Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
  • B07C3/00—Sorting according to destination
  • B07C3/02—Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution
  • B07C3/08—Apparatus characterised by the means used for distribution using arrangements of conveyors
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
  • B07C1/00—Measures preceding sorting according to destination
  • B07C1/02—Forming articles into a stream; Arranging articles in a stream, e.g. spacing, orientating
  • B07C1/025—Devices for the temporary stacking of objects provided with a stacking and destacking device (interstack device)
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B07—SEPARATING SOLIDS FROM SOLIDS; SORTING
  • B07C—POSTAL SORTING; SORTING INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES, OR BULK MATERIAL FIT TO BE SORTED PIECE-MEAL, e.g. BY PICKING
  • B07C1/00—Measures preceding sorting according to destination
  • B07C1/18—Orientating articles other than in a stream, e.g. turning, deflecting or changing direction
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
  • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
  • B65H29/00—Delivering or advancing articles from machines; Advancing articles to or into piles
  • B65H29/26—Delivering or advancing articles from machines; Advancing articles to or into piles by dropping the articles

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an individual transfer device for flat objects, in particular for a postal sorting machine.
• Postal sorting machines include tools for capturing and processing mail images to perform automated coding of addresses by automatic recognition or by video coding based on recognition carried out by an operator in deferred time.
• the cost of these installations leads to the search for high productivity for these operations.
• the mechanical handling of existing equipment does not always make it possible to reach rates which are compatible with the performances conferred by input optronics and processing electronics.
• Postal sorting machines are known of the type comprising a module for unstacking objects to be sorted, a conveyor or antenna in which the postal code is read and a direction is assigned to flat objects scrolling one behind the other in the same plane, and a transfer device or injector which receives the objects at the exit of the conveyor and injects them one by one into buckets of a carousel with a view to their routing in a box corresponding to the destination which has been assigned to the object during of its passage in the antenna.
• document US-A-2,761,680 describes a transfer device comprising a sequential drive transfer member adapted to transfer the lower edge of a receiving position to an ejecting position towards a receptacle.
• flat objects received one by one from an entry conveyor.
• the transfer member comprises two gutters arranged symmetrically with respect to an axis of rotation and which are placed in the extension of the input conveyor to receive one by one folds which are held in a slightly inclined position on the vertical by a fixed wall. Once a fold is in position on one of the gutters, the transfer member performs a rotation of 180 ° around the axis and the other gutter is placed in the extension of the input conveyor to receive the next fold.
• the rate of the unstacking module can reach high values of the order of, for example, three objects per second, and the throughput of the conveyor or antenna can be easily adapted to reach such a cadence.
• the rate of known transfer devices which combine a horizontal movement of entry of the object into the injector and a vertical movement of introduction into the receptacles of the carousel, can hardly be increased because, for higher speeds of transfer, the mail risks the take-off and, for higher debits, there is a strong risk of deterioration of the objects. This is the case of the transfer device according to US-A-2,761,680.
• the invention aims to provide a transfer device which allows, without deterioration, to transfer individually at high speed and safely flat objects of a conveyor, on which said objects travel in the same plane in a given direction, in receptacles scrolling orthogonally to said direction, and this in synchronism with the movement of said receptacles and without disturbing the operation of the conveyor and, optionally, of the upstream unstacking module, from which the flat objects are brought to the transfer device.
• the subject of the invention is such a device comprising a transfer member suitable for transferring the lower edge of the flat objects received one by one from the conveyor from a receiving position to an ejection position towards a receptacle. entry, characterized by that said transfer member is shaped to jointly allow the arrival of at least one flat object in said receiving position and the transfer of another flat object into a receptacle from said ejection position, and in that that said device also comprises a receiving conveyor adapted to keep said flat objects in abutment on said transfer member in a position slightly inclined on the vertical and to move them from the receiving position to the ejection position in combination with said member transfer.
• the phase of introducing objects into the transfer zone above the buckets and the phase of injection or vertical transfer into the receptacles, which cannot be reduced, can overlap to achieve the desired performance. .
• said transfer member consists of a rotary drum provided at its periphery with longitudinal grooves for receiving the lower edge of said objects.
