AU2006203722A1

AU2006203722A1 - A trolley on castors for combining letters and flats for preparing a single delivery round

Info

Publication number: AU2006203722A1
Application number: AU2006203722A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Denis Cornillon; Olivier De Sousa; David Gutter; Didier Tresse
Original assignee: Solystic SAS
Current assignee: Solystic SAS
Priority date: 2005-08-26
Filing date: 2006-08-25
Publication date: 2007-03-15
Also published as: FR2889975A1; NO20063594L; CA2557106A1; FR2889975B1; EP1757374A1

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: Name of Applicant: Solystic Actual Inventor(s): Olivier De Sousa, Denis Cornillon, Didier Tresse, David Gutter Address for Service and Correspondence: PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Invention Title: A TROLLEY ON CASTORS FOR COMBINING LETTERS AND FLATS FOR PREPARING A SINGLE DELIVERY ROUND Our Ref 779085 POF Code: 461693/458825 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): -1- 6o06q A TROLLEY ON CASTORS FOR COMBINING LETTERS AND FLATS FOR PREPARING A SINGLE DELIVERY ROUND This application claims priority from French Application No.05 52 568 filed on 26 August 2005, the contents of which are to be taken as incorporated herein by this reference.

The invention relates to a trolley on castors for combining letters with large-format postal items or "flats" and/or "non-mechanizable" postal items.

Preparing a delivery round or "postman's walk" with letters and with flats, e.g. newspapers or magazines, and non-mechanizable flat items, e.g. certain letters that cannot be machine-sorted, combined with the letters consists in sequencing the letters and the nonmechanizable items in the order of the delivery points on the delivery round so as to enable a person to deliver the round with a single bag.

In order to prepare a single delivery round containing both letters and flats, it is possible to proceed as follows. Firstly, a delivery round is prepared with the letters only on a first sorting machine. Then the same delivery round is prepared with the flats only on a second sorting machine. The flats can also be sorted manually and non-mechanizable items can also undergo the same manual sorting. Then the two rounds are combined manually to form a single round. For that purpose, the flats sorted into the sorting outlets of the second machine are transferred to trays that are carried to a set of sorting pigeon holes and the flats are distributed into the sorting pigeon holes, each sorting pigeon hole corresponding to a respective section of the delivery round. Then the letters sorted into the sorting outlets of the first machine are also transferred to trays that are carried to the set of sorting pigeon holes, and the letters are distributed into the sorting pigeon holes while ensuring that the delivery points of the letters and of the flats placed in each sorting pigeon hole match. Then, in each sorting pigeon hole, the letters and the flats are sequenced as a function of their delivery points. An operator has to take the letters and the flats and transfer them from the sorting outlets to the trays and from the trays to the sorting pigeon holes, which is not easy when it is desired to keep the postal items on edge and in determined orders in the trays, because it takes two hands to hold the stack of postal items and because the items that are not held then tend to slip down inside the trays. In addition, when the operator takes hold of a bundle of postal items, some postal items might unfortunately slip through the operator's hands. Putting the postal items back in the correct order then takes a non-negligible amount of time.

Carrying the trays of letters to the sorting pigeon holes is also a laborious operation given the weights of the trays when full. Preparing such a single delivery round thus currently requires many handling operations that increase the cost associated with delivery, which currently represents about two-thirds of the total cost of handling a postal item.

An object of the invention is thus to propose a simple device for facilitating preparing a delivery round with letters and flats and/or non-mechanizable items combined with the letters.

To this end, the invention provides a trolley on castors for combining letters and flats, said trolley being characterized in that it comprises a rectangular tabletop arranged on a frame on castors and extending along a certain longitudinal axis so as to slide transversely to the longitudinal axis relative to the frame, the tabletop being provided with at least one extension leaf arranged in a manner such as to be deployed along the longitudinal axis in alignment with the tabletop, two end walls at respective ones of the ends of the tabletop projecting from the top of the tabletop, and a holding plate extending parallel to the end walls and arranged so as to move along the longitudinal axis on the tabletop.

