EP0985619B1 - Device for transferring postal items to a storage device - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to a device for transferring mail, such as Letters and cards from a franking and / or addressing machine a downstream filing device in which the mail is stacked is filed.

A franking and / or addressing machine is known, see here DE 196 05 014 C1 and DE 196 05 015 C1, in which the letters on one Edge upright and resting on a backward inclined guide plate continuously transported continuously and by means of a rear the guide plate during the printing operation of the immobile ink print head be printed. The letters are on a circulating Conveyor belt. The speed of transport of the letters and the print speed of the print head are coordinated.

DE 197 05 089 C1 also provides an arrangement for depositing letters for the franking and / or addressing machine described above known in use in alignment with the guide plate is detachably connected to the charging machine, which is in a storage box empties. The insert is on the right side wall of the franking machine docked. The side wall is for this purpose Provide keyholes in which the insert with appropriate protective cones is attached. The storage box is with its left side wall guided between insert and side wall. In the back wall of the Storage box, a recess is provided, which is an easy separation of the storage box from use. The stake points a gutter sloping in the direction of transport and one parallel to it Front edge resiliently swiveling rocker in the direction of transport and protrudes orthogonally to the top. The gutter connects to the sliding surface for the lower edge of the letter in the franking and / or Addressing machine.

It is also an arrangement for storing recording media for the franking and / or addressing machine described at the beginning known, compare DE 197 42 893 A1, in which an angular Use with a gutter sloping in the transport direction and an as Angled storage box on the side of the franking machine is detachably coupled. The sliding surface in the franking machine for the The lower edge of the letter is analogous to this in the transition area to the gutter Transport direction designed sloping. The final side wall of the storage box is designed as a resilient baffle and with adjustable Distance after the gutter and orthogonal to the direction of transport arranged. The distance from the side wall to the exit of the franking machine is slightly larger than the letter format to be processed set. To realize the spring properties of the side wall these are separated from the front wall by a gap.

Both storage devices described above advantageously allow the processing of mixed mail due to the upward open design and the letter transport standing on the edge. But since the bottom of the storage box is usually at the same height how the bottom of the franking machine is arranged is the stack height limited accordingly. Add to that the transportation speed the letters are only as large as the writing speed of the ink print head. The available for the outgoing letter standing time to slide down the gutter and then into Tilting the storage box is relatively scarce, especially as the letter to Sliding process is braked. So it can happen that the following Letter meets the previous one before it lies flat. One possible consequence of this is congestion.

On the other hand, a storage device is known, see US 4,273,491, in which the letters are drawn in a long, sloping, all-round manner closed loading slot slide upright into a storage box, with an additional pair of drive rollers in the loading shaft is provided. The pair of drive rollers must be adapted to different ones Letter thicknesses can be resiliently adjustable to each other. The design the loading shaft is so narrow that mixed mail processing not possible.

The purpose of the invention is to improve the functional properties.

The invention has for its object a device of the beginning to create the type mentioned with little effort, with one stack of letters for mixed mail is possible without complications. Existing suitable storage devices should remain as unchanged as possible to be kept.

According to the invention, this object is achieved according to the main claim. Further advantageous features of the invention can be found in the subclaims.
By passing the individual letter after the printing process has ended and then after the transport on the transport means via a driven transport roller, the peripheral speed of which is greater than the rotational speed of the transport means, the latter is accelerated after leaving the transport medium. On the one hand, this considerably shortens the time until the storage box is reached and, on the other hand, enough time is made available so that the letter can tip into the rest position before the next letter arrives.
Since the distance between the transport roller and the ink print head is set larger than the longest expected print, the letter run until the end of the printing process is determined exclusively by the means of transport.
Since the letter is either standing on one edge or lying on the transport roller and is driven by the transport roller only because of its weight and the coefficient of friction of the roll circumferential material, there is no need to adapt it to different letter thicknesses.
The effort for the additional drive is surprisingly low. The transport roller can be driven with the appropriate gear ratio via a belt by the same motor that drives the means of transport.
Due to the frictional connection between the letter and the transport roller, overloading is impossible, the latter can run continuously, so that additional tax expenditure is eliminated.
Existing letter storage devices can be used.

