The concept of counting using a rotating disc was originated by Vacuumatic in the 1950s and the first patent in this area (filed in 1954) was granted to Vacuumatic.

This technique has some similarities with the Pin-&-Blade technique in that counting is carried out on the corner of the stack of paper and vacuum is used to create the initial sheet separation.

The principle operates by using vacuum pick-up in combination with a precision-engineered disc to transfer sheet corners one at a time from one side of the disc to the other, as it rotates (click the link above to view the animation). As each sheet passes through the disc a count is registered. The disc technique offers the potential for very high speed counting - count speeds of up to 5,000 sheets/minute are possible on Super 20 and Vicount Disc machines, up to 10,000 sheets/minute is possible with Tornado machines.

Recent technological advances made in this area by Vacuumatic, for which international patents have been granted, include the method of tab insertion, count sensing and control of the counting head movement.