Endorser assembly having semipermanent print means and clamping means therefor

An endorser drum assembly for printing data on paper sheets, documents and the like and having an elongated strip preferably formed of resilient material, for mounting about the periphery of a drum. An adjustable clamping means for releasable securement to the drum secures the printing strip thereto.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to printing devices and more particularly to 
a novel rotatable print drum for printing variable data on paper documents 
at relatively high speeds as the documents pass through the printing 
location and wherein the print drum is provided with resilient 
self-aligning print wheels. 
A large variety of paper document handling and counting devices are 
presently available in the market place and preferably have a capability 
of counting and stacking paper documents such as tickets, food coupons, 
bank notes, checks, and the like. The most desirable paper handling and 
counting devices preferably have the capability of accurately counting 
documents at high operating speeds. 
In addition to the requirements of counting and stacking documents at high 
speed, many applications require a printing, cancelling or endorsing 
capability in which fixed data is imprinted upon each paper document as it 
undergoes a handling and counting operation, the printing being performed 
by means of a rotating print drum having raised characters arranged at 
predetermined locations about the periphery of the drum and adapted to 
rollingly engage an ink transfer roll and to engage the paper documents 
moving through the printing location. Many such applications further 
require that variable data be printed on one surface of each paper 
document. The printing operation must also be capable of being performed 
without in any way affecting (i.e., reducing) the high speed operation of 
the paper handling and counting machine. 
In many such printing applications it is desirable and in some cases it is 
required that the print drum assembly have the capability of imprinting 
both fixed and variable data upon each paper document. This is important 
in applications wherein it is desired to indicate the date (day, month and 
year) on each document. This capability is quite important, for example, 
in banking operations wherein it is required that a cancellation stamp 
applied to each check include the date of cancellation. In such 
applications it is highly desirable to provide a print drum having a 
plurality of print wheels, each of which is capable of being simply and 
rapidly indexed to update the date stamp, typically on a daily basis. 
Print drums presently available in the market place typically utilize print 
wheels mounted at spaced intervals about a print drum with each print 
wheel having a detent assembly for precisely and accurately indexing each 
portion of print matter on print wheel into the print position. One 
exemplary type of detent assembly employs a detent gear and a cooperating 
detent spring. Such devices, due to the number of components required to 
provide such an indexing capability, are large and cumbersome and often 
require servicing time of the order of 1 hour or more for the purpose of 
changing worn out, broken or outdated print wheels, the large amount of 
servicing time being required to perform the steps of: disassembling the 
print drum; removing and replacing the worn out, broken or outdated print 
wheel; and reassembly of the print drum. In reassembling the unit extreme 
care must be exercised to assure that the raised characters are replaced 
in the proper printing positions. This painstaking process, in addition to 
being time consuming, significantly increases the down-time in the paper 
handling and counting device. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is characterized by providing a novel, highly compact 
print drum assembly which eliminates all of the disadvantages of present 
day print drum assemblies as were described hereinabove. The print drum 
assembly of the present invention utilizes resilient, annular-shaped 
self-aligning print wheels which cooperate with stationary mounted splined 
members arranged at spaced intervals around the periphery of the print 
drum wherein the novel engaging surfaces of the splined member and 
resilient print wheel provide for precise alignment of the resilient print 
wheel while eliminating the need for conventional detent mechanisms 
typically utilized in prior art devices of the type described hereinabove. 
The print drum assembly is comprised of a hollow cylindrical shaped bearing 
for free-wheelingly mounting the drum assembly upon a stationary shaft. A 
first cylindrical shaped drum body has a central opening for receiving the 
bearing member. A plurality of circular shaped recesses provided in one 
end of a first drum member, have their longitudinal axes parallel to the 
longitudinal axis of the bearing member and are arranged as spaced 
intervals around the central axis of the first drum body. Splined pin 
members are fixedly mounted into each opening so as to experience no 
rotational movement about their axes. Each splined member is provided with 
a plurality of tapered projections arranged at spaced intervals around the 
exterior surface of the splined member and collectively define a star-like 
surface configuration. The outer edge of each tapered projection is 
truncated to provide a flat surface at the extremity of each tapered 
projection. 
