High speed card stacking device

Claim 1

A METHOD FOR STACKING CARDS AT A HIGH SPEED HAVING MEANS TO ADVANCE A CARD ON EDGE ALONG A PREDETERMINED PATH, COMPRISING, (A) RECEIVING AND ADVANCING A CARD BY A PAIR OF OPPOSITELY ROTATING ROLLERS; (B) GUIDING THE CARD THROUGH A THROAT FORMED BY A GUIDE MEMBER AND ONE OF THE OPPOSITELY ROTATING ROLLERS; (C) GUIDING THE LEADING EDGE OF THE CARD INTO A STACK HAVING STOP MEMBER WHICH CONTACTS THE LEADING EDGE OF THE CARD BEING STACKED TO SLIGHTLY REBOUND BACK TOWARD THE THROAT; (D) FLEXING THE TRAILING EDGE OF THE CARD TRANSVERSELY TO THE PREDETERMINED PATH; (E) SNAPPING THE FLEXED TRAILING EDGE OF THE CARD AWAY FROM THE THROAT DUE TO THE CARD''S TENDENCY TO STRAIGHTEN ITSELF RELATIVE TO THE PREDETERMINED PATH; AND (F) URGING HE TRAILING EDGE OF THE REBOUNDED CARD AWAY FROM THE THROAT BY MEANS OF A ROTATABLE STACKING ROLLER POSITIONED SUCH THAT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE STACKING ROLLER PERIPHERY AND THE STOP MEMBER IS LESS THAN THE PERIPHERAL DIMENSION OF THE CARD, THE TRAILING EDGE OF THE REBOUNDED CARD BEING URGED AWAY FROM THE THROAT TO PREVENT IMPACT BETWEEN THE TRAILING EDGE OF THE STACKED CARD AND THE LEADNG EDGE OF A SUBSEQUENT CARD BEING STACKED.