Patent ID: 8306654

Claim:
A system for aligning multi-sheet collations, comprising: a conveyance system defining a transport deck for supporting and conveying a multi-sheet collation along a feed path; a first pair of registration members disposed orthogonal to the feed path and defining a processing station along the feed path, the registration members defining registration surfaces which are repositionable from an active position above the transport deck to an idle position below the transport deck; a first displacement mechanism adapted to raise and lower the registration members into and out of the active and idle positions, and oscillate at least one of the registration surfaces forward and aft in a direction parallel to the feed path when the registration member is in the active position; the conveyance system including first and second conveyor belts and wherein the registration member of each alignment device is disposed between the first and second conveyor belts, and a processor adapted to control the motion of the conveyance system relative to the registration members, and control the first displacement mechanism to (i) raise the registration surfaces into the active position, (ii) oscillate the registration surfaces to align the opposing edges of the multi-sheet collation, and (iii) lower the registration surfaces into the idle position to facilitate conveyance of the aligned multi-sheet collation along the feed path.