US1293260A - Mail-feeding mechanism. - Google Patents

Description

IVI. G. VOIGTLANDER.

`MAILFIEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED Mln/18,1918.

2 SHEETSv-SHEET l.

OGGQOGO@ OGQOOOQO 0000000@ OOOOGOOO .OOGGGOOG C @GOGO IVI. G. VOIGTLANDER. MAIL FEI-:DING MAE-CHANISM. APPLICATION FILED` MAY'IB, |918.

,293y260 Patented Feb.4,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

. To all 'whom z't may concer/n:

n ernten,

'ro FRED A. FISCHER Anp KENTUCKY.

Original application le'd J'uly 5, 1917, Serial No. 178,833. Divided and this Serial No. 235,379..

Be it known that I, MAXIMILIAN G. Volcr- LANDEB, a citizen of the United States residing at Cincinnati, in-the' county of Iamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail- Feeding Mechanism, of which the following is a specification. j V The present applicationis a division of my application for patent on improvements in mail distributing devices, filed Jul 5, 1917, Serial No. 178,833, which exemplifies a device in which the resent invention is employable and to whlch reference is hereby made.

It is the object of my invention to .provide novel meansv for initiating the movement' of pieces of vInail to be distributed; further to provide novel lmeans for separately feeding the lrespective pieces of and, further, to provide novel means for separately projecting pieces of mail in the feedin -movement and retarding the, balance o? the pieces of mail to insure separate projection of the several pieces of mail.

The invention will be furthen readily understood from the following description and claims, and from the drawings, in which latter Figure' 1 is a plan view'of my' improved device, shown in connection wlth only so much of a mail distributing mechanism as is necessary to illustrate my invention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a bottom view ofthe same. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of-the electrical connections.

Fig. 5 is aside elevation of a switch for forming the electric circuit.

Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-,section ofthe same, taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and,

Fig. 7 isa detail in vertical cross-section, taken on the line 7 7 of Fig. 2, showing the driving gearing. t

I have shown, described and claimed the electric connections and devices -in conjunction therewith in my aforesaid application heretofore filed and do not therefore herein claim the same.

y invention' is employable where it is desired to project or feedv pieces. of mail.

Specication of Letters Patent.

mail;

A of a slide 13 slidable on rods 14 v the bottom of the receptacle and are. urged pressed.

ONE-THIRD 'ro JOHN J. CRAIG, 30TH or COVINGTON, MAIL-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Patented nel. i, raie.

application led May 18, 1918.

separately for distribution, for instance, in

a device shown, described and claimed in my aforesaid application heretofore filed.

My invention contemplates a manually-opjecting the same into,v conveying mechanism for conveyance thereof to amail compartment 'or' compartments, and retarding means acting on the Fiecesof mail toinsure that but one piece o mail is projected and fed at the same time.

.55 erated electric control for initiating movements .of the separate pieces of mall; pro- The pieces of mail are instancedas moving in the direction of arrow a .(Fig. 1), to-

ward the mail compartment or compart-A nail travel consecutively.

AThe mail, preferably as it comes from the canceling machine, is received in a receptacle 11, (se e Figs. 1, 2 and 3), wherein it is set on edge, one piece of mail in rear of the other, and normally pressed toward the delivering end l2 of the receptacle, as by means which form toward the delivering end by means of a weight 15 on a iiexible Connectlon 16 received over Ia directing pulley 17 and attached to the slide.

Each piece of mail, instanced at 18, (Fig. 2), as it arrives at the delivering end of the receptacle, has its address, exempliiied at b,

- lexposed by the exposure opening' 21 pref-- erably filled by a transparent plate 22 as ofglass, and has a quick thrust movement or impulse imparted thereto by the operator, whose position is at the key-board 23, the

Arespectlve keys 24 of the key-board controlling the initiation of travel, so that the feedling impulse may be imparted to the piece of mailwhose address is exposed by the 'exposure opening, regardless of which key is I have, in Fig. 4, shown a diagrammatic representation of the electric circuit for controlling this initiation of travel by one of the keys, asv will be hereinafter explained, the controlling mechanism for the respective keys being preferably duplicates of this mechanism, in so faras imparting feeding of the arrow c (Fig. 1).

