EP2325120B2 - Device for selecting mail articles with multiple pivoting catches - 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 feeder module, or feeder, a postage meter 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, typically from 0.1 mm to 20 mm. For this, it often has upstream of an automatic power supply module, in particular for conveying these mail items at different speeds and usually comprising means for receiving / stacking, selecting, transporting and possibly closing these items. mail items.

In particular, the selection means, which conventionally comprise a fixed inclined die cooperating with opposed selection rollers in order to select mail items one by one and transport them downstream, must be able to avoid double passes in order to avoid that the postage calculated is wrong or that the mail item is not franked. In the patent US 5, 431, 385 the die is replaced by an inclined belt whose rotation drives the mail items to the selection rollers.

These systems are generally satisfactory when the stack of mail items is homogeneous that is to say of the same size and thickness or arranged from the thickest to the least thick so that the thickest is on the underside of the stack. On the other hand, when the battery is not homogeneous and that, for example, a thick mail article covers (follows) a smaller thickness then it is this thicker article that will first be engaged with the die and not the thinnest, which will often lead to a double pass.

Object and definition of the invention

The present invention aims to overcome the disadvantages resulting from the passage of duplicate envelopes by proposing a device for selecting mail items for franking machine feeder that can prohibit such a double pass.

These objects are achieved by a mail item selection device according to claim 1.

Thus, when a thick article covers a thinner, the variation of length of the selection fingers can delay the arrival of the thicker than the thinnest and therefore avoid double-crossing.

Preferably, in an initial rest position, said adjacent selection fingers of different lengths also have an angle of inclination with respect to the vertical, the angle of inclination being greater when said length is greater or again, a different restoring force, said restoring force being all the more important that said length is small.

Advantageously, said die has at least two adjacent series of adjacent selection fingers so that said mail piece is brought into contact with at least two selection fingers of the same length of each of said at least two series.

For each of the at least two series, said adjacent selection fingers of different length also have an angle of inclination with respect to the different vertical, said angle of inclination being all the greater as its length is important or comprise a different restoring force, said restoring force being all the more important that said length is small.

Advantageously, said length of a selection finger is even larger than said selection finger is closer to a reference surface of said mail items.

Preferably, the selection finger having a smaller length has an angle of inclination with respect to the vertical equal to zero.

The invention also relates to a mailpiece feeder for a postage meter comprising a mail item selection device as mentioned above.

Brief description of the drawings

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective d'un mode de réalisation préférentiel du dispositif de sélection d'articles de courrier selon l'invention,
• la figure 2 est une vue de dessus du dispositif de sélection préférentiel de la figure 1,
• la figure 2A est un écorché montrant une variante minimaliste du dispositif de sélection selon l'invention, et
• les figures 3 et 4 montrent le dispositif de sélection préférentiel de la figure 1 respectivement dans une position initiale de repos et une position ultérieure de sélection d'un article de courrier.

Other features 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:

• the figure 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the mail item selection device according to the invention,
• the figure 2 is a top view of the preferred selection device of the figure 1 ,
• the Figure 2A is a skinned showing a minimalist variant of the selection device according to the invention, and
• the Figures 3 and 4 show the preferential selection device of the figure 1 respectively in an initial position of rest and a subsequent position of selection of a mail item.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

As shown by Figures 1 and 2 , an automatic mailing material feeding module conventionally comprises a feed zone formed essentially of a tray 10 intended to receive a stack of mail items and comprising first transport rollers 12 for driving these mail items to the downstream (and against a referencing wall 14) at a separation zone comprising a selection device 16 in which these mail items are extracted one by one from the stack of articles. Second transport rollers (referenced 18 on the Figures 3 and 4 ) are generally provided at the exit of this separation zone for conveying the mail items thus extracted downstream.

