Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6250625
-
Patent Number
6,250,625
-
Date Filed
Thursday, December 16, 199924 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, June 26, 200123 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
- Olszewski; Robert P.
- Ridley; Richard
Agents
- Capelli; Christopher J.
- Melton; Michael E.
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 271 2
- 271 149
- 271 150
- 271 303
- 271 901
- 271 912
- 271 913
- 271 65
- 270 5806
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system, including the steps of providing an envelope supply structure having an exit point, providing at least first and second supply paths from the exit point of the envelope supply structure and providing a common path from the at least first and second supply paths. Individual envelopes are fed from the envelope supply structure to a selected one of the at least first and second supply paths wherein the envelope is conveyed to a holding area in the selected supply path and from the holding area of the selected supply path it is conveyed to the common path. The envelope then travels from the common path to an envelope insertion area wherein prearranged documents are caused to be inserted into the envelope.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to multi-station document inserting systems, which assemble batches of documents for insertion into envelopes. More particularly, the present invention is directed towards the envelope input system for providing envelopes at high count to such multi-station document inserting systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Multi-station document inserting systems generally include a plurality of various stations that are configured for specific applications. Typically, such inserting systems, also known as console inserting machines, are manufactured to perform operations customized for a particular customer. Such machines are known in the art and are generally used by organizations, which produce a large volume of mailings where the content of each mail piece may vary.
For instance, inserter systems are used by organizations such as banks, insurance companies and utility companies for producing a large volume of specific mailings where the contents of each mail item are directed to a particular addressee. Additionally, other organizations, such as direct mailers, use inserts for producing a large volume of generic mailings where the contents of each mail item are substantially identical for each addressee. Examples of such inserter systems are the 8 series and 9 series inserter systems available from Pitney Bowes, Inc. of Stamford, Conn.
In many respects the typical inserter system resembles a manufacturing assembly line. Sheets and other raw materials (other sheets, enclosures, and envelopes) enter the inserter system as inputs. Then, a plurality of different modules or workstations in the inserter system work cooperatively to process the sheets until a finished mailpiece is produced. The exact configuration of each inserter system depends upon the needs of each particular customer or installation.
For example, a typical inserter system includes a plurality of serially arranged stations including an envelope feeder, a plurality of insert feeder stations and a burster-folder station. There is a computer generated form or web feeder that feeds continuous form control documents having control coded marks printed thereon to a cutter or burster station for individually separating documents from the web. A control scanner is typically located in the cutting or bursting station for sensing the control marks on the control documents. According to the control marks, these individual documents are accumulated in an accumulating station and then folded in a folding station. Thereafter, the serially arranged insert feeder stations sequentially feed the necessary documents onto a transport deck at each insert station as the control document arrives at the respective station to form a precisely collated stack of documents which is transported to the envelope feeder-insert station where the stack is inserted into the envelope. A typical modem inserter system also includes a control system to synchronize the operation of the overall inserter system to ensure that the collations are properly assembled.
In order for such multi-station inserter systems to process a large number of mailpieces (e.g., 18,000 mailpieces an hour) it is thus required that each mailing piece consisting of mail pages is inserted in an envelope at high rates wherein throughput with reliability is always an objective. To achieve reliability it is sometimes advantageous to provide parallel paths, each path operating at a lower throughput than the desired overall throughput so that mail piece components do not change velocity so quickly as to be damaged or to jam in the mailing system.
Many mailing systems include insertion engines, which insert mail pages into an envelope (after the mail pages are folded, if necessary). In some mailing systems with an insertion engine, throughputs as high as 18,000 mail pieces per hour (five per second) are achieved. In such a mailing system, an insertion engine is provided with the envelopes of the mail pieces by an envelope transport system (and is provided with the pages of the mail pieces, to be inserted into the envelopes, by a page transport system).
