Method for sorting flat mail items in delivery sequence order
First Claim
1. A method for sorting a plurality of mail items, comprising the steps of:
- determining destination addresses of mail items;
sorting said mail items into delivery point groups, each of said delivery point groups comprising a plurality of said destination addresses, said step of sorting occurring at a first sorting machine;
sorting into end points mail items of said delivery point groups, said mail items being sorted by a destination address delivery sequence of said mail items, whereby each of said end points is associated with at least one destination address, and said step of sorting into end points occurs at a second sorting machine;
conveying said mail items from said each of said end points to corresponding sections of a sectioned conveyor belt;
conveying said mail items to a distribution unit with said conveyor belt, said mail items arriving in an order of said sections; and
combining said mail items at said distribution unit in said order of said sections.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In a first sorting machine the mail items are sorted into groups of associated delivery points. The mail items are ten fed group by group to a second sorting machine for the last sort pass in which the mail items of eh group are sorted to the delivery points of the relevant group, the mail items of a delivery point being conveyed into one, or if the mail volume is too great, into a plurality of adjacent, automatically estimable end points. As soon as all de mail items are in the end point(s), they are automatically unloaded onto an idle sectional conveyor in such a way that the mail items of an end point are in one section When all the mail items of the group have been loaded into the sections of the sectional conveyor, the sectional conveyor transports the mail items to a distribution unit in which the mail items of each section are mechanically combined and collected in delivery sequence order.
43 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method for sorting a plurality of mail items, comprising the steps of:
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determining destination addresses of mail items;
sorting said mail items into delivery point groups, each of said delivery point groups comprising a plurality of said destination addresses, said step of sorting occurring at a first sorting machine;
sorting into end points mail items of said delivery point groups, said mail items being sorted by a destination address delivery sequence of said mail items, whereby each of said end points is associated with at least one destination address, and said step of sorting into end points occurs at a second sorting machine;
conveying said mail items from said each of said end points to corresponding sections of a sectioned conveyor belt;
conveying said mail items to a distribution unit with said conveyor belt, said mail items arriving in an order of said sections; and
combining said mail items at said distribution unit in said order of said sections. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An apparats method for sorting a plurality of mail items, comprising:
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means for determining destination addresses of mail items, mums for sorting said mail items into delivery point groups, said delivery point groups comprising a plurality of said destination addresses, said step of sorting occurring at a first sorting machine, means for sorting into end points mail items in said delivery point groups, said mail items being sorted by a delivery sequence of said mail items to said destination addresses, when each of said end points is associated with at least one destination address, means for conveying said mail items from said each of said end points to corresponding sections of a sectioned conveyor belt;
means for conveying said mail items to a distribution unit, said mail items arriving in an order of said sections; and
means for combining said mail items at said distribution unit in said order of said sections. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. An apparatus for sorting mail items, comprising:
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a destination address reader a first sorter for sorting said mail items according to said destination address a second sorter for sorting said mail its according to a destination address delivery scheme a conveyor for conveying mail items sorted by delivery scheme to a distribution unit. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification