Device for singulating vertically positioned flat mailings from a stack of mail

Device for singulating vertically positioned flat mailings from a stack of mail, comprising:

• an input area, a transport section and at least one singulating stage located adjacent to the transport section and downstream relative to the a direction of travel of the mailings,
• wherein in the input area the stack of mail, aligned in relation to a supporting element, stands on underfloor belts and is held by at least one stack support, and the underfloor belts and the stack supports, at transport the stack of mail to the transport section,
• wherein the transport section comprises at least two discharge rockers disposed on top of one another with discharge belts revolving in a driven manner, second discharge belts revolving in a driven manner that are arranged in a fixed manner adjacent thereto and downstream thereof, as well as a driven underfloor belt assigned to the discharge rockers and to the second discharge belts,
• wherein a point of rotation of the discharge rockers is pressed by means of a spring force against the stack of mail,
• wherein a distance sensor is assigned to each discharge rocker, said distance sensor emitting a drive start signal when there is a defined stack pressure on the respective discharge rocker,
• wherein the singulating stage comprises further discharge belts revolving in a driven manner whose speed of travel is higher than a speed of travel of the second discharge belts,
• wherein the supporting element ends at a defined distance upstream of the undeflected discharge rockers,
• wherein a flexible, elongated retaining element is disposed, said retaining element being arranged in a resiliently pressed manner from an end of the supporting element to a beginning of the second discharge belts and further on to said discharge belts and to the discharge belts of the singulating stage,
• wherein a distance from an end of the supporting element to the downstream end of the second discharge belts relative to the direction of travel is greater than a maximum permissible length of a mailing,
• and wherein a control of drives of the transport section and of the singulating stage is fashioned such that
• at the defined stack pressure on the discharge rockers all the drives of the transport section and of the singulating stage are started,
• the drives of the transport section are stopped again or are reduced in speed as soon as a mailing held by the discharge belts of the singulating stage has their speed of travel,
• and the drives of the transport section are restarted or switched to their normal discharge speed when a gap before the subsequent mailing is detected by means of a light barrier line disposed along the path of travel.