A resilient annular-shaped print wheel is slipped upon each splined member 
and is provided with an interior contour complementary to that of the 
splined member. The exterior surface of each print wheel is provided with 
integrally formed raised alphabetic and/or numeric characters, symbols, 
punctuation marks, bar codes and/or other indicia, which are arranged at 
spaced intervals about the wheel and which are adapted to extend outwardly 
and beyond the exterior surface of the first cylindrical drum body when in 
the printing position. For purposes of simplicity, any reference to the 
indicia provided upon the print wheel and/or index strip described herein, 
should be understood to include any of the possible categories of indicia 
referred to hereinabove and/or other related types of indicia. 
The drum assembly is further comprised of a second drum body, mounted upon 
the bearing and secured to the first drum body by suitable fastening means 
wherein the first and second drum bodies are adapted to sandwich the 
self-aligning resilient print wheels therebetween. 
The complementary engaging surface patterns of the splined member and its 
associated wheel cooperate to precisely position one of the raised 
characters (arranged at spaced intervals about the print wheel) in the 
printing position. Each resilient print wheel is incrementally indexed 
about its associated splined pin upon the application of a force upon the 
exterior surface of the print wheel in order to revolve the print wheel 
about its associated splined pin wherein the cooperating projections 
arranged at spaced intervals about the exterior surface of the print 
wheels are caused to slide over the projections provided on the associated 
splined pins, whereupon the print wheel projections undergo compression 
and slight deformation as they move towards the next adjacent groove in 
the splined pin, at which time the print wheel projections "snap" into 
position upon the next adjacent splined pin grooves to thereby move and 
accurately position the next adjacent raised character precisely into the 
printing position. Once each resilient print wheel is properly indexed it 
will remain aligned in the desired position and will not accidentally be 
advanced when the print drum assembly is rotating during the performance 
of a high speed printing operation. 
The first print drum body is preferably provided with an annular groove and 
releasable securement means arranged in a recess intersecting the annular 
groove for receiving and affixing an elongated resilient insert strip 
fitted into the annular groove in the first drum body and which has both 
of its free ends positioned beneath the securement means. The elongated 
insert strip is provided with raised lettering about its exterior surface 
to imprint fixed data upon the paper document. The elongated strip is 
preferably provided with one or more index marks which cooperate with 
information imprinted by the self-aligning print wheels to positively 
identify the starting point of the printed indexable data. Additional 
grooves and securement means may be provided in either the first or second 
drum bodies to accommodate additional insert strips, if desired. 
Many present day paper handling and counting devices have a capability of 
handling and counting paper documents whose dimensions, measured in the 
feed direction, lie in the range from 2 inches to 8 or 9 inches. In such 
cases, the dimensions of the print drum are chosen to assure that the 
characters arranged around the circumference will imprint all of the 
desired data upon each paper document at least once. By selecting the 
print drum diameter in the above manner, a single print drum which may be 
used for printing upon documents of varying dimensions is thereby 
obtained, providing a single print drum assembly which need not be changed 
even though the paper handling device is running various batches of 
documents of varying dimensions, and which is quite small and compact so 
as to print a full and complete message or plurality of messages on 
documents whose length in the feed direction is quite small. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel 
rotatable print drum assembly for imprinting variable data on paper 
documents and the like wherein the drum assembly may be provided with 
indexable self-aligning print wheels and further having at least one 
resilient print band for imprinting fixed data in the form of raised 
characters and further having at least one raised index mark which is 
imprinted upon each paper document at least once and which serves to 
identify the starting point of the variable data imprinted upon the paper 
document. 
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a novel print 
drum assembly for imprinting selectable data upon paper documents as they 
pass the drum assembly at high speed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
FIGS. 1a-1c show print wheel 10 designed in accordance with the principles 
of the present invention and having a closed-loop annular configuration 
preferably formed from a resilient material such as, for example, rubber. 
The elasticity of the material enables the print member to be deformed 
and/or stretched during use whereby the resilient characteristics assures 
that wheel 10 will rapidly resume its "rest" condition when the forces 
causing deformation and/or elongation are removed. The exterior surface of 
the drum 10 is provided with a plurality of substantially flat faces 11 
each having an integrally formed raised character or symbol 12 (or other 
"indicia" referred to hereinabove) extending upwardly from each flat face 
11. Each character 12 may be two or more characters collectively occupying 
the area of each character 12, if desired. 
