Smh Alcatel

Alcatel Satmam

Claude Gerbaud

Marek Krasuski

Jean-Pierre Gregoire

Claude Tetard

Apparatus for controlling the positioning of articles driven on a path comprises a first position detector mounted on the path upstream from a desired stop position for the articles on the path and a sensor for sensing displacement steps of the articles and triggered by the first position detector. The apparatus is characterized in that first detector is at a non-critical distance from the stop point, and in that it further includes a second position detector mounted at a distance which is known and referenced relative to the stop point, and means for deriving a stop-controlling parameter P during an initialization cycle using one of the articles driven along the path, on the basis of the number N of article displacement steps representing the known distance and on the basis of a number n of sensor steps measured between the article being detected by one of the two position detectors and then by the other. The invention is applicable to mail processing.

Article positioning control apparatus

The label dispenser comprises a cutter (11) for cutting a label from a continuous tape (1), with first and second means (10, 12) disposed on either side of said cutter for holding and for driving said tape. The dispenser further includes cells (25, 26) for detecting tape advance relative to the cutter in order to place the tape in an initial position at a desired label length from said cutter, together with ejector means (30) for ejecting a label cut from said tape, said ejector means causing said label to advance at a higher speed than the tape advance speed. A franking machine fitted with the detector includes a detector for detecting the position of a lever which controls the printing of an optional slogan on the label, and the length label selected in said dispenser is controlled as a function of the detected position of said slogan conrolling lever.

Label dispenser and a franking machine equipped with said dispenser

A franking machine has a control lever (7) which is operable between a first position and a second position to cause a slogan to be printed or not to be printed respectively. When said franking machine is being fed with labels, the label selector selects a short label or a long label depending on whether the label is to receive a slogan. The label selector comprises an emitter (E) and a receiver (R) which are mounted in an opto-electronic detector head (41) at a distance from said lever (7) and which are coupled to each other by means of a mirror (42) mounted on the lever (7), but only when the lever is in one of its two specified positions.

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Massy, France

Claude Gerbaud