The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 31, 2009
Filed:
Nov. 21, 2006
Jerry Edwards, North Richland Hills, TX (US);
Kirk Kaaz, Copell, TX (US);
Jerry Edwards, North Richland Hills, TX (US);
Kirk Kaaz, Copell, TX (US);
De La Ru Holdings, PLC, Irving, TX (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides an apparatus for facing documents during high speed processing. The present invention employs at least one sensor to scan the documents individually as they are fed sequentially through a processing machine. The sensor determines the direction the documents are facing. Depending on the direction the documents are facing, a path selector directs the documents to one of two equal length paths within the processing machine. If a document is facing up, the path selector directs the document along a first path that leads directly to a collection point. If a document is facing down, the path selector directs the document along a second path that includes a twisted conveyor belt which turns the document about the longitudinal axis to face up. The second path meets with the first path, wherein the conveyor belt reinserts the faced documents back into the same sequential position that the document was in relative to the other documents before being diverted by the path selector.