Typewriting machines – For typing on flat record-medium or against flat platen – Work support
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-05
2001-08-28
Eickholt, Eugene (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
For typing on flat record-medium or against flat platen
Work support
C101S091000, C271S185000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06280104
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a configuration for depositing recording media, in particular envelopes or letters, which are discharged from a franking and/or addressing machine standing on one edge.
In the case of the franking and/or addressing machines that have been available on the market up until now, the envelopes or letters are transported horizontally and usually after being printed, and, as a result of the kinetic energy that still prevails, pass into a downstream box. The envelopes or letters are deposited one above the other in the box.
Also in the prior art is a franking machine in which the envelopes or letters are transported standing on one edge and butting against a rearwardly inclined guide plate. See German Application Numbers DE 19 605 014 and DE 19 605 015. Proposals have been made for a configuration for depositing envelopes or letters for a franking machine (see German Patent Application DE 197 42 893.2, which has not been previously published), in which an insert is releasably connected to the machine, and the envelopes or letters slide from the insert into a shallow box and are deposited horizontally one above the other. See, for example, FIG.
1
. In
FIG. 1
, the insert
2
is angled and includes a front wall
21
and a side wall
22
. The two walls
21
,
22
are orthogonal with respect to one an other and the side wall
22
is attached to the franking machine
1
. The front wall
21
has a channel
211
for the bottom edge of the envelopes or letters in the franking machine
1
. The channel
211
slopes down in the transporting direction and adjoins the guide plan e
121
. The outlet part of the guide plane
121
is configured, analogously to the channel
211
, in a downward slope.
A depositing box
3
formed as an angled part that can be adjusted with respect to the insert
2
is provided in conjunction with the insert
2
. The depositing box
3
includes a front wall
31
, a side wall
32
, and a base plate
33
. The walls
31
,
32
,
33
are disposed orthogonally with respect to one another. As such, the base plate
33
serves as a carrier for the envelopes or letters deposited. The front wall
31
is guided adjustably in an adapted slit
212
of the front wall
21
of the insert
2
. The side wall
32
is configured as a resilient deflecting wall and is disposed orthogonally with respect to the envelope-transporting direction and at an adjustable distance downstream of the channel
211
. The distance is usually selected to be somewhat greater than the largest envelope or letter format that is to be processed.
Because the envelope or letter stack also acts as a tipping edge, the
FIG. 1
configuration achieves a stacking height corresponding approximately to half the height of the smallest envelope or letter format and/or the height of the central part of the channel
211
.
Furthermore, proposals have been made for applying an apparatus for transferring envelopes or letters to a downstream depositing apparatus of the type described immediately above to the first above-mentioned franking machine. See German Patent Number 198 40 917 C1 and
FIGS. 2 and 2
a
. In
FIGS. 2 and 2
a
, a driven transporting roller
14
is provided in a franking machine
1
immediately downstream of the transporting belt
12
in an envelope-transporting direction and at the same height as the transporting belt
12
. The circumferential speed of the transporting roller
14
is adjusted to be higher than the speed of the transporting belt
12
. The sliding surface
121
following the transporting roller
14
for the bottom edge of the envelopes or letters is at a lower level and has a sliding configuration. The inclination and shape of the sliding surface
121
and the initial region
2111
of channel
211
are adapted to one another.
In the above-described examples, there is a risk that newly closed envelopes deposited spring open, particularly when thick envelopes or letters are deposited. Furthermore, the stack itself limits the stacking height.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a configuration for depositing recording media that overcomes the hereinafore-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and that improves the reliability and the usability of the franking and/or addressing machine.
The object of the invention is to provide a configuration by which recording media, particularly envelopes or letters, can be deposited in a careful and functionally reliable manner and the stacking height is determined merely by the configuration itself.
With the foregoing and other objects in view, there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a configuration for depositing recording media that are transported in a franking and/or addressing machine standing on one edge and butting against an inclined guide plate of the machine, the machine having a guide plane and the guide plate having an abutment plane, the configuration including a single-piece insert laterally attached to the machine and being formed with a channel for receiving recording media travelling on edge from the machine and for sliding recording media thereon, and a depositing box having a depositing region and cooperating with the insert, the channel adjoining a guide plane of the machine, running horizontally and slightly obliquely rearward behind an abutment plane of a guide plate of the machine, and undercut such that the depositing region extends beneath the channel.
Since the channel, on one hand, runs horizontally and, on the other hand, extends obliquely behind the guide plane of the guide plate of the franking machine, the envelopes or letters are braked and tipped immediately after leaving the franking machine. Such influence avoids forcible impact against the side wall of the depositing box.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the franking machine has a transporting roller preceding the channel in a recording media travelling direction, the transporting roller terminates flush with the guide plane, the insert has a front wall with a rear side, and the channel slopes downward and is formed in the front wall of the insert such that the rear side of the front wall undercuts the channel.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, the insert has an upstream side in a recording media travelling direction, and the channel has an upstream end in the recording media travelling direction, a rear region in a viewing direction of the machine, a nose at the upstream end and formed as a slanting plane sloping downward in the recording media travelling direction and projecting beyond the upstream side of the insert and into the guide plane of the machine, a supporting plate at the upstream end and at the rear region that is adapted to an inclination of the guide plate of the machine, a front top guide slope, a front bottom guide slope, and a rear guide slope, the three guide slopes having, in a transverse profile, a wedge-shaped depression that is bent on one side.
The maximum stacking height of the envelopes or letters is determined by that height of the rear top edge of the channel above the base of the depositing box. The nose, upstream of the channel, which projects into the sliding surface of the franking machine achieves a smooth transition for the envelopes or letters to the channel without the risk of catching.
In addition to the guide channel, the configuration of the rear side of the front wall of the insert according to the invention has considerable influence. Because the rear side of the front wall undercuts the channel, the tipped envelope or letter has sufficient free space to come into contact at an oblique angle with the base of the depositing box or a previously deposited envelope or letter. Moreover, the rear side is also included in the dropping operation insofar as the envelope or letter slides downward with the previously load-bearing edge butting against the rear side. The rear side of the insert and the side wall of the depositing box pr
Inten Wolfgang Von
Muller Dietrich
Eickholt Eugene
Francotyp-Postalia AG & Co.
Greenberg Laurence A.
Lerner Herbert L.
Stemer Werner H.
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