Patent ID: 7555975

Claim:
A method for feeding a sheet material article to be trimmed into a sheet material article trimmer, the method comprising: moving the sheet material article on a front table of the sheet material article trimmer and into engagement with a backstop of the front table using a pusher element; and moving the pusher element at a same speed as the front table for a period of time with the pusher element in engagement with a first edge portion of the sheet material article and the backstop in engagement with a second edge portion of the sheet material article using a driver, the period of time being at least as long as a time required for a front clamp of the sheet material article trimmer to move through a distance corresponding to a difference in thickness between a thinnest sheet material article in a range of thicknesses and a thickest sheet material article in the range of thicknesses so as to grip the sheet material article against the front table.