This invention relates to high-speed envelope inserters used for high-volume mailing operations.
Current estimates place the number of envelopes used annually in the United States at over 100 billion. A significant percentage of these envelopes are used in connection with bulk mailings, and are accordingly filled, addressed and processed by a variety of automated devices. A lynchpin of all automated processes is the automatic envelope inserter. Automatic inserters are large, complex devices that are loaded with contents to be inserted (e.g., individual letter sheets and/or fillers) and envelopes in which these contents are to be inserted. Other devices such as binders, that bind inserts together (into a books, catalogs, newspapers or magazines), presses that apply logos and decoration, addressing devices, collating and a variety of other devices are also used selectively to process individual sheet-like materials in bulk mailing and other processes. These various devices can be termed generally “utilization devices” as they utilize sheet-like materials that are typically dispensed in stacks.
Reference is made generally to U.S. Pat. No. 6,698,748, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SINGULATING A STACK OF SHEET-LIKE MATERIALS, by H. W. Crowley, the teachings of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Industrial inserters, referred to generically as swing-arm inserters, are available from a variety of well-known companies including Bell & Howell (Phillipsburg), as well as by Mailcrafter (Inserco model), Pitney Bowes (AMOS model), EMC Document Systems (Conquest Lsi model) and HM Surchin (Cornish model). A rotary variation is made by Buhrs (BB300 and BB 500) series. One more-specific example is the Bell & Howell Imperial™.
Most inserters cycle at least 10,000 per hour without any material. However, once the various hopper materials are inserted into the envelopes, the net production is significantly slower. Due to paper handling problems, swing-arm inserters often net less than one third of their capabilities. A typical swing-arm device in production may net less than 3000 completed envelopes per hour. After careful study, it is now recognized that there are several issues of unreliability in the feeding of materials in conventional inserter devices. Many device areas are subject to jams. In fact, the design of these inserters has not changed significantly in 30 years. And for that matter, they have changed little since their invention 70 years ago, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,325,455.
A number of inefficiencies and disadvantages have been noted in prior art swing arm inserters, for example, the overlying swing-arm structure of the inserter is complicated and difficult to access owing to a large number of interconnecting shafts that drive the various arm and gripper components. These shafts require a complicated series of adjustments and tuning to insure proper function. They also obscure access to, and view of, the contents feed hoppers, and more generally interfere with the operator's loading, unloading and operation of the device. In addition, the operative mechanism of the prior art inserter resides beneath a heavy feed table, which is only accessible from beneath. Repair and service of the mechanism is therefore inconvenient and requires the service person to stoop and crawl beneath the device for even the most basic tasks. Other aspects of prior art inserters are similarly deficient. For example, adjusting the size of an envelope in the envelope feed hopper requires adjustments to several elements on the downstream feed table. This is because the upstream end of the envelope hopper is fixed, while the downstream end must be moved, and this causes the synchronization of contents feed components with the envelope leading edge to change whenever the size is readjusted. Likewise, the inserter is constructed with a housing and table that are placed at an average height for an average worker with no easy way to change that height to accommodate shorter or taller operators. Also, while prior art inserters may contain a facility for dealing with the exhaustion or jamming of a “primary” contents hopper by providing a backup, or secondary contents hopper, such backup implementations are non-intuitive and difficult for an operator to implement.
Moreover, prior art inserters generally lack straightforward design in their individual components and power-transmission, making them more expensive to manufacture, more difficult to repair, and more prone to misfeed, due to bad tuning (given the many interconnected parts, which must interact perfectly).
Accordingly, it is highly desirable to provide an inventive high-speed envelope inserter, which intelligently addresses a variety of the foregoing concerns and thereby provides a more-serviceable, faster-running and generally more-reliable device.
This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior are by providing a system and method for inserting contents into envelopes that generally reduces the number of operative device components, locates all components in a readily and accessible location, reduces the number of adjustments needed to change envelope size and contents size, provides an efficient and aesthetically pleasing design, allows for a highly flexible arrangement of backup hoppers to primary hoppers for feeding envelope contents and otherwise affords a substantial number of improvements over currently available envelope inserters.
