A component supplying apparatus comprises a tape guide surface facing a lower surface of the carrier tape, a preceding tape contact part climbing onto a upper surface of the preceding carrier tape, and a subsequent tape blocking part configured to wait on the upstream side of the preceding tape contact part in a tape feeding direction while keeping a distance from the tape guide surface so as to enable the carrier tape to pass between the subsequent tape blocking part and the tape guide surface, and to move downwardly toward the preceding carrier tape when the preceding tape contact part is climbed onto the preceding carrier tape. The subsequent tape blocking part keeps the subsequent carrier tape waiting by contacting a front end of the subsequent carrier tape stacked on the preceding carrier tape onto which the preceding tape contact part climbs.

A media processing device includes: a hopper for supporting a stack of media units (e.g. cards), the hopper including (i) a gate wall configured to abut leading edges of the media units and (ii) an outlet defined at an end of the gate wall; a pick roller at the outlet for engaging an outer one of the media units in the stack and dispensing the outer media unit from the hopper to a media processing path; the gate wall including a flexible gate at the outlet, the flexible gate configured to deflect toward the media processing path responsive to the outer media unit being driven into the flexible gate by the pick roller, wherein the outer media unit deflects when passing by the flexible gate, permitting the outer media unit to be dispensed from the hopper.

A device and a method for feeding flat objects, in particular mail items such as envelopes or letters, in an upright position into a transport container. The device comprises a feed device for transporting flat objects and for feeding the transported flat objects into a transport container, and a container receiver for positioning the transport container during the feeding of the flat objects in a feed position in which the transport container is arranged obliquely. The device and the method enable to take full advantage of the capacity of the transport container by using a compression unit for compressing the flat objects fed into the transport container, in particular while the transport container is arranged in the input position.

The invention discloses a sheet processing machine with an alignment plate at the input. The sheets are piled against the plate, and during each machine cycle, the bottommost sheet is extracted and delivered to a gripper bar of the machine. The alignment plate can move precisely longitudinally and diagonally to adjust the position and the skew of the sheet for correct positioning in the gripper bar. The alignment plate is guaranteed to be kept vertical by using a pair of synchronized linear actuators on each side of the plate. The machine can adapt to varying sheet thickness by adjusting the gap below that plate thanks to a motorized gauge. To even better position the sheets, a set of abutments is provided after the plate, and at a fixed distance to the plate. The abutments are pivoting to get out of the way of the gripper bar when needed.