Abstract:
A method for tagging the mail pieces in a mail tray and validating the integrity of the mail pieces in the tray. The method is accomplished by: determining the measurement of an edge of each mail piece that will be placed in a tray; determining the thickness of each mail piece that will be placed in the tray; determining the number of mail pieces that will be placed in the tray; calculating an incremental pattern dab that is going to be placed on the edge of each mail piece; placing a portion of the pattern on the edge of each mail piece that is going to form the mail pieces of the tray; and placing the mail pieces in the tray in an ordered manner so that the edges having dabs will be visible, and the dabs will form a pattern that indicates only the determined number of mail pieces are in the tray.

Description:
[0001]    This Application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/329,924 filed Oct. 16, 2001, which is owned by the assignee of the present Application.  
         CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
         [0002]    Reference is made to commonly assigned copending patent application Docket No. F-480 filed herewith entitled “A Method For Printing A Manifest Or Statement Of Mailing Having A Pattern That Matches A Pattern Printed On The Edges Of Mail Pieces Contained In A Tray” in the names of Kenneth G. Miller, Thomas J. Foth, Brian M. Romansky, Richard W. Heiden and Ronald Reichman.  
         FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    The invention relates generally to the field of mailing systems and, more particularly, to systems for tagging mail.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    Initially, the processing of mail involved a mailer dropping letters or mail pieces into a mail box, having the post office pick up the mail from the mail box, transporting the mail to a post office and dispatching the mail to its ultimate destination, whether this destination be local or out of town. As time progressed, large mailers would deliver the mail directly to the post office where the mail would be inspected, sorted and forwarded. The post office found that if the mailers were given postal discount rates for performing certain acts, such as the presorting of mail, i.e., by zip code, bundling the mail and the like, a great deal of time would be saved by the post office. As a result of such discounting, large mailers were encouraged to preprocess their mail, and mail processing equipment such as scales, inserters, folders, sorters and the like were developed to assist the mailer in their mailing operation.  
           [0005]    Mailing equipment has been developed to accomplish the foregoing. In equipment for processing large amounts of mail, it is frequently a practice to determine the weight of inserts of a mail piece, and together with the weight of the envelope, the total weight of the mail piece is calculated and postage paid in accordance with the calculated weight. The mail pieces are placed in trays, and these trays are delivered to the post office. Sometimes the mailing equipment, mailing software, or the mailer produced written records automatically or manually indicating information about the mail pieces in the tray. The post office verified written documentation supplied by the mailer by randomly sampling the mail pieces in trays to determine if the correct postage was paid.  
           [0006]    Some mailers practiced a procedure known as “salting”. The practice involved inserting mail pieces into the tray for which no postage was paid. Salting has caused the post office to loose a great deal of funds.  
           [0007]    Another problem encountered by the prior art resulted when one or more mail trays dropped, and the contents of the mail trays were no longer in order. A large amount of labor was required to properly re-order the mail pieces in the dropped trays, or the post issued discounts for mailer tasks that were not performed by the mailer.  
           [0008]    An additional problem encountered by the prior art was that, oftentimes, personnel placed tray label tags on the incorrect tray.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by utilizing a method that improves the post office&#39;s ability to verify the mail pieces in a tray and reduce the ability of someone to insert mail pieces into a tray for which no postage is paid. The invention also insures the integrity of mail trays and makes it easier to place mail pieces in the tray after the mail pieces have fallen from the tray. This invention also makes it easier for personnel to place the proper tray label tag on the proper tray.  