According to an illustrative embodiment, the device includes a “low-slung” swing arm design with a plurality of grippers for retrieving contents from hoppers and depositing contents on a moving raceway. The low-slung design employs a moving beam and a pair of opposing arms that are secured in a pivoting relation to a pair of respective uprights. This includes closely fitted shims so as to maintain a high degree of parallelism within the structure. This low-slung design insures that the area above the arm is relatively free of any inconvenient components that interfere, obstruct or hinder an operator's loading of the hoppers, or obscure his or her view of the hoppers' contents. The contents hoppers include back and side supports that are easily adjustable and/or removable, and the entire working surface or table top, when removing the envelope hopper as well, can be pivoted into an inverted position with the swing arm extending into the volume of the underlying device housing. In this pivoted-open position, the moving/operative components of the device are fully exposed to the user at waist level for extremely easy inspection and servicing.
In an illustrative embodiment, device components are powered by a central drive motor that is attached to the underside of the feed table. Three shafts power all the components. One of the shafts is a continuously rotating shaft that powers elements requiring continuous motion. An interconnected shaft includes an indexer to provide intermittent motion to power, for example, the contents raceway belt. A third shaft arranged on an axis perpendicular to the first two shafts (fixed and intermittent) powers the swing arm and envelope inserter components. All shafts and their respective power take-offs are mounted on the underside of the table and readily accessible.
In an embodiment of the invention, the front face of the housing includes a concave panel that is aesthetically pleasing and also provides additional clearance for an operator's knees, etc. A further embodiment of this invention provides other desirable features such as moveable feet that allow the height of the housing to be raised and lowered to suit an operator. These feet can be electrically (or otherwise) powered in an embodiment of the invention. In addition, the device includes an elevated control panel with a highly intuitive control-switch-and-status-light display. The control switches include particular controls for activating/deactivating each of the contents hoppers and allowing adjustment contents hoppers to be designated as backups to a given primary hopper. In this manner, the device can be run continuously as each hopper is emptied in turn. The novel raceway belt having timing belt teeth driven by drive and follower sprockets, transports contents downstream to the insertion area and includes spaced-apart lugs that grasp trailing edges of contents and carry them forward, in the downstream direction. These lugs are attached through the belt with through-fasteners and respective backing plates that substitute for one of the timing belt teeth. The backing plates have a slightly smaller dimension than the timing belt teeth so as to avoid damage to drive sprockets.
In a further embodiment, the swing arm includes easily accessible internal fasteners that allow for quick removal and/or reconfiguration of individual contents grippers. Each of the contents grippers are driven by a common camshaft that operates to opening and close the grippers at opposing ends of the swing arm arc. Each opposing end of the swing arm arc, respectably, picks up contents from a hopper and deposits the contents onto the raceway. In a further embodiment, the insertion area of the device can include a not-moving table section that avoids many of the needed readjustments common to currently available envelope inserters. This non-moving table section allows for easy adjustment of the device to accommodate different-width envelopes. It relies upon a movable envelope leading edge (downstream) hopper guide plate and a clamp bar having a nip that can be adjusted in an upstream-to-downstream direction so that envelopes enter the constant-cycle envelope drive belt at an appropriate time to ensure proper registration with a downstream contents transfer and stuffing station.
The invention description below refers to the accompanying drawings, of which:
A system for inserting contents into envelopes 100 is shown in
The housing 102 is supported on at least four heavy duty caster wheels 106 that provide portability. In general the housing 102 is a relatively lightweight structure consisting of an internal framework (not shown) and removable covering panels that allow access to the device's interior (as an alternative to the flipping-table system described below). The caster wheels 106 are supplemented by at least four (located adjacent each of the four caster wheels) retractable feet 110 that resist sliding, once deployed. The feet move up and down (double arrows 112) based upon a manual or automated drive system (a screw drive for example). This drive system allows the elevation of the housing 102 to be raised and lowered to accommodate different-height users. An up/down switch 113 can be located at a convenient position on the housing 102 to facilitate upward and downward movement. The top side of the housing 102 includes the working surface or table 124. This table surface 124 is constructed from a casting of aluminum in this embodiment, although it can be constructed from sheet and/or plate components in alternate embodiments.
