Patent ID: 8210529

Claim:
A feed input assembly operative to accept and convey sheet material of variable length along a feed path, comprising: a processing station performing an operation on the sheet material and conveying the sheet material along the feed path; an ingestion assembly having transport elements including opposed friction drive surfaces adapted to capture the sheet material therebetween and accept a leading edge of the sheet material from the processing station at a point of entry, the ingestion assembly adapted to vary the position of the friction drive surfaces to vary point of entry along the feed path and including first and second transport belts disposed in opposed relation to capture the sheet material therebetween, each of the first and second transport belts being continuous and disposed about upstream and downstream rolling elements relative to the feed path; and, a displacement means operative to displace at least one of the upstream rolling elements in a direction substantially orthogonal to the feed path thereby varying the point of entry for accepting the leading edge of the sheet material, the displacement means, furthermore, including an eccentric link pivot mounted about a first rotational axis at one end and pivot mounted about a second rotational axis at the other end to the upstream rolling element and a means for pivoting the eccentric link to displace one of the transport belts from the other transport belt and vary the point of entry for accepting the leading edge of the sheet material, wherein, by varying the point of entry, sheet material of variable length can be accepted without varying the position of the processing station relative to the ingestion assembly.