According to the invention, the device for selecting mail items is not conventionally constituted of a fixed inclined die (a fixed-tooth comb) or of an inclined belt, as described in the patent cited in the preamble, cooperating with a plurality of opposed selection rollers to select a mail piece and a single one and carry it downstream but, unlike a die that can be described as mobile or dynamic in that it comprises a plurality of fingers 20A-20D, 22A-22D, 24A-24D each independently articulated around a common axis of rotation 26 and which, when passing mail items on the selection rollers, each pivot against a resilient return means, for example a tension spring 28 whose one end is integral with the selection finger and the other is supported on a frame portion 30 of the selection device. Note that if reference has been made by way of example to a tension spring, it is understood that a torsion spring or compression spring could also be suitable, subject to a spring attachment configuration to the spring. different frame, or any other similar means of return.

Each selection finger 20A-24D, which may be made of an elastomer material having a very high coefficient of friction to ensure the best possible contact with the mail piece or a ceramic material which is of interest relative to the elastomer to not wear and not leave marks on the mail items, has a different length depending on its position relative to the referencing wall 14. The inclination can also be different and grow in proportion to the length so that the vertical selection finger (thus at inclination equal to zero) is the smallest and the longest inclined selection finger. In an alternative embodiment not shown, the inclination may be identical but then the restoring force of the springs 48 is different, the shortest finger being subjected to the largest force, the longest to the weakest force .

Thus, the selection finger 20A closest to this reference wall is the one of greater length (it comes to tangent the selection rollers) and possibly greater inclination (about 60 ° relative to the vertical). The finger 20B adjacent thereto has a possibly shorter length and inclination, typically a reduced length of 20% and an inclination of about 45 ° relative to the vertical. Similarly, the finger 20C adjacent to the finger 20B has a length and an inclination possibly even smaller, typically a length reduced by 40% compared to that of greater length and an inclination of about 30 ° relative to the vertical . Finally, the finger 20D of smaller length and adjacent to the finger 20C has a still shorter length and inclination, typically a length reduced by 60% compared to the longer length and a lack of inclination (inclination of 0 °) compared to the vertical. In the illustrated example, this first series of four selection fingers is followed by a second of four other similar fingers 22A, 22B, 22C, 22D and then a third of four other identical fingers 24A, 24B, 24C, 24D.

Of course, this configuration is in no way limiting and a greater or lesser number of sets of fingers is possible, one to four, for example, as a different number, identical or not, finger by series, two to five for example. So, in a minimalist configuration illustrated at the Figure 2A the die of the invention will comprise only two fingers of different length and possibly different inclination (unless the restoring forces of these two fingers are different). The width of these fingers must be sufficient to ensure a good grip of the mail piece and will typically be about 2/3 of the width of a mail piece in international format C6. In addition, the longest finger which is also closest to the referencing wall should be disposed at a distance from this wall sufficient to allow a good grip of a mail piece format business card. However, in this configuration, it will be preferred a configuration with two sets of selection fingers, the first and second series each having two fingers of different length and inclination thus forming a set of four fingers selection. Indeed, in order to avoid biasing the mail items, it is preferable that they are always in contact with at least two fingers of selection of the same length and inclination, which is the case with two sets of fingers having the same number of selection fingers. The two longer fingers will pivot against their respective spring while the second fingers will be only beyond a predetermined mailpiece thickness range defined by the difference in length and length. tilt with the longest fingers. Thus, by the gap between the small fingers and large fingers, it is possible for example to distinguish two thicknesses of mail items so that the pivoting of the two longest fingers by a mail piece having a very small thickness for example between 0 and 0.5 mm, will not cause a rise of short fingers, unlike a mail piece having a greater thickness up to the maximum thickness of 20 mm.

