United States Postal Service

James E Goodbar, Iii

Dongliang Yang

Leung Man Shiu

George Coupar

Christopher R Simpson

George R Laws

Marina E Khazanov

Shao C Yang

Timothy B Barnum

Systems, devices and methods for receiving an item in a receptacle are disclosed. Features are disclosed for receiving and guiding an item in a receiving space of a receptacle so as to attenuate or remove the impact force of the item on the receptacle. Some embodiments of the disclosure include a bumper having an impact surface which absorbs most or all of the impact force of the item and thereby mitigates or removes the imposition of cyclic impact loads on the receptacle from repeated receipt of items. The bumper may be structurally and/or functionally de-coupled or otherwise physically separated from the receptacle such that an advantageous division of labor is created between absorbing the impact and receiving the item. This disclosure may be useful, for example, in modern industrial operations where a high volume of items are received daily, such as in mail sorting and handling operations.

Systems, devices and methods for receiving an item

Features for systems and methods for loading items into a tray are disclosed. The system may have an item conveyor configured to move the items towards a tray conveyor. The tray conveyor may be configured to move trays to receive items from the item conveyor into the tray. One or more sensors may detect the height of the items on the item conveyor and/or in the tray, and/or the position of the trays on the tray conveyor. A controller may receive data related to the one or more detected heights of the items and/or the position of the trays on the tray conveyor and correspondingly control movement of the item and/or tray conveyors for efficient loading of items into the tray and efficient movement of the trays for further processing. Tray conveyor movement sensors may detect movement of the trays or tray conveyors for further control or reliability of the system.

Systems and methods for loading items into a tray

Systems and methods that allow for orienting and delivering mail between a postage verifier and a mail sorter. A postage verifier includes an optical character reader for decoding addresses on mail pieces that do not have bar codes. A reverter orients mail from the postage verifier into a position required for processing by the mail sorter. A combination of mail carrying modules carry the mail from the reverter to the mail sorter. The mail sorter prints bar code information on mail lacking bar codes, when the data is available, and sorts the mail based on the bar code information.

System and method for directly connecting an advanced facer canceler system to a delivery bar code sorter

Systems and methods that allow for orienting and delivering mail between a postage verifier and a mail sorter. A postage verifier incudes an optical character reader for decoding addresses on mail pieces that do not have bar codes. A reverter orients mail from the postage verifier into a position required for processing by the mail sorter. A combination of mail carrying modules carry the mail from the reverter to the mail sorter. The mail sorter prints bar code information on mail lacking bar codes, when the data is available, and sorts the mail based on the bar code information.

Growing community of inventors

Springfield, VA, United States of America

James E Goodbar, Iii