Method and system for mail item turnover

摘要

The present application relates to techniques and equipment for transporting and inverting material, such as a mail item, and exchanging the lead and trail edge of the material along a transport feed path. The equipment conveys material to a holding mechanism that rotates to a suitable angle to the transport feed path and within the plane of the flat material. The direction of the material is reversed while contained in the holding mechanism. The holding mechanism is rotated to turning over the material, e.g., face-up to face-down, and exchanges the lead and trail edges with respect to the feed path.

主权项

1. An apparatus for inverting a mail item having a leading and trailing end, the apparatus comprising:
a rotatable cage assembly having an input guide section for receiving the mail item from an upstream direction of feeder path by the leading edge of the mail item, the rotatable cage configured to:
rotate about an axis of rotation; andinvert the mail item during rotation of the rotatable cage about the axis of rotation; a bi-directional drive mechanism to convey the mail item while it is contained in the rotatable cage assembly in accordance with a variable motion profile, the bi-directional drive mechanism configured to:
convey the mail item with its leading end forward in a first direction away from the input guide section of the cage assembly, andconvey the mail item while it is contained in the rotatable cage assembly with its trailing edge forward in a second direction towards the input guide section during rotation of the rotatable cage about the axis of rotation such that the inverted mail item exits the rotatable cage in a direction towards a downstream direction of the feeder path.