Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ENVELOPE OPENING APPARATUS
Background of the Invention
The instant invention relates to apparatus for
inserting sheet materials into envelopes, and more
particularly to such apparatus capable of accommodating a
variety of thicknesses of such materials.
Envelope stuffing machines, such as those shown in
U.S. Patents Nos. 4,169,341 and 4,337,609, both assigned to
the assignee of the instant application, generally include:
a conventional structure for delivering an envelope, with
its address panel oriented upwardly and its flap opened, to
a registration gate at an enclosure inserting station;
conventional structure for timely opening the delivered
envelope, including a plurality of fingers known in the art
as stripper fingers, which are insertable into the throat
of the envelope for opening the same; and conventional
structure for inserting an enclosure into the opened
envelope. Typically, the envelope opening structure
includes a plate which acts as a ledge upon which the flap
of the envelope is located when it is delivered to the
inserting station. Moreover, one or more rigid finger
members, known in the art as depressor fingers, are fixedly~r
attached to the framework of the inserter apparatus and
disposed in overhanging relationship with respect to the
envelope°s address panel, for depressing the body of the
envelope downwardly against the resistance afforded by the
envelope flap .Ledge to thereby partially open the throat of
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the envelope to facilitate insertion of the stripper
fingers into the envelope.
Operators of the conventional inserters have
experienced difficulties with them due to the aforesaid
fixed depressor fingers tending to prevent delivery of the
envelope to the registration gate. As a result, many
operators have been bending the depressor fingers away from
the path of travel of the envelope to ensure delivery to
the registration gate, as a result of which the force
exerted on the envelope by the depressor fingers is reduced
and the envelope is insufficiently depressed to permit
entry of the stripper fingers into the envelope for opening
the same. Accordingly, misfeeds resulting from improper
envelope registration and failure to open.the envelopes
have been found to be directly attributable to the
provision of the fixed depressor fingers. The aforesaid
U.S. Patent No. 4,337,609 taught a partial solution to the
problems generated by fixed depressor fingers by providing
movable depressor fingers which normally hold the depressor
fingers out of the path of travel of the envelope and for
moving the depressor fingers into engagement with the
envelope when a connective solenoid is enabled.
However, problems continued to persist using the
movable depressor fingers. Accordingly, in U.S. Patent No.
4,852,334 issued August 1, 1989, the assignee of the
instant invention provided an envelope opening apparatus
which employs only a pair of orbital stripper claws and
does not require the use of any depressor fingers, fixed or
movable, and the substantial amount of apparatus associated
therewith.
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The aforesaid '334 patented inserting apparatus,
unfortunately, suffers from a shortcoming inherent in
virtually all inserters, i.e. an inability to reliably and
consistently insert a variety of thickness of enclosures
into envelopes. Therefore, the instant invention provides
apparatus which assures -that regardless of the thickness of
a collation of enclosures, that the collation can be
reliably and consistently inserted into the waiting
envelopes.
Summary of the Invention
Accordingly, the instant invention provides apparatus
for inserting one or more documents into a waiting
envelope. The apparatus includes: a supporting frame;
means mounted in the frame for holding the envelope; a
movable, endless belt rotatably mounted in the frame for
transporting said one or more documents into the waiting
envelope; and a datum guide plate secured to the frame
above the movable belt. The movable belt includes an upper
reach which is biased toward the datum guide plate.
Brief Description of the Drawincts
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an envelope inserting
apparatus incorporating a floating, lower belt in
accordance with the instant invention, and showing an
envelope in the inserting position;
Fig. 2 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 but
without the datum guide plate;
Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the plane indicated
by the line 3-3 in Fig. 1, and shows a collation of
documents being transported into a waiting envelope;
Fig. 4 is similar to Fig. 3 but shows a collation of
documents being inserted into a waiting envelope;
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Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the plane indicated
by the line 5-5 in Fig. 4;
Fig. 6 is similar to Figs. 3 and 4 but shows the
collation of documents having been inserted into the
envelope;
Fig. 7 is similar to Fig. 4 but shows a thinner
collation than seen in Fig. 4 being inserted into the
waiting envelope;
Fig. 8 is the same as Fig. 5 except that the collation
is thinner than in Fig. 5.
Describtion of the Preferred Embodiment
In describing the preferred embodiment of the instant
invention, reference is made to the drawings wherein there
is seen an envelope inserting machine generally designated
10 having a pair of sidewalls 12 and 14. The inserter 10
includes a storage bin (not shown) for a stack of envelopes
16 and one or more hoppers (not shown) for storing one or
more insert documents 18.
The envelopes 16 include the usual flap 20 which is
bent or folded back on the envelope 16 when the envelope 16
is located in the storage bin. Accordingly, an envelope
flap stripper generally designated 22, which is well known
in the art and does not require further explanation, is
provided in order to separate the flap 20 from the long
wall 24 and the short wall 26 of the envelope 16, so that
the envelope 16 can assume the open position of envelope
16' seen in Figs. 1, 4, 6 and 7 preparatory to receiving
the collation of inserts 18 a-d seen in Fig. 3.
The envelope 16 is conveyed from the flap stripper 22
to a pivotable stop 28 (see Figs. 3 and 6) by means of a
pair of belts 30 which are trained over a plurality or
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pairs of rollers 32, 34, 36 and 38. Thereafter, a pair of
arcuate claws 40 and 42 movable in an orbit are enabled to
engage the envelope 16' and thereby open the envelope 16'
to receive the inserts 18.
The inserts 18 are fed to the envelope 16' by means of
a pair of floating, endless, drive belts 44 which are
respectively trained over biased pair of rollers 46, 48 and
50 and a fourth pair of rollers 52 and a fifth pair of
rollers 54.
The three pairs of rollers 46, 48 and 50 are mounted
respectively on biased shafts 56, 58 and 60 which are
biased in the direction of a datum guide plate 62. The
upper reaches 63 of the belts 44 are thus biased upwardly
toward the guide plate 62. A pair of idler rollers 64
cooperate with the drive belts 44 to feed the inserts 18
toward the waiting envelope 16'.
From the foregoing description, it can be understood
that the top of a collation of inserts 18 will always be
fed along the same plane defined by the datum guide
plate 62. The envelope l6' is always presented straight
and flat to the collation of inserts 18 without a throat
pinch. Thus, the path of insertion for the inserts 18 into
the envelope 16° is always straight into the envelope 16'.
For thicker collations of inserts 18, the upper reaches 63
of the floating drive belts 44 give way so that the top of
the collation is fed along the guide plate 62.
It should be clear that the inserting system described
hereinabove provides a means for assuring that a collation
of inserts can be reliably and consistently inserted into a
waiting envelope regardless of the thickness of the
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collation.
It should be understood by those skilled in the art
that various modifications may be made in the present
invention without departing from the spirit and scope
thereof, as described in the specification and defined in
the appended claims.
