Francotyp-postalia Ag & Co.

Dietrich M&uuml;ller

Wolfgang Von Inten

Detlef L&uuml;dtke

An apparatus for processing and transferring mail includes a franking and/or addressing machine and a downstream depositing apparatus for depositing items of mail stackwise one above the other. The mail is transported continuously in the machine by a transporting belt and is printed by a contactless printing device, such as an ink-jet printing head being immobile during printing. A transporting roller over which the mail is guided is disposed in the machine immediately downstream of the belt at a sufficient distance from the printing head and is driven at a circumferential speed greater than that of the belt. An orthogonal distance between the roller and the printing head causes a course of the mail to be determined by the belt alone during printing. The apparatus improves functional properties, makes it possible for mixed mail to be deposited without complications and without changing existing depositing apparatuses and achieves a continuous throughflow of mail until an end of a printing operation and accelerated mail discharge thereafter. It considerably shortens a length of time until the mail is tipped into a depositing box and provides sufficient time for assuming a rest position with a surprisingly low technical outlay.

Apparatus for processing and transferring mail

A mail processing system has an envelope-separating apparatus with a moistening apparatus for moistening and discharging an envelope in an open state. A franking device is disposed downstream of the envelope-separating apparatus and is optionally provided with weighing scales. In the franking device a moistened glued edge of the envelope flap is pressed against the envelope pocket by pressure-exerting elements also serving for transporting the envelope. A closing module is disposed downstream of the franking device and has a closing-roller pair that is configured in a manner adapted for mixed-mail operation. Because the entire sequence in the franking device takes place between the stages where the glued edge is moistened and the envelope is closed, sufficient time is gained, even at high transporting speeds, in order for the glue to begin to dissolve sufficiently and for the envelope to be reliably closed.

Configuration for closing envelopes

A configuration for depositing media, particularly envelopes, transported in a franking and/or addressing machine standing on edge and butting against an inclined guide plate. The configuration is disposed downstream of the franking machine and includes a single-piece insert laterally attached and releasably coupled to the franking machine and an angled depositing box. A depositing box front wall is laterally and slidably coupled to the insert through a slit. The insert has a channel to receive recording media travelling on edge from the franking machine. The channel has a nose at an upstream end and formed as a slanting plane sloping downward in the travelling direction and projecting beyond a side of the insert and into the franking machine guide plane, and a supporting plate at an upstream end and a rear region adapted to a guide plate inclination. The depositing box has three slopes having a wedge-shaped cross-section that is bent on one side and defining a depositing region. The channel adjoins a franking machine guide plane, runs horizontally and slightly obliquely rearward behind an abutment plane of a guide plate, and undercuts such that the depositing region extends beneath the channel. The rear side of the insert undercuts the channel. The configuration permits recording media to be deposited in a careful and functionally reliable manner.

Growing community of inventors

Berlin, Germany

Dietrich Müller

Growing community of inventors

Berlin, Germany

Dietrich M&uuml;ller

Dietrich Müller