Postal sorting equipment for sorting flat mailpieces comprises a postal sorting machine, a storage-tray conveyor for conveying open-topped storage trays filled with mailpieces stacked flat, a shuttle-tray conveyor for conveying substantially L-shaped open-fronted shuttle trays, and in which the mailpieces are placed on-edge in stacks, and a tray interchanger suitable for automatically transferring the mailpieces stored flat in an open-topped storage tray to an open-fronted shuttle tray, the feed inlet comprising an unstacker with a fork-shaped magazine with tines, each of which is constituted by a motor-driven belt, the shuttle tray and the fork-shaped magazine being designed so that, by advancing towards the unstacker, the shuttle tray is engaged by the motor-driven belts of the unstacker magazine that come to be inserted under the mailpiece stack disposed on-edge in the shuttle tray, the unstacker magazine including a conveyor section that is mounted to move in elevation under the magazine tines.

Postal sorting equipment comprises a sorting machine with an unstacking member (5) and a feed magazine (7). The equipment further comprises storage trays (4) for storing mailpieces (3) and for bringing them into the feed magazine. The magazine has a deck with a first deck portion (22) that is superposed above a second deck portion (23). Each tray (4) has a bottom (26) provided with a groove that is open to the front and to the top of the tray. The first deck portion and the groove of each tray are designed to fit together so that when a tray filled with mailpieces in a stack and on edge is standing on the second deck portion, the first deck portion comes to fit into the groove in the tray under the stack of mailpieces, thereby enabling the mailpieces to be unloaded automatically from the tray.

A storage module (1) comprises a storage zone (3) for storing flat articles (2) by accumulation in a stack and on edge, a main conveyor (9) that extends transversely to the storage zone, a stacking function for transferring an article from the main conveyor to the storage zone and for stacking it at the back of the stack of articles in the storage zone, and an unstacking function for extracting an article from the stack of articles and for transferring it to the main conveyor. The unstacking function comprises an unstacking plate (7) having a perforated belt and controlled suction and disposed between the main conveyor and the storage zone, said unstacking plate having a first segment parallel to the stack of articles and a second segment that is adjacent to the first segment and that extends slantwise relative to the first segment, said controlled suction being disposed in the slantwise second segment of the unstacking plate.

Systems, devices and methods for receiving an item in a receptacle are disclosed. Features are disclosed for receiving and guiding an item in a receiving space of a receptacle so as to attenuate or remove the impact force of the item on the receptacle. Some embodiments of the disclosure include a bumper having an impact surface which absorbs most or all of the impact force of the item and thereby mitigates or removes the imposition of cyclic impact loads on the receptacle from repeated receipt of items. The bumper may be structurally and/or functionally de-coupled or otherwise physically separated from the receptacle such that an advantageous division of labor is created between absorbing the impact and receiving the item. This disclosure may be useful, for example, in modern industrial operations where a high volume of items are received daily, such as in mail sorting and handling operations.

A mail hazard screening machine is configured to compress mail pieces or envelops through compression rollers and draw out this air and any hazard that may have been contained in the envelope. The system may be able to detect a wide range of hazards such as chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear, explosive and drugs, abbreviated CBRNE+D. The sample air, the air drawn out from the hazard screening system, may be directed to one or more analysis devices and the mail processing machine may be stopped if any hazard is detected. The mail piece containing the hazard can then be found and further inspected safely. A mail feeder system may be configured to deliver mail pieces to the hazard screening system without compression of the mail pieces or envelopes.

An apparatus that substantially improves the stack quality of delivery items in a delivery item sorting machine by ensuring uniformity of the orientation of the delivery items. The apparatus accommodates toolless installation in the delivery item sorting machine and economical manufacturing options. The apparatus substantially prevents delivery item disorientation and undesired departure of delivery items from the sorting machine. The apparatus reduces operator safety concerns, and increases the net speed of delivery item processing.