Enclosure feeder with ledge-extension fingers

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6367794
  • Patent Number
    6,367,794
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, December 29, 1999
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, April 9, 2002
    22 years ago
Abstract
A method and system for gathering enclosure documents for insertion in an envelope inserting system having a plurality of enclosure feeders for releasing enclosure documents and a plurality of pusher fingers mounted on a pair of endless chains for gathering the released documents. A plurality of flexible extension fingers are connected to the downstream end of enclosure feeder so as to support the released document before the released document is pushed off by a pair of pusher fingers onto a chassis deck. The downstream ends of the flexible extension fingers form a gap with the chassis deck, allowing the documents released upstream to pass under the extension fingers so that the document released from an enclosure feeder is stacked on top of the documents released from the upstream feeders. Because the extension fingers are flexible, the gap under the extension fingers can be widened by a stack of documents released upstream. Preferably, a centering device is installed downstream from each enclosure feeder to guide the released document.
Description




TECHNICAL FIELD




The present invention relates to enclosure feeders in an envelope inserting machine for mass mailing.




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




In an envelope inserting machine for mass mailing, there is a gathering section where the enclosure material is gathered before it is inserted into an envelope. This gathering section is sometimes referred to as a chassis subsystem, which includes a gathering transport with pusher fingers rigidly attached to a conveying mechanism and a plurality of enclosure feeders mounted above the gathering transport for releasing the enclosure material onto the gathering transport. If the enclosure material contains many documents, these documents must be separately fed from different enclosure feeders. Envelope inserting systems and enclosure feeders have been disclosed in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,341 (Roetter et al) discloses an envelope inserting system having a plurality of enclosure feeders and a gathering transport. As shown in

FIG. 1

, such an envelope inserting system has a number of feeding stations or enclosure feeders over a longitudinally extending deck. Each enclosure feeder has a hopper capable of holding documents therein, and a plurality of rollers to release the documents, one at a time, to a ledge plate. Also shown in

FIG. 1

are a plurality of pusher fingers fixedly mounted on a pair of endless chains which run along the deck for pushing the released documents off the ledge plates onto the deck. As shown in

FIG. 2

, the pusher fingers are arranged in pairs and the distance between two adjacent pairs of pusher fingers is substantially equal to the distance between two adjacent enclosure feeders. Moreover, the endless chains are substantially parallel to each other from the upstream end to the envelope insertion area. The endless chains move in synchronism and in constant speed. The pusher fingers are also used to push the released enclosure documents toward the envelope insertion area. As these pusher fingers move from the upstream end of the envelope inserting system toward the downstream end, each pair of pusher fingers gathers one released document from each releasing enclosure feeder and the gathered documents are stacked and collated while they are pushed toward the envelope insertion area for insertion.




It should be noted that the ledge plates as shown in FIG.


1


and

FIG. 2

are rigid in construction. The downstream end of each ledge plate has a fixed gap from the deck so as to allow the documents gathered from the upstream enclosure feeders to move through the gap of the downstream enclosure feeders. As such, the document released from a downstream enclosure feeder is stacked on top of the documents released from the upstream enclosure feeders. While it is not desirable to have a large gap between the ledge plate and the deck because a large gap tends to make collating of the gathered documents more difficult, a small gap limits the number of documents that can be gathered by the pusher fingers. Furthermore, the width of the ledge plates must be made to match the size of the released documents and the separation between the endless chains. Moreover, the ledge plate requires a precision positioning of the document released onto it. If the document is released too far downstream, the document would tip off the downstream end of the ledge plate, elevating the trailing edge of the released document. A jam caused by the pusher finger would result.




It is advantageous and desirable to provide a method and device for releasing and gathering documents in an envelope inserting machine to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages associated with the ledge plates.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




The first aspect of the present invention is to provide an enclosure feeder wherein a plurality of ledge-extension fingers are used to support a sheet of enclosure material released from an enclosure feeder. The ledge-extension fingers are flexible so that the gap between the downstream end of the ledge-extension fingers and the transport deck can be made small so as to help the stacking and collating of the release documents. At the same time, the number of the documents to be inserted into an envelope can be increased because the ledge-extension fingers can be pushed upward by the gathered documents to widen the gap when the gathered documents move through the gap.




