Apparatus for aligning flat articles

Claim 1

An apparatus for aligning flat articles such as envelopes, flat bags or the banks therefor or the like, said apparatus comprising: (a) an article-supporting slideway having longitudinal slots formed therein; (b) laterally arranged toothed belts disposed on either side of said slideway, said belts being guided around reversing sprockets having rotational axes perpendicular to said slideway; (c) article-engaging entraining members supported by said belts, said entraining members including support rolls and a pin whose free end extends through said slots of said slideway to engage said articles; and (d) lateral guides for said entraining members on which said support rolls of said entraining members run and are guided, said guides being arranged to guide said entraining members supported by the respective laterally arranged belts to coverage towards one another funnel-fashion over a first portion of their path and to move parallel to one another over a second portion of their path, wherein each lateral guide includes a guide disposed above and below the edges of the associated lateral toothed belt, and the pin of each entraining member is supported by an upper roll and a lower roll which are correspondingly guided by the upper and lower guides of the respective lateral guide, said toothed belt and sprockets, said lateral guides, said support rolls and a major portion of each of said pins of said entraining members being disposed below said slideway, said toothed belts and said lateral guides being so disposed that in the case of an envelope blank the free end of the pin of the entraining members extending through the slots of said slideway engage at the corner between the side flap and the closure flap of the envelope blank.

Claim 2

An apparatus for aligning flat articles such as envelopes, flat bags or the banks therefor or the like, said apparatus comprising: (a) an article-supporting slideway having longitudinal slots formed therein; (b) laterally arranged toothed belts disposed on either side of said slideway, said belts being guided around reversing sprockets having rotational axes perpendicular to said slideway; (c) article-engaging entraining members supported by said belts, said entraining members including support rolls and a pin whose free end extends through said slots of said slideway to engage said articles; and (d) lateral guides for said entraining members on which said support rolls of said entraining members run and are guided, said guides being arranged to guide said entraining members supported by the respective laterally arranged belts to coverage towards one another funnel-fashion over a first portion of their path and to move parallel to one another over a second portion of their path, wherein each lateral guide includes a guide disposed above and below the edges of the associated lateral toothed belt, and the pin of each entraining member is supported by an upper roll and a lower roll which are correspondingly guided by the upper and lower guides of the respective lateral guide, said toothed belt and sprockets, said lateral guides, said support rolls and a major portion of each of said pins of said entraining members being disposed below said slideway, said toothed belts and said lateral guides being so disposed that in the case of an envelope blank the free end of the pin of the entraining members extending through the slots of said slideway engage at the corner between the side flap and the closure flap of the envelope blank.