Abstract: Apparatus for successively presenting sheets for inspection by a keyboard operator or the like who must with a both hands otherwise occupied. A support inclined upwardly from a discharge end spaced above the work table holds a stack of sheets to be fed. A feed roller disposed across the discharge end in engagement with the upper side of the stack is energized to advance sheets successively therefrom, while a plurality of frictional retarding elements disposed across the discharge end in engagement with the lower side of the stack prevent the feeding of more than one sheet at a time. The retarding elements are urged against the stack with greater biasing force near the center of the discharge end than at the edges thereof to provide an automatic centering action.

Abstract: Envelope opening apparatus in which envelopes with previously slit top edges are supplied, one at a time, to a conveyor belt at a feeder station and are carried by the conveyor belt to an end slitting station in which each envelope is arrested, the faces of the arrested envelope are spread apart, and a pair of bursting members mounted for rectilinear movement in rectangular paths move downward into the envelope through its pre-slit top edge and outward against the respective envelope ends to burst them. Envelopes whose ends have been broken or burst are moved into successive radial slots of a rotary storage member for holding while the contents of the envelopes are removed and sorted.