US20080179826A1 - Feeder having an improved conveyor device for mail items - Google Patents

Feeder having an improved conveyor device for mail items Download PDF

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Publication number
US20080179826A1
US20080179826A1 US12/014,503 US1450308A US2008179826A1 US 20080179826 A1 US20080179826 A1 US 20080179826A1 US 1450308 A US1450308 A US 1450308A US 2008179826 A1 US2008179826 A1 US 2008179826A1
Authority
US
United States
Prior art keywords
mail item
mail
feeder according
wheel
rollers
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.)
Abandoned
Application number
US12/014,503
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Jean-Pierre Gregoire
Romain Pillard
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.)
Quadient Technologies France SA
Original Assignee
Neopost Technologies SA
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 Neopost Technologies SA filed Critical Neopost Technologies SA
Assigned to NEOPOST TECHNOLOGIES, FRENCH LIMITED COMPANY reassignment NEOPOST TECHNOLOGIES, FRENCH LIMITED COMPANY ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: GREGOIRE, JEAN-PIERRE, PILLARD, ROMAIN
Publication of US20080179826A1 publication Critical patent/US20080179826A1/en
Abandoned 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
    • B65H3/02—Separating articles from piles using friction forces between articles and separator
    • B65H3/06—Rollers or like rotary separators
    • B65H3/0638—Construction of the rollers or like rotary separators
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G13/00—Roller-ways
    • B65G13/08—Roller-ways of curved form; with branch-offs
    • B65G13/10—Switching arrangements
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65G—TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING OR TIPPING, SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS OR PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS
    • B65G47/00—Article or material-handling devices associated with conveyors; Methods employing such devices
    • B65G47/52—Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors i.e. discharging or feeding devices
    • B65G47/53—Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors i.e. discharging or feeding devices between conveyors which cross one another
    • B65G47/54—Devices for transferring articles or materials between conveyors i.e. discharging or feeding devices between conveyors which cross one another at least one of which is a roller-way
    • 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
    • B65H3/02—Separating articles from piles using friction forces between articles and separator
    • B65H3/06—Rollers or like rotary separators
    • B65H3/063—Rollers or like rotary separators separating from the bottom of pile
    • 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
    • B65H2404/54—Surface including rotary elements, e.g. balls or rollers

