EP0645331B1 - Transport device for flat objects and separating apparatus for flat objects, provided with such a transport device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a device for transfer of flat objects. It also targets a flat object unstacking device equipped with this transfer device.

• un magasin d'approvisionnement du courrier,
• un préhenseur de courrier,
• un séparateur de prises doubles,
• un dispositif de transfert ou évacuateur.

A device for unstacking flat objects comprises four main organs:

• a mail supply store,
• a mail gripper,
• a double outlet separator,
• a transfer device or spillway.

The mail is placed on edge on a carpet, backed to a palette. Thanks to a simultaneous motorization of the carpet and pallet, the courier advances to the gripper. The carpet leads to a sudden change level, hereinafter called the fall, near the mail gripper. The supply store, arranged between this fall and the gripper, is provided to receive folds or flat objects awaiting unstacking. The gripper includes areas of depression in front of which a belt passes perforated.

When leaving the gripper, the mail passes in front the vacuum zone of the double outlet separator, located on the other side of the mail. This organ retains the mails which would be entrained by friction by the previous mail, so as not to let go only one mail at a time.

At the outlet of the double tap separator, the mail is supported in a mailing device transfer which provides the interface between the unstacking and a sorting device.

Sorting large format mail by insertion in buckets, unstacking must be done at demand and not continuously.

It is also necessary to stop the mail almost immediately after entering the transfer device. Now traditional means give great dispersion on the stopping of mail to cause of significant rebounds during the passage of thick mail, leading to loss of contact with the fold when it is time to stop it.

We already know by the French patent application FR-A-2 679 540 of July 25, 1991 in the name of the Applicant a mail pleat unstacking device comprising at its outlet ply transfer means made up of two belts associated to act by pinching. But these means of transfer cannot ensure the transfer of objects of variable thickness, and operate continuously.

Document US-3,951,257 also discloses a device for transfer of mail items in accordance with the preamble to the claim 1.

The object of the invention is to propose a device transfer able to stop a thick flat object "any" and especially large format output a destacking device, to deliver this flat object on request to a sorting device and whose the layout helps to minimize the dispersion of downtime of flat objects inside it.

According to the invention, a device is proposed according to the claim 1.

So it becomes possible to stop objects of variable thickness and transfer them to a sorting device designed to process each object one after the other.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the pinching means comprise two pinching rollers comprising on their periphery a soft material and of which at least one of the two is mobile in a second plane displacement perpendicular to said foreground and, for each roll, a set of belts drive stretched around said roller and at minus a deflection pulley arranged on both sides of said roller.

The invention extends to a device for unstacking flat objects comprising means of supplying flat objects, means grippers, separating means for double sockets, and a device for transferring flat objects according to the invention. The device transfer of flat objects includes means for pinch a flat object previously trained by gripping means, these gripping means being controlled so that said flat object is transferred by said transfer device after receipt of a transfer authorization.

• la figure 1 est une vue d'ensemble d'un dispositif de dépilage d'objets plats selon l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue de dessus d'un dispositif de transfert d'objets plats ou évacuateur selon l'invention ; et
• la figure 3 est une vue de côté d'un dispositif de transfert d'objets plats selon l'invention.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the description below. In the appended drawings given by way of nonlimiting examples:

• Figure 1 is an overall view of a device for unstacking flat objects according to the invention;
• Figure 2 is a top view of a device for transferring flat objects or spillway according to the invention; and
• Figure 3 is a side view of a device for transferring flat objects according to the invention.

We will now describe an unstacking device flat objects equipped with a transfer device according to the invention, at the same time as the operation of this transfer device, with reference to the figures 1 to 3.

The unstacking device 10 comprises a mat mobile 14 on which the mail is placed on edge, a supply store 13, an object gripper plates 16, a double outlet separator 11 and a transfer device for flat objects 20 according to the invention. The gripper 16 includes a belt perforated 15 moving in front of a depression area 12.

When flat objects placed on the carpet 14 reach the edge of this mat, they are dragged into the supply store 13. The first object flat is attracted by the gripper 16 due to the vacuum generated in the vacuum zone at through the perforations of the belt 15. The latter then drag this flat object in one direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the mat 14, to the double outlet separator 11. This separator includes a vacuum zone and has for function of retaining a flat object that would have been possibly driven by friction by a flat object previous. The flat object 1, placed on edge on a plane substantially horizontal 31, is then driven into a substantially vertical transfer plane P between two pinch rollers 21, 22 mounted opposite by relative to plane P. Each pinch roller 21, 22 is disposed between two pulleys 23 and 24, respectively 25 and 35. These pulleys 23, 24, respectively 25, 35 are mounted in an alignment parallel to the plane P of such that pulleys 23 and 25, respectively 24 and 35 face each other with respect to the plane P and define a passage for a fold extending in the plane P. Two belts 27, 30 engage the roller 21 and the pulleys 23 and 24 on two levels and two belts 28, 29 engage the roller 22 and the pulleys 24 and 35 on two levels facing respectively the belts 27 and 30 relative to plane P.

