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US 4,930,764 AGranted
Front end feeder for mail handling machine
AssigneePitney Bowes Inc.
InventorsRussell W. Holbrook, Walter J. Kulpa, James Morabito
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The front feeder for a high speed machine for handling mixed mail, including a nudger drive assembly for advancing the mail pieces while maintaining registration, and for fluffing a stack of mail contributing to preshingling of the mail as it is advanced downstream, angled decks and a back prop for a guideless hopper region, a tamper subsystem for maintaining registration of flapped envelopes, and structure configured to guide open envelope flaps along a slot for downstream sealing purposes.
Claims22
Feeder apparatus for stacked articles comprising:
- (a) a hopper region for receiving a stack of articles, said hopper region comprising a deck, and a side wall,
- (b) transport means located in the hopper region for nudging articles toward the side wall while simultaneously moving them in a downstream direction,
- (c) means for fluffing the stack to allow advancement of lower articles in said stack as they are moved downstream,
- (d) a slot alongside the side wall for receiving flaps of the stacked articles,
- (e) means connected to the side wall for causing the side wall to tamp the flaps against a deck side edge, and,
- (f) means for synchronizing the tamping action on the flaps with the transport means.
3 more elements
Feeder apparatus for stacked articles comprising:
- (a) a hopper region for receiving a stack of articles, said hopper region comprising a deck, a rear wall, and a side wall,
- (b) transport means located in the hopper region for moving articles toward the side wall and in a downstream direction away from the rear wall, said transport means having a plurality of rollers whose axes of rotation form an acute angle with the side wall in such a manner that the rollers drive articles both in a forward direction as well as sideways toward the side wall, and,
- (c) said transport means and hopper region cooperating to cause said articles as they are moved downstream to assume a shingled configuration with lower articles in the stack being advanced downstream ahead of upper articles in the stack.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.