Robust system for screening mail for biological agents

A system for detecting harmful contaminants during mail processing, wherein said contaminates are associated with an item of mail, comprising:

• (a) a housing through which mail is conveyed to detect an item of mail that is contaminated, so that a harmful substance contaminating an item of mail is isolated from the environment outside the housing;
• (b) a triggering sampler in fluid communication with a volume of air within said housing, said triggering sampler being adapted to obtain particles from an item of mail, said particles being entrained within the volume of air in said housing, said triggering sampler generating a detection signal in response to the particles;
• (c) a detecting sampler in fluid communication with said volume of air and responsive to the detection signal, said detecting sampler being adapted to obtain a sample of particles within said volume of air in response to receiving said detection signal, to enable an analysis to detect particles of a contaminant that is harmful;
• and
• (d) a control unit electrically coupled to the triggering sampler and to the detecting sampler to control the operation of said system, said control unit conveying said detection signal to said detecting sampler.

A system for detecting a harmful contaminant that is associated with a parcel, comprising:

• (a) a housing into which a parcel to be analyzed is placed, so that so any contaminant carried by the parcel is isolated from an environment outside the housing;
• (b) means for distributing particles associated with a parcel into a volume of air within said housing;
• (c) a triggering sampler in fluid communication with said volume of air within said housing and operative to detect trace amounts of particles within said volume of air, said triggering sampler generating a detection signal in response detection of such particles;
• and
• (d) a detecting sampler in fluid communication with said volume of air and electrically coupled to respond to the detection signal, said detecting sampler obtaining a sample of particles within said volume of air in response to said detection signal, to enable an analysis of such particles to determine if a harmful contaminant is present.

A method for detecting the presence of a chemical or a biological agent in association with a parcel, comprising the steps of:

• (a) obtaining a first sample of particles associated with said parcel using a first sampling system;
• (b) determining at least one of a quantitative and a qualitative measure of the first sample of particles;
• (c) in response to said at least one of the qualitative and the quantitative measure, automatically obtaining a second sample of particles associated with said parcel using a second sampling system;
• and
• (d) analyzing the second sample of particles, to determine if at least one of a chemical agent and a biological agent is associated with said parcel.

A system for detecting hazardous particles associated with a parcel, comprising:

• (a) a housing into which a parcel to be analyzed can be placed, so that a parcel can be isolated from an environment outside the housing;
• (b) a triggering sampler in fluid communication with a volume of air within said housing, said triggering sampler being capable of detecting particles associated with a parcel that are entrained within the volume of air in said housing, said triggering sampler regularly sampling the air in said housing and generating a detection signal in response to detecting such particles;
• and
• (c) a detecting sampler in fluid communication with said volume of air and electrically coupled to the triggering sampler to respond to the detection signal from said triggering sampler, said detecting sampler, in response to said detection signal, removing particles entrained within said volume of air, thereby obtaining a sample of particles, to enable an analysis to determine if particles associated with a parcel that are collected by the detecting sampler are hazardous.