Patent ID: 6328297
Filing Date: 2001-12-11
Classification: B43M,B65H

Abstract:
A system for synchronizing timing of a release of documents to be conveyed in a document inserting system comprising:a chassis for conveying documents in a downstream direction;a plurality of pusher fingers mounted on the chassis, the plurality of pusher fingers having an original unstretched uniform distance between adjacent upstream and downstream pusher fingers;a plurality of document enclosure feeders for releasing documents onto the chassis, the document enclosure feeders in synchronization for releasing documents onto the chassis for gathering by the pusher fingers;a first sensing element for sensing an arrival of a first pusher finger of the plurality of pusher fingers;a second sensing element for sensing an arrival of a second pusher finger of the plurality of pusher fingers, the second sensing element spaced a predetermined distance upstream from the first sensing element; anda processor coupled to the first and second sensing elements for calculating a time delay between the arrival of the first pusher finger at the first sensing element and the arrival of the second pusher finger at the second sensing element, the processor adjusting the synchronization of the document enclosure feeders by delaying the release of documents from upstream document enclosure feeders relative to downstream document enclosure feeders as a function of the calculated time delay,wherein the predetermined distance between the first and second sensing elements is equal to an integer increment of said original unstretched uniform distance between adjacent upstream and downstream pusher fingers and the integer is n, and wherein the document enclosure feeders are spaced apart such that documents are released from adjacent upstream and downstream document enclosure feeders at substantially the original unstretched uniform distance between adjacent upstream and downstream pusher fingers, andthe processor adjusts the synchronization of the release of documents from the document enclosure feeders by delaying the release of documents from upstream document enclosure feeders relative to the adjacent downstream document enclosure feeder by a time according to a formula Dt/n, where Dt is the time delay calculated by the processor.