Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
TTLTED DECK MAIL-HANDLING MACHINE
The invention relates to machines for processing or hand-
ling mail pieces, and in particular mixed mail.
Background of the Invention
A machine constructed to handle mixed mail generates a
number of very severe problems. By mixed mail is meant envelopes
of varying sizes, shapes, and thicknesses, and unflapped (sealed)
and flapped (unsealed) envelopes.
Por the postage printing operation, the envelopes must be
registered, by which is meant that the edge of the envelope,
typically at the flapped side, must occupy a predetermined posi-
tion so 'that the postage printer prints the postage at the proper
location at the corner of the envelope. This is typically ac°
complished by positively pushing the envelope up against a
registration surface as it is conveyed through the machine. When
the envelope is conveyed horizontally or flat, along a machine
deck, the registration surface is typically a vertical wall.
When the envelopes are all of the same width, and are conveyed
downstream with a short side leading, registration is easily ac°
complished by providing a second wall spaced by the envelope
width from the registration wall. This solution cannot be imple-
mented with envelopes of different widths. Another possible
solution is to devise some form of tamper for tamping the oppo°
site long edge of the envelope as it is fed through successive
modules of the machine and thus push the registration edge up
987.017.PIT°248 (C°438) °1°
against the registration wall. But this solution has been far
too expensive to implement as a reliable means for maintaining
registration of envelopes whose width can vary. Moreover, when
the envelopes are being transported through the machine at up to
four per second, devising a tamper that can instantaneously ad-
just to the differently sized envelopes flying through has proved
essentially impossible.
8ummary of the Tnvention
We have discovered that there is available a relatively
simple expedient which surprisingly solves the problem. That ex-
pedient is to tilt the deck along which the envelopes are trans-
ported from the place when they first must be registered to and
throughout the printing station for the envelope. More specifi-
cally, we have discovered that if a registration wall or surface
is established 'through the machine adjacent the deck along which
the envelopes are transmitted, and if the deck is tilted so it
slopes toward the registration surface at an angle between 4° and
6o from a horizontal plane, then the envelopes due to gravi-
tational forces remain in contact with the registration surface
while being transported, and equally imp~rtant, operation of the
various modules along the transport path is not detrimentally af-
fected by the sloped deck. A tall stack of mail is prevented
from tipping over by the angle as it moves the center of gravity
rearward. This range of 40 - 6o is critical, with 5° being
preferred. At smaller angles, the envelopes do not maintain
their registration. At greater angles, the transport~mechanisms
987.01~.pTT-248 (~-438) -2-
CA 02003465 1998-11-26
become difficult to implement, the standard singulating, sealing, weighing
and printing modules, typically present in such mail handling machines,
no longer operate reliably. With the deck slope maintained within this
4°
- 6° range, the standard mail-handling modules can be used without any
significant redesign or reconstruction, and there is no need to provide the
traditional front guides which would constrain the handling of different
width mail pieces.
The sealing and printing modules each utilize liquids. Moreover,
the weighing station requires a pause while mail is weighed. These
functions traditionally demand flat surfaces, which makes the choice of a
tilted deck even more surprising in the context of the present invention.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the mailing machine
comprises a plurality of modules or stations arranged in sequence one
after the other and including, starting from the upstream end of the mail
flow, a feeder station, a singulator station, a sealer station, and a weighing
and printer station, all of the units including a mail piece deck provided
with transport means for conveying mail pieces oriented horizontally in
sequence through the stations, the stations each containing a generally
vertical surface used to register a side edge of each mail piece. The
register surfaces of all of the stations are aligned and form a straight line
from the feeder upstream end to the printer downstream end of the
machine, and with their respective decks also in line with one another. In
accordance with this aspect of the invention, the decks are all uniformly
tilted from a horizontal plane down toward the reference surface at an
angle between about 4° and 6°. Further, an orthogonal
relationship is
preferably maintained between the decks and the reference surface. This
means, therefore, that the reference surface is also tipped backwards by
about 4° - 6° with respect to a vertical plane. Moreover, those
units of the
machine that employ liquids are suitably adapted to this tilted
environment. For example, a flap glue moistener used in the sealing
station, can use a positive pressure pump to spray water on the flap glue
to avoid the problems that would be encountered if the more traditional
wet roller were employed. Similarly, the inker for the printer can use a
positive pressure system to dispense the ink to an inking pad each time
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CA 02003465 1998-11-26
just before the pad contacts the printer imprint wheels, to avoid uneven
pad wetting due to the tilted positioning.
