U.S. patent number 3,750,880 [Application Number 05/266,743] was granted by the patent office on 1973-08-07 for distributor for rectangular flat items.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Licentia Patent-Verwaltungs-GmbH. Invention is credited to Max Bohm, Peter Petrovsky.
United States Patent |
3,750,880 |
Petrovsky , et al. |
August 7, 1973 |
DISTRIBUTOR FOR RECTANGULAR FLAT ITEMS
Abstract
An item distriburo having a horizontally dipsosed main conveying
path with a plurality of vertically disposed distributing paths
branching downwardly from the main path through switches and
distributing items to stacking compartments associated with the
distributing paths. The stacking compartments are disposed on both
sides of each distributing path so that there are two rows of
stacking compartments between two adjacent distributing paths.
Inventors: |
Petrovsky; Peter (Konstanz,
DT), Bohm; Max (Markelfingen, DT) |
Assignee: |
Licentia
Patent-Verwaltungs-GmbH (Frankfurt am Main, DT)
|
Family
ID: |
5812170 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/266,743 |
Filed: |
June 27, 1972 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Jun 30, 1971 [DT] |
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P 21 32 400.5 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
209/583; 209/655;
271/305; 270/58.18; 209/539 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B07C
3/06 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B07C
3/06 (20060101); B07C 3/02 (20060101); B07c
005/02 () |
Field of
Search: |
;209/74R ;214/11 ;271/64
;270/12,45,58 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Knowles; Allen N.
Assistant Examiner: Church; Gene A.
Claims
We claim:
1. In a distributor for rectangular flat items, such as items of
mail, the distributor having a plurality of vertically disposed
distributing paths which branch off, in a downward direction, from
a horizontally disposed main conveying path through switches, a
plurality of stacking compartments associated with the vertically
disposed distributing paths one below the other and each being
operatively disposed with respect to its associated distributing
path via a compartment switch in such a manner that the edges of
the items which are perpendicular to the conveying direction are
always moved parallel to themselves, the improvement wherein there
are two vertically disposed rows of said stacking compartments
associated with each said distributing path, each row being
vertically disposed on a respective side of its associated
distributing path, with two vertically disposed rows of stacking
compartments being disposed between two adjacent distributing
paths.
2. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein each said
distributing path, and said two vertically disposed rows of
stacking compartments operatively associated thereto are formed as
a structural unit which further comprises a compartment switch for
each said compartment disposed between said path and its respective
compartment.
3. An arrangement as defined in claim 2 wherein each said path
includes conveying means and each said structural unit further
comprises a motor operatively connected to said conveying
means.
4. An arrangement as defined in claim 2 wherein said stacking
compartments of one of said rows are vertically offset with respect
to those of the other of said rows by half the distance between the
stacking compartments of one row.
5. An arrangement as defined in claim 4, wherein each said path
includes conveying means disposed on each side of said path to
guide and convey the items, said conveying means comprising a
plurality of pairs of rollers, one of which is movably mounted and
the other of which is fixedly mounted, each of said stacking
compartments having a respective pair of said rollers associated
with it and with said rollers on opposite sides of said compartment
switch, said switch including a switching tongue, and with said
fixedly mounted rollers associated with said compartments in the
one of said rows cooperating with said movably mounted rollers in
the other of said rows.
6. An arrangement as defined in claim 5 wherein said conveying
means further comprises conveying belts connecting said rollers of
each of said pairs of rollers, and wherein said conveying belts
associated with said compartments in one of said rows overlap said
conveying belts associated with the other of said rows in the area
of said cooperating fixedly and movably mounted rollers.
7. An arrangement as defined in claim 6 further comprising a rocker
arm associated with each of said pairs of rollers and supporting
said movable roller, each said rocker arm being disposed to lie
opposite a respective switching tongue of the associated pair of
rollers disposed on the opposite side of said distributing
path.
8. An arrangement as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said
stacking compartments has a bottom portion which receives the items
and on which the items are stacked one on top of the other, and
further comprising means connected to said stacking compartments,
said means dropping said bottom portions of said stacking
compartments in response to an increase in the number of items
stacked therein.
9. An arrangement as defined in claim 8, further comprising
controllable position correction means disposed in the main
conveying path to permit the selective guiding of items bearing
distributing marks at one side thereof, and control means connected
to control said position correction in such a manner, in dependence
on the distributing marks associated with the items, that the items
come to lie in the same orientation in all stacking compartments
with respect to their one side.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a distributor for rectangular flat
items, such as letters in particular, in which, from a horizontally
disposed main conveying path, on which the items are transported
lying down flat, a plurality of vertically disposed distributor
conveying paths branch off downwardly via a switch arrangement. A
plurality of stacking compartments are arranged, one under the
other, along the perpendicular conveying paths in such a manner
that the edges of the items which are disposed perpendicular to the
conveying direction are always moved parallel to themselves.
