Card-affixing apparatus

Claim 1

Apparatus for affixing a thin plastic card to a direct mail item or the like which carries a matching name, which apparatus comprises, a card-affixing station, a conveyer for moving printed substantially flat items carrying a name and address along a generally horizontal path past and below said card-affixing station, means associated with said conveyer and generally upstream of said card-affixing station for applying an adhesive pattern to said item as it moves along said conveyer, means associated with said adhesive applying means for detecting the arrival of said item upon said conveyer and actuating a spray mechanism to spray said adhesive pattern at a predetermined location upon said moving item, a magazine at said card-affixing station for holding a stack of cards arranged in a sequence that is the same as the sequence of the items being conveyed, card-sliding means including a carriage mounted in a track for reciprocating movement at an angle between about 10° and 25° to said conveyer path, which carriage has a notch in its leading edge defining a card-holding upper surface that terminates in an abutment having a height just slightly less than the thickness of said plastic cards and that is proportioned to contact and support said card over less than one-half its area, and which carriage also has aperture means in said upper surface through which vacuum is applied to hold the under surface of said lowermost card in the stack thereagainst, means for maintaining said direct mail items in substantially flat condition upon said conveyer when said adhesive pattern is being applied, means for reciprocating said carriage back and forth in a straight line between a retracted position and an extended position to remove only the lowermost card in said magazine from said stack and slide it forward and downward, and roller means positioned above said conveyer at said station under which roller means said item passes, said card-sliding means being designed so that said carriage, in its extended position, feeds a leading edge of the lowermost card into the nip between said roller and said conveyer as said portion of said item arrives which carries said adhesive pattern, whereby said card is affixed in a precise location upon the upper surface of a printed substantially flat item carrying a matching name.