U.S. patent application number 12/014158 was filed with the patent office on 2008-07-31 for feed module including an envelope closure device that retains water.
This patent application is currently assigned to NEOPOST TECHNOLOGIES, French Limited Company. Invention is credited to Emmanuel BERNARD, Jean-Pierre Gregoire, Romain Pillard.
Application Number | 20080179811 12/014158 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38456571 |
Filed Date | 2008-07-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080179811 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
BERNARD; Emmanuel ; et
al. |
July 31, 2008 |
FEED MODULE INCLUDING AN ENVELOPE CLOSURE DEVICE THAT RETAINS
WATER
Abstract
A feed module for feeding envelopes into a mail handling
machine, which feed module comprises envelope conveyor means for
conveying said envelopes through the feed module, separator means
for selecting said envelopes one-by-one, moistener means for
moistening a flap of the envelope selected in this way, and closure
means for pressing the envelope closed and for ejecting it from the
feed module, said closure means comprising two superposed extractor
rollers, each of which has a respective ribbed portion that is made
of a hydrophobic material and that extends over a width
corresponding to at least the width of a print zone in which the
postal imprint is to be printed.
Inventors: |
BERNARD; Emmanuel; (Sannois,
FR) ; Gregoire; Jean-Pierre; (Brie Comte Robert,
FR) ; Pillard; Romain; (Avon, FR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
SUGHRUE MION, PLLC
2100 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., SUITE 800
WASHINGTON
DC
20037
US
|
Assignee: |
NEOPOST TECHNOLOGIES, French
Limited Company
Bagneux
FR
|
Family ID: |
38456571 |
Appl. No.: |
12/014158 |
Filed: |
January 15, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
271/2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H 2404/1414 20130101;
B43M 5/042 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
271/2 |
International
Class: |
B65H 5/00 20060101
B65H005/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 25, 2007 |
FR |
0752880 |
Claims
1. A feed module for feeding envelopes into a mail handling
machine, which feed module comprises envelope conveyor means for
conveying said envelopes through the feed module, separator means
for selecting said envelopes one-by-one, moistener means for
moistening a flap of the envelope selected in this way, and closure
means for pressing the envelope closed and for ejecting it from the
feed module, wherein said closure means comprise two superposed
extractor rollers, each of which has a respective ribbed portion
that is made of a hydrophobic material and that extends over a
width corresponding to at least the width of a print zone in which
the postal imprint is to be printed.
2. A feed module according to claim 1, wherein said ribs on said
top extractor roller and said ribs on said bottom extractor roller
are offset such that no contact can exist between them while said
envelope is being closed.
3. A feed module according to claim 1, wherein each of said
extractor rollers has a ribbed portion over a length greater than
the width of said flap.
4. A feed module according to claim 1, wherein said hydrophobic
material is chosen from among the following materials:
polyoxymethylene, expanded polystyrene, Teflon.RTM., and
Versilic.RTM. silicone.
5. A feed module according to claim 1, wherein each of said
extractor rollers further has a smooth remaining portion made of a
material having a high coefficient of friction in order to convey
the envelopes properly.
6. A feed module according to claim 5, wherein said ribbed portion
and said smooth portion are mounted to rotate about a common axis
of rotation.
7. A feed module according to claim 5, wherein, disposed at least
under said ribbed portion of said bottom extractor roller, it
further comprises a squeegee for removing surplus water to a
drainage channel in order to recycle said surplus water.
8. A feed module according to claim 7, wherein said drainage
channel is also extended under said smooth portion of said bottom
extractor roller.
9. A feed module according to claim 1, wherein said extractor
rollers are connected mechanically to said envelope conveyor means
via a movement transmission mechanism.
10. A mail handling machine including an envelope feed module
according to claim 1.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to the field of mail handling,
and it relates more particularly to an envelope feed module
provided with an improved device for conveying envelopes and for
closing envelope flaps.
PRIOR ART
[0002] Conventionally, and as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2, in
a conventional mail handling machine, envelope flaps are closed by
pressure from the extractor rollers disposed at the outlet of the
envelope feed module of said machine, after the inside faces of the
flaps have been moistened by a moistener device disposed
immediately upstream from said rollers on the path along which said
envelopes are conveyed.
