US 4,542,818 AGranted

Displacement bench for mail sorting equipment and letter guidance insertion flap equipping such a bench

AssigneeHotchkiss-Brandt Sogeme H.B.S.

InventorClaude Pavie

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Abstract

The invention relates to an insertion flap for guiding letters during their insertion into the compartments of a rotary drum. It is a question of the axial insertion into the compartment of a drum rotating at an angular velocity .OMEGA. of a letter arriving at speed v. For this purpose, a flap takes up the letter at the interface between the conveying system and the drum and the flap pivots in the rotation direction of the drum at the same angular velocity as the latter and consequently accompanies the latter, whilst increasing the available insertion time before suddenly returning to its initial position for recommencing a new cycle. This makes it possible to compensate rapid speed fluctuations of the drum and bench, whilst a calculation of the departure time for each letter makes it possible to compensate the slow speed fluctuations of the drum and bench.

Claims10

Dependent claims

Apparatus for feeding documents of varying size, said apparatus comprising:

(a) a conveying means for feeding individual documents at spaced intervals in a first direction;
(b) a drum subdivided into a plurality of radial sectors;
(c) a drive means for rotating said drum about an axis extending in said first direction;
(d) a movable insertion flap positioned between said conveying means and said drum in position to accept one of the documents at a time from said conveying means and to insert each successive document into a successive one of said plurality of radial sectors as said drive means rotates said drum;
and
(e) an insertion flap drive means operatively connected to said insertion flap for moving said insertion flap in synchronism with each successive one of said plurality of radial sectors long enough for one of the documents to be transferred from said insertion flap to said one of said plurality of radial sectors and for returning said insertion flap to its starting position in time to accept the next successive document from said conveying means and to repeat the cycle.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.