' concerned,

the respective pieces of mail is the'construction of each key and its connected mechanism being'shown in Figs. 5 and 6. i

The initiation of travel of the vpiece of mail, Whose address is exposed at the exposure opening in front of the operator, is caused by a motion initiating roller 27 The roller 27'preferably has knobs 28 thereon, for instance of rubber or other material making ready frictional contact with `the piece of mail exposed for delivery, for-imparting ,the desired quick motion or impulse thereto.

Roller 27 normally moves in the direction A retarding roller 29 rotates in a direction so that that portion of its periphery which contacts the mail moves opposite to the direction of movement of the mail contacting portion of the periphimpulse to ery of the roller 27, and is arranged to retard all other than the one piece of mail at the forward end of the stack of mail contacted by the roller 27 and intended at the moment for delivery. The retarding roller acts to push back into the receptacle any piece of mail Which has a tendency to adhereto ormove with the one piece of mail being delivered.

y 40 of a bracket-frame The ieee of mail being delivered is next preferably engagedl by a follow-up feeding roller 31, which rotates in the same direction and at the same side of the path o f the mail aslthe roller 27', and preferably engages the piece of mail prior to release thereof by the roller 27 for continuing the thrust movef.

ment of the same toward the conveyer. The rollers preferably continuously rotate.

The roller 27 is fixed to a shaft 36 rotated in a bearingb37i of an arm 38 pivoted by a bearing 39 a out a depending bearing-sleeve 41 fixed to the main frame of the machine. Af spring 42, the-respective ends of which are secured to the arm and to the bracket-frame, normally resiliently urges the roller 27 away from contact with the mail. I

As soon as the operator desires to project or feed va piece of exposed mai-l, he presses one of the keys 24 of the keyboard. The depression of 'the key, in the present instance, energizes an electro-magnet 45, the coil or coils of which are preferably fixed to the bracket-frame 41, and the armature 46 o f Which is preferably fixed to the arm 38, so that when the key isl operated, the armature is momentarily attracted toward the coil and the motion-initiating Vroller 27 momentarily makes contact with the forward or exposed piece of mail for initiating its movement with a sharp thrust. l

. A eonveyer, instanced as comprising a pair of belts 49, travels laterally for aiding in carrying the piece of mail to its destina-A a gear 67 meshing With lmeshes with the gear 4pressed toward the Icompartments arranged to selectively receive the respective pieces of mail, as explained in my aforesaid application.

The belts are caused to move by being received about pulleys at the respective ends of the loops thereof, the being shown; The mail-contacting stretches of the belt ino've in the direction of the arrow a, (Fig. 1). The ulley 51 is fixed to an upright shaft 52. his shaft rotates in a bearing 53 of the bracket-frameand has a bevel-gear 54 secured thereto. (See Figs. 1, 2 and 3). A bevel pinion 5 5 meshes with the bevel-gear and 1s journaled in bearings 57, 58, and has a gear 59 fixed thereto. A drive-shaft 61is suitably driven, as by means of a pulley 62 thereon, receiving a suitable belt 63 thereover from a usual electric motor 64, which may be suitably supported on the ,frame of the machine. The drive-shaft has a gear 66 thereon Which meshes With a transmitting the gear 59.V

A gear 71 is fixed to the pulleyesliaft 52 and meshes with a transmitting gear 72, which meshes with a gear 73 on a shaft 74, journaled in the bearing-sleeve 40. The follow-up roller 31 is fixed to this shaft. The

` gear 73 mesheswith the vtransmitting gear 76, which meshes with a gear 77 on the shaft 36, for rotating the motion initiating rollei` 27. The retarding roller 29 is rotated by a train of gears 81, 82, 83, 84. The gear 81 73 and thegear 84 Vis xed to a shaft 85 to which the retarding roller 29 issecured.

