Patent Grant
8430390
The invention relates to an apparatus for gathering postal items and to a method for gathering postal items.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,393 an apparatus and a method for gathering postal items are known, which are specifically intended for processing banknotes. In a starting position, a circulatable endless belt of the apparatus carrying flaps is stationary. The belt is stopped twice with each revolution of the belt, when the belt is provided with two flaps. A beam path of a photo-cell comprising a photo-diode and a photo-transistor is broken when a banknote has been inserted to a sufficient extent in between the belt and one of the flaps carried by the belt. When this beam path is broken, a signal is sent to a drive motor for starting the belt. The drive motor then rotates the belt until the flap reaches the position previously occupied by the other flap. Subsequently, the procedure is repeated and the next banknote is inserted, and so on.
A drawback of this apparatus is that repeatedly stopping and restarting of the endless belt causes wear of the drive system, entails a high energy consumption, causes important noise emissions and reduces the capacity of the apparatus, in particular if the belt would be dimensioned more heavily for gripping items larger than banknotes, such as many postal items.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for gathering postal items, such as paper, envelopes or other sheet-like objects, in which the drive structure is strained to a lesser extent, which can achieve a higher capacity, consumes less energy, emits less noise and/or is more durable and which is more suitable for processing larger items than banknotes. According to the invention, this object is achieved by providing an apparatus for gathering postal items, including:
a postal item feeding path for feeding postal items at a speed of transport;
at least one postal item gripper having jaws for gripping postal items between the jaws, the postal item gripper being circulatable in a sense of circulation along a circulation path at a speed of transport, a receiving section of the circulation path extending along a downstream end of the postal item feeding path;
at least one drive for driving displacement of postal items along the postal item feeding path and the circulation of the postal item gripper, such that the postal items fed along the postal item feeding path are fed to and gripped by the at least one gripper;
a postal item collector for receiving the postal items from the at least one gripper each time when the gripper holding one of the postal items passes the collector and releases that one of the postal items, the postal item collector being located along a delivery section of the circulation path, the delivery section being spaced in the sense of circulation from the receiving section of the circulation path; and
a collation holder for receiving and holding the released postal items in a collated configuration;
wherein the at least one drive is arranged for, each time prior to gripping of one of the postal items by the gripper, at least:
Also according to the invention, this object is achieved by providing a method for gathering postal items, comprising, for each of a plurality of postal items:
circulating at least one gripper at a speed of transport along a circulation path having a receiving section in which the gripper passes along a downstream end of a postal item feeding path;
feeding the postal item along the postal item feeding path at a speed of transport such that a leading edge of the postal item is gripped between jaws of the at least one gripper after it has reached the circulation path;
releasing the postal item from the gripper in a delivery section of the circulation path, the delivery section being spaced in the sense of circulation from the receiving section of the circulation path; and
each time prior to the gripping of the postal item, at least:
wherein the released postal item is collated to form a collated set.
By causing a temporary difference between the speed of transport of the feeding path and the speed of transport of the circulation path, while maintaining movement of both the gripper along the circulation path and of the postal item along the feeding path, processing of postal items, and in particular a reliable hand-over from the feeding path to the gripper can be carried out at higher production rate, while less energy is required, less noise is emitted and/or less wear is caused.
Particular elaborations and embodiments of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims.
Further features, effects and details of the invention appear from the detailed description and the drawings.
In
In the present example, the feeding rollers 4, 5 and the collating belt 9 are initially driven at speeds such that the transport speed of the grippers 8 is equal to the transport speed of postal items in the feeding path 3. Prior to gripping of a postal item 2 by a gripper 8, the speed of transport of the feeding rollers 4, 5 is increased temporarily, so that the postal item transported thereby is temporarily transported at a higher speed than the grippers 8, thus driving the leading edge 7 of the postal item 2 between jaws of one of the grippers 8 so that the leading edge of the postal item 2 is gripped by the gripper 8. In the present example, the jaws of the gripper 8 move apart each time when the gripper 8 passes one of two curves of the circulation path 10 and move together, thereby gripping a postal item, if any, that has been brought between the jaws, when the gripper 8 passes into a straight section of the circulation path 10. After the gripper 8 has gripped the postal item 2, the feeding path 3 may for a brief time interval still be driven to transport the trailing end of the postal item 2 at the increased speed. As is shown in
The trailing end of the postal item 2 is released from the feeding rollers 4, 5 only after the leading end of the postal item 2 has been gripped by the gripper 8. Thus, the postal item 2 is continuously engaged, either by the feeding path 3 or the gripper 8.
