Patent GB-190818942-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to Addressing Machines.
Inventor: LAKE WILLIAM EDWARD
Filed: 1908-09-09
Granted: 1909-05-27
Abstract: 18,942. Lake, W. E., [Nielson Mailing Machinery Co.]. Sept. 9. Stencilling-apparatus.- In an addressing-machine the stencil printing-plates are fed from a pile in the magazine 77 by a reciprocating pusher, the feeding-pawl of which may be rendered inoperative for one or more strokes to allow of several impressions being taken from the same f o r m e. The delivery box 85<1> for the plates is gradually lowered according to the number of plates fed. The machine may be driven n through a onerevolution clutch 32 controlled by a pedal 37, or by-foot through a pedal which turns the shaft 31 through a segment and a free-wheel. The pedal may also operate a brake. The stencils are inked by a travelling roller which receives ink from a ductor through another travelling roller and a distributing-plate. A web of paper may be fed transversely to the printing-plates, and given an intermittent motion by cam-controlled feeding- rolls. The paper may be cut into strips by a camoperated pivoted knife 207. The fly-wheel 29, when the machine is driven by power, is continuously rotated by a band 28 from a pulley 25, Fig. 5, running loose on the shaft 24 and driven from any suitable source. On the boss of the fly-wheel 29, which runs loose on the shaft 31, a ratchet-wheel is formed, which normally engages with a spring-pressed pawl in the clutch portion 32 fixed to the shaft 31, and thus turns the shaft. When, however, the operator's foot is withdrawn from the pedal 37, a lever 34 falls on the clutch 32 and engages with a tail on the pawl, thus lifting it away from the ratchetwheel, and stopping the shaft 31 until the pedal 37 is again depressed. If the machine is to be worked by foot power, a swinging pedal is connected by links to a toothed segment gearing with a toothed free-wheel on the shaft 31, to which the fly-wheel 29 is then fixed. The pedal lever also carries an arm with a brake which acts on the fly-wheel when the pedal is pushed sufficiently far. The shaft 31 is geared through a chain 43 with a shaft 24, from which, through a crank 46 and connecting-rod 75, the feeding-slide 96 is reciprocated. The slide 96 carries a pivoted pusher 97, pressed up at the front by a spring pin 100, and at the back by a pin 99 engaging a cam 106 on a shaft 102, at the end of which is a loose spur-wheel 103. This engages a rack 110, which is slidable under the control of a spring 114, attached at one end to the frame of the machine, and at the other to a stop 113 on the rack 110. The rack 110 is stopped in an adjustable position by the stop 91, and as the carriage 96 still moves back, the pinion 103 is turned and through a ratchet turns the cam 106. This depresses the front end of the pusher 97 for one or more strokes, until the cam 106 has made a complete revolution, during which time no plates a are fed, and the stencil at that time in the printing position has several copies taken from it. The hopper 77 has a latch 84 to engage the open-ended stencil drawer 85. The stencil is pushed, with the paper to be printed between it and the platen, along a guideway by the succeeding stencils, until it rests beneath the platen 122 which is actuated by a cam 116 through levers 118, 121. In this position it is inked by a travelling roller 57 reciprocated through links 56, 53, 51 and a crank 41, and pressed upwards through an opening in the bed by spring-controlled guides 74 acting on sleeves 57<1> on the spindle ends. The roller takes its ink from a pivoted spring-pressed plate 64 inked by a second travelling roller 59 which contacts with a continuously-revolving ductor-roll 66. At the end of the machine opposite to the hopper 77 is the plate receiver, which comprises a vertically slidable frame 126 mounted in fixed guides 125 and having catches 128, 130, to support a drawer 85'. By means of a rack 127 which is engaged alternately by one of two pawls 135, 136 actuated by cams 145, 146 on a shaft 144, the drawer 85<1> is gradually lowered so as to keep the top of the pile of plates slightly below the point of delivery. The shaft 144 is actuated by a spring-retracted lever 147 pivoted on the shaft, through a pawl and ratchet-wheel 142. The lever 147 is actuated each time a printing-plate is fed from the hopper 77, by a rod 150, Figs. 9 and 12, connected to a lever 151 which is fixed to a shaft having, at the upper end, another lever 154 which is engaged by a stop 101 on the bottom of the plunger 100 whenever the pusher 97 is in its raised position. If it is desired to print the addresses on a web of paper, the web is fed transversely to the address plates, through feed-rollers 166,169 moving at an adjustable speed, over a guide roller 173, under the platen 122, under the spring-controlled presser-roll 180, and between feed-rolls 188, 191. The lower roll 91 is continuously and positively driven. The upper roll 188 is mounted in a pivoted spring-pressed frame 184 with an arm 186 which is depressed by a screw 200 when the platen descends, and thus lifts the roller 188 away from the roller 191 for a greater or less time, according to the length of paper desired to be fed. The web may either be rewound on a spool placed between stubs 201 driven by a belt 204, or it may be cut between a fixed knife 206 and a pivoted knife 207 normally operated at each reciprocation of the platen by a cam 212 and a sliding pin 211. If several addresses are required on one length of strip, the cam 212 is removed and a cam 221, revolved slowly by a ratchet-wheel and lever operated from the shaft 197, is used to work the knife at the required intervals. If it is desired to print on single articles, such as envelopes &c., the transverse web-feeding devices are removed, and the articles are fed beneath the platen by band or by any suitable means.