Method for mechanically enveloping a plurality of documents

Abstract

 A method for mechanically enveloping a plurality of documents, wherein the documents (1'-3') of original residence in the different document stations (1-3) of the enveloping machine (M) are stacked on each other on a conveyor (4) travelling first through the document stations and then through an envelope station (K) where the stack is removed from the conveyor and placed in an envelope (10). According to the invention, the envelope station (K) is temporarily converted, prior to placing the document stack in the envelope, into a wrapping station (S) for wrapping the document stack with a strip (5). The package consisting of the document stack and the wrapper strip is then handled as a document (7') in one of the document stations (1-3) for conveyance by means of the conveyor (4) to the envelope station (K) now restored. The temporary conversion of the envelope station into wrapping station is carried out substantially by employing a wrapper supply in the wrapping station instead of an envelope supply, where each wrapper (5) in the wrapping supply consists of said strip, which is folded in such a manner that the enveloping machine is able to handle it substantially as an envelope (10) intended for the envelope station.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for mechanically enveloping a plurality of documents.

[0002] A method of this type is used e.g. for sending out printed advertising articles, information material etc., which may consist of single sheets and/or pamphlets, often of different size. These articles, or documents, are put into a common envelope, thus reducing postal charges.

[0003] The enveloping machines comprise a conveyor which runs through fixed stations, where a document is deposited on the conveyor so that the documents from the stations form a stack on the conveyor. In an enveloping station, the stack is pushed into an envelope which after sealing is ready for dispatch.

[0004] It will be appreciated that the number of mechanically enveloped documents is determined by the number of document stations. Commercially available machines have a varying number of document stations.

[0005] Difficulties will arise if the operator of an enveloping machine wishes to envelop more documents than the number for which the machine is designed. Then, the extra documents must be put into the envelopes manually, with increased labour costs as a result, or be separately enveloped in the machine and be sent out by a separate dispatch, with increased costs for mechanical enveloping and postage as a result.

[0006] The object of the invention is to overcome the above-mentioned problem.

[0007] This object is achieved by means of the process as recited in the appended claims.

[0008] By the method according to the invention, it is possible to increase the capacity of an existing enveloping machine having n document stations, i.e. its ability to envelop n documents, to a maximum of n x n documents, the envelope to be dispatched containing n wrappers, each of which contains n documents. Of course, the method can be used for enveloping fewer documents, some of which are held in a wrapper.

[0009] It is known to put into an envelope to be dispatched at least one smaller document-containing envelope. The drawback then is that several envelopes have to be opened in a dispatch, the costs for manufacturing envelopes being relatively high. Besides, it is rather complicated to apply print on an envelope blank, since it is important that the print be accurately positioned.

[0010] The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig. 1 shows the principle of the mode of operation of a conventional enveloping machine and the principle of the invention, and

Fig. 2 shows the dimensional relations between a wrapper, an envelope and a document.

[0011] Referring now to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows the mode of operation of a conventional enveloping machine M. In this case, the machine has three stations 1-3 with supplies of different documents 1'-3', which are picked one at a time and placed on a conveyor 4. This travels through the three stations so that the documents 1'-3' from the supplies 1-3 gradually form a stack containing three documents 1'-3' on the conveyor 4. The document stack is transported by the conveyor 4 to a station S where the stack would have been pushed into an envelope, i.e. been enveloped, unless the conventional machine M in accordance with the invention had been given raised capacity with a view to mechanically enveloping more than three stacked documents 1'-3', in the present case five, as seen in Fig. 1 and as will appear below.

[0012] According to the invention, the enveloping station K of the machine has been temporarily converted into a wrapping station S by using a wrapper 5 instead of an envelope 10 for wrapping the documents 1'-3', and thereafter restored as enveloping station K for mechanically enveloping the wrapper and the documents contained therein.