Fig. 1

Eine perspektivische Ansicht einer Frankiermaschine mit einer Anordnung zur Briefablage von vom rechts gemäß DE 197 05 089 C1,

Fig. 2

Details zu Fig. 1 in Explosivdarstellung,

Fig. 3

eine perspektivische Ansicht einer Frankiermaschine mit einer Anordnung zur Briefablage von vom rechts gemäß DE 197 42 893 A1,

Fig. 4

eine Ansicht zur Lösung gemäß Fig. 3 von hinten rechts,

Fig. 5

ein Prinzipbild der erfindungsgemäßen Lösung mit auf der Kante stehenden Brieftransport,

Fig. 6

eine Ansicht zur Lösung gemäß Fig. 3 mit der erfindungsgemäßen Vorrichtung gemäß Fig.5 und einem Detail dazu,

Fig. 7

ein Prinzipbild der erfindungsgemäßen Lösung mit waagerechtem Brieftransport,

Fig. 8

eine perspektivische Ansicht zur Lösung gemäß Fig. 7.

The invention is explained in more detail below using two exemplary embodiments.
Show it:

Fig. 1

A perspective view of a franking machine with an arrangement for depositing letters from the right according to DE 197 05 089 C1,

Fig. 2

1 in an exploded view,

Fig. 3

2 shows a perspective view of a franking machine with an arrangement for depositing letters from the right according to DE 197 42 893 A1,

Fig. 4

3 from the rear right,

Fig. 5

2 shows a basic diagram of the solution according to the invention with letter transport standing on the edge

Fig. 6

3 with the device according to the invention according to FIG. 5 and a detail thereof,

Fig. 7

2 shows a schematic diagram of the solution according to the invention with horizontal letter transport,

Fig. 8

7 shows a perspective view of the solution according to FIG. 7.

The illustration is for simplification and easier understanding carried out schematically.

5, a continuously rotating conveyor belt 12 is provided in a franking machine 1 for the transport of the letters A and a driven transport roller 14 is provided immediately after the conveyor belt 12 in the transport direction. The letters A are in contact with a guide plate 11 during the passage through the franking machine 1 and are printed by means of an ink print head 10 which is immobile during the printing operation. The ink print head 10 has an orthogonal distance a from the transport roller 14, which distance is greater than the longest impression to be expected. This ensures that the peripheral speed of the conveyor belt 12, which is coordinated with the writing speed of the ink print head 10, is not influenced by the transport roller 14. The peripheral speed of the transport roller 14 is set greater than that of the conveyor belt 12, whereby an acceleration of the emerging letter A is achieved. To support the effect, the transport roller 14 is provided with a covering 141 which has a correspondingly high coefficient of friction. A suitable polyurethane is preferably used as the material.
The sliding surface 121 for the lower edge of the letter in the franking machine 1 after the transport roller 14 is slightly lower than the uppermost part of the transport roller 14 and is designed to be sloping. When crossing the transport roller 14, the letter A accordingly tilts onto the sliding surface 121, is accelerated to its end by the transport roller 14 and, when leaving the franking machine 1 - still standing on its edge - reaches the sloping channel 411. The channel 411 is molded into the front wall 41 of an angular insert 4, which is docked on the one hand on the franking machine 1 and on the other hand is connected to a storage box 5. The side wall 52 lying at the rear in the transport direction is arranged orthogonally to the former and is designed as a resilient baffle.

6 is a constructive embodiment of the solution according to the invention 5 in connection with FIGS. 3 and 4. In the Franking and addressing machine 1 is opposite the guide plate 11 a plexiglass pane 15 arranged at a distance. The bottom of the so existing shaft for the letter routing is through the conveyor belt 12, the transport roller 14 and the sloping sliding surface 121 educated. The storage box 5 is adjustable in the angular insert 4 guided. According to the largest to be processed Letter format, the storage box 5 is pulled out. Because the letters A pre-oriented by the backward inclined guide plate 11 after tilting, they tip onto the right side wall 52 over the rear upper edge of the gutter 411 backwards into the storage box 5 from. The slope and shape of the sliding surface 121 and the initial area 4111 of the gutter 411 are adapted to one another.

When connecting the storage device according to FIGS. 1 and 2 to the invention equipped franking machine 1 are the conditions essentially analog. Due to the swivel rocker 21 in Insert 2, however, the letters fall from here into filing box 3.