By using the trolley of the invention, it is no longer necessary to lift the letters for removing them from the sorting machine; it suffices to slide them onto the tabletop. The postal items are held continuously on edge by the holding plate, and they do not slide down when the operator lets go of them. The use of a trolley avoids the need for the operator to carry full trays of letters for bringing them to the place at which the letters and the flats are combined. Since the trolley is provided with extension leaves that increase at will the length of the table, the trolley is long enough to enable flats to be inserted between the letters directly on the trolley. This makes it possible advantageously to avoid a handling operation for inserting the letters into sorting pigeon holes.

The delivery round of the letters can be split up into groups of letters by means of separators inserted during the machine sorting in order to facilitate insertion of the flats between said letters, e.g. with assistance from an address voice recognition system making it possible to identify respective groups of letters into which the flats are to be inserted.

The trolley of the invention further has the following features: Sthe tabletop is provided with two extension leaves that are deployed in opposite directions along the longitudinal axis; Sthe holding plate is subjected to a return force tending to urge it to move along the longitudinal axis towards one of the end walls; Sthe tabletop is further provided with a longitudinal wall that projects from the top of the tabletop; Shandles are arranged on the longitudinal wall; and the frame on castors is further provided with a handle at each of its ends.

The invention also provides a method of combining letters and flats using a trolley on castors as defined above, in which method the letters are sorted into the sorting outlets of a sorting machine, and the flats are inserted between the letters, said method being characterized in that it comprises the steps consisting in: bringing the trolley to face a sorting outlet of the machine; sliding the tabletop of the trolley against the sorting outlet; sliding the letters contained on edge in said sorting outlet onto the tabletop; moving the trolley along the sorting outlets of the machine, and emptying all of the sorting outlets oneby-one onto the tabletop; retracting the tabletop onto the frame of the trolley; bringing the trolley to a suitable place for inserting the flats; inserting the flats between the letters; and pulling out the extension leaves of the tabletop so as to leave enough space for inserting the flats between the letters.

The invention will be better understood on reading the following description and on examining the accompanying figures. The description is given merely by way of indication that is in no way limiting to the invention.

In the figures: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the trolley of the invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the trolley of the invention in the position ready for receiving the letters sorted into the sorting outlets of the sorting machine; and Figure 3 is a flow chart showing the steps implemented in the method of the invention.

Figure 1 shows a trolley 1 of the invention. Said trolley 1 is in the form of a rectangular table extending along a certain longitudinal axis referenced D in Figure 1, with a frame 2 having four legs 4 mounted on respective castors 5 and a rectangular tabletop 3 mounted on the frame 2. The tabletop 3 is provided with two extension leaves 6a, 6b that can be drawn out at either end of the tabletop 3 beyond the frame 2, in respective opposite directions represented by arrows 7a and 7b, in order to lengthen the tabletop as shown by the dashed lines 6a', 6b'. The tabletop 3 also has two end walls 8a, 8b and a longitudinal wall 9 extending above the plane surface of the tabletop and serving as abutments for the postal items placed on the tabletop. The tabletop 3 is inclined slightly downwards towards the longitudinal wall 9 in order to keep the letters against the longitudinal wall 9 while the trolley is moving. The end walls 8a, 8b are secured to the extension leaves 6a, 6b so that they continuously flank the ends of the tabletop 3, regardless of the positions of the extension leaves 6a, 6b. As shown in Figure 1, the end walls have rounded top edges and perforations. A holding plate for holding the postal items and extending perpendicularly to the longitudinal wall 9 is mounted to slide along the longitudinal wall 9. For example, the holding plate 10 for holding the postal items is mounted to slide along a rail disposed in the longitudinal wall 9, and is subjected to a return force urging it to move along the longitudinal axis D towards one of the end walls 8a, 8b, making it possible to keep the postal items on edge between said plate and the end wall. Said return force is exerted by resilient means or spring means. As shown in Figure 1, the plate 10 is substantially oval in shape and it is provided with three perforations. The tabletop 3 is arranged in a manner such that it can slide as a whole beyond the frame 2 in a transverse direction represented by arrow 11 so as to be positioned in the location represented by the dashed lines i.e. slide from a normal position to an offset position in which it is offset relative to the fixed frame 2. For example, the tabletop 3 is mounted to slide on rails housed in the frame 2. Handles 12 extending outwards from the tabletop are arranged on the tabletop 3, e.g. one handle at each of the ends of the longitudinal wall 9, so that the tabletop 3 is easy to move relative to the frame 2 transversely to the longitudinal axis D. In addition, a handle 13 is arranged at each end of the trolley on the frame 2, in order to facilitate taking hold of and moving the trolley.

