Patent ID: 7510183

Claim:
An apparatus for facing documents during high speed processing, comprising: (a) at least one sensor that scans a plurality of documents individually as they are fed sequentially through a processing machine, wherein the sensor determines the direction the documents are facing; and (b) a path selector that directs said documents to one of two equal distance paths within the processing machine, depending on the direction the documents are facing, wherein: (i) if a document is facing up, the path selector directs the document along a first path that leads directly to a collection point; and (ii) if a document is facing down, the path selector directs the document along a second path, wherein the document is turned to face up, wherein said second path meets with said first path, wherein a document directed into said second path is placed back into the same sequential position that said document was in relative to the other documents before being diverted by the path selector to said second path; and (c) a twisted conveyor belt along said second path that turns the document about its longitudinal axis to face up wherein said belt is folded into a figure 8 pattern, wherein documents are held between sections of the belt that overlap at the crossover of the figure 8 and said overlap section is twisted 180Â° between a first roller and a second roller, thereby allowing the belt to turn the documents, and wherein four additional 180Â° twists are placed in said belt as the belt moves through a complete circuit around a plurality of rollers, wherein said four additional 180Â° twists complete the twist in the belt allowing the figure 8 to be wound and unwound over the belt's circuit.