Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4687106?oq=4052565
Timestamp: 2018-03-24 03:26:06
Document Index: 14445675

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 7', 'art 8', 'art 9', 'art 10', 'art 7', 'arts 7', 'art 10', 'art 9']

US4687106A - Letter-mail checking device - Google Patents
Letter-mail checking device Download PDF
US4687106A
US4687106A US06869442 US86944286A US4687106A US 4687106 A US4687106 A US 4687106A US 06869442 US06869442 US 06869442 US 86944286 A US86944286 A US 86944286A US 4687106 A US4687106 A US 4687106A
US06869442
Geert J. Prins
A device for detecting postal articles unsuited for mechanical handling is equipped with a bed of belts formed by a large number of side-by-side resilient belts (2) assembled with predetermined tension around two pulleys (3,4), which can turn freely around shafts fixedly mounted on a base plate. A conveyor belt passes over a guiding roller (6) opposite the bed of belts. The conveyor direction of motion is deflected around the roller and the bed of belts is taken along by the conveyor belt (1) by means of friction. An article on the conveyor approaching the guiding roller while moving between the conveyor and the bed of belts is subjected to a bending force when passing the guiding roller. The belts of the bed of belts here work as scanning elements. Deflection of one or more of them from the normal path, away from the guiding roller (6), can be detected by a combination (11) of an infrared radiator and a detector. The position of this single radiator/detector combination (11) can be adjusted (17) in such a way that postal articles which are too thick, too rigid or too heavy, can be selected for diversion by a deflection of belt (2) detected by the radiator/detector combination (11).
The invention relates to a device for checking letter-mail.
The object of the invention is to meet the above-mentioned drawbacks. For that purpose the checking device according to the invention is characterized in that a number of belts, running parallel and next to one another side by side in the same plane and forming a bed of belts, function as a set of letter scanners; in that a guiding roller is placed in such a position with respect to said bed of belts and said conveyor belt that where said conveyor belt passes in contact with said guiding roller a short part of the bed of belts, of a lengthwise dimension corresponding to an opposite circumferential portion of the guiding roller, is flexibly held in engagement with the conveyor and a part of said conveyor belt which leaves from said guiding roller and a part of the bed of belts which is opposite to said part of the conveyor belt make substantially the same predetermined angle with the direction along which the conveyor belt arrives at said guiding roller, but may diverge enough from each other so that the bed of belts gradually becomes disengaged from the conveyor belt after passing the location of the guiding roller; in that the part of the bed of belts extending immediately before the location of the guiding roller remains spaced and clear from the conveyor. in that the part of the bed of belts before the guiding roller forms a first portion and the part extending beyond the guiding roller forms a second portion; and in that said detector is adapted in such a way that its detection area extends parallel to and transversely to the direction of movement of that part of the bed of belts that is opposite to that part of the conveyor belt that leaves from said guiding roller, and is positioned at a predetermined distance from the point where the bed of belts and the conveyor belt are deflected from their direction of arrival at that point by the guiding roller. The detector detects the displacement of at least one belt of the bed of belts from a normal attitude which the bed belts has while acceptable letters are between it and the conveyor, to an attitude of displacement of the at least one belt caused by a letter which exceeds a predetermined processing acceptability criterion. By making the distance between the detection area, more in particular a bundle of rays directed to a photosensitive detector, and the opposite part of the bed of belts guided by the guiding roller adjustable, the critical length at which a letter has to be rejected as being "too rigid" can be adjusted as desired.
