Improved Pickoff Mechanism for Mail Feeder

摘要

A pickoff system (16) for removal of mail pieces (13) one at a time from the end of a stack (12) includes a pickoff belt mechanism (24) positioned to frictionally engage an outer surface of a mail piece (13) at the end of the stack (12) and transport it transversely, which mechanism includes one or more belts mounted on a drive roller (22) at one end driven by a drive motor (44) and a follower roller (23) at a trailing end (61). A pivot mechanism (41) permits the trailing end (61) to swing towards and away from the stack (12). A drive (22) is connected to the pivot mechanism (41) to move the trailing end (61) towards and away from the stack (12), and a controller (43) is connected to the drive (22) to cause the drive to swing the trailing end (61) towards the stack (12) and swing the trailing end away from the stack in a manner effective to improve operation of the pickoff system (16).