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US 6,623,002 B1Granted
Flat article transport and aligner system
AssigneePitney Bowes Inc.
InventorDavid R Auerbach
Life of this patent
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AssigneePitney Bowes Inc.
InventorDavid R Auerbach
Estimating the term…
An apparatus for changing the redirecting the path of a flat article transported in an article processing system. A transport including a ramp that can raise the elevation of vertically oriented envelopes from a first level to a second level, and maintaining the alignment and orientation of transported envelopes square with the direction of travel. The transport comprised of nips which act to drive and orient the envelopes in the direction of travel. Sets of these nips comprising a driven roller and an idler roller. The idler roller has a toroidally shaped outer surface biased against the driven roller. The nips operate to allow the transported articles to pivot and maintain alignment in the travel direction as they are driven forward. In an alternative embodiment, the invention can be used to transport horizontal envelopes and alter the path of horizontal envelopes while maintaining the orientation of the envelopes in the direction of travel.
A ramp aligner transport apparatus for transporting vertically oriented flat rectangular articles from a first height to a second height along a transport path having a vertical plane, the transport comprising:
An aligner transport apparatus for transporting and aligning horizontally oriented flat rectangular articles in a transport path having a horizontal plane, the transport comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.