FR2680121A1 - Stacking unit for postal sorting machines or the like - Google Patents

Abstract

This unit comprises a set of at least one row of stacking compartments (4) arranged on a surface (5) inclined on the horizontal, which compartments are each able to receive piles of envelopes corresponding to a given sorting destination. The unit also comprises slide means (23) which can extend through at least one slot (29) formed in at least one side wall (28) of a tray (22) for receiving a pile of envelopes, these means (23) being mounted so as to tilt about a horizontal axis between a receiving position in which a pile is received in a tray and in which the said slide means (23) extend substantially along the extension of the said support surface (5), and a position in which the tray is filled and transferred and in which the said slide means are folded back substantially horizontally.

Description

 The present invention relates to sorting machines, in particular postal sorting machines, and more particularly the stacking modules that such machines comprise.

 The postal sorting machines, intended to automate the sorting of mail, are arranged to receive folds in a supply store, unstack and inject the folds in a conveying circuit, determine the postal code and / or the distribution code, print the code as a series of sticks on the fold, read the code and determine a loading point in a receptacle according to a sorting program, and direct the folds, either to a sorting receptacle or to rejection receptacles in the event of anomalies or non-recognition of the code.

 When the sorting directions correspond to large quantities of folds, these are sent to a section of the machine called "stacker module". This module comprises a set of one or more rows of compartments formed on a surface inclined to the horizontal and capable of receiving each in a stack of folds corresponding to a given sorting direction. The plies are conveyed in the compartments by means of conveying and referral means associated with each compartment to selectively direct the plies conveyed by the conveyor means in the compartments corresponding to the affected direction.

 The compartments can receive a large number of folds, for example a maximum of 540, and when a compartment is full, it must be emptied manually by an attendant.

 However, for many reasons, this manual emptying of the compartments constitutes a bottleneck for sorting operations. In particular, the operations of emptying the compartments must be carried out at high speed, but the handling of large stacks of folds is not easy since the documents, which may have different formats, are not linked together and can slide or rotate with respect to each other around the axis of rotation due to the extra thicknesses generated in particular by the stamps.

 The invention aims to solve this problem by means of automatically ensuring the emptying into bins of the stacks of folds of the compartments of a stacker module, while retaining the integrity of the stack of folds.

 To this end, the subject of the invention is a stacker module for a postal sorting machine or the like, comprising a set of at least one row of stacking compartments formed on a surface inclined to the horizontal and capable of receiving each in stack of folds corresponding to a given sorting direction, characterized in that it comprises slide means able to extend through at least one slot made in at least one side wall of a stack receiving tray folds and tilted mounted around a horizontal axis between a position for receiving a stack in a tray, in which said slide means extend substantially in the extension of said bearing surface, and a filling position and of transshipment of tank in which said slide means are folded substantially horizontally.

 According to a characteristic of the invention, said compartments are constituted by bottomless drawers movable in translation in the direction of greatest slope of said inclined surface between a position for receiving the folds above said inclined surface and an unloading position. stack in a tray in which said drawer is disposed above said slide means.

 According to one embodiment, said drawer comprises means for tilting about a horizontal axis in order, in said stack discharge position, to accompany the movement of said slide means between said position for receiving a stack in a tray and said bin filling position.

 According to another embodiment, said slide means are associated with tray tilting means for, in said stack discharge position from a drawer, accompanying the movement of said slide means between said stack reception position in a tray and said tray filling position.

 Preferably, said module comprises at least one container transfer cart carrying said slide means. This transfer trolley can be movable between a position for receiving an empty container, a container filling position and a filling container discharge position.

 According to another characteristic, said carriage is movable in translation parallel to said row of compartments so as to be able to serve several consecutive compartments. If the stacker module comprises several superimposed rows of compartments, said carriage is preferably movable vertically so as to be able to serve compartments located in different rows.

 According to yet another characteristic, said module comprises conveyor means for the automatic routing of empty trays in the filling position and the automatic evacuation of trays filled with a stack of folds.

