Sheet-material separator and feeder system
AssigneePitney Bowes Inc.
InventorsRobert Irvine, Harry E. Luperti
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A high speed sheet-material separating and feeder system is disclosed which handles a wide range of mixed thicknesses and sizes of envelopes and sheets. In a free running mode, the system can conservatively handle 30,000 pieces of mail per hour. The sheets are stacked at one end of the system, and are fed to a first of two separator mechanisms. The first separator mechanism is adjusted for thicker sheets of the range. Sheets leaving the first separator are then fed to the second of the two separator mechanisms. The second separator is adjusted for thinner sheets of the range. Sheets leaving the second separator are ejected one at a time, in seriatim, where they then can be fed to other sheet handling equipment for processing.
Claims20
An automatic material separating and feeding system separating a range of inter-mixed thicknesses of sheet-like material and feeding the separated sheet-like material in seriatim to a material-handling device, said material separating feeder system comprising:
- means defining a material handling feed path;
- stacking means disposed at the beginning of said feed path for stacking a quantity of inter-mixed thicknesses of sheet-like material;
- a feeding means disposed adjacent said stacking means for feeding a portion of said quantity of material towards a first separating means;
- a first separating means disposed along said feed path downstream from said stacking means for separating and feeding the material towards a second separating means, said first separating means comprising a first forward material thrusting element and a first adjacent material retarding element for separating multiple sheet-like materials disposed therebetween, a first independent clutching means for engaging and disengaging said first forward material thrusting element, said first forward material thrusting element including an over-running clutch for allowing sheet-like material to be pulled forward by a subsequent forward material thrusting element when said first forward material thrusting element is disengaged;
- and
- a second separating means disposed along said path downstream from said first means a distance less than a minimum length for said sheet-like material in said range of sheet-like materials, so that at one time during the separation of said sheet-like material, said sheet-like material will be in a bite of both separating means, said second separating means for separating and feeding the material towards a material-handling device, said second separating means comprising a second forward material thrusting element and a second adjacent material retarding element for separating multiple sheet-like materials disposed therebetween, a second clutching means for engaging and disengaging said second forward material thrusting element, said second forward material thrusting element including an over-running clutch for allowing sheet-like material to be pulled forward by a subsequent forward material thrusting element when said second forward material thrusting element is disengaged, said second separating means working cooperatively with said first separating means, such that said sheet-like material is fed to said material-handling device one sheet at a time in seriatim.
An automatic envelope separating and feeding system for separating a range of inter-mixed thicknesses and sizes of envelopes, and feeding the separated envelopes in seriatim to an envelope-handling device, said envelope separating and feeding system comprising:
- means defining an envelope feed path;
- stacking means disposed at the beginning of said feed path for stacking a quantity of inter-mixed thicknesses and sizes of envelopes;
- a feeding means disposed adjacent said stacking means for feeding a portion of said quantity of envelopes towards a separating means;
- a first and second separating means disposed along said feed path downstream of said stacking means, the second separating means being disposed downstream from said first separating means by a length less than that of a minimum size envelope length, said first and second separating means each comprising a forward envelope thrusting element and an adjacent envelope retarding element for separating multiple envelopes disposed therebetween, said first and second separating means further comprising independent clutching means for engaging and disengaging each of said forward envelope thrusting elements, respectively, and an over-running clutch for each of said forward envelope thrusting elements for allowing an envelope to be pulled forward when its respective forward envelope thrusting element is disengaged.
An automatic envelope separating and feeding system separating a range of inter-mixed thicknesses of envelopes, and feeding the separated envelopes in seriatim to an envelope-handling device, said envelope separating and feeding system comprising:
- means defining an envelope feed path;
- stacking means disposed at the beginning of said feed path for stacking a quantity of inter-mixed thicknesses of envelopes;
- a feeding means disposed adjacent said stacking means for feeding a portion of said quantity of envelopes towards a separating means;
- a first separating means disposed along said feed path downstream from said stacking means for generally separating thicker envelopes in said range of inter-mixed thicknesses, and feeding the separated envelopes towards a second separating means, said first separating means comprising a first forward envelope thrusting element and a first adjacent envelope retarding element for separating multiple envelopes disposed therebetween, a first independent clutching means for engaging and disengaging said first forward envelope thrusting element, said first forward envelope thrusting element including an over-running clutch for allowing sheet-like material to be pulled forward by a subsequent forward envelope thrusting element when said first forward envelope thrusting element is disengaged;
- and
- a second separating means disposed along said feed path downstream from said first separating means by a distance less than a minimum length of an envelope in said range of envelopes, so that at one time in the separation of said envelopes, an envelope will be in a bite of both separating means, said second separating means for generally separating thinner envelopes in said range of inter-mixed thicknesses, and feeding the separated envelopes towards an envelope-handling device, said second separating means comprising a second forward envelope thrusting element and a second adjacent envelope retarding element for separating multiple envelopes disposed therebetween, a second independent clutching means for engaging and disengaging said second forward envelope thrusting element, said seond forward envelope thrusting element, said second forward envelope thrusting element including an over-running clutch for allowing sheet-like material to be pulled forward by a subsequent forward envelope thrusting element when said second forward envelope thrusting element is disengaged, said second separating means such that said envelopes are fed to said envelope-handling device one envelope at a time in seriatim.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.