Abstract: A document collator comprising a conveyor system, a prime document feeder station and a plurality of enclosure document feeder stations arranged at spaced locations along the conveyor system, a collation station located downstream of the feeder stations at one end of the conveyor system, and control elements, including elements for determining which one of the plurality of feeder stations is the prime feeder station, the control elements being operable to control each feeder station independently in such a way as to ensure that the documents from each of the enclosure document feeder stations located upstream of and including the prime feeder station are stacked one on top of each other with the prime document on top and the documents from each of the feeder stations downstream of the prime feeder station are stacked one on top of each other.

Abstract: A document collator comprising a conveyor system, a prime document feeder station and a plurality of enclosure document feeder stations arranged at spaced locations along the conveyor system, a collation station located downstream of the feeder stations at one end of the conveyor system, and control means, including means for determining which one of the plurality of feeder stations is the prime feeder station, the control means being operable to control each feeder station independently in such a way as to ensure that the documents from each of the enclosure document feeder stations which are located upstream of and including the prime feeder station are stacked one on top of each other with the prime document on top to form a prime document package and the documents from each of the feeder stations downstream of the prime feeder station are stacked one on top of each other to form an enclosure document package, and the prime document package is transported along the conveyor system at a predetermined distan

Abstract: Apparatus and method for closing an envelope having a body portion and a flap, and a crease between the body portion and the flap. An open envelope is gripped and transported toward an abutment, which can be either a leaf spring or a slideable weight. The abutment is biased toward the envelope, but the force of the advancing envelope moves the abutment in a direction opposite the direction of bias, until the crease clears the transport structure that is moving the envelope. Once this happens, then the advance of the envelope stops and the bias of the abutment forces the envelope, crease first, between rollers that press the folded flap against the envelope. Any size envelope can be handled, because the abutment can move under the force of the envelope, any distance required to accommodate the size of the envelope.