Patent ID: 7401448

Claim:
An apparatus for inserting documents, comprising: a document transport path for transporting documents towards a stuffing position; an envelope transport path for transporting envelopes towards the stuffing position; a holder aligned in a first direction with the envelope transport path for receiving and holding an envelope in the stuffing position aligned with the envelope transport path; and aligned in the first direction with the document transport path for receiving, in the envelope in the stuffing position, at least one document arriving from the document transport path, wherein edges of the envelope in the stuffing position extend along a stuffing position plane; a flap hold-open element for holding open a flap of an envelope in the stuffing position; and a plurality of guide strips simultaneously reciprocable between a retracted position and a projecting position for guiding at least one document from the document transport path into an envelope in the stuffing position, wherein the guide strips in the projecting position project into the stuffing position in said first direction and the guide strips in the retracted position are retracted relative to said projecting position in a second direction opposite said first direction; wherein the guide strips include at least one inner guide strip and outer guide strips located on opposite lateral sides of the at least one inner strip, wherein, in the projecting position, the at least one inner guide strips project further into the stuffing position than the outer guide strips, and, wherein in the retracted position, seen in a view transverse to said first direction and parallel to the envelope stuffing plane, the outer guide strips project from a neck side of the envelope remote from the flap hold-open element toward a flap side of the envelope opposite the neck side.