US 4,790,119 AGranted

Machine and process for organizing publications for distribution in a postal system

AssigneeWorld Color Press, Inc.

InventorPaul T. McDaniels

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Abstract

An electronic computer orders magazines of multiple titles from dispensing units, each of which has a single title assigned to it, and these orders are organized by carrier route, that is to say all magazines for subscribers of a specific carrier route are ordered in sequence. The orders are directed to a magazine dispensing unit which has a different pocket for each title, and these pockets deliver to the conveyor one after the other magazines that fill the subscriptions to which the various addresses pertain. The computer also causes the insert dispensing unit to deposit on the magazines as those magazines pass under the unit inserts that are appropriate to the magazine and its subscriber. Next a wrapping machine places a transparent polymer film around the magazine and any insert which is on it. Then the conveyor carries the magazine past an ink jet printing unit where the subscriber's name and address are applied to the polymer envelope, the printing unit likewise being connected to the computer. The conveyor thereafter deposits the magazines one after another in a stacking machine, which is also under the control of the computer, and it arranges the magazines in stacks which comply with the requirements for carrier route sortation, in that each stack has magazines addressed to a single carrier route, contains the minimum number of magazines, and does not exceed the prescribed weight.

A machine for organizing publications of different titles for distribution in a postal or similar system, said machine comprising:

a conveyor capable of moving the publications one after the other along a path;
a plurality of publication dispensing units located along the path, with each holding identical publications of a specific title and being capable upon receipt of a command of dispensing onto the conveyor a publication of the specific title which it holds;
a plurality of insert dispensing units located along the path downstream from the publication dispensing units, with each holding identical inserts and being capable upon receipt of a command of depositing an insert on a publication located on and being transported by the conveyor;
means located along the path downstream from the insert dispensing units for enclosing the publication and any insert deposited on it in an envelope to create a mailing piece;
an ink jet printing unit located along the path downstream from the insert dispensing units and being capable, upon receipt of a signal, of directing ink in the form of letters and numbers toward the portion of the mailing piece passing by it so as to impart an address to the mailing piece stacking means located along the path for receiving mailing pieces from the conveyor and arranging them in stacks;
and electronic computing means capable of receiving addresses and for directing commands to the publication dispensing units capable of causing the publication dispensing units to dispense in sequence publications of the specified titles required for the addresses at a specific carrier route, for directing additional commands to the insert dispensing units so as to deposit inserts desired to accompany the publications dispensed by the publication dispensing units, for providing signals to the ink jet printing unit suitable for causing that unit to apply the proper address to each mailing piece, and for controlling the stacking means such that each stack contains mailing pieces which bear addresses for only a single carrier route.

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Abstract

Claims16