Press enter after choosing selection

Argus-Developed Device "Reads" Mail Addresses

Argus-Developed Device "Reads" Mail Addresses image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
October
Year
1964
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

Argus-Developed Device
"Reads" Mail Addresses

A precision optical device
which can "read" city and state
addresses on mailed envelopes
las been designed and manu-
factured by the local Argus
Optics Division.

The subsystem is part of the
world's first operational auto-
matic mail a d dr e s s reader
vhich is to be installed soon in
the Detroit Post Office.

The optics unit is tied in with
a photo sensing device and elec-
tronic computer which identifies
the state and causes the piece of
mail to be "shunted" into the
appropriate drop-off mail bag.

The automatic reader can
identify typewritten or printed
names of all 50 states and two
cities—Detroit and Washington,
D. C.

Each Argus-developed optics
unit tied into the computer will
sort 9,000 letters an hour—a job
that it would take 15 men to do.

James W. Thompson, general
manager of Argus Optics, an-
nounced development of the
optics subsystem under a sub-
contract with Farrington Elec-
tronics, Inc., of Springfield, Va.

It was understood that later
additions and modifications of
the mail address sorter will step
up its sorting speed to 27,000
letters an hour, identifying 50
cities as well as the 50 states.

The Post Office Department
in Washington, D. C., indicated
a principal objective is to incor-
porate a Zip Code optical scan-
ing device, now under develop-
|ment, into the sorter, permit-
ting it to sort mail by city, state
and Zip Code.

Ann Arbor Postmaster Don-
old G. Bachman •t recent
adoption of the n 'p Code
system was a "
tion of greatly i;

anization in mail handling tech-
niques."