a processing section for transferring a developed image onto a copy sheet and a finishing section for receiving plural copy sheets to generate a print set, comprising:

• a first sheet feeding apparatus associated with the processing section for feeding the sheets through the processing station at a first translational speed;
• a second sheet feeding apparatus associated with the finishing section for feeding the sheets to the finishing section at a second translational speed, the first translational speed being less than the second translational speed;
• a sheet transfer apparatus for transferring the sheets from said first sheet feeding apparatus to said second sheet feeding apparatus, for changing the speed of the sheets from the first translational speed to the second translational speed and for positioning adjacent sheets in the second feeding apparatus in a spaced apart relationship therebetween defining a space between adjacent sheets, said sheet transfer apparatus including a mechanism for accelerating the sheets from the first translational speed to the second translational speed, the mechanism cooperating with said second sheet feeding apparatus to position adjacent sheets in the second feeding apparatus, the mechanism including a driver engaged with the sheet for accelerating the sheet from the first translational speed to the second translational speed;
• a controller operably connected to the sheet transfer apparatus for controlling the feeding of sheets through the sheet transfer apparatus;
• and
• a sensor for sensing the lead edge and the trailing edge of the sheet traveling thereby, said controller cooperating with said sensor and said mechanism to engage said mechanism with said driver at a position on said sheet relative to said lead edge and said trailing edge to adjust the space between adjacent sheets, the first sheet of said set being engaged by said sheet at a position adjacent said trailing edge and the last sheet of said set being engaged by said sheet at a position adjacent said lead edge, so that the space between the last sheet of the first set and the first sheet of the second set is greater than the space between adjacent sheets of a set of sheets so that additional time is available for the finisher to process the set of sheets in the finisher.

A method for feeding sheets from a printing machine in which the sheets travel at a first translational speed to a finishing device in which the sheets travel at a second translational speed to form a set of sheets, the method comprising the steps of:

• identifying the sheets within each of set of sheets as they exit the printing machine;
• accelerating the sheets within each of set of sheets from the first translational speed to the second translational speed;
• forming a finishing device interdocument gap between adjacent sheets upon obtaining the second translational speed;
• and
• controlling the length of the interdocument gap to assist the finishing device in performing its function.