Abstract:
This disclosure relates to a transport and sorting mechanism for an automatic conveyor system for mail pieces and the like wherein the articles to be sorted are moved along a smooth surface by means of a transport belt or linkage having pairs of studs or arms to impart a horizontal motion to the articles. The smooth surface along which the articles are conveyed is formed of the top surfaces of partitions between various destination receptacles and rotatable gates over the respective receptacles which gates when closed are in alignment with the top surfaces of the partitions. Letters and other pieces of mail of various sizes are placed in the conveyor system by the operator who records the destination of each article so inserted and the article is conveyed along the smooth surface until it reaches its destination receptacle at which time the rotatable gate is opened to allow the article to be received by the corresponding receptacle. Two or more receptacles can be served by a single belt or linkage and means are provided to merge the contents of such pairs of receptacles and place them on a separate conveying transport for further processing.
Abstract:
The present disclosure describes a system for sorting and processing a variety of articles including certain mail pieces known as flats which cannot be processed on letter mail equipment. The system includes mechanical carriers, which may be magnetically encoded with the sort destinations, to transport and remain with the respective items through the total processing cycle. The system further comprises a monorail conveyor distribution system having a three dimensional suspension system consisting of belts to provide transport, storage, switching and supporting of the carriers during the processing operation.
Abstract:
This disclosure relates to an automatic conveyor system having a plurality of sensors to detect the positions of the conveyor carriers so that the difference between a computed carrier position and its actual position will be less than the maximum tolerable error due to wear, stretch or slack in the conveyor belt or chain. At the time an article or parcel is placed in the conveyor system, its carrier designation and position of the destined receiving bin are stored in a memory. During each incremental time period, the contents of the memory are scanned and compared with counters associated with each position sensor. When a comparison is achieved, a signal is sent to the appropriate receiving bin to actuate the corresponding carrier to unload its contents.