Conveying apparatus for envelopes and related methods
AssigneeKern International, Inc.
InventorsPeter Kern, Reinhard Buri, Axel Schutz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for conveying envelopes traveling in a travel direction in a generally upright orientation. The apparatus includes a first pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another and configured to engage lateral edges of the envelopes, and configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction. The apparatus includes a second pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another and positioned downstream of the first pair of conveyor assemblies in the travel direction, with the second pair of conveyor assemblies being configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction independently of the first pair of conveyor assemblies.
Claims27
An apparatus for conveying envelopes traveling in a travel direction in a generally upright orientation, comprising:
- a first pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another and configured to engage lateral edges of the envelopes, said first pair of conveyor assemblies configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction;
- a second pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another and positioned downstream of said first pair of conveyor assemblies in the travel direction, said second pair of conveyor assemblies configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction independently of said first pair of conveyor assemblies;
- wherein at least one of said first or second pairs of conveyor assemblies includes deflectable elements for engaging the lateral edges of the envelopes.
An apparatus for conveying envelopes traveling in a travel direction in a generally upright orientation, comprising:
- a first pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another and including deflectable elements for engaging lateral edges of the envelopes, said first pair of conveyor assemblies configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction;
- a second pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another, including deflectable elements for engaging lateral edges of the envelopes, and positioned downstream of said first pair of conveyor assemblies, said second pair of conveyor assemblies configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction independently of said first pair of conveyor assemblies;
- a drive apparatus for driving said first pair of conveyor assemblies;
- and
- at least one sensor operatively coupled to said drive apparatus and configured to detect a gap in front of a first envelope carried by said first pair of conveyor assemblies in the travel direction, said drive apparatus being responsive to a signal received from said at least one sensor to accelerate the first envelope and thereby close the gap detected by said at least one sensor.
An automatic envelope stuffing apparatus having a first end associated with feeding of a roll of paper, a processing apparatus for converting the roll of paper into discrete sheets for feeding the discrete sheets into envelopes, further comprising:
- a conveying apparatus for conveying the envelopes toward the stuffing apparatus in a travel direction, said conveying apparatus including:
- (a) a first pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another and configured for engaging lateral edges of the envelopes, said first pair of conveyor assemblies configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction;
- and
- (b) a second pair of conveyor assemblies disposed opposite one another and positioned downstream of said first pair of conveyor assemblies in the travel direction, said second pair of conveyor assemblies configured to move the envelopes in the travel direction independently of said first pair of conveyor assemblies.
A method of conveying envelopes traveling in a travel direction, comprising:
- sliding an envelope in a generally upright orientation between a first set of deflectable elements engaging opposite lateral edges of the envelope;
- moving the deflectable elements to thereby move the envelope in the travel direction;
- transferring the envelope in the generally upright orientation to a second set of deflectable elements;
- and
- moving the second set of deflectable elements independently of the first set of deflectable elements to thereby move the envelope in the travel direction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.