Eastman-kodak Company

John T Bricklemyer

Robert H Shea

A finishing apparatus capable of binding a plurality of stacked sheets together at any of a plurality of selected location along an edge of the sheet stack. This apparatus comprises a mechanism for moving sheets seriatem along a path, and compiling such sheets in a stack. A binding unit is mounted for movement relative to such sheet path in juxtaposition to an edge of a compiled stack of sheets. The drive for moving the binding unit is controlled so that the binding unit can effect binding of a compiled stack of sheets at any of a plurality of locations along the edge. In a preferred embodiment of this invention, the drive for the binding unit is a stepper motor coupled to the binding unit. A microprocessor based logic and control unit activates the stepper motor through a predetermined number of steps to position the binding unit at a particular desired location relative to the edge of a compiled sheet stack. One important aspect of this invention is that the geometry of the binding unit is such that the binding unit does not have to return to its home position to be out of the travel path of the sheet stack from its compiled location toward a downstream location.

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Honeoye Falls, NY, United States of America

John T Bricklemyer