EP1918231A2 - Module/courroie de séparation pour séparer un matériau en feuilles - Google Patents

Module/courroie de séparation pour séparer un matériau en feuilles Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1918231A2
EP1918231A2 EP07021083A EP07021083A EP1918231A2 EP 1918231 A2 EP1918231 A2 EP 1918231A2 EP 07021083 A EP07021083 A EP 07021083A EP 07021083 A EP07021083 A EP 07021083A EP 1918231 A2 EP1918231 A2 EP 1918231A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
belt
singulation
height dimension
sheet material
range
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP07021083A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1918231A3 (fr
Inventor
James A. Salomon
James S. Hou
Jimmy Hai
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Pitney Bowes Inc
Original Assignee
Pitney Bowes Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Pitney Bowes Inc filed Critical Pitney Bowes Inc
Publication of EP1918231A2 publication Critical patent/EP1918231A2/fr
Publication of EP1918231A3 publication Critical patent/EP1918231A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
    • B65H3/46—Supplementary devices or measures to assist separation or prevent double feed
    • B65H3/52—Friction retainers acting on under or rear side of article being separated
    • B65H3/5246—Driven retainers, i.e. the motion thereof being provided by a dedicated drive
    • B65H3/5276—Driven retainers, i.e. the motion thereof being provided by a dedicated drive the retainers positioned over articles separated from the bottom of the pile
    • B65H3/5292—Retainers of the belt type, e.g. belts
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2404/00—Parts for transporting or guiding the handled material
    • B65H2404/20—Belts
    • B65H2404/22—Cross section profile
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2404/00—Parts for transporting or guiding the handled material
    • B65H2404/50—Surface of the elements in contact with the forwarded or guided material
    • B65H2404/51—Cross section, i.e. section perpendicular to the direction of displacement
    • B65H2404/513—Cross section, i.e. section perpendicular to the direction of displacement with limited number of active areas
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2404/00—Parts for transporting or guiding the handled material
    • B65H2404/50—Surface of the elements in contact with the forwarded or guided material
    • B65H2404/52—Surface of the elements in contact with the forwarded or guided material other geometrical properties
    • B65H2404/521—Reliefs
    • B65H2404/5213—Geometric details
    • B65H2404/52131—Grooves
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2701/00—Handled material; Storage means
    • B65H2701/10—Handled articles or webs
    • B65H2701/19—Specific article or web
    • B65H2701/1916—Envelopes and articles of mail
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
    • B65H2801/00—Application field
    • B65H2801/78—Mailing systems

