Apparatus for assisting manual sorting of mail articles

The present invention relates exclusively to the field of processing mail, and it relates more particularly to apparatus for providing assistance in manually sorting articles of mail as performed by an operator in business premises devoted specifically to handling mail. Apparatus for providing assistance in manual sorting of articles of mail performed by one or more operators having at their disposition storage elements or pigeon-holes corresponding to determined destinations, each article of mail containing at least one document. The apparatus has optoelectronic recognition means for identifying on an article of mail or on a document extracted therefrom, at least one item of data suitable for providing direct or indirect information about the destination of said article, comparator means for comparing said identified data item with a plurality of previously stored predetermined data items, allocation means for allocating a unique identity code to said recognized data item corresponding to a determined storage element allocated to a particular destination, and contactless transmission means for transmitting said identity code to all of the storage elements, each of said storage elements being provided with indicator means mounted on removable fixing means and responding selectively to said identity code.