The illustrative table surface 124 contains all of the exposed components needed to insert predetermined contents into envelopes. The envelopes 128 are stored in a stacking hopper 126. In alternate embodiments, a cartridge that includes envelopes can be provided. Such a feeding system is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,663,100 entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUPPLYING STACKED MATERIAL TO A UTILIZATION DEVICE,” by H. W. Crowley, the teachings of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Contents, which comprise folded, or otherwise appropriately dimensioned, documents that are sized to be inserted into envelopes 128 within the hopper 126, are stored in a series of contents hoppers defined by removable and adjustable back guides 130, 132, 134 and 136. Each depicted back guide represents a feed station for selected contents. Pairs of removable side guides 138 define the upstream and downstream widthwise edges of each content feed hopper. An exemplary set of contents 140 are shown stacked with respect to the first back guide 130. In this embodiment, two additional content feed stations/hoppers can be provided in the open area 142 residing downstream of the back guides 130-136. The side guides 138 are each removably attached to the underlying bar by pinch clamps and turn screws (not shown) of relatively conventional design. They can be slid (double arrows 157) along the bar and secured in place to define the appropriate upstream-to-downstream width for a respective stack of contents.
As used herein, the terms “upstream” and “downstream” refer to the flow of both contents and envelopes through the device. The upstream end 150 is at the beginning of a contents raceway that is defined by a moving, continuous transport belt 280. The belt 280 moves downstream in the direction of arrow 154 until all contents on the raceway are presented to an insertion area 156. Envelopes 128 are driven in succession into the insertion area 156 from the envelope hopper 126 along a continuous feeding belt 158. A series of pickers 160 and pusher fingers that are part of a contents-insertion transfer station 162 (described further below) urge the envelope into a flap-open position while retrieving, in turn, the now-stacked contents from the raceway, and driving these contents pieces through the flap opening on the envelope. A wetting system, which is fed by a reservoir 170 in an elevated control panel 172, is used to wet the adhesive on the envelope flaps so that they may be sealed. In this embodiment, the now-sealed envelopes are passed from the station 162 through a twisting belt arrangement 174 to a final, downstream location where they are boxed, stacked, or otherwise accumulated.
According to a novel feature of the device 100, contents are drawn from respective stacks using cam-actuated grippers 180. The grippers 180 are mounted at the end of a swinging bar or beam 182 that swings, pendulum-like, through a predetermined arc between one end position adjacent to the raceway and an opposing end position adjacent to the contents stacks. The bar or beam 182 swings on the end of each of two durable (aluminum in this example) arms 184 at each or the opposing ends of the beam 182. The arms 184 each include clevis assemblies 186 with pivot pins 188 that pass through each of a pair of overhanging uprights 190 and 192 that are fixed to the table 124.
The swinging arm and beam components will now be described in further detail with reference to
In general, the tolerance of each swing arm slot 222 with respect to the width WA of the upright is in a general range of two to five thousands of an inch in order to obtain desired parallelism throughout the arc of swing. In an illustrative embodiment, such close tolerances can be obtained by inserting shims of a given thickness along the pivot between the upright and the clevis. In this manner, the actual slot width can be significantly wider than the width WA of the upright to a count for variability in these dimensions. An appropriate-thickness shim 240, 242 (shaped as an annular washer in this example) is then inserted on each side of each upright between the clevis wing and the upright.
The downstream swing arm (184) is interconnected at the pivot point 188 to a drive arm 250 that is fixed by fasteners 252 to the clevis wing 220. This drive arm 250 is a rigid beam with an opposing end 254 that rides on a pivot 255, which is, in turn, attached to a drive wheel 256. The drive wheel 256 is mounted on a keyed (or otherwise rotationally filed—e.g. splined) shaft 258 that communicates with a drive motor system so that the rotation (curved arrow 260) of the drive wheel 256 is translated into a rocking motion within the arm 250 about the pivot 188. The degree of eccentricity on the wheel 256 between the shaft 258 and drive arm's pivot 255 dictates the resulting arc (double-curved arrow 230) through which the beam 182 swings. This arc can be adjustable, but is typically a fixed degree value. The degree of the arc should be sufficient to allow the grippers 180 to transition between a location on the raceway and a location in which they engage the bottom sheet in each contents stack.
It should be clear that the use of uprights and a swinging beam with high parallelism allows the upper region of the device to be essentially free of interfering components, secondary drive shafts and other items that complicate the device and can interfere with the operator's ability to properly load, unload and operate the device. In addition, the open and “low-slung” arrangement of the swinging beam and uprights facilitates its easy viewing and convenient loading access to each of the contents bins. This aids workers in monitoring when contents are about to become exhausted from a given bin. As discussed above, envelope inserters according to prior art arrangements include a plurality of such overhanging rods, interconnections, and the like. The novel arrangement of this invention effectively eliminates such features.