An aspect of this invention is as follows:
In an article processing apparatus, the combination comprising:
feeder means for receiving a stack of varying size and thickness
articles, said feeder means having a continuous feed deck, a reference wall
extending longitudinally along one side of said deck, and having
singulating means for withdrawing an article from the stack in a seriatim
manner, sealing means for sealing said articles which are unsealed and
feeder transport means for transporting said articles along said feed deck
from said singulating means to and from said sealing means;
imprinting means for receiving said articles from said feeder
transport means and printing on said articles, said imprinting means
having a continuous imprinting deck, and having printing means
including print members for imprinting on said article, said imprint
means including an inker module having an ink pad for contact transfer of
ink to said print members of said printing means, a supply ink reservoir
and a pump means for causing ink to be delivered from said ink reservoir
to said pad, and imprinting transport means for receiving articles from
said feeder transport and positioning said article for imprinting by said
imprinting means and causing said articles to be discharged from said
imprinting means following imprinting; and
said feeder deck and said imprinting decks being tiltable reclined
with respect to the horizontal at a matching angle of approximately 4 to 6
degrees.
Description of the Figures
The invention will now be described in greater detail in connection
with a preferred embodiment, reference being had to the accompanying
drawings wherein:
Fig. 1 is a general block diagram of a modular mail processing
system;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view of one form of mailing machine
according to the invention illustrating the manner in which the feed deck
is tilted;
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~~t~~3~~
Fig. 3 is a schematic side view of the machine of Fig. 2.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, a mail processing system,
generally indicated as 11, is comprised of a plurality of modules
under the control and influence of a system controller, generally
indicated as 13. The individual modules are an envelope feeder
module 15, a singulator module 17, a sealer transport module 19
which includes a sealer module 21, and what is here referred to
as an integrated module 23. The integrated module is comprised
of a scale module 25, a meter module 27, an inker module 29, an
optional tape module 31, a transport module 33 and a platen
module 35. The integrated module is so referred to because the
individual modules are mounted in a single housing. Each module
includes the appropriate mechanism to perform a mail processing
function.
Although the term envelope will be employed hereinafter
for convenience, it will be understood that the source document
may include other forms of documents or mail pieces. Generally,
the feeder module 15 receives an envelope stack 36 at a hopper
end and, in the preferred embodiment, includes suitable mechan-
isms to shingle the bottom portion of the mail stack 36. The
singulator 1? is charged with the function of extracting a bot-
tommost envelape 38 from the now partially shingled envelope
stack 36 in a seriatim manner and delivering the envelope 38 to
the sealer transport module 19. The sealer transport module 19
is charged with the function of traversing the envelope 38 across
987.017.PTT-248 (C°438) -5°
the sealer module 21. The sealer transport module 19 has the ca-
pability of determining the sealing state of the envelope 38, by
passing pre-sealed envelopes, and stripping open any unsealed
flaps. The sealer transport module 19 also serves up the en-
velope 38 to the transport module 33 of the integrated module 23.
As aforenoted, the integrated module 23 is comprised of a
scale module 25, a meter module 27, an inker module 29 including
an inking liquid reservoir 30, a tape module 31, a transport
module 33 and a platen module 35. The mailing machine transport
module 33 receives the envelope 38 from the feeder transport 19
and delivers the envelope to the scale 25. The scale module 25
is charged with the function of weighing the envelope 38 and
reporting the appropriate postage value as a function of the
weight determined to the postage meter module 27 mounted to the
mailing machine 23. The indicia printing method employed in the
preferred mailing system is referred to in the art as flat bed
indicia printing. In accordance therewith, as the envelope 38
rests upon the scale, subsequewt to being weighed, the postage
meter module 27 print elements are set to the appropriate value
as a function of envelope 38 weight. The inker module 29, in-
cluding an inking pad for inking the print wheels as well as an
inking reservoir for applying ink to the inking pad 33, is then
charged with the function of inking the indicia of the meter
module 27. Subsequent to inking of the postage meter module
print elements, the platen module 35 is charged with the function
of bringing the envelope 38 into printing contact with the print
987.017.p1T-248 (C-438)
elements of the postage meter module 27. After the envelope 38
has been imprinted by the postage meter module 27, the transport
module 33 resumes comtrol over the envelope 38 and ejects the en-
velope 38 from the mailing machine 23.