The interior surface 13 is provided with a substantially star-like 
configuration collectively formed by a plurality of V-shaped grooves 14, 
each of which are truncated at their base portions to form flat base 
portions 15 which are best shown in FIG. 1c, and which cooperate to form 
interspersed projections 14a. 
In the preferred embodiment of FIG. 1a, there is shown some of the raised 
characters, numerals or symbols, or other indicia, wherein the numerals 
"4", "5", "6", "7" and "8" can be seen arranged at spaced intervals on 
their associated flat surfaces 11. It should be understood however that 
raised characters may be alphabetic characters, symbols or other indicia 
and, if desired, each one of the faces 11 may be provided with more than 
one character or symbol (preferably smaller in size than the numeral 12). 
A "set" of indicia may consist of the numbers "0" through "9"; alphabetic 
characters "A" through "Z"; punctuation symbols; bar codes; binary codes 
of N-bit length; etc., or a combination thereof. Typical sets may contain 
total indicia as few as 5 or as many as 64 in number. 
Each resilient print wheel 10 is mounted upon a splined pin 16, shown best 
in FIGS. 2a and 2b, and having a generally annular-shaped exterior surface 
comprised of a plurality of substantially V-shaped projections 17 
extending radially outwardly from the longitudinal axis 19 and each being 
truncated at their free ends to provide a flat outer surface 18. The left 
and right-hand ends of the splined pin are machined to provide each of the 
projections 17 with beveled left and right-hand ends 20 and 21 to 
facilitate the mounting of a resilient print wheel, in a manner to be more 
fully described. Selected ones of the pins 16 are provided with openings 
22 extending completely through each pin for a purpose to be more fully 
described. 
FIG. 3a shows the manner in which the print wheel 10 is mounted on a pin 
16. As can clearly be seen from FIG. 3a, the interior surface contour of 
the print wheel, comprised of the truncated V-shaped grooves 14 and 
interposed projections 14a, is adapted to substantially conform to the 
exterior surface contour of the splined pin 16 comprised of the respective 
truncated V-shaped projections 17 and interspersed grooves 17a. Ideally, 
the print wheel is adapted to fit pin 16 without experiencing any 
stretching or without experiencing any "play". As a practical matter a 
tolerance of a few thousandths of an inch in either direction from a 
perfect fit is quite acceptable wherein the amount of "play" or 
"stretching" is minimal. 
The V-shaped projection 14a between each pair of adjacent truncated 
V-shaped grooves 14, has its apex in alignment with the center of each 
raised character to provide the largest amount of material directly 
beneath the character. However, the base of a truncated V-shaped groove 14 
may be aligned with the center of a character or one sloping wall of a 
groove 14 may be aligned with the center of a character if desired. Also, 
the configurations of both wheel 10 and pin 16 may be curved or rounded at 
each apex and/or may have curved sloping walls to provide an undulating or 
sinusoidal shaped pattern, if desired. 
The novel indexable self-aligning feature of the variable print wheel 
assembly can best be understood from a consideration of FIGS. 3a-3c. The 
splined pin, as will be described in greater detail hereinbelow, is 
mounted in a stationary fashion within the drum assembly of FIGS. 4a-4d in 
order to experience no rotational movement about its longitudinal axis 19 
(see FIG. 2a). Numeral 24 designates a drive belt (only a portion of which 
is shown in FIG. 3a) which serves as a backing or support for a paper 
document 25 moving in an arcuate path and in the direction shown by arrow 
26 so as to pass between drive belt 24 and the drum assembly on which the 
splined pin and the self-aligning print wheel are mounted. 
The splined pin and self-aligning print wheel do not rotate relative to one 
another, but revolve about the central axis of the print drum assembly 40 
(whose axis of rotation is shown at point "X" in FIG. 4a) in the direction 
shown by arrow 27. Phantom line 30 represents the center line of the print 
position. It should be noted that the elements shown in FIG. 3a have been 
grossly exaggerated (enlarged in size and altered as to relative location) 
to facilitate an understanding of the invention. For example, it should be 
understood that the raised character 12' shown in the print position 
would, in actuality, undergo at least slight compression as it engages the 
confronting surface of paper document 25. It should also be understood 
that paper document 25 would make somewhat firm engagement with both 
raised character 12' and the confronting surface of drive belt 24 when 
passing through the print position. 