As further shown in
The contents pieces (140) are moved downstream along the raceway 150 on a belt 280. Briefly, the belt 280 includes spaced-apart lugs 282 that project upwardly from the otherwise relatively smooth surface of the belt. The belt resides within a trough or slot 284 formed within the table top 124. The underside of the belt 280 (described further below) includes a set of spaced-apart teeth, in the manner of a timing belt. These teeth engage corresponding sprocket teeth on a drive and follower roller on each of opposing upstream and downstream ends of the belt's run on the raceway 150. Certain teeth are removed or shortened to accommodate a backing plate that secures a given lug 282 to the belt 280 using fasteners, adhesives and/or other attachment systems. The lugs 282 can be constructed from a durable medal, plastic or another material.
Significant economy of moving components is achieved by the gripper assemblies 180 of this embodiment. With further reference to
As shown in
The above-described low-slung design, in combination with other efficient implementations of device components allows for highly useful and novel arrangement for accessing the various moving mechanisms of the device. As shown in
As further illustrated in
Securing the table top 124 and rear contents hopper supporting surface 270 to the underlying housing is relatively simple. A pair of elastomeric, T-shaped hold-downs 550, which can be a conventional design, are attached to each of opposing end ribs 552 and 554 on the table. These ribs 552 and 554 can also be employed to secure part of the surface 270 to the table 124. The hold downs each include a hole or other locking structure adjacent to the T-shaped end 556. As shown in
It should also be clear that the above-described arrangement for allowing easy access to most, or all, moving device components provides a substantial improvement over prior art devices. Such prior art devices typically require removing of one or more panels on the housing to access permanently fixed components therein. A large number of interconnecting gears, pushrods, links and other members are provided between the elements in the housing and the exposed elements on the table assembly in such prior art arrangements. Hence, these prior art arrangement make the servicing of the device more uncomfortable for the maintenance worker, as significant time must be spent stooping down, and working in uncomfortable orientations beneath the device.
As described above, the raceway's contents transport belt 280 includes a plurality of regularly spaced lugs 282 that are located at spacing distances that are sufficient to span the width of the maximum-width (upstream-to-downstream width) contents expected to be presented to the system 100. As shown further in
In this embodiment, the lug 282 also includes a pair of opposing, upright, outer wings 740 having a height of approximately three-sixteenths to five-sixteenths of an inch in this embodiment. The center region of the lug 282 between the wings 740 consists of a shorter-height plate 752, through which the fasteners 750 pass. Various different lug geometries are expressly contemplated according to other implementations, each with the goal of urging contents deposited by grippers downstream to the collection and insertion area of the device. Likewise, the technique for attaching a lug to a belt is widely variable and the depicted technique is one of a variety of possible attachment techniques.
Notably, the control panel 810 includes an array of six hopper “on-off” switches 850, 852, 854, 856, 858 and 860 (denoted as Hoppers 1-6, respectively, in an downstream-most to upstream-most arrangement). When a given on-off switch is shifted from the “off” to “on” position, the vacuum valve for a given contents-hopper sucker is activated. This operational vacuum enables the bottommost piece to be drawn downwardly so that it is aligned to engage the swinging gripper for the selected contents hopper. When the vacuum is switched off, the gripper misses the bottommost piece at the end of its swing-arc, and the bottom contents piece is not drawn. Note that when a hopper is switch on, the gripper looks for an appropriate thickness (caliper) of contents to be provided thereto. An electro-optical or resistance-based sensor within each gripper assembly determines when the gripper jaw has deflected due to the presence of a contents piece. When an appropriate degree of deflection has occurred, then the system is signaled that a contents piece is present. A variety of conventional electromechanical and/or electro-optical detectors can be employed in this arrangement. If contents pieces are not gripped, or more than one contents pieces are gripped by the grippers, then a fault light 870, 872, 874, 876, 878 and 880 is indicated for the respective hopper (Hoppers 1-6, respectively).
