| 摘要 |
An improved envelope feeder is provided for single feeding of envelopes which may be of different sizes and thicknesses from a stack of such envelopes. The envelope feeder includes a separation roller having a plurality of disks, and retard members having surfaces which oppose the disks of the separation roller. The roller is movable with respect to the retard members in response to each of the envelopes moving between the surface of the separation roller disks and the retard members. A detector is provided for sensing the presence of each of the envelopes as they each move between the separation roller disks and the retard members. Responsive to this detector, a controller in the feeder automatically controls the spacing of the separation roller disks from the retard members to set the gap between their surfaces to match the thickness of each of the envelopes, whereby the envelopes move singularly between the separation roller disks and the retard members. To advance each of the envelopes from the stack into the gap, a feed roller is provided below a support plate for the stack. This feed roller pivots, responsive to the controller, towards and away from the bottom of the stack through an opening in the support plate to selectably advance each envelope into the gap. A bar may also be provided for applying pressure against the top of the stack towards the support plate. The envelope feeder may be in combination with a mail handling system to provide controlled feeding of single envelopes in such as system.
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