The second aspect of the present invention is to provide an envelope inserting system having an envelope feeder, a plurality of enclosure feeders, and a gathering mechanism moving from the downstream end of the envelope inserting system toward an envelope insertion area at the upstream end, wherein each enclosure feeder has a plurality of ledge-extension fingers and can be used to release enclosure documents one at a time onto the ledge-extension fingers so as to allow the gather mechanism to collect the release documents in an orderly fashion and move the release documents downstream. The envelope inserting system further includes at least one centering device for centering the released documents while the released documents are moved by the gather mechanism downstream.




The third aspect of the present invention is to provide a method of gathering enclosure documents for insertion into an envelope inserting system having a plurality of enclosure feeders to release the enclosure documents. The method comprises the steps of providing a plurality of enclosure documents on at least one enclosure feeder, releasing documents from said at least one enclosure feeder one at a time onto a plurality of flexible ledge-extension fingers, pushing the released documents off the ledge-extension fingers in order to move the released documents downstream, and centering the released documents while they are pushed downstream.




The object and the scope of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the description taken in conjunction with

FIG. 3

to FIG.


6


.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a side view of a prior art envelope inserting system showing an envelope feeder for releasing one envelope at a time onto an envelope insertion area and a plurality of enclosure feeders for releasing enclosure documents onto a gathering mechanism.





FIG. 2

is an isometric view of part of the prior art envelope inserting system of

FIG. 1

, showing the ledge plate on each enclosure feeder for supporting the release document.





FIG. 3

is a side view of the envelope inserting system of the present invention, showing an envelope feeder and a plurality of enclosure feeders.




FIG.


4


A and

FIG. 4B

illustrate the side view of the envelope inserting system of the present invention, showing the ledge-extension fingers and the centering device of the envelope inserting system.





FIG. 5

is a perspective representation of the enclosure feeder of the present invention, showing a plurality of ledge-extension fingers extending from a ledge of the enclosure feeder, and a centering device mounted downstream from the enclosure feeder.





FIG. 6

is a top view of the envelope inserting system, showing in detail the document centering devices.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION




As shown in

FIG. 3

, the envelope inserting system


10


of the present invention has an upstream end


102


and a downstream end


104


, wherein an envelope feeder


12


is used for feeding envelopes


14


onto an envelope insertion area


106


at the downstream end


104


and a plurality of enclosure feeders


20


for feeding enclosure documents


22


to be inserted into the envelopes


14


released onto the envelope insertion area


106


. As shown, each enclosure feeder


20


has a plurality of rollers


24


for releasing the documents


22


onto a chassis deck


26


. The released documents


22


are gathered and pushed downstream by a plurality of pusher fingers


40


mounted on two endless chains


42


(see FIGS.


5


and


6


). The endless chains


42


carry the pusher fingers from the upstream end


102


to the envelope insertion area


106


. It is preferred that the endless chains


42


move in synchronism with each other and in constant speed.




As shown in

FIG. 4A

, each enclosure feeder


20


has a tray


36


for holding the enclosure documents


22


. Connected to the downstream end of the tray


36


is a ledge


30


for mounting a plurality of ledge-extension fingers


32


. The ledge-extension fingers


32


are used to hold the released documents


22


before the released documents


22


are pushed by the pusher fingers


40


toward the envelope insertion area


106


(FIG.


3


). As a pair of pusher fingers


40


move downstream, they pick up more and more released documents


22


and collate the released documents


22


in a document stack


28


. Also shown in

FIG. 4A

are a plurality of centering devices


50


for centering the released documents


22


as the released documents


22


are pushed off the ledge-extension fingers


32


and moved downstream.





FIG. 4B

shows the upstream end


102


of the envelope inserting system


10


and the first enclosure feeder


20




a


. Because a document


22


released from the first enclosure feeder


20




a


is the first document in a document stack


28


, there is no need for collation at this stage. Therefore, there is no need to install the ledge-extension fingers


32


on the first enclosure feeder


20




a.