[0003] Unfortunately, the simplicity of that envelope flap closure
system gives rise to a major drawback. The inventors have observed
that, with that system, the surplus water expelled by the extractor
rollers during closing finds itself on the conveyor zones, and the
immediately following envelope picks up the stagnant water and, on
falling into the collection tray, that following envelope degrades
the printing of the postal imprint on the envelope preceding it by
a phenomenon known as "offsetting" or "smudging".
[0004] The consequences of such smudging of the printing of the
postal imprint are serious insofar as the envelope whose postal
imprint is smudged can no longer be decoded by optical reader means
and might therefore be rejected by the postal authorities even
though payment therefore has been deducted.
Object and Definition of the Invention
[0005] An object of the present invention is thus to mitigate those
drawbacks in envelope closure by proposing a mail item feed module
provided with a device for closing envelope flaps that is both
simple and reliable, and that avoids smudging. Another object of
the invention is to propose a device that makes it possible to
close envelopes without using additional external means. Another
object of the invention is to propose a device that does not
involve a decrease in the initial compactness of the feed
module.
[0006] These objects are achieved by a feed module for feeding
envelopes into a mail handling machine, which feed module comprises
envelope conveyor means for conveying said envelopes through the
feed module, separator means for selecting said envelopes
one-by-one, moistener means for moistening a flap of the envelope
selected in this way, and closure means for pressing the envelope
closed and for ejecting it from the feed module, wherein said
closure means comprise two superposed extractor rollers, each of
which has a respective ribbed portion that is made of a hydrophobic
material and that extends over a width corresponding to at least
the width of a print zone in which the postal imprint is to be
printed.
[0007] The presence of the ribbed rollers makes it possible to
close the envelopes without smudging the printing on them, and, by
not bringing any water into the print zone, thus ensures that the
postal imprint printed downstream remains intact, thereby
guaranteeing that it can be recognized properly by optical reader
means.
[0008] Advantageously, said ribs on said top extractor roller and
said ribs on said bottom extractor roller are offset such that no
contact can exist between them while said envelope is being
closed.
[0009] Each of said extractor rollers may have a ribbed portion
over a length greater than the width of said flap.
[0010] Said hydrophobic material is chosen from among the following
materials: polyoxymethylene, expanded polystyrene, Teflon.RTM., and
Versilic.RTM. silicone.
[0011] Each of said extractor rollers further has a smooth
remaining portion made of a material having a high coefficient of
friction in order to convey the envelopes properly.
[0012] Preferably, said ribbed portion and said smooth portion are
mounted to rotate about a common axis of rotation, and, disposed at
least under said ribbed portion of said bottom extractor roller, a
squeegee is provided for removing surplus water to a drainage
channel in order to recycle said surplus water.
[0013] Advantageously, said drainage channel is also extended under
said smooth portion of said bottom extractor roller.
[0014] Said extractor rollers are preferably connected mechanically
to said envelope conveyor means via a movement transmission
mechanism.
[0015] The invention also provides a mail handling machine
including such an envelope feed module. The machine may be a
franking machine or "postage meter", or indeed it may be a folding
and stuffing machine.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] Other characteristics and advantages of the present
invention appear more clearly from the following description given
by way of non-limiting indication and with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0017] FIGS. 1A and 1B are respectively a plan view and a section
view showing a preferred embodiment of the rollers for closing
envelopes in accordance with the invention; and
[0018] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic longitudinal section view showing a
prior art feed module.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0019] FIG. 2 is a highly diagrammatic view of a prior art feed
module 10 for feeding envelopes 12 into a mail handling machine.