           [0010]    The foregoing is accomplished by: determining the measurement of an edge of each mail piece that will be placed in a tray; determining the thickness of each mail piece that will be placed in the tray; determining the number of mail pieces that will be placed in the tray; calculating an incremental pattern dab that is going to be placed on the edge of each mail piece; placing a portion of the pattern on the edge of each mail piece that is going to form the mail pieces of the tray; and placing the mail pieces in the tray in an ordered manner so that the edges having dabs will be visible, and the dabs will form a pattern that indicates the determined number of mail pieces are in the tray in the correct order. The pattern for each mail tray is added to each mail tray is added to and saved in a mail manifest or a statement of mailing. The mail manifest or statement of mailing will subsequently submitted to the post. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the environment of this invention.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with some mail pieces  101  not in the correct sequence order.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with mail pieces  111 ,  112  and  113  added to tray  100  after the sequence order was determined by create mail run  9  of FIG. 1.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with one or more mail pieces  101  being removed from tray  100  after the sequence order was determined by create mail run  9  of FIG. 1.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with some mail pieces missing from tray  100 .  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 7 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with additional mail pieces  101  from another tray being placed in tray  100 .  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 8 is a drawing of a flow chart of configuration block  200  of FIG. 1.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 9 is a drawing of a flow chart showing the operation of this invention.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 10 is a drawing of a flow chart showing in detail the process that begins in block  500  (FIG. 9).  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 11 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of arched shaped sections drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 12 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a triangle drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 13 is a drawing of a mail manifest  136  that has images of the patterns placed on the mail pieces contained in trays  120  and  130 .  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 14 is a drawing of a statement of mailing  147  that has an image of pattern that was placed on the mail pieces contained in tray  120 .  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 15 is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces with two rejected mail pieces shown in the tray.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 16 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a tray label drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. a  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 17 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line and a tray label drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0028]    Referring now to the drawings in detail, and more particularly to FIG. 1, the reference character  9  represents a process for creating mail pieces in a mail run. Mail run  9  may be the StreamWeaver® software sold by Pitney Bowes Inc. of One Elmcroft Road, Stamford, Conn. Then the mail pieces are produced in block  10 , i.e., the contents of the mail piece are folded, inserted and sealed into the mail piece, which is addressed, and an indication of postage payment is placed on the mail piece. Next the configuration information from blocks  200  (blocks  200  will be described in the description of FIG. 9) is stored in printing device and processor &amp; memory  40 . Then a slice of a pattern is printed on the mail piece in block  510  (block  510  will be described in the description of FIG. 10). In block  50 , the mail pieces are placed in mail trays.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 2 is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray  100  contains a plurality of mail pieces  101  that are placed in tray  100  in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces  101 , preferably the top edge of mail pieces  101  run along the top of tray  100 . Tray  100  has a front panel  102 , a back panel  103 , and side panels  104  as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces  101  have been placed in tray  100  in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run  9  (FIG. 1). Pattern  105  was drawn on mail pieces  101  by printing device  40  (FIG. 1) in a manner that the first mail piece  101  in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel  102 , and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel  103 . Pattern  105  forms a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel  102  to point B on the mail piece next to panel  103 ; thus, no mail pieces  101  have been added or removed from tray  100 . Hence, mail pieces  101  are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run  9 .  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 3 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with some mail pieces  101  not in the correct sequence order. Pattern  105  does not form a continuous diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel  102  to point B on the mail piece next to panel  103 . Thus, mail pieces  101  are not in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run  9 . It is apparent that mail pieces  101  having dabs  106 ,  107 ,  108 ,  109  and  110  are not properly positioned in tray  100 . One may easily reposition mail pieces  101  having dabs  106 - 110  within tray  100  so that pattern  105  forms a continuous diagonal line from point A on panel  102  to point B on panel  103 .  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 4 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with mail pieces  111 ,  112  and  113  added to tray  100  after the sequence order of mail pieces  101  was determined by create mail run  9 . Mail pieces  111 ,  112  and  113  have no dabs on their top edges. Thus, the insertion of mail pieces  111 - 113  in tray  100  breaks the continuous solid diagonal line formed by pattern  105 .  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 5 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with one or more mail pieces  101  being removed from tray  100  after the sequence order was determined by create mail run  9 . Pattern  105  does not form a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on panel  102  to point B on panel  103   
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 6 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with some mail pieces  101  missing from tray  100 . Pattern  105  does not form a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on panel  102  to point B on panel  103 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 7 is a drawing of mail tray  100  shown in FIG. 2 with additional mail pieces  115  from another tray being placed in tray  100 . Additional mail pieces  115  are mail pieces that have been identified in the written record submitted to the post office of the mail pieces placed in tray  100 . Pattern  105  does not form a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel  102  to point B on the mail piece next to panel  103 . A line  116  is shown; thus, tray  100  has been salted or mistrayed.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 8 is a drawing of a flow chart of configuration blocks  200  of FIG. 1. The program begins in block  200 . Then the dab pattern that is going to be printed on the mail pieces that are placed in mail trays is stored in block  210 . Next the number of mail pieces that are going to be placed in the mail tray is stored in block  220 . Now the mail piece measurement, i.e., width and thickness, are stored in block  230 . At this point, the tray mail piece measurements are calculated in block  240 , i.e., the length of the mail tray equals a summation of each mail piece thickness multiplied by the number of mail pieces having that thickness in the tray. Then the program goes to block  250 , where the scale pattern to tray mail piece measurements is determined, i.e., pattern measurements equal tray mail piece measurements. Next, the slice pattern is determined in block  260 , i.e., the number of slices equals the number of mail pieces, slice width equals mail piece width, and slice thickness equals mail piece thickness. The slice pattern is then stored in block  270 . At this point the program goes to block  300  (FIG. 9).  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 9 is a drawing of a flow chart showing the operation of this invention.  