A distributor with the above-mentioned features is disclosed in
German Patent No. 1,277,606. This distributor is constructed in
such a manner that one perpendicular row of stacking compartments
is disposed between each two adjacent distributing paths. Thus the
same number of distributing paths is required as there are rows of
stacking compartments.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a distributor
of the above-mentioned type in which a given number of stacking
compartments can be provided through the use of as small a number
of conveying elements, particularly conveying rollers, as
possible.
This is accomplished by the present invention in that stacking
compartments are disposed on both sides of each distributing path
so that two perpendicular rows of stacking compartments are
disposed between each two adjacent distributing paths.
In a further embodiment of the present invention a perpendicular
distributing path and two perpendicular rows of stacking
compartments which are operatively associated with the distributing
paths by means of a switch are combined into a structural unit. In
an advantageous manner, each unit is provided with its own motor to
drive its conveying means.
A particularly advantageous arrangement of the distributing paths
results when stacking compartments of one row are vertically offset
with respect to those of the other row by one-half the vertical
distance between the stacking compartments of one row. The
distributing paths may then be constructed of a relatively small
number of conveying elements in that on each side of the conveying
path, and in association with the individual stacking compartments,
there is a movable, i.e., resiliently mounted, roller, a switch
tongue and a fixed roller which are arranged to follow one another.
Because of the offset arrangement of the stacking compartments a
movable roller on one side of the conveying path can then be
disposed to cooperate with a fixed roller of the other side.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an elevational view showing a distributor with two
vertically disposed distributing paths that branch off from a
horizontally disposed main conveying path.
FIG. 2 is an elevational view to an enlarged scale of one of the
vertically disposed distributing paths, with the associated
stacking compartments, of another embodiment of a distributor.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III--III of
FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV--IV of
FIG. 2.
FIG. 5 is a partly schematic, partly elevational view of a mail
distributor which is provided with a main conveying path having a
controllable position correction device.
FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of part of the arrangement of FIG.
5 and taken in the direction of arrow VI of FIG. 5.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 illustrates part of an item conveying system according to
the invention including two vertically disposed distributing paths,
generally indicated at 1, which branch off from a horizontally
disposed main conveying path 20 formed in a known manner of rollers
and conveyor belts and in which the items are transported in a
horizontal orientation. Switches 21 are disposed between the
horizontal path 20 and the vertically disposed conveying paths 1.
Each path 1 is associated with stacking compartments 3 and 4, in a
manner to be described in detail below. It can be seen that, in
contradistinction to the above-mentioned known distributor, there
are always two rows of vertically disposed stacking compartments 4
and 3 between each two adjacent distributing paths 1.
In the embodiment of FIGS. 2-4, the conveying and guide elements,
to be described below, of a distributing path 1 of the distributor
are disposed on a vertically arranged U-shaped member 2. The
stacking compartments 3 and 4 are formed by individual stack
bottoms 3' or 4', respectively, and continuous walls 5 and 6. Each
stack bottom is mounted on guide means (not shown) to be
perpendicularly movable in a known manner and can be lowered, as
the height of its stack increases, against a setting force down to
the position indicated by dashed lines. A stack bottom arrangement
of this kind is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,124,858 for instance. As
can be seen particularly in FIG. 2, the stacking compartments 3 of
the left row are vertically offset with respect to the stacking
compartments 4 of the right row by one-half the distance between
the stacking compartments of each row. As will be seen from the
following description, this results in a particularly favorable
configuration for the distributing path.
In association with each of the individual stacking compartments 3
and 4, there is, torque each side of the conveying path, a movably
mounted roller 7, a switching tongue 8 and a fixedly mounted roller
9. These components are so arranged that, due to the vertically
offset positions of the stacking compartments 3 and 4, one movable
roller 7 of the one row cooperates with a fixed roller 9 of the
other row. Each movable roller 7 at one side of the path is mounted
on a rocker arm 10 which lies opposite the switching tongue 8 at
the other side of the path. Springs, which cannot be seen in the
drawing, exert a tongue on the rocker arm 10 in a direction which
causes its movable roller 7 to be yieldingly pressed against its
associated fixed roller 9. Furthermore, the immediately adjacent
movable and fixed rollers on each side of the conveying path are
always connected together by a conveyor belt 11. The conveyor belts
at both sides overlap in the area of the rollers. The fixed rollers
9 are each driven via drive belts (not shown) and a roller 12.
