EP0550325B1 - Integrated electronic postage meter - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to an integrated electronic franking machine. It applies in particular to automatic mail processing systems.

EP 298774 discloses an electronic franking machine designed to allow users to frank one or more folds very quickly, in general a large number of folds, by printing on each fold, a stamp corresponding to the tax to be paid. pay by the sender.

Such an electronic franking machine shown in FIG. 1 has an open path 5 defined by two parallel planes between which a fold is moved. A franking head 8 carried by a base 11 is placed above the open path to print a stamp on the fold 7 which is facing it. The franking head 8 is controlled through electronic circuits by a conventional keyboard 9. This franking machine, for handling large volumes of mail, further includes a mail carrier. The ply conveyor consists of rollers and counter rollers placed along the open path and rotated in opposite directions to sandwich each ply and bring it from a ply storage and supply module to be franked up to the franking head.

• le transporteur de plis et la tête d'affranchissement engendrent un bruit élevé de fonctionnement;
• en cas de bourrage du chemin ouvert, il est nécessaire de démonter la machine à affranchir pour enlever une des plaques définissant ce chemin ouvert et dégager le pli qui l'obstrue.
• elle est la cause d'accidents du fait que l'opérateur peut par inadvertance glisser la main dans les mécanismes d'entraînement des plis, en particulier entre les rouleaux et contre-rouleaux, ou être blessé par un article de courrier dépassant de ce chemin ouvert.

The electronic postage meter known from EP 298774 has the following drawbacks:

• the mail carrier and the franking head generate a high operating noise;
• in case of jamming of the open path, it is necessary to dismantle the franking machine to remove one of the plates defining this open path and clear the fold that obstructs it.
• it is the cause of accidents due to the fact that the operator may inadvertently slip his hand into the fold drive mechanisms, in particular between the rollers and counter-rollers, or be injured by a mail item protruding from this path open.

The object of the invention is to remedy the drawbacks mentioned above. Another objective of the invention is to propose an electronic franking machine which is compact and ergonomic.

To this end, the invention provides an electronic franking machine comprising a franking head, a module for storing and feeding mail items, a conveyor for individually driving mail items from the storing and feeding module at the franking head, the machine being made up of two parts, one called the lower forming the base, and the other called the upper mounted articulated on the lower part, the said upper part being folded down on the lower part to form a tunnel which extends longitudinally from the storage and supply module to the franking head and which completely envelops the conveyor, the upper part carrying first drive elements, the lower part carrying second cooperating drive elements with said first elements to drive a mail item inside said tunnel, these elements drive forming the conveyor, one of said lower or upper parts carrying said franking head.

The articulation of the lower part with the upper part makes it possible to open the tunnel for direct access to the conveyor mechanisms. When the lower part is open, it is easy to release a fold that obstructed the tunnel. The noise generated by the carrier and the franking head are attenuated, which provides additional comfort in using the franking machine. The risk of accidents is also very reduced during operation of the machine since the conveyor mechanisms become inaccessible when the upper part is folded over the lower part.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear even better in the following detailed description of an embodiment of an electronic franking machine according to the invention made with reference to the figures.

Figure 1 is an elevational view of an electronic franking machine of the prior art.

Figure 2 is an elevational view of an electronic postage meter according to the invention.

In FIG. 2, the electronic franking machine consists of a lower part such as 2 forming the base or the base of the machine and an upper part 4 mounted articulated in rotation about an axis 3 on the lower part in order to be able to be folded down on this lower part by forming a cover. These two parts each have a closing edge opposite their articulation edge and cooperate together to form a tunnel 6 which, when the closing edges of the two parts 2 and 4 are substantially contiguous, completely envelops the conveyor of franking articles. described below. The tunnel defines a guide path for mail items 7 to be franked which preferably extends parallel to the axis of rotation 3. The width and the height of the section of the tunnel are suitably chosen to take account of the formats and thicknesses multiples of the mail items commonly used. The franking machine also includes a franking head 8 carried by one of the lower 2 or upper 4 parts. In the example shown, the franking head is carried by the upper part 4 to come above the guidance. This head postage can be controlled conventionally by a keyboard 9 integrated in the upper part. The machine also includes a conveyor for individually driving mail items from a conventional storage and supply module per se (not shown) at the outlet of the franking head. The conveyor is provided with first drive elements, such as rollers 12, which are carried by the upper part and second drive elements, such as counter rollers 13, which are carried by the lower part, the rollers and the counter rollers being rotated in opposite directions as is well known. When the lower part is closed by the upper part, each article engaged between the rollers and the counter-rollers is brought by the latter facing the print head for its franking. When the lower part is opened by pivoting the upper part, it is easy to access the drive mechanisms to visually check their condition.

The two-part structure of the franking machine according to the invention allows fully automated mail processing, with a high degree of security both in terms of its operation and of operator protection standards, and a maximum reduction in noise levels. and vibrating thereof. Furthermore, the longitudinal tunnel forming a guide means for the mail items allows the modularity of the franking machine, that is to say the possibility of juxtaposing several mail item processing members having an upper part mounted articulated on a lower part. Thus, provision can be made to separate the module for storing and supplying mail items from the printing module in order to insert between them another integrated module, for example an automatic weighing module. It is thus possible to dispense with manual consideration of large formats and thicknesses important mail items. In addition, the size of the machine can be optimized around, and as close as possible to the guide path.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and we can provide other variants without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claim.

Claims (1)

1. An electronic franking machine comprising a franking head (8), a mail item storage and feed module and a conveyor for feeding individual mail items (7) from said storage and feed module to the franking head, the machine being in two parts comprising a lower part (2) forming a base and an upper part (4) hinged (3) to said lower part, the upper part (4) carrying first drive means (12) and the lower part (2) carrying second drive means (13) cooperating with said first drive means to drive a mail item between the lower and upper parts, said drive means constituting the conveyor, one of said upper or lower parts carrying said franking head, machine characterized in that the lower part (2) comprises a first closing edge and the upper part (4) comprises a second closing edge, said upper part (4) being adapted to be closed onto the lower part (2) to form a tunnel (6) when said first and second closing edges are in contact extending longitudinally from the storage and feed module to said franking head.

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