         [0037]    The program begins in block  198  start mail production/verification. Next the program goes to block  199  to create a mail manifest or statement of mailing using the Firstlogic Postalsoft® suite software sold by Firstlogic of 100 Harborview Plaza, Lacrosse, Wis. 54061. Then, the program goes to block  200  to configure printing device  40 . Now the program goes to block  300  to reset to the first slice of the pattern that is going to be printed on the edges of mail pieces that are going to be placed in mail trays. Then the program goes to block  400  to see if a mail piece is at printing device  40 . If block  400  determines that a mail piece is at printing device  40 , then the program goes to the input of block  500  entitled device operation, which is described in the description of FIG. 10. Next the program goes to the input of decision block  600 . Block  600  determines whether or not a mail tray is full. If block  600  determines that a mail tray is not full, the program goes back to block  400 . If block  600  determines that a mail tray is full, the program goes to block  650  to add the pattern for this mail tray in the mail manifest or statement of mailing. Next the program goes to decision block  700 . Decision block  700  determines whether or not the mail job has been completed. If block  700  determines that the mail job has not been completed, the program goes to decision block  800 . Decision block  800  determines whether or not the same amount of mail pieces is in the next mail tray. If block  800  determines that the same number of mail pieces are not in the next mail tray, the program goes back to block  200 . If block  800  determines that the same number of mail pieces are in the next mail tray, the program goes to block  801 . Decision block  801  determines whether or not the same mail piece measurements in the next mail tray are the same as the mail piece measurements in the preceding tray. If block  801  determines that the mail piece measurements in the next mail tray are not the same as the mail piece measurements in the preceding tray, the program goes back to block  200 . If block  801  determines that the mail piece measurements in the next mail tray are the same as the mail piece measurements in the preceding tray, the program goes to block  802 . Decision block  802  determines whether or not the same mail piece pattern in the next mail tray is the same as the mail piece pattern in the preceding tray. If block  802  determines that the mail piece pattern in the next mail tray is not the same as the mail piece pattern in the preceding tray, the program goes back to block  200 . If block  802  determines that the mail piece pattern in the next mail tray is the same as the mail piece pattern in the preceding tray, the program goes back to block  300 . If block  700  determines that the mail job is completed, the program goes to block  750  to save the mail manifest or statement of mailing. Then the program ends in block  900 .  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 10 is a drawing of a flow chart showing in detail the process that begins in block  500 . Then the program goes to decision block  505  to determine whether or not a mail piece is rejected. If block  505  rejects a mail piece, the program goes to block  515  to print a reject pattern on the edge of the mail piece. Then the program goes to decision block  516  to determine whether or not the rejected mail piece should be replaced. If block  516  determines the mail piece should be replaced, the program goes to block  517  to save a slice for reprinting. Then the program goes to block  520 . If block  516  determines the mail piece should not be replaced, the program goes to block  600  and ends. If block  505  does not reject a mail piece the program goes to block  510  to print a slice of a pattern on a mail piece. For purposes of illustration, assume that the print head of an ink jet printer moves along a bar that represents the X axis when printing a line. A roller mechanism exists along the Y axis, in an ink jet that is used to print multiple lines. The printer that is used hereunder to print a pattern on the edge of mail pieces will only need to deal with one axis. Since the mail pieces will be moving past the printing device, no transport mechanism is needed. The printer has to determine the velocity of the mail piece, the starting point of the mail piece, and the pattern coordinates that are on the mail piece, i.e., where the pattern coordinates are greater than or equal to mail piece length. The dab pattern may be printed by an ink jet printer or a dabber/roller. In the dabber approach, a slice of the pattern being printed will be printed on the edge of a mail piece from X 1  to X 2 . The beginning of the mail piece is determined by coordinate 0. Then the dabber waits for the mail piece to be at X 1 , at which point the dabber is applied to the edge of the mail piece. When the mail piece reaches X 2 , the dabber is removed from the mail piece.  
