Pitney Bowes Inc.

Eric A Belec

William J Wright

Denis J Stemmle

James A Salomon

Steven A Supron

John W Sussmeier

Anthony E Yap

Clare E Woodman

William D Toth

Michael J Cummings

Christopher Julius Stefan

Leo L Wologodzew

John J Mercede, Jr

Steven E Cohen

Shae Lynn Wilson

Michael M Farrell

Jeffrey A Gateman

Robert J Allen

Boris Rozenfeld

Gregory P Skinger

Cheryl L Picoult

Robert P Rebres

Henry P Braen

Edward C Miller

Thomas M Lyga

Gary S Jacobson

Steven H Joyce

Donald E Barker

Geoffrey A Farmer

Peter John Watson

Shahzad H Malick

Denis J Stemmle, Sr

David E Kayser

Francesco Porco

Eric J Janatka

Keith G R Watts

Joseph E Wall

Mary-Jo F Brigante

Bryan L Boggiano

Rebecca J Pritting

Dennis C Inglesias

Boris Rosenfeld

Christopher Uschmann

John F Zajac

Martin Mulroy

Paul Blamire

Mary Jo Brigiante-Murphy

Chris Brown

Cyndee Jonas

A method for creating mailpieces from a single web of printed material. The web of printed material includes printed matter to be used on envelopes, and other printed matter to be used on mail content to be included in the envelopes. The method starts with cutting consecutive sections of the web into separated sheets. Some of the separated sheets are envelope sheets including envelope printed matter, and some of the sheets are mail content sheets including mail content printed matter. The method includes cutting variable sized sheets depending on whether a sheet is a mail content sheet, or an envelope sheet. The method further includes cutting variable sized envelope sheets depending on the size of the mailpieces.

Method for creating mailpieces from a single continuous web of printed material

According to some embodiments a system and an apparatus comprise a registration wall, a weighing device located adjacent to the registration wall, a belt drive mechanism, a plurality of inboard skis, and a plurality of outboard skis. The belt drive mechanism extends across the weighing device for advancing a mail piece relative to the weighing device and the belt drive mechanism is located at a first distance from the registration wall. The plurality of inboard skis are located substantially at the first distance from the registration wall and are located beneath the belt drive mechanism for urging the mail piece upwardly toward the drive belt mechanism. The plurality of outboard skis is coplanar with the plurality of inboard skis for supporting an end of the mail piece. The plurality of outboard skis is located at a second distance from the registration wall. The second distance is greater than the first distance. The plurality of outboard skis adjust to the thickness of a mail piece that is transported between a plurality of inboard skis and the top registration drive belt mechanism.

Self-adjusting support skis for weighing device

A method for creating mailpieces from a single web of printed material. The web of printed material includes a continuous web having a width and a length, the length comprised of a series of attached sheets. The series of attached sheets is comprised of envelope sheets and content pages. The content pages are rectangular in shape and may be oriented relative to the envelope sheets in a number of different configurations. In some configurations, two sets of content pages and/or envelope sheets can be printed across the width of the web. The method starts with cutting consecutive attached sheets into separated sheets. The content pages belonging to a same mailpiece are accumulated together. The separated envelope sheet is transported, bypassing the accumulating and turning steps. The accumulated and turned content pages are then merged with the envelope sheet, and the envelope sheet is folded and closed around the accumulated content pages to form a finished enclosing envelope.

An accumulator apparatus for paper collations having an accumulation chamber for receiving sheet material, the chamber defined by a fixed guide on one side, a movable guide on the other side and a movable stop member at one end. Rollers are included for driving the sheet material against the stop member, and gates are provided for moving the movable guide between a first position in which it is spaced from the fixed guide by a gap sufficiently small to prevent buckling of the sheet material as it is driven by the rollers against the stop member, and a second position in which the movable guide is spaced away from the fixed guide for discharge of the sheet material from the chamber.

Movable sheet guide

Method and system for creating mailpieces from a single continuous web of printed material

A method for creating mailpieces from a single web of printed material. The web of printed material includes printed matter to be used on envelopes, and other printed matter to be used on mail content to be included in the envelopes. The content pages are rectangular in shape and may be oriented relative to the envelope sheets in a number of different configurations. In some configurations, two sets of content pages and/or envelope sheets can be printed across the width of the web. The method starts with cutting consecutive sections of the web into separated sheets. Some of the separated sheets are envelope sheets including envelope printed matter, and some of the sheets are mail content sheets including mail content printed matter. The method includes cutting variable sized sheets depending on whether a sheet is a mail content sheet, or an envelope sheet. The method further includes cutting variable sized envelope sheets depending on the size of the mailpieces. In a preferred embodiment, the web includes business return envelopes (BREs). The BRE sheets are transported to an envelope creation path and in the envelope creation path where the sheets are formed into envelopes. The envelope creation path is then merged back with a content processing path whereby finished BRE's are stacked with their respective accumulations of folded content sheets to form a complete content stack. BRE's are then enclosed with the content sheets by the enclosing envelope sheets.

A method for expelling air out of mailpieces includes the steps of creating a stack of the mailpieces; cutting an opening in at least some of the mailpieces; jogging the stack of mailpieces; and subjecting the stack of mailpieces to at least one compression/decompression cycle during the jogging step thereby expelling air out of the at least some of the mailpieces through their corresponding openings.

