Patent ID: 8320816

Claim:
An integrated printing system in which at least first and second adjacent electronic printers with outputs of printed sheets and with both simplex and duplex printing capability, including at least one of said electronic printers with an internal duplex loop path for said duplex printing capability, said first and second electronic printers having integrated outputs for cooperative shared printing of a print job, said integrated printing system including at least two modular inverter modules detachable and separate from said at least two electronic printers with one each positioned after said at least first and second electronic printers, each of said at least two inverters modules including a triple mode inverter having a pair of leg portions connected to a horizontal portion and extending upwardly from said horizontal portion to form a U-shaped portion and configured such that: in a first mode simplexed sheets are directed into and out of the triple mode inverter in a first path extending over a top portion of one of said pair of upstanding leg portions; in a second mode simplexed sheets to be duplexed are directed lead edge first into a first of said pair of upstanding leg portions of said triple mode inverter and through said horizontal portion and into the second of said pair of upstanding leg portions and then out of said horizontal portion of said triple mode inverter in reverse trail edge first and into a second path to receive images on the opposite side; and in a third mode unprinted sheets are directed through said horizontal portion in a third path to have images placed thereon by said second adjacent printer.