 Preferably, said slide means comprise a fork with several branches adapted to each penetrate into a slot in a side wall of a tank.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge from the description which follows of an embodiment given solely by way of example and illustrated by the appended drawings in which
Figure 1 is a partial perspective view of a stacker module according to the invention; and
Figures 2 to 6 are schematic views illustrating different operating phases of the module of Figure 1.

 Referring to FIG. 1, a stacker module 1 comprises, in a conventional manner, a conveyor 2 in which are interposed switches 3, so as to selectively direct the plies conveyed by the conveyor 2 towards a series of compartments 4 provided on a inclined bearing surface 5.

 Each compartment 4 is constituted by a drawer comprising a side wall 6, arranged vertically along the line of greatest slope of the bearing surface 5 and a front wall 7, perpendicular to the wall 6, and integral with the latter. In the position for receiving the folds shown in the figure, the front wall 7 of the compartment or drawer 4 is adjacent to a partition 8 formed parallel to the conveyor 2, close to the latter, and delimiting with an idler roller 9, the axis is fixed to the bearing surface 5 an entry area 10 for the drawer 4.

 The rear wall 11 of the drawer 4 is constituted by a movable panel parallel to the longitudinal direction of the side wall 6, by means of a nut and worm system. To this end, the panel 11 has a lug 12 projecting above the side wall 6, which has a hole forming a nut crossed by an endless screw 13, freely mounted for rotation at each of its ends in lugs 14 and 15 which protrude upwards at each of the ends of the side wall 6. The worm 13 is rotated by an electric motor 16 carried by a bar 17 fixed at its ends respectively in the legs 14 and 15, at above the worm 13. The fourth side of the drawer 4 is constituted by the side wall 6 of the neighboring drawer but, as a variant, an additional side wall is fixed to the bearing surface 5, parallel to the side wall 6 from the next drawer.

 The electric motor 16 is controlled by suitable means which are not part of the present invention for moving the rear wall 11 downwards, as the drawer is filled with folds from the conveyor 2, while maintaining a proper compaction of the pile being built.

 Furthermore, the assembly of the drawer 4, namely the side wall 6 and the elements carried by it, the front wall 7 secured to the side wall 6 and the rear wall 11 linked to the wall 6 by the nut mechanism. worm is movable in translation in the direction indicated by arrow 18, along the line of greatest slope of the bearing surface 5. For this purpose, any conventional actuator of the cable, chain, screw type nut, driven by an electric motor, a pneumatic jack, or the like, can be used to move the side wall 6 in translation and, consequently, the entire drawer 4.

 On the side of the bearing surface 5 which is opposite the conveyor 2, the stacker module 1 comprises means allowing the automatic emptying of the stacks of folds formed in the drawers 4. These means comprise a carriage 20, essentially comprising a tray 21 intended to receive a tray 22, and on which is articulated a fork 23 comprising three branches 24, 25 and 26, arranged in the same plane and extended, at their axis of articulation on the plate 21, perpendicular to said plane, by a pallet 27 forming a stop for the tray 22 when the latter is placed on the tray 21. To do this, the tray 22 has in its rear side wall 28 three slots 29, only one of which is shown in the drawings , and which are intended to allow the passage of the branches 24, 25 and 26 of the fork 23 towards the interior of the tank when said fork is folded parallel to the plane of the plate 21. The rotational movements of the fork 23 p ar relative to the plate 21 are provided by an actuating device 30, such as an electric motor.

 Furthermore, the carriage 30 is motorized by conventional means, not shown in the drawings, so as to be able to carry out lateral translation movements in the direction of the arrow 31 (that is to say parallel to the lower edge 32 of the surface 5), translation from front to back in the direction of arrow 33 (that is to say by approaching or moving away from the lower edge 32 of the bearing surface 5), and vertical translation in the direction of arrow 34 (that is to say perpendicular to the plane defined by the directions of movement 31 and 33).

