U.S. patent application number 12/014503 was filed with the patent office on 2008-07-31 for feeder having an improved conveyor device for mail items.
This patent application is currently assigned to NEOPOST TECHNOLOGIES, FRENCH LIMITED COMPANY. Invention is credited to Jean-Pierre GREGOIRE, Romain PILLARD.
Application Number | 20080179826 12/014503 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 38434322 |
Filed Date | 2008-07-31 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080179826 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
GREGOIRE; Jean-Pierre ; et
al. |
July 31, 2008 |
FEEDER HAVING AN IMPROVED CONVEYOR DEVICE FOR MAIL ITEMS
Abstract
In a feeder of a mail handling machine, a conveyor device is
provided that includes a plurality of a drive members controlled by
a suitable drive mechanism and designed to pass through a mail item
receiver bed of said feeder, and each of said drive members is
constituted by a cylindrical wheel provided with a set of straight
teeth formed by a plurality of teeth between which there are
interposed a plurality of independent small rollers having axes
perpendicular to the axis of the wheel.
Inventors: |
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: |
38434322 |
Appl. No.: |
12/014503 |
Filed: |
January 15, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
271/264 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H 2404/54 20130101;
B65H 3/063 20130101; B65H 3/0638 20130101; B65G 47/54 20130101;
B65G 13/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
271/264 |
International
Class: |
B65H 5/06 20060101
B65H005/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jan 25, 2007 |
FR |
0752881 |
Claims
1. A mail item feeder for feeding mail items into a mail handling
machine, said mail item feeder including a plurality of a drive
members controlled by a suitable drive mechanism and designed to
pass through a mail item receiver bed of said feeder, wherein each
of said drive members is constituted by a cylindrical wheel
provided with a set of straight teeth formed by a plurality of
teeth between which there are interposed a plurality of independent
small rollers having axes perpendicular to the axis of the
wheel.
2. A mail item feeder according to claim 1, wherein said small
rollers are mounted to be free to rotate about axes of rotation
disposed in a plane that is perpendicular to the axis of rotation
of said cylindrical wheel, each axis extending between the facing
sides of two adjacent teeth.
3. A mail item feeder according to claim 2, wherein said axes of
rotation of the small rollers are distributed around the sides of a
regular polygon and are positioned at a determined distance from
said axis of rotation of the wheel.
4. A mail item feeder according to claim 3, wherein each of said
small rollers has an outer peripheral surface that projects by
approximately in the range 0.5 mm to 1 mm relative to tops of the
teeth.
5. A mail item feeder according to claim 1, wherein said
cylindrical wheel is made of a standard low-cost material of the
polyoxymethylene type.
6. A mail item feeder according to claim 1, wherein said small
roller is made of one of the following materials: silicone,
polyurethane, natural rubber, ethylene propylene diene monomer.
7. A mail item feeder according to claim 1, having at least six
small-rollers spaced apart uniformly at 60.degree. intervals.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates exclusively to the field of
mail handling, and it relates more particularly to a mail item feed
module of a mail handling machine, which module has an improved
mail item conveyor device.
PRIOR ART
[0002] The postal specifications that govern printing of postal
imprints are very precise and define, in particular, the position
of the postal imprint relative to the top edge of the envelope.
Achieving that position depends on the envelope being jogged into
alignment. Since the envelope is conveyed parallel to a referencing
wall (or "jogging" wall), a jogging error or misalignment in the
feed magazine (or feeder) gives rise to the same error or
misalignment downstream in the selector device and then even
further downstream on going under the print module. It is thus very
important to monitor and automatically correct such jogging errors
in the feeder so as to avoid it being necessary for the operator to
re-jog each stack of envelopes on inserting it into said
feeder.
[0003] Today, in order to solve that problem, it is known that the
conveyor rollers of the feeder can be inclined so that, by
conveying the envelopes on a slant, they are shifted towards the
referencing wall while also being conveyed towards the selector
device. Unfortunately, by exerting a large re-jogging force on the
envelope, that configuration brakes said envelope and, when said
envelope is a fine envelope, can even damage it. In addition, the
force exerted depends on the position of each conveyor roller
relative to the selector device.
[0004] The Applicant has also proposed supplementing the conveyor
rollers disposed parallel to the referencing wall with
perpendicular re-jogging rollers that operate with a phase advance
relative to said conveyor rollers.
[0005] However, even though the envelopes tend to be braked to a
lesser extent than with the above configuration, the braking
tendency nevertheless persists because of the action of said
re-jogging rollers, and the greater the height and/or the weight of
the stack of envelopes, the greater the extent to which the
envelopes tend to be braked.