The envelope transport system includes an envelope hopper (
12
of
FIG. 2
) that must be periodically loaded with envelopes. In some mailing systems, because of various constraints, it is necessary that the envelope hopper be on the same side of the mailing system as where the operator is stationed, and of course that the envelope hopper be easily loadable. An envelope hopper typically holds about 1500 envelopes when fully loaded, and so must be replenished about every five minutes when used in a mailing system operating at a throughput of five mail pieces per second.
In some mailing system architectures, all of these requirements combine so that a layout of the envelope transport system can use a planar envelope hopper (
12
of
FIG. 2
) feeding envelopes (
11
of
FIG. 2
) on edge. In such a situation, what is needed is a design for an envelope transport system that allows using such a feeder, and that provides envelopes at the required high throughput, but that keeps changes in the envelope velocity to within acceptable limits.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system including the steps of providing an envelope supply structure having an exit point and stacking a plurality of envelopes in the envelope supply structure such that each envelope is stacked on its flap fold edge portion. First and second supply paths are provided from the exit point of the envelope supply structure and a diverting gate is provided intermediate the exit point of the envelope supply structure and entry points to the first and second supply paths, the diverting gate being movable between first and second positions. A common path is provided from the at least first and second supply paths to an envelope insertion area where documents are caused to be inserted into the envelope.
In operation, individual envelopes are caused to be fed from the envelope supply structure to a selected one of the at least first and second supply wherein the diverting gate is positioned in one of its first and second positions so as to selectively cause an individual envelope to convey from the exit point of the envelope supply structure to the selected supply path. The envelope is next conveyed to a holding area in the selected supply path whereafter the envelope is conveyed from the holding area of the selected supply path to the common path. The envelope is then conveyed from the common path to an envelope insertion area wherein prearranged documents are caused to be inserted into the envelope.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the drawings and in which:
FIG. 1
is a block diagram schematic of a document inserting system in which the present invention envelope transport system is incorporated;
FIG. 2
is a perspective drawing of an envelope transport system according to the present invention depicted in
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 3
is a detailed perspective drawing of part an envelope transport system according to the present invention, showing part of two parallel transport paths;
FIG. 4
is a detailed orthographic drawing of part an envelope transport system according to the present invention, showing a view of part of a merge station; and
FIG. 5
is a detailed orthographic drawing of a view of the merge station called out in FIG.
4
.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
In describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention, reference is made to the drawings, wherein there is seen in
FIG. 1
a schematic of a typical document inserting system, generally designated
10
, which implements the envelope insertion station
100
embodying the present invention envelope transport system. In the following description, numerous paper handling stations implemented in inserter system
10
are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the operating environment of the present invention. However it will become apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details in regards to each of these paper-handling stations.
As will be described in greater detail below system
10
preferably includes an input system
110
that feeds paper sheets from a paper web to an accumulating station that accumulates the sheets of paper in collation packets. Preferably, only a single sheet of a collation is coded (the control document), which coded information enables the control system
115
of inserter system
10
to control the processing of documents in the various stations of the mass mailing inserter system. The code can comprise a bar code, UPC code or the like.
Essentially, input system
110
feeds sheets in a paper path, as indicated by arrow “a,” along what is commonly termed the “main deck” of inserter system
10
. After sheets are accumulated into collations by input system
110
, the collations are folded in folding station
112
and the folded collations are then conveyed to a transport station
114
, preferably operative to perform buffering operations for maintaining a proper timing scheme for the processing of documents in inserting system
10
.
Each sheet collation is fed from transport station
114
to insert feeder station
116
. It is to be appreciated that a typical inserter system
10
includes a plurality of feeder stations, but for clarity of illustration only a single insert feeder
116
is shown. Insert feeder station
116
is operational to convey an insert (e.g., an advertisement) from a supply tray to the main deck of inserter system
10
so as to be nested with the aforesaid sheet collation being conveyed along the main deck. The sheet collation, along with the nested insert(s) are next conveyed into the envelope insertion station
100
that is operative to insert the collation into an envelope. The envelope is then preferably conveyed to postage station
120
that applies appropriate postage thereto. Finally, the envelope is preferably conveyed to sorting station
122
that sorts the envelopes in accordance with postal discount requirements.