Referring now to the flow diagram of
By way of a basic operating example, as shown in
Typically envelope inserters include functional components (such as the swing arm that require a continuous drive, while other components, such the contents insertion assembly, require an intermittent drive that operates only at particular times relative to the continuous drive—for example, when the contents are all accumulated before an envelope, and ready for insertion. Most prior art inserters employ several different power transmission shafts and bearing points to implement such an arrangement. This increases the machine's cost and complexity and leads to higher maintenance costs and failure rates.
Conversely, the device 100 in the illustrative embodiment includes a novel arrangement of operative components (all of which are mounted on the underside of the table 124, as described above) that effectively reduces the number of shafts to a total of three.
Referring briefly to
Referring again to
The opposing end of the shaft section 1162 of the overall (second) shaft assembly 1160 is connected to the driven member of an indexer assembly 1180. A variety of indexer designs known in the art can be employed to implement the indexer assembly 1180. In this embodiment, the indexer includes a cam 1182 and follower 1184 on the end of a crank-arm that is connected to the intermittent shaft section 1186. Likewise, this shaft section 1186 is secured by fixed bearings 1188 to the underside of the table 124. As should be capable of implementation by one of ordinary skill, the driven cam 1182 of this embodiment includes spring loaded-gate that directs the follower into an eccentric slot that captures the follower and cranks it through one revolution. Since the second shaft assembly 1162 moves at twice the speed as the first shaft assembly 1120, the indexed section of the second shaft assembly's one revolution equals half a revolution for the first shaft (and its components' duty cycle). The gate releases the follower 1184 from the indexer's eccentric slot on the second revolution of the second shaft's driven section 1160 and the follower/crank assembly idles during this second revolution. Thus the second shaft's indexed section 1162 rotates one revolution during half the rotation cycle of first shaft, while pausing during the other half of the first shaft's cycle. This provides the requisite intermittent rotary motion (designated by dashed arrow 1190) needed to drive and pause the lugged raceway belt (280 in
Reference is now made to
Note that the raceway includes overlying raceway contents hold down “skis” 1417 that are each mounted on a common rotating shaft 1415. The hold downs 1417 normally overlie the contents as they pass downstream on the raceway. The hold downs 1417 retract as the grippers 180 deliver contents onto the race way so as to provide clearance for the grippers 180 to deposit their respective contents thereon. The hold downs then reengage as the contents move along the race, again retracting, and opening for the next gripper-delivery cycle. In the illustrative embodiment, the hold downs can be metal plates that do not actually engage the contents with pressure, but rather reside approximately one quarter to one half inch above the belt. This geometry boxes in the material so it remains on the moving belt. Also, the upstream edge of each hold down can include an upwardly ramped end to help guide the contents thereunder. In general, the hold downs serve to prevent contents from becoming unfolded or otherwise falling off the race way. In this manner, the contents remain under physical control and engagement of a paper-handling device during substantially all stages of the process (with the grippers handing that control/engagement responsibility off to the hold downs during the raceway-delivery stage of the process).
Note further that the envelope hopper 126 includes a series of uprights 1430 that are secured to the table 124 by slotted brackets 1432 and thumb screws 1434. Thus, the spread of uprights in the envelope hopper 126 can be adjusted for envelope width (double arrow 1436) by sliding the brackets 1432 appropriately and locking the screws 1434. Beneath the hopper resides a moving envelope elevator 1438 that is powered by the continuous power transmission shaft described above. The elevator includes a series of suction cups 1440 to which a vacuum is applied under control of the controller to intermittently grasp and release envelopes drawn from the bottom of the hopper. Unlike prior art, each and every of these cups is independently connected to a respective vacuum chamber. Therefore, if one sucker does not make contact and looses vacuum, the other suckers will still perform. Hence, the suckers can each be said to obtain suction from an “independent vacuum source.” Envelopes, which are drawn by the elevator 1438, are then engaged and driven onto the belt 1426 by a rod-mounted pusher block 1441 which drives the upstream edge of each drawn-down (by the elevator) envelope out of the bottom of the hopper stack, and onto the envelope drive belt and flap plow assembly 1444.