OBJECT AND DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION
[0006] An object of the present invention is thus to mitigate the
above-mentioned drawbacks with a mail item feed device that has
specific drive members making it possible to monitor and to correct
the jogging of the mail items. Another object of the invention is
to propose a device whose performance is independent of the weight
and/or of the height of the stack of envelopes disposed on the
feeder.
[0007] These objects are achieved with a mail item feeder for
feeding mail items into a mail handling machine, said mail item
feeder including a plurality of a drive members controlled by a
suitable drive mechanism and designed to pass through a mail item
receiver bed of said feeder, wherein each of said drive members is
constituted by a cylindrical wheel provided with a set of straight
teeth formed by a plurality of teeth between which there are
interposed a plurality of independent small rollers having axes
perpendicular to the axis of the wheel.
[0008] Thus, by having this specific structure, the drive members
perform dual functions of conveying and of jogging, the coefficient
of friction due to the re-jogging rollers is removed and the
jogging can be performed without being detrimental to the mail
items being conveyed.
[0009] Advantageously, said small rollers are mounted to be free to
rotate about axes of rotation disposed in a plane that is
perpendicular to the axis of rotation of said cylindrical wheel,
each axis extending between the facing sides of two adjacent
teeth.
[0010] Preferably, said axes of rotation of the small rollers are
distributed around the sides of a regular polygon and are
positioned at a determined distance from said axis of rotation of
the wheel, and each of said small rollers has an outer peripheral
surface that projects by approximately in the range 0.5 millimeters
(mm) to 1 mm relative to tops of the teeth.
[0011] Said cylindrical wheel may be made of a standard low-cost
material of the polyoxymethylene type, and said small roller may be
made of silicone.
[0012] Advantageously, the device of the invention has at least six
small rollers spaced apart uniformly at 600 intervals.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0013] The invention can be better understood on reading the
following detailed description accompanied by illustrative and
non-limiting examples given in the following figures, in which:
[0014] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a feed device for a mail
handling machine, which feed device incorporates an improved
conveyor device of the invention;
[0015] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the drive members of
the conveyor device of FIG. 1; and
[0016] FIGS. 2A and 2B are section views on two perpendicular
planes of the drive member of FIG. 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0017] A feed device (or feeder) for feeding mail items into a mail
handling machine and that incorporates an improved conveyor device
of the invention is shown in FIG. 1. This feeder 10 includes, in
conventional manner, a mail item receiver bed 12 on which the mail
items to be printed are placed in a compact stack that can be
uniform or non-uniform (depending on whether or not the mail items
are of the same size). Said mail items are conveyed to a selector
device 14 by a conveyor device conventionally formed by a plurality
of drive members such as the conveyor rollers 16 passing through
the mail item receiver bed and controlled by a suitable drive
mechanism 18.
[0018] In accordance with the invention, said rollers 16 of the
conveyor device are disposed in line in a plurality of rows
extending parallel to the referencing wall 20 of the feeder and, as
shown more particularly in FIGS. 2, 2A, and 2B, each of the rollers
is constituted by a cylindrical wheel provided with a set of
straight teeth made up of a plurality of teeth 22 between which
there are interposed a plurality of small rollers 24 having axes of
rotation perpendicular to the axis of the wheel. More precisely,
the small rollers are mounted to be free to rotate about axes of
rotation 26 disposed in a plane that is perpendicular to the axis
of rotation of the wheel, each axis extending between the facing
sides 22A, 22B of two adjacent teeth. The axes of rotation of the
small rollers are distributed around the sides of a regular polygon
and are positioned at a determined distance from the axis of
rotation of the wheel so that the outer peripheral surface of the
small roller projects by approximately in the range 0.5 mm to 1 mm
relative to the tops 22C of the teeth, and naturally does not come
into contact with the bottom 22D of the gap between the teeth while
said small roller is rotating. In the example shown, each roller
has eight teeth and thus eight small rollers interposed between
respective pairs of said teeth. Naturally, this number is in no way
limiting and depends essentially on the diameter of the cylindrical
wheel. Thus, a wheel with six small rollers spaced apart uniformly
at 60.degree. intervals is quite possible, as is a wheel having a
greater number of small rollers. It should be noted that, with a
configuration having a greater number of small rollers, the higher
the number of small rollers, the closer the curve going through the
outer peripheral surfaces of the small rollers comes to forming an
exactly circular shape.
[0019] These small rollers are made of a material that is chosen as
a function of the technical specifications (abrasion, friction,
elasticity, and hardness) expected for driving, i.e. with a
coefficient of friction that is sufficiently large to enable the
mail items to be driven towards the selector device. Such a
material is, for example, silicone, natural rubber, polyurethane,
or indeed ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM). However, since
the wheel is involved very little in the processes of conveying and
of jogging, its material is chosen to be low-cost, e.g. a material
based on polyoxymethylene.
* * * * *