EP2481697B1 - Piling device for mail items processing machine - Google Patents

Description

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of mail processing and more particularly relates to a storage device for mail processing machine.

Previous Art

The current mail processing machines are becoming faster and to meet these high postage rates, it is necessary to increase their power supply and storage capacity to avoid the operator to have to load and constantly unload the machine. However, this increase in the capacity of supply and storage must not do this to the detriment of the space devolved to the franking machine.

If this problem can be solved simply for the feeding devices in which the mail items are arranged on the field in a pile and where the increase in the height of the pile does not result in a change in the footprint of the pile. module, it is quite different in the storage devices (or stackers) where these same mail items are, in a conventional manner, stored horizontally and where an increase in the number of articles necessarily implies an increase in the useful area for their storage .

Also, in many storage devices, the conveyor belt on which mail items ejected from the mail processing machine are placed one by one, directs these mail items to an inclined plane in order to straighten them and thereby increase the storage capacity of the device (see especially patents GB2187718 , US5615995 , US 2003/0189283 , US 3,945,635 and US2010 / 258406 ). However, this storage storage solution is not fully satisfactory because if it ensures proper operation for the first items of mail, it is different after a number of mail items, because while the transport belt continues to push the base portion of the stack against the inclined plane, the upper part is no longer affected by this thrust. This results in a trapezoidal formation of the stack with a small width at its base and a large width at its top which will eventually cause its fall on the conveyor belt causing a stuffing device.

However, it is known from the patent US 2010/258406 , a storage device comprising a pivoting arm movable both vertically about an axis of articulation and horizontally along a displacement rail and on which is mounted on the one hand a friction roller for pressing the articles of mail against the conveyor belt and on the other hand a holding roller for pressing the mail items against the incline. However, this device, if it makes it possible to prevent the battery from being overturned, the pile thus formed does not appear completely homogeneous and therefore it is not possible to take full advantage of the horizontal storage capacity that the the device.

Purpose and object of the invention

The present invention proposes to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks with a storage device for mail processing machine comprising a receiving plate on a longitudinal edge of which extends a reference wall, said receiving plate being traversed by a belt conveyor for conveying mail items along said referencing wall from an entrance of the device to an inclined plane of accumulation of said mail items, characterized in that it further comprises a ski-shaped piece supported by a frame secured to said storage device and which is supported on said stack of mail items, substantially over its entire length, so as to ensure a jog of the top of said stack of mail items.

Thus, by plating the stack and preventing it from exceeding a predetermined height level during the entire storage process, it becomes possible to accumulate a larger number of mail items for the same length of the device.

Said ski piece is connected to said frame in a foldable / retractable manner by at least one articulated support arm defining for said ski piece at least two different vertical positions relative to said receiving plate.

Advantageously, when the supply of mail items is carried out in line along said referencing wall, said two positions are respectively fixed at 110 mm and 180 mm from said receiving tray, and when the supply of mail items is carried out at 90 ° with respect to said referencing wall, these positions are respectively fixed at 75 mm and 145 mm from said receiving plate.

According to a preferred embodiment, the device comprises two support arms articulated against two axial springs on the one hand on said frame by first axes of rotation and secondly on said ski piece by second axes of rotation, said support arms thereby forming with said frame and said ski piece a parallelogram moving mechanism. Advantageously, said frame is fixed integrally on said displacement rail.

To allow said displacement of said ski piece between said two positions, each of said support arm may comprise a flat for cooperating with a trigger acting against a return spring. Preferably, said triggers are actuated simultaneously from a single push button to which they are connected.

Brief description of the drawings

• la figure 1 est une vue face à l'opérateur, les enveloppes étant alimentées par le côté gauche, d'un dispositif de stockage selon l'invention,
• les figures 2A et 2B sont, dans deux positions distinctes haute et basse, des vues partielles en bout du dispositif de la figure 1, et
• la figure 3 est une vue capot ôté d'un élément dit ski du dispositif de la figure 1.

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:

• the figure 1 is a view facing the operator, the envelopes being fed from the left side, of a storage device according to the invention,
• the Figures 2A and 2B are, in two distinct high and low positions, partial views at the end of the device of the figure 1 , and
• the figure 3 is a hood view removed from an element called ski device figure 1 .

