The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 09, 1982
Filed:
May. 14, 1980
Lester H Stocker, Phillipsburg, NJ (US);
Bell & Howell Company, Phillipsburg, NJ (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for segregating articles, such as envelopes (14a, b, or c) bearing address labels (15) into separate groups, with all the articles in each group having the same unique mark (such as a zip-code-area mark). The apparatus includes a right angle conveyor (12) positioned perpendicular to a discharge conveyor (10), an article deflector plate (20), and two or more freely rotatable balls (38, 40) supported in contact with the right angle conveyor (12) and spaced laterally across the face thereof. At least one freely rotatable ball (38) is selectively removable from contact with the right angle conveyor (12) by a solenoid (18) acting through a beam (32) and a control arm (26). The solenoid (18) is activated by a signal from a detector (16) which detects a change in unique markings on address labels of articles just prior to their engagement with the selectively-removable, freely-rotatable ball and the right angle conveyor.