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:
Dec. 20, 2005
Filed:
Dec. 28, 2000
James A. Salomon, Cheshire, CT (US);
Steven E. Cohen, South Windsor, CT (US);
Cyndee Jonas, Painted Post, NY (US);
Eric A. Belec, Southbury, CT (US);
James A. Salomon, Cheshire, CT (US);
Steven E. Cohen, South Windsor, CT (US);
Cyndee Jonas, Painted Post, NY (US);
Eric A. Belec, Southbury, CT (US);
Pitney Bowes Inc., Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
The present invention describes a double belt transport system for moving a mailpiece into a printing area of a digital printer. The transport system includes an upper belt and a lower belt. The upper belt has a straight section to form a nip with the lower belt to ingest the mailpiece. The straight section also defines a registration plane to register the upper surface of the mailpiece with respect to the print head of the printer. In order to make sure the registration is consistent regardless of the thickness of the mailpiece, an up-lifting mechanism is used to push the bottom of the mailpiece in an upward direction against a shield plate, which is positioned substantially on the registration plane. A velocity measurement device, such as an optical encoder, is used to measure the moving speed of the belts so that the printing speed of the digital printer matches the moving speed of the mailpiece in the print area.