Sheet material transposition for sorting apparatus

Abstract

A displacement system and sorting apparatus for transposing the orientation of mailpiece from a first position to a second position such that the mailpiece may occupy a reduced space envelope within sortation bins / trays of a mailpiece sorter. The displacement system comprises first and second pairs of cooperating elements each defining a nip for accepting first and second portions, respectively, of the mailpiece therebetween. Further, the system includes a means for driving the first and second pairs of cooperating elements such that the first and second portions of mailpiece are each conveyed along a feed path at different velocities thereby transposing the mailpiece about an axis and changing the orientation of the mailpiece from the first to the second positions. The cooperating elements may include rolling elements such as nip rollers, spherical elements or belt pairs. The sortation bins / trays are adapted to support the short edge while guiding the long edge of the mailpiece. That is, the base of the bins / trays supports the on-edge width dimension of the mailpiece and sidewalls substantially normal to the base support the length dimension of the mailpiece.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]This invention relates to apparatus for re-orienting sheet material, and more particularly, to an apparatus for transposing a mailpiece ninety degrees from an on-edge horizontal orientation to an on-edge vertical orientation to reduce the space occupied by a mailpiece sorter.BACKGROUND ART[0002]Mailpiece sorters are often employed by service providers, including delivery agents, e.g., the United States Postal Service USPS, entities which specialize in mailpiece fabrication, and / or companies providing sortation services in accordance with the Mail Manifest System (MMS). Regarding the latter, most postal authorities offer large discounts to mailers willing to organize / group mail into batches or trays having a common destination. Typically, discounts are available for batches / trays containing a minimum of two hundred (200) mailpieces.[0003]The sorting equipment organizes large quantities of mail destined for delivery to a multiplicity of destinations, e.g., countri...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The multi-tiered mailpiece sorters can significantly reduce the space / footprint required by linear mailpiece sorters and multi-tiered mailpiece sorters are costly to fabricate, operate and maintain.

Typically, these multi-tiered mailpiece sorters are nearly twice as costly to fabricate and maintain as compared to linear mailpiece sorters having the same or greater sorting capacity.

In addition to the difficulties associated with space and expense, the mailpiece sorters described above are highly complex, require highly-skilled technicians to perform maintenance, and, if not maintained properly, can result in damage to sorted mailpieces.

For example, if particulate matter (e.g., paper dust) from envelopes is allowed to accumulate along the sorting path and / or in the actuation mechanisms of a diverter, the mailpiece sorter can become prone to paper jams.

In addition to damage caused by jamming, the sortation order of the mailpieces, which is critical to perform a RADIX sort, can inadvertently be altered.

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