A sheet pickup assembly has hold-down fingers associated therewith which remain in a stationary condition to press lightly against a stack of sheet stock directly behind the vacuum suckers of the assembly during attachment of the suckers to the top sheet in the stack and retraction of the suckers away from the stack. The simultaneous upward sucker retraction and stationary finger pressure forces the top sheet to flex, such that the next sheet therebelow is prevented from adhering to the top sheet for pickup therewith.
A suction device for handling light, flat and bendable articles has a suction line and a sucker at an end of the suction line. The sucker has a suction lip made of an elastically deformable material for individually contacting and lifting articles. A lip-deforming bending template having a deforming edge defining a concave shape is displaceable relative to the suction lip so that the suction lip is deformed by contact with the deforming edge to conform to the concave shape. A second bending template can be laterally spaced from the suction lip and have a bending edge for contacting an article lifted by the suction lip, the lip being displaceable relative to the bending edge.
A device for gripping and decollating a bottom blank comprises a rotary shaft with a flat outer peripheral portion. Suction orifices in the shaft extend through the flat surface portion and communicate with suction cups carried by the shaft. Free outer edges of the suction cups contact the bottom blank, whereupon the application of suction causes the suction cups to contract. The suction orifices include enlarged outer portions for receiving the contracted suction cups such that the bottom blank is pulled flush against the flat surface portion of the shaft for a more effective application of suction forces.
A vacuum article pickup apparatus is disclosed which is capable of picking up single articles such as pieces of mail or sheets of paper, from a random assortment of articles of varying sizes, shapes, weights, thicknesses, and porosities. The apparatus provides a vacuum gripper and a spacer which spaces the vacuum gripper from the articles. Provision is made for adjusting the height of the vacuum gripper and the spacer to compensate for differences in height of the random assortment of articles. Provision is also made for locking the vacuum gripper and the spacer at this height during the engagement of the uppermost article, and for withdrawing the spacer from contact with the random assortment of articles after the uppermost article has been engaged by the vacuum gripper.
The present invention relates to an apparatus for collating a plurality of separate groups or bundles of similar flats mailpieces arranged in a predetermined delivery point sequence, each mailpiece imprinted with a distinct delivery point or address indicia, to produce a single stream of mailpieces in new groups, where each new group comprises a plurality of mailpieces all addressed to a distinct delivery point. The apparatus comprises a plurality of feed units, each unit configured to process a quantity of similar mailpieces, each with a distinct delivery point indicia on the face of the mailpiece, and to deposit each mailpiece in a distinct pocket on a collation conveyor which traverses all of the plurality of feed units. Each pocket will ultimately contain different mail pieces, all addressed to the same delivery point Multiple new groups of mailpieces are then automatically placed in containers in a sequence corresponding to a predetermined delivery route.
