Induction conveyor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9815090-B2
Application number	US-201514604847-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 26, 2015
Priority date	Jan 27, 2014
Publication date	Nov 14, 2017
Grant date	Nov 14, 2017

Abstract

An article induction system for preparing a stream of articles, such as mail parcels, for processing employs a series of conveyors operating under control of a controller for feeding articles to an operator at a cull belt at an optimal paced rate. The article induction system includes a destacking section, a separation and alignment section, a buffer section and a culling section manned by an operator. A controller controls the speed of each component based on measurements provided by sensors so as to feed articles to the operator at a desired paced rate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of preparing a stream of articles for processing, comprising the steps of:
singulating the articles using a singulating conveyor to form a series of singulated articles;
aligning the series of singulated articles using an aligning conveyor comprising a narrow belt on a first side and an article pushing belt opposing the narrow belt for pushing articles towards the narrow belt;
buffering the series of singulated articles using a buffer to form a series of buffered articles; and
passing the series of buffered articles from the buffer to an operator at a selected paced rate.

2. A method of preparing a stream of articles for processing, comprising the steps of:
singulating the articles using a singulating conveyor to form a series of singulated articles;
buffering the series of singulated articles using a buffer to form a series of buffered articles; and
passing the series of buffered articles from the buffer to a cull belt manned by an operator at a selected paced rate based on a measurement from an array of sensors at an interface between the buffer and the cull belt.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of adjusting a speed of the singulating conveyor based on a fullness measurement of the buffer.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of releasing an article from the buffer conveyor to the cull belt when signaled by a controller.

Assignees

• Laitram Llc

Inventors

• Wargo Stephen G

Classifications

• B65G2201/0285

  Postal items, e.g. letters, parcels · CPC title

• B65G47/69

  the articles being accumulated temporarily {(accumulating articles during transit B65G47/261)} · CPC title

• B65G47/1492

  the articles being fed from a feeding conveyor · CPC title

• B65G47/682

  from a single conveyor lane consisting of one conveyor or several adjacent conveyors · CPC title

• B65G47/261

  Accumulating articles · CPC title