EP1323653B1 - Selector device for mail items - Google Patents

Description

Field of the art

The present invention relates to the field of mail processing and more particularly relates to a mail item selection device implemented in an automatic supply module of a franking machine.

Prior art

Conventionally, a franking machine must be adapted to receive different types of mail items such as documents, folds or envelopes having greater or lesser thicknesses. For this, it often comprises upstream an automatic feeding module, also called feeder, in particular for conveying these mail items at different speeds and usually comprising means for the reception / stacking, selection, transport and possibly the closing of these mail items.

US Pat. Nos. 4,909,499, 4,978,114 and 5,431,385 show such automatic feeders comprising a selection module adapted to the passage of mail items of different thicknesses. The selection modules of these feeders maintain the pressure on the mail items while ensuring the selection of one of them. Indeed, these two pressure and selection functions are performed by a single system of belts inclined downstream in the advancing direction of the mail items.

However, such systems are not without major drawbacks. Indeed, the simultaneous management of the pressure to be exerted on the stack of mail items and the selection of one of them does not allow an optimization of the driving force of these mail items through the feeder and the selection is therefore highly dependent on the pressure exerted by the stack of mail items.

Also known with the application WO 96/28373 a ticket dispenser comprising means for extracting one by one these tickets.

Object and definition of the invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by proposing a selection device, integrated in a mail item supply module intended to be placed upstream of a franking machine, and comprising selection means which are independent of the action exerted by the stack of mail articles, that this either low or high due to the treatment of a variable number of envelopes of significant weight for example.

These objects are achieved by a selection device for separating one by one the items of a stack of mail items having a support surface and transport means for driving these mail items over the support surface, characterized in that it further comprises a movable pressure plate cooperating with the transport means to drive downstream a portion of the mail items from the stack of mail items to separate and corresponding to a predetermined maximum thickness of articles of mail and independent selection means movable individually to select a mail item among the mail items driven by the means of transport, the pressure plate pivotable about an axis of articulation of an articulated mechanism which can itself rotate around a tilting axis, so as to remain constantly parallel to said support surface regardless of the number of art icles of mail transported.

By this specific structure which dissociates the supply function of mail items from the selection function itself, it is possible to ensure a particularly efficient automatic feed of the franking machine disposed downstream of the feed module. Indeed, with this configuration, the weight of the stack of mail items can no longer play a determining role on the behavior of these items during their selection and the sizing of the pressure plate spring can then be performed optimally.

The pivoting of said pressure plate about said hinge axis is exerted against a first elastic means, one end of which is fixed to said pressure plate and the other end is fixed to said hinge mechanism. The pivoting of said mechanism articulated around said axis of tilting is exerted against a second elastic means, one end of which is fixed to said articulated mechanism and the other end is fixed to a fixed or built-up part of the device.

Preferably, said pressure plate comprises a limit stop of its pivoting with the articulated mechanism.

Advantageously, the transport means comprise parallel drive belts controlled by a common motor means and extending through said support surface.

The selection means comprise tongues interposed between the drive belts and acting against elastic means, one end of which is fixed on said tongue and the other end is fixed to the fixed or built-up part of the device. An additional selection tab is advantageously disposed outside the drive belts to allow separation of large format mail items.

According to the invention, the selection device further comprises downstream of said means for selecting the articulated return means for driving upstream all the mail items except one from said selection means.

Brief description of the drawings

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective d'un dispositif de sélection d'articles de courrier selon l'invention,
• les figures 2A et 2B sont des vues en coupe longitudinale du dispositif de sélection de la figure 1 dans deux positions différentes du plateau presseur,
• la figure 3 est une vue selon le plan III-III de la figure 2, et
• la figure 4 est un schéma montrant trois courbes d'évolution des efforts F en fonction du poids P des articles de courrier dans le dispositif de sélection selon l'invention.