Definitions

  • the present invention relates exclusively to the field of mail handling, and it relates more particularly to a mail item feed module of a mail handling machine, which module has an improved mail item conveyor device.
  • the postal specifications that govern printing of postal imprints are very precise and define, in particular, the position of the postal imprint relative to the top edge of the envelope. Achieving that position depends on the envelope being jogged into alignment. Since the envelope is conveyed parallel to a referencing wall (or “jogging” wall), a jogging error or misalignment in the feed magazine (or feeder) gives rise to the same error or misalignment downstream in the selector device and then even further downstream on going under the print module. It is thus very important to monitor and automatically correct such jogging errors in the feeder so as to avoid it being necessary for the operator to re-jog each stack of envelopes on inserting it into said feeder.
  • the conveyor rollers of the feeder can be inclined so that, by conveying the envelopes on a slant, they are shifted towards the referencing wall while also being conveyed towards the selector device.
  • the force exerted depends on the position of each conveyor roller relative to the selector device.
  • the Applicant has also proposed supplementing the conveyor rollers disposed parallel to the referencing wall with perpendicular re-jogging rollers that operate with a phase advance relative to said conveyor rollers.
  • the braking tendency nevertheless persists because of the action of said re-jogging rollers, and the greater the height and/or the weight of the stack of envelopes, the greater the extent to which the envelopes tend to be braked.
  • An object of the present invention is thus to mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks with a mail item feed device that has specific drive members making it possible to monitor and to correct the jogging of the mail items.
  • Another object of the invention is to propose a device whose performance is independent of the weight and/or of the height of the stack of envelopes disposed on the feeder.
  • a mail item feeder for feeding mail items into a mail handling machine, said mail item feeder including a plurality of a drive members controlled by a suitable drive mechanism and designed to pass through a mail item receiver bed of said feeder, wherein each of said drive members is constituted by a cylindrical wheel provided with a set of straight teeth formed by a plurality of teeth between which there are interposed a plurality of independent small rollers having axes perpendicular to the axis of the wheel.
  • the drive members perform dual functions of conveying and of jogging, the coefficient of friction due to the re-jogging rollers is removed and the jogging can be performed without being detrimental to the mail items being conveyed.
  • said small rollers are mounted to be free to rotate about axes of rotation disposed in a plane that is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said cylindrical wheel, each axis extending between the facing sides of two adjacent teeth.
  • said axes of rotation of the small rollers are distributed around the sides of a regular polygon and are positioned at a determined distance from said axis of rotation of the wheel, and each of said small rollers has an outer peripheral surface that projects by approximately in the range 0.5 millimeters (mm) to 1 mm relative to tops of the teeth.
  • Said cylindrical wheel may be made of a standard low-cost material of the polyoxymethylene type, and said small roller may be made of silicone.
  • the device of the invention has at least six small rollers spaced apart uniformly at 600 intervals.
  • FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a feed device for a mail handling machine, which feed device incorporates an improved conveyor device of the invention
  • FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the drive members of the conveyor device of FIG. 1 ;
  • FIGS. 2A and 2B are section views on two perpendicular planes of the drive member of FIG. 2 .
  • FIG. 1 A feed device (or feeder) for feeding mail items into a mail handling machine and that incorporates an improved conveyor device of the invention is shown in FIG. 1 .
  • This feeder 10 includes, in conventional manner, a mail item receiver bed 12 on which the mail items to be printed are placed in a compact stack that can be uniform or non-uniform (depending on whether or not the mail items are of the same size). Said mail items are conveyed to a selector device 14 by a conveyor device conventionally formed by a plurality of drive members such as the conveyor rollers 16 passing through the mail item receiver bed and controlled by a suitable drive mechanism 18 .
  • said rollers 16 of the conveyor device are disposed in line in a plurality of rows extending parallel to the referencing wall 20 of the feeder and, as shown more particularly in FIGS. 2 , 2 A, and 2 B, each of the rollers is constituted by a cylindrical wheel provided with a set of straight teeth made up of a plurality of teeth 22 between which there are interposed a plurality of small rollers 24 having axes of rotation perpendicular to the axis of the wheel. More precisely, the small rollers are mounted to be free to rotate about axes of rotation 26 disposed in a plane that is perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the wheel, each axis extending between the facing sides 22 A, 22 B of two adjacent teeth.
  • each roller has eight teeth and thus eight small rollers interposed between respective pairs of said teeth.
  • this number is in no way limiting and depends essentially on the diameter of the cylindrical wheel.
  • a wheel with six small rollers spaced apart uniformly at 60° intervals is quite possible, as is a wheel having a greater number of small rollers. It should be noted that, with a configuration having a greater number of small rollers, the higher the number of small rollers, the closer the curve going through the outer peripheral surfaces of the small rollers comes to forming an exactly circular shape.
  • These small rollers are made of a material that is chosen as a function of the technical specifications (abrasion, friction, elasticity, and hardness) expected for driving, i.e. with a coefficient of friction that is sufficiently large to enable the mail items to be driven towards the selector device.
  • a material is, for example, silicone, natural rubber, polyurethane, or indeed ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM).
  • EPDM ethylene propylene diene monomer
  • the wheel is involved very little in the processes of conveying and of jogging, its material is chosen to be low-cost, e.g. a material based on polyoxymethylene.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Delivering By Means Of Belts And Rollers (AREA)
  • Sheets, Magazines, And Separation Thereof (AREA)
US12/014,503 2007-01-25 2008-01-15 Feeder having an improved conveyor device for mail items Abandoned US20080179826A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR0752881A FR2911859B1 (fr) 2007-01-25 2007-01-25 Dispositif de transport perfectionne d'articles de courrier.
FR0752881 2007-01-25

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US20080179826A1 true US20080179826A1 (en) 2008-07-31

Family

ID=38434322

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US12/014,503 Abandoned US20080179826A1 (en) 2007-01-25 2008-01-15 Feeder having an improved conveyor device for mail items

