Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – Pack holders
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-13
2001-05-22
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
Pack holders
C271S171000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06234471
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to document joggers, and more particularly to a document jogger having an adjustable bin.
2. Discussion
In commerce, documents of various sizes and grades are generated as a result of transactions. For example, in the financial services industry thousands of checks clear on a daily basis. These checks are processed so that the appropriate funds can be transmitted from one institution to another. In performing this task, various types of processing equipment are used. In order to be reliably operated on by the processing equipment, documents such as checks when fed into the processing equipment must be aligned along their leading and bottom edges. One way of doing this is to use a document jogger. A document jogger has the function of aligning documents along their leading and bottom edges by vigorously vibrating the documents, which are stacked in a bin, so that their inter document friction lock is broken and the documents fall into alignment.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a document jogger known in the art is illustrated. The document jogger
10
has a base
12
. The base
12
supports a housing
14
that is suspended from the base
12
by springs. The housing
14
has a column
13
that is mounted to a deck
16
. The deck
16
has mounted to it a wall
17
which forms a vee at its juncture with a bottom wall or base
21
of the deck
16
. The deck
16
also has mounted to it a plurality of fixed walls
24
that, in conjunction with wall
17
and base
21
, define bins
18
. The bins
18
are adapted to hold a stack of documents
22
of various sizes and grades that are sufficient in number to be held in the adult human hand. The jogger
10
can have a plurality of bins
18
depending upon the jogging time and number of documents being processed. Although it is known in the art to have as many as twelve bins employed, it is most common to have four bins for use with, for example, check processing equipment.
In operation, the jogger
10
is controlled by a control mechanism
11
which when actuated powers an electromagnet that is rigidly fastened to the base
12
. The electromagnet excites the housing
14
with an alternating magnetic field causing the housing
14
to vibrate on its spring suspension vertically. The deck
16
, which is rigidly mounted to the housing
14
by way of the column
13
, vibrates with the housing
14
. The amplitude of the vibration is approximately 0.05 inch peak-to-peak, and its frequency is usually 60 hertz. To facilitate alignment along the leading and bottom edges of the documents
22
, the deck
16
is mounted at an angle in relation to the column
13
such that in operation, vertical vibration causes the documents
22
to settle into the vee formed at the juncture of the wall
17
and the base
21
.
In operation, problems can occur at the end of a check processing run when, for example, a smaller than desirable batch of documents is placed into a bin
18
. This happens more frequently, for example, at smaller community banks which receive their deposited checks periodically. When a batch of documents
22
does not completely fill the bin
18
, it is known that the documents may fall onto their side during operation of the jogger, and may then fall through a debris slot
20
in the wall
17
. It is also known that if the documents
22
do not fall through the debris slot
20
, the documents
22
laying on their side cannot be properly jogged resulting in improper alignment and difficulties in processing. To prevent this, operators have supported smaller batches with their hands. In doing so, this prevents an operator from performing other tasks. Additionally, the operator may shorten the jogging time therein not allowing sufficient vibration to align the documents
22
. Finally, it is known that the operator may apply too much pressure in holding the batch therein preventing proper jogging and alignment.
It is therefore desirable to provide a jogger with adjustable bin width that can alleviate the above-referenced problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a jogger having an adjustable bin width.
Accordingly, it is also an object of the present invention to have a deck portion of a document jogger having at least one adjustable bin, the adjustable bin having an adjustably movable wall coupled to a floor opposite to a fixed wall, a variable space being defined by the adjustably movable wall, the fixed wall and the floor, the variable space being adapted for receiving documents.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3061303 (1962-10-01), Glaser et al.
patent: 3198519 (1965-08-01), Bartsch
patent: 4345753 (1982-08-01), Marshall
patent: 5044877 (1991-09-01), Constant et al.
patent: 5622269 (1997-04-01), Seymour et al.
patent: 1 183 915 (1964-12-01), None
Deuble Mark A.
Ellis Christopher P.
Harness Dickey & Pierce
Starr Mark T.
Unisys Corporation
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