Apparatus and method for automatically and continuously producing a flow of singulated mail flats

An apparatus for orienting mail pieces, comprising:

• a plurality of parallel conveyor belts, each of said conveyor belts being capable of moving in a forward or reverse direction;
• a sensor array positioned to detect the orientation of a mail piece on said plurality of parallel conveyor belts;
• a means for selectively lifting each of said parallel conveyor belts;
• and
• a means for controlling the movement of each of said belts which uses orientation information from said sensor array to selectively halt or move particular belts of said plurality in either a forward or reverse direction.

An apparatus for separating and orienting mail pieces, comprising:

• a plurality of conveyors arranged in series, each of said conveyors having a high friction belt capable of engaging a surface of a mail piece, each of said conveyors having a drive means;
• detector arrays positioned to detect a mail piece positioned on a conveyor;
• a means for controlling each of said drive means in accordance with information signalled from said detector arrays, said means for controlling being capable of simultaneously advancing a pair of adjacent conveyors in said plurality as well as advancing a succeeding one of said pair of adjacent conveyors while halting a preceding one of said pair of adjacent conveyors;
• a means for creating a running shingle from a stack of mail pieces, said means for creating said running shingle being positioned before a first conveyor in said series and close enough to said first conveyor that mail pieces in said running shingle are transferred onto said first conveyor;
• and
• a means for orienting mail pieces positioned after a last conveyor in said series and close enough to said last conveyor that said mail pieces are transferred from said last conveyor onto said means for orienting said mail pieces.

A method for singulating items comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of conveyors in a series, each of said conveyors having a belt for engaging an item in contact therewith;
• depositing a plurality of items on said conveyors;
• and
• driving a pair of adjacent conveyors in said series in a controlled manner to achieve automatic separation of overlapping items deposited on said plurality of conveyors such that succeeding and preceding conveyors in said series either advanced simultaneously or said succeeding conveyor advances while said preceding conveyor is halted at a time when said overlapping items bridge between said pair of adjacent conveyors.

A method for singulating items comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of conveyors in a series, each of said conveyors having a high friction belt for engaging an item in contact therewith;
• orienting said conveyors in said series at an inclined angle;
• depositing a plurality of items on said conveyors;
• selectively controlling the operation of adjacent conveyors in said series such that succeeding and preceding conveyors in said series are either advancing simultaneously or said succeeding conveyor is advancing while said preceding conveyor is halted;
• and
• providing pulsed acceleration signals to a conveyor in said series.

A method for correcting the skewed orientation of an item comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of conveyor belts;
• depositing an item on said plurality of conveyor belts such that said item bridges at least two of said parallel conveyor belts;
• determining the orientation of said deposited item;
• moving a first conveyor belt in contact with said item in a first direction and moving a second conveyor belt in contact with said item in a second direction, said second direction being opposite said first direction, the amount of movement of said first and second conveyor belts being dependent on the determined orientation of said deposited item;
• and
• lifting said first and second conveyor belts above the remaining conveyor belts in said plurality before performing said step of moving.