Bell + Howell Company

Other

Melvin T Kerstein

Kenneth L Guenther

Thomas J Faber

K George Rabindran

David D Filicicchia

Joseph Kalika

Girish B Shah

David Wiley

George Rabindran

Vincent S Pasturczak

Jospeh Kalika

An apparatus for separating and advancing documents includes a first assembly having movable belts for frictionally engaging and advancing one of the documents along a path, and a second assembly having stationary belts and retrogressingly moving a portion of an endless belt along the path to frictionally engage and halt the remainder of the documents. The retrogressional movement of the endless belt distributing wear experienced by the engaging and halting of documents over the length of the endless belt. The movable belts of the first assembly and the belts of the second assembly are disposed in relative juxtaposition whereby the one document is gripped between the first assembly and second assembly and advanced along the path under the influence of the first assembly.

High speed separator with movable hold back belt for high speed flats

An Apparatus for separating and advancing documents includes a moving element for frictionally engaging and advancing one of the documents along a path, and a stationary element for frictionally engaging and halting the advance of the remainder of the documents. The moving element and the stationary element each include a plurality of belts and are disposed in relative juxtaposition whereby the one document is gripped between the moving element and the stationary element and advanced along the path under the influence of the moving element. The moving element and the stationary element contact the first and second surfaces, respectively, of the one document via the respective belts to provide a column strength to the one document over a substantial surface area of the document as the one document advances through the apparatus, thereby preventing portions of the one document from being crimped between the moving element and the stationary element.

Belt separator for document singulation

The multi-pass sorting machine of this disclosure includes a supporting structure which has the configuration of an A-Frame. The A-Frame structure has a slanting front side supporting several individually functional devices and a slanting back side supporting other individually functional devices. The devices of the front side include an input feeding means, a first transporting means, a singulating means, an accelerating means, a second transporting means, a bar code reader and associated electronic and computer means, a plurality of first sorting means in the form of diverting vanes, an equal number of first pass stacker buffer means, and a reversing member for transporting letters from the front side to the back side while at the same time retaining the same orientation of the letters to the planar surface as the letters go around the corner. The slanting back side supports a plurality of second sorting means in the form of diverting vanes, an equal number of second pass stacker buffer means, and an automatic mail tray loader means. The singulation means includes a powered belt means, and a singulation roller overlying and adapted to contact the belt means, with the roller being mounted on one end of a pivotable arm. The arm pivots about an axis spaced from the roller axis, and powered drive means is mounted on the pivot axis for engaging the roller for power transmission without interfering with interaction of the roller with the belt.

Multi-pass sorting machine

A multi-pass sorting machine includes a housing or supporting structure which has the configuration of an A-Frame. The A-Frame structure has a slanting front side supporting several individually functional devices and a slanting back side supporting other individually functional devices. The devices of the front side include an input feeder first transporting mechanisms, a singulating device, an accelerating mechanism, second transporting mechanisms, a bar code reader and associated electronic and computer equipment, a plurality of first sorting devices in the form of diverting vanes, an equal number of first pass stacker buffers, and a reversing member for transporting letters from the front side to the back side while at the same time retaining the same orientation of the letters to the planar surface as the letters go around the corner. The slanting back side supports a plurality of second sorting devices in the form of diverting vanes, an equal number of second pass stacker buffers, and an automatic mail tray loader.

Carrier sequenced bar code sorter for documents

A basket structure for supporting mail trays between varying elevations relative to a workplace supporting planar floor in cooperation with a mail sorting machine having a plurality of sorting bins disposed laterally in spaced relation along the horizontal axis of the sorting machine at a predetermined elevation. The basket structure is moveable between a storage position at a first lower elevation and an access position at a second higher elevation horizontally adjacent to the predetermined elevation of the bins whereby the mail in the bins can be readily moved by an operator between at least one of the bins to an adjacent at least one of the mail trays that is substantially horizontally aligned with the at least one bin.

Mail sorter basket for handling mail trays

A document transport system for transporting documents of varying thicknesses along a document path comprising a document drive assembly forming one side of the document path, an idler roller assembly forming an opposite side of the document path, the document drive assembly including a moving belt adapted to engage each document and move each document along the document path, the idler roller assembly including a plurality of idler rollers adapted to move automatically and manually, alternately, between a first position contacting the moving belt when no documents are present in the document path and contacting the documents when present in the document path, and a second position out of contact with the moving belt or the documents, thereby forming a gap between the idler rollers and the moving belt, the idler rollers being connected by a lost motion connection to an idler release lever, whereby the idler release lever remains stationary when the idler rollers move automatically between the first position and the second position, and whereby actuation of the idler release lever causes movement of the idler rollers from the first position to the second position to permit the clearance of jams in the document path.

Idler release pulley lever mechanism for document transport

A motion picture projector having a slot for edgewise loading of the film is provided with a film strip encapsulating and drive system which is operated by a single control lever. Operation of a control lever moves a plurality of film path forming elements to an open position so that edgewise insertion of the film into the projector automatically forms loops on either side of a film gate. Closure of the control lever encapsulates the film strip within film gate drive sprockets and around a sound drum while maintaining free loops on either side of the film gate. The actuator includes a pair of switches to shut down a drive system projection lamp and an audio amplifier when moving between an open or loading position and a closed position to prevent inadvertent damage to the film which could occur if the drive means continued in operation. A second switch connected to the projection lamp and audio amplifier maintains these units in an off position when the actuator is in an open position.

Growing community of inventors

Lincolnwood, IL, United States of America

Melvin T Kerstein