Conveyor arrangement for mail sorting machines

In a mail sorting machine for handling both relatively wide and relatively narrow articles of mail with the mail articles transported on the machine in a substantially vertical orientation, a conveyor arrangement comprising:

• a pair of endless belts each having a plurality of flexible fingers projecting outwardly therefrom, said fingers being spaced apart from one another across the width and along the length of each belt;
• means for supporting said belts on the machine with confronting surfaces of the belts oriented in substantially parallel vertical planes spaced apart at least as far as the thickness of the wide mail articles to provide a conveyer path for the mail articles between said confronting surfaces of the belts, said support means locating the tips of the fingers on each confronting surface adjacent the tips of the fingers on the opposed confronting surface to engage with opposing fingers the opposite sides of the relatively narrow mail articles located between said confronting surfaces of the belts;
• a stationary support surface on the machine underlying said confronting surfaces of the belts, said support surface being oriented substantially horizontally to receive the lower edge portion of each mail article travelling along said conveyer path;
• and
• drive means for driving said belts to move said confronting surfaces in the same generally horizontal direction to convey the mail articles along said conveyor path in a substantially vertical orientation, said fingers being flexed against opposite sides of the mail articles to convey both the wide and narrow mail articles along said path with the lower edge portions of the mail articles moving along said support surface.