Typewriting machines – Including selection of type-face by... – Including particular reader structure and operation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-17
2001-05-22
Eickholt, Eugene (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Including selection of type-face by...
Including particular reader structure and operation
C101S032000, C101S485000, C347S019000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234693
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of mail handling, and it relates more particularly to a device serving, in a mail-handling machine, to offset the postage imprint printed on a mail item, the offset being a function of the dimensional characteristics of the item, and in particular its thickness.
PRIOR ART
Conventionally, a mail-handling machine must be suitable for receiving various types of mail item, such as documents, labels, and envelopes or “covers”, that have dimensions that are very different with various lengths and thicknesses being encountered. Patent Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,638,732 issued in 1987 shows a mail-handling machine in which the position at which the postage imprint is to be printed relative to the edge of a mail item is determined as a function of the speed at which the item is advancing through the machine, as measured by means of two sensors spaced apart at a determined distance, and placed on the path along which the mail items are conveyed. That reference position is set once and for all by the control means of the machine. Unfortunately, the thicker the mail item, the more the postage imprint in the vicinity of the edge of the mail item is subject to deformation. A keypad is thus provided on which two keys enable the reference position to be displaced in increments forwards and backwards to take account of any variation in the thicknesses of mail items.
Nearly ten years later, at the end of 1995, Patent Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,586 merely proposed adding light-emitting diodes to the keypad to inform the operator of the increment chosen for the displacement of the postage imprint relative to the reference position as determined by the speed of advance of the mail item.
However, in both of those two structures, mail item thickness is taken into account manually by the operator. As a result, the mail-handling process must be slowed down, which is unacceptable when it is necessary to handle large volumes of mail having dimensional characteristics that vary frequently.
A first solution to the problem posed by the rate of handling being slowed down is provided by the Applicant's French Patent Application No. 97 01054. That solution enables the print cycle command for printing the postage imprint to be offset as a function of mail item thickness. Unfortunately, the device claimed requires the presence of two sensors, namely a conventional sensor for detecting the edge of the envelope, and a special sensor for measuring the thickness of the envelope, it also being necessary for the control means to be adapted to enable the print cycle to be modified as a function of various ranges of thickness. In addition, it should be noted that the second sensor must be of quite high precision, and it is therefore necessary to use a rather complex magnetic probe of the Hall-effect type.
OBJECT AND DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to propose an improved device enabling the postage imprint printed on mail items to be offset automatically. In particular, an object of the invention is to provide a device that is particularly simple and reliable, and, in particular, that does not require the print control cycle for printing the postage imprint to be modified, unlike the first application by the Applicant.
These objects are achieved by a device for offsetting a postage imprint in a mail-handling machine, the device comprising detection means for detecting an edge of a mail item, print means for printing a postage imprint on the mail item, and monitoring and control means, advantageously of the microprocessor type, connected firstly to said detection means and secondly to said print means so as to control printing of said postage imprint on said mail item as a function of a predetermined standard offset &Dgr;
0
on the basis of the detection of said edge of the mail item, wherein said detection means for detecting an edge of the mail item comprise means for retarding the detection of the edge of the mail item as a function of the thickness of the mail item, which thickness is determined using said detection means for detecting an edge of a mail item.
Thus, as with the Applicant's prior art device, manual action is no longer necessary to adapt the position of the postage imprint as a function of the thickness of the mail item, and, in addition, the means for controlling the print cycle are not modified. Moreover, there is no longer any need for a special second sensor (Hall-effect probe), since the detection means are limited to a single sensor which detects both the edge of the envelope and the thickness thereof. By means of their particular structure, various thicknesses of the mail items are taken into account simply and particularly reliably.
Advantageously, and unlike the prior art devices, the detection means detect both an edge of an envelope, and an edge of a label.
Preferably, said detection means comprise a swan-necked bell-crank having a convex top portion which is terminated by a detection end, and a concave bottom portion which is terminated by a feeler end, a pin about which the crank can rock being situated substantially where the two portions meet. Said feeler end is provided with an impact zone which co-operates with said edge of the mail item, and which has a profile that slopes down to a predetermined depth h below the level corresponding to a top surface of the mail item, which surface is defined by a reference top plate of the conveyor path along which the mail items are conveyed. Preferably, said impact zone is formed of a flat sloping at about 45° to the horizontal.
The invention also provides a device for detecting an edge of a mail item in a mail-handling machine, said device comprising a swan-necked bell-crank having a convex top portion which is terminated by a detection end, and a concave bottom portion which is terminated by a feeler end, a pin about which the crank can rock being situated substantially where the two portions meet. The feeler end is provided with an impact zone which has a sloping profile serving to co-operate with said edge of the mail item.
The invention also provides a method of offsetting a postage imprint in a mail-handling machine, said method comprising a first step using detection means to detect an edge of a mail item, a second step using monitoring and control means connected to said detection means to deliver a predetermined standard offset &Dgr;
0
on the basis of the detection of said edge of a mail item, and a third step using print means connected to said monitoring and control means to print the postage imprint on the mail item, wherein the detection of the edge of the mail item that is performed in the first step is retarded as a function of dimensional characteristics of the mail item, as determined using said detection means for detecting an edge of the mail item. Said dimensional characteristics are advantageously constituted by the various thicknesses of the selected mail items.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3612511 (1971-10-01), Godlewski
patent: 3834691 (1974-09-01), Paulson
patent: 3881296 (1975-05-01), Bate
patent: 4541623 (1985-09-01), Huerta
patent: 5203263 (1993-04-01), Berger et al.
patent: 5464099 (1995-11-01), Stevens et al.
patent: 5651445 (1997-07-01), Stevens et al.
patent: 5813327 (1998-09-01), Freeman et al.
patent: 5988252 (1999-11-01), Carroll
patent: 6106095 (2000-08-01), Jackson et al.
patent: 0 589 722 A2 (1994-03-01), None
patent: 0 615 212 A2 (1994-09-01), None
patent: 2 759 186 A1 (1998-08-01), None
Gregoire Jean-Pierre
Le Jaoudour Thierry
Eickholt Eugene
Neopost Industrie
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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