Abstract: A tamping mechanism for tamping the edge of sheets in a stack including a tamping assembly having a tamping blade. The tamping blade is positioned adjacent an edge of a stack of sheets and is moved toward and away from the edge. Magnets are provided to move the tamping blade toward and away from the edge. The tamping blade has one magnet and another magnet is movable into and out of magnetic interaction of the said first magnet. The second magnet is in a wheel adjacent tamping blade. The wheel has a plurality of magnets and is rotated so that the magnets in the wheel are moved into and out of magnetic interaction with the magnet in the tamping blade.

Abstract: A paper tamping mechanism comprising a mechanism depositing sheets in a stack; a tamping blade adjacent to the stack; said tamping blade is movable towards said stack in order to strike and tamp a sheet deposited on the stack; the tamping blade means is movable away from the stack after the sheet has been struck; a magnet is mounted on the blade and a plurality of magnets are provided adjacent to the blade in a wheel which moves magnets relative to said magnet in the blade.