For a further elucidation of the invention an embodiment of the same will be described in what follows with reference to the drawing in which:
In the FIG. 1 designates a conveyor belt which is movable in the direction indicated by the arrow 15 and belongs to a letter transporting device, which is not drawn. As a rule a single belt with a width of e.g. 40 mm is made use of. Owing to an earlier handling it is ensured that the distances between the letters on this belt are mainly equal. An endless belt of a set of belts, running mainly parallel and next to one another and forming a so-called bed of belts, is designated by 2. The width of the bed of belts is preferably equal to the largest width to be expected of the flow of letters supplied via the conveyor belt. In a preferred embodiment this bed of belts comprises seventeen belts, as shown in FIG. 2, which are guided with a pitch of 10 mm by a first pulley 3 and a second pulley 4. These pulleys are provided in their cylindrical plane with belt guiding grooves, the cross-section shape of which is adapted to that of the belts. Preferably belts with a mainly circular cross section and with a diameter of abt. 4 mm are used. Belts suited for the purpose are e.g. the so-called polycord belts which are made of a resilient synthetic material (polyurethane). The belts are assembled round the pulleys with a certain tension e.g. 5%. Each of these pulleys 3 and 4 can turn on an appurtenant shaft, which is fixedly mounted on a base plate (running parallel to the plane of the drawing, but not shown) of the machine in which the checking device according to the invention is utilized. The two ends of said shafts which are not facing the base plate are coupled together by means of a frame plate 5. Thus the two pulleys 3 and 4 are rotatably mounted in a framework, which is formed by the frame plate, the two shafts and the base plate. With a construction of this kind it is possible to assemble the belts one by one round the two pulleys or to take them away from these pulleys in a simple way. In a similar way a guiding roller designated by 6 is rotatably mounted in a separate framework. This framework is formed by said base plate, a supporting element (not shown) fixedly mounted on and at right angles to that base plate, a supporting plate (not shown) mounted at the free end of said supporting element and running parallel to the base plate, and a shaft (not shown), rotatably supporting the guiding roller 6 and fixedly mounted between said supporting plate and the base plate. Preferably the width of said guiding roller is somewhat larger than the width of the bed at belts, in order to prevent the outermost belts of the bed of belts from being driven out of their relevant grooves when the letters are conveyed. The guiding roller 6 is provided with a recess having the shape of the cylindrical surface of that roller, in which recess the conveyor belt 1 guided along this roller 6 is countersunk in such a way that on the spot where this guiding roller is located the supporting surface of the letters of this conveyor belt is bent according to a radius of curvature which is mainly equal to that of the adjacent cylindrical surface of the guiding roller. In the embodiment of the present invention as described this guiding roller 6 and the conveyor belt 1 guided by the roller are located with regard to the bed of belts in such a way that the part 7 of the conveyor belt 1 arriving at this roller in a first direction designated by the arrow 15 forms, together with the opposite part 8 of the bed of belts a wedgeshaped space where the bed of belts is spaced from the conveyor belt and where a letter on the conveyor belt is taken along. This ensures that the letters supplied via the conveyor belt 1 are generally smoothly and without shocks further taken along between the bed of belts and the conveyor belt. As shown in FIG. 1, at the guiding roller 6 the bed of belts is flexibly engaged wtih the conveyor belt, even if no letters happen to be in-between, for imparting movement to the bed of belts in the same direction as the movement of the conveyor. According to an aspect of the invention the guiding roller 6 together with the conveyor belt guided by that roller are arranged adjacent to the bed of belts in such a way that the part 9 of this conveyor belt leaves from said guiding roller in a second direction designated by the arrow 16. The opposite part 10 of the bed of belts makes a predetermined angle with the first direction along which said part 7 of the conveyor belt arrives at the guiding roller. In this case an angle of abt. 25° is preferably chosen. In the construction as described above the conveyor belt which is moving on takes along the bed of belts by means of friction; in other words it is not necessary to couple one of the pulleys 3 and 4 to a separate drive mechanism. A letter which is moving on between the parts 7 and 8 will be subjected to a bending force on the spot where the guiding roller 6 is located. In this case the belts of the bed of belts are in fact working as scanning elements, of which the deflection from the normal path which is followed after the guiding roller 6 has been passed, is a measure for the thickness, rigidity or weight of the relevant letter. Should such a letter contain an object due to which this letter is too thick and/or too rigid and/or too heavy for further handling, one or more of the belts 2 (dependent on the shape and/or weight and/or position of the object in the letter), notably the part immediately after the guiding roller 6, will be deflected with an angle which is smaller than the predetermined angle of abt. 25° mentioned in the foregoing. This means that the part 10 of the relevant belt or belts will be located at a certain distance from the opposite part 9 of the conveyor belt.