As shown in

FIG. 5

, a plurality of ledge-extension fingers


32


are mounted on a number of selected mounting holes


34


on the ledge


30


. In this illustration, four ledge-extension fingers


32


are used to support a released document


22


released from the tray


36


. However, the number of ledge-extension fingers


32


mounted on each enclosure feeder


20


can be smaller or greater than four, depending on the width w and the weight of the documents


22


. Furthermore, the ledge-extension fingers


32


can be mounted on different mounting holes


34


to accommodate any enclosure document


22


within the machine specification without modification.




Also shown in

FIG. 5

are two centering devices


50


, mounted on the opposite sides of an enclosure feeder


20


and downstream from the enclosure feeder


20


. The two centering devices


50


are mirror images of each other. Each centering device


50


comprises a jogger


52


, a guiding wall


54


, a mounting bracket


56


and a locking knob


58


. The joggers


52


are used to support a released document


22


when the document


22


is pushed off the ledge-extension fingers


32


by a pair of pusher fingers


40


. The guiding walls


54


are used to keep the document


22


in place when the document


22


is released and then moved downstream along a direction


110


. Preferably, the mounting position of the centering device


50


is adjustable to suit the width w of the enclosure documents


22


. After the mounting position of the centering device


50


is properly adjusted, the mounting bracket


56


is secured by the lock knob


58


. Preferably, the mounting bracket


56


has scale marks


60


to help center the centering devices


50


on both side of the endless chains


44


as shown in FIG.


6


.




As shown in

FIG. 6

, the distance from the endless chain


42


to the downstream end


55


of the guiding wall


54


is closer than the distance to the upstream end


57


, and the angle α between the guiding wall


54


and the endless chain


42


is greater than zero degrees. Accordingly, the guiding walls


54


of the centering device pair


50


form a funneling angle which is equal to 2α. Preferably, the distance w= between the opposing guiding walls


54


at the downstream end


55


is slightly greater than the width w of the enclosure document


22


. Even when the enclosure document


22


is tilted or off-centered as it is released onto the ledge-extension

FIGS. 32

, the released documents


22


can be centered when they are pushed off the ledge-extension fingers


32


by the pusher fingers


40


, with the help of the guiding walls


55


.




What has been described above is an enclosure feeder to be used in an envelope inserting machine. However, the ledge-extension fingers on the enclosure feeder as described in conjunction with

FIGS. 3-6

can be used in any sheet feeders where collation of a plurality of sheets released from the feeders is required. Moreover, the drawings as shown in

FIGS. 3-6

are for illustrative purposes only. They are intended primarily for explaining the principle of supporting a sheet of document released from a feeder until the released sheet is gathered by a gathering mechanism which carries along the documents gathered upstream, and the principle of centering the released sheet as it is pushed off the supporting device.




Therefore, although the invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and deviations in the form and detail thereof may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.



Claims
  • 1. An enclosure feeder for releasing enclosure documents in an envelope inserting system, wherein the envelope inserting system comprises a gathering mechanism to gather the released enclosure documents and transporting the released enclosure documents to an envelope insertion area to be inserted into an envelope, said enclosure feeder comprising:a tray to support the enclosure documents, the enclosure documents having a width; a plurality of extension fingers located adjacent to the tray; a releasing mechanism to sequentially release one document from the tray onto the extension fingers so as to allow the gathering mechanism to gather the released document; and a ledge having a plurality of mounting holes for mounting the extension fingers, the extension fingers being adjustably spaced from each other by selectable mounting in the mounting holes in order to suit the width of the enclosure documents.
  • 2. The enclosure feeder of claim 1, wherein the extension fingers are flexible.
  • 3. The enclosure feeder of claim 1, wherein the envelope inserting system has an upstream end and a downstream end and the envelope insertion area is located at the downstream end, and wherein the gathering mechanism comprises at least one endless chain and a plurality of pusher fingers mounted on the endless chain to remove the released document from the extension fingers so as to allow the released document to move along with the endless chain downstream.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Number Name Date Kind
2427839 Davidson Sep 1947 A
2975576 Garapolo Mar 1961 A
3414257 Muller Dec 1968 A
4511132 Muller Apr 1985 A
4801036 Rathert Jan 1989 A
5273265 Edwards Dec 1993 A
5575612 Uno Nov 1996 A