Bell & Howell Postal Systems, Inc.

Mel Kerstein

Kenneth L Guenther

K George Rabindran

Thomas J Faber

Joseph Kalika

Michael A Wisniewski

John S O'Callaghan

David Fillcicchia

An in-feed magazine apparatus for loading documents includes a magazine feed ramp having one or more document conveyor belts disposed along a bottom surface, the belts being arranged to engage the bottom boundary of the documents. The conveyor belts are configured to effect forward movement of the stack of documents toward a document shingler mechanism along a linear axis defined by forward movement of the conveyor belts. Also included is a backing plate having a lower portion disposed proximal to the conveyor belt, an upper portion disposed vertically upward from the lower portion, and a generally planar face parallel to the plane defined by the face of the documents. An upper and lower sensor sense contact with the front end of the stack of documents while a controller operatively coupled to the upper and the lower sensors determines when the front end of the stack of documents lies in a plane substantially parallel to the face of the backing plate. A jogger mechanism operatively coupled to the controller and the backing plate is configured to reciprocally displace a portion of the stack of documents approaching the backing plate such that the jogger mechanism is energized when the controller determines that the stack of documents is inclined at a forward angle relative to the backing plate where such reciprocal displacement is configured to urge the stack of documents towards a substantially parallel orientation relative to the backing plate.

In-feed magazine apparatus and method for loading documents

An in-feed magazine apparatus for loading documents includes a magazine feed ramp having one or more document conveyor belts disposed along a bottom surface, the belts being arranged to engage the bottom boundary of the documents. The conveyer belts are configured to effect forward movement of the stack of documents toward a document shingler mechanism along a linear axis defined by forward movement of the conveyer belts. Also included is a backing plate having a lower portion disposed proximal to the conveyor belt, an upper portion disposed vertically upward from the lower portion, and a generally planar face parallel to the plane defined by the face of the documents. An upper and lower sensor sense contact with the front end of the stack of documents while a controller operatively coupled to the upper and the lower sensors determines when the front end of the stack of documents lies in a plane substantially parallel to the face of the backing plate. A jogger mechanism operatively coupled to the controller and the backing plate is configured to reciprocally displace a portion of the stack of documents approaching the backing plate such that the jogger mechanism is energized when the controller determines that the stack of documents is inclined at a forward angle relative to the backing plate where such reciprocal displacement is configured to urge the stack of documents towards a substantially parallel orientation relative to the backing plate.

Growing community of inventors

Lincolnwood, IL, United States of America

Mel Kerstein