1. A checking device for detecting letters which expand a processing acceptability criterion from acceptable letters which do not exceed said criterion, said criterion taking account of thickness, rigidity, length, and weight; said device comprising:
a moving belt conveyor for conveying said letters, said conveyor having a first part moving in a first direction and a second part moving in a second direction;
means, including a guiding roller (6) having, at all times during motion of said conveyor, a circumferential portion in contact with said conveyor, for deflecting movement of said conveyor from said first direction to said second direction;
a bed of side-by-side endless elastic belts (2) mounted on and around, and extending between, first and second pulleys (3,4) respectively mounted on rotation on spaced-apart fixed shafts and located relative to the conveyor and guiding roller in such a manner that a short portion of said bed of belts opposite said guiding roller, which short bed portion has a longitudinal dimension corresponding to said circumferential portion of said guiding roller then in contact with said conveyor, is flexibly held in engagement with said conveyor on the side of the conveyor opposite the side which is in engagement with said guiding roller, for imparting movement to said bed of belts in the same direction as the movement of said conveyor, while a first adjacent portion of said bed of belts (2) extending immediately before the location of said guiding roller remains spaced and clear from said conveyor (1) and a second adjacent portion of said bed of belts (2) extends beyond the location of said guiding roller and becomes disengaged from said conveyor, said letters being conveyed between the conveyor and the bed of belts; and
means for detecting the displacement of at least one belt of said belts beds of belts (2) from a normal attitude which said bed of belts has while acceptable letters are between it and said conveyor, to an attitude of displacement of said at least one belt caused by a letter which exceeds said processing acceptability criterion; said detecting means including means (11) for providing a pencil-beam shaped detection region extending parallel to and transverse to said second adjacent portion (10) of said bed of belts, said detection region being spaced at a predetermined distance from the location where said conveyor has its movement deflected by said deflecting means from said first direction into said second direction.
2. Checking device in accordance with claim 1, wherein each of the belts (2) of said bed of belts is impressed with a predetermined tension to produce said bed of belts as a tensioned elastic bed of belts.
US06869442 1983-06-13 1986-04-27 Letter-mail checking device Expired - Lifetime US4687106A (en)
NL8302102 1983-06-13
NL8302102A NL181338C (en) 1983-06-13 1983-06-13 Control device for the examination of letters.
US61905584 Continuation 1984-06-11
US4687106A true US4687106A (en) 1987-08-18
ID=19842008
US06869442 Expired - Lifetime US4687106A (en) 1983-06-13 1986-04-27 Letter-mail checking device
US (1) US4687106A (en)
EP (1) EP0129280B1 (en)
JP (1) JPS607982A (en)
DE (2) DE3479299D1 (en)
NL (1) NL181338C (en)
US5150894A (en) * 1991-03-27 1992-09-29 Bell & Howell Company Diverter mechanism for flat document conveyor system
US6041661A (en) * 1995-04-24 2000-03-28 Amcor Limited Method and apparatus of testing board product
DE4216146C1 (en) 1992-05-15 1993-12-02 Licentia Gmbh Method and device for contactless thickness measurement of flat, continuous objects
DE19600231C2 (en) * 1996-01-05 1998-02-19 Siemens Ag Apparatus and method for measuring stiffness of flat items of mail
NL287451A (en) *
DE1294723B (en) * 1962-02-14 1969-05-08 Telefunken Patent Means for selbsttaetigen sorting flat mail items according to their stiffness
DE1648751A1 (en) * 1967-12-22 1971-04-15 Telefunken Patent Means for checking of flat articles on their stiffness
DE1574164A1 (en) * 1967-12-07 1971-11-11 Telefunken Patent Means for testing the stiffness of mail
DE1210226B (en) * 1962-01-04 1966-02-03 Standard Elektrik Lorenz Ag Means at Conveying machinery for detecting Foerderstuecken with maximum rigidity, thickness or length
JPS4816900B1 (en) * 1969-01-22 1973-05-25
NL181338B (en) 1987-03-02 application
EP0129280A1 (en) 1984-12-27 application
EP0129280B1 (en) 1989-08-09 grant
JPS607982A (en) 1985-01-16 application
DE3479299D1 (en) 1989-09-14 grant
NL181338C (en) 1987-08-03 grant
NL8302102A (en) 1985-01-02 application
DE129280T1 (en) 1985-04-11 grant
US5445369A (en) 1995-08-29 Method of and apparatus for moving documents