US 5,998,753 AGranted

Machine for sorting objects such as postal envelopes

AssigneeLa Poste (Exploitant Public)

InventorsPierre Darchis, Laurent Baufreton

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Abstract

A sorting machine with a standard operator work space containing a compact and ergonomic assembly of a hopper (5) for a horizontal stack of envelopes (3) between a control panel (6) and an extraction head (9), and a set of pigeonholes (11) for receiving a large enough number of sorted envelopes to prepare a postman's round. The pigeonholes are arranged above the hopper and supplied by a conveyor moving along a path in such a way that the orientation of the envelopes remains the same as they are delivered from the hopper (5) to the pigeonholes.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A machine for sorting envelopes, comprising:

a hopper that receives envelopes to be sorted, said hopper comprising a bearing surface in a bearing plane and a reference surface in a reference plane, said bearing and reference planes intersecting to form a dihedral angle whose line of intersection is in a horizontal plane when the machine is arranged for operation, said bearing plane being inclined relative to the horizontal plane at a first angle and said reference plane being inclined relative to the horizontal plane at a second angle less than said first angle;
an extraction head at one end of said hopper that is arranged to extract from said hopper one envelope at a time having one side at said second angle;
at least two horizontal tiers of pigeonholes above and recessed relative to said hopper that are arranged to store sorted envelopes with one side in a vertical plane, said at least two horizontal tiers of pigeonholes being one above the other and each comprising a plurality of said pigeonholes;
and
a conveyor system that conveys envelopes from said extraction head to respective said pigeonholes in all of said tiers, said conveyor system comprising a first conveyor that is arranged to convey from said extraction head envelopes having the one side at said second angle, a twisting module that is arranged to receive envelopes from said first conveyor and to reorient the envelopes from having the one side at said second angle to having the one side in the vertical plane, an intermediate conveyor that is arranged to receive envelopes from said twisting module and that conveys envelopes to a side of the machine, a reader that is arranged to receive envelopes from said intermediate conveyor and to determine said pigeonholes to which envelopes are to be routed, and a distribution conveyor that is arranged to convey envelopes from said reader to said pigeonholes and that comprises a first envelope movement path that is substantially vertical and plural second envelope movement paths that are substantially horizontal and that each conveys envelopes from said first envelope movement path to respective said pigeonholes.

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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

A machine for sorting envelopes, comprising:

a hopper that receives envelopes to be sorted, said hopper comprising a bearing surface in a bearing plane and a reference surface in a reference plane, said bearing and reference planes intersecting to form a dihedral angle whose line of intersection is in a horizontal plane when the machine is arranged for operation, said bearing plane being inclined relative to the horizontal plane at a first angle and said reference plane being inclined relative to the horizontal plane at a second angle less than said first angle;
an extraction head at one end of said hopper that is arranged to extract from said hopper one envelope at a time having one side at said second angle;
at least two horizontal tiers of pigeonholes above and recessed relative to said hopper that are arranged to store sorted envelopes with one side in a vertical plane, said at least two horizontal tiers of pigeonholes being one above the other and each comprising a plurality of said pigeonholes;
and
a conveyor system that conveys envelopes from said extraction head to respective said pigeonholes in all of said tiers, said conveyor system comprising a first conveyor that is arranged to convey from said extraction head envelopes having the one side at said second angle, a twisting module that is arranged to receive envelopes from said first conveyor and to reorient the envelopes from having the one side at said second angle to having the one side in the vertical plane, an intermediate conveyor that is arranged to receive envelopes from said twisting module and that conveys envelopes to a side of the machine, a reader that is arranged to receive envelopes from said intermediate conveyor and to determine said pigeonholes to which envelopes are to be routed, and a distribution conveyor that is arranged to convey envelopes from said reader to said pigeonholes and that comprises a first envelope movement path that is substantially vertical and plural second envelope movement paths that are substantially horizontal and that each conveys envelopes from said first envelope movement path to respective said pigeonholes.

2 more elements