Patent GB-832454-A (GB)
Title: Automatic addressing-machine
IPC: B41L45/02
Filed: 1958-05-14
Abstract: 832,454. Addressing machines; feeding and delivering sheets. BRAUNSTAIN, J. A. May 14, 1958 [May 24, 1957], No. 15491/58. Classes 100(1) and 100(2) An automatic hectographic addressing machine comprises a magazine in which the documents to be printed are stored, a separator roller for withdrawing documents from the magazine, a pair of feed rollers into which the documents are inserted by the separator, a feeding roller which co-operates with a wetting roller to moisten the documents and feed them between upper and lower platens, means for feeding a master sheet carrying band step-by-step between the platens at right angles to the direction of movement of the documents, and a pair of ejector rollers which remove the documents from between the platens. A main shaft 6 may be rotated through gearing 7, 8 by hand crank 16 or by an electric motor, a pawl 76 and ratchet 75 (Fig. 9) preventing rotation thereof in the wrong direction. Feeding sheets. The documents D to be printed are pressed forwards in the magazine 2 into contact with the separator roller 3 by a spring-biased member 4. The roller 3 is rotated intermittently by means of a vertically reciprocable rack which co-operates with a pinion of a free-wheel device on the shaft of the roller 3. A bell-crank lever 10, 12 pivoted at 11 has a follower at one end to engage a cam 26 (Fig. 6) on the shaft 6 and at the other end engages a pin 13 (Fig. 4) on the vertically reciprocable rack to effect the reciprocation thereof. A document D extracted from the magazine is inserted by the roller 3 between the feed rollers 17, 18 which advance the document along a track 1a on the machine frame so that the leading edge thereof is positioned beneath the wetting roller 23, the roller 17 being continuously rotated by a chain and sprocket drive from the shaft 6. The roller 23 rotates freely in a trough 28 supplied with liquid from a reservoir 25 via a pipe 27. The feeding roller 24 is carried in a frame 31 pivoted about the shaft b and is driven continuously by a chain 29 passing round a sprocket wheel 30 on the shaft 6. A pin 34 on an arm 32 pivoted to the machine frame at 33 engages in a cam groove 36 formed in a siae face of the sprocket 30 and also engages in a notch 31a in the frame 31, the frame being held in contact therewith by a spring 37. When the cam groove 36 causes the arm 32 to move in an anticlockwise direction the frame 31 is moved in the same direction by the camming action of the pin 34 in the notch 31a so that the feeding roller 24 contacts the roller 23 and feeds the document D between the platens 38, 71 after the latter roller has moistened it. If the machine is powered by an electric motor a feeler embodied in the track 1a prevents the motor from being set in motion when there is no document to be printed on the track. Printing mechanism. The upper platen 71 is stationary while the lower platen 38 is slidable verfucally between rollers 41. A lever 45 pivoted at 46 has a cam follower 44 at one end which engages a cam 43 on the shaft 6, and a roller 47 in rolling engagement with the underside of the platen 38 at the other. The platen 38 is biased downwards by a spring 42 and is moved upwards into printing position by the action of the lever 45. The pivot 46 is eccentrically mounted and the eccentric portion can be rotated by means of hand lever 49 so as to vary the printing pressure. The address-printing master sheets are in the form of a band 68 (Figs. 3, 6) which is fed, at right angles to the direction of movement of the documents D, from a spool 69, under the platen 71, round a driving roller 67, with which it is held in contact by presser roller 72, and on to a take-up spool 70. When the platens open after printing a document the band 68 is advanced by one step to bring the next master sheet into position between the platens. This is effected by a rack 65 which engages a pinion 66a on a free wheel device attached to the shaft of the roller 67. A lever 63 (Fig. 9) pivoted at 64 is connected at one end to the rack 65 and at the other carries a cam follower 62 which engages a cam 61 on the shaft 6. A spring 50 normally holds the rack in its uppermost position and the cam 61 operates to move the rack downwards and rotate the roller 67. An adjustable screw 74 engages a lug 65a on the rack 65 to limit the upward movement thereof whereby the distance by which the band 68 is advanced can be adjusted. Delivering sheets. When a document D is being printed a part of it lies beneath a small roller 52 (Figs. 3, 6) carried by a spring blade 53. As the platens are moved apart after printing an ejector roller 51 which is continuously driven by a belt 54 and pulley 55 from the shaft 6 and is mounted on a pivoted frame 56, is raised by the action of a cam follower 59 on the frame 56 engaging in a cam groove on the pulley 55, and the printed document is gripped between the rollers 51, 52, and ejected from between the platens. The relative angular dispositions of the several cams on the shaft 6 are such that 2“ revolutions of the shaft suffice to carry a document D from the magazine 2 completely through the machine.