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Sheet material transposition for sorting apparatusSheet material transposition for sorting apparatus description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20090107892, Sheet material transposition for sorting apparatus. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
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. 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. The sorting equipment organizes large quantities of mail destined for delivery to a multiplicity of destinations, e.g., countries, regions, states, towns and/or postal codes, into smaller, more manageable, trays or bins of mail for delivery to a common destination. For example, one sorting process may organize mail into bins corresponding to various regions of the U.S., e.g., northeast, southeast, mid-west, southwest and northwest regions. Subsequently, mail destined for each region may be sorted into bins corresponding to the various states of a particular region e.g., bins corresponding to New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Yet another sort may organize the mail destined for a particular state into the various postal codes within the respective state. The efficacy and speed of a mailpiece sorter is generally a function of the number of sortation sequences or passes required to be performed. Further, the number of passes will generally depend upon the diversity/quantity of mail to be sorted and the number of sortation bins available. At one end of the spectrum, a mailpiece sorter having four thousand (4,000) sorting bins or trays can sort a batch of mail having four thousand possible destinations, e.g., postal codes, in a single pass. At the other end of the spectrum, a mailpiece sorter having as few as eight (8) sortation bins (i.e., using a RADIX sorting algorithm) may require as many as five (5) passes though the sortation equipment to sort the same batch of mail i.e., mail to be delivered to four thousand (4,000) potential postal codes. The number of required passes through the sorter may be evaluated by solving for P in equation (1.0) below:
In view of the foregoing, a service provider typically weighs the technical and business options in connection with the purchase and/or operation of the mailpiece sortation equipment. On one hand, a service provider may opt to employ a large mailpiece sorter, e.g., a sorter having one hundred (100) or more bins, to minimize the number of passes required by the sortation equipment. On the other hand, a service provider may opt to employ a substantially smaller mailpiece sorter e.g., a sorter having sixteen (16) or fewer bins, knowing that multiple passes, and consequently, additional time/labor will be required to sort the mail. The principal technical/business issues include, inter alia: (i) the number/type of mailpieces to be sorted, (ii) the value of discounts potentially available through sortation, (iii) the return on investment associated with the various mailpiece sortation equipment available and (iv) the cost and availability of labor. As each mailpiece 114 is conveyed along the sorting path SP, a mailpiece scanner 126 reads certain information, i.e., identification, destination, postal code information, etc., contained on the face surface of the mailpiece 114 for input to a processor 130. Inasmuch as each of the sortation bins or collection trays 110 corresponds to a pre-assigned location in the RADIX sortation algorithm, the processor 130 controls a plurality of diverters 134 (i.e., one per collection tray 110) to move into the sorting path SP at the appropriate moment time to collect mailpieces 114 into the collection trays 110. That is, since the mailpiece sorter 110 knows the identity and location of each mailpiece 114 along the sorting path SP, the processor 130 issues signals to rapidly activate the diverters 134 so as to re-direct a particular mailpiece 114 into its pre-assigned collection tray 110. A linear mailpiece sorter of the type described above is manufactured and distributed by Pitney Bowes Inc. located in Stamford, State of Connecticut, USA, under the tradename “Olympus II”. As mentioned in a preceding paragraph, the total space available to a service provider/operator may prohibit/preclude the use of a large linear mailpiece sorter such as the type described above. That is, since each collection tray 110 must accommodate a conventional type-ten (No. 10) mailpiece envelope, each tray 110 spans a distance slightly larger than one foot (1′) or about fourteen inches (14″). As a result, a linear mailpiece sorter can occupy a large area or “footprint”, i.e., requiring hundreds of lineal feet and/or a facility the size of a conventional aircraft hanger. In an effort to accommodate operators with less available space/real estate, other mailpiece sortation devices are available which employ a multi-tiered bank of collection trays (i.e., arranged vertically). These sortation devices (not shown) include an intermediate elevation module disposed between the feeder and bank of collection trays. More specifically, the elevation module includes a highly inclined table or deck for supporting a labyrinth of twisted conveyor belt pairs. The belt pairs capture mailpieces therebetween and convey mailpieces along various feed paths which are formed by a series of “Y”-shaped branches. Each Y-shaped branch/intersection diverts mailpieces to one of two downstream paths and additional branches downstream of each path increase the number of paths by a factor of two. Further, each branch functions to change the elevation of a mailpiece to feed the multi-tiered arrangement of collection trays. A multi-tiered mailpiece sorter of the type described above is manufactured and distributed by Pitney Bowes Inc. located in Stamford, State of Connecticut, USA, under the tradename “Olympus II”. 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. A need, therefore, exists for a mailpiece sorter and displacement system therefor having a reduced footprint for space efficiency. The accompanying drawings illustrate presently preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the detailed description given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. As shown throughout the drawings, like reference numerals designate like or corresponding parts. Continue reading about Sheet material transposition for sorting apparatus... 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