The operation of the selection device according to the invention illustrated mainly with regard to Figures 3 and 4 is the next. The mailpieces to be treated being arranged in bulk on the feed tray 10, for very thin mailpieces, that is to say less than 0.5 mm, most of the selection work is done by the longer fingers 20A, 22B (and 24A if the width of the mail piece requires it), the adjacent fingers 20B, 22B (and also 24B according to the width of the mailpiece) avoiding if necessary the possible double passages. For thin mail, that is to say with a thickness between 0.5 and 2 mm, the article of mail will not only lift the longest fingers but also those immediately adjacent, the others selection fingers 20C, 22C (and 24C if the width of the mail piece requires it) avoiding if necessary the possible double passages. Finally, for mail items of standard thickness, typically between 2 and 6 mm, these other selection fingers will also be active while the last selection fingers 20D, 22D (and still 24D depending on the width of the article of mail) will only be raised for mail items of large thickness, that is to say greater than 6 mm. In addition, because of the increasing inclination according to their length of each of the selection fingers, a thicker mail article covering a thinner article can in no way be selected before or with this article finer and therefore cause a double passage (the passage of two fine and thick articles at the same time).

This differentiated action according to the thickness of the mailpieces avoids premature wear of the non-affected selection fingers which, without this configuration, would be subjected to repeated shocks with all the mailpieces, as well as to avoid wrinkling of the mailpieces. the most fragile mail items, such as window envelopes.

It will be noted that as indicated previously and as it appears more precisely in the example of the figure 2 at least the two longest fingers 20A, 22A are enabled for the smallest mail item format, that is, an international format (ISO 216) of CV business cards, whereas at the minus three fingers 20A, 20B, 20C; 22A, 22B, 22C of each of the first and second series can be activated according to the thickness of the mail piece for an international format C6 or C6 / 5. For an international C5 mail piece, it is at least two fingers 20A, 20B; 22A, 22B; 24A, 24B of each of the first, second and third series that can be activated and for an international format mail item C4, it is the set of fingers 20A-24D that can be activated according to its thickness.

Thus, with the present invention, it is possible to automatically process mail items of different thicknesses without selecting, by a specific lever, a particular mode of operation as practiced by many devices of the prior art. In addition, the different length of the selection fingers makes it possible to impose a variable pressure on the mailpieces according to their thickness because the larger a mail item is, the more it will be in contact with a large number of selection fingers, so that the strain on him will be higher and higher, which ensures a successful selection process.

Claims (9)

1. A mailpiece selector device comprising a guide (16) co-operating with at least one opposing selector roller (12) to separate mailpieces one-by-one from a stack of mailpieces and to transport them downstream, characterized in that said guide has at least two adjacent selector fingers (20A-20D, 22A-22D, 24A-24D) having different lengths, and each of said selector fingers pivots independently from the other(s) about a common pivot axis (26) and against respective associated resilient return means (28), the different length of said selector fingers allowing to enforce a variable pressure on said mailpieces according to their thickness, such that more than a mailpiece is thick it is in contact with a high number of selector fingers and the strain exerted on him is then more and more strong.
2. A mailpiece selector device according to claim 1, characterized in that, in an initial rest position, said adjacent selector fingers having different lengths also have different angles of inclination relative to the vertical, the longer said length the larger said angle of inclination.
3. A mailpiece selector device according to claim 1 ,characterized in that said adjacent selector fingers having different lengths have different return forces, the shorter said length the larger said return force.
4. A mailpiece selector device according to claim 1, characterized in that said guide has at least two adjacent series of adjacent selector fingers so that said mailpiece is put into contact with at least two same-length selector fingers of respective ones of said at least two series.
5. A mailpiece selector device according to claim 4, characterized in that, for each of said at least two series, said adjacent selector fingers having different lengths also have different angles of inclination relative to the vertical, the longer the length of the finger the larger said angle of inclination.
6. A mailpiece selector device according to claim 5, characterized in that the selector finger having the shortest length has an angle of inclination relative to the vertical that is equal to zero.
7. A mailpiece selector device according to claim 4, characterized in that, for each of said at least two series, said adjacent selector fingers having different lengths have different return forces, the shorter said length the larger said return force.
8. A mailpiece selector device according to claim 4, characterized in that, for each of said at least two series, the closer a selector finger is to a referencing surface (14) for said mailpieces the larger the length of said selector finger.
9. A mailpiece feeder for a franking machine, which feeder comprises a mailpiece selector device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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