As previously mentioned, inserter system
10
includes a control system
115
coupled to each modular component of inserter system
10
, which control system
115
controls and harmonizes operation of the various modular components implemented in inserter system
10
. Preferably, control system
115
uses an Optical Character Reader (OCR) for reading the code from each coded document. Such a control system is well known in the art and since it forms no part of the present invention, it is not described in detail in order not to obscure the present invention. Similarly, since none of the other above-mentioned modular components (namely: input system
110
, folding station
112
, transport station
114
, insert feeder station
116
, postage station
120
and sorting station
122
) form no part of the present invention envelope insertion station
100
, further discussion of each of these stations is also not described in detail in order not to obscure the present invention. Moreover, it is to be appreciated that the depicted embodiment of inserter system
10
implementing the present invention envelope insertion station
100
is only to be understood as an example configuration of such an inserter system
10
. It is of course to be understood that such an inserter system may have many other configurations in accordance with a specific user's needs.
Referring now to
FIGS. 2-5
the present invention envelope insertion station
100
is shown, which includes an envelope hopper
12
, typically having a capacity of approximately 1500 envelopes, for feeding the envelopes
11
on preferably its flap-fold edge portion to either one or another of two parallel transport paths
13
,
14
, each envelope
11
directed to one or another of the paths by a flipper gate
15
. Each envelope is preferably propelled along the path to which it is directed by a series of nips
17
, i.e. by the action of two turning, high-friction wheels disposed so as to be in mutual contact. Each pair of wheels forming a nip grabs (nips) an envelope and pulls it through the point of contact of the wheels at a linear velocity substantially equal to the angular velocity of either wheel, multiplied by its radius.
Both parallel transport paths
13
,
14
continue into a merge station
20
, where an envelope in either path
13
,
14
is manipulated, as will be described below, so as to open its flap, and is then directed to a final, common path
30
of the envelope transport system, at ninety-degrees to the two parallel paths
13
,
14
, and leading to a conveyor
23
. Envelopes
22
on the conveyor
23
lie with their flaps open, as shown, and are conveyed to an insertion engine (not shown).
Referring now in particular to
FIGS. 3 and 4
, envelopes
16
a
and
16
b
in turn move into the merge station
20
(
FIG. 1
) until reaching an adjustable stop
24
provided in an holding area
15
,
17
respectively associated with each parallel transport path
13
,
14
. The stops are accumulator-type stop and catch mechanisms, and are adjusted so that, depending on the size of the envelopes, the centerline
27
of an envelope in the merge station is aligned with the centerline
26
of the conveyor (see FIG.
1
). As an envelope
18
is transported into the merge station
20
, a conventional plow flap device
25
is used to plow open ninety degrees the flap
18
a
of the envelope. Plowing open the flap of an envelope only ninety degrees allows the envelope to be crease-line justified.
Once inside the merge station, in response to a signal from an arming station (not shown) of the inserter system
10
(via its control system
15
), the envelope is hoisted out of its parallel path
13
,
14
onto a final, common path
30
, at preferably ninety degrees to the parallel transport paths
13
,
14
, by the action of preferably a D-shaped roller
19
, there being provided one such roller for each parallel transport path
13
,
14
, and a combination of merge nips
21
. During the hoisting motion, the flap of the envelope is opened the remaining 90 degrees, to full open, by arms
24
a
extending out from guides
28
for the parallel transport paths inside the merge station
20
. The end result is that an envelope
22
is laid on the conveyor
23
with its flap
22
a
down and full open, and moving along the final, common path
30
on the conveyor
23
toward an inserter engine (not shown).
Of course it is possible that in some applications the parallel transport paths
13
,
14
do not continue always in a straight line to the merge station
20
. Therefore, the redirection performed at the merge station
20
, which is substantially ninety degrees, is to be understood as measured with respect to the direction of the parallel transport paths
13
,
14
at the point where they enter the merge station
20
.
