Method and apparatus for feeding and stacking articles

Abstract

An envelope processing system (20) includes an input transport section (22); a processing/transport section (24); and a discharge transport section (28). Envelopes are fed on-edge from the input transport section to the processing/transport section (24) by a feeder section (40) comprising a feeder (72) and a feed assist device (80). When a signal controller (190) monitoring the feeder (72) detects a significant delay between the feeding of envelopes, the feeder (72) is enabled to acquire greater contact with the next envelope by displacing the feed assist device (80) out of its normally biased co-planar position with a feed belt (130) of the feeder (72), resulting in a greater force vector on the next envelope in the direction toward a singulation region (73). A stacker section (38) comprising the discharge conveyance section (28) includes introductory conveying means (302), stacker conveying means (304), and a discharge magazine (300). An introductory path (360) is oriented at an acute angle ( 362) with respect to a processing path (26) of the processing/transport section (24). In the stacker conveying means (304), belts (370) follow a triangular course of travel, through which a trailing edge of an envelope "fishtails" (i.e., is deflected) about a bend point (391) with the assistance of a rotatable positioning element (394). An abutment wall (322) has an interior cavity (336) filled with acoustic insulating material (338). Vertically-oriented ridges (340) on the abutment wall (322) serve as bearing points to reduce frictional drag between the wall (322) and the envelopes. Envelopes are registered against the abutment wall (322) by the positioning element (394).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.