Patent GB-357635-A (GB)
Title: An improved apparatus for the combined addressing and printing of bills or the like
IPC: B41L47/46
Filed: 1930-06-26
Abstract: 357,635. Printing - machines. ELLIOTT, H. P., 272, School Street, Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S.A. June 26,1930, No. 19498. [Classes 100 (i) and 100 (ii).] Addressing machines.- A machine for printing addressed bills &c. comprises intermittently-operated means which prints successive groups of different addresses along the ength of a paper web, each group consisting of repetitions of the same address disposed lengthwise of the web, and means :'or printing constant data on the web in unchanging registration with each group of addresses. The machine shown. is adapted to print bills each comprising a main portion and three stub portions. The addresses are printed by means of stencils 50, Fig. 3, fed in succession from a hopper 48, and along a guideway 46 to printing position beneath a printing-roller 54, supplied with ink by periodical contact with an ink-distributing roller 126, and above a platen block 36, Fig. 5, mounted on a pivoted arm 68, the roller 54 being carried by a rocking arm 56 actuated by connection with a rocking arm 60, which is pivoted at 62 and s provided with a cam extension 70 adapted to raise and lower the block 66. The stencils are fed by a pusher mounted on a carrier 94 provided with a projecting pin 96, Fig. 6, normally engaging a lateral extension 92 of a slot 90 in a reciprocating arm 88 connected by an arm 86 to a hub 84 oscillated by a cam 80 on an arm 79 rocking with the arm 60. The stencil-feed is suspended, while the address is printed on the stub portions of the bill, by means of a cam 102 acting through a roller arm 118 to depress the arm 88 so that the pin 96 enters the slot 90, the cam 102 being rotated step by step by a pawl 116, and the peripheral extent of each high part of the cam being such that four impressions are printed from each stencil before a recess allows the arm 88 to rise into feeding position. The stencils are raised, after printing, into a magazine 52, Fig. 3, by rotary arms 138, which move across the guideway 46 and push each stencil in turn into a curved guide and so on to the teeth of rotary worms on the top of which the stack is supported. Rotary machines.-The constant matter is printed by a cylinder 164, Figs. 3 and 19, coacting with an impression cylinder 302 driven by gears from the cylinder 164 and mounted in eccentric bearings for manual tripping. The cylinder 164 is rotated step by step by a pawl 218, which is mounted on an arm fixed on the cylinder shaft 166 and engages a ratchet 212 on the cylinder, the ratchet teeth being so spaced that the cylinder is rotated during each revolution through peripheral distances corresponding respectively to the lengths of the main portion and the three stub portions of the bill. The shaft 166 is rotated intermittently by a reciprocating rack 226. Stopping-arrangements.-The cylinder 164 is held against rotation during the rest periods by brake arms 196, Fig. 19, constantly bearing on a drum 194 integral with the cylinder. The arms 196 are pivoted together at one end and are connected at the other ends by a spring 204, additional pressure being applied by arms 206 loosely mounted on rods 208 and pressed against the arms 196 by springs 210. Printing-surfaces,-The cylinder 164 comprises a hub 172, Fig. 19, to which are fixed three segments 177 of equal length corresponding- to the stub portions of the bill and a longer segment corresponding to the main portion. Dovetail grooves are provided in the segments to receive removable electrotypes held in place by segmental bars 184, 190 screwed to the segments. The printing-plates are so arranged that a plain peripheral ledge is provided on the cylinder to ensure uninterrupted advance of the web. Feeding webs.-A web 40, unwound from a roll 40a, Fig. 3, passes between a driven feed roller 348 and a coacting pressure roller 358, hangs down in a loop 40b, and then travels between the machine table 42 and the guideway 46 to a cylindrical bar 372 by means of which the direction is reversed so that the web travels back over itself to the addressing-mechanism and then to the printing-coupler 164, 302, which draws the web forward intermittently. As the rollers 348, 358 feed the web continuously at a greater rate than that at which it is taken up, the loop 40b continually increases, and the roller 348 must therefore periodically be tripped. The bar 372, Fig. 9, is laterally adjustable and a roller 378 for tensioning the web and bending the web so as to take out the curl is adjustable relatively to the bar 372 to compensate for the variation in diameter of the roll 40a. After printing, the web is stripped off the cylinder 164 by rollers mounted in arms 414, Fig. 3, spring- urged clockwise so that the rollers are pressed against the web, the rollers being axially adjustable so as to engage unprinted portions of the web. Inking- apparatus.-Ink is supplied to a distributing-roller 234, Figs. 3 and 14, and is transferred to the printing-cylinder 164 by rollers 250, 252 mounted in arms arranged to swing about an axis 240 so that the rollers contact with the cylinder during the rotation thereof and with the roller 234 during the intervals. The arms are actuated by arms 260, 262 carrying pins 268a engaging slots 268 in arms 270 pivoted to levers 276 oscillated about the shaft 166 by star wheels 282 fixed on a rotary shaft 154, the star wheels having each four teeth spaced according to the lengths of the printing- segments. Normally, the pins 268a engage lateral extensions of the slots 268, but when, to avoid overinking, the rollers 250, 252 are to be retained out of contact with the cylinder, the upper ends of the arms 270 are nipped together so that the pins ride in the slots. The rollers 250, 252 may be separated from both the roller 234 and the cylinder 164 by means of a hand-operated cam loosely mounted on the shaft 236 of the roller 234 and adapted to engage the arms carrying the rollers 250, 252. Perforating and cutting apparatus.-Before being printed by the roller 164, the web is perforated by a toothed blade 392, Fig. 12, working in a vertical slot in a guide 386 provided with a slot 388 to receive the web. The blade 392 rocks about a pivot 394 and is raised by a cam 400 and brought down by a spring 396 at intervals controlled by cam-recesses 404, spaced. so that, three lines of perforations are punched in each bill to divide it into three equal stub portions and a longer main portion. After printing, the web is cut into strips by a knife 424, Fig. 11, rocking. about a pivot 426 and coacting with a fixed knife 422, the knife 424 being raised by a cam 432 and brought down by a spring 428. A pressing-device 438 prevents the web from rising with the knife 424.