the present invention provides an apparatus for maintaining surface smoothness of note as they pass through a high speed processing machine . a note fed into the processing machine is carried through the machine by a series of conveyor belts . the note is conveyed past a line scan camera that records the note as it crosses a gap while passing from a first conveyor belt to a second conveyor belt that is approximately orthogonal to the first conveyor belt . a curved note guide redirects the path of the note as it crosses the gap between the conveyor belts . the inertia of the note causes it to remain flush against the surface of the curved guide , allowing the line scan camera to record each line of the surface of the note with equal resolution .