Document conveyor

Claim 1

A DOCUMENT FEED APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTING INDIVIDUAL DOCUMENTS PAST A PLANAR EXPOSURE STATION FACING AN OPTICAL SYSTEM, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL SPACED-APART BELTS, FIRST AND SECOND BELT SUPPORTING ROLLERS WHICH SUPPORT THE BELTS THEREBETWEEN IN A DOCUMENT-FEEDING PLANE WHICH SUBSTANTIALLY DIRECTED TOWARD THE EXPOSURE STATION, SAID SECOND SUPPORTING ROLLER BEING ADJACENT THE EXPOSURE STATION, DRIVE MEANS ADAPTED TO LONGITUDINALLY DRIVE THE BELTS AT A PREDETERMINED RATE IN A FEED DIRECTION TO FEED DOCUMENTS FROM SAID FIRST TO SAID SECOND ROLLER, MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID SECOND SUPPORTING ROLLER TO DEFLECT SAID BELTS AT THE EXPOSURE STATION FROM SAID DOCUMENT-FEEDING PLANE IN A DIRECTION AWAY FROM SAID OPTICAL SYSTEM, AN OPAQUE SUPPORT PLATEN AT SAID EXPOSURE STATION WITH A DIFFUSELY REFLECTING SURFACE FACING SAID OPTICAL SYSTEM, A TRANSPARENT PLATEN ADJACENT SAID OPAQUE PLATEN AND DEFINING A DOCU MENT FEED GAP THEREWITH, A PINCH ROLLER CONTACTING SAID BELTS WHERE SUPPORTED BY SAID SECOND SUPPORTING ROLLER AND SUBSTANTIALLY AT THE POINT WHERE SAID BELTS LEAVE THE DOCUMENT-FEEDING PLANE, AND A PLURALITY OF SIMILAR FINGERLIKE LOWER GUIDE MEANS, ONE END OF EACH OF WHICH IS POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID BELTS BEFORE THE PINCH ROLLERS BEFORE THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID BELTS AND WHICH GUIDE MEANS HAVE AN INCLINED SURFACE GRADUALLY INCLINED UPWARD IN THE FEED DIRECTION UNTIL THEY ARE ADJACENT TO AND SUBSTANTIALLY IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE DOCUMENT FEED GAP.