Burroughs, Inc.

William B Templeton

Harry L Wallace

Andrew H McMillan

A document packing system for closely packing sorted documents into a pocket of a document sorting system having many pockets includes an auger. The auger is a hollow cylinder with multiple, discontinuous, raised helicies to initially engage documents sorted into the pocket. A stationary apparatus in the auger rotates the auger. Integral with the auger is a feature which aligns the sorted documents in the pocket while other portions of the auger secondarily engage and pack the sorted documents into the pocket. The sorted documents are supported in the pocket by a device which resiliently responds to the packing of documents into the pocket.

Document packing system

An auger jogger assembly for a high speed item sorter pocket receptacle wherein a fixed shaft carries the armature of an electric drive eddy current motor. The fixed nonmagnetic reluctance member of which is a thin cylindrical metallic sleeve-like member press fitted into the cylindrical opening of a rotatable cylinder which carries about its periphery two volute or helical augers of differing diameters and spacings. The drive shaft and armature of the motor are fixed against rotation while the cylindrical reluctance member is secured within and rotatable with the rotatable cylinder. Energization of the motor armature causes the external cylinder to rotate effective to move item/documents into the pocket receptacle while vibrating the document sufficiently so as to reduce receptacle floor friction and force the items into a closely stacked bunch or pack.

Auger jogger assembly

Demountable, modular, apparatus permitting item/documents, such for example as checks, to be stacked at high speed on opposite sides of a linear main-line item feed-through pathway. Indicators are included for indicating in which direction, forward, right or left of the main-line pathway an item diverting gate is directed and item position sensing devices are located within and adjacent to the diverting gates. Each demountable module, if more than one is employed, is provided with right and left columnators including concentric roller members disposed between a resilient drive roller. Idler rollers are demountably, replaceably secured adjacent respective drive rollers by resilient flat spring members for ease and efficiency of replacement, repair and/or removal. Each diverting gate includes an LED and phototransistor combination for sensing the passage therethrough of an item. Each diverter gate is moved and controlled by a stepping motor which in turn is provided with indicators indicating visually the physical position of its diverter gate.

Front and back stacker for high speed sorter/reader apparatus

A sorter pocket flag back-up assembly and switch indicating means comprises a non rotatable rectilinearly, slideably moveable support member engageable with one side or face of an item entering the pocket of a sorter including a zero clearance bearing and an integral linear rack having radially disposed teeth engageable with a drive pinion coupled to a reversible stepping motor. The support and rack include a lower guide track coextensive with the rack and an upper spring loaded pin which together maintain a constant depth engagement of the pinion and rack teeth and avoid any tilt of the rack transverse to the long dimension thereof. A pedestal mounted switch arm having an item contacting tang at one end and optical switch interruptor means at the opposite end is pivotally mounted on the pedestal for swinging movement toward and away from the items and the back-up flag assembly effective to energize and deenergize the stepping motor as the stack of items in the pocket enlarges or diminishes thereby effectively controlling the positioning of the flag assembly and indicating an empty or full condition of the sorter pocket.

Item sorter pocket flag and switch apparatus

A demountable back-up item supporting device for an item sorter pocket receptacle of a sorter reader comprises a horizontally elongated fence-like member having a mounting pedestal disposed at each opposite end thereof. A central opening extends from one end of said member to the other end. A highly flexible, relatively thin, deflectable member is attached at opposite ends to said fence-like member and extends within said central opening in a bowed formation having a constantly changing radius of curvature. Oppositely disposed, demountable brushes extend outwardly away from one end of said fence like member. A thin, flat, elongated contacting element is demountably attached to the brush retaining end for cooperative engagement with an associated photo optical switch structure. The fence-like member is vertically bowed so as to maintain the columnated attitude of the items being sorted as the items contact this member. The inboard end of the member is angled away from the main plain thereof so as to force the items away therefrom and into the item pocket.

Guide arm assembly

A zero clearance linear bearing wherein a hollow, elongate cylindrical member is provided with a number of peripheral projections or castellations at opposite ends thereof. Alternate ones of such castellations or projections extend outwardly away from the axis of rotation of the cylindrical member while other alternate ones of such projections extend inwardly toward the axis of rotation of the cylindrical member. The terminal portion of each inwardly directed projection is adapted to contact and grip an associated member e.g. a shaft, along which the bearing is slideably moveable while the outwardly directed projections are adapted to contact and grip the inner circular bore of a surrounding sleeve-like support member with which the bearing is operably associated. The internal bore of the support member includes an axial circular land, the opposite chamfered edges of which permit the outwardly projecting castellations of the bearing member to snap thereover and act to retain the bearing member within the sleeve member while enabling the bearing and sleeve support to slide along the associated shaft member. The construction and arrangement of the castellations is such that a predetermined space is provided between the inner bore of the support member and the main body of the bearing member and between the internal bore of the main body of the bearing member and the external surface of the associated shaft member along which the linear bearing is slideably moveable.

Zero clearance linear bearing apparatus

An apparatus and process for detecting document jams in a document processing apparatus by detecting the translucency of the documents. The disclosed apparatus includes a transport path for guiding documents and drive wheels for moving the documents along the transport path. An LED light source located on one side of the transport path illuminates at least a portion of the moving document as it passes along the transport path. A phototransistor light detector located on the other side of the transport path detects light from the LED that passes through translucent portions of the document. Electronics connected to the light detector indicate a document jam when the translucency of a document is generally unchanged for a period of time while the document is between the light source and light detector. The electronics includes circuitry for detecting the presence of a document, circuitry for detecting the absence of rapid changes in document translucency and circuitry for remembering the absence of such rapid changes in document translucency.

Document processing, jam detecting apparatus and process

A method and apparatus for identifying a character which cannot be machine read so that an operator may observe the identified character and make the necessary correction. A document such as a bank check or the like which has a field of encoded characters thereon is moved along a transport path to a read station. When the read station is unable to identify a character, a 'can't read' or reject signal is generated and this reject signal can be used to locate the identified character which cannot be machine read for later use. The document then proceeds to a marker station and when the reject character is properly positioned with respect to the printing station, a single wire dot printer mechanism is used to place a mark or dot above or below the character which could not be machine read or in some other suitable location which will positively identify the character which could not be machine read.

Method and apparatus for identifying characters printed on a document

A document transport apparatus for serially transporting sheet material over a preselected transport path including an endless belt having a resilient compressible tubular base member and gripping members projecting therefrom. The gripping members are normally closed when the base member is uncompressed. The apparatus further includes pulleys at opposite ends of the transport path, the belt being entrained in the grooves of the pulleys. The grooves are dimensioned to compress the portion of the base member entrained therein, thereby opening the gripping members projecting from the compressed portion of the base member, permitting insertion or removal of a document. The belt grips the document and carries it along with it in the space between the pulleys.

Document transport apparatus

A document encoding system transmits an incoming document at a high transport speed. When the document is received at an encoding station it is first stopped and registered and then retransmitted for encoding at a relatively low speed, the exact value being dependent on whether MICR or OCR encoding is used. After characters are encoded on the document the trailing edge is detected and the document is caused to accelerate to the high transport speed where it is transmitted for further processing. In a second alternative embodiment, information relating to character field positions is used to transmit the document at the relatively low speed when encoding and at a heightened speed when otherwise in the encoding station but not encoding. In a third alternative embodiment, the document is received by the encoding station on the fly at the high transport speed. It is advanced at that speed until decelerated to the relatively low speed at the first encoding position. When an end-of-encode signal is given the document is accelerated to the high transport speed and exits the station.

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Howell, MI, United States of America

William B Templeton