         [0039]    At this point, the program goes to decision block  520 . Decision block  520  determines whether or not the last slice of the pattern has been printed on a mail piece. If block  520  determines that the last slice of the pattern has not been printed on a mail piece, the program proceeds to block  530 . Block  530  increments to the next slice of the pattern. Then the program goes to block  600  (FIG. 9). If block  520  determines that the last slice of the pattern has been printed on a mail piece, the program proceeds to block  540  and resets to the first slice of the pattern. Then goes back to block  600  (FIG. 9).  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 11 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of arched shaped sections drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray  120  contains a plurality of mail pieces  121  that are placed in tray  120  in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces  121 , preferably the top edge of mail pieces  121 , run along the top of tray  120 . Tray  120  has a front panel  122 , a back panel  123 , and side panels  124  as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces  121  have been placed in tray  120  in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run  9  (FIG. 1). Pattern  125  was drawn on mail pieces  121  by printing device  40  (FIG. 1) in a manner that the first mail piece  121  in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel  122 , and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel  123 . Pattern  125  forms an arched section  126  and an arched section  127  on the mail pieces in mail tray  120 . Thus, no mail pieces  121  have been added or removed from tray  120 . Hence, mail pieces  121  are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run  9 . Tray tag  145  is placed in tray holder  147  of front panel  122 . Tag  145  indicates the destination  148  of tray  120 . Bar code  149  indicates destination information about tray  120 . Bar code  149  or tray label  145  may also be printed on the edges of mail pieces  121   
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 12 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a triangle drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray  130  contains a plurality of mail pieces  131  that are placed in tray  130  in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces  131 , preferably the top edge of mail pieces  131  run along the top of tray  130 . Tray  130  has a front panel  132 , a back panel  133 , and side panels  134  as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces  131  have been placed in tray  130  in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run  9  (FIG. 1). Pattern  135  was drawn on mail pieces  131  by printing device  40  (FIG. 1) in a manner that the first mail piece  131  in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel  132 , and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel  133 . Pattern  135  forms a triangle on the mail pieces in mail tray  130 . Thus, no mail pieces  131  have been added or removed from tray  130 . Hence, mail pieces  131  are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run  9 . It would be obvious to one skilled in the art that different patterns may be drawn on the edges of mail pieces  131 . Tray tag  146  is placed in tray holder  152  of front panel  132 . Tag  146  indicates the destination  150  of tray  130 . Bar code  151  indicates destination information about tray  130 .  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 13 is a drawing of a statement of mailing  136  that has images of the patterns  125  and  135 , respectively, placed on the mail pieces contained in trays  120  and  130 . The mailer&#39;s name and address is shown at area  137 . Information regarding the manifest is shown in areas  138  and  139 . Information regarding the mail pieces in tray  120  is shown in line  140 , and information regarding the mail pieces in tray  130  is shown in line  141 . Information regarding the tray label tag  145  for tray  120  is shown at  140 , and information regarding the tray label tag  146  for tray  130  is shown at  141 . Mailer personnel and post office personnel may check pattern  125  appearing on the mail pieces in tray  120  and pattern  125  appearing in the vicinity of  142  to place the proper tag on tray  120  and verify that tag  145  is on tray  120 . Mailer personnel and post office personnel may also check pattern  135  appearing on the mail pieces in tray  130  and pattern  135  appearing in the vicinity of  143  to place the proper tag on tray  130  and verify that tag  146  is on tray  130 . The foregoing makes it easier to match mail trays with tags. Thus, there will be less misdirected mail, and the post will find it easier to check that they receive the correct postage for delivering the mail.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 14 is a drawing of a statement of mailing  147  that has an image of pattern  125  that was placed on the mail pieces contained in tray  120 . General information regarding the mailer is indicated in space  148 . Information regarding the mail pieces in tray  120  is shown in area  149 . Information regarding the tray label tag  145  for tray  120  is shown at  149 . Mailer personnel and post office personnel may check pattern  125  appearing on the mail pieces in tray  120  and pattern  125  appearing in the vicinity of  149  to place the proper tag on tray  120  and verify that tag  145  is on tray  120 . The foregoing makes it easier to match mail trays with tags. Thus, there will be less misdirected mail, and the post will find it easier to check that they receive the correct postage for delivering the mail.  
