SHEET MATERIAL TRANSPOSITION FOR SORTING APPARATUS

A displacement system and sorting apparatus for transposing the orientation of mailpiece from a first position to a second position such that the mailpiece may occupy a reduced space envelope within sortation bins/trays of a mailpiece sorter. The displacement system comprises first and second pairs of cooperating elements each defining a nip for accepting first and second portions, respectively, of the mailpiece therebetween. Further, the system includes a means for driving the first and second pairs of cooperating elements such that the first and second portions of mailpiece are each conveyed along a feed path at different velocities thereby transposing the mailpiece about an axis and changing the orientation of the mailpiece from the first to the second positions. The cooperating elements may include rolling elements such as nip rollers, spherical elements or belt pairs. The sortation bins/trays are adapted to support the short edge while guiding the long edge of the mailpiece. That is, the base of the bins/trays supports the on-edge width dimension of the mailpiece and sidewalls substantially normal to the base support the length dimension of the mailpiece.