GB971373A - Mail sorting means - Google Patents

Abstract

971,373. Sorting letters. W. BRENNER, and S. KOSLAW. Nov. 22, 1960, No. 40183/60. Heading B8A. [Also in Division G4] Apparatus for sorting letters comprises a magnetic head 20 for recording coded address information on a strip 3 of magnetic material placed in a predetermined position on each letter 1. The letters 1 are positioned on a conveyer 10 by means of angle sectioned members 14. The material 3 is in the form of tape fed from 22 and may be applied manually. Alternatively, the material may be printed or sprayed on. It may be embodied in the postage stamp. When the letter 1 arrives beneath the head 20 an operator operates a coding machine 19 to feed a code in binary form into a memory 24. The operator presses a release key and the head 20 is scanned relative to the tape by means of a rack-and-pinion mechanism which is synchronized with the memory 24. The operator then presses another key connected to a relay 24<SP>1</SP> to move the belt or it may be alternatively moved by the action of the release key acting through a time delay 9 sufficient for the recording. The material 3 (Fig. 1A) has two linear magnetic tracks 4, 5 which are #inch wide. The code may be displayed on a closed circuit television screen 25. Each letter on the belt 10 may be scanned by a television camera 26, so that an image of each letter can be transmitted to a remote location of the operator at the coding machine 19. The latter may be in a remote building. The sorting apparatus (Fig. 3) comprises an input magazine 35, a conveyer 36, a magnetic reading head 37, and automatic sorting apparatus 38. Information from the head 37 is fed to a memory means 41, then to a binary to alpha-numeric decoder 42, then to a word decoder 43, then to a time delay means 44, the output of which is connected to sorting gates (Fig. 3A). The letter is fed to the sorting gates between vertical walls A, B. The wall A has pivotally mounted sections 55, 56..., which are pivotally mounted and are normally held closed by respective springs 55a, 56a..., but are opened by means of corresponding relays 55b, 56b, which are operated from the delay means 44. Thus as the letters are conveyed along by conveyer belt 50 between the walls A, B, they will be deflected into compartments 55, 56 . . ., according to the opening of the selected pivotally mounted gate.