That feed module comprises a series 100 of drive rollers that
direct the envelope 12 (as slightly inclined and jogged from behind
on a feed plate 14 provided with a stack of such envelopes) towards
and under separator means 102 conventionally comprising a guide 104
and superposed selector rollers 106, 108 for selecting the
envelopes one-by-one. Conveyor means comprising in particular a
presser assembly 110 and superposed drive rollers 112, 114 convey
each selected envelope towards moistener means 16 for moistening
the envelope flaps. In the example shown, and as is known, such a
moistener device comprises a separator 140 having a stationary
portion 142 secured to the body of the feed, and a hinged portion
144 provided with a brush 146 whose bristles, directly in contact
with a moistener reservoir 148 in the absence of envelopes then
comes to moisten the inside portion of the flap of each of the
envelopes after said flap has been moved away from the body of the
envelope by the separator 140. A vertical wall 150 parallel to the
direction in which the envelopes are conveyed forms a referencing
wall for laterally guiding (jogging) the envelopes. Immediately
downstream from the moistener means, two superposed extractor
rollers 116, 118 are mounted that are connected mechanically to the
conveyor rollers 112, 114 of the pressure assembly 110 by a
movement transmission mechanism 120.
[0020] This mechanism 120 makes it possible to transmit the spacing
between the conveyor rollers, which spacing depends on the
thickness of the envelope, to the extractor rollers 116, 118 with a
determined gear ratio that is chosen to procure simultaneously both
taking account of varying envelope thicknesses and also maintaining
sufficient pressing stress to press the flap of the envelope
against the body thereof progressively.
[0021] Naturally, connection means 18 are also provided at the
outlet of the feed module 10 so as to form, in the mail handling
machine, a mechanical link and continuity in the electrical links
with the immediately following module, e.g. a franking module 20,
of which only the two superposed take-up rollers 200, 202 are
shown.
[0022] In accordance with the invention, the extractor rollers are
not uniformly smooth, but rather each of them has a ribbed portion
34, 36 mounted to rotate about a common axis of rotation 30, 32
shared with the remaining portion of the corresponding extractor
roller, the width of each ribbed portion corresponding to at least
the width of the print zone of the postal imprint (and typically to
slightly greater than the width of a flap of the standard
trapezoid-shaped type), which ribbed portion is made of a
hydrophobic material such as polyoxymethylene, expanded
polystyrene, Teflon.RTM., or indeed Versilic.RTM. silicone, the
remaining portions 38, 40 of the rollers being smooth, as above,
and being made of a material having a high coefficient of friction,
such as natural rubber, silicone, or polyurethane, in order to
convey the envelopes properly.
[0023] The ribs on the top extractor roller and the ribs on the
bottom extractor roller are mutually offset so that no contact is
possible between them in those portions of the rollers that are
closest to the referencing wall 150. Thus, it is impossible for
water to be deposited on the ribbed portion of the top extractor
roller, and thus it is impossible for water to be deposited on the
top portion of the envelope on which the postal imprint is to be
printed.
[0024] In addition, at least under the ribbed portion 36 of the
bottom extractor roller 118, provision is made to mount a squeegee
42 advantageously made of silicone or of polyurethane for scraping
off any surplus water present on the bottom extractor rollers, and
for removing such water to a drainage channel 46 in order to
recycle it, e.g. to the moistener reservoir 148. The drainage
channel can also advantageously be extended under the smooth
portion 40 of the bottom extractor rollers and then be provided
with another squeegee 44.
[0025] The feed module of the invention operates as follows. The
loaded envelopes inserted in stacks into the feed module from the
loading tray are, after being selected one-by-one, directed towards
the separator of the moistener device where the flap of the
selected envelope is firstly moved away from the body of the
envelope before said flap is moistened by the brush. The envelope
is then extracted by the extractor rollers between which said
envelope is simultaneously closed before being ejected from the
feed module, e.g. towards the franking module disposed
downstream.
[0026] The flap being closed by pressure from the extractor
rollers, i.e. by pressure being exerted on the flap of the envelope
by the ribs of the ribbed portions of said extractor rollers,
causes the surplus water to be driven away to the outside of the
flap and thus essentially towards said ribbed portions of the
rollers. The surfaces of said ribbed portions would tend to be
coated with a fine film of water, but due to the hydrophobic nature
of the material of which said ribbed portions are made, said water
does not remain pressed against the ribs but rather it runs off
towards the drainage channel, from which said surplus water is then
recovered, preferably for recycling.
[0027] Naturally, the invention is not limited to the
above-described preferred embodiment. In particular, it is possible
to make provisions to replace the brush moistener means with
water-jet moistener means without going beyond the ambit of the
invention.
* * * * *