| 摘要 |
An apparatus, and corresponding method, for accumulating and directionally reorienting the movement of a stack of sheets after first folding the stack, each sheet of the stack being fed from a feed conveyor along a feed path. The apparatus includes a turnplate, for receiving each of a series of sheets which are there accumulated into a stack of sheets. Stops protrude from a sheet-receiving surface of the turnplate, which holds the stack of sheets edge aligned against the stops. The apparatus also includes a chute pusher disposed so as to have a pusher tab movable across the sheet-receiving surface of the turnplate, for pushing the stack of sheets along the sheet-receiving surface of the turnplate in a chute direction at substantially ninety degrees from the feed path; a chute feed nip, disposed at the edge of the turnplate toward which the pusher tab pushes, for grabbing the stack of sheets and driving it onward in the chute direction; a chute, disposed so as to receive the stack of sheets being provided in the chute direction by the chute feed nip, the chute having a chute stop disposed a distance along the chute approximately equal to a half-width of the stack of sheets, for continuing to receive the stack until it stops at the chute stop and then to provide a buckle in the stack that is caused to protrude from the chute under the continuing action of the chute feed nip, until the stack is clear of the chute feed nip; a folder nip, disposed to grab the buckle in the stack, for providing the stack folded in half; and a diverter, rotatably disposed to receive the stack folded in half, for directing the stack to either of two different directions, depending on the orientation of the diverter. In addition, it includes a sensor such as a bar code reader for sensing information about directing the stack to either of the two different directions.
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