[0013] The wrappers 5 consist of rectangular strips having a first fold line 5' which is located slightly below half of the length in the transverse direction, and a second fold line 5'' which is located, in the transverse direction, at the boundary of the excess material 6 of the strip, which exists when the strip has been folded along the first fold line 5'. The folding principle now described is illustrated in Fig. 2, from which it appears that the transverse direction T of the wrapper strip should be interpreted as the transverse direction T of an envelope 10. A doubled wrapper strip 5 should in fact fit in a (standard) envelope 10 in the same way as a document 1'-3' intended for this (standard) envelope, with said wrapper excess material 6 extending parallel to the envelope flap in the envelope-fitted state. The transverse dimension of the wrapper 5 in the transverse direction T is however clearly smaller than the transverse dimension of the envelope and clearly smaller than the maximum dimension of the document for which the envelope is intended. In other words, the wrapper 5 (with the wrapped documents 1'-3') should be of a size to permit being received in the envelope 10 with the orientation described above, and also make visible at least the largest of the wrapped documents 1'-3'. Such visibility provides information possibilities beyond those given on an envelope, and an enhanced incitement to read the information in the wrapper as compared with a sealed envelope. In the vertical direction H, there are no limitations to the folded wrapper 5 other than that it should of course be of a size to permit being received in the envelope with its wrapped documents. It is understood that the fold lines 5'-5'' of the wrapper are so conceived that the wrapper can be closed as a girdle around the documents 1'-3', with the excess material 6 overlapping the other end of the wrapper strip, where it may optionally be attached by means of an adhesive layer 6' of the same type as is provided on the envelope 10.

[0014] For example, the size of a wrapper 5 which is intended for, at the most, an A4-size document and a C4-size envelope may be 260 mm x 214 mm in the folded state.

[0015] The wrappers 5 are placed at the conveyor 4 in the same way as the envelopes 10 would have been, and are expanded for receiving the document stack 1'-3' in the same manner and by the same means as used in the case of an envelope (e.g. suction cups), and the stack is inserted in the wrapper in the same way and by the same means as in the case of an envelope (e.g. piston cylinder). After the stack has been inserted in the wrapper, the wrapper excess material 6 is optionally glued in the same manner as the envelope flap would have been glued, so that the wrapper 5 forms a girdle enclosing the stack.

[0016] Wrappers retaining the documents 1'-3' therein now themselves form a document 7' for an envelope 10 which is dimensioned, as described above, for the largest document of the dispatch concerned, without considering the wrapper 5 according to the invention. Wrappers 7' are then employed as a document supply in one of the three document stations 1'-3' of the machine M, instead of the previous supplies of the documents 1',2' or 3' - in the illustrated Example a supply of documents 7' in the station 1 - and are joined with further documents 8' and 9' stored in the stations 2 and 3, after the documents 2' and 3', and are placed in an envelope 10 which is sealed to form part of a dispatch 11. It has been found that the excess material 6 need not be glued if it forms the leading edge of the package placed in the envelope 10 as a document.

Claims

1. A method for mechanically enveloping a plurality of documents, wherein the documents (1'-3') of original residence in the different document stations (1-3) of the enveloping machine (M), are stacked on each other on a conveyor (4) travelling first through said document stations and then through an envelope station (K) where the document stack is removed from the conveyor and placed in an envelope (10), characterised by the steps, prior to placing said document stack in the envelope, of temporarily converting the envelope station (K) into a wrapping station (S) for wrapping the document stack with a strip (5), and of thereafter handling the package consisting of the document stack and the wrapper strip as a document (7') in one of said document stations (1-3) for conveyance by means of the conveyor (4) to the envelope station (K) now restored, the temporary conversion of the envelope station into wrapping station being carried out substantially by employing in the wrapping station a wrapper supply instead of an envelope supply, where each wrapper (5) in the wrapper supply consists of said strip, which is folded in such a manner that the enveloping machine is capable of handling it substantially as an envelope (10) intended for the envelope station.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the transverse dimension of the strip is substantially smaller than the transverse dimension of the envelope and substantially smaller than the maximum dimension of the largest document for which the envelope (10) is intended.

Drawing