Jam detection system for sorting apparatus

Claim 1

An improved control and jam detection system for apparatus sorting documents including document transport means, a module having a plurality of trays for storing documents, each tray having an inlet located along the document path and a deflector member associated therewith and adapted when actuated to route said documents from said transport means into the tray, the improved system comprising program means to actuate individual ones of said deflector members to route said documents into a selected tray of the module in predetermined sequence, sensing means for sensing the presence and absence of a document at predetermined locations along said document feed path and providing corresponding presence and absence indicating signals, circuit means coupled to said transport means including a timing means responsive to said signals and providing an input to control the transport means whereby upon the occurrence of a jam the transport of documents into each of the trays in the module is stopped and the document input supplied to an overflow tray until another signal from said program means is received at which time the apparatus is shut down, wherein said circuit means includes bistable storage means having set and reset positions operatively connected to said sensing means and said timing means to be set when a first sensing signal occurs and to be reset when a subsequent sensing signal is received, said timing means being sufficiently long to extend beyond the interval of said subsequent signal only in the case of a jam to enable the reset position of said bistable storage means to render said timing means inoperative.