When relatively short postal items, such as the postal item 2, are processed, the speed of transport of the feeding rollers 4, 5 is reduced to its former speed after the trailing end of the postal item 2 is released by the feeding rollers 4, 5. However, the time, during which the feeding rollers 4, 5 rotate at an increased speed, is chosen such that the duration at which a postal item is transported at an increased speed is maximized for postal items over a given length as will be illustrated for a longer postal item 16 (
The postal item 2 held by the gripper 8 is then transported further by the collating belt 9, as is shown in
In
When the speed of transport of the feeding rollers 4, 5 is decreased to its former speed, the buckling stops. The second postal item 16 held by the gripper 8 is then transported further by the collating belt 9 until it is released from the gripper 8 by the collector 12 and gathered with the first postal item 2 so as to form a stack 13 (see
In the present example, a plurality of grippers 8 is distributed over the circulation path 10 in the sense of circulation direction. To limit the number of occasions at which the speed of transport of the feeding path 3 is increased, the temporary increase of the speed of transport of the postal item along the feeding path 3 is preferably initiated selectively in response to detection of a postal item in the feeding path 3 only.
Furthermore, the grippers 8 may circulate along two or more feeding paths (not shown) that converge with the circulation path in various positions mutually spaced in the circulation sense. Preferably, when two or more feeding paths each contain a postal item, a postal item from the first feeding path is fed to a first one of the grippers and a postal item from the second feeding path is simultaneously fed to a second one of the grippers. Then, the speeds of the feeding paths can be temporarily increased simultaneously, which can be controlled in a simpler manner than increasing the speeds of transport of the feeding paths individually. Simultaneously feeding postal items to the grippers is specifically advantageous if the temporary speed difference is achieved by temporarily reducing the speed of transport of the grippers, because the speed of transport then needs to be reduced only once for handing over a plurality of postal items from several feeding paths to the grippers.
When the postal items form the first and the second feeding path are engaged by the respective grippers, the grippers are transported to a collector placed further downstream. There, the postal items are collected from the circulation path and placed on a stack.
While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawing and foregoing description, such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. For instance, in the present example, the grippers are constituted by a pair of fingers between which the postal items are gripped, each of the grippers 8 being constituted by two successive fingers, the relative distance between the fingers varying with the curvature of the belt. However, the postal items may also be gripped in another manner, for instance by suction in for instance a suction cup that pulls the postal item against the gripper. It can also be advantageous to provide that the grippers grip postal items while passing through a straight section of the circulation path. To this end for example guide rails may be arranged along the circulation path, which guide rails engage operating arms coupled to one or more of the jaws of the grippers as the grippers pass the guide rail.
Furthermore, in the present example, the postal items are each constituted by a single item. However, one or more of the postal items may be constituted by a plurality of elements, for instance two or more sheets that may be affixed to each other and/or folded or not. Furthermore, in the present example the temporary difference between the speed of transport of the grippers and the speed of transport induced by the feeding path is achieved by temporarily increasing the speed of transport of the feeding path. However, it is also possible to achieve the temporary difference between the speed of transport of the grippers and the speed of transport induced by the feeding path by temporarily reducing the speed of transport of the grippers. A temporary reduction of the speed of transport of the gripper or grippers may also be combined with a temporary reduction of the speed of transport induced by the feeding path. In the example shown in the drawings, the ability to temporarily reduce the transport speed of the grippers 8 could for instance be achieved by coupling the drive 11 via a two or more gear transmission to one of the rollers 19, 20 about which the belt 9 of grippers 8 has been tensioned.
Other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08154033 | Apr 2008 | EP | regional |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4946151 | Liebert | Aug 1990 | A |
| 4993702 | Jackson | Feb 1991 | A |
| 5669604 | Hansen | Sep 1997 | A |
| 6109605 | Hirota et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 217 402 | May 1966 | DE |
| 0 867 394 | Sep 1998 | EP |
| 1 167 259 | Jan 2002 | EP |
| 2 644 443 | Sep 1990 | FR |
| 2 168 687 | Jun 1986 | GB |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20090250862 A1 | Oct 2009 | US |