Figure 2 shows the trolley of the invention with the tabletop in the offset position in which it is offset relative to the frame, so as to receive letters 20 sorted into the sorting outlets 21 of a sorting machine 22. The invention is applicable more particularly to delivery round preparation in which the letters are sorted in a sorting machine with sorting outlets provided with stackers and in which the letters are held on edge by means of stackers. In such a sorting machine, such as Solystic's "Mars" machine, a feed conveyor 23 for feeding letters into the machine extends past the sorting outlets 21, so that it is possible to reinsert rapidly, for another sorting pass, the letters pre-sorted into the sorting outlets. The tabletop 3 and the frame 2 of the trolley 1 are designed such that the tabletop 3 passes just over the feed conveyor 23 when it is pushed into the offset position. The wall-free longitudinal edge of the tabletop comes flush with the sorting outlets 21. The operator merely has to slide the letters 20 disposed in the sorting outlets 21 onto the tabletop 3 in order to empty the sorting outlets of the machine at the end of the letter sorting process. Figure 2 shows that the CI frame 2 of the trolley 1 is not closed on the side further from the sorting machine, i.e. the two legs 4 that are further from the sorting machine are not tt 5 interconnected directly, so that the operator can step inside the frame of the trolley, thereby coming closer to the sorting outlets for the purpose of handling the CI letters conveniently. The operator can bring the M tabletop back above the frame by pulling on the handles 12.

IFigure 3 is a flow chart showing the various steps for preparing a delivery round with letters and flats by using a trolley 1 of the invention.

Firstly, in step 30, the operator sorts all of the letters 20 in a sorting machine 1, and more particularly in two sorting passes through a sorting machine with sorting outlets 21 provided with stackers. At the end of this machine-sorting process, the letters are sequenced in the sorting outlets by consecutive delivery points in consecutive sorting outlets along the sorting machine.

In step 31, the operator brings the trolley 1 in front of the sorting machine 22, facing sorting outlets 21, with the wall-free longitudinal edge of the tabletop against the sorting machine. In step 32, the operator then causes the tabletop 3 to slide over the feed conveyor 23. The tabletop 3 then finds itself against the sorting outlets 21 of the machine as shown in Figure 2, and the operator can stand inside the frame 2 of the trolley 1. In step 33, the operator disengages the letters from the stacker of a sorting outlet 21 and causes said letters to slide onto the tabletop. The longitudinal wall 9 serves as an abutment for depositing the letters correctly and for preventing them from falling off the trolley. The operator blocks the letters on the tabletop between the holding plate and an end wall Sa, 8b of the tabletop in order to hold the letters on edge without them slipping down. The operator's hands C are then completely free for performing other operations.

CI The operator repeats this operation for transferring the letters from the sorting outlets onto the tabletop for <all of the outlets that are facing the tabletop, in the same order as the sorting outlets. In step 34, the operator then advances the trolley 1 to face subsequent sorting outlets, and, in step 35, causes the letters CI contained in said outlets to slide onto the tabletop 3.

The operator repeats steps 34 and 35 until all of the sorting outlets corresponding to a delivery round are Iempty (step 36) and until all of the letters 21 are on the tabletop 3. In step 37, the operator then retracts the tabletop 3 onto the frame 2 by pulling on the handles 12. The operator then moves the trolley 1 to the place at which the letters and the flats are combined (step 38).

In parallel with the sorting of the letters, in step 39, the flats are sorted by machine or by hand, and said flats are carried (step 40) to the place at which the letters and the flats are combined, e.g. by using a trolley. The flats can merely be pre-sorted in one sorting pass.

The operator then takes hold of a flat, reads the destination address of the flat and inserts said flat in step 41 into the set of letters disposed on the tabletop 3 at the appropriate place in the order of the delivery round. The postal items (letters and flats) are held on edge by means of the pressure exerted by the holding plate 10. The operator continues to insert the flats successively between the letters until there is no space left on the tabletop 3 for receiving any other flats (step 42). When there is no longer any space on the tabletop 3 (step 42), the operator pulls out (step 43) the extension leaves 6a, 6b so as to lengthen the table and so as to enable other flats to be inserted, such insertion then starting again. A resilient return force towards the center of the tabletop can advantageously be exerted on the extension leaves so that the postal items are continuously held firmly between the two end walls 8a and 8b.

