Patent ID: 7121544

Claim:
A sheet accumulator for feeding and accumulating serially fed sheets in a paper path, the accumulator comprising: a stationary accumulator guide deck having a smooth upper surface and forming a lower portion of the paper path and supporting sheets fed on the paper path; a plurality of parallel belts positioned above the stationary accumulator deck and providing a driving force in a feed direction of the paper path for sheets on the deck, the lower runs of the plurality of belts being downwardly biased against the stationary deck; a ramp apparatus positioned across the paper path whereby sheets driven by the belts on an upstream portion of the accumulator deck are driven over the ramp apparatus and deposited in an accumulating region of the accumulator deck on a downstream side of the ramp apparatus; and an accumulator stop mechanism located at a downstream end of the accumulating region that prevents movement of sheets by the belts while sheets for an accumulation are being collected, the accumulator stop mechanism further allowing sheets to be transported from the accumulating region when the accumulation is completed.