Let it now be assumed that it is desired to index character 12", shown in 
FIG. 3a, to the print position presently occupied by the raised character 
12', of FIG. 3a. In order to accomplish this, the operator may use an 
instrument such as a small pick or a screwdriver, or may use his finger 
and apply the tip of the instrument or the tip of his finger (i.e. finger 
nail) to the exterior surface of the print wheel 10, for example, by 
pressing against the left-hand surface of raised character 12", as 
indicated by arrow 28, so as to move print wheel 10 about stationary 
splined pin 16 in the direction shown by arrow 29 thereby moving the 
raised letter 12" towards phantom line 30. The exterior surface portion of 
print wheel 10, against which the instrument tip or fingertip is placed, 
is sufficiently resistant to yielding to the force applied to the print 
wheel by the instrument to cause the print wheel to be moved from the 
position shown in FIG. 3a to the position shown in FIG. 3b. The apex of 
V-shaped projection 14 a in the print wheel, and located between the 
truncated V-shaped grooves 14 and 14', is caused to slide along one 
sloping side wall 17a of pin projection 17 and then upon a truncated 
V-shaped projection 17 of splined pin 16. The annular body B of the print 
wheel experiences some elongation or stretching and at the same time the 
V-shaped projection 14a, which extends radially inwardly and which is 
positioned between the truncated V-shaped grooves 14 and 14' on the print 
wheel, is caused to move towards and upon the flat surface 18' of 
truncated V-shaped projection 17' of splined pin 16 causing the projection 
14a to become compressed and deformed in the manner shown in FIG. 3b. At 
this time it can be seen that the print wheel has been revolved through an 
angle of approximately 18.degree. about the longitudinal axis 19 of pin 16 
(see FIG. 2) in moving the next character 12" towards the printing 
position, whose center line is designated by phantom line 30. The force 
imparted to wheel 10 moves print wheel 10 still further in the direction 
shown by arrow 29 to cause the V-shaped projection 14a of wheel 10 to move 
off flat surface 18' of truncated V-shaped projection 17' of splined pin 
16 and into the V-shaped groove defined by sloping walls 17a' and 17a" of 
splined pin 16 and which is located between truncated V-shaped projections 
17 and 17'. The resiliency of the material from which the wheel is formed 
causes the projection 14a to spring back to its normal "rest" condition 
whereby the projection 14a "snaps" into the V-shaped groove defined by 
side walls 17a' and 17a", as shown best in FIG. 3c. Whereas the above 
description makes reference to only one of the V-shaped projections 14a in 
print wheel 10 as experiencing deformation as it rides over the truncated 
V-shaped projection 17 in splined pin 16, it should be understood that all 
of the projections undergo at least slight compression and deformation as 
they ride over an associated one of the truncated V-shaped projections 17 
in splined pin 16. Thus all of the V-shaped projections in print wheel 10, 
and which are positioned between each of the truncated V-shaped grooves 14 
in the print wheel, substantially simultaneously spring back to their 
normal "rest" (i.e., uncompressed) condition to bring the entire print 
wheel back to rest position and thereby index the print wheel so that the 
next adjacent character 12" is moved precisely into the printing position 
whose center line is represented by phantom line 30. Thus the print wheel 
(having ten characters) moves through one-tenth of a revolution (i.e., 
36.degree.) as each raised character is indexed about splined pin 16. It 
should be understood that the resilient wheel may be indexed in either the 
clockwise or the counterclockwise direction to accurately align the next 
raised character into the print position. The operator can physically feel 
the snapping action of the print wheel as it is incrementally indexed and, 
in fact, can hear the sound of the print wheel "snapping" into position on 
pin 16 to further facilitate the appropriate indexing of the print wheel. 
It can be seen that this arrangement provides a very simplified method for 
indexing data while at the same time eliminating the complex and space 
consuming detent assemblies required in prior art configurations which 
typically require at least a detent gear and a resilient detent spring, in 
addition to the print wheel and the shaft on which the print wheel was 
mounted. 
