Mini-collator/sorter

Claim 2

A collator/sorter for distributing sheets comprising: a plurality of stationary, essentially vertically oriented sheet receiving bins, each of said bins having a bottom opening for enabling automatic sheet insertion and a top opening for enabling manual sheet removal, a sheet drive means located upstream of said bins, stationary, passive sheet guide means extending essentially horizontally under said bottom openings of said bins and extending upstream to a position adjacent to said sheet drive means, said guide means supporting said sheets for movement therealong under drive imparted to the sheets by said drive means, single sheet deflector means mounted for travelling along said sheet guide means including feeding means for positively feeding sheets from said sheet guide means directly upwardly into each of said bins, and means controlling said deflector means for selectively feeding predetermined numbers of sheets into said bins.

Claim 3

The collator/sorter of claim 1, said sheet receiving bins being dimensioned and spaced so that sheets can be manually removed simultaneously by one hand from said top bin openings.

Claim 4

The collator/sorter of claim 1, said sheet receiving bins having at least one wall parallel to the received sheets with at least a portion thereof shorter in length than the shortest inserted sheet.

Claim 5

The collator/sorter of claim 3, said sheet receiving bins having said bottom sheet insertion opening and said top removal opening in spaced, generally parallel relation, the spacing between said openings for each of said bins being shorter than the length of the shortest inserted sheet.

Claim 6

The collator/sorter of claim 1, said controlling means including means selectably operable either in a collate mode for feeding successive sheets into successive ones of said bins or in a sort mode for serially feeding predetermined numbers of said sheets into said bins and manual selecting means connected for causing said controlling means to operate in one of said modes.

Claim 7

The collator/sorter of claim 5, said controlling means including a counter activated in said sort mode for counting the number of sheets inserted into each of said bins, and means responsive to a predetermined count in said counter for advancing said sheet deflector for feeding into a next one of said bins.

Claim 8

The collator/sorter of claim 1, each of said sheet receiving bins being defined by spaced adjacent, at least approximately parallel walls, at least one of the walls having at its bottom end a lip extending generally perpendicular to the wall, but spaced from the adjacent wall to define said bottom opening of said bin.

Claim 9

The collator/sorter of claim 7, said sheet receiving bins being slightly inclined in direction of said wall having said lip.

Claim 10

The collator/sorter of claim 7, each of said sheet receiving bins including resilient, biased sheet holding means momentarily displaced by a sheet entering said bin, and thereafter causing said inserted sheet to register against said lip under the force of gravity.

Claim 11

The collator/sorter of claim 7, said lips of adjacent sheet receiving bins being offset for staggering sheets inserted into adjacent bins.

Claim 12

An improved unitary copy production apparatus with a frame comprising an imaging station for a document to be copied, a copy production portion, and a copy output portion, said copy output portion being a collator/sorter including: a plurality of stationary, essentially vertically oriented copy receiving bins, each of said bins having a bottom opening for enabling copy insertion and a top opening for enabling manual copy removal, said top openings being in juxtaposition to said imaging station for facilitating manual removal of copies from said collator/sorter by an operator at said imaging station, and extending upstream to a position adjacent to said copy drive means, said guide means supporting said copies for movement therealong under drive imparted to the copies by said drive means, stationary, passive sheet guide means extending parallel to said bottom openings of said bins a copy drive means located upstream of said bins, single sheet deflector means mounted for travelling along said sheet guide means, including feeding means for receiving copies from said copy production portion and selectively directing received copies into said bins through said bottom openings.

Claim 13

An improved unitary copy production apparatus with a frame comprising an imaging station for a document to be copied, a copy production portion, and a copy output portion, said copy output portion being a collator/sorter including: a plurality of stationary, essentially vertically oriented copy receiving bins, each of said bins having a bottom opening for enabling copy insertion and a top opening for enabling manual copy removal, said top openings being in juxtaposition to said imaging station for facilitating manual removal of copies from said collator/sorter by an operator at said imaging station, and extending upstream to a position adjacent to said copy drive means, said guide means supporting said copies for movement therealong under drive imparted to the copies by said drive means, stationary, passive sheet guide means extending parallel to said bottom openings of said bins a copy drive means located upstream of said bins, single sheet deflector means mounted for travelling along said sheet guide means, including feeding means for receiving copies from said copy production portion and selectively directing received copies into said bins through said bottom openings.

Claim 14

The copy production apparatus of claim 11, said top openings of said copy receiving bins being located at an operating height, and dimensioned and spaced so that copies usually can be manually removed simultaneously by one hand.

Claim 15

The copy production apparatus of claim 11, the number of said copy receiving bins not exceeding ten and the copy capacity of each bin not exceeding twenty copies.

Claim 16

The copy production apparatus of claim 11, said copy receiving bins being at least partly in one dimension shorter than the length of the shortest inserted copy.

Claim 17

The copy production apparatus of claim 11, said control means including a counter activated in said sort mode for counting the number of copies inserted into each of said bins, and, when reaching a predetermined count, advancing said copy deflector for feeding into the next unfilled bin.

Claim 18

The copy production apparatus of claim 11, each of said copy receiving bins being defined by spaced adjacent, at least approximately parallel walls, at least one of the walls having at its bottom end a lip extending generally perpendicular to the wall, but spaced from the adjacent wall to define said bottom opening of said bin.

Claim 19

The copy production apparatus of claim 16, said copy receiving bins being slightly inclined in direction of said wall having said lip.

Claim 20

The copy production apparatus of claim 16, each of said copy receiving bins including resilient, biased copy holding means deflected by a copy entering said bin, and thereafter returning into its initial position for causing said inserted copy to register against said lip under the force of gravity.

Claim 21

The copy production apparatus of claim 16, said lips of adjacent copy receiving bins being offset for staggering copies inserted into adjacent bins.

Claim 22

The copy production apparatus of claim 11, said copy transport means including stationary copy transfer means extending essentially horizontally under said bottom openings of said bins.

Claim 23

The copy production apparatus of claim 20, said deflector means being a single copy deflector means mounted for travelling along said copy transfer means and operable for deflecting copies from said transfer means selectively into each of said bins.

Claim 24

The copy production apparatus of claim 11, further comprising: selectable control means for controlling said deflector means either to operate in a collate mode feeding successive copies into adjacent bins, or to operate in a sort mode feeding said bins, one at a time, with a predetermined number of copies, and selecting means connected with said control means for manually selecting either of said modes.