The pinch rollers 21, 22 include preferably on their periphery a crown made of material slack 21a, 22a which eliminates any risk of mail bounce and contributes to obtaining a almost immediate stop of a pinched pleat between the two rollers. These pinch rollers have a diameter large enough to promote penetration thick folds between them. The diameter of the rollers 21 and 22 is larger than that of pulleys 23, 24, 25, 35 so that the belts 28, 29 only come in contact with the belts 27, 30 respectively in a pinch point located between the axes of the two rollers and indicated by the point of intersection between the plane P and the plane D in FIG. 2.

The motorization of the transfer device 20 can be provided either at the pinch rollers 21, 22, or at the pulleys 23, 24, 25, 35. In a preferred embodiment, the two pinch rollers 21, 22 can move freely in a plane of displacement D perpendicular to the plane of transfer of folds. In a second embodiment, only one of the pinch rollers is movable, the other remaining fixed. The or the movable rollers in plane D disappears in front of a fold that enters the passage between the pulleys 24 and 35 and belts 27 to 30 maintained stretched, act to bring the two rollers 21 together, 22 against each other so as to pinch the fold. The transfer device 20 is preferably placed as close as possible to the gripper 16 and has a transfer plane P which is preferably parallel to the grip plan. In addition, the separator of double sockets 11 is preferably placed between the two belt levels 28, 29 and upstream of the pinch rollers 21, 22, with reference to FIG. 3.

The implementation of two levels of belts on either side of the double outlet separator 11 has the advantage of contributing to the creation of a resulting from contact forces which is located at immediate vicinity of separator 11. A single level of belts would have the effect of creating of a movement which would cause folds, and by consequently a change in the inclination of the folds.

The pinch rollers 21, 22 have the function immobilize each flat object while waiting for a authorization to transfer to sorting buckets (no represented). This transfer authorization can be issued by means of control and processing associated with the sorting means. To maintain a flow acceptable, pinch rollers are placed immediately after the double tap separator 11.

A transfer device according to the invention allows therefore ensuring an almost immediate stop of each fold taken into account whatever its thickness and its forms and therefore helps to significantly reduce the dispersion generally observed in stopping folds.

Of course, the invention is not limited to examples just described and many adjustments can be made to these examples without depart from the scope of the invention. So we can predict many types of pinch roller drive as well as operating control procedures of the transfer device taking into account the specifics of the sorting device located downstream of the unstacking device. We can also consider a number of belts different from two and another arrangement of the pulleys associated with the belts.

Claims (5)

1. Device (20) for transferring flat objects to sorting means from the output of a device (10) for unstacking flat objects, the device comprising means (21, 22) for gripping a flat object (1) initially located in a transfer plane (P), said means (21, 22) comprising two pinch rollers (21, 22) having a soft material on their outside (21a, 22a) and at least one of which is mobile n a displacement plane (D) perpendicular to said transfer plane (P), the device being characterized in that it comprises for each roller (21, 22), a set of drive belts (27, 30; 28, 29) stretched around said roller (21, 22) and two pulleywheels (23, 24, 25, 35) on opposite sides of said roller (21, 22), in that said gripping means (21, 22) are controlled in such a way as to immobilize said flat object (1) pending authorization for its transfer to the sorting means, and in that it further comprises double pick separator means (11) disposed between two levels of belts of one of the pinch rollers (21, 22).
2. Transfer device (20) according to claim 1 characterized in that it comprises drive means for driving the pinch rollers (21, 22), said drive means being controlled in such a way as to immobilize a flat object (1) pending authorization for its transfer and to drive and transfer said flat object (1) after receiving such authorization.
3. Device (10) for unstacking flat objects comprising flat object feed means (13), holding means (16), double pick separator means (11) and a flat object transfer device (20) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flat object transfer device (20) comprises means (21, 22) for gripping a flat object (1) previously driven by the holding means (16), said gripping means (21, 22) being controlled in such a way that said flat object (1) is transferred by said transfer device after a transfer authorization is received.
4. Unstacking device (10) according to claim 3 characterized in that the double pick separator means (11) are in the immediate vicinity of the upstream side of the pinch rollers (21, 22).
5. Unstacking device (10) according to claim 3 or claim 4 characterized in that the transfer device (20) has a flat object transfer plane substantially parallel to the holding plane of the holding means (16).

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