Abstract: A sheet stack is bound by applying adhesive with a drum from which adhesive is wiped just before the stack arrives to prevent excess adhesive on its front edge. Other features include a sheet-aligning jog table that moves out of position before the stack reaches the drum, the use of separators between a plurality of stacks that travel past the drum simultaneously, and a bound stack of sheets with a cover having a small, folded-over portion adjacent to the stack.

Abstract: Apparatus for holding a stack of sheets for entry into a sheet feeder, wherein there is provided a tray for vertically supporting the stack, left and right guide elements moveable toward and away from the lateral edges of the stack for centering the stack in the tray, and a flexible band formed in a loop, the band being attached to the guide elements at two locations, such that the guide elements move inward and outward laterally in unison, and the band being supported beneath the tray, and wherein the band is bent (e.g., around a convex surface) during inward movement of the guide elements so that when the movement stops the band tends to move the guide elements outwardly as it assumes an equilibrium position, thereby preventing overtightening of the guide elements against the stack.

Abstract: Apparatus for feeding single sheets of paper from a stack of the sheets, including fixed upper and lower guide surfaces between which the sheets travel during feeding, a single, centrally-located feed roll, a registration roll downstream of the feed roll, the registration roll being activated at the end of a predetermined delay period beginning when the feed roll is activated, the delay period being sufficient to assure that a single sheet is moved into engagement with the registration roll before the end of the period, the separation between the upper and lower guide surfaces being greater at a location intermediate the separation and registration rolls than at the rolls to define a buckle-restraint region intermediate the rolls wherein buckling of the sheet occurs after engagement with the registration roll and before the end of the delay period, and the moving feed surface of the feed roll being adapted to slip with respect to the sheet after the sheet has buckled against the surface of the region.