Envelope pressure plate for mailing machine

Abstract

A mailing machine for conveying envelopes seriatim along a feed path toward a postage meter operatively connected to said mailing machine. The mailing machine includes a housing frame, a deck secured to the frame for supporting the envelopes, the deck having a longitudinal slot therein, a lower, driven, feed roller rotatably mounted on the frame, and an electro-mechanical tripper mounted on the frame for actuating the postage meter, the tripper projecting upwardly through the deck slot adjacent and downstream of the lower feed roller. The mailing machine further includes a first shaft rotatably mounted on the frame perpendicular to the feed path, a second, pivotable shaft flexibly coupled at one end to an end of the first shaft, an upper feed roller rotatably mounted at the end portion of the second shaft remote from the first shaft, means for biasing the upper feed roller against the lower feed roller, a pair of slotted, translatable bushings, each of the bushings having an elongated slot extending substantially perpendicular to the deck, the slots slidingly engaging the second shaft, and a pressure plate having a pair of extensions on the upstream side secured to the translatable bushings and an aperture for receiving the electro-mechanical tripper, whereby the pressure plate may translate vertically and pivot laterally and longitudinally independently of the upper feed roller to thereby assure consistent actuation of the tripper for each envelope being conveyed to the postage meter regardless of the thickness or weight of the envelope.