Patent ID: 7887047

Claim:
A low-profile document feeding apparatus for use on a counter-top, the apparatus comprising: a low-profile document feeding machine sized to handle documents which are 6inches long and 2.75 inches high, the low-profile document feeding machine including a feeder, a hopper having a hopper floor, at least one processing device, and an output pocket, the hopper holding a document stack wherein the length of the documents extends horizontally along the hopper floor with each document resting on its edge, the feeder feeding documents one at a time from the document stack in the hopper for processing by the at least one processing device and reception by the output pocket, the documents being fed in the horizontal direction from the hopper such that a feeding document slides on its edge; wherein the hopper includes a floor-wall construction for holding the document stack with the documents standing vertically, the floor-wall construction being configured to column-form documents in the document stack to provide increased stiffness in the vertical direction and prevent documents from falling/folding over due to top-heaviness.