Description of mode (s) of realization

The figure 1 illustrates a storage device 10 conventionally comprising a rectangular receiving tray 12 traversed by a conveyor belt 14 (see FIGS. Figures 2A and 2B ) which extends along its entire length along a longitudinal referencing wall 16 and of which an end lateral edge opposite an input lateral edge of the device is formed by an inclined plane 18. The angle φ formed by the inclined plane and the receiving plate is preferably of the order of 45 ° to plus or minus 10 °. The continuity between the longitudinal wall and the inclined plane is through a connecting flange 19. Note that to facilitate the lateral jogging of the mail items, the receiving plate and the referencing wall which make them an angle of 90 ° are advantageously inclined backwards (thus away from the operator) a few degrees from the horizontal.

In the illustrated embodiment, the device can comprise (this addition is indeed not essential to the operation of the invention even if it optimizes performance) further a pivoting arm 20 movable both vertically about a hinge axis 22 fixed perpendicularly to the reference wall and horizontally along a displacement rail 24 mounted on the referencing wall and on which is mounted a set of friction rollers 26 and preferably a holding roller 28. In order to allow use of the device in all configurations of supply and accumulation, the plan inclined 18 and the connecting flange can be removed and placed on the other side edge of the device, the pivoting arm is then itself returned around its hinge axis 22. For this, the plate 12 is advantageously provided, on each of its two lateral edges, grooves 12A intended to cooperate with one or more slides 18A of the inclined plane. Similar or other fastening means are of course provided at the level of the connecting flange 19.

Each friction roller 26 is freely mounted around a first axis of rotation 30 mounted at a free end of this arm and arranged perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the mail items. By pressing the mail items against the conveyor belt, it increases the coefficient of friction between the mail items and this belt. The width of the set of friction rollers is at least equal to that of the conveyor belt.

The holding roller 28 is freely mounted around a second axis of rotation 32 perpendicular to the direction of movement of the mailpieces and mounted at a free end of a secondary arm 34, advantageously articulated about the axis 30 and extending towards the front of the pivoting arm 20, that is towards the inclined plane. It makes it possible to increase the storage capacity of the stack by compressing it against the inclined plane 18. Moreover, for the thick mail articles, it makes it possible to arch these articles and thus to facilitate their integration on the front of the stack. battery. The articulation about the axis of rotation 30 also makes it possible to turn the roller for an accumulation of mail items in the opposite direction or at 90 °.

The horizontal displacement of the pivoting arm is comprised between two stops, a front stop 36 and a rear stop 38 (the notions front and rear are in relation to the advancement of the mail items in the device), which advantageously can be moved manually by the operator along the moving rail 24, independently of one another in the manner of a slider to define the maximum swing arm deviation. Thus, when the device processes mail items of large thickness and therefore not flexible, the stop before 36 is moved back to allow better accumulation of mail items. The stop 38 has the same function when the inclined plane 18 is changed side and fixed on the opposite side edge.

According to the invention, to ensure a jog of the top of the stack of mail items, the device further comprises a mechanism 42 comprising a frame 44 integral with the device (advantageously fixed on the moving rail 24) and carrying, for example, example by means of two articulated support arms 48A, 48B (a connection with a single arm is of course also possible), a ski piece 46 foldable / retractable which comes to rest on the top of the stack of mail items, substantially over its entire length. These two support arms are hinged against two axial springs 50A, 50B on the one hand on the chassis by first axes of rotation 44A, 44B and on the other hand on the ski part by second axes of rotation 46A , 46B, the assembly thus forming a parallelogram moving mechanism.

In the illustrated example, the ski piece can take two different positions depending on the format of these mail items, a low position, as illustrated by the figure 1 and at the Figure 2A and a high position in which this piece goes back up to come to the same level as the chassis as shown in the Figure 2B . The low position defines under the ski a height of 110mm for stalling the mail items postcard or business card formats while the high position at 180mm can stall other types of mail items (eg C6 / 5 and # 10) of larger formats. In the one as in the other position, this height h is defined so that the mail items thus set are an angle θ of the order of 60 ° plus or minus 10 ° with the receiving plate 12. But of course, other intermediate positions are conceivable for processing different formats, in particular according to the operating countries of the storage device (France, Great Britain, Germany, USA, etc ...) subject to keeping the same angle cushioning of about 60 °. It is the same when the supply of mail items is no longer performed in line along the referencing wall (with an arrival on the right or on the left) but at 90 ° with respect to this wall referencing. In the latter case, the low position defines under the ski a height of 75mm for stalling mail items postcard formats, business card, C6 / 5 and # 10 while the high position at 145mm can stall other types of mail items of higher formats.