Definitions

  • This invention relates to belts for handling/singulating sheet material, and more particularly, to a new and useful singulation belt useful for separating sheet material in automated material handling equipment.
  • Material handling apparatus such as mailing machines commonly employ belts for transporting and separating sheet material.
  • a plurality of belts are employed, one set of belts opposing another set, to separate individual sheets from a stack of sheet material. That is, as a first set of horizontal belts transport a stack of sheet material, e.g., envelopes, postcards or other sheet stock, in one direction, a second set of belts, disposed above the first set, shingles the stack thereby causing a single sheet to pass through a predefined gap or opening between the belts.
  • the belts are arranged in a V-shaped configuration (i.e., from a side or profile view) to progressively close the gap therebetween.
  • the sheets begin to shingle such that the leading edges of each separate.
  • a single sheet is caused to pass between the belts, or is "singulated", and taken away by an opposing pair of rollers, e.g., nip rollers.
  • a mailing envelope inherently presents a fold line, along a leading edge, having fibers which wrap around the edge.
  • the shear strength of the material is relatively high, i.e., relying upon the strength of the fibers rather than the adhesive resin matrix to provide tensile and shear strength.
  • Figure 1 is a side view of a singulation module of a mailing machine incorporating a pair of singulation belts according to the teachings of the present invention for singulating sheet material such as postcard stock.
  • Figure 2 is a partially broken-away perspective view of the singulation module shown in Figure 1 illustrating the separation of sheet stock as they approach a throat region of the opposing belts.
  • Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along line 3 - 3 of Fig. 1 of the inventive singulation belt including a plurality of grooves disposed along the face or driving surface thereof.
  • a singulating module/belt including a conveyor belt for moving a stack of sheet material toward a pair of take-away rollers in one direction and a singulation belt moving in an opposing direction for retarding the motion of the upper sheets of the stack.
  • the singulation belt is characterized by a compliant face surface which separates sheet material without damaging or tearing the sheets during singulation.
  • the cross section of the belt includes a plurality of grooves defining a plurality of longitudinal ribs therebetween. The ribs define a cumulative width dimension in contact with the sheet material which is within a range of between about 0.55 to about 0.85 of the width dimension of the belt.
  • each rib is within a range of between about 0.20 to about 0.8 of the height dimension of the belt.
  • each rib thereof defines an aspect ratio (RW/RH) including a width dimension RW in contact with the sheet material and a height dimension RH measured from a core of the singulation belt.
  • the aspect ratio is within a range of between about 0.5 to about 2.0.
  • the present invention is described in the context of a singulation module for use in mailing machines, though the invention is applicable to any singulation module/belt for separating sheet material.
  • the invention is described in the context of singulation modules having belts moving in opposite directions, it will be appreciated that the belts need not traverse in opposite directions, but merely move relative to each other, e.g., one belt being stationary while another belt is driven to singulate the sheet material.
  • the singulation module is described as having an odd number of conveyor belts and even number of singulation belts disposed in a staggered array. While this configuration is most commonly employed, it should be appreciated that the singulation module may comprise any number or combination of belts, whether the module contains the same number of opposed belts or a multiple array of staggered belts.
  • the singulation module incorporates a belt having a compliant face surface, i.e., the face surface in contact with a stack of sheet material, which opposes/retards the motion of an upper portion of a stack to separate/singulate the lowermost sheet from the stack.
  • the compliant face surface includes a plurality of grooves to form a plurality of longitudinal ribs therebetween.
  • a side view of a singulation module 8 for a mailing machine is shown having a stack of sheet material 10, e.g., postcards, disposed on and conveyed along a feed deck 12.
  • a plurality of conveyor belts 14a, 14b, 14c are spaced apart and in-plane with the feed deck 12 to move the stack 10 along a feed path denoted by an arrow FP in Fig. 2.
  • a plurality of skewed rollers 16 may also be incorporated upstream of the conveyor belts 14a, 14b, 14c to direct the sheet material 10 inwardly (normal to the paper plane) toward a registration wall (not shown). That is, by placing these rollers 16 on an angle relative to the feed path FP, a small component of force is developed to direct the stack laterally against the registration wall.