The pieces of mail are arranged to move in a channel 88,

fixed to a shaft 564 instanced as having a bot-l driving pulley 51 tom 89 and jside Walls 90, 91. The side wallsl are connected by suitable yokes 92 received over lthe channel 88 for permitting the pieces ofmail tol pass thereunder. 90 is preferably extended upwardly for 'The side Wall forming a backing support for the propelling stretch of the endless belt. The belts pass through apertures 93 in the 4side wall 91. The side Wall 90 is provided with a rearward extension 95, at the receiving end thereof, forming a Wall for the receptacle 11. The rollers 27, 29, 31, project through slots 97, 98, 99, in the respective side Walls. A suitable number of rollers 101, instanced as idler rollers, may be provided for aiding in feeding the pieces of mail. The idler roller shown, is mounted onb a shaft 102 in a lever 103 pivoted at 104 to a bracket 105 extending from the side Wall 90, and springbelt by a spring 106 located between the heel 107 of the lever and the bracket, so as to contact thepiece of mail and urge the same toward the conveyer iso A121 of the frame of sented a desirable electric circuit for the electric translating device in Fig. 4, and in Figs. 5 and 6 I have exemplified a dcthe key. l

111 represents a battery with which the leads for the key mechanism are connected. An electric conductor 112 leads. from one of the poles of the battery and is electrically connected with a contact 113 for the key. A coacting contact 114 is provided. An arm 115 has yan electric contact 116 thereon arrangedi to bridge the contacts 113, 114. The contact 116 is located on and moves with the arm 115 but is insulated therefrom by insulation 117.

The arm 115 is pivoted at 120' to lugs the key-board, a spring 122 normally raising, the arm, so that the conltact thereon is normally out of contact with its coacting contacts. An electric contracted by a spring 140, a

ductor 124 leads from the other pole of the battery to one of the terminals of the coil of the electro-magnet 45, which controls the armature 46 for the movementinitiating roller .2.7, for initiating movement of the mail. lAn electric conduc'tor 125 connects with the other terminal of saidI electro-magnet and is electrically connected withV |,the electric contact 114, so that said electro-magnet is energized by closing the gap between the contacts 113, 114, by means of the electric lcontact 116, so that the roller 27 is moved toward the mail at each actuation of the key The contact of thelcon't-act 116 with the contacts 113, 114, is preferably only momentary for causing operation o'f the motion initiation roller 27 on the piece of mail only suliiciently long to initiate movement of said piece of mail sufficiently to cause its being received imparting means.

For aiding in this result, I provide 'the key-bar 128 with an operating linger 129, pivoted to the key-bar at 130 and arranged to contact the end of the switch-arm 115 and move the latter for a given distance, whereupon 'the linger drops away from the switch-arm for causing retraction of said arm by means of the spring 122. In order to give awide range of movement -to the arm, I have provided the linger with an extension 131 having a slot 132 therein, a pin 133 being received in the slot and controlling the direction and movement of the finger. lThe pin 133 is in an upright 134 which carries'a bearing 135 for the keybar.

The key-bar is received through an apertu-re 138 in a Supporting plate 139 of the key-board mechanism, and is normally repin 141 limiting retractive movement of the key-bar. The contacts 113, 114, are insulated from the slrable form of electric contact means .for

.prismg a normally by the next motion n and into inactive relation combination of a mail supporting plate bya sheet 142 of insnlation. the spring 140, the operatinginger 1.29 will repass the arm 115 for being located thereabove ready for a subsequent depression of said arm at the next depression of the `key-bar.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a mail distributingmechanism, the

VVWillen the key-bar is retracted -bv combination of a mail receptacle, mail conveying means coacting therewith, and means projecting mail into said conveying means tact with the piece of mail exposed lthereto,

'said last-named means including an electric translating device.

2, In a mail distributing mechanism, the

Acombination of a mail receptacle, mail conveying means therefor, and means projecting mail into said conveying means comcontinuously rotating mail projecting roller, a mail retarding part coactlng with said mail projecting4 roller, and means for alternately moving Said mail projecting roller into active relation'and into inactive relation with Ithe mail including resilient means for moving said mail projecting roller in one direction and electric means to move said' mail projecting roller in the opposite direction for causing alternate momentary contact of said mail projecting roller with the piece of mail exposed thereto and@ idle relation of said mail projecting roller.

