Abstract: An on-line sheet hole punching system for punching holes in sheets outputted by a printing system, to eliminate pre-punched sheets, with a common sheet entrance path, two separate but closely vertically superposed sheet paths, a gating system alternately gating the unpunched sheets into one of said two separate sheet paths having respective separate, but shared components, sheet punching stations with commonly reciprocally vertically driven sheet punches. The sheets are alternatingly stopped and the desired hole patterns are alternatingly punched, and the sheets ejected, in the two separate sheet paths, individually punched, or punched as stacked sets. The separately punched sheets may be remerged in a common output path. Skipped pitches or other printing or output interruptions are avoided. A common vacuum system for waste paper punch-outs collection may service both punching stations.

Abstract: A system for shearing (slitting or perforating) sheets in a paper path, with a system for selectably changing the sheet shearing position anywhere transversely of the entire sheet width, with a first shearing member such as a rotatable disk moveable laterally of the paper path on one side of the paper path mating with a second shearing member, preferably a rotatable annularly grooved hub, mounted for movement laterally of the paper path on the opposite side of the paper path; wherein these first and second shearing members are maintained aligned and operatively mating through the paper path for sheet shearing with an automatic alignment and normal force system automatically coordinated with changing the lateral shearing position of the sheets, yet with no direct mechanical connection therebetween or through the paper path.

Abstract: A system for shearing (slitting or perforating) sheets in a paper path, with a system for selectably changing the sheet shearing position anywhere transversely of the entire sheet width, with a first shearing member such as a rotatable disk moveable laterally of the paper path on one side of the paper path mating with a second shearing member, preferably a rotatable anularly grooved hub, mounted for movement laterally of the paper path on the opposite side of the paper path; wherein these first and second shearing members are maintained aligned and operatively mating through the paper path for sheet shearing with an automatic alignment and normal force system automatically coordinated with changing the lateral shearing position of the sheets, yet with no direct mechanical connection therebetween or through the paper path.

Abstract: In a reproduction system with an output sheet stacking tray system and a slitter with selectable sheet slitting positions in which printed sheets being outputted by the reproduction system may be selectably slit (or not) in their sheet output direction into plural slit sheets of selectably variable sheet widths and stacked in the output tray sheet stacking system; a dual mode output sheet stacking tray system is selectably convertible between a single sheet stacking position mode and a plural slit sheet stacking surfaces mode, wherein in the plural slit sheet stacking surfaces mode the sheet stacking tray system provides plural opposingly transversely sloped sheet stacking surfaces with low friction to assist slit sheets slit from the same printed sheet to transversely slide laterally away from one another, wherein these opposingly sloped surfaces intersect substantially in line with the slitting position of the slitter in the process direction.

Abstract: A staple loading arrangement for feeding sticks of staples in a stapler magazine under a constant, uniform force imposed upon a staple follower in the magazine to present individual staples to a stapling position whereat sheets are stapled and including a drive mechanism which will provide this force and a retraction device which when retracting the follower to permit staple loading also conditions the force producing device for another cycle of providing force after staples have been loaded into the magazine.