 Finally, the stacker module 1 is completed by a conveyor 35 for evacuating the trays which have been filled with a stack of folds, as will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6, and by a conveyor 36 for routing of empty bins for filling.

In the example of Figure 1, the conveyors 35 and 36 are superimposed one above the other and arranged together under the bearing surface 5, so that, as shown in the drawings, a tray 22 can be presented by a carriage 20 in the extension of a drawer so as to receive the battery contained by it. In this tray filling position of the carriage 20, the branches 24, 25 and 26 of the fork 23 are raised upwards and extend substantially diagonally through the tank 22, in the extension of the bearing surface 5 .

The lower edge 32 of the bearing surface 5 and the ends of the arms 24, 25 and 26 of the forks are bevelled at an appropriate angle so that, in the position for receiving a stack shown in FIG. 1, there is no there is practically no solution of continuity between the upper surface of the branches 24, 25 and 26 and that of the bearing surface 5. This arrangement makes it possible to avoid the fall or the jamming of folds contained in a drawer when the latter is moved in translation from its fold receiving position, shown in FIG. 1, towards the bin filling position shown diagrammatically by the arrow 37 in FIG. 2.

 In operation, when a container 4 is filled, the carriage 20 is presented with an empty container and the fork 23 is arranged in the extension of the surface 5, as shown in FIG. 2. The drawer 4 is then moved in translation towards bottom, in the direction of arrow 37, until the entire drawer is disposed above the fork 23.

 The forks 23 are then tilted down in the direction indicated by the arrow 38 and, preferably, the drawer 4 accompanies this tilting movement downwards by means of suitable conventional tilting means (not shown in the drawing), so to maintain the cohesion of the stack of folds during the descent of the forks 23 to their folded position where they extend parallel to the bottom of the tank 22. In this position, the folds always rest against the branches of the fork 23, and the drawer 4 is tilted upwards in its position parallel to the bearing surface 5, as shown in FIG. 3. During this lifting of the drawer 4, the folds remain in the tray since the drawer 4 has no bottom . The latter is then immediately returned to the position for receiving the plies, shown in FIG. 4 so as to be able to receive the plies again conveyed by the conveyor 2.

 The operation of discharging a battery from a drawer into a bin takes only a few seconds to a few tens of seconds depending on the mechanical means used and makes it possible to minimize the time of unavailability of a drawer. Indeed, all the other operations relating to the transhipment of the tanks are carried out in masked time and therefore do not degrade the throughput of the stacker module. When a bin has been filled with a stack, as shown in FIG. 3, it is transferred by suitable conventional means (not shown) to the evacuation conveyor 35, in the direction of the arrow 39 (FIG. 4) . The cohesion of the stack of folds in the tray 22 is not affected by the removal of the fork 23 from the tray 22 because, as this removal takes place, the folds fall one after the other from the surface of the fork 23 on the bottom of the tank, that is to say a low height, the whole stack being held in abutment against the rear side wall 28 of the tank 22.

 When a full bin has been transferred to the discharge conveyor 35, the carriage 20 is moved downward, in the direction indicated by the arrow 40, into the position of FIG. 5 where the plate 21 is level with the conveyor 36. An empty container 22 waiting on the conveyor 36 is then moved in translation of the conveyor 36 on the plate 21, in the direction of the arrow 41 (FIG. 6). During this transfer, the branches of the fork 23, which are folded parallel to the plate 21, enter the tank 22 through the slots 29 formed in the rear wall 28 thereof.

 Once an empty container is in position on the plate 21, it is moved upwards to the position in FIG. 2, then it is optionally moved in lateral translation from one side or the other, in order to align the empty tray with the new drawer which should be emptied and, once this operation has been carried out, the fork 23 is tilted upwards in the extension of the support surface 5, as shown in FIG. 2 .

 A new cycle for emptying a drawer in this container, evacuating the filled container and installing a new empty container can then begin.