Once combining the letters and the flats is finished, the delivery person transfers (step 44) the combined items from the tabletop 3 to the delivery bag by causing them to slide, while keeping them in the same order as the items in the stack formed on the trolley.

Combining the delivery round of letters with the delivery round of flats into a single delivery round is thus performed simply on the trolley, reducing the number of handling operations of the postal items and the time required for preparing the delivery round. Lengthening the tabletop makes it possible for said tabletop to receive the large volume of the flats while also having a suitable size for transferring the letters, for holding them on edge, and for moving the trolley. This ergonomic trolley on castors greatly facilitates the task of the operator.

A device giving assistance to manual sorting can be used to facilitate insertion of the flats between the letters. The delivery round of the letters is, for example, split up into groups separated by means of separators inserted during the sorting of the letters, and an address voice recognition system makes it possible to indicate to the operator that group into which a flat is to be inserted, which group is easily identifiable by means of the separators. The trolley of the invention can, more particularly, be used for implementing the method described in French Patent Application No. 05 51 726, in which method the delivery round of the letters is split up into groups separated by means of separators for facilitating insertion of the flats between the letters.

Naturally, the flats can be inserted between the letters without being sorted, or merely after having been presorted.

11

IND

Non-mechanizable items can be handled in the same CI way as the flats so as to be combined with machine-sorted letters.

In another particular embodiment, the holding plate 10 is not subjected to any return force, but rather it can be merely snap-fastened in a plurality of positions spaced apart along the longitudinal wall 9 so as to (CN restrict the length of the stack of items on the trolley, Cand thereby to prevent the items from slipping down.

Claims

1. A trolley on castors for combining letters and flats, said trolley being characterized in that it comprises a rectangular tabletop arranged on a frame on castors and extending along a certain longitudinal axis so as to slide (32) transversely to the longitudinal axis relative to the frame, the tabletop being provided with at least one extension leaf (6a, 6b) arranged in a manner such as to be deployed along the longitudinal axis (7a, 7b) in alignment with the tabletop, two end walls (8a, 8b) at respective ones of the ends of the tabletop projecting from the top of the tabletop, and a holding plate (10) extending parallel to the end walls and arranged so as to move along the longitudinal axis on the tabletop.

2. A trolley on castors according to claim 1, in which the tabletop is provided with two extension leaves (6a, 6b) that are deployed in opposite directions (7a, 7b) along the longitudinal axis.

3. A trolley on castors according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the holding plate (10) is subjected to a return force tending to urge it to move along the longitudinal axis towards one of the end walls (8a, 8b)

4. A trolley on castors according to any preceding claim, in which the tabletop is further provided with a longitudinal wall that projects from the top of the tabletop.

A trolley on castors according to claim 4, in which handles (12) are arranged on the longitudinal wall.

6. A trolley on castors according to any preceding claim, in which the frame on castors is further provided with a handle (13) at each of its ends.

7. A method of combining letters and flats using a trolley on castors according to any preceding claim, in which method the letters are sorted (30) into the sorting outlets (21) of a sorting machine and the flats are inserted between the letters, said method being characterized in that it comprises the steps consisting in: Sbringing (31) the trolley to face a sorting outlet of the machine; Ssliding (32) the tabletop of the trolley against the sorting outlet; Ssliding (33) the letters contained on edge in said sorting outlet onto the tabletop; .moving (34) the trolley along the sorting outlets of the machine, and emptying (35) all of the sorting outlets one-by-one onto the tabletop; Sretracting (37) the tabletop onto the frame of the trolley; .bringing (38) the trolley to a suitable place for inserting the flats; inserting (41) the flats between the letters; and pulling out (43) the extension leaves of the tabletop so as to leave enough space for inserting the flats between the letters.

8. A method according to claim 7, in which the letters are slid between an end wall and the holding plate in order to keep them on edge on the tabletop.

9. A method according to claim 8, in which return pressure is exerted continuously by the holding plate on the letters.