Also in FIG. 7, a continuously rotating conveyor belt 12 is provided in a franking machine 1 for the transport of the letters A, and a driven transport roller 14 is provided immediately after the conveyor belt 12 in the transport direction. The letters A lie horizontally on the conveyor belt 12 during the passage through the franking machine 1 and are printed by means of an ink print head 10 arranged above it, which is immobile during printing operation. The ink print head 10 has an orthogonal distance a from the transport roller 14, which distance is greater than the longest impression to be expected. This ensures that the peripheral speed of the conveyor belt 12, which is coordinated with the writing speed of the ink print head 10, is not influenced by the transport roller 14. The peripheral speed of the transport roller 14 is also set greater here than that of the conveyor belt 12, whereby an acceleration of the emerging letter A is achieved.
The sliding surface for the letter A in the franking machine 1 after the transport roller 14 is slightly lower than the uppermost part of the transport roller 14 and is designed to be sloping. When crossing the transport roller 14, the letter A accordingly tips over onto the sliding surface, is accelerated to its end by the transport roller 14 and, when leaving the franking machine 1, arrives in the storage box 5. The side wall 52 lying at the rear in the transport direction is arranged orthogonally to the former and designed as a resilient baffle. The letter A slides with its front edge along the bottom 53 of the storage box 5 or on the previous letter A until it meets the side wall 52. The rear edge of the letter A slides down from the lying, oblique left side wall 55 of the storage box 5, see also FIG. 8.

Reference symbols used

1

franking machine

10

non-contact printing device, ink printhead

11

Franking machine guide plate 1

12

Transport means or conveyor belt of the franking machine 1

121

Sliding surface for the lower edge of the letter in franking machine 1

13

right side wall of the franking machine 1

131

Keyholes in the side wall 13

14

Transport roller in the franking machine 1

141

Covering of the transport roller 14

2

Use with a seesaw

20

Front edge of the insert 2

21

swiveling rocker in use 2

22

sloping channel in use 2

3

tray

31

Bottom of the storage box 3

32

left side wall of the storage box 3

33

Rear wall of the storage box 3

331

Recess in the rear wall 33

4

Angled insert

41

Front wall of the insert 4

411

Channel, molded into the front wall 41

4111

Initial area of channel 411

5

Storage box as an angled part

51

Front wall of the storage box 5

52

right side wall of the storage box 5

53

Bottom of the storage box 5

54

gap

55

left side wall of the storage box

A

Postage, letter

a

orthogonal distance between ink print head 10 and Transport roller 14

Claims (7)

1. A device for the delivery of postal matters (A), such as letters and postcards, from a franking and/or addressing machine (1), in which the postal matter (A) is printed by means of a non-contact printing device (10), such as an ink print head, and transported by means of a rotating transport means (12) and then is fed into a lower-lying and slopingly shaped area (121), into a downstream deposit device (2 and 3 or 4 and 5 or 5, respectively) where the postal matter (A) is deposited in a stack one on top of the other, characterized in that, in the franking and/or addressing machine (1), in transport direction directly following the transport means (12) and on a level with it, but with a higher circumferential speed, there is provided a driven transport roller (14) that has an orthogonal distance (a) from the printing device (10) that is larger that the longest print to be expected; and wherein the lower-lying and slopingly shaped area (121) begins directly after the transport roller (14) and passes over into a respectively adapted area (22, 411, 55) following the franking and/or addressing machine (1).
2. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the transport roller (14) is equipped with a coating (141) having a high coefficient of friction.
3. A device according to claim 2, characterized in that the coating (141) is made of a suitable polyurethane material.
4. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the postal matter (A) is transported standing on an edge and lying against a guide plate (11) that is inclined to the back;
   that the printing device (10) is arranged in the area of guide plate (11), and
   that the postal matter (A) standing on a edge is sliding downward in transport direction in a sloping groove (22 or 411, respectively).
5. A device according to claims 1 and 4, characterized in that the inclination and form of the sliding area (121) for the lower edge of letters in the franking and/or addressing machine (1) and the inclination and form of the groove (22 or 411, respectively) are matched to each other.
6. A device according to claims 4 and 5, characterized in that the downstream deposit device comprises an insert (2 or 4, respectively) and a deposit box (3 or 5, respectively);
   that the groove (22 or 411, respectively) is part of the insert (2 or 4, respectively); and
   that the deposit box (3 or 5, respectively) is arranged adjustably in relation to the insert (2 or 4, respectively) for the purpose of adapting it to the biggest format of postal matter to be processed.
7. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the postal matter (A) is transported lying flatly on the transport means (12);
   that the printing device (10) is arranged above the transport means (12); and
   that the downstream deposit device comprises a deposit box (5) the left side wall of which (55) is matched to the inclination and form of the sliding area (121) in the franking and/or addressing machine (1) and the right side wall of which (52) is designed as an impact wall.

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