 It goes without saying that the embodiment described is only an example and it could be modified, in particular by substitution of technical equivalents, without departing from the scope of the invention.

 Thus, for example, it has been indicated that in the filling position of a tray, when the drawer 4 is above the fork 23, the drawer 4 swings down with the fork 23 to accompany the movement of that this in order to preserve the cohesion of the stack. As a variant, the drawer can be kept in its position parallel to the bearing surface 5 and appropriate means cause the container 22 to tilt upwards until its bottom is substantially parallel to the fork 23. The container and the fork 23 are then tilted simultaneously downwards, so that the stack of folds which escapes the support provided by the end walls 7 and 11 of the drawer 4 is however kept coherent by the presence of the end walls of the container 22. For implement this variant, it can be provided, once the drawer in position above the fork 23 and the tray 22, to move the assembly in translation backwards, that is to say on the side opposite to the bearing surface 5, to release the tray 22 until its front edge is no longer engaged under the bearing surface 5. Indeed, in the embodiment shown in the drawings, it is necessary that in the filling position the tank 22 is slightly engaged under the bearing surface 5 so that the fork 23 can tilt inside a container between the positions shown in FIGS. 2 and 6.

 Furthermore, an interlayer may be provided in the trays 22 to allow the cohesion of stacks of folds of length less than that of the trays to be maintained. The dividers can be held in the boxes by snap-fastening, while being able to be moved in translation inside the boxes to clamp a stack of plies using appropriate actuating means, such as jacks extending through the slots 29 of the rear wall of the tanks, the length of the slots being increased and the height of the stop 27 being reduced relative to what is shown in FIG. 1 to allow the passage of the pushing means towards the inside of a tray above stopper 27.

Claims (10)

 1. Stacker module for postal sorting machine or the like, comprising a set of at least one row of stacking compartments formed on a surface inclined to the horizontal and capable of receiving each in folds of plies corresponding to a sorting direction data, characterized in that it comprises slide means (23) able to extend through at least one slot (29) formed in at least one side wall (28) of a container (22) for receiving 'a stack of folds and mounted tilting around a horizontal axis between a position for receiving a stack in a tray, in which said slide means (23) extend substantially in the extension of said bearing surface ( 5), and a tray filling and transshipment position in which said slide means are folded down substantially horizontally.  2. Module according to claim 1, characterized in that said compartments are constituted by drawers (4) without bottom movable in translation in the direction of greatest slope of said inclined surface (5) between a position for receiving folds au- above said inclined surface (5) and a stack discharge position in a tray in which said drawer (4) is arranged above said slide means (23).  3. Module according to claim 2, characterized in that said drawer (4) comprises tilting means around a horizontal axis for, in said stack discharge position, accompany the movement of said slide means (23) between said position for receiving a stack in a bin and said bin filling position.  4. Module according to claim 2, characterized in that said slide means (23) are associated with container tilting means for, in said stack discharge position of a drawer, to accompany the movement of said slide means between said position for receiving a stack in a bin and said bin filling position.  5. Module according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it comprises at least one trolley (20) for transhipping the tank carrying said slide means (23).  6. Module according to claim 5, characterized in that said carriage (20) for transshipment of the container is movable between a position for receiving an empty container, a container filling position and a position for discharging the filled container.  7. Module according to claim 6, characterized in that said carriage (20) is movable in translation parallel to said row of compartments (4) so as to be able to serve several consecutive compartments.  8. Module according to any one of claims 6 and 7, comprising several superimposed rows of compartments, characterized in that said carriage (20) is movable vertically so as to be able to serve compartments (4) located in different rows.  9. Module according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that it comprises conveying means (35, 36) for the automatic routing of empty containers in the filling position and the automatic evacuation of filled containers a pile of folds.  10. Module according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that said slide means (23) comprise a fork with several branches (24, 25, 26) adapted to each penetrate into a slot (29) of a side wall (27) of a tank (22).