Electrocom Gard, Ltd.

Gard, Inc.

Bell & Howell Postal Systems, Inc.

John M Buday

Robert E Sadler, Jr

David Novak

Gunther Adam Dorth

Gerald D Ross

Eduard M Svyatsky

Veljko Milenkovic

Michael Romanenko

James Carl McClain

Walter Conard

Lawrence B Holmes

Bernard Stevens

A document transporting system for conveying documents along a transport path in a first direction from a document infeed station to a document processing station, certain of such documents being advanced along the transport path from the infeed station with an improper facing orientation. A plurality of document re-orienting devices are disposed adjacent the transport path between the infeed station and the document processing station. Each of the document re-orienting devices are adapted to receive an improperly oriented document, to reverse the orientation of the previously improperly oriented document, and to transport the correctly oriented document back onto the document transport path. Control elements operatively associated with each of the plurality of document re-orienting devices deliver improperly oriented documents into a pre-selected empty re-orienting device. Correctly oriented documents are conveyed onto the transport path when a gap is present between documents being transported along the document transport path.

Mail facing transport system

A system and a method for sorting are provided for distributing articles, such as mail pieces or other flats, to predetermined destinations. At the destination, the particular article is raked by a raking assembly from a carrier for placement into a container. The container, when full, is gravity fed onto a discharge conveyor and automatically replaced with a new empty container. The carrier operates on two levels for delivery of articles to containers on two levels while maintaining the carriers in a horizontal position throughout the sorting process. A sloped front end of the carrier allows the articles to be transported at a rapid speed and in a continuous fashion.

Carrier for transport and delivery of an article to a destination

System for sorting mail pieces on multiple levels and a method for

An orientation chute is provided for a sorting machine which has a horizontal conveyor. The chute positively guides the objects as they leave the conveyor such that the relative orientation of successive objects leaving the container is maintained as the objects are deposited at a point of collection. A curved panel is used to intercept the objects as they leave the conveyor and to redirect them toward a stop member which stops their horizontal inertial velocity. The panel is sloped from the vertical to balance gravitational and centrifugal forces to maintain the object essentially horizontally as it moves across the panel. Once the object is stopped, it falls under the force of gravity along a slide portion of the chute to be deposited in a collection container.

Orientation chute for sorting machine

A system for stacking into containers flat articles received in a shingled stream, the flat articles being disposed essentially normal to the bottoms of the containers into which they are stacked; mechanism is provided for rapidly diverting the shingled stream of flat articles from the rear of a just filled container to the front of the next empty container in a line of moving containers to feed flat articles into successive containers without interruption; containers having elongated slots in the ends are provided to facilitate the rapid shifting of the article stream from container to container in a line of containers; there also is provided a mechanism to generate a gap in the shingled stream of flat articles to facilitate transfer of the stream from a filled container to an empty container; there further is provided mechanism for diverting the shingled stream of flat articles before it reaches the containers to sample the flat articles or to reject the flat articles should they be defective; also provided are novel container conveyor systems for conveying containers to the loading station to accommodate the stacking mechanism.

Flat article handling system

A system for stacking flat articles into containers having essentially imperforate end walls with the flat articles disposed essentially normal to the bottoms; a stacking conveyor having cooperating pinch belts with an input end for receiving flat articles in a shingled stream, one of the pinch belts at the other end terminating before the other pinch belt to provide a delivery end, a conveyor for moving containers past the delivery end, the delivery end being oriented normal to the bottom of a container and terminating a short distance above the upper edge of the container, stack support structure extending into the associated container and terminating a short distance from the bottom thereof, means for generating a gap in the shingled stream that arrives at the delivery end at the completion of the filling of one container and ends when the next empty container is in position, a following roller disposed adjacent to the delivery end and urging the shingled stream thereagainst, a mechanism for lifting the stacking support structure out of the associated container upon the filling thereof; there also is disclosed a stacking system for use with containers having aligned slots in the ends thereof wherein the delivery end extends downwardly into the associated container and moves through the aligned slots in going from one container to another.

Flat article stacking system

Growing community of inventors

Des Plaines, IL, United States of America

John M Buday