As shown in FIG. 1c, the exterior surface of the print wheel 10 may be 
provided with indentations 14c at spaced intervals around the exterior 
surface and adapted for receiving the tip of an instrument or the tip of a 
fingernail, for example, to facilitate indexing of the print wheel 10 
about the pin 16. The grooves may be of any desired shape, i.e., 
elongated, round, square, polygonal, etc., wherein the recess provided 
receives the tip of a tapered pointed pick or other instrument to index 
the print wheel. 
FIGS. 4a-4d show a print drum assembly 40 employed to mount a plurality of 
self-aligning print wheel sub-assemblies of the type shown in FIG. 3a. The 
drum assembly in FIGS. 4a-4d is comprised of an elongated cylindrical 
shaped bearing 41 adapted to be free-wheelingly mounted upon a fixed 
shaft, in a manner to be more fully described in connection with FIGS. 
7-7b. 
A first drum body 42 (see FIGS. 5a and 5b) of substantially annular shape 
is provided with a central opening 42a for receiving bearing 41. The 
left-hand end of first drum body 42 is provided with a substantially 
semi-circular shaped groove 42b extending around the entire periphery of 
drum body 42 and which is adapted to be frictionally engaged by a closed 
loop O-ring which engages a closed loop drive belt for imparting rotation 
to the drum assembly 40, in a manner to be more fully described. 
First drum body 42 is further provided with a substantially square shaped 
recess 42c surrounding drum 42 and adapted to receive a resilient insert 
strip 52, to be more fully described, and which is utilized to print fixed 
data upon the paper documents. Additional recesses of this type may be 
provided to accommodate additional insert strips, if desired. 
The right-hand end of first drum body 42 is provided with a plurality of 
cylindrical shaped recesses 42d (note especially FIG. 5a) each of which is 
adpated to receive one end of a splined pin 16 in the manner shown in FIG. 
5b. Two of the recesses 42d' and 42d" are provided with tapped apertures 
42e and 42f, respectively, for receiving threaded fasteners such as, for 
example, the threaded fastener 43 shown in FIG. 4c. These threaded 
fasteners are for the purpose of securing a second drum body 50 to the 
first drum body 42, in a manner to be described in more detail 
hereinbelow. 
A print wheel is fitted upon each splined pin 16 in the manner shown best 
in FIG. 4c. It can best be seen from FIG. 5a that two of the splined pins 
are provided with central openings 22 (see FIG. 2b) to provide a clearance 
opening for the threaded fasteners 43. 
First drum body 42 is provided at its left-hand end with a recess 42k. A 
tapped aperture 42g extends downwardly from the base portion of recess 42k 
and is adapted to receive threaded fastener 46 whose threaded portion 46a 
threadedly engages tapped aperture 42g. A marginal portion of the head 46b 
of threaded fastener 46 is slidably fitted into a groove 41a provided in 
bearing 41 and, by rotation of threaded fastener 46, the first print body 
42 is adapted to be longitudinally moved in either the left- or right-hand 
direction, shown respectively by arrows 48a and 48b (FIG. 4c), relative to 
bearing 41 in order to accurately adjust the longitudinal positioning of 
the print body and hence of the self-aligning print wheels and index strip 
relative to the closed loop driving belt, to be more fully described 
hereinbelow in connection with FIGS. 7, 7a and 7b. 
FIG. 4d is a sectional view of a portion of drum body 42 which is provided 
with an elongated axially aligned recess 42h intersecting groove 42c for 
receiving substantially Z-shaped clamping member 48 secured to first drum 
body 42 by threaded fastener 49 which threadedly engages tapped opening 
42j in drum body 42. Free end 48a of releasable clamping member 48 
overlies a portion of the substantially rectangular shaped recess 42c in 
drum body 42 so as to clamp both free ends of a resilient insert strip 
carrying fixed data and which will be more fully described hereinbelow. 
Print drum assembly 40 is further comprised of a second drum body 50 (note 
especially FIGS. 4b and 4c) which is an annular shaped member having a 
central opening 50a for receiving bearing 41. The exterior cylindrical 
surface is provided with a semi-circular shaped continuous groove 50b for 
frictionally engaging an O-ring type belt which imparts a driving force to 
the drum 40 during the printing operation, in a manner to be more fully 
described. 
