Patent GB-379222-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to devices for marking cheeses or like blocks
IPC: B41F17/00
Filed: 1932-02-06
Abstract: 379,222. Printing. SCHWEIZERISCHE KASEUNION (S. K.), Berne, Switzerland. Feb. 6, 1932, No. 3619. Convention date, Dec. 31, 1931. [Class 100 (ii).] A device for marking cheeses or like blocks 1, of the kind in which the centres of the blocks are printed by means of a stamp S and the outer portions of the blocks are printed by a printing appliance revoluble about the stamp, is constructed with a printing appliance formed of two conical elastic rollers 2, 3, which perform a true rocking motion on an inner and outer annular portion of the block, and setting means are provided for adjusting the level and the inclination of the axes of the rollers 2, 3, so as to enable them to adapt themselves to the irregularities of the surface of the block. The printing stamp S is formed so as to adapt itself to cheese blocks having a large camber, and it yields more readily at the centre than the sides. It is formed with a cast body 4 to which a wooden frame 5 is screwed to which is secured a number of concentric rings 5<11> of sponge rubber, below which are circular segments 5<1> of sponge rubber and finally a rubber printing- surface 7. Air can escape through bores 7<1> in the wooden frame. A bolt 8 fitted with a handle 9 is secured to the body 4, and to a revoluble ring 12 or the bolt is screwed a forked supporting arm 11, the bent end of which is fitted with a socket 13 in which is mounted an arm 14, to which is fitted in an adjustable manner a pair of frames 30 in which are mounted the conical printing-rollers 2, 3, and their co-operating inking-rollers 41. The printing-rollers are mounted upon bearing- shafts which pass through apertures 37 in the frames 30, one of these shafts 38 being screwed through the threaded aperture 37 by turning a wing 39. The frames 30 are pivoted to pivots 29 and can be adjusted angularly about the same by means of a double-threaded screw 35, and the pivots 29 are secured to rods 24 in a manner which permits of vertical adjustment, and the rods 24 are adjustable radially on the arm 14. The arm 14 is fitted at its end with an operating-handle 18, and a pair of legs 21 normally held by a clamp 23 can be lowered to a position in which they support the rollers 2, 3 out of contact with the block 1. The inking rollers 41 are mounted at one end in bearings adjustable by means of screws 44 and at their other end in slots 45 in the frame 30, and springs 46 press the rollers 41 towards the printing rollers. The rollers 41 can be rotated by a crank 40 to give the rollers 2, 3, a preliminary inking. The conical rollers 2, 3 are constructed so as to fit snugly against the curved surface of the block 1, and the actual printing-surface 58, Fig. 10, can bend to the form of the curved surface 59. The rollers 2, 3 are provided with inner metal tubes 51 comprising bushes 48 for receiving the bearing shafts 38. A conical wooden member 49 is secured by screws to the tube 51, and on the tube are arranged conical bosses 52 made of vulcanized rubber including inserts of sponge rubber which are secured to the tube 51 by means of bandages of insulating material. Layers 53 of red sponge rubber are placed over the bosses 52 and the cone 49, and above and between the layers 53 are placed rings 54 of sponge rubber. Annular spaces 55, and passages 56 permit of the flow of air into and out of the roll. The outer layers 57 of sponge rubber receive the rubber printing-surface 58 as the final layer of the roll. In a modification, the rollers 2, 3 may be secured to a fixed bar, and the block 1 mounted on a table which is rotated to carry the block 1 past the printignrollers 2, 3.