Pitney Bowes Inc.

Andrew J Nikolatos

Anthony E Yap

Richard F Stengl

Gerald F Leitz

Mark Macleod

Thomas M Lyga

Paul Mayer

Iskander Tokmouline

Thomas H Rosenkranz

Iskander Tomouline

Robert F Stengl

An apparatus for accumulating sheet material in a sheet handling system including a first conveyance, a second conveyance, an auxiliary conveyance and a processor to control the conveyances based upon a selected operating mode. The first conveyance receives singulated sheets and conveys the sheets to an accumulator station to produce completed collations. The second conveyance is operative to dispense completed collations from the accumulator station and, receives the completed collations from the first conveyance, in one operating mode, and from the auxiliary conveyance in another operating mode when the first conveyance is inoperative. The processor is responsive to a next collation signal, to control the conveyances based upon a selected one of the operating modes.

Accumulator for a sheet handling system

A method for operating a sheet handling system including the steps of: determining a location of a next collation mark on select sheets of the stack of material, selecting an operating mode based upon the proximity of the next collation mark relative to a leading or trailing edge of each of the select sheets, processing the singulated sheets in a first operating mode when the next collation mark is proximal to the leading edge of each of the select sheets, and in a second operating mode, when the next collation mark is proximal to a trailing edge of each of the select sheets. Each of the select sheets is buffered to change the spatial relationship between each of the select sheet and each completed collation of sheets along the feed path. By selectively processing the sheets based upon the location of the next collation mark, the conveyance feed path is minimized.

System and method for minimizing the conveyance feed path of a sheet material handling system

A document assembly system with jam detection capability. The system including an accumulation chassis having a series of pusher fingers for pushing collations of documents. Above the chassis, document feeders release documents to the chassis to form the collations. A set of horizontal photo-sensors is positioned below the document feeder at a level substantially even with the tops of the pusher fingers on the chassis. The photo-sensors detect lead and trail edges of documents traveling in the flight path from the document feeder to the chassis. The sensors generate signals representing the lead and tail edges of documents breaking the line between the photo-sensors. A controller receives the signals from the photo-sensors and compares them to an expected profile calculated as a function the parameters of operation for the chassis and feeders. An error signal is generated when the compared signals are different from the expected profile by greater than a predetermined margin of error.

Jam detection method and system for an inserter

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Pawling, NY, United States of America

Andrew J Nikolatos