Patent GB-667264-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for sorting articles
IPC: B07C3/00
Filed: 1947-08-06
Abstract: 667,264. Sorting letters AUTOMATIQUE ELECTRIQUE SOC. ANON. Sept. 30, 1947. [Aug. 6, 1947] No. 21829/47. Class 78 (i). Apparatus for sorting mail includes a number of carriers arranged in a plurality of continuouslymoving chains, arranged to be substantially parallel over the whole of their length, and means which enable an operator to effect the insertion of an article in any available carrier in a selected chain. Figs. 2, 4. Letters arrive in boxes bv conveyer 105, the boxes being emptied and returned by conveyer 107, and the letters placed in the feed 106 and fed by rolls 104 on to conveyer 103 which stepby-step presents them to one of a number of operators O, who having observed the address, presses the corresponding three keys of a keyboard beside him, and the letter falls into shoot 108, whence it is fed to the next available carrier 901 of a carrier chain selected out of five chains, which carrier is simultaneously coded and then discharged into the similarly coded destination receptacle 1900. Fig. 5. The letters are placed by hand in feed 106 where they are pressed forward by movable wall 504 which is urged by bands 506 tensioned by spring-pressed pulley 507, and the letters are fed forward one by one by rollers 104 which are driven with a speed which increases in the forward direction. Alternatively, the two walls of rollers may have slightly differing speeds or rotate in opposite directions. Roller 516 is mounted on pivoted arm 517 which closes contacts 521 when a letter passes between 516 and 519 and opens them otherwise to shut off the rollermotor. Letter moves into container 509, the trip door 510 of which is operated by magnet 511 so that the letter falls into tray 512 of endless conveyer 103, the conveyer auto-' matically moving one step forward as the operator presses the keys to present an empty tray for the next letter. The letter, after several steps forward falls into shoot 108. Fig. 6. Shoot 108 is divided by vane 702 into portions 701 and 700, of which 701 is for dead letters. Portion 700 is divided by vanes 708-711 into five channels such as 703, which is subdivided by vanes 803, 804 into three storage reservoirs 800-802, each designed to hold one letter. These serve to store letters singly in this order and to release them singly in the same order into discharge reservoir 900 which feeds the letter on to the next empty carrier 901 of the selected chain, which is continuously moving, and delivers the letter into the appropriate receptacle 1900. Each vane is worked automatically when the operator presses his keys. Each reservoir 900 corresponds to a separate carrier chain. Fig. 8. Channel 703 is divided into storage reservoirs 800-2 by vanes 803, 804, which vanes are operated by links 807, 808 from magnets 1ER, 2ER and are restored by springs 805-806. The discharge from these storage reservoirs is similarly effected by traps 809-811 operated by magnets 1ET, 2ET, 3ET, so that the letter slides down plate 812. Fig. 10. From plate 812 the letter slides onto slidable plate 902 and is stopped by lever 910. Its discharge into a carrier 901 is effected by energisation of magnet 914 which occurs when an empty carrier presents itself and which causes armature 913 to pivot clockwise about pin 916. This causes arm 907 to pivot clockwise about 908 on plate 902, against the spring shown, so that it descends to press against the letter and then causes the arm 907 together with plate 902 and with the letter to move downwards as a whole. At the same time, armature 913 causes lever 912 to push against and rotate bellcrank lever 909, and this causes the sides 903 to be depressed below plate 902 to allow the letter possible freedom to move sideways and causes also lever 910 to be depressed to allow the letter to be delivered to carrier 901. Figs. 9, 10. Carrier 901. This has a body 918, an arm 945 and runs on wheels 919, 920. It has also three operating rollers : 932 mounted on arm 928 pivoted to fixed point 931 on carrier; roller 927 mounted on bracket 926 also pivoted to fixed point 931 ; and driven roller 933 mounted on armature extension 925 which is itself pivoted to the bracket 926. Arm 928 also carries member 929 for making contacts 930 for driving roller 933. The letter, in passing under roller 932, causes the roller and therefore arm 928 to pivot clockwise and member 929 to close contacts 930 temporarily and thus to cause roller 933 to be driven slightly until the latter drops into slot 934 in plate 935 when anticlockwise movement of arm 928 opens contacts 930 and roller 933 stops, the letter being firmly held between rollers 933 and 927. The final discharge of the letter from the carrier into a waiting receptacle is carried out by further rotation of roller 933 but this occurs only when the carrier has moved along to the correct receptacle. Figs. 12, 13, 16. Setting of carrier 901 to discharge into the correct receptacle (1900) chosen by operator operating a key, the key transmitting impulses to the selected group of five groups of twelve magnets 1M-12M. The arm of the carrier carries four triangular plates 1300 on pivot 1301 and each plate 1300 carries pivotally a roller 1311 which is positioned below the bar, each roller 1311 being adapted to run on any one of three conducting strips 1202, there being twelve conducting strips 1202, all fixed to a framework, and the roller 1311 being caused by parallel arms 1312 to roll always parallel to the conducting strips and to leap over from one strip to another. Each magnet has a roller 1306 and this roller 1306, when the magnet is energized, is lowered to contact a tray 1300 on the passing carrier, the roller 1306 striking the upturned sides 1302 of the tray and passing through the gap at the apex of the tray and then causing roller 1311 of the tray to enter an appropriate conducting strip 1202. Thus the operator presses his key, which causes certain magnets to be energized (as shown, 2M-5M-7M-11M) and thus to set the pattern of trays 1300 at the same time as the carrier receives the letter. The carrier has now been set and when it reaches the appropriate receptacle, an electrical circuit is completed which includes the strips 1202 having pattern 2-5-7-11 and also the carrier conducting rollers 936-939 which are running on conducting strips 940-943, and this causes the roller 933 of the carrier to rotate and to discharge the letter into its receptacle 1900. Figs. 18, 19. Receptacle 1900. Receptacle 1900 rests on flap 1900<SP>1</SP> secured to pivot 1901 which is secured to extension 1903 which is spring-pressed outwards by rod 1904. When the receptacle is full, its weight presses on flap 1900 and causes flag 1905 to move outwards so as to indicate the fact. The receptacles are closed by a three-pronged grid 110 formed on a bellcrank lever 1801-1802 pivoting at 1803 and secured to spring 1805 so that the grid yields when pushed inwards to allow letters to be withdrawn. Fig. 11. The drive. A chain of carriers 901 is driven by a variable speed motor carried by one carrier of the chain and this drive is transmitted to the driven mechanical parts of any carrier of the chain through wheel 920, bevel gears 1100 and 1101, clutch parts 1106 and 1105 motivated by armature 1103 of solenoid 1102, and through gears 1107 and 1108 to driven roller 933. The Specification includes a relay diagram for the automatic operation of the apparatus the operator's pressing his three keys.