Abstract: Alignment mechanism for processing documents having a plurality of rotating rollers extending upward from the floor of a horizontal tray which is provided with a longitudinal edge. The axes of the rollers are positioned at approximately 75.degree. angle with respect to the longitudinal edge. A plurality of balls are located above the rollers with one or more balls associated with each roller. The documents pass between the rollers and the balls for moving the documents toward the longitudinal edge and simultaneously toward a read station located adjacent an end of the longitudinal edge. Two pairs of rollers, and upper and lower baffles cooperate to vertically align documents of different thicknesses with respect to the read station.