It is to be understood that the above-described arrangements are only illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and alternative arrangements may be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and the appended claims are intended to cover such modifications and arrangements.
Claims
- 1. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system, comprising the steps of:providing an envelope supply structure having an exit point; providing at least first and second supply paths from the exit point of the envelope supply structure; providing a common path from the at least first and second supply paths; feeding individual envelopes from the envelope supply structure to a selected one of the at least first and second supply paths; conveying the envelope to a holding area in the selected supply path; conveying the envelope from the holding area of the selected supply path to the common path; and conveying the envelope from the common path to an envelope insertion area wherein prearranged documents are caused to be inserted into the envelope.
- 2. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of:stacking a plurality of envelopes in the envelope supply structure such that each envelope is stacked on an edge portion.
- 3. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 2 further comprising the step of stacking each envelope on its flap fold edge portion such that the flap fold edge portion of each envelope resides against the supply structure.
- 4. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 1 further including the steps of:providing a diverting gate intermediate the exit point of the envelope supply structure and entry points to the at least first and second supply paths; and positioning the diverting gate in one of a first and second position so as to selectively cause the individual envelope to convey from the exit point of the envelope supply structure to the selected supply path.
- 5. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 1 further including the steps of:providing a flapping device in each one the first and second supply paths; and flapping open an envelope by engaging the envelopes flap fold edge portion with the flapping device located in one of the first and second supply paths.
- 6. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 5 further including the step of opening the flap of the envelope by approximately 90° relative to the envelope's body in the selected supply path.
- 7. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 6 further including the step of separating the flap of the envelope by an additional 90° as the envelope is caused to convey to the common path from the selected supply path such that the flap of the envelope is substantially co-planar with the envelope body.
- 8. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 1 further including the step of:changing an envelopes direction of travel by approximately 90° when the envelope is caused to convey from the holding area of the selected supply path to the common envelope path.
- 9. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 1 further including the steps of:causing first and second envelopes to be respectively positioned simultaneously in the holding area for each of the first and second envelope supply paths; and selectively causing an envelope to be conveyed from the holding area of one of the first and second supply paths to the common path.
- 10. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system, comprising the steps of:providing an envelope supply structure having an exit point; stacking a plurality of envelopes in the envelope supply structure such that each envelope is stacked on its flap fold edge portion; providing first and second supply paths from the exit point of the envelope supply structure; providing a diverting gate intermediate the exit point of the envelope supply structure and entry points to the first and second supply paths, the diverting gate being movable between first and second positions; positioning the diverting gate in one of its first and second positions so as to selectively cause an individual envelope to convey from the exit point of the envelope supply structure to the selected supply path; providing a common path from the at least first and second supply paths; feeding individual envelopes from the envelope supply structure to a selected one of the at least first and second supply paths; conveying the envelope to a holding area in the selected supply path; conveying the envelope from the holding area of the selected supply path to the common path; and conveying the envelope from the common path to an envelope insertion area wherein prearranged documents are caused to be inserted into the envelope.
- 11. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 10 further including the steps of:providing a flapping device in each one the first and second supply paths; and flapping open an envelope by engaging the envelopes flap fold edge portion with the flapping device located in one of the first and second supply paths.
- 12. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 11 further including the step of opening the flap of the envelope by approximately 90° relative to the envelope's body in the selected supply path.
- 13. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 12 further including the step of separating the flap of the envelope by an additional 90° as the envelope is caused to convey to the common path from the selected supply path such that the flap of the envelope is substantially co-planar with the envelope body.
- 14. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 11 further including the step of:changing an envelopes direction of travel by approximately 90° when the envelope is caused to convey from the holding area of the selected supply path to the common envelope path.
- 15. A method for supplying envelopes to an inserter system as recited in claim 12 further including the steps of:causing first and second envelopes to be respectively positioned simultaneously in the holding area for each of the first and second envelope supply paths; and selectively causing an envelope to be conveyed from the holding area of one of the first and second supply paths to the common path.
US Referenced Citations (9)