Envelopes are thereby vacuum-released onto the envelope conveyor belt 1426 where they are pushed into a waiting nip arrangement. The envelopes are grasped by a nip defined between the belt and a clamp bar (1478, described further below) that applies a predetermined pressure to the belt. When driven from the hopper, the envelope flaps are in a closed position. They pass through a flap-opening section 1444 that includes an overriding flap plow 1446 that engages a closed flap, and biases it open. The flap then engages a knife, whose leading edge is above the top surface of the incoming envelope behind the flap section, but transitions to below the flap before it contacts the flap. This geometry ensures the knife will scrape the flap open, even if the subsequent upstream flap plow does not open. As such the opened flap is rotated by the plow at its seam 180 degrees, laying the flap flat against the working surface of the feed table. When the belt completes its cycle, the opened envelope stops with its opened side in registration with the stuffing station 1428—where a series of grippy, springy hold-downs 1448 retain the flap in the desired laid-flat, opened orientation, firmly engaged against the underlying feed table supporting surface. The hold downs 1448 can be constructed from any acceptable resilient sheet material including a thin metal, rubber, or another flexible or semi-rigid polymer, cut into a narrow (½-1½-inch) strip. The hold downs 1448 are mounted adjustably on an overlying bar 1449. They exhibit a slight curve to provide spring force against the underlying surface/flap.
With the envelope flap held down, a series of vacuum (suction cup) lifters 1450, which are fed by independent vacuum lines 1452 move up and down to selectively draw up the opposing non-flap portion side of the envelope. This serves to open the mouth of the envelope for insertion of contents.
The transfer station also contains a set of envelope fingers that serve to transition the material from the pusher fingers. When the envelope is pulled open, the envelope fingers, which are uniquely wider than the incoming inserts and have a novel shaped front edge, are driven into the envelope ahead of the insert contents pieces. This insures the envelope is opened sufficiently when the pusher fingers 1410 subsequently drive contents transversely (to the downstream direction) into the pulled-open envelope.
The lower side of the non-flap edge (closer to the device front) of the envelope is driven into position as it is held between the belt 1426 and a hold-down bar 1448. The hold-down bar in this embodiment includes any acceptable clamping mechanism that allows the envelope to be driven along the belt 1426 while sliding against the hold-down bar 1448. This bar is raised once the envelope is clamped to allow the incoming insert contents room. Once the contents are completely engaged inside the envelope, the hold-own bar returns to its down-and-clamped position. The envelope can eventually exit the outlet 1458 when filled with contents in the next envelope-belt-movement cycle.
As the envelope exits the outlet 1458, it passes under an illustrative wetting brush 1460 arrangement. The wetting brush is fixed in position, slightly higher than the incoming envelope but the flap is driven up into it and drip-fed by a tube 1462 from the overlying reservoir 170 shown above. A valve controls a gravity-feed, or pump-feed, of water from the reservoir 170 to the brush 1460. This wets the filled envelope flap adhesive as the envelope exits the stuffing station 1428 on the next belt (1426) cycle. Its flap is then folded by an illustrative folding ramp assembly 1492. The unique geometry ensures that even if the inserter stops, envelopes with wet flaps will be drawn to the flap closing and sealing section. Note in this embodiment, the liquid reservoir 170 has been placed in a mounting 1464 that is on the opposing side of the control console from the side shown in the view of
In the illustrative embodiment, a series of levers 1466 and thumbscrews 1468 allow the relative width of the downstream inserter components to be varied. In particular, a raised front guide edge 1469, which restricts transverse movement of the lower (device-front-adjacent) edge of the envelope along the feed path, is adjustable using the screws 1468. This allows for varying width envelopes to be accommodated. An informed operator can easily readjust both the hopper 126 and downstream components to accommodate differing widths.
Notably, prior art insertion devices typically require substantial readjustment of the feed/insertion components of the device to accommodate differing upstream-to-downstream width envelopes due to changes in envelope leading edge registration with respect to their stuffing station (assuming the timing and degree of envelope transport does not vary to accommodate different registration lengths. However, the novel insertion device 100 of this embodiment allows for a very simple upstream-to-downstream registration adjustment due to changes in the fed envelope's width. In this embodiment, the front/envelope leading edge guide 1470 of the hopper 126 is slidably adjustable along an upstream-to-downstream guide bar 1472 that allows for different envelope widths to be quickly accommodated. The belt 1426 has an upstream edge 1478 that is positioned so that it will engage contents within the expected range of widths to be accommodated. The hopper front guide 1470 is locked into a position along the bar 1472 by a locking screw 1474. Of course, any acceptable mechanism, including automated (rack-and-pinion, for example) mechanisms, can be used to move and lock the envelope hopper front guide in a desired position.