As seen best in FIG. 4 the switch tongues 8 are bifurcated so that
they surround the conveying elements 7 and 11, from both sides.
Each tongue is actuated by a rotating magnet 13 on whose axis it is
disposed. The rotating magnet is rigidly mounted to member 2 by a
holder 13'. Each compartment switch thus substantially consists of
a bifurcated switch tongue 8 and a rotating magnet 13. For reasons
of simplicity, the reference numeral 8 for the switch tongue will
be used hereinbelow in referring to the entire compartment
switch.
According to a further feature of the present invention, a
vertically disposed distributing path 1 with two rows of stacking
compartments 3 and 4 which are associated with this path on both
sides via switches 8 are combined into an independent structural
unit 22. Each such structural unit has its own motor, 40 in FIG. 1,
to drive its conveying means. By lining up the required number of
structural units 22, as for example two as shown in FIG. 1,
distributors with the desired number of stacking compartments can
be assembled in a simple manner.
In the embodiment of FIG. 1, each stacking compartment 3 and 4, is
provided with a guide bar 14 mounted at 14' in order to aid the
formation of an orderly stack in the compartment.
In FIG. 1 a movable roller 7, a switch tongue and a fixed roller 9
are arranged in succession on each side of the conveying path of
the distributing path 1. However, their order is from bottom to top
while in FIGS. 2 and 4 the order of elements 7, 8 and 9 is from top
to bottom.
The above described arrangement of the stacking compartments 3 and
4 results in the characteristic feature of the distributor,
according to the present invention, that the items are stacked in a
different orientation in the left-hand stacking compartments 3 than
in the right-hand stacking compartments 4. When mail is furnished
which lies in the main conveying path 20 with the address side up
for example, they are stacked in the right-hand stacking
compartments 4 in the same orientation, in the left-hand stacking
compartments 3 with the address side down. The arrangement thus
acts as a reversing device for the left-hand stacking compartments
in that the items are pivoted about an axis in the plane of the
item but perpendicular to the conveying direction.
If it should be desired, in exceptional cases, to stack the items
in the left-hand stacking compartments 3 in the same orientation as
in the right-hand stacking compartments 4, this can be effected by
the insertion of controllable position correction devices in the
main conveying path 20. Such an arrangement is illustrated
schematically in FIGS. 5 and 6 which show a mail distributing
machine.
In the mail distributor shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 a known scanner 23
is disposed at the entrance to the main conveying path 20, where
the items are moved on edge, to read the identifying imprint on the
items. The scanned signal forms guide signals in a known correlator
24. These guide signals are shifted in steps through the stages of
a stepping register 25 in synchronism with the advance of the items
along their conveying path and effect the formation of setting
signals for the actuation of the respective switch 21 and the
respective compartment switch 8 whenever the item has reached the
particular switch. The shifting takes place in a known manner under
the control of signals from light barriers, disposed along the
conveying path, which are not shown in the drawing. In the drawings
the operative connections between the stepping register 25 and the
switches in the conveying paths are indicated schematically by a
representative number of dashed lines, lines a, b, c, d, e, etc.,
of FIG. 6 being considered to be connected to the identically
marked lines in FIG. 5.
Beyond the scanner 23 a switch 26 is disposed with which the items
can be selectively guided through either a position correction
device or a simple detour channel 27. In the drawing, a reversing
device 28 known, for example from German Patent No. 1,146,449 is
shown schematically. With this device the items are turned by
180.degree. about an axis which is parallel to their plane and
perpendicular to the conveying direction. A 90.degree. turning
device 29 of known type is disposed behind the confluence point of
the two channels 27, 28 where the previously vertically disposed
items are laid flat for further conveyance along the main
horizontally disposed conveying path 20.
The setting signal for switch 26 is formed in a known switching
stage 30 from the guide signals furnished by the correlator 24.
This is done in such a manner that items which are intended for a
left-hand stacking compartment 3 in view of their guide
identification pass through reverser 28 so that the items finally
come to lie in the same orientation in all stacking compartments
insofar as their address side is concerned.
An item distributor which, like that shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, has a
scanner, a correlator, a stepping register and switching stages is
known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,540 for instance.
It will be understood that the above description of the present
invention is susceptible to various modifications, changes and
adaptations, and the same are intended to be comprehended within
the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims.
* * * * *