High throughput, low cost, non-impact printing

摘要

A method and apparatus are capable of producing sealed mailers from sheets of paper at speeds in excess of 200 documents per minute (e.g. 400 documents per minute or more) in an inexpensive manner, including by variably non-impact duplex printing the faces of each sheet with up to thirty six lines of variable data with each line up to ten inches long. The sheets are fed one at a time from a stack and then immediately aligned. Immediately after alignment the first face of each sheet is ink jet printed with variable data, the sheets are inverted and then immediately the second face of each sheet is ink jet printed with variable data. The printed sheets are immediately folded, and if they have adhesive (such as pressure activated adhesive) they are immediately sealed. They may then be sorted, stacked, and tied into bundles. Control of all of the operations is provided by a central computer control which ensures that the processing speed is consistent throughout. The method is particularly suited for producing simple mailer type business forms such as IRS 1099 forms, statements, notices, and advertisements.