Patent ID: 7170024

Claim:
An article sortation system for sorting articles to a delivery point sequence depth of sort, said article sortation system comprising: at least one article sorter having an induct and a discharge, said at least one article sorter sorting articles into a plurality of trays and discharging the trays of sorted articles at said discharge; a conveying system comprising at least one transport conveyor and a plurality of zone conveyors, said at least one transport conveyor conveying trays from said discharge of said at least one article sorter to said induct of said at least one article sorter, said plurality of zone conveyors being positioned along said at least one transport conveyor; and said conveying system comprising a plurality of transfer units arranged along said at least one transport conveyor, each of said plurality of transfer units being associated with at least one of said plurality of zone conveyors, said transfer units being selectively operable to convey trays along said at least one transport conveyor and to transfer trays between said at least one transport conveyor and a respective at least one of said plurality of zone conveyors, wherein said at least one transport conveyor, said plurality of transfer units and said plurality of zone conveyors cooperate to automatically arrange and accumulate trays in a sequenced manner on said at least one transport conveyor, said at least one transport conveyor discharging the sequenced trays to said induct of said at least one article sorter.