Envelope feeding system and speed control for mail sorting machines

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings in more detail and initially to FIG.
1, a high speed mail sorting machine is generally designated by reference numeral 10.
The mail sorting machine 10 is of the same general type as that disclosed in U.
S.
Pat.
No.
4,275,875, issued to Roy Akers on June 30, 1981, which application is incorporated herein by reference.
The main components of the mail sorting machine 10 are a magazine section 12 which receives the envelopes that are to be sorted, a pickoff station 14 at which the individual envelopes are separated one at a time from the supply of envelopes loaded on the magazine section 12, a read station 16 at which the zip code or other sorting code imprinted on each envelope is read, and a storage section 18 which receives and holds the sorted envelopes.
The individual envelopes are separated from the envelope supply at the pickoff station 14 and are then delivered one at a time on edge past the read station 16 through a guide way 20 which terminates at the input end of the storage section 18.
In the storage section of the machine, a plurality of sets of diverter gates 22 selectively deflect the sorted envelopes into storage areas 24 located on opposite sides of the storage section 18.
The storage areas 24 can each be equipped with a plurality of separate storage bins (not shown), or the envelopes can be held in separate stacks by hinged plates 26 or other stacking devices.
Guide plates 28 are located adjacent to each set of deflector gates 22.
The mail sorting machine 10 can be provided with a code reading device (not shown) located at the read station 16 beneath a cover panel 30.
The code reading device can be an optical code reader or any other suitable type of device capable of reading the codes that are imprinted on the envelopes.
Alternatively, a human operator can read the codes on the envelopes and manually enter the codes on a key board or the like.
In any event, one of the deflector gates 22 is operated by electronic circuitry in order to deflect the envelope into the proper bin or other storage area which corresponds to the code imprinted on the envelope