  • a pair of singulation belts 20a, 20b is mounted to wrap around forward and aft support rollers 22a, 22b.
  • the support rollers 22a, 22b are mounted to a support fixture 24 disposed above the feed deck 12.
  • tensioning rollers 26 (only one can be seen in Fig. 2) are mounted between extended lugs 29 of a clevis which rollers 26 act on the singulation belts 20a, 20b to apply a tensile load to the belt 20a, 20b.
  • the support rollers 22a, 22b are spatially positioned, i.e., vertically, such that the spacing between the singulation belts 20a, 20b and the underlying conveyor belts 14a, 14b, 14c narrows, i.e., forms a V-shaped neck;/throat, as the sheet material 10 is fed along the feed path FP. Furthermore, the gap between the singulation and conveyors belts 20a, 20b, 14a, 14b, 14c, at the apex of the V-shaped throat, is spaced to permit the passage of a single sheet of material 10.
  • the mounting fixture 24 may be spring-biased by a coil spring 25 to urge the singulation belts 20a, 20b downwardly against the sheet material 10, i.e., applying a normal force to the singulation belts 20a, 20b as it acts upon the sheet material 10.
  • the normal force applied to the belts 20a. 20b is between about 1.3 lbs to about 3.0 lbs (590 gm to 1360 gm).
  • the singulation belts 20a, 20b are driven in a direction opposing the conveyor belts 14a, 14b, 14c by a belt (not shown) which drives the aft roller 22b.
  • a belt (not shown) which drives the aft roller 22b.
  • the shearing action of the singulation and conveyor belts 20a, 20b, 14a, 14b, 14c causes the material 10 to "shingle", i.e., effects separation of the leading edges 10L.
  • a single sheet 10S is caused to separate from the stack 10, passing between the singulation belts 20a, 20b and the underlying conveyor belts 14a, 14b, 14.
  • Take-away rollers (not shown) move the sheet 10S toward subsequent stations, e.g., print station, weigh station, metering station, etc.
  • the singulation belts of the prior art can tear/cause delamination of the exposed edge. While many factors, particularly those relating to the geometry and normal forces applied to the singulation belts, can mitigate delamination damage, the inventors found that relatively minor modifications to the face surface geometry of the singulation belts can produce certain unexpected/advantageous results. These modifications are made in the context of a urethane elastomer material, i.e., a rubber material, though the modifications may be made to a belt composed of other materials.
  • the singulation belts 20a, 20b are composed of either a microcellular urethane rubber or solid polyurethane elastomer having a Shore A hardness between about 10A to about 50A. Both compositions, in combination with the face surface modifications, provided significant improvement in terms of delamination damage.
  • FIG 3 a cross-section of one of the singulation belts 20a, 20b is shown to more accurately define the face surface modifications.
  • the surface modifications with respect to belt 20a will be discussed, though, it will be appreciated that the modifications apply to both singulation belts 20a, 20b.
  • the cross section has a characteristic width dimension W and height dimension H.
  • a plurality of longitudinal grooves 30 are cut, molded or otherwise formed in the face surface 20F the singulation belt 20a i.e., the face surface 20F in contact with the sheet material 10S during singulation.
  • the cumulative rib width dimension CRW is preferably within a range of between about 0.55 to about 0.85 of the width dimension W of the belt 20a. More preferably, the cumulative rib width dimension CRW is within a range of between about 0.65 to about 0.75 of the width dimension W of the belt 20a.
  • Each rib 32 also defines a height dimension RH, which is within a range of between about 0.20 to about 0.45 of the height dimension H of the belt 20a. More preferably, the height dimension RH is within a range of between about 0.25 to about 0.40 of the height dimension H of the belt 20a.
  • the cross-section may also be defined in terms of the aspect ratio of an individual rib 32, i.e., the width/height RW/RH of an individual rib 32.
  • the aspect ratio is preferably within a range of between about 0.5 to about 2.0 and, more preferably within a range of between 0.7 to about 1.5.
  • the singulation module 8 and/or belts 20a, 20b of the present invention provides a compliant face surface geometry for mitigating or eliminating delamination damage.
  • the compliant face surface 20F is particularly useful for mitigating delamination damage with respect to thick sheet material having a free edge which engages the singulation belt(s) of the module.
  • the singulation belt(s) 20a, 20b includes a plurality of grooves to define a plurality of longitudinal ribs.
  • the number of grooves is preferably five (5), though four (4) or six (6) grooves may also be employed to provide improvement.
EP07021083A 2006-10-31 2007-10-29 Module/courroie de séparation pour séparer un matériau en feuilles Withdrawn EP1918231A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US11/590,294 US20080099977A1 (en) 2006-10-31 2006-10-31 Singulation module/belt for separating sheet material