Second drum body 50 is further provided with a pair of clearance openings 
50c, one of which is shown in FIG. 4c, for receiving the threaded 
fasteners 43 which serve to secure second drum body 50 to first drum body 
42 and which further serve to prevent the print wheels 10 from 
experiencing any longitudinal movement since they are sandwiched in 
between the right-hand end surface 42m of first drum body 42 and the 
left-hand end surface 50d of second drum body 50. 
As can be seen best from a consideration of FIGS. 4a and 4c, as the print 
drums revolve about bearing 41, a portion of each of the peripheries of 
print wheels 10 extend beyond the outer periphery of the first and second 
drum bodies 42 and 50 in order to rollingly engage an ink transfer wheel 
and a paper document in a manner to be more fully described. The 
integrally formed raised characters have been omitted from FIGS. 4a and 4c 
for purposes of simplicity. 
FIGS. 6a and 6b show top plan views of elongated insert strips which are 
adapted to be positioned within the square-shaped recess 42c of first drum 
body 42. Insert 52 of FIG. 6a is preferably formed of a resilient material 
such as, for example, rubber or vinyl and has a durometer selected to have 
a characteristic which enables the raised characters or symbols formed 
along the surface of the strip to undergo at least slight compression as 
they ride upon and imprint a paper document. FIG. 6c shows one raised 
indicia 52a provided on the surface of strip 52. The back surface of strip 
52 is preferably reinforced with a cloth backing 52b to limit the amount 
of elongation or stretching which the strip may undergo. Strip 52 is 
mounted to first drum body 42 by loosening threaded member 49, positioning 
one end, for example, end 52c, of strip 52 beneath the portion of clamping 
member 48, pressing the strip into groove 42c and then sliding the 
opposite end 52d of strip 52 beneath clamping member 48, after which 
threaded member 49 is then tightened to firmly clamp the insert strip 52 
into position. 
The insert strip is preferably provided with at least one raised index 
marker 52e, shown in FIG. 6a as having a triangular shape. The index 
marker 52e cooperates with the indexable data imprinted on documents by 
print wheels 10 to positively indicate the starting point of the indexable 
data. If desired, the insert strip 52 may be provided with additional 
index marks such as, for example, the index mark 52f. Two index marks 
serve to mark both the beginning and end of a message. Additional index 
marks may be employed to indicate the beginning (and/or end) of each 
message in applications where more than one message is provided around the 
drum assembly 40. In the preferred embodiment the fixed and variable data 
is repeated twice around drum assembly 40 and said data is desired to be 
printed at least once upon documents greater in length D.sub.1 (said 
length being measured in the feed direction) than a predetermined minimum 
length. FIG. 6d shows a plan view of a paper document whose dimension 
D.sub.1 in the feed direction is of the order of 3 inches and whose 
dimension D.sub.2, measured in the direction perpendicular to the feed 
direction, is of the order of 2 inches. This document substantially 
represents the smallest documents to be counted and imprinted upon. Index 
marks 52e and 52f imprinted upon the paper document 60 positively indicate 
both the starting and ending points of the indexable data the full message 
of which is shown to be comprised of four numerals wherein a first group 
of numerals 61 which read "01" represents the month of the year (for 
example) and a second group 62 which reads "21" and represents the day of 
the month. As shown in FIG. 6b, the insert strip 52' may, as an 
alternative to being provided with a raised index mark of the type shown 
in FIG. 6a, be provided with the raised lettering, i.e., "74", at each 
index position 52e' and 52f' to serve both as the index mark and as the 
means for identifying the year of imprinting. The circumference of the 
print drum assembly is selected so as to be assured of printing at least 
one full and complete message within a space extending between index marks 
52e and 52f and whose length (measured in the feed direction) is of the 
order of 2 inches thereby assuring that, for a document whose dimension 
D.sub.1 is of the order of at least 2 inches, at least one full and 
complete message will be imprinted thereon. In the example given, it can 
be seen that at least one full message will be printed on a document whose 
length D.sub.1 measured in the feed direction is at least 2 inches long 
which represents the distance D.sub.3 between the index marks 52d and 52e. 