Mailpiece perforating/cutting system

The present invention describes a double belt transport system for moving a mailpiece into a printing area of a digital printer. The transport system includes an upper belt and a lower belt. The upper belt has a straight section to form a nip with the lower belt to ingest the mailpiece. The straight section also defines a registration plane to register the upper surface of the mailpiece with respect to the print head of the printer. In order to make sure the registration is consistent regardless of the thickness of the mailpiece, an up-lifting mechanism is used to push the bottom of the mailpiece in an upward direction against a shield plate, which is positioned substantially on the registration plane. A velocity measurement device, such as an optical encoder, is used to measure the moving speed of the belts so that the printing speed of the digital printer matches the moving speed of the mailpiece in the print area.

Method and system for transporting mailpieces in a printing station

The present invention includes apparatus and methods for guiding a mail piece traversing a mailing machine. A multi-ski guide can include an inner ski with one or more contact bumps positioned to engage a mail piece prior to its edge encountering a stripper blade. The multi-ski guide can be attached to a take away idler shaft located just prior to the stripping blade. A spring can provide a normal force holding the multi-ski guide down onto the top of the stripping blade. The multi-ski guide can contact the stripping blade with a contact bump. In addition, one or more inner skis can include mail piece guiding contact bumps. Idler segments can be interspersed between the skis included in the multi-ski guide such that the idler segments can guide and straighten a mail piece approaching the stripper blade.

Floating stripping skis for mailing machine

A method for expelling air out of mailpieces includes the steps of creating a stack of the mailpieces; cutting an opening in at least some of the mailpieces; jogging the stack of mailpieces; and subjecting the stack of mailpieces to at least one compression/decompression cycle during the jogging step thereby expelling air out of the at least some of the mailpieces through their corresponding openings. A jogger system incorporates the structure for accomplishing the method.

Jogger system having a mail compression capability therein

An arrangement for separating an entire collation of individual sheets from a supply stack for downstream processing. The arrangement includes a supply stack tray for containing the supply stack while the collations in the supply stack are being separated; a separator device positioned adjacent to the supply stack tray for separating a corner of each sheet of the collation from the supply stack; a deflector positioned adjacent to an edge of the collation for deflecting the collation from the supply stack after the collation has been separated by the separator; and a gripper device positioned in a plane proximate to the first sheet in the collation for gripping the entire collation after the collation has been deflected from the supply stack and for moving the entire collation downstream for processing.

Method and apparatus for separating a collation from a supply stack

A separator includes a housing, a feeder mounted in the housing for feeding documents along a feed path and a retard mechanism mounted in the housing along the feed path and opposite to the feeder. The retard mechanism includes a body and a pad attached to the body. The body is mounted at first and second pivot points such that the body and pad can rotate around the first and second pivot points.

Articulating separator

The present invention provides an aligner apparatus which bottom edge aligns documents and separates documents and provides adequate gap between documents for subsequent processing. The an aligner apparatus includes first and second guide walls, forming an alley along the document feed path in which the documents are relieved of interdocument forces allowing bottom edge alignment of the documents with the document feed path. A trap assembly including first and second trap levers is lever mounted along the document feed path on a side of the guide wall and when actuated, cause opposing forces on one-another in order to grab the documents as they move along the feed path in the aligner apparatus so as to control the gap between the documents. It apparatus further provides an adequate gap between documents while reducing noise. Each trap lever has a head portion, which is fitted with a resilient pad, which is attached to the trap arm in a manner that forms a gap between the head and the pad. The resilient pad and the gap operate to reduce noise created by the trap arm when actuated.

Aligner mechanism for a mail handling system

The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for separating an entire collation of individual sheets from a supply stack for downstream processing. The apparatus generally includes a supply stack tray for containing the supply stack while the collations in the supply stack are being separated; a separator device positioned adjacent to the supply stack tray for separating a corner of each sheet of the collation from the supply stack; a deflector positioned adjacent to an edge of the collation for deflecting the collation from the supply stack after the collation has been separated by the separator; and a gripper device positioned in a plane proximate to the first sheet in the collation for gripping the entire collation after the collation has been deflected from the supply stack and for moving the entire collation downstream for processing. The method for separating a collation of individual sheets from a supply stack includes the steps of separating a corner of each of the individual sheets in the collation from the supply stack; deflecting the collation from the supply stack; and gripping the entire collation and moving the entire collation from the supply stack for downstream processing.

The present invention provides an aligner apparatus which bottom edge aligns documents and separates documents and provides adequate gap between documents for subsequent processing. The an aligner apparatus includes first and second guide walls, forming an alley along the document feed path in which the documents are relieved of interdocument forces allowing bottom edge alignment of the documents with the document feed path. A trap assembly including first and second trap levers is lever mounted along the document feed path on a side of the guide wall and when actuated, cause opposing forces on one-another in order to grab the documents as they move along the feed path in the aligner apparatus so as to control the gap between the documents. It apparatus further provides an adequate gap between documents while reducing noise. Each trap lever has a head portion which is fitted with a resilient pad which is attached to the trap arm in a manner that forms a gap between the head and the pad. The resilient pad and the gap operate to reduce noise created by the trap arm when actuated.

Growing community of inventors

Southbury, CT, United States of America

Eric A Belec