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1918231A2 true EP1918231A2 (fr) 2008-05-07
EP1918231A3 EP1918231A3 (fr) 2008-12-31

Family

ID=39011013

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP07021083A Withdrawn EP1918231A3 (fr) 2006-10-31 2007-10-29 Module/courroie de séparation pour séparer un matériau en feuilles

Country Status (2)

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US (1) US20080099977A1 (fr)
EP (1) EP1918231A3 (fr)

Families Citing this family (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US8408271B2 (en) 2007-02-02 2013-04-02 The United States Postal Service Apparatus and method for removing pressure adhesive labels from backing and affixing to target substrate
US7686290B2 (en) * 2007-09-21 2010-03-30 United States Postal Service Double inhibit mechanism
US7806398B2 (en) * 2007-10-03 2010-10-05 Pitney Bowes Inc. Ingestion guide assembly for augmenting sheet material separation in a singulating apparatus
US7934719B2 (en) * 2007-12-05 2011-05-03 Burroughs Payment Systems, Inc. Document feeder flag assembly
US8016282B2 (en) * 2007-12-21 2011-09-13 Pitney Bowes Inc. Transport for singulating items
FR2951848B1 (fr) * 2009-10-28 2011-12-09 Neopost Technologies Dispositif de selection d'articles de courrier a leviers perfectionnes.
CN101844677B (zh) * 2010-04-27 2011-12-14 上海邮政科学研究院 一种信函输送设备上的间距调整装置

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3048393A (en) * 1956-12-31 1962-08-07 Ibm Sheet separating apparatus
US3635465A (en) * 1970-10-19 1972-01-18 Burroughs Corp Document separator control system
US4978114A (en) * 1989-11-14 1990-12-18 Pitney Bowes Inc. Reverse belt singulating apparatus
JPH0558491A (ja) * 1991-08-30 1993-03-09 Nisca Corp 分離装置
JPH05201569A (ja) * 1992-01-29 1993-08-10 Hitachi Ltd 自動給紙装置及び画像読取装置

Family Cites Families (14)

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BE795206A (fr) * 1972-02-11 1973-08-09 Xerox Corp Alimentation en feuilles d'appareils xerographiques
US4216952A (en) * 1978-01-16 1980-08-12 Technitrol, Inc. Feed mechanism for sequentially separating documents, sheets, coupons and the like
JPS61174085A (ja) * 1985-01-28 1986-08-05 株式会社日立製作所 エレベ−タの戸の案内装置
AU575216B2 (en) * 1985-10-03 1988-07-21 Beloit Corporation A bearing blanket for an extended nip press
DE4029669C1 (fr) * 1990-09-19 1991-07-18 Lenhardt Maschinenbau Gmbh, 7531 Neuhausen, De
JPH06287885A (ja) * 1991-04-15 1994-10-11 Yamauchi Corp 脱水プレス用エンドレスベルト
US5385953A (en) * 1991-10-02 1995-01-31 Urethane Technologies, Inc. Microcellular polyurethane composite
AT401045B (de) * 1992-03-11 1996-05-28 Andritz Patentverwaltung Verfahren und vorrichtung zum stapeln von platten, blättern, folien od.dgl.
US5555083A (en) * 1994-10-03 1996-09-10 Xerox Corporation Decurler apparatus for reducing cross curl in sheets
US5502304A (en) * 1994-12-01 1996-03-26 Pitney Bowes Inc. Bar code scanner for reading a visible ink and a luminescent invisible ink
US5813327A (en) * 1996-12-26 1998-09-29 Pitney Bowes Inc. Article transport apparatus
US5704862A (en) * 1997-01-13 1998-01-06 The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Dual sided poly-V drive belt and pulley therefor
US6428874B1 (en) * 2000-11-03 2002-08-06 Albany International Corp. Grooved long nip shoe press belt
US6837779B2 (en) * 2001-05-07 2005-01-04 Applied Materials, Inc. Chemical mechanical polisher with grooved belt

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3048393A (en) * 1956-12-31 1962-08-07 Ibm Sheet separating apparatus
US3635465A (en) * 1970-10-19 1972-01-18 Burroughs Corp Document separator control system
US4978114A (en) * 1989-11-14 1990-12-18 Pitney Bowes Inc. Reverse belt singulating apparatus
JPH0558491A (ja) * 1991-08-30 1993-03-09 Nisca Corp 分離装置
JPH05201569A (ja) * 1992-01-29 1993-08-10 Hitachi Ltd 自動給紙装置及び画像読取装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1918231A3 (fr) 2008-12-31
US20080099977A1 (en) 2008-05-01

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