Once the hopper's front guide 1470 is adjusted to accommodate a given width of envelope, the leading edge of the envelope must be registered to arrive at the appropriate location with respect to the stuffing station 1428. Otherwise contents will jam because they will not be aligned with the opening. If the location of the leading edge changes, but the point at which the envelope becomes grasped by the belt 1426 does not change, then the envelope will arrive out of phase with the stuffing station. One solution would be to change the length of the belt cycle in view of change in front guide location. However, a more reliable solution is to maintain a constant cycle length of the belt 1426 for all envelope widths, and to change the timing upon which different sized enveloped become grasped by the belt (which may already be in motion for a small time) once they are delivered from the hopper 126 by the pusher finger 1441. The phasing of entry onto the belt is, thus, adjusted by moving a weighted clamp bar 1490, which overrides the belt in an upstream-to-downstream direction use of the locking screw 1480 that engages an adjustment slide bar 1478. In this manner, the weighted clamp bar 1490 can be set at a predetermined in an upstream to downstream direction. The attached flap plow assembly 1444 is likewise movable with the clamp bar. In this manner so that the upstream-to-downstream registration of the flap plow can also be adjusted. The upstream edge of the clamp bar engages the belt with a clamp nip (denoted by the “X” 1494) that, with the appropriate timing, initiates grasping of the leading edge of an envelope and subsequent driving of the envelope downstream to the stuffing station 1428. Explained briefly, the belt 1426 in this embodiment always moves the same distance value with each cycle. Likewise, the pusher always drives the trailing edge of the envelope from the bottom of the hopper 126 with the same synchronized timing as the belt's movement. Thus, by changing where the nip 1494 first engages the leading edge of the fed envelope, the final location of the leading edge when the belt stops moving can be accurately regulated/registered. This allows the leading edge to arrive at the correct, registered location with respect to the stuffing station 1428 when the belt stops. A grasping nip can be constructed in a variety of ways. In one embodiment, the nip comprises a weighted roller or ball contained within the bar 1490 that contacts the belt 1426. However, it is expressly contemplated that any mechanism that allows the belt or other transport mechanism to grasp the envelope leading edge, and thereafter carry it downstream at the appropriate time and phasing, can comprise a nip in accordance with this invention.
The upstream/downstream adjustment of the clamp bar 1490 and associated nip 1494 can be accomplished in a variety of manual and/or automated ways. For example, in an alternate embodiment a drive screw attached to a servo motor (or other controllable actuator) can be used to apply predetermined adjustments in view of the position of the hopper front guide 1470. Likewise, the clamp bar may remain relatively stationary in an alternate embodiment, while the location of the grasping surface or nip is adjusted in an upstream to downstream direction.
In summary it should be clear that the above-described components, mechanisms and procedures afford superior performance, ease of maintenance, servicing and adjustment to the overall envelope insertion device described herein.
The foregoing has been a detailed description of illustrative embodiments of the invention. Various modifications and additions can be made without departing from the spirit and scope if this invention. Each of the various embodiments described above may be combined with other described embodiments in order to provide multiple features. Furthermore, while the foregoing describes a number of separate embodiments of the apparatus and method of the present invention, what has been described herein is merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the present invention. For example, the shape, size and layout of the housing and various components are each highly variable. Likewise, in alternate embodiments certain components can be separately powered by additional electronic or fluid-driven motors. The materials employed for various components can be widely varied as well. Accordingly, this description is meant to be taken only by way of example, and not to otherwise limit the scope of this invention.
This application is a divisional of copending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/857,702, filed Aug. 17, 2010, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HIGH-SPEED INSERTION OF ENVELOPES, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, which application is a divisional of copending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/204,773, filed Sep. 4, 2008, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HIGH-SPEED INSERTION OF ENVELOPES, issued on Aug. 17, 2010 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,775,015, the entire disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/969,912 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HIGH-SPEED INSERTION OF ENVELOPES, by H. W. Crowley, filed Sep. 4, 2007, the entire disclosure of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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60969912 | Sep 2007 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12857702 | Aug 2010 | US |
Child | 14254741 | US | |
Parent | 12204773 | Sep 2008 | US |
Child | 12857702 | US |