Pitney Bowes Inc.

Gary W Comstock

Arthur H DePoi

Richard F Stengl

Kevin J O'Dea

Neil J Kennedy

John E Richter

Gerald F Leitz

Nicholas R Antonelli

Egbert E Most

Jerry Leitz

A method of measuring a thickness of a sheet being conveyed on a transport path includes rotating a substantially cylindrical reference surface disposed in the transport path and engaging a probe with the reference surface to determine a runout value for each of a set of positions along a circumference of the reference surface. The method further includes conveying the sheet on the transport path so that the sheet contacts the reference surface at one position of the set, engaging the probe with the sheet at the one position to determine a measured sheet thickness value, and adjusting the measured sheet thickness value based on the runout value for the one position to obtain an actual sheet thickness value.

Sheet thickness measurement

An on-edge stacker having a deck surface to support a vertical mail stack, which is allowed to expand from the upstream end to the downstream end. A paddle, movably mounted on a linear support member, is used to support the downstream end of the mail stack. The linear support member is positioned at a level lower than or substantially the same as the deck surface so that the mail can be swept from the deck surface from either longitudinal side of the stacker. A toggle switch is disposed near the downstream end so that when the paddle moved by the expanding stack reaches beyond a certain point, the toggle switch is triggered to indicate that the stack is full or almost full. The paddle has a wedge-shaped blade so that it can slide the stacked mailed on the deck surface without damaging the mail.

Paddle and paddle support in on-edge mail stackers

A method and device for stacking a plurality of vertically oriented mailpieces into a stack, wherein mailpieces are sequentially received into the back end of the stack. A paddle is used to support the front end of the stack in order to prevent the top mailpieces from falling forward. A conveyor belt is used to move the mailpieces in the stack and relieve the pack pressure so as to allow new mailpieces to join the stack. Information indicative of the mailpiece thickness is provided to a movement control module so that the conveyor belt is moved according to the thickness of the mailpieces received into the stack. As such, the pressure in the stack can be properly adjusted. The thickness information can be obtained from an upstream collator, for example.

Method and device for improving stacker conveyor speed in a mail stacker

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New Milford, CT, United States of America

Gary W Comstock