Abstract: A drumless paper transporter carries a sheet of paper on a relatively narrow hub located near one end of the sheet. A plurality of canted idler rollers that surround the periphery of the hub dynamically adjust the sheet against a reference edge as the hub rotates. A plurality of guards surround the sheet at least in the region between adjacent idler wheels. In a preferred form, a flexible brush located interior to the path of rotation of the sheet has a free edge opposed by a fixed abutment member located exterior to the path to form a converging wall guide that accurately controls the radial position of the sheet. Also, a stripper blade reliably removes the paper from the hub during continuous operations by pivoting an edge interior to the path of rotation to direct the approaching sheet to an exit slot.

Abstract: A paper transporter for use in conjunction with an optical character reader carries a sheet of paper to be read on a rotatable drum driven by a pair of opposed belts located at one end of the drum. One of the belts is canted slightly in order to steer the paper against a peripherally extending reference edge thereby locating the paper longitudinally and stabilizing its spatial orientation. The other belt is oriented in a direction that is substantially transverse to the longitudinal axis of the drum (not canted) so that it drives the drum and the interposed paper at a highly uniform speed as it passes a scanning device of the optical character reader. Both the steering belt and the drive belt are relatively narrow and grip only an edge portion of the page being scanned so that all of the printed portion of a typical page is exposed to the scanner.