Envelope feeder having dual aligned conveyors

In association with a printer having a manual input slot for media, a pickup assembly for picking up media placed into said slot, and a paper out sensor positioned in said slot, an envelope feeder for feeding envelopes for printing into said input slot, comprising:

• a. a horizontal feeder assembly having an acceleration conveyor positioned adjacent to said manual input slot, a feed conveyor adjacent and in-line with to said acceleration conveyor at the upstream end of said acceleration conveyor, and a pair of parallel guide plates extending along the length of said horizontal feeder assembly on the outside portions of said two conveyors;
• b. means for supporting said horizontal feeder assembly in proximal relation to said printer;
• c. drive means affixed to each said conveyor for driving said same;
• and,
• d. control means responsive to at least one sensor in said manual input slot for advancing said conveyors with said drive means, wherein said control means advances said acceleration conveyor at a rate substantially greater than said feeder conveyor such that envelopes moving on said acceleration conveyor form a downwardly sloping shingled group of envelopes, each envelope having a substantially flat orientation upon reaching said manual input slot.

A two stage envelope feeder for feeding envelopes into an input slot on a printer, comprising:

• a. a first stage conveyor assembly;
• b. a second stage conveyor assembly, wherein said second stage conveyor is positioned to receive envelopes from said first stage conveyor;
• c. wherein said first stage conveyor moves envelopes at an identical backward vertical angle of at least 50 degrees and includes means for supporting said envelopes at said angle;
• d. control means in communication with said first and second stage conveyors for automatic controlled advancement of envelopes on said conveyors;
• e. wherein said control means is adapted to move said second stage conveyor at a speed substantially faster than said first stage conveyor such that envelopes received from said first stage conveyor form a shingled stack having a sloped downward curve and wherein each said envelope arrives at said input slot in a substantially horizontal orientation, and wherein each envelope is vertically stacked upon a previously received envelope within said input slot to create a stacked column of envelopes therein;
• and,
• f. an optical sensor positioned proximal to said input slot and in electrical communication with said control means for monitoring the residual height of said vertical envelope stack and sending a signal to said control means upon said vertical envelope stack decreasing to a predetermined residual level.

A method for feeding envelopes into an input slot of a printer, comprising the steps of:

• a. loading envelopes on a first conveyor such that the envelopes are vertically oriented in a stack with a back angle of a predetermined amount;
• b. advancing said first conveyor in a downstream direction such that said envelopes empty onto a second conveyor;
• c. in cooperative movement between said first and second conveyors, advancing said emptied envelopes on said second conveyor at a speed faster than said first conveyor such that said envelopes form a shingled stack moving in a downstream direction and having their upper edges forming a sloped downward curve, wherein such envelopment movement causes each envelope to arrive at said printer slot in a horizontal orientation;
• d. loading a group of said horizontal oriented envelopes into said printer slot to form a pickup stack therein;
• and,
• e. automatically advancing said first and second conveyors to replenish said pickup stack as said envelopes are consumed by said printer.