Each module includes a path along which the envelope is
fed. The envelope is maintained under positive control at all
times, meaning that it is continuously driven from module to
module by means of a driving force. The horizontal deck or bed
along which the envelope is driven through all modules is desig-
nested by 42. The registration surface, which exists through ali
the modules, in this case a rear surface of the machine, is
designated 44. These two surfaces 42, 44 preferably meet in a
manner such that they are orthogonal with respect to each other,
but the bed or deck 42 reposes at an angle of between 4° and 6°
degrees, preferably 5 degrees, with respect to a horizontal
plane, and thus the registration surface 44 is off by a similar
amount from.a vertical plane.
Figure 2 is, a perspective view of the modular mailing
machine, the feeder module not shown in detail is located at the
left end of the machine, and the printer is located at the right
end of the machine. Each of the units, the feeder, singulator,
sealer, and weigher/printer include a horizontal deck, which are
aligned and referenced 42, and a rear reference wall which are
also aligned and referenced 44. The meal path is shown by the
arrows labelled 45 and flows in a straight line from the upstream
feeder end to the downstream printer end from which the stamped
9~7.017.PIT-248 (C-438) -7-
envelopes exit from the machine. During its entire flow, the en-
velape is supported by the generally horizontal deck surface 42
at each of the in-line modules, and all the deck surfaces are
aligned. Moreover, all the reference surfaces 44 are aligned.
That is unique about the machine is that all the reference sur-
faces 44, with respect to a vertical plane, and all the deck sur-
faces 42, with respect to a horizontal plane, are tilted by an
angle designated 54, 46 (Fig. 3) of from 40-6o backwards so that
as the envelopes flow along the deck surfaces from module to
module, the slight tilting maintains each envelope's long edge
against the reference surface 44. Despite this tilting, all of
the drive mechanisms can be conventional as they will operate
properly in this environment. The sealer, which needs a
moistener fox the gummed surface, employs a closed system wherein
no gravity is usedt instead, the water is pumped under pressure
through a nazzle to form a spray for wetting the glue. In this
pressurized system, the 4°-6o tilt has no effect. Similarly, the
inker employs a positive pressure system in which the pad is pro-
vided with capillary channels which hold the ink in place,
despite the tilting, and in which fresh ink is pumped into the
pad channels preceding each inking operation. Thus, the gravity
effect of the tilted pad does nat detrimentally affect its opera-
tion, due to the almost continuous replenishment by the pump
feed.
Thus, it will be evident that tilting the teed deck rela-
tive to the rear reference surface or together with the rear
987.017.PIT-248 (C-438) _$_
~(~~~~E'~~
reference surface between four and six degrees maintains positive
registration of the envelopes without loss of the advantages in-
herent to horizontal mail flow in a mail processing machine which
requires the use of liquids to realize necessary functions,
Fig. 3 is a schematic side view of the machine with a
number of components illustrated, most of which are not necessary
for an understanding of the present invention, except that the
nozzle indicated by 50 includes a liquid source and is part of
the moistener and sealer 27, numeral 5~. shows part of the inker
2g including an ink source for the meter indicia, and numeral 49
the integrated module which includes the scale madule. The com-
monly aligned deck is shown at 42, and the commonly aligned
reference wall at 44. A horizontal plane is indicated by
reference 52, and a vertical plane by reference 53. Thus, the
angle 45 between the deck 42 and the horizontal plane is 4° -
5°,
and the angle 54 between the wall 44 and the vertical plane
designated 53 is the same 4° - 6°, and thus the angle between
the
tiao surfaces 42 and 44 is 90° in this embodiment.
While the invention has been described and illustrated in
connection with preferred embodiments, many variations and modi-
fications as will be evident to those skilled in this art may be
made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention,
and the invention as set forth in the appended claims is thus not
to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth
above as such variations and modifications are intended to be in-
c3uded within the scope of the appended claims.
9~7.o17.PIT-248 (~-438) -9-
