Sheet and stack feeding mechanism

A sheet and stack feeding mechanism comprising an accumulating area, means for feeding at least one sheet into said accumulating area, an exit mechanism having at least one resilient exit roller, means for moving sheets from said accumulating area through said exit mechanism, said exit mechanism comprises a pair of exit rollers and wherein a stack of sheets is adapted to pass between said exit rollers when moving through the exit mechanism, each of said exit rollers is resilient, a pusher mechanism is provided adjacent the rear of said accumulating area and wherein means are provided to activate the pusher mechanism to push a stack of sheets out of the accumulating area, a release gate mechanism is provided in front of a stack being accumulated in said accumulating area and wherein means are provided to activate and move the gate out of the way to permit a stack of sheets to be moved out of the accumulating area, sensing means are provided to sense the thickness of a stack and wherein said sensing means activates said pusher and said release gate mechanism, movement of the pusher and the release gate mechanism are coordinated so that the pusher is moved forward while the release gate mechanism is moved away from the front of the stack, said exit rollers are made of polyurethane foam material, the foam material of the resilient exit rollers have a low to medium density, said exit rollers have coefficient of surface friction high enough to grasp and move a stack of sheets, said exit rollers have sufficient resiliency to permit stacks of sheets of different widths to pass therebetween, the resilience of the said exit rollers is such to prevent smudging of any printing on sheets and wherein sheets accumulate between at least a pair of superimposed cables.