Patent ID: 7728245

Claim:
A sorting system for postal mail, comprising: a plurality of input sections each including a feeder that takes in mail pieces one at a time and a scanner that scans each mail piece for destination indicia; a plurality of stackers each comprising a plurality of rows of pockets and a pinch belt system that receives mail pieces in a stream, routes them in separate streams past each row of pockets and diverts mail pieces into pockets according to a sort scheme; a routing system including: a first set of pinch belt conveyors for taking mail pieces away from each of the input sections in a continuously moving stream, a second set of pinch belt conveyors for taking mail pieces to each of the stackers-in a continuously moving stream, routing pinch belt conveyors connecting the first set of conveyors to the second set of conveyors whereby mail pieces fed by the input sections move simultaneously in continuously moving streams from each input section, along the first conveyors to the routing conveyors, along the routing conveyors to the second conveyors, and along the second conveyors to the stackers, diverts forming part of the routing conveyors, each divert including a sensor for detecting a mail piece entering the divert, a mechanism for selectively diverting a mail piece passing through the divert out of a mail stream moving on one pinch belt conveyor and permitting undiverted mail pieces to continue to move along the pinch belt conveyor of which the divert is part, and merges associated with each divert that receive mail pieces diverted by the divert and merge them into a mail stream on another routing pinch belt conveyor, wherein the merges and diverts are arranged on the routing conveyors so that a mail piece from any input section is conveyed, when required by the sort scheme, by any of the second conveyors to any pocket of any stacker; a control system that determines a destination pocket in one of the stackers for each mail piece based on a predetermined sort scheme and the destination indicia read by the scanners of the input sections, the control system operating the input sections in parallel simultaneously and operating the merges and diverts using signals received from the sensors to route mail in accordance with the sort scheme from any input section to any pocket of any stacker; wherein the merges and diverts are positioned and the control system operates the routing system to; form a first input stream from a first input section that contains mail to be conveyed to said stackers; form a second input stream from a second input section that contains mail to be conveyed to said stackers; split the first input stream into multiple output streams; split the second input stream into multiple output streams; and merge together pairs of output streams, one from the first input stream and one from the second input stream, wherein the mail pieces in the merged output streams of each pair are destined for transport to the same stacker.