Patent GB-736027-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in sheet feeding means for addressing and like series printing machines
Inventor: CHILLINGWORTH HERBERT GEORGE
IPC: B41L47/24
Filed: 1952-11-28
Abstract: 736,027. Addressing &c. machines; feeding sheets. ADREMA, Ltd. Nov. 30, 1953 [Nov. 28, 1952], No. 30212/52. Classes 100 (1) and 100 (2). Sheet-feeding means in or for attachment to an addressing or like series - printing machine comprises a continuously running conveyer for carrying sheets to be printed past a printing position, a gate located at a selected position along the conveyer and movable between an obstructing position in which it arrests the sheets and a non-obstructing position in which it permits their passage, and gate-actuating means releasably coupled or adapted to be releasably coupled direct to the printing arm of the machine throughout each operation of the machine, whereby the gate will be actuated in synchronism with the operation of the machine. Sheets are placed manually or mechanically beneath feed rollers 11, Figs. 3 and 4, which are lowered to press the sheets on to continuously running conveyer tapes 3 driven by an electric motor 55, which carry the sheets past a printing head. Two gates engage the front edges of the sheets to stop them in printing position. The gates and the rollers 11 are controlled by a cam-shaft 24, which is rotated through one sixth of a revolution during each upward stroke of the printing head, through a plate 31 secured thereto, a link 29 detachably secured to the plate, an adjustable pivot 28, and a plate 27 rotatable on the shaft and carrying a pawl 26 engaging a ratchet-wheel 25. Each gate comprises a pair of plates 22. Each plate 22 is pivoted at 21 on a bracket 17 adjustably secured to a bar 14, and two push-rods 15, 16 pass through holes in each bracket. A block 19 is adjustably secured on the push-rods between two upstanding arms of each bracket, the arrangement being such that the blocks within the left-hand brackets are secured to the rods 15, and those within the right-hand brackets to the rods 16. A slot in each plate 22 engages a pin 23 on the block, so that leftward movement of the push-rods 15, 16 causes the left and right hand gates respectively to be lowered into sheet-stopping position. A cam 40 with six projections causes the rods 16 to be moved to the left on every upward stroke of the printing head, while a cam 43 with three projections causes the rods 15 to be moved only on every second stroke. Further cams 48, 49 having six and three projections respectively, act through rods 51, 52 and cranks 53 to lower the rollers 11. In use, the apparatus is set for one of two ways of operation. In one way, the rod 52 is disconnected from its crank 53, so that the rollers 11 are lowered on each upward stroke of the printing head, and the blocks 19 of the lefthand gate are so adjusted within the brackets 17 that the gate is never lowered sufficiently to engage a sheet. A sheet is fed during each cycle of operation of the machine, stopped in printing position by the right-hand gate, printed on once, and released. In the second way, the rod 51 is disconnected, so that the rollers are lowered only on every second stroke. Both gates are adjusted to an operative state, the left-hand gate being raised only once every second cycle. A sheet is fed during every second cycle, stopped by the right-hand gate, printed on, is released, stopped by the left-hand gate, printed on again on a different part, and finally released. Angle-section bars 6 engage the side edges of the sheets, and are adjustable by means of knobs 7 co-operating with graduated scales 8, according to the width of the sheets and their desired lateral position. The tapes 3 at each end pass over reversing pulleys 4 and their return paths 5 are in the same horizontal plane as the feed paths. The sheets are pressed against the tapes 3 by freely rotatable balls 10 supported in bars 9. By providing the appropriate number of gates and modifying the cam mechanism, each sheet could be printed on more than twice. According to the Provisional Specification, the rod 52 is permanently connected to its crank 53, so that both rods 51, 52 are connected when a sheet is to be fed on every cycle.