• said receiving conveyor carries a set of movable stops orthogonally to said input conveyor to receive one by one said flat objects and move them to the ejection position together with said transfer member.
• said receiving conveyor is an endless belt conveyor disposed substantially in the same plane and moved in the same direction as the input conveyor, said belt carrying cams capable of cooperating with the front edge of an object to immobilize it during the transfer in progress of an object by said transfer member.
• Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a postal sorting machine comprising a transfer device according to the invention
• Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the transfer device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• Figures 3, 4 and 5 are schematic side elevational views illustrating the device of Figure 2 during three different phases of its operation;
• Figure 6 is an exploded perspective view, similar to Figure 2, illustrating an alternative embodiment of the transfer device.
• a postal sorting machine comprises a destacking module 1 in which flat objects deposited in a stack are removed one by one by conventional means and brought to the input of an output conveyor or antenna 2 in which the flat objects pass one behind the other in the same plane in front of conventional automatic recognition and coding means which have not been shown for the clarity of the drawing.
• Postal sorting machines comprising such unstacking and recognition and coding modules are well known to those skilled in the art and there is no need to give a detailed description here.
• the objects 3 arrive one by one in a transfer device or injector 4 which ensures the transfer of each object 3 in a bucket 5 of a carousel 6 consisting of a set of juxtaposed buckets which pass under the transfer device 4 in a direction orthogonal to that of conveying the objects 3 into the conveyor 2.
• the device transfer 4 comprises a rotary drum 7 provided at its periphery with four longitudinal grooves 8 distributed at 90 ° from each other relative to the axis of the drum, the edges separating two adjacent grooves being constituted by rollers 9 mounted in a notch of tooth 10 ( Figure 3) separating two adjacent grooves.
• the axis of rotation of the roller 7 is oriented parallel to the direction F1 of conveying the conveyor 2 so that the flat objects 3 leaving the conveyor each come to rest by its lower edge in a groove 8 of the drum 7.
• the drum or turnstile 7 is mounted above the carousel 6, the cups or receptacles 5 scroll in a direction illustrated by the arrow F2 orthogonal to the direction F1 of movement of the objects 3 on the conveyor
• an assembly 11 consisting of an endless belt conveyor 12, the lower strand of which is oriented parallel to the direction of travel of the buckets 5.
• the lower strand of the belt 12 is moved in the direction of arrow F3, which is the same as that of scrolling of the buckets F2.
• the conveyor belt 12 externally carries a number of pallets 13 arranged obliquely to the upper and lower strands of the belt.
• a pallet 13 driven by the conveyor belt 12 is presented substantially in the extension of the conveyor 2, it forms a support surface or sole for the rear face of the flat or folded object being evacuated from the conveyor 2 , while the lower edge of this object is received in that of the grooves 8 of the drum 7 which is adjacent to the pallet and turned upwards.
• the lower edge of the pallet 13, which is parallel to the rollers 9, is substantially plumb and at a short distance from the roller 9 delimiting the rear edge (in the direction of the arrow F3) of the groove receiving the object, and the pallet 13 has an inclination on the vertical close to that of the objects 3 at the outlet of the conveyor 2.
• the pallets 13 and the folds 3 are then inclined towards the rear (in the direction of the arrow F3) by approximately 15 to 20 ° on the vertical.
• the distribution of the pallets 13 along the conveyor belt 12 is chosen so that the spacing of two consecutive pallets in the direction F3 is substantially equal to that which separates two consecutive rollers 9 from the drum 7.
• a fixed bulkhead 14 substantially vertical and having approximately the same height as the pallets 13 can be arranged on the side opposite to the conveyor 2 to retain the folds 3 longitudinally when they are evacuated at high speed from the conveyor 2 and thus prevent them from are ejected beyond the drum 7.
• the transfer device 4 is completed by a vertical motorized roller 15 disposed parallel to the drum 7, downstream of the latter relative to the direction F2 of travel of the buckets 5 and of the pallets 13, at the height of the drum 7.
• the roller 15 is mounted on a flexible articulation (not shown) so as to be urged elastically in the direction of the drum 7 and thus adapt to the thickness of the flat object 3 which, during injection into a cup 5, is clamped between a free roller 9 of the drum 7 and the motorized roller 15.