Obviously, documents greater in length than 2 inches, for example, the 
document shown in FIG. 6d, have at least one full message imprinted 
thereon. If desired, documents of even shorter dimensions (in the feed 
direction) may be imprinted with a "full" message by reducing the diameter 
of the drum 40. 
FIGS. 7, 7a and 7b show a portion of paper handling and counting mechanism 
described in application Serial No. 465,700, filed on Apr. 30, 1974, now 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,210 issued Mar. 16, 1976 to the assignee of the 
present invention. For purposes of understanding the present invention 
only a portion of the document handling and counting device will be 
described herein. Documents 101 move between an elongated closed loop 
drive belt 118 mounted on large roller 142 and moving in the direction 
shown by arrow 102. A stripper wheel 123 rotates in a counterclockwise 
direction, as shown by arrow 103, to assure that only single documents 
will pass between the drive and stripper wheels. Single documents passing 
between the drive belt 118 and stripper wheel 123, enter into the region 
shown by arrow 104 whereupon each document enters between belt 118 and 
O-rings 125 and 126, which are entrained about idler wheels 129 and 128 
and are further fitted within the semi-circular grooves 42b and 50b in 
drum bodies 42 and 50, as shown, for example, in FIG. 4b. The O-rings 125 
and 126 frictionally engage either the ridges 118a and 118b of drive belt 
118 or frictionally engage a document passing therebetween to impart 
driving rotation to idler pulleys 128 and 129 and further to impart 
driving rotation to print drum assembly 40. The print drum bearing 41 is 
mounted upon shaft 133a which is rigidly secured to the swingable end of 
shaft arm 144. Operation of handle 134 enables the drum 40 to move between 
the disengaged (i.e., non-print) position, displacing drum 40 from drive 
belt 118 and the paper documents passing therearound, and from ink 
transfer roller 132, to an engaged (i.e., print) position wherein the 
raised lettering provided around the drum assembly 40 and including both 
the fixed and variable data engages both ink transfer roll 132 and the 
paper document passing between the drive belt 118 and the O-rings 125 and 
126. A detailed description of the manner in which the mechanism comprised 
of operating handle 134 and swingable arm serves to move the print 
assembly between the engaged and disengaged position is set forth in 
detail in the copending application referred to hereinabove and a detailed 
description has been omitted herein for purposes of simplicity, said 
description being incorporated herein by reference thereto. 
An ink roll 131 transfers ink to transfer roll 132 which, in turn, 
transfers the ink to the raised letters provided about print drum assembly 
40 when the endorsing mechanism is in the engaged position. As can best be 
seen from a consideration of FIG. 7b, drive belt 118 is provided with a 
pair of grooves 118c and 118d. The flexible insert 52 and self-indexing 
print wheels 10 can be seen to enter at least partially into the grooves 
118c and 118d to print upon the paper document. Grooves 118c and 118d 
serve to prevent transfer of ink to drive belt 118 in the event that no 
paper documents are being fed into the paper handling and counting 
equipment and when the print drum assembly is in the printing or endorsing 
position as well as preventing transfer of ink to the drive belt 118 as 
gaps between the trailing edge of a downstream document and the leading 
edge of the next upstream document pass the endorser drum assembly, 
thereby preventing any transfer of ink to belt 118 and undesirable back 
printing of the paper document by transfer of ink from belt 118 to the 
paper document. 
The adjustable threaded member 46, shown best in FIG. 4b, serves to assure 
that the fixed data of insert 52 and variable data of the self-aligning 
print wheels 10 are in proper alignment with the grooves 118d and 118c, 
respectively, of drive belt 118. 
It can thus be seen that the foregoing invention applies a novel endorser 
assembly which, while being quite small and compact (the preferred 
embodiment has a diameter of the order of 1.375 inches) is nevertheless 
capable of providing up to 8 indexable self-aligning print wheels each 
capable of accurately and precisely positioning a number, symbol or other 
character into the print position thereby completely eliminating the need 
for complex detent assemblies utilized in prior art endorsing assemblies. 
The self-aligning print wheel has a substantially long, useful operating 
life, and in the event of being either worn out, broken, or otherwise 
defective, may be simply and readily replaced by removing the fastening 
members 43, removing the second drum body 50, removing and replacing the 
defective or worn out resilient print wheels and replacing them with new 
print wheels, replacing the second drum body 50 and replacing and 
tightening the threaded fasteners 43. 
