Patent ID: 7731188

Claim:
A sheet handling system comprising a sheet registration system having sheet registration nips; a receiving station downstream of said sheet registration system including a capturing point at which said sheet is engaged; auxiliary nips positioned between said sheet registration nips and said receiving station; an actuator for opening and closing said auxiliary nips; and a controller configured to receive a signal indicative of the length of said sheet passing through said registration system, said controller sending a signal to said actuator so that said auxiliary nips are closed when the length of said sheet is less than the distance between said sheet registration nips and said capturing point and said auxiliary nips are in an open position if the length of said sheet is greater than the distance between said sheet registration nips and said capturing point, said auxiliary nips being maintained in a normally closed position, said controller capable of sending a signal to said actuator to initiate the opening of said nips when a sheet having a length greater than the distance between said sheet registration nips and said capturing point of said receiving station is being fed and before the leading edge of the sheet having a length greater than the distance between said sheet registration nips and said capturing point of said receiving station reaches said auxiliary nips, and resetting said auxiliary nips back to their closed position after the trailing edge of said sheet has passed downstream of the auxiliary nips.