3.In a mail-:distributing mechanism, the combination of a mail receptacle, mail conveying means thereof and means projecting mail into said conveying means comprising a normally continuously rotating mail projecting roller, a. mail retarding part coaoting with said mail projecting roller, means for alternately moving said mail projecting roller 'into a'ctive relation with the mail including an electric translatin d'evice to move said mail projecting rol er, whereby to cause alternate momentary contactV ofl said mail projecting roller with the piece of mail exposed thereto and idle relation j of said mail projecting roller, and av ropelling roller between said mail retar `ing part and said mail conveying means.v

'4. In a mail distributing mechanism, the

receptacle, mail conveying means coacting therewith and means projecting mail into said conveying means comprising a normally continuousl rotating mail projecting roller, a norm ycontinuously 'rotating mail retarding roller coacting with said first-named roller, means normally resiliently holding said mail projecting roller in inactive relation with the mail, and electric means acting to momentarily move said mail projecting roller into contact with the piece of mail exposed thereto.

5. In a mail distributing mechanism, the combination of a mail receptacle, mail conveying means therefor, and means projecting mail into said conveying means comprising anormally continuously rotating mail projecting roller, a normally continuously rotating mail retarding roller coacting with said iirst-named roller, means normally resiliently holding said mail projecting roller in inactive relation with the mail, electric means acting to momentarily move said mail projecting roller into contact-With the piece of mail exposed thereto, and a propelling roller between said retarding roller and said mail convel'yilig means.

6. n a mail distributing mechanism, the combination of a mail receptacle arranged for receiving mail to be distributed, said mail receptacle having an exposure opening for exposingthe addresses on the pieces of mail means for normally urging the pieces oiimai toward said exposure opening, a normally rotating propulsion roller, means resiliently urging said propulsion roller to position with relation to the pieces ofmail, electric means for moving said propulsion roller in opposite direction, mechanism comprising a key, and means coacting with .said key. for controlling the electric circuit in said electric means.

7 In a mail distributing mechanism, the combination of a mail receptacle arranged for receiving mail to be distributed, said mail receptacle having an exposure opening for exposing the addresses on the pieces of mail, means for normally urging the pieces of mail toward said exposure opening, a normally rotating propulsion roller, means .resiliently urging said propulsion roller to inactive re lation with the pieces of mail, electric means for normally moving said propulsion roller into active relation with the piece of mail eX- posed at said exposure opening, mechanism comprising keys, means coacting with said `active relation With 'circuit for said electric respective keys for causing electric circuit in l said electric means for moving said propulsion roller into said active relation,` and a rctarding roller coacting'with said propulsion roller for retarding pieces of mail free of contact by said propulsion rollen 8. In'a mail distributing mechanism,'the

combination of a mail receptacle arranged for receiving mail lto..be distributed, saidv mail receptacle having an exposure opening for exposing the addresses on the pieces o1 mail, .means for normally urging the pieces of mail toward said exposure opening, a normally rotating propulsion roller, means resiliently urging said propulsion roller to po sition with relation to thepieces .of mail, electric means -for moving said propulsion roller in opposite direction, mechanism comprising keys, means coacting with said ,respective keys for controlling the electric circuit in said electric means -whereby to move said propulsion roller into active relation with the mail, a second roller acting on the respective pieces of mail, and a retardin roller coacting vvith said propulsion roller ocated between said propulsion roller and said second roller, acting on the sides' of the pieces of mail opposite to the latter;

the

9. In a mail distributing mechanism, combination of a mail receptacle having an exposure openin means fornormally urging the pieces o opening, a normally rotating propulsion roller for the pieces pulsion roller to position the same, mechanism comprising a key-board, and an electric translating device, the keys of said key-board respectively comprising means aecting said electric circuit whereby said electric translating .device is caused to act for movement of said propulsion roller toward the exposed piece of mail for propelling the same.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

MXIMILLN VG. VOIGTLANDER. Witnesses:

DAWSON E. BUDLEY, THERESA M. SILBER.

mail toward said exposurey of mail normally 1n inl t the pieces of mail, an electric translating device acting on said pro-

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