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US20080179826A1 (de)
EP (1) EP1958902B1 (de)
DE (1) DE602008000769D1 (de)
FR (1) FR2911859B1 (de)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20150284203A1 (en) * 2014-04-07 2015-10-08 Xerox Corporation Finisher registration system using omnidirectional scuffer wheels
US20160325955A1 (en) * 2015-05-07 2016-11-10 Axel Ortmann Placement station for placing flat items and feeding them to a singularization station and method
US10421631B1 (en) * 2018-04-09 2019-09-24 Xerox Corporation Platform of cellular omni wheels for a registration system
US20190300314A1 (en) * 2018-03-29 2019-10-03 Xerox Corporation Gravity-assisted wall registration system
US10668504B2 (en) 2016-11-01 2020-06-02 Francotyp-Postalia Gmbh Item individualization station

Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3590970A (en) * 1968-12-09 1971-07-06 Kornylac Co Conveyor roller
US3612513A (en) * 1968-09-30 1971-10-12 Edward S Godlewski Feeding mechanism
US3964588A (en) * 1967-09-13 1976-06-22 Kornylak Corporation Conveyor having provision for discharging loads at an angle generally transverse to the line of travel or the conveyor
US4981203A (en) * 1989-02-03 1991-01-01 Kornylak Corporation Multi directional conveyor wheel
US5112037A (en) * 1990-12-24 1992-05-12 Pitney Bowes Inc. Front feeder for large size mail handling machine
US5927708A (en) * 1997-12-19 1999-07-27 Pitney Bowes Inc. Adjustable side guide for mail processing machines
US6005212A (en) * 1997-01-31 1999-12-21 Neopost Industrie Feed device for feeding mail items of various dimensions
US20020130460A1 (en) * 2000-10-16 2002-09-19 Yuma Yoshida Retard roller and sheet feeder

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3964588A (en) * 1967-09-13 1976-06-22 Kornylak Corporation Conveyor having provision for discharging loads at an angle generally transverse to the line of travel or the conveyor
US3612513A (en) * 1968-09-30 1971-10-12 Edward S Godlewski Feeding mechanism
US3590970A (en) * 1968-12-09 1971-07-06 Kornylac Co Conveyor roller
US4981203A (en) * 1989-02-03 1991-01-01 Kornylak Corporation Multi directional conveyor wheel
US5112037A (en) * 1990-12-24 1992-05-12 Pitney Bowes Inc. Front feeder for large size mail handling machine
US6005212A (en) * 1997-01-31 1999-12-21 Neopost Industrie Feed device for feeding mail items of various dimensions
US5927708A (en) * 1997-12-19 1999-07-27 Pitney Bowes Inc. Adjustable side guide for mail processing machines
US20020130460A1 (en) * 2000-10-16 2002-09-19 Yuma Yoshida Retard roller and sheet feeder

Cited By (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20150284203A1 (en) * 2014-04-07 2015-10-08 Xerox Corporation Finisher registration system using omnidirectional scuffer wheels
US9422127B2 (en) * 2014-04-07 2016-08-23 Xerox Corporation Finisher registration system using omnidirectional scuffer wheels
US20160325955A1 (en) * 2015-05-07 2016-11-10 Axel Ortmann Placement station for placing flat items and feeding them to a singularization station and method
US9790044B2 (en) * 2015-05-07 2017-10-17 Francotyp-Postalia Gmbh Placement station for placing flat items and feeding them to a singularization station and method
US10668504B2 (en) 2016-11-01 2020-06-02 Francotyp-Postalia Gmbh Item individualization station
US20190300314A1 (en) * 2018-03-29 2019-10-03 Xerox Corporation Gravity-assisted wall registration system
US10589950B2 (en) * 2018-03-29 2020-03-17 Xerox Corporation Gravity-assisted wall registration system
US10421631B1 (en) * 2018-04-09 2019-09-24 Xerox Corporation Platform of cellular omni wheels for a registration system

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2911859A1 (fr) 2008-08-01
EP1958902A1 (de) 2008-08-20
EP1958902B1 (de) 2010-03-10
DE602008000769D1 (de) 2010-04-22
FR2911859B1 (fr) 2009-08-21

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
AS Assignment

Owner name: NEOPOST TECHNOLOGIES, FRENCH LIMITED COMPANY, FRAN

Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GREGOIRE, JEAN-PIERRE;PILLARD, ROMAIN;REEL/FRAME:020752/0614

Effective date: 20080328

STCB Information on status: application discontinuation

Free format text: ABANDONED -- FAILURE TO RESPOND TO AN OFFICE ACTION