Package making – Methods – Filling preformed receptacle
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-12
2004-07-27
Rada, Rinaldi I. (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
Filling preformed receptacle
C053S447000, C053S569000, C053S238000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06766629
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to swing arm style mail insertion machines, and more particularly to high speed insertion of products, such as compact disks, computer diskettes, credit cards, keys, etc., into envelopes with a swing arm style mail insertion machine.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
High speed insertion machines have been used for many years to insert relatively flat and flexible paper items such as bills, envelopes for returning payment of the bill, account information, coupons, and advertising materials into a common envelope for mailing to a recipient.
FIGS. 1 and 2
depict one type of such a high speed insertion machine, known as a “multi-station, swing-arm-style mail insertion machine”
10
. The multi-station, swing-arm-style machine
10
includes a raceway
12
having a conveyor
14
therein that sequentially moves items
17
placed into the raceway
12
from hoppers
19
at a series of insertion stations
16
located at a rear side
18
of the raceway
12
, for insertion into an envelope
20
, as the conveyor
14
moves in the direction indicated by the arrow
22
. The items are moved from the hopper
19
to the raceway
12
at each station
16
by a swing-arm
24
, having an upper end fixedly attached for rotation therewith to a swing arm shaft
26
. As shown in
FIG. 2
, the swing arm shaft
26
is pivotably mounted for angular movement about a swing arm shaft axis
28
between a rear angular position
30
and a front angular position
32
of the swing arm shaft
26
and swing arm
24
. The distal end (i.e. the lower end as shown in
FIG. 2
) of the swing arm
24
includes gripping fingers
34
for grasping one of the items
17
in the hopper
19
at the station
16
, when the swing arm shaft
26
and swing arm
24
are in the rear angular position
30
, and for dropping the grasped item
17
into the raceway
12
as the swing arm shaft
26
and swing arm
24
move from the rear angular position
30
to the front angular position
32
.
Swing-arm style insertion machines
10
of the type described above are commonly used to fill envelopes with relatively flat and flexible paper items of the type listed above at rates up to 10,000 pieces per hour.
In recent years it has also become desirable to insert products such as compact disks (CDs), computer diskettes, stamps, credit cards, keys, match books, pencils or pens, etc., into envelopes for mailing with or in the same manner as the paper items that the swing-arm style insertion machines
10
were designed to handle. The gripping fingers
34
and hoppers
19
at the stations
16
of prior swing-arm style insertion machines
10
cannot handle such products, however. Even if the gripping fingers
34
and hoppers
19
of prior machines could feed such products, it would be undesirable to lose the ability to insert flat paper items
17
at an insertion station
16
used for inserting the product.
In one prior approach, the products are fed manually by hand, into the raceway
12
from the front side
36
of the raceway
12
, at one or more of the stations
16
, by a person operating the machine
10
. With this approach, the rate at which the machine
10
can fill envelopes
20
is greatly reduced. Reliability of inserting the product is entirely dependent upon the skill, trustworthiness, and alertness of the person operating the machine
10
. It is also not desirable for safety reasons to have the operator reaching into the raceway
12
with the swing arms
24
moving rapidly back and forth between the front and rear angular positions
32
,
30
.
In another approach, a stand-alone insertion machine, operating independently from the swing-arm machine
10
, is used for inserting the product from the front side
36
of the raceway
12
at one or more of the stations
16
. Because the stand-alone machine operates independently from the swing-arm machine
10
, setting and maintaining the timing of insertion from the stand-alone machine to coordinate properly with movement of the swing arm
24
is difficult. It is typically necessary, therefore, to slow the swing-arm machine
10
down considerably to ensure proper timing of insertion of the product. It is also typically necessary to closely monitor the insertion operation to ensure that the standalone machine remains properly timed with respect to the swing-arm machine
10
, and to stop and reset the two machines periodically. There is also typically no common means for monitoring and controlling the performance of both the swing-arm machine
10
and stand-alone machine, to shut down the machines and alert an operator if the hoppers
19
on the swing-arm machine
10
or the stand-alone machine need to be refilled, or a mis-feed condition occurs, necessitating high labor content for an operator to closely monitor operation of both machines.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved method and apparatus for feeding products such as those described above into envelopes, with a swing-arm-style mail insertion machine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Our invention provides an improved method and apparatus for operating a swing-arm-style mail insertion machine, by fixedly attaching an actuator arm apparatus to the swing arm shaft of the swing arm insertion machine for feeding a product from a front side of a raceway of the swing-arm-style machine into the raceway. The actuator arm is configured for gripping a product from the front of the raceway of the swing-arm machine when the swing arm shaft is in a front angular position, and for placing the product into the raceway as the swing arm shaft pivots from the front angular position to a rear angular position.
Our actuator arm apparatus can be installed at a station of the swing-arm machine and used simultaneously with a swing-arm also installed at the same station, with the swing-arm depositing a first item into the raceway as the swing arm shaft pivots from the rear to the front, and the actuator arm apparatus depositing a product into the raceway as the swing arm shaft pivots from the front to the rear angular position.
Because our actuator arm device is attached to and operated by the swing arm shaft of the swing-arm insertion machine, the method and apparatus of our invention make it possible to automatically feed and insert products into envelopes at very high rates of feed up to 10,000 pieces per hour, in place of, or in conjunction with, the flat paper type of inserts for which such swing-arm insertion machines were originally designed.
Some forms of our invention may also include automatic controls for monitoring proper insertion of the products, and shutting down the swing-arm machine so that corrective action can be taken. Our invention may also include utilization of a front mounted product feeder channel that can be readily mounted on the front side of the raceway, and adapted to feed a wide variety of products.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of our invention will become further apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of our invention rather than limiting, the scope of the invention being defined by the appended claims and equivalents thereof.
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Niebauer, Jr. Ronald W.
Smith, Jr. Richard L.
AR International, Inc.
Cardinal Law Group
Paradiso John
Rada Rinaldi I.
LandOfFree
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