Automatic document scanner with upright visible document images

Abstract

Digital scanning of document sheets with a substantially vertical scanning system is provided by sequentially feeding the uppermost document from an upright input loading and image viewing area to a scanning head, and then to an output, along a sheet feeding path which is substantially linear, planar and vertical, but also somewhat rearwardly inclined, defined by a correspondingly rearwardly inclined document rear supporting surface and a substantially horizontal bottom edge supporting surface providing a lateral movement guide and at least initial gravitational registration and support of the bottom edges of the loaded documents. The scanned documents can be automatically ejected to stack in the collated order in which they were fed to be scanned by automatically deflecting them forwardly (outwardly) from their substantially vertical rearwardly inclined lateral movement path onto a forwardly inclined stacking area.