The insert strip 52 may be simply and readily replaced by: loosening member 
49; removing worn out, defective or outdated insert strips; inserting a 
fresh insert strip; positioning both ends of the strip beneath clamp 
member 48; and tightening screw 49. The print drum may be simply and 
readily removed from stationary shaft 133 by loosening a fastener to draw 
a split-ring fastening member together, as shown in FIGS. 12a through 12f 
of the above mentioned copending application, which thereby enables the 
print drum assembly to be rapidly removed, serviced, and replaced on 
stationary shaft 133. 
FIGS. 1-3 show the self-aligning print wheel as being provided with 10 
truncated V-shaped grooves and splined pin 16 as being provided with an 
equal number of truncated V-shaped projections. However, it should be 
understood that a lesser or greater number of such grooves and cooperating 
projections may be provided and a lesser or greater number of characters 
may be provided, with a total number of V-shaped projections which is less 
than the total number of grooves provided in the interior surface of 
resilient print wheel. 
FIG. 8, for example, shows an alternative embodiment of the present 
invention in which the resilient print wheel 150 is provided with 12 flat 
surfaces 151 each having an integrally formed raised character 152 
projecting outwardly therefrom. The interior surface of resilient print 
wheel 150 is provided with 12 radially aligned inwardly directed 
projections 153 each of said projections having a rounded free tip. Each 
projection is positioned mid-way between each adjacent pair of raised 
characters 152 so as to define a substantially square shaped groove 154 
between each adjacent pair of projections 153, and with each groove being 
substantially in alignment with the centers of the raised characters 152. 
The resilient print wheel is mounted upon a fixed hexagonal (six-sided) 
shaft 155 so that each apex 156 between each pair of adjacent surfaces 157 
is positioned within every other groove 154 in resilient print wheel 150. 
The self-aligning resilient print drum is indexed in the same manner as 
resilient print drum 10 described hereinabove in connection with FIGS. 3a 
through 3c, wherein, upon the application of a force upon the surface of 
resilient print wheel 150 so as to revolve it about shaft 155, the body B 
of the resilient print wheel 150 undergoes some degree of elongation and 
further the rounded projections 153 undergo some bending, depression and 
deformation until the next raised character is precisely indexed to the 
print position at which time the deformed projections 153 snap back to 
their "rest" position whereupon the next raised character is precisely 
indexed. Once the print wheel is properly indexed, the locking effect of 
the print wheel with the external indexing force removed is sufficient to 
prevent accidental indexing of the print wheel when performing a printing 
operation. The groove beneath the "indexed" character lies upon surface 
157 of shaft 155 while the grooves to the left and right receive the 
apices at the edges of the surface. It can be seen from the embodiment of 
FIG. 8 that the shaft upon which the flexible print wheel is mounted may 
have a lesser number of apices 156 than the number of grooves 154 provided 
in flexible print wheel 150. Preferably, however, the number of apices 156 
should be no less than one-half the number of grooves 154 described in 
connection with the embodiment of FIG. 8. 
Many variations and modifications will now become apparent to those skilled 
in the art. It is preferred therefore that the present invention be 
limited not by the specific disclosure herein but only by the appended 
claims. For example, the print wheel 10 of FIGS. 1a-1c has ten raised 
numerals ("0"-"9") at spaced intervals about the exterior surface. By 
enlarging the diameters of the print wheel 10 and the pin 16 the print 
wheel may, for example, accommodate the letters of the alphabet (i.e., 
"A"-"Z"). Alternatively, the print wheel 10 and pin 16 may be made smaller 
and provide as few as five raised characters spaced about the exterior 
surface of the print wheel. Also, the print wheel 10 (and/or the index 
strip 52) instead of having raised characters on the exterior surface, may 
have a raised surface with the characters being recessed in the raised 
surface. FIG. 6e shows an end view of an index 52" which is of greater 
thickness than that of strip 52 of FIG. 6c and in which the character "C" 
is recessed in the strip 52". Thus the print wheels and the index strips 
would print data in the form of white letters L and index marks M with the 
ink forming a background band K as shown in FIG. 6f.