Patent ID: 7976019

Claim:
A sheet accumulator assembly, comprising: a first accumulator for accumulating serially fed sheets in a first paper path, the first accumulator comprising: a first guide deck for supporting sheets fed on the first paper path; a first belt arrangement selectively engageable with the first guide deck for driving the sheets in a desired orientation on the first guide deck along the first paper path, wherein the first belt arrangement is configured to maintain the sheets in the desired orientation without sideguides; a first ramp apparatus positioned across the first paper path for deflecting sheets away from the first guide deck as the sheets are fed from an upstream portion of the first guide deck to an accumulating region of the first guide deck downstream of the first ramp apparatus; and a first stop mechanism downstream of the accumulating region for preventing movement of the sheets during formation of an accumulation and for transporting the sheets when the accumulation is completed, the first guide deck further comprising an adjustable paper path guide deck apparatus, whereby a length of the accumulating region may be adjusted to accommodate different sized sheets.