Single web sheet cutter and stacker

Claim 1

A SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, A CONSTANT, HIGH SPEED SHEET CONVEYING MEANS, A COLLECTING DRUM CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO RECEIVE INDIVIDUAL SHEETS ONE AFTER ANOTER FROM THE CONVEYING MEANS AND TO ACCUMULATE THEM IN A REGISTERED PACKET OF A PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF SHEETS, MEANS DRIVING THE COLLECTING DRUM AT A CONSTANT PERIPHERAL SPEED SUBSTANTIALLY EQUAL TO THE SPEED OF THE SHEET CONVEYING MEANS, A TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS FOR RECEIVING THE SHEET PACKET FROM THE COLLECTING DRUM, MEANS AUTOMATICALLY EFFECTVE WHEN THE PRESCRIBED NUMBER OF SHEETS HAS BEEN ACCEPTED FOR ACCUMULATION ON THE COLLECTING DRUM TO BRING ABOUT DELIVERY OF THE RESULTING SHEET PACKET TO THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS, RECEIVING MECHANISM FOR ACCEPTING THE PACKET FROM THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS AT GREATLY REDUCED SPEED, MEANS POSITIVELY DRIVING THE TRANSFER CONVEHING MEANS AT THE PERIPHERAL SPEED OF THE COLLECTING DRUM THROUGHOUT SAID DELIVERY AND AUTOMATICALLY EFFECTIVE WHEN THE DELIVERY OF THE PACKET OF SHEETS TO THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS HAS BEEN COMPLETED TO SO MODIFY THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS SPEED THAT THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS IS PUT THROUGH A PROGRAMMED SLOWDOWN AND RESTORATION CYCLE DURING WHICH THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS ADANCES THE SHEET PACKET AT HIGH SPEED ONTO THE RECEIVING MECHANISM AND THEN SLOWS DOWN PROGRESSIVELY UNTIL THE PACKET OF SHEETS IS DISCHARGED TO SAID REVEIVING MECHANISM AT A RELATIVELY LOW SPEED, THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS DRIVE THEN PROGRESSIVELY RESTORING THE SPEED OF THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS TO THE COLLECTING DRUM SPEED BY A TIME NO LATER THAN THAT AT WHICH A NEXT ACCUMULATED PACKET OF SHEETS ON THE COLLECTING DRUM BECOMES READY FOR DELIVERY TO THE TRANSFER CONVEYING MEANS.