• the transfer device 4 can be completed by a retractable retaining blade 16 disposed substantially under the nip between the drum 7 and the roller 15, in the injection path of the objects 3 towards the receptacles or cups 5, in order to retain an object before its injection into a receptacle 5.
• the rotation movement of this blade 16 between its closed position for retaining objects 3 and its open injection position is synchronized with the movement of the carousel 6 to ensure perfectly synchronous injection of the objects 3 in the cups or receptacles 5.
• FIG. 3 shows an object 3a coming from the conveyor 2 placed in abutment against a pallet 13a by its rear face and a groove 8a of the drum 7 by its lower edge.
• FIG. 4 shows the belt of the conveyor 12 and the pallets 13 having advanced by one step in the direction of the arrow F3 (parallel to the arrow F2 of the Figure 2), while the drum 7 has rotated a quarter of a turn in the direction indicated by the arrow F4.
• the object 3a is pinched between one of the rollers 9 of the drum 7 and the motorized roller 15, the blade 16 then prohibiting the injection of the object 3a into one of the cups of the carousel 6 located at - below and not shown in the drawing.
• the pallet assembly 11 and the drum 7 are still in the same position, but the blade 16 has tilted down and the motorized roller 15 drives the object 3a to inject it into a receptacle (not shown) of the carousel 6 located below.
• a new object 3b is received in abutment against the following pallet 13b and the following groove 8b of the drum 7 and, once the fold 3a ejected into a bucket by the motorized roller 15, the process is repeated for the ejection of the fold 3b in the next bucket by advancing one step of the conveyor 12 and rotating the drum 7 by a quarter turn.
• the endless belt 120 has two flat strands, one of which 120a is arranged in the extension of the conveyor 2, substantially in the same plane as the bearing surface 121 of the plies on the conveyor 102.
• the belt 120 moves in the direction arrow F1 and carries at regular intervals, in the longitudinal direction of the strip, two identical cams 122 spaced apart and aligned along the height of the strip 120.
• Each cam 122 has, in a plane perpendicular to that of the strip 120, the form of a wedge, the point of which is directed towards the front while considering the direction F1 of advancement of the strip.
• each cam 122 therefore defines a ramp surface 123 which, in the direction opposite to that of the arrow F1, progressively deviates from the plane of the strand 120a with a slight inclination relative to this plane.
• the rear end of the ramp surface 123 is connected to the surface of the strip 120 by a stop surface 124 strongly inclined or perpendicular to the plane of the strand 120a.
• This abutment surface can be straight or curvilinear.
• the cams 122 are preferably made of elastic material so as to be able to match the curvature of the band at each end of the conveyor 111.
• the conveyor 111 is driven step by step in synchronism with the modules 1 and 102, the drum 107 and the carousel 106.
• the transfer device therefore makes it possible to ensure, at a high rate, the sequential transfer of the objects coming from the conveyor 2, 102, into the carousel 6, 106 in synchronism with the latter, and without disturbing the operation of the installation feeding the upstream conveyor 2, 102 thanks to the fact that the phase of introduction of the object into the transfer zone above the buckets and the vertical injection phase into the bucket are spatially dissociated and the device for transfer can thus receive a new object in the receiving position, while an object previously received is in the injection position or during movement towards this position.
• the overlapping of at least two objects in the transfer device makes it possible to achieve high performances compatible with those of the conveyor 2 and the carousel 6.
• the movements of the transfer member (drum) and the receiving conveyor can be continuous instead of being sequential, the transfer member can take any suitable form other than a drum , the pallets 13 of the receiving conveyor 11 can be replaced by stop elements having another configuration.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=9413856

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Families Citing this family (18)

Family Cites Families (13)

• 1991
  • 1991-06-14 FR FR9107296A patent/FR2677626B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 1992
  • 1992-06-12 WO PCT/FR1992/000532 patent/WO1992022386A1/fr not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1992-06-12 CA CA002089163A patent/CA2089163A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1992-06-12 US US07/988,119 patent/US5362040A/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1992-06-12 EP EP92912015A patent/EP0543967A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events