Breakaway pusher for a timing belt of a mail inserter

Details Breakaway pusher for a timing belt of a mail inserter Breakaway pusher for a timing belt of a mail inserter

1999-08-30

2001-05-29

Bidwell, James R. (Department: 3651)

Conveyors: power-driven

Conveyor section

Pusher conveyor and separate load support surface

C198S728000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06237746

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to a mailing machine, and in particular to a pusher on a timing belt used as part of a mail inserter.
2. Description of Related Art
A mailing machine is equipment used to build up a mail piece from its components: the individual pages of the mail piece and its envelope. In the course of this building up process, several collated pages of a mail piece, called a collation, are conveyed by a conveyor between stations of the mailing machine. In a mail inserter type of mailing machine, as the collations are transported along the conveyor, they are eventually stuffed into an envelope. As a way of providing to the mailing machine a known position on the conveyor of at least one edge of each page of a collation, i.e. to provide edge registration, the upstream end of each collation is pushed by fingers protruding from the conveyor; these fingers are called pushers.
FIG. 1
a
shows part of a prior art inserter-type mailing machine, for document collating and stuffing. It includes a conveyor segment
41
formed by a pair of chains
42
,
43
, each chain trained about two sprockets
44
,
45
and
46
,
47
respectively. Each sprocket is secured to the end of a shaft
48
,
49
. Each of the chains
42
,
43
has a plurality of pushers
51
extending outwardly from one of the chains
42
,
43
. Pairs of the pushers
51
, one on each chain
42
,
43
, push documents
52
along the conveyor segment
41
. In this prior art mailing machine, the documents
52
rest on a platform
53
.
Sometimes, although a conveyor continues to turn so as to convey downstream its burden of collations, ajam or other situation obstructs the collations. The obstruction causes a jamming or backlogging of the collations. When a high speed mailing machine senses such a backlogging, it automatically performs a controlled halt. Although this halting may be performed rapidly, there is still a significant risk that some collations will be damaged by being forced against either the initiating obstruction itself or a secondary obstruction, one caused by the initiating construction.
What is needed is a way of pushing a collation along a timing belt so as to register the upstream end of the collation, but doing so with a mechanism that responds to a backward force exerted by the collation, in case of the collation encountering an obstruction, in such a way as to avoid damaging the collation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention provides a breakaway pusher for a timing belt of a mailing machine, the timing belt having a normal direction of travel and having an upper surface for conveying a collation, the breakaway pusher comprising: a pusher, having a back surface, the back surface facing opposite the normal direction of travel of the timing belt, and having a front surface for pushing a collation; and a device affixed to the timing belt for resiliently, rotatably holding the pusher in an orientation where its front surface is oriented so as to push a collation in the normal direction of travel of the timing belt; wherein the device for resiliently, rotatably holding the pusher yields to a force opposite to the normal direction of travel of the timing belt by allowing the back surface of the pusher to rotate downward toward the upper surface of the timing belt.
In particular applications of the invention, the device for resiliently, rotatably holding the pusher comprises a split lug, affixed to the upper surface of the timing belt, comprising two spaced apart halves, and, in some of these applications, a torsion spring, having a first leg and a second leg, and having an eye positioned between the two halves of the split lug, the first leg substantially parallel to and oriented in the direction opposite to the normal travel direction of the timing belt, and the second leg engaging the pusher and being substantially perpendicular to the timing belt when the torsion spring is not compressed, the torsion spring being oriented so that, in compressing, the second leg rotates so as to at least partially align with the first leg. In some applications, the constituent parts of the device are held together using a pin, extending through the two halves of the split lug and through the eye of the torsion spring.


REFERENCES:
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patent: 1174818 (1964-07-01), None
patent: 2459229 (1975-07-01), None
patent: 310850 (1971-09-01), None
patent: 1245517 (1986-07-01), None

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