As shown in figure 3 , to allow the displacement of the ski part between these two positions, each support arm, substantially at its articulation with the frame, comprises a flat 52A, 52B intended to cooperate with a trigger 54A, 54B acting against a return spring 56A, 56B. These two triggers are actuated simultaneously from a single push button 58 to which they are both connected.

The conveying speed of the mail items in the device (proportional to the speed of rotation of the conveyor belt) is generally less than the ejection speed of the mail items of the franking machine, it is provided at the entrance of the device above the conveyor belt and across its width a flap (or flap) flexible 40 to reduce the speed of mail items arriving in the device. Indeed, by coming knocking this gear reducing shutter, the mail items will be stopped and fall on the conveyor belt which they will then follow the movement.

It will also be noted the presence of the optical sensors 42A to 42D intended to avoid a vacuum operation and therefore, according to the direction of introduction (or direction of arrival) of the mail items chosen by the operator, to detect their overlap and stop the rotation of the conveyor belt when no effective overlap of the mail items is detected at the input of the device.

The operation of the device is as follows. At rest, the ski part 46 is, depending on the format of the mail items to be stored, either in the low position or in the high position. The pivoting arm 20 is in front of the ski part, substantially in the middle of the device. When a first mail item is ejected from the mail processing machine on the receiving tray 12 (possibly after being in contact with the flexible bib), it is conveyed flat by the conveyor belt 14 to the inclined plane. 18 where he stands up. The process then continues with the second and then the following mail items that will accumulate on each other until abutting with the holding roller 28 and the backstop 38 when the pivot arm 20 will move back to his tower. Due to the presence of this holding roller, the articles accumulated against the inclined plane remain constantly in a substantially vertical position. But above all, the presence of the piece forming a ski allows jogging of the top of the stack that allows its homogenization during storage. In addition, the stress exerted by the ski on the top of the pile, causing an increase in the adhesion of the mail items on the conveyor belt, will compress the battery and increase the storage capacity of the device while avoiding a collapse of this battery.

When it is desired to treat a stack of different format, the transition from one to the other position is then very simple. It will be noted first of all that the descent of the ski-forming part 46 is done by pressing on it directly by hand until the low position is reached. When this position is reached, this piece forming a ski locks thanks to the two triggers 54A, 54B which fit into the corresponding flats 52A, 52B of the support arms. To raise the ski-forming part in the up position, the operator then pushes the single push-button 58, which has the effect of bringing the triggers into the rear position by compressing the return springs 56A, 56B releasing the support arms which then make reassemble the ski-forming part under the effect of axial springs 50A, 50B integral with the frame of the device. The release of the push button will then return the triggers to their original position.

Thus, with the present invention, there is obtained a simple storage device, usable in different configurations and allowing significant increase in its storage capacity with respect to a device of the same length.

Claims (7)

1. A storage device (10) for mail processing machine comprising a receiving plate (12) on a longitudinal edge of which extends a referencing wall (16), said receiving plate being traversed by a conveyor belt (14) for conveying mail items along said referencing wall from an inlet of the device to an inclined plane (18) for accumulating said mail items, characterized in that it further comprises a part forming ski (46) supported by a frame (44) integral with said storage device and which rests on the stack of mail items, substantially over its entire length, so as to ensure jogging of the top of said stack of mail items, said part forming ski being connected to said frame unfoldably/retractably by at least one articulated support arm (48A, 48B) defining for said part forming ski at least two distinct height positions relative to said receiving plate.
2. A storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that when the supply of mail items is carried out in line along said referencing wall, said two positions are set at 110 mm and 180 mm from said receiving plate.
3. A storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that when the supply of mail items is carried out at 90° relative to said referencing wall, said two positions are set at 75 mm and 145 mm from said receiving plate.
4. A storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises two support arms articulated against two axial springs (50A, 50B) on the one hand to said frame by said first axes of rotation (44A, 44B) and the other to said part forming ski by second axes of rotation (46A, 46B), said support arms thereby forming with said frame and said part forming ski a parallelogram moving mechanism.
5. A storage device according to claim 4, characterized in that said frame is integrally fixed on said shift rail.
6. A storage device according to claim 1, characterized in that to enable said movement of said part forming ski between said two positions, each of said support arms comprises a flat (52A, 52B) for cooperating with a trigger (54A, 54B) acting against a return spring (56A, 56B).
7. A storage device according to claim 6, characterized in that said triggers are actuated simultaneously from a single push-button (58) to which they are connected.

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