Mechanical device for measuring the width of a mail item

Abstract

A mechanical device for measuring the width L of a mail item on the fly in a mail handling machine in which mail items are caused to move along a mail item conveyor path, parallel to a reference wall; said mechanical device comprising a device for detecting a leading edge of a mail item, a downstream lever disposed across the mail item conveyor path and forming a determined angle relative to said reference wall, a device for detecting said downstream lever moving as the leading edge of the mail item goes past, a device for determining a movement distance over which the leading edge of the mail item moves between the device for detecting a leading edge of a mail item and a point of activation at which said leading edge activates said downstream lever, which point of activation is determined by the device for detecting the downstream lever moving, and a computation device for computing the width L of the mail item on the basis of said movement distance.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.