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will emerge more clearly from the following description, given by way of non-limiting indication, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

• FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a device for selecting mailpieces according to the invention,
• FIGS. 2A and 2B are views in longitudinal section of the selection device of FIG. 1 in two different positions of the pressure plate,
• FIG. 3 is a view along plane III-III of FIG. 2, and
• FIG. 4 is a diagram showing three curves of evolution of the forces F as a function of the weight P of the mailpieces in the selection device according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION

An automatic mailing material supply module conventionally comprises a feed zone consisting essentially of a tray intended to receive a pile of mail items and comprising first transport rollers for driving these mailpieces downstream. (and against a reference wall) at a separation zone comprising a selection device in which these items are extracted one by one from the stack. Second transport rollers are generally provided at the exit of this zone of separation for conveying the mail articles thus extracted to a module for anchoring and closing (when present) of these mail items. Such automatic feeder further comprises various known control and control means necessary for its operation (in particular the actuation of the various rollers for driving mail items) and it is therefore unnecessary to describe in more detail.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a selection device according to the invention. It comprises, downstream of a separating plate 10 intended to limit to a maximum value, for example 20 mm, the thickness of the stack of mail items introduced into the device above a support surface 12 , a means of transport downstream of the mail articles formed of a set of drive belts 14, 16, 18 for cooperating with a pressure plate 20 mounted on an articulated mechanism 22 and intended to ensure a suitable pressure on the stack of mail items prior to the selection of one and only one of them by individual selection means formed of independent selection tabs 24, 26, 28 interposed between the drive belts. The independence of the selection tabs makes it possible to take into account differences in thickness within the same article of mail and to standardize wear.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the pressure plate can pivot about a hinge axis 30A, 30B of the articulated mechanism which can itself pivot about a tilting axis 32, so that the pressure plate can remain constantly parallel to the support surface 12 regardless of the number of mail items transported (within the limit of course the maximum allowable thickness). The pivoting of the pressure plate around the axis of articulation is exerted against a first elastic means 34, one end 34A is fixed to the pressure plate and the other end 34B is fixed on the articulated mechanism. This first elastic means makes it possible to adapt the compression force of the pressure plate as a function of the height of articles present under this plate. The pivoting mechanism hinged about the tilting axis is exerted against a second elastic means 38, 40, one end 38A, 40A is fixed to the articulated mechanism (more precisely to a duckbill end of this mechanism) and the other end 38B, 40B is fixed to a fixed part, or frame 36, of the device. This second elastic means of greater rigidity than the first elastic means (which must not prohibit the opening of the tray to the passage of mail items) allows to generate a localized force on the rear part of the pressure plate. It reinforces the load applied to the mail items by the first elastic means. The axes of articulation and tilt are of course each fixed between two longitudinal walls (not shown) of the frame on either side of the transport path of the mail items. The pressure plate further comprises a stop 20A, 20B for limiting its pivoting with the articulated mechanism to prevent the free opening of the pressure plate and to facilitate the fixing of the spring 34 (in addition, it does not fall when it is done to a maintenance operation on the device).

The three parallel drive belts 14, 16, 18 of the transport means are controlled by a common motor means 42 through a set of gears and extend through the support surface 12. The selection tongues two of which of them are interposed between the three drive belts, act against elastic means 44, 46, one end 44A, 46A is fixed on the tongue and the other end 44B, 46B is fixed to the fixed part or frame 36, of the device. Note that the selection means may also include a third selection tab disposed outside the drive belts to facilitate the separation of large format mail items, for example in A4 format. This tongue, like the previous ones, is movable individually against an elastic means one end of which is fixed on the tongue and the other end is fixed to the frame.

Note that the number of select tabs and drive belts (which could advantageously be replaced by transport rollers) may be variable. It depends in particular on the format of the mail items processed by the feeder. Thus, for a feeder processing only standard European format envelopes, it can be envisaged the use of only two drive belts and a selection tab interposed between these two belts, unlike the illustrated example where three drive belts and two intercalated selector tabs are provided.

The selection device further comprises downstream means for selecting the delivery means for driving upstream all the mail items except one from the selection means. Indeed, it can happen, however exceptionally, that the selection tabs select two and not a single mail item. In this case, these delivery means preferably formed of as many conveyor rolls 50, 52 as there are selection tongues then allow to drive in the opposite direction the second mail item above and to leave The first roller below and in direct contact with the drive belts 14, 16, 18 are passed. The conveying rollers are mounted on a common shaft 56 rotated through a deflection belt 60 and drive sprockets, by a drive shaft 62 itself driven in rotation by motor means 58. This drive shaft further constitutes a pivot axis around which the conveying rollers are articulated to allow insertion and the training of a mail article of great thickness (of 16 mm maximum for an initial separation plate of 20mm).