         [0044]    [0044]FIG. 15 is a drawing of a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces with two rejected mail pieces shown in the tray. Mail tray  301  contains a plurality of mail pieces  302  that are placed in tray  301  in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces  302 , preferably the top edge of mail pieces  302  run along the top of tray  301 . Tray  301  has a front panel  303 , a back panel  304 , and side panels  305  as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces  302  have been placed in tray  301  in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run  9  (FIG. 1). Pattern  306  was drawn on mail pieces  302  by printing device  40  (FIG. 1) in a manner that the first mail piece  302  in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel  303 , and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel  304 . Pattern  306  forms a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel  303  to point B on the mail piece next to panel  304 . Lines  310  and  311  are printed, on those mail pieces  302  by printer  40 , that are rejected by decision block  505  of FIG. 10. When a mail piece  302  is rejected and marked, a line  310  or  311  is printed along its entire edge. An operator may remove the rejected mail piece, reprint a corrected mail piece, and place the corrected mail piece in the position of the removed mail piece. Hence, mail pieces  302  are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run  9 .  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 16 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern  326  in the form of a tray label drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray  321  contains a plurality of mail pieces  322  that are placed in tray  320  in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces  322 , preferably the top edge of mail pieces  322 , run along the top of tray  320 . Tray  320  has a front panel  323 , a back panel  324 , and side panels  325  as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces  322  have been placed in tray  320  in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run  9  (FIG. 1). Pattern  326  in the form of the information contained in tray label  327  was drawn on mail pieces  322  by printing device  40  (FIG. 1) in a manner that the first mail piece  322  in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel  323 , and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel  324 . Tray label  327  is placed in tray label holder  328 . Hence, mail pieces  322  are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run  9 .  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 17 is a top view of a mail tray containing mail pieces that have a pattern in the form of a diagonal line  339  and a tray label  336  drawn along the top edge of the mail pieces. Mail tray  331  contains a plurality of mail pieces  332  that are placed in tray  331  in a manner that one of the edges of mail pieces  332 , preferably the top edge of mail pieces  332 , run along the top of tray  331 . Tray  331  has a front panel  333 , a back panel  334 , and side panels  335  as well as a bottom panel (not shown). Mail pieces  332  have been placed in tray  331  in ordered sequence that was determined by create mail run  9  (FIG. 1). Pattern  336 , in the form of the information contained in tray label  337 , was drawn on mail pieces  322  by printing device  40  (FIG. 1) in a manner that the first mail piece  332  in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel  333 , and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel  334 . Pattern  329  was drawn on mail pieces  332  by printing device  40  (FIG. 1) in a manner that the first mail piece  332  in the ordered sequence is flush with front panel  333 , and the last mail piece in the ordered sequence is flush with back panel  334 . Pattern  339  forms a continuous solid diagonal line from point A on the first mail piece next to panel  333  to point B on the mail piece next to panel  334 . Tray label  337  is placed in tray label holder  338 . Hence, mail pieces  332  are in the same sequence order that was determined by create mail run  9 .  
         [0047]    The above specification describes a new and improved method for determining the integrity of mail pieces placed in a tray. It is realized that the above description may indicate to those skilled in the art additional ways in which the principles of this invention may be used without departing from the spirit. It is, therefore, intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.