Patent ID: 7857297

Claim:
A transport system for conveying sheet material along a feed path, comprising: a support deck defining the feed path and having an elongate opening formed therein; an electro-dynamic propulsion system having at least one guideway and at least one ferromagnetic element disposed within the guideway, the guideway including a magnetic coil operative to produce a variable magnetic field, the magnetic field having a variable flux density and polarity for propelling the ferromagnetic element within the guideway; an abutment member coupled to the ferromagnetic element, extending through the elongate opening of the support deck and engaging an edge of sheet material; an array of sensors disposed along the feed path operative to sense an actual angular position of an edge of the sheet material, and issuing an orientation signal indicative thereof, and a processor operative to control the magnetic field of the electro-dynamic propulsion system thereby propelling the ferromagnetic element within the guideway to transport the sheet material along the feed path, the processor storing prescribed position data indicative of a desired angular position of the sheet material, and responsive to the orientation signal for (i) comparing the actual angular position to the desired angular position, (ii) calculating a difference value therebetween, and (iii) issuing an error correction signal, based upon the difference value, to the vary the position of the ferromagnetic elements thereby transposing the sheet material to the desired angular position.