The operation of the separation device is as follows. The mail items stacked on the receiving tray of the feed zone are driven by the transport rollers of this area to the selection device which will extract them one by one to direct them to a next module of the feeder then to the actual franking machine. At the level of the selection device, the stack to be processed of mail items of the receiving tray is first limited in height by the separating plate 10 and then the introduced mail items are pressed against the drive belts 14, 16, 18 by the pressure plate 20 which will pass from an inclined position to a horizontal position under the action of the articulated mechanism 22. Under the effect of the drive, the selected mail items are directed downstream to the selection tabs against which they abut except one of them which will be selected by this tab, ie which will pass under it, to be driven further down (see Figure 2A). When by chance the selection tabs select two mail items instead of one, the conveyor rolls back will stop the progression of the duplicate that will be driven again once the selected item has been evacuated (see Figure 2B).

It should be noted that the individual mobility of the tabs makes it possible to take into account the differences in thickness that may exist at the level of the same article of mail, due in particular to the types of documents contained in these articles. In addition, the independence of the tabs relative to the pressure plate allows a better understanding of the training efforts exerted by each of these elements. FIG. 4 perfectly illustrates this phenomenon with the forces exerted as a function of the weight of the stack of mail items respectively at the references 100, 110, 120 by respectively the first 34 and second 38, 40 elastic means of the pressure plate and a tongue of selection 26.

With the present architecture, the role of the weight of the stack of mail items on the selection function of these articles and therefore also on the output of the feeder is reduced. In addition, in the case of the passage of a single article, the pressure plate takes the loss of effort in the receiving tray and allows better training of this article.

Claims (9)

1. Selection device for separating one by one the items of a stack of mail items, comprising a support surface (12) and conveying means (14, 16, 18) for driving these mail items over the support surface, the device being characterised in that it further comprises a mobile presser plate (20) cooperating with the conveying means in order to drive downstream a part of the mail items issuing from the stack of mail items to be separated and corresponding to a predetermined maximum thickness of mail items and independent, individually mobile selection means (24, 26) for selecting a mail item from the mail items driven by the conveying means, said presser plate capable of pivoting about a hinge pin (30A, 30B) of an articulated mechanism (22) which may itself pivot about a pivot pin (32) so as to remain constantly parallel to said support surface whatever the number of mail items conveyed.
2. The selection device according to claim 1, characterised in that the pivoting of said presser plate about said hinge pin is exerted against a first elastic means (34) of which one end is fixed to said presser plate and the other end is fixed to said articulated mechanism.
3. The selection device according to claim 2, characterised in that said presser plate comprises a stop (20A, 20B) for limiting its pivoting with the articulated mechanism.
4. The selection device according to claim 1, characterised in that the pivoting of said articulated mechanism about said pivot pin is exerted against a second elastic means (38, 40) of which one end is fixed to said articulated mechanism and the other end is fixed to a fixed part, or frame (36), of the device.
5. The selection device according to claim 1, characterised in that said conveying means comprise parallel drive belts controlled by a common motor means (42) and extending through said support surface.
6. The selection device according to claim 5, characterised in that said selection means comprise tongues (24, 26) interposed between the drive belts (14, 16, 18) and acting against elastic means (44, 46) of which one end is fixed on said tongue and the other end is fixed to said fixed part, or frame, of the device.
7. The selection device according to claim 6, characterised in that it further comprises an additional selection tongue arranged outside the drive belts to allow a separation of mail items of large format.
8. The selection device according to claim 1, characterised in that it further comprises, downstream of said selection means, articulated return means (50, 52) for driving upstream all the mail items except one issuing from said selection means.
9. Mail item feed device intended to be mounted upstream of a franking machine and comprising a device for receiving and conveying downstream a stack of mail items and a device for selecting one only of these mail items, according to any one of Claims 1 to 8.

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