Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – Pack holders
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-07
2001-11-13
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
Pack holders
Reexamination Certificate
active
06315286
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to a mixed mail cancellation system or a mixed mail sorter, and, more specifically, to a vertical stack mixed mail feeder, including a jogger system for automatically registering mixed mail on the feeder.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In a mixed mail transport system, a vertical stack mixed mail feeder, or stack advance, is used to support and advance the mail stack to a nudger. The nudger typically moves the individual mailpieces from the mail stack in a shingled manner toward a mail separator which separates individual pieces of mail for subsequent processing such as being canceled by a print head. A typical stack advance is shown in FIG.
1
. In the stack advance
10
, mailpieces
12
are loaded in a stack
14
upside down on a long deck
16
, with the face
18
of the mailpieces facing the nudger (not shown), which is located near the downstream end
200
of the stack advance
10
. The upstream end of the stack advance
10
is denoted by reference numeral
202
. Perpendicular to the deck
16
, a vertical registration wall
20
is used to register the mailpieces
12
. In proper registration, the leading edge
22
of every mailpiece
12
in the stack is aligned against the registration wall
20
. The bottom edges
24
of the mailpieces
12
are supported by a transport timing belt
30
and an outboard slider bed
34
. An inboard slider bed, which is not shown in the figure, is located below the timing belt
30
for supporting the timing belt
30
. The outboard slider bed
34
is provided on the trailing edge side
26
of the mailpieces
12
to allow the mailpieces
12
to slide toward the nudger along a direction indicated by an arrow
204
. The timing belt
30
, driven by a motor (not shown), is used to drive the mail stack
14
toward the nudger. The downstream side of the mail stack
14
is supported by a paddle
40
. The bottom
42
of the paddle
44
has a paddle tooth (not shown) attached thereto for riding in the grooves
32
of the timing belt
30
for advancing the paddle
40
toward the downstream end
200
along with the mail stack
14
. It should be noted that
FIG. 1
shows only a few mailpieces
12
in a mail stack
14
being stacked on the stack advance
10
. Typically, a mail stack fills the gap between the paddle
40
and the nudger. At the nudger, the leading edge
22
of each mailpiece
12
is ingested into the nudger along a direction indicated by an arrow
206
. The mailpieces
12
from the stack
14
are separated by the nudger for further processing such as being canceled by a printhead (not shown).
Testing with vertical stack mixed mail feeders has shown that when mail is poorly registered onto the stack advance deck, the performance of the system, in terms of jams, stalls and multifeeds, degrades significantly. Furthermore, the quality of loading plays a great role in the performance of the vertical stack mixed mail feeders. When mail is poorly bottom registered, mail has a tendency to miss some or all of the driving and/or retard elements in the feeder. This will cause jams, stalls and multifeeds. When mail is poorly lead-edge registered, gross reverse shingling can occur, which greatly increases the likelihood of multifeeds. Therefore, to allow the machine to perform as well as possible, the mail must be bottom and lead-edge registered. Registering the mail manually is time-consuming, especially when the mail mix is severe. In an actual environment, it is impractical to rely on the operator to perform this difficult and time-consuming task.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method and device to improve the mail registration in a mixed mail feeder.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The method to improve mailpiece registration in a vertical stack mixed mail feeder, according to the present invention, uses a jogger system to intermittently or periodically push the mail stack up and down in a vibration-like motion at the outboard side while the mailpieces are being transported downstream. Preferably the jogger system is integrated with the outboard slider bed to provide a vibration-like motion. The vibration is intended to loosen each mailpiece from its two adjacent mailpieces, thereby allowing the mailpiece to rest on the outboard slider bed and move toward the registration wall.
In the preferred embodiment, the jogger system is attached to the bottom of the outboard slider bed. A motor and at least one eccentric weight mounted on a motor shaft are installed on the underside of the slider bed. A compliance means such as low durometer grommets are placed between the jogger system and the stack mail feeder for mounting. The compliance means allows the slider bed to move in a vibration mode.
The method and device for improving mailpiece registration in a stack mail feeder will become apparent upon reading the description taken in conjunction with
FIG. 2
to FIG.
6
.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3598399 (1971-08-01), Gordon
patent: 3966193 (1976-06-01), Storace et al.
patent: 4275875 (1981-06-01), Akers
patent: 4371155 (1983-02-01), Astero et al.
patent: 4757985 (1988-07-01), Hamant et al.
patent: 4789148 (1988-12-01), Noguchi et al.
patent: 5290022 (1994-03-01), Sabatier et al.
patent: 5374050 (1994-12-01), Prim
patent: 5413323 (1995-05-01), Imbert et al.
patent: 5915685 (1999-06-01), Bausch et al.
Muenchinger Mark F.
Salomon James A.
Yap Anthony E.
Bower Kenneth W.
Ellis Christopher P.
Melton Michael E.
Pitney Bowes Inc.
Shapiro Steven J.
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